Lauraine Snelling (11 page)

D
oes Wind Dancer miss his old life with the show?
Cassie would have to guess yes. The pinto loved performing, and he was probably forgetting some of his tricks, it had been so long. He loved getting out too, and with all this hustling to prepare for winter, Cassie had been neglecting him of late.

Lucas dismounted and opened a gate for them to leave the fields and head up into the hills. When he’d closed it again and remounted, he pointed to a faintly visible track going up the hill. “Game trail. Elk and deer often use it coming down into the valley. But if the entire elk herd comes down, they don’t bother with the trails.”

He fell in beside Cassie. “One time we found them bedded down up the side of a hill, and we didn’t even see them because they had disappeared so well into the vegetation. A sound spooked them, and all of a sudden the hillside erupted and the whole herd charged up the hill. You could see all the light rumps moving up in the dimness of the trees. Pretty awesome sight.”

“What might have spooked them?”

“Oh, a horse snorting or a tumbling rock. They always have one animal on guard to signal the warning. Herd animals are wise that way.”

Cassie turned to Chief. “Did you ever shoot an elk?”

“Many of them. An elk can feed a lot of people.”

Lucas said, “We only shoot the young bulls. They will have much smaller horns. Like deer, the number of prongs on the horn tell the animal’s age. The fewer the prongs, the more tender the meat. Those big bull elk with the massive racks may be exciting to see, but they’re sure tough to chew.”

As they entered the wooded area, Lucas called a halt. “Mor, why don’t you and Miss Lockwood settle in by one of these trees on the edge of this meadow and keep an eye out. This is the area where they’ll come down if they’re coming tonight. Chief and I will go see if we can locate the herd.”

“All right. Two horses make a lot less noise than four.” Mavis looked about. “Where should we leave the horses so they don’t get shot?”

Lucas snorted but let the dig pass. “Tie them over that way or hobble them. If they’re grazing, they won’t bother the elk any. Elk are used to horses out grazing.”

Cassie and Mavis did as he said, taking their rifles and ammunition with them. They made their way back and found a place on the downside of a huge evergreen tree. Cassie had not liked shooting the deer, and she wasn’t looking forward to this either. But they had to eat, and another hide would help keep them warm when it turned really cold.

“Have you ever shot an elk?” she asked Mavis when they were settled.

“Years ago. I used to be a pretty good shot, but I haven’t done much shooting these last years since the boys became men. Lucas loves hunting, and Ransom doesn’t mind butchering them out. We hang them in the barn, and now that it is colder, the meat will be able to hang longer. Hanging it a while brings out the flavor.”

Cassie settled herself comfortably and the women ceased making any noise. They sat listening carefully. Above and behind them the forest scowled, brooding. Before them a sloping glade opened up downhill, ever expanding until it reached the open valley floor. Cassie loved the colors, the meadow adorned with pale grass and vivid bushes, all in the hues painted by autumn. Here and there, baby trees in dark green poked their heads above the grass.

Forest noises one usually didn’t even hear became audible, more noticeable—something skittering through the dried leaves, a bat that hadn’t yet gone into hibernation diving, flitting, and cleaning the air of bugs. They heard a dog barking far away. Not Othello. This wooded hillside seemed somehow to smell moist, even dank, although it was dry. Perhaps it was the layer of duff they had disturbed. She could smell the pines too, faintly, a gentle aroma that soothed the soul. The shadows were long across the valley; a slight mist rose from the ground. The grazing horses seemed to float on a silver whisper.

Cassie rested her rifle across her raised knees, her eyes scanning the valley, watching for any unusual motion. Where were Chief and Lucas? She was surprised they had not returned.

She felt a tap on her arm and turned to see Mrs. Engstrom gesturing subtly to her left. A shuffle of leaves, a snapping branch. Elk were moving down the hill right in front of them. Cassie saw nothing; then she could make out a brown form inside the brown forest edge, and another and another. The parade passed before their eyes while they froze, immobile. Cassie quit counting at ten. As they reached the meadow, the elk spread out. Magnificent animals. One with a huge rack of antlers that was odd. Remembering the elk rack over the Engstroms’ fireplace, Cassie would have expected the branches of these to be more slender, pointier. Instead, they were thick and soft looking, with blunted tines. The big bull stood at the side and watched all about while the others lowered their heads to graze.

Mavis motioned to a male that was straight down from Cassie with antlers but only one tine and mouthed
You
. She pointed to another one and tapped her chest. Cassie nodded. Together they silently shifted positions, raised their rifles, sighted.

Cassie’s target, the elk with one prong on his blunt little antlers, raised his head and then dropped it again. He took a few steps downhill, nibbling here, nibbling there. He turned, still browsing, turned some more, and now he stood broadside of her. Perfect. She took careful aim at the spot behind his front leg and raised her rifle muzzle just a hair to compensate for the distance.

Their guns fired at nearly the same moment. Cassie’s young bull reared up and leaped forward, and for one brief moment she was sure she had missed. Then he dropped heavily onto his side in the dying grass. Mavis’s bull had fallen motionless as well. The rest of the herd, heads high and noses thrust out, charged off up the hill, bounding, crashing, fanning out, disappearing into the trees. Farther up the hill, a rifle fired twice in quick succession.

The two women grinned at each other, shook hands, and made their way down the hill to their fallen elk.

Mavis warned, “Be careful at this point in case one is not quite dead. Those horns might be small and in velvet yet, but they can be deadly. Come up on it from behind, like this.” She nudged the hindquarters of the one she’d shot and, when it didn’t move, stepped in behind its shoulders and grasped an antler. She took out her hunting knife and slit the animal’s throat to bleed it out and then handed the knife to Cassie.

Cassie walked on down the slope to hers. She shoved a foot against the elk’s hindquarters. Then for long moments she simply stood and stared down at the beautiful creature that had been so wild and free, so alive just minutes before. “I’m sorry, but we need what you can give us.” She leaned over and gripped an antler. It was furry, not nearly as soft as it looked, a hard core, but furry. She stabbed the point of her knife into the warm neck, slicing like Chief had shown her so that the animal bled freely.

Mavis raised her gun in the air and fired two rounds in quick succession. “That’s to tell Ransom to bring the wagon. We made a kill.”

“Someone shot above us too.”

“If they also got one, we’ll have to rig new tackle. We can manage two at a time in the barn all right, but not three.” She smiled at Cassie. “That was mighty fine shooting.”

“You too. I almost feel guilty. They made it so easy.” She sniffed and blinked away a couple of residual tears. “Sorry. I hate doing this. I love shooting, but the killing is hard to get used to.”

“I remember when I shot my first deer. I felt terrible. I knew we needed the meat, and we don’t waste anything, but they are so beautiful, so graceful, walking, running. They seem to float. I had to laugh one time when I saw two of them, standing on their rear legs, eating apples off my trees. Ivar said I should scare them away, but they were so perfect. I used to sit and watch the fawns play when the does brought them out. That was when we still lived up here on the hill, in the cabin. They don’t come around the ranch house down there.”

A horse whinnied from up the hill, and one of theirs answered.

“Here they come.” Cassie tried to spot Lucas and Chief but could see nothing.

Mavis waved an arm toward where the sloping meadow descended onto the valley floor to become open pasture. A light bobbed way down there in the gathering darkness. “Ransom is coming with the wagon.”

Chief and Lucas emerged from the trees. Lucas cackled. “Well, will you look at that.” He grinned at his mother. “You each got one, eh?”

“We heard you shoot.”

“And missed. They came up that hill like a pack of wolves was behind them.”

Cassie smiled at Chief. “You taught me well.”

He nodded, and she detected the slight smirk that suggested a smile without actually delivering one.

Lucas dismounted and stopped at the elk his mother had shot. “Three-year-old. He’s nice sized. Did you have a hard time seeing the horns, close to dark as it is?”

Mavis cradled her rifle in the crook of her arm. “These two stayed on the uphill side of the herd, out in the open. Easy targets. I notice several cows had calves with them. The herd looks to be in real good shape.”

“Should be. There was plenty of rain for forage this summer.” He grabbed Cassie’s elk by the antlers. “Two-year-old. Did you see that big bull?”

She nodded. “He was magnificent.”

“He has a nice harem. We’ve watched him for the last several years. In the fall the bulls try to take cows away from other bulls. When you hear an elk bugle, the hair stands up on the back of your neck. I think of it and can hear them so plain, as if they were right here. I’m surprised he let these young bucks remain with his herd.”

“They’re probably not old enough to challenge him yet.” Mavis turned to Cassie. “One of the things I love about living on the ranch is learning about all the wildlife around us.” She motioned to Chief. “He trained Adam and Ivar in the way of the woods. They were willing to work hard. Your father sure did love guns and shooting them. I wasn’t a bit surprised when we heard he had a shooting act.”

Here came Ransom, and his team was acting nervous. The blood, Cassie realized. They smelled the blood.

Lucas laid a hand on the near horse’s bridle as Ransom climbed down out of the wagon box. “Would you believe the women each got one and we got skunked?”

“Gretchen will never let you live that down.” He walked over to the larger one and gave it a shove with one foot. “Mor, you got this one?”

“I did. Haven’t lost my touch.”

“So you missed your shots, huh?” Ransom grunted as the three of them heaved the heavy carcass up to the wagon bed and slid it in.

“Yep. Got two off, in fact, but the bull got away. Doesn’t happen often.”

“And Mor and Miss Lockwood both got theirs.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you?”

“Just thought it’s worth mentioning.”

So Lucas had fired both shots. Now Cassie knew that Chief had not pulled his trigger. When he’d been so insistent that she learn to hunt a few weeks ago, she’d realized that his eyesight was dimming and he couldn’t see well enough to make a clean shot any longer. But today it was obvious to her that he still relished the chase as much as ever. He walked down to help load the second elk.

Mavis climbed up into the box and drove the wagon down to Cassie’s elk. The three men had a little easier time loading hers, since it wasn’t quite as huge.

“So you decided not to gut them out here,” Mavis said as she stepped down from the wagon.

Chief brought the other two horses in. At the smell of blood, Wind Dancer tried backing away but Cassie laid firm hands on his head and talked to him, calming him down.

“Easier at the barn with decent light.” Ransom climbed into the wagon and clucked the team off down the hill, headed for the barn.

As she mounted, Cassie asked no one in particular, “How heavy are they?”

Mavis replied, “At least five hundred pounds. Of course, if you gut them in the field, it’s quite a bit less weight to have to throw around.”

Considering that this might be called an evening of death, Cassie still felt elated, and the elation surprised her. She was providing food for them all, and that was no small accomplishment. Only one shot too. The darkness had brought with it enough cold to call this day
winter
, though of course it was not. And it was going to get much colder, she knew, when the real winter arrived. She could see a certain wisdom in taking the show south during the winter, to places where snow rarely fell.

Lucas swung the gate closed behind them, and they were back in civilization, the wagon rattling along a well-worn track. “I have a great idea. How about having a shooting contest right here at the ranch?” Lucas asked when he pulled up to ride beside her again.

Cassie wanted to turn it down, since she was low on shells, but realized that might not be a good idea, especially if he was interested in finding someone to sponsor a match. “All right. We can do targets, or clay pigeons, or toss something in the air. Whatever.” She turned to Mavis riding on the other side. “Do you buy ready-loaded shells or load your own?”

“We do both,” Lucas said. “How many guns do you have?”