Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (12 page)

“I’ll have supper ready in a few minutes,” she said.  “You need to spread out the buffalo robe and make our bed.  When I went for water I felt tiny ice crystals in the air.”

“I know,” he said.  “They stung my face as I was coming back from staking the horses.”

He finished with their bed and came back to the fire, sat on a rock, and waited for Kate to
hand him a bow
l of food.  He finished eating first and stood.  “I’ll bring the animal
s
in closer to give them protection from the weather and find a place to sit out of the wind and snow if it falls tonight.  I doubt they’ll attack, but as we always say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Wake me and I’ll relieve you,” she said.
  She handed him four blankets
.

He
picked up one of his rifles and moved away in the darkness.

It was around two in the morning when he tapped her on the shoulder.  She pushed up to see, but it was too dark to make out more than a faint outline of Man
’s face
.  “It started snowing about midnight and I expect we have three inches on the ground.  T
racking th
em will be impossible tomorrow.

If they were going to come looking for us, it would have been before now.  Get some more sleep and when it’s
light,
I want to go on.  So
far, they’
re sticking to the road going south.  This snow may last for a day or so, or it could be here next spring.  There would be nothing gained by staying here.”

“I’ll build up the fire and wat
ch while you sleep,” she said.

Man shucked off his heavy coat and boots and s
lid under the blankets and bear
skin.  He knew there was no talking her out of doing sentry duty.

It was still snowing when Man fed the horses and mules oats and brought them under the overhang of rock to saddle them and load the packs.  Kate had finished cleaning the bowl and their plates
after
eating warmed stew from the night before.

They rode side by
side,
as there was no need to look for track
s in the unblemished snow
covering the ground.  It was
noon when Kate pulled to a stop.  She
pointed.  “I s
ee tracks in the snow
.
”

Man handed her the lead rope for the mule and
urged Arabian ahead to look.  “Wagon tracks,” he said.  They came from off the side of the road.  I expect Al and Bob
camped here last night.  They’
re about three or four hours ahead of us.”

The tracks came back to the main road and Man inspected them.  “As before,” he said, “one horseback rider in front and a horse led behind the wagon.”

“I’m going to take a quick trip to their campsite,” Kate said.  “I doubt I’ll see anything, but maybe I can spot
signs
Lu
cille
was there
.  I would like to know if she’s still alive.  I know that not fi
nding anything
won’t mean they’
ve kille
d her, but if I find
something
, it’
ll ease my mind.”

Man nodded.  “I’ll go
on.  Y
ou
can easily catch up with me.”

She took the mules and fo
llowed the tracks back to the outlaws
’
campsite
.
As soon as she was close enough to see
tracks,
she saw the smaller print
s
of a woman.
The tracks went from the back of the wagon to a clump of bushes and
then
back to the wagon.

She touched the sides of Red Bird with her spurs and loped back to where Man was riding, following the wagon tracks.

“Lucille is still alive,” she said.

“Good,” he said.

Kate started scanning every possible ambush site in front of them through her binoculars.   They were close enough
for the killers to try to stop them.  They had to suspect that Ma
rshals Man and Kate were on their trail
.

Kate rode behind Man on his beautiful Arabian with the lead rope for the mules tied to her
saddle horn
, watching ahead, hoping to catch a glimpse of ambushers should they be waiting.

They continued to ride until darkness
started to settle
around them.
It came early in the mo
untains and the heavy overcast skies contributed to the
premature
darkness.

As before, Kate rode out to the side of the road searching for a place to camp while she still had enough light to see.  She located a huge tree surrounde
d by heavy brush that would partially
shield them from the cold wind that blew out of the north.

She rode to where Man could see her and waved her hand.  He saw
her, turned Arabian toward her,
and loped to where she waited.  “This is the best I could find,” she said.

“It’ll do nicely,” he said
.  He
stepped down and reached for the lead rope to the mules.  I’ll help with our stuff,” he said, “and stake them out to graze b
efore it gets too dark to see.”

She quickly found her cooking pot and handed it to Man to fill with water.  “I’ll try to find
something dry enough to start a fire,” she said and she walked into the brush.
 
She had a small fire burning when he came back with the pot of water.  “I locate
d an animal burrow,” she said, explaining
where the dry branches
had come
from.

“Elk steak, vegetables
,
and apple pie sound okay for supper,” she teased as she cut thin slices from a piece of dried jerky and dropped them in the heating water.

“Same old, same old,” he teased.  “Fresh cut Elk steak every night,” he jabbed back at her with a grin.

A noise in the trees alerted both of them and they jumped to their saddles and pulled their Winchester rifles.  Man rolled to a nearby rock and Kate crouched behind a log.  Both had their rifles aimed at where the sound
had come
from.

They waited, each straining to see into the darkness of the foliage.  It was silent for several minutes, and then the sound of a twig snapping when somebody or something stepped on it reached their ears.

Kate moved to her right to the end of the log to offer
a
better angle of fire should it be needed.
Man saw her movement and dashed to another rock.  They would have the intruder caught in
a
crossfire.

Again
,
they waited, neither making a sound.  The mo
vement of branches and leaves caught
their attention and they aimed.  It could be a deer or some other animal.  Man decided a shot would be risky even though fresh venison would be welcome.  The sound would carry and alert Al and Bob there was somebody close.

They anxiously waited, keeping their rifles aimed at the point of movement.  Something crawling on t
he ground came out of the brush.  I
t was brown in color, but the shape was wrong for a deer or wolf.

Whatever it was
moved again and suddenly a head appeared.  It was a woman covered with a blanket crawling through the brush
.  Man and Kate recognized her. 
Lucille
Shobert
.

They cautiously moved forward, staying behind cover.  It was possible they were using her as bait to lure them into the open for a shot.

Kate circled to the right and Man to the left to be in position to see if there was anybody behind the woman.  Nothing moved as they watched.  From her actions, Lucille hadn’t seen them as she continued to crawl forward.  Every few seconds she looked over her shoulder and raised her head to listen.

Ka
te whispered, “
Lucille
.
”

The frightened women immediately fell forward and pulled the blanket over her head.

Man moved forward, darting from rock to tree, anything to offer protection for a shot aimed at him.

Kate was now standing behind a tree moving her rifle from side to side, scanning the line of brush behind Lucille.

Man made it to where Lucille lay on the ground and dropped to his knees beside her.  “It’s Man,” he whispered.  “Are they behind you?”  He pulled the blanket from her head.

She started to scream, but Man covered her mouth with his hand and only a faint sound
was emitted.

“
It’s Marshal Man,” he said.  “You’re safe now.  If you understand, nod your head, no sound.”

She nodded and then circled his neck with her arms.  He lifted her small frame and carried her back to camp.  Kate was still covering the brush where Lucille
had
emerged.

Man placed her on a rock beside the fire.  She was freezing cold and he realized she was naked under the blanket when he was carrying her.

Kate backed toward them, sti
ll guarding against
a possible attack.

“I escaped,” Lucille said. 
“
They put me in the wagon a
nd took my clothes.  Bob said if I was
naked
it
would prevent me from running away in the freezing night with snow on the ground.”

Kate uncovered her feet and saw they were bare and bloody.  She opened the blanket enough to see Lucille’s knees.  They were in worse shape than her feet.

Man pulled her hand
s
out and they were covered with
blood.  “How far did you crawl?
” Kate whispered.

“I don’t know,” Lucille said
.
“F
or over an hour, maybe more.  They left me in the wagon, tied with only a blanket.
They said you were following and they were going to ambush you.  I came to warn you.”

“I’ll get Lucille in some clothes of mine and ge
t her ready to ride,” Kate said
softly.  “She can ride Red Bird and I’ll make do on a mule until we can get to a town.  W
e have to go back because they’
re in front of us.”

“Do you know where they are waiting?” Man asked.

“No, I heard them talking.  I couldn’t see out
of the wagon
.  They took everything but the blanket and tied me.  I got loose using my teeth.”  She held up her wrist and they could see the bloody rope marks.  Her ankles were the same.
  “How are my boys?  Are they okay?”

“They’re fine,” Man assured her.  “They weren’t harmed.”

“And Cliff?  He was hit hard.”

“
The doctor’s taking care of him.  He’ll be fine.”

Kate went to one of the packs a
nd brought Lucille
pants and shirt as well as an extra coat she always carried.  She helped her
dress.  B
ut there was nothing she could put on her feet
.  They were in awful shape.

She wrapped them in a soft white cloth she carried for bandages.  Man came back and lifted Lucille into the saddle on Red Bird.  Kate wrapped her
legs and
feet in the blanket.

Together, they managed to put both packs on one mule and Kate jumped up on the other using a blanket for a saddle.  Man led the
pack mule
and Kate picked up Red Bird’s reins.  They turned back toward
Lewiston.

It was a long ride in the darkness, but Arabian seemed to know the urgency and could follow the road in the darkness.  Lucille was a real trooper.  They knew she was in pain, but she never complained or made a sound.

It was mid-morning when they rode
into the small community and
stopped at the office of
C
onstable
Da
sher
.  Man dismounted,
went inside
,
and came out a mi
nute later with the constable.

The older man pointed
out directions
.  “Go to the next corner, take a right and look on your left.  You’ll see a sign for Doctor Moran.
”

He turned and hurried back inside to the fire.
He had come out without his coat.

Man led the way to the doctor’s office
and carried Lucille
.  Kate was ahead of him and opened the door.  A woman dressed in a
white
nu
rse’s uniform came to meet them
,
inspecting the woman in Man’s arms.