“There are higher laws than man’s,” I said stiffly.
“Meaning the Bible?” Again the brothers swapped amused glances. “When I was little I believed in it. My folks sent me to Sunday school, and my pa read from it every evening when we set down to supper. I heard how God punishes those who do evil and rewards those who do right. But you know what?”
I rose to the bait. “What?”
“It just ain’t so. The first time I killed I man, I looked up at the sky expecting a thunderbolt to come down out of the blue and fry me to a cinder. But nothing happened. The same with the second time and the third. I’ve killed and robbed a heap of people, and the Almighty has never lifted a finger to stop me.”
“There is no God,” Jordy Hook declared. “No devil, neither. No heaven and no hell.”
“Fairy tales,” Jess said. “We’re born and we live a spell and we die. That’s it.”
Jordy nodded. “So we might as well help ourselves to whatever strikes our fancy along the way.”
Deeply troubled, I responded with, “You’re wrong, both of you. There is more to life than nothingness. Laws are not passed merely to control people, but so that everyone is treated fairly and with justice. As for the Bible, even if you deny it is divinely inspired, there is no denying the wisdom it contains.”
“And the Almighty?” Jess mocked me. “I suppose you think there is a God up there somewhere who gives a hoot about us?”
“I am a man of science, not religion,” I replied. “I do not claim to have all the answers. But when I see the beauty of a rose, or a butterfly’s wing, and think of life in all its many forms and guises and how everything relates one to the other, yes, I believe there is something out there that is greater than us, and above us and in us and in all things. Call it God. Call it whatever you like. But it is there.”
“It can’t be much of anything if it lets us kill and get away with it,” Jess Hook said.
“I told you I don’t have all the answers,” I said. “But this I do know: whether by God’s hand or man’s, you will be served your comeuppance for your foul deeds.”
The Hook brothers erupted into near hysterics. Jordy bent over and slapped his leg. I failed to appreciate the comedy and told them so.
“You are a caution, painter man,” Jordy said between guffaws. “We’ve met a lot of folks like you. Simpletons who reckon the world is like that rose you mentioned, when it’s really a patch of thorns.”
Jess Hook nodded. “Even if you’re right, God’s laws don’t matter. Man’s laws don’t matter. The only law that does is this.” He patted his rifle. “Take what we want, when we want.”
When you hear someone talk like that, you think they can’t be serious, that no one could be so evil, so despicable. But they were sincere, this pair of bloodthirsty brothers.
“What is it you want?” I asked as Blue Water Woman came out of the trees carrying firewood.
“I would like to know the same thing,” she said.
Cutter, who was a few feet behind her, growled, “Shut up and start the fire. We will say when you can talk.”
“Now, now,” Jess Hook said. “She has a right to know. After all, whether she lives or dies depends on how it works out.”
“What are you talking about?” I yearned to jump up and smash him in the face with my fist, but he and his brother wisely stood far enough back that I could not reach them before I was shot.
“We want their gold,” Jess said.
Blue Water Woman was hunkering to deposit the firewood. “That again,” she said. “You have gone to a lot of trouble for nothing. There is no gold and never was.”
Cutter drew his knife partway and took a menacing step toward her. “Don’t lie to us, squaw. We heard about the gold nugget your husband flashed at Bent’s Fort.”
“And where there’s one nugget there are more,” Jess Hook said. He practically glowed with greed. “We want to know where.”
“I speak with a straight tongue when I say there never was more than the one nugget my husband had.”
“You are lying to save your skin,” Jordy Hook said. “We’ve heard all the stories about the strike you and the Kings made.”
“If we had gold, don’t you think we would have used more of it than one nugget?” Blue Water Woman responded.
Without any hint of what he was about to do, Jordy shoved her so hard she fell onto her hands and knees. I started to rise to go to her when Jess Hook took a quick step and rammed the barrel of his rifle into my gut. The pain was terrible. I doubled over, my teeth grit, and could not help but groan.
“Stay right where you are, fancy pants.”
I managed to croak, “You will pay for this!” Then I sucked air into my lungs, struggling to compose myself.
“You better keep one thing in mind, mister. Because make no mistake. My brother or me or Cutter will kill you and this squaw dead as dead can be if we have to, and not feel a twinge of regret after the deed is done.”
“Regret, hell,” Cutter said. “Me, I like to kill, and have ever since I was twelve and took a pitchfork to my pa. He had a habit of slapping me around when I gave him sass.”
Blue Water Woman had calmly picked herself up and resumed kindling a fire. She did not curse Cutter or even glare at him.
I marveled at her self-control. My own was not nearly as superb. When I could sit up straight, I asked, “How do you propose to get your hands on this gold that doesn’t exist?”
“That is where you and this squaw come in. I will tell you all about it once we have a fire going and coffee on.”
I could think of nothing else to say beyond a few choice comments about their character and intelligence, but insults were bound to earn me more pain so I sat in a funk until flames crackled and the aroma of brewing coffee filled the air.
I sat close to Blue Water Woman, inwardly resolved to leap to her aid if they tried to hurt her again. Jess Hook sat across from us. His brother and Cutter stood well back, Cutter near the horses, so they could thwart any escape attempt.
“Now then,” Jess said with that mocking smile of his, “suppose we get down to business. We want the gold, but we’re willing to be reasonable.”
“You call this reasonable?” I said sarcastically.
“So long as you and the squaw get to go on breathing, I would say so, yes.”
“Do not call me that,” Blue Water Woman said softly.
Jess glanced at her. “What did you say?”
“Do not call me squaw. I have a name.”
“So what if you do? To us you are nothing but a stinking redskin. We will call you whatever we damn well please, and you’ll keep your mouth shut.” Jess waited for her to reply. She didn’t. He grinned and said, “Now then, where were we?” He turned to me. “It’s simple, really. The squaw stays with us while you ride down and tell her husband and the Kings to hand over the gold or they will never set eyes on her again.”
I had suspected something like this. “You are despicable.”
“Keep giving me guff, fancy pants,” Jess said, “and you’ll have to do your riding with a broken finger or two. Do you want that?”
I did not.
“Good. Then in a bit you will head out. Cutter will follow you to make sure you go straight to the lake. Try anything, and we kill the squaw. If her husband or the Kings try anything, we kill the squaw. Make it plain to them. If there’s so much as a whiff of trouble, we kill the squaw.”
“I daresay if you harm her, Shakespeare McNair and Nate King will not rest until they have hunted you down and exacted their vengeance.”
“They don’t scare us none,” Jess said. “McNair is tough, but he’s as old as Methuselah. And so what if Nate King has killed a lot of grizzlies? Bears don’t shoot back.”