Cowgirl Thrillers
Page 77
Sky is buzzing T’ree Forks to be sure the landing zone is free of loose livestock and wild critters. After assuring himself that his chosen strip is clear, Sky sets us down in the large clearing close to Mose’ trapping camp.
As we start to troop out of the puddle jumper, Mose comes running over.
“She gone,” he says, out of breath. “I come back from settin’ mah trappin’ gear and Shaz ain’t heah.”
“Slow down Mose,” says Spud. “You sure she ain’t just off somewheres climbin’ trees or such?”
“No sign,” Mose says panting. “I’se kin read sign with the best of ‘em.”
“Yes, brother, you can,” says Wolf. “Come, we look more.”
“It’s like she done disappeared.”
“Okay, we split up, take quadrants,” says Spud. “It’s yore neck of the woods, Mose, that sound okay to you?”
“Yas’suh,” says Mose. “maybe I got excited, missed somethin’. He looks over at the jumper and exclaims, “Wait. Is that Buzz?”
Buzz and Sky are just getting out of the jumper. Buzz is barefoot, carrying his boots.
“Buzz,” Mose says in a louder voice, “is that you boy? Jumpin’ Jehosophat, yore a sight fer these pore ol’ eyes. And just in the nick of time to find my sweet pardner.”
“Mose! You are a veritable feast for mine ocular orbs yourself, my good man,” says Buzz. “Enlighten me.”
They embrace, and slap each other on the back. Old pals, they exchange pleasantries.
“Okay, Mose and Buzz pair off. Annie and I will go up with Sky so we got lotsa eyes. Wolf…” Spud falters and looks around.
“Did y’awl blink?” asks Mose. “He gone.”
Spud shrugs and adds, “Signal us if you find anything.”
“Awright.”
“That okay, Sky?” asks Spud. “We use your bird to search?”
“For the crazy bear girl?” asks Sky. “Sure.”
We walk back and climb in.
Sky is saying to Spud, “I hear she’s cute, but she bites.”
Spud looks back at me and winks.
He takes right seat. I sit behind Sky so I can see out the port side. We fly along watching the ground for anything unusual.
After a lot of nothing unusual, I ask Sky, “What inspired you to get in the flyin’ business?”
"Why do I do this?” he asks, then ponders a bit.
Eventually, he glances back at me and says, “The money’s good and the scenery changes. Heck, the cosmos is my backyard. I can cross it at warp speed, mechanicals permitting.
I nod politely. Space, not my idea of fun.
We fly around for a while more with no results.
“I suggest we try over by where we saw the white buff. Just swing off here a ways,” I say. “Look fer bull quartz, massive bull quartz, along a crick.”
Sky banks around and heads that way.
“Damn, I see it out to starboard,” says Spud. “Wolf is there already.”
The puddle jumper glides us down.
Wolf walks over and says to Sky, “Lot of sign, go tell Mose and Buzz. Their tracks fresher than Mose tracks.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, thanks for your help, Sky.”
“You bet, pardner. I got a job to get to after that. Looks like you got a handle on it anyways. Good luck!”
We dismount and Sky takes off back toward town, set on talking to Mose on his way.
“Wow, there is a lot more quartz here than I realized last time. I thought it might be hard to see from the air. Shit,” I exclaim. “A fuckin’ mountain of it. Watch fer shiny yeller spots. Always nice to find somethin’ valuable like gold.”
We are following Wolf as he tracks.
“Wait here,” he says. “Wolf gotta be sure, not cover sign with big white man feet.”
“Same size as yours,” says Spud in an injured voice.
Wolf ignores him, walking off down the trail.
“Mose was here,” Wolf says and points at Mose tracks. “These other tracks come after.”
I get bored standing around, so start looking about myself. There is a dark shady place up the hill. I head up to check it out. I climb between the small juniper trees and use them for handholds, as the rocky going gets rougher.
“Holy shit,” I exclaim. “Look at this.”
Not hearing a reply, I look around and realize that Spud is not with me. I shrug and head in for a closer look.
It is another outcropping of the quartz rock. All shiny and white, slick and hard, but there is a broken fractured place. Looks like the rock burst outward in a huge explosion. There is a crack just big enough to crawl into. I pull a match out of my watch pocket and strike it on my zipper. I carefully hold it inside the fracture.
“Whoa.” It is like a giant geode, an air pocket in the bedrock with huge crystals all about, and scattered pockets of the tiny druzy quartz crystal carpeting. I take stock. The cave is large enough to crawl in a ways, but I only have a few matches. The matches blow out as soon as I move. I light one up, look, crawl to the end of where the light reached, then strike another and repeat. The floor of the tunnel has accumulated a layer of dirt from frequent use. Maybe an animal den? The dirt covers the sharp little crystals and saves my pants from excessive wear and tear.
I dare not head into total blackness, as there could be forks or even shafts. Oh, snakes, cougars, or bears. Then, I remember the griz we saw at our camp. Shit, is this a good idea? Only three matches left. I strike one and crawl further, whilst having more second thoughts or are they third thoughts? Like spiders and crawly things.
“Should have went back fer candles or a lantern,” I tell myself. “But I got in a hurry.”
What’s that deal about plannin’ ahead? Oh well.
On my second last match, I can see a corner and crawl to it. Where I can feel the bend in the cave, I pull myself out past the corner enough to have a good view ahead, if it continues. I hear a noise as strike the last match, sure that I can find my way back out in the dark. Hope the noise is just a rodent. My match flutters out in a fresh breeze rushing down the tunnel.
Suddenly, something jumps me. It‘s after my face. Oh my stars, it’s lickin’ me. I’m lunch.
I grab aholt of it. It is furry and soft and shines a bit in the darkness.
“Bitch?”
“Pant, pant, pant.”
“Gawd a’mighty, girl.”
Her whole body is wigglin’ with joy. My heart, on the other hand, takes a bit to calm down.
25 B’ar