“The man’s name was Shardeen,” Smoke replied. “Have either of you ever heard of him?”
“I haven’t,” Pearlie said, shaking his head.
“Me neither.”
“Well, if he wasn’t lying, we have to get home, and we need to get there as fast as we can.”
“Why?” Pearlie asked.
“According to Shardeen, Van Arndt is going after Sally,” Smoke answered.
There were no more questions. All Smoke needed to say to galvanize the others into action was that Sally was in danger. In an instant, the three men were mounted. Then they rode out of the canyon, having to fight hard against the impulse to break into a gallop.
Chapter Sixteen
Sally was on the porch pumping water when she saw the buckboard pull into the yard. Lucy Good-nature was driving.
“Lucy,” Sally called out to her. “What a delightful surprise.”
“Is it true?” Lucy asked.
“Is what true?”
“Is it true that Pearlie is getting back today? I saw Hodge Deckert in town and he said he had delivered a telegram to you yesterday, saying that Mr. Jensen would be back home today.”
Sally laughed. “Well, I guess it’s no secret,” she said. “Yes, Smoke is due back today.”
“And Pearlie will be with him?”
“Well, as far as I know he will be,” Sally said. “Would you like to wait here for him?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am, I would love to wait for him,” Lucy said. “That is, if you don’t mind. If I wouldn’t be in the way.”
“Of course I don’t mind. You wouldn’t be in the way at all,” Sally said. “Carlos, would you take care of Lucy’s rig? Lucy, I’m baking bear sign for when the men return. Maybe you would like to help me?”
“Oh, yes, I can’t think of anything I would rather do.” Lucy held out her hand for Carlos to help her down. “Gracias, Carlos,” she said.
Carlos touched the brim of his hat. “It is my pleasure, Señorita,” he replied.
As Lucy climbed down from the buckboard, Maria came running across the yard.
“Señorita Lucy!” Maria called. “Hola!”
“Hola, Maria,” Lucy replied.
“Do you see my new dress?” she asked, twirling around once to model the dress Sally had bought her.
“Oh, how beautiful,” Lucy said. Then, smiling at the little girl, she held up her finger and began waving it.
“Oh, wait, I shouldn’t be talking to you,” she teased.
“Why should you not talk to me?” Maria asked.
“I should not talk to you because you are my competition. I think you are Pearlie’s girlfriend.”
“No, Señorita, I am not Señor Pearlie’s girlfriend. We are just friends!” Maria said, sincere in her denial.
“Are you sure you are just friends? Do you promise that you aren’t trying to steal him from me?”
Although Lucy’s accusations were softened by a big smile, Maria was taking them seriously.
“I promise I will not try to steal Señor Pearlie from you,” Maria said, crossing her heart. “He says he wants to marry me, but I think he is teasing because he knows I am too young. I think it is you he wants to marry.”
“Do you think so?”
“Sí, I am sure of it,” Maria said.
Lucy laughed. “From your lips to God’s ear, little one,” she said.
“Maria!” Maria’s mother called. “Don’t be bothering the nice ladies.”
“I’m not bothering them, mamacita,” Maria replied. “I am just talking to them.”
“Don’t you have some chores to do?” Consuello asked.
“Sí,” Maria called back to her mother. “I must go,” she said to Lucy and Sally. Then, turning, she ran back across the yard.
“What a delightful child,” Lucy said. “I hope that someday I can have—” she paused. “Oh, I shouldn’t be so foolish,” she said.
“Nonsense,” Sally replied. “Why is it foolish to hope to someday have a child as delightful as Maria? She would bring joy to any mother’s heart.”
“Yes, she would, wouldn’t she? I believe you said there was something I could do to help you with your baking?”
“Yes, come on into the kitchen. I’m just ready to take the first batch out,” Sally told her.
Sally’s kitchen was redolent with the sweet, hot dough and cinnamon aroma of freshly made bear sign. Using several layers of cloth as a hot pad, Sally took a pan out of the oven.
“All right, Lucy, we’re ready to put the next pan in,” she said, pointing to another baking pan.
The baking pan Sally had mentioned was sitting on the table, filled with puffs of dough and liberally dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Lucy picked it up, then stepped over to the open oven.
“Which rack should I put it on?” Lucy asked. “Top, middle, or bottom?”
“The middle rack is fine.”
“I can’t thank you enough for allowing me to visit so I could be here when Pearlie returns,” Lucy said as she slid the new pan into the oven. “And I thank you also for allowing me to help you with the bear sign, even though I know I am probably more of a bother than I am a help.”
“Nonsense. Every time you have come over here you have been a big help and I have appreciated it,” Sally replied.
“I know Pearlie likes your bear sign. He has mentioned them to me.”
“Ha!” Sally said, closing the door to the oven after Lucy put the new tray in. “Is that what you think? That Pearlie likes them? Honey, like isn’t the word. Why, I do believe that man could eat every bear sign on that tray and then ask for more,” she said, laughing, as she pointed to the ones that had just been removed.
The pastries Sally pointed to had swollen much larger during the baking process and were now golden brown and glistening.
“Oh, these are so beautiful and they smell so good, I can see why Pearlie loves them so,” Lucy said as he examined the tray. “I can barely resist trying one myself.”
“Well, what makes you think you have to resist?” Sally asked. “One of the best things about being the cook is that it is sometimes necessary to taste something just to make certain it is coming out as it should. Go ahead, eat one.”
“Oh, should I?”
“Of course. One of us will have to test them out, to see how good they are. It may as well be you.”
“Well, couldn’t both of us test them?” Lucy asked.
Sally laughed. “I like the way you think,” she said as she reached for the tray.
Lucy picked one of the pastries up and took a bite, then closed her eyes and made an expression of pure joy.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, Sally, this is the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth.”
“Thank you, dear, I appreciate the compliment,” Sally replied. She took a bit. “Uhmm, I know I shouldn’t talk about my own baking, but these are particularly good.”
“No wonder Pearlie likes them.”
Finishing the pastry, Sally licked her fingers, then turned toward the stove. “I had better check the fire.” Using a lifter, she picked up one of the eyes and looked down inside at the burning embers. That was when she heard the door open behind her.
“Sally?” Lucy said. Although she spoke only one word, there was something about the strained tone of Lucy’s voice that alarmed Sally, and when Sally turned, she saw that three men had come into the kitchen. All three were holding guns.
“Keno,” she said, recognizing the cowboy who had ridden for them in the season just passed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ll just bet you thought you’d never see me again, huh?” Keno said.
“Let’s just say that it was my fervent hope that I would never see you again.”
“Ha. Next you’ll be saying that you should have kilt me back in Longmont’s saloon, when you had the chance.”
“You are right, I should have. But what can I say? We all make mistakes from time to time. Letting you live
was one of mine,” Sally said. Despite the fact that she was in obvious danger, her voice was agonizingly calm.
One of the three men who had entered the kitchen had pink eyes and skin that was as white as chalk. Sally knew about the albino named Reece Van Arndt, knew that Smoke had had a run-in with him a few years earlier, and remembered Sheriff Carson’s warning that he had been released from prison. And although Sally had never seen Van Arndt, this man certainly fit Van Arndt’s description.
“And who is this beautiful young lady?” Van Arndt asked, nodding toward Lucy.
“This here is Lucy Goodnature,” Keno said. “She’s the daughter of a neighboring rancher and, if you ask me, she is a stuck-up little bitch. Pearlie is sweet on her, and from what I can tell, she’s sweet on him.”
The man with the white skin reached over to touch Lucy, and Lucy reacted with a little gasp of fear.
“Leave the girl alone, Van Arndt,” Sally said sternly.
Van Arndt looked toward Sally in surprise, then he smiled. “Well, now, you called me by name. I see that you have heard of me.”
“Oh, yes, I have heard of you.”
“I am surprised, and I am flattered.”
“I wouldn’t be flattered if I were you. Not if you knew what I’ve heard.”
Van Arndt chuckled. “And what have you heard, my dear? Have you heard that I am a desperate outlaw?”
“No. I have heard that you are a miserable excuse of a man with less redemptive tissue than a maggot on a gut wagon,” she said.
“A maggot on a gut wagon,” Miller repeated, laughing out loud. “That’s funny. I ain’t never heard that expression before.”
“Shut up, Miller!” Van Arndt said, glaring at the third man. He turned his attention back to Sally.
“Now, now, now, Mrs. Jensen, is that any way to treat houseguests?” Van Arndt asked. He sniffed. “What is that delicious aroma? Oh, pastries, I see. Aren’t you going to serve your guests?”
“You are not my guest, Van Arndt,” Sally said. “None of you are, and I’m going to ask all of you to get out of my house now.”
Van Arndt shook his head and clucked. “Isn’t that just like a woman, givin’ orders when she’s holdin’ the short end of the stick?” Van Arndt took one of the bear sign and took a bite.
“Oh, delicious,” he said.
“Those are not for you,” Sally said resolutely.
“Now, tell me, little lady. Just how are you going to stop me?” Van Arndt asked. “Keno, take her outside and tie her up. Miller, you take the other one out.”
Taking another bite of the pastry, Van Arndt turned and left the kitchen, so that only Keno and Miller remained behind with Sally and Lucy.
Keno put his pistol in his holster, then stepped across the kitchen toward Sally.
“You know, when I look at you, I remember how you stood out on the porch and lorded over all of us at the barbeque. You were the ranch owner’s wife, I was just one of the low-life cowboys,” Keno said.
“No,” Sally said. “The cowboys were all decent men. You were just a lowlife.”
“Is that so?” Keno replied. “Well, now, Mrs. Jensen, I reckon you aren’t so high-and-mighty now, are you? Come on, you are going to take a little trip with us.”
He smiled, and when he did, the broad, ugly smile displayed a mouth full of broken and discolored teeth.
Sally waited until he was very close, then, suddenly and unexpectedly, she shoved the hot stove lid, which was still hanging from the end of the lifter she was holding, into his face.
Keno screamed and put both his hands to his face. As he did so, Sally dropped the lifter and pulled Keno’s pistol from his holster and shot the one called Miller. Miller went down and Sally ran to the door, intending to shoot Van Arndt as well, but she stopped as soon as she reached the door.
There, in the backyard of her house, were four men. All four were armed, but it wasn’t their superior numbers that stopped her. What had stopped her was the fact that Van Arndt was holding his pistol to the head of the little girl, Maria. Maria’s father and mother were standing by looking on as well, their faces reflecting their fear.
“Put the gun down, Mrs. Jensen,” Van Arndt said.
When Sally hesitated, Van Arndt cocked his pistol and pressed it harder into Maria’s head. “I said put the gun down, unless you want to see me blow this little girl’s brains out,” he repeated.
“No, don’t!” Sally shouted anxiously.
Maria whimpered in fear, but said nothing.
“Please, don’t hurt the girl,” Sally said. “She is an innocent child, she has done nothing to you.”
“This is the last time I am going to ask you. Put—the—gun—down,” Van Arndt said again, this time in slow, measured words.
Slowly and carefully, Sally put the pistol on the ground in front of her.
“Maria, don’t be frightened,” she said to the little girl. “It will be all right. Carlos, Consuela, we are all going to do exactly what they tell me to do. It will be all right. Don’t be frightened.”
“Sí, Señora,” Carlos replied. Carlos was trying to remain calm, but his voice was tight with fear.
“You bitch!” Keno shouted, running out of the house then. His face was red from the hot stove lid. “I’m going to kill you!” He started toward Sally.
“Keno, leave her be!” Van Arndt shouted. “She is no good to us dead!”
“But look at what the bitch did to me!” Keno said angrily, holding his hands up to his red and puffy face.
“That was your own fault,” Van Arndt said.
“It hurts,” Keno said.
“Go back in the kitchen, find some lard, and smear it on your face,” Van Arndt said.
Keno turned back toward the kitchen.
“And check on Miller.”
“Miller is dead,” Keno called back. “This bitch killed him.”
“No, you killed him,” Van Arndt said. “The woman wasn’t armed, you were. I gave you a simple thing to do and you wound up getting Miller killed and your face burned.”
“She—she tricked me,” Keno said.
“Uh-huh,” Van Arndt said. He looked at one of the other men. “Boswell, since Keno couldn’t do it, you tie her up. Tie the other one up, too. We’ll take both of them.”
“What the hell are we taking both of them for?” Boswell asked.
Van Arndt pointed toward Lucy. “This one will be our insurance,” he said.
“Sally!” Lucy called out in fright. Lucy was now standing out on the porch.
Boswell walked up to Sally and dropped a noose around her, then he circled the rope several times, pinning her arms to her side.
“What do you mean you will take us with you? Take us where?” Sally asked. “What do you want with us?”
“Don’t ask so many questions,” Van Arndt said. “You got a horse in the barn?” Van Arndt asked.
“Yes, of course I do.”
Van Arndt looked at Carlos. “You,” he said. “Get the woman’s horse. Saddle it, and bring it out.” He looked over at Lucy. “Get her horse, too.”
“She came over in a buckboard, Señor,” Carlos said. “She has no horse.”
“Then find her one,” Van Arndt said angrily.
“Sí, señor.”
“What do you want with us?” Sally asked again.
“What do I want with you? Right now, I want you to shut up,” Van Arndt said.
“I’ll go with you, but you don’t need Lucy. Also, let the little girl and her family go. I’ve done as you asked,” Sally said.
Van Arndt stepped up to Sally and slapped her hard. Her cheek turned red, and a little dot of blood appeared at her lips.
“You don’t listen very well, do you? You have not done what I said. I said I want you to shut up and you haven’t. Now, shut up!” Van Arndt demanded.
By now, several of the permanent ranch hands were standing around in the yard outside the house they called the Casa Grande. Having been drawn by the init
ial gunshot and the commotion, they had come from their individual quarters, or from where they had been working. The hands, all Mexican, were gathered in a little cluster in the yard behind the house. They looked on in fear and in frustration over the fact that there was nothing they could do for Sally, Lucy, or the little girl who was still being held at gunpoint.
Keno came back outside then, with his red face covered with lard. “I put the lard on it like you said, but it didn’t help none. My face still hurts,” he complained.
“Ha, ha,” Jeeter said, pointing to Keno. “Damn, I wish you could see yourself, Keno, with your face all red and shining like that. You look like shit.”
“Jeeter, see if any of these Mexes are armed,” Van Arndt said.
“If they are, you want me to take their guns?” Jeeter asked.
“No,” Van Arndt replied.
“No?”
“If you find a gun on any of them, I want you to kill him.”
Jeeter laughed, a lilting, almost insane laugh. Then he ordered the Sugarloaf ranch hands to spread out so they could be searched.
“Come on, Boswell, help me look,” he said.
Boswell, who had finished tying Sally and Lucy, walked over to join Jeeter, and the two of them checked everyone very thoroughly. Despite the thoroughness of their inspection, they did not find a weapon on anyone.
“There ain’t nobody carryin’ a gun, Van Arndt,” Jeeter said. There was the hint of an edge of disappointment in his voice. It was as if he had wanted one of them to have a gun so he could carry out Van Arndt’s order to kill him.
“All of you,” Van Arndt said, making a waving action with his pistol. “Get over there by the house. I want you to sit down in one long row.”
For just moment after Van Arndt gave his order, the employees just looked at each other, as if unsure what to do next.
“What should we do, Señora?” Juan asked. Juan was the oldest of all the Mexican employees.
Suddenly, and without warning, Van Arndt turned his pistol toward Juan and pulled the trigger. A little mist of blood flew out from the side of Juan’s head.
“No!” Sally shouted, her cry joined by the loud shouts and cries of the others.
Van Arndt’s bullet had hit Juan in his earlobe, and the old Mexican was now holding his hand to it, as he winced in pain. The ear was bleeding profusely and some of the blood was dribbling through Juan’s fingers.
Violence of the Mountain Man Page 15