Her chin trembled, but her eyes swept boldly over the crowd. “A lot of us came here to get away from enforced slavery to some fat-assed baron, to live free. Freedom from jack grubbing, from chilling another poor bastard so you could take what he had. Freedom from stinking buzzard turds who live only so they can inflict pain on others. You pay for freedom, I guess. Mebbe our lives are the price. But Spotted Hawk used to say, ‘The dead will live forever if they die inside a circle.'”
Ryan swiveled his head toward her, having a difficult time keeping the astonishment he felt from showing on his face.
“I never knew what he meant,” Felicity continued. “Now I do. Amicus, our community, the place we built, is a circle. I hope you know that before it’s too late to do you any good. But I’d rather die than live and eat the shit Hatchet Jack wants to shove down our throats. And unless all of you have acquired a taste for it, you’ll stand with me and the outlanders.”
Felicity took another step and stood shoulder to shoulder between Krysty and Ryan. The assembled Amicans said nothing for a very long time. The hush was broken by Eli’s harsh voice.
“Ain’t that inspirin’? Well, I ain’t joinin’ up with no shirttail army. I know Hatcher, and I know he’s a reasonable man.”
Turning to him, Autry said wearily, “You’re free to ride out and strike your own deal if you’ve a mind to, Eli.”
“Think I won’t?” the burly man said with a sneer. “You’re wrong. I’ll go for a gab, and if I can’t talk Jack into leavin’ us alone in exchange for cyclops here, I’ll kiss old Hasslich’s ass.”
Facing the crowd, Eli demanded, “Who’ll go with me and prove this outland blowhard wrong?”
Eli received many a doubtful stare and a shuffling of feet, but no one elected to accompany him. Snorting out a scornful laugh, he stomped toward the corral.
“I’ll be back afore the moon sets. Or mebbe I won’t. Mebbe I’ll come to my senses and join up with the Cadre. I can do without you mush-minded fools.”
Watching him stride away, Hasslich edged out of the crowd and over to Ryan. “No offense, Mr. Cawdor,” he whispered, “but I sorta hopes my ass ends up gettin’ kissed.”
The people who heard the comment laughed. It was a bit forced, but some of the pall of tension hovering over the Amicans lifted.
“As much as I hate to take anything Eli says seriously,” Autry said, “perhaps we should wait and find out if his talk with the Cadre bears any fruit.”
“Don’t be stupe,” Mildred said. “Would you believe anything either one of them might say?”
Autry shrugged. “If nothing else, Eli might be able to give us an idea of the Cadre’s firepower and actual numbers. If he doesn’t return by the time he set, we’ll begin making definite preparations.”
“Preparations for what?” Felicity asked. “For a siege, a surrender, a flight or a fight?”
Autry dry washed his face with his hands. “I don’t know.”
As the crowd drifted away, Ryan and Doc decided to visit the pass to see what would be required to barricade it and to check on the six guards Autry had posted. Hasslich and Felicity volunteered to go with them.
As they walked toward the hills, Ryan asked Felicity, “That stuff about dying in a circlethat a common Cheyenne saying?”
“I don’t know. It was something Spotted Hawk used to say. He said there is a life circle, and that it must not be broken. That there are some things worth dying for, and more importantly, worth living for. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
Hasslich had provided the arms to the guards.
When they reached the pass, he inspected each one, making sure the weapons were being given the proper care and attention.
The guards reported no movement within a hundred-yard perimeter of the entrance to the gorge. They were edgy, anxious to be relieved. Though the bodies of the murdered guards had been retrieved, they feared the Cadre would creep up on them in the dark. Since their predecessors had been chilled in broad daylight, their fears weren’t entirely without justification.