Chapter Seventeen
Neither Red Ryan nor John Latimer had anything to say to one another, and they rode north in silence, following the coach tracks that were easily discernible in the opalescent light of a waxing moon. Once Red spotted what he thought was the steam wagon, but it turned out to be an upthrust shelf of limestone bedrock. Sir Richard Owen would later write in The New York Times that “the rock in this area of Texas is Cretaceous and the most fossiliferous in the state. Tracks of dinosaurs appear in many places and remains of terrestrial, aquatic, and flying reptiles have been collected by myself and lesser paleontologists.”
Red didn’t know it then, but he’d just ridden into a Bone War battlefield.
After two hours of riding John Latimer, a far-seeing man, said, “Lights ahead.”
Red nodded. “I see them. Looks like oil lamps to me.”
“Then we’ve found them,” Latimer said.
“Looks like,” Red said. He drew rein, and his eyes probed the darkness. After a while, he said, “All right, we ride in easy. And keep your hand away from the iron Buttons gave you.”
Latimer smiled. “You don’t trust those learned professors, Mr. Ryan?”
“I don’t trust Hannah Huckabee,” Red said. “She’s the only one that knows how to use a gun.” Then, “You still sweet on her, Latimer?”
“I love her. I supposed that just by being here I had already answered that question.”
“She doesn’t speak to you,” Red said. “She doesn’t even look in your direction.”
“She can’t love a coward.”
“Are you really a coward, Latimer?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Say yes or no.”
“No. I’m not a coward. If Custer had fled the Little Big Horn battle, would you have thought him a coward?”
“And left his men to die? Yeah, I guess I would.”
Latimer said, “I didn’t ride away and leave my men to die. When I fled the field, my lancers were already dead. I engaged the Afghan enemy with my revolver but could not save my men.”
Red shook his head. “Hell, Latimer, I don’t know what you are. Come to that, I don’t even know what I am. I might’ve done the same thing.” Then, a spontaneous gesture he could not later explain, he put his hand on Latimer’s shoulder. “Let’s ride,” he said.
At a steady canter, the two men covered ground, and when they were within hailing distance, Red drew rein again and yelled, “Hello, the camp.”
He knew the professors wouldn’t understand why the hell he called out before riding closer, but Hannah might, and indeed it was her who answered.
“Come right ahead,” she said. Then, “Is that Red Ryan?”
“Yup, me and John Latimer.”
A silence. And then a man’s irritated voice from the gloom. “My watch is stopped. What time is it, Mr. Ryan?”
“About two in the morning,” Red said, kneeing his horse into motion. Beside him Latimer rode straight in the saddle like a soldier and seemed tense.
“Where did the time go?” the man in the darkness said.
“You burned it all,” Red said.
The huge steam wagon was parked a distance from the campsite where a fire flickered and a white tent had been set up, as though Owen had decided to stay a spell. In the fire glow, Red made out the other two professors and Hannah Huckabee and Blanche Carter, the women looking prettier than they had a right to be in this wilderness.
Sir Richard Owen, a trowel in his hand, stepped forward as Red dismounted. “Coffee in the pot if you’d care to make a trial of it,” he said. Then, his bearded face alight, “I found it, Ryan. I found the terrible dinosaur just where I was told it would be.”
“Who told you?” Red said.
“The dinosaur’s location has been rumored for quite some time,” Owen said. “As far as I know, the first sighting was made by buffalo hunters and then a few months ago a couple of cowboys reported to the authorities in Austin that they saw a gigantic skeleton near the San Saba river. Their account was published in the Austin Telegraph newspaper and was picked up by all the eastern papers, and as soon as I read about it, I immediately fitted out an expedition.” Owen’s mouth tightened. “Then that charlatan Edward Cope got wind of my plans and tried to beat me to it.”
Red stepped to the fire and availed himself of Owen’s invitation, pouring coffee for himself and Latimer.
Hannah watched the Englishman, her beautiful eyes glittering in the firelight. She was pale under her tan and appeared to lean on Blanche for support.
Red tried his coffee, welcome at this hour of the night when sleep was not an option, and said, “Well, where is the skeleton now, Professor?”
“In the tent,” Owen said. “Or at least its head is. Bring your coffee and come see. You too, Latimer, it’s a sight you can tell your grandchildren about. No, wait, what is today’s date?”
Blanche said, “August tenth.”
Owen smiled. “Ah yes, August tenth in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and eighty-three. A date for us all to remember.” He picked up the oil lamp at his feet. “Now follow me and prepare yourself to be amazed.”
The canvas tent was large enough to accommodate the three tall men who stepped inside. Professor Owen held his lamp just above ground level and said, “Behold, gentlemen, many millions of years old, but soon to be a wonder of our modern age.”
Red was puzzled. “Professor,” he said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that’s a rock.”
Owen smiled, most of his face in shadow. “Look closer, my friend.”
Red did as he was told, then said, “It’s a rock. A big rock, but still a rock.”
“It’s much more than a rock or a boulder or whatever geological object you wish to call it,” Owen said. He took a piece of white chalk from his pocket, and his knees creaking, squatted down beside his discovery. His chalk moved across the rock. “There, see, the outline of the skull. And here, the mouth.” The chalk scraped again. “The teeth. Do you see the teeth? Each of them three inches long. Look, gentlemen, look with your eyes and your imagination. See the monster as it was, a savage giant that once reigned as the emperor of the earth.”
The chalk worked a miracle, and now Red Ryan saw, not a chunk of bedrock, but a massive skull. And so did Latimer. “My God, Professor Owen,” the Englishman said, “what kind of animal was that? A dragon?”
“Of a sort,” Owen said. “It was a flesh-eating dinosaur, a terrifying predator that ripped its prey apart and bolted down the steaming, bloody meat in chunks the size of beer barrels.”
Latimer shuddered, or pretended to. “I wouldn’t like to see that thing crawling toward me.”
“The creature didn’t crawl,” Owen said. “It ran on legs the size of tree trunks and was fast as a racehorse.”
A prairie wind sprang up, and the tent canvas flapped with a sound like wings. The oil lamp guttered and cast moving shadows. Owen grinned, showing his teeth. “The rest of the monster is still under the ground. I’ll return soon to free him from his ancient grave.”
The dancing lamplight glowed yellow in the massive skull’s visible eye socket, bringing it life, as though the great animal had just devoured its prey and had lain down to take a sleep. Red imagined gobs of quivering flesh stuck between the sickle teeth that would soon decay and stink like rotten meat. Had this monster been one of God’s creatures or had it been created in hell?
Suddenly Red felt that the tent was closing in on him, and he found the air thick and fetid and hard to breathe. He opened the flap and stepped outside into the clean darkness.
After a few minutes, Latimer joined him.
“Ancient death is still death,” the man said. “That thing gives me the shivers.”
Red nodded. “And me too. Owen thinks it’s a thing of beauty.”
“He’s a scientist. Scientists don’t think like the rest of us mere mortals.”
“We’ll move these people out at first light. Adams may still charge them,” Red said. “Texas Rangers don’t think like the rest of us, either.”
“I get the impression that he’s likely going to charge them with something,” Latimer said.
“Disturbing the peace probably,” Red said. “A judge in Austin will fine them two dollars each, warn them to be on their best behavior in future, and that will be the end of it.”
“I don’t suppose he’ll throw four learned Yale professors and a woman into jail,” Latimer said.
“Not if he wants to remain a judge, he won’t,” Red said.
Latimer nodded, but he was looking beyond Red to Hannah Huckabee. He stepped around Red and said, “Hannah, can we talk?”
“John, we have nothing to say to each other,” the woman answered.
“There’s a lot standing between us that’s unsaid. Maybe it’s time to say it.”
“John, we were lovers once in another time and place,” Hannah said. “But we can’t pick up the pieces and go on, after . . . after what happened.”
“You still think I’m a coward.”
“John, brave men died that day in India, your men. You chose not to die with them. What does that make you?”
“It doesn’t make me a coward, Hannah. Yes, they were brave, but they were also foolish,” Latimer said. “I stood my ground for as long as I could, and you’re right, I watched them die. I saw no point in throwing myself on Afghan knives to die with them.”
Hannah shook her head. “You were charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, John. That’s what your fellow soldiers thought of your actions that day, and I can only agree with them. All that’s left for you now is to do the honorable thing and face your court-martial. Just don’t expect me to be there when the verdict is read.”
“It’s been a long day,” Blanche Carter said. “Hannah, I think you should get some sleep now.”
“Yes, of course, Blanche, we both should,” Hannah said.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Red said. “We’ll move out and head back to Kline’s Station at dawn.” Then to Blanche, “Do you have enough wood to get that . . . whatever it’s called . . . to Fredericksburg?”
“I don’t know that we’re going directly to Fredericksburg,” Blanche said. “Though I do badly want to see my ailing father.”
“Yes, we are headed to Fredericksburg,” Professor Othniel Marsh said. “Sir Richard needs diggers and dynamite, and perhaps we can find both there.”
“Then your answer is no, I don’t have enough fuel to get us to Fredericksburg,” Blanche said. “But I’m certain that Mr. Kline has a good supply of firewood. I’m sure he’ll sell us some.”
* * *
Two hours later as the others slept around the fire, Blanche Carter rose and lay down beside Red. He woke with a start and then smiled. “What are you doing here?” he said. “Not that I’m objecting, mind.”
“Nothing. It’s just that it’s been a while since I slept beside a handsome man,” Blanche said. “Or any kind of man.”
“Given where we are, not much we can do about it,” Red said.
“I know,” Blanche said. “You smell of woodsmoke, horses, and leather, Mr. Ryan, a good man-smell. For tonight at least, that’s all I need.”
Red closed his eyes. “Enjoy,” he said.
“I already am enjoying,” Blanche said, her head on his buckskinned shoulder.
When Red woke up with the dawn light, Blanche Carter was gone, and he smiled to himself in the gloom, thinking that indeed, there was a first time for everything.