Chapter 4

“Trail to Silver Moon Canyon”

Ryan Corcoran was nowhere to be found when Jeremiah escorted Kellyanne to the corrals where their horses had been penned, once they were unloaded. He took one look at her English style, ladies riding saddle and shook his head.

From the man at the livery next door, he made a deal for a pack mule and bought Kellyanne an American made saddle.

“Kellyanne, I don’t mean to be personal with you, but do you have clothes more suited for riding in this rough country, other than that dress?”

“I do, but where could I change?”

“Use the tack room over there. I’ll be near the door to make sure no one enters.”

“Which way you and your wife headed, young man?” The hostler asked as he helped tie the light canvas pack containing all of his and Kellyanne’s belongings on top of the pack mule. They tied the small ladies saddle on top of the pack.

“Not sure yet. I need to find a map of Nevada so I can make plans before we leave Carson City.”

“I got a Nevada map you could buy. An Irishman left it here a year or so ago. Well, to tell the truth, it fell out of his pack when he was leaving. I tried to read it, but never learned to tell north from south on the darn thing. I’ll sell it to you for a dime.”

“Here’s your dime. You say he was Irish? He sure was a long ways from home, wasn’t he?”

“I ‘spose he was, but he told me he had a place up north of here.”

“I doubt we’ll be going north. I plan to head west and find a place on Lake Tahoe to settle ... Look, I’d give you a dollar, if you’d forget you ever saw me and my wife.”

“For two dollars, I’d forget everything that’s happened here for the past ten years!”

Kellyanne came out of the tack room carrying her bag, wearing a bright red blouse and new, white riding pants. Though she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen in his life, Jeremiah knew this outfit would never work, not for the rough country that was ahead of them anyway.

He’d decided that since they now had a Nevada map, they’d use it and the map of her father’s, to find their way. The less people they meet and talk to, the better off they’d be and the less people who’d remember them. He decided not to visit the courthouse, or check in with the local town marshal just yet, knowing that anyone who went there later would ask questions of the marshal, and ask to look at the courthouse land records.

He never said a word about her bright red blouse until they were almost out of town. They rode past a marketplace where he noticed suits of buckskins hanging out front.

“Wait here,” he told her, tossing his reins to her. He walked into the shop and came out a few minutes later carrying two buckskin shirts with matching britches. He held a black hat much like the one he wears, a sack of jerked beef, and plenty of bread makings.

“Put this hat on, Kellyanne. Roll your red hair up and stuff it under your hat so it won’t be seen. When we get to a place where you’ll have some privacy, you need to put these buckskins on. You’ll be a little less noticeable as we travel,” he told her, handing the hat to her.

She opened her mouth to protest, then the more she thought about it, she decided that he knew more about this wild country than she did. There was another thought which crossed her mind ... This was the first time in her life she’d been told what to do, and not asked if she would. She liked that about Jeremiah Trail. He was a young man, just a three years older than her, but he was all man and he knew how to take charge.

No more than five miles out of town, they came to the southernmost area of Washoe Lake. Here, he picked a place with a dense growth of pine, for her to change clothes. While sitting on his horse, waiting for her to change, he pulled the cardboard cylinder out of the center of his bedroll and looked the map over. He saw the large lake and then the letters WC at the northern tip of the lake. He looked at his map and saw Washoe City at the very same spot on the northern end of the lake. Folding his map, he then carefully rolled her map and put it into the cylinder, then reached back to stuff the cylinder down into his left saddlebag.

When she stepped out, he reached for her clothes she had bundled in her arms. He stuffed them down into his saddlebags as she mounted. She was a changed woman in his eyes, and not only by the way she was dressed. He liked what he saw, even more so than before.

“Thanks for these buckskins, Jeremiah. I feel better now that I’m dressed more like you, though I couldn’t get them on over my underclothes.”

“Have you ever been trained in the use firearms, Kellyanne?” he asked, ignoring the remark about her underclothes, which he’d just stuffed down into his saddlebag.

“I’ve had extensive training in both handguns and rifles. Father would take me out even at an early age, and make sure I knew how to use both guns well enough to hunt with him and also defend myself. He owned a Winchester, model 1866 Yellow Boy, just like the one you carry. I loved shooting that gun.”

“Ryan didn’t go with you?”

“He never liked guns, he said they hurt his ears. Mother hated them and he tried his best to please her.”

“So, you grew up a Tomboy, and your brother grew up a Momma’s Boy?”

“Yes, and though he and Mother called me a Tomboy, even after I developed into a woman, I never used the term – Momma’s Boy for him all the years we were growing up together.”

A few hours before dark, they came to a Trading Post, backed up against the western bank of Washoe Lake. There were a few men loitering on the porch and a few more inside when they entered.

The first thing Jeremiah noticed, was the Winchester 1866 Yellow Boy hanging on the wall. It was just like the one he carries. He walked on past, with Kellyanne by his side. They were getting lots of looks, but no one said a word. He knew they were looking at her. They couldn’t help but notice the way her buckskins fit her backside and her topside. When he stopped to look at the used Colt revolvers chambered in the .44 Henry cartridge, the man walked back to where they were.

“Looking to buy a handgun for your woman?”

“Yep. I’d like to get her one like I carry. What price do you have on this one, since it looks to be only slightly used?”

“I’ll take thirteen dollars for it and throw in a box of .44s to go with it.”

“Well ... I reckon we’ll pass on this one. I heard there was another Trading Post up on the north end of the lake. We may stop in there before we turn east toward northern Utah.”

“I’d cut you a better deal, if you was buyin’ more’n one gun.”

“What about that old Yellow Boy you got hanging up front on the wall? You looking to get rid of it at a fair price? Is it even any good?”

“I’d sell it and the pistol for twenty-three and throw in two more boxes of .44s.”

“Make it twenty, plus five boxes of .44s and I’ll buy ten extra boxes of .44s in the deal.”

“You just bought yourself two fine used guns, Mister.”

“You wouldn’t mind if my wife runs a load of .44s through each of them before I pay for them, would you?”

“Step out on the back porch and I’ll bring both of them out with a free box of bullets.”

Jeremiah thumbed ten .44 cartridges through the side loading gate on the Winchester, then chambered a cartridge with the lever. He let the hammer down, hefting the rifle, then shouldered it to sight down the barrel before handing the gun to Kellyanne. He and the store man watched as she backed the hammer, then picked off ten pine cones from a tall pine tree thirty yards out, as fast as she could cycle the cartridges with the lever.

Jeremiah had the .44 Colt loaded and handed it to her as he took the rifle. With it held in her right hand, she fanned the hammer, hitting a piece of bark out in the yard with each shot until it was tattered to pieces.

“We’ll take the rifle and the pistol,” he told the man.

“That’s was some fine shootin’ – for a man even – let alone a woman. You folks going huntin’?”

“Yep.”

When they went to pay, he bought Kellyanne a holster and cartridge belt for her Colt, and they were on their way once more.

“Kellyanne, you sure do know how to shoot a rifle and a pistol. You’ll be a good backup to have, if we do run into trouble.”

“You told the man I was your wife back there,” she said, giving him a sly, quick smile when he turned to look her way.

“With them knowing you’re my wife and the old man telling them that you can shoot better than any of them, it just may keep us from having to kill a few of them later on.”

“I’m not sure that I could kill a man. I’ve never even pointed a gun at another person.”

“What they’ll do to you before they kill you, will be worse than death.” He didn’t tell her, but he spoke from hurtful memory.

They rode in silence for over a mile, then she brought it up again, “I’ve been thinking about what you said. I really believe I could kill a man if he came after us with intentions of raping me, and killing you and me both.”

“They will come after me first. They’ll try their best to kill me to get to you.”

“Then they will die if they come after you, Jeremiah!”

“They’ll die if they come after you, Kellyanne. You’re too good for a wild bunch like that. Too good even for a man like me, but I’ll do my best to keep you alive so we can settle this mystery about your father and his map.”

“I’m not too good for you, Jeremiah. I’ve already decided that you’re as good a man as America has to offer. I’m going to help you keep both of us alive.”

“Just remember, there are already three men somewhere out here who want the same thing you want. Then, there’s your mother. The way I see it, she didn’t disappear in Ireland, just to get away from her kids. I have a feeling she’s already here, somewhere. Maybe she’s found your father, and who knows what happened then?”

“You give a girl like me a lot to think about. Though I came here to find my father, I have already prepared myself for the fact that he may have met his demise. Still, he wanted me to have what he had, and that drives me to find out the truth and find just what, if anything, has caused my brother and my mother to turn against me – and each other.”

“You need to keep thinking like that, Kellyanne. Think of the worst things that could have happened to your father already or could happen to you, now that you’re here. Be prepared for whatever comes up, no matter how bad or how good. The good we can handle later, the bad will come sooner that you think ... the way I see it.”

“Jeremiah, when we stop for the night, can we look at the map again? I want both of us to know all we can about this mysterious map and whatever it holds for us when we do solve this.”

“I looked at the map while you were changing clothes the second time. I know we’re headed to Washoe City, which is probably no more than a spot on the map. From there, we’ll use your map to help us find what it is, that your father wanted you to have. Hopefully, we’ll find him alive too.”

“Jeremiah, though you caution me at every turn, you do give me hope.”

He knew they were only a few miles from the spot on her map, marked WC, but he decided to find a safe place to spend the night, then ride up to find WC during daylight hours.

The land began to rise sharply, and from the trail, he could see over the tall pines to the lake on his right. They were above the lake by a good three hundred feet, when he noticed a well traveled animal trail through the brush and trees. He turned his horse toward the trail and Kellyanne followed. Neither of them spoke as her horse followed his, right on his tail.

They broke out of the brush and trees to see a steep slope down to the lake below. The narrow trail they were on led at an angle down the slope and they could see where many deer, antelope and wild horses had gone to water, using this trail.

“Are you up for it?” he asked, turning to look at her.

“You go first and my horse will follow. She was trained as a hunter–jumper, she’ll be alright once she sees your horse take the trail.”

Without another word, Jeremiah tugged the lead rope on the mule and nudged Outlaw to step out onto the steep, sloping, angling trail toward the lake a hundred yards below. The trail was no more than three feet wide in places and he could see dirt and small rocks sliding down the slope as they passed. He let Outlaw have his head, draping his reins loosely over the pommel of his saddle. He had no doubts about his Outlaw horse making it to the bottom without losing him along the way.

“Are you okay back there?” he asked, turning his head to the side, not turning his body far enough to see.

“We’re right behind you ... Did you know that from this angle, you look just as handsome as you do from the front?”

“That’s not saying very much.”

“For a girl like me, that’s saying a lot. I have never told a man that he looks handsome ... from his front or his behind.”

At the bottom of the game trail, they rode out onto a sandbar covered in hundreds of animal tracks. Near the bottom of the trail they had just ridden down, there was a wide cavern hollowed out back into the sandstone bluff. There were a few bushes and lots of dead water-grass around the opening.

“Stay with the horses while I check this out,” he told her, tossing her his reins.

Though there was still ample daylight in the cavern, there was darkness in the far reaches. With a match cupped in his hands, Jeremiah walked slowly, checking into the crevices and near the stones. Sure enough, he spotted a large rattler. With his pistol he took the head off the snake just as it rattled its tail, and coiled to strike.

He lit another match, then walked the rest of the cavern before stepping out into the open.

“Let’s bring the horses and mule in here so we can take their saddles and pack off, then we’ll let them drink from the lake before we feed them and tether them for the night.”

With the animals watered, fed, brushed and tethered, Jeremiah began gathering driftwood along the lake, and dry brush near the entrance of the cavern.

By the time he had the fire going, Kellyanne had the pots out and her tea ready to boil.

She watched as Jeremiah mixed his bread dough with water, flour, salt, baking powder and a small packet of yeast. She just knew this wasn’t any bread she’d want to eat when she saw him dump his makings into an open top kettle. He placed his kettle of bread dough on the fire and sat down near her.

With his tin cup of hot tea sitting on a rock, Jeremiah leaned back on his saddle and built a smoke. Kellyanne laughed aloud as she watched him hike his leg to strike a match across the tight seat of his britches.

He cupped his hands, lighting his cigarette as he glanced up at her from beneath the brim of his hat, smiling as he offered his tobacco pouch to her.

“No thank you. Though I’ve always loved the aroma of tobacco smoke from my father’s pipe, I have never had a desire to smoke.”

He pulled out the sack of jerked beef and offered it to her. “What is that?”

“Jerked Beef. It’s tastes good and it’s kept many an Indian and White man alive when there was nothing else to eat.”

She took a small piece, smelled of it, nibbled it, then she began to chew it. At first, it was tough, then it softened as she chewed. Before she swallowed the first bite, she held out her hand and he tossed the sack to her.