Chapter 16 #3
“You’d think it was like that, but it wasn’t Indians I’d’ve been after.
All manner of outlaws run for Indian Territory to hide out.
No local lawmen could go into the territory; they had no jurisdiction there.
As more and more outlaws ran across the border into Indian Territory, they decided to make the Marshals into a kind of federal police force.
Part of the job was to go in there and arrest them, bring them back for trial.
I’d been told that was a harsh business, and it held no appeal to me.
Not that things are simple here in Colorado, but I was interested in seeing the Rockies. ”
“Do you miss Texas?”
“Like an ache in my chest. Yep, best state in the union.”
Stella smirked at that and didn’t reply.
“I need to decide if I’m going to stay a Marshal. I’ve been yearning for Texas here lately. My folks are still alive, and I’ve been down to see them twice since I left home.”
“You haven’t seen your parents but twice in nearly eight years?”
“Nope, but it’s the way of things when a man grows up. A woman too, I reckon.”
“If you can escape them.”
Tex reached over and patted her on the shoulder. Then his eyes met hers for a moment too long, and he pulled his hand back and jerked his head around so he was looking at the scenery again.
He hadn’t thought an encouraging little pat to be much of anything, until he’d touched her and noticed . . . well, he’d noticed he hadn’t oughta do it.
“We’ve been walking around in these mountains for five days, Tex. Are we ever going to get out of here?”
“I believe we’re generally heading east.” He was a man who knew the land, and when the sun or the shadows were visible, he could be sure of where he was going. And he would swear they’d been moving east for five days now, and yet they never seemed to reach the end of these blasted mountains.
“How come we haven’t found a trail yet?” Stella asked. “It’s not just passing through the mountains; it’s passing through them without so much as a trail.”
“A few times we came upon a game trail, but none that led in the right direction. I reckon this is about the wildest land any man ever saw. You’d think by now we’d’ve stumbled on some indication that someone had been in this country before.”
Finding food was an ongoing worry. They’d found some berry bushes and a few nuts that were ripe enough to eat. They were high up in rugged country. Not above the tree line, but it wasn’t exactly grassy pasture either, certainly nothing welcoming to a deer herd.
“I doubt I could bring down a deer with this.” Stella tapped the slingshot she’d made. She was full of ideas and self-sufficient. He’d done all right ending up stranded in the wilderness with her.
“Nope, and I doubt I could sneak up on one and take it down with my knife.” Tex heaved himself to his feet.
“But there’s water down there.” He pointed at the depths of the canyon, where a stream flowed through.
Could it be the same stream that’d swept them away?
He couldn’t say. “Let’s try and wind our way down there to the water.
Maybe I could get us a fish or two while we’re at it. That’d make a good meal.”
“Or we could keep moving east for a time before we try scaling another cliff.” Stella looked doubtful as to what they should do next.
“I suppose we don’t have to have meat, right?”
She nodded but didn’t answer.
“I’ll go looking for more berries.” Tex surveyed the stark, stony land. “And I can bake Indian potatoes in our fire if we find any. Looks like it’ll be a while longer before we get to Fort Russell.”
“Until then we’ll have to keep on spearing fish and bringing down birds and rabbits.” Stella gripped her slingshot. “I don’t know how we got so turned around out here, Tex, but the truth is we’re lost.”
He was not about to admit that. “We may not know where we are exactly, but that’s been mostly true since we turned off the trail when your low-down family shot at us.
I don’t count it as ‘lost.’ We know where we’re going generally.
We’re walking on land that’s maybe never had a man’s foot upon it, not since creation, but we know where we’re going. ”
“North and east.” Stella snorted, and it almost got a smile out of Tex. Things were a bit too grim for a real big toothy grin, but her snort did lift his spirits a little.
“Yep, north and east, so let’s get moving. And since north is straight off a cliff, and east is up, we’ll have to go south and west for now.”
That got another snort out of her, and he did smile this time. He figured being grouchy didn’t make the trip go any faster.
He reached his hand down and helped her to her feet.
“We have to start hunting more intentionally. We need more food, and we need it soon. For now, we’re going to have to go west and a little south, then up a steep slope before we turn east and north.
If we do decide we need to get down to that water, this isn’t the route to take.
I’ll leave another marker for Owen, Morgan, and Marley, then we’ll go. ”
Tex remembered the slope Morgan had ridden up, which was nothing resembling a trail. And yet the horses had just gone on up, easy as you please. He wondered if he had his horse, if the critter could find a trail where he couldn’t and get them out of here. Might as well wish for the moon.
“We have to walk up and around whatever way is easiest to walk and do it now. We need food.”
Tex pictured his friends, who were all the way to Fort Russell by now. They were probably enjoying a meal of fried chicken and gravy, mashed potatoes, and apple pie.