“We’ll drag some of the bodies off and hide them best we can,” Two Wolves suggested. “That will slow them up even more.”
“That’s grotesque!” Gerry said.
“Beats the hell out of being dead,” Bodine said.
“I agree,” Terri said. She looked around her. “We’ve got some wounded. I know something about nursing. Let’s get to work.”
She’ll do, Bodine thought. She’s got the stuff to last out here. But there is something about her I just don’t trust. He cut his eyes to Two Wolves, who was also watching the woman.
Two Wolves met his glance and yet another challenge rose up between the two blood brothers. But this time, Bodine was not about to pick up the gauntlet.
Chapter 15
They rode hard for several hours, stopped and hurriedly fixed a meal; then it was back in the saddle again, putting more miles between them and Lone Dog’s rampaging war party. When they finally made a cold camp for the night, it was carefully chosen for defense.
They were up and moving as the first beams of silver creased the eastern sky. They rode for an hour, with scouts out in four directions, then stopped and fixed coffee and bacon and bread.
“Sam is really a very striking-looking man,” Terri said to Bodine.
“Who?” Bodine looked up from his battered tin coffee cup.
“Your brother!”
“Oh! Two Wolves. Yeah . . . I guess so.” Then he smiled. “A couple of days ago you wouldn’t have spit on him if he was on fire. What changed your mind?”
“The way he told that Lone Dog to go to hell back at the creek.” She inched closer to him. “Both of you could have ridden out, couldn’t you? Safely, I mean.”
“Yes,” Bodine admitted. “We could have.” All his defenses suddenly went up and he found himself liking the woman less and less. He had almost made up his mind to ask her to come spend some time at his father and mother’s ranch. Now he just wished this journey were over and he were rid of her. That something about her that he just did not trust reared up again. And Bodine paid attention to his hunches.
Brother of mine, Bodine thought, if you want this woman, you can sure have her. But be careful. She’s a lot tougher than she first appeared to be the other night, and she’s got more twists and turns than a mountain trail. And I think I’d rather bed down with a snake.
“You have a big ranch, Matt?”
“Not too big. ’Bout a hundred thousand acres, I reckon.”
Her mouth dropped open. But before she could speak, he added, “My dad’s spread is about four times that big.”
“Four-hundred thousand acres?”
“Yeah. And since Two Wolves is half white, and can own land, his father, Medicine Horse, had my father file on land for him. Two Wolves owns a pretty respectable spread, stretching from where our two ranches butt together all the way to the Montana line. There’s a cabin on it, too. Snug little place built on a flat, overlooking a little creek.” And I hope that you and Two Wolves will be very happy there, Terri. And do come to visit. About once a year will be plenty.
Bodine felt guilty about those thoughts; felt like a traitor to his brother. But he just didn’t like this woman. She had a staying quality to her—he wouldn’t deny that—but he didn’t think she had fifteen cents worth of loyalty in her. Earlier, Bodine had seen her batting her eyes at Lieutenant Gerry.
The woman was making sure all bets were covered, for a fact.
“Mount up!” Gerry gave the orders. “We’ll make the Yellowstone by late afternoon.”
Two Wolves joined Bodine later that afternoon. He wore a smile that could not have been removed with a tomahawk. “What a delightful woman, Brother!”
Bodine sighed and looked at him. “I assume you are speaking of Miss Kelly?”
“Bodine, she is the only woman with us, is she not?”
Bodine grunted.
“What’s the matter with you, Brother? The way your mouth is all poked out you look like you have a toothache.”
“I do not have a toothache and my mouth is not all poked out.”
“Of course not. That must be why you look like a chipmunk with a mouth full of acorns.”
Bodine opened his mouth to warn Two Wolves about Terri. Then he closed it. What proof did he have? None. Except a gut feeling, and that might have been brought on by something he ate.
“You were about to say? . . .” Two Wolves urged.
“Not a thing, Brother.” You’re a big boy, you figure it out.”
“Didn’t you tell me that the valley needed a school-teacher?”
Oh, boy! “Yes, I did. We have a school but no teacher. You have someone in mind?”
“Very funny, Brother. As a matter of fact, I mentioned it to Terri. She’s interested.”
Oh, so it’s Terri now, is it? “That’s nice.”
“She’s highly qualified.”
“I’m sure she is.”
“So?”
“So what, Brother? Why don’t you speak to my mother and father about it? They’ll get together with the other farmers and ranchers and decide.”
“But you won’t give her your endorsement?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Two Wolves looked at him for a moment. “You didn’t have to.” He turned his horse and rode back to Terri.
Lieutenant Gerry rode up. “What a delightful young lady!”
Bodine rolled his eyes. Here we go again.
“So well-educated. She’s the type of person we need out here on the frontier.”
“Right.”
“It’ll be a lucky man who wins her hand.”
Lucky if she leaves you with your shirt and boots.
“Right,” he said.
“I don’t mean to babble on, Bodine. But I am quite impressed with her. To have such spirit after her terrible ordeal escaping from the savages.”
It would serve Lone Dog right if he had taken her, Bodine thought. He’d have probably given someone a dozen horses to take her off his hands. “She’s had a rough time of it, all right.” But why didn’t she kick up a fuss and demand that we chase after the Indians and rescue the prisoners they supposedly took? She said she had family and friends among them. Odd, very odd.
Gerry stood up in his stirrups and pointed, a smile on his face. “The Yellowstone, Bodine.” He sat back in his saddle and rode forward, to take the point.
Bodine looked back. Terri was riding beside Two Wolves, and jabbering like an excited squirrel. From the expression on his face, Two Wolves was taking the bait—hook, line, and bobber.
“Damn!” Bodine said, glancing back again.
“She’s a looker, all right,” Sergeant McGuire said, catching the glance as he walked his horse up to Bodine’s side. “Both the lieutenant and Two Wolves seem to be quite taken by her.”
“And you, Sergeant?”
“Not me, lad. I’m too old a dog; I’ve sniffed too many trails to be taken in by the likes of her.” He was silent for a moment. “And I hope I’m not stepping too far out of bounds by saying that to you.”
“You’re not. I don’t trust her either.”
“You’re wise beyond your years, then.”
“I’m just not a trusting man, Sergeant.”
“With Miss Kelly about, that would be wise. Every time she looks at me I feel like I’m naked and shivering in the cold.”
* * *
The column followed the Yellowstone down to a little town that would soon be named Miles City. There they stopped long enough for Miss Kelly to take a proper bath and to purchase new clothing—with money she borrowed from Lieutenant Gerry and Two Wolves. Bodine had no intention of giving her a nickel. He had judiciously avoided her the past few days on the trail, assuming the role of scout just to stay away from the column.
The column cut south and slightly west, following the Tongue as it wound its way to the garrison, still some one hundred miles farther on.
And as Bodine knew he would, Two Wolves came to his side just
before Bodine pulled out for the day’s scouting.
“You don’t like her, do you, Bodine?”
Bodine faced his blood brother. “No, I don’t, Two Wolves.”
“She told me you didn’t. She’s terribly hurt by your attitude toward her.”
“I imagine she’ll get over it, Brother.”
“She’s really a very nice person.”
“Did I say she wasn’t?”
“I need your endorsement to get her on as teacher in the valley, Bodine. You know how many of the people feel about me.”
“That attitude will change as the story spreads about you facing Lone Dog and his braves by the creek. As soon as you get settled in at your place the people will gradually begin to accept you. You know that.”
“They will not forget the cut fences and the sprung traps.”
“In time, Brother. In time.”
“You’re avoiding the issue, Bodine.”
“I’ll make a deal with you, Two Wolves. I won’t say a word for her or against her. I’ll deliberately head for my place as soon as we get close enough, and that will give you a free hand to speak to my parents in her behalf.” He looked over his saddle at his brother. “And that is the best I can do.”
“I am interested in her as a woman, Bodine, and she is interested in me as a man.”
“I gathered as much. Good luck.” Bodine swung into the saddle.
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Two Wolves looked up at Bodine.
“You have to be crazy to ask that! I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that damn woman was in the same house with me.”
Two Wolves stepped back, a hard glint in the dark eyes. “That will be the only time I shall allow you to speak about her in such a manner.”
Bodine’s smile was very thin. “Don’t crowd me, Sam. We’ve play-fought all our lives. But you back me into a corner, and I’ll hurt you. Now you want that woman, you can sure have her. Just keep her away from me.”
Two Wolves’ eyes darkened further. “It seems this journey has done more than mark the beginning of the end for my father and his people, Bodine.”
“Only if you let it, Brother.”
Two Wolves dropped his hand from Rowdy’s mane and stepped back. “You’re judging her without knowing anything about her. That’s not like you.”
“Study the black widow spider, Sam. Especially the male. Watch what happens to him when the female is finished. Watch very carefully, and make certain you don’t end up the same way. Whether you believe it or not, you are still my brother, and I care for you.”
Two Wolves touched the necklace he wore. “In words only, Bodine. Nothing else. Not anymore.” He turned and walked away, his back stiff with anger.
Bodine did not try to stop him. He looked over at Terri and met her eyes. She was smiling at him; a victorious smile.
Bodine had seen that smile before. On a rattlesnake.
Chapter 16
Bodine left the column long before it reached the fort, despite Lieutenant Gerry’s protests that it was not safe for Bodine to be riding off alone.
Bodine rode off alone.
He cut straight south through the heavily-timbered wilderness. At a trading post on the Pumpkin, he stopped for supplies and to listen to any gossip there might be from the men gathered around the plank bar, the heavy plank set up on two empty barrels.
The West of the 1870’s was a vast and lonely place, but with few settlers, so nearly everybody either knew or knew of nearly everyone else within a given area. The men drinking at the bar knew Bodine, but that did not stop them from talking.
“Tom Thomas done bought all the land around Cutter,” one bewhiskered old man said, nursing his beer. “All them men of his’n done each filed on a quarter-section and proved it up, then Thomas bought it from them. He owns land farther than the eye can see all around that town. He’s gonna be a big man soon, I’m thinkin’.”
“He was already a big man,” another said. “Once he got over that puttin’ down Bodine give him.”
Bodine caught the sly look given him by the men lined up at the bar. He chose to ignore the comment and just quietly sipped his beer.
Bodine heard the slow clop of horses’ hooves on the road outside the trading post. He did not have to slip the thongs from the hammers of his guns. He had done that the instant his boots left the stirrups and touched ground. That was instinct with Bodine.
“They tell me that Tom Thomas done put up a thousand dollars for any man who brings in Bodine across a saddle.” The words reached Bodine’s ears. “All sorts of gunslicks driftin’ in the country. Word is that the money is due to go up most any time.”
“Where’d you hear this?” Bodine asked.
“At the Kittycat in Cutter,” a man said. “Come from the bartender’s mouth hisself.”
“A couple weeks ago,” another added. “So odds is the ante on you has done gone up, Bodine.”
Bodine thought that was a reasonable assumption. He listened to the creak of saddle leather as several men dismounted and stretched muscles after hours in the saddle. He hoped it was just a couple of cowboys; but he doubted his luck would be that good.
Without turning around, he said, “Who’s coming in, barkeep?”
“Gunnies, Bodine. Three of them. One of ’em is Stutterin’ Smith. I don’t know them other two. But they look mean.”
Boots thudded on the rough boards and spurs jingled as the batwings to the bar part of the trading post were pushed open. Bodine did not turn around. It was dim in the near-windowless room, and he doubted that the men would recognize him until their eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight of the outside.
“B . . . b . . . b . . . Bring a b . . . b . . . bottle over here, Fats,” Stutterin’ stuttered at the barkeep. “And b . . . be damn quick ab . . . ab . . . about it.”
Stutterin’ Smith might have difficulty speaking. but he was hell on wheels with a six-gun, and Bodine knew he would soon be facing a topnotch gunslick. He didn’t know the other two, but if they were riding with Stutterin’, they were good.
Bodine signaled the bartender over. He came, but he didn’t like being this close to what he figured would soon be the line of fire.
“You sure those boys work for Thomas?” Bodine said in a low voice.
“Yes, sir. I’m sure. Now can I please get out of the way?”
“Move.”
Bodine drained his beer and held the mug in his left hand. He walked across the rough boards to the table where the three men were sitting.
“Somethang on your m . . . m . . . mind?” Stutterin’ looked up at Bodine.
“Staying alive would be first and foremost,” Bodine replied with a smile. “There’s lot of bad hombres roaming about the countryside. Most of them scum that work for Tom Thomas.”
The barroom became very quiet as those words settled in.
One of the men seated around the table cursed, lifting his eyes to Bodine. “You best watch your smart mouth, mister. ’Fore someone takes them guns of yourn and slaps you silly with ’em.”
‘You feel like you’re a big enough man to do that?” Bodine laid down the challenge.
The man started to rise.
Stutterin’ pushed him back into the chair. He looked up at Bodine. “W . . . w . . . what’s your interest in all this, m . . . m . . . mister?”
“Very personal. My name’s Bodine.”
Stutterin’s face hardened as the two with him uttered low curses. Stutterin’ did some fast figuring. He knew that this close, everyone involved was going to get lead in them. And he had heard too many stories about the young man called Bodine to dismiss him as a lightweight. If Matt Bodine was all mouth, as Thomas used to enjoy saying, Thomas wouldn’t have gotten the snot whipped out of him.
One man started to rise, his hands lowering to his guns. Bodine swung the heavy beer mug, catching the man in the forehead. The mug shattered, but not before cutting a deep gash in the man’s head and knocking him to the floor, out of it for a
few minutes. Bodine kept his right hand close to the butt of his Colt.
Bodine faced the second man across the rickety table. Stutterin’ kept his seat warm and his mouth shut. He was too old a dog to buy into this game. He’d wait and see just how good Bodine was.
“I’m gonna be a rich man when I collect all that reward money that’s on your head, Bodine,” the gunny snarled.
“No,” Bodine told him. “You’re just going to be a dead man.”
The gunslick grabbed for the butt of his gun.
Bodine shot him in the guts before the barrel could clear leather. The two-bit gunhand staggered backward, losing his six-shooter. He made a grab for his second gun. A heavy pounding struck him in the chest and the light around him began to fade. He stood for a moment, staring at the tall young man in front of him. He just couldn’t believe it. Bodine had drawn his right-hand Colt and fired so fast the motion wasn’t even a discernible blur. The gunhand dropped to his knees on the dirty floor and toppled over.
Bodine holstered both Colts and looked at Stutterin’. “You feel lucky, Stutterin’?”
“C . . . c . . . cain’t say that I do, B . . . B . . . Bodine.”
The man with the bleeding forehead lurched to his feet with a curse and grabbed for a gun. Bodine hit him with a hard fist and knocked the man through the dirty front window of the trading post. He rolled off the porch and flopped on the ground. The man staggered to his feet and then made the mistake of trying to shove Rowdy out of the way. The horse bit him on the arm, bringing more blood and a scream of pain. Rowdy jerked the reins loose from the hitch rail and tried to stomp the man. The two-bit gunhand hurriedly staggered back into the trading post, blood pouring from his badly bitten arm.
“I think my wing’s busted,” he gasped. “Somebody ought to kill that damned horse.”
Rowdy came through the batwings like a horse out of hell and knocked the man sprawling to the floor. Rowdy then proceeded to use his steel-shod hooves to make a mess out of the man’s chest and belly before several of those around the bar could drag the now unconscious gunny away. He left a trail of blood across the sawdust.
Blood Bond Page 11
