Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (15 page)

Kate was busy building a fire from a
rodent’s
nest she
’d
found.  Man grabbed the ax from the
pack, went
to
a fallen tree,
and began cutting branches.  They were
wet and covered with snow
, but they would burn.

When he had an armload,
he carried them and placed the sticks beside Kate.  She started placing them on the fire and smoke and steam began to rise before the wood caught fire.  The wind circling under the overhang carried the smoke outside to be quickly blown away.

Man went back to chopping wood until he had a pile large enough for the night.   Kate took the cooking pot
outside, filled it with snow, brought it back,
and placed it beside the fire.

Lucille sat and watched Kate as
s
he began pulling food from the pack to start supper.  When
she had everything ready, she took her
knife, began to cut the jerky into small strips and chunks,
and dropped it in the
water, which
was now simmering.

“How did you learn to cook like this?” Lucille asked
.

Kate stood and turned toward the older woman.  “When I was on the Oregon Trail and then when I started to ride with Man, we were often on the trail and I guess, by trial and error
,
I learned.”

“I admire you so much,” Lucille said.
  “And my two sons
think you and Man hung the moon.  I often hear
them say
they want to be like him.  I’m afraid their father wasn’t much of a role model.”

Kate didn’t
want to continue this line of conversation
.  “They are both good boys and can make something of themselves.  Man and I have plans that, should they develop, will involve them.”

“What is that?
” Lucille asked, very interested in what Kate was saying.

“We’
re planning on building cabins or homes on our land f
or sale.  If it works out, we’
ll use the profit from the sale to build anot
her and hopefully, in time
,
we’
ll be operating in the black.  We would like for Roy and Dan to build t
hem for us.  They’
ll be on a reg
ular salary with a bonus if we’
re successful.”

Lucille grinned
from ear to ear.  But, then a frown crossed her face.  “They are competent carpenters, but there are th
ings they don’t know how to do,
like build a fireplace and form a foundat
ion.  If you build a home, it’
ll need cabinet work and
they
’ve
never done that.”

“Man and I discussed that, but they know men that are compete
nt in doing those things. 
We’ll hire skilled carpenters for the detail work and they can watch and learn. 
Who knows?  I
n time, this may evolve into them becoming building contractors
, if that’s what they’d like to do
. 
They’
re smart and
good workers.  W
e have no doubt they can accomplish what we want.”

“They’re good boys,”
Lucille
agreed as tears came to her eyes.  She
moved
back
again
st the rock wall behind the bed
and watched Kate at work.

Man
ca
me
inside and
sat on
rock close to the fire
.  He sensed the mood in the tight space and saw the tears in Lucille’s eyes,
but he didn’t offer any comments. 
Dealing with traumatized women was Kate’s
purview
.

When Kate declared their supper was ready, she filled a tin plate and handed it to Man.  He sat on the rock and began to eat.  Kate filled another and took it to Lucille.  Kate noticed she ate
as if she had been working hard in the field all day.  But, riding the mule for so long was hard work.

When they finished, Man took the plates and utensils outside and cleaned them in the snow.  He brought them back and Kate put them on the pack to be ready for breakfast.  It was dark outside now and the snow was still falling.   He glanced at Kate with a
n
unspoken question.

She read his
glance
and went to where Lucille was sea
ted.  “Since it is so cold, we’
ll
all
have
to sleep here.  The buffalo robe and blankets are large enough for the three of us.
”

“Sweetheart,” Lucille said, “don’t worry about me.  As long as I’m sleeping free I don’t care where I am.”

Kate
lay beside Lucille and Man moved to the other side.  He had the extra
blankets, which he put over them, followed by
the bearskin.  He kicked off his boots and slid in beside Kate.

“Is everybody comfortable?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Lucille sai
d from the other side of Kate.

“I’
m good,” Kate added.

He relaxed and was asleep in seconds.

Man woke first and moved away
from Kate.  She was pressed against
his side for warmth.

He pulled
on his boots and heavy coat
and went to the fire.  He had placed three large chunks of wood
on it
before they went to bed and there were still red coals.  He added small sticks until they were blazing and then put larger pieces on the campfire.

Kate sat up and watched
until he had a roaring fire burning and then moved to the side of the bed and stood.
Man brought her heavy coat and
steadied her as she put her feet in her boots.

Lucille was still asleep.

“We won’t wake her until breakfast is ready,” Kate whispered.  “Go get me a pan of snow.”

He went outside and frowned.  The snow
w
as much
deeper.  H
e guessed at least three feet on the level and much deeper in the drifts.  It would be another hard day forging a trail.

He brought her the snow
and then went to where the horses were staked.  They needed hay, but there was none available and the snow was too deep for them to paw for it.  He gave them a triple ration of oats.  That would have to do until they got home and in the barn.

He found Lucille sitting
up
eating
when he returned
.  Kate handed him a plate a
nd s
at beside him on the rock.

“It snowed more last night,” he said.  He held his hand out to show the depth.  “I hope we
are getting close to home.  It’ll be hard on the horses today.
”

As soon as they finished, he and Kate began to pack.  He brought Lucille’s mule
close and Kate placed the bear
skin on his back and covered it with a blanket.  Man lifted her into
place.
Kate handed her a blanket to wrap around her body,
and she used another to cover her legs and feet.

Man was saddling their horses and putting the pack on the other mule.  He mounted and took the point as before.  Arabian wasn’t as frisky as the day before.  The fun of jumping on the
snowdrifts
had lost it
s
intrigue.  But, the horse understood his role and challenged
each drift with sureness, plowing
into them with his chest and sh
oving
his way through.  Red Bird took his place
every half hour or so and they slowly made their way forward. 
At noon, they stopped to let the horses and mules rest and eat.  Their
own
meal consisted of
pemmican,
jerky and parched corn.
 
Man gave the animals
more oats to keep them going.

“How much fart
her do we have?” Lucille asked.

“I don’t have any way of knowing,” Man replied.  “It has been such slow going.  But, I would think we should see signs of Coeur d’
Alene in
three or four hours.”

Kate and Lucille offered low groans.  Lucille was the first to speak.  “We can do it.”

The faint hint of the sun in the heavy cloud cover was near the western horizon when Man spotted the first house.  “Look,” he said as he pointed.

He was riding point at the time and Arabian raised his head as if he understood.  He lunged forward into the next snowdrift and Red Bird was behind him.  They sensed home was close.

“Lucille,” Ma
n said, “we’re going to our house
first. 
It’ll be dark by the time we get there.
You can sleep
there
tonight.  It’s out of the way to go to your house first.”

She nodded agreement.

Main Street of Coeur d’Alene was almost abandoned.  Only a few lights were visible.  Man noticed the telegraph office was open and pulled Arabian to a stop.  “I’ll sen
d Chief Marshal Meek
a wire we’
re at home with Lucille and check to see if we have any messages.”

“I’ll go over to the police station,” Kate said, “and tell them we’re here.”

She turned Red
Bird, went to the hitching rail,
and stepped down.  “I’ll only be a minute,” she said.

“As
k
about
Cliff
,”
Lu
c
ille
said
.

“Will do,” K
ate said.

Chief Kincaid heard Kate and came out of his office with a welcoming smile.  “We were worried about you.  We got a wire that the train went back at that big cut.  They said you unloaded the horses and took off with Lucille.”

“She’s outside,” Kate said.  “Her feet, knees and hands are in bad shape.  She escaped from Valdez and Engledow with only a blanket.  The rocks did a number on her.”

Kincaid winched at that thought.

“She’s concerned about
Cliff
.  I told her I would ask.”

“
He had a concussion but t
he doctor
released
him this afternoon.  Roy and Dan brought his buggy and took him home.
  He still has
a headache, but the doctor said that would go away
in a day or so
.”

“That’s good,” Kate said.  “Lucille is going
home with us
for the night.  Man stopped to send a wire to Chief Meek and see if we have orders.”

Kincaid turned and hurried away as he said, “I have a couple of wires that were delivered here for you.”

He brought them back and handed the envelopes to her.  “Thanks,” she sa
id.  “We’re anxious to get home.  I
t was a hard two days fighting the snow.”

She met Man at the door and handed the two envelops to him.  “These two were delivered here for us.”

He opened
and read them. 
Both were from Chief Marshal Meek. 
“As
expected, nobody has reported seeing them,”
he told Kate
.  “However, with the blizzard, I expect they are in a hole s
omewhere waiting it out.  That’
s what I would be doing if I were them.”

Lucille was waiting.  “What about
Cliff
?” she asked as soon as she
could enter the conversation.

“He was released today,” Kate said.  “Roy and Dan came in with his buggy and took him home.  He
had a concussion
, but the doctor said
he’ll be fine
.”

Lucille’s worried expression softened and she nodded
.

Arabian wanted to run,
anxious to be at home in his barn with hay and oats. 
He had enjoyed all the snow he wanted for a while.

Man held him back
. 
Red Bird was close be
hind and occasionally nipped Arabian
on the top of his tail to hurry him along.  Kate was leading the two mules
,
and Lucille was covered from head to toe with blankets to stay warm as the temperature was dropping rapidly.

The moment the barn came into sight, Man had to pull hard on the reins to keep Arabian from bolting.  To the disgust of the big horse, Man stopped near the door of the
house, jumped down, went to Lucille, carried her inside,
and put her on a chair at
the table.  Kate followed and hurried to build a fire.