Predators and Prey Page 29

  “Is it all right that I am here?”

  Nathan looked at her in the almost constant flashes of lightning. Her face was taut, questioning.

  “Very much all right,” Nathan said. He replaced the tarp under the saddle to hold it against the violent bursts of the wind. “You’re freezing. Let me put my blanket around you.”

  “Shouldn’t I take off my wet clothes first?” Caroline said.

  Without waiting for an answer she began to unbutton her shirt. She had to remain seated, for the height of the tarp was low, limited by the length of the packsaddle set on end to act as a center pole.

  She saw him there in the frequent lightning flashes, silently watching her as she disrobed.

  “Now cover me,” she said, lying down nude on Nathan’s bed.

  Nathan started to cover Caroline with a blanket.

  ‘Wait,” she said. “Won’t you lie down, too, and help me get warm?”

  Nathan felt a tremble in his hard muscled body at the meaning of her words. He stretched out beside her. “If I hold you, that would help you to get warm faster.”

  “Yes. Do that.”

  Nathan wrapped Caroline in his arms. He was surprised at the thinness of her body. He easily could count her ribs with his fingers. And they seemed fragile, giving way under the slightest pressure. Her bright eyes and brave face made her seem a larger woman. His hands found the firm mounds of her breasts.

  “I’m still going to Utah,” Caroline whispered.

  “I know. You told me that.”

  Nathan held her close, feeling her cool flesh against him from her head down to her toes. In the pure happiness of the moment he forgot all the lonely tomorrows that were to be his fate. He kissed her soft lips gently. His hands explored the planes and the curves of her body.

  She grew warm. He entered the delicious, moist womanhood of her.

  35

  “Nathan, the rain has nearly stopped.”

  Sam’s low voice came from outside the tarpaulin covering. “It’s time to get into position.”

  Nathan had been awake for some time, lying quietly with the sleeping Caroline’s breath softly fanning his cheek. He had made love to her, slept, and then loved her again. He did not sleep again as the night wore on. He wanted to store as much memory of this time with her as possible.

  The storm with its lightning and thunder had worked its way off to the east. Its noise was only a distant echo. The wind had ceased. A drizzle tapped lightly on the tarpaulin. Sam was correct: The time for the battle was near.

  “I’m awake,” Nathan said. “Tell everyone to keep their rifles and pistols covered. We must not have any misfires. And tell them to leave their spurs behind.”

  “What’s happening?” Caroline whispered, awakened by the voices.

  “Tonight we fight DeBreen.”

  “Why do you risk your life? You and the others have only to ride away and you’ll be safe.”

  “We can’t leave DeBreen alive. We know what he’ll do to all the Mormons.”

  “There are too many of them for you to win.”

  “We have a plan that may even the odds some.”

  Caroline touched Nathan’s face with her fingers. Then she drew away from him. “I must go back to my tent.”

  “Yes, I understand. It’s not safe here.”

  Caroline tossed the blanket aside and pulled on her still damp clothing. “Good-bye,” she said.

  Nathan heard the finality in her voice. “Good-bye,” he replied.

  She slid from under the tarp and was gone.

  Nathan dressed and wrapped his rifle and pistol in pieces of oilcloth. He went into the night.

  The drizzle had slackened to a cold, falling mist. To the west a thin slice of the sky with many stars showed against the black velvet of the heavens. With the clouds moving east, the moon, now nearly three-quarters full, would soon be in sight.

  The three Texans and Sam quietly approached Nathan. They did not speak, awaiting his directions. They had accepted him as their leader. He felt the weight of his position and thought about how to keep them from getting killed and still win the battle.

  “It’s late,” Nathan said, his voice barely above a whisper. “If DeBreen and his men are coming, it’ll be now, before the moon shows through the clouds. Let’s move.”

  He led them into the murky night toward DeBreen’s camp. A soft rustling of wind on feathers swept past, an owl hunting the night’s darkness. They reached the shallow gully and silently crept down into the brushy bottom. By standing erect, they could see over the top and out across the prairie.

  “Spread out about twenty feet apart,” Nathan said. “If none of DeBreen’s men comes directly at you, then shift positions to fight where they are. Wait until they get close before you shoot.”

  “I hope the moon is clear of the clouds so we can see them,” Ash said.

  “Nathan, and the rest of you, listen to me,” Les said in a hushed voice. “If anything should happen to me, tell Emily my ranch is hers. She has said that she will marry me. So as far as I’m concerned, she’s already my wife. Do all of you bear witness to what I’ve said?”

  “We hear you,” Nathan replied. “But you’ll come out of this okay.”

  “Maybe so. Still, don’t any of you forget what I’ve said.”

  Les went to Nathan’s left. Ash followed. Jake and Sam moved right. All sound of their steps stopped. The night lay black and heavy in the gully and on the prairie.

  The seconds ticked past, adding to one minute, two, three. The distant muttering of the storm faded to near silence. The clouds continued drifting to the east on the high, invisible wind. Nathan thought the trailing edge of the clouds was beginning to brighten as the moon drew ever closer to it.

  The misty drizzle stopped altogether. Nathan unwrapped the oilcloth from around his rifle and pistol and let the covering fall to the ground.

  He breathed deeply, smelling the wet grass and the brush and the mud in the gully bottom. He thought of his lovemaking with Caroline and his heart beat nicely at the memory.

  He looked out across the wet prairie and reevaluated his plan. Nothing stirred within the range of his ears, and his eyes saw nothing in the cold, leaden light. He fully believed DeBreen would steal upon the Texans in the dark. Their position in the gully was the best he could do. He knew the men with him would stand fast and fight. However, Les worried him with his premonition of death.

  His nerves tightened up a notch. He sensed the aura of something hostile there in the darkness on the prairie. Then he heard the slow, cautious footsteps on the sodden ground. DeBreen and his fighters were coming.

  Nathan checked the clouds, which still obscured most of the sky. Hurry, moon, hurry. Give us light to shoot by.

  The enemy was closer, now easily within range of both rifle and pistol. Nathan sank lower in the gully, trying to catch silhouettes against the strip of star-studded sky. The trailing edge of the clouds looked no brighter. Where was the moon?

  A patch of stars vanished. One man located, thought Nathan. A second group of stars was blocked out to the right of the first. A second man. But the stars were not enough to shoot by, and he dare not miss, for then DeBreen’s larger force would overwhelm them.

  An incipient crack broke through the layer of clouds. The crack became a gap that widened swiftly. The moon hung in the opening and spilled its rays down to the earth. The prairie became bathed in pale silver.

  The men in front of Nathan suddenly halted, pinned to the prairie by the light.

  Nathan raised his rifle and fired into the dark center of a figure of a man. The form collapsed. Instantly Nathan dropped the rifle into his left hand and drew his pistol. He fired at the second man. The man staggered, seemed to trip, fell.

  Other gunshots rippled along the draw to Nathan’s left. DeBreen’s band had approached slightly off center of the position of the men waiting in ambush. Nathan crouched and moved left through the brush to support Les and Ash.

  A gun c
rashed on the prairie. Nathan heard the whizzing pass of the bullet. He saw the flash and shot back quickly.

  Les and Ash were firing rapidly out of the gully. Answering shots were even heavier. Nathan joined them in a savage fusillade at the shadowy, moving forms.

  Sam and Jake ran up. “Have you seen DeBreen?” Sam shouted, catching Nathan by the shoulder.

  “How in hell could I tell which one is DeBreen?” Nathan said, shaking off Sam’s hand. “Kill all of them.”

  Sam and Jake began to blaze away at the muzzle flashes. A shrill cry rose, and was quickly cut off. DeBreen, thought Sam. That sounded like DeBreen’s voice. He marked the spot in his mind.

  The firing stopped abruptly. Nathan saw a man run toward DeBreen’s camp. A second form laboriously climbed up from the ground and limped away in the same direction. The fight was shot out of DeBreen’s men. They would not stop running until they reached the Missouri River.

  “Stay in the gully,” Nathan called to his comrades. “A wounded man can kill you. Anybody hit? Les, are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ash?”

  “Just a scratch on my ribs.”

  “Sam?”

  “Okay.”

  “Jake?”

  “That was one fine ambush,” Jake called back. “Caught them with the moon behind them.”

  Nathan knew that cold, black chance had won the battle for them. Neither DeBreen nor he could forecast the position of the moon exactly. Had the moonlight not come through, there could easily have been a different group of men celebrating a victory.

  “It won’t be daylight for an hour or so,” Nathan said. “We’ll wait until we can see, then take a look at DeBreen’s men.”

  “Somebody should tell the women we’re all alive,” Ash said. “They’ll be worried after all the shooting.”

  “Let Les do it,” Nathan said. So much for premonitions.

  ***

  Grueling awoke when the night was still dense and black. He had driven his men and horses every day since leaving Salt Lake City. He ignored the few complaints uttered by the men. But the horses were weakening, and that was important. Three were limping from strained tendons or hooves bruised by stones.

  He rose and knelt on his blanket. Silently he prayed that the women of the handcart company were safe and that he would reach them soon. Nothing must happen to them for they were necessary to help mother the race of Saints that would occupy and forever hold the Mormon empire the Prophet called Deseret.

  Grueling seated himself and watched the eastern sky. He thought of taking another wife. He would closely inspect the women of the handcart company. It would be best if he made his selection before they reached Salt Lake City. Once they reached there, they were given a day to rest. Then the women would put on their prettiest dresses and line up in Temple Square. The Mormon men desiring wives would come and walk along the line, each one choosing the woman he wanted. Sometimes they would take two or three wives at a time. Often the men’s first wives helped him to select the new ones.

  Scott’s Bluff gradually took form in the morning light to the east. Grueling stood up.

  “Roll out!” he shouted. “We ride in ten minutes. The handcart company can’t be far.”

  In five minutes the men had broken camp, packed their bedding, saddled, and sat on their horses. Several chewed food as they awaited Grueling’s order to ride.

  Good men, thought Grueling, every one. They obeyed like soldiers. Good soldiers for the Prophet. Grueling had not been wrong in his selection of those who should make the journey with him.

  “Let’s ride,” Grueling called. He kicked his horse to a trot through the faint, uncertain light of the dying night. The rumbling of the horses’ hooves of his twenty fighting men held close station behind him.

  They rode into the new day, during which they would do the Prophet’s work.

  ***

  Morning came. The night unraveled reluctantly, giving up its dominion over the prairie.

  The Texans and Sam walked warily through the damp grass, examining the corpses lying almost in a line along the gully.

  “Five men dead,” Nathan said. “And I saw two making off for DeBreen’s camp. Where’s the eighth man?”

  “I’m looking for him now,” Sam called. “I think I know where he fell.” He moved on ahead in a slight zigzagging pattern.

  He found the thick-chested body of DeBreen, lying facedown and unmoving. Yet DeBreen was not to be trusted, even when he appeared dead. Sam held his pistol ready as he cautiously drew near.

  He dropped his knee in the center of the broad back to prevent any sudden movement. “Are you still alive, DeBreen?” Sam asked.

  The body stirred weakly and tried to roll. Sam pressed down harder, holding DeBreen against the ground.

  “Now don’t do that,” Sam said. “Let me see both of your hands.” He put the barrel of his pistol to DeBreen’s temple.

  DeBreen, ignoring the gun, turned his head to look over his shoulder at Sam. His face was a bloody mask. Sam’s bullet had blown away part of his cheek and one eye. The shattered face split open and smiled horribly.

  “You goddamn bastard,” DeBreen croaked.

  “A dying man shouldn’t use the Lord’s name in vain,” Sam said.

  “There is no God, only death.” DeBreen’s croaking voice almost broke.

  “It’s time you found out. And Farrow and the others are waiting for you.”

  “I need a little help.”

  “Sure,” Sam said. “I’m glad to oblige you. It’s been a long trail, and I want it to end.”

  DeBreen locked his one good eye on Sam. “Then do it,” he said.

  Sam put the barrel of his pistol against DeBreen’s back, directly over his heart. He squeezed the trigger.

  ***

  The Mormon men came with shovels, and graves were dug for the dead in the ground where they died. Mathias spoke a short prayer for their souls. The earth was closed over them.

  Sam and the Texans remained behind as Mathias and the other Mormons walked off toward their camp.

  “I’m ready to travel south,” Nathan said.

  “I’m ready too,” Ash said. He looked at Les and Jake. “How about you two? Ready?”

  “The sooner the better,” Les said.

  “I’m more than ready,” Jake said.

  “Sam, what are you going to do?” Nathan asked.

  “I’m broke, except for maybe a hundred dollars. So I’ll go to the mountains again come fall and do some trapping. Until then I’ll work in St. Joe to get enough money to buy an outfit.”

  “You’re not broke,” Ash said.

  “What do you mean?”

  Ash extracted a heavy pouch from the front of his shirt. “I went through the pockets of DeBreen and his men. I collected more than seven thousand dollars in gold coins. You helped kill them, so we’ll split the money five ways.”

  The men looked around at each other. Their reluctance to agree with Ash’s proposal showed on their faces.

  Ash shook the bag, making the coins jingle. “Well?” he asked. “We’ve earned it. What’s the old saying? ‘To the victor goes the spoils’?”

  “Oh, hell, why not,” Nathan said. “These men tried to kill us, and Sam needs the money. Give him my share.”

  “Nothing doing,” Sam said. “I’ll take just my own share.”

  They gathered in a circle and divided the coins. Sam hefted his portion in his hand and thoughtfully cast a look at the unseen mountains to the west.

  “You could go to Texas with us,” Ash said.

  “I’d go if Ruth would go with me. But I don’t think that’s in the cards.”

  “Go ask her,” Nathan said. The other men voiced their encouragement.

  “I’ll think on it,” Sam said.

  “DeBreen had some good horses,” Jake said. “We should take enough of them for the women to ride, and give the rest to the Mormons.”

  “I’ll get them,” Nathan said. “You fello
ws get your women ready to travel. Sam, go ask Ruth to go to Texas with you.” Without waiting for an answer Nathan went off with a swift step toward DeBreen’s empty camp.

  ***

  Grueling held the horses to a ground-devouring trot along the North Platte River. Scott’s Bluff slid past on the opposite side of the river. The band of men climbed up through the breaks onto the prairie.

  The sun climbed twice its diameter above the horizon as the band hastened to the east. The air had been washed clean by the night’s rainfall, and objects at a great distance were clear and distinct. To Grueling’s satisfaction he saw dark shapes moving on the prairie ahead. He recognized handcarts forming into a double line for travel.

  “We have found the company of converts!” Grueling shouted out to his men. He raised the pace of his band to a gallop.

  36

  Sam dismounted and tied his horse to one wheel of the women’s handcart. He removed his hat and held it tightly in his hand as he walked toward Ruth, standing with Caroline. Both women were watching Sophia and Pauliina take their personal possessions from the cart.

  “Ruth, would you walk with me a little?” Sam asked.

  Ruth studied Sam’s face for a few seconds. “All right,” she said.

  They went off from the camp, neither speaking, feeling an important moment had arisen in their lives.

  Sam looked sideways at Ruth’s beautiful face as they walked. His desire for her was a great ache in his heart. “Ruth, Nathan and the other Texans have asked me to go south with them. There’s land aplenty just for the taking in Texas. A man could make a good home for a woman. Will you go with me?”

  Ruth halted and turned toward Sam. “I like you, Sam, very much. But there are no Mormons or Mormon churches in Texas. I asked Mathias about that. I could not leave my church.”

  “You would have Sophia and Pauliina near you. They are Mormons.”

  “I know. But I don’t think their belief in our religion is very strong. And I still want a place to worship the Lord.”

  “There are other good religions in Texas.”

  “I am a Mormon and I want a Mormon temple to worship in. I want to see the Prophet. These things can only be done in Salt Lake City. I must go there.” She looked steadily into Sam’s eyes. “Why don’t you come to Salt Lake City with us, with me?”