Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (11 page)

When he was sure the other
s
had enough time to be in position, he and Kate walked toward the campsit
e with both Walker Colts drawn.

When he rounded a bo
u
lder where he could see, he swore to himself.  “They’re not here,” he shouted.  Policemen came forward from all directions and met where Man stood.  “Here’s where their wagon was parked,” he said.

He began to circle the area and quickly picked up the tracks.  “Bring my horse,” he said.  “Mount up and I’ll try to track them.”

It wasn’t long before the wagon tracks merged with others on the road.  He pul
led up and waited for the policemen
to circle around
him.  “They must have spotted us
tailing them from our home
,
or somehow they suspected what we
were doing.  Regardless, they’
re gone now.
 
Chief Kincaid, they’
re on the run now.  Please notify everybody to be on the lookout for a covered wagon with two men.”

“I’ll get that out on the wire as soon as we get back,” Kincaid said.  “I was hoping to end it here,” he added.

“Thanks for your help,” Kate said.  “We appreciate it.”

“I’m still way behind in offering assistance,”
Chief
Kincaid said. 
“You did the right thing in asking us to back you.  That was the smart way to handle it, but we have been in this business long enough to know not every operation is successful.  We’
ll get them, sooner or later
.
”

Captain Dunlap
and Chief Kincaid turned toward town and Man and
Kate went
toward home.  “We go close to where Lucille lives,” Kate said.  “I suggest we stop by and give them a report.  There’s always the possibility they’re still in the area
.  We should
remind her to keep her door bar
r
ed.”

Kate was the first to see the buggy parked in front of Lucille’s home.  “I see
Cliff
is visiting again.  Do we stop?” she asked.

“I don’t think she or
Cliff
will mind since the boys are home,” he said with a chuckle.

“You’re awful,” she said
,
matching his chuckle.

“
Something’
s wrong,” Man said as he
pulled his Walker
from the
holster
.  “The front door is wide open and it’s cold out here.”

They dismounted and went to either side of the door.  Man stepped in and moved to the right
and Kate was a half-second behind him and moved to the left, both covering the room with their pistols.

Dan saw them first
and shouted,
“
It was Engledow and Valdez. 
They took M
om.
  Bob hit
Cliff
on the head awfully hard.  He hasn’t moved since.”

“We need to get him to a doctor,” Kate said.  She pulled her Green River
skinning
knife and cut the boys
loose.
  Man was busy with
Cliff
.  Help me get him to the buggy,”
he
said.

The four of them carried the unconscious man to the buggy.  “Da
n, you drive.
Roy, help hold
Cliff
so he doesn’t fall out.”

Man and Kate mounted and led the way toward town.  They saw one of the
police officers
that had been with them earlier.  “Engledow and Valdez kidnapped Lucille and hit
Cliff
on the head.  It would
be appreciated if you get
word to Dunlap or Kincaid.  We’
re taking
Cliff
to the doctor.”

As before
,
the four of them carried
Cliff
.  The doctor met them at the door and showed them where to put him on an examination table.

“What happened?” the doctor asked.

“A gun barrel blow to the head,” Man said.

“
My word. 
It’s
Cliff
Landers,” the doctor said as he wiped the blood from the face of the injured man.
  “He never harmed a fly.”

“Do what you can for him
,” Kate said.  “
We have work to do.
”

Kate and Man ushered the two boys out of the office and they went to
Cliff
’s buggy.

Captain Dunlap came jogging toward them.  “How is
Cliff
?” he asked as he sucked in a deep breath
after the long run
.

“Unconscious.  T
he doctor is working on him now.  That’s all we know,”
Kate replied
.

“What happened?” Dunlap asked.

Kate pulled
Roy
and Dan
in front of her.  “They saw it all.
You need their official statement.”

“Tell Mr. Dunlap
what happened
,” she said facing the boys
.  As u
sual, Roy
did the taking and went through the
details.   When he finished, Dan
spoke for the first time. 
“Bob and Al took all of M
om’s clothes, her heavy coat and a
ll the blankets and quilts.
Bob
said they would need them in Canada.”

Kate glanced at Man. 
“That means they’re going south,
”
Kate said.

Man nodded agreement.

Dan w
as shaking his head
.  “Canada is north,” he said.

“We know,” Kate said.  “That wasn’t a slip of the tongue.  Those two are professional cro
oks.  He said that to
throw us off.  They’re going south.”

“I’ll get out another wire,” Dunlap said.

“That’s all we can do for now,”
Man said.  He turned to
Roy
and Dan
. 
“Take Mr. Landers
’
buggy to your place for the night.  Bring it to our home tomorrow morning.  We’ll take care of the horse until
Cliff
n
eeds it
.  Howeve
r, should we get a lead and
hit the trail,
you’ll need to take charge of the horse and buggy until he’s well
.”

“Yes
,
sir,” Roy
said.

Man
pulled out money and counted it.  He handed both boys their wages.  “This is for this week and next.  If we leave before we see you again, you know what to do.”

“Yes
,
sir,” Roy
said.  “You can count on us giving you a fair day’s work.  Please go find our mom and bring her home safely.”

Kate put her arm around the shoulders of both boys.  “We
promise to do our best.  There’
s no way we can make promises.  Those
two are killers and what they’
ll do before we find them is anybody’s guess.  But, I can promise we’ll do our best to bring her home
safely
.”

A few tears dribbled down Roy’s cheeks.  “We unde
rstand.  We saw what he did to M
om earlier and how he hit
Cliff
.  He’s like a mad dog.”

Chapter
6

Two days later a
police officer
came to their home.
He handed Man a wire. 
Roy
and Dan
anxiously waited
for him to open the envelope.

Kate saw the
police officer
and came ou
t in time to hear Man read it.

“Suspects reported by a con
stable in Lewiston,” Man said.

“That’s on the road toward Boise,” the
police officer
said.

Kate rushed back inside and
began changing into her work
skins.  She was buckling her twin Walker Colts on when Man came into the bedroom.  His buckskins were on the bed.  “I’ll have our two packs ready by the time you get ready.  Winter is overdue and I have our extra blankets, the buffalo robe and bear skin ready.

“I asked Dan and Roy to get the mules ready and
saddle our horses,” Man said.

When they walked out, the two mules and horses were ready.  Man and Roy put a pack on one mule while Dan and Kate did the same on the other mule.

“Take care of things while we’
re gone and make
sure
Cliff
’s
horse is fed and watered,” Man
said as he pointed Arabian
south. 
He reached for the lead rope of one mule and Kate took the other from Roy.

“Bring M
om home,” Roy
said.

Kate turned back in the saddle and gave a shor
t wave.  “We’ll
do our best.”

Man pulled up at the telegraph office as they passed through Coeur d’Alene and sent a report to Chief Marshal Meek.

They pushed hard and rode into
Lewiston
at noon the next da
y.  Kate pointed toward a sign. 
“T
here’s the constable’s office.”

An older man with a full white beard was seated with his feet propped up close to the pot-bellied stove.  A cold north wind blew in during the night.

He stood when he saw the badges.  “You would be Marshals Man and Kate.  I go
t a wire you were on the way.  Do you w
ant a fresh cup of coffee?  I just made it.”

“Yes,” Kate said.  “It’s cold out there.”

They sat at a table and the old-timer brought cups and put them in front of Kate and Man.  Without being asked, he said, “I was out serving a warrant and spotted a covered wagon hidden off the road about a hundred yards.  I had seen the notice to be on the lookout for a wagon with two men and a woman.  They spotted me and one of the men shoved a woman in the back of the wagon.  Her hands were tied.  The other pulled his rifle and aimed at me and I turned tail and got the heck out of there.  I’m the only law within fifty miles and at my
age,
there was no way I could take on two armed men with rifles.  All I had was my ol’ .45.
  I came back to town and sent a wire to Chief Kincaid and to Chief Marshal Meek.  I got a reply that you two were on the way.”

Man and Kate had finished the coffee.  “Will you show us where they were camped?” Kate asked.

“Of course,” the constable said. 
“Since I was expecting you, I’m
ready to ride.
  By the way, m
y name is
Constable
Shad Dasher.”

“
Nice to meet you Shad,” Kate said.  “We’re tied up in front.”

“I’ll get my horse and meet you,” Shad said.

He led the way out of the
small community.  “They’re gone
by now,
of course,” he said.
“
I came out after I sent the wire to see.”

“We expected that,” Man said.  “When they saw you they knew you would notify us.  Maybe we can pick up their trail.”

“You had better get on it in a hurry.  If the ache in my bones means what I think it does, we’ll have a snow cover come morning.”

It was easy to pick up the
tracks of the wagon.  Man went on ahead and Kate turned to Constable Dasher
.  “Thanks for your assistance, but we need to get on their trail.  From the feel of that biting wind, I expect your joints are right
about
snow tonight.”  She was leading both pack mules as Man was riding with his head down following the wagon tracks.

It was easy to follow the
tracks,
as there had been no traffic worth mention during the day.  The cold snap kept the people at home.

Man followed the tracks until darkness prevented him seeing them.  Kate had been scouting to both sides of the road searching for a place to make camp.  When
M
an turned Arabian back toward Kate, she waved for him to follow.  She led the way to a rock shelf overhang that partially protected them from the frigid wind.

Man tossed their
packs
and
saddles under the rock,
then
led the horses and mules to a grassy flat to graze.  The grass was brown
,
but it would offer protein and filler.  He gave them a generous ration of oats and hurried back to where Kate had a small smokeless fire burning.  She was putting
jerky and dried vegetables into the water that was heating in a pot she
’d
placed on a flat rock close to the fire.