Smith's Monthly #5

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  “Cora!” Harold shouted.

  Cora glanced around. Behind her the brush was thick and the hillside was only a few hundred paces through it. The walls of this very narrow valley were so steep that there was no way out. She either had to go up or down the narrow valley along the stream. Going down was the little town of Roosevelt, but that was too far to get help quickly. Besides, she couldn’t run and leave Harold with those two. He would be dead and buried before she could make the ten miles to Roosevelt and the ten miles back. And that was assuming there would even be help in Roosevelt. Harold had told her that often these boomtowns didn’t have much law.

  She had felt alone since they left Boise, and now that feeling was even more overwhelming. At this moment their lives depended on what she did next.

  She brought her rifle up past the edge of the tree, holding it steady on the rough bark of the trunk. She had Al in her sights about three steps to Harold and Danny’s right. Her only hope was to shoot Al. With luck that would startle Danny enough to give Harold a chance to escape.

  She took a deep breath, as Harold had taught her to do in his hours of making her practice firing this rifle. She had complained when they were doing it, but all he had said was, “You never know when you will need to know how to fire a rifle in the mountains. Better to be prepared than sorry.”

  How right he had been, but she had a hunch he’d been thinking more about her shooting a bear or moose than a human.

  “Cora?” Harold shouted again as Danny jammed the gun in his back.

  It was clear they weren’t going to wait much longer. They might decide to just shoot Harold and come looking for her.

  Al turned so that his chest was facing her directly on.

  The little voice in her head shouted, Don’t think, just do it!

  She fired.

  The shot was much, much louder than she had expected under the trees.

  Al spun to his right and slammed into the dirt of the trail. She couldn’t believe it!

  She had hit him!

  Harold reacted instantly, twisting to the right and smashing into Danny.

  Danny stumbled and went down as Harold turned and ran toward her.

  She cocked another shell into the chamber and fired past him, her not-so-carefully-aimed shot kicking up dust beside where Al was fighting to climb to his feet.

  Danny started to take aim at her husband’s back.

  She fired again, past Harold at Danny.

  The bullet kicked dirt up on Danny as the bullet tore into the ground beside him.

  Danny fired but missed Harold.

  She fired again, moving her aim up slightly.

  Again she missed, but not by much. The shot ripped a hole in Danny’s sleeve.

  Danny scrambled for the brush, firing wildly at Harold, but clearly missing. One bullet smashed into a branch over her head. She fired back, again sending dirt spraying up on Danny.

  Harold reached her just as Al, holding a bleeding arm, managed to stand and stagger after Danny.

  Breathless, Harold ran in behind the massive tree beside her and they hugged like it had been a year since they had seen each other. Never, in the years they had been together did Harold feel so good against her. She didn’t want to ever let go.

  He kissed her long and hard, then looked at her directly. In the five years they had been together, she had never seen Harold gaze at her with such pride and admiration. He gave her strength she didn’t even know she had.

  “Now what do we do?” she asked.

  He nodded at the meadow. “We get the horses.”

  “Why not just head for Roosevelt and get help?”

  He shook his head. “In this country, those supplies are everything. There’s no place in Roosevelt to replace them, even if we had the money.”

  They peered around the tree. She could see all seven horses were still standing in the open meadow, their supplies still in place. The gunfire hadn’t seemed to bother the horses at all.

  “You’re not going back out there?” she asked, not believing that Harold would risk his life like that.

  “I have to,” he said, matter-of-fact.

  She offered him the rifle, but he shook his head. “You’re doing fine. I need you to cover me. How many shots do you have left?”

  She thought for a moment, then said “Five.”

  “Use them carefully,” he said, “and make them count.”

  He looked at her and she knew exactly what he meant. Kill Danny or Al if she had to.

  She nodded.

  “They’ll come at us from the upper side of the valley,” he said, pointing to the brush and trees to her left. “Watch there and I’ll see if I can get my rifle and the horses. When I reach them, start moving down along the edge of the meadow and I’ll join you near that big tree.”

  He pointed to a large pine at the lower end of the meadow and she nodded.

  Without another word he ducked and moved back out into the meadow, staying low enough to almost be crawling through the grass and brush.

  She held her breath and waited for the first shot to ring out, but only the sound of water rushing over rocks filled the valley.

  She moved into a position where she could both watch what Harold was doing and at the same time the brush where Al and Danny had gone.

  It seemed to take an eternity, but finally Harold reached his horse and stood, pulling his rifle from its scabbard in one quick motion before ducking back down.

  She instantly felt better, with both of them now armed. Harold was a much, much better shot than she was.

  She moved away from the massive tree trunk that had been her shelter and ran toward the next large pine as Harold started the horses walking slowly forward. Four mounts followed Harold’s lead horse, but the other two just stood, grazing on the grass. She was glad that Harold made no move to go back and get them.

  Ten running paces and she reached the shelter of the next pine. She paused to catch her breath and listen.

  Nothing but the sounds of the stream and the distant cry of a bird.

  She was about to step into the open again when a bullet smashed into the trunk of the tree just over hear head, sending bark everywhere. A piece hit her neck as she ducked. An instant later the sound of the shot filled every sense she had.

  They had moved around and got almost even with her along the valley wall. She could barely see them on the other side of the thick brush.

  She scrambled away from the pine as another shot cut through the air, followed by the sound of Danny laughing.

  “Shut up and kill her,” Al shouted as another shot kicked up dirt just in front of her.

  She got to the shelter of another pine, brought her rifle up and aimed at the only piece of color she could see through the brush; a red patch on Danny’s shirt.

  Her shot cut through the air at the same time Danny fired.

  Danny’s shot snapped her skirt around her legs.

  Her shot sent both Danny and Al scrambling for cover.

  Behind her Harold had the five horses tied together and was leading them at a fast walk toward the tree.

  She fired once more at a flash of color in the brush and heard Al swear in response.

  With that she turned and ran, moving out into the open and across the lower corner of the meadow. She hoped that Danny and Al were so deep in the brush that by the time they got through it, she would be back with Harold.

  Harold had the horses into the trees and she was about to join him when another shot rang out from behind and a bullet passed so close to her ear she felt the heat of it.

  Harold returned fire, repeating round after round as she staggered past him and to the safety of a large pine tree.

  “You all right?” Harold asked as he continued to fire one shot after another into the brush where Al and Danny were.

  “Fine,” she said.

  “Grab my horse and start down the trail,” he said. “I’ll keep them pinned down and give you a few minutes head start.”
r />   She didn’t like the sound of that, but didn’t argue.

  As Harold reloaded and kept firing, she yanked his horse into motion, giving the other four horses a moment to get up to speed, she started down the trail, working the speed up to a run. She forced herself to ignore the shooting going on behind her and focus on where she was putting each step on the rough trail. The last thing they needed was for her to fall and twist an ankle or get trampled by the horses.

  For what seemed like an eternity she kept going, pushing herself as her lungs burnt for breath in the thin, mountain air. Each step was a success, each shot behind her twisted her heart. Harold was back there in a fight and she was running away. Yet she knew that wasn’t the case. She was saving what future they had in these mountains.

  Suddenly the firing stopped.

  The valley now echoed only with the thuds of the horse’s hooves on the dirt and her heavy breathing.

  She pushed on, her skirt held high in one hand, her other hand pulling on the horse. She had no idea how far she needed to go, but if she had to, she’d run all the way to Roosevelt.

  Suddenly the sound of Harold’s rifle filled the air again. Five, then six shots, the sound echoing between the tall peaks and fading.

  She knew what he’d done. He’d stopped firing, letting them think he’d moved on. And then when they moved, he opened up on them again. It would slow them down some, if he hadn’t killed them.

  Again the silence of the valley replaced the echoing gunfire.

  One foot in front of the other. Running as fast as she dared but not so fast that Harold couldn’t catch her easily.

  She figured she had gone at least two miles when she finally heard over her own labored breathing the words she’d been hoping to hear.

  “Cora, slow up!”

  She slowed and stopped, then turned to see Harold running down the trail, rifle in hand. He was also winded, but otherwise looked unhurt.

  She hugged him, both of them too winded to even try to speak at first. Even with both of them covered in grime and sweat, he felt wonderful and she again didn’t want to let him go.

  Finally she leaned back and looked him in the eye. “Can we make Roosevelt?”

  “Not before dark with pack horses,” he said. “You were moving them just about as fast as they could move. Danny and Al both have their own mounts and could catch us easily, even with Al hurt.”

  “So what do we do?” she asked, the fear twisting her stomach even tighter than it had before. Getting into another gunfight with those two was not what she wanted.

  “We hide the supplies and horses for the night,” Harold said, “then tomorrow go for help on foot.”

  “Hide them?” She glanced at the steep walls of the valley twenty paces to her left and the just-as-steep walls of the other side of the valley a hundred paces away. This valley was like being in a narrow hallway. There was no place to hide anything.

  “There’s a worked-out mine about a mile ahead up a side canyon,” he said. “We’ll be safe there for the night.”

  She looked at her husband, clearly showing the shock she was feeling. “How do you know that?”

  He laughed and took the lead of his horse from her hand. “I bought it while we were in Boise,” he said. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, you did,” she said.

  Harold just laughed softly and gave her a hug.

  It took them less than fifteen minutes to get to the place where a faint trail led off up the canyon. Harold pointed it out, but then kept going on forward on the main trail toward Roosevelt. Finally another hundred paces ahead, where the trail crossed the stream he led the horses through, then doubled them back into the water and headed back upstream.

  Core knew what he was doing right away. He was trying to let Danny and Al, who wouldn’t be that far behind them, think they had kept going down toward Roosevelt.

  Since it was getting late in the day and the sun had already vanished behind the tall mountains above them, by the time Danny and Al discovered they hadn’t kept going, it would be getting too dark to backtrack. Right at that moment she was even prouder of her husband than she had been before.

  The mine was about a half mile up a very steep-walled side canyon. There was a small, windowless log cabin, clearly not more than a few years old, built against one rock wall, and mine tailings scattered down the hill toward the small creek that wound through the bottom. The cabin sat up high enough to give a very clear view of anything below.

  “What’s farther up the canyon?” she asked as they dismounted on the flat area in front of the cabin.

  “The guy who sold me this claim told me it was too steep to climb,” Harold said. “No way out.”

  She looked at the cabin and then back down the narrow valley. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We can defend this place if we have to.” He pointed up the steep hill above the canyon. “They can’t come at us from that direction, so the only way to get up to this cabin is the way we came. And with us on the high ground here, they’d be fools to try it.”

  “So where’s the mine?” she asked. She could see all the rock tailings that had been dug out of the hill, and the small log cabin, but no mine opening.

  Harold moved over to the large main door and pushed it open, then pointed inside at the blackness.

  “That’s the opening to the mine?”

  He nodded. “Hold on to the horses for a moment and let me see what we have.”

  She pulled her rifle from its saddle holster again and made sure it was fully loaded, keeping an eye back down the quickly darkening small canyon while holding onto Harold’s horse.

  The sounds of the stream were faint here, and only the cry of a hawk circling overhead disturbed the intense quiet.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Harold came back out and took his horse from her, telling her to stand guard. He then led the horse toward the door, stopping just outside. He unstrapped the packs and pulled them off to one side, then led the horse into the cabin. The sound of the hooves on the board floor echoed louder than she wanted any sound to be from them.

  She moved over and sat down on a large rock, intently studying the brush and trees below the cabin, expecting to see movement at any time.

  Nothing.

  It was almost completely dark by the time Harold got the last horse inside and the packs pulled inside as well.

  “I’ll watch the trail,” he said. “Go take a look at our place, but close the door so the light doesn’t show.”

  “Four sweaty horses in the house,” she said. “You sure know how to make a home attractive to a woman.”

  He laughed. “I do my best.”

  She was surprised when she got inside the cabin. It was a large room, with a table and counter on the left side that served as a kitchen area. A large bed filled the right wall. The space was lit by a warm, orange light from a lantern sitting on the table. On the wall directly across from the main door was another large door, slightly closed. She opened it to see the mine tunnel disappearing off into the mountain. The horses were tied in a line in the rock and wood shaft, facing her. Each had some grain and water and they seemed happy enough for the moment.

  She glanced around the cabin again. It felt warm and cozy and safe. She liked it at once.

  Back outside in the dark it took a moment for her eyes to adjust, then she moved over and sat down beside Harold on the large rock overlooking the small, narrow canyon. “So what happens now?”

  “We get a good night’s sleep,” he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close.

  It felt good. “What about Danny and Al?”

  “This is a pretty hidden canyon, and I doubt they even know it’s up here,” he said. “Plus, another half hour and there won’t be any moving around in the brush. Too dark”

  “Plus Al’s hurt,” she said, thinking about how she had shot him. She didn’t regret doing it at all. She just wished she had
killed him.

  “Yeah,” Harold said. “And I think I winged Danny as well.”

  “Good,” she said. “And in the morning?”

  “We deal with them.”

  She didn’t like the sounds of that, but had no other plan at all.

  They sat there in the dark, watching and listening, Harold’s arm around her, holding her. Even with two men chasing them, right then she felt safer than she had since they left the midwest. She was going to love this little canyon, she knew. But first they were going to have to defend it.

  TWO

  THE NEXT MORNING, when it was just barely light enough to see the edge of the rock area in front of the cabin, Harold gave her a hug and they went out in front of the cabin to get ready.

  Even with him beside her she had never felt so alone. There was something about these mountains that just made a person feel small. Yet behind her she had something to defend and she was going to do it in any way possible. Last night they had made that cabin their home, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take that home from her if she had anything to say about it.

  She had on her coat and gloves and she had put a blanket on the ground near the cover of the big rock she had sat on the night before. From the blanket she had a clear view of the narrow canyon, but anyone coming up would have a hard time spotting her.

  Harold was about ten steps to her left, also lying down.

  She had her saddle rifle and extra shots, plus an extra thirty-thirty Harold had bought. Both rifles were loaded and ready. Harold had his rifle and his sidearm. It was going to take a lot to get past them.

  Harold had said that if Danny and Al were smart, they would take the two horses they had, and the supplies on them, and get out of the valley at first light. But she didn’t think Danny and Al were the type to run. Especially with a woman getting the best of them yesterday. She knew they were coming. It was only a matter of when.

  The sun still hadn’t quite reached the valley floor yet when she heard them coming long before she saw them. Danny’s voice echoed up the small canyon, and the sound of brush cracking on the trail was like small shots.