Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (8 page)

She led Red
Bird, went to the front of the house,
and examined the dirt
.  There they were, wagon tracks.  Somebody
had driven
a
wagon close to the front door.

Alejandro V
aldez, the other night watchman,
came to mind.  Al
had
supplied
the wagon and they
’d
left together, she speculated.

She mounted Red Bird an
d rode on to where Lucille lived
.  Red Bird stopped at the
yard fence and Kate shouted, “Lucille, it’s me, Kate.”

The door opened and Lucille came out on the porch with a smile on her face
.  “Hello, and
welcome,”
she
said.

Kate followed her inside and noticed the heavy door the boys had put on the cabin.
  A pole was standing beside the door and she saw two metal fasteners
on either side of the door.  From their shape, the
pole could be placed in them to
prevent anybody from pushing the door open.  There was a hole in the door so she could see outside.  It was covered with a piece of leather that could be
moved to the side to look out.

She nodded with a gesture.  “Nice job
.
I know you feel more secure how.”

“Yes.
I wish I had told the boys earlier, but I was afraid they would do something and get themselves hurt or killed.  Bob always carried a pistol on his hip.”

“Lucil
l
e,” Kate said.  “I need to get on home.  Your boys and Man are building a storage shed for us and I need to put food on the table for the working men.  But, I wanted to drop by and check on you.”

“Thank you,” Lucille said, “for everything you’ve done for us.”

“Just doing my job and being neighborly,” Kate said.  “Have you heard or seen anything of Engledow the past couple of days?”

“No, I haven’t, but then the boys were home.
He never came by when they are
here.”

Kate went to the door and stopped.  “When
I was in town, a man named Cliff
Landers stopped me and asked about you.”

That got Lucille’s
attention and her interest
reflected in her expression.  “What did you tell him?” she asked.

“That you were fine.  He asked if I thought it would
be okay for him to come by to see you
.
”

“Oh
,
my,” Lucille exclaimed.  “What did you tell him?”

“I said I didn’t know, but the only way was to drop b
y.  He said he would about six
this afternoon.
After he closes his store.
”

Lucille’s face lit up.

“
Cliff
said you and his wife were friends and she died about the same time as your husband.  He said you two were friends.”

Lucille nodded.
“We were.  What do you think
Cliff
wants?  I mean, he’s not like Bob, but well, he’s a man and has been alone.”  She left it there.

“I didn’t read him that way,” Kate said.  “I think he wants to see you, as in man and woman seeing each other.  I’ll leave it at that, but
if you like him,
give the man the ben
efit of the doubt.” 
She smiled.
“He may be interested in courting you.”

Kate went out the door and Lucille followed her out until she
sat on Red Bird.  “I hope that’
s what he wants.”

“Good luck,” Kate said.  “I think
Cliff
is a nice man from the few moments we talked.”

When Kate rode back by Engledow’s
home,
she saw a
police officer
on horseback coming toward her.  They stopped to talk.  “Engledow is not at home,” Kate said.  “I stopped and went inside.  From the appearance, he’s gone.  His clothing is missing and there are wagon tracks by the front door.  Would you advise Chief Kincaid
that he may be with Alejandro Valdez in a wagon?”

“Will do,” the officer said.

“Also,
Cliff
Landers may be visiting Lu
cille this afternoon after he closes his store
.  Should one of you see a horse or buggy in fron
t of her home, don’t assume it’
s Bob Engledow and burst in.”

The policeman smiled.
“I understand.  I’ll advise the others. 
I know Cliff well.  In my opinion, they
would make a great pair.  I hope it works out for them.”

“Me
,
too,” Kate said.

She found the men busy putting the poles in the ground.  Man saw her and came to help with the packsaddle.  He put it inside the house and helped her take the things to the table.

“I’ll put the mule and
Red Bird in the barn,” he said.

“Thanks.
I’ll call you and the boys when it’s time to eat.  There were no wires from anybody on the whereabouts of Engledow
. 
I think
he and
Alejandro Valdez
may be together.  Bob’s
house was empty of clothing and th
ere were wagon tracks in front. 
I advised the police
so that information could be put out to others.”

Man nodded and hurried out the door.  “I want to get the poles in the ground so we can start putting on the sides and roof this afternoon.”

***

Al and Bob stopped the wagon under a tree.

“I don’t want those two marshals after us,” Al said.  “From what I heard they are tough.  They put down a bunch of slave traders that were abducting Indian women and selling them.  They went after Bull Blevins and his men and killed all of them.  They went to Texas after those Bright women that murdered fourteen people.  My point is, they’re experienced and are not
going to ride into a simple ambush.  I suggest we attack instead of being on the run looking over our shoulder.”

“What do you mean attack?” Bob asked.

“We watch their house and wait until they’re separated, like when Kate goes into town alone. 
Manchester is busy working on the home place.  She’ll go out shopping on her own soon. 
We could be waiting on either side of the road, out of sight, let her pass and step out and gun her.  I had rather shoot her in the back then front with those two Walkers blazing at me.  All the police stations and sheriff’s offices will have a description of us.  The moment we’re spotted, those two feds will be right behind us.  They won’t give up and we’ll be looking over our shoulders from now on.  I heard they tracked Bull Blevins and his men for a month or more before catching up.  They put down from eight to a dozen of real hard cases.  I knew some of them and they weren’t pansies.”

Bob nodded.  “If we put her down close enough to their home, Man would come charging to see the cause of the gunshots.  We could do him the same way.  We would wait until he’s bent over to examine her body when we open up.  Neither of them should be able to get off a shot at us if we do it right.”

“And then,” Al said, “we can go south and start over with new names and nobody on our trail.  We could go all the way to Arizona where it’s warm in the winter.  Change our names and start over until we spot another likely target.  Hopefully, here their guard is down as they think we’re already gone.  They’re sitting here waiting for a telegram to give them our location.  When they get a location they’ll know what direction we’re headed.” 

Bob leaned back in thought.  “I like it,” he said.  “I would love to have those two Walker Colts and those 1873 Winchester rifles in my scabbard riding that prancing Arabian horse.”

“I hear you.  I want to own those pistols and rifles, and that roan that Kate rides is almost as classy as the Arabian.”

“We make camp here where we won’t be seen and find a place to wait for the right opportunity,” Bob said.

“Do you know where they live?” Al asked.

“No, but those two boys of Lucille are working for them.  Tomorrow morning, we can follow them.  We’ll find the best location and watch their home until Kate goes out to saddle her horse.  The minute we’re sure she’s going alone, we race ahead and get in place.”

Chapter 5

Al and Bob found a perch high up on a hill where they had a good view of Kate and
Man
’s home.  Bob sat
down, leaned back against a tree, adjusted the binoculars,
and scanned the home site.

“Roy and Dan are
busy pu
tting poles on a shed they are building. 
I don’t see Man or Kate,” he said.  “I can’t see inside the barn enough to know if their horses are there.”

“Maybe they’
re busy this morning,” Al teased.  “If I had that woman in my bed
,
I would a very late riser.”

A few minutes later Man came out and hurried to help the two boys.  Al and Bob took turns watching, hoping one of them would leave.

At mid-morning, Kate came out to talk with Man and the boys.  She walked around and looked at
t
he wall they were building and nodded her approval.  She stood for a few moments looking at the mountains in the distance, but did
n’t comment.  She went inside.

Noon came
and Kate came out and watched the men until they had a pole set,
and the three men went inside. 
She again looked at the mountains before going ins
ide to feed them.

Al
put the binoculars
down, went to their saddlebags,
and brought back jerky and a canteen.  “This is all we have to eat,” he said.

Kate joined the men during the afternoon and gazed at th
e horizon before going inside.

It was almost dark when
the two boys got on their mule and left. 
Kate came out to talk before they rode away.  She put he
r arm around Man and said, “We’
re being watched.  I can feel eyes on me.”

He led her inside, respecting her instincts.   This wasn’t the first time her female intuition
had
warned them of impending danger.

“Is it Valdez and Engledow?” Man asked.

“I expect so.  W
ho else
would be spying on us?  I thi
nk they’
re waiting for the right time to ambush us.  M
aybe catch us separated so it’
ll be two on one.”

Man nodded
in agreement
.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“I suggest we go
into town and advise Chief Kincaid.  We can’t cover
our backs at all times.  They’ll eventually
get the shot they want.”

A few minutes later, Kate and Man came out together
,
went to
the barn
,
and
the
pair rode out
toward town.

“Damn,” Bob
Engledow
exclaimed.
  “
They’
re going into town together.”

“Let’s pack it in for the day and hope for better luck tomorrow,” Al said.

They waited until the two m
arshals were out of sight before they mounted their horses a
nd rode back toward their camp.

Man and Kate kept an eye on their back trail and in front of them for any ambush sites in case the two were ahead.  They reached the outskirts of town and put their rifles back in the scabbard.  They had been riding with them in the port position so they could get th
em into use in a split-second.

Man stopped at the telegraph off
ice and checked.  T
here were no messages
for them.  He sent a brief report to Chief Meek.  They rode to the police station and went inside.  A clerk a
t the desk stood to meet them.

“Is Chief Kincaid still here?” Man asked.

“I’m sorry, he isn’t,” the clerk replied.  “He went home about thirty minutes ago.  Can I help you will anything?”

“Please advise him that it’s possible somebody is spying on our home,” Man said.  “It could be Robert Engledow and Alejandro Valdez
.  They’
re the only people we can think that have a reason.”

“May I ask, why would they want to watch you?”

“They’
re smart,” Kate said
.  “They know that they’
ll eventually be
spotted and we will be notified and
on their tail.  We think they’
re going to attack and try to catch us off guard.
  I think they’
re watching, waiting
to get us separated and attack.  T
wo on one, an ambush.
  We came into town together this time and weren’t bothered.
”