The high country, p.29
The High Country, page 29
“Alvarez!” Luke said, surprised. “Are you lookin’ for me?”
“Yeah, I had to come warn you. Big Mike Drum knows you’re headin’ outta here for Popo Agie River with all your goods on packhorses.”
“How did he know that?” Luke asked. “And how come you’re warnin’ me?”
“That feller that’s campin’ with you, him and his woman was at American Fur when Nate Cain was there. Nate heard ’em sayin’ you was goin’ with ’em to that Shoshone village.”
“Damn, that was unlucky,” Luke said. “Did Drum send you to warn me?”
“No, he sent me to just ride by your camp to see if you were packin’ up to leave in the mornin’. But I swear, Luke, I had to warn you. He’s lookin’ to jump you after you get outta the Rendezvous, just like Purcell tried to do.”
“Are you gonna be with him?”
“Not if there’s any way I can get out of it,” Alvarez said. “I’m planning to take off just as soon as him and Cain are gone. I know I shoulda left when you told me to. I just didn’t have the guts to do it. But I decided I was gonna let you know what they’re up to. I owe you more than that, but I reckon that’s all I can do. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. I appreciate what you’ve done to warn me. You’ve given me a chance to protect myself, my wife, and my friends.”
“I surely hope you can somehow keep them from findin’ you,” Alvarez said.
“Thanks for tellin’ me this, and I hope you can manage to get away from those two and get yourself to a better way of life,” Luke said, wanting to inspire him but finding it difficult to think of the right words. Instead he said, “Good luck to ya.”
“Good luck to you, too,” Alvarez said, then wheeled his horse and left.
Luke remained standing there for a little while until Alvarez was completely out of sight. He was extremely fortunate to have a warning of an attempt of his life, but what could he do about it? The first thought was to go to Drum and Cain’s camp and settle the issue here and now. At least, that would remove Willow, Carrie, and Lester from harm’s way. But he hadn’t thought to ask Alvarez where they were camped. There was also the feeling that he and most of the trappers, hunters, and Indians held that the Rendezvous was safe ground. He was not happy to have to go and report this latest news to his wife and friends. All three would look to him to handle the problem.
When he went back to the fire, Lester asked who the man on the horse was, and Luke told the three of them what the situation was. As he expected, they were immediately alarmed. “At least, we’ve been warned about it,” he said. “So the question is, how bad do you want to go? Bad enough to risk your neck on the way? If not, then I reckon we’re just gonna let them force us to stay until the whole Rendezvous shuts down, and we’ll have to take our chances with them then. You and Carrie could go by yourselves, and Willow and I could stay here. I’m the one they’re after, so you two shouldn’t be in any trouble.”
“Well, that ain’t gonna happen,” Lester said. “We can’t run off and leave you and Willow to face them two. Besides, we’d have your packhorses.” He paused to scratch his chin whiskers. “I thought there was somethin’ I didn’t like about that jasper’s looks when me and Carrie was talkin’ to Mr. Johnson at American Fur.” He looked at Carrie and asked, “Didn’t it seem to you like he was mighty interested in hearin’ what we had to say?”
She nodded and answered, “He stay very close.”
“Well, now you know what one of ’em looks like,” Luke said. “That was Nate Cain, Big Mike Drum’s partner. So what do you think you wanna do? You wanna go, or you wanna stay here?”
Lester looked at Carrie and said, “I’m gonna let you say, hon. Whaddaya think we oughta do?”
She shook her head as she thought out loud, “We shoulda gone with White Wind and his people. It’s no different than all the time after we leave Big Hole. Somebody want to kill us. I say we go and we fight, two of them, four of us. We all fight.”
Lester nodded to show he was in agreement. Luke looked at Willow then, and she nodded as well. “Looks like we’re goin’ to Popo Agie Valley,” he said, already thinking his way there. “If my memory serves me, and I’m pretty sure it does, the best way to get there from Green River is to follow Big Sandy Creek to South Pass and strike the Popo Agie River at the foot of the mountains. You remember where that Shoshone camp was, halfway between Green River and Ham’s Fork. I expect they came down Big Sandy on their way to Rendezvous. But Big Sandy flows into Green River about twelve miles or so north of where those Shoshone would rather cross Green River. So I’ll bet they took a shortcut off of Big Sandy so they’d cross the Green closer to where they were heading.”
He could tell by their expressions that he was losing them. Lester confirmed it when he asked, “I expect that might be true, but what’s that got to do with anything?”
“Well, I was thinkin’, Drum and Cain know we’re goin’ to the Shoshone village. Don’t you reckon they’ll figure we’ll follow the trail the Shoshone camp leaves behind. It oughta be an easy trail to follow, twenty-three tipis, men, women, and children, maybe some horses pullin’ a travois.”
Lester’s eyes suddenly lit up. “I see what you’re talkin’ about. You figure those two will try to ride up that trail before we do and set up an ambush somewhere on the other side of the Green River, right?”
“That’s right,” Luke replied. “So I think it would be a good idea if we rode up Ham’s Fork instead. We could take that same trail we cut over here on, with the broken wagon wheel. That oughta put us about a mile away from where Big Sandy comes into the Green. Then we’ll follow Big Sandy Creek to South Pass.”
“While them two bushwhackers are settin’ in an ambush somewhere waiting for us to come along,” Lester said. “Damn good idea.”
“You know, there’s one other thing we could try that might buy us a little more time,” Luke suggested. “We’re gonna leave here tomorrow mornin’. I could stop in some of the places where the trappers hang around and tell everybody that we’re not leavin’ till day after tomorrow. There’s a pretty good chance Drum or Cain might hear about it somewhere. I figure they’re gonna want to get up that trail ahead of us, but I hope they’ll think we ain’t goin’ till day after tomorrow. Either way, they’ll still be comin’ after us, but I’d rather have them chasin’ us, instead of hidin’ somewhere up ahead of us.”
“I would, too,” Lester said.
“I bet you would,” Carrie remarked. “You and Luke always lead. Willow and me always have to follow. Maybe we switch around. Me and Willow ride in front.”
“That’s cause Luke is our guide,” Lester said. “If we let the women lead, ain’t no tellin’ where we’d end up. Besides, you women ain’t got to worry about that. They ain’t likely to kill you women. They’ll keep you on hand for other purposes, if you ain’t got too old to remember ’em.” She reached over and tried to swat him with an apron she was holding.
They all thought that Luke’s suggestion was worth a try. Even if the message never happened to reach Cain and Drum, they would still be waiting for them somewhere along the wrong trail—unless they accidentally ran into them tomorrow morning.
Chapter 24
Luke decided he’d go right into the lion’s den on his first stop that night, so he tied Thunder’s reins on the same bush by the corner of the porch the last time he was at Red’s Place. He had not counted on the possibility that the two men he was setting the bait for would happen to be there. But there they were, sitting at their usual table with Alonzo Alvarez, who immediately looked stressed. He felt his right hand grasp for the rifle that was not there, since he had left it back at his camp. It was one of the rare times when he had seen fit to go without it. The first thought he had when Alvarez warned him that they knew he was leavin’ Rendezvous returned in a flash, to settle the bad blood between him and Drum here and now. Maybe he no longer had a choice in the matter. He had his pistol, but he wished he had his rifle, for it was still a weapon after the shot was spent. He decided to let them make their move, so he walked past their table with not a glance in their direction.
“Howdy, Luke,” Red Duncan said, greeting him cautiously. “Whiskey?” He glanced at the table near the door to see if there was any trouble about to erupt. When there was none immediately apparent, he released a breath in relief.
“How do, Red.” Luke said as casually as he could manage. “No, thanks, I just came in to see if Zeke Singleton and Ike Hopper were here. I’ll catch ’em tomorrow sometime, I reckon.”
“I heard you were leavin’ the Rendezvous,” Red said.
“I am,” Luke said loud enough for anyone in the room to hear, “but not till day after tomorrow. I’ve got some things to do here tomorrow. Yeah, I’m gonna follow that camp of Shoshone up to the Popo Agie. That fellow and his wife that came to Rendezvous with me are gonna live with her people up there. But I’ll be back after I help them carry their goods up there. I’ll see you later.” He turned away from the bar and walked back out the door, never looking at the three men seated at the first table. Once he was in the saddle and riding away from Red’s, he said to Thunder, “Well, that went well. Took care of business on my first stop.” There wasn’t any doubt that Drum and Cain had heard it from him. He was leaving until the day after tomorrow. And if they don’t run into the two of them when they leave in the morning, they’ll have a nice head start.
When he returned to his camp, the packing was well underway, and with his help, they were sure they would be ready to load the horses early in the morning. Luke reported the success of his visit to Red’s and said that he felt sure Drum got the message, because he didn’t bother to grumble aloud about poor Jake Purcell.
* * *
They set out early the next morning while most of the Rendezvous was still sleeping. With Luke leading, the long train of heavily loaded horses started north up the trail beside Ham’s Fork. Both the men had three packhorses on a lead rope, and the two women each led two packhorses. They reached the road to the west that would take them to the Green River trail and continued on it until reaching the stream where they had stopped to rest the horses before. They stopped there to rest the horses as well as to have breakfast. Then they pushed on from there until they reached the Green River, where they turned back south again. After going a little over a mile, they arrived at the confluence of Big Sandy Creek and Green River. The crossing of the Green River was not a simple one. The river was deep and the current was strong. Luke and Lester made it across first and then both of them helped the women across, one at a time, using their horses to pull the struggling packhorses out of the current. They camped that first night about five miles up Big Sandy Creek, a creek that resembled a small river. Two exhausted women roasted smoked venison that miraculously escaped drowning while the men took care of the horses.
They built a fire big enough to cook the meat and also large enough to dry their wet clothing. “I wonder if the crossing south of here, where the Shoshone crossed over that river is as bad as this one where we crossed,” Lester remarked.
“If I remember correctly, it ain’t quite as bad, but it ain’t easy,” Luke answered.
“I hope those two men who want to kill us drown when they try to cross it,” Carrie said.
“If everything goes like we want it to, they’ll be gittin’ up early in the mornin’ to go follow that Shoshone trail to the river,” Lester said. “They’ll be crossin’ the Green early in the mornin’. That river’s gonna feel mighty cold, let me tell you.”
“We oughta have a pretty good lead on ’em tomorrow, by the time they get tired of waitin’ for us to show up to their little ambush,” Luke said. “How big a lead we’ve got is gonna depend on what they decide to do when they finally figure out we ain’t comin’. I hope they go all the way back to our camp to see if we’re still there. Then we’d find out how bad they really wanted to ambush us.” He was reluctant to tell them of his greatest concern about Drum and Cain’s determination to catch up with them: the country they would be traveling across. As soon as they left the Green River, the land became a flat landscape of nothing but prairie and sagebrush for as far as the eye could see. Following Big Sandy Creek, there was water, however, with occasional clumps of willow trees until they crossed South Pass and struck a good-size creek, called Pacific Creek for some reason. The land improved once you were past the foot of the Wind River Mountains and struck the Popo Agie River, where Yellow Moon’s village was located. It was the part of their trail that crossed South Pass that concerned Luke, for it was going to be difficult to find protective cover if Drum and Cain caught up to them. In the morning, when they set out again, he intended to push them a little harder than he normally did.
He had them all up out of their blankets a little earlier than usual and told them they needed to make twenty miles a day if they were going to keep their pursuers from catching them. Willow could read the concern in his eyes, and she knew he felt the responsibility for their safety. For he was the source of Big Mike Drum’s desire to hunt them. She feared that he would go on the offensive if he thought they might be getting too close and risk giving up his life to stop their pursuit.
* * *
Back at the Rendezvous the next day, Big Mike Drum and Nate Cain were up earlier than their normal time. In fact, it was still in the middle of the night for everyone else in the Green River Valley. Drum was convinced that Ransom and his little party would be starting out just before sunup and he was taking no chance on letting them get ahead of him. He preferred an ambush to chasing Luke. So much of the country between Green River and the Popo Agie was flat prairie, sagebrush, and tumbleweeds. He would be seen chasing them from a great distance, so he would have to wait until dark to catch up to them. That’s why he was anxious to get ahead of them. He would find just the right spot, then just sit back and wait for them to come to him. “Let’s go!” He barked and gave Alvarez a kick with the toe of his boot. “Get out of that damn blanket, and get ready to ride, you lazy Mexican.”
“I swear, Mike, I ain’t had no sleep,” Alvarez protested. “And it’s the middle of the night. Nobody’s up this time of night.”
“If you’re gonna ride with me, you better drag your no-good butt outta that blanket before I shoot your sorry behind.”
“Leave him be, Drum,” Nate said. “It’s gittin’ late, and he ain’t much use, anyway. And whatever those people have, we’ll just split two ways.”
“Yeah, I reckon you’re right,” Drum said, and gave Alvarez another kick with his boot. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d best not be here when we come back.”
Alvarez didn’t reply, still faking sleepiness until they climbed on their horses. Only then did he release the pistol he was holding under his blanket. “Sí, Señor Drum,” he said sarcastically, “This Mexican won’t be here when you get back—if you get back.”
Drum and Cain rode directly to the spot where the Shoshones had camped, and as they expected, even in the darkness, the trail left by the Indians’ exit was easy to follow. “Just like I figured,” Drum said, “they headed straight west to cross the Green River. And then they’ll head back a little more north till they strike Big Sandy Creek.”
When they got to the river, it was obvious that the Indians had driven straight across, but they rode up and down the river in search of a crossing that might be a little easier. There was none to be found, and when Drum worried that they were wasting too much time, they committed to the deep crossing and the wet clothes that resulted. Cursing their wet clothes, they picked up the obvious trail again and followed it until it crossed a small stream that provided cover in the form of some trees and bushes. “This’ll do,” Drum announced and dismounted. He and Cain led their horses over behind a clump of bushes and tied them there. “We’ll just set here and wait for Mr. Luke Ransom and his party.”
“It’d sure help if we built a fire and maybe dried our clothes a little bit,” Cain suggested, but Drum told him they couldn’t chance having Ransom see the fire. So they sat shivering, waiting for the sun to come up and discussing the best way to handle the horses and supplies they were about to gain. They were confident that there would be no questions about the disappearance of Ransom and his friends because everybody would know they rode off to join the Shoshone village. They were smart when they made their ambush outside the Rendezvous.
* * *
Approximately fifteen miles northeast of where Drum would soon set up his ambush, Luke led the packhorse train along Big Sandy Creek as the prairie awakened to the first rays of the morning sun. The pace he had set and maintained ever since they started that morning was a fast walk. He hoped it would help to lengthen their lead on Drum, although he imagined Drum would not be sparing his horses once he was on to their early departure. Judging the packhorses behind him, he thought they were holding up well enough. He decided to push them on a little farther before stopping to rest them and cook some breakfast.
After about three miles farther, he saw a clump of willow trees up ahead and figured they might not find another as good anytime soon. The creek was wide there, with a nice grassy area on both sides. “I thought you forgot we ain’t et breakfast yet,” Lester remarked, when he pulled his horses up beside Luke. “My belly thought my throat had been cut.”
“I figured you were enjoyin’ the ride up the creek so much so, you hadn’t thought about eatin’,” Luke replied. “After we take care of the horses, I’ll chop one of those smaller willows down for a good fire.” They went to take care of the packhorses, but Carrie didn’t wait. She got her hand axe and chopped a little tree down, then chopped it into lengths for a fire hot enough to cook meat. While the women were preparing breakfast, Luke walked back a short distance and stood there a while, peering at their back trail. He didn’t expect to see anyone, because they had not yet come to the place where the Shoshone camp struck Big Sandy. That would be the trail Drum would be following, unless he followed their real trail up Ham’s Fork. So that’s why he peered back behind them. He turned then when Willow called to tell him the coffee was ready.
