It was something of an adventure at first for Crissy Barrett. She didn’t sense the urgency of their flight.
With the going of the sun came the bitter chill of the night hours. The winds seemed to increase as cold and hot air currents mingled and swirled and blew across the slopes. When Barrett refused to allow them to stop, Crissy suddenly realized there was little fun in this after all.
“I wanna go home,” she complained.
Eadie held her close and stared through the pitch darkness of the mountain night in the direction of her husband. She shivered and her voice was muffled because of the woolen scarf she had over the lower half of her face.
“Dan? We have to stop. Or go back. I mean it. You’ve uprooted us, turned our lives upside down—and we don’t even know why. We’ll all freeze up here.”
“No we won’t,” Barrett’s voice came back through the blackness. “I know where we are and what we’re gonna do. I’ve been over this route a dozen times. There’s a cave where we’ll stop tonight. I’ve already stacked wood for a fire in back and there’s a natural chimney. We’ll be snug and comfortable. We got two bearskins and a supply of beef. There’s even a natural limewater spring way back where we can fill the canteens. Might tend to scour us a little, but it’s water.”
“Then we’d better get in out of this wind. Crissy’s freezin’ and so am I.”
He was silent for a moment, then: “Okay, dismount and tie the reins round your waist, then take my hand and I’ll lead you in. Crissy, you hang on tight to Mommy, hear?”
“Yes, Poppa. I’m—scared.”
“Nothin’ to be scared of. I’ll look after you and Mom. And we’ll have ourselves a real nice meal. Matter of fact, somewheres in the bottom of my saddlebags, I do believe there’s some barley sugar candy. Mebbe you can find it while I help Mommy cook us somethin’ to eat, huh?”
The prospect of candy kept the little girl in better spirits until Barrett led them into the cave, which appeared only a deeper segment of blackness in the night. He led them across a firm and almost level sandy floor, that climbed a little after a few yards and arrived at a flat rock ledge.
In thirty minutes he had a fire going and had the meat stewing in a small iron pot. Crissy busied herself at the saddlebags. Eadie held her hands out to the flames and stared levelly at her husband across the fire as he hacked up more strips of the iron-hard beef.
“Why’re you afraid of this man Nash, Dan?” Eadie asked quietly.
Barrett paused at his work and his hand tightened on the hilt of his hunting knife. Then he continued to saw away at the tough beef strips and didn’t look at his wife.
“Who says I am?”
“Oh, Dan. Don’t treat me like a child. I heard enough when you and Cassidy were talkin’. I read that Denver Post you tried to get rid of, too. Nash was mentioned. He’s a Wells Fargo agent, ain’t he?” Then her face screwed up and she moved around the fire, glanced up to make sure Crissy was still occupied, and put a hand onto her husband’s arm. He slowly looked at her and winced a little at the anguish in her face. “Dan—you—you weren’t mixed-up in that—terrible—thing at Reddings, were you?”
“Hell, what’re you sayin’, woman?” he snapped defensively, wrenching his arm away from her.
“Well, Nash was mentioned in connection with that. You and Cassidy were talkin’ about Chip Benedict, the outlaw who led that—massacre. Cassidy was staying behind, on your behalf, to—to pick a fight with this man Nash—Dan, I pleaded with you not to let me have to guess because I only knew half the story. If ever you’re goin’ to tell me the truth, there couldn’t be a better time than right now. Please.”
Barrett stared at her, then used the knife blade to stir the stew. He had his story prepared.
“I—never wanted you to know, Eadie. I’m—ashamed.” He raised his eyes. “You see—I—I done time in prison. Once. Long time back.”
She gasped but said nothing and Barrett continued quietly:
“I was a hothead. Got me into a lot of trouble. Finally I killed a man in an argument and got sent to Canyon City. I met Benedict there, used to work on the rock pile with him. I was to be released long before him and—well he asked me to do a couple things for him when I got out. Look up some pards of his and so on. Matter of fact, bein’ broke, when a couple of his pards decided to stick up a store and asked me if I wanted to go along—well, I said okay. There was a Wells Fargo depot attached to that store and we blew open the safe and cleaned it out. But Benedict’s pards double-crossed me. They slugged me in the allay and cleared off with the loot. I came ’round only just in time to get away from the posse, but I guess I was recognized, ’cause Wells Fargo put out a dodger on me. it—was all a long time back, Eadie. They caught the other two hombres and got the money back. It was Nash done it. I figured that would’ve satisfied ’em. But not this Clay Nash. He don’t never forget and won’t ever let a man rest. He’s been investigatin’ this Reddings thing and trackin’ down all Benedict’s old pards and everyone who knew him. He’ll find me sooner or later. I had nothin’ to do with the Reddings thing, but Nash’ll remember that other time. He’ll take me in.” He paused. “Eadie—I don’t wanna be separated from you and Crissy. I don’t wanna go back to prison. And that’s just where this Nash hombre’ll put me if he catches up with me.” He grabbed her hands and clutched them tightly. “Eadie—I’d rather give up everythin’ we’ve struggled for and make ourselves a new start some place, else. I—I should’ve told you long ago. But, like I said—I felt—ashamed.”
It was a good performance, calculated to get Eadie’s compassion—even her approval—and that’s exactly what Dan Barrett accomplished. She clung to him and pressed his head against her breast, her arms around him, her face in his hair.
“Oh, Dan. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve paid your debt. That other was just a—foolishness.”
“Nash won’t see it that way,” he said, his voice muffled against her furs. “He’s a killer. He never gives up.”
“Don’t worry. Now that I know I can help. We’ll get away. Up and over the mountains. The three of us. We’ll find somewhere else to settle, Dan.” She frowned. “But—Cassidy?”
“A friend, Eadie, a good friend. Yeah, I know he’s a gunfighter but I saved him from some—unpleasantness—in the pen and he ain’t never forgotten. He’s been wantin’ to pay me back for years. Now he sees a way of doin’ it. He’ll head-off Nash while we make our escape. He’ll send on the money for the spread when it’s sold.”
She looked at him sharply.
“You must have a definite place in mind to go then, Dan?”
“Yeah. I’ve had this escape route ready for a spell. It always nagged at me that one day Wells Fargo would catch up with me. Nash ain’t the kind of man you can talk to.”
She was silent for a moment and then Crissy let out a little cry of triumph as she found the candy and came running to squeeze between them, her tiny arms going out to encircle their necks. She hugged and kissed them both. Eadie smiled at Dan.
“You did right, and we sure wouldn’t want to be separated from you, either—”
“Well, now you won’t be,” Barrett told her. “If you do exactly like I say, we’ll get out of this okay. And we’ll stay together—as a family.”
They hunkered around the fire, close together, and the woman started to dish out the savory-smelling stew. But Eadie frowned as she watched Ben and Crissy eat so happily. It was nice to see—but she couldn’t help thinking about Nash, and Cassidy.
She knew one of them would have to die when they met; and that death had to be on someone’s conscience.
Clay Nash still had that curious, unhurried feeling when he pulled out of Sage Bend in the chill, amber light of early morning. The Rockies were a mite indistinct because of mists and the rising sun was taking on a cold pinkish hue that heralded a clear but cold day.
He rode at a fast enough clip into the valley where Barrett had his ranch, not expecting to find the man there, but riding in warily enough just the same. There was a certainty in him that Barrett was the man he wanted, the one who had killed Mary. It was a simple thing now: track the man down and kill him.
It might take time, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t even thinking about the time limit Jim Hume had put on him. It didn’t seem to matter. Nothing mattered now that he was on the last long trail. He would simply keep on following it until he came to the end. And that would be when he caught up with Barrett and killed him. So Barrett was a family man—well, it was too bad. A killer like that had no right taking on the responsibilities of a wife and child—
But he thrust these thoughts from his mind as he came in on the approach to the ranch buildings.
Nash rode with his rifle at the ready, his eyes roving over the log-built house, seeing the split-wood section at one end that had been left for future extensions, the partly-built stone fireplace, the corrals and a small barn. It was in a good position, on the knoll, overlooking the valley approaches, the type of place a man with a past that might catch up with him one day would choose.
Clay Nash rode slowly around the house and outbuildings noting the open door, easing his mount around to such an angle that he was able to see inside. There was no smell of wood smoke and there were no animals: seemed they had all been turned loose.
Nash dismounted and checked out the barn and tool sheds. He went through the house, knowing he wasn’t going to find anyone there but searching every corner before he was finally satisfied enough to lower the hammer on the Winchester. He went outside to his horse and drank from the saddle canteen. He sat on the middle corral rail and commenced to roll a cigarette, thinking out his next move. As he built the smoke, he glanced up at the Rockies, plain and clear-cut now that the sun was higher. Barrett would be somewhere up there. With his family. The man was either a fool, desperate—or he really loved his wife and child.
But he was still a killer, Nash thought, as he struck a vesta, lit the cigarette, then shook out the flame and broke the vesta stem between thumb and forefinger before flicking it to the ground.
That was when he saw the map drawn in the dust.
He got to his knees and examined it. He leaned over it and blew gently. The lines had been gouged through the surface dust into the harder ground beneath. They had been filled in a little with dust and grit blown there by the winds, but beneath the film, they were more permanent.
One corner of the crude map had been destroyed by a boot or a horse’s hoof, but most of it was plain enough. He glanced towards the Rockies. There was no mistaking the lines: they followed the outline of the peaks exactly.
A thin, wavering line emerged out of the crude ‘V’ that represented a valley, climbed across the face of the mountain slopes to just below the snowline. Then it appeared to go around the other side and was picked up on the second part of the dirt map, leading down to meandering twin lines that could only represent a stream or river.
Nash bared his teeth in a tight grin.
He could follow Barrett every step of the way now without having to waste time even looking for a trail.
But there was one thing he had to try first. Maybe Barrett wasn’t far up that first peak yet; maybe he would be watching his back trail and, if so, maybe Nash could bring him back.
He went inside the house and came out fifteen minutes later, picking up the horses’ reins and leading the animals across the yard behind the tool shed.
There was a strong smell of wood smoke and pretty soon, flames began licking at the shingle roof of the ranch house.
The higher they climbed the colder it became and the stronger the winds blew across the face of the mountain. Timber was thinning as they moved towards the snowline.
Crissy seemed to be drugged by the cold, which, thought Eadie, was a good thing. It would be better if the little girl slept most of the time. But she would have to watch, just the same, to make sure she didn’t drift away into …
“Judas priest!”
Eadie reined-down instinctively at the sudden expletive and looked up to the ledge where Dan Barrett had turned his mount to wait for her. He was standing in the stirrups staring back towards the distant valley.
She hipped awkwardly in the saddle, feeling Crissy stir, and glanced back. Eadie gave a small gasp as she saw the rising column of black-gray smoke spiraling out of the valley, where their ranch house was. Alarmed, she spun to stare at her husband.
“Oh, Dan! Is—it—our place?”
Barrett nodded slowly, still staring at the smoke, his lips clamped tightly.
“Yeah,” he said, hair blowing wildly about his face as a gust of icy wind struck him. “That’s the ranch.”
“But—who?” Eadie was bewildered, not thinking straight.
“Nash,” he gritted. “Who else?”
“You can’t be sure—”
“The hell I can’t. He must’ve gotten by Cassidy. The Kid said he’d come after me if he downed Nash so’s we wouldn’t have to make the rest of the journey. So’s we could go back home. It’s why I ain’t forced the pace, I waited to be on this side of the mountain in case he came with good news.” He shook his head slowly, breath jetting out of his mouth in a white plume as he sighed gustily. “But that’s the worst kind of news I can get. It’s Nash lettin’ me know he downed Cassidy and he’s comin’.”
Eadie paled and began to tremble.
“Yeah, he’s comin’,” Barrett said heavily, “and there ain’t nothin’ gonna stop him, looks like. Maybe he figures if I see the smoke I’ll be loco enough to go back. But I won’t. We’re pushin’ on, Eadie. Up and over like I planned all along.”
“But, Dan. We’ll have no money—nothing. We won’t be able to make a new start.”
“We will,” Barrett said grimly. “I’ll get money somehow.”
“‘Like—like you did to pay off the mortgage?” Eadie asked tightly and Barrett snapped his gaze towards her.
“You sayin’ somethin’, woman?” he demanded.
Eadie tilted her chin at him defiantly.
“I guess I am, Dan. I’m not a complete fool. I know while you were away, supposedly trail driving, was the exact time of the Reddings way-station attack. And you came back with a lot more money than any of us expected.”
“I won it gamblin’. I told you.”
“I believed you, too. But I got to thinkin’ about your story last night. I lay awake for hours. Nash wouldn’t come after you if the truth was—what you claimed.”
She started to break and Barrett swore.
“Shut up, woman. We’re wastin’ time. All you got to worry about is that I’m doin’ everythin’ I can to get you and Crissy away safely. Pay no never mind to what I might or might not have done. We’re together. That’s all that counts. And, if you do like I say, we’ll stay together and start a new life.”
He spun his mount on the ledge.
“Now, let’s go.”
He spurred the weary mount up the slope towards the timberline—and the cold snows capping the peak.
Eadie stifled her sobs, hugged Crissy with one arm, kicked her heels into her mount’s flanks and set it moving up the slope after Barrett.
The nightmare, she thought, was only just beginning.