Page 48 of Wellspring
“I’d rather not find myself in the middle of a shootout,” Javier called over his shoulder as he urged the team to its limits.“How much farther until we’re off JR land?”
“Just past that dry creek bed up ahead.”Cade gauged the wagon’s speed against the distance the riders had gained on them.They just might make it.“Course, that assumes they won’t shoot even if we’re off their property.”
“Aren’t you just full of joy and optimism?”Javier retorted.He drove the team toward the creek bed.Cade winced as the wheels bounced along the rutted trail and hoped the axle would hold.Shouts echoed from behind them as the draft horses crossed the creek bed, but no shots.Cade spared a second’s thought to be grateful Burke had made the axle.For all his faults, he was a damn good blacksmith.Cade should probably remember to tell him that at some point.As soon as they were clear, Cade risked a glance back to see Carter and a couple of others Cade didn’t recognize, guns in hand but none of them aimed.Carter shouted something after them, but distance and the noise from the wagon kept Cade from hearing the details of the threat.Cade didn’t need the words to know they were threats.What else would Carter be spouting?
“Keep going, but I think we’re safe,” he told Javier and Erick.
“Is there another route to the ranch that does not cross JR land?”Erick returned his rifle to its holster as Carter and the others wheeled their horses and rode away.“It will be harder to outrun them once the wagon is weighed down with supplies.”
“A few,” Cade answered, frowning.“But going around to the north would take a few days, and from what we heard in Austin, Ulrich could give us the same hard time about crossing the Bar U.You seen how rough the terrain to the south is.The wagon couldn’t clear it, especially loaded.”He hooked his bow back onto Nahnia’s saddle.“Telling Lutz about this will be as productive as milking a bull, but we should do it anyway, just so it’s on record.”
“Like his records aren’t as crooked as the rest of him,” Javier said, “but you’re right.If we don’t at least try to report it, then we don’t have any proof of what happened.”
“Now who’s full of joy and optimism?”Cade joked, but his comment did nothing to lighten the mood.It was just as well he and Erick wouldn’t get to spend the night in town.The confrontation with the JR hands had sucked all pleasure out of the day.He wouldn’t be able to relax until they were all safely back at Wellspring.
Chapter Twenty-Six
THEY MAINTAINEDa tense, watchful silence the rest of the way to town, but they didn’t see any signs of JR men following them or of any other danger, not that Cade let down his guard.Lutz might pretend otherwise, but Eldorado was a JR town as surely as if it were on JR land.Oh, the townspeople didn’t all feel that way.Most of them probably didn’t, when it came down to it, but they didn’t have the wherewithal to stand up to Reichardt as long as he had Lutz in his pocket.
When they got to town, they hitched the wagon in front of Miz Hart’s mercantile and left Javier to fill their order while he and Erick went in search of Miz Dawson.
She was in the middle of a lesson with a group of children ranging from toddlers to teens, if Cade was any judge, so they stood in the back of the classroom until she finished.Cade was surprised by how much of what was printed on the chalkboard he was able to understand.Seemed Erick was a better teacher than either of them realized.
“Mr.Heller, Mr.Webster,” she greeted them after sending the children outside to play.“I hope the books you borrowed proved helpful?”
Erick nodded with a small smile as he handed them back to her.“We found them most… effective.We are ready for something a bit more advanced, I think.”
“In that case, here are the primers.”Miz Dawson showed them a stack of books, “and if you think those are not advanced enough, here are the readers I use after the children finish with the primers.”
“We’re not getting to town too often at the moment,” Cade said.“Could we take one of each, and maybe even one after?So we don’t have to make the trip again right away.”
“Of course,” she said.“I’m happy to lend you as many as you want.I only wish my students were as excited about learning their letters.”
Cade hoped his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt at the thought of exactly how Erick had motivated him.
“Cade is most dedicated to our lessons,” Erick agreed dryly.“I thank you for sharing your resources with us.”
They found Javier waiting for them outside when they’d taken their leave.“Lizzie is putting our order together, but we have some time to kill before it will be ready to load on the wagon.Let’s check for mail and see if Lutz’s in his office so we can waste our time reporting the JR crew’s harassment.”
Cade rolled his eyes but followed Javier to the sheriff’s office cum post office.They picked up the mail, but Lutz’s desk was empty.“He’s probably in the saloon,” Tatum, the postmaster who doubled as Lutz’s deputy, offered with a twist of his lips.“He usually is, this time of day.”
Just what they needed.Then again, maybe if they told him what happened in front of witnesses, it would be harder for him to deny knowing about it later.If they ever found an impartial person to listen to both sides of the story, anyway.Laughter and the tinny sound of the out-of-tune piano poured from the doors of the saloon as they approached.Nothing out of the ordinary, but Cade couldn’t help wishing he hadn’t left his bow secured to Nahnia’s saddle.He tried not to carry it in town.The townspeople didn’t need any additional reminders of his unconventional upbringing.But he was better with his bow than with his pistol, faster, and right now every sense he had was jangling, leaving him on edge.
The saloon wasn’t especially crowded, not surprising this early in the afternoon.Jock, the blacksmith, was eating a plate of bacon and eggs at the bar, washing it down with a mug of beer and chatting with one of the Meier brothers about the first child he and his wife Sofía were expecting.Lutz was deep in conversation with—no surprise there—the JR foreman, Frank Sanders, a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the table between them.
“JR’s men have been out of line,” Cade said with a glare at Sanders.“They’ve fired at our hands on Wellspring land and threatened our passing over JR land to get into town.”
“Anybody dead?”Lutz took a sip of his whiskey.“If not, don’t bother me.What’s the matter, is Wellspring too weak to take care of itself since old man Roarke died?”
“Well, that won’t be a problem much longer,” Sanders drawled.“I feel almost guilty, staying here enjoying drinks with you, but Carter deserves a chance to prove himself.”He downed his shot with a sigh of satisfaction.“Miz Roarke has been so reluctant to consider Mr.Reichardt’s suit that he’s decided to take more, shall we say, direct action.”
“What the hell does that mean?”Cade demanded as Lutz chuckled and raised his glass in a toast.
“By the end of the night she’ll either have agreed to Reichardt’s proposal or, well.Let’s just say I’m not sure anyone would have her after the hands are done passing her around.Probably the best thing that could happen to the bitch.”
Cade was ready to flatten him for that, but Erick got there first, his punch knocking Sanders out of his seat onto the floor.“You demean an honorable woman with your scurrilous implications,” he growled, casting a withering glare at Lutz before turning his back on them both.“I think we should return to Wellspring with all haste.”
Before Cade could agree, Sanders levered himself to his feet and reached for his pistol.Cade scrambled for his own gun but Sanders fired before he could draw it, the shot knocking Erick to his knees.
