Chapter Two

 

West Texas, 1878

Sam glanced up at the windless sky, and smiled. “Nice mornin’ Nodog, don’t you think?” He looked down at his half-wolf who trotted along beside him. Nodog whined at him and wagged his tail. He’d been traveling for days now and enjoying the nomadic country of the wilder side of Texas.

Sam regarded Nodog, and smiled. “Kinda barren country, ain’t it?”

Nodog barked at him. Sam laughed.

Not more than an hour later, Sam Tanner stared at the dead man hanging from the tree as tears rolled down his cheek bringing back a memory he thought he’d long forgot. It had been twenty years since his father hung from a tree, and ever since he couldn’t stand seeing anyone hang. The wind whistled through the branches, making music with the rope as it swung. Such a forlorn sound. He pulled his pistol from his holster and shot the rope into. Then as though it were commonplace, he slid off his horse and began digging a grave. He didn’t acknowledge the tears or the man, the less involved he was the better. He swatted the tears away as he dug into the hard dry earth. He didn’t know the man, but whoever he was he deserved a better life than this. Everyone deserved better than this in Sam’s books.

Nodog sniffed the body, then ran to the bushes and growled.

“Relax Nodog, this man ain’t gonna hurt anyone. But I got to get him in the ground; he must have been hangin’ a while. He’s stiff as a board. Wonder what the poor fella did, if he did anything.”

Nodog whined as he lay down beside the grave and eyed the bushes.

Not five minutes later, Nodog raised his head and growled once more, as a young woman rushed out of the bushes and moved toward the dog with purpose. Without a word, she put forth her hand for the animal to smell, then relaxed and looked at Sam who had stopped digging and glared at her.

“You got any water?” she asked, almost panting.

“There’s a canteen on my horse there.” Sam pointed.

“Thanks…” She scrambled to the horse and jerked the canteen down, thrusting it in her mouth and taking one long swig at a time. Sam knew from the way she was guzzling it, she hadn’t had a drink in some time. But his mind was busy with questions. Where did she come from, and what was she doin’ out here in the middle of nowhere?

“Oh…what’s this?” She held up the beautiful dream catcher that Hattie had given Sam some time ago.

“It’s a dream catcher,” he answered, wondering how curious this woman could get.

“It’s beautiful. What is it for?”

Sam sighed heavily, wondering if she’d laugh when he explained, “It’s to catch all your bad dreams with and cast them away from you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” She glanced at him.

He frowned. “No, I’m not; now please put it back. It’s very special to me.”

“Okay, sure…it is lovely. And that’s a lovely idea. Just sounds a little funny coming from a man.”

“It comes from the Indians.”

“Oh.” She hung the dream catcher on the saddle once more and smiled. “How come a black man knows so much about the Indians?”

“I lived with them…that’s how.”

Sam noted the dark shiny hair, men’s clothes, and big blue eyes staring at him, those innocent eyes seemed to look right through him.

“That’s Jason Wells.” She hollered eyeing the stiff body on the ground. Her glance colliding with his when he looked at her over the rim of the canteen.

The intensity of her low voice washed over Sam like velvet smoothing over skin. He hadn’t expected such a deep voice by such a little lady. ‘Course he hadn’t expected a lady either, not out here in the middle of nowhere.

Sam glanced at the girl, overlooking her clothes; he couldn’t overlook the sweat and dust that covered her. His curiosity got the best of him.

“You know this man?” Sam asked, surprised to see anyone out here in the middle of nowhere, without a horse or buggy. Nodog relaxed and laid back down, Sam noticed. Whatever, or whoever she was, she was no threat.

“Sure do, he used to work for me ‘til he got enough money to run his own place,” she answered after she swigged down some more water. “He had a small ranch not far from here. I wonder why they hung him.” The girl came closer and stared down at the dead man as though she couldn’t quite believe what had happened. “He was a right nice fella.”

“A thief maybe.” Sam ignored her for the moment and kept digging the grave. “Do you know who did this?”

“No, I have no idea. I liked him, he was a family man. Nice of you to bury him though…” she said, glancing up at Sam as she came back toward him. “You don’t even know him, do ya?”

“Nope.”

“But you are buryin’ him; how come?” she asked.

“Everyone deserves to be buried, don’t you think?”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“He got any kin…?” Sam asked, casting her a quick glance but careful not to stare.

“No…” She seemed to study the question, her face growing almost sad as she spoke. “No…his wife died last year; they didn’t have any kids yet,” the girl answered. “Kinda sad when a fella dies and has no one, isn’t it?” she asked, her blue eyes clouding with tears. “Poor Jason, he sorta lost the will to live once his wife died. He let his place go, stayed to himself, took to drinking some too. I wonder who could have done such a thing. And why…”

Sam eyed the girl with interest then resumed his task. “Yeah, well, least we can see he gets a proper burial.”

Nodog licked his paw and eyed the girl with interest too.

But the girl was not going away. Instead, she sat on the ground and watched Sam dig the grave, her hand extending to pet Nodog. Sam wondered for a moment what she was doing here, and who she was. Nodog didn’t usually take to strangers. He would have to use some tact he supposed to get any answers. Strange, his dog rarely liked anyone, but he sure didn’t mind the affection he was getting from this misfit girl.

“You from around here?” he asked as though it were a common question.

“Got a place, a ways back…” she said, the canteen still in one hand. “At least, I did have. Guess I won’t be going back, though not for a while.”

“Oh, why not…you got troubles too?” Sam stopped his digging and stuck the shovel in the hard ground so he could lean on it. His usually pleasant face screwed up into a frown. He couldn’t stop staring at how easily his dog took to her. “Where’s your horse?”

“Everybody has troubles of some kind of troubles, I reckon. Don’t have a horse. I mean not with me.” She looked at him strangely. “And yeah, I got plenty of troubles, that's why I ran away.”

“Buggy?”

“Don’t have one of those either,” she replied, taking another sip of water.

“Then how did you get way out here in the middle of nowhere without a horse?” Sam asked as he gave her a quick once over, not dwelling on her curves or manner of dress too long.

“I walked…well, no…actually, I ran.” She gulped, obviously trying to explain but not doing a very good job of it. “Some men were chasin’ me, ya see. I hid out in the bushes this mornin’ ‘til they gave up lookin’ for me, then I got to the road and every time I heard a rider, I’d duck into the bushes.”

“Ran?” His head came up and his eyes narrowed on hers. “You look a little tuckered, but who are you runnin’ and hidin’ from?”

She pulled her flop hat down so he couldn’t stare into her eyes. “I’m in a bit of a fix…”

“Do tell!” Sam’s hand went to his hip as he stared at her, his exasperation with the problems he’d been dealt today beginning to show. “I probably shouldn’t ask, but what kind of a fix?”

Nodog licked at her hand. Sam’s eyes widened, the traitor.

“You really want to know?” she asked, peeking out from the hat.

“Why not? You’re just another stumbling block in my plans. So go on, explain what kind of fix you are in.” His laugh didn’t reach his face.

“My name’s Riley Morgan,” she said quietly. She seemed to wait for the name to sink in, but Sam still didn’t know much more than what she told him.

“Riley,” He tipped his hat and squatted down on the ground to listen to her story. The old scrub oak creaked from the wind and they both looked up at it. “I’m Sam Tanner.”

She smiled shyly up at him. Her face held a quiet innocence that caught Sam’s attention. It was for sure and certain this was no ordinary girl. Nodog didn’t like ordinary people. Sam shouldn’t be surprised that he took to her so quickly, but he was.

“That shore is a pretty tree, but it don’t deserve to have a man hang from it…Is this your dog?”

“Yes, his name is Nodog.” Sam stared again; she was a curious lady, that much he knew. Yet he hadn’t expected her appreciation for the tree or his dog. Most women were afraid of Nodog. She’d barely blinked an eye when she headed straight for Nodog and extended her hand for him to smell.

“He’s beautiful; part wolf, isn’t he?”

“He is…” Again, he was astonished.

As innocent as the girl might be, she was not ignorant of animals, Sam noted.

“I thought so, such beautiful eyes. Why’d you name him Nodog? That’s a right peculiar name for a dog.”

“He was given to me by a friend, an Indian friend. Chase had nursed him back to health as he’d been attacked by a bear. He said, ‘He’s a good one, but he is no dog.’ So that’s what I named him, Nodog.”

“Pretty clever. I don’t reckon I would have thought of it. Your friend’s name was Chase?”

“Chase Rivers, a breed.”

“Oh well, that explains it. Indians always have such interesting names.”

“So what exactly is your trouble, ma’am?” Sam asked, going back to his digging. “I mean, other than being out in the middle of nowhere with no buggy or horse.”

“It’s kind of a long story, but then…I guess with diggin’ a grave, you got the time to listen. Everything was fine ‘til this morning.” She began once more trying to answer his question. “Then all hell broke loose.”

Sam knew from experience that he shouldn’t ask, shouldn’t show his curiosity, but a woman in the middle of nowhere with no horse or buggy confused him, especially a woman dressed in pants, like a man. This was no ordinary female.

“Wait, wait, start at the beginning. You’re name don’t tell me much.” Sam tried to be patient with her lack of understanding. “Since I’m not from around these parts, name’s wouldn’t mean much to me.”

“I guess that makes sense. I’m sorry. I’m George Morgan’s daughter,” she explained as though that said it all. Again, she waited.

Sam shrugged. “Okay, like I said, names don’t mean much to me.”

She squinted up at him, and moved her head out of the sun. “I thought everyone either knew my father or knew of him. He’s one of the biggest ranchers in these parts. Or was.”

“Or was. Does that mean he’s no longer with us?” Sam asked.

Looking thoughtful, she nodded. “You really aren’t from around here, or you’d know who I was talkin’ about, and that he was dead. He died a few months ago. He had a bad heart and a wild bronc to tame. The two didn’t mix. I’m his only daughter, his only kin, well practically. So naturally I took over the ranch. Nothing unusual about that, except I’m a girl.” She stopped and looked at him. “And it’s one of the biggest ranches in the territory.”

Sam’s expression didn’t change and she seemed surprised.

“My God, this water is so good.” She sighed, licking her lips.

“I can see you’re a might thirsty.”

“A might.” She smiled. “Thanks…” She took the canteen in both hands and turned it up and sipped it slowly, enjoying it as though she’d hadn’t had a drink all day. Sam watched her out of the corner of his eye. Once she was full, she put the lid on it and wrapped it around the saddle horn. She walked back over and sat down on the hard earth once more, watching him.

“But it wasn’t hard taking the ranch over from my dad. I mean it wasn’t like I didn’t work there every day of my life. I can ride, shoot, and do figures as good as the next rancher. Anyway…as I said everything went like always ‘til this morning, when my foreman Harry Stevens took a gun to me. I got away, as fast as I could. The ranch hands were in on it with him, I soon found out. There were too many of them. I couldn’t do anything but run. So that’s why I’m out here in the middle of nowhere without a horse,” she explained and looked up at him once more.

“Why would your foreman suddenly take a gun to you? You get into a squabble with him or somethin’?” Sam stared at her for a long time. She was trouble and he knew it. But she’d become his trouble he realized with regret.

“Not really. He asked to marry up with me and I told him no, of course.”

Sam squinted up at her. “Of course…”

“Well, it’s not like he’d been courtin’ me or anything.” Riley shrugged with indignation. “I had no relations with the man other than as my foreman, so I found the proposal a little stunning. He’d never mentioned an interest to my father, when he was alive. Dad always said I was pretty plain so I sure didn’t expect him to propose, although I realize that would be one way of takin’ the place over. He didn’t take too kindly to the turn down, though. But I never expected him to turn violent on me, either. I got along good with the boys on the ranch, most of them.”

“You mean he didn’t love ya?” Sam asked, his face screwing up with confusion. “You sayin’ in one breath he asked you to marry and in another to kill ya?”

“No, of course he didn’t love me. I guess they wanted the ranch, and decided to take it from me,” she huffed indignantly. “I guess they figured it would be easy, and so far, they are right.”

“They? There’s more than one? I mean, you are sure the other hands are in on it too?”

“It would seem so; most of the hands were takin’ his orders and lookin’ for me. Dead or alive, it didn’t matter to Harry.”

“Did they chase after you?” Sam asked.

“For a while, then they just sorta gave up. They figured I’d be dead before I got anywhere. Sometimes I think because I’m not that big, they thought I couldn’t hold up to things, like ranchin’,” she explained. “Harry never thought much of women anyway, except for his own purpose if you know what I mean.”

“Well, they can’t just take over your land, like that. I mean, it’s yours. So what you gonna do now?” Sam asked as he stood up once more and began digging again.

“I don’t rightly know. I was figurin’ to catch the stage,” she answered. “Get as far away as I could and then figure it out.”

“That’s a good idea, but if I was you, I’d get to a town, where someone can help you.” Sam added, “You can tell the Sheriff. You livin’ around here, people are bound to know you. With a spread that big, everyone would be familiar with you runnin’ the place, seems like.”

“No…I can’t do that.” She pet Nodog behind the ears and Nodog waged his tail. “Everybody knows me, but don’t many care about me. You see out here, men don’t think women can do things like runnin’ a ranch, and that’s pretty common thinkin’. Besides, there isn’t a Sheriff around these parts. No real law unless you go to Ft. Worth, Dallas or Waco. No towns either. Just ranches mostly.”

Sam sent her a scowl. “You tellin’ me you’re the daughter of one of the richest men in the state and no one cares about you? That’s a little hard to swallow.”

“Well…when I wouldn’t go back east like my pa wanted, some of the folks, mostly ladies thought kinda ill of me. And the men too because I put britches on and worked my ranch along with my pa, like a man. So everyone sorta marked me as Morgan’s wayward child. It didn’t matter to me at first, but as time goes on…it sorta does. So today, when they started shooting at me, I was just gonna keep on going. You see, Harry and most the ranchers around here are pretty good friends. And now that I put it all together, I reckon they been plannin’ this take-over for some time. It’s kinda easy to figure lookin’ back at it all. Especially the way Harry was talkin’. Because of the way most the ranchers treat me, I don’t socialize much with them, knowin’ their attitude. Oh, I try to be friendly, but they think I’m what’s the word…”

“Eccentric?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Oh maybe they seen me a time or two, but as for socializing, I just don’t have the time. My pa, he never put too many hands on, just enough to take care of the place so there has always been a lot of work to do. Everyone knows me, but not many paid me no mind. ‘Cause I’m a woman, doin’ a man’s job. It’s an unspoken law around here that women don’t have no business runnin’ a place as big as mine. They don’t think I have enough sense. But they are wrong, I’m a good rancher.”

Sam stopped again. “And you plannin’ on just leavin’ the place to this Harry fella? Just up and leave it?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head and stared at Sam, and Sam saw the forlorn look on her face. “I mean I didn’t plan all this. I have to have some time to sit down and think about what I need to do. I haven’t had time to even think on it, much, this just happened today. I’ve been more concerned with gettin’ away with my life.” She paused now and stared at the dirt he’d shoveled. “I been too busy runnin’. I figured once I was safe I could figure it out.”

“So for now, you’re just gonna walk off and leave them to it?” Sam questioned, his eyes going to her hand on his dog. “Let them go ahead and figure out how to get that land deed changed. Then you won’t have anything to come back to.”

Riley seemed to bow up at his accusation. “For now, they want to kill me. I am not ready to die, sir. I wanted to get away. Once I’m safe I can figure out something,” she insisted. “Maybe hire me a gun hand to take care of them or somethin’. You interested in that kind of job, by any chance?”

“I’m no gunman.”

She fell silent for a few minutes, eyeing his gun with curiosity.

“How far you figure you gotta go to be safe?” Sam asked, finding the situation almost funny.

“I don’t know…this has never happened before, I don’t have any idea. I haven’t had time to think of the situation enough to know what to do.”

Sam shook his head, his disgust clearly written for her to see on his face. “You don’t just walk off a piece of land and let someone have it.”

“I know…” Tears were not far from falling, he heard it in her voice. “I know…that’s true. But I haven’t had enough time to decide what to do yet. I been a little busy stayin’ alive…”

“Don’t you have anyone back there that can help you?” Sam asked, not daring to look at her as his heart began to respond to her.

“Not anyone I can trust, no. You see it’s the biggest spread in the area, and everyone wants it. I’ve even been offered money by several since my Pa died. But I refused to sell, of course. That didn’t set well with most the other ranchers. They figured on me sellin’. They killed my oldest hand, he was the only one I trusted for sure,” she explained, as one tear floated down her dirty cheek. “They put a snake in his bed, so it looked natural. No one will know what really happened but me.”

“A snake…how do you know this?” Sam expression changed now, as though he were finally taking her serious.

“I heard them talkin’ this morning as I was hidin’ out.”

“You must have hid out close, to hear everything,” Sam acknowledged.

“Oh I did, right under their noses, in fact. But I know the place backwards and forward. I knew where to go. They didn’t.”

Sam took her in, his glance going over her now. She was small and dirty and it was hard to tell if she was pretty or not. Sweat and dirt had mixed all over her face. Her hair was pulled back by some kind of ribbon, dark. Her clothes were more practical than flattering, it was hard to tell just how much of a woman she was, but Sam wasn’t looking at that. He needed to size her up, but sizing a white woman up wasn’t that easy. He’d never tangled with a white woman before. And this one was different somehow, innocent-like.

“This spread you got, you say everyone wants it?” Sam figured quickly.

“One of the biggest in the state,” she wailed. “But I don’t have it right now and if Harry has anything to do with it, it won’t be mine long. He fully intends seein’ the lawyer.”

“Good grief, they’ll be out lookin’ for you then. Makin’ sure you’re dead.” Sam shook his head and frowned. He couldn’t get involved in this. He’d be on the other side of a rope himself if he did. Somehow he had to walk away. “Until they can declare you dead or…worse…out of your head, they can’t just take it over. It wouldn’t be legal.”

“I guess,” she answered. “But Harry fully intends to get me out of the way, one way or another. And I don’t think he cares which way.”

Sam finished the grave digging and hauled the body into the ground. He covered it with dirt and sat down to build a cross over it. The girl watched him. He got two branches and tied them together with some string from his pocket and made a make-shift cross.

“You carry string in your pocket?” she asked.

“Sure do. Never know when you might need some.” Sam glanced at her.

“Lord, we give him unto You, as he died before his time,” Sam said, shoving the cross into the ground as best he could.

“Amen.” The girl bowed her head.

Nodog whined.

“You religious?” she asked out of the blue, eyeing him carefully.

“Sure, aren’t you?”

“Never thought on that too much. Dad and I didn’t go to church much, had too much work to do. But I believe in God, though. And I know why Jesus died on that cross, and I reckon that’s about all I know.”

“That’s good. That’s probably enough. I’d say you got some religion then, probably more than most.”

It was getting harder by the moment to figure out what to do about this situation. Sam prided himself on dealing with issues as they arose but this one stumped him. What was a white girl out in the middle of nowhere with no horse, no buggy and no idea where she was headed, doing out here?

He couldn’t take her along. He couldn’t leave her here.

“Look…if I loan you a horse and gun, you can get back to the nearest town and contact the Sheriff. Everything will work out fine, once you do that,” he assured her. Surely they would take the word of a woman, especially the daughter of the wealthiest rancher in the area.

“But you only got one horse…”

“That’s okay, I’ll make out. You go on and take it; you need it more than I do.”

She shook her head as she stood beside him and looked into his eyes. “I can’t do that. My daddy taught me better. Although that’s about the nicest thing anyone’s offered in a long time. But no, I can’t leave a man stranded in the middle of nowhere, without a horse or gun. Pa always said a man without a horse or gun might as well be dead. No sir, I can’t take it.”

“Look, I’ll be fine. I was raised with the Shawnee, I know how to take care of myself out here. You go on, take it. No matter, no matter at all,” Sam assured her.

“I won’t do that,” she protested as he led his horse straight up to her. “It’s uncommonly kind of you, but I can’t do it.”

“Well, right now there just aren’t a lot of choices. So go on, take it.” He reached to heft her up.

“Look, it’d be murder to leave you out here with no protection.” She turned so her face was staring up at him. It was the first real look he got of her and he realized she had startling blue eyes against pale skin and dark hair that shone in the sunlight. The woman was appealing as all get out and Sam squirmed at the knowledge. He didn’t want to be attracted to a misfit white woman.

Something made Sam melt inside at her concern for his safety but he shook his head. “We don’t have any choice. I’m a black man, you are a white woman. You go on now. I can’t take you with me…that’s for sure and certain.”

“But…”

With that, Sam hauled her up into his arms and thrust her atop the horse, then strapping the only rifle between them in the sling, he whipped the horse. “Go on now…I got a pistol. Besides, I got Nodog, don’t you see?”

The horse ran and she held on, looking back at him.

The whole incident looked surreal to Sam. How could have things gotten to this point, he wondered. He had to admit, there was nothing the Shawnee had taught him about being with a white woman. Yet he’d witnessed his sister and brother-in-law every day.

Sam instinctively knew that was not an option. He knew he’d done the right thing though and felt able to handle any more intrusions that might come his way. Being on foot didn’t bother him, not with as many treks as he’d made with Lee and Chase.

Well, he did know how to take care of himself. And with Nodog by him, he would be safe enough. He’d manage and he wouldn’t have her to contend with either. What was the girl thinking? That he’d leave her here alone? That he’d take her along with him? She had to see it was all impossible.