“A lot of whites think the same about their Bibles, don’t they?”
“Be serious, Mr. Fargo. Scripture is the divine word of the Almighty. A white buffalo is a lowly animal, nothing more.”
Fargo sighed. “The point is that these hills are crawling with Sioux, and more are showing up every day. It’s only a matter of time before some of them spot us. We can’t stay.”
Some of the men began to talk in hushed tones.
“Now look what you’ve done.” The senator made a dis missive gesture. “I’m staying, whether you do or not. And I’ll pay every man who stays with me an extra fifty dollars.”
“You’ll get them killed,” Fargo warned.
Owen made a clucking sound. “How about if you let us be the judge of that? Me, I like the notion of more money. It’s only for a week or so. By then the senator will have the trophy he’s after and we can head back.”
“Exactly right,” Keever confirmed.
“I don’t know,” one of the men spoke up. “The Sioux can be downright vicious. I saw a soldier once that they’d scalped and did things to that would curl your hair.”
“Fine,” Keever said stiffly. “Leave if you want to. But I’ll have no truck with cowards. Don’t expect the other half of the pay you’re due.”
“Don’t be so prickly. I didn’t say I was leaving. I only said as how the Sioux don’t ever show any mercy.”
“There are eleven of you. Twelve rifles if you count mine. Thirteen if Mr. Fargo doesn’t desert us. That’s more than enough to hold any number of savages at bay.”
Fargo sighed again. He was beginning to think the senator was the reason the word stupid had been invented. “I said it was a gathering of all the bands. There will be thousands of warriors. You and your dozen rifles wouldn’t stand a prayer.”
Keever turned to Owen. “And you, sir? You have as much experience with these heathens as he does. Do you share his opinion? Should I give up my quest when I’m so close?”
“It will be a cold day in hell before I tuck tail and run from redskins. Oh, we’ll have to be on our guard. But our camp isn’t anywhere near where they’ll set up their villages. They need water, and a lot of it, and plenty of graze for their horses.” Owen motioned at the timbered hills that ringed the small valley. “We can hide right under their red noses for as long as you need.”
“I thought as much,” Keever smugly declared. “There you have it, Mr. Fargo. Stay or go. The choice is yours.” He wheeled. “Come, Gerty. We’ll wash up for supper. Rebecca, be sure our meal is prepared on time.”
Owen and Lichen and the others drifted off, leaving Fargo and Rebecca alone.
“I could have told you how he would react.”
Fargo wasn’t in the mood to mince words. “He’s a jackass. Yet you stayed with him all these years.”
“I have over twenty thousand dollars in the bank. How much do you have?”
Fargo made a zero of his thumb and forefinger. “All this money you’ve saved, was it worth it?”
Rebecca bowed her head and slowly shook it. “No. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t. Back then I thought money was everything. Now I know better. You can’t put a price on happiness.”
Fargo stared at their tent. An hour ago he wouldn’t have said what he was about to say now. “Do you still want me to do you?”
“What? Oh. I wouldn’t put it quite so crudely, but yes. Please. That is, if you want to.”
“You wear a dress, don’t you?”
“Why do you sound so mad? And why are you agreeing? Because you want to? Or to spite my poor excuse for a husband?”
“Does it matter?” Fargo stretched out his legs. “Wait until him and the brat are asleep and slip out. I’ll be waiting, and when I see you, we’ll go off into the woods.”
“Just the two of us? In the dark?”
“What did you expect? We’d take Owen or one of the others along to stand guard while I poke you?”
“Mad and bitter. You have a low tolerance for fools, don’t you? I used to before I became one myself.”
Rebecca rose and went about cooking stew for her husband and her stepdaughter. Over at the other fire, Lichen was butchering a doe someone had shot while Fargo was gone.
For Fargo’s part, he drank coffee and fumed. If it wasn’t for Rebecca, he would light a shuck then and there. He felt a twinge of conscience about Gerty. The girl was the spitting image of her father but she was young yet and didn’t know any better. Give her a few years and she might mature. Not that she would live to see old age. Not with an army of Sioux roaming the hills. She wasn’t quite old enough to make a good wife so the Lakotas were likely to leave her to die of thirst or hunger. Or maybe, if she was lucky, they’d take her under their wing.
Fargo was on his third cup of coffee when Owen came up to the fire, squatted, and smiled.
“What the hell do you want?”
“The girl is right. You are a grump.”
“Go to hell. And leave me be.”
“I didn’t walk over here to swap insults. I wanted to talk to you about the Sioux.”
“We’ve already talked. Maybe you don’t recollect, but you persuaded Keever to go on with his hunt. Nice going, buffalo shit for brains.”
Owen laughed. “If you were female, I’d swear it was your time of the month.”
“If I was a female, I’d swear you were as ugly as sin.”
Again Owen laughed but his mirth was forced. “Look, I’m trying to avoid an argument.”
“Then you came to the wrong place.” Fargo bent toward him and nearly hurled the coffee in his face. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? I wasn’t exaggerating. In a few days these hills will be swarming with Sioux. More of them than you can imagine.”
“I believe you.”
“There’s no way in hell we can keep hidden. They’ll find us, and when they do, every last one of us will be turned into a pincushion.”
“I agree.”
“Then why didn’t you side with me and tell the good senator to leave while he still can?” Fargo shook his head. “I swear. You make no damn sense at all.”
“I do to me.”
Fargo used a few choice words common in saloons and riverfront dives. “Explain it. Help me to savvy why you’re so bent on getting Keever and his family killed.”
“I’m not. He is. I’m just doing what he pays me to do.” Owen picked up a stick and poked at the flames. “You were hired as their guide. I was hired to advise him. He sat me down and told me exactly what he wants out of this hunt of his and offered me five hundred dollars more than any of the others to make sure he gets his wish.”
“This was before we started out?”
“Why do you sound so surprised? Some folks don’t think as poorly of me as you do.”
“I heard about that dog you dragged to its death.”
“Oh, hell. Did you also hear tell it was going around biting horses? Caused one to spook and throw a man.”
“So you’re a saint now.”
“Hell, no. I’m a man doing a job. Same as you. And need I remind you that I saved your hash back at the bluff?”
“You came over just to tell me all this?” God, what Fargo wouldn’t give for a whiskey.
“No. I came over to say that if you want to leave, I wouldn’t blame you. But I hope you stick around. There’s the senator’s missus and the girl to think of.”
“Now I’ve heard everything. A saint and a heart of gold. Next you’ll sprout wings and a halo.”
Owen frowned. “You try to be nice to some folks.” He stood. “Have it your way. If you want to stay, stay. Just do the rest of us a favor and don’t air your bladder about the Sioux.” Wheeling, he walked away.