“Mr. Hawkes, Galloway and me, we figure we’d best light out of here and head for Costello’s ranch in the Greenhorns. If the Fetchens come on him unprepared they might ride him down. We can make faster time free of the herd.”
“All right. I’m sorry to lose you boys, but we’re heading the same way.” He paused. “I’m going to get my herd back, so you boys figure yourselves still on the payroll. When you get that girl back to her father, you roust around and locate my cattle for me.”
By daylight we had the camp well behind us. The horses we rode were good, fast ones with a lot of stamina. Judith was a rider, all right, and we stayed with it all day, riding the sun out of the sky, and soon we could see the far-off Jagged line of mountains. The stars came up.
We slept in a tiny hollow under some cottonwoods, the horses grazing, and the remains of a small fire smoking under the coffeepot. Me, I was first up as always, putting sticks and bark together with a twist of dried grass to get the flame going, but keeping my ears alert for sound. At times I prowled to the edge of the hollow and looked around.
Back at camp Galloway still slept, wrapped in his blanket, but Judith lay with her cheek pillowed on her arm, her dark hair around her face, her lips soft in the morning light. It made a man restless to see her so, and I turned back to my fire.
Judith Costello… it was a lovely name. But even if I was of a mind to, what could I offer such a girl? Her family were movers, they were horse-traders and traveling folks, but from all I’d heard they were well-off. And me, I had a gun and a saddle.
My thoughts turned to the ranch in the Greenhorns. The Fetchens had killed Judith’s grandpa back in Tennessee, more than likely in anger at Judith and because of the loss of the horses. But suppose there was something more? Suppose the Fetchen outfit knew something we did not even surmise?
First of all, it was needful for us to ride west to that ranch, and not come on it unexpected, either. It was in my mind to circle about, to look the place over before riding right in. I had no idea what sort of a man Costello was, or how much of an outfit he had, but it would do no harm to sort of prospect around before making ourselves known.
We put together a breakfast from provisions we’d brought from Hawkes’s outfit, then saddled up and rode west, keeping always to low ground.
The Greenhorns were a small range, a sort of offshoot of the towering Sangre de Cristos. It was Ute country, and although the Utes were said to be quiet, I wasn’t any too sure of it, and I was taking no chances.
First off, we had to locate Costello’s ranch, for all we had in the way of directions was that it was in the Greenhorns. The nearest town I knew of was Walsenburg, but I wanted to avoid towns. Sure as shootin’, the Fetchens would have somebody around to let them know of us coming. North of there, and about due west of us, was a stage stop called Greenhorn, and at the Greenhorn Inn, one of Kit Carson’s old hangouts, we figured it was likely we’d hear something.
Big a country as it was, most everybody knew of all the ranchers and settlers around, and the place was small enough so we could see about everything in it before we rode into town – if town it could be called.
We made our nooning on the Huerfano River about ten miles east of Greenhorn, and made a resting time of it, for I wanted to ride into the place about sundown.
Galloway was restless, and I knew just what he felt. There was that much between us that we each knew the other’s feelings. He could sense trouble coming, and was on edge for it. We both knew it was there, not far off, and waiting for us like a set trap.
There was a good deal of hate in the Fetchens, and it was in Black most of all; and they would not rest until they’d staked our hides out to dry, or we had come it over them the final time.
When noon was well past, we mounted up and pushed on to Greenhorn. The mountains were named for an Indian chief who had ruled the roost around there in times gone by. It was said of the young buck deer when his horns were fresh and in velvet that he was a “greenhorn,” for he was foolishly brave then, ready to challenge anything. The chief had been that way, too, but the Spanish wiped him out. So the name greenhorn was given to anyone young and braver than he had right to be, going in where angels fear to tread, as the saying is.
The Greenhorn Inn was a comfortable enough place, as such places went – a stage stop and a hotel with sleeping quarters and a fair-to-middling dining room. We rode up, tied our horses out of sight, and the three of us checked the horses in the stable, but we saw none we recognized as Fetchen horses.
The place was nigh to empty. One old codger with a face that looked as if it was carved out of flint was sitting there, and he looked at us as if he’d seen us before, although I knew no such face. He was a lean, savage-looking old man, one of those old buffalo hunters or mountain men, by the look of him – nobody to have much truck with.
The man behind the bar glanced at Judith and then at us. We found a table and hung our hats nearby, then sat down. He came over to us.
“How are you, folks? We’ve got beans and bacon, beans and bear meat, beans and venison. You name it. And we’ve got fresh-baked bread … made it my own-self.”
We ordered, and he brought us coffee, black and strong. Tasting it, I glanced over at Judith. For a girl facing up to trouble, she looked bright and pretty, just too pretty for a mountain boy like me.
“This here,” I said to her, “is right touchy country. There’s Indians about, both Utes and Comanches, and no matter what anybody says there’s angry blood in them. They don’t like white men very much, and they don’t like each other.”
“I can’t think of anything but Pa,” she said. “It has been such a long time since I’ve seen him, and now that we are so close, I can hardly sit still for wanting to be riding on.”
“You hold your horses,” Galloway advised. “We’ll make it in time.”
Even as he spoke, I had an odd feeling of foreboding come over me. It was such a feeling as I’d never had before. I looked across at Galloway, and he was looking at me, and we both knew what the other felt.
What was going to happen? What was lying in wait for us?
When the man came back with our food I looked up at him and said, “We’re hunting the Costello outfit, over in the Greenhorns. Can you tell us how to get there?”
He put the dishes down in front of us before we got an answer. “My advice to you is to stay away from there. It will get you nothing but trouble.”
Judith’s face went pale under the tan, and her eyes were suddenly frightened.
When I spoke, my voice was rougher than I intended, because of her. “What do you mean by that?”
The man backed off a step, in no way intimidated, simply wary. “I mean that’s a tough outfit over there. You go in there hunting trouble and you’re likely to find it.”
“We aren’t seeking it out,” I said, more quietly. “Costello is this lady’s pa. We’re taking her home.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know. If I were you, I’d ride careful. There’s been trouble in those hills.”
It was not until we had finished eating that he spoke to us again. “You boys drop around later,” he said, “and I’ll buy you a drink.”
At the door, hesitating before going to her room, Judith looked from Galloway to me. “He’s going to tell you something, isn’t he? I mean that’s why he offered to buy you a drink, to get you back there without me.”
“Now, I don’t think – ” Galloway interrupted.
She would have none of it. “Flagan, you’ll tell me, won’t you? I’ve got to know if there’s anything wrong. I’ve simply got to! After all, I haven’t seen Pa in a long time.”