CHAPTER 28
Hawk went into his lodge with Butterfly, Eagle Feather, and Bright Moon to comfort his family, but Preacher remained behind to talk with Broken Pine as the rest of the Crow drifted back to their lodges.
“I don’t know if Davidson will try anything else tonight, but it might be a good idea to post some extra guards,” Preacher suggested to the chief.
Broken Pine nodded solemnly and said, “I had already thought the same thing, Preacher.”
Lieutenant Hayden Tyler and Private Berriman, the trooper who had surrendered, had been placed in an empty lodge for the night, with a guard posted just outside the entrance. Preacher knew that Tyler wasn’t going to cause any trouble and figured Berriman was too scared to get up to any mischief, but the Crow felt better having them under guard. Tyler had gone along with it without complaining.
The troopers who had been killed in the kidnapping attempt still lay where they had fallen.
Broken Pine was thinking about them now as he asked, “What should we do with the bodies of the slain soldiers? I know some of our warriors believe they should be dragged out of the village and left for the scavengers.”
Preacher shook his head.
“No, that would just make things worse. Treat them with respect, wrap them in blankets and put them in that lodge with Tyler and Berriman, and then in the morning we can see about returnin’ them. They’ll need to be buried soldier-fashion, with a flag and a bugler and military honors.”
Broken Pine grunted in consternation and said, “It sounds strange, using the word honor when talking about the whites.”
“Most of ’em are just folks who want to get along, like the Crow,” said Preacher. “Davidson and O’Connor are the ones who keep causin’ the trouble.”
“They believe we should be wiped out.” Broken Pine crossed his arms over his chest. “Can you honestly say there are not many of your people who feel the same way, Preacher?”
The mountain man’s jaw tightened. He said, “No, I don’t reckon I can. But that’s because they don’t know you. If they did, some of ’em would feel different about it.”
“But not all.”
“Nope, not all,” Preacher admitted. “Some of ’em are like the Blackfeet. Too filled with hate to ever get over it . . .”
His voice trailed away as he lifted his head and listened to the sudden crackle of gunfire in the distance.
Broken Pine heard it, too. He said, “That came from the soldier camp.”
“Yeah,” Preacher said. “I wonder if Jamie caught up to O’Connor. I’ve been sorta worried about that since he didn’t come back.”
Hawk emerged from the nearby lodge and said, “I thought I heard more shots.”
“You did,” Preacher told him. “We’d best walk down to the river and see if we can tell what’s goin’ on.”
He had already reloaded the chambers he had fired in his Colts. He rested his hands on the gun butts now as he turned toward the stream, as did Hawk and Broken Pine.
A groan came from Big Thunder, who still lay on the ground where he had fallen when O’Connor knocked him out. Preacher looked around and saw the massive warrior trying to sit up. He said, “Hawk, let’s give Big Thunder a hand.”
It took both of them to assist Big Thunder to his feet, just as Preacher expected. Big Thunder shook his head ponderously and asked, “What happened? Big Thunder was fighting with bad soldier. That is the last thing Big Thunder remembers.”
“Well, I hate to say it, but he beat you, old friend. Knocked you plumb cold.”
“No!” Big Thunder exclaimed. “No one defeats Big Thunder!”
“He did this time,” Preacher said. “That doesn’t mean he would again, if there was ever another fight between the two of you.”
Big Thunder raised both giant fists and shook them.
“There will be another fight,” he declared. “Big Thunder will win next time!”
Preacher didn’t know if there would be another fight, but he wouldn’t be surprised if that came about. Every instinct in his body told him the trouble with the soldiers was far from over.
“Come on,” he said to his two companions. “Let’s catch up with Broken Pine.”
The chief had gone on to the outskirts of the village while Preacher and Hawk gave Big Thunder a hand as he regained consciousness. As the three of them came up to him, he turned his head and said, “There have been no more shots. But I believe I hear a horse coming in this direction.”
“You’re right about that,” Preacher said. His keen ears had detected the approaching hoofbeats, as well. As he pulled the revolvers from their holsters, he went on, “Sounds like just one man, but we’re gonna be ready if he’s lookin’ for trouble.”
“What else could be abroad this night?” muttered Broken Pine.
Preacher didn’t have an answer for that.
A moment later, he stiffened as he detected another sound in the darkness. A rumble that came from the hooves of many horses, not just one. That made alarm race through Preacher, as there could be only one cause for that rising wave of noise.
“The soldiers are coming,” he said as he holstered the left-hand gun and gripped Broken Pine’s arm. “They wouldn’t be chargin’ like that unless they planned to fight!”
Broken Pine reacted instantly to the danger. He raised his voice in a shout of warning, his powerful tone reaching to all parts of the village. Other warriors took up the cry as they scrambled out of their lodges in response to the urgent summons.
Broken Pine turned to Hawk and said, “Get the women and children to the canyon.”
“I will stay and fight!” protested Hawk.
“You will do as I say!” Broken Pine’s voice didn’t allow for any arguments. “The women and the young ones must be protected.”
“What’s this canyon?” asked Preacher. In all his visits to the Crow village, he hadn’t heard about it.
“A blind canyon about a mile deeper in the foothills,” Hawk explained quickly. “The women and children know to go there in case of an attack, so that they can be protected more easily. We always thought it would be the Blackfeet we might have to fight off—”
“But now it’s army troops instead,” Preacher said. “Broken Pine’s right. Somebody’s got to be in charge of gettin’ those folks to safety—and keepin’ ’em safe. That’s a good job for you, Hawk.”
Hawk didn’t like it, but he didn’t waste any more time objecting. Already the sound of the riders heading for the village had grown louder. Hawk hurried off to organize the retreat of the women and children to the canyon.
The hoofbeats of the single horse they had first noticed were close now. The animal splashed across the shallow stream as Jamie MacCallister hailed, “Hello, the village!”
“Jamie!” Preacher called. “Over here!”
Jamie slowed the stallion and turned toward them. He brought the horse to a halt and slipped to the ground.
“I hate to tell you this—” he began.
“You don’t have to,” Preacher said. “We can hear them horses. Davidson’s on his way to attack the village with his whole command, ain’t he?”
“I’m afraid so,” Jamie answered grimly. “O’Connor told him the Crow murdered those troopers who were killed, and of course that’s exactly what Davidson wants to believe. He failed at bringing back Broken Pine for those treaty negotiations, failed at rescuing a so-called white captive, and now he figures the only thing he can do to salvage any glory out of this mess is to wipe out Broken Pine and his people.”
“We’re not gonna let that happen,” Preacher vowed.
The Crow warriors began to gather on the riverbank. Broken Pine directed their preparations to defend their home. The warriors, all with bows and full quivers of arrows, used every bit of cover they could find. They spread out along the stream, nocked arrows, and waited. An eerie silence hung over the river, broken only by the rumble of hoofbeats as the soldiers approached. The moon reflected wavily on the water’s surface.
Preacher knelt behind a log with Broken Pine on his left and Jamie on his right. He glanced over at the big frontiersman and asked, “Are you plannin’ to fight on our side, Jamie? If you ain’t, you’d best get outta here while you still can.”
“I’m not going to kill any of those troopers,” Jamie replied with an obvious strain in his voice. “They’re just following orders.”
“The orders of a fella who’s plumb loco and kill-crazy,” muttered Preacher.
“You’re right about that. And I don’t blame Broken Pine and his people for defending their homes, no matter what it takes.”
Broken Pine said, “You are a good man, Jamie MacCallister. A good man does not go against his honor. You should go to the canyon and help Hawk That Soars and the men he took with him protect the women and children, if the need to do so arises.”
“I reckon I could do that, all right,” Jamie said. “Protecting the women and children always comes before anything else.”
“Go, my friend,” Broken Pine said, and Preacher clapped a hand on Jamie’s shoulder for a second. Jamie took a deep breath and then nodded.
Quickly, Broken Pine told him how to find the canyon. Jamie stood up and faded off into the shadows, moving fast. Preacher turned his attention back to the attackers. He frowned as the hoofbeats diminished and then stopped.
Broken Pine sounded equally puzzled as he said, “Why have they stopped? I thought they were going to charge across the river and attack us.”
“So did—” Preacher began. Then as a possibility occurred to him, he stopped abruptly and shouted in the Crow tongue, “Everybody down!”
Preacher had barely gotten out the warning and dived to the ground, taking Broken Pine with him, when a wave of gunfire erupted from the far side of the stream. A long, continuous line of orange muzzle flashes tore the night apart. Preacher heard rifle balls whining through the air, whipping through the brush, and thudding into tree trunks.
Even worse, he heard Crow warriors cry out in pain as they were hit.
While the echoes from the volley still filled the air, men on horseback charged into the river and headed toward the Crow village. They were more than halfway across, shouting at the tops of their lungs, before the defenders recovered enough from the battering they had taken to start putting up a fight. Arrows began flashing through the air and struck a few of the soldiers. Here and there, a trooper screamed, threw up his arms, and toppled off his horse.
Nearly all of the attackers reached the shore, though. They wheeled their horses and began firing pistols at the rocks, trees, and brush where the Crow warriors had taken cover. Some of the dragoons rushed in and started hacking at their enemies with sabers.
Preacher and Broken Pine had been unharmed during the volley. They came up behind the log and opened fire on the attackers, Broken Pine with his bow and arrows, Preacher with the twin Colts roaring and bucking in his hands.
But even as he blasted away at the soldiers and saw some of them fall, Preacher felt the same unease Jamie MacCallister had professed. These young troopers weren’t to blame for this situation. They were just expendable pawns in the ambitious hands of Lieutenant Edgar Davidson. Preacher couldn’t stand by and allow them to massacre his friends and family, but he took no joy in the shots he fired at them.
“There are many of them!” Broken Pine cried as he nocked another arrow and let it fly.
Preacher knew the chief was right. And Davidson, despite all his faults, had made an effective move by having some of his men dismount and rake the defenders with rifle fire before the rest of the troop charged among them. The Crow would put up a good fight, but the soldiers held the advantage.
“Maybe you’d better pull back to that canyon!” he suggested. “You can hold them off better there!”
Broken Pine leaped to his feet, yipped shrilly to get his warriors’ attention, then bellowed the order to retreat in the Crow tongue. All along the river, men began to break off the fighting and raced away from the stream.
It must have looked like an out-of-control rout to the soldiers. They yelled enthusiastically and started after the fleeing defenders.
Preacher raked them with revolver fire, fighting a one-man delaying action as he darted among the shadows. Broken Pine was at his side, and then suddenly Big Thunder was, too, and the three of them blunted the troopers’ pursuit with a deadly flurry of gunfire and flashing arrows.
Since Preacher didn’t know exactly where the hideout canyon was, he let his companions lead the way. That was an unusual situation for the mountain man—he was normally in the forefront of everything—but tonight he had no choice.
They might not have made it if the soldiers hadn’t fallen back to regroup. Preacher knew he and his Crow allies had inflicted quite a few casualties among the troopers, but they had suffered heavy losses of their own, too. They’d also had to leave some of the wounded warriors behind, and that was very difficult for the Crow to do.
As Jamie had said, though, the defense of families always came first.
It took a quarter of an hour for Preacher, Broken Pine, and Big Thunder to reach the canyon. The group of women and children from the village hadn’t been able to move as fast, so they had barely reached the refuge before the retreating warriors caught up with them. Preacher and the other two found guards waiting just inside the canyon’s entrance, which was clogged with brush and boulders. The brush was natural, shielding the opening from casual notice, and had been left in place by the Crow. They had rolled the boulders into the entrance to provide cover for defenders and make it more difficult for anyone to invade this sanctuary.
Preacher took all this in at a glance, recognizing the strategic advantages of the place—and its disadvantages. Having only one way in and out made it easy to defend, but at the same time, they were trapped here.
Jamie MacCallister stepped out from behind one of the boulders to greet them. Hawk was waiting there at the entrance, too, and Broken Pine asked him, “Are all the women and children here safely?”
“They are,” Hawk replied. “They are all frightened, but not harmed. The soldiers?”
“Big Thunder and his friends killed many of them!” the massive warrior declared. “The others ran away in fear!”
Preacher scratched his beard-stubbled jaw and said, “That ain’t exactly the way it was. They lost some men, sure . . . but I reckon we probably lost more. And they had us outnumbered to start with.”
“They cannot get to us here,” Broken Pine said. “There is a spring at the far end of the canyon for water, and we have cached enough food here to last for days. A large overhang provides shelter from the elements for the women and children, and because of it, men cannot fire down from the rim of the canyon at them.”
“So you’re safe for a while,” Preacher said, “but if Davidson decides to lay siege to the place and outlast you . . .”
“Someone is coming!” one of the guards called softly.
Everyone swung around as a voice Preacher recognized called in English, “Don’t shoot!”
“That’s Lieutenant Tyler,” Jamie said.
Broken Pine called out in Crow for the guards at the entrance to hold their fire. He said to Jamie, “Tell him to come in—if he is alone.”
“We hear you, Lieutenant,” Jamie called. “Are any of the troopers with you?”
“No,” Tyler replied from the shadows. “The warrior guarding us went to join the fight when Davidson attacked. I got out of the lodge, but Berriman was too scared to come with me. He wanted to wait there for the rest of the troop to rescue him. But when I realized you were retreating in this direction, I followed.”
“Come on in, then,” Jamie told him. A moment later, Tyler appeared from the darkness and joined the others behind the cluster of boulders.
“I’m sort of surprised to see you here, Lieutenant,” said Preacher. “You could’ve stayed right where you were and the soldiers would’ve found you.”
“And then Edgar Davidson would have ordered me to fight you, and I would have had to obey,” Tyler said. “I didn’t want to do that.”
“So you’ve deserted to the enemy,” Jamie said. “That’s the way the army will see it, and they’re not going to look kindly on that.”
“Edgar’s lost his mind! I hate to say that, I really do, but he wasn’t sent out here to make war on the Crow. It was a simple diplomatic mission, but he’s made things worse at every turn. Now he’s out for blood, and he’s wrong. He’s no longer fit to be in charge.”
“What do you reckon we ought to do about that?” Preacher drawled.
“There’s only one thing we can do if we’re to have any hope of ending this without a lot more bloodshed,” Tyler said. He looked around at the others in the fading moonlight. “I’m going to relieve him of command.”