He wheeled Rascal around to discover JoJo standing before him. “You are comin’ back, ain’tcha?” It was a plaintive and sincere question, that much was obvious, and the first hint of the fear they had of Zach Dubose. Perhaps the fact that he was taking his packhorse with him caused her to wonder.
“Yes, miss,” he assured her, then reminded her, “Hell, you’ve got all my possibles and half of my ammunition in your wagon.”
She favored him with a grin. “That’s right, we do, don’t we?”
“Sure do,” he replied, gave Rascal his heels, and headed back toward the river, leading his packhorse behind him.
* * *
He found that he had read the sign right when he had stopped there before, for after tying his horses in the trees, he waited for only thirty or forty minutes before they showed up. Descending the bluffs on a commonly used trail, a large buck led four younger bucks down to the river. Hawk counted ten points on the old buck’s antlers. “I’ll be doin’ you a favor if I take one of your bucks off your hands,” he murmured as he sighted his Winchester on the rearmost deer. “And you won’t have to fight him when mating season comes around this winter.” His intent was to drop the deer before he got to the water, so he wouldn’t have to drag him out of the river. One steady pull on the trigger accomplished that and sent the other bucks bolting back into the bluffs. Hawk put the dying animal out of its misery with his knife, then loaded the carcass on his packhorse.
Back at the wagon, the women heard the shot some two miles away. They all paused to see if there were more shots fired, unsure if the sound had come from their new friend or from another source. “I reckon that was Hawk,” Bertie decided. “Leastways, it came from that direction.”
“It wasn’t but one shot,” JoJo said. “I bet he got him a deer.” She grinned as she formed the picture of him in her mind. “He looks like he could hit anything with that rifle.”
“I reckon we’ll just have to wait and see,” Bertie told her.
“I hope he got one,” Blossom said. “I know I don’t want any more of that damn tough old horse.” They all laughed at that, the feeling unanimous.
“He got one. I guarantee it,” JoJo insisted.
“You’d be awful disappointed if he shows up without one, wouldn’t you?” Bertie asked. She gazed at the homely young girl with her boyish figure. Barely past her fourteenth birthday when her no-account husband ran off and left her stranded in Great Falls, the only luck she had was that he had not gotten her pregnant. “Don’t go gettin’ yourself used to havin’ him around,” Bertie said. “As soon as we get to Helena, that’ll be the last you’ll see of him.”
“Wonder why he wears that feather in his hat?” JoJo questioned. “You reckon he’s part Injun?” No one answered her, so she posed another question. “You think you oughta charge him if he wants a ride?” This she directed at Blossom, assuming she would be his choice. “I mean, since he’s kinda comin’ to our rescue, so to speak,” she added.
“Hell, JoJo, I don’t know. You ask too many questions.” This came from Blossom.
They both looked at Bertie in astonishment when she threw her head back and laughed. “I reckon we’ll find out soon enough what kinda deal he’s got in mind. So far, he ain’t asked for nothin’.” The fact that he hadn’t was enough to make her suspicious, but she still had a feeling that he would cause them no harm.
Their speculation was wasted effort because Hawk returned to the wagon with a four-point buck loaded on his packhorse and his thoughts focused on skinning and butchering it. Bertie worked on her biscuits while Blossom and JoJo roasted fresh venison over the fire and kept an eye on the pot of beans sitting in the coals. When Bertie told Hawk he had cut more than enough for them to eat that night, he concentrated on cutting strips to cure by smoke. In weather this warm, the meat wouldn’t keep long before it turned, and he wanted enough to last them till they reached Helena. If he was lucky enough to find fresh game to kill, that would be a bonus. From where they were camped, he could only guess at the distance, but he figured it to be around sixty miles. That would not be two full days on horseback, but he had to figure at least three days for the wagon.
It was late in the evening by the time Hawk had prepared enough of the deer to satisfy their needs. The ladies had spread their bedding under the wagon and were prepared to turn in for the night when Bertie came to the edge of the stream, where Hawk was cleaning his hands and arms of the remaining deer blood. “You all set for the night?” Bertie asked. “Anything you need before we turn in?”
“Reckon not,” he replied, getting to his feet.
“What time in the mornin’ are you thinkin’ about gettin’ up?”
“Sunup, I reckon,” he answered. “Then, if you ladies can get started, we’ll start out right away and stop for breakfast when we rest the horses. Is that all right with you?”
“Whatever you say,” Bertie answered, then paused for a long moment. “Nothin’ else you need?”
“Nope. See you in the mornin’.”
“Did he say he needed somebody to keep him warm?” JoJo asked anxiously as soon as Bertie crawled back under the wagon.
Bertie chuckled. “No, he didn’t need nothin’, and he said to tell that young’un to get to sleep. He didn’t wanna have to drag you out from under this wagon, come sunup.” It was too dark to see the smug smile of contentment on the young girl’s homely face.
* * *
The big buckskin horse was saddled, the fire rekindled, and the coffeepot on the fire by the time Bertie stirred from sleep. Surprised that she had slept so long, she could attribute it only to a feeling of security since Hawk had joined them. She roused Blossom and JoJo, who evidently had enjoyed a good night’s sleep for the same reason she had. “Roll up your bedrolls,” she told them. “I don’t wanna keep him waitin’ for us women.”
“I swear, I think I smell coffee,” JoJo said. “He said last night we weren’t gonna get no breakfast till the horses got tired.”
“I gotta pee before I do anything,” Blossom informed them.
“Me, too,” JoJo said, and followed Blossom toward a clump of bushes upstream. Bertie dropped her bedroll in the back of the wagon and went to meet Hawk as he was leading her horse to the wagon.
“You change your mind about breakfast?” Bertie asked.
“Nope, but I thought you might like to have a cup of coffee before we start out.” He glanced at the two younger women heading upstream to do whatever business was necessary and told himself he was glad he filled the coffeepot before that. “Gee or haw?” he asked then, looking at the wagon tongue.
Confused by his question at first, she then understood. “The left side,” she answered. “He was on the left.”
“Might as well hitch him up on the side he’s used to,” Hawk said. “My horse ain’t gonna like either side.” His packhorse was reluctant to be hitched up, but he didn’t balk as much as Hawk expected. “You drive?” She said that she was driving the wagon, so he advised her that the horse might show a bit of orneriness at first. She assured him she could handle him.
When everybody had gotten a cup of coffee, Hawk poured what was left on the fire. “I reckon that means we’re ready to go,” Blossom remarked.
Ignoring the hint of sarcasm in her voice, he replied, “Reckon so, as soon as you finish that cup.” He went to the stream to rinse out the coffeepot. A short time later, they were on their way back to the Mullan Road, where they turned west, headed toward Helena. Hawk rode along beside the wagon, but every once in a while, he would ride on up ahead just to see what might be awaiting them. Whenever he rode far enough ahead to put him out of their sight for a short while, Blossom would begin to fret. “It ain’t what’s ahead that I’m worried about,” she complained. “I wish he’d be more concerned about who might be catchin’ up behind us.”
“He’s just makin’ sure we don’t run up on an Injun war party,” Bertie said. “He ain’t ever outta sight that long, anyway. We’re most likely
worryin’ too much about Zach. You said he told you he was goin’ to Fort Benton and wouldn’t likely be back before Sunday. Hell, that’s two days from now. By the time he gets back to Great Falls, we’ll be set up in Helena, and Helena ain’t like Great Falls. They’re a regular town, got a sheriff and everything.”
“Besides,” JoJo chimed in, “Zach won’t have no idea where you went.”
“Maybe so,” Blossom allowed. “But Helena’s probably the first place he’d look.” Further discussion on the subject was interrupted by the reappearance of their broad-shouldered scout at a sharp curve about a quarter of a mile ahead.
Hawk sat there waiting for them to catch up to him. Rascal sidestepped gracefully as Bertie pulled the wagon up beside him. “I’m thinkin’ those horses oughta be about ready to take a rest,” he said. “There’s a fair-sized creek on the other side of that next hill—be a good place to stop and have a little breakfast. Course, you ladies might not be hungry yet.” He had a slight grin on his face as he waited for their response. He was not disappointed.
“I thought you were never gonna stop,” Blossom complained. “I thought I was gonna faint I’m so hungry. I’ve already sneaked a handful outta that barrel of dried apples.”
“Why, Blossom Dubose!” Bertie yelped. “You stay outta those apples. I’m savin’ those to bake a big ol’ pie to celebrate you gettin’ away from that son of a bitch you married—against your mother’s advice, I might add.”
“Oh, I didn’t take that many,” Blossom said. “I gotta watch my figure, now that I’m gonna be a workin’ girl again.” She reached over and gave JoJo a playful bump on the shoulder. “JoJo’s the one who oughta be eatin’ the apple pie. We need to fatten her up some if she’s gonna be in our business. The customers wanna see a little more padding on your bones, the more, the better.”
“I already eat like a hog,” JoJo said, “and I can’t ever put on any weight. I think there’s something wrong with me.”
Hawk didn’t say anything for a long time, listening with amusement to the senseless bantering between the women. He couldn’t help noticing the lighter mood displayed at present, a vast difference from the tense beginning of their partnership. “Let’s go get some breakfast goin’,” he said, and started off toward the hill. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with you,” he said to JoJo, leaving the young girl with a wide smile on her face.
* * *
The first clue he saw that something was wrong was the door of the shack standing ajar. “What the hell?” Zach Dubose demanded when he reined his horse up before the shabby dwelling of rough boards on Hound Creek. “Blossom!” he called out, but there was no answer from inside the shack. He had returned two days earlier than he had told her he would and his immediate thought was that she had slipped out to Trotter’s, where she worked when he had first met her. Well, that’s gonna get you a good whipping, he told himself. You’d better be asleep in there. He dismounted and stormed through the door, causing it to bang loudly against the wall. A quick look around told him that she was gone and so were the few little personal things she brought with her to their marriage, as well as all her clothes. The corner of the shack that served as the kitchen was stripped of her pots and pans. Standing in the center of the small dwelling, he looked all around him, his anger building into a burning rage. “Bitch!” he thundered. “I told you what I’d do to you, if you ever tried to leave me!”
He stormed out of the shack, just then noticing the tracks left by a wagon. “The bitch ran off with somebody,” he growled. “He’s a dead man when I find him.” He stood staring at the tracks for a long moment as if hoping they would reveal the man’s identity, his rage steadily increasing. Finally, he broke from his trance and tried to think where to look before he realized the tracks led back toward the settlement. At least that much was obvious, even in the fading light of dusk, so he climbed back on his already exhausted horse and started for Trotter’s. The trading post and saloon was where his partners were heading when he left them. Somebody there should know something about Blossom’s whereabouts, her mother in particular, or that little dog-faced girl that hung around the saloon.
He found his partners’ horses tied at the rail at Trotter’s front door and when he walked inside, he saw them sitting at one of the saloon’s three tables, sharing a bottle. “Damn,” Red Whitley exclaimed. “Lookee here, Hog. I thought he’d be home doin’ some plowin’.”
“The little woman might notta been in season.” Horace “Hog” Thacker laughed. “What are you doin’ here, Zach?”
“I’m fixin’ to kill a cheatin’ bitch,” Zach fumed as he looked around the near-empty saloon. “Where’s Bertie?”
Aware then of the serious wrath brewing in Zach’s brain, both men realized this was not a joking matter. “Hell, I don’t know,” Red answered. “She ain’t been in since we got here. Ain’t been nobody but Juanita over there.” He nodded toward a tired-looking woman sitting in a chair near the end of the bar.
“And we ain’t got drunk enough to where she looks good,” Hog commented.
Having no patience for humor at the moment, Zach turned and walked over to the bar to confront Luther Trotter. “You seen Blossom here tonight?” Zach demanded.
“No, I ain’t,” Trotter replied. “I ain’t seen Blossom since she took up with you.”
“Where’s Bertie?”
“Bertie ain’t here no more,” Trotter said. “Said she was movin’ on. JoJo went with her. I couldn’t blame her. There wasn’t much business here for them to make a living. Juanita can handle the little bit of business we get ever since you married Blossom.”
The picture became very clear to Zach then. It was obvious. “Where’d Bertie say she was headed?”
“She didn’t say,” Trotter replied, suddenly realizing that Bertie might be in for some trouble from the hotheaded drifter. He knew that she had been in touch with a fellow she knew in Helena and if he had to guess, he’d bet that was where she went. “I didn’t much care, so I didn’t think to ask her,” he said.
“How long ago was it she left?” Zach asked.
“Day before yesterday,” Trotter answered. When Zach just stood there, biting his lip, trying to decide his next move, Trotter asked, “Want me to pour you a drink?”
“No, I don’t want no drink,” Zach blurted, then changed his mind. “Yeah, pour me a drink.” He downed it, hardly noticing the burn. Then he turned to confront Hog and Red when they got up from the table, having realized the deadly mood he was in. It was easy to guess the cause of his anger.
“She run off?” Hog asked.
“Yeah, she took off, and she’s gonna pay for it.” He glared at Hog. “I told her what was gonna happen to her if she ever did.”
“That’s right,” Hog said. “You warned her. She’s got it coming. Where’d she go? Did Trotter say?”
“He don’t know, but he said Bertie and that homely little gal are gone, too. So it looks to me like they all went together. Helena is what I think. Where else could they be goin’? That’s the closest town. They wouldn’t likely head north ’cause we were up that way.”
“Yeah,” Hog mused. “That didn’t turn out worth a shit, did it?” He was thinking about the reason they had come back to Great Falls before they had planned to. “That was poor luck to find a cavalry patrol ridin’ with that payroll.”
Ignoring Hog’s musing, Zach said, “I’m goin’ after that bitch, and the other two with her. We oughta be able to catch ’em before they get to Helena.” He automatically assumed they would go with him. Neither spoke up at once, so he said, “You ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”
Red glanced at Hog and shrugged. “I reckon you’re right about that,” he said. “Might as well, but we need to let those horses rest before we go anywhere. We damn near wore ’em out coming back.”
Zach grimaced when he remembered that, but he realized they had little choice but to let the horses recover. It was not to his liking, but he was still confident that they cou
ld overtake the wagon, probably before it reached Helena.
CHAPTER 3
The night passed peacefully enough for the three women and their guide. As a precaution, Hawk had backed the wagon into a narrow ravine where it was hidden from view of anyone passing on the road. He built the fire in the back of the ravine, where the smoke was largely dispersed by the foliage on the slope above it. Although he made no show of being overly concerned with the possibility of Blossom’s husband coming after them, he saw no sense in being careless about the camp. A jealous man was a dangerous man, and from hearing them talk about Zach Dubose, he sounded like the kind of man who would not take her leaving without seeking some measure of revenge. As before, he had spent the night bedded down close to his horse while the women slept under the wagon again. He had positioned his bed in the mouth of the ravine, so if a visit from Dubose did occur, he would have to pass by him to get to the wagon. He was a naturally light sleeper, plus he counted on the big buckskin to alert him if other horses approached.
With the early rays of the sun filtering through the thick foliage on the sides of the ravine, Hawk rolled out of his blanket and took a quick look around the camp to make sure everything was in order. When he walked back in the ravine to get the women up, he was met halfway by JoJo, carrying a cup of coffee for him. “I thought you might want some coffee before we hitch up,” she said, outwardly pleased by his look of surprise.
He laughed. “I sure do,” he said, taking the cup from her. “Thank you. What about the other two?”
“I woke ’em up,” she said. “They can get their own coffee.”
“Well, thank you again.” He took a sip of the hot liquid. “That’s mighty good. You sure make a good cup of coffee, lady.” She blushed sweetly as he smacked his lips after another sip. “Yes, ma’am, some lucky young fellow is gonna get a winner when he picks you.” While she puffed up proudly, he told her to tell Blossom and her mother they could walk up the creek a ways to perform whatever they had to do before starting out again. “And tell ’em they don’t need to wander off too far. I’ll be saddlin’ Rascal and hitching up the wagon.” She waited until he gulped the last of his coffee down, then she took his cup back to the wagon. Poor little homely girl, he thought as he hesitated a moment to watch her walk away. She ain’t got much chance of getting married, or making it as a whore, if that’s what she’s hoping to do. But I don’t know. I reckon there’s a mate for everybody somewhere. He had to admit, she was starting to get into his mind. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. “Ain’t my problem,” he mumbled, turned around, and went to get his saddle. He said good morning to Blossom and Bertie when they passed him, on their way downstream to take care of business. They were soon under way again.
No Justice in Hell Page 3
