Sixteen
“I never seen two growed-up men so skirred,” Preacher said, sitting by the fire with a blanket wrapped around him. He sipped coffee and giggled.
“I ought to shoot you, Preacher,” Sparks said.
Preacher giggled.
“What are you doing up here, Preacher?” Jamie asked.
“Roamin’ around. Skirrin’ growed-up men by actin’ like the boogy man.”
“You been through this country a-fore, Preacher?” Sparks asked.
“I’ve skirted it a time or two. But I ain’t never traveled east to west all the way through. Been aimin’ to do it, though. You boys game?”
“That’s why we’re here,” Jamie said.
Preacher was oddly silent for a few moments. So still and quiet that Sparks finally asked, “Something wrong, Preacher?”
Preacher slowly nodded his head. “Yeah. I ain’t gonna say it ain’t never been done, ’cause it has. But winter is nigh, boys. We get trapped in there, we’re gonna be in a world of hurt.”
Jamie smiled. “Then we’d better get going, hadn’t we?”
The trio of men were days deep into mostly unexplored wilderness (by white men) before Sparks started looking back over his shoulder and muttering to himself.
Finally Jamie asked, “Sparks, what are you mumbling about?”
“Something is followin’ us, that’s what.”
Preacher looked behind them. “I ain’t felt the short hairs on my neck standin’ up, Sparks. ’Sides, this is Nez Perce and Flathead country, mostly. We all get on well with them.”
“This ain’t no Injun,” Sparks grumbled.
Despite himself, and he was immediately irritated at himself for doing so, Jamie twisted in the saddle and looked behind him. He could see nothing out of the ordinary.
“Now, Sparks,” Preacher said. “Don’t you be tryin’ to spook me and Jamie. We got to make camp shortly ’cause the night is fast upon us.”
“I ain’t tryin’ to spook nobody,” Sparks insisted. “But something is damn shore followin’ us. I been feelin’ it in my guts all day. Started last night. But I was loathe to say anything about it.”
“It’s your imagination, Sparks,” Jamie said.
“Tain’t no such of a thing, neither,” Sparks said sullenly.
“Looks pretty good up ahead, Jamie,” Preacher said. “I’ll scout it out. I’m gettin’ hungry around my mouth and that deer you kilt earlier today ain’t gettin’ no tenderer.”
Camp made and the venison cooking, the men settled in for the night. But Sparks kept looking nervously around him. Preacher was amused by the man’s antics and so was Jamie.
“Laugh,” Sparks told them. “But I tell you both that something is out there.”
“Shore there is,” Preacher replied. “They’s grizzlies by the hundreds, wolves and panthers by the thousands, and all sorts of other critters. Relax, Sparks. We got a warm fire, plenty to eat, and good company. Life can’t get no better than this.”
But while Jamie and Preacher slept soundly that night, Sparks was up every hour, walking around the camp, stopping to listen to the darkness. A little before dawn split the sky, Sparks managed to sleep a couple of hours. But he was the first one up and had coffee made and meat sizzling before the others opened their eyes.
“Sasquatch didn’t come and tote you off, huh, Sparks?” Preacher questioned with a grin.
“Very funny,” Sparks said sourly.
The camp had been set up in a tiny clearing, the lushness of deep timber all around them. Preacher was sitting with his back to a tree, Jamie sitting across the fire from him. Sparks had gotten up to walk once more around the camp as the men waited for full light before heading west. They were already saddled up and packed and ready to go.
Preacher was gnawing on a piece of meat and Jamie was enjoying a cup of coffee when Preacher felt someone tap him on the shoulder. “What do you want, Sparks?”
The tap came again. Heavier this time.
“Huh?” Sparks called from across the clearing.
“I said what do you want? You tapped me twicet on the shoulder.”
“How the hell could I tap you on the shoulder when I’m twenty-five feet away lookin’ at you?”
Preacher froze where he sat, the meat on a stick forgotten. Two seconds later, the camp erupted in activity and thirty seconds later the men were in the saddle, heading west.
Had they looked behind them, they would have seen a Nez Perce named Night Stalker bent over in the clearing, convulsed with laughter. Preacher had played a trick on him several years back, and when Night Stalker picked up their trail the day before, he thought this would be a fine time to return the favor. Night Stalker sat down where Preacher had been sitting, for the spot was warm, and ate the venison. This was going to be a good story to tell around the fires back at his village. He would get a lot of laughs for pulling this trick.
Night Stalker stopped chuckling when something tapped him on the shoulder. One minute later, Night Stalker was a good quarter of a mile from the clearing and galloping his pony hard.
Maybe he wouldn’t tell this story after all.
* * *
When the three men reached Oregon Territory, Preacher decided to cut south for a trading post and Sparks opted to head north up to the Whitman Mission. Jamie pushed on west. Weeks later, he sat his horse on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and marveled at the sight. He turned Horse’s head and rode south. He’d check out California—or at least part of it. Weeks later, after talking with a dozen or more trappers and fixing creeks and water holes firmly in his mind, he decided to head on back to the valley and Kate. This time, he vowed, he would stay put. Jamie had no way of knowing, but staying put was not in the cards for him.
Jamie resupplied and headed back, riding east, straight across the center of what would someday become Nevada, crossing mountain ranges and desert, memorizing everything he saw.
It was late spring when Jamie topped the ridge that led to the valley. Everything was as he had left it, nearly a year ago, except for two new cabins. He sat his horse and watched as a tall young man rode up to meet him—Jamie Ian. Good Lord! but the boy had grown. Jamie quickly did a little figuring. His oldest son was nearabouts sixteen years old.
Father and son stayed in their saddles and stared at each other for a few moments. Jamie finally broke the silence. “Son. How’s your mother?”
“Fine, Pa. She’s been lookin’ to the west most every day, waitin’ on you.”
“Well, I’m home now, boy. And home is where I intend to stay.”
“Ma’ll be pleased to hear that,” Ian said drily.
Jamie ignored the sarcasm and asked, “Any word from Andrew and Rosanna?”
“Two letters. Grandpa brought one, and a trapper name of Nighthawk brought the other. Ma got your letter and was some thrilled about it.”
“Two new cabins down yonder.”
“Settlers come in and asked if they could stay. Mister Sam, he said he reckoned it would be all right, but the final word would have to come from you.”
“Good people?”
“Real nice, Pa. Daniel and Marsha Noble and their kids. Wiley and Anne Harper and their children. They got a daughter name of Linda. Me and Linda been sort of sparkin’ some. We think we’ll get married this summer. We was waitin’ on you to come back.”
Jamie grunted. “Married, huh? What’s your ma have to say about that?”
“She said she’d wait and talk to you about it.”
“This girl, how old is she?”
“Fifteen.”
“Both of you mighty damn young, don’t you think?”
“Old as you and Ma was.”
“For a fact, I reckon. But times are changing.” Jamie’s eyes twinkled. “This girl you’re sweet on ... she’s pretty, huh?”
“Got hair the color of wheat, Pa. Blue eyes. ’Bout the size of Ma.”
“Well, we’ll talk about it.”
“Me and Linda is betrothed, Pa. That’s all there is to it.”
“I didn’t say I was against it, Ian. But we’ll still talk about it. And that’s all there is to that.” Jamie lifted the reins and rode down the grade without looking back.
Ian came galloping up and grabbed hold of Horse’s reins. Horse almost took his arm off and Ian jerked back just in time. “I’ll fight you, Pa,” the young man said hotly. “Don’t you stand in my way.”
Jamie kept his composure. He was still very much young enough to remember how hot the blood gets between a boy and a girl when they sparked. “Boy,” Jamie said. “Don’t you ever show temper to me. Not ever again. Your ma and I will talk about this and meet with you and the girl and her parents. I reckon you’re a man all grown up now. And it’s time you settled down and started a family. But don’t you ever bow up to me again. I’ll jerk you out of that saddle and kick your ass from here to Bent’s Fort. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Pa,” Ian said quickly and wisely.
“Fine.” Jamie reined in close and put a massive arm around his son’s shoulders. “Now, boy. You and this girl ain’t been doin’ no bundlin’, have you?”
“Pa! No!” Then he grinned. “I tried once, and she like to have took my head off.”
“She should have. Now, then, before we get to the settlement. Your sister was makin’ goo-goo eyes at William and Lydia’s oldest boy, Bill, when I left. What’s going on there?”
“They sorta want to get married, too.”
Jamie grinned. “Winter nights, they do get long, don’t they, boy?”
“Pa!”
Jamie reached out and dug a thumb into the boy’s ribs, and laughing, father and son rode down to the settlement side by side.
The Nobles and the Harpers had all heard of Jamie Ian MacCallister and his exploits, but none of them were prepared for the big man who swung down from the huge mean-eyed stallion and swept up Kate in his massive arms and kissed her lustily right in front of God and everybody. Then damned if he didn’t kiss her again and pat her on the butt. Kate slapped his hand away, but not too hard. It was obvious to all that the two were very much in love and always would be.
Jamie shook hands with the men and kissed all the ladies and greeted all the kids, while the Harper and Noble families and their broods hung back, not really knowing what to expect from this mountain of a man.
But Jamie soon put them at ease. An eatin’ on the grounds was planned for that evening, and Jamie and Kate disappeared into their cabin, while Jamie Ian and Ellen Kathleen made certain the kids stayed out.
“How come?” the younger ones demanded.
“I’ll explain when you’re older,” Ellen Kathleen said.
Jamie and Kate’s first born were all grown up.
* * *
It was quite a feast. There was fried chicken, venison, pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, hot fresh bread, and plenty of dried apple pie. It was quite a gathering for the settlement now had fifty-nine people in it, a very respectable number. Many established towns back east didn’t have that many residents. Jamie and Kate had spoken with the girl’s parents late that afternoon—after they had reacquainted themselves a couple of times first—and all had agreed that their children could marry. But not until cabins were raised and furniture was made—especially beds. Ian and Linda and Ellen Kathleen and Bill all blushed furiously at that.
Somebody brought out a jug and all the men had a drink. What the men didn’t know was that the ladies had made several gallons of wine the past summer and were doing their own toasting back of the cabin. Ladies simply did not do much imbibing of hard liquor back in 1843.
That the men knew about.