A Rocky Mountain Christmas

by William W. Johnstone

  “Mr. Wilson, do you think I should take word out to Mr. Jensen?” Eddie asked.

  “Yes, I think that would be a very good idea. I’m sure he would like to know what’s going on.”

  “All right, I’ll saddle up and go right away.” Eddie smiled. “I probably won’t be back until after dinner.”

  Phil knew that, by dinner, Eddie was referring to the noon meal, and he chuckled. “You’re going to hit Miss Sally up for dinner, are you?”

  “Why not? You know anybody that’s a better cook?”

  On board the stalled train

  With the bright sun reflecting off the snow and pouring in through the windows of the car, the temperature in the car had risen so that, even with the smallest of flames, the stove was able to keep the car comfortably warm.

  “Folks, I suggest that we put the fire out for now,” Matt advised.

  “Now, just why would we want to do a thing like that?” Senator Daniels protested. “We are all starving to death, but at least we are warm.”

  “Think about it, Senator,” Matt said. “With the bright sun out, we’re getting some heat in the car without the stove. But tonight, when the temperature drops several degrees below zero, we will need the heat the stove can provide. We have to save fuel to be certain that we will have it at night, when we need it.”

  “We’ve got extra coal now, and my daughter is ill,” Daniels whined. “I’ll not have you make it worse by putting out the fire in that stove.”

  “We’ve got some extra coal, yes, but I don’t know how many more days we will be here. It’s best to be as conservative as we can.”

  “Jarred, you know he is right.” Millie laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “You know how cold these last two nights have been. It will be worth being without heat in the daytime, if we can keep warm at night.”

  “We aren’t going to be here much longer. Maybe not even tonight. I’m absolutely convinced a rescue train will reach us today,” Senator Daniels said stubbornly.

  “I certainly hope you are right, Senator. But I don’t think we should take that chance.”

  “I don’t, either,” Luke put in.

  “And you can count me in with Mr. Jensen,” Bailey said.

  “Mr. Purvis, what about you?” Senator Daniels asked.

  “I’m sorry, Senator, but I’m going to have to go along with Mr. Jensen on this one.”

  “I’m not going to let my daughter get cold and get worse.”

  “I’m not so cold, Daddy,” Becky said in a weak voice.

  “All right, all right.” Senator Daniels threw his hands up in frustration. “It is obvious I am the only sane one here. But I can’t stand up to all of you. Put out the fire.”

  The fire was extinguished, and within fifteen minutes, the temperature began to drop.

  “I told you it was going to get cold in here,” Senator Daniels complained.

  “It will be much colder tonight,” Matt said.

  During the discussion a man had come in through the front door.

  Troy noticed him first and pointed. “It’s one of them! It’s one of the men who took over the dining car.”

  “Troy is right. This one’s name is Morris,” Pete said.

  Morris reached out and grabbed Timmy, who was standing the closest to him.

  “Mama!” Timmy called, trying to twist out of Morris’s grip.

  “Timmy!”

  Morris tightened his grip and held his pistol to the boy’s head. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, boy.”

  “What do you want, Morris?”

  “We want the whore. Give us the whore, and we’ll give you somethin’ to eat.”

  “If she didn’t go before, what makes you think she is going to go today?” Luke asked.

  “Because it’s been two whole days since any of you have had anything to eat,” Morris pointed out unnecessarily. “And if the whore will just come along with me, why, we’ll feed the whole train.”

  “How you goin’ to do that?” Pete asked. “There ain’t no cooks left.”

  “Oh, we’ll let one of you boys do the cookin’,” Morris offered.

  “She’s not going,” Luke insisted.

  “Wait a minute,” Abner Purvis interrupted. “The other day, I was on the woman’s side. I figured she shouldn’t have to go if she didn’t want to. But now I’m thinkin’, why not? I mean, we all know this is what she does anyway. So why not go ahead and do it again? Especially if it will get her and all the rest of us something to eat. There’s no tellin’ how long we’re goin’ to be sittin’ here. You know if the rescue train coulda got through, it woulda come for us yesterday.”

  “She’s not going,” Luke repeated.

  “Let me make it a bit easier for you to decide,” Morris said. “If the whore comes with me, you all eat, and the boy lives. If she don’t come with me, none of you eat, and I’ll kill her, and the boy, and go back by myself.”

  “Morris, what makes you think you’re going back with or without her?” Matt asked quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean the young lady isn’t going anywhere, and neither are you.”

  “Are you blind? You do see that I’m holding a gun to this boy’s head, don’t you? Now, I’m going to count to three. And if the whore don’t say she’s goin’ back with me by the time I get to three, I’m goin’ to kill this boy.”

  “I’m warning you, Morris, don’t do that.”

  “Ha! You’re warnin’ me? One, two . . .”

  Morris glanced over toward Jenny, and that was all the opening Matt needed. He drew and fired in one lightning-fast motion. The bullet hit Morris just above his right eye, and dropping the pistol, he was slammed back against the front door of the car.

  The four women in the car screamed in shock and surprise.

  “Wow!” Timmy cried. “Steven, did you see that?”

  “Are you crazy?” Senator Daniels shouted. “You could have killed the boy!”

  “No,” Edward Webb said. “Morris could have killed my son, and I believe he would have, if it hadn’t been for Mr. Jensen. Mr. Jensen saved Timmy’s life.”

  “Wow!” Timmy said again. “Wait until I tell all my friends!”

  “What difference does it make?” Purvis asked. “We’re all going to starve to death anyway.”

  “Purvis,” Matt said. “We may get hungry, but we aren’t going to starve. I once went ten days without eating, and I’ve heard of people going for as long as a month without eating. In order to survive, first we need heat, so we won’t freeze to death. Next, we need water, and with all the snow, we have plenty of that. The least important for our immediate survival is food.”

  “That might not be the most important, but my feelin’ is we’re goin’ to get awful hungry before too long,” Purvis complained.

  “I’m hungry now,” Troy said.

  “Like I said, I’ve been through this before. We will get through it,” Matt promised. “As long as Santelli and the others stay in the dining car, they are more trapped than we are. We are the ones who are going to be rescued, not them. When the rescue team comes, Santelli and the men with him will go to jail, and they will hang.”

  “Troy,” Julius said, starting toward Morris’s body. “Come help me take out the trash.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Sugarloaf

  “It’s been two days. Do you think the train will get in before Christmas?” Sally asked as she took two dried-apple pies from the oven. “Because, if it doesn’t I’m going to have a lot of extra food to get rid of.”

  “Oh, I’m sure the train will get here before Christmas. But even if it doesn’t, you don’t have to worry about getting rid of the extra food. Duff and I can take care of that for you. And we may as well start by having a piece of pie.” Smoke picked up a knife and started toward one of the pies.

  “Absolutely not!” Sally said authoritatively. “The pies haven’t even cooled yet.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Smok
e smiled. “I’ll bet that’s Eddie telling me the train got there and Matt is waiting at the station.”

  Smoke hurried to the door and opened it. “So, Matt’s here, is he? What time did the train get in?”

  “No, sir, he ain’t here and the train ain’t got in,” Eddie said. “And it ain’t goin’ to get in.”

  “What do you mean, it isn’t going to get in?”

  “They’ve done sent a rescue train for it. They’ll be takin’ ever’one back down the mountain to Buena Vista.”

  “Oh,” Sally whispered. “That means Matt for sure won’t be here for Christmas.”

  “No, it doesn’t seem likely that he will,” Smoke said, disappointment in his voice. “But at least, if the rescue train takes them back to Buena Vista, he won’t have to spend Christmas Day trapped in the snow on the top of the mountain.”

  “Eddie, it is nearly lunchtime. Won’t you stay and eat with us before you start back?” Sally invited.

  “Yes, ma’am!” Eddie replied enthusiastically. “And thank you, ma’am.”

  The table was laden with food; roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, stewed carrots, and green beans Sally had canned. She had also made a loaf of bread, which disappeared quickly. For dessert they had hot apple pie, over which had been put a piece of melted cheese. Sally had prepared a much larger meal than normal, partly in anticipation of Matt’s presence. The meal did not go to waste, though, as the two men and Eddie showed their appreciation by eating second helpings of everything.

  “Well, I’d better be getting back,” Eddie said after he finally pushed away from the table.

  “I appreciate you coming out here to tell us about the train,” Smoke said.

  “Yes, sir, well I thought you might want to know.”

  “You will come tell us if you get any more word about the train, won’t you?”

  “Yes, sir, you can count on that.”

  “Eddie, would you like to take a bear claw along with you to eat on your ride back?” Sally asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I ate so much, I hate to take anything else.”

  “Well, I can understand if you are too full.”

  A broad smile spread across Eddie’s face. “Only, I’ve near ’bout always got room for another bear claw.”

  “I swear, Sally, I’d hate to see this boy and Cal in an eating contest,” Smoke said. “I don’t know who would win, but they’d likely run us out of food trying to determine a winner.”

  Duff and Sally laughed, then Smoke walked outside to see Eddie off.

  “It is cold out there.” Smoke came back in, clapping his hands together. “And it is getting colder. No telling how cold it is up at the top of the pass.”

  “Oh, those poor people,” Sally moaned. “I wonder how much longer they’ll have to stay up there.”

  On board the rescue train

  Doodle Reynolds, the engineer of the rescue train, moved the Johnson Bar and the train came to a stop.

  “What is it, Doodle? What’d you stop for?” the fireman asked.

  “Look up ahead of us, Greg, and tell me what you think.”

  The fireman leaned out the window and looked ahead. His gaze carried along the side of the engine, the brass work, the green paint of the boiler, then past the snowplow attached to the front. Fifty yards ahead of the train was a pile of snow across the tracks as high as the engine itself.

  “Jehoshaphat, Doodle! I don’t think we could even make a dent in that. How far up the track do you think it goes?”

  “I don’t know.” Doodle put the train in reverse. “But I don’t plan to get a second train stuck up here.”

  “I hate we can’t get them out.”

  “They aren’t in any trouble yet,” Doodle said. “They probably have enough food to last a couple weeks, anyway. For sure by that time, they’ll either be able to leave, or the snow will be melted enough that we’ll be able to get through to them.”

  “The folks back in town are goin’ to be mighty disappointed.”

  “No more disappointed than I am.” Doodle laughed. “I would love to come to the rescue, just so I could lord it over my brother-in-law for a while.”

  “That’s right. Don is your brother-in-law, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he didn’t have any more sense than to marry my sister.”

  “She’s going to be upset and some worried, I reckon,” Greg said.

  “I reckon so.”

  The train beat its way back down the track toward Buena Vista, leaving behind an impenetrable wall of snow and the Red Cliff Special.

  On board the train

  Every passenger on the train, plus the crew, were now gathered in the last car, making it very crowded, but Matt was convinced they had enough fuel to last for a while. He’d already decided wood pieces from the car would have to be the next fuel supply. Of course, he would dismantle the car ahead.

  Again, some of the men were playing cards. Bailey was napping, the three porters were talking together, the five active children—Becky remained on her mother’s lap—had found a game to play, Ed Webb and his wife were sitting quietly, while Senator Daniels sat in the seat facing his wife and daughter. The scowl had not left his face. Luke and Jenny were cuddled together in the front seat, and looking at them, Matt smiled. He could almost believe they were enjoying the situation.

  Matt was still smiling as he looked out the window, then the smile left his face, replaced by an expression of surprise and hope. Alongside the car, in the area right by the track, was a coyote, probably looking for food and to get out of the snow.

  He pulled his pistol and started to raise the window, thinking to shoot the coyote, but changed his mind. A gunshot outside the car might bring down more snow. He quickly devised a plan and looked back into the car. He was going to need help, and had to figure out which of his fellow passengers would most likely be able to help him.

  Looking over everyone, he decided and called, “Julius. Julius, come here.”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Look out the window, right down there,” Matt said, pointing.

  “It’s a coyote.”

  “No it’s not. It’s a small deer.”

  “Mr. Jensen, you done gone crazy from not eatin’? That ain’t no deer. That’s a coyote.”

  “Shh,” Matt hushed. “Once when I was very hungry, I barbecued a coyote, and it tasted like deer meat. As far as these folks are concerned, it’s a small deer, and by the time they see it, they won’t be able to tell the difference.”

  “You goin’ to shoot it?”

  Matt shook his head. “I’m afraid if I shoot, it might bring down a lot more snow. I’ve got another idea, but I’m going to need your help.”

  “Yes, sir,” Julius said enthusiastically. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  “I’m going out on the back vestibule. You go out on the front. Then I want you to chase the coyote toward me.”

  “Yes, sir, but what if the coyote runs under the car?”

  “Let’s just pray that he doesn’t,” Matt said.

  “Yes, sir. I’m a prayin’ man, sir.”

  “Good. We better get started.”

  “Yes, sir,” Julius said again.

  Matt went out onto the back vestibule, then leaned around just far enough to see the coyote. It was still there, sniffing around. He pulled out his pocketknife and flipped it open

  Julius climbed down from the vestibule at the front end of the car and slowly walked toward the coyote. Matt watched and, as he had hoped and planned, the coyote started in his direction.

  Matt moved to the edge of the vestibule, then, timing his jump, leaped off, landing in a belly flop into the snow. That he was successful was evidenced by the fact that he could feel the coyote under him. The coyote was moving rapidly, squirming around trying to get free, and Matt knew he had to be very careful that it not get away.

  Carefully, Matt lifted his body just far enough to reach his hand under, grab the coyote by the back of the neck, and cut
its throat. He lay on the creature until it stopped moving.

  “Praise the Lord, Mr. Jensen! You got ’im!” Julius shouted.

  Still holding the coyote, Matt rolled under the car to prevent anyone inside from seeing what he was doing, then he cut off the head and legs, and skinned it. When he rolled back out from under the car, he was holding an unidentifiable carcass.

  Julius carried the carcass into the car and held it up. “Mr. Jensen kilt him a small deer!” he shouted, to the joy of the others in the car.

  “How big is the small deer?” Don asked.

  “He’s about this big,” Julius said, demonstrating with his hands.

  “Oh, my, that is rather small, isn’t it?” Clara asked.

  “Yes, ma’am, I reckon it is. But we’re goin’ to cook him up and ever’one is goin’ to get some of it.”

  “I hate to deflate everyone’s joy,” Senator Daniels said. “But there are thirty of us. How is a deer that small going to feed all of us?”

  “We’re going to make a soup,” Matt said, coming into the car just in time to hear the Senator’s question. “And we aren’t going to waste any of it.”

  “It’s going to be an awfully thin soup,” Senator Daniels complained.

  Matt smiled. “Trust me, it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever eaten.”

  “It won’t be all that good,” Bailey said. “We don’t have any vegetables. We don’t even have any salt.”

  “Oh, yes, we have salt.” Matt smiled. “I learned from an old mountain man friend of mine to never be without salt.” He pulled a little cloth bag from his pocket.

  “And I’ve got some pepper I brought from the diner,” Pete offered.

  “All we have to do now is gather up some snow, melt some water, and start cooking.

  “What are we going to cook it in?” Purvis asked.

  Bailey smiled. “I have the perfect stew pot for it. There is a brand-new chamber pot in the toilet that hasn’t even been put out yet, so it hasn’t been used. It’ll be just right to cook this in.”