Silver Trail Christmas by Nik James

Author:Nik James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The three men rode about a half mile south along the river. To their left, the rocky bluff quickly lost its height, and the snow-speckled ledge gave way to a slope of tall spruce trees that spilled down to the edge of the valley and extended upward into the foothills like a white-dusted blanket. Clouds obscured the higher elevations of the forest, but Caleb had seen those peaks before and had no interest in them today.

None of them talked about what just happened. There was no need to. Caleb was angry, though, for it was his nudge that got them involved in the first place.

Deciding that they’d had enough for the day, they set up camp at a good place near an icy creek. Leaving the horses to graze in the shelter of the conifer boughs, the men built a fire and unpacked their bedrolls.

Caleb hoped the snow would ease up before morning, but no matter what the Colorado winter held in store for them, they needed to press on.

Before they even had time to start their supper of beans and bacon and coffee, the sound of an approaching rider’s voice had them all reaching for their guns.

“Don’t shoot me, damn it.” Bill Clark rode up to their camp and dismounted.

They all holstered their weapons, though no one extended a warm greeting.

“I know y’all are hot about what went on back there, but don’t blame me.” Clark looked at Caleb. “You know I don’t hold with boneheads like that. I just got to take them through these mountains. Then I can wash my hands of ’em.”

Caleb figured Bill Clark was about ten years older than him, and he was starting to show the wear of his years on the frontier. He’d seen him in passing over the years—trapping beaver up by the Canadian border, leading would-be prospectors out to Montana, even selling “hunting rifles” to a camp of Cheyenne up on the North Fork of the Platte in Wyoming. They’d only gotten to know each other well while both of them were scouting for the army in the Dakotas.

Caleb and Bill and Henry had shared a bottle or two, along with some adventures that nearly cost all three of them their hair.

But Caleb also knew the scout didn’t cotton to the narrow-minded thinking of the homesteaders he was leading west.

Upon receiving a shrug from Duke, Caleb gestured for Bill to have a seat at the fire.

“Well, thankee, fellas,” the scout said. Before joining them, he pulled a large package from his saddlebags. Something wrapped in a bloody cloth. Their eyes were all on him as he tossed it to Caleb.

“As a token of my esteem and gratitude to y’all, I brung you a nice piece of elk that I shot day before yesterday. I can’t stay and join you in eating it…I need to be getting back afore my employers think I lit out and left ’em. But I don’t feel much like sharing this meat with ’em.”

Caleb laid the package aside for their supper.

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