Travis had not spent a comfortable night. The evening meal served by Emma Crockett had been good, some of the best food he’d had in months. But as they sat there eating, and as she talked about the diary, he realized that he wasn’t sitting there just because of the promise of Spanish gold. He’d been sitting there for any excuse he could think of, watching as the flickering of the firelight highlighted her high cheekbones. The lamplight reflected from her eyes, and Travis had to force himself to concentrate on something other than the top button of her dress that had worked itself free.
Crockett, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking only of the diary and the gold. She rarely mentioned her father, but Travis felt him in the room like another person. He was in the comer watching them, protecting his daughter. Travis tried to force his mind to the gold.
Finally she had stood and asked, “Where do you plan to sleep tonight?”
Travis shrugged but didn’t speak.
“You can stay in here, near the fire, if you’d like,” she said.
Travis thought about it. Thought about being in the same room with her and decided that he’d be safer outside. The temptation to say or do something he’d be sorry about would be too great if he stayed inside.
“I’ll check my horse and the mule, and then spread my blanket outside.”
“If that’s what you want,” she said shrugging. “Be more comfortable in here.”
That hadn’t been what he wanted, but it was what he had done. He had told himself that her invitation was nothing more than an act of kindness. He had told himself that she needed help to go for the gold, and that was the only reason that she wanted him to stay around. That was why she had invited him along.
So he’d gone outside, walked all around the cabin, studying the ground. That was something else he had learned in the army. Check the terrain in case the enemy arrived during the night. Be ready to fight or escape, depending on the situation.
Travis had spread his blanket but had not felt comfortable. Something was wrong, but Travis didn’t know what it was. He had gotten up a couple of times and scanned the hills around the cabin. He searched for signs that someone was out there but couldn’t see a thing. There were no campfires and there was no movement.
Just before the battle at Gettysburg he’d felt the same way. There had been nothing he could put his finger on at Gettysburg either. Just a feeling of impending doom. Maybe it was something he sensed in the air, or something that he had heard, or something that he believed. Now that feeling was back.
But the night had slipped away with no trouble. Travis had been awake through most of it. He had laid on his back, his hands under his head, and stared up into the night sky. He had watched as the moon had tracked through it, a bright white light that washed out some of the stars. And he had used the light as he had searched the ground around him without result. There was no enemy in the hills around him and he began to think that the sense of unease was the result of the woman sleeping no more than fifteen feet away. He hoped that she was having as rough a time as he was, and then hoped that she wasn’t. She’d just lost her father. Sleep was the best thing for her. He wished her a quiet night with only the best of dreams.
Finally, it was morning and Travis had gotten up. He’d walked around the cabin again and then checked his horse. Satisfied that the beast had made it through the night safely, he had sat down on the wall and watched the cabin, waiting for Emma Crockett to let him know that she was awake and that it was time for him to come inside.
The door opened a few minutes later and she stood there, a hand raised against the sun. She was fully dressed. “You ready for some breakfast?”
Travis hopped off the wall and walked toward the door. “Of course. But then we’ve got to leave. It’ll be a couple of days to El Paso.”
“I’m ready now,” she said. She stepped back and let him enter the cabin. “There’s nothing here for me now. Not with my father gone.”
“We won’t be able to take much with us.”
“I’ll close the cabin. If we find nothing, I’ll come back here. My friends will make sure that my things are left alone. If we find the gold, then I won’t need any of it.”
Travis shrugged. He pulled out a chair and sat down. She turned and began to work at the counter near the sink and the hand pump for water.
“You know,” said Travis, “you could give me the information and the maps and I could go in search of the gold. You wouldn’t have to leave here.”
“I thought I made myself clear,” she said, turning to face him. “There is nothing left for me here. I want to go. I have to go.”
“Fine,” said Travis. “It was just a thought.”
She cracked the eggs into the pan, scrambled them with a wooden spoon, and then walked to the fireplace. She set the pan on a metal grate and shook the handle. She studies the fire and the eggs and didn’t say anything else to him.
Travis had planned to ride out as soon as breakfast was over. He’d then revised the plan, telling her they’d take only what they needed to get to El Paso and then would buy any additional supplies there. But Emma Crockett didn’t have a horse, just her father’s mule. Travis ended up riding into Hammetsville to buy a buckboard and two horses to pull it. He returned to find Crockett waiting for him. She had dragged the chest out of the door and was sitting on it.
“We’re not going to be able to take this all the way to the cave,” said Travis, stopping close to the gate.
“Why not? The Spanish had their wagons close to it. It’ll make it easier to get the gold out.”
Travis wrapped the reins around the brake after setting it and dropped to the ground. He took a deep breath and thought about telling her to wait behind again but knew it would do no good. She was a strong-willed woman who had nothing to wait for in the cabin.
She stood up and moved away from the trunk. Travis grabbed the leather handles and lifted. The trunk was lighter than he would have expected it to be. He glanced at her.
“Just a few things I want to keep safe,” she said. “The important things.”
“I thought your friends would watch the cabin.”
“They will.” She retreated to the cabin.
Travis loaded the chest and shoved it toward the front. He turned as she came out of the cabin closing the door behind her. She carried a double-barreled shotgun and a revolver in a holster.
“My father’s,” she said.
Travis took the weapons from her and put them in the back, near the trunk. He then held out a hand to help her as she climbed up to the seat.
He walked around the back, made sure that his horse was ready, and then climbed aboard. He unfastened the reins. “If you’re sure.”
“Let’s go.”
Freeman was standing at the base of a tree, hidden in the shadows of it. He had an unobstructed view of everything that was going on below him. As Travis climbed to the seat far below him, Freeman turned to Crosby.
“They’ve got a wagon now.”
“Which means?” asked Crosby sitting up and scrubbing at his face.
“It means that he’s going to be moving slow and that the woman is going with him. We hang back and they’ll take us to the gold. It means that they won’t be running away from us.”
Crosby stood up and moved to the tree. He stepped behind it as if afraid that Travis or Crockett would see him. He watched as the wagon moved down the road and into the small town.
“We follow them?”
“Hell,” said Freeman, “that’s the road to El Paso. A straight shot in. I figure they’re going to El Paso. We’ll just ride on ahead and wait for them there.”
As the wagon disappeared among the low buildings, Crosby stepped out into the open. “What if they don’t go straight to El Paso?”
“Then we backtrack and find where they left the road. It won’t be that difficult to find them.”
Crosby stretched and then reached down, opening his fly. As he relieved himself, he asked, “What are you going to do with your share?”
Freeman grunted and then shrugged. “Buy a whorehouse and stock it with the best whiskey. After a month or two, I’ll come out and think of something else.”
Crosby finished, shook his foot, and then buttoned up. “We going to eat breakfast first?”
For a moment Freeman stood looking down the ridge. At the far end of the town he saw the wagon reappear, heading for El Paso. It was obvious that Travis was in no hurry and that he didn’t suspect anyone was behind him. He was taking it easy.
Freeman turned and moved down to where the fire was burning low. He’d let it die during the night so that no glow would be visible, even though on the reverse side of the slope, away from the cabin, there was no chance for Travis to see it.
“Breakfast first,” said Freeman. “Then we’ll ride down, make sure they’re still on the road, and then head on to El Paso.”
“And wait.”
“And wait,” agreed Freeman.