Cam rigged a rope between two scrubby pines across the floor of the ravine, and tied the horses to it for the night. He didn’t want to take any chances that they might wander, even if he had hobbled them. There was no need to prepare food for the four of them. They had eaten just before the unexpected visit from the two outlaws, but Mary wanted to make coffee, so she got out her pot and coffee mill, filling the pot with water from the extra canteen. “You ever shoot a rifle?” Cam asked when he came back from tying the horses.
“Once,” Mary replied. “I shot at a rabbit.”
“Did you hit it?”
“No.”
Cam nodded thoughtfully before asking, “Was it a rifle like this?” He held up the Winchester he carried.
“No,” she said. “It was a smaller rifle, a .22 I think, and it was a single shot.”
“I think it’d be a good idea if you learned to shoot a .44 Winchester. I’ve got a good one on the packhorse. That feller back at the Destiny camp left it for us, along with his horse and saddle.” He thought it best not to mention the Sharps buffalo rifle Rafer had also carried, since it was the weapon used to kill her late husband. “I’m gonna climb up to the top of this ravine and take a little look around before it comes up a hard dark. Then I’ll get out your rifle and show you how to shoot it.”
“Good,” she responded. “I was going to ask you if it wasn’t about time you taught me to shoot a gun.” It was her opinion that she had already waited far past the time when she should have developed that skill. Since venturing from Fort Collins, she had known nothing but attacks from every quarter, and she was tired of being dependent upon Cam for all of her and her daughters’ protection.
• • •
As soon as they were out of sight of the camp by the creek, the two outlaws had pulled up to decide what to do since their plan had been foiled. “That son of a bitch was bluffin’,” Leach said. “I know he was. There weren’t nobody behind us in those trees. I know damn well they didn’t hear us until I said somethin’. Where the hell was them two kids?”
“Hidin’ somewhere, if he did know we were comin’. You might be right, though,” Fuller said, “but I wasn’t ready to call his bluff. He might notta been lyin’. He sure didn’t look like he was worried about us.”
“Well, his bluff mighta bought him a little more time, but that’s all it bought him,” Leach declared. “I know damn well they’re carryin’ gold in them packs, and I mean to have it. Hell, if they didn’t have somethin’ valuable, that woman and kids would most likely be ridin’ on the stagecoach.”
“We’ll get ’em,” Fuller declared. “Only next time we’d best come in shootin’. It’ll be a helluva lot easier searchin’ those packs when ever’body’s dead.”
“You’re sure right about that,” Leach said, then paused a moment. “I don’t recall as how I’ve ever shot any young’uns before.”
“Don’t make no difference to me,” Fuller was quick to assure him. “They’s just smaller targets is all. Now, the woman, we just might wanna save her till last.”
“Might at that,” Leach replied with a grin.
“What about ol’ Rafer, though?” Fuller wondered. “You s’pose that jasper was the one that killed Rafer? That would take a real stud horse to get the best of Rafer. We might wanna be extra careful.”
“Hell, he didn’t look that mean to me,” Leach said. “He probably bought Rafer’s horse and saddle from the man who did the work, and that man most likely shot Rafer in the back.”
“Well, whaddaya think we oughta do right now—crawl up the hill on the side of that notch and see if we can get a shot at ’em?”
“Might as well try it,” Leach said, “maybe split up. You go up one hill, and I’ll go up the one on the other side. One of us oughta get a clear shot. We’re gonna have to get movin’, though. It’s gonna be dark pretty damn quick.”
Agreed on their plan, they wheeled their horses and headed back toward the notch in the hills, unaware that the people they were planning to attack had already left their camp and ridden out the other end of the notch. They were gone by the time the two outlaws got in position to fire down into the camp.
• • •
The girls complained when Mary roused them out of their blankets the next morning. It was still an hour or so before sunrise and it looked to be in the middle of the night down in the ravine where they were camped. Cam had suggested that they should leave earlier than usual. His reason was unnecessary to explain to Mary, so she was alert as soon as he had gently touched her on the shoulder, on her feet, and readying herself to ride. They intended to get in the saddle immediately, not planning to stop for breakfast until watering and resting the horses. Mary got the girls ready while Cam saddled the horses. Remembering what he had suggested to Grace, he threw his saddle on the bay and let her and Emma try the dun he had been riding. When all were ready, he led them out of the ravine and started out along the base of the hills until reaching the southernmost end. Then he changed their course to a more southwest direction toward a range of mountains in the distance, barely visible in the darkness of the early morning light.
It was well over an hour before the sun made an appearance on the eastern horizon, and there had still been no sign of water. Finally, after a few miles more, the course of a small creek was spotted, outlined by the sparse bushes and infrequent trees along its banks. Horses and children were more than ready to stop and rest, and grown-ups were suffering for a cup of coffee. They found a place where a group of pines had formed a half circle around a little patch of grass, so they unloaded the horses there. While Mary and the girls went about building a fire and preparing breakfast, Cam walked seventy-five yards to a low mesa where he could take a long look back over the way they had come. There was no evidence of the two men who had been following them, but he lingered a while longer, searching the horizon, half expecting to see two tiny specks pop up at any moment. Satisfied that they were in no danger for the time it might take to rest the horses, he returned to the creek. He would check on their back trail again after he’d had some coffee. Although there was no sign of the outlaws now, he was convinced that they had not seen the last of them. He figured that he and the girls had gotten a head start, but he was not ready to believe that they had lost the two men. He knew for certain that he could follow the trail they had left, and if he could, so could they. There was nothing they could do but keep running, so that was what he planned.
Mary decided to make some pan bread, even though she didn’t have enough time to let it rise properly. It mattered little, however, for she was cooking for a hungry crowd, and the bread was received with gracious approval. It was a welcome addition to the last of the smoked venison. There was no time to be spared for Cam to go hunting for fresh meat, so she would go back into the salt pork they had packed after this. “Maybe I’ll have time to soak some of the dried beans when we stop for supper,” she said.
When they were ready to start out again, Cam made one more trip to the mesa and stood for a few minutes, studying the distant horizon. It appeared they were still clear of their pursuers, so he turned to return to the creek, only to stop suddenly when a tiny dot caught his eye. At first, he thought it was a spot of sagebrush, almost too tiny to have noticed before. But then the spot separated into two specks, and he knew he had spotted that which he had hoped not to. He watched for a minute more, to confirm that the specks were moving. There was no doubt. It was them. He estimated them to be at least an hour behind him, maybe more. It was difficult to guess with nothing but prairie between them. At any rate, there was no time to lose, so he ran back to the creek to tell Mary the news and get everyone mounted and ready to go.
As he led his little party away from the creek, he mulled over the decisions posed before him. The path they were on had been toward a range of mountains to the southwest. Knowing that sooner or later he was going to have to turn in a more souther
ly direction if they were ever going to get back on a path that would take them to Cheyenne, he had planned to turn south before reaching the mountains. Now he wondered if they should continue into those mountains in hopes of losing the outlaws, which would result in taking that much more time to get to someplace to put Mary’s gold safely away. “Damn,” he swore, not sure, but changed his direction slightly in a more southern swing anyway.
With only a general knowledge of the territory he was riding in, he was somewhat surprised when they approached a river after riding about ten more miles. It was a wide river and didn’t appear to be very deep at the point they struck it. It then occurred to him that it had to be the North Platte, and from the course they had followed, he figured they were somewhere to the west of Fort Laramie. With this much he felt fairly certain of, he figured it was time to talk it over with Mary, so he reined back until she caught up with him. He told her what he figured to be their options, but the decision was very much hers to make. “We can follow this river back east to Fort Laramie if you want to. Oughta be able to find someplace there to keep your gold safe, but nothin’ would keep these buzzards followin’ us from waitin’ around there for us to start out again.”
“We could tell the soldiers that these men have been following us, and they could arrest them,” Mary suggested.
“Maybe,” Cam replied. “I ain’t sure the army might not say they ain’t got no reason to arrest ’em, since they ain’t really done nothin’ but visit our camp.”
“Yes, but what about the fact that they’re trailing us?”
“I don’t know if they can arrest ’em for ridin’ the same trail we’re ridin’,” he answered. “And I don’t know what anybody can do about them layin’ around watchin’ us.”
“Well, what are our other options?” Mary asked, somewhat exasperated.
“For one thing, I think it’s worth a try to see if we can’t lose ’em here in the river. We need to try that no matter which direction we head in. The water close to the bank doesn’t look too deep. I think we oughta go in the water and stay in it for a mile or two before we come out. And if I had to guess what those two behind us will think, I’d say they’d figure we headed back toward Fort Laramie, so if we want a better chance of losing ’em, we oughta head the other way.”
She thought about it for a few moments before deciding. “Let’s go with your instincts, and ride in the opposite direction from Fort Laramie. I don’t want to sit around that fort like a bird with two tomcats waiting for me to come out.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. He then told Grace and Emma what they were going to do and the importance of staying behind him in the water. When they both assured him that they understood, into the water they went, staying as far from the bank as possible without forcing the horses to swim. He silently hoped he had made a fair estimate of the distance between them and the outlaws, and that there was ample time for the bottom to settle again so as not to leave any clues in the water.
After what he figured to be about a mile, he signaled them to stop while he crossed over to the other side. “Come on,” he called back over his shoulder, “ride right where I did. It ain’t too deep right here and I don’t wanna see if those horses can swim with those packs.” Once the horses were safely across, he kept them in the shallow water close to the opposite bank. Then he began looking for a place to leave the river. After another hundred yards paralleling the bank, they came to a place where it sloped down from a grassy knoll. “This looks about as good as we’re likely to find,” he told them, so he pointed the bay gelding at the spot and climbed out of the water. With the peaks of the Laramie Mountains on the right, they started out again, holding close to foothills dotted with pine and cedar and odd outcroppings of rock. They rode for over an hour before coming upon a small stream, where they stopped to eat and rest the horses.
After their belated midday meal, Mary walked over and sat down beside Cam while the girls played by the water. “Do you think we’ve lost them?” she asked.
The serious expression on her face told him of her concern. He felt that she deserved his unpolished opinion of their circumstances. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But I reckon we’ll find out soon enough. It looked to me like they were gainin’ ground on us. Maybe we’ll lose ’em here at the river. I sure hope so, but if we don’t, then I reckon we’re gonna have to stand and fight before it’s over with. And I don’t know how desperate these men are, whether they’re just set on robbin’ us, or if they mean to leave no witnesses. This is sure as hell not my line of work. I know horses and cattle, and that’s about it, but I’ll do my best to try to protect you and the girls. That’s all I can promise you.”
She nodded slowly, thinking how grateful she was that he had shown up in her life. She hoped with all her heart that they could somehow avoid having to take a defensive stand somewhere out there in the rugged hills where there would be no one to know if she and her two daughters were brutally murdered. There would not even be anyone to care enough to look for them. She then turned her thoughts to Cam again. “I know you will protect us, Cam, and I guess I haven’t told you enough how much I appreciate it. You could have left us at any time, even taken the gold for yourself, and I couldn’t stop you. So thank you for your loyalty. I certainly plan to repay you if we find our way safely back to Fort Collins.”
“Well, you’re welcome, I guess,” he replied, somewhat surprised that she had harbored thoughts that he could have run off with her gold and left them stranded. “The only pay I’m lookin’ for is that forty dollars we agreed on, and the only way I figure to collect on that is if I get you and your gold to Fort Collins.”
My God, she thought, is there that much honesty in any man? She couldn’t help wondering if his demands might change when they were all safely in Colorado. As soon as she thought it, she wanted to bite her tongue for thinking it.
They pushed on, extending their time in the saddle until Cam thought the horses had traveled enough for the day. The time coincided with their arrival at the North Laramie River. Thinking the spot too much in the open for his liking, for there were no trees along the stretch of river they had reached, he looked toward the hills to the west. “We’ll push ’em a little bit farther,” he said, “follow the river back up there where it comes outta that pass. We’ll be better off makin’ camp there, where there are some trees and rocks to hide us.”
• • •
“Hell, they musta gone the other way,” Leach called out to his partner, who was searching along the other side of the North Platte. “We’ve gone at least a mile, maybe more. They woulda come outta the water by now.”
“I reckon you’re right,” Fuller called back. “I ain’t seen the first track. Maybe they ain’t thinkin’ about headin’ to Fort Laramie. You reckon they’re goin’ to old Fort Fetterman? What the hell would they wanna go there for?”
Leach wheeled his horse and started back the way he had just ridden. “No, they ain’t goin’ to Fort Fetterman,” he said. “They’re just tryin’ to lose us.”
“They must know we’re followin’ ’em.”
“I expect they must,” Leach replied. “That feller’s slick enough to know we ain’t likely to give up on that gold that easy.” He proceeded up the river, passing the point on the north bank where Cam and the girls had entered the water, his eyes never leaving the edge of the water. They had ridden almost as far as they had searched in the other direction when Fuller called out.
“Here they are,” he shouted. “I almost rode past ’em. They came out on this bank of grass, right up through these rocks.”
Leach quickly crossed over to the south side of the river to see for himself. “Yep,” he gloated, “that ol’ boy’s pretty slick, all right, but he’s gotta be slicker’n that to throw us off for very long. There better be a good load of dust in them packs, ’cause he’s puttin’ us to a helluva lot of trouble.”
Fuller, who fancied himself an expert tracker, dismounted and studied the tracks carefully. “We ain’t that far behind ’em, Leach. Look at where they stomped down the grass here. Half of it ain’t sprung back up yet.”
“Our horses ain’t in that bad a shape,” Leach decided. “We’d be smart to push ’em on past dark, catch up with them folks tonight.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Fuller replied. “They’ve been ridin’ mostly in a straight line for the last few miles.” He glanced up at a clear sky overhead. “And if there’s a moon tonight, shouldn’t be no trouble a’tall to follow ’em.”
They hesitated for only a few seconds more to follow the direction of the tracks with their eyes before starting out after them again. Both men sensed the end of the hunt and the excitement of the kill, for they felt their prey was at hand.
Chapter 8
The spot they picked for their camp seemed to offer some protection from two sides, with a gulch formed by a huge column of rocks on each side of the river. Not a wide river in the open prairie, the North Laramie was compressed even more as it was squeezed through the narrow pass. There was grass for the horses just beyond the pass and a good sheltered spot to build a fire on the narrow riverbank. It was doubtful anyone could see the camp from the lower prairie below them. The travelers were tired, so little time was wasted as Cam took care of the horses and Mary busied herself with preparing something for their supper. Since there was not a great deal of room between the river and the rocks on the side, they laid their bedrolls in a line, with Cam’s closest to the path they had ridden into the gulch. “Looks like a snug little camp, doesn’t it?” Cam commented when they finished just as Mary announced that supper was ready.
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