Renegade Lawmen by Cameron Judd

Author:Cameron Judd
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250124456
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

PART TWO

BACK TO MONTANA

Chapter 13

It was good to travel with a friend again, good to be on the open trail, good to be riding toward the place where lived a lady I had loved and perhaps would love again. Twice in my life I had known what it was to love a fine woman and see that woman taken from me. Perhaps now it would be different. My dreams were big ones again.

The trail we followed northward was an old cattleman’s-route. To the west rose the high Rockies, sun-glinting and magnificent; to the east lay the vast plains, stretching across Nebraska, Iowa, reaching over into Illinois. Days passed quickly, miles trailed off behind us. Now Cheyenne was distant, Walden City even more so. That unpleasant interlude in my life seemed dead and gone. A new time had come. Montana had until recently symbolized a finished interlude as well; now it symbolized the future. I hoped that there I would find the peaceful, settled life that had always eluded me.

From time to time I would think of Fiddler Smith and Vera Ann. Probably they had come this way—with Big Jim following. The more I thought about it, the more a sense of distress overtook my happiness. I had reason enough to be angry at Fiddler, given his abandonment of me the night he burned Big Jim’s saloon. And, if Fiddler had in fact murdered Big Jim’s family back in the Independent Army days, he was a more evil man than I would have ever thought. If Big Jim caught up with him, Fiddler would deserve any punishment that resulted.

Vera Ann Walden, however, was another story. She was no angel, as her illegitimate pregnancy sufficed to show, but beyond her promiscuity I knew of no fault in her. There was the distressing thing: If Big Jim caught up with Fiddler, he would also catch up with Vera Ann. And the odds were, she would fall victim to him right along with her unfortunately chosen partner.

I expressed this fear to Longhurst the day after we crossed the North Platte. He frowned, thoughtfully sniffed a pinch of snuff up his nose, and shook his head. “I got no answer for that one, McCan. It is a worrisome thought. But take heart—this here’s a vast country. I’m betting that Big Jim will never find them.”

“But he knows they’re bound for Powderville,” I replied. “If nothing else he’ll probably find them there.”

Longhurst shrugged. I could tell the thought of a pregnant woman being harmed, maybe killed, by a hardcase like Big Jim troubled him, but Longhurst tended not to worry long about what he couldn’t control. I lacked that enviable trait; I tended to worry over everything. In silence I sent up a prayer for the safety of Vera Ann Walden, wondering if I would ever know its answer. It seemed unlikely that I would ever see that troubled woman again.

We crossed into the Montana country and headed toward Miles City. Some miles over the line, a couple of things happened that diverted our plans.

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