Absaroka Ambush (10 page)

“You're leaving in the morning?” Faith asked.

“Long before dawnin', Missy.”

“Aren't you ever afraid, Preacher? I mean, out here?”

“Hell, yes! Man who says he ain't never been afraid is either a fool or a liar. You just got to overcome it, live with it, and go on about your business.”

“You think we're really in trouble, don't you? You believe that this Bedell person and his thugs will actually attempt to harm us.”

“Yes, I do, Missy. And I ain't a man to deliberately cause a person undue alarm. I ain't no see-er into the future. I can't tell you where or when Bedell will strike. But strike he will. Y'all got to be extra careful. I got to convince you of that. He'll come on like a real gentleman. He can do that. I 'spect that what him and his men has planned is to get all mixed up with the members of the train and then strike like lightnin' when your guard is down. That's what I think.”

Blackjack and the other mountain men were staying away from Preacher and the lady on this night. The wagon train was quieting down as the women were preparing for their night's rest. Guards had been doubled. Slowly, the fires were being extinguished within the huge circle.

“You best get on back to your wagon, Missy,” Preacher told her. “People will talk.”

“You care about things like that, Preacher?” she asked, standing up.

“Not one twit.”

“Neither do I,” she whispered.

Their eyes met and held for a moment. Faith smiled at Preacher and then walked away into the gloom of the pale canvas-ringed circle. She stopped, turned around, and stared at him for a moment.

Preacher lay back on his blankets, his head on his saddle, and looked up at the diamond-pocked heavens far above him. After a moment, he sighed heavily. “That woman's gonna get you in trouble,” he muttered.

“Hee-hee-hee,” Blackjack giggled from a few yards away, and Ned, Steals Pony, and the other mountain men joined in the snickering.

“Oh, shut up!” Preacher told them.

Charlie Burke then stepped out of the shadows and went swishing across the clearing like a fop, both hands on his hips. He sashshayed about. Soon Blackjack and the others stepped out and began mincing about like fops, with the huge Blackjack closely resembling a drunken grizzly bear. Preacher just lay on his blankets and let them have their fun.

Preacher had to stick his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing when he spotted Eudora, Faith, and about twenty other ladies all hunkered down on the ground, peering intently through the wheel spokes at the foppish dancing and other strange antics of the mountain men.

He figured Blackjack and the others would have some tall explainin' to do come the dawnin'.

Preacher was a good five miles from the wagon train when the eastern sky began splitting into color. He'd had him several cups of strong coffee 'fore he left the circle—he stopped a woman just in time to keep her from throwing it out; told her he didn't give a damn if it was hours old, it was still hot, wasn't it, so turn the pot a-loose, you crazy female! And when he reached a clear running creek, he swung down from Hammer to eat some cold biscuits and salt meat he'd snitched from an oven.

He ruminated as he chewed. Preacher figured that Bedell and his trashy bunch would be starting to close the distance now, maybe laying no more than a day's ride behind. In two or three days, the wagons would have reached the Platte and be heading west along its southern banks.

“That's where they'll hit 'em,” Preacher said, finishing off his breakfast. He took a long drink of water from the creek, and tightened the cinch on Hammer. Hammer pulled his usual stunt and puffed up. If Preacher didn't catch it, when he tried to step into the saddle, Hammer would exhale, loosening the cinch strap, and Preacher would hit the ground. Hammer would then roll his eyes and show his big teeth. Preacher always swore the damn horse was laughing at him.

“Caught you that time, didn't I?” Preacher said to Hammer. The big horse tried to step on Preacher's foot but the mountain man was too quick for him. Preacher knew all of Hammer's tricks. But ever' now and then Hammer would catch him.

To listen to Preacher cuss his horse, a stranger might have thought the two hated each other. But exactly the opposite was true. Hammer would kill anyone who tried to harm his master, and Preacher would kill anyone who tried to do harm to his horse.

Preacher rode another six or seven miles, then reined up before he topped a fairly high ridge. He picketed Hammer and taking his spyglass, bellied up to the top of the ridge and began scanning. It didn't take him long to spot the riders. They were closing fast now, riding at a distance-consuming pace, but not a punishing one for their horses. And their horses, Preacher had noticed the other night, were all top quality mounts. Preacher had never seen so many fine horses in one bunch.

“Definitely closin' the gap,” Preacher muttered, lowering the spyglass. He stayed where he was until the band of men were out of sight. Then he sat for a time and thought a few things out.

As to what Bedell and the men might be up to, he had only the word of Woford Lewis to go on. And even though Preacher knew for a fact that Victor Bedell was a no-good, capable of doing anything mean and nasty, and good men don't ride with no-good's, he was at a loss as to just what he should do to cut the odds down some. Preacher didn't think one man tackling forty-nine would be real smart. That is, providing the men were after the wagon train and the women. Preacher was 100% sure they were, but so far they had not made a move against the train.

Then Preacher's eyes narrowed as a thought came to him. A very disturbing thought. The bunch he'd watched through his spyglass had been a few men short. About five or six short. He was sure of that.

What had happened? Where had the five or six men gone? Had the men quit Bedell and turned back? Preacher didn't believe that. Not for a second. Their absence could only mean one thing.

Bedell had become suspicious and had ordered the men to lag behind, keeping a sharp lookout on the party's backtrail. Bedell was as wily as a fox. Preacher silently admonished himself for forgetting that. And he just as silently realized that he was in a lot of danger.

Preacher took a slow, careful eyeballing of his surroundings. The land looked peaceful. Empty. A slight breeze was blowing. But this part of the country was very deceptive. A whole bunch of people could be hiding anywhere within a hundred yards of his location. His eyes cut to Hammer. The horse's ears were pricked and he was tense.

“You done it stupid this time, ol' son,” Preacher muttered. “Them men of Bedell's is out there and workin' in close to you. Damn!”

Preacher carefully checked his pair of awesome pistols. He then checked his rifle just as carefully. Hammer blew softly. Preacher cocked his rifle. The very softest of sounds reached him. He whirled around, came up on one knee, and fired just as a man topped the ridge. The big ball caught the man in the center of his chest and stopped him cold for an instant, then he was flung backward as if hit with a giant fist. Preacher ran toward Hammer and leaped into the saddle just as a bullet slammed into his back, almost knocking him out of the saddle. Hammer leaped into motion as rifles boomed all around him. Preacher pulled a pistol and fired nearly point-blank into the bearded face of a man who had jumped up out of the tall grass. The face erupted into a terrible mess of blood as the ball took him dead center. Another man appeared in front of Preacher and Preacher fired, the ball striking the man in the shoulder. He heard the horrible screams as Hammer's hooves pounded the man's flesh and shattered his face. Hammer was running all out now. And there was not a horse around that could outdistance Hammer in a flat out run. Another rifle sounded, and Preacher's head exploded into a blinding mass of pain. He threw his arms around Hammer's neck and held on. Then he remembered nothing.

It was nearly dark when Preacher forced his eyes to open. He was flat on his back on the ground, and he was cold. His head hurt something fierce. Slowly, his mind started working and he recalled the gunfight back on the ridge. He'd been shot. More than once. He felt around him. His arms and hands worked. He found a pistol and pulled it to him. He felt his left side holster. That pistol was still in place. He turned his head and sorrow struck him hard. Hammer was down, lying on his side, his pain-filled eyes open and looking at the man he loved. Preacher could see pink foam coming from the faithful horse's nose and mouth. Hammer had been lung shot.

“Oh, no,” Preacher said. “Oh, Sweet Baby Jesus, no.” Summoning his massive strength, Preacher forced himself to his knees, then to his feet. He swayed for a moment, conscious of a pain in his back and side. He ignored it. He staggered over to Hammer and looked down at the horse. Hammer was finished. He'd been shot four times, but had still managed to carry his master to safety.

Preacher was openly, unashamedly weeping as he put a merciful, pain-relieving bullet into Hammer's brain. Then he fell down to his knees and wept some more. He collapsed beside the big, faithful horse and the pain took him. Preacher fought it hard, but it was a losing battle. He was taken into blackness.

 

 

Full light when he awakened. He looked overhead and saw buzzards circling ever closer. He clawed for the rifle in the saddle boot and blew one buzzard out of the sky. He reloaded and knocked another spinning. The remaining buzzards seemed to get the message and soared higher.

Preacher fought the swimming pain in his head and rose to his feet. He found his other rifle and reloaded both, then checked his pistols, reloading them full. One buzzard made a bad mistake by landing and staring with his evil eyes at Preacher. The mountain man blew his head off.

He stripped saddle and saddlebags from Hammer's stiffening carcass, having to dig under the horse with his big knife to finally get the saddle free. Exhausted, Preacher rested for a time, fighting pain and nausea. He dampened a kerchief and held it against his aching head, near the back where he figured the ball had clipped him. It seemed to help. He pulled up his buckskin shirt and looked at the hole in his side, close to the outside. He felt around to his back. The ball had entered in his back and exited out the front. Preacher figured if the ball had hit anything vital, he'd a been dead by now. He cleaned the wounds as best he could, and then found some moss and placed it over the holes, tying them in place with pieces of cloth he tore from his only spare shirt.

He built a small fire and boiled coffee, chewing on jerky while his coffee made. Then, ignoring his pain, he worked for hours covering Hammer with rocks, until he had a pile nearly as tall as his chest. Animals might get to his faithful companion of many years, but if they did, they'd have to work like hell to do it.

“I broke my promise to you, Hammer,” he said. “I'm sorry. I truly am.”

Preacher then turned his face toward the west. “Bedell,” he said, his voice low and full of menace, “you sorry pile of coyote shit. You better catch you a whaler ship to China and slant your eyes, yeller your skin, and belly up in a rice paddy. 'Cause I'm comin' after you, you son of a bitch. And I'll find you. I don't care how long it takes me, or how many miles I got to travel. You are dead, Bedell, and anyone who rides with you is dead. And that there is a cold promise, you low-life bastard.”

Preacher patted the pile of rocks. “Rest easy, now, old friend. You carried me many a mile, and we rode some trails, we did. You earned your rest. You ride the skies now, Hammer. And I promise I'll avenge you. I swear to God Almighty I'll do that.”

Preacher had deliberately put all thoughts of the wagon train out of his mind. For he did not know how long he'd been unconscious. He figured he'd drifted in and out of consciousness for two days, maybe three. He'd ridden a full day from the wagons, so he was sure that whatever evil Bedell had planned, the deed was done.

Dragging his saddle, Preacher made it to a creek and rested in the cool shade. For several days he drank often and ate up his meager supplies, managing to catch some fish to supplement his diet. He dug up tubers and ate them, and tended to his wounds by making poultices. When he started walking west, he knew he wasn't 100%, but he was strong enough to get going. On the second day after leaving the creek, he found himself looking at three Kansa braves, sitting on their horses and staring at him.

Of the tribes in this area, the Kansa, Mandan, Osage, and the Missouri all spoke basically the same language, and so did Preacher.

“I am Preacher,” he told them.

They looked at one another. “We know,” one finally said.

“That's a fine-lookin' spare horse you got. I want it.”

“Perhaps we do not wish to trade,” another Kansa said. But Preacher could detect nervousness in his words. The Kansa were only armed with bows and arrows, and one carried a lance. Preacher knew they had not missed how heavily armed he was. And the ferocity of the man called Ghost Walker, White Wolf, and other names, was known from the Pacific to the Mississippi. The Kansa clearly did not wish to tangle with Preacher.

“I think you'll change your mind. How is the horse called?”

“We just caught him. He has no name.”

The horse was shod, and Preacher figured it had belonged to one of Bedell's group who ambushed him. Preacher pulled his spare Hawken from the boot and tossed it to the Kansa holding the reins of the horse. As soon as he caught up with Bedell's group, he'd have him another rifle right quick. He tossed a bag of shot and a powder horn to the Indian.

“Fair trade?” Preacher asked.

The Kansa nodded and dropped the reins. “Fair,” he said, and he and his companions were gone.

Preacher petted and spoke to the big brown. He had him gentled down and taking grass from his hand in a matter of minutes. Preacher liked horses and most seemed to like him. Preacher was in the saddle and riding west within the hour. “You're a dead man, Bedell,” he said to the wind. “And that's a promise.”

A half a dozen Pawnee spied Preacher and with gleeful shouts of killing anticipation—there wasn't a Pawnee in the tribe who liked Preacher—they rode to block his way. But Preacher wasn't about to be intimidated by the Pawnee. He didn't like them anymore than they liked him. Preacher had discovered that whoever trained this horse had done a fine job of it. He looped the reins loose around the saddle horn, filled both hands with those terrible pistols of his, let out a war whoop, and charged.

Scared the hell out of those Pawnee.

Preacher rode right in amongst them and blew three of them straight to the arms of whatever or whoever they believed in after death. The other three took off like their asses was on fire and didn't look back. Preacher watched them until they were nothing but dark dots on the vastness of the land.

They'd be back, for sure, and Preacher knew that. But he had him a little time to inspect the dead 'fore they returned . . . with more warriors, he was sure of that, too. He first reloaded his pistols, then began the grisly job of checking out the dead.

One of the dead Pawnee had a rifle beside his body that Preacher recognized. Ring had carried it. With a sigh, Preacher picked up the plains rifle and checked it, then tore shot pouch, powder horn, and caps bag from the dead Indian. He tried at first not to look at the hair on the Pawnee's war-axe. It was Ring's. But something else about the scalp troubled Preacher.