Long Blows the North Wind by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480487598
Publisher: Open Road Media

SEVEN

We began to pass dozens of dead cattle lying in the snow. It made my heart sick to see them. More, it made me angry knowing that they were strewn across the plains like the dwindling resources of the orphans, Tag and Amy.

Szabo muttered, ‘Look at all that steak, and me half starved to death.’ I knew that he was only trying a joke to avoid showing his true feelings. ‘What a waste,’ Szabo said as we passed another dead steer. ‘Why did Grant Bellows have to get in such a rush to deliver the herd to Laramie?’

‘He didn’t have a choice,’ I replied. ‘Once the children returned, he had to act fast before some judge interfered and men with badges showed up on Diamond to serve him with cease and desist papers. He knew he had no right to sell these steers, but he was determined not to let the opportunity pass him by.’

‘Ajudge?’ Szabo asked, glancing at me. He wiped the back of his face where the dark whiskers were growing heavier now.

‘Sure,’ I told him. ‘As soon as travel around here grew easier, the conservator was bound to contact a judge and inform him of what Grant Bellows obviously had in mind – stripping the Diamond of its resources.’

‘A conservator?’ Szabo said thoughtfully. ‘I guess there must be one. Peter and Rose wouldn’t have left things up to chance. They were a thoughtful pair. Who is it?’

I hesitated. ‘I’m not sure if it’s my place to say.’

‘Must be Laurel,’ he decided instantly. ‘Who else could it be?’

I didn’t answer. We trudged on through the snow, passing many more animal carcasses; Grant Bellows was rapidly thinning his profit, although I knew there would be plenty of money to be made off the cattle who survived this mad drive south.

Some time in mid-afternoon the going got too difficult for me. My slashed cheek had begun to ache again, my legs felt like they were stuck in cement. The cold wind blew and the dark clouds were again shadowing the wide land. All in all, I reflected, I would have preferred being locked up with Sad Sam in that snowbound mountain cabin. Even that would have made for a more pleasant winter. Finally I felt that I could take no more.

‘I’ve got to rest soon,’ I told Szabo as I stopped, hands on my hips and breathed in the cold air deeply. ‘I can’t go on much longer.’

‘You can,’ he said positively, and I looked at him to see that he was smiling faintly and that he had his finger upraised, pointing toward the southern horizon. I could see low, dark forms, maybe a dozen of them, their rooftops white with snow and my heart leaped.

‘Laramie?’ I asked in disbelief.

‘Or someplace near it. What do you say we keep on walking?’

We did so. The going was no easier, but now that we were in sight of our goal, my determination easily overwhelmed my fatigue. It was growing dark and the

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