The entire time had been one of great fun for Bright Feather, and she cherished the time she was spending with the women who someday she hoped would officially become family to her. Still, she had a longing to see Dutch and the moment had come where she had pulled Cattie aside and said she was going to ride out and meet up with Dutch who should be on his way back by now. Catalina had long ago become her best friend. She saw the younger woman's mouth part slightly as if she was going to say something, but instead, she had just smiled and said she would see her later once she rode back with Dutch.
Now as each stride drew her closer to the gap between the two mountains her eyes caught sight of where the old train tracks flowed down off the mountain. Also visible was a cluster of structures on one side of the tracks that she was familiar with from earlier. As she drew near them her thoughts focused on what Catalina had left unspoken before she had set out.
Lijuan won’t like it.
Bright Feather, however, didn't give a damn. She had tried, really tried to befriend Dutch's Asian sister. However, from the very day they had become reacquainted with each other upon her return from her travels wandering the southwest on her quest to learn as many languages amongst the various Indians that she could, Lijuan seemed to have it in for her.
Through her contact with the Wildes, because of the fact they shared a brother in Blue River, she had known them for a long time. However, many years had passed while she had been away. Things had been different when she returned. The friendship she had known with Dutch when they were all teenagers had given away to a burning love. Their relationship had been the primary difference from the time when she had known the Wildes before and in the present, and for reasons she could not fathom, Lijuan seemed to resent her for it.
It made no sense to her at all. Dutch had lost someone that had meant everything to him, she had known, but when they had found each other after the gulf of years he had been not only able to love again but to love her more than any other woman he had ever known, as he so often had told her. It had humbled her knowing his losing the woman he had loved had been horrifically painful to him and yet she had managed to capture his broken heart. Lijuan Wilde should have been happy that there was someone in her brother’s life that would allow him to love again.
Instead, the woman never failed to look askance at her or throw in little jabs whenever she could. It was a hopeless situation because Dutch continued appear to be oblivious to it when the rest of the family easily had picked up on it. In her heart, she knew he couldn't be completely oblivious, but she understood that if she called him out on it he would have to take sides against his beloved sister. Bright Feather was familiar with the story how Dutch had prided himself in being a big brother, at last, having been the little brother to Cassie, when Lijuan had been introduced to the family, and the pair had grown up with an unshakable bond.
Trying to put Lijuan out of her mind, she guided White Lightning towards the largest of the structures she had now arrived at … the water tower. Hours earlier they had stopped at it when they had been on their way to Stanton's Gap. Along the edge of the tracks and between a nearby ravine sat the large, round, wooden water tower rising above the ground on four sturdy wooden beams. Its circumference had been wrapped with two bands of chains to give it additional support. Next to it was a windmill with scaffolding surrounding it, and most curiously, they could see the remnants of a previous windmill shattered on the ground along the edge of a ravine. There was also a small workman’s shack next to a mechanical switching arm, but it had been the destroyed windmill that had really captured the group’s attention.
As the sisters had approached, they had also encountered a group of six horsemen just mounting up. Cassandra asked if they might spare some water for the horses to drink from. The leader of the men had been more than happy to accommodate the cadre of four such beautiful and exotic women. Bright Feather and Cassandra’s horses had gone first, and then the team pulling Honor Elizabeth’s carriage would go next.
Honor had elected to drive her carriage to the Founder’s Day rather than riding by horseback because she had donned one of her most expensive and fancy dresses intending to make a splash at the Founder’s Day. Catalina, of course, couldn’t help humorously pointing out just showing up as the mixed-race sisters that they were was always enough to draw attention their way, but Honor was not to be deterred. Since Honor had been resolute, Catalina had elected to leave her horse Pretty Feet at the Cedar Ledge stables and ride along next to Honor Elizabeth to keep her company.
At the water tower, the two groups had chatted and flirted amiably, save for Bright Feather whose heart belonged to one man and one man only. Through their conversations, they had learned they were a work crew from the Grand Western and they were taking a break from their labors at constructing a new windmill and were heading to the celebration.
When Cassandra had inquired as to how the old one had wound up as so much scrap, the foreman of the work crew told her a couple months back a hellacious windstorm had swept through the nearby gap and toppled it. With pride, he had said the job had gone well, and they would be finishing ahead of schedule. They had already reconnected the new windmill to resume powering the mechanical pumps that drew water up from a small stream that ran in the ravine behind the water tower.
The only thing remaining for them to do he had said was attach a fourth guy wire of thick cabling to the windmills. The women had watched as he pointed to three thick strands that ran from the top of the structure to where they had been securely anchored in the ground with some type of mortar. He had said the railroad was taking no chances when it came to the possibility of the new one being toppled. The high strength, heavy-duty cables would see to that.
Cassandra had to nearly pull Honor Elizabeth away from a burly looking man with a handsomely chiseled face who was clearly enjoying her company as he plied her with different facts about the railroad. He was just telling her how every hundred miles they had water towers stationed along the route, and in a few locations, coaling towers as well.
Bright Feather knew that Honor Elizabeth was the most learned of her brother’s other family. Though on the surface she could appear flighty at times with her love of fashion, a bright and inquisitive mind lay underneath those curls. On this day, however, Bright Feather had amused herself at the thought it probably wasn’t Honor’s inquisitiveness keeping the beautiful mulatto engaged in animated conversation, but rather the man’s broad shoulders and dashing good looks.
When the group pulled away from the water tower at last ready to make the final leg of the journey to Stanton's Gap, Bright Feather could clearly see in the distance across the plain where the rail bed was pointing that the men had happily ridden along with them. Once in town, the men had proved fickle, tempted away by the influx of soiled doves hired by various madams to make a killing during the celebration. Dutch and Blue River's sisters had hardly noticed as, just as Catalina had said, they were attracting plenty of attention, especially by the men as they went about enjoying the celebration. It was as Dutch had said to her many times, the sheer beauty of his sisters rendered most men color blind if they thought they might have a chance with one of the four beauties.
Now once more at the water tower, she stopped her mustang so her nose was under the still-dripping waterspout normally used to refresh the boilers of the trains that plied this route. As White Lightning lapped up the water, idly she looked at the construction shack and the railroad switch, having barely paid much attention to them earlier. A large metallic switching lever jutted up from the sand along the edge of the track in the shadow of the workman’s shed. Most of the rusty switching mechanism lay buried in the sand. It appeared to her it was seldom used, if at all. Satisfied that White Lightning had her fill, she coaxed the horse into a gallop and headed for the gap. She couldn’t wait to see Dutch again, even if it meant being saddled with the troublesome Lijuan.
As her horse plunged through the gap itself, she fought to quell her f
rustrations over the situation. This was supposed to be a happy time for her and Dutch. In a few nights, there was to be a celebration in her honor. She appreciated the honor that was to be bestowed upon her, but what it truly meant to her was that she was being rewarded for what she had done since being teamed up with the man that she loved. Through their adventures together working from Fort McCallister, they had formed an even deeper and truer bond, and she didn't wish to let thoughts of Lijuan's strange antagonism ruin the happy time for her.
Bright Feather was jolted from her thoughts as her horse suddenly whinnied when a winged creature burst from the rock wall to the right of the railroad tracks. She laughed as her heart returned to normal after she, too, had been frightened by it. As she swept past, she saw there was a crevasse slightly wider than a horse that tapered into a V-shape before terminating where a cluster of assorted twigs and branches massed on a rocky ledge telling her she was looking at an eagle’s nest.
A few yards later looking up to her right, high up she saw the old and now unused trestle as it bridged a gap where the railroad used to travel along the mountainside. Though in a hurry, she jerked White Lightning to a stop and slipped off her mount to stare up at the structure. She didn’t scare easily, but she couldn’t imagine what it would have been like being a passenger on a train making its way along such a sheer drop. Squinting her eyes, she looked it over. Jagged rocks prevented her from seeing all the way to the base of the structure, but just before the timbers became hidden behind the rocks, the beams holding it up looked almost blackened and pitted.
The young woman had no time to ruminate on the matter when suddenly the ground began to tremble underneath her. White Lightning whinnied in terror at the sudden turn of events. Swaying back and forth she sought to keep her footing when over the low rumble she began to hear another sound, one anyone in the Southwest would recognize instantly. The bellowing of cattle. Bright Feather had been looking back down the gap the way she had come but at this new noise, she spun around. With her heart racing to the point where she felt it would explode she watched as the vanguard of what could be dozens or even hundreds of cattle were charging in her direction.
Her muscular and well-honed legs coiled up and she leaped back onto White Lightning and jerked on the leather straps turning him around, but it was almost unnecessary as the horse had a survival instinct of its own. Bright Feather didn’t even need to dig in with her heels or whip the reins as her mount bolted in retreat.
Galloping away, she looked back over her shoulder at the mass of livestock thundering their way forward, shoulder to shoulder, snorting and roaring all at the same time. As she swept by the crevasse now on her left side, her throat ran dry as she knew they would never make it out of the gap before they were trampled to death. Traveling alone those seven years across the lands she had had more than one close call and she had always managed to survive through her wits, grit, and ingenuity. It was time for that again as she did the near unthinkable and turned the protesting White Lightning back towards the coming onslaught.
Now she was whipping the reins with all her might, mashing her feet into his side, and urging the terrified horse forward, as the wall of cattle became larger and larger. It was going to be so close, if she didn’t make it, what was left of her for others to find would not be a pretty sight. Shuddering, she reached back with her right hand and slapped the steed’s hindquarters with all her might. With a final burst of speed, the horse shot forward and she jerked the reins to the right and the pair disappeared into the narrow confines of the eagle’s cleft.
Gulping down deep breaths of air, her eyes widening saucer-like as sweat trickled down her forehead, she looked back over her shoulder as the thundering noise transformed into the sound of hundreds of individual hoof beats as the herd surged past their narrow refuge. For what seemed like time out of mind they passed by. Heads snapping back and forth, guttural sounds coming from deep within them and finally the last of them vanished from her view.
Cautiously for fear of any stragglers, she remained astride White Lightning watching when more hoof beats followed, but they were few in number. Six mounted cowmen thundered past her hiding place, never having seen her, their shouts echoed away in their mad pursuit of the herd. Now satisfied that was it, she began to back her animal out of the fissure and watched as the mass moved further down the canyon, the gap between them and pursuing cowboys appeared to be widening. Catching up with them appeared hopeless
She swung her head around towards the now empty gap from which the stampede had come, and a new fear snatched her up in its grip. What if Dutch and Lijuan, riding back from their prospecting, had been in the gap when this herd from hell had poured into it? She swallowed hard at the imagined sight of Dutch’s mangled body lying somewhere up ahead for her to discover.
Burying her fear at the thought of losing the only man she knew she would ever love again, she spurred her horse into motion. If Dutch were gone, remaining motionless in panic would not change anything. She had to know. For several long minutes she continued towards the other end of the gap, relief sweeping over her more and more as she saw no signs of a pair of mangled bodies and their mounts.
Suddenly near the end of the gap, a sight came into view that made her head jerk backward in surprise. A train was stopped a short way inside the gap and men were running about in front of it and shouting and in the center of it all, she realized with a smile, was Dutch.
CHAPTER 7
* * *
A few minutes earlier in what proved to be a calm before the storm, everyone had fallen silent while Lijuan had taken it upon herself to castigate the Calico Ranch’s foreman.
“Answer me! Do you know how dangerous this is to bring cattle this close to a train? Cattle that are so easily spooked? Again, why would you even be in this gap to begin with?”
Dutch listened as she interrogated the man, curious himself about the answers his sister sought, so he let her continue.
The man took his time answering as he pulled out a cigarette and struck a match to life and lit it. After he had taken a drag, he looked down at Lijuan.
“It’s like this, ma’am. We’ve had some trouble on the Calico, and we are days behind getting these here cattle to the stockyard in Stanton. Mr. McCarthy told us to make up time by cutting through the gap instead of taking the long way around.”
“Well, McCarthy would come up with a plan like that. If shit for brains made you royalty, then Ol’ Rooster would be king of Arizona!” she fumed as the corners of Dutch’s mouth curved upward, but this revelation made him issue a question of his own.
“If Rooster is in a hurry to get these Longhorns to market, how do you think he would feel about you stopping the drive to clear the tracks?”
Cauley shifted his attention away from the glowering petite woman and eyed Dutch. “Now we couldn’t well say no to this railroad fellow here when he had this situation with the landslide. We felt obliged to help.”
“That and the gold eagle he promised each of you!” Lijuan mumbled as she crossed her arms.
With the cigarette lodged between his fingers of one hand, Cauley used the other to take his hat off and lay it on his chest. “Ma’am, I got me a wife that done ran out on me and took my kids all the way across this great land of ours. They is still my responsibility as a pappy and if I can make a little extra to send to them back east, then I’m gonna do it. And my men, they all got needs of their own to meet, and let’s just say the Calico ain’t like Cedar Ledge. I done heard how well you Wildes pay your men. Indeed, I have.” He finished by placing his hat back on his head and flicking his cigarette away.
When the man had mentioned the wife that had forsaken him and his children that may as well be a whole world away, Dutch had caught the subtle softening of Lijuan’s face. She intimidated a lot of people despite her size, but he knew what a truly good heart lay within her. If only she would be good to Bright Feather. He didn’t want to ever have to choose sides but he feared the day was coming
when he would have to, and it wouldn’t end well for any of them.
"And I'm still paying you while you are standing around, while I got a carload of people that want to get to the celebration. Now get back to work. As for you folks, with all due respect, of course, this isn't any of your business."
Dutch and Lijuan exchanged a look and Lijuan spun around, but before she could unleash whatever verbal smack down was bubbling up inside her, a man and his wife came running up with Parker. The sight of the man clutching a black bag was a welcome development. It seemed there had indeed been a doctor on the train.
The tall man tossed a hurried introduction at them declaring him to be Doctor Winston Keegan and his wife Molly Jane before he dropped to his knees and began examining Farnsworth, even as Molly Jane was opening his doctor’s bag. They looked like a well-oiled team to Dutch. Perhaps she was even his nurse, he considered.
Without warning a voice he had not heard before boomed through the air, loud and slurring at the same time!
“What the heck you people doing out there? Don’t you … don’t you know we got a schedule to … a schedule to keep?”
All other concerns fell away as the group assembled near the locomotive turned in unison to see Hank Colburn in the cab, one hand on the whistle cord, and the other on the steam release lever. The head brakeman was the first to cry out, but his screams of “Nooooooooo” was instantly drowned out by Colburn’s repeated blasting the whistle and the shriek of the venting steam from the idling locomotive.
The twin sounds were quickly joined by another, the first alarmed bellowing of a steer, and then another, followed by a third until a cacophony of cries began to mushroom through the hundreds of Calico Ranch Longhorns.
Sing The Death Song: Dutch Wilde & Bright Feather Western Adventure (Half Breed Haven Book 6) Page 6
