MILES CITY

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

C.J. PETIT
Copyright © 2017 by C.J. Petit

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America
 First Printing: 2017
ISBN:
9781096328629
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
MILES CITY
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
EPILOGUE
 
 PROLOGUE
Mar 16, 1881
Miles City, Montana Territory
 
Quincy Bishop sat at his new desk in his recently built office trying to
think of the best way to handle this incredible stroke of luck. His good
fortune seemed to be following him ever since he’d wrangled the job of
land manager for the Northern Pacific Railroad. His job was to sell property
to the immigrants and settlers who wanted to start farms after leaving
Germany and Scandinavia.
At first, he’d been just a little bit displeased that he’d been given the
assignment to Miles City out here in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he
shouldn’t have expected to get one of the plum jobs in the Dakota Territory
where all the farmers already had nice, flat land to plow and good soil for
wheat. Besides, almost all of the places that they would be laying track was
in the middle of nowhere.
But there were now two very good reasons why he was pleased with this
assignment. The first was that there were a lot of forests in the area that
would lend themselves to potential loggers, so he’d be able to ask more for
the properties and skim even more off the top of each sale.
The second was even a better reason yet was the same one that he had
thought was going to be his biggest problem. When he’d first begun
contracting for the sale of any private land that the railroad would need for
its right of way, he’d run into one obstinate woman who controlled two
quarter sections which sat right in the path of the only access to the town
from the pass.
He’d made the initial offer of even more land north of her property, but
she’d refused. Then he had to offer her cash for the right of way, but again,
she’d turned him down. Over the next month, he befriended both the mayor
and the sheriff as they sought ways of evicting her quickly and more or less
legally.
During their friendly, alcohol-backed conversations, each man had freely
revealed aspects of his own seedy past. He’d been able to use that
information to his advantage, but neither had been able to help with the
stubborn woman. He could take the eminent domain route, but that would
take time. Time, lawyers and scrutiny by the territorial board that reviewed
the declarations. He wanted this solved much sooner.
Then, almost providentially, he received a letter from his brother that
stunned and angered him.
He read the letter expecting the usual news about family affairs. Even
though he and his brother were the only members of the Bishop clan still
living, he still considered anything happening around their home town as
family news.
But this letter had been anything but routine news. As he read the
missive, his eyes grew wider.
How was this even possible? That was over
two decades years ago!
What he had read seemed almost supernatural. The
more he read, the angrier he became as he remembered The Offense. It
didn’t matter that it happened more than a quarter of a century ago, family
honor must be upheld.
The shocker was when he read the last paragraph.
Here, of all places!
Here, in the middle of nowhere was the last of the Shaws. And she was the
same woman who was causing all of his grief in clearing the way for the
construction of the railroad.
After his initial anger subsided, he began to look anew at the problem
created by the woman. This news would require a change in tactics.
Suddenly, the dirt he had on the mayor and the sheriff would be very handy
indeed. He wanted to cause misery for the woman first, as a quick death
was too good for her. He wanted to inflict pain, and his mind reeled with
possibilities. He smiled knowing that revenge truly is sweeter when served
cold.
He picked up his pen, dipped it in the bottle of ink and wrote a reply to
his brother, telling him how he would avenge the family name and eliminate
the last surviving member of the Shaw family.
 CHAPTER 1
June 18, 1881
Eight Miles East of Miles City, Montana Territory
 
Ben Arden figured he’d have to spot the town sooner or later. He’d been
riding across Montana for days now without seeing so much as an Indian,
not that he had any particular desire to see one. But now he was running
low on just about everything. He needed flour, sugar, beans, and especially
coffee. He’d been reusing his last batch for three days and it was tasting
worse each time. When he’d stopped in Deering, he’d been told that if he
followed the same route that the Northern Pacific had surveyed, he’d reach
Miles City in two days. Either the entire town must be hiding, or he had just
steered wrong somehow. He found it hard to believe that he could have
passed an entire town, especially as he was following the staked route set
by the survey crew.
He’d been following the path since ’68, working at one cattle ranch after
another as he wound his way further west. If he’d stuck at the first one, he’d
probably be the ramrod by now. But he kept moving when he felt the call.
The real question was why he continued to ride instead of just settling
down.  He had no real reason for his wanderlust if that’s what it was. He
wasn’t particularly unhappy or even mildly depressed. Maybe it was just a
compulsion to keep moving. He felt as if he was looking for something, but
didn’t know what it was.
After that seemingly endless war, he had returned home to Minnesota,
thinking he could just pick up where he had left off. But it didn’t work out
that way as everything seemed different. He tried working on the family
farm, but didn’t seem to fit in. His family was unchanged and so was the
work, but he felt alien in his family home. He couldn’t understand why he
felt so displaced but knew that he couldn’t stay any longer and would need
to find someplace where he felt he belonged.
 So, in spring of ’68, he packed his gear and told his family that he was
going to head west to find his own place. When they asked where he was
going, he just said west. It made sense to follow the Northern Pacific as it
was going in that direction. So he just made his farewells and rode in the
direction of the setting sun. It had been that way for more than ten years.
At thirty-four, he knew that he was bordering on being called an old man
and had even been called that at his last job. The thought rankled him
somehow, mainly because he knew it was true. He knew he was in good
physical condition, but the idea of his life being half over, if he was lucky,
still bothered him. It bothered him because he still had no idea where he
was going or when he would stop.
He pulled Jersey to a stop and let him crop some grass as he scanned the
horizons for any signs of Miles City. Jersey was his second horse. His first
mount after leaving Minnesota, Harry, had been old when he saddled him
and departed the farm. He lasted eight more years before old age finally got
him. Jersey was still a youngster at seven years. He was a roan gelding with
a large map on his left haunch that looked like New Jersey, hence the name.
He was glad it wasn’t like Massachusetts, although he could have called
him Mass or Bahstan.
Ben had no idea how far he’d wander, but the longer he rode, the more
determined he was that his next stop would be his last. The Northern Pacific
rails were behind him now. They were laying track at a slower pace than
they had when they’d crossed the much flatter Dakota Territory. He knew
the railroad would continue to follow him because he followed the route
laid out by their surveyors which was to join with the eastbound tracks laid
by the company starting in Oregon.
He’d heard that it would happen in another couple of years, but only if
the railroad didn’t fall into bankruptcy again. Maybe he’d hook up with
their eastbound rails and follow it to the Pacific Ocean. He snickered at the
idea because he simply didn’t have a clue what he really wanted to do even
after more than a decade of wandering.
Two hours after resuming his ride, he topped a rise and grinned. Below
him lay the town of Miles City. It was about time, too. He was hankering
for a hot meal with some real coffee as opposed to whatever he had been
drinking. Another thing he couldn’t wait to enjoy was a nice, hot bath. A
real bath, not a prolonged plunge in an icy cold Montana or Dakota creek.
Jersey ambled down the rise toward the town that was laid out a few
miles ahead. He figured it would be no different than dozens of other
settlements he’d passed through over the last decade. They’d have a livery
or two, a blacksmith, a few saloons, a dry goods store, a feed and grain and
a hardware store. They’d need a couple of churches to offset the sin created
by the saloons. They probably had a school, too. Add in all the other
miscellaneous merchants and you have yourself a town. The biggest
variable was always the local lawman, if they had one.
Whenever he arrived in a new town where he might spend a few days, he
always paid a call on the local sheriff or marshal to take a measure of the
man. Ben was good at sizing up men. When you’re traveling as much as he
had, it was vital to survival, and Ben preferred survival to the alternative.
Ben was well armed, as it was a necessary part of being alone in the
unforgiving land. But beyond just the need for protection, he genuinely
liked guns it showed in their condition.
He wore his beloved Colt Model 1873 Peacemaker in a smooth, well-
oiled holster, carried a Winchester ’73 carbine, and a smaller Colt Pocket
Navy he could stick in his belt if he needed the extra firepower. In his
packs, he still had his two Colt New Army pistols that had been with him
since the war. They were still in excellent condition as Ben would have it no
other way. By weight, his guns and ammunition accounted for almost half
of his baggage.
As he trotted Jersey down the long decline into Miles City, Ben noticed
that there seemed to be a farm of some sort directly in his path. But its
appearance was a bit odd for a farm. There was a small, single-story house
but no barn. The only crop appeared to be a small, garden-sized area of
corn. Instead of the barn there were a few flat buildings that looked like
chicken coops.
As he got closer, he saw that’s exactly what they were, and big chicken
coops at that. Surprisingly, there weren’t any running loose. He guessed
there must be over two hundred birds in those coops. The farmer must
supply all of the eggs for the town, and chickens for their Sunday dinners,
too.
There was no one outside tending to the chickens, but there was smoke
coming from the cookstove pipe, so it wasn’t abandoned yet. He expected
that the house and chickens wouldn’t be there much longer. The farmer
must know he’s got the Northern Pacific over a barrel and is trying to milk
every dime out of them.
Twenty minutes later, he circled around the plowed fields. He assumed
that he was trespassing as he had to pass within a few hundred yards of the
house and its noisy, feathered residents. Once past the farmhouse, he
crossed another couple of miles of open ground before he reached the town.
He soon entered Miles City, noting that it was pretty much as he’d
expected and walked Jersey to the common trough near the general store.
As Jersey drank, he scanned the only real street in town. Then he looked
past the roadway and the town to the surrounding northern landscape and
felt an unexpected urge to investigate the forested land. Something was
drawing him to the property, and he began to believe this is where he’d stay.
There was nothing in particular that made that notion pop into his head, but
it was there.
Once Jersey had finished quenching his thirst, he knew that even before
he ate, he wanted to take his bath. He turned his gelding across the street,
walked him to the barber shop, dismounted and tied Jersey to the hitching
rail. After he entered the small business and closed the door behind him, he
noticed it was empty.
“Howdy!” he shouted.
A voice from behind a curtain replied, “Afternoon!”
The voice belonged to a small man with slicked down black hair who
walked out from behind the curtain and asked, “What can I do for you?”
“I need a bath.”
‘No haircut or shave?”
 “No, sir. I keep my hair long just out of habit, probably because I figure
I’ll be losing it soon enough.”
The barber snickered then replied, “I have a coal boiler out back, so it
will only take a minute or so to draw the water.”
Ben sat down and waited for him to draw the water. Even though he said
he’d be back shortly, he was still surprised when he returned in less than a
minute.
“That will be fifteen cents, sir,” the barber said as he held out his palm.
Ben pulled some change from his pocket, handed him two dimes, then
headed into the back room. He dipped his fingers into the tub and found the
water to be more than just warm, so he quickly stripped and was in the bath
in less than a minute. He created a massive amount of suds with the bar of
white soap and began lathering away the accumulated trail dust. Once that
was done, he did the same with his long black hair. Twenty minutes later, he
emerged dressed in clean clothes and feeling much better. He thanked the
barber, stepped back out into the afternoon Montana sun and took in a deep
breath before stepping off the boardwalk.
Now he’d satisfy his craving for a hot meal and some good coffee. So,
he began walking to the café that he’d spotted when he was sitting astride
Jersey. He left his horse tied in front of the barber shop and crossed the
street at an angle to the eatery. He entered the surprisingly clean diner and
found an empty table which wasn’t difficult as he was the only customer. It
was mid-afternoon and the lunch crowd had already gone, and the supper
customers hadn’t arrived.
A pretty young lady with bright red hair approached and Ben assumed
that she was the daughter of the proprietor.
“May I help you, sir?” she asked with the appropriate smile.
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t want to waste your time, so just tell me what you
have.”
“We have some venison stew available.”
“That’s fine. I’ll have that and a lot of coffee.”
 “I’ll bring your order right away, sir,” she replied then smiled again,
turned and headed back to the kitchen.
She did bring his order right away too, returning to the table with a large
bowl of stew in less than a minute. It was probably left over from the noon
meal, but that gave the stew longer to simmer and it probably tasted better
now. She also left some biscuits and a pot of real coffee.
“This is living!
” he thought as he put the first spoonful of hot stew into
his mouth.
Ben finished his meal, including all the biscuits and coffee and left a
fifty-cent piece on the table. The waitress or her pa made a nice tip on the
twenty-cent serving of stew.
He left the diner and again scanned the town but focused more on the
forested northern area. As he studied it in greater detail, his earlier urge to
remain grew stronger.
After more than thirteen years of wandering, Ben Arden had found
where he belonged. Now it was just a question of being able to get the land
he wanted.
He knew that the Northern Pacific had been granted a twenty-mile swath
of land grants on either side of the railroad’s proposed path, although only
half of those sections were given to the railroad to sell. The other half
remained property of the Federal government for homesteaders. But he also
knew that homesteaders weren’t very interested in the more rugged terrain
of Montana Territory, so he should be able to get a full section at a good
price from the local Northern Pacific representative. First, he needed to see
which sections were owned by the railroad and which were owned by the
government. He didn’t want to homestead because he would be limited to a
quarter section, and he wanted a full square mile of property. He didn’t
want to follow all the government rules for five years before owning it,
either.
He walked two blocks north where he had seen the land office which
was right next to the town hall. Across the street were the offices of the
Northern Pacific, which he would probably be visiting soon after he met
with the land office clerk.
 He entered the bright, whitewashed office and after closing the door
behind him, turned and found himself facing the clerk just four feet away as
he stood behind a small counter. He must have been sitting at his small desk
and heard him stepping onto the boardwalk. He hoped the man wasn’t so
bored that he was standing at the counter all day.
The clerk smiled and asked, “Good afternoon, sir. What can I do for
you?”
“I just arrived and was impressed by your town and the countryside, so
I’m thinking of settling here. I’m particularly interested in a section of land
that would be north of the town, but I don’t want to homestead.”
The clerk stepped around the counter and approached a large map of the
county, which included lines indicating the Northern Pacific’s land grants.
He pointed to Miles City then said, “If you look to the north, you can see
the sections that you’d be able to buy from the Northern Pacific. They
haven’t sold any yet, so I think you’ll be able to get your choice of
properties.”
Ben examined the map and could see the sections that interested him, but
also noted that the right of way for the Northern Pacific went right through
that chicken farm. What surprised him was that the map didn’t have the
dotted lines that represented ownership by the railroad. Maybe they hadn’t
gotten around to updating the map yet.
The clerk then turned back to face him and said, “If you wish to buy a
property, then you’ll need to talk to their agent, Mister Bishop. His office is
across the street.”
“Thank you, sir. I believe I’ll head over there right now. Maybe I’ll be
back in a little while and register a deed.”
The clerk smiled and said, “I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”
Ben tipped his hat, turned, opened the door and left the small office,
closing the door behind him. After waiting for a farm wagon to pass, he
hopped into the street and strode quickly across the packed dirt heading for
the Northern Pacific offices just a hundred feet away.
 Ben entered, and after closing the door, spotted a tall, thin man around
his age sitting behind a desk playing solitaire. He had slicked down hair
with a handlebar mustache and looked up from his cards when Ben entered.
As soon as he met the man’s eyes, Ben instinctively didn’t like the man. He
had no reason, but trusted his gut reaction.
“Can I help you, mister?” he asked in a nasal tone.
“Maybe. I just arrived in town and thought I might stay. I talked to the
land agent, and he said that the railroad had control of all of the land in the
area and you were authorized to sell some of that land for the railroad.”
His sour face added a greedy smile as he replied, “That’s right. I’m their
agent.”
Ben thought the forced smile made him look even more unlikeable. Ben
guessed that reason behind the smile was because he smelled money, and
not all of it would end up in the coffers of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Ben asked, “What do you have available north of town?”
“Well, if I were you, I’d buy a mile northeast of the town. There’s a nice
section up that way that has lots of timber and still has a good-sized
clearing for farming or ranching. Now, I could sell that land for a dollar an
acre in just a country minute, but you seem like a good example of the kind
of man we want to grow this part of our great nation, so I’ll sell it to you for
just eighty cents an acre.”
Ben ran the numbers and came up with just a little over five hundred
dollars, almost a third of his life savings. But a full section with timber
would be worth it, even though he knew he’d never sell it. It was the land
itself and its extraordinary beauty that he wanted.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you seventy cents an acre and pay cash, but
I’d like to see the land first. Can you give me a map?”
He was still smiling as he quickly said, “Paying in cash is a good
incentive, and I’ll accept your offer on behalf of the Northern Pacific
Railroad. Let me get something.”
 As Ben watched, the agent turned, opened a small file cabinet and pulled
out a folded sheet.
He offered it to Ben and said, “Here’s a map that includes the property I
mentioned. It’s the unshaded section marked as 73D.”
Ben glanced at the map and asked, “Can I borrow this? I’ll be back in
about an hour.”
“You may keep that copy. I have more. I’ll be happy to see you when
you return. I’m sure that you’ll be pleased.”
Ben shook his hand then folded the map, slipped it into his jacket pocket,
then left the office and stopped on the boardwalk. He knew how much
farmland in Dakota Territory would cost, and this was much less. He
assumed correctly that the lack of demand for land out in the wilderness
area is what drove the price down. He would have happily paid the eighty
cents an acre but felt that some haggling was necessary. He probably could
have offered the agent fifty cents an acre but didn’t want to spend too much
time talking to the slick operator. He was curious how much the Northern
Pacific would expect from the sale. He imagined they’ll be tickled to get
fifty cents an acre. Other than investors, their only source of income was
from selling the property in the right of way.
He stepped back onto the street and walked to the land office to verify
with the land clerk that the map was accurate and the section that he was
going to examine was legitimately the railroad’s land to sell.
Ben just didn’t like the looks of the railroad agent and wouldn’t put it
past him to try and sell the government’s land and pretend he hadn’t
accepted the money in the first place. After all, he was just a stranger, and
the Northern Pacific man was now an important member of the community.
At the moment, he might be the most important citizen as every soul that
lived nearby was anxiously awaiting the arrival of those tracks. A railroad
meant new life to a town and that creepy man was the face of the railroad.
He entered the land office again and the clerk had to step away from his
desk this time. When Ben showed the map to the land office clerk, he
assured him that once he received the deed from the railroad agent, he’d
register it in Ben’s name. He also told Ben that section 73D did have a large
supply of timber and was already marked off. He folded the small map and
returned it to Ben.
As Ben slid it back into his jacket, he said, “Mister Bishop pretended
that he was making me a deal at eighty cents an acre, but quickly settled for
seventy. I have the impression that he would have taken less but didn’t want
to talk to him longer than necessary. I hope I didn’t overpay.”
“I don’t believe so, but if you do buy the land, you’d be the first. But I
can understand why you wouldn’t want to stay in Mister Bishop’s office
very long.”
“I’m going to head over there and give it a look. I’ll probably be back
here in an hour or so.”
“I’ll be here for another two hours and hope to see you again.”
Ben nodded, then turned and left the land office.
As he closed the door, Ben was pleased with the clerk’s reassurance on
the land and by confirming his perception of the Northern Pacific agent. He
jogged down the street to Jersey and mounted his gelding. Once in the
saddle, he rode Jersey out of town for just a couple of minutes before he
found the post marking the southwest corner of section 73D.
After he walked Jersey a few hundred yards onto what would soon
become his land, he turned and looked back to the west at the mountains in
the distance. He then wheeled his horse back to the east and set him to a
slow walk as he scanned the landscape. It was a spectacular piece of land.
The forest encompassed the back third of the property and curved along
both northern and southern borders. The forest created a giant cul-de-sac
surrounded by tall pines. He imagined that in another twenty years, the trees
would have claimed the last of the open space as well.
The central clearing was only about a quarter section and was
surrounded on three sides by the gorgeous timber. He couldn’t imagine how
many board-feet of lumber was on his land. The central clearing consisted
of rolling hills and even had a small plateau where he could build his cabin.
For the first time in a long time, Ben felt as if he belonged. But it wasn’t to
the town of Miles City, but to this land.
Before turning around, he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled out the cash
from his money belt and counted out $448. He folded the currency and
stuck it into his jacket pocket before he returned the rest of the bills to his
money belt and re-buttoned his shirt. There was no sense in advertising that
he still had over a thousand dollars in cash in his possession. He let out a
sharp breath then turned Jersey around and headed back to town.
After reaching the Northern Pacific offices, he dismounted, tied off
Jersey’s reins, then popped onto the boardwalk and entered.
As soon as he did, those same irritating, greedy eyes met his, and Mister
Bishop smiled at him.
“Well, sir, what did you think?” he quickly asked.
Ben refrained from sounding overly anxious but probably didn’t hide it
well as he replied, “It’s a very nice piece of land. Can you make the deed
out to Ben Arden?”
“Of course, sir. It’ll only take me a few minutes.”
Ben watched the man quickly writing the details on preprinted forms
with a big smile on his face. He figured the agent might give an even lower
sales figure to the railroad than he’d already estimated.
When Mister Bishop finished writing, he had Ben sign the contract and
the deed to the property. Ben examined the deed listing the location and
section 73D and was satisfied that he hadn’t been cheated somehow.
He reached into his jacket pocket and handed Mister Bishop the folded
wad of cash as they waited for the ink to dry.
As he accepted the currency, Bishop’s eyes glistened as he counted each
of the bills. Ben wouldn’t have been surprised if drool began dripping onto
the desktop.
After Bishop finished counting, he stamped the deed PAID IN FULL and
handed it to Ben.
 Ben folded the paper treasure and rose, but before he left, Ben decided to
satisfy a hobby of his that he’d developed since he’d joined the army in ‘64.
Mister Bishop wasn’t a local, as few were, and his slightly Southern accent
intrigued him.
“Excuse me, but I have this little game I play with myself. When I was
in the army, I noticed all of the different accents that made up the different
units and found that after a while, I could pinpoint where folks originated.
Sometimes, I could even tell the town where he grew up. Now I’ve never
been to Tennessee, but do I detect an eastern Tennessee accent? Maybe
around the Knoxville area?”
Bishop’s eyebrows rose as he exclaimed, “Why you are uncanny, sir! I
grew up in a town just south of Knoxville called Maryville. That is an
amazing talent. Where are you from if I may ask?”
“I grew up in a small town in Minnesota south of St. Paul named
Newton. If you disregard all the Scandinavian accents or German accents,
the rest are a pretty boring lot. It’s a lot harder to pinpoint Midwestern
folks, but I’m still trying.”
Bishop laughed then shook his hand and Ben thanked him before he
turned and left the office as a landowner. He was also glad that he wouldn’t
need to spend more time with Mister Bishop. He wouldn’t be buying more
land, either. His land was surrounded by government-owned sections for
homesteaders. So, unless some farmer wanted to cut down a lot of tall pines
and remove the massive stumps just to plant some wheat, he wouldn’t have
any neighbors, at least for a while.
He returned once more to the land office and handed the deed to the
clerk.
He read the deed, grinned and said, “Very good, Mister Arden. I’m sure
you’ll be very happy here.”
The clerk went to his maps and registered Ben’s name on the section
he’d just bought, then made a copy of the deed for his records. As the ink
on his copy sat on the counter drying, he handed the original deed back to
Ben.
 “Thank you for your help,” Ben said and shook the man’s hand.
Before he left. Ben stepped over to the large wall map and after finding
his property, he examined the government sections and found his closest
neighbor. Next to the southern government section were two quarter
sections that must have been homesteaded before the Northern Pacific was
given the land grants for their right of way. He smiled when he realized it
was the chicken farm.
After leaving the office, he stood on the boardwalk to collect his
thoughts and make plans for moving onto his new land.
The first thing he’d need to do is to buy some basic supplies, so he
trotted back across the street, almost being run down by a buggy that he
hadn’t noticed in his excitement. He unhitched Jersey, mounted and
wheeled him south to head for the general store.
He could have left Jersey at the Northern Pacific offices, but knew he’d
be loading him down soon and didn’t trust the agent anyway.
When he reached A. Brackett Dry Goods and Sundries, he dismounted,
flipped Jersey’s reins over the hitching rail and walked right into a heated
disagreement.
It was an unusual argument if you considered the participants. The first
was obviously the storekeeper as he was standing on the other side of the
counter. He was about ten years older than Ben, of average height and
tending toward middle-aged spread. His opponent was a woman Ben
guessed to be low to mid-thirties and quite tall, about five feet and eight
inches. Beyond her height, what made her unusual was that she wore her
hair straight and was wearing men’s britches and a man’s shirt. Her hair was
long and black, running down her back almost to her waist. He had never
seen a white woman wear her hair that way and wouldn’t have guessed she
was a woman at all if he hadn’t heard her voice. He couldn’t see her face,
but what he could see was that she was wearing an old Colt Dragoon on her
hip.
The argument seemed to be over payment for a bag of salt, which was a
bit surprising as the cost for the salt was probably a nickel. It would be
three cents in a town that had a railroad or was next to a navigable river. But
until the Northern Pacific arrived, it would be a nickel.
The proprietor had his hands out before him as he exclaimed, “Charlie,
I’m sorry! I can’t let you put any more on credit. I’ve already let you run up
too much of a bill already.”
The woman was almost pleading as she replied, “But Amos, it’s only a
dime! Surely, that’s not going to break you.”
“It’s the principle, Charlie. The next time you need something, it’ll be a
quarter then a dollar, so it has to stop now.”
Before she could make another plea, Ben heard a man’s voice coming
from an aisle a few feet behind the woman.
“I’ll tell you what, Charlie. You show me a little leg and I’ll pay for the
salt.”
Ben glanced to his left and saw a man about her height but thick with
muscle and wearing a big grin on his face.
The woman turned and glared at him as she snapped, “The only leg
you’re going to see, Jasper, is the hogleg on my Colt. Now you get your ass
out of here.”
Ben wasn’t shocked by her language, but he was impressed with the
woman. This was no shrinking violet who was standing before him defying
the stronger bully. Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised considering
how she was dressed.
“C’mon, Charlie. Just one peek,” Jasper said as he moved slowly
forward.
The proprietor just stared at the confrontation, obviously afraid of the
bully turning on him. Then he glanced at Ben, almost begging for him to
intervene.
Ben sighed, reached into his pocket, pulled out a quarter and tossed it to
the owner while he was still looking at him and said, “Here’s a quarter, sir.
Let the lady have her salt.”
 The storekeeper snatched it out of midair and smiled at Ben, hoping the
worst had been avoided.
Ben then looked at Jasper and said, “And as for you, mister, I believe
you owe the lady an apology.”
Jasper looked at the bastard who was ruining his fun. But after seeing
Ben’s size, intent and the Colt at his waist, he realized that he wasn’t in a
position to argue the point.
He replied, “Aw! I was just funnin’ with Charlie here. You ain’t got no
reason to get all high and mighty, stranger.”
Ben said, “There’s funnin’ and there’s insultin. And what you just said
was insulting. So, just apologize to the lady and leave. I’ve got to buy my
coffee and other supplies.”
Jasper had expected the stranger to just let it go as a joke but didn’t like
the look of the big man facing him. He decided to let it go…for now.
He turned back to the woman and said, “Sorry, Charlie. I didn’t mean no
offense.”
She was still glaring at him and said, “Of course, you meant to offend
me, Jasper. You always do, but I’ll accept your forced apology and suggest
that you leave.”
Jasper didn’t need much prodding as he hurriedly strode past Ben and
out the door. Ben watched him leave to make sure he didn’t try anything
stupid or, in this case, more stupid.
When he turned his eyes back to the woman, he expected her to express
her gratitude and was preparing to smile and introduce himself. But that
didn’t happen.
When Charlie saw him look at her, she snapped, “Mister, I don’t know
who you are, but I don’t need your help! Keep your money!”
Ben was startled but quickly recovered and replied, “Just avoiding a
fight, ma’am. If you don’t need the salt, that’s fine. But, if you don’t mind,
may I take a look at your pistol?”
 If her reply had surprised Ben, his unexpected question befuddled
Charlie.
She looked at him suspiciously as she asked, “Why do you want to look
at my gun?”
“Well, ma’am, you’re wearing an old Colt Dragoon. And even from this
distance, it looks to be in mighty poor shape. I just want to see if it’s
fixable.”
She glared at him as she said, “I’m quite happy with my gun’s condition,
mister. What are you, a traveling gunsmith trying to get business?”
Ben smiled then replied, “No, ma’am, but I do love weapons. Some
people can’t stand to see a dog abused and I feel that way about guns. To
me, it looks like that Colt has been abused. If you don’t mind, I’d like to
give it a quick look over.”
Charlie sighed, pulled the pistol and handed it to him.
Ben accepted the pistol, but the light in the store wasn’t very good, so he
asked, “Do you mind if I take it outside into the sunlight? The light’s poor
inside.”
“Are you planning on stealing it?” she quickly asked.
Ben laughed, understanding that she really had no idea of the useless
pistol’s worth then answered, “No, ma’am. Here. I’ll let you hold my
Peacemaker until I come back inside. Okay?”
As soon as he finished asking his question, he pulled out his Colt then
offered it to her butt first.
She took the gun and watched him step outside, noticing that his black
hair was worn very long and had a leather tie in the back. She hadn’t seen
any white man wearing his hair that long.
Once in the bright light of the afternoon sun, Ben was appalled at the
condition of the old Dragoon. He looked down the barrel and saw massive
corrosion then pulled back the hammer to the loading position and rotated
the cylinder. Each of the empty chambers were corroded and only chamber
was loaded. The cylinder’s rotation was stiff, and the hammer fought him
when he needed to release it. He thought about dryfiring the ancient Colt
but didn’t see any purpose before he returned to the store.
He handed her back the gun and accepted his Colt in return.
“Well?” she asked.
“Ma’am, have you ever used that pistol?”
“Not recently.”
“Ma’am, could you come outside for a minute?”
“Why?”
“I want to show you the reason for my concern.”
“Alright.”
They walked out to where Jersey was hitched. After they stopped on the
boardwalk, he accepted the pistol back from her, then began describing his
many concerns.
“See all of that rough metal in there? It’s worse in the barrel and the
mechanisms are all probably rusty inside, too. Ma’am, this pistol is so
corroded that if you ever tried to pull the trigger with a live round, it would
explode in your face. And you only have one charged chamber even if you
did want to kill yourself.”
Charlie was still staring at her gun and said, “It can’t be that bad.”
“It’s worse than just that bad. The cylinder barely rotates, the corrosion
in the cylinders would probably cause issues with the powder and the barrel
wouldn’t let a round pass through if you hit it with a sledgehammer.”
“What do you suggest I do, then? Do you think that I can go back inside
and ask Amos to give me a new gun? That is my only protection, and it
keeps me safe.”
“No, ma’am, it doesn’t keep you safe at all. If you ever had to draw this
on someone, like that Jasper moron, he’d take one look at that barrel, and
you’d lose all of your protection. As it happens, I have two old Colt New
Army pistols in my pack. I keep them in good condition, but I have no real
need for either one. I’ll let you have one and I’ll put this old Dragoon to rest
in a grave somewhere as that’s all it’s good for. Do you have any
ammunition?”
“No. Just what’s in the gun.”
Ben sighed then turned and said, “Hang on for a second.”
Ben took a step toward his gelding and reached for his gun saddlebags.
He untied it from his horse’s back, lifted it free, then set it on the boardwalk
and flipped open the flap. He reached inside, pulled out one of the Colt
New Army pistols and a pouch with balls, percussion caps and a small
powder flask.
He handed it to her and said, “This Colt is already loaded, and the pouch
contains some balls and percussion caps. Have you ever loaded a pistol like
this before? It works exactly like your Dragoon did.”
“No.”
Ben sighed again at the woman’s lack of knowledge and said, “Well, I’ll
give you the gun and hope that you don’t have to fire more than the six
shots in the chambers.”
She examined the pistol and said, “I can’t take this. It’s a lot worse than
letting you pay for a bag of salt.”
“No, ma’am, it’s exactly the same thing. You need the salt, and if you
want to feel safe, you need the Colt as well. It’s not a big deal. It’s not
charity either, it’s just filling a need.”
“You just defined charity.”
Ben smiled and replied, “Well, ma’am the only way I can see to solve
the whole issue is if I just mount Jersey and ride back out of town. Then
you’ll have no choice but to keep the pistol and the salt, which is already
paid for along with another fifteen cents so you can buy some flour or
something else you might want.”
 Before she could so much as open her mouth to argue with him, Ben
tossed his saddlebags over Jersey, put his foot in the stirrup, swung his leg
over and wheeled the gelding south and trotted quickly away, closing his
ears from the expected tirade of complaints.
Charlie stood there dumbfounded as she watched him ride away. She
was preparing for another serious argument, and he just gets on his horse
and leaves!
She dropped he eyes to the well-maintained pistol and sighed before
sliding it into her holster. She picked up the pouch with the percussion caps
and balls of ammunition and returned to the store.
“You get the gun issue resolved, Charlie?” the proprietor asked when she
approached the counter.
Charlie was still looking out the open doorway as she replied, “Sort of.
He just left.”
“Odd feller.”
“You’re right about that. Well then, I may as well get the salt. Can you
give me some flour on the fifteen cents?”
“About five pounds worth.”
“Thank you, Amos,” she said as the storekeeper left the counter to get
the bag of flour. He should have just applied the fifteen cents to her
outstanding balance but felt bad about how he’d treated Charlie because she
didn’t deserve it.
Ben rode for about a quarter of a mile before he stopped, figuring the
lady must have returned to the store by now. So, he swiveled in the saddle,
looked back at the store, saw an empty boardwalk and knew she had to have
gone back inside.
He reined Jersey to his right and trotted about half a mile west and then
turned back north to the town. He walked his gelding behind the buildings
on the opposite side of the street from the store, so she wouldn’t see him.
 Charlie was carrying her salt, flour and the leather ammunition pouch as
she began the long walk home.
Ben was sitting on Jersey between two buildings across the street
watching her walk away and was surprised to see her on foot.
How anyone
live out here without a horse?
As she ambulated out of town, he noticed
that she turned east and kept going, which meant she must live on the
chicken farm. He wondered where her husband was, but it didn’t take long
to figure out that she was probably a widow. No man would let his wife
carry a pistol, much less one in that condition, and that Jasper idiot seemed
to regard her as fair game.
After he was sure she was out of visual range, he walked Jersey to the
hitching post, dismounted, and tied him off again. He entered the store for
the second time and waved at the storekeeper.
“Back again, I see,” he said as he smiled.
Ben grinned and replied, “That was one ornery lady.”
Amos shrugged and said, “She can be if she needs to be, but most of the
time she’s okay. What can I get you?”
“I’ll wander your aisles, but I know I’ll need five pounds each of coffee,
flour and beans, a slab of bacon, two pokes of salt, and some baking
powder. You know, the usual stuff.”
“So, what was with the whole pistol discussion?” he asked before he left
the counter to start gathering his order.
“Did you see that piece of junk she had in her holster? Even in the dark,
I noticed that it was a dangerous weapon.”
“Aren’t they supposed to be?”
“Not to the person pulling the trigger. I doubt if that Colt had been fired
in three years and probably left in the rain to boot. There was more
corrosion in that Dragoon than I’ve seen on ironclads that have been on the
river for a year.”
“That bad, huh?”
 “It was in the worst condition of any weapon that I’ve ever seen. If she
had pulled the trigger and somehow managed to get the hammer to hit the
percussion cap, that thing would have exploded in her face.”
“So, what did you do?”
“I traded her one of my Colt New Armies for the old Dragoon. She
didn’t want to take it, so I had to leave which didn’t have a choice.”
“Charlie’s okay. She’s just had a rough time of it and her pride doesn’t
make it any easier. But I have a feeling she’d better not see you around or
she may be using your own Colt on you.”
Ben laughed and said, “That’s why I aim to get my things and head out
to my new property northeast of town.”
“You bought some land?”
“Yes, sir. I bought a whole section from the railroad up to the northeast. I
figure I’ll head that way, set up camp and do some exploring.”
“Well, welcome to Miles City. I’m Amos Brackett.”
“Ben Arden,” Ben replied and offered his hand.
After they shook hands, Amos said, “Let me get your things.”
While Amos brought the basics to the counter, Ben spent a few minutes
adding tins of other food and some that he figured would be handy to have.
Once he’d placed them on the counter, he waited for Amos to return with
the flour.
“I’m going to head over to the livery and then the hardware store. I’ll see
you in a bit.”
“Good enough, I’ll see you then.”
Ben left the store but didn’t take Jersey with him as he strode down the
street. When he arrived at the livery, he went inside.
“Hello! Anybody here?” he shouted.
 It seemed as if every livery he’d ever been in always required hunting
for the liveryman but was still startled when a pair of boots with a big man
attached dropped behind him. He twisted around and was almost eye-to-eye
with a large black man.
In a deep, resonant voice, he said, “Howdy! What can I do for ya?”
“Afternoon,” replied Ben.
He offered him his hand and said, “I’m Ben Arden.”
“Abe Green,” he replied as he took Ben’s hand.
“So, what can I do for ya?”
“Got any horses for sale?”
“Two. One’s a nice, quiet mare with a nice gait, and the other is a bit of a
spiteful gelding. He must not have gotten over losing his stallion
equipment. He’s four, the mare’s eight. The gelding will run you thirty
dollars and the mare I’ll let you have for twenty-five.
Ben nodded then said, “Let’s go and check them out.”
Abe led Ben to a small corral in back, opened the gate and they stepped
up to the mare first as the gelding just eyed them with fire in his eyes.
He examined the mare’s joints with his large, sensitive hands, felt them
to be in good condition, then looked into the mare’s big brown eyes. He was
sure that the mare’s disposition was exactly as Abe had claimed.
Then he turned back to the gelding and even from twelve feet away, was
just as certain that the almost-stallion was just as temperamental as Abe had
described.
The gelding appeared to be almost angry. He was a tall horse, a full hand
taller than Jersey and was mostly black with a white star on his forehead
and three white stockings.
“I’ll take the gelding. I’m sure we’ll get along fine after we get
acquainted.”
 Abe laughed and said, “That might be some time.”
“What do you have for tack?”
“I only have one set that I can let you have, but the saddle is okay. I’ll let
you have it for ten dollars.”
“Make it thirty-five for the gelding and the tack and you’ve got a deal.”
Abe acted as if he had to think about it, but he knew he’d never unload
the gelding anytime soon.
“You have a deal,” Abe said as he shook Ben’s hand again.
Ben gave him the cash and got a receipt just in case he made any
enemies in the future. They saddled the gelding, and Ben was a bit surprised
that he hadn’t put up much of a fuss.
He led the gelding out of the barn, waved to Abe then headed next door
to the hardware store.
After tying off the gelding, he entered and spotted a tall, but not wide
man about his age looking at him from behind his counter.
He grinned and said, “Afternoon, mister.”
Ben said, “Howdy. I need some things for clearing some timber on my
new land I just bought northeast of here.”
“Let me be the first to welcome you to Miles City. I’m Will
Halliburton.”
“Nice to meet you, Will. I’m Ben Arden,” he replied before they shook
hands.
“So, what can I get for you today?” he asked.
“I’ll need the basics. A good spade, pickaxe, saw, double-bladed axe, a
sledgehammer, a wedge, a maul, and a pitchfork. Is there anything else
you’d recommend? I know I’m probably forgetting something.”
“You’d surely need at least one pair of work gloves, but I’d recommend
two, and a sharpening stone for the axes. Do you want a tent so you can
stay dry until you have something built?”
“Those are very good suggestions, and I’ll need all of them.”
Will and Ben then began wandering the aisles, finding the equipment
and supplies he’d need, including the gloves and the tent.
He put them in two large sacks and hooked them together with a rope so
the only metal that showed was the pickaxe. Ben paid the bill then he and
Will took them outside and placed the packs on the new horse’s saddle
before he tied them down to keep the load from shifting.
After he thanked Will, Ben walked the horse down the street to A.
Beckett Dry Goods & Sundries, where he tied the loaded gelding to Jersey.
He left them out front then went inside to pick up his order.
Before he paid the bill, he added four more boxes of .44 ammunition and
some more gunpowder. Then he saw something that might be a very
valuable tool to have and asked Amos if he could look at the Remington
shotgun displayed behind the counter.
As he examined the double-barreled twelve-gauge, he said, “Add this to
my bill, Amos. I’ll need a couple of boxes of birdshot and two boxes of #4
shot and two of double aught. I have no idea what critters I’ll be running
into out there.”
“You’ll be surprised. We have all sorts of wild beasts out there, and some
are downright unfriendly.”
Ben laughed as Amos added the additions to his bill and Ben paid for the
order. Amos helped him load his supplies onto the new gelding’s saddle and
Ben was ready to head for his land. He looked at the spirited gelding and
was close to apologizing for treating him like a pack mule.
He climbed aboard Jersey, turned him north and set him at a slow trot to
his new home trailing the awkwardly loaded gelding. The thought of having
a home of his own excited him. He hadn’t had a real home since he went off
to war seventeen years earlier.
It was still light, even though it was past six o’clock when he arrived.
Summer in the northern latitudes made for long days, although it was still
technically spring. Of course, the opposite was true as well. Winter was
filled with a lot of dark and cold.
He didn’t want to set up his camp in the open, so he wandered to the
northeast corner of his property to find a smaller clearing. After he had
entered the trees, he heard an unexpected sound and brought Jersey to a
stop.
It didn’t take long when he realized that the source of the sound was
falling water. Somewhere on the other side of those trees was what sounded
like a small waterfall.
He walked Jersey deeper into the trees and when they suddenly opened
into a wide clearing, he had a geological surprise. There was a small ridge
hidden behind the trees that couldn’t be seen from the open ground. He
guessed that it was the lower end of the mountains that made up the pass
that he’d crossed on his way to Miles City. Here the ridge was about fifty
feet high, and the source of the noise was obvious.
The creek that he had seen running across the eastern edge of his
property was the continuation of another creek that left the top of the ridge
and cascaded into a deep pool. The creek then turned south and ran the
entire length of his property and disappeared into the distance.
He let the horses drink as he stayed in the saddle and scanned the hidden
area, knowing that this was a perfect spot for his camp. There was plenty of
grass for them now, but he’d have to bring in some hay before autumn
arrived. But that was months away. There was a natural windbreak here
between the thick forest and the ridge, too.
He set up his tent then began bringing his tools inside to protect them
from the morning dew. Then he moved his food into the tent as well as his
personal items, including his beloved weapons. The tent proved to be much
larger than he expected, and there was still plenty of room for him to be
comfortable inside. But he still thought about buying a second tent for his
supplies and tools. Rolling over in the middle of the night onto an axe head
wasn’t a comfortable thought.
After unsaddling the two geldings, he attached long tie ropes so they
could graze on the abundant grass and reach a small stream. Then set about
finishing his camp before the sun set.
He dug a pit at the base of the ridge with his new spade, filled it with
kindling and found lots of fallen dry branches nearby for firewood. He was
almost giddy with his discovery of the location with lots of wood, and even
more privacy. Then there was that incredible waterfall and pool. To own a
square mile of such beautiful land was almost enough to make a grown man
cry, but not quite.
Just ten minutes after creating his fire pit, dancing flames were licking
the small circle of rocks. Ben stood and scanned the hidden clearing and
thought it would be a good place to build his cabin but reserved his final
decision. It was still his first day and he hadn’t even fully explored the
property.
He was soon sitting on his heels before the fire with skillet of beans and
bacon bubbling in front of him. What was even better was the steaming pot
of fresh coffee that sat nearby. He’d already had his first cup as he cooked
and delayed his refill until his dinner was ready.
Five minutes later, as he ate his beans and bacon, he thought that he
should buy some more tin dinnerware and other household-type items on
his next visit. He made short work of his supper then needed to clean up.
Now he had the luxury of walking just thirty feet to the pool to handle his
dishwashing chores.
After his plates and utensils were clean, Ben sat on a rock near his dying
fire with another cup of coffee in his hands and smiled. Tomorrow, he’d do
a more in-depth exploration of his new home.
_____
Charlie sat in her kitchen, staring at the pistol and thinking about the
man who had given it to her.
Why was he so nice?
  She may have acted as
if she didn’t want him to pay for the salt, but she was grateful that he had.
The flour was desperately needed, but she wished that she had baking
powder, too. The one thing she had was eggs. Eggs and the feathered
creatures that provided them. She fed them with the corn from the small
patch she had near the coops, so they wouldn’t starve, but she was at the
end of her rope. She should have accepted Bishop’s first offer, but she
despised the man. After his second, lower offer, she dug in her heels. But
now she was so isolated that she couldn’t see any path out of her disastrous
dilemma.
 CHAPTER 2
Ben awakened the next morning a happy man. He knew he still had
enough cash to last him a few years, but he’d have to figure out a source of
income sooner or later. Maybe he should start thinning the timber after all,
but not clear it as he’d seen done on his ride west. The beauty of his land
would prohibit him from doing that no matter how little money he had.
Right now, he wanted to find out more about his property, so after
stepping out of the tent and relieving his demanding bladder, he washed in
the cold creek and shaved. He restarted the fire before he heated up his
leftovers for breakfast.
After washing his dishes and extinguishing the fire, he decided he’d try
the new gelding for his survey of the property. He saddled him, sliding his
new shotgun into the scabbard. He had loaded it with bird shot in case he
saw one of the many game birds in the area, including some enormous wild
turkeys. He left his Winchester and the other guns and ammunition in a
hiding place he had found, a thin crevice that was barely visible even to
someone with his height. He had wrapped the guns in canvas and slid them
inside. He was very protective of his weapons, even though he was almost
certain that no one would be visiting him.
He mounted the gelding and began his ride of discovery. After just a
minute or so, he was surprised and pleased as the young black gelding
showed no bad tendencies at all. He was responsive to Ben’s commands and
seemed to have a huge reserve of power and stamina. The longer he was in
the saddle, the more he liked this horse and knew he deserved a good name.
He followed the creek into the southern forest and kept it to his left as he
wound the gelding through the tall pines. He knew he was leaving the
government’s section when he exited the trees, so he wasn’t surprised to see
the chicken lady’s farm in the distance.
He sat in his saddle and looked at the farm. He may have a tough, ornery
lady for a neighbor, but he wondered why she was still alone on her farm.
She may have been tall and fierce but admitted that she was still a
handsome woman. Amos had said that she wasn’t usually as angry as was
when he met her because she had a difficult time. He was also a bit curious
as to why she couldn’t afford to buy a bag of salt. She had all those
chickens and perhaps a monopoly on the egg market in town. That many
folks would be going through a lot of eggs, and she should have been
making a decent living.
As he stared at the distant ranch house, he thought he saw the chicken
lady out feeding her birds. Rather than risk having her see him, he wheeled
the gelding around and headed back into the trees.
His explorations continued for another few hours and one of his last
discoveries was almost as interesting as the waterfall and pool.
Just a few hundred feet north of the waterfall was a cave. After a careful
examination, he found to be devoid of bears. It was about thirty feet deep
and had a nice overhang. The cave was only about ten feet above the
ground and was easily spotted if you wandered by.
When he had climbed the few handholds near the cave opening to check
for residents, he noticed a few other oddities about the cave. Usually, when
you found one, there were others nearby, but this one was the only one he
found and looked as if it had just been gouged out of the face of the ridge
by a giant spoon.
He briefly thought about moving into the cave until he could build a
cabin, but it was just a passing idea. Caves make terrible homes. There’s no
ventilation for fires and critters might arrive to join him in the night…big
critters. But it would be handy in an emergency and Ben thought he should
carve some steps into the rock face to give him easier access.
He returned to his camp just as the sun reached its zenith, pleased with
everything he had seen and thought he’d celebrate with a cold beer. He
realized that he hadn’t dropped in on the sheriff yet, but now that he was a
permanent resident, he didn’t feel the need for an immediate visit.
He trotted the gelding toward the north end of town which about two
miles from the waterfall. So far, he still hadn’t had any problems with the
horse, but maybe it was lulling him into feeling relaxed before he threw
Ben into a ditch. One never knew.
He entered the town, walked the horse the two hundred yards to the Cold
City Saloon and tied him to the hitching rail not expecting to be there long.
As he entered the saloon, he was met by the usual mixed odor of bars
one could find anywhere in the West, but more noticeably in the smaller
town saloons. None of the scents were particularly pleasant.
He stepped to the bar and was met with the customary question when the
bartender asked, “What’ll you have?”
Ben grinned at the heavy-set, blue-eyed barkeep and replied, “Beer.”
“That’ll be a nickel.”
Ben slapped the coin on the bar and was soon handed a mug that
contained what could have passed for beer at some time in its life. Ben
hadn’t really expected a cold brew with a nice head, but this was at the
other end of the scale.
He took the beer to a corner table and sat with his back against the wall.
It was an old habit he’d picked up very early in his long journey westward.
He was about a third of the way to finishing the almost-beer when he
heard footsteps near the door followed by a voice he had heard before,
saying, “That’s him. Over there.”
Ben turned to the voice and saw Jasper and two companions standing
near the batwing doors. One was almost as big as he was. Jasper was in the
middle and the third was decidedly smaller. He shifted his mug handle to
his left hand, dropped his right hand to his holster and flipped off his Colt’s
hammer loop, hoping it wasn’t necessary.
He sipped the beer using his left hand as the three approached his table
then stopped and stared down at him.
“If it ain’t Mister High and Mighty,” Jasper snarled.
 Ben didn’t honor him with a response and just took another sip of his
bland, bubble-less beer.
Jasper apparently wished to be noticed and snapped, “I’m talking to you,
mister!”
Ben wondered if the dialogue would ever improve but continued to
ignore him as he kept him in his peripheral vision.
“Are you deaf or something?” Jasper practically shouted from six feet
away.
Ben finally raised his eyes and just stared at Jasper. He still said nothing
before he smiled.
The smile seemed to unsettle Jasper, probably because it was a totally
unexpected reaction to his threats.
The biggest of the three took over the verbal assault, asking, “Didn’t you
hear what Jasper said?”
Ben shifted his head slightly to stare at the speaker and continued to
smile, noticing that none of the three were packing iron. That meant they
intended their insults to lead to a brawl. A brawl they couldn’t lose. He
decided to let them spout a few more threats before he reacted.
The big man continued, saying, “You must be a moron and can’t think of
nothin’ to say.”
Finally, the small one joined their combined diatribe when he said,” I
think we oughta teach him to mind his own business.”
The words weren’t any more threatening, but when they took one small
step closer, the look of intent in their eyes told Ben that it was time. He
slowly pulled the hammer back on his Colt, letting them both hear of the
loud clicks as he locked it into its armed position. It was a quieter but much
more impressive threat than their insults.
Ben stared at Jasper, as he appeared to be their leader and said quietly,
“Now, you three boys must think I’m either really important or someone
who’s planning on leaving your friendly little town. Well, I’m neither. I’m
here to stay now and if you insist on starting trouble, let’s go outside and we
can settle this. If you’re smarter than I believe, you’ll just turn around and
head back through those doors. I’ll be leaving here in about ten minutes,
and I’d like to leave quietly. Whether I do or not will be your choice.”
Since hearing the Colt issue its warning, any thoughts of beating the
stranger evaporated and Jasper fell back to familiar territory.
He put his palms out before him and said, “Mister, we was just funnin’
with ya. There ain’t no need to get riled.”
Before Ben could reply, they quickly turned and exited the bar, keeping
an eye on Ben as they did. After they disappeared, Ben lowered the hammer
on the Colt, but kept the hammer loop off after he’d slid it home. He pushed
back his chair then walked to the entrance, stopped about six feet away and
looked to see if they were waiting outside. He didn’t see them, but that
didn’t mean they weren’t there. They could be hiding on both sides of the
batwing doors waiting to jump him. None of them impressed Ben as being
overly smart.
He turned and stepped across the floor to the bartender and asked, “Do
you have a back door?”
The bartender grinned at him, pointed at a door behind the far end of the
bar and said, “Through there. That was a good play.”
“I hate to cause trouble, but those three seemed to want to start
something and I’d rather have to shoot any of them just to prove a point.
Besides, I’d mess up your place.”
The bartender snickered before Ben gave him a short wave then strode to
the back door. He opened it to the alley, then glanced both directions before
exiting. He turned left and walked to the end of the saloon, turned left again
between the two buildings and approached the street. He looked both ways
again and didn’t see anyone, so maybe they were smarter than he had
expected after all. Not a lot smarter, but not quite so stupid.
Not wanting to face a man with a cocked Colt when you were unarmed
didn’t take a lot of brain power. He stepped out and headed for his unnamed
gelding. All his gear was still there, including the shotgun, so that was a
plus.
As he untied his horse, he wondered if the bartender would give him a
cold beer the next time he visited. He’d wasn’t sure if he wanted to waste
another nickel just to find out.
He mounted and turned the horse north, walking him at a steady pace,
while keeping an eye out for an ambush. More than likely, they were just
bored and wanted to annoy him. But still having three bored men who had
just been emasculated meant he’d have to keep his guard up.
He returned to his camp just twenty minutes later, dismounted and
unsaddled the black gelding. After storing his tack, he started adding his
improvements while he had the light and the time. He knew that the ridge
was mostly on his property, so he could use it as the back wall if he wanted
to save construction time on his cabin.
Today, he’d just built a higher rock wall around his fire pit. That way he
could have a fire that no one would see from a hundred yards, even if they
knew he was on the other side of the tree line. He removed his weapons
from the rock safe and thought about using the cave as a backup location. If
he did, he’d want to buy another Winchester.
When his rock wall around his firepit was more than a foot high, he
made his dinner and thought about his plans for the cabin. So, as he ate, he
began to draw out his plans in the dirt using a stick. It was only a crude
drawing to give him an idea of what he’d need.
After he had finished eating and had cleaned up the plates and pans, he
thought about what he would be doing tomorrow. He still needed a few
more things that he had overlooked in his visits to the hardware and Amos’
store. He was getting low on soap, and now he had a steady supply of water
of his own, he could bathe more frequently. He also needed some more
shirts, pants and socks. He should get some work boots too and might as
well buy a couple of more union suits. He just hoped Amos had the shirts
and pants in his size.
When he shopped tomorrow, he’d spend more time perusing the aisles to
tweak his memory.
 _____
The next morning found Ben atop Jersey, so he didn’t feel neglected and
start sulking, as he headed into town to get what he needed. What he
discovered that he needed almost urgently was eggs and wondered how he
had missed buying them in the first place. Obviously, there should be plenty
available judging by the size of the chicken lady’s flock, but he didn’t recall
seeing any on display in the store or he would have picked them up on the
first trip.
He reached the town fifteen minutes later, dismounted and tied off Jersey
at the hitchrail. He hopped onto the boardwalk and entered the doorway
finding Amos stocking shelves.
He grinned at Amos and said, “Morning, Amos. I forgot some stuff and
figured I’d pick up some more clothes, too. You have anything in my size?”
“I should, follow me to the back,” he replied as he pushed the tin of peas
onto the shelf.
Amos led Ben to the clothing aisle. While Ben told him what he wanted,
Amos pulled them off shelves. Ben was pleasantly surprised when Amos
found shirts his size. He was so impressed that he added four, figuring he
was going to be rough on clothes for a while. He found two pairs of denim
pants that were a bit tight, but they’d stretch, then added some tough work
boots and socks and finally the union suits. He almost forgot the soap, so he
added six bars of white soap and six of the stronger lye bars then carried the
items to the counter. After he set them down, he looked around for the eggs
but didn’t find any.
As Amos stepped behind the counter to start computing his bill, Ben
asked, “Where are you keeping the eggs, Amos? I sure could use some.”
Amos grimaced before he replied, “Sorry, Ben. I just don’t have any.”
His answer and the look on his face both surprised Ben as he asked,
“Really? With that chicken lady just outside of town, I’m kind of surprised.
I would have thought she’d keep the whole town stocked.”
 Amos shook his head but didn’t clarify the reason as he replied, “It’s a
long story. Your total is $23.22.”
Ben paid for his order then thanked Amos, took his heavy sacks out
front, loaded them onto Jersey and mounted.
He was going to turn back north when he figured he’d go straight to the
source for his eggs. She might bite his head off, but he’d really like some
eggs for breakfast. His curiosity was more than just mildly aroused about
the reason for those eggs to be staying a couple of miles north of the town
and not in the store.
He also hated to admit it, but he wanted to see if Amos was right about
Charlie not being so angry all the time and hoped that she wasn’t.
He rode south until he hit the edge of town and then turned east, already
spotting the farmhouse in the distance. As he rode, he examined the setup
more closely. The house itself was small and needed a coat of whitewash.
As he drew closer, he could tell that other necessary repairs were being
neglected. But the grounds were neatly maintained, so the house didn’t
appear to be squalid. It appeared that Charlie couldn’t afford to make the
fixes it needed. That made sense considering she couldn’t afford the salt.
He reached the house and was preparing to loudly announce his arrival
and ask permission to dismount when the door opened. His hopes that the
chicken lady would be more pleasant were shattered when an apparently
still angry Charlie stepped out and glared at him.
She snapped, “What are you doing here?”
Ben still managed a smile as he said, “Ma’am, I was just down at Amos’
place to pick up some supplies. And for some odd reason, he couldn’t sell
me any eggs. Now, I know you’ve got a bunch of chickens in back, so I
thought I’d stop by and see if I could buy a couple of dozen.”
Charlie’s face went from angry to placid in a heartbeat before she quietly
asked, “You want to buy some eggs?”
Ben was relieved as he replied, “If it’s not too much trouble, ma’am.”
“Go ahead and step down. Then come inside.”
 Ben dismounted, the mystery of the eggs growing larger after having
seen her almost shocked reaction when he asked if he could buy some eggs.
What in tarnation is going on?
 
He tied off Jersey, then walked behind her as she entered the house. He
closed the door behind him, uncertain if it was proper as she was living
alone. The house was Spartan inside, but clean. She led him into the kitchen
where he noticed the scarcity of foodstuff.
“You say you wanted two dozen?” she asked as she turned and looked at
him.
“Thereabouts. I haven’t had any eggs for a month now, so I’ll probably
make short work of them.”
“Okay,” she replied as she began moving eggs from a large basket into a
smaller basket until it was almost full. Then she closed the basket and
handed it to him.
“That’ll be thirty cents, and I need the basket back when you’re
finished.”
“You’re undercharging, ma’am,” he said before he handed her a silver
dollar.
He picked up the basket and said, “I appreciate it, ma’am. This makes
my day.”
Charlie stared at the large silver coin in her fingers and quietly said, “I
don’t have any change for this.”
“Well, ma’am, just put it on my account. I’ll be needing more in a couple
of weeks, if not sooner.”
Charlie looked up at him with her big brown eyes and said, “I thought
you were just passing through.”
Ben was startled by those big eyes, so he paused before replying,
“Things change, ma’am. That was my original intention, but I was
impressed with the beauty of the landscape and bought some land north of
town. So, I’ll be stopping by for some eggs from time to time if that’s
alright. Unless you’d rather I buy them from Amos.”
“They don’t buy my eggs anymore, so your business is appreciated.”
“Well, I’ll be a loyal customer, ma’am,” Ben replied as he smiled at her.
Then Charlie surprised him again when she offered her hand. After a
couple of seconds, he grasped it and was surprised at the strength he felt. As
he shook her hand, he continued to look into those expressive brown eyes.
He was glad to notice that the anger was gone but it had been replaced by
troubled emotions. He saw pain, shame and an all-encompassing loneliness.
“Thank you for stopping by,” she said softly.
Ben released her hand then tipped his hat, turned and walked out of the
house carrying his eggs. Charlie followed him to his horse then stood at the
front of the house with her arms crossed as she watched him mount,
balancing the basket of eggs as he did.
Ben knew she was there watching him, but just as he reached for his
reins, Jersey looked at her and whickered. That surprised Ben as the horse
didn’t do that for anyone. Maybe Jersey had an eye for Charlie because of
her big brown eyes. He smiled and nodded to her then, before he started to
turn Jersey, he saw her wave.
Ben skipped the town and rode due north to his property, having to cross
through the trees that made up her northern border and what he considered
his southern border, although it was still property of the United States
government. Once he had told her that he was buying eggs, the visit was
much more pleasant than he expected. But he still wondered why Amos
didn’t buy her eggs. Maybe he should have stayed longer and asked her.
_____
Back at the chicken ranch, Charlie had watched him until he disappeared
into the trees then returned to her house, walked into the kitchen and sat
down. She picked up the silver dollar the stranger had given her and stared
at it. She had even forgotten to introduce herself or ask his name. She
believed that she had been rude, but she was so used to hostility from
everyone that she had forgotten what it was like to be pleasant.
Then there was that brief moment when she shook his hand. She had
seen something in his eyes that had startled her because she almost didn’t
understand it at first. When she did realize what it was, she had been
surprised to discover it in the eyes of such a hard-looking man. What she
had recognized was tenderness and understanding. They were emotions that
she couldn’t recall seeing in anyone’s eyes for a long time. All she received
now were stares filled with anger and suspicion.
She knew that even with the infusion of this unexpected bounty, she
couldn’t last much longer. She was tired and so terribly lonely.
She studied the silver dollar in her hand, the most money she had held in
over six months. She then closed her fingers onto the large coin, clutched it
to her chest and began to cry.
_____
Ben arrived back at his camp before noon, and although he knew it was
lunchtime, he couldn’t wait to have some eggs. He started his fire and soon
had some bacon sizzling in the frypan. After he pulled the cooked bacon
from the pan and laid them on his tin plate, he cracked open a half dozen
eggs into the popping grease. He sprinkled some salt on the eggs and
wished he had some pepper to add to his tantalizing meal.
He mentally added a pepper mill and some peppercorns on his list of
supplies for his next trip. Now that he didn’t have to worry about the added
bulk in his pack, he could afford the luxury. He was staying in one spot
now, and he was staying on his land.
When they were ready, he devoured the eggs so quickly that as soon as
he finished, he released an enormous belch, startling both of his nearby
horses. He grinned and was happy with his perfect breakfast/lunch.
That afternoon, Ben began cutting down trees for his cabin. He already
had the lengths of the logs set in his head. He’d built one of the log
structures before under the tutelage of someone who had built three. But
this one was going to be his, and he wanted it to be perfect. He debated
about building a small cabin first and then adding on later but decided
because the logs were going to be fairly long anyway, he’d make a slightly
larger cabin. Besides, he had his large tent to keep him warm over the still
cool nights and ensure that he stayed dry during the spring rains.
He had the big, double-edge axe slashing into the pines with serious
intent soon after the belched completion of his meal. By mid-afternoon, he
had downed sixteen trees, all close in diameter. He had expected to have
more problems with his muscles and joints than he had, and assumed it was
because he’d done so much hard labor over the past thirteen years.
After the trees were down, he cut the logs to fourteen-foot lengths, so he
could get more than one log per tree. He used a knotted piece of rope to
make sure they were the correct length. He might have wanted a bit more
length but wasn’t sure he could manhandle a longer log. As it was, the
fourteen-foot logs were going to be a load. He’d need to use leverage and
his brain as much as his considerable muscle. He’d put his two horses to
work, too.
As the sun set, he was in the deep pool, washing with the white soap and
finally feeling the effects of the hard work. But despite his aching muscles,
he didn’t give a thought to taking a break. He’d be hard at work after a large
egg breakfast.
_____
Early the next morning, after his morning ablutions and the self-awarded
egg breakfast, the first thing he did was to strip the trees of their branches
and leave them nearby to season for firewood.
Once the branches were stripped, he dug trenches for the base logs and
rolled them into place. He cut out the notches for fitting them together and
used a basic pulley system for lifting them into place. It was surprisingly
easy once he got the knack of it, and before the day was over, he had all
four walls three logs high, including joists laid across the first logs for a
floor.
The second seemingly longer day of hard work and lifting made him
added to his aches and soreness in places he didn’t even know existed, but
he wasn’t about to slow down.
 When he knew he was done for the day, Ben decided he’d take a ride
south soon.
He still had plenty of eggs but already wanted to visit the chicken lady.
They called her Charlie but figured her real name was Charlotte. It could be
Charlene but thought Charlotte suited her better. He just couldn’t come up
with an excuse for the visit, but he did want to learn why no one bought her
eggs or chickens.
His sudden desire to see her so soon again had surprised him. She hadn’t
been overly pleasant to him, but he could see something in her eyes that
spoke to him. Maybe he was just getting sentimental in his advancing age.
He’d be forty in six more years, and the number alone sounded old. But
when he had seen the loneliness in those remarkable brown eyes, he felt an
almost urgent need to help her. At least that’s the excuse he gave himself,
not admitting that he was already attracted to her.
He went down to the pool and took a cold bath again, feeling even better
after the second day of work. He made his dinner, including more eggs of
course. When he’d finished eating and cleaning, he entered his tent and
turned in, still thinking about Charlie.
_____
Charlie had used her silver dollar to buy baking powder, more flour and
what she considered extravagances, coffee and some sugar. Amos hadn’t
asked where she had gotten the money. She didn’t care if he suspected that
she was prostituting herself, even though she was confident that he
wouldn’t think such things.
She still liked Amos even though he had succumbed to the pressure from
the mayor and the sheriff and stopped buying her eggs and chickens. She
assumed that the sheriff had somehow just discovered Amos had been
giving her credit which was why he hadn’t allowed her to buy the salt. She
smiled when she remembered the stranger’s sudden intervention.
As she carried her purchases back to her house, her mind was focused on
the stranger who had bought the eggs. She supposed that she should have
explained to him why no one would buy her eggs or chickens. But she was
concerned if she had, it might get him into trouble in town, so she hadn’t
told him. She wasn’t sure if she’d tell him on his next visit or not. She just
wanted him to return, whether he bought more eggs or not. She just didn’t
expect to see him for another two weeks. Nobody ate that many eggs except
for her and she was tired of eating eggs.
_____
Over the next eight days, Ben cut and rolled the logs and stacked them
into position. He had cut out window and the door openings and framed
them with some smaller logs he had split and cut with the axe. He used the
pickaxe to smooth the homemade boards as much as he could but should
have bought a plane.
He created the fireplace using rocks scattered all along the creek near the
ridge and used a homemade mortar to keep them in place. He had backed
the chimney against the ridge where there should be little wind.
Finally, he started on the roof which he knew would be dangerous and
time consuming. It took almost as long to get the roof built as the rest of the
house, as he split logs and laid them inro place. The cabin still needed a
door and a window, and he had to still seal the roof, but the cabin was now
habitable. He knew that it would have been much easier if he just bought
boards and lumber from the sawmill southwest of town, but he wanted to do
this himself. He’d probably start buying lumber but would need a wagon
first.
_____
After breakfast the next morning, he smiled when he noticed that the
eggs were gone. He needed to go to town and pick up a plane and a
hammer, some nails and some hinges anyway, then he’d visit Charlie.
Ben saddled Jersey, then mounted and headed south to the town at a
medium trot. He was wearing one of his new shirts and denim pants and felt
better than a man his age should feel after the decades of hard work. But
maybe it was because of all that hard work that he felt so good. The
exercise in building the cabin had restored him to an even higher level of
fitness. His muscular arms resembled those of a blacksmith, but he hadn’t
noticed the change himself. He’d only been hard at work for a couple of
weeks. He had a lot left to do and had already decided that the flooring
should be laid using finished boards from the lumber yard. He didn’t think
he could get his split logs smooth enough even after a lot of work.
He reached town just fifteen minutes later, walked into the hardware
store where he was greeted by Will, who asked, “Just remembering more
things that you needed as you go along?”
Ben grinned back as he replied, “That’s it. I need a good-sized plane, a
hammer and nails. Then I have to buy three large hinges, a dozen smaller
hinges and some screws and a screwdriver. Give me a hatchet, too.
Sometimes the axe is just too big.”
“That’s the truth.”
Will put together his order, returning the items to his heavy, gouged
counter. This time it was nothing overly heavy, except the small cask of
nails, which balanced out all the other tools nicely as they were hung over
Jersey’s back behind the saddle.
Ben tied them down so they wouldn’t swing and began thinking of
buying Abe’s mare to use as a packhorse.
Once everything was loaded, Ben mounted, waved to Will and turned
Jersey south. After he left town, he’d turn east and soon visit the chicken
lady, or more correctly, Charlotte. He supposed that her name could still be
Charlene, but those eyes told him she was a Charlotte, which made no sense
at all.
Ben reached the edge of town, and as he turned Jersey toward the east,
he spotted the same three clowns who had harassed him in the saloon. They
were mounted this time and were about eight hundred yards ahead of him.
Their only possible destination was Charlotte’s house. The biggest one had
already pulled a rifle from his scabbard which surprised him. They weren’t
going to just harass Charlotte, whatever they were planning to do was
serious. After recalling Jasper’s insults when he first me her, he was certain
that he understood their purpose. He wasn’t about to let that happen. He
hoped that she’d hear them coming and greet them with the Colt New Army
he’d given to her.
 He picked up the pace and followed. While he still believed that their
motive was what he’d originally believed, Ben began to wonder if it had
something that tied into the reason the town didn’t buy her eggs. But
regardless of their purpose, he’d make them regret the attempt.
Ben was gaining on them but not as fast as he could as he didn’t want to
spook them. They probably wouldn’t hear him over their own horses
anyway, but he wanted to get closer.
As they approached the chicken farm, he was about three hundred yards
behind them when he saw the big man with the Winchester point as he
instructed his pals. When they each separated to encircle the house, Ben
thought it looked almost like a military operation. When the one in front of
the house was close, he stepped down while Ben was less than a hundred
yards away.
Ben slowed Jersey to a walk as he pulled his Winchester out of his
scabbard and cocked the hammer. As his gelding continued toward the
house at a slow walk, he still with no idea of what to expect.
The big man walked toward the front door and was just twenty feet away
when Charlotte suddenly stepped out with her new Colt in her hand.
“Stop right there!” she shouted as she brought the pistol to bear.
She was concentrating on the man right in front of her and hadn’t seen
Ben, who was off to her left. Ben was glad to see that she had the pistol but
could already see that the hammer wasn’t cocked. He suspected that the
other two would soon appear from behind her, too. He was still slowly
approaching the house with his eyes fixed on the man with the repeater. If
he started bringing the stock to his shoulder, Ben would kill him.
The big man held up his left hand and pointed the Winchester skyward,
acting as if he was surrendering.
Ben may have suspected that the other two were already in her house but
didn’t think they were so close.
Suddenly, Jasper stepped out of the front door behind her and knocked
her down, sending the Colt flying from her hand. He quickly had her pinned
to the ground, and at first, Ben thought they were going to rape her. But
even as he brought his Winchester level and prepared to fire, he realized
that wasn’t their intention. They seemed to have other intentions, so he
quickly released the repeater’s hammer, slipped it into its scabbard and
pulled his Colt.
The smallest man appeared from the doorway and grabbed her Colt from
the ground, and Ben knew it was time to let them know he was there.
Ben dismounted, cocked the pistol’s hammer then quickly walked the
thirty yards to the house without any of them even looking in his direction
as they were trussing Charlie’s wrists behind her.
She glared at them defiantly and screamed, “You bastards! Let me go!
Get off my land!”
The big man just snarled, “Charlie, you just say your prayers. We’re
going for a ride.”
Ben had heard more than enough and set his sights on the big man’s
back.
He shouted, “Drop it! I really want to put a .44 right through your thick
skull, so don’t tempt me. All of you step over here. Now!”
They were all startled and turned to face him. Ben immediately read
their eyes and could almost see their brains spinning as they tried to come
up with a defense, especially the little man who had Charlotte’s Colt.
Ben didn’t shout or even speak loudly, but cold, chilling voice said,
“Don’t even think about it. I’m damned good with my Colt, so just drop the
Winchester and the Colt. I’ll give you three seconds to comply before I pull
the trigger.”
Their brains immediately stopped whirring as the Winchester and his old
Colt dropped to the dirt.
Ben then said, “Now, all of you, step over here.”
They walked closer to Ben, and when they were ten feet away, Ben
growled, “Stop right there. Now what was this all about?”
 Jasper replied, “It’s none of your business, mister. You should just get on
that horse and head west like you said you were gonna do. You don’t know
what you’re messin’ with.”
Ben wondered if this guy read too many dime novels, then doubted that
any of them could read anyway.
“As you’re not in a talking mood, I want you all to get on your horses,
ride out of here and I don’t want to see your faces again. I’m not a forgiving
man.”
“What about my Winchester?” asked the big one.
Ben replied, “That is now the lady’s rifle. So, if you’re stupid enough to
bother her again, she can shoot you from a hundred yards away. Now get
moving!”
They scowled at Ben as they sullenly walked past his Colt’s muzzle.
They mounted their horses, then wheeled them around and returned to
Miles City.
Ben kept his eyes on them until they were almost to the town before he
took out his knife and walked to where Charlie was on the ground. She
hadn’t said a word since they left.
She was still just staring at him as he dropped to his heels and cut the
leather bindings around her wrists. She began rubbed her wrists, then stood
as Ben took two steps away and picked up the Colt and the Winchester. He
checked to make sure the Colt was clean after hitting the dirt. It was okay
except for some surface dust, then he checked the Winchester. It needed a
good cleaning but looked serviceable.
She was still staring at him as he returned, dropped the Colt into her
holster and handed her the Winchester.
He looked into those big brown eyes and asked, “Are you alright,
ma’am? What was that all about?”
Charlie blinked then replied, “I believe it was just an escalation. But
thank you for coming when you did. How did you know?”
 Ben shrugged and replied, “I didn’t know they were coming. I I was out
of eggs.”
Charlie looked at his eyes, then after a short pause, she laughed.
Ben was surprised at her reaction as she had just been on the ground with
her hands behind her back and was probably slated for death and whatever
else those three might have planned to do. Yet she still had a strong
character and good sense of humor that allowed her to appreciate the need
for eggs that had prompted his fortuitous arrival.
He was now even more curious to know the reason that she was being
shunned by the community. She was obviously so unwanted that they
seemed to believe it was acceptable to just kill her. He doubted if that trio of
idiots were operating on their own. He hadn’t met the sheriff yet, but now
believed it was a priority.
She said, “Come inside and we’ll talk,” then turned toward the front
door.
Ben walked behind her and said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
Without turning around, she said, “Stop calling me ma’am. Everybody
calls me Charlie.”
“Well, just because everyone calls you that doesn’t mean it’s your name.
Would I be wrong in guessing that your name is Charlotte?”
“No, you’d be correct; But I always wear men’s britches and shirts and
wear my hair long, so they all call me either Charlie or Chicken Charlie.”
“Personally, I never could figure out why womenfolk wore dresses in the
first place. They get in the way and don’t keep your legs warm. I don’t see
anything wrong with your choice of wardrobe, Charlotte.”
Charlotte felt strange being called by her real name for the first time in
six years but was pleased when she felt a warm flush after hearing him use
it.
“I never did get your name,” she said as they entered the kitchen.
 “I’m sorry for failing to introduce myself. My name’s Ben Arden.”
She laid the guns on the small kitchen table and said, “I was expecting to
see you earlier, Ben, considering how you talked about eggs.”
“I actually wanted to come and visit earlier, but I got caught up in
building my cabin. It’s almost done now, but I needed to go to town to pick
up more tools and materials.”
“You built a cabin in two weeks?” she asked in surprise as she sat down.
“It’s not that big, but it’s well built and will keep me warm in the
winter.”
“I am impressed, Ben. Please have a seat.”
Ben sat down, smiled at her and said, “You should visit some time and
see it. All you need to do is follow the stream north to find it. I still need to
seal the roof. I’ll use pine tar for that. Then I need to build a door and a
couple of shutters for the windows. After that I need to build some
furniture. Not much, just a bed and a table and chairs at first.”
Charlotte felt a surprising rush when he mentioned that he was building a
bed before she replied, “Maybe I will stop by one of these days.”
Ben then asked, “Charlotte, I don’t want to appear to be prying, but why
doesn’t Amos buy your eggs? Does it have something to do with those three
who were here to do you harm?”
Charlotte sighed and replied, “Up until a few months ago, I would sell
eggs and chickens in town. It was my livelihood. Suddenly, no one would
buy from me at all. No one. I had no idea where they could even get enough
eggs to keep the town going. But once that happened, other things followed.
I was always running a bit close on finances. But with nothing to sell, I had
to start buying on credit at Amos’ store and it was embarrassing. Then
about two weeks ago, even that stopped.”
“Can I ask you a somewhat personal question? How much of a bill did
you have when he cut you off?”
“A little over twenty dollars.”
 “That doesn’t seem high enough to stop credit. I have a feeling that’s
why he felt guilty about it. So, what else did they do?”
“Well, it seemed that the whole town suddenly just cut me off. I don’t
understand why. I didn’t do anything that could reach that level of universal
punishment. It just happened. Did you still want your eggs?”
“Of course, I do. Maybe, I should only buy a dozen at a time.”
“Why? Did you suddenly lose your taste for eggs?”
“Oh, no! Not at all. It would just give me an excuse for visiting more
often. I hope that doesn’t sound too forward or anything.”
Ben’s reply was something that she hadn’t expected, especially
considering the circumstances. But at the same time, she almost desperately
wanted him to visit but found it hard to believe that he even considered it.
“Let’s be serious, Ben. I’m not what men like in a woman. I’m honest
about myself and know what I am. The women in town can’t stand the sight
of me. They see me with my hair down my back wearing britches and a
man’s shirt and work boots and stick their noses in the air and don’t even
acknowledge that I’m there.”
Ben smiled and said, “Maybe they’re jealous. They need to go around
wearing bustles on their behinds thinking it enhances what they probably
already have in abundance. They spend an hour a day getting their hair into
those grotesque buns and knots and then they put on a few pounds of
makeup so they can convince the men folk that they’re pretty. But you don’t
have to do any of that. I tell you Charlotte, they’re all just jealous.”
She laughed and said, “Well, at least I don’t pretend I’m pretty.”
“Of course, you don’t. There’s no need to pretend to be what you already
are.”
“You must be joking. Are you going to sit there straight-faced and tell
me that you think I’m pretty?”
“Charlotte, you’re a lot closer to being pretty than I am to being
handsome.”
 She laughed. When she did, Ben saw the remarkable change in her
appearance that made pretty seem so cheap and unfair.
She had barely finished laughing when Ben said, “Now, see? There you
go making me out to be a liar.”
“How did I make you into a liar? I thought you were lying in the first
place when you said I was pretty.”
“When I first saw you at the store, I thought that you were a good-
looking woman even with your angry face. But when you weren’t mad, I
thought you were pretty. But when I saw you laugh, my opinion changed.
I’ll tell you honestly that you are beyond just being a pretty woman. I think
you’re beautiful.”
Charlotte was beyond being stunned. No one had ever told her that and
meant it. Yet when she looked into his eyes, she believed that he did mean
it.
But she still said, “You can’t be serious.”
“Sorry, ma’am, but that’s what I see. You may not share that opinion, but
it doesn’t matter. It’s mine and I’m sticking with it. Now, as much as I’d
like to talk about you, I’m much more concerned about what those bastards
said as much as what they did. Charlotte, it sounded as if they were going to
take you into those trees and kill you. Did you understand that when the big
one threatened you?”
Charlotte thought that they had intended to rape her. As horrible as it
would have been, the thought of being murdered after they raped her send a
chill up her spine.
She quietly said, “I thought they were planning to rape me. I was too
angry to pay attention. What did they say that made you believe they were
going to murder me?”
“The big one said for you to say your prayers and you were going for a
ride. Now, to me, that meant you were going on a one-way trip.”
Charlotte suddenly realized that he was right, and the thought made her
shiver.
 She wrapped her arms around herself as she whispered, “My God! They
were going to kill me!”
Ben wished he could comfort her but needed to understand why they
were going to such lengths.
He asked, “Have they ever threatened you before?”
Charlotte still had her arms wrapped around herself but had stopped
shaking as she replied, “Nothing serious. Just mean comment and insults
like the one you witnessed when you first saw me in Amos’ store.”
Ben grew even more worried because she hadn’t expected it, so she
might not know the reason why they had planned to kill her.
“So, you have no idea why all this is happening?”
She shook her head and replied, “No one will tell me.”
“Okay. I’m going to go and do some questioning back in town and hope
to get an idea what’s behind this. I’ll return to let you know what I discover.
Then I’ll pick up my eggs. Okay?”
“That’s fine. How many do you want?”
“Can you give me about eighteen? That should satisfy both of my needs.
One for the eggs and the other to make another return visit. One of these
days, I think I’ll start adding chicken to my diet, too.”
Charlotte smiled and said, “Eggs and chicken have been almost my
entire diet for the past six months.”
“We’ll have to change that, Charlotte,” Ben said as he looked into those
enormous brown eyes.
They stayed looking at each other for almost thirty seconds before Ben
blinked and said, “I won’t be gone very long, Charlotte. I’ll keep an eye out
to make sure no one else comes this way. Okay?”
Charlotte was still in fantasyland as he finished. Then had to recall the
rest of what he’d said before she just nodded.
 Ben smiled, then stood and walked out of the kitchen leaving a still
stunned Charlotte at the kitchen table. But as soon as he left the room, she
popped to her feet and walked quickly to the front room.
Ben mounted Jersey, then waved at Charlotte who had just appeared on
the porch.
Charlotte waved back and stayed in place as she watched him ride
toward the town. She hoped he’d be back soon. The horrible vision of what
those three were going to do to her made her realize that she still would
need to protect herself even more. She could carry the gun but didn’t know
how to use it, yet now she knew someone who could show her. She’d ask
and was confident that he would be more than willing to teach her. And she
would learn a lot more than learning to shoot from Ben Arden.
As she turned to go back into the house, she suddenly realized that, for
all practical purposes, Ben Arden had just called on her. And as incredible
as it seemed, he really thought she was pretty, or even beautiful. She may
not believe him, but she still smiled. This almost fatal day might turn into
one of the best days of her life.
_____
Ben decided he’d head for the sheriff’s office first and see what to make
of all this. He hadn’t met the man, but if he allowed idiots like those three to
run loose in his town without any hindrance, then maybe he was part of the
problem and not the solution. He’d know shortly.
As he approached the jail, he noticed three familiar looking horses out
front. Before he even reached the sheriff’s office, he decided that the sheriff
was part of the problem.
He pulled Jersey to a stop before the set of hitching rails two buildings
away and stepped down. After tying a loose knot to hold his horse in place,
Ben took his Winchester from its scabbard and stepped onto the boardwalk.
He blew out his breath then walked to the jail, opened the door and entered.
As he had expected, the three jerks who had harassed Charlotte were
jabbering away at the round man behind the desk. When Ben entered, they
all swiveled their heads and almost as a chorus line of showgirls they
pointed and exclaimed, “That’s him, Jerome!”
Ben had to keep from laughing. He knew this had the potential to be a
bad situation, but it was funny. The fact that they called the sheriff by his
Christian name added to his conviction that he was their protector.
“Now, settle down, boys. I’ll handle this,” said Jerome the Sheriff.
It only took ten seconds for Ben’s evaluation to be proven accurate.
Lawmen tended to fall into at least one of three categories. The real
lawman, the bought and sold lawman, and the ‘what am I doing here’
lawman. Jerome impressed Ben as being card-carrying members in both of
the two less desirable classes.
The sheriff looked at Ben and said, “Mister, you’re a stranger here, so
maybe you didn’t know any better. But you already stepped over the line by
taking Pete’s Winchester. Now if that’s his rifle in your hand, you can get
off by just returning it to him.”
Ben looked back at the sheriff’s almost vacant eyes and replied, “Well,
Sheriff, you got one thing right, sort of. I was a stranger here, but I’m a
resident now. I was just leaving the hardware store and was heading to get
some eggs when I noticed these three brave young men riding east in front
of me. As I arrived, they assaulted the lady on her own property.
“That means that they’re the ones who should be in jail. They trespassed
on her property, assaulted her, tied her up, and then they tried to steal her
property, namely a Colt New Army revolver. Those crimes would all add to
quite a bit of prison time and are really close to being hanging offenses, but
that’s your call.
“As far as that Winchester goes, I awarded that weapon to the lady rather
than filing criminal charges against these three upstanding gentlemen. This
is my Winchester. It’s newer and in much better condition than the other
weapon. If you need confirmation of the event in question, we can all visit
the lady and ask her version. She can press charges if she chooses.”
Sheriff Jerome snapped, “What happened at Chicken Charlie’s place is
out of my jurisdiction, so it doesn’t matter, but you took this man’s rifle and
you’re gonna face charges.”
“Sheriff Jerome,” Ben said, then paused before asking, “By the way, is
that your surname or your Christian name?”
“It’s my first name. To you, I’m Sheriff Cheatham.”
The sheriff’s last name caused Ben some difficulty as he wanted so
badly to make a crack about it that it almost hurt to hold it.
He exhaled sharply, then said, “Okay. Sheriff Cheatham, you have a
dilemma. If you claim that the event that happened at the farm was outside
of your jurisdiction, and I am not one to doubt your word, then the loss of
Mister Woman Hater’s rifle is also out of your jurisdiction. So, what’ll it
be? Either you arrest them all for the crimes I’ve listed, and he can have his
rifle back, or you let it all go.”
Jerome figured that he had talked himself into a no-win situation and
didn’t like it a bit. He liked the stranger even less, but the loss of the
Winchester was relatively unimportant.
“Alright. I’ll let it go this time. Mister. I suggest you get on your horse
and get out of my town.”
Ben said, “Well, I’ll get out of your town for the day, but I’ll be back
soon. It’s my town now because I live here, and I’ll need to pick up some
more supplies first.”
“Just get ‘em and get out,” the sheriff snapped.
Ben tipped his hat and left the office to the cacophony of three angry
yahoos whining to the sheriff about the injustice of not getting their way.
Ben walked over to Jersey, untied his reins, then quickly rode out of
town and back to his place, where he hurriedly unloaded all his new
hardware, saddled the new gelding, fixed a trail rope to Jersey, then
mounted the black gelding and headed back south.
Ben passed by the sheriff’s office, didn’t see the three horses out front
and hoped that they hadn’t gone back to visit Charlotte. He didn’t think they
would, but he needed to pick up some things, so he pulled up in front of the
dry goods store, dismounted and went inside.
“Good afternoon, Ben. Back so soon?” Amos asked.
“Well, your sheriff thinks it would be wise for me to depart your town,
which was my plan originally. But I had intended to go spend some time by
myself, so I bought a horse from Abe. I’ll need a couple of panniers and
we’ll start filling them up.”
Amos sensed a large sale and smiled as he said, “Ready when you are.”
Ben bought fifty pounds of flour, twenty pounds of coffee, twenty
pounds of sugar, a sack of oatmeal, twenty pounds of dried beans, two tins
of baking powder, a dozen tins of beans, four slabs of bacon, and some tins
of onions, tomatoes and peppers. On a whim, he added four tins of peaches.
Amos couldn’t squeeze them all into the two panniers, so he hooked a
rope between two heavy cloth bags and together they got it all onto the
gelding’s saddle. It was an awkward fit to say the least, and Ben felt poorly
for using Jersey as a pack horse. Maybe he should go back to Abe Green’s
and buy the mare.
“You should’ve got a pack saddle,” said Amos.
“This is all Abe had, but I might go and buy his mare rather than use my
friend for these kinds of loads in the future.”
When they returned to the store, Ben said, “All I need now is four more
boxes of .44 ammunition and a box of percussion caps, some .44 ball
ammunition and a bag of powder. On the peaceful side I need a pepper mill
and two tins of pepper corns.”
“You bought all that ammo before. Gonna start a war?” Amos asked
before he laughed.
“I practice a lot with my guns, so it never hurts to have too much. But it
can downright painful to have too little.”
“That’s the truth,” Amos replied before he packed the ammunition,
pepper mill and pepper into a normal-sized, but still heavy sack.
 He totaled the large order and said, “That’ll run you $36.20.”
Ben handed him two double eagles and took back his change before they
shook hands.
“I’ll be running along, Amos.”
After leaving the store, Ben quickly untied the black, mounted, then
headed south leading a heavily loaded Jersey out of town. He soon made
the left turn and headed east, anxious to see Charlotte again.
_____
Charlotte had locked the back door then stood near the front window
holding the Winchester with the pistol at her hip since Ben had gone. She’d
been anxiously watching the town waiting to see him and had expected him
to return much sooner.
She felt almost ashamed of herself because she found herself already
smitten by the man yet knew almost nothing about him. She chastised
herself for how she felt but was still excited about seeing him again that she
didn’t care if he was an escaping outlaw.
Charlotte doubted that Ben Arden was anything less than the thoughtful,
handsome and masculine man he appeared to be. Her only real question that
she wanted to know was why on earth hadn’t some other woman already
lassoed and hogtied him? She found him to be exciting and if he hadn’t told
her how pretty she was, she might have suspected that he didn’t even like
women. What made her experience desires she’d never believed possible
was that she was sure that he had already had similar feeling for her. That
was even more unbelievable.
She was close to leaving the house and walking to town when she
spotted Ben. Once she knew he was coming, she began primping as much
as she dared. It was yet another new sensation as she had never cared what
anyone thought of her before, not even her husband. She briefly toyed with
the idea of putting on her one dress, but it was just a momentary thought as
it was in such a poor state of repair. Besides, he had told her that he
preferred to see her in a shirt and her britches. She was still watching Ben
when she set the Winchester down, then tugged her shirt to her back and
tucked it in. It wasn’t too provocative, but she hoped that Ben would notice
the change. She felt almost like a trollop but didn’t care. If it let Ben know
that she was all woman, then it was worthwhile.
When he was about four hundred yards away, she exited the house with
the Winchester, but felt like a schoolgirl as she stepped onto the porch and
watched him draw closer. She didn’t throw her shoulders back to enhance
the effect of her shirt modification because she thought it might be going
too far. Besides, she wasn’t ashamed to admit that she believed her figure
was her best feature.
Ben saw Charlotte the moment she left the house and waved. He was
pleased to see her carrying the Winchester but there was something else
different about her that he couldn’t identify at this distance.
She returned his wave and felt a warm wave wash over her as she told
herself that she was being called on again. Charlotte smiled and wondered if
she wasn’t getting too enthused or being too forward. If she had known just
how much Ben was looking forward to seeing her again, she would have
realized that neither was true.
Ben pulled up to the hitchrail, stepped down and tossed the reins over the
top rail.
“What are you planning on doing, opening your own store?” she asked
as she smiled nervously.
Ben smiled back, suddenly noticing her much appreciated loss of its
bagginess then replied, “Just stocking up yours, Charlotte.”
“Ben, that’s too much,” she protested but not as vigorously as she tried
to make it sound.
“No, I think it’ll last you six months, and by then this should all be
over.”
“You can explain why you believe that when we go inside,” she said.
“Charlotte, did you want me to start bringing in the supplies?”
 Charlotte again thought she should protest, but when he looked at her,
even the thought of a negative reply vanished.
“That would be okay. Did you want some help?”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll bring in the first load and you’ll have to start
putting it away.”
“Okay,” Charlotte replied then walked into the house, leaving the front
door open.
He began moving the heavy loads first, lugging the two panniers into the
house and then into the kitchen where he slowly set them on the floor.
Ben asked, “Can I leave them here?”
“That’s fine,” Charlotte replied as she smiled at Ben.
He smiled back then turned to get his next load as she began unloading
the supplies and carrying them to the pantry.
When Ben reached Jersey, he tossed his saddlebags over his shoulder
and grunted as he lifted the bags, guessing that there was over two hundred
pounds of food in the bags alone.
After getting a good grasp of the heavy load, he waddled them into the
kitchen. When he set them down, there was a noticeable groan from the
floorboards.
Charlotte hurried out of the pantry and exclaimed, “My God! What do
you have in there?”
“Just regular supplies, ma’am,” he replied.
After he stood straight, he said, “Charlotte, I never did get your last
name and I was beginning to wonder if it had something to do with
chickens. You know, like Charlotte Feathers or Charlotte Cooper or
something.”
Charlotte laughed then replied, “My last name is Prescott, Ben. Now,
stop being such a smart…aleck.”
 Ben grinned and asked, “Bet that hurt your tongue; didn’t it, Charlotte?”
“What did; calling you Ben?”
“No. Calling me a smart aleck. I’ll bet it took some serious last second
tongue twisting to keep from calling me a smart ass.”
Charlotte laughed again before she said, “Yes, it did.”
She hadn’t laughed in such a long time before Ben had shown up, yet
now they seemed to erupt from her inner soul so easily.
Ben began helping to unpack the supplies as he said, “I guess that’s
alright. I tend to be one anyway, so I’m used to either the polite or impolite
versions of the well-earned moniker. There’s no reason to avoid being
yourself, unless you’re running from the law, I guess. Now let’s get the rest
of this stuff unpacked.”
Charlotte smiled at Ben before replying, “Alright.”
Ben and Charlotte began to seriously unload the bacon and beans and
other canned goods from the panniers and large sacks.  As the food came
out of the panniers and bags, Charlotte was stunned. There was enough
food here to keep her going for much longer than six months. And there
was coffee, so much coffee. She’d missed coffee almost as much as bread.
Then she saw the cans of peaches which was a real luxury item.
Charlotte finally looked at Ben and asked, “Why did you get so much
food? Are you planning on moving in with me?”
As much as he wouldn’t object, he replied, “No, Charlotte, I bought this
much because I knew that once word got out that I was helping you, I might
have been blocked from buying any more. You now have enough food to
last until I can get this sorted out.”
Charlotte realized that she had blundered and said, “I’m sorry. That was
a rude thing to ask.”
“Maybe so. But it’s understandable, too. I guess I deserve it because I
was too forward when I told you that I thought you were pretty.”
 Charlotte was suddenly horrified with the idea that her sudden protest
might have given him a totally wrong impression.
She quickly said, “No, Ben. I didn’t mean that at all. It’s just that it came
out all wrong. I very much appreciate what you told me. I was even thrilled
to believe that you would think so, much less tell me. I was just being a bit
of a smart ass myself, I guess. Please don’t think that I don’t enjoy being
with you.”
Ben looked into those brown eyes again, smiled and said, “I won’t,
Charlotte. And I’m sure that you know I enjoy spending time with you,
too.”
Charlotte breathed easier as she looked at the tin in her hand and asked,
“Why peaches? It seems a bit extravagant.”
“Just a whim. By the way, I noticed that you didn’t have a barn, but I
don’t recall if you had a corral or not. Do you have one?”
“Not any longer. I burned the wood from the corral over the winter.”
Ben didn’t ask why she didn’t just walk the half a mile to the trees and
pick up fallen limbs. He had other, more important questions to ask as he
tried to avoid focusing on her tight shirt. It was like a magnet to his eyes
and didn’t understand why she’d made the modification. He thought it had
something to do with having been held onto the ground by those three
thugs.
He asked, “Did you stable them in town? These winters are brutal on
animals who are left outside.”
Charlotte shook her head and replied, “I didn’t have any horses after the
second year.”
Ben knew she had to have been married and was going to ask about her
husband but put it off until he figured out why the town had ostracized her.
“Charlotte, there’s a reason I asked about the corral. I don’t think those
boys will be back, but I have a feeling that they’re not done. I don’t think
that were operating on their own, either. So, what I’d like to do is leave
Jersey with you. Would that work for you?”
 Charlotte smiled slightly and asked, “Jersey? You want to leave me a
cow?”
Ben laughed and replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, that does sound odd; doesn’t it?
I never did mention his name, but Jersey is my horse.”
She tilted her head and asked, “Why would you want to leave your horse
with me?”
“If someone shows up and wants to harm you, you have to run. And
you’re on foot and someone else is on a horse, you are at a decided
disadvantage. It’s safer to have the means for a quick escape. Besides, I
bought another horse yesterday and I need to give him a real workout. I
might buy a wagon and some mules for moving heavy things around,
although most of it is already done. But if I leave Jersey with you and you
feel threatened, you can ride to my place, and I’ll give you protection.”
“Ben, I haven’t ridden a horse in years.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll adjust the stirrups for you, and you can
take him for a ride later. You don’t have any place to keep him, but I’ll
leave you a rope and just let him graze. You do have a lot of grass nearby.”
Charlotte realized that Ben was right about many things and the thought
of more men coming to hurt her was terrifying. She actually began to think
about either making a genuine offer and ask him to move in or take her with
him to his new cabin. But she thought that he’d think less of her for being
so brazen. Having the horse would give her much more mobility and he did
say that she could visit. That thought made her decision to accept his horse
more agreeable.
“Okay. Thank you, Ben. I’ll take good care of him.”
Ben smiled then said, “As long as I’m talking about how you need to
protect yourself, there are a few other things that I need to explain to you,
Charlotte. When those three idiots showed up, I was watching, and
wouldn’t have let them hurt you. But I noticed that you did everything
wrong when you confronted them. If you had done things correctly, they
would never have been able to get you into that position.”
 Charlotte’s eyebrows peaked as she asked, “What do you mean? I had
my gun out and it wasn’t my bad gun, either. I don’t see how I could have
done any better.”
“You could have done a lot better. First, your hammer wasn’t cocked
which made you less of a threat. Even if they suspected that you didn’t have
the nerve to shoot them, a cocked pistol pointed a man’s face is a scary
proposition. Second, you never checked your back. You must have seen
them before you left the house, so you should have known there was more
than one. When some bad guy is showing himself in front of you and gives
up that easily, you need to realize he’d only be doing that if he knew he had
help coming around the back. And you helped them by standing in front of
an open door.
“If you had your hammer back, the guy with the rifle would have to
hesitate because all it would take is a quick pull of the trigger and he’d be
dead. You should have quickly told him to toss the rifle away. Even before
that, once you stepped out of the house, you should have stepped off to the
side, keeping a wall at your back, so they couldn’t have jumped you.”
Charlotte immediately realized how many mistakes she had made. Any
one of them could have gotten her killed if Ben hadn’t arrived. It was
almost as if she had set herself up.
“And there’s one more thing, Charlotte. You weren’t going to shoot him
and he knew it.”
Charlotte was surprised again and asked, “How do you know that? I had
my gun on him.”
“It was in your eyes. I was fifty feet away when you warned them, and I
could see it. Your eyes showed doubt, hesitancy, and even a bit of fear. Your
face may have been angry, but your eyes told the truth. To be frank, it
surprised me a bit. When I watched you face down Jasper in Amos’ store,
and when you gave me a tongue-lashing outside just a few minutes later, I
was impressed and thought to myself, ‘that woman has sand.’
“But when you were confronted with a real danger, you lost that fire in
your eyes. If you had looked at them as you stared me down that first day,
they’d know you might just plug them with that Colt. But you didn’t, and I
don’t understand why.”
Charlotte sighed then looked at her hands and said, “I don’t know why
either. I just knew I couldn’t kill anyone. I may talk like a hard woman, but
I’m not sure if I could pull the trigger even though I suspected they were
going to rape me. I just didn’t know anyone could see it.”
Then after a slight pause, she said, “I’m really confused about this whole
situation, Ben. Nobody will tell me anything, but it’s like the entire town is
trying to railroad me out of here.”
Ben nodded and said, “We’ll talk about that later. I’ll let you finish
putting away your supplies, but before I go, I’ll lead Jersey around the back
and maybe build a corral for you this week. I really need to get you trained
on how to use that Colt and the Winchester. And I need to teach you how to
handle yourself in bad situations, too. I don’t doubt you have the courage to
stand up to these people, but you need to be better prepared. And I may
have an idea why they’re all against you, too.”
Charlotte desperately wanted him to stay and not because she was afraid,
so she quickly said, “Ben, wait. Don’t go yet. Have you had lunch?”
Ben wasn’t exactly anxious to leave yet either but wanted her to ask, so
he replied, “Not yet. I’ll get something when I get back to my cabin.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows furrowed as she snapped, “You will not! You will
sit your butt down right there and I’ll fix you something. And for some
reason, it will include eggs.”
Ben laughed and replied, “I’d imagine so,” pleased to see the fire return
to her eyes.
After he sat his butt down, he watched Charlotte as she prepared the
food. His revelation as to motive had come when she’d said the town was
trying to railroad her off her ranch. He’d recalled when he’d first seen the
farm when he’d crossed over the pass and noticed the lack of survey flags.
It hadn’t made any sense, but he’d just stored the notion in the back of his
mind. It had just returned with a roar.
 Charlotte opened up her cookstove’s door, grabbed a towel and slipped a
pan of biscuits onto the cooktop. She’d baked them in anticipation of his
return, wanting to impress him with her culinary abilities. After closing the
oven door, she then put a frypan on the hot plate, cut several strips from one
of her new slabs of bacon and slid them onto the hot surface. After
removing the fried strips, she added eight eggs, scrambled them and
dumped the mass into the frypan.
As she cooked, Ben thought she wouldn’t notice as he stared at her
wardrobe alteration. He’d finally accepted the real reason she’d done it and
his mind was already fantasizing about what lay beneath that layer of
flannel. He had to look away after he found himself becoming too obsessed.
He had to control his long overdue urges.
Charlotte was well aware of his attention and found herself adding a few
unnecessary motions she knew would drive him to distraction. She was
fantasizing herself and almost burned the scrambled eggs.
When she took the heavy frypan from the stove, she put down a plate
and a mug for Ben and then began placing strips of bacon onto his plate.
“Where’s your plate?” he asked as he focused on her face.
She smiled and said, “I’ll get something later. This is for you.”
Ben pointed at her and vigorously said, “You will not! You will sit your
butt down right there and join me!”
Charlotte laughed again as Ben stared at her transformed face, seeing the
joy and deep tenderness that was behind her eyes and wondering how
anyone could not appreciate this woman.
“What are you looking at, Mister Arden?” she asked, almost
disappointed that he was gazing into her eyes.
He smiled as he replied, “I was just wondering if I had convinced you to
join me for lunch, ma’am.”
“If you insist.”
“I do.”
 Charlotte was still smiling as she grabbed a second plate and mug and
set them on the table. When she had been laughing and saw him looking
back at her, she may have been somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t
staring at her impressive bosom. But what she had noticed in his eyes was
something that was more important. It was something she never seen in any
other man’s eyes, including her husband’s. And it had thrilled her.
She doled out the scrambled eggs and placed all the bacon on his plate,
then filled both mugs with coffee.
As she sat down, she watched as Ben took half the bacon from his plate
and dropped it onto hers.
“Charlotte, I’ll bet that I’ve had a lot more bacon recently than you have.
The smell alone must have been driving your stomach crazy.”
She laughed again and replied, “I’ll admit that it smelled wonderful.”
“Now, let’s eat.”
They began to consume their eggs and bacon with a side of biscuits, all
washed down with the fresh, hot coffee.
As they ate, Ben said, “By the way, I stopped by the sheriff’s office
before leaving town. Those three were in his office and complaining
mightily about taking that one clown’s rifle. The sheriff told me that he was
going to arrest me for theft unless I gave it back. I almost laughed it was so
absurd.
But after I told him what they had been doing, he committed a tactical
error by telling me that what they did was beyond his jurisdiction. That was
a lie, because he’s a county sheriff, not a town marshal. Anyway, I told him
that he couldn’t say anything about the missing rifle because it was outside
of his jurisdiction as well. He got a bit flummoxed and ordered me out of
town.”
Charlotte laughed and said, “Sheriff Cheatham was always like that. He
picks and chooses which crimes he wants to investigate.”
Ben then said, “That’s when I got really concerned about what was
happening, Charlotte. He knew what they had done and wasn’t going to do
anything about it. He actually seemed to be trying to protect them.
“When you told me that their behavior hadn’t been violent before, I
wondered why they suddenly kicked it up a notch. All I could come up with
was that it was my arrival that caused it. But now I’m certain that it has
nothing to do with me. But I may have spurred their decision to act. I
imagine that Jasper and his cronies told someone that I came out here. They
were worried that you now had protection and that’s what made send those
three out here. I’m sorry about that, but I’m not sorry for helping you. But
that just moved up their timetable and I believe that whoever is behind this
would reach this level of violence soon. I’m just glad that I arrived when I
did.”
“I’m grateful that you did. So, tell me, Ben. What brought you here?”
“To be honest, it was just a set of circumstances. I left my family farm in
Minnesota thirteen years ago after being mustered out of the army. When I
got back, I just didn’t feel as if I belonged there anymore. I tried to fit in for
a few years, but it didn’t work, so I set out heading west. I’ve been going in
that direction ever since.”
“Why did you go west? And why did it take you so long to get here?”
“Why is a good question. I’ve been asking myself that with each step
that my horse took, and I still haven’t found the answer. The reason why it’s
taken me so long is much more understandable. When I left, all I had was
an old horse, an old Colt New Army and $34.55 cents in my pocket. I
would stop at a ranch, get a job as a cowhand and work until I felt the need
to go on. Sometimes it would only be for a few months, but the longest was
over two years. Then I’d draw my pay and move on.
“I rode on the path surveyed by the Northern Pacific. I figured they’d
know the easiest trail west. I left their end of track a few months ago, when
it was about three hundred miles east of here. But it’s probably a lot closer
now that the weather’s better. Before I tell you why I think they’ve
ostracized you, tell me about your property. When I came over the rise, it
seemed that I had to go around your farm. Is that right?”
“You would probably have had to cut through the property. My husband
was in the army and decided to homestead here. He filed on this quarter
section and built this house then began to farm. Three years ago, he had me
file on the neighboring quarter section just south of this one. I still have two
years to meet the homestead requirements on that piece and that’s going to
be difficult for me to meet them now, so I’ll probably lose it.”
“You’re obviously alone, so where’s your husband? Are you a widow or
did he desert you?”
“He deserted, but it wasn’t from me. He hadn’t really been mustered out
of the army but had deserted. About two years ago, some soldiers arrived,
took him away and the army hanged him three days later.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Ben replied, although he really wasn’t.
Charlotte shrugged and said, “It was more a marriage of convenience
anyway, and his convenience more than mine. I provided certain services
and he provided food and shelter. So, Mister Arden, can you finally tell me
why the town is treating me like this? Do they want me to leave? It sure
seems like it.”
“I don’t think it’s the town that wants you gone. I believe there are just a
few self-important men who want you to leave so they can line their own
pockets. Remember when I told you that I was following the Northern
Pacific? They’re probably about a hundred miles due east of here by now,
maybe less. The Federal government wants those railroad built out here and
knows it’s a risky proposition for the railroads. So, the cheapest way to help
them is to give the railroads a lot of land they can sell to offset their costs.
Do you know how Federal land grants work?”
“Only that they exist.”
“That’s a bit surprising because I figured that everyone who lived
anywhere near a surveyed route would know the details. Anyway, as I just
said was really a good idea to get the railroads built and populate the West
at the same time. After a railroad surveys a new route, the government gives
them great parcels of public land on either side of that route to let them
build their railroad. The Northern Pacific was given ten miles on either side
of its route through Dakota and Montana Territory, but can only sell every
other section, while the alternating sections are still public land. If you look
at a map, it looks like a long, skinny checkerboard.
 “The railroad can sell their land to finance the costs of building the
railroad, and the government offers their sections to immigrants for
homesteading, as you did. But you homesteaded before the Northern Pacific
was given the lands grants. And that, Charlotte is what I believe is behind
all this.
“Almost all of their proposed route is through unsettled land and the
surveyors just choose the easiest route to lay tracks. The only issues for the
railroad are with private property like yours. They try to avoid private
property if they can because it’s going to cost them time and money to gain
access. And you, Charlotte, are a problem to the Northern Pacific.
“That pass that I crossed to get to Miles City is the only way for the
railroad to come through and it passes right through your farm. It’s what
their surveyors chose and now that the have the land grants, they can’t go
elsewhere. They could shift it around your property, but it would be very
costly. I noticed the terrain south of the town and thought it would be
difficult. What that means is that while they have the right of way through
the entire valley, you have a mile of land that blocks the access into the
town and the rest of their route.”
Ben paused to take in a deep breath before he said, ““That’s why I’m a
bit confused that you didn’t understand what the root of your problem was.
That railroad agent should have been out here to try to get your land.
Usually, the first step is to offer you a trade for some of the land that they
were given by the government, so they don’t have to spend any cash.
“But if that fails, they’ll try to buy it from you as cheaply as possible.
I’ve heard stories of some land agents using illegal tactics to force the
person off their land. They buy it for themselves and tell the railroad that
they had to pay a lot more for the land. The railroad bosses probably just
grumble about it because it’s expected, but they’ll still pay the agent. The
agent in town impresses me as that kind of a man.”
Charlotte had been following Ben’s explanation closely, and when he
stopped, she said, “He arrived in Miles City about a year ago, but he’s only
seen me a few times and not at in the past few months. So, I thought they
weren’t interested anymore. Do you think he’s behind this?”
 “He’s the type. But he should have been pestering you more, not less.
The railroad will be here within three or four weeks. And that creates a lot
more questions for me. I’ve already met him and didn’t care for him, either.
I bought my land from him and probably overpaid a bit, but I love the
property. Has he made you an offer on your place?”
“Yes. First, he offered me a full section just to the north. It was probably
the section you own now. When I turned that down, he offered me a cash
settlement, but it wasn’t very much. Then he made another offer that was
even lower probably thinking that I’d panic. He never made another offer.”
“That’s surprising. Usually, they start with the low-ball offer, then start
raising it gradually but don’t stop until they get the property. Why didn’t
you just take the offer of my land?”
“What would I do with it? I couldn’t just leave the house and chickens
here and build a new cabin like you did. What could I do for a living? This
is all I have, Ben.”
Ben stared out the window as he thought about everything that she had
just told him, and nothing seemed right. Even if Bishop was crooked, which
Ben was sure he was, he could have made her an offer that was better. Then
there was the other method that was available to the railroad to get private
property that he hadn’t mentioned. He would have suspected that Bishop
would have threatened her with its use by now.
“Charlotte, did he ever warn you about using eminent domain to get your
farm?”
“No. I’ve never heard the term before. What is it?”
“In cases like yours where a property owner won’t sell or trade, but the
railroad really wants the land, they ask the local government to basically
take the land from the property owner and reimburse him for the land at a
fair price. It’s a long process, though. The local government has to approve
the request, and then it has to go to the territorial board for its approval.
They always approve it because they want the railroad to go through, but it
does take a while and the railroad winds up paying full price for the land.
I’m surprised that he never threatened you with that, because it can be used
to browbeat uncooperative landowners.”
 Charlotte looked at Ben with wide eyes and asked, “How do you know
all this? You said you were a cowboy.”
Ben smiled and replied, “I was mostly a ranch hand, but I followed the
railroad for twelve years and have probably talked to more railroad workers
than those executives have. As to what will happen next, I have no idea. But
I think I’ll start asking around some more.”
“I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me already, Ben. I
wish I could do something for you.”
“Just being able to talk to you is worth it, Charlotte. You’re a very
pleasant person. Thank you for lunch, but I’ve got to get back to my cabin
and get some work done. If you’d like to visit, just head for the trees and
keep the stream on your right shoulder. Jersey will know where to go
anyway.”
Charlotte smiled and replied, “It’ll be nice to ride again, so maybe I’ll
come and visit soon.”
Ben’s smile never left his face as he stood and headed for the door. As he
crossed the small porch, he took one last look at her and waved before he
stepped onto the dirt. He almost tripped and was relieved that he hadn’t
embarrassed himself by falling flat on his face in front of her.
Charlotte sighed as she watched him leave but began to reexamine the
events that had led to the attack. The more she thought about it in light of
what Ben had told her, the more she understood. But she still couldn’t
understand why everyone in town treated her as a pariah yet never bothered
to explain the reason.
Ben led both horses to the back of the house and tied Jersey to a support
post, adjusted the stirrups for Charlotte’s height, then unsaddled the gelding
and patted him on his shoulder.
“You take care of Charlotte, old friend. And you know where the cabin is
when she wants to come and visit.”
The gelding had been watching him, then surprisingly nodded his head
as if he’d understood, although Ben was sure that he was just
acknowledging his affectionate pat.
He placed the tack under the protection of the small porch, then mounted
the black gelding, looked once more into the kitchen, then wheeled him to
the north and headed back to his cabin.
Charlotte resumed putting away the supplies, and as she picked up the
can of peaches, she simply stared at it. As she did, she recalled the warm
look in his eyes as he’d gazed at her when she was laughing. The emotion
behind his eyes that she hadn’t seen from any man. Charlotte smiled then
sighed and slid the can onto a shelf.
_____
When Ben returned to his cabin, he dismounted, unsaddled the gelding
and had to put away his new tools that he’d hastily dumped before rushing
back to buy Charlotte’s supplies.
As he did, he began to rethink his approach to finishing the cabin. He
wanted to get it done even more quickly now because he thought he’d be
busy trying to help Charlotte. Maybe he’d be able to convince her to join
him for more than just security. She was already dominating his thoughts as
he reorganized the tent.
 CHAPTER 3
Early the next morning, Ben figured he’d get to work on the subflooring
which he would then cover with smoother, finished lumber. The subflooring
would require a lot of log splitting, but at least he wouldn’t have to drag the
logs very far. He took out his tools and walked to the section where he
planned to thin the trees.
He had adjusted his measuring rope for the inside space, which was less
than the fourteen-foot length of the original logs.
The sun was early in its journey across the sky when his sharpened axe
bit into the first pine trunk. He knew it was going to be a hot day, which
was a bit unusual for early June in Montana Territory, but the humidity was
low.
By ten o’clock, had already downed the four trees, cut them into the
proper lengths, and with sweat pouring down his bare chest and back, began
splitting his subfloor. He had bought an auger and a matching peg borer on
his last trip to the hardware store and before he had begun the floors, he had
experimented with the pair building something that was a bit frivolous.
When he was cutting trees, he normally stayed away from the waterfall
and pool. But when he came up with the idea, he felled one large tree near
the pool leaving a tall, flat stump then made sure the stump’s surface was
level. He used the auger to drill three holes in the stump, made a five by
three-foot slab out of three boards, and drilled three matching holes into the
center board. Then he pegged the slab to the top of the trunk using some
pine tar as a glue. Next, he created a bench to sit alongside, so now he could
have his meals sitting down and enjoy the waterfall. It was when he was
building the bench that he had second thoughts about putting pine boards
over the subflooring because he liked the surface he’d just created. Ben
decided he’d see what it looked like when the subflooring was done.
He was making good progress on the split logs when he broke for lunch.
He needed the break anyway as his muscles where being pushed to their
limit. Having the pool nearby meant he always had plenty of cool, clear
water and had gone through over a gallon of water already by the time he
took the break.
After lunch, he continued his work, mentally counting down the number
of split logs he still had to finish for his floor and was already planning on
how to do the finishing.
_____
Two miles south, Charlotte was doing her own planning as she prepared
to make her first visit to Ben’s cabin. She hadn’t felt this way since she was
in the eighth grade and had a crush on Billy Sorenson. Of course, he had
laughed at her when he found learned of her affection because he had his
eye on pretty, blonde-headed Anne Adams. Charlotte knew Ben wouldn’t
laugh at her and was determined to evoke a much different response.
She had gone through the drawers in her chest and found what she
wanted. It was the one pair of her husband’s pants that she hadn’t let out the
seams, which was an indication of her size relative to his. It was a pair of
denim britches that she knew was in better condition than the ones she
normally wore. She took off her looser pants and tried on the denims,
pleased with the snug fit. Next, she took one of her husband’s smaller shirts,
and after removing her much baggier shirt that she bought when she was
able to sell eggs and buy things, she tried it on. It was still a bit loose, so she
tucked the shirt in back then examined the look as she looked at the
window. It may not have been a mirror, but it was good enough to let her
know that it showed her very impressive figure to good effect.
She felt ready for a visit to Ben’s cabin and was almost giddy at the
prospect of seeing him again. She had paid a visit to her chicken coop
before she changed and selected a fat Rhode Island Red. She took the hen to
the back of the house where she ended its egg-laying days before she
plucked and cleaned the bird. She wrapped it in butcher paper before going
into the house and washing then brushing her hair and changing into her
new wardrobe.
She felt somewhat silly but much more excited and hoped that she
wasn’t going overboard. She walked out back to saddle Jersey, and found
that Ben had adjusted the stirrups already, which added to her belief that he
wanted her to visit sooner rather than later. After she had the gelding
saddled, she set the wrapped chicken into a saddlebag, then mounted,
feeling a bit out of place as she sat in the saddle for a few seconds. It had
been so long since she’d ridden and even then, she hadn’t ridden such a nice
horse. She was wearing her Colt New Army revolver and had the
Winchester in Jersey’s scabbard as she took the reins, then patted his neck.
“Okay, Jersey,” she said, “Let’s go and find Ben. I hope he’s as happy to
see me as I am anxious to see him again.”
She laughed, then nudged Jersey into a slow trot and headed due east
until she hit the stream and then turned north, keeping the stream in sight as
she wound through the trees.
Charlotte may have been thrilled to be riding to see Ben but had a touch
of concern that he might think she was being too forward that he’d
somehow think less of her. It was only a nagging thought though, and was
overwhelmed by her desire to see Ben again.
After fifteen minutes of walking Jersey through the trees, she could hear
the sound of loud, rhythmic pounding, which meant Ben must be close. She
also heard something she couldn’t identify that sounded like a mild roar, but
she angled Jersey further into the trees toward the sound of Ben’s
construction.
As she and Jersey emerged from the trees, she found herself only about
fifty yards from where Ben was working and pulled Jersey to a quick stop
as she stared.
His shirt was off, and she was mesmerized. She knew he was a big man,
but she couldn’t imagine what her eyes were telling her. His masculinity
and power were overwhelming, so she just stayed and watched as his
muscles bulged and released to swing the heavy tool. It was poetry to her
eyes and almost shuddered by the flood of lust that had been released after
having been dammed up for so long. After just a few seconds, she knew
that she’d never wanted a man so badly.
She had planned on calling out to him, but instead, just sat and watched
him work. She thought that she should have felt some measure of shame for
her voyeuristic behavior, but she didn’t. She simply enjoyed the spectacle,
reveling in the desires that were threatening to take hold of her beyond her
control.
Ben didn’t know he had a secret admirer only fifty yards away as he was
concentrating on making the right swings with the maul to drive the wedges
into the pine log to break the log into halves. He kept moving the wedge
down the log and driving it deeper until the last swing rammed the wedge
deeply into the log and it emitted a loud crack. He reached down, grabbed
the wedge and tossed it away before exchanging the maul for the axe and
began to work his way back down the log completing the split and then
when it was done, pushed the two halves apart.
He grinned at the job, then wiped the sweat from his brow and reached
down to pick up his much-needed canteen. As he raised it to his lips, he
turned when he heard a familiar nicker and his eyes fell on a sight that he’d
remember for the rest of his life.
He slowly lowered the canteen, having taken just a single swallow
despite his enormous thirst, and stared at Charlotte as she sat astride Jersey.
In the bright light in the clearing, she was outlined by the darker forest, and
she took his breath away. She was nothing short of magnificent and he
hadn’t even noticed her enhanced wardrobe yet. It was another few seconds
before he did and other, more instinctual emotions were added to his sense
of awe.
Ben felt somewhat embarrassed, but not by his lack of a shirt. It was
because of his general appearance. He was sweaty and covered in wood
chips, but the sight of a smiling, amazing Charlotte made him disregard the
issue.
She began walking Jersey closer with her brown eyes locked on his.
Even after she was within hailing distance, neither said a word nor waved a
greeting. They simply stared at each other.
When she pulled Jersey to a stop just six feet away, Ben looked up at her,
suddenly even more aware of her wardrobe, and said, “Welcome to my
fortress, Charlotte.”
 As he removed his work gloves and dropped them near the axe, she
dismounted and stepped closer as she quietly replied, “It’s quite impressive,
Ben.”
“Thank you, ma’am, and may I add that you fall into the impressive
category yourself.”
She felt vindicated in her choice of her outfit knowing that Ben
appreciated it even more than she had hoped. But she was already greatly
affected by his proximity and overwhelming masculinity as much as he
seemed to be with her appearance. She found it hard to respond in similar
fashion and fell back to a more comfortable dialogue.
“I brought something for dinner,” she said as she turned to take the
chicken from the saddlebags.
When she did, Ben had his first look at the snug denim fit around her
posterior, which actually weakened his knees.
She turned with the wrapped bird as Ben jerked his head back to eye
level, which made Charlotte happily blush.
After Ben marginally recovered, he asked weakly, “Dinner?”
Charlotte wanted to laugh when she saw his face. This incredible man
with a physique that any man would envy, and any woman would desire,
was lost. She was enormously pleased knowing that she was the cause of
his flummoxed state.
She held the chicken in her right hand and replied, “You know, that meal
you eat at the end of the day?”
Ben finally came out of his trance and replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. What is
it?”
Charlotte held out the package and replied, “I’ll give you one guess, and
it’s not eggs.”
Ben laughed and said, “I love chicken and haven’t had any in a while.”
 Ben accepted the bird as she said, “I wish I could say the same. So, can
you show me around your new home?”
“I’d live to. Come with me,” he replied as he held out his free hand and
she greedily took possession.
As they strolled away from the cut tree, Ben said, “I’ll show you the
cabin in a little while, but I want you to see this first.”
Charlotte glanced at him curiously as he led her away from his
construction site and back through the forest. She could hear the faint roar
getting louder with each step, then as they cleared the trees, still hand in
hand, they stopped. Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was
incredibly beautiful. She stared at the deep, clear pool of water and let her
eyes rise as she watched the cascading water rush down the side of the ridge
complete with a rainbow above the falling mist.
She squeezed his hand as she stared and exclaimed, “Ben, it’s amazing! I
can’t believe that I’ve lived here so long and never seen it before.”
He turned, smiled at her and said, “I want to show you something else,
too.”
They turned to the south and he escorted her to the table and bench.
When they stopped, he looked into those miraculous brown eyes and
said, “Have a seat, Charlotte. I built this so we could enjoy our meals and
have the waterfall and pool as a backdrop.”
Charlotte instantly noticed that he had said
we
, and not only didn’t
object to her inclusion in his world but relished it.
“Ben, I’m speechless. This is so timeless. Why did you think of the table
and bench?”
“It just came to me. I loved the waterfall and wanted to spend some
leisure time here, so I built it even before making the floor for the cabin. I
thought you might like it, too.”
Her heart was racing as she quietly asked, “Why would you be thinking
of me?”
 Ben set the chicken on the table, turned and took her other hand in his
and replied, “I do that a lot lately, Charlotte. In fact, you have dominated
my thoughts since I bought my first egg order. I wanted to eat them a dozen
at a time just so I’d have an excuse to come back and see you again. The
only reason I didn’t was because I was concerned it would appear to be too
aggressive.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, Charlotte. I think you’re the
most complete woman I could ever imagine. But I don’t want you to think
that I’m being forward or anything. I just wanted you to know because,
well, I needed to tell you.”
Any thought of pretense or delay melted away as Charlotte said,
“Honesty is never bad, Ben. Can we sit down?”
Ben nodded and answered, “Yes, of course.”
They both slowly sat on the bench admiring the view but lost in their
thoughts. Two single adults sitting side-by-side in a romantic setting were
acting like teenagers as each waited for the other to say something as their
hands passed unspoken messages.
They sat there for two full minutes in silence, before Ben decided to
return to the mundane for more than just a single reason. He knew he was
dangerously close to kissing Charlotte and then all of his pent-up lust might
be released in an uncontrolled frenzy. He may have been desperately hoping
that her appearance wearing such a tantalizing wardrobe was her way of
telling him that she wouldn’t mind, but he didn’t want to take the risk and
hurt her. He needed to cool down.
He almost startled her when he said, “Charlotte, I really need to clean up
a bit. I must look like a carpenter’s floor.”
Charlotte just smiled and said, “Oh, I don’t know. I could live with how
you look right now. I’ll just overlook the wood chips.”
Ben smiled back, but the need for a drenching of cold water was now
even more urgent, so he quickly stood and said, “I’ll be right back. This
won’t take long.”
 Charlotte was disappointed that he hadn’t kissed her and wouldn’t have
objected to a frenzied release of her own built-up lust, but nodded and said,
“Go ahead.”
She then watched intently as Ben walked to the water, laid on his
stomach and plunged his upper body into the pool. Flakes of wood floated
away as he stayed beneath the surface, then popped up, ran his big hands
over his muscled body and long black hair. He repeated the process several
times before he stood, letting the water slide across his clean, muscled
torso. His eyes were closed as he ran his hands over his face and down his
long black hair giving Charlotte goosebumps.
Charlotte felt urges that she had never experienced before, and try as she
might, she couldn’t come close to keeping them under control. Her lust was
threatening to destroy the dam that had held it in check for so long and she
knew it wouldn’t take much more to make it shatter into pieces.
Ben was unaware of the impact he was having on Charlotte, just the one
she had just had on him. Although he had intended that the chilly water
would help with his own desires, all it had done was to clear the wood chips
and sweat. It didn’t help with the much more serious issue, but thought he’d
be able to keep his hormonal demands in check.
That changed when he opened his eyes and looked straight into hers and
was thrown off guard again. He quickly looked past her head at the trees
beyond, hoping that she hadn’t seen the desire in his eyes. He hoped she
didn’t realize what he wanted. He wanted Charlotte. More than anything he
ever wanted in his entire life, he wanted Charlotte. More than his cabin and
more than his land, he wanted Charlotte. But he believed that he needed to
be careful with her and didn’t want her to think he only wanted her for that
amazing body under those man’s clothes. He wanted her because she was
an incredible person with whom he could talk, laugh and just share life. He
mistakenly believed that Charlotte needed more time before she realized
how much he already loved her.
Charlotte had most assuredly seen the desire in his eyes before he
glanced away, but she had seen more there as well. She had seen so much
more. And if the desire wasn’t enough, the even more obvious love that was
behind it made her decision much easier.
 Ben brought his eyes back down to hers, then walked closer to her and
asked, “Would you like to see the cabin now, Charlotte?”
Charlotte rose slowly from the bench seat, her eyes still on his and
replied softly, “Yes, Ben. I want to see it very much.”
Despite his concerns, he took her hand again, plucked up the chicken in
his other hand, then they slowly walked north, away from the waterfall.
After a couple of minutes, Ben pointed out the cave.
“That cave may be important in the future. I’m thinking of cutting some
steps into the stone for easy access and then putting some weapons and food
in there as an emergency cache.”
That returned Charlotte to the present danger as she asked, “Do you
think it’s going to be getting that much worse?”
“Charlotte, they were going to kill you. It doesn’t get much worse than
that. I want to be able to protect you against anything. Charlotte, I’ve really
been thinking about that. I’ll tell you about it over dinner. You are staying;
aren’t you?”
His question may have intended to ask if she was staying for dinner, but
he’d never question why he had phrased it the way he had. Maybe it was
because of his already obvious decision that he wanted her to stay. But
whatever the reason, Charlotte interpreted the question as she hoped it had
been intended.
Charlotte was looking into his eyes as she carefully chose her words and
softly replied, “Only if you want me, Ben.”
The dropping of that tiny preposition, ‘to’, changed the whole context of
her answer to Ben. He suddenly realized that what he was seeing in those
big brown eyes matched what was in his own brown eyes.
“Of course, I want you, Charlotte. I want you more than you can
imagine,” he answered quietly.
His answer shattered both of their dams, as Charlotte quickly turned to
face him, and Ben dropped the chicken. He pulled her towards him with his
massive arms and kissed her as she clutched onto him tightly, never wanting
to let go.
For thirty lost seconds, they engaged in a passionate explosion that each
knew wouldn’t end with just this one kiss.
When they finally separated, Ben leaned back slightly, took his right arm
from around her waist while still holding her tightly with his left and ran his
fingers across her cheek as he stared into her eyes.
“Charlotte, I want you to know that I didn’t want this to happen so
quickly. I was worried that you might think I only cared about bedding you
and not about loving you. I want you to understand that I do love you
before we went any further.”
“And you do?” she asked softly, already having received her answer
from his eyes.
“Yes. I’m sure I do. Every time I see you, I find out more about you and
this feeling I have for you grows even deeper. I’ve never felt this way about
a woman before. Until I saw you today in those clothes revealing just how
perfect you are physically, I thought I could just keep spending time with
you and hoping that you would feel the same way about me. But I guess the
physical aspect of love kind of pushed me along and I hope I haven’t made
you feel bad.”
Charlotte laughed lightly, then smiled and said, “If anything, Mister
Arden, you’ve dallied too long. Why do you think I wore these clothes
today? They aren’t as comfortable as my others, but I wanted you to know
that I love you, too, Ben. I didn’t want to lose you or waste another moment
apart from you. I know it’s only been a month or so, and I was worried that
I might come across as a floozy. But I wanted you to know that I’ve wanted
you to make love to me after you left my house the first time. I’ve been
fantasizing about having you in my bed every night since then. And I
wanted you more each time we met.
“That’s why I gave it the push by dressing as provocatively as I could. I
have to admit that seeing you working without your shirt drove me into a
frenzy. I want you, Ben. I want you in every way a woman can want a man.
Please make me yours.”
 “I’ve been yours since I looked into your incredible brown eyes,” Ben
said softly.
Charlotte kissed him again, then ran her hand across his muscular torso.
She thought she’d have to pull his hand to her breast but almost the moment
the thought arrived, so did his right hand. She moaned in delight as he
caressed her left breast.
As their second kiss ended, in a sultry voice she didn’t even know she
had, Charlotte said, “Make love to now, Ben. I won’t hold back, and I hope
you won’t either. If you keep feeling me this way, I won’t wait for you to
take me to your tent.”
Ben quickly swept her into his arms, feeling her soft, well-rounded body
against him as he carried her into the tent. If there weren’t so many splinters
on the ground, he would have gladly succumbed to their volcanic lust on
the ground.
Charlotte held him close, resting her head against his massive chest and
feeling her arousal grow with each step. If she wasn’t concerned about
falling, she would have used the short walk to let her hand wander. She
hadn’t exaggerated that she was close to pulling him to the ground, either.
Once inside the tent, Ben laid Charlotte gently onto his bedroll. Her long
hair was spread out behind her as she looked into his eyes with unrestricted
desire. He knelt near her and began to kiss her while she placed her hand
behind his neck and pulled him closer.
It had been so long for each of them, and neither had ever experienced
this level of passion, lust and love. It soon became the frenzy that they had
expected as Ben quickly began unbuttoning her shirt and she attacked his
pants. He had an advantage because Charlotte had no other barriers to his
wandering hands and lips.
But just two minutes after entering the tent, they were kissing and
probing each other’s naked bodies. Despite Ben’s early hope that he would
take his time with Charlotte, they were only able to spend ten torturous
minutes exploring and touching each other. But those six hundred seconds
were more than either could have desired.
 Before she met Ben, Charlotte’s only experience with a man was the
almost business-like coupling with her husband. He would usually roll over
and fall asleep leaving her frustrated.
She had been more aroused just watching Ben than she’d ever been in
her life and when she felt his hand on her breast, she almost passed out.
When she’d told him that she wasn’t going to hold back, she still had no
idea how inspired she would become and the way she would respond.
She wanted Ben as badly as he wanted her, and those intense desires
overwhelmed all pretense of civility. In the remote tent, they felt no
obligations to limit the noise or the words they used to excite each other.
In those ten minutes, she found herself shouting and begging for him to
touch her, to feel her. When he did, she loudly moaned and squirmed as she
let all of her inhibitions go.
Ben had more pleasurable experiences with women, but nothing
prepared him for Charlotte. He was more than prepared to please her, but
her unrestricted reaction excited him and almost demanded that he push her
to even greater levels of excitement. With each loud, sexual sound, he found
himself growing even more aroused. He was far from silent himself as he
told her what he was going to do to her, and she dared him to do it.
 
But neither could last as long as they wished and when Charlotte
demanded that he take her using her sultry voice, Ben knew he couldn’t
wait. When he finally succumbed to her demand, she arched her back and
began shuddering in ecstasy. Charlotte’s eyes fluttered as their hands
grasped anything to help contain the release of their passions.
They finally achieved the ultimate level of pleasure and Charlotte
screamed louder than she thought possible as she writhed like a snake. But
just seconds later, Ben dropped onto his back beside her then pulled
Charlotte onto his chest. Her long black hair had spread across his massive
chest as she lay atop him. They were still breathing heavily as he ran his
hands over her wet skin.
 Charlotte had her head resting on his shoulder as her fingers traced
across Ben’s chest while his left hand caressed the curves of her soft
behind.
She sighed then whispered, “I’m very glad I decided to visit, Ben.”
He kissed the top of her head and said softly, “I’m more than happy that
you did and don’t regret it for a second, Charlotte.”
“I don’t either. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
“Neither have I. It’s because I love you, Charlotte. I wanted to make you
happy. I just wish that I could have lasted longer.”
She smiled before she kissed him then said, “You did much more than
just make me happy, Ben. And I think if you had waited another ten
seconds, I would have had to take control.”
Ben laughed then kissed her again before he asked, “I think I can take
longer the next time.”
She’d been married for years and even those unsatisfying sessions had
been infrequent.
So, she hopefully asked, “Tomorrow?”
He smiled as he slid her onto the bedroll, then leaned over and kissed her
softly. But when he cupped her perfect left breast in his hand, she gladly
kissed him much more deeply and an even more passionate round of
lovemaking began.
Charlotte was stunned that Ben was already so aroused but wasn’t about
to complain. She simply found it hard to believe. Here was this magnificent
man she loved, and he had more than satisfied her lust once. Now he was
about to make her even more than satisfied.
How could she be so lucky?
Ben considered himself to be more fortunate as he inspired Charlotte
into another round of unmatched passion. None of the other women had
driven him to such a level of excitement or reacted with such an uninhibited
display of hunger and desire. He had never made love twice in the same day
before and as he touched and kissed Charlotte, he wouldn’t be surprised if
they’d stop after two.
Over the next few hours, they lay together in the tent, exploring the
physical and expanding the emotional part of their love. Between
lovemaking, they talked, and their hearts, minds and souls connected even
more than their bodies.
Finally, they lay together, exhausted from the extensive exercise with
Charlotte’s head tucked against his shoulder. She found it hard to imagine
that Ben had been able to keep going for so long after working all morning
but was enormously pleased with his work this afternoon.
As she lay half atop Ben, still covered in perspiration and her chest
rapidly rising and falling to restore the oxygen to her system, she smiled at
her man.
Ben returned her smile then asked, “Charlotte, will you marry me?”
If the day hadn’t already surpassed all of her recent fantasies, his soft,
yet surprising question pushed her into an even higher realm. It didn’t take
longer than a heartbeat for her to reply.
“Do you think I’d let you get away, Ben? Of course, I’ll marry you.”
“Do you want to be married by a minister or just have a judge or the
mayor perform the ceremony?”
Charlotte laughed then replied, “I think we can forget about the mayor.”
“Why?”
“After this started all started and Mister Bishop had made his last offer,
the mayor came out to see me. He told me that if I accepted the railroad’s
last offer, he’d make it worth my while if I moved into town. He left no
doubt of what he considered worth my while, either. He must have thought
that I was so desperate that I’d be willing to become his mistress, so I threw
him out of my house.”
Ben looked down at Charlotte, unsure of whether to be angry that the
mayor had tried to take advantage of the woman he loved or curious about
what she had done.
For the moment, he opted for the latter and asked, “When you say that
you threw the mayor out; do you mean literally?”
“You’re damned right I did. I grabbed him by his fancy jacket and
britches and tossed him out the front door.”
Ben laughed then replied, “Lord! I would have loved to have seen that!”
“So, you’ve met him? What did you think of our mayor?”
Ben looked at her curiously as he asked, “No. What made you think that
I had?”
“I thought you had because you just used his name, Lord. His name is
Lord Wilcox.”
Ben looked into her brown eyes to see if she was pulling his leg. When
he realized that she wasn’t, he started laughing so hard he thought he’d
make Charlotte slide off of him entirely.
Charlotte looked at him wondering what had set him off.
He settled into just a grin and said, “I’m surprised that every citizen
doesn’t spend his days giggling. Your town has a low-rent jasper named
Jasper. A scum of the earth sheriff named Cheatham, and a pompous mayor
named Lord. So, is the lord so impressed with himself that he expects
everyone to bow low as he passes?”
Charlotte smiled as she replied, “I never even noticed it before, but that
is odd. They’re all so aptly named.”
“We’ll have to take the laughs where we find them, Charlotte. But it’s
going to be tougher from now on. That story about the mayor makes me
believe that the mayor has the whole town convinced that you might
prevent the railroad from coming through. That’s why you’re being treated
this way. I don’t know why no one would tell you about it, though. Maybe
if they’re already angry with you, it wouldn’t be difficult to convince them
to remain silent.
 “But it’s the railroad agent who has me confused because he doesn’t
have to care what the mayor says. If anything, he probably has power over
the mayor. So, why doesn’t he just make the deal? He has authority to do
damned near anything to clear the right of way. He offered you this section
then only made two cash offers and the second was lower, not higher. Even
the first cash offer is a bit strange.
The railroad has much more land to sell than buyers and they’re
desperate for cash. They couldn’t care less how much land he gives away if
it means they don’t have to pay for the right of way. He could have offered
you all five of the railroad’s sections north of the town and be done with it,
but he didn’t.
“Then the town began treating you as if you had the plague. Your
situation may have germinated by your refusal to sell, but I feel as if there’s
something behind it now. It’s as if Mister Bishop has a personal vendetta
against you.”
She raised her eyebrows as she looked down at him and asked, “Why
would he have a vendetta against me?”
“I don’t know. But let me get the obvious out of the way. You just told
me that the mayor wanted you to as his mistress. Did Mister Bishop make
any overtures along those lines?”
“God, no! He makes my skin crawl. I only met him those three times,
anyway. He wasn’t very friendly at all.”
Ben nodded then said, “Okay. We’ll need to figure it out. But first, we
need to get you prepared. I want to start training you on how to use the guns
and to think defensively. If the mayor is out, how about the minister?”
“The minister does whatever the mayor wants. We wouldn’t be able to
convince him to marry us, either.”
While she was talking, Ben was almost absent-mindedly running his
hand across her side and down her right hip.
“We’ll find a way, Charlotte. We need to do it soon, too. What if I just
made you pregnant?”
 Charlotte suddenly closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder as
her tears dripped onto his chest.
Ben couldn’t understand why she was upset, so he quickly asked,
“Charlotte, what’s the matter? What did I say?”
“Ben, you aren’t the problem, I am. I may have hoped that we would be
together like this but hadn’t expected you to ask me to marry you. You took
me by surprise, and I was so happy that I quickly agreed. But if I had time
to prepare, I would have talked to you first. After we talked, you might not
have asked me. I love you, Ben, and you make me happier than I could ever
imagine. But I don’t want to disappoint you.”
Ben looked at her sad eyes and said, “The only thing that would
disappoint me would be if you hadn’t accepted me as your husband. You
sound as if you’d be perfectly content with just being my mistress. Or am I
wrong?”
“I wouldn’t have been content, but I didn’t want you to be legally bound
to me by marriage because…because I can’t give you any children. Ben,
I’m barren.”
He continued to stroke her skin with his fingertips as he replied, “You
are the only woman I will ever love, Charlotte. If God won’t let you have
children, then so be it. But why do you think that you’re barren?”
“I’m surprised that you haven’t already figured that out. I was married
for nine years and never missed a monthly. There’s no question that I’m
barren, Ben.”
“Even if it was true, sweetheart, it wouldn’t make a difference. But don’t
be so quick to accuse yourself. It could have been just as likely that it was
your husband’s fault.”
Charlotte lifted her head from his shoulder, wiped her eyes, then looked
up at him and said, “No, it couldn’t be his fault. I was there. Even as
uninspiring as it was, he did his part, but I obviously didn’t do mine. Is it
because I never, um, achieved such a high level of excitement before? Is
that what you think? To him, I was just a mattress and was barely aroused
by the time he was finished. You had me inspired just watching you swing
that axe.”
“No, I don’t believe that’s the reason at all. I’ve known a lot of wives
that complained about their husbands’ lack of enthusiasm and still had
babies.”
“How would you know that?” she asked.
“One of the reasons that I’d left a few of the jobs so quickly was that
some of the ranchers’ wives offered their beds to me while their husbands
were in town.”
“And you agreed to do join them?” she asked in surprise with a
foundation of jealousy.
“I wasn’t proud about it, but when a woman shows you that she’s willing
and what she’s offering, it’s very difficult for any man to say no. I’d leave
as soon as it happened rather than let it continue. I usually had to sneak
away so the wife didn’t follow. But when we finished our coupling, each of
those women almost angrily complained how their husbands spent much
less time with them and displayed much less interest.”
“Oh, I guess I should be grateful then, because you certainly were
interested and spent more time pleasing me than I believed was possible.”
He kissed her quickly and said, “You have no idea how much you
pleased me, Charlotte.”
“But you said that being pleased isn’t the reason for not becoming
pregnant.”
“It’s not that your husband didn’t excite you. It’s possible that he didn’t
have the ability. He wouldn’t even know it. He knew he was satisfied and
that put the onus on you when you didn’t conceive. But I personally know
of three cases where it was definitely the man’s fault.”
Charlotte was desperately hoping that Ben was right when she asked,
“How could you be sure?”
 “Two of the women were widows that remarried. One had been married
six years and the other eight, yet neither had borne children. Both were
pregnant within months after they were bedded by their new husbands. The
third was kind of funny, really. I was working on a ranch called the Rocking
6. The missus was getting frustrated because she couldn’t have a baby.
She’d been married for almost thirteen years and was approaching thirty.
She was still a handsome woman, but she was getting anxious.
“Anyway, the ranch owner was gone for a couple of weeks to find some
new bulls. As soon as he’s gone, rather than to ask me, one of the ranch’s
lowly cowhands, she invites the ramrod to her bed. He’s more than willing
and he, well, ramrods her while her hubby is absent. The ranch owner
returns to his satisfied wife and two months later, miracle of miracles, she
tells him he’s going to be a father.”
Charlotte giggled which created a pause in Ben’s story as he took a
moment to appreciate the resulting bouncing effect.
After the small delay, he said, “Every worker on the ranch knew what
had happened while her husband was gone. Nobody told him because he
wasn’t well-liked. Her husband was suspicious at first because she’d been
so happy after he returned. But when she told him of her unexpected
pregnancy, he was so pleased that he stopped worrying. It helped when she
promised to give him a son.
“Everything was going well until the child was delivered. Even the
midwife realized that the husband wasn’t the baby’s father. What made it so
obvious was that the baby she delivered had flaming red hair. The boss and
his wife had black hair. Guess who had bright red hair? The terrified ramrod
was sent packing the next day and was probably happy he wasn’t blasted
out of the saddle as he rode away.”
Charlotte laughed then said, “Well, that will teach him not to ram his rod
where it didn’t belong.”
Ben snickered before he said, “It was a good lesson for the wife, too. She
should have picked a hand with dark hair like her husband. I would have
gladly obliged because she was a mighty good-looking lady. She just wasn’t
very smart in her choice. How could she not realize the consequences of
bedding a redheaded man? What was she thinking?”
Charlotte laughed lightly, then ran her hand down his flat belly and
whispered, “I know what I’m thinking, sir.”
Ben didn’t need more inspiration as Charlotte provided plenty.
It was an hour before sunset when they decided that they needed
nourishment and would need to leave the tent to hunt down the runaway
plucked chicken. They enjoyed watching each other dress, which almost
resulted in a rapid reverse of the dressing process before they left the tent.
They found the chicken before any of the wild critters, probably because
they had been spooked by the loud human noises coming from the tent. Ben
skewered the bird on a steel rod and roasted it over the firepit.
They had their first dinner at the bench near the waterfall as the sun set
making it a very romantic evening. They talked about many things, but
intentionally avoided the pending danger that lurked in their future. This
night would be filled with conversations about the much more pleasant
future that they hoped lay before them.
Charlotte stayed the night with Ben without even being asked. They had
each silently accepted that he was her man, and she was his woman.
Even though they should have had their intense desires satisfied with
their almost constant coupling during the afternoon, that didn’t prove to be
the case. Charlotte was pleasantly surprised and even more satisfied now
that Ben had returned her hope for conception.
But those long conversations were even more important. They let their
minds explore each other and allowed their souls to merge. They didn’t
need the mayor or the minister. By the time they drifted to sleep in each
other’s arms, Ben and Charlotte had married themselves.
_____
Ben awakened to the sound of two blue jays fighting above in the trees.
After his eyes opened, he looked down at a resting Charlotte, her long,
black hair splayed across the blanket, and smiled. He knew with absolute
certainty that this was the woman who was meant to share his life. How he
had found her was nothing less than providential.
He wondered what had driven him to decide after thirteen years of
wandering to put his stakes down here.
Did some mysterious force of fate let
him know that this is where he would find Charlotte?
He still recalled that
almost unerring sense of belonging as he looked at the valley when he
crossed the rise and had seen the chicken farm.
He hadn’t known that inside that farmhouse, the woman he would soon
marry was living in danger and he would need to save her. Now he needed
to keep her protected and safe. He wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t
already keeping their child safe, too. His stories may have sounded like
products of his imagination, but they weren’t. He knew that she truly may
be barren, but he could almost feel her need to have a child and was
determined to make that happen.
But first, he needed to defuse the whole town attitude toward Charlotte
and believed he’d come up with a way to make that happen, but it would
need her approval.
He leaned over and kissed her gently on her nose then watched her smile
while her eyelids remained closed.
“Good morning, Mister Arden,” she whispered.
He replied, “Good morning, Mrs. Arden. Ministers and mayors be
damned. You’re my wife now, and we’ll make it official as soon as we get a
chance.”
Charlotte opened her eyes and replied, “You are my husband, Ben. And
you are the only man I have ever loved.”
He kissed her softly on her lips then said, “Charlotte, after we get
dressed, I need to talk to you about an idea I have for taking the steam out
of the town’s poor attitude.”
“Okay. Did you want to watch me get dressed again?” she asked with her
eyebrows raised.
 “No, ma’am. I may want to enjoy the show, but that’s a bad idea. You’d
probably be unable to leave the tent to answer nature’s call. As it is, I’m
going to have to practically crawl out of the tent. You are an amazing
woman with a wonderful heart and mind, Charlotte. It’s obvious how much
I appreciate that incredible body you’ve managed to keep hidden until
yesterday, too.”
Charlotte still melted over his compliments as she said, “It was just a
hopeful request, but I know you’re right. I’ll get dressed after you leave the
tent.”
Ben wasn’t kidding about his mild discomfort and knew that he really
needed to reach the pool to cool off. He couldn’t believe that the emotions
he felt for Charlotte could push the physical pleasure to such levels. He had
enjoyed his dalliances over the years, but nothing was close to what he had
experienced with Charlotte. He grabbed his pants and shirt and hurried to
his unfinished cabin to dress.
Charlotte watched her husband leave, then dressed slowly as she relived
their intimate time together. In one tumultuous, exciting day, she had
discovered that there was a distinct difference between just being bedded
and making love. With Ben, it had been making love and the memories of
the passionate afternoon and night still thrilled her. She hoped the rest of
their lives together would be that way. But she was afraid that expected and
dangerous situations might take him away from her and shuddered at the
thought.
Before she pulled on her shirt, she rubbed her naked belly and wondered
if what he had told her last night was true.
Could she still have children?
She wanted so badly to have his babies, but only time would tell. She
finally sighed then finished dressing.
Ben had the fire crackling and was making breakfast when Charlotte
returned from her morning rituals. Although it was icy cold water, she
found the pool every bit as useful as Ben.
“I thought, in your honor, we’d have beans and bacon for breakfast,”
Ben said as he smiled at her.
“
No eggs?
Bless you!” she exclaimed as she grinned at him.
 “You’re welcome. Did you want to take our food to the pool bench for
breakfast?”
“That’s a marvelous idea.”
Ben filled two plates with the beans and bacon, put forks on each plate
and then took two cups and the coffee pot. He handed a plates to Charlotte
before they strolled to the pool where they sat the food on the table and Ben
placed the coffeepot on a nearby rock.
As they began eating, Charlotte asked, “So, how do you intend to make
the town love me?”
“I don’t know if they’ll go that far, but I think I know how to get them to
treat you civilly.”
“How?”
“This is going to be your decision, and yours alone. I don’t want to
pressure you at all. Okay?”
Charlotte was curious and a bit anxious as she replied, “Alright, but this
will be the last one I’ll make on my own.”
“Fair enough. It’s about your farm. The new quarter section, the one
you’re still homesteading. How important is it to you?”
“It’s not important to me at all. In fact, if they’d asked, I would have sold
them just that one quarter section. But Bishop didn’t want just the southern
quarter section. He wanted all of it. But, Ben, a lot has changed for me in
the past few days. Before, I had no idea how I could possibly survive
without the land, but now, it doesn’t matter at all. I’m going to be your wife
and I’ll be with you. What happens to that land is irrelevant.”
Ben smiled as he replied, “That’s good. Because in a few hours, you and
I are going to go into town and stop at the land office. You are going to
renounce your intentions to homestead that quarter section. You’ll keep
your quarter section where all the chickens and your house are. That’s yours
and isn’t in the railroad’s right of way. But by releasing the homestead
quarter section, the railroad can come through without any issues.”
 “It’s that simple? Then they won’t bother us?”
“If that was the only reason for their hostility, the town will be happy,
and the railroad will be happy. But I don’t believe the railroad agent will be
happy. I still don’t know why, but I think there’s something else driving him
that I can’t put a finger on and it’s making me crazy. However, railroad
agent or not, the argument that he and the mayor have been using against
you will cease to exist if that’s all it is. What do you think?”
“Ben, no one had brought it up. It was either get out or give up, not let
that one quarter section go. If you think it would work, then we’ll do it.”
“Okay. We’ll set out in a little while. But I still want to get you familiar
with shooting your Colt and the Winchester. Unless I’m wrong, and it’s
been known to happen on rare occasion, I don’t think the danger is behind
us. It’ll just come from a different direction.”
“I understand. When do you want me to practice?”
He grinned as he replied, “I’m not going to get any work done with you
standing around in that outfit anyway, so let’s get started as soon as we
clean up.”
“You take off that shirt again, and I won’t get any practicing done
either,” she said with a big smile.
They finished eating and as Ben reached over to pick up the coffee,
Charlotte gave him a playful slap on his bottom then trotted off to the tent
before he could retaliate. Ben just smiled and enjoyed the view as he
walked ten feet behind her. He had planned on giving her a swat on that
perfect posterior, but watching it move her along was a lot better.
_____
After the dishes were put away, the serious nature of training her how to
use the pistol and rifle began.
Ben had to unload the pistol before he showed her all the basics: cocking
the hammer, smoothly drawing back the trigger, and aiming the pistol and
ignoring the sights. She quickly became proficient in dry firing the heavy
pistol with her large, strong hands.
 When he was satisfied that she was ready, he set an empty tin on one of
the nearby stumps. He refilled the cylinders with powder and ball and
pushed on new percussion caps before handing it back to her.
Charlotte smiled as she accepted the Colt, then after sliding it into her
holster, she turned to face the evil empty tin can. After calming her
breathing, she drew the weapon smoothly and cocked the hammer. She slid
her left hand under her right to provide support and squeezed the trigger.
The Colt bounced in her two hands and the can blasted off into the air as
she lowered the gun and grinned at Ben.
“That wasn’t so bad, Ben. I thought it would have more kick.”
Ben was impressed that she’d hit the target, then turned back to her and
said, “I swear, ma’am, you amaze me even more, and that’s going some.
Now I’ll get the can and put it back on the stump. Then you can continue to
astound me.”
After replacing the damaged tin, he stood behind her and watched her
repeat her display of marksmanship as the mangled piece of metal all but
exploded from the stump.
“Well, Mrs. Arden, you’ve made your new husband proud. I’ll have to
get another can and we’ll try the repeater.”
He thought she’d be smiling, but she wasn’t as she snapped, “Mister
Arden, you will never refer to yourself as either my new husband or my
second husband again. You are my husband and my lover and nothing less.”
Ben accepted the reprimand with a grin, then replied, ‘I only meant new
in the sense that we only consummated our marriage yesterday. But I still
apologize for my poor choice of adjectives. Besides, who can argue with a
beautiful woman with a loaded pistol in her hand?”
Ben then received the reaction he’d expected the first time when
Charlotte smiled at him, took one step forward and kissed him softly while
she had the muzzle of the Colt pointing away from them, which added to
Ben’s approval of his lady.
 After exchanging the Colt for her Winchester, and because he had plenty
of the .44 caliber cartridges, he told her she’d be able to take as many shots
as she wished.
They walked another fifty yards from the stump, which was a pretty
good distance for a new shooter. Once again, Charlotte quickly began
pummeling her targets. She seemed to have a natural affinity for shooting,
which didn’t surprise Ben as much as it did Charlotte.
After they had finished shooting and Ben had cleaned and reloaded the
weapons with Charlotte watching and learning, they left the tent and headed
for the bench. They took a seat and held hands as they listened to the
rushing water plunge into the pool.
‘Charlotte, I am very proud of you. You’ve done better than I could have
hoped with your first target practice. But now, sweetheart, you’ve got to
understand something. I want you to look at me.”
Charlotte had been looking at Ben, but not the way he wanted her to see
him as she just gazed deeply into his eyes.
Ben took both of his hands from hers and placed them around her face.
In a deep, almost threatening voice, he said, “Charlotte, you need to
understand this more than anything else. When you need to draw one of
those guns against a man, you must understand that you will have to kill
him. I don’t believe that you would ever pull the gun unless either you or I
were threatened with serious harm. I’ve already made that commitment and
if anyone ever tries to hurt you, I will kill him. Anyone who wants to hurt
you has already made up his mind to do it and won’t hesitate.
“If you hesitate, you or I will die. I will show you how to prevent it from
coming to that. I’ll show you ways to keep yourself safe without shooting
anyone. But you need to make that decision to kill now, before we get into
any serious confrontation. The way to do it is to get yourself so mad that
you see it as the only way to ensure that we are allowed to spend our years
together. Do you understand, my love?”
She met his strong eyes with her own and replied, “I understand, Ben.
You have become too dear to me to let someone try to take that away.”
 Ben continued to peer into those deep brown eyes, then let his fierce
expression melt away before he leaned forward and barely touched his lips
to hers then whispered, “I love you, Charlotte.”
Then he leaned back and asked, “So, Charlotte, shall we head over to
your house now? You need to get changed before we go to the land office.”
Charlotte simply nodded as she’d been so overwhelmed by what he had
told her.
They saddled both geldings, and Charlotte was wearing her Colt with her
Winchester in the scabbard. Ben was armed as always as they both mounted
then set off in a walk through the trees. Ben marked the trail, following
Jersey’s hoofprints that he’d made on the trip to the cabin yesterday.
After leaving the forest, they set the horses to a fast trot and arrived at
Charlotte’s house three minutes later. Ben had checked for the presence of
any visitors, but didn’t see any horses, so he wasn’t concerned as they
reached the house and dismounted.
After tying off the horses on two back porch support poles, they entered
the kitchen. Ben was relieved that no one had arrived in her absence to
ransack the place. The fact that they hadn’t reinforced his belief that Jasper
and his friends were just following orders.
Charlotte smiled at Ben then quickly trotted into her bedroom to change.
She left the door open so he could enjoy the show even though she knew
nothing could come of it until later. She simply wanted to please him.
After his initial glance as she unbuttoned her shirt, Ben turned his eyes
away. There would be time for more delightful experiences after they
visited the land office. Then they’d visit Amos to start the rumor mill about
Charlotte’s decision.
She emerged five minutes later looking like Charlie, but Ben knew that a
very tempting Charlotte was inside those baggy clothes.
“So, husband, do I look frumpy again?” she asked as she smiled.
“You may not appear as enticing to other males, but it’s impossible for
you to appear frumpy. If you hadn’t changed your attire, you’d be attracting
every male eye in town. And even though I’ll be with you, you’d probably
have a few offers of companionship before we reached the land office.”
She laughed and replied, “If that happened, it only would have
confirmed the malicious gossip that the old biddies have been whispering
about me for years.”
Ben assumed the biddies were just jealous as he said, “Let’s go to the
land office and get this ball rolling.”
Charlotte nodded then took his hand as they left the house then mounted
their horses.
They bypassed most of the town by heading north first, circling around
to enter the north side of the town near the land office.
No one had seen them enter the town when they pulled up. They
dismounted in front of the law office, tied off the horses, and entered the
small building.
The clerk had his head down as he finished filling out a form, then
smiled and said, “Good morning!” before he looked at the door.
Ben could tell from his eyes that he was surprised to see Charlotte but
was pleased to notice that he hadn’t seemed overly disturbed when he did.
“Good morning,” replied Ben, “Mrs. Preston would like to release her
second homestead claim to the public domain so the railroad can build to
Miles City.”
Ben noticed his almost shocked expression before the clerk exclaimed, “
Really?
”
“Yes, I would,” Charlotte answered.
His shocked expression gave way to one of relief as he smiled and said,
“That’s wonderful news, Mrs. Preston.”
He turned and stepped to his filing cabinet. After opening a drawer, he
began riffling through his folders until he found hers. He opened the folder,
selected the claim form for the southern quarter section and slid it onto the
counter.
“You need to sign here and here,” he said as he tapped two places on the
form.
Charlotte took the pen from the holder on the counter, dipped it in the
inkwell and signed her name where he had indicated then replaced the pen.
The beaming clerk blew lightly on the page and set it down to finish
drying.
“Will that be all?” he asked.
“Yes, that should do it,” answered Ben.
He was beaming as he shook their hands before they turned and walked
out of the office.
As they stood on the boardwalk, Ben asked, “Did you see the surprise on
his face? It was as if he believed that you’d never part with it.”
“I noticed. Are we going back to your cabin now?”
Ben shook his head as he replied, “No, ma’am. Now we’ll head down to
A. Brackett Dry Goods & Sundries to fire up the locomotive to the gossip
train.”
They mounted their horses then trotted down main street. Ben noticed
the almost malevolent stares that many of the townsfolk directed their way
but was confident that they wouldn’t see them much longer.
They pulled up in front of the dry goods store, dismounted and tied off
their geldings. Ben took Charlotte’s hand, in case there was any question
that they now shared a much different relationship.
After they entered, Amos was waiting on a woman customer, but
glanced their way before he blanched.
After the lady was finished with her business, she stepped past Charlotte
and actually stuck her nose in the air before she left the premises.
 Ben escorted Charlotte to the counter and said, “Amos, I need to talk to
you for a second.”
Amos was worried seeing them together. He had seen Ben stomp on
Jasper’s manhood the first day and heard how he had scared all three of the
toughs at the saloon. The incident at Charlie’s place had raced through the
town like wildfire, too. All of them combined made him weak in the knees
as he tried to remember if he’d done anything to offend Charlie.
He quietly asked, “What do you need to talk about?”
Ben saw his terrified face, then smiled and said, “I just wanted you to get
out the word that Charlotte has just released her homestead claim on that
quarter section. That means that the railroad can build straight through to
Miles City without delay.”
Amos was giggling inside as he smiled and exclaimed, “Why, that’s
wonderful news!”
Ben knew this was the perfect opportunity to find out why the town had
ostracized Charlotte. He doubted if Amos would know why the Jasper trio
had tried to kill her, though.
He said, “Amos, I’m glad that you’re happy to see the change. But I’m
really disappointed in the people of this town. Not one even had the
common sense to explain to Charlotte why you were all so mad at her. She
couldn’t understand why you, for example, stopped buying her eggs and
chickens. Was it just because of the railroad?”
After hearing what Ben said, Amos stared blankly at him for a few
seconds before he replied, “But…but, she
was
told. The mayor himself
went out there and told her that if she didn’t at least give up the homestead
claim the town wouldn’t get the railroad. Mister Bishop over at the
Northern Pacific office said the same thing. That’s why everyone was so
mad. They thought she was just being greedy and selfish and didn’t care
about the rest of us at all. We were told that she was so mad about it that if
we mentioned it, she’d shoot us.”
Ben wasn’t as shocked as Amos had been, but he was a bit surprised that
they had universally bought into the story. It had been initiated by some
very untrustworthy sorts, yet not one of them had asked Charlotte directly.
One of them could have passed her a note or something.
“No, Amos, no one ever told Charlotte anything. Bishop offered to trade
a section for her entire farm, but she’d have to rebuild if she accepted the
trade. She couldn’t afford to do that. Then he just made two offers, neither
of which amounted to the value of her farm, and both were for her entire
property, not just the quarter section she just released. She rightfully turned
him down, as would anyone. The mayor, on the other hand, had a much
worse offer to make to her when he visited. He stopped at her place, told
her to take the railroad agent’s offer and he’d let her live near him,
essentially to become his personal bed warmer. Charlotte, being a woman of
high moral standards, literally threw him out of her house.”
Amos’ mouth was wide open in stunned disbelief as Ben explained what
had actually happened.
When Ben finished, Amos snapped, “Why that low-down skunk! What a
pair of lying bastards!”
Then he turned to Charlotte and said, “Charlie, I hope you’ll forgive me.
What I did was inexcusable.”
“I’ll forgive you, Amos. You were never unkind to me. But I’ll never
accept an apology from those people, especially the women, who seemed to
relish belittling me.”
“And Amos,” said Ben, “her name is Charlotte, not Charlie. And in a
few days, it will become Charlotte Arden. We intend to be married as soon
as we can find someone willing to perform the ceremony.”
After all the shocking revelations, his last piece of news was much more
pleasant to his ears.
Amos grinned and exclaimed, “Congratulations, Ben! And to you too,
Charlotte!”
Ben shook his hand and asked, “So, now that you know the truth, Amos,
do you think you could pass it along?”
“I’ll let the whole town know in ten minutes.”
 “Thank you. But before we leave, I need to do two more things. First, I
need to clear Charlotte’s debt.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ben. Consider it gone. I owe her that at least for
not buying her eggs and chickens for the past few months. Charlotte, if you
could start deliveries again, I’m sure there are a lot of egg-starved folks
around here. We only had the dribbles that Mrs. Foster brought in from her
small brood.”
“I will, Amos.”
Ben then said, “The second thing I need to ask is whether or not you
have any wedding band sets?”
Amos quickly replied, “Yes, sir, but only three sets.”
He turned and walked to a small shelf, picked up three small boxes, then
returned and set them on his counter.
“They’re all the same, just different sizes.”
After opening each of the three boxes, they were surprised to find one set
with two large rings, which was probably the reason they were still there.
They slipped them on their fingers and were satisfied with the fit. After
returning them to the box, Ben insisted on paying for them despite Amos’
protests.
Charlotte was smiling at Ben as he dropped the small box into his jacket
pocket and said, “I never would have thought of that.”
He smiled back and said, “It’s been on my mind for a few weeks now,
Charlotte.”
She took his arm, and they left a placid Amos behind as they returned to
the boardwalk.
As they left the store, Ben spied Jasper walking down the street and was
sure that he was looking at them as well.
Before he was within hailing distance, he suddenly turned, wrapped
Charlotte in his arms and kissed her deeply. She responded with her own
passion, not caring what others thought.
When she stepped back, she smiled at him and asked, “Not that it wasn’t
appreciated; but what brought that on?”
“That, my love, was a pair of messages. The first was to you telling you
how happy you make me. The other was to Jasper who was looking at us. I
wanted him to know that you are my woman, and I am your man. It
included a threat that if he even thinks about bothering you, he won’t be
happy.”
“I like your messaging service,” she said with a light laugh.
He set her back onto the boardwalk then said, “I’d like to try one more
thing today.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s mount up.”
They stepped up and picked up their horses’ reins, then after they turned
them back to the north, Ben glanced at Jasper to make sure he’d received
the message. He received his confirmation in the form of a Jasper scowl.
Ben and Charlotte trotted down main street then Ben turned and stopped
in front of the church. He had seen a carriage out front, so he assumed that
the minister was inside.
He stepped to the ground and had to offer his hand to Charlotte before
she hesitantly dismounted. He then escorted her up the steps and into the
church.
The minister was arranging hymnals, then looked up when he heard
them enter.
Ben smiled and said, “Good morning, Reverend.”
“Good morning,” the minister replied as he looked at Charlotte then
began to tap his thigh with one of the hymnals.
“Reverend, we have need of your services. Mrs. Prescott and I would
like to be married. We just left the land office where she released her
southern quarter section to the public domain so the railroad had right of
way past Miles City.”
The reverend was surprised by the news and thrilled that the whole
railroad impasse was over. But still felt obligated to the mayor, who had
told him to forbid Mrs. Preston attendance because she was a wanton
woman.
He finally said, “I wish that I could perform the ceremony, but you see, I
need to get authorization from the mayor first.”
Ben glanced at Charlotte before letting his eyes almost burn into the
minister.
“Reverend, I have no idea why you would need authorization from a
public servant. But I do know that he would never give such authorization
even if it was in his authority to do so. Do you know why?”
The minister began tapping the hymnal against his thigh again to contain
his nervousness as he replied, “He gave me some reasons that I’m sure were
valid.”
“I have a good idea what he told you and why you may believe them to
be valid reasons, but I assure you that they are not. I just finished talking to
Amos Brackett about what had happened. I was surprised and disappointed
that everyone in town seemed eager to believe what they were told. It was
as if no one in this town has neither a backbone nor a brain. Were you
aware that the mayor and Mister Bishop had consistently lied about Mrs.
Prescott’s position about her land?”
The minister just stared at Ben but had stopped popping the hymnal
against his leg.
“She was completely unaware of the reason that everyone in the town
had ostracized her. Not one person had told her that she could simply give
up her southern homestead quarter section and everything would go back to
normal. If they had, she would have done so gladly, as she just did and
without compensation, I might add. The railroad agent wanted her to give
up her entire farm, even though the Northern Pacific only needed the
southern half. He only made one land swap offer then two cash offers that
weren’t even half of what the farm was worth.
“When the mayor visited to convince her, he only tried to convince her
to accept the railroad agent’s meager offer for all of her property. Then he
said that he would set her up as his kept woman. Mrs. Prescott was offended
and horrified by his immoral offer and physically ejected the scoundrel
from her home. Reverend, now can you understand why the mayor really
doesn’t want anyone to help Mrs. Prescott?”
The reverend was flabbergasted, but it all made sense. When he had
offered to go to talk to her and appeal to her Christianity, the mayor and the
sheriff had refused to allow it. Either one or the other had also prevented
any other attempts by other citizens to try and deal with her.
After realizing the truth of Ben’s revelation, he turned to Charlotte and
said, “Mrs. Prescott, I am so sorry for what I and others have done. I am
guilty of the most egregious of sins and have judged another soul without
evidence. Please forgive me. My wife and her sister are in the parsonage. If
you’ll give me a few minutes to tell them what happened and prepare some
forms, I’ll perform the ceremony and they can act as witnesses. May I have
your full names, please?”
Ben smiled and replied, “Ben Arden and Charlotte Prescott.”
“Very good. We’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said as he set the
hymnal on a pew then hurried through a side door.
Ben looked down at an angelic Charlotte as she gazed back at him. How
she had suddenly seemed so much younger and almost radiant was beyond
him. He recalled that she used to be just good-looking before she morphed
into pretty and then beautiful. He didn’t believe there was an adjective in
the dictionary to describe her now.
He touched her face with his fingertips and asked, “So, was this a
worthwhile stop, my bride?”
She nodded and answered, “Ben, I’m still dazed. We’re actually going to
be married. I’m so happy I can barely think.”
 “I’m dancing on the inside myself, my love.”
Minutes later, the minister returned leading his sister and his wife. Both
women, despite hearing the news that the reverend had provided, still
obviously disapproved of the wedding and Mrs. Preston. But the reverend
had insisted so they had grudgingly consented to being witnesses. They
may not have been smiling as they watched but it didn’t matter.
After the ceremony, the two women signed the forms then left without a
word as Ben and Charlotte completed the legal paperwork. When they
finished, the reverend shook both their hands, then Mr. and Mrs. Arden
walked back down the aisle.
Regardless of the lack of enthusiasm on the part of their witnesses,
Charlotte and Ben couldn’t care less as they exited the church. They had a
marriage certificate and their wedding rings on their fingers, but most
importantly, they had their still growing love for each other. If the two
biddies insisted on behaving like the cold-hearted witches they appeared to
be, so be it.
Before they reached the door, Ben guessed that the minister wouldn’t be
doing any begetting for a while. But after looking at his wife, he didn’t
think he’d miss it, either.
He smiled at Charlotte and said, “I didn’t even know his name or
denomination before he signed our marriage certificate. It didn’t matter that
he’s Methodist, but I was a bit amused when I read his name. I should have
asked you before we entered the church.”
“I was a bit out of sorts and probably wouldn’t have remembered it
anyway.”
Ben grinned as he said, “An idiot named Jasper, a sheriff named
Cheatham and a mayor who wants to be a lord. Now I met a preacher
named Reverend Monk. At least he doesn’t have to obey Mister Bishop.”
Charlotte laughed then kissed him before they began untying their
horses. They mounted, then turned north before swinging south around the
back of the town and headed for Charlotte’s chicken farmhouse, which was
now the home of the Ardens.
 _____
Even as the newlyweds were completing the paperwork, the excited land
office clerk was in the offices of the Northern Pacific Railroad happily
relaying the wonderful news to Quincy Bishop. There was now an open
route for the railroad, and the clerk was surprised that the railroad agent
wasn’t as pleased at all. In fact, the clerk thought Bishop seemed perturbed
after hearing that the way was now open. The clerk left the office
wondering what was wrong.
Bishop was much more than perturbed, he was seething with a deep,
resonant anger. He had been working his plan for months and then within a
few weeks, everything had changed. He had tried to be subtle, but when
that didn’t work to ruin her, his initial strike had failed when that damned
cowboy had interfered. Now she changed everything by doing the
unexpected and vacating the property
. Why now?
He was standing by the window when suddenly, that woman and the
same troublesome cowhand rode past his office on their horses. That big
bastard seemed unusually happy and was smiling at her.
So, that’s it!
He
was trying to bed the woman and must have convinced her to live with him
on that property he’d just bought.
What that cowboy saw in her was unfathomable to Bishop, but maybe he
could use those misplaced desires to serve his purpose. He needed to do
something fast now, regardless of the method he used. The railroad was due
to hit Miles City in another month, then he’d have to move further down the
line to another tiny town. The gloves would have to come off now, so he
decided to go and talk to that worthless mayor. Maybe they could convince
that less-than-worthless sheriff to come up with something.
Why was he
hobbled with such useless tools?
_____
Ben and Charlotte were focused on each other and hadn’t even looked at
the Northern Pacific office as they passed. So, they were unaware of the
impact they had on the railroad agent.
As they headed for the farm house, they had higher priorities. They were
newlyweds, and despite their earlier multiple consummations of their true
marriage, they were anxious to consummate the legal version.
After they arrived and both horses had been unsaddled and tied off, they
entered the house holding hands.
They took one step over the threshold when Ben turned Charlotte around
and wrapped her in his arms.
He looked into her deep brown eyes as he said, “Mrs. Preston, I know
what I’d like to be our official first act together, but as much as it pains me
to ask, could we postpone that for a little while?”
“It must be important if you want to postpone our first official
consummation.”
“It is, and it’s because you are so important.”
They sat at the table and Ben took her hands.
“Now that the town is aware of the mayor’s and Bishop’s duplicity, I
think that part of the problem is over. We’ll be able to get what we need
when we need it. But now the biggest danger is those two men and maybe
the sheriff and his three toadies. I believe that the linchpin in all of this is
the railroad agent. But it’s not me he hates, it’s you. What do you have in
your past that could cause that level of animosity?”
“I have no idea. It’s not like I come from a wealthy family or anything. I
was born in a small town in Tennessee. My father was a farmer.”
Ben quickly asked, “Did you say Tennessee? That’s surprising because I
don’t hear that in your voice at all. I would have guessed you were from
Iowa rather than Tennessee.”
She smiled and replied, “Well, you’re right in a way. How did you figure
that out that anyway?”
“It’s a hobby. Go ahead.”
“My parents died when our house burned down. I was five and was
shipped off to live with an aunt and uncle in Iowa. They really didn’t want
me there in the first place, but they took the money from the sale of the
farm and were supposed to hold it for me when I turned eighteen. But when
I was sixteen, they sent me to some army post as a mail order bride and
even made some money in the process.”
The recesses of Ben’s brain sent him a quick message telling him that the
Tennessee connection mattered because it appeared to be the only link.
He asked, “Charlotte, where were you when the house burned down?”
“I was at a friend’s house at her birthday party. By the time it was over, it
was too late to go home, so I stayed. I didn’t even hear about the fire until
the sheriff told me the next day. Why did you ask?”
Ben inhaled then quickly asked, “One more question. Was your home
near Maryville, Tennessee?”
Charlotte gawked at him for two or three seconds before she replied,
“Now, you’re scaring me a little, Ben. You aren’t a spiritualist; are you?
How on earth did you guess that?”
“It wasn’t a guess, Charlotte. When I was talking to Bishop after buying
the land, I noticed his accent and asked him if he grew up near Knoxville,
Tennessee. He was impressed and told me that he grew up just south of
there in Maryville.”
Charlotte’s mouth dropped at the news but was too stunned to utter a
word.
“Charlotte, that’s got to be the link. I don’t know his motive, but it must
have something to do with the fire that killed your family. Do you
remember anyone named Bishop before you moved to Iowa?”
Charlotte searched her distant memories but all she could recall were
those brief, happy childhood moments. The names of any neighbors were
vague at best.
She finally replied, “Not that I can recall, but I was only five.”
“I imagine that the sheriff wouldn’t tell you if he believed that someone
had set the fire, but did your uncle and aunt ever say anything about it?”
 She shook her head as she answered, “Never. It was as if they never
knew my parents. I think my uncle was ashamed of his brother, but never
knew why. I was only there because they were my only relatives. I wouldn’t
be surprised if they claimed I ran away so they could get the money.”
“I understand. But that link can’t be a coincidence. I still don’t
understand his motive, but I’ll operate on the assumption that it has to do
with the fire. When you take the Northern Pacific out of the picture, things
begin to make more sense. Initially, his aim was to drive you into a life of
subservience by getting you to sell the property at a low price. After that,
he’d probably try to defraud you of the payment, leaving you penniless and
with no place to go.
“In a way, if he wanted vengeance, it would be more satisfying than a
simple murder. He’d be able to see you suffer then eventually, he’d have the
mayor or someone else just drop you off the face of the earth. But each of
his plans failed. You wouldn’t sell and even after the mayor’s clumsy offer
followed by months of being shunned, your courage defied him. I’m sure
that either Bishop or the sheriff sent those three thugs to drag you out of
your home and make you disappear. Because they had already turned the
town against you, there wouldn’t be any big search after you disappeared.”
“But you foiled their last attempt, my sweet husband.”
“Yes, but by luck, not planning. Now we need to prepare for another
attempt. I don’t know what initiated this blood feud between the families,
but Bishop seems determined to see it through. By the way, what was your
family name?”
“Shaw.”
Ben nodded then said, “Tomorrow, I’ll send a telegram to the sheriff in
Maryville, Tennessee asking about any information he can give me about
the Bishop and Shaw feud. What were your parents’ names?”
“Charles and Jennifer.”
“Okay. Hopefully, the sheriff will reply. If he does, we’ll have at least
understand his motive. But even if he does give us the information, we still
need to start preparing our defense. Your home is easily defended because
it’s out in the open, but that’s during the day. At night, it’s more difficult.”
“It’s our home, Ben. We have two, now.”
Ben smiled as he replied, “And that, Charlotte, may be a big advantage. I
think we’ll have a little while to prepare but only a week at most. I don’t
think we can do much here to improve the defenses, but our second home
has huge advantages. They don’t know its location, so that’s a big one. It’s
also easy to defend and we have the cave as a last resort. I have one other
idea I may use that I’m almost too embarrassed to mention. Tomorrow, I
think we head over there and start preparing. We need to stop at Amos’
early to get some supplies to put in the cave.”
“You sound worried, Ben.”
“I’d be fool not to be, darling. Until Bishop is gone, and we’ve dealt
with the mayor and the sheriff, we won’t find the peace that you’ve earned.
But more one thing, Charlotte. We can never be far apart from each other.
Not that I’d want to be, but we need to be close for reasons of safety.”
“Ben, now that we’re married and I’m a respectable woman, do you
want me to start wearing dresses?”
Ben smiled and replied, “Now, Charlotte, I could have sworn I told you
in one of our first civilized meetings that I valued your independence in
your choice of clothing. I haven’t changed my mind. Whatever you choose
to wear is fine with me. If the ladies in town don’t like it, it won’t break
your heart; will it?”
“No,” she replied as she smiled back at him.
“But tomorrow, I want you to buy some new britches and shirts. You
need to have some spares at our second home. You can pack up a bunch of
eggs for the store, too. I want to get a pair of new bedrolls and anything else
you think that we need to last a few days. Okay?”
“Okay. Now, General Arden, if we’re finished with all the strategic
conversations, can I convince you to come into our bedroom and try to
fulfill your promise to give me a baby?”
 “Always aim to please, ma’am. Especially with those kinds of
incentives.”
They stood then Charlotte took charge as she towed her husband quickly
into their bedroom.
 CHAPTER 4
It was early the next morning when Ben and Charlotte rode into Miles
City. Each was carrying a large basket of eggs as they walked their horses
slowly to avoid letting them make a fatal fall to mother earth. They stopped
before the dry goods store and Ben carefully stepped down then took
Charlotte’s eggs, allowing her to dismount.
Charlotte opened the door and they entered bearing the baskets.
“Morning, folks!” said Amos loudly.
“Morning, Amos,” replied Ben. “We brought you some eggs and need to
pick up some things as well.”
As he accepted the two full baskets of white capsules, he exclaimed,
“Alleluia! I’ve been waiting for these. You need to bring a few of those
chickens over to Lou Halstead’s butcher shop when you get a chance,
Charlotte.”
Charlotte replied, “I’ll be more than happy to get rid of some of them.
It’s getting too crowded in those coops.”
Ben took her hand then he and Charlotte headed down the aisles to do
their shopping. Charlotte picked out some more britches, including a pair of
women’s that she knew Ben would like. She added some shirts and more
socks, then carried them to the front of the store where Ben had already
piled tins, jars and boxes of foodstuff. Amos totaled the bill, subtracting
payment for the eggs and Ben paid the $18.45 bill.
After Ben pocketed his change, Amos said, “By the way, the whole town
is buzzing about you two. Most folks finally realized who the bad apples
were, and I reckon the mayor isn’t gonna be mayor much longer. Good luck
to both of you but be careful.”
“We will, Amos.”
 They returned to the horses and Ben hung the bags behind Jersey’s
saddle, reminding himself to consider buying a wagon and some mules, but
that would have to wait.
Just a couple of minutes later, they entered the hardware store where he
and Charlotte received another warm welcome from Will Halliburton. All
Ben needed at the hardware store was two hundred feet of rope and a large
spool of steel wire. After paying the bill, they received the same warning
from Will. Apparently, the whole town must know that violence was on the
horizon, but Ben was sure that none would offer to help. He wouldn’t have
accepted it anyway. He didn’t want to risk someone else being caught in a
crossfire. He and Charlotte were on their own.
Ben made a final stop at the Western Union office, and after writing out
the message he handed it to Phil Dawson, the telegrapher, whose eyebrows
raised slightly as he read it.
He may have been surprised but simply replied, “That’ll be forty cents.”
Ben handed him the silver then waited as the operator tapped out the
message. Ben had picked up Morse code in the army during the war and
still ran messages in his head for exercise.
The quick, almost melodious clicking of the key sent:
 SHERIFF MARYVILLE TENN
NEED INFORMATION BISHOP SHAW FEUD
QUINCY BISHOP HERE AND SUSPECT VIOLENCE
WIFE IS CHARLOTTE SHAW
DAUGHTER OF CHARLES AND JENNIFER
ANY INFORMATION WILL HELP
 
BEN ARDEN MILES CITY MONT
 
Satisfied that the message had been correctly sent, he said, “I’ll stop by
from time to time to check for replies. Okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
Ben stepped back outside and checked at the nearby Northern Pacific
office to make sure that Bishop hadn’t seen him enter the telegraph office.
He knew that even though it was a violation of the law and Western Union
policy to divulge the contents of a telegram to someone other than the
recipient, it had been known to happen.
He mounted the nameless gelding and they trotted south, then east, so
they appeared to be going to Charlotte’s house.
Bishop hadn’t seen him send the telegram nor would he have tried to
uncover its contents. It was partly due to his own arrogance as he couldn’t
perceive that anyone could ferret out his past or his reasons to see that
woman punished. His focus on selling that section to Ben had blinded him
from recalling that he’d told Ben where he had been raised. If he had, he
might have reacted much differently.
But to Quincy Bishop, the rest of the world was populated by idiots and
morons, two of whom were now sitting on the other side of his desk.
“Lord, I need you and Jerome to step up and solve this problem. You
screwed up the last job and now the whole town is laughing at you.”
Mayor Wilcox was seething.
Who was this mere railroad agent to tell
him, the mayor, what to do?
He was well aware of the humiliating gossip
about him that was currently making the rounds. Granted, it was partly his
fault for taking the chance to get that woman into his bed. He’d been
fantasizing about her for a long time, almost since her arrival. He was the
one who had told the army that her husband was here. And now with
Bishop’s help, he had been close to having her, too. Then that cowboy
arrived and screwed it all up. He’d make the big son-of-a-bitch pay, then
maybe he could have his way with her. He’d get Jerome to have his boys try
again, only this time it would be his plan, not Jerome’s.
But at the moment, his anger was directed at Quincy Bishop as he
snapped, “Watch what you’re saying, Bishop! That botched job was
Jerome’s idea, but I’ll come up with a better plan. If we knock off that
cowboy, then she’s got nothing.”
Bishop glared at the mayor as he snarled, “You’re the one who tried to
drag her into town to be your private whore and I warned you about that.
Now I’m going to let you two come up with something that will work, but
I’m staying out of this. If you fail, it’ll be you who will go down, not me.
Remember, Lord, I know about your past. And Jerome over there took way
too many kickbacks to pretend to be a real sheriff, so you’re on your own. I
just want that woman dead within a week. If I need to get involved, it’ll be
because you’re both dead. Now get out of here!”
Jerome was about to argue but changed his mind. He’d really like to plug
the smarmy bastard, but the railroad would send an investigator and there’d
be hell to pay. He’d find a way to make the skinny son of a bitch pay,
sooner or later. Maybe he could blame the cowboy, but for now, he’d let the
mayor have his shot.
_____
After reaching Charlotte’s now halved property, Ben and Charlotte had
turned north for the forest, then walked the horses through the trees
following the now-familiar trail and exited into the cleared area just a few
minutes. They continued to the eastern tree line that hid the waterfall and
the cabin.
They removed their purchases and unsaddled the horses, putting the tack
in the unfinished cabin. Then they led the horses to the stream and allowed
to drink before they were tethered to give them room to graze.
 After returning to the tent, Ben handed Charlotte the message he had
sent to her home town.
“Do you think this will do any good?” she asked before giving it back.
“It depends on their sheriff, but it can’t hurt.”
“What should we do next?”
“I want to show you my plans for our defense. And I want you to keep
thinking of anything that might give you a better idea why Bishop seems so
determined to harm you. It has to be something to do with that fire. I’m
going to put off all normal construction on the cabin until I’m satisfied that
we’re safe. But I’m going to cut some of the logs from trees that I’ve
already downed for the flooring to build a wall inside the cave to make a
small fort.”
“Isn’t the cave safe enough?”
“Not from ricochets. If we’re in there, and they keep firing, the bullets
would bounce off the walls and ceiling. With a wooden wall, they couldn’t
do anything. That’s where we’ll keep our supplies, a bucket of water or
some canteens and some ammunition. I’ll put the shotgun in there as well.”
“So, what’s with the rope and the wire?”
“I needed more rope to get the logs into the cave. I’ll need some for one
of my bizarre ideas, and the wire is for the second, although it’s not as
strange as the first.”
“Okay, you’ve got me wondering. What are these wild ideas?”
“I always thought of the cave as our last-ditch defense, but I thought of
one that might be better. What I’m going to do with the wire is to create an
area where we can hide that will be difficult for them to pass. I’m going to
run some steel wire about eighteen inches off the ground around some trees
making a big circle. At night that will make them nervous and impossible to
move once they find it in the first place and it might injure them, too. You
and I will know where it is and we’ll practice running past the wire at night,
so we can get used to it. The other odd idea is that I’m planning to build a
small tree house using some of the planks I already made for the flooring.
Not a big one with walls and a roof, just a flat surface maybe twenty to
thirty feet up on some heavy branches. I’ll build a rope ladder so we can
climb up there and just disappear. Nobody looks that high up when they’re
searching.”
“I like that idea, Ben. I don’t think either one is very odd, either. Now,
let’s eat and then get started.”
_____
They had a good lunch courtesy of Charlotte’s cooking, then as she
cleaned up, Ben got to work starting with the more traditional defense for
the cave. He cut the logs into eight-foot lengths, just two feet less than the
width of the cave. When he had cut twenty logs, he began cutting some of
them into four-foot logs before he cut log cabin style notches to allow them
to fit tightly without gaps. It wouldn’t need to be waterproof, just bullet-
proof. Next came the tough part, getting them into the cave.
He climbed into the cave with a rope over his shoulder, then tossed one
end to Charlotte who tied it around the end of the log. Ben then used his
strength to walk the log into the cave. He did this for all of the eight-foot
logs first then the short logs. It was a grinding experience. After the logs
were in the cave, it was almost child’s play for Ben to assemble the mini-
fortress, leaving a two-foot-wide entrance on the right side of the structure.
Ben left one log slot near the top empty so he could return fire.
There was also an eight-inch gap across the top that couldn’t be helped,
but the mini-fort was as good as could be expected. But even if a slug
ricocheted off the roof after passing through the gap, it wouldn’t be able to
hurt them. The entire structure was set back far enough into the dark cave
that the logs were almost invisible from the ground.
Ben climbed down back down, exhausted in the effort. He had worked
non-stop for six hours by the time his feet reached flat ground again and
stretched.
Charlotte looked at him and wished she could have done more, but she
knew that despite her clothing and height, she didn’t have the strength to get
those logs into the cave.
 She stepped close to her husband, touched his shoulder and said, “Ben,
you’re done for the day. You did a great job on the cave fort. You can’t even
see it from the ground. It looks like a regular cave.”
“That’s the point. If we get caught in there, they’ll think they have an
advantage. I’m going to wash up in the pool. Do you want to know a secret,
Mrs. Arden?”
“Any secrets you withheld and are now willing to share must be scary,
Mister Arden, but go ahead.”
“One of these days, I want to get you into that pool with me and let the
waterfall splash over us.”
She laughed and said, “Can I assume this includes the absence of
clothing?”
Ben smiled back, kissed her quickly, then replied, “It wouldn’t be a
secret otherwise.”
“After this is all done, and assuming it’s not the dead of winter, I may
just grant your wish.”
“Now that’s worth fighting for.”
“You enjoy the cold water, and I’ll get dinner started.”
Ben walked to the pool and almost dove in to try and get rid of the
accumulation of dirt, sawdust and sweat. Instead, he shamelessly stripped,
then walked slowly into the ice-cold water.
Charlotte, despite their playful dialogue, was worried. She knew that
Ben couldn’t keep pushing himself this hard. He needed to slow down but
didn’t know how that would be possible.
_____
After dinner, Ben was too tired to even think about anything but rest, so
he and Charlotte slipped into the tent shortly after sunset. Ben simply laid
on his back and enjoyed having Charlotte snuggled against him as he began
thinking about tomorrow’s day of preparation. But just minutes later, he fell
into a deep sleep.
_____
Ben woke up stiff and sore before sunrise and found Charlotte sleeping
on her side beside him. As much as he wanted to disturb her, he knew he
had a lot of work waiting for him. So, he slid away from her to let her sleep,
then tiptoed out of the tent, stretched and tried to loosen his muscles. He
knew that he had gone too far yesterday, and that was stupid. He was in no
shape to defend against anyone by the end of the day. Today, he’d pace
himself better. He thought the easiest task would be to make some stairs to
the cave. It should only take a few minutes for each step.
After taking care of nature’s demands then washing and shaving in the
creek, he picked up the pickaxe and returned to the firepit to build a fire and
start breakfast. He wasn’t sure if Charlotte was in the mood for eggs yet but
took the risk as he decided to make a crude omelet.
He had the bacon strips removed when Charlotte popped out of the tent,
then smiled and waved before rushing off to their private place, making Ben
realize it was time to build a privy.
When she returned a few minutes later, the omelet was almost done, but
calling it an omelet was generous. It was closer to scrambled eggs with
onions, cheese and peppers chopped into the mix.
“Eggs?” Charlotte asked as she accepted the plate then took a bite.
“Sorry, ma’am, but we do have to use ‘em. I reckon I’ll be expectin’ you
to do the cookin’ now that we’re hitched, and all.”
Charlotte laughed and replied, “I reckon so, but whatever my cowboy
husband calls this disaster on a plate, it does taste good.”
“Well, ma’am, I gotta tell ya. You’re bein’ too kind, but I’ll take your
nice words and let ‘er go.”
“What are we going to do today, Ben?” she asked before taking another
big bite.
 “I was a bit sore after overdoing it yesterday. What was worse, was that I
was too tired to be effective in setting up a defense. So, today I’ll take it a
bit easier and start carving some steps into the rock face leading up our cave
fort.”
“Can I help?”
“You can always help, ma’am. It’s just a question of how I’ll make use
of your many hidden talents.”
Charlotte smiled but couldn’t reply with her mouth full of eggs.
While Charlotte cleaned up after breakfast, Ben carried his pickaxe to
the cave and discovered that it was a much easier job than working with the
lumber because of the makeup of the rock face. He easily chipped into the
stone and had two steps carved out of the rock when Charlotte arrived. But
with only one pickaxe, all she could do is watch and wait for him to take a
break. He still had his shirt on to stop the shards of rock from doing too
much damage, but she still enjoyed watching him. She was sitting on her
haunches as he began to carve out the third step.
Ben only needed two more, then it would be just one long step into the
cave and was grateful that Charlotte had such long legs. Very nice, long legs
too, he thought to himself. Legs that had obviously been of some interest to
Jasper.
As he thought about Jasper, he wondered who had sent him to attack
Charlotte and held up for a few seconds. It wasn’t likely that it had been
Bishop because he was fairly new in town, but it was possible. That meant
it was more likely that it was either the mayor or the sheriff. He hadn’t met
Lord yet, but he was leaning toward the sheriff anyway. If it was the sheriff,
that meant those three clowns would have access to more weapons. It was
the type of weapons that would matter.
He exhaled, then began to crack the rock surface with his pickaxe again
and after another thirty minutes had finished the last step. They weren’t
very deep, nor were they perfectly level. But they’d make getting into the
cave a lot faster. What was even better was that after a day or two, they
wouldn’t even be noticeable unless you looked for them.
 He stepped back down, turned to Charlotte who was now standing with
her arms folded, and said, “Sorry, ma’am. I know I said you could help, but
it was pretty easy.”
“That’s alright. I enjoyed watching you anyway. Are we going to try it
now?”
“That’s the idea, Mrs. Arden. I’ll go first in case I fall on my behind and
injure it on the rocks. I wouldn’t want your perfect behind to be damaged.”
Charlotte laughed and as he set his foot on the first step, she swatted his
behind and said, “I’m kind of partial to yours, Mister Arden.”
Ben just laughed before he took his next few steps up the rocky stairs
and then popped into the cave.
Once in the cave, he turned around and said, “Well, ma’am, get your
behind up here.”
Charlotte was grinning as she quickly climbed the steps without
hesitation then took his hand and hopped onto the cave floor. She turned
around and looked out at their forested domain and felt as if she was home.
Ben put his arm around her waist and said, “We’ll bring up some food,
ammunition, water and the shotgun and probably my two extra handguns.
We’ll want to bring at least one bedroll as well. Ready to go back down?”
“This is actually quite peaceful here, Ben.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way, sweetheart.”
It was a little awkward for Charlotte to climb down, but she managed.
But after placing her foot on the last step, she slipped and fell awkwardly
into the rocky detritus piled near the bottom.
Ben climbed down quickly then reached for her hand and asked,
“Charlotte, are you alright?”
She nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m okay. I may have a few small cuts on
my hand, though.”
 She looked at her hand, then automatically scanned the ground to
reprimand the perpetrator of the wound from among the sharp shards laying
on the ground. She stared at the rocks, saw one that looked different, then
picked it up and looked at it closer while Ben hovered over her with his
hand still extended.
She was still sitting when she lifted the rock to her husband and asked,
“Ben, what’s this? I’ve never seen a stone like this before.”
Ben took the stone from her hand and examined it closely, noticing the
deep blue color embedded in the normal rock.
“Charlotte, you may not believe me, but I think what you found is a
sapphire.”
Charlotte popped to her feet, dusted off her posterior and ignoring her
bruised hand, she asked quickly, “You’re kidding. A sapphire? Is it worth
anything?”
Ben nodded and replied, “It’s worth more than gold. A good sapphire
can be worth quite a lot. This one is pretty big, too. But size isn’t as
important as quality. For now, we’ll put this someplace and save it. Did you
want to take a few minutes and go through the pile and see if we find some
more?”
Charlotte grinned and answered, “Do you mind? I know it’ll take time
away from our preparation, but it’ll be a nice break and the thought of
finding precious stones is kind of exciting.”
“Well, prospector wife, let’s see what else we can find among our broken
rocks.”
Charlotte quickly dropped to her hands and knees and began searching
the large pile of rubble. Ben soon joined her as he began shifting through
the pieces of stone.
For fifteen minutes, they searched the debris field, and Ben was very
surprised when they found three more sapphires and managed to pry each
of them loose from its rocky prison.
 When they finished, Charlotte held them in her palm and asked, “Ben, I
wonder how many more are in there?”
He scanned the stony ridge and replied, “Quite a few, I’d imagine. We
only examined a small sample after just a few minutes and found four nice-
sized stones. We’ll put these four away in a safe place. We don’t want
anyone to know about this. But when this is all over, we’ll take as many as
we find and have a jeweler look at them.”
Charlotte was still grinning as she looked at Ben and said, “This is really
exciting, Ben. It’s not the money, either. It’s the fun of finding them.”
“It is fun. Let’s put them in our bank. I made a hiding spot in the cabin’s
fireplace when I built it and it’s where I’ve got most of our remaining cash.”
Ben let Charlotte hold the sapphires as they walked hand-in-hand to the
cabin where he showed her how to remove one stone that looked like all of
the others that made the fireplace. But behind this one was a good-sized
cavity.
Ben pulled out a buckskin bag and removed the cash inside, stunning
Charlotte who had never seen more than fifty dollars in her entire life.
She asked softly, “Ben, how much money do you have?”
“Charlotte,
we
have just over twenty-two hundred dollars left in the bag.
Now, we’ll add the four sapphires to our bank account.”
“Ben, how did you get that much money? You were just a cowboy.”
Ben looked about him as if expecting trouble then whispered, “Don’t tell
anyone but I knocked off the First National Bank of Bismarck on my way
here.”
Charlotte’s mouth dropped open in utter shock until she saw her
husband’s eyes crinkle, then smacked him on the shoulder when he began to
laugh before she began to laugh herself.
After she calmed down, he said, “For almost thirteen years, I averaged
thirty dollars a month and found. That means the ranch paid for my bunk
and my chow and paid me the cash each month. Now most of the hands
would wait for payday and run into the nearest town and drink and whore
themselves to death. To me, it was just a waste of hard-earned money. Why
work so hard for a month just to throw it away in a day and come back
looking like death warmed over? So, I just kept my cash in my money belt
waiting for the day when I needed it. I still had no idea when or what that
would be, but I didn’t waste any of it.
“The other boys knew I had it too, and they’d always be hitting me up
for loans until next payday. Sometimes I’d give in and let them have a
couple of bucks, but too often when payday came, they’d forget all about it.
I’d have to let it go, because it would create too much disharmony if I
started demanding repayment. But just knowing that they owed me money
made them start to avoid me, which was annoying if not worse.
“It was one of the reasons I would move from ranch to ranch on my way
west. You know the other reason. It took me a few places before I finally
understood that it was better to never let on how much cash I had. So, I
would just go into town, have a beer with the boys and they wouldn’t know
that I stopped at one beer while they got drank themselves into oblivion.
“I had some ingenious hiding places among my things before I finally
bought the money belt. When I rode over that pass, I had just under three
thousand dollars. So, after buying the land and the things I needed to get
started, that’s what’s left plus the loose cash I have in my pockets.”
Charlotte still looked at the currency with awe as she said, “And I felt
bad about overcharging you for eggs.”
“No, you didn’t overcharge me, Charlotte. You undercharged me and
were embarrassed to accept the silver dollar.”
She nodded then asked, “Did you know what I did after you gave me
that silver dollar then rode away? I clutched it to chest and cried. I hadn’t
seen that much money in six months.”
Ben could see the memory clouding her eyes, so he pulled her close and
wrapped his thick arms around her. She buried her face into his chest and
quietly sobbed. Despite the imminent danger that threatened them, she was
happy knowing that no matter what, money would be the least of her
worries. Her only worry now was keeping her man safe.
 She finally lifted her face from his chest and let her big brown eyes meet
his, knowing what his reaction would be.
Ben slowly leaned down and gently kissed her so softly she could barely
feel his lips. It was what she had expected and needed from her husband.
She was grateful that he understood her so very well in the short time they
had been together.
Ben slowly released Charlotte, then stuffed the cash into the pouch and
dropped in the sapphires before returning it to its rocky vault and replacing
the stone.
He then turned and smiled at Charlotte, saying, “So, now you know
where all our wealth is, ma’am.”
“Don’t forget my dowry, Mister Arden. I brought one hundred and sixty-
two chickens into this marriage,” she said before she laughed while wiping
a forgotten tear from her cheek.
He took her face in his hands and said, “I’ll never forget those chickens.
My desire for their eggs is what made me find you, my love.”
She nodded then asked, “So, now that we found a sapphire mine, what’s
next?”
“I want to load the cave with our emergency supplies, so let’s get that
done.”
They gathered tins of food, four boxes of .44 ammunition for Ben’s Colt
and the two Winchesters, the shotgun and all its shells. Ben took the barrel
of nails, emptied the pointy steel contents into a pile on the floor of the tent,
filled it with water at the pool and was surprised and gratified to find that it
was watertight. He emptied the water then carried it into the cave and set it
alongside the guns and food inside the log fort.
It took three trips for them to stash all that they believed they would
need. The last task was filling the cask with water. They even put plates,
forks and two tin cups in the cave, turning it into a defensive position that
they could hold for days if necessary. Ben doubted if it would take that
long.
 After lunch, Ben began building the treehouse that he’d described to
Charlotte. He found a good candidate for the hidden refuge fifty feet into
the forest. The pine that he selected was almost four feet in diameter at the
base, and as he looked up, he saw a pair of branches about twenty feet
above his head that looked stout enough for the simple tree house.
With Charlotte on the ground beside the four planks that he had cut from
his floorboards, he climbed the lower branches like a ladder with the end of
a rope looped over his shoulder. He let it snake across the ground below and
reached the twin natural supports in just a minute.
Once safely positioned on the first branch, he signaled to Charlotte to
attach the first plank to the rope. As she was doing that, he tossed his end of
the rope over a higher branch to use as a pulley. Charlotte waved to Ben to
let him know the rope was secure, then he began raising the heavy board
hand-over-hand until he grabbed the wood, laid it across the branches, then
secured it using some of the steel wire he had cut from the reel. Satisfied
that it was secure, he dropped the rope back to Charlotte, and they repeated
the process.
The simple treehouse didn’t take long, and once the planks were securely
fastened to the branches Ben carefully stepped out to the outer plank. With
his weight, it was a spooky moment. With each step, he listened for a
warning crack from the branches but heard nothing before he reached the
end of the planking.
Feeling more confident, he had to try to mimic the added weight of
Charlotte if they both were up in the tree. So, after he hooked the rope
around the higher branch and wrapping it around his waist for safety, he
began to bounce on the floor. After almost a minute of ever-increasing
bounds, and hearing no evidence of cracking, he was satisfied with the tree
fort’s construction.
With the tree refuge complete, he stood and made a scan of the area,
surprised by how much he could see, even with the trees surrounding him.
He could see the pool, the top of his cabin, and even the edge of the cave,
which was very good to know.
 Ben then climbed back down using the branches. He’d build the rope
ladder tomorrow so Charlotte could reach the fort. He knew that he was
only able to climb using the branches because he was tall.
_____
In Miles City, Sheriff Cheatham was meeting with the same three
troublemakers he had sent after the chicken lady. He didn’t blame them
failing because that cowboy snuck up behind them. It was just bad luck and
could have happened to anyone.
“Now, boys, I know that you had a problem with this overgrown cowboy
before, but that was just dumb luck. He’s a regular idiot and probably can’t
even count to ten using his toes, so here’s what I need you to do. First, you
need to check out that woman’s place. I ain’t seen her comin’ or goin’ outta
there for a couple of days, so I don’t think they’re in there. Sneak around
the back and get them chickens worked up. If she’s in the house, she’ll hear
the chickens and come runnin’ out thinkin’ there’s a fox in the coop. If
either her or her boyfriend come out, pop ‘em. I shoulda told you to do it
right away the first time, so that’s on me.
“Now, if they ain’t there, you’re gonna have to do some scoutin’ around
on that section he bought just north of here. You’ll be able to follow his
tracks ‘cause he goes in and outta there. If you find her place empty, get on
your horses and head straight north. Take it slow and keep your guns ready.
Don’t take chances, either. Word is that he built a cabin up there, or he’s
still buildin’ it. So, if you find it, check and see if he’s inside. If he is, try
and draw him out. If he doesn’t come out, either burn him out or shoot him
outta there. He’ll be with that woman, and feel free to enjoy her as much as
you want before you put an end to her. You got all that?”
Jasper was close to whining as he said, “Jerome, we ain’t got no guns.”
“Hold on for a second,” Cheatham replied before he stood, walked to the
gun rack and took down three new Winchesters.
He gave each one a repeater and a box of cartridges.
“Now, if you do this job right, you can keep them guns. I’ll give you
each fifty dollars when you’re finished. How’s that work for you?”
 Pete Gillette was examining his new rifle as he replied, “We’ll do it,
Jerome. We’re still pissed about that last time. After we kill that big moron,
we’ll all do her a few times before we bury her, too. It’ll be worth it.”
“Now you boys set off tomorrow around noon. People get kinda lazy
around then ‘cause they’re ready for noon chow.”
They nodded before turning and walked out of the jail admiring their
new rifles, anticipating having an easy and enjoyable time tomorrow.
Who
could stand up to three brand-new Winchester ‘73s?
_____
There was still a lot of daylight and a couple of hours before dinner, so
Charlotte asked, “What’s next, Ben?”
“I want to move the tent from its current location to a spot deeper in the
forest where it’s less noticeable. I already found a small glen about a
hundred yards further north, and I don’t want us to be near the cabin when
they show up. If the tent is where it is now, they’ll see it, and we’ll never
know what hit us. If there’s no tent, they’ll think we’re in the cabin. In fact,
I’m going to start burning a fire in the fireplace starting tonight. I want them
to see smoke or a fire. Okay?”
“Ben, you never cease to amaze me with how you think things out.”
“It’s because I try to think like a bad guy when it’s necessary. What’s
difficult trying to imagine a plan as stupid as the last attempt those three
made.”
“They almost got me, Ben,” she replied.
“Yes, ma’am, but they still did it all wrong. If they were going to kill
you, why were they going to take you away first? They could have just used
a knife or something and buried you somewhere nearby. Nobody would
have bothered searching for you except me.”
Charlotte wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered at the thought.
Ben stepped close and surrounded her arms with his as he smiled and
said, “But since then, you’ve learned a lot because you’re smart. They
won’t do anything different this time because they’re stupid. And that’s why
we’ll beat them, Charlotte. No one will ever be able to hurt you again.”
Charlotte managed a weak smile and hoped she had the sand to do what
was necessary.
_____
They spent over two hours moving the tent and its contents, but once it
was done, Charlotte found that she preferred the new location even if there
hadn’t been any danger. It was more peaceful and felt almost as if they were
having a campout. She could still hear the waterfall in the distance, but only
as soft, soothing background noise.
Once it was set up, they returned to the cabin and Ben brought some wet
firewood and kindling into the cabin in addition to the older firewood he
had already stored inside but didn’t start the fire yet.
Charlotte prepared dinner as Ben took the spool of wire and walked into
the forest, picked out a good starting point and wound the end strand around
the tree trunk. Then he twisted the end securing it in place and began to
walk to the next tree, keeping the wire about a foot and a half above the
ground. At each neighboring tree, he walked twice around the tree looping
the wire after each turn. In less than thirty minutes he had a deadly line that
would create confusion or injury to any unsuspecting stalker or horse. It
was a long, almost invisible booby trap almost fifty yards in diameter with
their tree house more or less in the center.
He returned to the cabin where Charlotte was almost finished making
their dinner at the nearby firepit.
“So, are we ready?” she asked as she stirred the stew.
“I still need to make the ladder for the tree house, but I have a feeling
that they’re coming either tonight or tomorrow.”
“Do you really feel it?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s gnawing at the back of my mind, and I’m not sure
why. I haven’t felt that itch in quite a while, but I’ve learned never to ignore
the feeling. So, tonight we’ll sleep in the tent with our guns close.
Tomorrow, we’ll have an early breakfast before you and I are going to have
a lazy day that could turn hectic if we have visitors.
“We’ll stay on this side of the trees near the big clearing, so if they come,
they won’t see us. They could approach from the south if they go to your
place first and follow our trail through the trees, in which case they’ll find
our steel wire booby trap. Or they might come from the town following our
new trail, which is more likely. It’s common knowledge that I was building
a cabin, but they probably don’t know where it is.
“If they smart, which they aren’t, they’d sneak in at night through the
trees and do some reconnaissance before making their attempt. We’ll be
ready for that, but I don’t think it’s likely. The worst tactic would be to ride
straight from town during the day following the trail. While I’d be grateful
if they did that, we’ll be watching both the trail and the trees on the other
side of the big clearing. If we see them coming from either direction, we let
them get close. They’ll see the smoke from the cabin and probably will be
drawn in. If they just dismount, we let them go into the cabin and we’ll be
in control because there is only one door. But if they’re the same three
losers Jerome used the last time, I don’t think they’ll go inside. They’ll
more than likely open up on the cabin as soon as they see the smoke from
the chimney.
“If they come through the forest from the farmhouse, it’s possible they’ll
hit one of the wires and you’ll hear all sorts of hell breaking loose. In that
case, just ignore it. Finding the wire and falling on their faces will make
them angry, and angry men make mistakes. They’ll come busting in here
looking for payback.”
Charlotte blew out her breath then asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Everything depends on where and when they show up. We’ll have both
Winchesters with us, and I’ll want you to stay behind a tree. Keep your
hammer loop off so you can draw the Colt if you need it. We’ll have to play
it by ear. If we get the drop on them, I’ll tell them to drop their guns. If they
don’t, I’ll open fire. I want you to hold your fire until it’s necessary. Just
keep your Winchester on them.”
“Why don’t you want me to shoot?”
 “Because there’s no need for you to shoot a man if it’s unnecessary. I
want you to stay safe. If I don’t get them all or if one of them gets lucky,
then open fire. If you see me on the ground, use your rage to fill them with
lead.”
Charlotte was appalled at the casual way he talked of being shot and
exclaimed, “Ben, that’s a horrible thing to say!
Why should I wait for you to
be shot?
”
“Because I’m used to it. I’ve been shot three times already. And I’m a
big guy, so I can take a hit a lot better than you can. You may be bigger than
an average woman, but you still have a lot less blood than I do. I’ll be fine,
sweetheart. I don’t think these clowns have ever engaged in a shootout
before. It’s not like target practice. They can’t imagine what it’s like when
someone else is trying to kill you, but I already know. Just trust me,
Charlotte. I don’t want to worry about you, so I’ll be able to concentrate on
them.”
Charlotte said, “I don’t like it, Ben, but I’ll follow your instructions.”
Then she quickly asked, “You’ve been shot three times?”
“Yup. Twice in the war and once while I was chasing some rustlers. The
first one was the worst when I caught a Reb Minie ball in the left thigh
during a skirmish that never was even worthy of a name. That one wasn’t
pleasant and took me out of action for three months. But I avoided the
infection that would have cost me the leg. The second was just a crease
across the ribs. It hurt some, but they sewed it up and sent me back out an
hour later. The rustler gunshot was just unlucky. One of the bastards hit me
at over two hundred yards with a Henry. The .44 hit me in the right hip. The
odd thing was that the bullet was so spent when it hit that it barely
penetrated. I was able to reach in with my fingers and pluck the bullet out.
I’m not even sure it qualified as being shot. I still have the slug, too.”
Charlotte was horrified by the vivid images in her mind as she closed her
eyes and shook her head.
“Ben, please don’t get shot over this. I need to have you around.”
 “I won’t get hit this time, Charlotte. I have the best incentive I’ve ever
had for staying alive and bullet-free. Have I told you that I love you today?”
She touched his face as she smiled and said, “Only seven or eight times,
you slacker.”
He leaned over and kissed her softly before saying, “I’ll make up for it
tonight. So, let’s get the horses and our Winchesters back to the tent and
then I’m going to get that fire going.”
_____
After they finished eating, Ben showed her the steel wire and told her to
memorize the location. They walked around the booby-trapped area, then
headed back to the cabin and led their two well-fed horses back to the new
tent location. To keep their saddles from being damaged, Ben moved the
two sets of tack out of the cabin and into the tent which made for a cozy fit.
Despite the crowded canvas residence, Ben and Charlotte still engaged
in boisterous and energetic newlywed exercises before falling asleep,
unsure of what to expect the next day.
 CHAPTER 5
The predawn had just begun to lighten the sky when Ben and Charlotte
started their day. They quickly took care of their routine morning needs
before beginning their preparations for their expected visitors.
After watering the geldings, they left the horses cropping the grass near
the tent and would bring them to the stream later when they had the chance.
Charlotte made a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs and coffee, which they
consumed quickly. By eight o’clock, they were ready to defend their home.
Ben started the fire in the cabin then when it was strong enough, he
began adding some of the green wood. When he went outside to look, he
thought he might have gone overboard. There was more smoke than he
expected, and he thought it might be too obvious. But then he figured if the
three morons were the ones who were coming, it wouldn’t matter.
Charlotte stepped beside him as he was staring at the smoke pouring
from the fireplace chimney, so he looked down at her and said, “Okay, Mrs.
Arden, let’s go to our positions and await our visitors.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
They each had a canteen, a gunbelt with a Colt and a Winchester. Ben
had a set of saddlebags over his left shoulder with some trail food should it
take that long. As they walked into the trees. Bed guided them west to a
spot that would give them a good view of both likely routes that the
assassins would take to the cabin. Ben knew it was very possible they
wouldn’t arrive, but his silent alarm was still ringing in his head.
Once he was satisfied with the angle of fire, Ben said, “This is your spot,
Charlotte. They won’t be looking this way, and with the morning light and
our dark clothing, we’ll blend in with the pine bark. I’ll be in front of that
tree over there.”
“How long do you think we’ll have to wait?” she asked.
 “I have no idea. If they’re coming today, the smart move would have
been to show up at sunrise, but that would have been out of character. If
they go to the farmhouse first, then it could be a few hours. If they do pay it
a visit, I hope they don’t trash the place.”
“I don’t care anymore, Ben. This is my home now.”
Ben smiled at her, then turned his gaze back to the open clearing.
_____
The boys were anxious to get the excitement started, so rather than
waiting for noon as Jerome had directed, they decided to head out shortly
after nine o’clock.
Ten minutes later, they approached the chicken farmhouse, slowing their
horses when they were within eight hundred yards as they inspected the
house for any signs of movement. With no smoke from the cookstove pipe
or the chimney, they quickened the pace and rode around to the back of the
house and dismounted.
They also ignored the sheriff’s strategy of spooking the chickens because
they already knew that no one was inside anyway.
After a quick inspection of the house, they were impressed that the
sheriff had been right when he told them that they’d find it empty. To each
of them it meant that he was probably right about the rest of the plan. With
the confirmation of how smart the sheriff was firmly planted in their heads
an almost childlike glee overtook them. They practically danced out of the
house less than five minutes after arriving.
After remounting, they headed north into the forest, following the trail.
But their glee began to fade as they entered the shadowy world of the tall
pines and was replaced by a growing nervousness. They could afford to be
excited when they were riding to an empty house, but this was different.
When you’re going into enemy territory and don’t know where he is, it’s
not a good feeling.
The sheriff may have derided the cowboy’s brainpower, but as much as
they might want to believe it, the recent memory of their last visit to the
chicken farm was still vivid in their minds.
Jasper asked, “Where do you figure this trail winds up?”
Pete Gillette replied, “At that cabin the sheriff said he was buildin’.
Where else?”
Jasper just nodded. He’d only asked because he wanted to hear a human
voice break the eerie silence of the forest.
Five minutes later, they emerged from the thick forest and breathed
easier when they returned to bright sunshine without being shot. They
hadn’t followed Ben’s trail but had drifted west so they didn’t run afoul of
the wire booby trap. When they cleared the trees, they were close to the
western end of the clearing. They turned east toward and spotted smoke in
the distance.
Pete pointed and shouted, “That must be his cabin! Looks like the sheriff
was right again, Jasper!”
Jasper replied, “Let’s head that way but slow the horses so we can sneak
up on him. Get your Winchesters cocked in case he’s outside.”
They started their horses at a walk heading to the cabin with their new
cocked repeaters in their hands. As they focused on the smoke, they were
under the watchful eyes of their intended victims.
Ben had spotted them as soon as they appeared from the trees, but
Charlotte’s view was blocked by her protective tree trunk, so he motioned
to Charlotte. She saw him wave and after shifting slightly to her left, she
was able to see the three riders. Ben knew they were well hidden and kept
an eye on the intruders as they passed about a hundred yards directly in
front of them, heading straight for the cabin.
Ben set the saddlebags and canteen to the ground then silently strode to
Charlotte.
When he reached her, he whispered, “We’ll follow along in the trees.
Leave a five-yard gap between us.”
 She nodded, then dropped her canteen to the pine floor before they
began heading east using a crouched lope while keeping an eye on the
riders as they passed behind the pine trunks. Charlotte’s long legs allowed
her to keep pace, but she stayed fifteen feet behind Ben as he’d asked.
The smoke from the cabin was like a magnet to the riders, and as Ben
and Charlotte watched, they pulled their horses to a stop, then dismounted
with their Winchesters. They dropped their horses’ reins and began to
slowly approach the almost finished cabin with their heads on swivels
looking for that cowboy.
Ben began moving again but at a walk, still hidden in the trees. Charlotte
had stopped when he had and maintained the requested gap when he began
walking. Ben was now about fifty yards behind the trio as they slowly
walked to the cabin.
Jasper led them in an arrow formation, with Pete Gillette behind and to
his right and Jim White at his left.
Ben finally stopped as he watched in amazement.
Just how stupid were
these three?
They weren’t firing at a tent or a small frame house that would
grant easy passage to their bullets. Those pine logs would stop those .44s
after a couple of inches, even at close range. They’d have to go inside the
cabin to make a killing shot and the only entrance was the front door. They
had to know that if he was inside, he’d have his back against the wall and
shoot them down the instant they crossed the threshold.
He sighed, and almost regretted what he expected to be the tragic result
of imminent confrontation. He doubted that he’d be able to reason with
them. He felt his stomach flip knowing that it was most likely that all three
of them would be dead within ten minutes.
It was Jasper who started the fireworks. He stopped when he was about a
hundred feet from the cabin and without so much as a whispered warning,
he raised his Winchester and opened fire. The other two began peppering
the cabin with .44s shortly after Jasper had started shooting, filling the air
around them with an enormous cloud of gunsmoke. After each of them had
unloaded five or six shots, it was Pete who must have realized that no one
was inside.
 He stopped firing and shouted, “He ain’t in there!”
Jasper stopped shooting, but Jim let one more bullet fly before he turned
and looked at Pete.
As they each automatically cycled their repeaters, spitting the empty
brass to the ground, Jim asked, “Where did they go?”
He soon had his answer, but it didn’t come from Pete or Jasper.
Ben shouted, “Okay, boys, you’ve made a mess of my new cabin! Now
just drop the guns and step over here!”
They all whipped around and spotted Ben about forty yards away with
his cocked Winchester pointed in their direction.
Jim and Pete hesitated, but Jasper felt a surge of confidence which was
reinforced with the power of his new Winchester. He knew that they had
three repeaters and the cowboy only had one. He wasn’t about to be shown
up by that big bastard a third time.
Jasper shouted, “Kill him, boys!”, then rammed his carbine’s butt against
his shoulder.
Ben was momentarily stunned by their incredible decision, but quickly
fired before any of them could even get his finger to his trigger.
His .44 ripped through Jim White’s chest after a small fraction of a
second’s travel, blowing through a rib, ripping off the top of his heart’s left
ventricle then exiting between two ribs. He fell onto his back with his eyes
wide open in shock. He convulsed for three or four seconds before he
breathed his last.
As Ben levered in a new round, Pete and Jasper had each taken their
eyes from their sights to glance at Jim as he stumbled onto his back but
quickly refocused on their target and hastily fired at Ben.
Their nervous shots were both wide by more than a foot as Ben fired his
second shot, a killing hit that struck Pete Gillette higher in the chest and
more to the right. But the slug of lead shattered his breastbone and then
tumbled into the mass of blood vessels in his chest with some of the pieces
of broken bone acting almost as shrapnel. He staggered then dropped his
brand-new Winchester, fell to his knees and tried to look for the man who
had just killed him, but his eyes closed before he fell face forward into the
dirt.
Jasper prepared to fire once more as fear overwhelmed him. His eyes
were already beginning to moisten at the thought of his own impending
death, so it seemed as if he was aiming though a pool of water when he
pulled his trigger.
Even as he was watching the smoke blossom from Jasper’s muzzle, Ben
took his last shot. He didn’t know where Jasper’s bullet passed, but he
watched as Jasper dropped his repeater and stared back at him. Then he
clutched his gut with both hands before he fell to his knees and rolled onto
his left side. Ben could see the blood already spreading across Jasper’s shirt.
The entire action from their opening salvo at the cabin until they were on
the ground was less than three minutes.
“Stay there, Charlotte,” Ben said loudly before he ran toward the
downed shooters to make sure they were no longer a threat, if they had ever
really been one.
He quickly kicked each of the two dead bodies to be certain, then
approached Jasper as he lay curled on his side with his life’s blood oozing
between his fingers. Ben knew it was a killing shot but would only take
Jasper’s life when he lost too much blood.
He took a knee beside Jasper and motioned Charlotte over but didn’t
watch as she trotted from the trees.
His eyes were focused on Jasper’s pained face as he asked, “Jasper, who
sent you here?”
Jasper grimaced, but defiantly answered, “I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’.”
Ben asked, “Jasper, do you want me to leave you out here for the
coyotes, vultures and other critters to feast on your remains? Would you
rather have those big black birds poking their sharp beaks in your eyes, or
do you want me to bring you back to town for a Christian burial?”
 Jasper’s glazed eyes expanded and he began to shake as he asked,
“You’re just gonna leave me here?”
Ben stared into his fading eyes and said, “Why should I help you,
Jasper? You’ve done nothing but bad things since I got here. Unless you tell
me what I need to know, I won’t bother to put you in the ground or give you
a good Christian funeral. I noticed that whoever sent you here wasn’t brave
enough to come with you. He must be laughing his ass off in town right
now knowing that he was sending the three of you into a trap. Did Jerome
send you, Jasper?”
Jasper knew he was dying, and he was terrified at the thought of wild
critters eating him, especially his eyes.
“Yeah, it was Jerome. That railroad man and the mayor told him to do it.
He said he’d give us fifty dollars to kill you and her. We could dally her too,
and he said we could keep the guns. Are you gonna bring me back now?”
“Yes, Jasper. I’ll bring you back. I’ll see that the reverend gives you a
nice sendoff, but you’re going to have to make peace with God before you
go.”
Jasper shifted his eyes then looked plaintively at Charlotte, and with his
last words he whispered, “I’m real sorry, ma’am.”
Jasper sighed then closed his eyes as he seemed to be at peace with
himself.
As Ben stood and took Charlotte’s hand, Jasper lay still for almost a
minute. Then his hands dropped from his belly before he spasmed for a few
seconds and he stopped breathing.
Ben turned to meet Charlotte’s troubled brown eyes, knowing that she
understood why he had asked her not to fire.
She asked softly, “Were you really going to leave him here?”
He shook his head and replied, “No, Charlotte, of course not. I didn’t
want him here anymore than he wanted to stay here. You need to realize
that nothing scares most men more than the thought of some critter eating
their carcass. I don’t know why because it’s pointless when you think about
it.
“I just wanted you here to listen to his confession that I hoped he would
make and confirm what we both suspected. I don’t think these three were
evil or even that bad. They were basically just bullies, who followed the
direction of someone who used them. They were lazy and took what they
thought was the easy road.”
“So, what do we do with them now?”
“We’re keeping their nice new Winchesters which probably came from
Jerome’s gun rack in his office and were paid for by the citizens of Miles
City. I’m going to get them ready to move, then take them into town and
leave them in front of the sheriff’s office with a note explaining what
happened.”
Ben looked down at the three dead men as Charlotte hooked her arm
through his.
“Now you understand why I didn’t want you to take a single shot,
Charlotte. It gives you an empty feeling to have to kill a man. I didn’t want
you to feel that unless you absolutely had to.”
“Have you killed many men before, Ben?” she asked quietly as she
studied his face.
“During the war, there was no accounting for how many men died from
my actions.”
“How bad was the war for you, Ben?” she almost whispered, seeing the
pain in his eyes.
“Not as bad as it was for most of us because I enlisted so late in the war
as a replacement with the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry which had
been in almost every major battle in the war so far. I was still an ignorant
young man when I stood with those hardened veterans. But even that late in
the war, it was still pretty bad because I arrived just in time for Gettysburg.
On the 2
nd
of July in ’63, the battle was on a bayonet point and could have
gone either way. It was the most decisive day in the history of our republic.
If they won that day, we’d probably have two nations rather than one.
“The rebs mounted an attack on a vulnerable spot in our lines along
Cemetery Ridge and it looked like they had the strength to push through
which would cause our lines to collapse. General Hancock ordered our
regiment to attack and take their flag, so we charged a full rebel brigade
with one regiment. It was insane, but it had to be done. It wasn’t long before
we were surrounded, and the serious killing began. Within five minutes,
more than two hundred of our two hundred and fifty men were down. But
we held, and we gave the generals time to bring up more units to reinforce
the line.
“When we were finally able to return to our normal positions, there were
just forty-seven of us left to fight. I was one of the lucky ones, Charlotte. I
never understood why I didn’t even get a scratch and so many of the
experienced men died or lost arms or legs. It just didn’t seem right or fair to
me. The next day, even with our almost empty unit, we had to fight off the
rebs again when Pickett led that final assault on our lines. Oh, they gave us
all sorts of praise and medals for our action, orating about glory and
heroism, but it was nothing like that to us. For each of us, all we did was
protect our friends.
“I had made good friends among those who survived Gettysburg and we
thought it would all end soon after that decisive battle, but it didn’t because
General Meade decided not to pursue the retreated Confederate army.”
He took in a deep breath, exhaled and continued to look into Charlotte’s
sympathetic brown eyes as he continued.
“After Lincoln got rid of Meade, Grant arrived to take over. So we
moved down to Virginia and chased Bobby Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia. It seemed like every few days, we’d engage the rebs in one battle
or another. Grant was called a butcher by the newspapers, but he understood
that the only way to win a war was to fight it without any gloves. He knew
he had more men and better equipment, so he was relentless.
“As we engaged Bobby Lee’s boys in Virginia, my friends died or were
wounded. I was closer to each of them than I ever was to my own family.
We would die for each other, and many of us did. We were almost finished
with the fighting when we reached the spring of ‘65, and I began to believe
that I’d make it through the entire war without a scratch when I was
wounded twice. The funny thing was that being wounded made me feel
better. I felt as if I owed my friends something for what happened to them
but not to me. It’s kind of stupid when you think about it.”
Charlotte whispered, “No, Ben, it isn’t stupid at all.”
“Do you know what was the stupidest thing about that whole war,
Charlotte? It was the very existence of the Confederate States of America. It
was why I joined up. I had to help to preserve out union. I simply couldn’t
believe that they couldn’t see the folly of what they were doing. Their
whole system was based on the right of the states to secede. So, even if they
had won and become a country, how long before Texas would say, ‘we
don’t like you highbrow Southerners. We’re leaving.’. Then Georgia leaves
because they think Virginia is getting too much power or Louisiana wants to
have control of the Mississippi all by itself. Their new country that had cost
them so dearly to create would have to collapse sooner or later, and they
didn’t see it. The whole damned war was unnecessary. Charlotte! Even if
they had won, they would have lost.”
“I never looked at it that way.”
“Obviously, they didn’t either. When we finally mustered out, I had very
few friends left. I went back to the farm and found that I couldn’t fit in and
knew I never would. I didn’t know if it was because I’d gotten so used to
the boring yet hectic life of a soldier or if it was something else. I guess it
really didn’t matter. That’s when I hit the trail. I had no idea where I would
go and had no real purpose. But then I arrived in Miles City in Montana
Territory and met you. Now I know why I left and what my real purpose in
life is. It’s to love you every day.”
Charlotte couldn’t say anything. How could she? She had felt so badly
about what had happened to her these past six months, but they paled in
comparison to what Ben had been through.
How can a man be grateful for
having been shot?
She was amazed he could even function at all, much less
do all the incredible things she’d already seen him do.
 Ben finally smiled at his wife and said, “Enough of the past. Charlotte.
We need to worry about the future, starting now. I’ll need a pencil and some
paper. Do you have any at your house?”
“Yes. Do you want me to go and get them?”
“No. We’ll go together. I never want you out of my sight, ma’am. I’m
going to build a travois to bring them into town tonight. Rigor mortis will
set in soon, so I need to get them ready. Putting them over their horses
would leave them in that shape for a day or so, and we need the horses. I’ll
straighten them out for the move then we’ll get the paper and pencil quickly
before anyone else knows they’re gone.”
“Okay.”
Ben then turned, walked to each of the bodies and arranged them almost
as if they were already in a coffin. He had them lying closely together as if
they were enjoying a peaceful nap in the warm summer sun before he laid
his slicker over the bodies to keep the vultures away until they returned.
Then he and Charlotte left the scene and returned to their tent where they
mounted their horses.
Once on horseback, they rode back to the site of the gunfight and Ben
rounded up their horses. Once he had them secured and tied to a nearby tree
branch, they rode south through the trees reaching the chicken house fifteen
minutes later.
They dismounted, tied off the two geldings, then trotted inside, where
Charlotte quickly found the paper and pencils.
Ben wrote two notes. He would leave one on the bodies that he intended
to deposit in front of the sheriff’s office. He’d slip the second one under
Amos’ door in case the sheriff was the first one to discover the bodies and
destroyed the first.
He wrote:
These three men were sent by Sheriff Cheatham to murder me and my
wife. They showed up armed with Winchesters supplied by your sheriff and
bought by the citizens of Miles City. Ask him where his office’s Winchesters
are. Without warning, they opened fire at my cabin thinking we were inside.
I had seen them coming and was in the woods. After they finished filling the
walls of my cabin with .44s, I called out to them to drop their weapons.
They chose to fire at me instead, so I shot all three. Notice each of them has
a single wound in the front. This was not a drygulching. It was a standup
fight.
This wasn’t their fault. Before he died, Jasper told me that the sheriff had
promised them fifty dollars apiece to kill us and they could keep the new
guns. Jasper also asked for a Christian burial, so please oblige his last
request and give each of them a proper sendoff. I don’t blame them for what
they tried to do. My wife and I have forgiven them, but I will not forgive the
sheriff, nor will I forgive Mayor Wilcox or Mister Bishop who directed the
sheriff to do this despicable act.
I will do anything necessary to protect my wife. Anything.
Ben Arden
He handed it to Charlotte. “Anything you want to change?”
She took the pencil and added:
And I will do anything to protect my husband. Anything.
Charlotte Arden
She handed it back to Ben, who smiled at her and said, “You are one hell
of a woman, Charlotte Arden.”
“And you, Mister Arden, are the only man who will ever possess my
heart, mind and soul.”
“Let’s make the second copy and head back.”
Ben wrote the second copy and let Charlotte add her postscript before
they left the house, mounted and headed back north through the forest.
_____
In Miles City, Sheriff Cheatham was getting nervous. It was just after
noon, and the boys should be getting to the chicken ranch by now.
 He had been walking outside for the past few minutes, listening for the
sound of gunfire, which would signal the end of this whole debacle. He had
no idea that it had been over for a while, and not in the way he had
anticipated. If he’d been out of his office, he might have heard the earlier
distant gunfire. But it would still have been difficult even if he was listening
because of the distance and the large forest of pines which muffled the
sounds.
_____
Ben and Charlotte cleared the trees and entered the clearing. They were
getting so used to the trip, they could predict within fifty feet where their
exit point would be, even if they didn’t follow the hoofprints from previous
trips. This time they came out exactly where the bodies lay, and Ben noticed
the circling buzzards despite the slicker covering. He’d have to move the
bodies quickly as the buzzards would be visible from the town. They could
be there for any number of dead creatures, but he didn’t want to take that
risk.
They quickly rode to the tent where Ben tied the horses off and retrieved
a tarp that he had used for dragging debris away from the building site.
He carried the tarp to the bodies to build the travois while Charlotte led
one of their horses. Ben asked that she stay back while he did the ugly job,
and she didn’t object.
With a reverence that the three men probably didn’t deserve, he slid each
body onto the tarpaulin. After all three bodies were on top of the canvas, he
looped a rope around the horse’s saddle horn and through the grommet on
the corner of the tarp. He ran the rope under the tarp and through the other
corner grommet and then back to the horse and wrapped it around the
saddle horn before he tied it to the other end of the rope. He was watching
the laden canvas as he took the horse’s reins, then walked the horse into the
woods. Once hidden by the pines, he stopped the makeshift travois to finish
the job. But first, he walked back out to the open, then looked overhead
until he saw the buzzards begin to peel off when they lost interest.
_____
 Sheriff Cheatham returned to his office and glanced at the wall clock in
his office. He had spent almost an hour of relentless pacing in and out of the
office and still hadn’t heard any gunfire. He finally figured that his boys
hadn’t found anyone at the farmhouse and had headed north to the cabin,
but he still had a bad case of the jitters. Even if they had to make that ride,
he should have heard something.
_____
Ben used the tarp as the basis for the travois, and simply cut some of the
branches he had in abundance and used a few feet of his remaining steel
wire to bind the canvas to the poles. It wouldn’t survive twenty miles, but
he only needed it to last two. Once that was done, he left the woods leading
the horse where he met Charlotte who held the reins of their other two
horses. They silently walked back to their camp leave the horses with Jersey
and the yet-to-be-named black gelding.
After unsaddling them and detaching the travois, Ben watched them
grazing and said, “I was going to drop the horses off with Abe at the livery,
but I think we’ll hang onto them for a while in case we need them as
backup. Are you ready for some lunch? I’ll even cook.”
Charlotte replied, “No, I’ll get it. You’ve been doing all the work today.”
Ben nodded the put his hand around Charlotte’s waist before they
walked to their hole-ridden cabin. Charlotte continued to the firepit while
Ben examined the damage. There was no point in digging out the bullets,
but he simply counted the holes. He was pleased that none of the frames
were hit but shook his head at the widely scattered pattern. They had wasted
most of their ammunition firing into the logs. He entered the cabin and
found two holes in the interior walls before leaving the cabin to join
Charlotte.
_____
Forty minutes later as they were eating, Charlotte asked, “So, what do
you think will happen next?”
“Honestly? I have no idea. Their first move to send in the dumb muscle
was pretty obvious. They would just do whatever they were told to do. Even
though the sheriff was the one who sent them, Bishop is the driver in all
this. It seems that his motive is purely revenge, so he won’t stop. He’s also a
lot smarter and more devious than the other two. I don’t know how much
control Bishop has over the mayor and the sheriff, so it’s possible that after
we drop off those bodies and leave the notes, the mayor and the sheriff
might run. Neither impresses me as a brave man, so you’d think that they’d
grab what possessions they had and skedaddle. But I don’t think that it’s
likely that they will. I believe Bishop will be able to manipulate them well
enough to turn them into cannon fodder while he stays out of danger.”
“You think he’ll be able to convince the mayor and the sheriff to risk
their lives?”
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t even think it will be that difficult. Jerome strikes
me as a man in need of importance. If he was honest with himself, he’d
admit that he wasn’t very smart and should be grateful for reaching the
position of sheriff. But he wants more. He wants everyone to admire him,
but he’s going about it the wrong way. He thinks by exerting his authority
he’d be respected, but he never understood that the job isn’t about power.
It’s about duty. Bishop will play on his pride and tell him that killing me
will prove what a brave man he is.
“The mayor is more of a puzzle to me because I never met the man.
Bishop probably has dirt on him, but after our note gets in circulation, it
won’t matter. He’ll need to push the mayor to help the sheriff. Maybe he’ll
use you as the incentive. He seemed to already have his eye on you.”
Charlotte laughed then said, “You’ve got to be kidding! That visit when I
threw him out was just at Bishop’s bidding. He was probably just going to
kill me. You saw how I looked. I’m not exactly a picture of femininity. I
still can’t believe that you saw past my farmer’s clothing.”
“I’m eternally grateful for those baggy clothes that hid you from other
men’s eyes, Charlotte. But did you always dress like that?”
“No, I wore dresses when I was married, but I had my hair long.”
“Then I’m sure the mayor’s offer was genuine. He wants you, Charlotte.
But I could be wrong about their motives. Bishop may just offer them five
hundred dollars each to kill us. But I’d be shocked if we had another assault
by three men. Bishop will wait and hope that the sheriff and mayor are
smarter than the others. But after they fail, he’ll be alone. He’ll be alone and
much more dangerous. He’s more than smart and devious. He’s
unpredictable.”
“How long do we have?”
“At least until tomorrow. Leaving the bodies and the notes will set off
the fireworks.”
Charlotte sighed then said, “Let’s finish eating our cold supper."
Ben smiled and said, “Then we need to figure out what their next move
will be.”
_____
That next move was on the mind of Sheriff Cheatham. It was almost four
o’clock, and he hadn’t seen the boys, nor heard the expected hail of gunfire.
He fleetingly thought that maybe they had absconded with the rifles or
partnered up with their victims, but quickly dismissed those ideas. He
remembered how angry they were after that Arden confronted them at the
chicken ranch. They wanted payback and would never think of becoming
his pal. It was more than likely that they were enjoying themselves with that
woman after killing the cowboy. So, he’d give them a couple more hours to
have their fun before he had no choice but to talk to that sneaky railroad
bastard.
_____
Ben and Charlotte had used the time before sunset to finish the work on
their remaining defensive position, the treehouse. Ben cut two thirty-foot
sections of rope, then found suitably thick branches to use as crossbars. For
over two hours, he cut and notched them before handing them to Charlotte,
who tied the rope around each bar about a foot and a half apart.
Once the rope ladder was complete, they walked to their pine-hidden
recluse and Ben climbed the tree using branches with the ladder hooked
over his shoulder. When he reached the treehouse, he stepped onto the
planks and tied the ends of the ropes to the stout branch overhead then
tugged on it. Satisfied that it was securely attached, he dropped the ladder to
the ground and then used it for his descent. Other branches along the route
kept the ladder from swaying excessively.
Once his boots dropped to the pine needle covered ground, he asked,
“Charlotte, did you want to try it now?”
She didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect as she looked up at the distant
tree house, but replied, “I suppose that I have to do it sooner or later.”
She grasped the fourth rung, put her foot in the bottom, then carefully
began her climb. But as she began to trust the ladder, she became more
comfortable, and her pace increased. She completed the climb in about
thirty seconds which Ben thought was a good time. Once she was safely on
the planking, Ben climbed up to join her. It wasn’t for a romantic reason.
He needed to ensure the planks and branches could support both of them.
He quickly ascended and soon was reunited with Charlotte high above the
forest floor.
“What do you think?” he asked as he stood beside her.
Charlotte scanned the horizons with her arm around Ben’s waist for
support and said, “At first, I was a bit scared because I’m not fond of
heights, but it’s quite beautiful up here. I can see the waterfall, the pool, and
the top of our cabin.”
“It is, isn’t it? That’s what I thought when I was up here putting the floor
down. If we need to use it for its intended purpose, we’ll pull our rope
ladder up, so they won’t know we’re here.”
She smiled at him, then asked, “Can we make use of it now while it’s
still touching the ground?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go first,” he replied without saying, “in case I have to
catch you when you fall.”
Ben quickly descended, and after he reached the ground, he watched
Charlotte take her time as she carefully placed each foot onto a rung. He
thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle but hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. At
least she could climb the ladder much more quickly when it might be
critical.
After she safely returned to Mother Earth, Ben took her hand and they
started back to the tent.
____
Two hours later they were sitting by the tent watching the five horses
peacefully cropping the nearby grass.
“Ben, I know that you think that they won’t try anything until tomorrow,
but is it possible that they’ll come tonight?”
“It’s possible, but highly unlikely. For one reason, they still don’t know
where the cabin or our tent is. But what is the biggest factor is that I’m sure
that the sheriff will wait until he’s convinced that his boys failed. Then he’ll
go to the mayor, so they can figure out how to tell Bishop. They won’t think
about running yet because they won’t find the bodies and the note until
tomorrow.
“When they do tell Bishop, it will be too late to create a plan. Then
Bishop will have to convince them to risk their lives. All that takes time.
After they find the bodies and the note, they’ll come.”
“What will we do then?”
“They won’t enter the clearing the way those boys did. They’ll be
expecting an ambush. I think they’ll approach following that stream. I’m
think we should go into the cave tomorrow morning rather than hiding
among pines. They’ll have to find us, and we’ll probably hear them long
before they do.”
“That sounds like a good idea. But if they showed up here and found the
tent, wouldn’t they just run the horses off, leaving us stranded?”
“No, I don’t think so. That would take time and make a lot of noise.
They won’t want to waste time in the open when they know we’re out here
somewhere. Besides, running off the horses wouldn’t help them at all. And
if they find the tent, they’ll just take a look then keep searching. But if they
do come through the trees close to the stream, they might discover our wire
booby trap. That would let us know they were there and get ready.”
Charlotte nodded then said, “Okay. We’ll be in our cave fortress waiting
for them when they show up tomorrow.”
Ben grinned then said, “We have a few hours of free time, Mrs. Arden.
Are you too worried to fulfill your wifely duties?”
She laughed as she took his hand then said, “I’ll never be that worried,
sir.”
As they entered the tent, Ben was still unsure of how things would play
out among the remaining three men. His biggest concern was the mayor
because he simply hadn’t met the man. He was sure that Bishop was still
the biggest threat, but all he knew about Mayor Lord Wilcox was that he
wanted Charlotte. He’d ask her about him later, but right now, he wanted
Charlotte himself and she wanted him.
_____
The sheriff finally realized that his boys had failed and were lying dead
somewhere. He left his office shortly before sunset and searched for the
mayor.
When Jerome knocked on his door, the mayor snapped his book closed,
annoyed at being disturbed during a particularly racy passage in
Fanny Hill
. He stormed to the door, threw it open and glared at the very nervous face
of Jerome Cheatham standing before him.
“I gotta see you, Lord,” he said quickly.
The mayor had no doubt about the reason for the sheriff’s appearance
after seeing failure carved into his round face.
Fanny Hill
temporarily forgotten, he waved him inside as he said,
“Come on in, then.”
The sheriff quickly stepped past him as the mayor closed the door then
followed the sheriff into the parlor. The frustrated and annoyed mayor
returned in his still warm brocaded chair and the worried sheriff lowered his
impressive behind onto another.
The sheriff removed his hat and began kneading it in his hands as he
said, “I think the boys are gone.”
“
They ran away?
” the mayor exclaimed in surprise.
Sheriff Cheatham continued to mangle his hat as he quickly replied, “No,
no. Not that kinda gone. I figure they’re more’n likely dead. I don’t know
how, but that’s what I figure happened. I didn’t hear any gunfire, but maybe
that cowboy drygulched the boys from far enough away so I didn’t hear it.”
The mayor’s frustration morphed into a defensive concern as he asked,
“Have their horses returned?”
“No.”
“Why do you think they’re dead? If they were all dead, wouldn’t their
horses have returned to your corral?”
“Not if those that cowboy took the horses after killin’ ‘em. What can we
do now? If the boys are dead, then they know we’re tryin’ to get ‘em and
they’ll be ready for us.”
“I know that. That damned Bishop put us in a bad spot, but if they’re
looking for us to come up there, then maybe we can wait them out. They
can’t have a lot of food, so they’d have to come to town in a week or two.”
The sheriff shook his head as he said, “There’s a lot of game up in those
woods. They could eat pretty good for a while. And a lot can happen before
then. We gotta get ‘em soon.”
“Let me think for a minute, but whatever we decide, we can’t involve
Bishop. That bastard would just as likely kill us as them.”
Sheriff Cheatham was well aware of that possibility and was toying with
the idea of killing Bishop first but came to the same conclusion he had
earlier. The railroad would want answers and probably send in their own
agents to investigate.
 The mayor’s brain had been working feverishly while the sheriff had
been contemplating eliminating Bishop, so after a minute of thought, he
said, “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. Tomorrow morning, you and I will ride to
the edge of the chicken ranch. We know that they’re probably not there
now, but we’ll bring rifles and pistols. After we make sure it’s empty, we
get into the trees, leave the horses and after we’re about halfway, we tie off
the horses and follow their tracks on foot. It’ll be less than a mile to
wherever they are, so we spread out a bit, maybe fifty yards, so he can’t
shoot us both.
“When we spot them, don’t worry about the woman because she’s no
danger. We concentrate on that big boy and if we sneak up just right, we can
both plug him from behind cover. We don’t go out into the open unless we
have to. Just remember, no spurs and nothing white or shiny. Dress in dark
colors so they can’t see us moving in the shadows. Be here tomorrow
morning at seven o’clock. You got all that?”
“Yeah. Dark clothes. Rifle and pistol. Be here at seven o’clock.”
“Now go home and get some rest. Nothing else will happen before then.”
The sheriff nodded, then rose and quickly left the house. Lord Wilcox
was sure his plan would work because stealth was a lot smarter than riding
in with guns blazing like those three idiots probably did.
He picked up
Fanny Hill
, found where he’d left off and after reading a
few sentences, slammed it closed again, the mood broken by the arrival of
the sheriff with his news of failure.
_____
It was after midnight when Ben and Charlotte hooked up a horse to the
travois. They mounted their own horses and walked them as quietly as
possible toward the town. To them, their horses’ hoofbeats sounded like
cannon fire in the silence, but luckily for them, the moon was hidden behind
clouds.
They neared the town well after midnight and found everything quiet.
They dismounted and tied their horses on the nearest hitching rail, which
ironically belonged to the Northern Pacific Railroad offices. They then led
the one horse down the street until they reached the sheriff’s office where
Ben untied the travois from the horse. Charlotte stood guard, watching the
darkened buildings as Ben turned the travois ninety degrees, then grunted as
he lifted one end and lowered it to the boardwalk in front of the sheriff’s
office. When the sun rose over Miles City, the first citizens to step onto the
street would find the bodies with their heads resting just six feet from
Sheriff Cheatham’s doorstep, making a statement on its own.
Ben attached the paper to the travois with a pigging string before he
trotted down the street to Amos’ store and slid the second note through the
space underneath. He returned even more quickly to the Northern Pacific
offices where Charlotte had already attached the travois horse to Jersey. He
mounted the black gelding then they soon disappeared into the safety of the
night’s darkness.
 CHAPTER 6
It was well before seven o’clock when the mayor heard frantic pounding
on his door. He was dressed and ready to leave but hadn’t had his morning
coffee yet. He knew it was the sheriff doing the incessant pounding. As he
walked to the door, the mayor wondered if the sheriff’s nerves had driven
him mad. He was determined not to allow a nervous Nellie lawman to drag
him into the loony bin with him.
When he quickly swung it open, he saw the panicked face of the sheriff
and was about to ask what was wrong when the sheriff hurriedly provided
the answer.
“Lord, we gotta do something quick! It’s the boys. Their bodies are all
lyin’ in front of my office.”
Lord quickly exclaimed, “Son of a bitch! Let’s go!”
He grabbed his hat and followed Jerome out the door, leaving it open in
his haste to see to see the bodies and develop a plan to change the narrative
for their demise.
A few seconds later, he could see a makeshift travois in front of the
sheriff’s office with the three bodies under the tarp. He assumed that the
sheriff must have pulled the canvas free to examine their faces. He also
spotted a paper fluttering in the morning breeze near the edge of the tarp.
“What’s on the paper?” he asked as they jogged closer.
“I don’t know. I didn’t take time to read it.”
“You moron! Why didn’t you at least rip it off?”
“I needed to tell you first.”
The mayor was astounded that anyone so stupid could be wearing a
badge as they reached the bodies. The mayor looked both ways quickly
before he snatched the paper from the travois and stuffed it into his pocket
without reading a word. He had a good idea what the cowboy had written
on the damning sheet.
The sheriff looked nervously at the mayor and asked, “What will we do?
Everybody knows these boys help me out.”
“First, you need to calm down. Once folks start showing up and seeing
the bodies, we act shocked that some murderer would do this to three
innocent boys who went out hunting. Normally, who would you contact
first if you found some dead bodies?”
“The undertaker.”
“Then go and get him and act excited when you find him. This might
even make our job easier. If we play it right, we can get together a posse to
hunt down those two murderers that killed these poor boys. Now, go!”
The sheriff raced away to the undertaker’s house, taking glances back at
the mayor as he sped away. He knew the mortician wouldn’t be open for
business yet, but he knew where Henry Jacobs lived.
The mayor watched the sheriff leave, then pulled out the paper and read
it. He was glad that the sheriff had been the first on the scene. If what was
written on the paper had gotten out, it would have been a disaster. It was
only sheer luck that the sheriff had found it first, too. Usually somebody is
out wandering the streets early in the morning, and it wasn’t really that
early in the first place.
But as he waited, Mayor Lord Wilcox did what any good politician
would do. He would use his well-honed ability to turn truth into lies and
convince the common people that he was telling them the facts. It’s what
kept him in office for so long. That and nobody else really wanted the job.
He wasn’t alone much longer. Within fifteen minutes, townsfolk began
to congregate around the three bodies as the rumor of more violence in
town quickly spread.
John Hooper, the baker, asked, “What happened, Mayor?”
Lord put on his best face of disgust and outrage as he replied, “The
sheriff came to my house a little while ago to tell me that he had discovered
the bodies of these poor boys when he was coming to work. He’s gone off
to find the undertaker to arrange for their burial.”
He then looked at the growing number of citizens and used is politician’s
voice as he orated, “Folks, I don’t know how this happened, but we can’t let
this sort of thing happen in our town. I have an idea who did it, and I think
the sheriff is going to want to get a posse together to hunt down those
responsible for these despicable murders.”
Most of the growing crowd could already see quite a few holes in the
mayor’s spiel. The sheriff never arrived at his office before eight-thirty and
always stopped at the café and had his breakfast before going to the jail.
They also knew that these ‘poor boys’ were thugs and troublemakers, and
the only ones who might mourn their passing was the sheriff and maybe the
bartender.
The clincher was when they wandered by the three exposed bodies and
could see the bullet holes in the fronts of the ‘poor boys.’ The sheriff would
have to look elsewhere for his posse, because to a man, not one would offer
any help. Nor would any of the women who had joined the still growing
audience.
It was then that the sheriff arrived with Henry Jacobs, who headed for
the bodies while the sheriff approached the mayor.
Lord continued his performance, saying, “Sheriff, I’ve already explained
to these good folks that you would be forming a posse to seek the murderers
of these poor boys. Why don’t you do that? I’ll be the first to volunteer and
will return to my house get my guns to join you.”
Before the sheriff could reply, the mayor strutted away toward his house,
pleased with his performance and confident that they’d soon have a large
posse.
The sheriff looked at the faces around him and said loudly, “Folks, you
heard the mayor. I need some good men to follow me and the mayor to find
and deal with the ones who murdered these innocent lads. We need to keep
desperate criminals like those who did this off our streets. Who will join
us?”
 His words echoed across the street as he waited for volunteers to step
forward. But when they started walking, it wasn’t towards him. He could
only watch as they began to filter away to return to their daily routine.
The mayor soon returned wearing a gunbelt and carrying a Winchester.
He watched them disperse, but believed that some were going to arm
themselves for the posse.
“How many brave citizens are coming with us, Sheriff?” he asked
loudly.
The sheriff simply shook his head in reply.
The mayor looked at the disappearing crowd in feigned disgust, then
held his Winchester above his head as he shouted, “I for one, will not
tolerate such violence! If the sheriff and I are the only people in this town
with the moral courage to seek justice, then so be it! Let’s go, Sheriff!”
He lowered his repeater then began walking to get his horse.
As the sheriff trotted after him, and despite his earlier desire for the
posse, the mayor was actually quite pleased with the absence of volunteers.
Now, he and the sheriff could shoot the cowboy regardless of whether or
not he had seen them. There would be no witnesses to the killing, and that
cowboy wouldn’t have an opportunity to say what was on the crumpled
sheet in his pocket.
The sheriff never reached the mayor but turned toward the livery to get
his horse while the mayor went to the small barn behind his house to saddle
his animal. Soon, the two men were mounted and heading south out of
town. They’d visit the Charlie’s chicken farm first.
Amos Brackett had been heading for his store when the ruckus began.
He’d been in the crowd listening to everything the mayor and sheriff said.
Even before they had finished, he’d shaken his head, huffed in disbelief,
then walked away to open his store for the day.
He unlocked his door, swung it wide, then spied the paper on the floor
and picked it up. He didn’t open it because it was probably just a written
order. It wasn’t unusual for some of his regulars to write out their orders
and slide them under his door for pickup later. He was going to put it on his
counter for filling out later but curiosity about who had left the order made
him give it a quick glance. He immediately knew it wasn’t an order for
flour or beans.
His eyes grew larger as he read the note, then he quickly turned, closed
his door without locking it and ran back to the still loosely assembled crowd
as they were drifting away.
_____
Charlotte was leaning against Ben in their cave fort and was reasonably
comfortable. They had two bedrolls for comfort should they feel the need to
rest but were both surprisingly bored. They knew it was likely that they
soon would be facing a deadly situation, but at the moment, they had
nothing to do. They had to stay quiet and not engage in any hanky-panky,
which was normally a much better way to pass the time.
Ben had cleaned the shotgun and the Winchesters twice, and Charlotte
had made sure all her Colt’s percussion caps were in place. They were
beginning to fidget.
“How much longer do you think before they show up, Ben?” she asked
quietly.
“It could be a while, sweetheart. It’s only nine o’clock or thereabout, so
they must have found the bodies by now. I imagine that either the whole
town’s up in arms against them or us, depending on how the sheriff plays it.
I don’t think he knows about the second note. So, I’m pretty sure that we
don’t have to worry about a big posse coming out here. But they do have to
act quickly now. I can think of something we could do that would keep us
both busy for a while and would be far from boring,” he said as he grinned
at her, already knowing the answer.
“I’d be inclined to agree with you if I wasn’t certain that at the most
crucial moment one of them would pop his head in here and ask what we’re
doing.”
“The sheriff probably couldn’t figure it out anyway. The mayor would
probably just watch and abuse himself.”
 Charlotte laughed but covered her mouth with her hand, not wanting to
be too loud.
Ben then rested his hand on his wife’s thigh, and she placed her hand on
top of his as they continued to wait.
_____
The mayor and sheriff had found the chicken farmhouse empty then
entered the forest. They rode a few hundred yards into the trees before they
dismounted and tied off their horses. They were advancing slowly on foot,
keeping their eyes alert for threats. Both of them were scanning left and
right, but neither looked down in as they walked in the shadows under the
tall pines.
The sheriff’s left lower leg reached the steel wire, and the booby trap
caught its first booby.
He automatically dropped his Winchester as he tried to catch himself but
still planted his nose into the sharp pine needle blanket on the forest floor.
“Son of a bitch!’” he shouted after he rolled to his side, brushing pine
needles from his face.
_____
“They’re here,” whispered Ben.
They quickly rose from their seated position and Charlotte knelt behind
the log wall watching the forest through the wide slot with her Winchester
pointing out of the opening. Ben trotted around to the outside of the fort and
walked toward the cave’s mouth with his double aught-loaded shotgun but
stayed in the shadows. He wanted the wider field of vision.
_____
The mayor had jogged over to his partner and was soon another victim
of the strung wire, only he fell on his left shoulder rather than his face
before he dropped his rifle. He didn’t cry out, but still made a large ‘oomph’
as he blew out all the air in his lungs. Both were down, trying to regain
some semblance of dignity as they scrambled to their feet and picked up
their repeaters.
The sheriff pointed out the wires and snarled, “Look what that bastard
has done!”
The mayor said, “Let’s keep moving. Obviously, they didn’t hear us
because he didn’t fire. This must have been meant for your boys. Now, keep
it quiet.”
They resumed their stalking approach, keeping an eye on the ground
now as well. They had passed within fifty yards of their intended victims
without knowing it. But after another few minutes of slow, anxious
walking, they reached the end of the trees then spotted cabin and stopped.
The sheriff whispered, “It looks empty. But look at all the bullet holes. It
looks like the boys really unloaded on ‘em.”
“A lot of good it did,” the mayor replied.
The sheriff then asked, “Do you hear that? It sounds like a waterfall.”
“There’s one over there. I used to come out here years ago just
exploring. If I remember, there’s a cave too, and I’ll bet that’s where they
are now. They probably think they’re all nice and safe in there, but this is
perfect for us. We can simply start shooting into the cave and let the
ricochets do the rest.”
“But what if they ain’t in there?”
“We’ll give it a look first. We should be able to tell.”
The two men followed the trees to the ridge and turned south. They soon
spotted the cave but didn’t see beyond the first few feet as the entire ridge
was still in the shadows.
“Look!” said the mayor, “See all the digging? They’re in there, for sure.”
“Let’s get a good angle and start firing.”
_____
 In the cave, Ben whispered to Charlotte, “They found the cave. They’re
going to start firing soon. What I need you to do is to wait out a few rounds
then let out a scream and make it sound like I’ve been hit. Okay?”
“Alright.”
He then quickly returned to the log fort, knowing that bullets would soon
be ripping into the cave.
Slowly, the two would-be assassins approached from the north but still in
the trees. Once they had a decent angle that would ensure ricochets. they
raised their rifles and took aim. The mayor was the first to fire, and the
sheriff immediately followed.
Inside the cave, .44s bounced off the walls and slammed into the logs.
Some ricocheted twice but none found their way past the thick pine.
Suddenly, Charlotte shrieked, then shouted, “Ben! Ben! Get up! Please,
Ben!”
Then she paused, before shouting through the slot, “You bastards! Let
me get him to the doctor!”
They had stopped firing when they heard Charlotte’s scream, so when
she shouted, it was almost perfect timing.
The sheriff was grinning, but Lord wasn’t sure. He saw an opportunity to
clean up another potential mess by finally ridding himself of Sheriff
Cheatham.
After they set their hot Winchesters down, the mayor looked at Jerome
and said, “Let’s get closer. See those steps the carved in the stone? You take
out your Colt then use them to get into the cave. I’m going to back you up
and will be at the base of the cave right up against the wall.”
“Okay,” the sheriff replied as he could hardly wait to see the body of that
overgrown cowboy.
They scurried to the base of the cave with their weapons ready to fire.
 Inside the cave’s fort, Charlotte waited with her pistol. Ben was standing
between the fort and the cave wall with his cocked shotgun’s muzzle
pointed at the narrow opening to the bright world outside.
The sheriff quickly began his climb up the five steps as the mayor
pressed himself against the stone wall just below the mouth of the cave with
his pistol held closely to his right shoulder.
When the sheriff reached the top, he could barely see inside after leaving
the bright morning sun.
Then he heard a deep, un-feminine voice from the darkness growl,
“Drop it, Jerome.”
Without even seeing his target, he quickly raised his pistol to shoot the
voice before his world exploded.
Sheriff Jerome Cheatham stumbled backwards out of the cave and
crashed to the ground twelve feet from the ridge having absorbed both
blasts of the twelve-gauge shotgun’s double-aught buckshot at six feet.
Wilcox was stunned as he watched his unwanted partner fly through the
air over his head, but not totally surprised. He had suspected a trick, and
with the elimination of the sheriff, it was his turn to use his own ruse as he
patiently waited for the cowboy to look at his victim.
“Where’s the mayor?” asked Charlotte from behind the logs.
“Out there, somewhere. I’m not sure if he’s not already running back to
town or lurking in wait somewhere. I doubt if he’s going to start shooting
again, so stay here. I’m going to take a quick look.”
“Ben, shouldn’t you wait?” she asked as she left the fort to see Ben and
slipped her Colt back into her holster.
“Maybe, but I’ve had it with waiting. I want to end this.”
Ben set down the shotgun, picked up his Winchester, cocked the hammer
and slowly walked toward the cave’s mouth. He was scanning the outside as
his eyes adjusted to the brighter light.
 The mayor could hear the footsteps and smiled. He could do this. His
hammer was already cocked, and he was like a coiled spring as he heard the
cowboy step a little closer. It was almost time, and he knew he couldn’t
miss at this range. He was smiling knowing that he would soon put a bullet
right into that bastard’s chest. Then he’d finally have his way with the
woman who had been tempting him for years.
Ben scanned the nearby trees, seeing no one. He was about to turn and
tell Charlotte that it was safe when he saw a flash of movement out of the
corner of his eye and knew he was about to die for making a terrible
mistake.
He turned, trying to bring his Winchester to bear on the movement when
the triple messages of death arrived. He heard the report from a pistol, the
sensation of heat and a hard punch as the bullet struck him right in the
center of his chest. The pain was excruciating as he grabbed his chest and
fell over onto his back before everything went black.
Fifteen feet away and ten feet below, the mayor almost bounced with
giddy exultation as he held his smoking pistol. He had done it where all
those others had failed!
He slid his pistol into his holster and climbed the crude steps. It was time
to claim his prize after all those years of rejection and frustration. This was
going to be a lot better than reading
Fanny Hill
.
He entered to what many would consider a tender scene but didn’t care
when he found Charlotte bent over Ben sobbing as blood covered the front
of his shirt. She was lost.
How could this happen? Why?
She was so upset and so angry that she didn’t hear the footsteps as Lord
Wilcox entered the cave. But there was no mistaking his voice. When he
started speaking, she turned her brown eyes to Ben’s killer.
“Now, isn’t this sweet?” Lord asked in sarcastic merriment before he
laughed, then said, “Well, missy, you threw me out of your house the last
time, but today, this is gonna be my house and if anyone gets thrown out,
it’ll be you.”
 Charlotte had her left hand on Ben’s prostrate form as she stared at the
grinning face of his murderer and her grief was instantly replaced with a
rage she’d never felt before.
“I’m going to kill you, you bastard!” she screamed as she jumped to her
feet.
“What? Are you gonna pull shoot me, girlie? I don’t think so. I’ll tell
you what’s going to happen.”
The mayor’s mind was so preoccupied with his own fantasies of what
he’d be seeing in a few minutes, that he failed to understand the incredibly
threat he was facing. He simply didn’t believe that women even knew how
to use a pistol.
When Charlotte began pulling her pistol, he suddenly realized his fatal
error and grabbed for his pistol, but it was too late.
Charlotte brought her Colt level, cocked the hammer with her left hand,
then squeezed the trigger as the mayor’s gun was swinging upward. At that
range, there was no marksmanship involved. The slug of lead tore into
Lord’s chest just below his sternum’s notch, ripped through his aortic arch,
then exited his body. He stumbled backwards three quick steps then fell out
of the cave, slamming into the ground in a cloud of dust and resting in a
heap just a few feet from the sheriff.
Charlotte didn’t waste any time to ensure he was dead but had had to
help Ben. He was dying, but she didn’t know what she could do to save
him. She felt so helpless knowing she would lose all that mattered to her.
She turned and stepped over to him. She began crying again as her fury
was replaced by her overwhelming grief. As she knelt beside his massive
body, she set her trembling hand on his bloody chest.
Between sobs she continued to say, “Ben. Ben.”
Suddenly, his right knee bent which stopped her sobbing and tears
instantly.
“Ben! Ben! Are you there?  Tell me you’re alive! What can I do?” she
shouted.
 Ben groaned, opened his eyes, looked into her still wet brown eyes and
asked, “Charlotte? Are you okay?”
Charlotte wanted to laugh in incredible relief as she sniffed and replied,
“Yes, yes, I’m fine! What can I do? Where does it hurt?”
“I took the slug in the middle of my chest, and it feels awful.”
“But how could you still be alive?”
“It’s kinda hard to breathe right now. Can you help me sit up? Slowly?”
Charlotte put her left hand behind his neck as Ben put the butt of his
Winchester on the floor of the cave and used it to help push himself to a
sitting position. When he was stable, he asked her to unbutton his shirt, so
he could inspect the damage. The shirt was bloody, but not as much as he
expected and wondered how anyone could take a direct shot in the chest
from that range and survive.
When the buttons were free, he pulled open the shirt, but couldn’t see
anything in the low light and the coating of blood. So, he asked Charlotte to
get him a wet towel. She returned to their fort, dipped a blanket in the nail
cask of water and headed back to her wounded husband.
He reached for the towel, but Charlotte said, “I’ll do this.”
Ben nodded as she carefully dabbed at the wound expecting to find a
large hole but even before she finished, she was confused by what she her
eyes had revealed.
She pulled the cloth away and looked at him in amazement as Ben
looked at his chest and was almost as startled when he saw the wound.
He was still staring at his chest as he said, “Charlotte, there’s no bullet
hole at all. It’s just a gouge on my breastbone.”
Charlotte thought that his description of the inch-long, quarter-inch wide
valley on his sternum was perfect. It was a gouge, but she couldn’t
understand how it had been created.
 Ben soon answered her question as he gingerly touched the wound and
said, “Charlotte, you are looking at a miracle of ballistics. The mayor was
standing on the ground below us. When I stepped into his line of fire, he
shot from a very steep angle. He was accurate, but the bullet hit the chest’s
natural protector, the sternum. It deflected off the bone, even at that range.
If he was three feet further back, I don’t think it would have ricocheted.”
Charlotte suddenly realized how close it had been when she exclaimed,
“Ben, you scared me to death!”
Ben looked into her big brown eyes and said, “I’m sorry for scaring you
that way. I thought he had me, Charlotte. I made an incredibly stupid
mistake and should have listened to you.”
He suddenly realized that the man who had created the wound wasn’t on
the floor, so he looked outside and asked, “Where is the mayor? Did he run
away after he thought I was dead?”
Charlotte shook her head as she replied, “No. He’s somewhere on the
ground outside. I haven’t looked yet. I don’t think he’s still alive, though. I
shot him and he fell backwards.
“After you fell, I thought he had killed you. I dropped to my knees and
was crying over you when he came into the cave. He was standing there
laughing because he thought you were dead. Then he began telling me what
he was going to do to me. I was so filled with rage that I stood and shot
him. I didn’t even care that he wanted to rape me. I only wanted to kill him
for taking you away from me.”
He touched her face and said, “Thank you for saving my life, Charlotte.”
She quietly asked, “Should I feel bad, Ben? I don’t feel any remorse
whatsoever and that bothers me. Shouldn’t I have those guilty feelings you
explained to me?”
“No, you shouldn’t. When I warned you of the consequences, I was
talking about men like those three buffoons I shot yesterday. They weren’t
worthy of hate. They were just misguided. These two and Bishop want to
kill us for personal reasons, and they deserve to die. You are a good person,
Charlotte, the best I’ve ever known. So, don’t think you did anything wrong
because you didn’t. They did. Okay?”
“Okay. Can you make it out of the cave now?”
“I think so. Let me stand up first.”
Charlotte stood next to Ben and helped him as he slowly began to rise as
he grimaced but made it to his feet. After a few seconds, his breathing
eased.
“I think I can make it now. We’ll leave all our things in the cave and can
pick them up later.”
Charlotte went down the steps first in case she needed to help Ben.
Once he saw that she was on the ground and far enough away that he
wouldn’t fall on top of her, Ben slowly navigated the steps and made it to
the ground without an issue.
Once on flat ground he and Charlotte walked to the two bodies. The
mayor was on his back with a look of absolute surprise still registering on
his face. Six feet away, the mangled body of Sheriff Cheatham was lying
face down in the dirt.
“Charlotte, let’s go get their horses and bring their bodies into town.
There’s only Bishop now, so we don’t have to stay on defense anymore.
We’re going on offense.”
“Ben, you aren’t well enough to do anything yet.”
“I feel okay. If I can get them on their horses, then I’ll know that I can do
just about anything. I don’t think there’s any muscle or ligaments where that
bullet hit, so I don’t think I’ll be doing any more damage and it’s already
stopped bleeding.”
She nodded, still unsure if he was physically capable of handling the
demanding task.
They walked to their tent and Ben began his return to normalcy by
saddling the horses, grunting as he did. But it was important to him that he
show Charlotte he could do it. Once they were saddled, they mounted, then
rode through the forest and backtracked to where the mayor and sheriff had
tied their horses.
Ben stayed in the saddle as he untied both animals then handed the first
one’s reins to Charlotte. He took the second horse’s reins, before they led
the horses back to where the two bodies lay. By the time they stepped
down, Ben was feeling better and told Charlotte he wanted to keep his shirt
on to make a point when they returned to town. She agreed with him that it
would be an exclamation point to the story that they would soon tell the
townsfolk.
He pulled both bodies over their horses without even grunting. His rapid
recovery astonished Charlotte, but she chalked it up to one more
extraordinary aspect of her amazing husband.
As he lifted the mayor, he saw his pistol on the ground nearby. Once the
body was draped across the saddle, he reached down and picked up the gun.
He showed it to Charlotte and said, “Well, that explains another part of
my miraculous survival. This is a Colt pocket revolver that’s chambered for
a .31 caliber round. If it had been a .44 like yours or mine, I may not have
been so lucky, even with the angle.”
He placed the revolver in his waist, then tied both bodies down before he
and Charlotte mounted, then led both body-draped horses back to Miles
City, still unsure of the reception that would await them.
_____
There was an angry crowd patrolling the streets of Miles City, bordering
on becoming a lynch mob, and its target was Quincy Bishop.
Bishop stood back from his window and watched them coming. He had
been watching from his hotel window when Amos Brackett had gathered a
crowd and shouted about what he had found in his store. The moment
Quincy spotted the sheet of paper that the storekeeper was waving around,
he knew exactly what it was and why Brackett was so angry. But he still
stood at the window to watch developments.
 He didn’t know what the mayor and the sheriff were doing but knew his
time was short. He felt he could get out of town easily,
but where could he
go?
What made him even angrier was that he had failed in his mission of
revenge. Unless those two buffoons had succeeded, which he doubted, that
woman was still alive.
Then he had an epiphany. He could run to her house. It was only a
couple of miles from town, and he’d stay inside the house and set up an
ambush. When they arrived, he would have them. After he’d satisfied the
family honor, he would figure out a way to returning to Maryville. Nobody
would even think about looking for him there.
He went to his dresser and pulled out his gunbelt, strapped it on before
running down the hallway to the back stairs. He opened the door a crack,
saw no one, then hurried down the stairway and walked quickly to the
southern edge of town. In ten minutes, he was past the town and scanning
for any of the angry townsfolk. He spotted a large group, but they were all
focused on Brackett, so he hurried past the end of the main street. After he
was out of sight, he slowed to a fast walk as he headed for the chicken farm.
_____
Ben and Charlotte could see the northern edge of town but were
scanning for a possible Quimby Bishop ambush. Ben suspected that even
though Bishop didn’t know if the mayor and the sheriff had succeeded, he
would still prepare in the likely event that they failed. What and where he
acted would depend on the townsfolk. The lack of a posse buoyed his belief
that Amos had found the second note and the folks weren’t happy with their
mayor, sheriff and the Northern Pacific Railroad man. If that was true, he
doubted that Bishop would simply sit in his house and wait for things to
happen. He had to act now.
 As they neared the town, Ben was extremely worried about Charlotte,
knowing that she was Bishop’s primary target. He began to wonder if his
desire for revenge was so strong that he wouldn’t mind dying as long as he
knew that Charlotte was already dead by his hand.
Charlotte was pivoting her head as well, understanding the danger
Bishop posed. She also knew that if they could manage to stop him, she and
Ben could finally live a normal life. Something she could only dream of
having a month ago.
Before they reached the northern end of the main street, they saw a large
crowd in front of the railroad office. There must have been sixty people in
what appeared to be a lynch mob stretching down to the hotel.
Ben glanced at Charlotte who smiled back in relief.
Suddenly, one of the men in the crowd spied the couple leading the two
horses with bodies draped over them and shouted something unintelligible
to Charlotte and Ben as they were still a few hundred yards away. The
crowd, which had been shouting assorted threats and insults faded into
silence as they turned en masse and watched them ride into town. A few
pointed at Ben’s blood-soaked shirt.
Ben and Charlotte walked their horses to the front of the crowd and
pulled them to a stop.
Ben didn’t give any of them a chance to speak before he loudly asked,
“Where’s Bishop?”
Reverend Monk just as loudly replied, “We don’t know, Ben. We’ve
been looking all over for him, too.”
Charlotte looked across at him and was about to ask him a question
before he said, “I know where he is.”
Then he turned back to face the large crowd and asked, “Could some of
you take the mayor and the sheriff to the undertaker? They decided to try
and finish the job that the other three failed to do. They almost succeeded.
If my wife hadn’t stopped him, the mayor would have finished me off.”
A few men stepped forward and took the reins of the two trail horses as
Ben said, “Thank you.”
Then as he scanned the large crowd, he said, “I need to find and deal
with Bishop. Is Amos here?”
Amos Brackett stepped out from the crowd and said, “I’m here, Ben.
How can I help?”
 “Bishop’s reason for all that he’s done is to kill my wife. I need her
protected while I’m gone.”
Charlotte turned quickly to look at her husband and said, “Ben, I’m
going with you. You need me.”
Ben turned and smiled as he replied, “Truer words were never spoken,
my love. I need you more than life itself, but I can do this a lot easier alone.
I’m not being heroic here. This is a one-man job and I’ll come back to you
in twenty minutes.”
Charlotte knew he was right, smiled and said, “You’d better, Mister
Arden. And I don’t want you to have any more bullet holes, either.”
Ben sidled his gelding next to Jersey, leaned over and kissed her before
saying, “I’ll be right back, Mrs. Arden.”
Ben watched as she dismounted then Amos and three other men and the
minister led her into the church. It would be her sanctuary, but he hoped it
would only be necessary for an hour or so.
Ben turned the gelding south and set him to a slow trot. As the horse
headed down the main street, Ben pulled his Colt and added a sixth
cartridge. After replacing the pistol, he pulled the mayor’s pocket pistol and
checked the loads. It had the one fired chamber, but the others were all
charged. It was important to his plan.
He pulled his Colt, dropped the smaller pistol into his holster, then slid
his .44-spitting revolver into his waist behind his back.
After passing the south end of town, he turned the gelding east and
nudged him to a medium trot heading toward the chicken farm.
_____
Bishop was inside the house watching the town through the front
window and easily spotted Ben’s approach from the moment he’d left town
and cursed because the woman wasn’t with him. But then he realized that
he could hurt her just as badly by killing her boyfriend. He knew the man
was good with his weapons, but so was he. He’d have to use trickery to
improve his odds. He’d let him get close, then give him a target and let him
use all his ammunition. He might need more than one fake target if he
pulled his Winchester, but he’d wait until the cowboy dismounted and left a
gap between him and his repeater.
Quincy removed his hat and looked around the main room and found a
poker. He stepped over to the fireplace, grabbed it then wedged it onto the
hat. He wiggled it around until it was tight before he looked outside and
spotted the cowboy drawing closer.
Ben was gambling and guessed that Bishop didn’t have a rifle. He was
making periodic jinks in his approach in case he did, but he was still at risk.
He was also guessing that Bishop wouldn’t dare take a risk because he
would still need to have his revenge. He’d use whatever advantage he could
find, and one would be to stay in the house. Ben wouldn’t know where he
was, and he could fire from a door or window. While it was Bishop’s
biggest advantage, it was also the one that Ben planned to give him.
Fifty yards from the house, Ben reined in, then stepped to the ground
quickly, keeping his eyes on the house for any movement. He pulled the
pocket Colt from his holster and pointed it at the house as he stepped
forward, hoping that Bishop wouldn’t notice the difference in sound
between the smaller caliber pistol and his Colt. It shouldn’t be noticeable
from inside the house.
Bishop saw the cowboy dismount then walk away from his horse and its
Winchester. He was smiling as he watched Ben walk closer. When he was
around a hundred feet away, Bishop quickly slid the hat-decorated poker
past the window, leaving it stationary for almost two seconds.
Ben saw it and fired, just missing above the hat. The hat reappeared a
few seconds later and Ben sent another .31 caliber round into Charlotte’s
house. He shifted to his left, saw the hat move again, and rapidly emptied
the pistol. When the hammer fell on an empty cylinder he loudly exclaimed,
“Damn!” then lowered the pistol pretending to begin a reload.
Quincy watched him drop the muzzle and knew he had to act before he
put any cartridges into the revolver.
Stupid cowboy! He had fallen for the
simple moving hat ploy!
 Ben hoped that Bishop didn’t notice the different sound of the small Colt
as he continued his ruse. He still glanced furtively at the house as if he was
afraid that Bishop might emerge. When he saw the door open, he didn’t
reach for his own pistol yet but reacted in feigned panic.
Bishop stepped outside the house with his Smith & Wesson Model 3. He
was grinning as he stepped off the porch and took a few seconds to look at
the town in the hope that the woman might be on her way.
But when he let his eyes return to his immediate target, he was shocked
to see the cowboy in front of him with his revolver already reloaded and
pointing at him.
“How…” he began to ask as he raised his pistol, still wondering how he
could have reloaded so quickly.
Even before Bishop’s sights acquired his target, Ben’s first slug hit him
almost exactly where the mayor’s shot had hit Ben. Only Ben was shooting
a .44 caliber at a right angle, so any deflection wasn’t noticeable as it
destroyed Bishop’s sternum and ruptured the arteries behind it. He was
already dropping as Ben’s second and third shot slammed into his body.
Bishop crumpled awkwardly to the ground and didn’t move.
Ben kept his smoking pistol pointed at the railroad agent as he strode
closer. When he reached Bishop, he kicked him once, more out of spite than
to confirm his obvious death, then leaned over and picked up his unfired
pistol.
He dropped to his heels, rolled Bishop onto his back and began going
through is pockets for information. He wasn’t disappointed when he found
three letters to Quincy from his brother.
He stayed on his heels as he began opening the letters and reading them
one at a time. With each sentence he read, his understanding of Bishop’s
twisted reasons for wanting to kill Charlotte became clearer. He was
astounded that anyone could keep this level of hate over such a long period
of time. And if the duration itself wasn’t unbelievable, having the need to
avenge themselves on a woman who had been just a girl of five at the time
of the offense was beyond his capacity to understand.
 But as disturbing as the motive was, the letters revealed something that
bothered him even more. There was one more Bishop out there, and now he
knew where Charlotte lived.
He slipped the letters into his pocket and would talk to Charlotte later
when they had time. He unbuckled Bishop’s gunbelt, replaced his unfired
Smith & Wesson then stood and hung it over his shoulder before walking
back to his horse.
He was pleased to see that the horse had walked toward him rather than
run away at the sound of gunfire. He was a keeper and deserved to have a
name. He slid the gunbelt and the mayor’s small Colt into his saddlebags
and was about to walk back to Bishop’s body when he stopped in his tracks.
He heard the rapid, rhythmic hoofbeats of a galloping horse and turned
to the west. In the morning light, he witnessed a sight that would live with
him the rest of his life. Sitting in Jersey’s saddle running at full speed was
his beloved Charlotte with her long black hair flying behind her almost to
the horse’s tail. Her face was one of joy and concern at the same time and
he stood in awe of his woman without moving.
She brought Jersey to a dusty stop, leapt from the saddle and flew into
his arms, half crying and half laughing.
“
Is it over, Ben? Is he dead?
” she exclaimed as she held onto him.
“Yes, my darling wife, he’s dead,” he answered, knowing it wasn’t really
over yet but not wanting to mention the brother yet.
Then he pulled her even closer and kissed her until he realized that he
was still wearing his bloody shirt and pushed her away to arms’ length.
“Charlotte, I’m sorry. Look at your shirt.”
She looked down at her reddened shirt and replied, “I think we both need
to change. That’s our house right there.”
“We need to get rid of the yard decoration first. Then we need to go to
town and straighten up some things. Okay?”
“You’re right. Let’s head back.”
 They both mounted, and slow trotted side-by-side as they headed back to
Miles City. When they turned into the main street, they were greeted by a
crowd of townspeople.
Amos stepped forward, looked up at Ben and said, “Sorry, Ben, but she
slipped out before we could catch her.”
“That’s okay, Amos. She gets her way with me, too. Can we get
someone to retrieve Bishop’s body from the chicken farm? I think we need
to have some sort of town meeting so we can explain everything that’s
happened. How about we all meet in the church in thirty minutes? Charlotte
and I need to get washed up and changed.”
Amos said, “Come on in and I’ll get you a couple of new shirts. You can
get changed in the back.”
He turned and walked quickly back to his store as the crowd parted
allowing them to follow on their horses. When they reached the front of the
store, they dismounted, tied their reins and entered.
Amos quickly gave them each a correctly sized shirt. Charlotte smiled as
he handed her a smaller one than she was wearing. She knew husband
would appreciate it.
Amos had a small washroom in back, so Ben let Charlotte go first.
While she was changing, Amos stepped over and asked, “How bad were
you hit, Ben?”
“I screwed up, Amos. We were holed up in a cave and the mayor sent the
sheriff in first, I warned him, but he wouldn’t drop his gun even though I
had that shotgun pointed at him. He tried to shoot me, so I let both barrels
go. After he left the cave in a hurry, I made the mistake of stepping to the
edge of the cave to find the mayor. I didn’t see him in the bright sunlight,
but he was standing against the rock right under the entrance. He popped
out and shot me before I could react. His bullet hit me right in the middle of
my breastbone, too. It was a small caliber. and it was angled pretty high, so
it deflected. But it took the breath out of me, and I think the shock of the
bullet stopped my heart for a few beats. I’m okay now, but just a little sore.
If it hadn’t been for Charlotte outdrawing the mayor, I wouldn’t be here to
tell the story.”
“Well, I’ll be darned,” Amos replied as he scratched his chin.
Charlotte stepped out of the washroom and smiled at Ben while he
enjoyed a brief inspection of her new wardrobe. Amos was stunned as he
looked at her. He’d known her for years and even when she was married to
that worthless husband of her, she never looked so, so womanly.
“Your turn, husband,” she said as she continued to smile at him.
“I’ll be out in a minute, wife.”
Ben entered the washroom and used an old towel to clean off the
remaining blood. The wound no longer oozed blood, but Ben took no
chances of a recurring leak, so he folded the towel in two and ran it over his
shoulder, across his chest, and tucked it into his pants. Then he carefully
slid his left arm through the sleeve and used the pressure of the shirt to keep
the towel in place before he finished dressing and stepped outside.
Amos still hadn’t said a word to Charlotte while he’d been gone. Not
that he didn’t want to, he just had a hard time talking at all as she’s stood
watching the door while he gawked. But after Ben stepped out, he was able
to shift his eyes away from Charlotte and find his voice.
“How much do we owe you for the shirts and the towel I had to use,
Amos?”
“Don’t worry about it, Ben.”
“Amos, you’re in a business, not a charity house,” Ben said as he flipped
him a five-dollar gold piece, knowing the total for both shirts and the towel
wasn’t even two dollars.
Then he smiled at Charlotte, offered her his arm and said, “Let’s go over
to the church and explain ourselves, Mrs. Arden.”
Charlotte took his arm before they strolled out of the store, crossed the
boardwalk and then the street heading for the church to the church. Amos
trotted behind still trying to recall the distant memories of Charlotte when
she used to wear a dress.
When they entered the church, dozens of faces turned towards them, but
Ben and Charlotte paid them no attention. They still only had eyes for each
other as they stepped down the aisle.
As Charlotte took a seat in the front pew, Ben walked to the front of the
church and turned to face the men. Charlotte as the only woman in the
church, but Ben figured she was more woman than any of the other ladies in
town, so it balanced out.
Ben began his explanation by saying “Gentlemen, these past few days
have been very traumatic for my wife and me. The violence brought against
us was primarily caused by Quincy Bishop, the railroad agent and had
nothing to do with the access across my wife’s land. It was just a personal
vendetta and nothing more.”
He looked at Charlotte, unsure if she knew what he was about to say but
needed to explain Bishop’s motive which ignited the string of violence.
“Bishop’s family and my wife’s family were in a feud back in Tennessee
over twenty-five years ago. Until a couple of years ago, Bishop believed
that my wife, Charlotte, had been burned to death with her parents. That
would have been the end of the feud. Then Quincy Bishop discovered that
she was alive and living nearby. Instead of letting the ancient feud die as
most normal folks would, Mister Bishop was determined that she suffer and
then die. To meet this end, he enlisted the help of the mayor and the sheriff.
The sheriff employed the three thugs that are currently with the undertaker.
“Bishop’s first plan was to turn the town against Charlotte by making it
sound as if she was blocking the railroad from coming to Miles City. But
she wasn’t. It was nothing but a lie told by the three men. She had no idea
why everyone turned against her and was ostracized by the town for no
reason whatsoever. They tried to push her off her land but never offered her
close to what the property was worth.
“Then they attempted to kill her. I caught the three men because I
happened to be on my way to buy some eggs. Had I not had the urge for
those chicken offerings, she would have been dead. I hate to admit it, but I
don’t believe that one of you would have even cared if she’d been killed.
But I cared. While all the women in the city and most of the men denigrated
and belittled her, she stayed strong and proud. Maybe because I was a
stranger here and looked at her with untarnished eyes, I had a very different
opinion. I found Charlotte to be an extraordinary person. She is one of the
most remarkable human beings I have ever met, and I was lucky enough to
marry her. But we were not allowed to have a normal life.”
Ben paused and focused his eyes on Charlotte, seeing a touch of
confusion when she wondered how Ben seemed to know more about the
feud than she did. He then continued with his narrative of the gunfights
with the three thugs, the mayor and the sheriff, and ending with the last
gunfight with Quincy Bishop.
He paused for ten seconds before adding his final comments.
“Gentlemen, there are so many ways this could have been easily
prevented. If any of you good men had simply asked Charlotte if what the
mayor or the sheriff said was true, you might have discovered who the real
troublemakers were. After the first attempt on her life had been thwarted, if
any one of you had simply asked why it had happened, then perhaps this
would have been avoided. I am not accusing you of anything. Most people
go through their lives in their own worlds, and if it doesn’t involve them,
it’s not their business. I understand that. But all these deaths, all this tumult,
was unnecessary. But now it is over, and my wife and I would like to simply
enjoy our lives together. I hope that we could be good neighbors, so let’s let
that happen. Shall we?”
Without waiting for any questions or comments, Ben quickly stepped
over to Charlotte and put out his hand. She took his hand, rose slowly, then
they turned, walked back down the aisle as if they had just been married
and stepped out of the still silent church into the street.
After they had gone, the buzz began in the church and soon developed
into a serious discussion.
Ben and Charlotte let them decide what they’d do. They were both
emotionally drained as they rode back to their temporary tent home.
 CHAPTER 7
After they reached the cabin, Ben and Charlotte dismounted, then
unsaddled the horses and stowed the tack in the unfinished cabin. They led
the horses to the clearing to let them graze with the other three.
After a quiet dinner at their bench beside the waterfall, they returned to
the tent. Charlotte thought that Ben couldn’t wait to get her out of her new
shirt, so she was surprised when he just sat on the bedroll and patted the
fabric beside him to silently ask her to join him.
Charlotte lowered herself to the bedroll and focused on his face.
He took her hands and said, “Charlotte, I want you to know why I was so
sure about the feud between your family and the Bishops that I would tell
everyone.”
“I was wondering about that. I only heard bits and pieces from my aunt
and uncle because it seemed as if they were either afraid or embarrassed to
talk about it, no matter how many times I asked.”
“After Bishop was dead, I went through his pockets, and I found three
letters that explained a lot of it.”
Charlotte blinked and whispered, “Letters from whom?”
“A brother who is now living in Iowa.”
Charlotte gasped before she quietly asked, “And this brother knows
where I am now; doesn’t he?”
“Yes, he does, but if he didn’t come yet, maybe he’s either dead or
doesn’t care enough to make the long trip.”
Charlotte nodded, but wasn’t convinced that the brother wouldn’t be a
danger and believed that Ben harbored the same concerns.
Then she asked, “May I read them?”
 “Yes, of course,” he answered as he pulled out the three envelopes and
handed them to her.
Charlotte took much longer reading the letters than he had as she seemed
to examine each word in depth. Ben could see the anger in her eyes as she
absorbed the hate that bubbled from each page.
When she finished, she handed them back to Ben not wanting to have
anything more to do with them.
After pocketing the letters, Ben said, “Let’s move the rest of the tack and
some of our other bulky items into the cabin at least for a while until we can
figure out what to do about the brother.”
“So, you are worried.”
“If he’s still alive, even if he’s not notified of his brother’s death, it won’t
be long before he suspects something is wrong. They’d been corresponding
regularly, and he may come this way when he hasn’t received a letter in a
while.”
Charlotte was actually relieved when Ben told her of his own concerns,
then smile as she said, “We’ll be ready if he does.”
Ben smiled then stood and replied, “We will.”
Charlotte stood and said, “Let’s clear out our tent.”
As they each grabbed a saddle, she asked, “So, when do we start
preparing for that possibility?”
“Let’s enjoy at least a week of peace, Mrs. Arden.”
Then he quickly asked, “Do you want to leave Miles City?”
She quickly shook her head and answered, “No, Ben. This is our home
and not his. If a stranger comes into town, we’ll know. I want to stay here
with you, and we’ll finish the cabin.”
“I’m very pleased with your answer, ma’am.”
She smiled before carrying her saddle out of the tent with Ben following.
 After they’d finished moving the larger items into the cabin, they
returned to the roomier tent.
Ben was smiling as he placed his hands on her shoulders then kissed her
softly and said, “You’re a strong woman, Charlotte. And most importantly,
you’re my woman. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to confirm your sex
again.”
She smiled back and just as he began unbuttoning her new shirt, she
grabbed his hand and pulled it away which surprised him.
“Before you remove my shirt, Mister Arden, I want you to remove
yours.”
“Aren’t you being a little forward, my wife?” he asked as he grinned at
her.
“I am not being forward at all. I am going to inspect and clean the
gunshot wound that you seem to have forgotten. So, take off your shirt and
lie down.”
Ben was still smiling as he unbuttoned his shirt and then stretched out on
the bedroll.
She removed his towel bandage and was almost shocked when she didn’t
find very much blood on the white cotton towel.
“Ben how could you not be bleeding after being shot not even five hours
ago?”
“I’ve been wondering about that. Even a crease from a ricochet should
have left more of a mark than that. I wonder if it hit one of those bone
buttons on the shirt first. That would begin the deflection before it hit my
chest, but it’s too close for me to see. How long is the mark?”
Charlotte measured it with her fingers and said, “Less than an inch.”
“That must be it. No one has any right to be as lucky as I am.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I can give you a run for your money,” she said as her
hair fell across his chest, and she slid her hand past the small wound.
 He pulled her closer and kissed her passionately before asking, “Do you
think I’m well enough to fulfill my husbandly duties?”
“You’d better be,” she replied as she let him finally unbutton her shirt to
begin his much-anticipated confirmation of her femininity and was more
than happy to validate his masculinity.
By the time they finally emerged from the tent two hours later, the sun
was low in the sky. They had forgotten about the Bishop brother for the
time being and just enjoyed being with each other.
They were sitting at their bench near the waterfall when Ben grinned at
her and asked, “So, what do newlyweds do when they aren’t having
someone chase them down to kill them?”
Charlotte laughed before replying, “Aside from what we just did, I think
it’s time we finally had some warm food today, Mister Arden.”
“That sounds like a good idea, you wanton woman whose needs seem
never to be satisfied.”
“Oh, I’m very satisfied, ravaging man. But it’s how you satisfy me that
keeps me coming back for more and so often. I’m just amazed that you
always seem to be so anxious to satisfy me. Not that I’m complaining, mind
you.”
They thoroughly enjoyed the light-hearted, ribald repartee after days of
mind-exhausting tension.
Charlotte made the late lunch while Ben walked down to the cave to
empty the cache. When he climbed to the cave and entered, he noticed the
large number of bullet holes in the logs. He shivered when he realized just
how close Charlotte had been to being hurt or killed. He was going to take
more from the cave but only removed the shotgun and two boxes of shells.
He reloaded the scattergun, then climbed down and reminded himself that
he needed to remove the steel wire still wrapped around the trunks. He
knew it wouldn’t take long for it to become embedded into the trunks. He’d
get that done after lunch.
 As he approached the fire pit, he gazed at Charlotte’s long black hair
falling to her side as she bent to stir the pan. He stopped to simply admire
the woman who had captured his heart and was eternally grateful for
finding her. She must have sensed his presence because she turned and saw
him standing twenty feet away.
“What are you doing just standing there, Mister Arden?”
“Just admiring you, ma’am.”
“I’m not even wearing my tight pants,” she replied as she ran her hand
over her bottom.
“It’s not that part of you that I’m admiring at the moment. It’s your hair
and those deep brown eyes that tell me who you really are. Those same eyes
that caught my attention long before your tight pants and well-filled shirt.”
Charlotte still felt a rush at his compliments and replied, “Well, come
over and have some lunch. You’re making me blush.”
Ben laughed, set down the shotgun and shells then stepped to the fire and
dropped to his heels after kissing her.
She had made a simple bean and bacon mix with some onions that
smelled marvelous. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was but should have.
Charlotte doled out two plates full of the mix and filled two cups with
coffee.
“To the bench, my love?” he asked.
“I’d follow you anywhere, love of my life,” she replied as she stood.
As they began walking, she said, “You know, all this mushy talk is
getting a bit overdone.”
Ben laughed and said, “If you’d rather I just talk about sex, I can do
that.”
Charlotte laughed as they continued to walk to the bench and had barely
set their food down when they heard hooves coming from the west.
 “Damn it!” exclaimed Ben, “I left the shotgun back near the firepit. Stay
here, Charlotte.”
He pulled his Colt and ran toward the cabin as Charlotte watched him
race away. She was unarmed for the first time in three days, so she quickly
walked into the nearby trees and stood behind a thick pine waiting for the
inevitable gunshot.
When Ben grabbed the shotgun, he slipped his Colt back into his holster
then turned west as he heard the horse getting closer.
Ben walked through the trees hiding the cabin and the waterfall and
when he was near the end of the clearing, he spotted Amos and lowered the
shotgun.
“Jesus Christ, Amos!” he shouted, “I was ready to blast you to kingdom
come. Hold on for a second.”
Ben then turned and yelled, “Charlotte, it’s okay! It’s just Amos. Bring
the food, will you? I’m still hungry.”
Amos had been startled by Ben’s sudden appearance, having only a
general idea of his new cabin’s location. He stepped down and walked
closer to Ben leading his horse.
“Sorry, Ben. I didn’t know where your place was exactly. Sorry to spook
you. I should have realized that you were still tight after the past few days.”
“That’s okay, Amos. Did you want something to eat? We haven’t had a
warm meal in a while.”
“No, I just ate a little while ago myself.”
Charlotte stepped out of the trees bringing the two plates but had to leave
the coffee.
Amos smiled at her and said, “Good afternoon, Charlotte. Sorry about
the surprise visit. I just need to talk to Ben.”
She handed one plate to Ben then replied, “Hello, Amos. I’ll admit that I
was a bit unnerved. What can we do for you?”
 “We had a meeting this morning after you had told us your story. I was
elected as the new mayor.”
“Congratulations, Amos. Good for you,” said Ben.
“Well, that’s why I came up here, Ben. It seems they want you to be the
new sheriff.”
Ben looked at Charlotte and could see the concern in her eyes.
He turned back to face Amos and replied, “Amos, I’d love to help you,
but you need a full-time sheriff. I’ll be out here with Charlotte getting
everything ready for our hew home.”
“We really need you, Ben. You’re the only one who seems to be able to
handle tough situations.”
Ben sighed then said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. You hire a good man as
sheriff, and I’ll be an unpaid deputy. Whenever the sheriff finds a situation
where he needs help, he can send someone to come and get me. How’s that
work?”
Amos thought it over. He knew that it might work because as a rule,
Miles City was a peaceful town.
“Okay, I’ll agree to that.”
“We need to find a better way of communicating, so I don’t shoot
someone accidentally. We’ll settle down after a while, though. Oh, and one
more thing. Don’t give the badge to some self-important clown. Choose
someone you can trust.”
“After our last one, you can count on it. Thanks, Ben.”
They shook hands, then Amos shook Charlotte’s hand before he
mounted, wheeled his horse back to the west and headed back to town.
Ben turned to Charlotte and said, “We’re doomed, Charlotte. We’ll never
have a hot meal again.”
She laughed, took his plate then they walked back to the still burning fire
where she scraped the food back into the pan to reheat the mix.
 After their warmed-up delayed lunch or supper, they cleaned their plates
in the pool.
Ben looked at the unfinished cabin and said, “Charlotte, I was just
thinking about some things that just slipped my mind because of all the
excitement. Let’s go over to the bench and talk for a while. Okay?”
Charlotte took his offered hand then they walked to the bench and sat
closely together.
“So, Ben, what’s got you disturbed?” she asked.
“It’s nothing disturbing at all. It’s just that when I was building the cabin,
I had intended it to be just for me. Even then, it was going to be a temporary
dwelling until I could build a proper house. A proper house I could share
with my wife if I should ever be lucky enough to find one. Now I have been
lucky enough to find the best possible wife imaginable, and I’m wondering
about the cabin. We already have the house on the chicken ranch. I think the
smart thing for me to do is to fix it up as much as possible and add a barn,
which won’t take long. As soon as that’s done, I can come out here and take
time to build us a nice home. That will take me a year or so, but it will be
our permanent home. After that, we can sell the chicken farm and move to
our new house. What do you think?”
Charlotte was surprised that she hadn’t seen it either.
“Of course, how could we have missed it? Ben, that’s a great idea. But
what would you do with the cabin?”
“I’ll still finish it. It could be a guest house or whatever we want it to be.
The other question is where do we build the house? I know where I’d like to
put it, but you tell me what you think.”
Charlotte didn’t hesitate as she asked, “How close to the waterfall could
we build?”
Ben smiled and replied, “I thought you’d think of that because it was
what I was thinking. Here we are just fifty feet from the pool and waterfall.
There’s a nice clearing about twenty yards into the forest, just to the
northwest. It’s not a big one, but it’s big enough for a nice two-bedroom
home. I’ll use framing and lumber rather than logs and I’ll have to cut a
road to the clearing, too. I may as well make it straight to the waterfall so
we can see it from our porch. It’ll be our permanent home, Charlotte.”
“Ben, I can see it in my mind already, and it’s giving me goosebumps.”
“I’ll want you to tell me what you want as I’m building it, too. You
know, where you want the kitchen and pump and how big the rooms will
be, all those sorts of things. We’ll do it together, as we’ll do everything
together for the rest of our lives.”
“Ben, I’m so happy I could cry. But won’t it be expensive to build?”
“Not at all. I think all the materials, including the lumber and pumps and
the cooking stove will run less than five hundred dollars. In fact, I’m
thinking that it might be a good idea to have a real construction crew build
it. I can handle something as basic as a cabin, but I want something more
civilized for my proper wife.”
Charlotte laughed at his use of that description, but asked, “That won’t
leave us much, will it?”
“We’d still be fine. We’d still have a lot more than most folks. But
you’re forgetting something, Charlotte.”
“What?”
“The sapphires.”
“Oh! That’s right! I’d totally forgotten about them.”
“But even the sapphires will have to wait because I’m going to start on a
corral for the horses. I’m going to use the cabin for storing all the tack
we’ve accumulated, so I’ll finish the floor, too. Those two jobs will take me
three or four days. Then we move back to the chicken farmhouse. You need
to start getting rid of the eggs and feed them anyway.”
“I have been neglecting them; haven’t I?”
“We were busy dodging bullets, Charlotte. I’m sure the chickens will
understand and forgive us.”
 Charlotte laughed then said, “That’s true. It’s more likely we’ll be
forgiven by the chickens than those old hens in town.”
Ben laughed then said, “Speaking of old hens, did you notice that when
we went into Amos’ store to tell him you had given up your homestead that
that one woman really did have her nose in the air when she passed us? I
was really tempted to give her fanny a swat just to watch her reaction.”
Charlotte laughed harder, and was barely able to reply, “How could you
have found it under the bustle?”
Ben was laughing and enjoying the peace and joy in the simple,
humorous exchange between husband and wife.
_____
Just a short time later, Ben moved the horses to a better spot for grazing.
As he did, he rethought his idea about building even a temporary corral. It
didn’t take long for him to decide that it would be a waste of time and he
was feeling a bit tired. He knew horses stay together because they were
sociable creatures, so he just let them have their freedom in the field and its
nearby stream.
He watched as they began to graze and realized that only Jersey had a
name, at least a human name. He didn’t know how the horses addressed
each other. There was still his tall black unnamed gelding, a light brown
gelding and two dark brown mares with black manes and no markings.
None were older than Jersey, and all seemed to be in good physical
condition. Now there was no excuse for not naming the gelding, but he’d let
Charlotte name the others.
By the time he returned to the cabin, Charlotte had a fire going and was
preparing to make dinner.
“Cooking already?” he asked as he stepped close.
She looked at him smiled and said, “You really weren’t satisfied by that
skimpy bean and bacon mix a few hours ago; where you?”
“I’ll admit that I’m already a bit hungry, ma’am. Us big boys tend to eat
a lot. When I get older, I’ll probably be a round big boy, too.”
 Charlotte laughed then replied, “I doubt it. I’m determined to give you a
workout every chance I get.”
Ben grinned and as he dropped to his heels beside her, he said, “I can
live with that.”
_____
After they’d finished their much more filling meal, they were sitting on
the bench in the moonlight listening to the waterfall.
Ben said, “I didn’t bother with the corral. The horses will stay where
they are anyway. Tomorrow we’ll move back to the farmhouse, and I’ll pay
a visit to the lumber mill. I’ll have them to deliver some rails and posts for a
proper corral near the chicken coops. I need a trough, too. Is there an
outside pump?”
“Yes, over near the chicken coops.”
“Great, so after the corral is built, our forgiving chickens will have some
large neighbors.”
“And tomorrow, Mister Arden, I can cook you a proper meal on our
cookstove.”
He replied, “If tonight’s big supper was any indication, Mrs. Arden, then
will have to force me to exercise longer and harder to ward off the fat.”
“Now it’s my turn to say that I can live with that.”
“Let’s spend our last night in the tent, Charlotte.”
He stood, took her hand. They passed the roaring waterfall as they
headed for their canvas love nest.
The sounds of the night surrounded them when they slipped into the tent
and soon curled up under the blankets. They may have had an
extraordinarily eventful day, but they still managed to end it with a much
more pleasant type of excitement.
_____
 It was just two hours after sunrise the next morning when Ben and
Charlotte arrived at the chicken farmhouse, dismounted and tied off their
horses before entering. Charlotte had given Ben instructions on how to feed
the chickens, so he went outside to handle the chore and collect the eggs
while Charlotte tidied up inside.
Ben swore the chickens were giving him the evil eye as he approached,
but their demeanor changed dramatically as he reached for the large bucket
and filled it from the bin of Charlotte’s feed corn. Suddenly, he was the
most popular creature in the coop. As he began tossing the handfuls of
grain, there was a feathered melee with intense flapping and diving to snap
up the kernels. He thought it would be fun to hand feed a few of them, but
after watching the vicious competition, he wisely decided against it.
He spent a few minutes spreading the feed across the chicken yard to
minimize the carnage then when it was calm enough, he picked up two
baskets and began gathering eggs. He soon discovered that he’d need more
baskets. He had already counted eighty-three eggs and still had at least
another two dozen more, which should make the new mayor happy.
After bringing the eggs into the house and setting them down on the
kitchen table, Ben heard Charlotte rummaging in the back of the house.
Curiosity made him forget about the last two dozen eggs and left the
kitchen to discover what she was doing.
As he headed down the short hallway, he asked, “Charlotte, did you want
me to run those eggs to Amos? I’ll need to stop at the lumber mill anyway.”
She popped out of the second bedroom walked close to him, then put her
arms around his neck and kissed him.
When they separated, she smiled and asked, “This is kind of different.
Isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I haven’t heard a gunshot for hours, and that surely is
different.”
“How many eggs did you collect?”
“Eighty-three, but there are a lot left in the coop.”
 “Were the chickens happy to be fed?”
“The ones that weren’t sizing me up for their next meal.”
She grinned as she said, “They can nip at your fingers if you get too
close, so you do have to be careful.”
“I was actually thinking of letting them eat out of my hand before I
watched the feeding frenzy.”
Charlotte laughed and said, “I should have warned you about that
beforehand. At least you thought of it before the chickens gave you a
lesson.”
“I’ll run these down to Amos and let you get back to work.”
He then gave her a good-bye smooch before he returned to the kitchen,
picked up the baskets and walked through the open door, wondering if he’d
be able to mount carrying both of them.
Once outside, he found out that it wasn’t as difficult as he expected it to
be as he balanced both heavy baskets after putting his foot into the stirrup.
Once on board the black gelding he guided the horse with his knees and
kept a walking pace enroute to Miles City. He had only ridden a few
hundred yards when the forgotten idea of buying a wagon suddenly reached
the forefront of his mind.
When he arrived before the store, another dilemma of dismounting with
two baskets of eggs was immediately solved when Amos appeared with a
smile and said, “I’ll get one of those, Ben.”
Ben gratefully handed over one basket to Amos, climbed down, flipped
the gelding’s reins over the hitch rail and entered the store behind Amos.
“So, what’s going on, Amos?” Ben asked as he put his basket on the
counter.
“We still can’t find anyone who we think is qualified to be sheriff, Ben.
We had a couple who want the job, but they were both of dubious character
and neither one could read. We really need you, Ben. Other than that, the
good news is that the railroad has been notified of the circumstances of
Bishop’s death and will be sending someone else to take his place. He won’t
be here long though as the railroad will soon be passing though. They told
us to start building a depot when he arrives because he’ll tell us where the
tracks will be showing up in three weeks. Everyone was excited about that.”
“Let me think about the sheriff thing, Amos. I know Charlotte isn’t too
keen on the idea, but I’d like to help. I still have so much to do at my place
and need to finish the cabin. Then I want to build a real house for me and
Charlotte out there and all of those jobs will take a lot of time.”
“Ben, how about this? We’ll make you sheriff and when you can spend
time in town or within a mile or so, that’s fine. Even at your place, you’re
only five minutes away if you move fast. Hell, Jerome never gave a lick
about real any problems around town anyway, and we survived that.”
“Okay, let me ask Charlotte. Then I’ll come back later today and let you
know. I need to head over to the lumber mill to get some rails and posts to
build a corral out at the chicken farm before I get back. I’ll be spending
more time out there for the next couple of weeks getting it all fixed up.”
“Good, I’ll know where to find you, then.”
“I’m off to the lumber mill, Amos. I’ll probably stop at the hardware
store on the way back to pick up some whitewash and a brush.”
“You’re gonna be a busy man, Ben.”
“I always have been, Amos,” he replied.
He waved before he turned, left the store and mounted his anonymous
gelding.
He turned south and then west to the lumber mill. It was about a mile out
of town along a fast-running stream that powered the saws. They were
always busy and now with the anticipated arrival of the Northern Pacific
tracks, they seemed to be running non-stop.
After he arrived, he was surprised that he hadn’t noticed how big the
operation was. After dismounting and tying off the gelding, he walked into
the lumber yard.
 Ben hadn’t seen most of the cut lumber because they stored it in a large,
barn-like structure. They had to keep Mother Nature from soaking the
boards that needed to get rid their own moisture. When he did see the stacks
of boards, posts and beams, he knew that building the new house could be
done easily and a lot faster if real carpenters did the job.
Paul Atchison, the owner, found him wandering the expansive lumber
yard. He identified him just by his size and long black hair, so he left the
crew he was supervising and approached him.
“You must be Ben Arden,” he said as he stuck out his rough hand.
Ben shook his hand and replied, “Yes, sir. This is quite an impressive
operation you have here.”
“We use a lot of wood, but have a lot of trees to work with, too. It’s
gonna get busier once that railroad arrives. What can I do for you?”
“For today, all I need is the posts and rails to build a small corral, maybe
forty feet by sixty.”
“That’s simple enough. Do you want it delivered?”
“Yup. I need it brought to the chicken farm.”
“I heard you and Charlie got hitched. I’m glad to hear everything worked
out.”
Ben grinned as he replied, “So, am I. In a little while, I’ll be wanting to
build a house on my property north of town, too. I built a cabin, but I’ll
need real carpenters to build the house. Can you help me with that?”
“Sure. I have a construction crew that can have it done pretty fast,
depending on the size. Do you have any plans?”
“Not yet, but I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”
“Just let me know and we’ll get that done for you. I’ll have those rails
and posts run out to you tomorrow if that’s okay. I’ll include a gate setup
that’s already put together and even has heavy hinges. All it needs is to be
hung in place.”
 “That’s great.”
Ben and Paul walked to the small office in the corner of the building
where Ben paid the very reasonable bill for the materials.
He left the lumber yard just fifteen minutes after arriving and returned to
the town, heading to the hardware store to pick up his whitewash and
brushes.
As he was dismounting, he looked over at the empty Northern Pacific
Railroad office and felt a grim satisfaction. Then his eyes wandered to his
right and saw the Western Union office and realized that he never had
checked for a response to his telegram. It didn’t really matter now, but he
was curious if the sheriff had replied at all.
So, before going to get his whitewash, he pulled up before the small
building, dismounted and sauntered to the Western Union office. The
operator was at his station, sorting incoming messages then looked up when
he heard Ben’s heavy boot steps.
“Mister Arden. I was wondering if you were going to stop by. I was
about to send this to your place. Your reply came in two days ago,” he said
as he handed Ben the telegram.
Ben smiled as he accepted the sheet and quickly read:
BEN ARDEN MILES CITY MONT
 
BISHOPS ACCUSED CHARLES SHAW OF RAPE AND MURDER OF SISTER IN JUNE
1849
NO CHARGES FILED
CHARLES AND JENNIFER SHAW DIED IN FIRE
DAUGHTERS SENT TO LIVE WITH RELATIVES
QUINCY AND ADAM BISHOP SWORE REVENGE
ADAM BISHOP LEFT WEEKS AGO
LOCATION UNKNOWN
 
SHERIFF WILLIAM PIKE MARYVILLE TENN
 
 Ben sighed as he lowered the sheet. He thought it was over, but the
sheriff said that Adam Bishop was no longer in town and had recently left
for an unknown destination. He had a bad feeling that he was heading west
with a destination of Miles City.
Then he snapped the telegram back to his eyes and reread the telegram.
He was startled when he still read daughters in the plural.
Had the sheriff or
telegrapher on either end made an error?
Did Charlotte have a living
sister?
In their many conversations, she had never mentioned that she even
had any siblings. But she had more than once told him that she had no
family still alive. Even in Quincy Bishop’s letters, the brother had called
Charlotte, ‘the last Shaw’.
He looked at the telegrapher and asked, “The message said daughters, in
the plural. Is this a transmission error?”
“It’s possible, but I’ll ask for a confirmation from the original sender. It
won’t take long because it’ll be operator to operator.”
“Okay. I need to buy some things at the hardware store. Do you think
you’ll have a reply in thirty minutes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Great.”
He thanked the telegrapher and didn’t wait to hear him send his request
for clarification before he turned, left the office and trotted across the street
to the hardware store.
Will Halliburton used some of those thirty minutes as Ben had to give
him more details of the gunfights. Then he used more of the time buying
two buckets, a big brush, a post-hole digger, then a heavy screwdriver and a
sack of large screws for the new corral gate. He set them aside and realized
that it was too much to be put on the gelding and decided it was time to buy
a wagon, or at least a buckboard, which might be better anyway.
“I’ll be back shortly, Will,” Ben said before he left the hardware store,
quickly mounted the gelding then wheeled him south again. He didn’t quite
have to leave town before pulling to a stop before J.L. Jones Wagon and
Carriage Works. It was a fancy name for a small business, but they did have
two heavy wagons, one carriage and two buckboards available.
He only spent a few minutes in the shop before completing the purchase
of one of the two buckboards. He apologized to the big black for the
ignominious demotion and promised he’d use one of the others for the job
after they returned to the cabin. Then he unsaddled the gelding, tossed his
tack into the buckboard before he harnessed the black horse and drove back
to the hardware store.
After stopping in front of the hardware store, he and Will loaded the two
casks of whitewash and the rest of his order onto the buckboard’s short bed.
Will returned to his store, and Ben left the buckboard where it was while
he trotted back to the Western Union office.
He’d barely walked through the open door when the operator said, “The
operator back in Tennessee confirmed that it was correct. It was what the
sheriff wrote.”
Ben reached into his pocket, pulled out a silver dollar and tossed it to
him, saying, “Thanks,” and didn’t wait for any change.
He quickly turned, left the small office, then jogged back to the
buckboard. He bounded into the driver’s seat and made a U-turn to head
back to the chicken farm. He was anxious to talk to Charlotte about the
telegram with its combination of bad and good news.
Ten minutes later, he dropped down from the seat, tied off the gelding
and strode quickly into the house.
“Charlotte? Where are you, sweetheart?” he shouted when he entered.
“In the kitchen,” she shouted back.
Ben took the six long strides to reach the kitchen and saw his wife bent
over with her hair flowing down both sides and touching the floor. What
she was doing was beyond him. He just took a few seconds to admire her
and thought how perfect she was. He hated to disturb that perfection with
bad news, but he was determined that he wouldn’t let it affect her. But the
other part of the telegram concerning a sister might balance the bad news.
She had no idea that her sister was still alive before she left to live with her
uncle and aunt.
After another few seconds of doing whatever cleaning she was doing,
she rocked back onto her heels and brushed some hair away from her face.
“I think it’s time to trim my hair a few inches,” she said as she turned
and smiled at him.
“Maybe just a little. I need a trim, too. How about if we do each
other’s?”
“That would be fun. Maybe I’ll cut yours short.”
“Unless you want to find yourself bald, woman, you’ll be very
conservative with those scissors.”
She smiled as she stood then turned and hugged him as he held her
tightly. Then he slowly released her and put his right hand on her back.
“Have a seat at the table and I’ll fill you in on what’s going on.”
“You have news?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied as they each sat down.
“I’ll tell you the boring stuff first. I dropped off the eggs with Amos and
didn’t crack one on the trip then I ordered the lumber for the corral. They’ll
deliver the order tomorrow. I also picked up the whitewash for the house
but didn’t want to try and hang all of that awkward weight on my horse, so I
bought a buckboard. It’ll be a better way of bringing eggs and chickens into
town, too.”
Charlotte smiled and said, “You have been busy. I’m tickled pink that
you bought the buckboard. We used to have a wagon, but it’s long gone. Is
that all of your news?”
“No. I have more. And it’s very different.”
Charlotte’s smile slowly left her face as she correctly anticipated at least
some of his expanded news.
 “When I was talking to Amos, he told me that they’re having a hard time
finding a sheriff and asked me again if I’d take the job. He said they’d let
me stay at either of our houses and only spend time in town when it was
necessary. What do you think?”
She’d expected him to say that the last Bishop was on his way and was
almost relieved with his request.
“The town does need a sheriff they can trust, Ben. If you think it’s okay,
then it’s fine with me.”
“Thank you, Charlotte. I told Amos I’d stop by later with our answer.”
Then after a short pause, he said, “After I saw Amos, I stopped by the
telegraph office. They had a reply from the Maryville, Tennessee sheriff.”
Charlotte eyes widened slightly, and Ben could see her trepidation.
“What did he say?” she asked softly.
“He explained what had lit the fuse to the family feud. He said that the
Bishops had accused your father of the rape and murder of their sister.”
She was stunned and after being rocked by the shocking news, she
paused before replying, “I didn’t understand what was happening at the
time because I was only a youngster. But the days before the fire, I heard a
lot of angry shouting and fighting between my parents. That was probably
why I was sent off to the birthday party, so I didn’t see the worst of it. I’d
hate to believe that my father could have done such a thing, though. I didn’t
know him very well, but like most little girls, I thought he was a brave and
good man.”
“He may have been, Charlotte, because no charges were ever filed
against your father. But the Bishops obviously still thought he had done it
and vowed revenge against your family.”
Charlotte sighed and said quietly, “So, they burned the house down and
killed my family. But I survived only to be sent to my aunt and uncle who
didn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“Yes,” he said then exhaled and knew he had to give her the bad news.
 “The sheriff also said that the brother left Maryville and his whereabouts
are unknown. At least we know he’s in Iowa somewhere.”
She clenched her fists, then banged them on the table as she shouted,
“No, Ben! Not again! I’m not going through this again!”
Ben took her fists in his hands and held them tightly as he said,
“Charlotte, my love, it won’t be the same at all. Before I arrived, you were
alone and unprotected. Then there were only two of us against six of them.
They had all the power in town and all we had was each other. But we still
won. This time, I’ll be the sheriff and he’ll be the stranger. So, even if he
comes, we’ll spot him, and we will control the situation from the start.
We’ll have everyone in town looking for a stranger. Trust me, Charlotte,
it’ll be all right.”
Charlotte saw the trust and strength in his eyes, and her fear and anger
dissipated like a small cloud on a hot July day.
She smiled and said, “You’re right, of course. I’m sorry I flew off like
that.”
“Don’t worry about it. Your reaction is completely understandable.
There was one other thing in the telegram that I First thought might have
been an error by an operator or the sheriff. It was only a single letter, so I
had the operator confirm that it was correct. He checked with the sending
operator who confirmed that it was exactly as the sheriff had written it.”
“What was that?” she asked as her curiosity returned.
“Charlotte, what he wrote was that your parents had died in the fire, and
their daughters were sent to live with relatives. I had him confirm that he
meant ‘daughters’ and not ‘daughter’. Did you have a sister?”
Charlotte had just been close to panicking over the telegram’s content.
Now she was simply stunned as she sat in silence for twenty seconds staring
at Ben.
Finally, she quietly said, “Ben, I had a baby sister, but she was only a
year old at the time of the fire. I always thought that she had died with my
parents.”
 Ben then pulled out the yellow paper from his pocket and handed her the
telegram.
She read it several times, murmuring, “This isn’t possible. This isn’t
possible.”
“Charlotte, at the time of the fire, was your sister able to crawl or
toddle?”
She smiled as she recalled the distant memories before replying, “I
remember that she was always getting into things because I’d be laughing
as I chased after her, as if she was a mechanical doll.”
“Isn’t it possible that your parents were so involved in their argument
they didn’t pay attention to her, and she crawled out of the house?”
The possibility that her sister had survived the inferno thrilled her as she
answered, “I suppose that she could have done that. Ben, this can’t be
happening. I can’t believe that my little sister could still be alive. I’ve
missed so much time with her and never even had a chance to meet her.”
“I’ll wire the Maryville sheriff again and ask for a description of Adam
Bishop and ask if he knew where they sent your sister. He said you had both
been sent to live with relatives. Do you know of any other relatives besides
the lousy examples who raised you?”
“My uncle was my father’s brother, so I stayed a Shaw. I don’t think my
father had any more brothers or sisters, but my mother had asisters. Her
maiden name was McCallister, but I’m sure she’d have a different surname
now. What really bothers me even more is knowing that my aunt and uncle
probably knew that Mary had survived the fire and never told me.”
Ben nodded as he said, “That is a loathsome thing to do, but after the
way you described your aunt and uncle, it’s in keeping with their selfish
character. But I can see how the Bishops would have tracked you easily
because you were sent to live with more Shaws. If your sister was found by
another family who took care of her before giving her up to your mother’s
sister, the Bishops may not have known that she survived at all. The only
one who would have known what happened to her would be the sheriff and
the family who found her. I wonder if it’s the same sheriff or he had to go
through records to reply.  But in either case, I can understand how it’s
possible that she’s still alive.”
“Ben, this is such incredible news. I don’t know how long it will take for
me to adjust to the fact that Mary is still alive.”
“Well, sweetheart, right now we need to keep our lives together and
press on. If Adam Bishop is headed this way, he can’t arrive until either the
train tracks are built, or he rides in like I did. The new railroad agent will be
here soon, and he’ll have them build a depot where I can keep an eye on
newcomers. Until then, we go on with our lives. I’ll go back now and send
that telegram. Okay?”
“Thank you, Ben. I need to take a deep breath. That was a lot of news to
take in so quickly.”
“I understand. By the way, what were you doing when I came in? It was
a sight to behold seeing your perfect posterior displayed to dazzle my eyes.”
She smiled and replied, “I was chasing a mouse. Maybe we should get a
cat.”
“Not a bad idea, but I’d prefer a dog. They’re actually better at catching
rats and mice than cats are. I’ll be back for lunch in a little while and when I
do, I demand to be fed, woman!” he said with a rising tone.
“Your humble servant, sir, and whatever else might you ask of me,” she
replied as she grinned at him.
He rose, stepped around the table, gave her a quick kiss and a squeeze
before leaving.
Ben had to unharness the gelding from the buckboard and saddle him but
left the materials and tools in the bed. He rode away from the chicken farm
fifteen minutes later.
When he entered the telegraph office, the clerk said, “I thought you
might be back.”
“You thought right. Let me write this out.
SHERIFF WILLIAM PIKE MARYVILLE TENN
 
QUINCY BISHOP KILLED TRYING TO MURDER MY WIFE
NEED DESCRIPTION OF ADAM BISHOP
WIFE ASKS WHERE SISTER MARY SENT
UNAWARE SISTER WAS ALIVE
 
SHERIFF BEN ARDEN MILES CITY MONT
 
He handed it to the operator who scanned it quickly then asked,
“Decided to take the job finally?”
“Yup. Unless you want it.”
“No, sir. I make more money here. That’ll be forty cents.”
Ben handed him the change and waved as he left.
He stopped and saw Amos on the way out. Amos was delighted with his
decision, then swore him in and gave him Jerome’s badge.
“I suppose I should bring back those new Winchesters that Jerome gave
to his boys to shoot me. They were the town’s property, not Jerome’s.”
“That’s up to you, Sheriff.”
“Just to let you know, Amos. I just got a telegram from Bishop’s
hometown in Tennessee. I had asked him why Bishop was trying to kill
Charlotte. It turned out that the feud I told everyone about was triggered by
an assault on Bishop’s sister supposedly committed by Charlotte’s father
when she was five. Anyway, he has another brother that may be heading
this way and I should have a description soon. Have everyone keep an eye
out for strangers; will you, Amos?”
“Sure thing, Ben. I can’t believe someone would hold a grudge against a
child for something her pa was supposed to have done that long ago.”
“It takes all kinds, Amos.”
“It does. Thanks for taking the badge, Ben. I’ll sleep better now.”
 He shook Amos’ hand, turned and left the store before mounting the
gelding. The horse still had no name, but at least he hadn’t revealed his
reputed ornery nature, at least not yet. But he did need to give him a name,
and after the buckboard demotion, he believed that he owed it to the horse.
Ben arrived at the chicken farm five minutes later, just to test his
response time as sheriff then dismounted and went inside.
Charlotte was preparing lunch and Ben noticed that she was wearing her
Colt again.
“I’m home to your loving arms again, my beloved wife. Here’s the wire I
sent,” he said as he held out the message.
She read it and nodded before replying, “I hope you receive a long reply.
I see you’re wearing your badge, Sheriff.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m here to serve you. What’s for lunch?”
“I was tempted to make you some eggs but thought you might prefer
something different. So, I’m cooking some beef and potatoes. I added some
onions and peppers, so it should be more flavorful.”
“That does sound good. After lunch, I’m going to begin whitewashing
the house and should be able to get at least two outside walls done before
dark. I’m tall enough so I won’t even need a ladder.”
“I’d offer to help, but I’ll let you enjoy your Tom Sawyer moment.”
Ben laughed at the reference before he took his seat.
After consuming the very filling lunch, Ben left the cleanup to Charlotte
and walked out to the buckboard to begin the whitewash of the small house.
The whitewashing didn’t take nearly as long as he’d expected because he
wasn’t particularly careful. The paint splattered onto his clothes and black
hair and gave them an odd, splotchy appearance as the whitewash mixed
with sweat.
By the time Charlotte called him to that evening, Ben asked for another
twenty minutes, so he’d be able to finish the entire house – mostly. He
discovered that he had been wrong about his need for a ladder. He’d
maneuver the back of the new buckboard to reach the peaks of the walls
tomorrow.
After he’d used all of the requested twenty minutes, he needed for a
bonus five minutes to clean the whitewash off his face and hair. As he
washed his long, black and streaked white hair, he decided it was time for a
haircut. His clothes were a different problem. He just tossed them aside and
put on a new shirt and pants in the bedroom.
Charlotte was unabashedly watching him from the kitchen as he changed
his clothes. Seeing him in his natural state still gave her goosebumps on the
outside and a flush of warmth inside. After he pulled on his shirt, she
smiled then turned back start filling their plates.
_____
The next morning, the rails and posts arrived just twenty minutes after
Ben had finished his whitewash. Ben began digging post holes with his new
digger even as they unloaded their cargo.
It was rough going in the packed Montana soil in July and Ben knew that
he should have brought the pickaxe. But he had all the holes dug and tightly
packed in the dirt by noon. He had pushed himself but wasn’t as sore as he
expected. He credited all the work on the cabin.
After lunch, Ben harnessed the black gelding to the buckboard,
promising him that it was the last time, then waved to his Colt-armed wife
as he drove away.
After arriving at the tent forty-five minutes later, he began scooping the
nails into their original keg then put it on the buckboard’s bed along with a
hammer and other tools.
Satisfied that he had what he needed, he climbed onto the buckboard and
headed back to the chicken farm.
After he returned, it was already mid-afternoon. But with the finished
gate already leaning against the nearby chicken coop and Charlotte’s
assistance, he was able to finish the corral before sunset.
 Jersey and the gelding were led into the corral that had enough grass to
keep them satisfied for a couple of days. Ben smiled at Charlotte and took
her hand before they returned to the house.
Ben said, “Tomorrow, I’ll arrange a hay delivery, but they’ll be all right
until then. I figured that instead of building a trough, I’ll just buy a big
washtub at the hardware store.”
Charlotte laughed then replied, “You’re getting lazy in your old age.”
Ben was smiling as he opened the back door. Over the past couple of
years, if he’d been told he was an old man, even in jest, he would have been
at least mildly irritated. But hearing it from Charlotte didn’t have that effect.
An hour later, he emphatically proved that he was far from being either
lazy or an old man.
_____
By mid-morning the next day, Ben was sitting in his new office and was
trying to organize the mess that Jerome had left behind. The recently
deceased sheriff’s failings as a lawman extended to the boring job of
paperwork. Ben wasn’t surprised and wondered if Jerome Cheatham could
read. According to his files, there hadn’t been a single crime ever
committed in Miles City.
There were still two Winchesters and a shotgun in the gun rack, so his
first decision as the official sheriff of the town was to award the three
murderous rifles to himself.
He still wondered why he was a sheriff and not a town marshal. It was an
appointed position which was why Cheatham kept the position for so long.
He knew it didn’t matter, but it was an irritant.
He had almost finished cleaning and organizing the office when the door
opened, and Phil Dawson, the telegrapher, stepped inside.
“I thought I saw you ride up. I got a reply to your message already,” he
said as he handed the yellow sheet of paper to Ben.
Ben took the telegram and said, “Thanks, Phil. I appreciate it.”
 The telegraph operator wasn’t a delivery boy and expected no tip, so he
just waved and returned to his office.
Ben read:
SHERIFF BEN ARDEN MILES CITY MONT
 
ADAM BISHOP FIVE SEVEN ONE SIXTY BROWN BLUE SEVERELY BROKEN NOSE
WITH MUSTACHE
SISTER MARY SENT TO MOTHERS SISTER ALICE
LEFT WITH HUSBAND AND TWO CHILDREN
MARRIED NAME SHIPLEY HUSBAND ETHAN
GOOD LUCK
 
SHERIFF WILLIAM PIKE MARYVILLE TENN
 
Ben set the telegram on the desk and after committing the description of
Adam Bishop to memory, he let his mind wander after rereading the
sheriff’s reply.
His memory had twitched when he read the name of her sister’s husband,
Ethan Shipley.
Why did that name sound familiar?
It ate at him because it
wasn’t a common name. But he knew that it was buried somewhere deep in
the back of his mind. His problem was that he’d met so many people on his
way to Miles City that he couldn’t place it. But it had to be someone he
didn’t know well enough to recall, yet still recognized his full name.
He finally shrugged and let it go for the time being, put the telegram in
his shirt pocket and left the office. He mounted the gelding then rode to the
livery.
“Abe!” he shouted when he entered.
“No use to shout, Ben,” replied Abe who was standing in the back of the
first stall.
“Sorry, Abe. I was just wondering where you got your hay.”
 “I have a contract with a farmer down south named Tom McGregor. He
brings me four stacks a week.”
“The next time he comes by, can you ask him to swing by the chicken
farm? I’ll probably be needing about the same amount. That place is short
on grass.”
“No problem, Ben. Say, you wouldn’t be interested in a wagon and a pair
of mules, would you?”
“Maybe. I just bought a buckboard, but a wagon would be useful to have
as well. What’s the story?”
“This sodbuster from way down south gave up on his homestead and
wanted a horse and saddle. He wanted to unload the mules and wagon, so I
took them for trade. But they’re using up too much space, and I need some
horses instead.”
“What are you asking?”
“Fifty dollars.”
“Abe, really? Let me see this masterpiece of engineering.”
Abe led him out back where the two mules were grazing in the corral by
themselves. Abe must have given up that placid mare and Ben saw an
opportunity for some genuine horse trading, or in this case horse and mule
trading.
Abe began his sales pitch, saying, “See, there’s even a spare axle. I
checked it over, Ben. The wheels are in good shape. There’s lots of grease
in the wheels and a full grease can underneath. The harness is in good
shape, too. What do you say, Ben?”
“Abe, I am about to make you the deal of a lifetime.”
Abe’s eyebrows rose as he asked, “How’s that?”
“I’ll trade you even up for three young horses and a full set of tack for
each of them. That’s if you throw in a few stacks of hay to tide me over
until the Mister McGregor shows up.”
 “Where’d you get three horses?”
“From those losers who came to shoot me. I figured it was my right.”
“Nobody will argue that point. I won’t even dicker. That’s a really good
deal, Ben.”
They shook on the trade, then Abe said he’d brush the mules down and
have the outfit ready to go in an hour while Ben rode to the cabin to get the
horses.
After he mounted the gelding, he patted him on the neck and thought he
might have made a minor error by not buying one of the horses because
he’d need one for the buckboard. He had promised the black gelding that he
wouldn’t be humiliated again. He couldn’t do it to Jersey, either.
He quickly trotted the gelding northeast and found the three horses
contentedly munching grass when he returned. He saddled them, chose one
of the mares for his buckboard horse, then led them back to Abe’s livery.
When he arrived, he spent another ten minutes of serious dickering to
buy back one of the mares. But after making Abe happy, he drove the
wagon to the hardware store. The bed was full of hay, and his black gelding
and the unsaddled grey mare were attached by trail ropes.
He stopped at the hardware store and purchased the big tub to use as a
trough for the horses then continued his drive to the farm.
Charlotte had been anticipating his return and had been glancing toward
the town off and on for more than an hour. She didn’t want to admit that she
was still nervous, but it was difficult to deny. When she saw a wagon
approaching in the distance, she wondered who was coming to visit. For a
moment, she thought it might be Adam Bishop, and her hand dropped
automatically to her revolver and loosened the hammer loop. Then she
realized how silly it would be for a bad man to approach in a wagon and
relaxed.
Less than a minute later, she saw the long hair under the ubiquitous
Stetson hat and exhaled but knew there must be another story coming when
he arrived.
 Ben reined in the mules and let them stand where they were. They
weren’t about to go stampeding off anywhere, even without the loaded
wagon and the two trailing horses.
After he entered the house, he met Charlotte standing in the main room
with a combination smirk and smile on her face.
“Why do I let you out of the house, Mister Arden? You leave with a
horse and come back with two horses, two mules and a wagon.”
He grinned and said, “Two horses, two mules and a wagon filled with
hay and a washtub, ma’am. It seemed that Abe was saddled with the wagon
and was anxious to get rid of them. So, I traded him even up…kind of.”
“Kind of? What did you give him?”
“Three horses and saddles, but I bought one of the mares back to use for
the buckboard. I’m sure that you can figure out where the horses came
from. We didn’t need them anymore and they won’t be eating any of the
hay, either. We can use the heavier wagon and mules for our heavy loads.”
“You’ve sold me. I think you made a shrewd trade.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I’d like to map a wagon trail through the trees to
our cabin rather than swinging through Miles City. I think I can find a path
that will work.”
“We’ve ridden through the forest so often that you can probably just
follow our hoofprints.”
“It’ll be close to that,” he replied as he slid the new telegram from his
pocket.
“Come inside, sweetheart. I received a reply from the Maryville sheriff.”
Charlotte anxiously followed Ben into the main room where they took a
seat on the needs-to-be-replaced-soon couch.
“Well? What did he say?” she asked.
Ben gave her the telegram, which she quickly opened and read.
 She slowly said, “I not only still have a sister, but I have nieces and
nephews.”
Charlotte clutched the paper to her chest and closed her eyes as she
whispered, “I have my sister again, Ben.”
“I know, my love.”
“But he didn’t say where she is living.”
“It sounds like they left Tennessee. We have her husband’s name, so
maybe we can hire Pinkerton’s to find her.”
“Not yet. Right now, we need to just keep going until the new Bishop
either arrives or another month goes by, and he hasn’t appeared. That
description will help to find him, too. If he was coming, wouldn’t he be
here by then?”
“If he’s coming at all, I don’t think he’d be riding in. I think he’d wait
until the tracks reached Miles City. That’ll be in two or three weeks. They
were going great guns across the flat prairies of the Dakotas but had to slow
down when they began having to build bridges, tunnels and go around other
natural obstacles. Until then, all we can do is go on living.”
“You’re right. That’s all we can do.”
Ben kissed Charlotte then left the house to empty the new wagon. Then
he’d need to fill the washtub with water and dump the hay into two piles. A
small one inside the corral and most of it outside.
Two hours later, Ben took off his shirt, snapped it a few times to clear it
of most of the accumulated hay, then washed off the sweat and dirt before
putting on his shirt. He entered the house and found Charlotte sitting quietly
at the table, subdued with all the news. He filled two cups with lukewarm
coffee and sat next to her. She smiled as she took the cup in both hands, and
he just allowed her time to think about her sister while he tried to remember
where he had heard the name Ethan Shipley.
By the time they turned in, Charlotte was in a much better frame of
mind. It wasn’t long that the quiet afternoon was forgotten and replaced by
a boisterous night.
 CHAPTER 8
Adam Bishop was more than just a little frustrated with the delay. In his
last letter, Quincy had almost demanded Adam’s help but hadn’t bothered to
tell him that the railroad hadn’t even made it to Miles City yet. Here he was
stuck in Bismarck, North Dakota and there was nothing to do, unless he
wanted to spend hours each day sitting in the saloon. He tried it once, but it
only made everything worse.
Now, he just laid on the bed in his hotel room. It was stifling hot, and he
didn’t understand how it was even possible.
It was northern Dakota
Territory, for God’s sake! Who thought it could get hot this far north?
He
thought there’d still be snow on the ground when he left Iowa.
He had reread his brother’s last letter, the one that had asked for his help.
He sounded desperate. After he had tried to force the woman out, some big
cowboy had arrived and created bigger problems. Now he was concerned
for his own safety.
Something must have happened to him because there was no other
explanation. That last Shaw bitch had somehow not only eluded his
brother’s plans but had probably talked the cowboy into killing him. She
probably offered herself to him in exchange for drygulching Quincy. All
Shaw women were whores at heart, and he knew that cowboys were all
lecherous scoundrels.
Adam hadn’t sent a telegram to his brother because Quincy had told him
that he couldn’t trust the sheriff and that the telegrapher would probably let
him read it first. But the long delay since Quincy’s last letter was proof
enough for Adam.
He checked his guns, as he had done often since he arrived in Bismarck
out of boredom more than anything else. He had two pistols with him. One
was a pocket pistol that he kept in a shoulder holster. The second was a
normal revolver he wore in a holster. He wasn’t a great shot with either, but
he didn’t intend to get into a shootout. He would just approach the woman
with a smile and shoot her. It would be messy, but more effective than the
plots and plans his brother had tried. His only question now was that
cowboy.
Was he still there after killing Quincy? Or did the Shaw woman
shun him after convincing him to murder his brother?
It would be just like a
Shaw to do something so shallow and underhanded.
The railroad ticket agent had assured him that the track would be laid to
Miles City by the end of the month. He had originally planned on taking the
train into the town as soon as he could buy a ticket. But now that he had the
time think about it, he thought he had come up with a better idea.
Quincy had told him that the woman had a chicken farm east of town,
right along the proposed tracks. So, maybe he should drop off before the
town and walk straight to the farmhouse.
As he lay sweating on his bed, he smiled as his new method of killing
the woman formed in his mind.
_____
The new railroad agent, Miles Johnson, arrived in Miles City the next
afternoon. When he was introduced, each resident wondered if the Northern
Pacific had assigned him to the town because of his Christian name. He
seemed pleasant enough for someone in that position and introduced
himself to Mayor Brackett and Sheriff Arden. His predecessor wasn’t
mentioned.
His first act was to take them to the land office and point out where the
tracks would be laid and estimated that the track laying crews would appear
at the pass within three weeks. They were laying track at the rate of two to
three miles a day now and said that the only delays were the construction of
trestles, bridges and tunnels, but that wouldn’t be a problem once they
reached the flatter land on the other side of the pass.
He pointed out the recommended location for the depot and the large
water tank that had to be placed in an exact position near the new depot.
The railroad would pay for the water tower and the depot, so the only
question would be their exact location. It was a community decision that
usually followed the railroad agent’s recommendation.
 The best location for the depot was about a quarter mile southwest of the
town, where there was a wide creek that could provide the water to be
pumped into the water tower. With the location resolved, they all shook
hands and returned to their respective offices.
Ben walked beside Amos as he practically danced back to his store. He
had hired the wife of the blacksmith to mind the store in anticipation of
more business. Everyone expected a sudden and dramatic increase in the
town’s population with the arrival of the railroad.
“Well, Amos, it looks like things will be changing fast over the next few
weeks.”
“Looks that way, Ben. How are things going with you?”
“Charlotte’s in a bit of a state. Between finding out she has a sister she
believed to be dead for twenty-five years and another Bishop possibly
arriving here; who can blame her?”
“I surely wouldn’t. We’re having a town meeting tonight to discuss the
railroad’s arrival. Are you coming?”
“Do you need me there?”
“I think it would be a good idea. I reckon some questions might come
your way.”
“Okay. I can’t leave Charlotte alone, so I’ll bring her along. Where is it
going to be held?”
“In the church at eight o’clock.”
“Okay, we’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Ben. I appreciate it.”
Ben gave him a short wave then turned and headed out to his gelding.
He arrived back at the house a few minutes later and was still pleased
with the horse, having noted not the least bit of bad temper. Why he hadn’t
given it a name was beyond him.
 He put the gelding in the corral with Jersey, the gray mare, and the two
mules then saw Charlotte in one of the chicken coops tossing grain to the
fussing birds. He stripped the horse of its gear and just as he finished, he
noticed that she had been looking his way. He waved at her and she
returned his wave with a smile.
He picked up his saddlebags, stepped towards her and waited until she
exited the chicken coop.
“Welcome back, sheriff husband,” she said with a smile as she neared.
“Good morning to you, wonderful wife.”
“So, how’s the new railroad agent?”
“He seems like a decent sort and wasn’t even packing iron. What was
kind of funny was that his name is Miles Johnson. He said the track laying
crew should appear in the pass in a couple of weeks or so and be through
the valley in just three days. They decided where the new depot and water
tower will be while I was there. It’ll be just southwest of town. Close to the
lumber mill.”
She smiled at the mention of the new agent’s name but didn’t reply as he
took her hand before they walked to the house.
When they entered the kitchen, Ben set his saddlebags on the floor,
heard the loud clunk, and was reminded to ask her a question that he’d been
meaning to ask.
“Charlotte, I keep forgetting to ask. Did you want this Smith and Wesson
Model 3 instead of that old Colt? It shoots cartridge ammunition, so you’ll
be able to reload quickly by yourself.”
Despite its history, she asked, “Man I see it?”
“Sure, sit down.”
She sat and Ben pulled the pistol and gunbelt out of the saddlebag, then
cracked open the gun, making sure it was empty. He snapped it shut and
handed it to her.
 She hefted the pistol and then looked at him.
“I actually like this better than the Colt. It feels lighter and it fits my
hand better. It doesn’t load the same as your Colt; does it? Does it fire the
same way?”
“No, it uses a very different way of loading cartridges, but yes, it fires
the same way. You can carry spare ammunition in the loops in the gunbelt
now. It loads much faster and easier than my Colt but uses a different
cartridge. If you bring your wonderful curves here, I’ll enjoy the distinct
pleasure of fitting the gunbelt around your perfect hips.”
“Mixing guns and my hips into one sentence. It must be a real fantasy
for you,” she said as she grinned at him.
“We’ll see just how much of a fantasy in a minute.”
She stepped in front of him, close enough that he almost forgot what he
was supposed to be doing. After that distracted delay, he held the holster
against her right hip, then intentionally slid his hand across her behind to
take the belt’s tip.
Charlotte was laughing lightly when he took his time pulling the leather
strip across her backside. He slid it through the buckle and slipped the tang
in place then finally pulled it snugly onto her hips.
“How does that feel?” he asked as he looked up at her.
“I don’t know,” she answered as she stepped even closer, “how does it
feel? You obviously have a better idea than I do.”
His hands left the gun belt and slid along the sides of her hips.
Then he looked up into her big brown eyes and said, “The gunbelt is
secured. But after I take it from your waist, I’ll have to continue my
evaluation to get a better idea of how things feel.”
She replied, “I thought you might have already explored every inch of
me, but I won’t complain if you renew your search.”
 Ben grinned as he quickly unbuckled the gunbelt then set it aside before
they began removing other obstructions that would obscure a proper
evaluation.
_____
After dinner, Ben mentioned the meeting in the church at eight o’clock
and asked if she wanted to come along.
Charlotte had to weigh the safety of being with Ben versus the hostility
from the women in the town. She thought the distant threat was less than
having to face a few hours of discomfort.
“I’ll stay, Ben.”
“Okay, but keep the doors locked and your gun on your hip.”
“Are we starting again with the hips, husband?” she asked with a bit of a
smirk.
“Don’t think for a second you’re immune just because you were just
pleasured. Just remember that first night, sweetheart, and understand that
my lust for you hasn’t diminished in the slightest. So, don’t tempt me.”
“I’ll be waiting for your return, Sheriff. Maybe I’ll surprise you.”
“Are you trying to get me from attending this meeting, my incredible
temptress?”
“Maybe.”
“As much as I’d love to give into your feminine wiles, I have to go.”
He held her tightly and kissed her before regretfully leaving their
bedroom and then the house. He saddled the black gelding and headed to
town where he spent three hours of what turned out to be boring discussions
that didn’t involve him at all.
He’d spent most of that wasted time thinking of Charlotte’s surprise, so
as soon as the meeting ended, he bolted out of the church, hopped into his
saddle, and set the gelding to a fast trot for the farmhouse. He wasn’t
disappointed after he returned.
 _____
Adam Bishop’s boredom and frustration at the delay had been replaced
by agitation and almost unending irritation. He had been told it would be
another week or two before the track reached Miles City. He was
contemplating just getting on the train to Deerfield and waiting there, but it
really didn’t matter, and Bismarck was a much bigger town.
As he sat at the small desk in his hotel room, he looked at his two Colt
Navy pistols again. They were both clean and well-oiled, and he knew they
wouldn’t fail him. What bothered him was that they were both .36 caliber
percussion cap revolvers. Normally, that wouldn’t matter to him, but he
didn’t like going into any situation where he was already at a disadvantage.
He thought of purchasing a new Colt with more powerful .44 or .45 caliber
cartridge ammunition, but the cost would put a serious dent in his dwindling
cash reserves. He had more than a hundred dollars left and would still have
to buy his train ticket to Miles City. Hopefully, he’d need to buy his return
ticket, too. But now, at least the delay had afforded him the time to firm up
his new plans for eliminating that Shaw woman.
He knew the scheduled train into Bismarck arrived in the morning at
10:30 and was told it would be a nine-hour ride to Miles City. That would
put him there around dusk at this time of year. Rather than enter the city at
the depot, he would step off the train as it slowed. He should be able to see
the farmhouse to the north of the tracks. He wouldn’t go off half-cocked,
though. He had a pair of field glasses that he had bought before he left and
would use them to scout the situation. If she was alone, he would just go in
the first night and shoot her as she slept.
If she was with someone, especially that cowboy who had probably
murdered Quincy, it may not be so simple. In that case, he’d have to play it
by ear. He’d buy some food before he left Bismarck, enough to last him a
few days at least. But he’d do what had to be done to avenge his family’s
honor.
He still remembered that horrible day more than twenty-five years
earlier. He’d heard a commotion in the barn while he and Quincy were
working was in the fields. Their oldest brother, John, had gone for water
because they had been out in the field all day and they had emptied their
water bag over two hours ago.
They knew he would have tried to fill the water bag from the pump near
the barn doors. Beyond that, they had assumed the rest because there were
no real witnesses. But there was plenty of evidence, at least for the Bishops.
They assumed that as John neared the pump to fill the water bag, he
must have heard shocking noises from inside the barn. He rushed inside and
found that bastard Shaw raping their beloved, twelve-year-old sister, Agnes.
When he and Quincy and had finally gone to the barn to quench their
thirst and berate John, they hadn’t seen him outside. They expected that
John might have gone into the barn to take a nap, so they angrily entered
the barn to give him a lesson. When they passed through the open doors,
they froze in mid-stride, stunned by what they saw.
John was lying dead with a pitchfork still in his belly. Agnes, dear sweet
Agnes, was lying on the ground bleeding, but still barely alive. He and
Quincy were so shocked by what their eyes were telling them, that they had
just stood gawking at the scene for what seemed like hours, but was
probably less than a minute.
Finally, they both ran to their little sister who looked at them with wide
eyes filled with fear as they asked her who had done such a thing. In her
terrorized state, she couldn’t speak, but her small, shaking hand pointed to
the east before she began to shiver. Then her arm dropped to the floor when
she died.
When they contacted the sheriff, he did an investigation, or what he
claimed to be one. He said there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest anyone
for the crimes. But the brothers argued out that she had pointed east,
directly at the Shaw farm. The sheriff had told them that his wife had
provided him with an alibi which exonerated him, but it wasn’t enough for
the Bishops.
Alibi be damned! That witch had lied to protect that murdering
bastard!
They had their revenge two nights later, when they crossed onto the
Shaw farm, each carrying a bucket of coal oil. When they were close, they
heard them arguing inside. That made it better because they knew the entire
Shaw family was in the house. They spilled the coal oil on the front and
back porches quickly, then dropped a match onto the kerosene-soaked
wood.
By the time the Shaws realized that their house was on fire, there was no
escape. The farmhouse almost exploded into a massive bonfire. The back
door had been wide open, but it didn’t matter. Adam stayed out front with
his rifle and Quincy covered the back to ensure no one escaped hell’s fire.
But there were so many flames roaring outside both doors, they knew that
their rifles were unnecessary. No one would leave the house alive. The
brothers listened to their screams with pleasure as the Shaws roasted alive.
They ran back to their farm and stayed inside for almost a week,
expecting the sheriff to come knocking at their door. But he never did. He
must not have had enough evidence, and they had laughed at the irony.
They were satisfied with what they believed to be their final act of revenge.
But it was more than a decade later when Quincy discovered that the
older daughter had been away from the house that night. By the time he had
tracked her to the uncle and aunt, she had gone again, married off to some
soldier named Prescott.
They thought they’d never know where she’d gone until Quincy arrived
in Miles City and by the luckiest of chances, discovered that she lived just
outside of town. Quincy may have had good luck in finding her, but his luck
had failed when it came time to kill her.
Adam knew that he wouldn’t fail. He would stop that raping, murdering
bastard’s blood line once and for all.
_____
The new wagon was proving to be very useful with its larger bed that
would allow him to add cages of chickens as well as baskets of eggs. Ben
would drive it to his office in the morning with two baskets of eggs and the
two or three cages of chickens, park in behind the office and leave the
mules in the livery with his gelding.
He’d walk rounds, showing his face around town and watch the
expansion of the town as construction had already begun on the water
tower. Miles Johnson was constantly busy with the construction and his
other railroad tasks. The tower would be constructed using all local
materials but had to follow the standardized plans that the railroad used for
all their stops.
As he watched the rapid progress on both the water tower and the nearby
station, it looked like the timing would be close. They needed to be
completed before the crews laying the tracks appeared in the pass. He
wondered if Quincy Bishop’s obsession with Charlotte had delayed his
railroad duties, leaving more work for Miles Johnson.
Ben only had a few incidents as the new sheriff, and all of them involved
altercations in the saloon that were resolved by his arrival. The sheriff’s
position was proving to be an easy job, and he wondered if they’d ever find
someone to take over. He had asked Amos twice, and the new mayor had
assured him that after the railroad came in, there would be a likely
candidate among the new arrivals.
Ben had taken the wagon out to the cave and retrieved all the weapons
and ammunition from his mini fort, afraid they’d start to corrode with the
dampness. He also dismantled the tent then loaded it and the rest of the
supplies into the wagon. He didn’t need the tools at the chicken farm but
wanted to keep them there so they’d wouldn’t rust. He and Charlotte
wouldn’t return until after the railroad arrived. What Adam Bishop would
do was still unknown, and he hated the uncertainty.
Before he headed back, he decided to waste some time, because that was
how he thought of it. He drove the wagon to the cave, set the handbrake,
then hopped down from the driver’s seat. He walked around to the bed and
pulled out the pickaxe. While the mules waited patiently, he walked to the
stone face beside the cave and began chipping rock. For an hour, he cracked
the pointed tool into the stone, noticing blue flashes in some of the rocks.
When he thought he had created enough detritus, he dropped to his heels
and began inspecting each of the rocks, easily spotting those that had blue
faces visible. After setting them aside, he used his knife to carefully pry the
precious stones from the rock.
 By the time he stood again, he’d found eight more sapphires, and one of
them was quite large. He knew they were measured in carats, but he never
could figure out what a carat was. It really didn’t matter right now anyway.
The size was one thing, but he knew that the purity was even more
important, but he had absolutely no knowledge of how to ascertain the
quality.
He held the eight stones tightly in his closed fist and walked to the cabin
where he removed the rock cover to his vault and took out the pouch. He
was getting low on cash, so he removed two hundred dollars and added the
gems.
After he left the cabin, he scanned the forest and thought he’d try
something that he had mentioned to Charlotte a few days earlier.
He climbed aboard the wagon, released the handbrake and turned the
mules into the trees. His starting point turned out to be the tree that housed
their emergency platform high above his head. He drove the mules on,
leaving deep ruts behind him to mark his future path through the trees that
turned out to be less crooked than he had expected. It drove a gentle curve
with one minor dogleg before he popped out less than a mile from the
house.
He pulled up behind the house, unharnessed the mules, and led them into
the corral. He left everything in wagon’s bed before he trotted onto the
porch and into the kitchen. He inhaled a wonderful aroma as he passed
through the doorway and found Charlotte making biscuits.
“Welcome home, Sheriff,” she said with her usual welcoming smile.
“Glad to come home to you, Deputy,” he replied before giving her a
quick kiss.
“So, what evil have you been up to today?”
“I cleaned out the tent site, loaded everything into the wagon, and took
all of the guns and ammunition out of the cave. I’ll move them all into the
spare bedroom later. I even spent an hour knocking some rock from the wall
near the cave.”
 “Oh? And was it worth your while?”
“I found eight more sapphires. One’s a big one, too.”
“Eight? Ben, that’s astounding. Eight in an hour?”
He nodded as he replied, “You’re right. It is a bit unnerving; isn’t it?”
“How many are in there, do you think?”
“We may have gotten them all, but that would be highly unlikely. After
the railroad comes along, maybe we’ll take a trip to Bismarck to see if they
have a jeweler who can give us an appraisal. We may have to go to
Cheyenne, though. I know they’re big enough to have one.”
“I suppose I’ll have to wear a dress.”
“Probably. It’s not such a bad thing, really. I mean, I’ve never undressed
you when you were wearing a dress before.”
She laughed as she answered, “Is that all you can think about, Mister
Arden?”
“It was dominating my mind when I first saw you ride out of the trees
that day. But it took complete control after your very appreciated surprise
when I returned from that boring meeting.”
“That was fun; wasn’t it?”
He hugged her and whispered, “That, my love, is a wild
understatement.”
Then he kissed her again before saying, “Oh, and on the way back, I
drove the wagon through the forest. I’ll drive it a few more times and you’d
be able to follow them in the dark. And you’ll never guess where it begins,
either. From the north, it starts right under our tree house.”
“Really? I thought that it was fifty feet from the edge of the forest.”
“I came in from the cave. It was only twenty feet from that end. I’ve got
to unload the wagon, so I’ll be right back.”
 Charlotte was still smiling as Ben left the house, but when she turned
and sat at the table, she was far from cheerful. It had been long enough
since he’d received the telegram from the sheriff in Tennessee about Adam
Bishop. She should have been able to put it out of her mind, but it was
almost always there. The only time she felt safe was when she and Ben
were together.
What made it so pervasive was that as crazy as the first Bishop had been,
she didn’t expect that his brother would be any different. He may even be
worse. She almost hoped he showed up tomorrow so it would finally be
over but doubted that he’d arrive until the first train rolled into the new
depot.
She spent almost as much time thinking about her sister as she did about
Adam Bishop. The last time she had seen her sister she was navigating the
world on all fours. Now that cute little crawling baby had children of her
own and she had missed all of it. She wanted so much to meet her sister
again, but deep down, felt that it would never happen. It was an enormous
country, and she could be anywhere. She even admitted to a slight amount
of jealousy that her unfound sister had two children already and may have
more by now. She wanted so desperately for Ben to be right and that she
could have her own child. It was as much to please Ben as it was to satisfy
her own longing.
Ben had everything moved into the spare bedroom in time for dinner
then they spent a quiet evening, just talking about their new house and
other, non-Bishop or family topics.
 CHAPTER 9
The next few days, the town was a bedlam of activity as it prepared for
the arrival of the first train. The water tower was completed and filled with
water from a windmill driven pump, and the depot was in the final,
touching up stages of completion. It was impossible to overstate the
importance of the arrival of a railroad to the citizens of Miles City. It was
the same for every town along each of the expanding railroad’s route. Those
tracks represented a massive improvement in their lives.
There would be the expected arrival of newcomers to homestead or buy
land in the big valley. There would be a sudden increase in the availability
of items to purchase that either had not been there at all or would be
outrageously expensive. Anything they needed would be able to be ordered
by catalog and shipped from Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City or even St.
Louis or New York.
Amos had already arranged to have his supplier begin sending him new
shipments beginning in September and was adding a whole new section to
his store, almost doubling his floor space. He was almost giddy in
anticipation, as were many of his customers who couldn’t wait to see the
expanded shelves of merchandise. It also meant that if something oversized
was needed like a steam engine for the mill, it could be ordered and
delivered within weeks.
The railroad was already having a huge impact on Miles City before the
first locomotive cleared the pass.
As the day approached, Charlotte and Ben became more anxious,
expecting the first train to have a particularly dangerous passenger. Ben told
her that he would personally be at the depot as each train arrived and watch
those who stepped onto the platform. She wore her new revolver
everywhere but in the bedroom. Even then, the two gunbelts were hung on
the bedposts for quick access.
_____
 Adam Bishop’s time had almost arrived. He’d been told at the last of his
almost daily meetings with the railroad ticket agent that the track was
almost to Miles City. He said it would be there in another three or four days
at latest. Adam was pleased, but the ticket agent was even happier. He
thought of having a party after the rude and annoying man boarded the
train. He would be willing to give him his ticket for free just to be rid of
him. But he smiled when he thought of charging him for a first-class fare
and assign him to a stock car with the horses and cattle.
Adam returned to his room and reviewed his plan once more but didn’t
find any problems because it was such a simple operation. The only
possible fly in the ointment would be the cowboy boyfriend, if he was even
there anymore. But if he was still in Miles City, maybe he was off on a
roundup or whatever else cowboys did.
He counted his money fining that he was down to eighty-eight dollars
and a quarter, which didn’t leave him much. At least coming back, he’d just
keep going past Bismarck. He hated this godforsaken town. He had no idea
when that would be, but his best guess was no more than five days. He
smiled as he pictured that Shaw woman looking back at him with lifeless
eyes.
_____
 
There was a celebration in the town when word first reached them that
the ground preparation team could be seen in the pass. They knew the
tracklayers were close behind. The workers were moving fast, impressing
everyone with their speed and efficiency. As they worked their way down
the pass to the valley, Ben and Charlotte could see them from their house.
They were only two miles away, which meant they would reach the town in
a day. Then in a few more days, they would disappear to the west. They
could see the smoke from the locomotive that followed the tracklayers
bringing the rails and ties for the men to keep pushing the line west. Even
though they knew that Adam Bishop might be arriving on the first train,
they admitted it was an awesome sight.
“Ben, did you want to move back to the cabin?” Charlotte asked.
 In a decision that he’d always regret, he replied, “No, sweetheart. We’re
safer here against one man. Just keep your gun close by and I’ll stay with
you as much as I can. I’ll need to check on the passengers when they
disembark, so I’ll only be a few minutes away on that gelding.”
Then he paused before saying, “I have no idea what to name him.”
“One look at the black smoke from that train and you shouldn’t have a
problem.”
“You’re right, as usual, Mrs. Arden. I’ll call him Locomotive,” he said
seriously, but the mirth in his eyes betrayed him.
Charlotte smiled as she replied, “You go right ahead and stick him with
that name. Then anytime you need to get somewhere fast, you can mount
and yell, ‘Let’s go, Locomotive!’. By the time you finish, whatever crime
you needed to stop will be long over.”
They both laughed before Ben said, “Smoke is a great name for him.
Thank you, Charlotte. I’m sure Smoke will thank you for diverting me from
naming him Locomotive. I probably would have had to call him Loco for
short.”
_____
The next day the tracklaying crews were due south of the farmhouse,
about a half mile away, so Charlotte had to go to the coops and try to calm
the chickens. They had been spooked by the train whistle and the other
train-related noises as the engine would ply back and forth bringing more
rails, ties and spikes. Egg production was down, which bothered her, even
though the loss of income was negligible. Amos credited their account a
penny for each egg and a quarter for a chicken.
In a good week, that would be three dollars for the eggs, and the
chickens would add another two. Before Ben had arrived, she would have
been ecstatic for five dollars a week, but now it was almost secondary as
Ben was being paid forty dollars each month as sheriff. He even opened an
account at the bank to deposit his pay and said he’d probably move their
cash into the account one of these days. They rarely even considered the
sapphires. So, the five dollars a week wasn’t very important anymore, but
they were still her chickens and her responsibility.
In the days before shortly before the track’s arrival and while the
workers passed by, Ben noticed an increase in small incidents as folks
seemed to be restive and on edge. He even had to jail one old timer after a
heated argument in the saloon. He had insisted that the whole valley was
his, claiming that he bought it from the Indians for a silver buckle. The
argument was more comical than criminal, but when he pulled his sizeable
knife to make his point, Ben had to lay him out with his Colt. Once the old
man was sober the next morning, he had no idea what he had said, so Ben
let him go.
The tracks sped past the new depot and water tower in a single day then
headed west. The next day would see the arrival of the first passenger train.
The workers had run a short quarter-mile track spur to the south that would
allow the train to be turned around, so it could head back east going forward
rather than backward. Going backward was no big deal to the workers or
the engineers, but passengers didn’t like it.
_____
Adam Bishop stood on the depot in Bismarck knowing that his train was
arriving shortly, and he’d be heading to Miles City after it took on water
and coal. He focused his eyes to the east looking for the telltale smoke
cloud and breathed a sigh of relief. His waiting was almost over. Soon,
revenge for the hellish day would soon be his and he wished that Quincy
was still alive to witness the woman’s death. He had only confirmed his
brother’s death when the ticket agent told him that they had to send a new
agent to Miles City after the last one was shot.
He had passed the gun shop on his way from the hotel to the depot and
had once again been drawn by the display of the shiny new Colt
Peacemaker in the window. He had almost gone in to make the purchase,
but the twenty-dollar price tag and the additional cost of fifty cents per box
of ammunition stopped him. He’d be fine with the weapons he had.
A little after eleven o’clock, Adam Bishop finally boarded his train.
_____
 Ben didn’t go to the office that day. With the first train’s scheduled
arrival, he knew he needed to spend the day with Charlotte. She was
noticeably nervous. She had tried to hide the stress, but he knew that it was
increasing with each passing hour. She made bad jokes then laughed
weakly, and Ben pretended not to notice. But despite seeing the stress in her
troubled eyes, he knew there was nothing he could say or do to alleviate her
worries other than to stay close.
The town had let out all the stops as they awaited the arrival of the first
passenger train to Miles City. They had a table on the platform with free
lemonade and donuts, and merchants were there with flyers announcing
sales and special offers. There was no brass band, but that was all that was
missing.
It was late in the afternoon and Ben knew he’d have to be leaving soon
to scan the arrival of its passengers looking for one particular stranger.
“Charlotte, I need to get down to the station to look at the passengers.
There shouldn’t be that many yet, so I’ll be back just a few minutes after the
train arrives. Okay?”
Charlotte just nodded and was ashamed of herself for feeling so weak.
She believed that she was stronger than this and didn’t understand why she
was afraid. This wasn’t nearly as bad as the last time.
What was wrong with
her?
Ben sat down next to her and took her hands.
“I know what you’re feeling, Charlotte. You think you’re weak for being
afraid, but that’s nonsense. The problem is that all you can do is think and
not act. During the war, we had been through battle after battle and seen
horrible things. These were brave men, Charlotte, incredibly brave men. Yet
when we were preparing for battle, we felt the same way you do now. It was
because all we could do was think. We wanted the waiting to be over and
not have to just sit around waiting for what we all knew was about to
happen. We just wanted to get into the fight.
“When we finally started moving, that anxiety and fear disappeared, and
we concentrated on doing our jobs. What you’re going through right now is
exactly the same thing. You’re waiting to for the action. You’re a brave
woman, the bravest I’ve ever met. I’d match you with any of those men in
my regiment. I’m very proud of you, Charlotte.”
Charlotte smiled at her husband, touched his stubbled, strong face and
said, “Thank you, Ben. I love you so much.”
“I love you, Charlotte. Soon, we’ll be living in our new house near our
waterfall. We’ll spend our nights on the porch listening to it tumble over the
ridge into our pool.”
Charlotte sighed before she said, “I can almost hear it.”
 Ben smiled then said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, my love.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, then stood and went out
the back door to the corral. He saddled Smoke, mounted and rode to the
new depot just two-and-a-half miles away.
Charlotte stood and took a deep breath. He was right. She needed to stop
thinking about things that may or may not happen and just do those things
that needed to be done. This was her home, not some distant unknown
stranger’s. It was hers and she was staying.
Ben arrived at the depot and looked back at the farmhouse that was
fading in the dying light, hoping that Charlotte was in a better frame of
mind.
After dismounting and tying off Smoke, he looked at the gaggle of
people on or near the platform. He was staggered by the amount of activity
and swore that half the town was there. So many people meant that it might
be difficult to get a clean view of the passengers, so he made sure his
sheriff’s badge was prominently displayed as he wove his way through the
crowd to the front of the platform.
The train whistled in the distance, and they could all see the front lamp
of the approaching locomotive. The big moment was almost upon them as
folks began to shout, “Here it comes!” or “The train’s coming!”
Ben just stared at the oncoming light, wondering if Adam Bishop was on
board.
 _____
In the second passenger car, Adam Bishop stood in the aisle near the
door. He was peering north hoping to catch a glimpse of the chicken farm,
but it was already too dark to make anything out clearly. He grabbed his bag
and his bedroll then stepped out onto the car’s platform to get a better view.
The train was slowing down but was still going too fast to just step off. He
could make out the lights of the town in the distance, but the train didn’t
seem to be slowing down enough. He was waiting anxiously when the
brakeman hopped onto the platform, spun the brake wheel, then rushed into
the passenger car that he’d just vacated. The train began slowing more
rapidly. Soon it was just traveling just a little faster than walking speed, so
he stepped down to the last of the steel steps on the side facing away from
the town.
He took a breath then half-stepped and half-jumped from the train. When
his right foot reached the passing ground, the steep grade made him lose his
footing and he felt awkwardly to the hard ground, twisting his ankle as he
fell.
He cursed as he scrambled to his feet, then watched the train continue to
slow. When it was far enough away, he stepped back to the rails. His ankle
wasn’t badly sprained, but it hurt, and he knew that it would soon swell. He
hobbled across the tracks then stopped and took his bearings. He needed
cover and had noticed the beginning of a line of trees that didn’t really
qualify as a forest just to the east as the train slowed. It was perfect for his
planned reconnaissance. It would give him a good view of the chicken
farm, yet still provide excellent cover.
He turned to his right and ten minutes later, he entered the dark trees and
disappeared.
_____
Ben stood off to the side and watched as the first passengers exited the
train. There were only four, and two were women, probably wives of the
men. Neither man was even close to the description given to him by the
sheriff of Maryville, either.
 He waited until the train began to take on water before heading back to
Smoke. He’d wait until the train left the new station just to be sure. Six
locals had boarded the train for its return trip as the disappointed crowd
began melting away to return to their homes.
After filling its tanks and taking on more coal, the locomotive’s drive
wheels churned, and sparks flew as the massive hulk started to crawl
forward. The switch was thrown, and the train turned south and stopped on
the spur. After a second switch was thrown, the train reversed its direction
and was soon heading west backwards. The switches were returned to their
original positions and the train accelerated slowly forward and soon left
Miles City behind as it rolled to the east. Ben knew that there was no reason
to stay any longer, so he left the platform, mounted Smoke and headed
home.
After unsaddling and letting Smoke into the corral, he entered the house
unsure of how Charlotte’s mood and was relieved and happy to be greeted
by a cheerful Charlotte wearing one of her form-fitting shirts.
She threw herself into Ben’s arms and said, “To hell with Adam Bishop,
wherever he is. There’s only one man I have to worry about, and I’ve got
him in my arms right now.”
“And I, for one, am glad that you do. Let’s turn out the lights and see
what happens.”
Charlotte was giggling as she and Ben quickly began extinguishing
lamps.
While they professed their disregard of Adam Bishop, an hour later aa
they were entwined in a sweaty embrace, their minds returned to the man
who might ruin their happiness.
_____
Adam Bishop thought he had seen the lights of the ranch house but
suddenly, they weren’t there anymore. In the dark, he hadn’t seen Ben ride
to from the depot. Adam still was unsure of the situation, so he’d have to
wait for daylight to understand if any modifications to his plan would be
necessary.
 _____
Early the next morning, Ben stepped out into the bright August morning
sun. It was only seven-thirty, but it already had the promise of a hot day. He
kissed Charlotte goodbye on the back porch and walked to the corral.
She scanned the landscape including the new train tracks before she
waved to Ben and returned to the kitchen.
After he’d returned her wave, Ben looked at his gelding and said, “Good
morning, Smoke. Ready to go for a short ride?”
The black gelding trotted close at the sound of his voice and Ben rubbed
his nose. Ben liked to think the horse was pleased to have a name, but
whether he did or not, he and the horse had become friends. Ben didn’t
know anything of the horse’s past, but scars on his sides showed where a
previous rider had used spurs, maybe to excess, which was why Abe had
found him ornery. Ben never even had to tap Smoke with his heels to let
him know what he needed. When Ben wanted speed, he just needed to shift
his body forward and the black would respond instantly. As he rubbed the
horse’s neck, he glanced over at an indifferent Jersey. His old companion
had his own friend now. She was much lighter, had a sweeter voice, and if it
wasn’t for the saddle, Ben was sure the gelding would appreciate her other
soft feature.
As he began saddling Smoke, his badge reflected the bright light of the
morning sun.
_____
The image not lost on Adam Bishop as he watched the scene through his
field glasses. He was puzzled when he spotted the badge on the man leaving
her house. If she had a man with her, he expected him to be the cowboy. But
then he recalled Quincy’s humorous description of the sheriff and realized
that the sheriff and the cowboy boyfriend were one and the same. The Shaw
woman must have used her sexual hold over him to have him kill the old
sheriff. How he was able to have them make him the sheriff didn’t matter.
But he was most unhappy to discover that the cowboy-sheriff was still
with that Shaw bitch. He was probably her husband now, not that he
believed the Shaw woman wanted him for anything more than satisfying
her whore’s lust. He knew no towns would let their sheriff live in sin. He
was huge and even worse, he was a lawman, and both could present
problems. Bishop knew that he was probably better with a pistol than he
was, so he had to be certain that the big man was out of the picture, at least
long enough for him to get the job done before he made his escape. It would
be difficult, but not impossible. But the problem would add time to study
his schedule. His only limitation was the amount of food he’d brought with
him.
He watched throughout the day absorbing information and eating
whenever he could. He had seen the woman three times after their kissing
departure. The first was when she fed the chickens and gathered eggs. Then
she had hung laundry on the line. The last time was when she hitched up a
team of mules and drove them into town with baskets that he assumed were
loaded with eggs. He also noticed that she wore a pistol on her hip which
created another complication, although he didn’t think it was that big of an
issue. She may be tall, but she was still a woman, and all women were
weak.
Her sheriff husband returned shortly after noon and stayed, which he
thought to be odd. Bishop wondered how the mayor and council put up with
a part-time lawman.
At seven o’clock, the sheriff mounted the other horse and rode him down
to the train station. Adam immediately wondered if he did that every night
to check for potential troublemakers among the new arrivals. If he did, then
it would be the perfect opportunity to carry out his final act of revenge.
The train took ten minutes to unload, another twenty to fill its tanks and
then ten more minutes to turn around. Altogether, it would give him forty
minutes to get the job done and jump on board the departing train. It would
be tight, but he could do it. Once on the train, he’d pay the conductor for the
ticket.
Adam lowered his field glasses and returned to his campsite. He’d open
a new can of beans and eat half now and the other half for breakfast.
____
 The next morning, Ben rode into town and headed for his office. Things
were quieting down after the inaugural train arrival. Even though the first
train had only included four passengers, the townsfolk believed it was just
the beginning of a population boom. The track laying crews were out of
sight. They were over the western horizon and make another town excited
to join the new era of rapid transportation. If there wasn’t a town where
they needed a watering and coaling station, they’d lay the foundations for
one.
When he made his morning rounds, Abe told him that he was going to
start a freighting business now that the railroad was here. He had two heavy
wagons and eight oxen arriving in two days. Ben wished him luck and
walked to the Northern Pacific office, finding it vacant.
Miles Johnson was the sole railroad representative in town now and took
care of everything, including selling tickets. He used the office as needed to
arrange property sales now that the right of way had been settled. After
noon, he saddled Smoke and returned to the ranch to have lunch with his
wife, as he did every day. Even though Bishop hadn’t arrived on the train,
he didn’t want to leave her alone very long, but it wasn’t just because of
Adam Bishop. He enjoyed every minute he could spend with Charlotte.
_____
Bishop watched the tender scene through his field glasses as the giant
sheriff exited the corral after removing the horse’s saddle and was greeted
by that soon-to-be-dead Shaw woman. The cowboy-sheriff picked her up
and kissed her. After setting her on the ground, they were both smiling as
they walked back into the house with their hands around each other’s
waists.
“How sweet,” he said aloud as he smirked.
In a couple of days, it wouldn’t be so sweet.
_____
“Anything going on in town now that the railroad’s here?” she asked as
she and Ben shared lunch.
 “It’s actually quieter. A total of seven people arrived in town. Eight have
already left, but all of them will return. Gone off visiting relatives, I’d
imagine.”
“I’d love to be able to visit my sister if I even knew where she was.”
“We’ll see how things turn out, sweetheart. One never knows what
tomorrow will bring. Look at us. Here we are an old married couple with
two homes, three horses and two mules.”
She smiled, and replied, “Old? Speak for yourself, old man. I’m still
only thirty-one.”
“Be careful with that ‘old man’ crack. It caused me to leave my last job.”
“Ben, was it hard finding those jobs? I mean this isn’t like Texas where
there are cattle ranches everywhere.”
“You’re right about the paucity of cattle ranches. Crossing the Dakotas
looking for cattle ranches wasn’t easy, but the good part was that when I
found one, they were always hiring, even the small outfits. For the same
reason that there weren’t many cattle ranches, there was a shortage of
veteran cowhands.”
“That makes sense. So, what are you planning on doing today?”
“Well, I was planning on coming home and making wild love to my
incredible wife and then figuring out what to do for the remaining thirty
minutes before the train arrived.”
“I am thoroughly disappointed in you, husband. Really, you planned on
shortchanging me by half an hour?”
Ben laughed, then slid his plate away, stood and pulled his laughing wife
into the bedroom.
_____
In the woods nearby, Bishop wondered what they were doing because
neither had shown themselves for the entire afternoon. He finally guessed
that he must be doing some repair work on the inside of the house while she
watched, but it didn’t matter. He looked at his watch, noted that it was
almost seven o’clock, so he expected that the sheriff should be getting ready
to ride to the station.
By ten minutes after the hour, he was annoyed that the sheriff’s visits to
the depot might be sporadic. Then he wondered if somehow, the sheriff was
going to the depot looking for him and smiled at the idea. If only the
cowboy-sheriff knew that he was already here.
A few short minutes later, he saw the sheriff emerge, kiss his wife
goodbye and saddle the other horse. He wondered why he took the black
one in the morning and the other one to the train depot. Again, it simply
didn’t matter.
The train arrived a little early and Ben guessed that the engineers now
trusted the new tracks and could add a little more speed. He walked to the
depot and waited as the passengers began to disembark. Without the crowds
of that first night, it was much easier to take get a good look. There were six
passengers this time, two married couples and two men, but no bent noses.
He also watched their behavior and found no furtive glances or wary eyes.
They were all just folks happy to have reached their destination. Some were
greeted by locals as well, which made it easy to rule them out. After the
train had turned around, Ben headed back to the ranch. It was still
reasonably light outside, but by this time next week, it would be close to the
sun’s bedtime.
____
Bishop watched him return in the fading light. He had been gone almost
the same forty-five minute as he had the last time, even though he had
started later. He decided that tomorrow he would make his move. His food
was running low, and he was tired of living out in the woods. His ankle was
still stiff and sore, too. The swelling had gone down, but it had turned a
hideous yellow and blue. But no simple ankle sprain would prevent him
from doing what was necessary. He must preserve his family’s honor.
_____
It was another hot August morning when Ben stepped into his office.
There was really nothing he needed to do today, just make his rounds and
show his face. He really didn’t have much to do at the house either, except
to be a nuisance. All his real work was north at their cabin, waiting for him
to return.
Charlotte left the house to feed the chickens and gathered five dozen
eggs. Amos had mentioned that the butcher needed more chickens when
she’d dropped off her last load, so she would bring a dozen with her. She
picked up one of two cages she kept for transporting them to their chicken
execution. It was easy to get them into the cage as she simply tossed in
some grain and watched them fight to get inside.
“If only they knew,” she thought as she smiled.
After the birds were inside, she closed the cage door and with the heavy
cage of squawking chickens in one hand and a basket of shelled never-to-be
chickens in the other, she left the coop. She kicked the gate closed behind
her and loaded the basket and cage onto the wagon but forgot to latch the
gate.
Charlotte harnessed the mules, then climbed into the driver’s seat and
drove to town with her noisy cargo. She stopped at the expanded A.
Brackett Dry Goods & Sundries, dropped off the eggs and the chickens then
she drove down the street to visit her lawman husband. She halted the
wagon, set the handbrake, then quickly climbed down and stepped onto the
boardwalk. She knew he wasn’t alone before she reached the door
Ben was at the desk, writing a complaint from the butcher’s wife, who
was standing before him squawking as loudly as the chickens that Charlotte
had left at the general store. There was a very good reason why Charlotte
never delivered the chickens to the butcher, and she was standing in front of
her husband. After quietly entering, she sidestepped to her left to give the
woman a clear path to make her furious exit. Charlotte doubted if Ben
would be able to mollify her even if he had the desire to do so. She
suspected that the desire to please the butcher’s wife didn’t exist.
The heavy woman was jabbing her finger at Ben as she exclaimed, “And
another thing, Sheriff! I will not tolerate any Indians entering my shop.
Who
do they think they are?
”
 Ben stopped writing, looked up at her and replied, “Well, ma’am, they’re
probably folks who were here long before we showed up. I imagine that
they’re members of the Crow tribe. You should be grateful that they were
just taking meat from your shop and not your scalps.”
“How dare you, Sheriff! They are nothing more than savages!”
“Oh, I don’t know if I’d call them that. I seem to recall that a number of
you womenfolk pinned that same label on me when I arrived. Times
change, ma’am. Maybe one of these days, a Crow will be the mayor or
sheriff of this town.”
“Well! I never!” she huffed before she whipped around and stormed out
of the office, glaring at Charlotte as she left.
Charlotte stepped close to the desk and as she took a seat, she asked,
“What was her problem?”
“Aside from being a vindictive, mean-hearted biddy, you mean?”
Charlotte laughed and replied, “Yes, aside from that.”
“She said that someone had been pilfering meat from her husband’s
shop. Now, it’s common knowledge that her husband’s scales are a bit off,
to his benefit of course, so I’m not going to worry about it. I’ll check and
see if anyone is really stealing some of his meat, but I doubt if it really
happened. She really wanted to loudly complain about Indians coming into
the shop. Hell, if she had her way, we could never buy anything either. We
both look like Indians with our long black hair.”
“That’s true. We still need to trim our excessively long hair one of these
days.”
“I suppose.”
She and Ben chatted for a while and Charlotte asked if they should
increase the price that they charged the butcher for the chickens just to
annoy his wife. Ben told her that they didn’t need the added aggravation.
After twenty minutes of pleasant conversation, she gave him a quick kiss
then left the office. She climbed aboard the wagon and headed back to the
farm. She pulled the wagon to a stop behind the house twenty minutes later,
parked the wagon, unharnessed the mules and led them into the corral. She
left the cage in the wagon bed because she wanted to have her lunch. If she
had returned it to the coop, she would have noticed that the gate wasn’t
latched.
_____
Adam Bishop watched as she entered and closed the door. It was already
ten o’clock and he toyed with the notion of killing her now, but it would be
almost impossible to hide long enough to make his planned escape if he did.
Her husband would return soon, find her body and would hunt him down
then mercilessly kill him as he’d done to Quincy.
As he thought about his dead brother, he let his anger grow to where he
wanted it to be. He wished he’d been able to learn how it had happened but
wouldn’t dare show his face. But when he had that Shaw bitch alone and
terrified, he’d take a couple of minutes to let her confess what she’d done.
He’d savor each second watching her quiver in unbridled fear knowing he
was about to kill her. He would have enjoyed it much more if he didn’t have
such a limited amount of time before the train headed back to Bismarck.
_____
Charlotte was growing more comfortable after the first few days with no
hint of Adam Bishop. It appeared that the last Bishop wasn’t going to be
arriving in Miles City after all. Maybe he’d finally realized that there was
no point to continue the feud any longer after his brother died.
She took off her gunbelt and laid it on the table. It would still be nearby
and taking the three pounds of metal off her hips was refreshing. Once free
of the gunbelt, she began to clean the kitchen.
_____
Ben had been delayed in his departure from town to handle a minor
altercation in Amos’ store. One of the newcomers had accused Amos of
cheating when giving him his change. It was loud enough for Ben to notice
as he was walking Smoke past the store.
 He dismounted then entered the store and saw the customer poking
Amos in the chest while screaming at him. Amos looked gratefully at Ben
as he almost filled the open doorway. The customer turned at the same time
and saw the badge on the big man.
As Ben approached the angry customer exclaimed, “Sheriff, this man
cheated me out of a dollar when he gave me my change and I want him
arrested!”
Ben stepped up to the stranger and said, “Mister, I know Amos pretty
well, and I know he’s a very honest man. When I came in, you were poking
him in the chest and seemed to be a bit aggressive, so tell me what
happened. Amos, you go first.”
The customer started to protest until Ben gave him a fearsome stare that
made him snap his mouth closed.
“This gentleman came in and bought items totaling $6.11 cents. He gave
me two five-dollar gold pieces. I gave him three one-dollar bills and 89
cents in change. He put his change in his pocket and then he accused me of
cheating him.”
Ben turned to the newcomer and asked, “Does that sound right, mister?”
“Yeah. But he’s wrong. He owed me four dollars and change. I gave him
ten dollars, and the bill was only six dollars.”
“Mister, how far did you go in schooling?”
“That’s none of your business,” he snapped.
“I’m not insulting you, mister. I’m just telling you that you need to be
better at arithmetic. The change Amos gave you was correct. You spent
more than six dollars. You spent eleven cents more. Now, if you just bought
eleven cents worth of penny candy, and gave him a dollar, you’d get back
eighty-nine cents. That’s why you only got the change that you did. Now,
why don’t you apologize to Amos and go on your way?”
The man was flummoxed. He always had a problem with numbers, but
he usually just traded for things anyway. What the sheriff said sounded
right, but he didn’t want to appear stupid, so he said, “I’m sorry, mister. I
just got joggled in my head.”
They shook hands and Ben returned to Smoke and headed back to the
farmhouse with a funny story to tell Charlotte.
Ben entered the kitchen and sat down as Charlotte put two plates on the
table after sliding her gun to the side against the wall to make room. She
took out a pot with last night’s stew, spooned some onto both plates then
added a biscuit. She put out some butter and molasses then poured coffee
into the two cups and sat down.
“Are you okay, Charlotte? You seem a little tired today.”
“I’ll admit that I have been feeling out of energy lately. I guess my old
age is catching up to me.”
“I can’t believe that excuse, ma’am. You’re still one healthy, young
woman. I can attest to that.”
She smiled and said, “Maybe all that worrying I did the past few weeks
is finally catching up to me.”
“I’ll tell you what. After lunch, why don’t you go to bed by yourself this
time. I have some jobs to do around the house, so you take a nice siesta and
get some of that energy back.”
“Although I’d rather have you in my bed with me, a little nap sounds
pretty good.”
“That’s fine. I’ll handle the cleanup when we’re done.”
“Thank you, Ben. You’re the best husband any woman could ask for.”
She leaned over and kissed him, then sat back down to enjoy the leftover
stew, knowing it always tasted better the second time. Ben told her of the
unusual altercation at the store created by some man who was unable to
subtract. She enjoyed the story and laughed when he said that Amos was
lucky the man didn’t have to multiply.
 Both knew that much of the population couldn’t read or write and fewer
could cypher numbers, but it was the way that Ben told the story that
pleased Charlotte.
When they finished their stew, Ben escorted her to the bedroom and let
her lay down on top of the blankets. He kissed her on her forehead then
returned to the kitchen to clean the dishes and pot.
Once the dishes were sitting in the drying rack, he went outside and
began spreading some hay for the horses and mules. He only glanced at the
chickens, who seemed to be enjoying a nap themselves. He smiled then
returned to the house, not noticing the unlatched gate.
_____
Bishop’s nerves were on a knife’s point. In just a few more hours, he
would finally finish this feud after an unexpected quarter of a century delay.
He had prepared his bag, so he’d wouldn’t waste a second in making his
escape to the train. He would rush into the house, kill the Shaw bitch then
return as quickly as his sore ankle would allow him.
When he left his campsite, he’d stay in the trees heading west. He’d keep
going until he was almost due south of the house. When he left his cover,
he’d be able to get close before anyone knew he was there.
But now he just waiting, and it seemed as if the train would never arrive.
When he saw that cowboy head to the depot, he’d watch until he would be
unlikely to spot him even if he looked back. Then he’d make his limping
dash to the house and shoot the last Shaw. Before the sun dropped out of
sight, he’d be riding the train east but wouldn’t be stopping in Bismarck.
The feud would be over, and it would be the Bishop clan that had
survived. Then when he returned, maybe he’d find a wife himself and start
a new generation of Bishops.
_____
Charlotte awakened and was a bit disoriented as most nappers are,
especially those who don’t nap often. She rubbed her eyes then swung her
long legs off the blankets and sat on the edge of the bed before she yawned.
It took her almost a full minute to realize that it was late afternoon and not
early morning. She did feel refreshed but hoped to avoid making it a habit.
She stood then walked out to the main room where Ben was tightening
some screws to a hinge on one of the windows.
“You’re a handy man to have around, Sheriff.”
Ben hadn’t heard her enter the room because he’d been concentrating on
the work but turned and smiled at her.
“Do you know how happy it makes me to see you? Every time I do, I
have a warm feeling from the inside out.”
She stepped closer to him and gave him a hug.
“So, what have I missed?” she asked after she released him.
“Not much. I fed the horses and mules, then cleaned up a bit before I
took on a bunch of odd jobs like this one.”
“That all sounds boring.”
‘Of course, it’s boring. Most of life is. It’s those hectic times in between
that make life exciting.”
“Some of that excitement would have been more appreciated if it hadn’t
been so dangerous.”
“I agree with you, Mrs. Arden. What are you going to do now?”
“What time is it?”
“I’d guess it’s a little past three o’clock.”
“I think I’ll freshen up to shake out the cobwebs and see what’s available
for dinner.”
“You go ahead. I’ll only be a few more minutes on this.”
She was smiling as she turned to go to the kitchen. She wondered if Ben
was right about the time because she was pretty hungry already.
_____
 Two hours later, they were finishing an early dinner. Usually, they ate
when Ben returned from the depot, but Charlotte said that the nap seemed
to make her hungry. He wasn’t that hungry yet, but said he was. But by the
time she’d finished making a large supper, he was hungry enough to eat
what she set before him.
It was a little before seven when Ben stepped out of the house’s back
door. He gave Charlotte a long kiss goodbye and stepped off to the corral.
He saddled Jersey and rode off toward the depot to await the train’s arrival
as Charlotte cleaned up after dinner.
_____
Bishop was watching Ben ride off and kept his eyes on him all the way
to the depot. He’d give him five minutes to get off his horse before he left
the trees.
He waited and watched as the seconds seemed to be more like minutes
before he finally stood and began hobbling toward the farmhouse. He could
already see the light in the windows and was growing more excited as he
began to move through the trees.
But the first one out of the trees wasn’t Adam Bishop. The first to
approach the house was a lone coyote bitch who was hungry and had cubs
to nurse. She knew of the plentiful food just a short distance away and had
already tried to pull the gate open before, but the latch had stopped her. She
thought she’d be successful this time as she slinked out of the trees and
toward the feathered meal.
Adam didn’t spot the lone coyote ahead of him in the fading light as he
concentrated his attention on the farm house. The four-footed predator
couldn’t care less about the human behind her as she desperately needed
food.
_____
Charlotte was the first to realize that the coyote was nearby. She heard a
loud bang followed by riotous squawking by dozens of her panicked
chickens. Charlotte had heard this before many times in the past, as all
chicken owners had. She just didn’t know what critter had caused the
ruckus. It could be a fox, a skunk, or a coyote. But whichever sharp-toothed
animal was after her chickens didn’t matter as she grabbed the nearby
broom and rushed out to bedlam. She didn’t even think of her Smith &
Wesson that was sitting uselessly on her kitchen table.
_____
Bishop had just was getting close when he heard the chickens explode in
hectic panic and froze. He didn’t know if he had scared them or not. Just a
few seconds later, he realized that it wasn't him when he heard the yipping
of the coyote as she raced inside the coop causing even more chaos.
Adam suddenly realized that it was a perfect distraction and would
probably draw the woman out of the house. He was grinning as he started a
rapid, limping walk toward the front of the house. When the Shaw woman
returned, he’d welcome her with his pistol drawn and cocked.
Charlotte popped out of the back door and saw what she expected. It
didn’t take her long to recognize that it was a coyote in the henhouse this
time. The gate was already open as she headed for the henhouse with the
broom, shouting and swinging it wildly.
The coyote had a chicken in her mouth when she saw the angry human
approaching. She had her catch, so she raced away through the open gate
with her prize.
Charlotte tossed aside the broom and started tracking down the loose
chickens that seemed to be racing to freedom. The majority never left the
coop, heading into the safety of the laying boxes instead. But a dozen or so
were running loose. Most were still in the immediate vicinity and Charlotte
knew they would return to the coop where there was food but spied two that
had already run almost a hundred yards east and were still going. If she
thought about it, losing two chickens wouldn’t matter. Even when she was
destitute, it wouldn’t have mattered. But she instinctively chased after the
two escapees. She was grateful for wearing britches as she raced after the
pair of feathered truants in the dying light.
_____
 Bishop had reached the south side of the house, then went around to the
front of the house with his revolver in his hand. He entered, expecting to
see the woman returning after getting the chickens calmed down, but she
wasn’t there. He quickly searched the two bedrooms and then jogged
painfully to the kitchen.
Damned ankle!
She wasn’t there, either.
Where did
she go?
She must still be out with the chickens, although he couldn’t
understand why she would be because it was quiet now.
His intended victim was now almost two hundred yards from the house
with one chicken in her hand and closing on the last freedom loving bird.
Bishop exited the house without noticing Charlotte’s Smith & Wesson
and soon reached the chicken coop. He saw feathers everywhere and the
loose chickens but didn’t see her. Then he looked further east and spotted
her distant movement. She was a few hundred yards away, so he quickly
headed in her direction. He knew his forty-five-minute clock was ticking
and he had to get this done.
Charlotte grabbed the final chicken by her neck and exclaimed, “Got
ya!”
She turned to face the house and her fleeting joy created by her success
at capturing the last chicken vanished when she spotted a shadowy figure
heading towards her.
She briefly assumed it was Ben but took less than two seconds to realize
she couldn’t have been more wrong. He was much too small.
It was him!
And she was in the middle of the field holding onto two chickens with her
gun back in the kitchen.
When she noticed the pistol in his hand, she knew that she had only one
option available to her and took it.
Charlotte dropped the two chickens, turned and ran north for the trees
more than a half a mile away. She ran harder than she had ever run before
with her with long legs churning and her arms pumping. She was running
for her life.
Bishop saw her bolt and knew he couldn’t shoot her with his pistol at
this distance even if there had been better light. He was going to try to run
her down, but with her head start, and his troublesome ankle it would be
impossible. She’d reach the relative safety of the woods easily, and he’d
lose his chance for revenge. He turned and quickly gimped toward the
corral, tossed the gate open, and leapt onto the back of the big black
gelding. He had ridden bareback before and knew how to control an animal
by pulling its mane. The black shot out of the corral toward the woman who
was already slowing. He was closing rapidly and knew now that he was
going to win the life or death race and revenge would finally belong to the
Bishops.
Charlotte had glanced back and seen him mount Smoke then come
charging after her. Her breath was coming ragged, her legs felt like rubber
and she was about three hundred yards from the trees. He was going to
catch her, and she knew it. She was so close to safety, and she was going to
lose. But despite the certainty, she kept on running, her legs growing
heavier with each stride. As she ran, her only hope was that Ben would kill
him even if it was after he’d murdered her.
Bishop wanted just a little more speed out of this animal as the woman
was almost to the trees, so he lifted his heavy boots then crashed them hard
into the horse’s sides to spur him onto a faster pace.
Smoke hadn’t been overly pleased with being bothered in the first place
and now, this new rider was acting like the first bad one who used those
sharp spurs. So, when he felt the boots strike his sides, he grew ornery. He
threw out his front legs and slammed them into the ground while he
dropped onto his haunches, throwing an enormous cloud of dust into the air
and the irritating man as well. He came to a complete stop in less than
twenty feet, but Adam Bishop did not.
Bishop felt the horse’s muscles begin to bunch up then suddenly found
himself flying for just a few seconds before he slammed hard onto his back.
The revolver he had in his hand went elsewhere as he tumbled and slid for
another fifteen feet.
Charlotte couldn’t believe her luck when she saw Smoke suddenly rip to
a stop, throwing Bishop flailing through the air on his way to a hard
landing. But she knew she couldn’t take the time to enjoy the surprising
scene and needed to take advantage of the unexpected break to make it to
the tree line.
Bishop had to catch his breath for a few seconds when his wind had been
knocked out of him by the fall. He managed to get to his feet but needed his
pistol. He had the other in his pocket but needed his other pistol. Trying to
kill her in the dark when he only five shots without the possibility of a
reload was a risk he couldn’t afford to take. He scanned the ground behind
him, finally found the gun and snatched it into his hand. He turned and
spotted the woman now more than a hundred yards away. He knew it was
an impossible shot from this distance but fired two rounds at her before she
could reach the trees, hoping she would drop to the ground and surrender in
fear.
Charlotte heard the reports but didn’t stop. She knew that he was
probably wasting ammunition at this range. But she was almost to the trees
and felt a surge of energy knowing she’d soon reach the protection of the
forest.
Bishop had only wasted two of his ten shots before he began to walk
toward the trees as fast as the bad ankle would allow him. He was focused
on only on killing the Shaw woman.
As he stood on the platform, Ben heard the two distant reports. For just a
moment, he thought someone was hunting. Just two seconds later, he
discarded that notion because hunters took one shot and then the game was
either dead or gone, and it was getting too late for hunting anyway. He
wasn’t sure of the source, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
He ran twenty feet to Jersey and leapt aboard without touching the
stirrups, then leaned over and ripped the loosely looped reins from the
hitching rail as he slid his toes into the stirrups. He swiveled the gelding to
the east and let him loose, charging past startled citizens who wondered
what had inspired their sheriff to race away as he had.
Ben poured on the speed as he knew Jersey loved to run. The gelding’s
eyes were straight ahead and his brown mane and tail were flying in his
own wind as they chewed up the ground to the farmhouse, arriving in just
over four minutes.
 Ben was going to dismount when, in the fading light, he saw a middle-
sized man walking with a hitch into the trees about a thousand yards away.
It was Bishop!
He didn’t hesitate before he asked Jersey for all he had and soon shot
away from the house. As he renewed the chase, Ben saw Smoke walking
toward them without a saddle and knew that somehow, Charlotte had been
caught outside and had run to the forest. He hoped she was running to their
still intact treehouse.
Bishop heard the pounding sound of horse hooves just before he reached
the trees. When he turned, he was terrified to see the cowboy-sheriff racing
toward him. He was the one who now needed the safety of the trees as
much as his victim had.
Charlotte was two hundred yards ahead by the time Bishop entered the
trees, she knew where she was going. She had followed the ruts that Ben
had told her would lead to the treehouse. It was getting darker fast, and in
the shadows of the trees, she hoped that she could find it and climb to safety
before Bishop could spot her.
Bishop was moving as quickly as he could, driven by his overwhelming
fear and need for revenge, but he could still hear the hoofbeats in the
distance. He guessed that the cowboy-sheriff was still two hundred yards
away, maybe less. He followed the wagon ruts, knowing it was probably
where the woman was going. He now had two missions. He had to kill the
woman and the second was to survive. His best ally to do both was the
darkness.
Ben thought about riding Jersey into the forest, but decided he’d be too
easy of a target on horseback and would make too much noise as well. He
approached the crude road and slowed Jersey to a walk. He was breathing
hard as Ben brought him to a halt, dismounted quickly, then reached down
to loosen the cinch to allow him to breathe easier. He patted the horse on
the neck as a gesture of gratitude and stepped into the thick growth of tall
pines.
As Ben entered the forest, Charlotte spotted the rope ladder hanging
ahead just a few yards before her. With an immense sense of relief and
without hesitation, she reached as high as she could and grasped a rung. Her
fear of heights was forgotten as she placed her foot on a lower rung and
began to climb for her life.
Bishop was now just fifty yards behind her. He had slowed, and knew
she was close now because she had to be almost totally exhausted from her
long run. But it was dark in the forest, so he could still barely make out her
footprints in the ground and he didn’t want to lose her if she changed
direction.
Ben didn’t need to follow footprints. He knew where Charlotte was
going and guessed that Bishop was right behind her. He pulled the hammer
loop off his Colt and pulled the pistol from its holster. He was walking
faster than he normally would in this situation, so he gained quickly. He had
to reach Bishop before he found Charlotte.
Charlotte had reached the small tree house then began reeling in the
ladder. Almost all of the rope ladder was on the planks when she saw
Bishop emerge from the trees. She stopped moving and simply watched
him, hoping he didn’t see the two feet of ladder rope swaying beneath the
branch.
Bishop’s head was down as he trailed his prey almost feeling her
presence. He could see the footsteps were closer together as she slowed
down. Suddenly, they simply disappeared. He looked left and then right,
then walked around the big tree, scanning the ground.
There were no prints
anywhere!
He knew she hadn’t doubled back, or she would have walked
into him. That left only one other possibility.
He looked up and caught a glimpse of that long hair surrounding a white
face.
She was twenty-five feet away!
He raised his pistol and pulled the
trigger.
Charlotte had watched as he had circled the tree. When he appeared on
the other side, she was horrified when his head craned upward. As he began
bringing his arm up, she dived onto the planking, hoping it would stop a
bullet. Then she heard his first shot but didn’t know where the bullet struck.
She still lay flat on the heavy planks knowing that without the ladder, the
short man couldn’t reach her by using the branches. Ben had stretched to
reach the lowest branch.
As she thought of her husband, she closed her eyes and whispered,
“Please come to me, Ben. I need you more than ever before."
After Adam fired, less than a hundred yards away, Ben saw the flash and
began to run to get within range, closing the gap quickly. As soon as he was
about thirty yards out, he stopped. Without really attempting to hit Bishop,
he aimed at the spot where he’d seen the muzzle flash and fired his Colt.
The flame from the weapon leapt two feet into the dimming forest light, and
Ben knew it would mark his position, so he quickly stepped to his left.
Bishop was so caught up in the discovery of the woman, he had totally
forgotten about the sheriff until he heard the .44 slug buzz by his head
followed immediately by the sound of the pistol’s loud report. He turned
and his peripheral vision caught the dimming flame of the pistol’s gunfire.
He quick-fired a shot in that direction, then turned and fired two more into
the treehouse, believing that he had just killed the Shaw woman. He was
confident that even his .36 caliber rounds would rip through boards at this
short range. He dropped the empty pistol into his holster and pulled the
second weapon from his pocket before hiding behind a tree. He expected
the cowboy to rush to the tree to see if his whore was still alive.
Ben had seen the two muzzle flares flash above Bishop’s head and knew
that he was firing at Charlotte, but wasn’t worried. He had used planks that
were intended for his floor. The two-and-a-half-inch thick green wood
would even stop his .44, but he knew from the sound and the flash that
Bishop was shooting a smaller caliber weapon.
He figured Bishop probably had a second gun and was waiting for him,
so he decided to draw him out.
He shouted, “Hey, Bishop! This is Sheriff Ben Arden. You’d better give
yourself up. You’re not facing a hanging offense yet.”
Adam Bishop shouted back, “The hell you say, Sheriff! I just killed your
Shaw whore. I’m not about to give you a chance to hang me.”
 “You didn’t hurt Charlotte, Bishop, much less kill her. You think that
popgun is going to do any damage? I built that treehouse to withstand a .44
caliber round. She’s perfectly safe.”
“You’re just wishing, Sheriff. You’re alone now and my sister and
brother have finally been avenged.”
“Let me tell you how many things are wrong about your claim. I won’t
even include the whole stupid idea of hunting down an innocent for
something that her father may have done twenty-five years ago. But back to
your last comment. My wife isn’t dead, she’s fine. Secondly, she isn’t the
last Shaw either. She has a sister you missed altogether. She’s alive and
married with two children. Finally, how’s that revenge working out for you
when I was the one who killed your sissy brother.”
Bishop was boiling mad. He knew he had killed the woman,
but what
was this about a sister?
He knew there was a baby girl, but she burned in
the fire.
And this bastard was bragging about killing Quincy!
Adam’s fury was noticeable when he loudly snarled, “You’re lying now,
Sheriff! Aside from your wife already bleeding to death over my head, that
baby girl went up in smoke like her bastard father and her witch-woman
mother. Now I’m going to kill you for murdering Quincy.”
Ben was confident that there was nothing Bishop could do to harm
Charlotte and wanted to add to Adam’s rage.
He shouted, “Charlotte, tell this idiot your sister’s married name.”
From that first reassuring sound of his Colt, Charlotte knew she was
safe. Now she understood that he was trying to get Bishop to show himself
so her husband could put an end to this once and for all.
She was still lying prone on the protective plants when she shouted, “My
sister Mary married Ethan Shipley and has two children, Bishop. Even if
you had managed to kill me, she’d still be alive to haunt you. And Ben?
Thank you for building this tree house so well. Not one bullet even made a
crack in it.”
 Bishop rage was beyond description.
The damned Shaw woman was safe
and there was a sister after all!
Knowing that his chance for revenge
against the Shaws was gone, he decided that at he’d avenge Quincy’s death.
He owed it to his brother.
He yelled, “Alright, Sheriff. You think you have me, but we can stay
here all night and palaver and get nowhere. I know you’re probably a lot
better with that gun than I am, so let’s be fair about this. You take the first
shot and I’ll get to see your gun flash. You get to see mine and we’ll have at
it. How’s that work for you?”
Ben thought it was an odd form of a duel, but he knew it would be a long
night if he didn’t. He already had a good read on Bishop’s position with his
voice and didn’t think that Bishop had a chance. He set his sights in that
direction before he shouted his reply.
“Okay, Bishop you have a deal. Let me know when I should fire.”
Twenty-five feet above them, Charlotte was scared and wondered why
Ben had decided to give Bishop a chance.
“Go ahead,” Bishop replied as he aimed at the sound of Ben’s voice.
Ben had already side-stepped three feet to his left then stretched his
pistol to the right, pulled the trigger and the big Colt bucked in his hand.
Then he quickly slid to his left Bishop fired. His hammer was already
cocked when he saw Bishop’s muzzle flare. It took less than a second
before he returned fire.
Ben heard a loud scream and suspected that Bishop’s gun hand had
probably taken the brunt of the .44 caliber round. He didn’t wait to see if he
was right but trotted to the left of where he’d seen Bishop’s muzzle flare.
When he was close, he heard agonized groaning to his right but lower.
He quickly stepped in that direction and found Bishop on the ground
writhing in pain. There was just enough light to see that his .44 had
slammed into the inside of Bishops arm near the armpit. After ripping off a
large chunk of flesh, the bullet had exited through the top of his shoulder.
Blood was pouring onto the ground from a severed artery. He was a dead
man, whether he knew it or not.
 Ben walked slowly to the moaning Adam Bishop, then stopped and
looked down in the shadowed light. He felt no pity for the man.
He glared at the last Bishop and growled, “You just couldn’t let it go;
could you? You had to try to kill my wife. You are not only a vindictive
bastard; you’re a stupid vindictive bastard. Enjoy your life in hell.”
Bishop looked up at the giant shadow looking down at him and
wondered if it was Death himself who come to claim him. He was in pain,
and Death was speaking, but he couldn’t understand what he was saying.
He didn’t remember if he had killed the last Shaw or not, so he’d ask
Quincy when he found him in Miles City.
After a shuddering gasp followed by a jerking shake, Adam Bishop died.
Ben exhaled then raised his head and shouted, “Charlotte, it’s over,
sweetheart. You can come down now.”
There had been a moment of terror when she heard the scream from
someone being shot, but she knew almost immediately that it wasn’t Ben.
She knew that he was incapable of making such a sound. When she heard
him call to her, whatever doubts she may have had were erased. She
grabbed the open end of the ladder, dropped it to the ground and began her
descent.
Ben saw the ladder fall and then watched it move as Charlotte climbed
down. Fifteen seconds later he saw the first of her pantlegs and smiled. He
was glad she hadn’t been wearing a dress.
She dropped to the ground and saw Ben looking at her. Nothing was said
as each of them took one step forward then locked each other in an embrace
of relief, security, and love. Now, it really was over. There were no more
Bishops.
“Let’s walk home, my love.”
“Let’s,” she replied as they hooked arms and began walking away from
Adam Bishop’s body.
When they finally stepped into the open pasture, they could see the
farmhouse in the distance and continued to walk as the moon lit their way.
 When they were closer, Ben could see that the horses were in their
corral, munching hay.
Charlotte squeezed his arm as she said, “Ben, you should have seen what
Smoke did. I was running for my life, and Bishop had taken Smoke from
the corral and was riding bareback. He was getting close and in just a few
more seconds, he would have caught me. I knew that had no chance to
make it to the trees. You can’t imagine how helpless that feeling was. Then
Smoke suddenly threw out his legs and slid to a stop, throwing Bishop in
the air. If he hadn’t done that, I never would have made it. I owe him my
life, Ben.”
“Abe told me he was ornery. I guess he’s only ornery when he has
someone on his back who earns it.”
Before they walked into the house, Charlotte walked into the corral and
rubbed Smoke’s neck and gave him a kiss before saying, “Thank you,
Smoke.”
Smoke acknowledged the attention with a head nod.
Charlotte glanced at the chicken coop making sure it was still secure.
Those two runaway hens could run all the way to Dakota for all she cared.
They entered the kitchen and sat at the table as Charlotte stared at her
fully loaded pistol that seemed to be giggling at her.
She shook her head as she said, “When I really needed to have it with
me, I left it on the table. I never should have let myself get so complacent.”
“It happens to all of us, Charlotte. Now we can afford to be complacent.
Our lives are ours again. No more Bishops. No more hiding out in caves
and no more climbing trees to escape madmen. It will just be you and me,
sweetheart.”
She smiled and replied, “I don’t think I’ll need to wear that pistol
anymore, Ben. You can add it to your collection.”
He nodded then said, “It’ll never take the place of my Colt, though. I
remember when I first bought it. I was riding through Bismarck…”
 Ben stopped in mid-sentence as his mind made a sudden connection.
After the brief pause, he smiled and continued.
“I had those two old Colt New Army pistols, and I was a walking down
the street in Bismarck, stepped past this gun shop and they had a brand-new
Colt Peacemaker in the window. I had the money, so I zipped right in there
and bought it along with eight boxes of ammunition. The owner thought I
was a little crazy, but I told him that I needed to practice. He was a nice guy,
though.”
“All shop owners are nice guys if you’re spending money, Ben.”
“That’s the truth.”
“Now what are we going to do?”
“This is not a proposition, sweetheart. But let’s go to bed early.”
She knew it wasn’t and despite the nap she’d had earlier, she was already
tired. They went to the bedroom and undressed, then curled up under the
blankets and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.
 CHAPTER 10
The next morning, Charlotte made a big breakfast, and was hungrier than
she could recall, even matching Ben in quantity. He took the wagon and
drove it into the forest to recover Bishop’s body He found it in exactly the
position he had left him without having any signs of scavengers, which
surprised him. Rigor mortis had set in, so he rolled him onto a tarp and
pulled his corpse into the wagon’s bed. He drove the wagon straight past the
cave and turned left toward the cabin. He soon passed the cabin and made
his way to town.
When he reached Miles City, he parked behind the undertaker’s office
then walked around to the front and entered the office. He explained what
he needed but was asked no questions. Ben told him he’d leave the wagon
there and pick it up in an hour or so, then paid the bill rather than making
the town pay. This was personal even though Adam Bishop was trying to
kill a resident.
After stopping at his empty office, he walked down to Amos’ to see the
mayor and explain what had happened. When he entered, he found the
blacksmith’s wife, Elizabeth, at the counter.
“Good morning, Sheriff. Everyone has been buzzing about what caused
you to go flying out of the station last night.”
“It turns out that the brother of the man who was trying to kill Charlotte
had snuck into town. He chased her into the woods and tried to kill her, too.
We had a shootout in the forest, and I plugged him. He’s down at the
undertaker’s now.”
“My goodness! That’s terrible, Ben. Is Charlotte all right?”
“She’s fine, just tired. She had to run about a half mile and then when
she got into the forest, had to climb a tree. He found her and shot at her
three times but missed.”
 “Be sure to tell Charlotte from me that I’m happy she’s okay and that
mean bastard is dead,” she said with authority.
Ben smiled at her then said, “I couldn’t have said it better myself,
Elizabeth. I’ll let her know. Is Amos around? I need to let him know what
happened.”
“The last time I knew he was down at the hardware store trying to make
some deal.”
“Thanks, Elizabeth.”
“You take care, Ben. And God bless you!”
Ben waved and went back the way he came. Shortly after entering the
hardware store, he found Amos at the counter. So, he’d be able to kill two
birds with one stone and only need to tell the story once.
The men turned as he approached and before either could ask, Ben began
telling them what had happened.
After he finished the brief narrative, Amos asked, “So, Ben, is that the
last of them?”
“Yes, Amos, it is. And thank God for that.”
“Ben, now that the town’s beginning to grow, I think we’d need to have a
full-time lawman in town all the time.”
“I agree with you, Amos. So, here’s what I’ll do. When I can find
someone suitable, I’ll hire a deputy who’ll be here full time.”
“Ben, that’s fine, but I don’t think the council would vote to pay for a
deputy.”
“I never said anything about pay, Amos. You’d just pay the deputy my
salary. He’d be doing most of the work anyway. I’d just train him so the
town would have a solid team of protection. I’d still handle the tough stuff
until I thought he was ready, so it’ll be no cost to the town, and you have
two lawmen instead of just one.”
“You’d do that, Ben? Somehow that doesn’t seem right.”
 “My choice, Amos. Just let the council know. Tell them you talked me
into it. It’ll make you even more popular.”
Amos smiled and said, “If you insist.”
“I do. But I may have to be gone for a few days in a week or so. We need
to go to Bismarck.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, Ben. Things are settling down again.”
Ben shook the hands of the two merchants, then walked across the street
to recover his wagon. The bed was empty, so he drove it back to the
farmhouse. He was about two hundred yards from the house when
something crossed his mind.
Bishop had to have gotten off the train before it stopped and he must
have watched the house, waiting for his opportunity. He left the wagon and
walked the quarter mile to the woods on the south of the property. He
entered the trees and began walking east, making a zig-zag pattern,
searching for his campsite. Then he spotted what he was looking for when
he found a trash-filled area with empty tins of beans, paper wrappings, and
a travel bag. He picked up the cans and stuffed the paper into the cans, then
opened the bag. There was an extra pair of pants, a shirt and some
underwear inside, but that was all the spare clothing he brought with him.
Then he found a letter. He took out the letter and stuffed the cans and paper
into the bag. It was all trash now, but the letter might be interesting. He’d
already read Adam’s letters to Quincy and wondered what Quincy had
written to his brother.
Charlotte had seen Ben arrive then watched him leave and walk south.
She was curious when she saw him disappear into the woods for a few
minutes. Then she saw him coming out of the woods carrying a travel bag
and realized immediately who had owned it. She knew it had to be Bishop’s
and was unsure if she wanted to know anything more about that wretched
family.
Ben climbed aboard the wagon and started the mules homeward for the
last short leg. He parked the wagon, unharnessed the mules and released
them into the corral. He left the travel bag in the wagon and would dispose
of it later.
 He walked into the house through the back door carrying the letter and
found Charlotte standing before him staring at the envelope.
“Can I guess what that is, Ben?”
“Probably. This a letter that Quincy wrote to Adam.”
“Are you going to read it?”
“I have to, Charlotte. I want to make sure that there isn’t a third brother
we have to worry about.”
“I understand that, but I don’t have to read it; do I?”
“Not unless I find something that I think you need to know. Okay?”
“Alright. Is his carcass gone from our land?”
“Yes, ma’am. I dropped him off at the undertaker.”
“Good. You can read the letter while I go outside and gather the eggs. I
missed my delivery this morning for some reason,” she said but still smiled
at Ben and gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving the kitchen.
After she’d gone, Ben opened the letter and quickly read the two pages.
The only real surprise was that Quincy hadn’t been looking for Charlotte
when he’d arrived in Miles City. He had given up the search after they had
found that her husband had been assigned to a distant outpost, deserted and
his whereabouts were unknown. He only learned of her whereabouts when
the mayor let it slip that he had notified the army about a deserter named
Prescott. He owned the chicken farm nearby and had only turned in her
husband because he wanted her.
The only worthwhile in the letter was when Quincy reminded him that as
the last surviving members of the Bishop family, it fell to them to kill the
last Shaw.
After he finished reading, he knew he had found nothing more that he
hadn’t guessed or already knew. The good news was that there were no
more Bishops involved in the feud.
 He stood and walked to the stove, opened the firebox and tossed the
letter inside then watched it burst into flames. Hopefully, the two Bishop
brothers were experiencing hotter flames for eternity.
After he closed the firebox door, he walked to the table and picked up
the Smith & Wesson and smiled. He liked the pistol but knew his Colt that
he had bought in Bismarck was a lot more important than just a gun now.
He hoped he was right and that his memory hadn’t failed him.
When Charlotte returned with the eggs and set them down, she asked,
“Well, was there anything that was worthwhile?”
“Only that they were the last two members of the blood feud against the
Shaws.”
“Well, that is great news. Anything else?”
“You’ll be pleased to know that Quincy wrote that the mayor desired
you.”
“Oh, please!” she exclaimed with a grin.
Ben stood and soon had her wrapped in his arms and whispered, “You
are a very desirable woman, Mrs. Arden.”
She smiled and said, “Only to you, husband.”
“That’s because only I get to see you in those tight pants and shirt, and
I’d like to keep it that way.”
“If you insist. But before you start thinking of me that way, I need drive
into town to drop off the eggs.”
“I’ll come with you. We can bring the pickaxe and the sledgehammer
then do some sapphire hunting for a while before we come back for lunch. I
have another proposal for you, too.”
“Ooh! Gems and a proposal in the same day. How lucky can a lady get?”
“Let’s not forget the fortune in eggs.”
“I don’t know. I’m leaning to forgetting that part of our family fortune.”
 Ben laughed before they each took a basket and walked out to the still-
harnessed wagon.
They drove into town, dropped off the eggs then headed out to the cabin.
Before they did any rock crushing, Ben took some scrap wood and built a
fire near the ridge, but away from the cooking pit. Once the fire was going,
he tossed the travel bag onto the flames and watched it burn until it was
ashes.
With nothing to remind them of either Bishop, they walked to the stone
face of the ridge and began chipping away at the base under the cave. They
kept at it for two hours before they began sorting through the rubble and
found six more sapphires. Two of them were fairly large.
Their last stop before leaving was to go to the cabin to add the new
stones to the canvas bag. Charlotte was surprised when Ben just slipped the
sack into his pocket before reinserting the hiding rock.
She waited to ask until after they had dropped the tools onto the wagon’s
bed and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Ben released the handbrake and snapped the reins and soon the mules
were pulling them into their trail through the forest on its return journey.
Charlotte turned to Ben and asked, “Why did you take the pouch with
you today instead of putting it back?”
“That, my love, is the nature of my proposal. I told Amos this morning
that I would hire a deputy when I found someone I could train. When I did,
I’d forego my pay so they could pay the deputy. I also told him that you and
I would be making a trip to Bismarck soon. I didn’t tell him why, though.
What I’m going to do is put the cash in our bank account here. I think the
bank is safer than rock safe in the cabin. Then we are going to take our
sapphires into a jeweler in Bismarck, assuming that they have one, and see
how much they’re worth. It’ll give us an idea how much income we can get
from the ridge. Granted, it could dry up tomorrow, but I don’t think that’s
likely. Besides, I’ll stay on as sheriff and in a few years, I’ll be getting paid
again as the town grows. What do you think?”
 “I think, Mister Arden, that you are a very smart man. And this probably
means I’ll have to buy a dress or two for the trip. I hope that doesn’t break
your heart.”
“I’ll tell you what, after lunch, you go into the bedroom and put on your
dress. When you come out, I’ll see if I’m disappointed.”
“That, my husband, is another wonderful idea.”
Charlotte then leaned on his shoulder as the wagon left the trees and
headed for the house. Ben unhitched the mules and let them wander into the
corral before he and Charlotte walked to the house.
Once inside, they sat down at the kitchen table and Ben laid the pouch
on its surface.
“Ben, do you realize that with the cash and the sapphires, there could be
almost three thousand dollars in that little bag.”
“Scary; isn’t it? Now let’s have something to eat.”
Charlotte smiled as she stood to fix a quick lunch. She was still hungry
when she finished but was worried that she might start putting on some
pounds and didn’t want to risk losing Ben’s interest. She didn’t realize that
it didn’t matter to him as much as she believed.
Then as requested, she went into the bedroom and changed into her only
dress. It was an old dress, and she was almost embarrassed when she
slipped it on. But she decided that if Ben was going to see her in the dress,
she’d make it attention-getting. Before she put it on, she removed every
other stitch of clothing. Her earlier fear of gaining weight returned when
she noticed how tight the cloth pressed against her breasts. She hoped it
hadn’t shrunk but didn’t feel the same pressure on her hips. She sighed,
then slowly stepped out of the bedroom and entered the kitchen where she
smiled at Ben.
Ben immediately noticed the lack of cloth beneath the thin layer of
cotton and the taut appearance that was threatening to unbutton the dress
before he did.
 But he didn’t comment as he stood and with his fingertips on his chin, he
studiously examined his wife as circled slowly around her.
When he returned to his starting position, he nodded and said, “In my
opinion, Mrs. Arden, this dress, while showing your marvelous figure to
great effect is in sad condition and unsuitable for you to wear on the train. It
must be thrown to the rag bin immediately. May I suggest that you and I
return to the bedroom where I would be honored to be given the opportunity
to free you from that unworthy garment?”
She laughed as he took her hand and led her to their bedroom. He barely
had to suggest to the buttons that they release their cloth prisoner as his
fingers quickly freed her from the dress.
_____
Forty-six minutes later, as they lay in each other’s arms, Ben pulled her
close and asked, “So, Mrs. Arden, when were you going to tell me?”
Charlotte lifted herself onto her elbow looked down into his brown eyes
and asked, “Tell you what?”
“That you’re carrying our baby.”
Charlotte bolted upright and exclaimed, “
I’m what?
”
Ben enjoyed the view as he asked, “Didn’t you know?”
“I know I missed my monthly, but it’s happened before. Why would you
think I’m pregnant? How would you even guess?”
Ben pulled Charlotte back to his side and waited for her to rest her head
on his shoulder before asking, “Haven’t you noticed anything different
about yourself lately? You’ve been tired when you shouldn’t be and you’re
eating as much as I do. I’ll bet you’re already hungry.”
She knew she was hungry.
But was it possible?
She hadn’t experienced
any morning sickness.
“But I haven’t been nauseous at all.”
 “You’re one of the lucky ones. I’ve known a few wives who never had
the morning sickness. No, my love, there’s no denying it. You are going to
have our baby. In the middle of the Montana winter, too. What made me
decide to broach the subject was when I saw you in that dress. Didn’t you
notice how tight it was around your beautiful and now even larger breasts?”
She stared at Ben for a few seconds as everything came into focus.
She
was pregnant!
She began to laugh and cry as an overwhelming joy
exploded within her.
She was still bubbling as she rolled onto her husband and looked down
at him and exclaimed, “Ben! I’m going to have a baby! You were right
when you told me I wasn’t barren. And now you’re right when you told me
I’m pregnant. You’ve made me so incredibly happy.”
Ben kissed her then said, “And you, Mrs. Arden, always make me
happy.”
Charlotte was euphoric as she closed her eyes and listened to Ben’s
heartbeat. Soon she would have a much smaller heart beating inside her and
feel their baby’s first kick.
Ben had his arms wrapped around his naked, incredibly happy wife and
didn’t know if she would ever experience this level of happiness again. But
even as she practically purred, Ben hoped to give her another opportunity
for unrestricted bliss.
_____
An hour later, they mounted their horses and rode into town.
Charlotte had a perpetual smile on her face and couldn’t stop
occasionally rubbing her tummy. Ben would look over at her and match her
smile for smile knowing how happy she was.
Their first stop was the bank. The bank president saw them enter and
waved them over.
“Ben, Amos told me about your plan to hire a deputy. That was a
brilliant and generous thing to do. So, how can I help you today?”
 “I’d like to make a deposit, Luther.”
“Not a problem. How much would you like to deposit?”
“Fifteen hundred dollars.”
Luther’s eyebrows shot up as he asked, “Did you say fifteen hundred?”
“Yup,” Ben replied as he placed the pile of cash on the desk.
To dispel any of the banker’s concerns, he said, “I’ve earned this over
thirteen years of cowpunching. I had been keeping it out in the cabin, but I
figure it’s safer here.”
“Yes. Yes, it is,” the very happy banker replied as he made out a deposit
slip and signed it.
He checked a ledger and said, “Your account now is $1640. That makes
you our biggest depositor, Sheriff.”
“Glad to help, Luther.”
They shook hands and the couple left the bank and crossed the street to
Amos’ store. Charlotte walked to the newly expanded women’s clothing
section and was pleasantly surprised at the selection. She picked out four
dresses and some new underthings, then selected a pair of women’s shoes.
She’d be giving up some comfort but was aware of the necessity.
Elizabeth was on duty, and she talked to Charlotte for a while, telling her
what wonderful selections she had made as Ben stood off to the side and
just smiled. While Charlotte would never be accepted into the social
hierarchy, at least some of the nicer women appreciated what she had gone
through the past few years. The same women considered Ben a saint for
protecting her and helping to turn her life around, but he didn’t know it.
After they returned home, Charlotte tried on the new dresses, noting
where she would let some out or take them in or hem them. It was all a
mystery to Ben, but he did admire her in all of them. Especially the dark
green one and told her so. She smiled broadly at his compliment because
she knew he meant it.
 Then it was supper time and Charlotte cooked a nice roast beef with
roasted potatoes. They were both hungry, and now, Charlotte understood
why she was famished and didn’t worry about putting on a pound or two.
She needed to nourish their baby.
After dinner, Ben asked when she wanted to head to Bismarck. It was
almost September, and it would be getting cold soon. So, she asked for
three days to make her dress alterations which set the timetable for their
departure.
_____
The next three days, while Charlotte hemmed and adjusted seams, Ben
went to the office for the morning. After stopping at home for lunch, he
went to the cave to hunt for sapphires. The smallest haul was three and the
largest was eleven, but none of them came close to matching the size of the
monster that Ben had found on his second dig. By the time they were ready
to go to Bismarck, there were thirty-eight sapphires in the pouch. Ben
washed the stones as best he could without hurting the gems.
They arranged with Amos to have someone collect the eggs while they
were gone, leaving just one more task to be done before they departed. So,
the afternoon before they boarded the train, each sat while the other began
clipping with a pair of shears. Charlotte cut Ben’s hair just above the collar
and Ben trimmed Charlotte’s to just below her shoulders. Each felt odd for
the rest of the day with their shorter hair.
_____
On the last day of August, they boarded the train for the trip to
Bismarck. Once they were on the train, Ben realized that this was the first
time he had ridden on a train since the war but didn’t mention it to
Charlotte.
The train left the depot at 7:30 in the evening. Even with the stops in
between, they arrived in Bismarck in the early morning just after sunrise.
They were traveling light. Ben had a single travel bag and Charlotte had a
suitcase and a travel bag.
 When they disembarked, Ben had the steward send their bags to the
Bismarck Hotel but kept the pouch with the sapphires in his jacket pocket.
Rather than going directly to the hotel, Ben escorted Charlotte to a small
café for breakfast, knowing how hungry she must be after the train ride.
Ben placed two orders of four eggs, bacon and biscuits. After taking
their order, the waitress left the coffee pot on the table. When their orders
arrived, Charlotte cleaned her plate was satisfied, but knew it wouldn’t be
long before she was hungry again. Ben ate his breakfast with a slight smile
on his face as he watched her demolish the food.
After breakfast, the town was stirring, but the couple stayed in the diner
and finished their coffee. When Ben finally paid the bill, he left a large tip.
They had stayed for over an hour, waiting for the businesses to open.
Ben had spent a fairly long time in Bismarck on his way west. It was the
last good-sized town along his journey along the northern latitudes, so he
knew where the hotel was and more importantly, he knew where to find the
gunsmith.
He walked arm-in-arm with Charlotte to the small jewelry store near the
hotel, having never visited the shop before because he had no reason. But
there was definitely a reason today.
As he walked in, a gentleman who had all the appearance of a jeweler,
including those weird glasses that they wore, asked, “May I help you?”
“Perhaps. Can you evaluate rough gemstones for quality and value?”
“Somewhat. The truly valuable stones we usually send to Tiffany in New
York for final appraisal. Why? Did you find one that you believe to be of
some value?”
“That’s why we came to ask your opinion. We found some on our
property in Montana and have no idea of their true worth.”
“That sounds interesting. Won’t you both come back to my workroom?”
He led them to the back of the shop where there was a long worktable
with swing arm magnifying glasses and gas lights with mirrors.
 “Do you have an example with you?”
“Actually, we have quite a few,” Ben said as he handed him three of the
sapphires.
His practiced eyes lit up as Ben placed them in his hand.
He put two on the table and put a loupe in his eye to examine the one he
held in his fingers before he placed it on the table then examined the second
and the third.
“These are very high-quality sapphires, sir. May I get your name?”
“Oh, I apologize. I’m Ben Arden and this is my wife, Charlotte.”
“I’m pleased to meet you both. My name is Jacob Rosenbloom.”
He shook both of their hands, then trying to mask his excitement, he
asked, “You say you have more?”
“Altogether, I have thirty-eight stones with me.”
“
Thirty-eight?”
he replied in utter astonishment.
“Those are three of the smaller stones. I have one that’s quite large.”
Mister Rosenbloom nervously asked, “May I see the others?”
“Surely,” Ben replied before he poured the contents of the pouch into his
hand.
As he laid the stones on the table his hand was shaking slightly as he
stared at them. The largest sapphire already attracted his attention.
Jacob picked up the big stone with a trembling hand. He took a deep
breath and waited for his hand to still then tipped the stone left and right as
he studied it with his eyeglass.
When he placed the stone down, he looked at Ben and said, “I’ll
examine the others in a moment to make you a proper receipt. I will
definitely have to send these to Tiffany’s in New York. I have a brother-in-
law who works for them, and he’ll be able to give you exact values based
on the market. But I need to tell you, Mister and Mrs. Arden, this large
stone is the highest quality sapphire I have ever had the privilege of seeing.
The size alone would mark it as special, but with the added value of its
clarity and purity, this stone is beyond my ability to price.
“The smaller stones I estimate would sell for fifty to eighty dollars
apiece wholesale. The medium stones would run a hundred to a hundred
and twenty each and the larger ones that I see would sell for around a
hundred and fifty. The one I hold in my hand is so rare that I have no idea
as to its value. Altogether, not including the big stone, I would estimate you
have over five thousand dollars’ worth of sapphires here.”
Charlotte and Ben were speechless. They knew that they had some
value, but this much was almost frightening.
“Mister and Mrs. Arden, if it is agreeable to you, I’d like to offer my
services as an agent for the sale of your stones. My commission is four
percent, which means I’ll do my utmost to assure you of the greatest return
on your sapphires.”
Ben glanced at his still stunned wife before replying “That would be
most agreeable to us, Mister Rosenbloom. How do you make a receipt
before you ship them to New York?”
“I weigh each stone and categorize its quality. Then I telegraph my
brother-in-law and notify them of the shipment number. It will be insured
by the railroad. We use a code so the telegraphers along the line don’t know
what is being shipped nor its value.”
“It sounds like you know what you’re doing.”
“Thank you. Do you think you’ll be bringing more stones?”
“I’m pretty sure that we will. It took us nearly six hours to dig up that
many.”
It was too much for Rosenbloom as he sat back in his chair and
muttered, “Six hours.”
After he had absorbed Ben’s stunning revelation, he said, “It will take
me three hours to write a proper receipt for you. I’ll make a copy for my use
as well. My nephew can run the store while I do that. I will also draw up a
standard agent contract for each of us to sign. Could come back early this
afternoon?”
“Certainly. We’ll stop by around two o’clock. Is that alright with you?”
“Fine.”
He shook their hands vigorously before they left.
When they stepped outside and the door closed, Charlotte stopped and
stared at Ben.
“Ben, I still can’t fathom what just happened. He said five thousand
dollars; didn’t he?”
“Not including the big stone, and that was for just six hours of work.”
She almost whispered, “Ben, we could have hundreds of them in there.”
“It’s like having our own bank. Nothing bad can happen as long as we
are the only ones who know about it.”
“That’s true. Pregnant one day and rich the next. Ben, I don’t know if I
can take any more good news like this.”
Ben smiled at her, then kissed her quickly. If only she knew the even
greater news that she may soon have. But first he had to verify that his
memory hadn’t failed him.
After walking away from the jewelers, Ben led her to a large mercantile
that had just about everything and pointed out the baby section. He told her
to buy whatever she wanted, and they’d ship it to Miles City.
Charlotte was ecstatic as she roamed the selection. She bought a rocker,
a crib, and lots of baby clothes. She was practically floating through the
aisles as she examined the merchandise. After years of firmly believing that
she would die without ever having a child, she wanted to cry whenever she
saw something that was designed for small children.
She was going to have
a baby!
While she was shopping, Ben walked next to her and said, “Charlotte, if
it’s okay with you. I’d like to take a few minutes and go visit the gun shop.
It’s one street over and I’ll be back in a few minutes. Is that okay?”
“You go ahead. I’ll be here a while and can’t tell you how happy I am. I
can’t imagine that I could ever be happier, Ben.”
He kissed her and waved as he left the store, hoping he’d be able to
prove her wrong. He was reasonably sure of the name painted on the large
window of the gunsmith’s shop, but it could just be a coincidence. But it
wasn’t a common name like John Smith or Jim Anderson, so he liked his
chances.
He quickly turned east at the next intersection, then turned left at the
next. When he spotted the name on the window he smiled and rolled the
dice before he entered.
He stepped into the shop, he smelled the pleasant aroma of powder and
gun oil which he knew many considered to be anything but pleasant. To
each his own.
The man behind the counter watched him enter and asked, “May I help
you, sir?”
“Oh, I sincerely hope so. Are you the gunsmith?”
“Yes, I am.”
“So, your name is Ethan Shipley?”
“Yes.”
Ben took a deep breath before asking, “Mister Shipley, do you have a
wife named Mary and two children?”
Ethan paused, wondering what this was about before replying, “My
wife’s name is Mary, but we have three children. Do I know you?”
Ben smiled so much that he thought his face would break.
“Well, I briefly stopped by a couple of years ago on my way west, but
that’s not why I asked. If you can spare a few minutes, I have a story to tell
you.”
 _____
Twenty minutes later, they shook hands like old friends. Ben waved then
left the shop, hurrying to return to the mercantile where he found Charlotte
still in the baby department. She saw him coming and smiled broadly.
“I may have gone overboard, Ben.”
“Nonsense, Charlotte. Where do we pay?”
Charlotte pointed to a smiling clerk behind a counter.
Ben stepped to the counter and shook the clerk’s hand and asked for the
damage. The clerk handed him a bill for $76.55, including shipping. Ben
glanced at Charlotte, who looked guilty, but smiled to assure her that he was
happy to pay the bill. Ben counted out the cash and the clerk was still
smiling as he gave him his change.
He turned to Charlotte and took her arm as she said, “I’m sorry, Ben.”
“Why are you sorry, Charlotte? You’re my perfect wife and can do no
wrong. Think of it this way, all you spent was one or two little pebbles near
our waterfall.”
She smiled at him and said, “Looking at it that way, then it’s not so bad;
is it?”
“Not at all. Let’s have some lunch. I’ll bet you’re starving.”
“Strangely enough, I am.”
They walked to the nearby Sheffield Arms Hotel and had their lunch at
the hotel restaurant then checked in afterwards.
“How many nights, sir?” the clerk asked.
“I think we’ll be here for three days, although we may be here longer.”
Charlotte was surprised, expecting that they’d be leaving in the morning.
_____
 At two o’clock, they returned to the jeweler where they signed the very
simple contract for him to act as their agent. He told them that when he
received the numbers from his brother-in-law, it would be for the amount
that Tiffany’s would pay for the stones. Jacob would then send a telegram to
them in Miles City with a reference to something other than money. He said
to just pay attention to the numbers. If Ben and Charlotte wanted to sell the
stones, all they would have to do would be to send a one-word reply. If they
wanted to sell the stones, they would wire 'yes'. Jacob sincerely hoped he
wouldn’t receive the shorter ‘no’ reply.
They assured Jacob that unless they received a telegram for a few dozen
eggs, they’d send a positive reply. After another round of handshakes, they
returned to their hotel room where Charlotte took a long bath before she
took a short nap on the softest bed that she’d ever felt beneath her.
Around six o’clock, they went downstairs to the restaurant for dinner.
Charlotte was in heaven as they ate. Everything was so perfect. In just a few
months she’d gone from being a pariah and close to absolute despair. Now
she was sitting in a fancy restaurant across from the man she loved who
loved her just as much. And she had their baby growing inside her. She had
no worries, and she knew it would stay this way for a long time.
She rubbed her stomach with her left hand as she continued to revel in
her contentment.
Ben noticed Charlotte’s peaceful expression and smiled.
They had nearly finished their meal when Ben said, “Charlotte, man I
ask a favor?”
“Anything, my love.”
“When I was at the gun shop, I ran into an old trail buddy. He lives in
town now and he’s married and has a family. I told him we’d stop by
around seven o’clock. Is that alright?”
“Of course, it is. Is that why you told the desk clerk that we’d stay for
three days? Was it because you want to spend some time talking about the
good old days?”
 “Exactly. You know me pretty well; don’t you, Mrs. Arden?”
“I hope so. It’s almost seven o’clock now. Is it a long walk?”
“No. It’s just a couple of blocks away. Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” she smiled.
Despite the short nap, she was already growing tired but couldn’t deny
him anything.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said as he stood while wearing the biggest
smile that she’d seen on his face in a while.
As he paid the check, Charlotte thought that he must really miss the old
days with his friends and wondered if he suddenly missed the camaraderie.
Ben took her arm before they strolled across the lobby, then left the hotel
and turned right. Ethan had given him directions his home, and even though
it was nearby, he thought about renting a buggy knowing that Charlotte was
tired. It was a cool night, but Ben hardly noticed as they strolled along. He
was sure that no matter how tired she was now, it would soon vanish as if it
had never existed.
After five minutes, Ben turned onto an entrance walk of a nice, two-story
house. They walked up the stairs onto a wraparound porch, and Ben
knocked on the heavy oak door. Charlotte tried to appear happy and full of
energy but was already feeling drained.
The door opened and Ethan smiled and shook Ben’s hand.
“Ben, glad you could make it. Come on in!”
Ethan had given his wife the same story about Ben being an old friend,
so neither woman knew what to make of the unexpected reunion.
Ethan showed them into the sitting room where three children between
the ages of seven and three sat quietly watching the visitors enter. Their
mother was smiling as she stepped closer to Charlotte, pleased that Ethan’s
friend had brought his wife along.
 Ethan was standing next to his unsuspecting wife and hoped he wouldn’t
have to catch her.
Ben smiled as looked at Charlotte and as he held her hand, he said,
“Charlotte Arden, I’d like to introduce you to Mary Shipley. Your sister.”
 EPILOGUE
October 23, 1881
It was early autumn with frost on the ground and just about everywhere
else. A month earlier, they had received a telegram from Jacob and after a
line apologizing for the delay the rest was easily understood. The telegram
explained that because the big onion was hard to value, they finally
chopped into it into smaller pieces. So, along with all the other onions, there
were 7,450 pieces. Could he use that much onion?
Ben and Charlotte wired a hasty ‘yes’.
Jacob had mailed paperwork to them in the interim so they could
establish an account at a bank in New York that Tiffany used. When they
agreed on a price, Tiffany would deposit the amount and send a deposit slip
to Ben and Charlotte. The method of payment ensured that no one in Miles
City knew anything about the sapphires or the money. He could continue as
the sheriff of a small Montana town as their wealth accumulated.
He still had to be the sheriff because he hadn’t found that elusive deputy
yet.
When they returned from Bismarck after a five-day stay, they had
contracted for their new house to be built by a newly organized construction
firm created by the owner of the lumber mill, Paul Atchison. It was a large,
six-bedroom, two-story home with double wraparound porches so they
could sit outside and watch their waterfall and pool from the upper floor.
Construction was completed before the first flakes of snow fell, and the
house was furnished, so they just needed to move in.
The chicken ranch would be their second home, but it would be
troublesome having two houses to maintain, not to mention the still
unfinished cabin. They still hadn’t decided how to manage it.
That evening, Ben walked down to the depot as he always did, but now
wore his heavy coat because of the chill and knew it would soon get much
worse than chilly.
The train was pulling in as Ben stepped onto the platform. There were
more people getting off now than when the train first began its scheduled
trips. Many would just be hurrying to get something to eat at the expanded
restaurant as the train took on water and coal, but others were staying in
Miles City.
Just as Ben thought that no more passengers would be leaving the train,
another couple stepped onto the platform. They were obviously Indians, and
the woman was far more advanced in her pregnancy than Charlotte was,
who hadn’t started showing yet. She wasn’t wearing a warm coat, nor was
her husband. They both stood on the platform, looking almost lost.
Ben approached the couple and said, “Excuse me, folks. I’m Sheriff Ben
Arden. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
The husband didn’t seem to trust him, but his wife was friendly and
replied, “Sheriff, I’m Mary White Cloud and this is my husband, Joseph.
We just arrived and don’t know anyone. Can you recommend some place to
stay?”
It didn’t take a genius to realize how destitute they were. Besides their
insufficiently warm outerwear, all of their worldly belongs were contained
in the single cloth bag held by Joseph White Cloud.
Ben said, “The hotel is full up right now, but I know someone who
would be more than happy to put you up for a while. She’s a good cook,
too. But before we head over there, we need to make a stop. Okay?”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Mary replied as she wrapped her arms around
herself to keep warm.
Joseph’s dour expression didn’t change before he put his arm over his
wife’s shoulder and followed Ben from the platform.
Ben walked with them down the main street as he led Smoke and
stopped in front of Amos’ store. He tied off Smoke, then escorted them
inside. They stopped and looked at him. Mary smiled and Joseph kept his
poker face, but Ben knew they appreciated the heat.
 He put up his index finger as he said, “Stay right here for a minute. I’ll
be right back.”
Mary was still smiling as she nodded, while her husband just looked at
him without changing his stoic expression.
Ben walked to the clothing aisle, picked out a small heavy jacket for
Mary and a larger one for her husband, then walked to the front and said to
Elizabeth, “Elizabeth, can you add these to my bill?”
“Sure thing, Sheriff.”
He walked to the couple and handed them each a coat and said, “It’s a bit
of a walk to where we’re going, and you’d freeze without a heavy coat.”
Joseph snapped, “We don’t take charity.”
Ben smiled as he replied, “This isn’t charity, Joseph. I’m going to offer
you a job.”
“What kind of job?” he asked suspiciously.
Ben was beginning to second-guess his snap decision, but Mary’s
condition made him stick with it as he replied, “Working for me as a
deputy.”
“Indians can’t be deputies.”
“Why not?”
“No white man will do what I say.”
“You’d be surprised. After you’ve been trained by me on how to be a
lawman, they’ll do what you tell them. All I need to know is if you can read
and write.”
“Of course, I can.”
“Good, that puts you one step ahead of a lot of the men around here. So,
just drop the whole defensive routine, put on those coats and we’ll start
walking. It’s almost two miles away.
 As they put on the coats, Joseph seemed to mellow somewhat, but Mary
positively beamed at him.
When they returned to the chill, Ben insisted that Mary ride Smoke, so
she gratefully stepped into the saddle before Ben took the reins and he and
Joseph began walking south. As they walked, Ben explained how he’d
become sheriff, including how some of the citizens still were embarrassed
to have him as their lawman. But he also told them some of the events that
had happened when he’d arrived in Miles City and met Charlotte.
He was able to just pass the shell of events during the twenty-minute
walk, but they had their intended effect on Joseph’s attitude, at least toward
Ben.
By the time they reached the house, Joseph had dropped his defensive
manner and he was joining Mary in laughter as Ben told stories of the non-
violent incidents he’d encountered as sheriff and his first meetings with
Jasper.
When they arrived at the house, Joseph helped Mary down, then Ben
told him to let the reins drop and that Smoke would just go to the corral,
and he’d unsaddle his horse later. After Smoke walked away, Ben opened
the front door and showed them inside.
After closing the door, he announced, “Charlotte, come on out here. I
brought some nice folks along I want you to meet.”
Charlotte popped out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron as
she entered the room.
“Charlotte, this is Joseph and Mary White Cloud. If you don’t mind,
they’ll be staying for dinner. Joseph is going to be my new deputy. They
just arrived and need a place to stay. I think that they can live here. What do
you think?”
Charlotte smiled and replied, “That’s a wonderful idea. They can be our
guests for a couple of days before we move to the new house.”
Ben turned to the couple and said, “Joseph and Mary, welcome to your
new home. I have only one question. How are you with chickens?”
 _____
Charlotte went into labor on March 18
th
, and gave birth to their
daughter, Elizabeth.
Ben gave up his position of sheriff a year after Elizabeth’s birth to
Joseph White Cloud who had adapted well to the position of the town’s
lawman. He and Mary had welcomed their son Adam into the world in late
December.
The reason Ben gave up being sheriff was that he and Charlotte
purchased three more sections of land to the north of Ben’s first section and
started a cattle ranch, the B-C Connected.
Over the next four years, two sons, James and William. were added to
the Arden household.
Each year in the summer months, the family would make their journey to
Bismarck to visit the Shipleys and drop off more gems with Jacob
Rosenbloom. No one other than Ben, Charlotte and Mister Rosenbloom
ever knew of their source.
Ben and Charlotte stopped looking for sapphires after they had unearthed
two hundred and sixty-two stones, letting their children make their own
discoveries when they were older. The youngsters wouldn’t care about the
sapphires until later in life, preferring their other, more precious finds: the
completed cabin, the waterfall and pool, and the best of all, the tree house.
The ranch thrived, and Ben hired more cowhands each year to handle the
growing herds. The new hires would sooner or later always ask why the
boss and his lady raised chickens by themselves near their nice house in the
forest.
Max Wheeler, the foreman, would begin the long tale saying, “Well, son,
it all started when the boss had a hankerin’ for some eggs…”
 BOOK LIST
     
1 Rock Creek 12/26/2016
2 North of Denton 01/02/2017
3 Fort Selden 01/07/2017
4 Scotts Bluff 01/14/2017
5 South of Denver 01/22/2017
6 Miles City 01/28/2017
7 Hopewell 02/04/2017
8 Nueva Luz 02/12/2017
9 The Witch of Dakota 02/19/2017
10 Baker City 03/13/2017
11 The Gun Smith 03/21/2017
12 Gus 03/24/2017
13 Wilmore 04/06/2017
14 Mister Thor 04/20/2017
15 Nora 04/26/2017
16 Max 05/09/2017
17 Hunting Pearl 05/14/2017
18 Bessie 05/25/2017
19 The Last Four 05/29/2017
20 Zack 06/12/2017
21 Finding Bucky 06/21/2017
22 The Debt 06/30/2017
23 The Scalawags 07/11/2017
24 The Stampede 08/23/2019
25 The Wake of the Bertrand 07/31/2017
26 Cole 08/09/2017
27 Luke 09/05/2017
28 The Eclipse 09/21/2017
29 A.J. Smith 10/03/2017
30 Slow John 11/05/2017
31 The Second Star 11/15/2017
32 Tate 12/03/2017
33 Virgil’s Herd 12/14/2017
34 Marsh’s Valley 01/01/2018
35 Alex Paine 01/18/2018
36 Ben Gray 02/05/2018
37 War Adams 03/05/2018
38 Mac’s Cabin 03/21/2018
39 Will Scott 04/13/2018
40 Sheriff Joe 04/22/2018
41 Chance 05/17/2018
42 Doc Holt 06/17/2018
43 Ted Shepard 07/16/2018
44 Haven 07/30/2018
45 Sam’s County 08/19/2018
46 Matt Dunne 09/07/2018
47 Conn Jackson 10/06/2018
48 Gabe Owens 10/27/2018
49 Abandoned 11/18/2018
50 Retribution 12/21/2018
51 Inevitable 02/04/2019
52 Scandal in Topeka 03/18/2019
53 Return to Hardeman County 04/10/2019
54 Deception 06/02.2019
55 The Silver Widows 06/27/2019
56 Hitch 08/22/2018
57 Dylan’s Journey 10/10/2019
58 Bryn’s War 11/05/2019
59 Huw’s Legacy 11/30/2019
60 Lynn’s Search 12/24/2019
61 Bethan’s Choice 02/12/2020
62 Rhody Jones 03/11/2020
63 Alwen’s Dream 06/14/2020
64 The Nothing Man 06/30/2020
65 Cy Page 07/19/2020
66 Tabby Hayes 09/04/2020
67 Dylan’s Memories 09/20/2020
68 Letter for Gene 09/09/2020
69 Grip Taylor 10/10/2020
70 Garrett’s Duty 11/09/2020
71 East of the Cascades 12/02/2020
72 The Iron Wolfe 12/23/2020
73 Wade Rivers 01/09/2021
74 Ghost Train 01/27/2021
75 The Inheritance 02/26/2021
76 Cap Tyler 03/26/2021
77 The Photographer 04/10/2021
78 Jake 05/06/2021
79 R
iding Shotgun 06/03/2021
80 T
he Saloon Lawyer 07/04/2021