Dreams Beneath Your Feet (19 page)

“They look tastier with every step,” Remoulet agreed.

Sam and everyone else had been wrapped inside the same rush. This herd was their stake, their start to a new life. Everybody wanted to get to the American settlements on the Willamette River, sell these horses, and get headed south. Also, the mares would be foaling in another month. Best to travel now and foal on better ground.

“This is not worth it,” said Julia.

“The filly's down again,” Sam told her.

Julia led her mount twenty yards or so down the slope and helped the year-old filly to her feet. She was undersized and having a hard time in the snow. Julia had appointed herself the filly's caretaker.

“Julia's irritable,” said Sam.

“Me, too,” said Hannibal.

“Horses gonna be cranky tonight,” said Sam.

The men didn't see any hope of getting beyond these snow-fields today, and the poor animals would have to spend the night in knee-deep snow without anything to eat.

“We've been on the road for ten months,” said Hannibal. He didn't mention that they had several more months to go. “More than enough to make anyone cranky.”

 

T
HE NEXT DAY
they got out of the snow just in time for the herd and all the people to slip and slide down a ridiculously long, steep hill lined with laurels. Beyond the hill, though, they came on good grass.

“Let's call a halt for a day,” said Sam.

People would have cheered, but they were too tired.

Flat Dog squeezed out, “The horses need the rest.”

Julia and Jay put up the tipi. “I'll have a fire and a big, extra-strong pot of coffee in a few minutes,” said Julia.

“We'd best set a guard,” said Sam.

“Just one,” put in Hannibal.

“Ain't gonna be no Indians fool enough to come up into these snows and glaciers,” said Remoulet.

“I'll take watch,” said Flat Dog.

“I'll go find us some meat,” said Remoulet.

In half an hour all but the hunter and the guard were toasty. In two hours they were broiling strips of backstraps on skewers. Julia took coffee and meat to her husband, perched on a boulder above the herd. She sat with him awhile, looking south across vast reaches of evergreen trees and chatting softly. Neither of them had ever seen such timber, big and rolling as the ocean.

When Julia got back to the tipi, she saw that Sam was dozing behind the fire. She shook him gently. “Almost dark, your watch.”

Sam sat up alert. “Sure,” he said,

As he raised the tipi flap, they all heard the gunshots.

First off Sam ran his eyes to Flat Dog on the boulder. Sam saw a blast of white smoke and heard a boom and knew his friend was alive.

Four or five thieves drove hard down the far ridge toward the herd, shouting and waving their blankets. From their dress they were half-breeds.

Sam pulled Paladin's stake and jumped on her bareback. As he kicked his horse toward the trouble, he heard and felt his friends close behind him. A glance showed Hannibal, Remoulet, Jay, and Azul.

“Azul,” screamed Julia, “come back here.”

The youth ignored her.

The herd was stirring, starting to skitter down the little valley, just as the thieves wanted.

Shots! Some of the damned horse thieves had reloaded and were making a racket to . . .

The herd bolted. They charged downhill the way the Columbia River charged through The Dalles.

Sam spurred Paladin. His mind screamed, THAT . . . IS . . . OUR . . .

He felt Jay pull alongside on his mare, Kauai. The kid didn't know how to use his pistol but was willing to fight. Sam let out a war whoop.

Quickly he saw that running at the herd was only making things worse. His horses just ran off faster.

Sam looked at Jay and motioned left. When Sam turned his head back, Hannibal had already led Remoulet and Azul off toward the right-hand ridge. They had to get ahead of the horses and turn them. First they probably had to shoot the damned breeds who were driving the horses off.

Paladin had speed and nimble feet—Jay's mare struggled to keep up. The ridge timber was thin, and the herd now began to slow the thieves. It was weary beyond weary and did not want to run.

We have a chance,
thought Sam.

Sam and Jay gained ground. Sam could see the thieves at the back of the herd, parallel to him. He reined Paladin up, jumped off her while she was skidding to a stop, and sprinted up a rocky outcropping to get a clear field of vision. He leveled his rifle, the Celt, and as he began to squeeze the trigger—

BOOM!

The shot came from nearby.

Kauai screamed, reared, and went down.

Sam could see the white smoke no more than fifty yards ahead, behind some rocks.

KABOOM!

“AMBUSH!” he hollered.

White smoke fizzed into the air on the opposite ridge. Sam saw Azul fly off his mount.

“AMBUSH!” Sam hollered again. “AMBUSH!”

He ran behind a big rock, Jay diving in beside him. “Kauai is dead,” said Jay. Sam saw the mare's head covered with blood.

Sam held his rifle on the rocks beneath the smoke.

A barrel slipped upward and came level. A head rose behind it.

Sam fired.

The head went down.

From the way the rifle jumped, Sam thought he'd hit it, not the head.

He left the Celt, jumped on Paladin, and galloped straight at the rocks, yelling like a madman. To hell with whether he'd hit only the rifle. He rode with his knees and waved his tomahawk in one hand, his pistol in the other.

A big breed stood up with a pistol gripped.

Sam fired to make the bastard duck. Then he used a lesson he'd learned long ago. He ran Paladin right over his foe, trampling him.

Christ! Sam pulled Paladin up and made her rear just before she galloped onto some low outcroppings.

Sam spun Paladin and reined her down, front hoofs directly on the bushwhacker. Getting the idea, Paladin reared and thumped the bastard again.

Instantly, Sam saw the fight was over. The man's head was bloody, and he was unconscious.

“Tie him!” Sam shouted at Jay, and slapped Paladin's hindquarters to send her after the herd.

After a dozen strides he reined up and looked back. Flat Dog was running from his sentry rock across the valley toward the other ridge, toward Azul. They were down to a few minutes of fading light.

This ambush could be a sign of another one waiting. Sam looked after his fleeing herd.
Not much I can do alone in the dark.

He noticed a last thief running out of the trees on the opposite ridge and chasing the herd. Out of range for a shot, unfortunately. But something niggled at Sam about that horse.

He lifted his field glass and brought horse and rider into twilight focus. He tracked them carefully for several seconds, unable to believe what he saw. He wouldn't have been able to identify the rider from behind, except that he knew that big black Appaloosa with the snowflake markings. It was the stallion Warrior, ridden by Kanaka Boy.

Sam rode hard toward the other ridge. He was scared about Azul.

 

 

 

“I
TOLD YOU
you weren't ready yet,” Flat Dog barked at Azul.

The boy was writhing on the ground, moaning, shot through the calf. Hannibal and Remoulet stood above him, looking helpless.

“Remoulet,” said Sam, “go to the other ridge and help Jay out. He needs you.”

The Frenchy mounted and galloped off.

Flat Dog took the leg in both hands gingerly and tried to move the bone.

“O-o-o-w!” shouted Azul.

The bone held.

Sam felt for the kid. While Rojo was a boy clown at eleven, at fourteen Azul was struggling to play the man.

“I don't think it's broken,” said Flat Dog. “Bone may be nicked.”

“Let's get back to the lodge,” said Sam.

“And off this goddamn mountain,” said Flat Dog.

The two men lifted Azul onto his saddle belly down. The kid hollered again. Flat Dog lashed the boy on.

“You should have stayed back,” said Flat Dog. The anguish was gravel in his voice.

 

W
HILE THE FATHER
muttered disapproval, the mother oozed sympathy. Which didn't change the fact that the job had to be done. Mother and father laid their son on a buffalo robe next to the fire, inspected the wound, and agreed with their eyes.

Flat Dog still owned the older kind of rifle that used powder in the pan. Now he poured a little onto the wound and dabbed it around. Sam saw the gentleness in the father's finger and the pain in his face.

Rojo knelt close and watched, awed.

Flat Dog lifted an ember with the tip of his knife and slid it onto the powder.

Flame popped and sizzled.

Azul screamed. Both parents held him down by his shoulders.

When the boy's legs stilled, Sam looked and thought the flesh was properly cauterized.

Julia lay down beside her son and held him.

Sam heard hoof plops. He stuck his head out the flap.

“Come on out,” said Remoulet. “You better see this.”

He and Jay lifted the breed off the saddle of his horse and dumped him on the ground. Flat Dog and Sam slipped outside, held the flap open for light, and looked at the dead face. The skull was split open. The corpse was Hawaiian.

“Everybody,” said Jay, “meet Delly.”

 

“I
SAW
K
ANAKA
Boy in my field glass,” said Sam. “I think you better tell us whatever you know.”

Jay looked at the faces around the fire. A thin, icy wire of fear coiled around his heart and squeezed.
If they find out, will these people kick me out?

“It was Kanaka Boy. He let this man beat me up,” Jay said. He swallowed hard, because he'd almost said “rape.” He looked into Julia's eyes and took comfort in their warmth. “Boy told him to beat me up.

“Delly was one of his henchmen. They came after us because of me. Stealing the horses was just a handy way to deliver the insult.”

He saw that his right hand was shaking and put it on the ground to stop the trembling.

“The shot that killed Kauai wasn't meant for her. It was me. Her head just got in the way, and saved my life.

“Kanaka Boy was in the ambush on the other side. I saw Warrior, too.”

All the adults looked into Jay's face.
Will they guess now?
Jay wondered.
Will Julia tell them?

“I'm lucky Kanaka Boy wasn't on my ridge,” he said. “He's harder to stop.”

“How did they know?” asked Sam. His look was severe.

“Someone of the Cayuses or Nez Percés must have spotted me. Or one of the Hawaiians from Fort Walla Walla. I was scared that would happen. Boy has spies everywhere.”

“Anything else?” said Sam.

Jay thought. He breathed in once and out once and decided. “Yeah, now he's got the herd, he may come back after me.”

“I don't think so,” said Sam. “I think we're going after him.”

 

 

 

“H
ANNIBAL AND
I will track the herd and get it back,” Sam said.

“I'm coming,” said Remoulet.

“On what horse?” said Sam.

“The small boy's.”

“That's my horse,” said Rojo.

“Son,” said Remoulet, “I'll give you my pistol for it.”

“You will not,” said Julia.

“I'll give you my tomahawk and knife,” said Remoulet.

Rojo bit his lower lip.

“Look, me son, your brother can no walk. He must be dragged on a litter. You must walk an' lead his horse. No way around zese things.”

Rojo teared up a little.

“And me, I must go,” said Remoulet. He extended the tomahawk
and knife, and the eleven-year-old took them. His parents held their tongues.

“Soon as Azul can be moved, probably tomorrow,” said Flat Dog, “we're getting off this mountain.”

“Go on all the way to Oregon City,” said Sam. “It's just a few days.”

“Jay, you go with them,” said Sam.

“Thank you,” he said. Jay could feel his legs trembling.

“No thanks to it. They need your help. Flat Dog, teach him to use that pistol he carries.” Sam looked Jay hard in the eyes. “You can do that, can't you? Learn to shoot?”

He hesitated.

“You better,” said Flat Dog.

Sam finished up. “We'll be along. If we're not in Oregon City in three weeks, we're not coming.”

Everyone avoided one another's eyes.

“Find Esperanza for me,” Sam said.

Jay said, “The horses, are they so very important?”

“The horses?” said Sam. “To hell with them. They shot my nephew. They tried to kill you. Nobody attacks my family and walks away.”

 

T
HE TRAIL OF
the herd was high, wide, and handsome.

Sam, Hannibal, and Remoulet dared not follow it. “Kanaka Boy will set up ambushes along the trail, for sure,” Hannibal said.

Luckily, Mount Hood was big and steep and the canyons ran like spokes off the peak. Sam and Hannibal backtracked two canyons to the east of the herd trail and rode like hell.

If Jay was right, Boy would head back to his outpost on the Owyhee. First off, he would get the hell off this mountain. The terrain to the south turned quickly to high desert, easy traveling if you knew where to find water. Jay had drawn a map for them, how Boy would run south to the upper Warm Springs River first,
two days away, and follow it for three more days to the Deschutes River. One of the main tribes that bought whiskey from him lived at the mouth of the Warm Springs, Wascos. If Boy didn't rest the herd on the upper Warm Springs, he certainly would at the village. He also might trade some of the horses there.

Sam, Hannibal, and Remoulet didn't intend to let them get that far.