Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (29 page)

He wasn’t about to tell them where he and Kate were staying.  From the stench in the cabin, he had learned a long time ago to be leery of mountain men
who had no pride.

He went out and when the cabin door closed, he gestured for Kate to leave.  He went for Arabian and rode away.  He saw the door open a crack and knew one of the men was watching him.  A sentry would be prudent tonight.

Kate circled and met him.  “I was close enough to the door to hear and smell them,” she said.

“Pure trash,” Man said.

“I recall vividly when mountain men came to the cabin that first winter we were together.  They looked and smelled like Moose and Hoss.  They tried to rob us and kill me.  I think these two may try somethin
g.  W
e need to be cautious.”

“I’
d already decided we’
ll keep watch tonight.  Even with the snow,
the
y can follow our tracks.  They’
ll show enough for them to follow
.”

They continued their circle and returned to the cabin
without seeing any sign of
another cabin, or of
Valdez and Engledow
.

Man stopped and looked through the binoculars
at the
ir
cabin
.  The mules were still in the barn and there were no tracks, other than theirs.  He went to the cabin first and pulled a pistol before opening the door
, but found it empty.  Kate followed
him to the door and went inside. 
M
an took the horses to the barn.  They were tired and he knew they
’d
had enough for the day.
  He fed them oats and went to the cabin.  As expected, Kate was bent over the fireplace putting food in a pot.

He sat on their bed
for a few minutes, resting, but then stood.  “If Moose and Hoss followed us, I don’t want to be caught in the cabin.  I’ll wait in the barn until it’s time to eat.  Go ahead
and eat
and then come relieve me.  With the cloud cov
er and snow, it’
ll be very dark tonight.  Should they come, I expect it to be before sunset or early tomorrow morning.”

She went to their bed and handed him a blanket.  “Even with your heavy coat, it’s cold out there.”

He tucked it under his arm and went out the door.  She watched until she saw him find a place to sit where he could see the area in front of the cabin.

She finished warming the
stew, put on her coat, filled two bowls,
and took them to the barn. 
She didn’t feel right eating alone with him sitting in the barn. 
He stood when he saw her and waited until she was close.  “Why did you come out here to eat?  It was warm in the cabin.”

“I felt guilty and didn’t want to eat alone.  Hurry and eat before the stew freezes.”  She sat on the blanket beside him and they ate.
  Red Bird and Arabian had finished their oats and nickered for more.

“I’
m sorry,” Man said.  “But that’
s all you get tonight.  We may be here for several days
and I need to ration the oats.”

Red Bird stomped his hooves in protest as though he understood.

Kate went to him and hugged his neck.  “I’m sorry we don’t have more
oats
or hay for
you,
but with the snow, there’
s no way for you to graze and we couldn’t bring hay on the mules.”

She went back to Man and asked, “Do you want me to take a shift now?  You can rest for an hour and relieve me before dark.”

He started to hand her his rif
le
but she shook her head.

“I want mine,” she said.  “
I know they’
re alike, but mine feels more comfortable.  She knows me and I know her.”

“I understand,” he said and put his back in the scabbard on his saddle.  He gave her a
hug, and a kiss,
and trotted toward the cabin.  She picked up the blanket and went to the stall where Red Bird stood watching.  She put a hackamore on
him, led him out to a clear place, lifted his front leg,
and pushed on his side.  He lay on the ground as he had been taught.

She placed the blanket behind his front legs and leaned back against his shoulder.  “You’re warm,” she said.  She sat and looked at the white snow and searched the trees for any movement.  There was nothing, no birds or animals.  The wind whipped the limbs and blew the falling snow making the drifts deeper.

The hour was al
most up
when a s
l
ight movement caught her eye.  She leaned
forward, reached for her rifle,
and jacked a bullet into the firing chamber.  It might be a deer or something, but there was definitely movement in the trees.

Red Bird lifted
his head and was
watching
the same place
as Kate.  He
either
saw something or was mimicking Kate.

A moment later, she saw more movement and made out the form of a person.  Two men were coming toward the cabin.  When they darted to another tree for cover, she recognized
Moose and Hoss.  Man
had been right about them
.

Moose gestured toward the barn.  “Get the horses and mules.  If the packs are in there, put them on the mules.  More supplies would be welcome.  I’ll cover the door.”

Hoss hurried to the fence and crawled over.  Kate let him come closer as she wanted a fast first shot with no chance of a miss since she would be facing two.
She wanted him out of the fight so she wo
uld be free to deal with Moose.

Hoss had his pistol in his hand when he got to the door of the barn.  Kate was standing now with her rifle resting on a post. 
Red Bird stood and went
back to his stall.

“Drop the pistol and put your h
ands in the air,” she shouted.

He did neither and jerked his hand around to shoot.  Kate squeezed the trigger of the rifle
and her bullet took him in the chest over his heart.  He got off a dying shot as he went backwards and landed in the snow.

Moose began firing
at her
from behind a tree.  His shots went
wild,
as he had no target. 
Kate
moved away
the instant she fired at Hoss.  She
took cover where she would be protected.

Man was now standing at the door with his Walker Colts in his hands.  He spotted Moose and retur
ned fire, even though the killer was hidden by a tree.  However, his
bullets plowing into the
tree
caused Moose
to move to the side
.  This
gave Kate a clear shot.  She took it and a red spot appeared on his side as the bullet went through the chest.  M
oose fell forward with a scream as the white snow turned red under him.

Kate went to the body of Hoss and made sure he was dead.  She pulled his gun belt from him and put his pistol in the holster.  Man was doing the same with Moose.  She hurried to where he waited beside Moose
’
s
body
.

“You were right,” she said.  “They wanted our horses and mules as well as our supplies. 
At least we won’t need to worry ab
out them anymore.  They made my skin crawl.”

“I’ll bring in
their horses,” Man said.

Kate
pulled on gloves and went through
Moose’s pockets
.  There was no money, but she found a knife
.  I
nside his wallet was an old wanted poster of
them.  It was issued in Seattle where
they were wanted for robbery and murder.  She put it in her pocket and went back to Hoss.  He had nothing but a skinning knife.

Man came back with the horses
and she cringed at their sight.  T
hey were half starved.  “We can’t keep them,” he said.  “We don’t have enough oats for our animals.”   He pulled the saddles and bridles from them and tapped them on their buttocks and the two horses went toward the trees.

“I hope they fin
d something to eat,” she said.

“Me, too.  They will.  T
here’
ll be places they can find grass even in the snow.  We need to go back to their cabin tomorrow.  There were two burros in the barn that we need to cut loose.”

“What about these two?” she asked.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find a crevice for the bodies.  We can’t dig a grave in the frozen dirt.”

That brought back a memory of the day after
the Indian attack on the wagon train
when she
’d
buried her father and all of her friends
who
were killed.  She
’d had to pull
their bodies
in
to a deep ravine
that day.

Man saw her expression
,
put his arm around
her
,
and they went t
o the cabin
.

Kate suddenly turned and ran back to the barn.  “I don’t want to leave my t
wo rifles out here,” she said.

He went to his
saddle, pulled both of his,
and
followed her back to the cabin.

She seemed to be emotional
over the
gunfight
.
“What do you want to do first
tomorrow?” she asked.  “Go
to
Hoss and Moose’s cabin
or hunt for Al and Bob.
”

“
The cabin,”
he said.  “
In the morning,
I’ll feed the horses and take care of the bodies while you fix breakfast.”

H
e got
ready in
bed and was waiting when she began to undress and put her clothing
on top of the bearskin
.  She didn’t stop until she was nude and she slipped under the cover
s
with him.
He half expected this as lovemaking
always helped her relax after a traumatic experience.

The next morning, he dragged t
he
frozen
bodies to a deep crevice in the rocks
with
Arabian’s help
.  He
pushed them over.  The snow was deep and there was almost no sound
as they were instantly buried.

He rode
back to the barn and fed the animals oa
ts
then
hurried to the cabin.  Sn
ow was still falling and the heavy clouds promised mor
e.  Finding the killers
would be very difficult as moving around the hills searching for cabins was exhausting on the horses.

Kate was waiting when he came in and gave her a morning kiss.  He didn’t mention burying the bodies. 
S
he knew what he was doing, but it
was better to leave the details unspoken
.

He watched her dress and put on her heavy coat.  Since h
e was ready except for his
coat,
he relaxed
on their bed and enjoyed watching his beautiful wife.  She gave him a confident smile and teased, “Do you like watching me dress?”

“Yep,” he said.  “It’s
almost
as exciting as watching you undress.”

She took a step to where he sat and gave him a playful punch on his shoulder as she said, “Fibber.”

Kate pulled her long amber hair into a
ball, put her hat on her head,
and tied a scarf around her neck.
“I’m ready,” she said.

He stoo
d
and reached for his hat.  She was waiting and handed him his two rifles
,
put hers over her shoulders
,
and they went to the barn.

The two horses were already saddled.  Man had done that after he
’d
fed them.  She put her rifles in the scabbard
s
and stepped up on Red Bird.  Man
was
mounted and led the way from the
barn
.  He turned toward
the mountain men’s
c
abin
.

The snow was almost chest deep in places and the horses had to struggle.  “We can’t do much today,” he said.  “By the time we get back
to our cabin,
the horses with be about done for the day.  Besides, Valdez and Engledow are not going
anywhere
in this weather.”

Kate
had pulled the scarf over her face and all he could
see was he eyes.  She nodded
agreement.