Zach glanced at the forest. “Where did all those snakes come from? I never imagined there were so many.”
“A den somewhere,” Nate said. “We may never know exactly where. The rain brought them out, I suspect.”
“Will they go back to it or find another?”
“I don’t know.” Nate indicated his bay. “I want you to ride to Waku’s and then to Shakespeare’s and tell them to come as fast as they can to your cabin. Your mother is there with Lou. We’re going to have another snake hunt and kill as many as we can before they find cover.”
Zach nodded and collected his tomahawk and Bowie. A lithe swing, and he was up and away.
“Why not let them be?” Evelyn asked. “They never did anything like this before. It was the rain that brought them out. You said so yourself.”
“You can say that after what you’ve just been through?”
“It wasn’t their fault, Pa. They were just doing what snakes do.”
“They were being true to their nature, yes,” Nate said. “So is a hungry griz when it charges you, but you would have me shoot the griz, I bet.”
“That’s different.”
“The more rattlers there are, the higher the chance that someday you’ll go out to the chicken coop or around to the corral and almost step on one and get bit.” Nate shook his head. “I won’t have that. I won’t let the threat exist. Do you understand?”
“I suppose.” Evelyn let herself sink down onto her back. Her ordeal had exhausted her. Suddenly arms were under her, lifting her off the ground. In surprise she blurted, “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to Zach’s so your mother and Lou can tend you.” Nate strode west, his Hawken in his left hand.
“You don’t need to carry me,” Evelyn protested. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be able to walk.”
“You’re soaked clean through and your clothes are a mess and you have snake blood all over you,” Nate said. “You need a hot bath and a cup of your mother’s healing tea.” He looked down at her and grinned. “Besides, Dega will be here soon. Do you really want him to see you looking like this?”
Evelyn hadn’t thought of that. “Walk faster,” she said. It felt good being in her father’s strong arms. He hadn’t picked her up in years, not since she went from being a girl to a young woman. She placed her cheek on his chest and looped her arms around his neck. “Thanks, Pa.”
“For what?”
“For you and Ma always being there for me.”
“Zach, too. Don’t forget your brother.”
Evelyn saw him again in her mind’s eye, the Grim Reaper of rattlers, laying waste right and left to save her from harm. “I love him, too. Don’t ever tell him that, though.” She gazed out over the lake, bright now in the reborn sun. “You know something? I’m happy here.”
“I hope so. It’s your home.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Evelyn snuggled against him. She was feeling sleepy. “Remember when I’d had enough of life in the wild and wanted to go off and live in a city?”
“I remember it well.”
“I’ve changed my mind. Here is as good as anywhere. I think I’ll stay for as long as you’ll have me.”
“That would be forever,” Nate said, and pecked her on the forehead.
Evelyn closed her eyes. She was close to drifting off. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. You and Ma, both. I guess now is as good a time as any.”
“About Dega?” Nate said.
Evelyn jerked her head up. “You know about him and me?”
“We’ve known for some time.”
“And you don’t mind? You didn’t say anything. You didn’t try to stop me from seeing him.”
“Why would we? Your mother wasn’t much older than you when I courted her.”
Evelyn smiled and kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. “Thanks, Pa. Thanks for caring so much and being so understanding and all.”
“It’s what fathers do,” Nate King said.
Author’s Note
Several of the entries in Nate King’s journal are regarded by some as tall tales. His account of the “hairy creatures,” for instance, related in an earlier book, and again, his experiences with the NunumBi.
The author brings this up because there are a few who think that Nate’s account of the “snake invasion,” as a herpetologist called it, is another of those tall tales.
The author would note, however, that dens have been found with hundreds of snakes. In one documented instance (see below) over 20,000 were filmed.
So the snake invasion is not as far-fetched as some would have us believe.
(To see the 20,000 for yourself, go to You Tube and search the term: 20,000 snakes in a Narcisse snake pit.)
Other Books By
The Wilderness series:
#1: KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
#2: LURE OF THE WILD
#3: SAVAGE RENDEZVOUS
#4: BLOOD FURY
#5: TOMAHAWK REVENGE
#6: BLACK POWDER JUSTICE
#7: VENGEANCE TRAIL
#8: DEATH HUNT
#9: MOUNTAIN DEVIL HAWKEN FURY (GIANT EDITION)
#10: BLACKFOOT MASSACRE
#11: NORTHWEST PASSAGE
#12: APACHE BLOOD
#13: MOUNTAIN MANHUNT
#14: TENDERFOOT
#15: WINTERKILL
#16: BLOOD TRUCE
#17: TRAPPER’S BLOOD
#18: MOUNTAIN CAT
#19: IRON WARRIOR
#20: WOLF PACK
#21: BLACK POWDER
#22: TRAIL’S END
#23: THE LOST VALLEY
#24: MOUNTAIN MADNESS
#25: FRONTIER MAYHEM
#26: BLOOD FEUD
#27: GOLD RAGE
#28: THE QUEST
#29: MOUNTAIN NIGHTMARE
#30: SAVAGES
#31: BLOOD KIN
#32: THE WESTWARD TIDE
#33: FANG AND CLAW
#34: TRACKDOWN
#35: FRONTIER FURY
#36: THE TEMPEST
#37: PERILS OF THE WIND
#38: MOUNTAIN MAN
#39: FIREWATER
#40: SCAR
#41: BY DUTY BOUND
#42: FLAMES OF JUSTICE
#43: VENGEANCE
#44: SHADOW REALMS
#45: IN CRUEL CLUTCHES
#46: UNTAMED COUNTRY
#47: REAP THE WHIRLWIND
#48: LORD GRIZZLY
#49: WOLVERINE
#50: PEOPLE OF THE FOREST (GIANT EDITION)
#51: COMANCHE MOON
#52: GLACIER TERROR
#53: THE RISING STORM
#54: PURE OF HEART
#55: INTO THE UNKNOWN
#56: IN DARKEST DEPTHS
#57: FEAR WEAVER
#58: CRY FREEDOM
#59: ONLY THE STRONG
#60: THE OUTCAST
#61: THE SCALP HUNTERS
#62: THE TEARS OF GOD
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
March 2010
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Copyright © 2010 by David L. Robbins
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