Chapter 8

November 26, 1845

When we all finally managed to get out of bed this morning, I managed to drink one cup of coffee before I needed to take care of my morning necessaries. When I got up and headed for the door, Tess said, "If you're heading for the outhouse, I think Adam may be out there."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"I just looked into where he sleeps and he wasn't there. I don't know where else he might be."

"Tess, I've been sitting here for a half an hour or more and he hasn't gone by during that time. It doesn't take anyone that long to go to the outhouse, especially in cold weather."

"Well, if you see him outside anywhere, ask him to bring in some wood for the fireplace."

I got my heavy coat on and headed for the toilet. There had been about an inch of snowfall last night. I didn't see any sign that Adam had been around the outhouse, so I went on in and took care of my necessaries. When I came back out, I decided to walk around a mite to see if I could see where he might have been.

I saw his footprints in the newly fallen snow, almost immediately. I saw where he had saddled a horse, then I saw where he had walked into the storage shed. Next, he had come back outside, and mounted the horse, and rode off.

I looked around the corral where we had the horses, to see if I could figure out which one he had taken.

"Oh, shit!" I thought. He had taken Lady Grey, Tess' horse.

I went back inside and asked John if he could take my trap line one more day.

"Sure," he said. "What's up?"

"Adam stole a horse and took off," I said. "I have to go after him."

"It might be worth the loss of a horse to be rid of him," John said.

"I'm afraid not, John. He took Lady Grey."

"I'm going with you," Tess said, pulling off her apron.

"No, you're not, sis," I said. "You're going to stay here if I have to hog-tie you."

"That's my horse, Jase."

"I know, Tess. I'll bring her back."

We argued around for a few minutes while I ate the breakfast Millie had quickly thrown together for me. She made some extra johnny cake and fried some extra bacon for me to take with me.

"I may not make it back today," I said. "If not, don't worry about me."

"Be careful, Jase," Lettie said. "There's a rifle missing. We also seem to be missing a hunting knife and a pistol. He may shoot first if he sees you."

"I should go with you, Jase," Eve said. "I might be able to talk him down."

"Eve, I need to hurry. I can't hurry if Sin is having to carry double."

"I can ride a lot better than I let on, Jase. I'll make it."

"On your head be it, then. If you can't keep up, you'll have to find a place to shelter until I get back."

"I'll keep up.

"Take my filly," Millie said. "She's used to running with Sin."

John ran outside to saddle the horses, while Eve and I got bundled up. By the time we got outside, he had the horses saddled with the food-filled saddle saddlebags attached. He had a bedroll on each horse and was just tying on the canteens. I thanked him, and we quickly got on our way.

I held Sin to a trot as we came out of our valley. We turned south, following Adam's trail. It looked like he had really let Lady Grey out and was moving at a fast pace. I told Eve that.

"Shouldn't we speed up?" she asked.

"No, honey. Lady Grey is a fine animal, but she'll get tired pretty quick in this weather. That's especially true because Adam didn't warm her up before he took off like his tail was on fire. We'll catch up to them."

"I hope so. Tess acted like she really likes that horse."

"She does. I bought Lady Grey for her in St Louis. She's loved Lady ever since."

I could tell by watching Eve that she was a much better horsewoman than she had let on, so I asked her about it. "Why did you say you hadn't ever ridden much when we went to Caleb's? You certainly seem to be able to handle a horse."

I couldn't see her face, but I knew she had to be blushing when she stuttered, "Uh... I just wanted to ride behind you, Jase."

"Any particular reason?" I asked, thinking it was better to get things out in the open.

"Well, I think you are a fine man, Jase. There aren't many men in this part of the country that I would be attracted to. You're one of them."

Now it was my turn to be embarrassed.

"I think you're a fine young woman too, Eve. But I think we should get to know each other a little better before we decide on anything else."

"I can live with that," Eve assured me.

I thought that maybe Adam was headed to Ab's place. Lady Grey's tracks went right on by the valley where Ab lived, though. I could tell by the length of her stride that she had slowed down a lot.

I debated going to Ab's and seeing if he wanted to follow along, but I decided not to take the time. We continued on at about the same pace we had started at.

Eve and I ate in the saddle at lunchtime and sipped from our canteens. It was cold. Maybe just below freezing. As the day wore on, we could see that Lady Grey was slowing with each hour that passed. By the time we were starting to have trouble seeing the tracks, I could tell that Lady was walking very slowly, and appeared to be favoring her right front foot.

I was just getting ready to tell Eve we should be looking for a place to hole up for the night when the tracks turned off to the right and proceeded up a side canyon. I pointed to the tracks, and leaned over close to Eve.

I whispered, "We'll tie the horses in those trees at the mouth of the canyon, then go in on foot."

Eve nodded and we rode over to the edge of the trees. When we had dismounted, Eve leaned into me and whispered, "I need to pee before we go any farther."

I nodded and moved off one way to relieve the pressure, while she moved a short distance in the other direction. When we moved back together, we started up the canyon on foot. Most of the trees we were moving through were Aspen or Birch, but there were enough evergreens to provide cover.

We had gone about a hundred yards up the canyon, when we saw a campfire ahead. I was a little surprised that Eve was moving as silently beside me as she was.

I leaned in close to her and whispered, "We need to see how his camp is set up, before we decide what to do."

Eve nodded and waited for me to move. I moved forward, keeping behind cover as much as I could. As we got closer, I could see that I wouldn't have had to worry as much as I had.

Adam's camp was set up well. He was back against an overhang of rock, with his fire built up in front of him. That way, the heat from the fire would reflect back on him from the rock behind him. What made Adam an easy target was that he was sitting, looking into the fire. That meant he couldn't see anything outside the glow of the fire.

As I looked over the scene, I became really angry. Lady Grey was tied to a bush. She was still wearing her saddle. She was tied so short, that she couldn't reach the grass below her. The only good thing I could see, was that the rifle he had stolen was still in the scabbard on his saddle.

"I always knew he wasn't too smart; but I didn't know he was really this stupid," Eve whispered.

"Yeah, just stay behind me, Honey; in case he pulls his pistol," I said.

I moved forward until I wasn't more than thirty feet from Adam before I spoke. Eve was behind me, holding onto my coat as I moved.

"Keep your hands where I can see them, Adam," I said in a loud voice.

Adam started to reach for his pistol, so I fired one time, right into his campfire. As I had hoped, bits of burning wood and sparks showered the whole area. I ran forward as Adam threw both arms over his head and face. I was within three feet of him when he reached for his pistol again. I brought the barrel of my Colt down on his right wrist, maybe too hard.

Adam grabbed his wrist, and fell back under the outcrop. I reached down and removed his pistol before I did anything else.

Eve walked over to where I was standing over her brother and kicked him on the left leg.

"Adam, you are the stupidest person I have ever met. You steal from the people who are taking care of you. You ride their horse until it goes lame, then you don't even unsaddle her when you make camp. I think Jase should just shoot you, so we don't have to put up with you any more."

"But, Sis..." he started to say, but Eve kicked his leg again and yelled, "Shut up!"

I knelt down and looked at Adam's right arm. I had hit him too hard. It was definitely broken.

"It looks like I broke his arm, Eve," I said.

"Good," she said and kicked his leg again. "Maybe I should break his leg too, then we can just leave him out here."

I had noticed it with my wives, now I was seeing it with Eve. Women are a lot more vicious than men.

"Can you shoot a pistol?" I asked her.

"I can shoot a pistol."

"If I give you this pistol and ask you to watch him, will you promise not to shoot him unless he tries to get away?"

Eve looked at me, then grinned an evil grin, and winked.

"Yeah, but if he tries to get away, I'll shoot him in the back. That'd make it a lot easier on us."

I handed her the pistol Adam had stolen. I watched as she checked the load. I went over to Lady and petted her gently. She was used to me and seemed to calm down quickly. I got down and looked at her left front foot. She had what looked to be a stone bruise, but she didn't seem to be in too bad of a shape.

I removed Lady's saddle, and rubbed her down as best as I could. I loosened her reins so she could reach the grass, and then I told Eve I was going back for our horses.

When I got back with the horses, I saw that Eve had built up the fire a little more. I unsaddled the horses, and turned all three of them loose to graze. I knew that Sin wasn't going anywhere, and I didn't figure the other two would, either.

"So, what do we do with him?" I asked after I had set down to warm myself by the fire.

"Don't they normally hang horse thieves?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, but he is only twelve years old. Maybe we should just take back everything that doesn't belong to him and turn him loose. He'll probably die anyway."

"With a broken arm, and a stupid brain, he probably would die."

"I can't take him back to our place. Lady Grey belongs to Tess. She loves that horse almost as much as she loves John. She'd skin him alive."

Eve laughed and said, "It might be fun to take him back just to get to watch that."

"Seriously, Eve, if we took him back to our place; we'd have to watch him every minute. We'd never know when he was going to steal one of our horses, and take off again."

"I know," Eve sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if God isn't punishing me with Adam, for talking back to pa. It does say in the bible to honor your father and mother."

"Eve, that part of the bible was written three or four thousand years ago. That's one thing in the bible I disagree with. If your mother and father deserve to be honored, then honor them. If your mother or father is a murderer or something like that, why should you honor them?"

"That's kind of the way I had always thought of it, but I didn't know anyone else who did. What are we going to do with Adam tonight?"