Her fingers flexed around the barrel of her father’s rifle. “I know we’re guarding the wagons and livestock.” That much was obvious even to her. “But what exactly are we guarding against?” She hoped the darkness hid the flush that heated her cheeks at voicing a question that so starkly revealed her ignorance.
“Coyotes and other critters. They might go after the smaller animals, or search for scraps of food around the campfires. Also, sounds travel far out here, and any sudden noise could spook the livestock and make them bolt. If they do, someone needs to be close by to round up the animals before they get too far.” He tilted his head back and glanced overhead. “The sky looks clear tonight, but a sudden thunderstorm could cause a stampede if we’re caught unawares. Trouble’s more easily averted when you see it coming.”
She fiddled with the bottom button on her father’s coat. “Just out of curiosity, in any of those letters did Rebecca’s sister write about a catastrophe befalling the group because somebody performed poorly during guard duty?”
Josiah turned his head, his gaze coming to rest on her again. “She didn’t mention it. Are you worried something like that might happen?”
Her hand curled into a fist, and the button she’d forgotten she was clenching popped off. She hastily stuffed it into her coat pocket. “Well, it’s possible, isn’t it?”
“I suppose. But don’t brood overmuch about it. As long as we keep our eyes open, it’s a simple enough job. Most nights the most difficult task you’ll face is ensuring you don’t nod off.” Josiah’s teeth flashed white in the darkness. “But talking helps with that. Plus, wild animals are more likely to keep their distance if they hear voices.”
“That’s good to know.”
A few hours later, Mattie turned up her coat collar to ward off the chill in the air and tucked her chin beneath the heavy material. Scanning the darkened landscape, she kept a lookout for any signs of trouble. All was quiet in the camp as the crescent moon tracked across the sky toward midnight.
Once again, she glanced toward the covered wagon where Adela slumbered. At least, Mattie prayed her sister wasn’t lying awake, too scared to sleep. The younger girl had begged not to be left alone. But there wasn’t any other choice. Every able-bodied man was expected to take a turn at guard duty. And that included “Matt.” But Mattie had departed with the promise that she would watch over Adela from her guard post.
Suddenly catching movement at the edge of her field of vision, she shifted her gaze. A shadow detached itself from the others near the livestock enclosures. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She didn’t want to seem an alarmist, spooking at harmless shadows.
But her gut told her she wasn’t wrong. “I think there’s someone down by the horses.”
Josiah focused his attention where she’d indicated. “I see him. No, wait, there are two of them.”
Though her eyes strained for a better view, it was impossible. “I can’t make out who they are. But what reason would anyone have for being near the horses in the middle of the night?”
“No good reason that I can think of. Let’s go check it out.” He pushed to his feet. “We’ll approach them quietly until we get close enough to identify them. Best to be cautious when we don’t know the lay of the land. If they’re strangers up to no good, I can guarantee they’re armed.”
Panic spread through Mattie at his words, but she fought against it. Others were counting on her to do a job. Innocent people, sleeping blissfully unaware of any trouble that might be visited upon them. And if Mattie couldn’t handle it, then Adela was correct that they should never have begun this journey after their father was gone.
Mattie refused to accept her decision was a mistake. It couldn’t be. Not when any other choice would have placed her and her sister in a worse situation.
This moment was one of many tests she would face. But she had faith that the Lord would help her through it. And all the others to come.
With that conviction shoring up her shaky courage, she followed Josiah’s lead and started down the hill.
She cradled her father’s rifle gingerly in her arms, praying she wouldn’t need to use it. She’d never fired any type of gun in her life. She had only brought the rifle with her because showing up for guard duty unarmed would have raised questions. But she was more likely to shoot herself in the foot by accident than anything else.
Best not to think about that—though the thoughts which then rushed in to fill her mind weren’t any more comforting.
There was nowhere to hide on the vast open prairie, no convenient boulders or shrubs to offer concealment, as she and Josiah worked their way toward the livestock enclosure. All it would take was one of the men down below glancing in their direction, and she and Josiah could find themselves in the middle of a gunfight.
Her mouth ran dry and her heart pounded behind her ribs. Please, Lord, let there be a perfectly innocent explanation for those two men. Though their furtive movements unquestionably roused suspicion.
As she drew closer, their purpose became evident. They were tying ropes around the necks of several horses.
And she could now confirm that neither man was a member of their wagon train. “I don’t recognize them.” She kept her voice low, ensuring it carried no farther than Josiah.
“Horse thieves.” Though the words were a bare whisper, his anger clearly bled through.
“What should we do?” she questioned in a quiet murmur.
“We have the element of surprise and can use that to our advantage. We’ll—” The rest of his words were drowned out by a camp dog’s barking.
“What’s that mutt yapping about?” one of the thieves growled as he glanced around. A second later, he spotted Mattie and Josiah. “Someone’s coming!”
His partner fired a shot, the sound cracking through the still night air.
Though conscious of Josiah ducking next to her, Mattie stood frozen in place. But in the next moment, her arm was grabbed as Josiah pulled her down to the ground with him.
“Hold your fire,” he commanded. “I don’t want to risk hitting one of the horses.”
“You half-wit!” the first thief growled. “Now the whole camp knows we’re here! Let’s get out of here.” He tried to grasp the ropes.
But the loud noise of the gunshot had unnerved the horses. They danced out of reach, thwarting his efforts. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the wagon circle, where several men were emerging with lanterns in hand.
Muttering a curse, he abandoned all attempts to regain control of the skittish animals. “Forget the horses. I’m not sticking around to be caught and hanged!”
He beat a hasty retreat, his partner in crime hot on his heels.
Josiah and Mattie climbed to their feet. After quickly assessing that neither of them had been injured, Josiah moved toward his horses.
“Whoa, easy.” His tone soft and gentle, he climbed between the ropes forming the temporary enclosure.
But calming a half dozen horses at once was more than any one man could handle on his own, and Josiah’s animals were in danger of breaking through the flimsy barrier.
Here at last was a way Mattie could be useful. She had plenty of experience with horses—unlike most other aspects of trail life.
Despite her worry for the animals and Josiah, her heart felt lighter as she stepped forward to lend him a hand.
* * *
Josiah cast a sidelong glance at Matt as the boy waded into the mass of milling horseflesh. It took less than a handful of seconds to determine that this was one area where the kid could hold his own. He plainly knew how to navigate around unsettled horses.
While showing proper caution and respect for their size and strength, he displayed no signs of hesitation or unease. Though one wrong move could see him kicked or even trampled.
As Matt ad
vanced toward the head of one horse, he spoke in low, soothing tones. Fuzzy ears cocked in response. Reaching for the rope encircling the horse’s neck, he held the animal in place and stroked her side. The chestnut mare visibly calmed under his gentle ministrations.
The instinctive fear Josiah had felt over Matt’s safety vanished, and he wordlessly accepted the boy’s assistance.
More men started to arrive then, but they were clearly made wary by the other horses’ rolling eyes and stomping hooves, and none braved the space inside the makeshift corral.
“What happened?” the wagon master demanded, breathing heavily after his dash from the wagon circle. “Who fired that shot?”
Matt remained silent, leaving it to Josiah to explain. He did so in a few succinct words and jerked his head toward the two retreating figures, now barely discernible in the darkness.
“Will they come back and try again?” nineteen-year-old Frank Malone asked, as he watched the would-be thieves hightailing it across the prairie.
“It’s unlikely,” Jed Smith volunteered. “They’d be fools to try anything else tonight, with the entire camp on alert.”
Frank’s younger brother, Cody, cleared his throat, his blond peach fuzz gleaming in the lantern light. “Shouldn’t we go after them? Form a posse or something?”
“There’s no need,” Elias countered. “They didn’t take any of the horses. Besides, they have too much of a head start, and tracking is near impossible at night.”
Several men voiced their agreement.
Miles Carpenter moved closer to the rope fence encircling the horses. “Good work running off those thieves, Josiah.”
“I didn’t do it alone. Matt had a hand in it. In fact, he’s the one who first spotted them.” He flicked a quick glance toward Miles.
The news plainly caught the wagon master by surprise, but he quickly recovered. “Job well done, Matt.”
The kid was practically hidden behind the large bulk of one horse. Almost as if he would’ve preferred that no one took any notice of him.
He kept his head down as he replied, “Thanks.”
Miles held his lantern aloft to read the face of his pocket watch. “It’s almost midnight. Since you men assigned to the second watch are already here, we may as well change the guards now.” No one uttered a protest, and he continued, raising his voice to be heard by the small crowd that had gathered. “The rest of you folks head on back to the wagons and get some sleep.”
The group dispersed and soon only Josiah and Matt remained, still tending to the horses.
Josiah removed a hastily tied rope from around one horse’s neck. “I’m grateful to you for spotting the thieves when you did, Matt. If not for your vigilance, they might have succeeded in stealing the horses before we could stop them.” And that would have meant his livelihood. All his plans for starting a ranch in Oregon Country hinged on these horses. He patted the neck of the closest one. “Then you helped keep the animals from bolting. That puts me in your debt twice over.”
The kid’s back remained turned toward Josiah as he answered. “You’ve helped me a time or two. So, why don’t we call it even?”
“Fair enough.” Judging the horses sufficiently calmed, Josiah exited the enclosure, but moved no farther. “You should head back to the wagon circle.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“No. I’m going to bed down here for what’s left of the night.” This patch of dirt was just as comfortable as the spot where he’d intended to sleep near the covered wagons.
“Do you expect more trouble?” Though darkness masked Matt’s expression, a hint of worry sounded in his voice.
Josiah shook his head. “But I’ll rest easier if I stay close.”
“Well, then, good night.”
“See you in the morning,” Josiah returned.
The boy’s nod seemed stiff as he walked away.
Watching his retreating back, Josiah contemplated the puzzle that was Matt Prescott. Just when he thought he had the kid figured out, Matt did something to surprise him.
But perhaps the boy’s expertise with horses wasn’t so unexpected. After all, back in Tennessee Josiah had encountered his fair share of well-to-do gentlemen who were accomplished horsemen, though sadly inept in other respects.
Several of them had been willfully ignorant besides, with no desire to learn. That didn’t appear to be the case with Matt, however. Was it because he had no alternative but to adapt to a different life than the one he’d been raised to lead?
What was his story? The kid was strangely close-mouthed about himself.
Leaving Josiah to draw his own conclusions. How close those were to the actual truth, he could only guess.
Chapter Four
The wind gusted across the prairie as Mattie staked the oxen out at the chosen night campsite more than a week later. Clapping a hand to her hat, she jammed it farther down on her head to prevent it blowing away.
Once the oxen were settled, she started back toward the wagon circle, passing the horse enclosure on her way. One mare stepped forward, her head stretched over the rope fence, seeking attention.
Josiah had ridden out on one of his other horses, as was his habit after the group made camp. He spent a good bit of time each day working with the green-broke horses on a rotating basis, furthering their training.
Mattie paused to stroke the mare’s soft nose, then saw the horse was favoring one leg, not putting any weight on it. She couldn’t see Josiah ignoring something like this—he cared too much about his animals to ever neglect one of them. The problem must have escaped his notice before he departed.
While she could wait and bring it to his attention upon his return, she could just as easily take a look at it herself.
Despite her words to Josiah several days ago, she didn’t consider them even. She’d simply spotted the thieves a few moments before they would have caught Josiah’s eye anyway. The balance was still tipped against her, and the fact that she owed him made her leery. A debt could be used to ruin a person, as she’d learned back in Saint Louis.
She never again wanted to be trapped in a position where she was beholden to anyone for anything. And seeing to Josiah’s horse right now would help serve as repayment, at least in part.
Her decision made, she ducked under the rope and moved to the mare’s side. Running a hand down the leg, Mattie didn’t find any signs of injury and lifted the hoof to examine it.
She discovered a rock lodged in the underside and worked to remove it. “You poor baby. Little wonder you didn’t want to stand on this hoof.”
Once the stone popped free, she released the mare’s hoof and straightened. The sound of approaching hoofbeats reached her ears, and she turned to see Josiah atop his mount.
Reining to a stop, he slid to the ground and stared at Mattie’s position inside the fence with his horses.
She shifted nervously under his regard and rushed to explain. “I was just removing this rock from her hoof.” She kicked the offending object out of the corral.
“I know. I saw what you were doing.”
Her palms grew moist, and she wiped them against her pant legs. “Then why are you looking at me as if I’m an undiscovered species of bug you’ve pinned to a board in order to study?”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a crooked smile. “Perhaps you are a previously unknown species, at that. You’re certainly not what I expected.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, then wondered whether she truly wanted to hear his unvarnished opinion of her—or rather him? Was she prepared for whatever Josiah might say? Probably not. But it was too late for her to call back the question.
“Well, it’s been my experience that most high-society gents leave the dirty work to others. Take Hardwick, for example. While he’s arguably a competent rider
, I have yet to witness him caring for his own mount. Odds are, he’s never even considered removing a rock from a horse’s hoof, beyond ordering someone else to see to it. But you? You plainly have the know-how. I find that rather unusual.”
If he thought it unexpected in a male, he wouldn’t imagine for even an instant that a gently bred lady possessed such skills. Thus, she could be relatively certain he would never deduce her true identify. That was a relief. But he still seemed to be waiting for an explanation, and she had no idea what to say.
She supposed she could have told him that after her mother’s passing the stables had become her refuge when she needed to escape the oppressive atmosphere of mourning inside the house. Surrounded by the horses, she’d found a measure of peace. And the long hours spent in the barn meant she knew the grooms’ and stable hands’ jobs almost as well as they did.
But she only said, “A little work’s never bothered me. I like knowing I can take care of myself without the need for servants. It’s a sorry state of events when a body can’t even get dressed without assistance.”
Josiah cocked his head to the side. “You’re full of surprises, kid.”
He had no idea just how true his words were. And that’s the way it had to stay.
“Well, I’d better get back to Adela now.” She exited the enclosure and started toward the wagons, then abruptly turned back. “It’s probably a good idea to keep an eye on that hoof tonight, check that the rock didn’t do any damage that might be exacerbated by further travel.”
“I’ll do that.”
Nodding once, she spun on her heels and walked away.
As she neared the wagon circle, the wind picked up, flapping the canvas bonnet material of the wagons against the arched wooden supports. Flames from the campfires leaped higher. Dirt flew into her eyes, making them water, and the cold air stung her exposed cheeks.
Wed on the Wagon Train Page 5