The Independent Bride (34 page)

“Daddy’s the bravest man in the whole fort,” Pamela said. “Don’t you want him to protect you?”

“You must learn not to put people on the spot by asking them personal questions,” Bryce told his daughter. “I want to talk to the ranchers, too,” he said to Abby. “I’d like to know who’s causing trouble with the Indians. I might even send a small patrol out to do some reconnaissance.”

“That means he’s going to spy on people,” Pamela helpfully informed Abby. “I wish I could go. I’ve always wanted to be a spy.”

“I would prefer you not tell people I’m spying on them,” Bryce said to his daughter. “I’m collecting information, trying to find out what people are saying, what they’re doing, how they’re feeling.”

Abby didn’t know who was putting pressure on the ranchers. Hinson needed the beef deliveries if he was to keep his job. Baucom had told her he didn’t want the contract, so why weren’t the ranchers willing to sell to her?

“I don’t have no steers to sell,” the rancher said, making no attempt to hide his contempt. “I don’t want no dealings with no woman.”

‘This is a business arrangement, Mr. Oliver,” Abby said. “It shouldn’t matter to you that I’m a woman.”

“Don’t be a damned fool,” Oliver replied. “Of course it matters.”

“Don’t call Miss Pierce a fool,” Bryce said.

“I’ll speak any way I please,” Oliver said.

“Then you’ll spend the next month in my jail.”

“You can’t do that,” the man blustered. “I’m an honest citizen. The army’s supposed to protect me.”

“The army’s supposed to protect Miss Pierce, too.”

“I ain’t done nothing wrong.”

“What about the hides of stolen beef buried in the sand by your creek?”

“You won’t find any such thing on my place.”

“I can by morning,” Bryce said with a pleasant smile, “even the body of a man you murdered for his money.”

Oliver, clearly furious Bryce would threaten him with crimes he hadn’t committed, might not believe Bryce could produce cowhides and a body that didn’t exist, but he was reluctant to test that opinion.

“I ain’t selling nothing to no woman,” he said. “She should be home taking care of her husband and having babies. Business is a man’s job.”

“I’ve got no beef to sell,” Mr. Bright said.

“We saw steers as we rode in,” Abby said.

“Sure, I got steers, but I don’t have any to sell.”

“The government needs to keep its promise to supply the Indians with food as long as they stay on the reservation,” Bryce said. “Miss Pierce holds the contract.”

“I know who she is, and I know what she wants the beef for, but I’m not selling.”

“Why not?” Abby asked.

“There’s been threats,” Bright said.

“From whom?” Bryce asked.

“Don’t rightly know, and I don’t want to find out.”

“You don’t have to cave in to threats,” Bryce said.

“Who’s going to protect me and my family if they’re real?”

“You should speak to the sheriff in Boulder Gap, but the army will protect you if necessary.”

“You going to sit up at night to see nobody shoots through a lighted window? You going to station troops in every ravine and behind every tree to see nobody tries to dry gulch me when I’m away from the house?”

“You’ve got to stay to supper,” Elma Carr said to Abby. “You can’t eat sitting out there in the dust.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Abby said. “I just wanted to ask your husband about selling me some beef.”

Mrs. Carr averted her gaze. “He’ll be in for supper. Since you have to wait, you might as well join us. He’ll want to talk to the colonel. He’s been some worried about Indians attacking our cows.”

Abby didn’t make any comment. This was the seventh ranch they’d visited in three days. It was also the seventh time they’d heard about trouble with the Indians leaving the reservation. Nothing really serious, just a butchered steer and some tense encounters, not enough to call out the army. But since the army had so obligingly come to call, the ranchers were ready to pour their troubles into Bryce’s ear.

Bryce had fulfilled his promise to accompany Abby with a small patrol under Lieutenant Collier. Abby had yet to spend the night in the tent Bryce had brought for her, but she was determined to refuse if Mrs. Carr offered her a bed for the night. The ranch house was much too small to accommodate guests. She wasn’t even certain Mr. Carr had enough beef to sell. She wouldn’t have stopped once she saw how small the house was, but Bryce wanted to talk to every rancher. He didn’t need to know what they had to say. He’d heard it already. He said it was more important to assure them that he didn’t believe there was any real danger.

Abby could tell Mrs. Carr craved female company. She had five children—all boys who helped their father run the ranch. Despite her protests, Abby helped Mrs. Carr get the meal on the table.

“You’ve got more than enough to do taking care of six men without having two guests drop in on you unexpectedly,” Abby told her.

“It’s a lot easier with two sets of hands,” Mrs. Carr admitted when they had put the last of the food on the table.

“You ought to get one of those boys to help you,” Abby said, surveying the five sturdy young men who settled down at the table with their father.

“Doing woman’s work would shame them,” Mrs. Carr said.

“Men cook at the other ranches. I’ve seen them.”

“It’s all right when there’s no woman about”

Abby shouldn’t have been surprised. Men where just the same in St. Louis.

“Dig in,” Mr. Carr said to Abby and Bryce once they’d said the blessing. “If you don’t watch out, these boys will eat it up from under you.” He spoke with a good deal of pride. Abby thought it must be nice for a man to have so many fine sons, but it had to be lonely for a woman without any daughters. And that didn’t begin to touch on the amount of work she had to do. Abby made a mental note never to marry a rancher.

There wasn’t much talk at first. It seemed eating was serious business for the Carr men. Abby was sure they were on their best behavior, but that didn’t stop them from reaching for what they wanted even if it was halfway down the table. In what seemed like a remarkably short time, the bowls and platters were all empty, the apple pie had vanished down seven throats, and there was nothing to do but settle back over hot, black coffee.

“Let me help you clean up,” Abby said to Mrs. Carr.

“I appreciate the offer, but you’ve helped enough already,” Mrs. Carr said. “You sit right here and enjoy your coffee.”

Abby was tired. It had been a long and disappointing day. Besides, she wanted a chance to convince Mr. Canto sell his beef to her.

“I supposed you’re here wanting beef for your Indians,” Carr said to Abby after he’d taken several swallows from his cup.

“Yes,” Abby said. “As you know—”

“I don’t have enough steers to sell you fifty head,” he said, “but I wouldn’t if I did. I won’t do nothing to help those Indians.”

“The government has promised to feed them as long as they stay on the reservation,” Bryce said. “Now that we’ve taken away their land and killed the buffalo so cattle can have the grass, they have no way to provide for themselves.”

“Yeah, they do,” Carr said. “They got stealing from ranchers and settlers. And when they can’t do it without nobody seeing them, they don’t mind killing.”

“Have any of your cows been stolen or any of your boys been hurt?” Bryce asked.

“Can’t tell about the cows until roundup,” Carr said, “but they daren’t touch one of my boys. They know they’d have the whole bunch of us down on ‘em in a flash.”

Abby didn’t imagine a large group of Indians would be afraid of six men.

“The army ought to be protecting ranchers and farmers,” Carr said to Bryce, “not them damned redskins.”

“I’m trying to protect everyone,” Bryce said. “The United States Government doesn’t want anybody killed.”

“Then get rid of them redskins,” Carr said.

Around the room Abby saw affirming looks on the faces of the five boys. Mrs. Carr’s thoughts weren’t so easy to read, but Abby was sure she’d want to be rid of anyone who would threaten her family. What mother could feel otherwise?

“The government has given them land of their own,” Bryce said. “They have just as much right as you to live peacefully and support their families.”

“I’m telling you, they’re not living peaceful,” Carr said, banging his clenched fist on the table for emphasis. “They’re out there raping and killing and stealing just like they always did. They’re savages. This country won’t be safe for decent people until they’re got rid of.”

Abby could barely control her disgust and anger. Indians had raped, killed, and stolen in the past, but so had white men. Even then she couldn’t understand anyone’s desire to exterminate a whole race of people. She was glad Carr didn’t have enough steers to sell. She wasn’t sure she could have forced herself to take them.

“Did you get rain from the thunderstorm?” Bryce asked to change the subject.

Abby was grateful they’d been able to reach the Carr ranch when they saw the storm approaching. It looked like it could be just as violent as the one that had stranded them in the cottonwood grove.

“Damned storm passed right by us,” Carr said. “We didn’t get a drop, and I could sure use it. I’ll never get used to clouds dumping water in one canyon and skipping another. It was never like that back in Ohio. Carson, across the ridge, nearly had his bunkhouse washed away last spring. I warned him about building too close to a creek, but he wouldn’t listen. Damn fool Yankees think they know everything.”

Abby forced herself to listen with feigned interest to Bryce and Carr discuss grazing conditions. She was relieved when Bryce said it was time to leave.

“I hope you don’t mind if my men set up camp on the creek about a mile from here,” he said to Carr.

“Glad to have you. Maybe it will convince those murdering savages to rob somebody else.”

“You can’t spend the night in an army camp,” Mrs. Carr said to Abby. “You’ll have to stay with us.”

“Thank you, but giving us supper was more than generous,” Abby said. “The colonel has brought a tent for me. I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“The boys can sleep outside,” Mr. Carr said. “The ground won’t hurt them none.”

Abby was certain it wouldn’t, but she doubted they’d appreciate being moved out of their beds.

“Thank you, but there’s no reason for anyone to sleep on the ground when I already have a bed.”

It didn’t take them long to say their good-byes and ride toward the place Bryce had chosen for the camp. Abby hoped Lieutenant Collier had had time to get everything set up. She’d spent a lot of time in the saddle during these last three days, and exhaustion had finally caught up with her. Every part of her body ached. She would have loved to be able to soak in a long, hot bath, but she’d have to wait until she returned to the fort. In the meantime she hoped the camp bed was soft. The bed she’d slept in last night had smelled of unwashed bodies and was as hard as any plot of ground the Carr boys might have had to sleep on.

Abby began to grow uneasy when they found no camp. “Maybe Lieutenant Collier decided to camp somewhere else.”

“If be did, he’ll send someone to show us where to go-That turned out to be the case. The creek that left Mr. Carr’s canyon joined with the that of his neighbor about a mile from the ranch house. The rainstorm had caused the creek to leave its banks.

“It flooded the whole camp just after we’d set up,” the soldier told Bryce. “We came damned near to losing all the equipment and half the packhorses.”

“Watch your language,” Bryce warned. “A lady is present.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” the soldier said, flushing red and looking very much like the teenager he probably was, “but it came up so fast it scared me half to death. First there was nothing but some rain up in those hills. Next thing I knew, there’s a wall of water three feet high coming straight at us out of that canyon faster than a horse can run. I nearly embarrassed myself.”

“Soldier!” Bryce barked.

“Sorry, ma’am,” he said, turning redder than ever.

“Don’t apologize,” Abby said, trying not to laugh “I got caught in a flood recently myself. I know exactly how you felt.”

The soldier looked relieved, but Bryce ordered him to stop talking and show the way to the new camp. It wasn’t far, but Abby was glad to see it was on high ground well away from the creek. She’d heard too much about floods lately.

“I understand you had a little excitement this afternoon,” Bryce said to Lieutenant Collier when they reached camp.

“You could say that,” the young man said. He looked harassed.

“Did you lose anything?”

“None of the animals, though I don’t know how one mule survived. I guess he’s too mean to die.”

“I hope he wasn’t carrying any important equipment.”

“That’s just it. He was carrying Miss Pierce’s tent. It got washed away. The only tent left is yours.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Abby looked at Bryce, and he looked at her. Then they both turned to the Lieutenant.