Packing Iron

by Steve Hayes

‘Why? Was she rude to you?’

  ‘No. But she was bawlin’ like a sick calf an’ took off into the desert.’

  ‘It’s nothing. She’s just upset about something I said and as usual has gone off to sulk.’

  ‘Was it about me?’

  Ingrid hesitated, loath to reveal Raven’s problem. Then deciding no harm could come from it, she explained what happened.

  Gabriel didn’t answer. Rolling himself a smoke from Sven’s makings that he now kept in a pouch in his pocket, he licked the paper, flared a match and exhaled a lungful of smoke toward the ceiling.

  ‘I don’t blame you for being angry with me,’ Ingrid said, misunderstanding his silence. ‘I’d no right to reveal something personal that was told me in confidence, but—’

  ‘I’m not angry,’ he said. ‘An’ what I told you wasn’t in confidence. Fact is I was hopin’ that when we got to Las Cruces you’n Raven would come to the mission with me. I’d like you to meet Ellie. An’ I’m sure she’d enjoy meetin’ you.’

  Ingrid felt the same twinge of jealousy she’d felt previously. Controlling it, she said: ‘That’s her name – Ellie?’

  ‘Ellen – Ellen Kincaide, yeah.’

  ‘If there’s time before our train leaves, I’d love to meet her.’ Ingrid smiled without humor. ‘It might be better all around if Raven waits in the wagon, though – considering her crush on you and how unpredictable she is.’

  ‘No,’ Gabriel said firmly, ‘it’s important Raven meet her too.’

  ‘Why’s that, if I may ask?’

  ‘It’ll ease her mind.’ Stubbing out his cigarette, he went to the door. Pausing, he looked at her with a trace of regret. ‘See, Ellie’s got her heart set on bein’ a nun. An’ though she’s got feelings for me, God’s corralled all her love.’ He left, the door banging shut behind him.

  Rising, Ingrid went to the window and stared out after him. Her heart was pounding. She knew it was ridiculous to care for a man she hardly knew – worse, a gunfighter wanted by the law – but she couldn’t control her emotions. Nor did she want to. For the first time since losing Sven, she realized she cared about a man and felt whole again.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  That night Gabriel was sound asleep in his bedroll when Ingrid knocked on the barn door. ‘It’s me, Gabe. Don’t shoot.’

  Gabriel lowered the hammer on his Colt. ‘Come in.’

  The door creaked open and Ingrid entered. She wore a robe over her white nightgown and carried a kerosene lamp. ‘I’m sorry to wake you, but I’m worried. Raven hasn’t come home and it’s way past midnight.’

  ‘Damn.’

  ‘She’s never stayed out all night before—’

  ‘Meet me by the corral. Go, woman,’ he said when she lingered. ‘Longer you stand there, longer I can’t get my duds on.’

  Within minutes Gabriel joined Ingrid at the corral gate. A full moon was all the light he needed to saddle the stallion.

  ‘I want to go with you, Gabe.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But I know all the places Raven hides.’

  ‘An’ she knows you know an’ those are the places she won’t be.’ Mounting, he leaned down and cupped her chin in his hand, tilting her face up until he could see the reflection of the moon in her eyes. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll find her. Got my word on it.’

  As the Morgan galloped out into the moonlit desert, Gabriel ignored the twinges of pain shooting up his lower back with each powerful stride and concentrated on how good it felt to be back in the saddle.

  Earlier, the stallion had made no attempt to bite or kick him when he threw the saddle on its back or fed the bit into its mouth, suggesting it too was glad to be free of the confines of the corral. Hoping that its good disposition would continue, Gabriel reined the horse in a little and the Morgan settled into a steady, mile-consuming lope.

  The flat reddish scrubland, bathed in silver, fell behind them on both sides. In the distance thunderheads gathered above the peaks of the Organ Mountains. There was a strange quiet to the desert and Gabriel wondered if a storm was coming. Flash floods were common in the region and people trapped by them often drowned. He had to find Raven quickly.

  He had no idea where she was. But remembering that she’d told him how Brandy had tried to ramrod her while they were hiding out in Furnace Canyon, he guided the horse in that direction.

  Soon they reached the hills. He slowed the Morgan to a walk and followed the winding trail upward for about a mile before reaching the clumps of piñon trees and large craggy rocks that guarded the entrance to the box canyon.

  As he rode into the canyon Gabriel saw it was little more than a narrow, deep gash in the hills. Scraggly pines and shrubs clung to the steep sides. Ahead, the far end of the canyon was boxed in by a wall of rock. Gabriel gave the stallion its head. Brandy carefully picked its way along the trail, its hoofs clattering loudly over the loose stones. Along the ridgeline a pack of coyotes announced intruders were coming, their yip-yipping echoing off the canyon walls.

  Gabriel knew that surprise was out of the question. He didn’t care. He’d already figured out that he would never find Raven unless she wanted him to, so instead of wasting time tracking her he decided to lure her to him. Dismounting, he made a big fuss out of examining the Morgan’s right hoof.

  ‘Goddammit!’ he said loudly. ‘How the hell’d you cut yourself like that?’ He looked back down the trail. ‘Must’ve stepped on a sharp stone or somethin’. Of all the bad luck….’ Keeping hold of the reins, he sat on a rock and shook his head in disgust. ‘Reckon all we can do now is sit here till daylight comes an’ I can see exactly what’s painin’ you.’

  As he spoke he listened carefully, trying to pick up any noise among the rocks surrounding him. Nothing stirred. If Raven was hiding within the sound of his voice, she was keeping still until she decided what to do.

  Taking out the makings, Gabriel rolled a smoke and lit it. Then cupping his hands around the match, he again hunkered down and held the flame near the same rear leg. The match sputtered. Gabriel deliberately grabbed the leg and jerked it around. As he expected the stallion, tired of him messing with its leg, snorted and tried to cow-kick him.

  Gabriel jumped back, avoiding the kick, yelling: ‘Stand still, dammit – oww!’ Pretending to be burned by the dying flame, he threw the match away and stood up. As he did he heard a faint giggle among the rocks to his left.

  ‘That does it,’ he told the horse. ‘Come daylight, I’m leavin’ you for coyote bait an’ walkin’ out of here.’ He sat back on the rock and finished his smoke.

  ‘You’d do it too, wouldn’t you,’ a small voice said. He looked up and saw Raven perched among the rocks.

  ‘Damn right. An’ don’t go to frettin’ about him either, ’cause he’d sure as hell’d do the same to me.’

  ‘What do you expect,’ she said, making her way down toward him, ‘he’s a horse. He doesn’t know right from wrong. He just knows what he likes and doesn’t like an’ he doesn’t like you.’ She landed lightly on the ground beside Gabriel, moved close to the Morgan and began rubbing its velvety black nose.

  The stallion nuzzled her, snickering softly. ‘I’m sorry,’ she told it. ‘I don’t have any piñon nuts. But I’ll find you some on the way down.’

  ‘Here,’ Gabriel dug into the pocket of his jeans. ‘Give him these.’

  Raven saw the piñon nuts in the palm of his outstretched hand and looked at him as if he was giving away gold nuggets.

  ‘What’re you lookin’ at?’ Gabriel said wryly. ‘You think I’m too old to learn?’

  For another moment she continued to look at him and then she started giggling.

  ‘What’s so damn funny?’

  ‘You,’ she said. ‘Thinking I’d fall for that dumb ol’ horse-gone-lame trick.’

  ‘If it’s so dumb, why’d you show yourself?’

  ‘’Cause I got what I wanted.’

  ‘What might that be?’

  ‘You – to come a
fter me.’ Moving close, she hugged him. ‘Now I know you care about me.’

  He wanted to spank her. Instead, he held her away from him and looked sternly at her.

  ‘I’m only here,’ he lied, ‘on account of your mother. How worried she was.’

  ‘Fibber!’ She jerked free and glared at him. ‘If Momma was so worried why didn’t she come an’ look for me herself?’

  ‘She wanted to. But I wouldn’t let her.’

  For a moment doubt showed in Raven’s large black eyes. ‘You’re just saying that to make me feel bad.’

  ‘Is it workin’?’

  ‘Would you be happy if it was?’

  ‘No. But, least I’d know you learned a lesson tonight.’

  She gave him a confused, angry look. ‘Why’re you being so hateful?’

  ‘Teachin’ you to be responsible for your actions, that don’t mean I hate you. Means I want you to grow up special.’

  She wasn’t buying it. ‘Grown-ups,’ she said bitterly. ‘All you care about is preaching and punishing people.’

  A coyote suddenly yipped high above them and at once his relatives all joined in, their yowling bouncing off the canyon walls.

  Gabriel waited for the chorus to end before saying: ‘If I was lookin’ to punish you, girl, I would’ve put you ’cross my knee a minute ago.’

  ‘You wouldn’t dare!’

  He lunged for her. But she was too quick. Grabbing the Morgan’s mane, she swung up onto its back and dug her heels into its flanks.

  ‘Git!’ she yelled. The stallion launched itself into a gallop and disappeared into the dark box canyon.

  Gabriel sighed, thinking as he did that he wasn’t cut out to be a father. He then rolled another smoke and leaned back on the rock to enjoy it while he waited for her to return.

  That Raven, he thought as he smoked. When she grows up, she’s gonna be some kind of hellion.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The next morning broke cool and fresh. While Ingrid cooked breakfast, Gabriel and Raven hitched up the team and put all the valises in the back of the wagon. Earlier he had made a crude awning out of four poles and some canvas, attaching it over the wagon box so that mother and daughter would have cover from the broiling sun.

  Raven was strangely silent as she worked alongside him. Gabriel guessed Ingrid must have laid down the law when he brought Raven home last night and other than saying good morning to her, kept to himself.

  After breakfast, with the sun peeking over the eastern horizon, he saddled up the Morgan and waited by the wagon while Ingrid and Raven placed wild flowers on Sven’s grave and then took a moment to say goodbye to the ranch.

  Both were crying when they joined him.

  ‘You probably think we’re being overly sentimental,’ Ingrid said to Gabriel as he helped her onto the wagon box.

  ‘No, ma’am. Leavin’ a beloved behind always hurts.’

  ‘It’s not just my husband,’ Ingrid said wistfully. ‘There are lots of wonderful memories here. Christmases, birthday parties, anniversaries … what good times we had.’ She brushed a tear away before adding: ‘Grandpa Johan and my father and grandfather built this place from the ground up. It was our wedding present. They planned on being finished the week before Sven and I got married. But wouldn’t you know, it rained nonstop for two days, causing a flash flood, and most of the wood got washed away. Years later I remember Grandpa Johan laughing and saying how it took them hours to round it all up and bring it back here. Then they had to work like mad to get everything done by our wedding day so we’d have a place to spend our honeymoon.’

  ‘But they got it done,’ Gabriel said. ‘My book, that’s what matters.’

  Ingrid smiled at him. ‘You are so like Sven.’

  ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

  ‘I meant it as one.’ She held his gaze for a moment then feeling herself blush, lowered her eyes.

  Raven, who’d been watching them, saw her mother blush and felt a wave of jealousy. ‘Bet you didn’t know,’ she said to Gabriel, ‘that I was born here.’

  ‘That right?’

  ‘Exactly four minutes after two on a Sunday afternoon, right, Momma?’

  ‘Yes, dear. Thank heavens it wasn’t two in the morning or your father would never have been able to get the midwife over in time to help deliver you. My goodness,’ she said, fondly brushing Raven’s hair back from her face, ‘you were such a beautiful baby.’

  ‘I was?’

  ‘Had the biggest, darkest, prettiest eyes anyone ever saw. And still do.’

  Raven, as if overwhelmed by the thought, suddenly put her arms around Ingrid. ‘I love you, Momma.’

  ‘Love you too, lamb.’ They hugged for another moment then Ingrid picked up the reins and snapped them, setting the team in motion.

  Gabriel pulled his old campaign hat over his eyes to keep out the sun then nudged the Morgan into a walk and the three of them set off for Las Cruces.

  The most direct route was an old Butterfield Stagecoach trail that had been abandoned once the railroad arrived. To get to it they had to cross five miles of open desert dotted with dry brush and chaparral. The terrain never varied. By mid morning the sun had climbed high into the naked sky and the heat was remorseless. Now and then they stopped to rest the horses and to take a sip of water. But for the most part they trudged along, eating dust, seldom saying a word.

  Finally, Gabriel found the winding, rutted stagecoach trail and signaled for Ingrid to park the wagon in a tiny patch of shade beside a rocky outcrop.

  ‘Now’d be a good time to stretch your legs,’ he advised, dismounting. ‘We got a long ride ahead of us and for the most part there ain’t much cover.’

  Welcoming the rest, Ingrid let Gabriel help her down from the wagon. When he turned to help Raven, she refused his hand and jumped off on her own. Amused, Gabriel joined Ingrid who had plopped down on a flat rock. Loosening the front of her shirt, she began fanning herself with her hand.

  ‘My God, it’s scorching.’

  Gabriel rolled and lit a smoke and then fanned her with his hat.

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful.’ She closed her eyes, leaned back and enjoyed the cool air. ‘Days like this I wish I’d never left home.’

  ‘It doesn’t get hot in Norway, ma’am?’

  ‘Not like this, never. It can get quite warm in summer. But summer only lasts from the end of June to early August, and for the most part it’s very pleasant.’

  ‘I once read how the sun shines at midnight. ’Course I knew that couldn’t be true, but—’

  ‘Oh, but it is. North of the Arctic Circle the sun’s so close to the horizon that it shines all day and night during the summer months. That’s why we call it the Midnight Sun.’

  ‘How ’bout that?’ Gabriel said, impressed. ‘Learn somethin’ every day.’

  Raven, irked by the attention he was paying her mother, went to the water barrel Gabriel had lashed to the side of the wagon. Filling a bowl, she gave the two team horses a drink.

  ‘Not too much,’ Gabriel warned. ‘Don’t want ’em to bloat up in this heat.’ She gave him a withering look as if to say she already knew that, and then refilled the bowl and held it under the Morgan’s muzzle.

  ‘Would you like a ham sandwich?’ Ingrid asked her. ‘I made some before we left in case we got hungry.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No, what?’

  ‘Thank you.’ Pouting, Raven sat beside the Morgan and released her hostility by hurling stones at a roadrunner that was crossing the trail. The black-and-white mottled bird with its distinctive head crest and upward tail dodged them easily and fled in a blur.

  Ingrid sighed and shook her head. ‘I hope she’s not going to be like this the whole way or it’s going to be a very long trip.’

  ‘She’ll perk up soon as you get on the train,’ Gabriel said. ‘Be a new experience for her. She won’t have time to sulk.’

  ‘Speaking of trains, what do you plan to do once we get to Las Cruce
s? After you’ve seen Ellen, I mean?’

  ‘Haven’t given it much thought.’

  ‘Can you stay in town if you want to?’

  ‘Mean am I wanted by the law there? Yep. Stadtlander made sure of that. New Mexico, Arizona, Texas – man as rich an’ powerful as him has got a mighty long reach.’

  ‘Then you mustn’t go there. Once we get close to town you must ride off. Surely you can see that?’

  ‘You’re forgettin’ Ellie, ma’am. Promised myself I’d see her. ’Sides, the mission’s ’bout two miles away in Mesilla. So long as I don’t cause trouble chances are the sheriff won’t come after me. Not for his wages.’

  Ingrid hesitated. She wanted to ask him to come to California with them, but couldn’t find the nerve. ‘Well, I think you’re making a dreadful mistake. I’m sure Ellie would too. But of course you won’t listen to me. So whatever you do I wish you luck.’

  ‘You, too. Maybe one day we’ll meet up again.’

  ‘I’d like that. And I know Raven would, too.’

  Neither seemed to know what to say next and there was an awkward pause.

  ‘Reckon we better be movin’.’ Rising, Gabriel stubbed his cigarette out on the heel of his boot, hitched up his gun-belt so it rested on his hips and walked to the Morgan. About to step into the saddle, he faked a lunge at Raven as if to grab her. But she sprang back, avoiding him.

  ‘Hah! You can’t catch me. I’m too quick for you.’

  He turned his back on her, as if the game was over. Raven fell for it and walked to the wagon. A faint whirring sound made her turn – but she was too late. His rope looped around her. She tried to wriggle free but Gabriel jerked the noose tight, clamping her arms to her sides, and then slowly, hand over hand, pulled her to him.

  Ingrid, watching from the wagon, began laughing.

  Gabriel pulled Raven right up to him then held the rope up just high enough to bring her to her toes.

  ‘Now what was that you were sayin’?’ he asked her.

  ‘Let-me-go,’ she hissed at him. ‘Momma, tell him to let me go!’

  Gabriel grinned at Ingrid. ‘How ’bout I put her ’cross my knee and give her a few licks?’