Chapter 20
“Where in heaven’s name are we?” Stella reached the top of a long, steep climb.
They were determined to head east, and they did it whenever they could.
Now here they stood at the top of a mountain, the next in what seemed to be an endless line, and stared out over wild hills that rose and fell and rose again, as if the whole world were one big mountain.
The day had been overcast beginning around noon, and the land treeless for the most part. The sun was completely hidden. They’d walked in and out of fog, some of it quite dense, especially at the mountaintops where they had to nearly crawl.
Now they’d reached the peak of another one, and Tex saw the sun flash a bit of red as it set below the clouds. They were walking straight toward it.
“We’ve been heading west.” A boulder nearby was irresistible, and Stella collapsed on it, dejected, her shoulders slumped. “Will you think less of me if I break down and cry like a baby?”
Tex joined her on the boulder. “Yes. I would.”
Stella gave a half smile and said, “That’s fine. I’ll think less of myself, too.”
They were breathing hard. Tex turned to look behind them. “If we just climbed this mountain thinking we were heading east—”
“I know we were heading east around noon.”
“I’m sure of it, too. But somehow we got turned around once the sky became overcast and the fog rolled in. To go east, do we have to walk back down the mountain we just walked up? Because I’ll be dad-blasted if I’ll do it, and yet what else can we do?”
“Right now, if a gang of outlaws came charging out of the distance trying to kill us, I think I’d be happy to see them.”
“Even if they started shooting?”
Stella didn’t answer.
Tex wasn’t completely sure himself. He wasn’t inclined to nag her to start moving, especially since he hardly had the strength to start moving himself. “Let’s rest here a few minutes.”
“We need to get down off this mountain peak before the sun sets.” She turned and looked him in the eye. “Which way should we go, Tex? East isn’t working out very well for us. Should we go west instead? Maybe we’ll cross a trail somewhere?”
“I hate to mention it, but—”
“Then don’t,” Stella said, cutting him off.
He quit talking, and the silence that followed lasted long enough he thought he noticed the sun dipping lower. Which was pretty slow, so it’d been a while.
“Okay, just say it,” Stella said, “whatever it is.”
Tex knew she had to be worn clean out. Worse, she was hungry and thirsty. There’d been no sign of water since early that morning and for certain no game.
“We need food. We need water. We need to find a place to sleep, and we need to do all of that before the sun goes down. We’ve sat here long enough, and because I’m feeling particularly stupid right now”—he pointed down the slope in a direction the sun said was north, though he’d begun to think the sun was playing games with them—“let’s go that way. ”
Stella should have demanded to know why.
She should have told him that that was no direction they wanted to go.
But that direction was the easiest for them to go at this point.
A slope less sheer than what they’d been tangling with.
And it wasn’t the direction they’d just come. He was pretty sure it was north.
In truth, it led toward woods, which might mean water and trees for shelter and possibly a few rabbits to cook up. But it sure didn’t lead them anywhere they wanted to go.
“I’ve lived in Colorado all my life,” Stella said.
“Deep in the mountains most of the time. I’ve hunted and fished when Pa was gone, and now I wander over hill and dale with him, living off the land.
I’m tough and know the ways of living wild.
” She sighed so deep that her shoulders rose and fell, then turned to face Tex. “And I want to go that way, too.”
“At least it’s downhill.” Tex tried to sound perky.
“We’re standing on top of the whole stupid world, Tex. Everything is downhill.”
Tex nodded, not saying anything. Yet he was pretty sure they were reading each other’s minds by now, so why bother to talk? Instead, he stood, offered her a hand to tug her to her feet, which she took, and they started downhill as if there were no other option.
“I wonder where Owen and Morgan are?” Tex said. He didn’t expect an answer.
“I wonder if they hanged my brother yet. It’s honestly a shame. Clive isn’t a killer. He’s a half-wit and completely lacking in common sense, but if they hanged folks for that, the world would be mostly dead people.”
Tex conceded her last point while disagreeing about the murderer part. “If we get to Fort Russell before they hang your brother, and if we can hide from your family well enough, I’ll see that you get a chance to talk to the fort’s commander. That man is Colonel Bridger, Delaney and Boone’s pa.”
Thanks to the slope, they were making good time and had made it to the woods before too long.
Looking around at the trees and bushes, Stella got her sling and stones out and ready.
Tex drew his knife. He was good at throwing it, although he hadn’t seen much game close enough to hand to have his knife be of much use.
As they walked on into the encroaching darkness, Tex said, “Will you think less of me if I break down and cry like a baby?”
Stella laughed, which turned into a giggle so high-pitched a woman might use it as a birdcall. Once she had herself under control, she replied, “Yes. I would.”
The day went well by Delaney’s measure.
Ma’s food wasn’t going to hold up, but they had found the hidden blades in Gordon and Johnny Duncan’s clothing, ripped them out, and then set out, and it wasn’t long before Roz found a trail.
“This is a trail for wagons.” Pa scratched his head, staring down at it as if he were seeing a ghost. “What’s it doing way out here?”
They rode straight east on it like their tails were on fire. Delaney was just so happy to see they were getting out of the wilderness.
After a few hours moving at a faster pace, Morgan, riding beside Roz, pulled his horse to a walk and pointed north. “I know where we are. That’s Horsetooth Peak.”
He laughed in a way that was a little giddy. Delaney got the impression Morgan Sawyer hadn’t had a lot of experience being lost.
Owen, towing three horses behind him, all with hog-tied Duncans on them, said, “I know Horsetooth Peak. We’ll be in Fort Collins in an hour, maybe two.”
“Two,” Morgan said, “because we’ve got to give the horses a breather.”
“We can have the sheriff lock these men up overnight and get some sleep and a good meal.” Owen looked over his shoulder and smiled at Ma, the kind of smile that spread all the way across his face. He was feeling mighty relieved.
Delaney smiled back, even knowing the smile was for Ma. “Not a word of that is a criticism of your good cooking, Mrs. Bridger, but maybe you’d like a meal you don’t have to cook.”
“The best seasoning for any meal is hunger,” Ma said. “No offense taken, Owen. I’d be glad for a meal that wasn’t laced with trail dust.”
Owen let his eyes slide past Ma to study Delaney. She felt the warmth of them all the way to her heart. Even with a row of outlaws strung between them.
He turned forward and walked along, leaving her warmer than was comfortable for a July day in the Rocky Mountains.