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I followed the Outlaw Trail east for the next few hours but found nothing to show that they had been here. Giving up I swung south in the direction of Vernal just in case Heskins was banking on doing the unusual. No dice. When I slept it was on the edge of a ravine that would echo the sounds of any riders in the night. In the morning light I climbed to the top of a nameless (to me, anyway) hill and looked across the countryside. Far to the north I could see rings of smoke.
They had found her. And me so many miles away. Nothing to do for it but to ride, and ride hard. Big Horse was ready. He seemed to feel the urgency, and there was no need to use the spurs to get up speed. He was set to go fast and keep it up all day.
Occasionally I would go over the top of another hill to see if the smoke was still visible and it was. The Indians must have Heskins pinned in a corner, I told myself, or he would have moved on by now.
At long last I came within earshot and an occasional round of gunfire came from ahead. I had been right. They had him holed up and were waiting for me to show.
I left Big Horse in a copse of trees and eased my way ahead on foot. I snuck up behind Peter and nearly got shot for my trouble. He hadn't heard my approach and swung around with gun leveled.
"You're pretty quiet for a white eyes," was his comment. "We have been thowing a shot near the old boy often enough to keep him from stirring. We stole his horses again." He said this with a grin like that of a boy that is playing with a puppy.
"Where is the girl?" I asked, for I was already formulating a plan.
"Do you see that big rock that looks like the rear end of a horse? He's got her in back of that, out of danger from any flying bullets."
"Good, now here's what I'm going to do. If I can work my way around to the other side I'm going to slide down that dried mud on this side of the rock. If I'm quiet enough he won't even know I'm there until I've got the drop on him."
"Better you than me," was the comment from my red skinned amigo.
Within an hour I was in place. From the attention of the Indians I could tell that Heskins was somewhere below me to my right. That was good for it kept me between him and Anne. When one of the Indians shot again to distract him I went down the slide, gun at ready.
Heskins swung around and shot quickly. Man, he was good! That shot grazed my arm, even though we were moving in opposite directions when he triggered it. I replied with one that missed, then snapped another that hit him low and hard.
I thought the fight must have gone out of him at that one but I was wrong. He up and shot just as I slid the last few feet. I felt the tug as the bullet went through the crown of my hat. I snapped another that connected somewhere, and then he was gone.
I mean vanished. The Indians came and joined me, and while there was plenty of blood Heskins was nowhere to be seen. I quickly went to Anne lest he should circle and grab her. Talk about being glad to see someone. We clung together like a tree and bark. I told her we would never allow anything like this to happen again.
One of Peter's braves finally found where Heskins had crawled through a tunnel of rocks and entered the stream. They were game to follow along to find if he came out, but Peter and I were sure the man was finished and told them not to bother. In a day or two the buzzards would tell us where to look. That turned out to be nearly a fatal error.
On the way back to Vernal Anne and I stopped by Big John Carter's, for it was right on the way and I new Anne needed the rest. I also wanted to present Carter with the scalp of the bear that had killed his son. In his stentorian voice he announced his intention to set me up just as he had said he would, but I stopped him before he got too carried away.
"I just brought this to you so that you would know your son had been avenged. You owe me nothing."
"But I said I would set you up, and I will."
"No, John, don't you see? For one thing, I never agreed to your offer in the first place. I just happened to be in the right place to shoot that bear, is all. I might like to buy some land from you, though."
"Well, let me think about it," he said. "We can probably work something out."
We ended up spending three days. The hospitality shown by the average Western ranch is something to behold, and John Carter really put on the dog during our stay. One meal featured a whole roast pig, dripping with succulent juices.
Others were Mexican meals prepared by Carter's Senoran chef. These repasts were unbelievably good. Tostada Grande was one of my favorites, a huge pastry shell filled with refried beans, cheese and fresh vegetables. And all this smothered with a sauce that sparked the appetite.
We spent the evenings being regaled with his tales of opening up the country. The everyday dangers faced were hard to picture now, even though Anne and I had just made a very narrow escape. A lot of men had taken off for the West and were never heard from again, and this held true to this very day.
"You know," said Big John, "I kind of hate to see the day when this changes. I didn't come out here to tame a land but to live with it. A lot of the people that talk about organizing and statehood are looking for the chance to be top dog. Seems to me we might be trading one danger for another."
"You might just be right at that, John," I told him.
"Most of the people that talk about Utopia and such are well meaning, but I don't believe they think it through enough. As soon as you get a bunch of sheep in one bunch a lobo wolf is bound to show up.
"Another thing is, look at the law out here. Sure, we all carry it in our holsters and as a rule it works out pretty good. We stop a lot of trouble before it even gets started. Look at some of those cattle towns that have marshals, though. A lot of those fellows are riding the Outlaw Trail one week and riding for the law the next. And the power gets to a lot of them until they are dangerous to even speak to. Now which is the better system? I would have to say that ours is."
"Amen to that," said Carter.
"I think you are both very full of yourselves," said my lady Anne. She had a way of bringing us back down to earth when we got too carried away. John came to think of us as family, but that was in the future. The seeds were being sewn right now, though.
Just before dark Anne and I would usually take a walk around the back pasture and plan out what our own place would be like. "I would like to have a house in a place like this someday," she said. " A place where we can watch the sun go down over the mountains and see the deer come out to feed in the meadows."
"We will, I promised her. There is still a lot of gold left in my claim. At least I hope there is. And we shall build a good business with the breeding of horses. That is one commodity that the West has got to have. The trains may have picked up some of the work but there will always be a demand for horses in this half of the country."
"I would like to have a garden, too."
I had forgotten the pleasure a garden gave to a woman, and to a man too if he cared to admit it. "Yes, of course. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. We will have all kinds of vegetables and some flowers too. You'll have to pick out the flowers, for I know nothing about them."
"You will," she promised.
"Yes, indeed, flowers and a whole bunch of other things."
On the morning of our departure Big John said to me, "Jess, have you got a double eagle on you? I'm a little short on spending money."
I was surprised that a big rancher like Carter would need the loan of twenty dollars but naturally I handed it over.
"Now, he said, I don't want to give this back. If we could make a trade I'd rather hand you the deed to the four sections that border your little mining claim. Then I'd have some neighbors of my own choosing and I would feel a might better."
I started to protest, but Anne cut me short. "Jess, he wants us to be his neighbors. How can we deny him that? You know we would like it too."
And so, just like that, I became the owner of land. It is a different feeling, when you have never owned any before. You can almost feel the roots growing from your feet. Anne could see the wonder in my eyes and gave me a big hug.
"I don't know what's supposed to come first but my crew is all at the ranch, so why don't we pick out a spot and start building a house." Just like that. And he was so matter-of-fact that you knew that house would be done when he said it would be.
Half the ranch rode along with us, and we ended up picking a spot on top of a low hill that offered good visibility from all sides. Safety was one consideration, but that evening view was the deciding factor. When you can sit back after a hard days work and feel the tension subside as you watch the sun go down you are in the right place. A place with a view.
A copse of small pine lived on the northwest shoulder of the hill and we decided to leave it. It would cut that sometimes bitter wind and lessen some of the snow drifts that might form.
Half of the crew pitched in to dig a cellar hole, while others rode to a timber heavy ridge on John's land to cut logs, split them and twitch them back to the building site. I couldn't believe how fast the work progressed, but John's men were all good workers and skilled in whatever they did. He wouldn't have kept them on his payroll otherwise.
A lot of houses of the day didn't have cellars. Sills were set on flat rocks and if done carefully the buildings stood erect for a very long time. The smaller soddies of the dirt farmers were usually dirt floored. John was of the opinion that if you are going to do something you should do it right, and a dug cellar made for the greatest longevity.
"And don't forget that your woman, here, wants a big garden. Vegetables will keep most of the winter in a good cellar."
Now it was up to a big garden! I was willing to bet that I would get sick of the feel of a hoe.
By the end of the second day the walls, floors and roof were on. Now a couple of cowboys that admitted to being from Vermont went to work with hatchets and split shakes for the roof and sides. It made for a very pleasant appearance that made a water tight abode. The interior of the house was left all natural boards, for Anne would want to decorate as we finished it.
Finally came the morning when Big John announced, "Well, kids, I guess we've done all we can for right now. The only thing left is, you two need to get married."
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