Chapter 20

Jake sat atop his horse Blaze and looked over his land towards his cabin.

He had ridden out early that morning, as he did every few days, to look around his land and make sure that everything was in order. He also wanted to make sure that there was no sign that Masters had been about.

As usual one of the girls accompanied him - today it was Sue and Jake watched her as she rode up the slope towards where he sat on the crest. She was now completely used to the white man's way of riding a horse and sat the saddle easily. In fact, from a distance, she looked like any other western rider.

The same was also true of the other girls. Grey Cloud and Sally rode as well as Sue did. Over the last few weeks, since they had returned home, they had been practicing with their firearms had all become very competent with them. Grey Cloud was turning out to be a particularly good shot with her rifle while Sally had really taken to her new revolver and was now almost as good as Sue.

The young Comanche had been instructing her 'sisters' in the art of throwing knives. Sue's small knife had seen a lot of use and Jake knew he'd have to get them all some proper knives soon. He had enjoyed trying his hand at the new skill as well. In return, he had shown Sue the finer points of knife fighting with their big Bowie-style ones and they had both loaned them to Sally and Grey Dove so they could practice too.

The knives that Sally and Grey Cloud carried with them were not much more than eating knives, so finding a skilled knife-maker and getting a set for everyone was high on Jake's agenda.

It had been a busy few weeks. As well as practicing with the guns and knives, the Monroe brothers had been out to the cabin and helped fix up the damage that had occurred while Jake and the girls had been away. The doors were now mended, as were the shutters and the partitions in the stable.

While they were there, Jake had the brothers make a big bed out of some spare timber they had. A woven rope mesh was covered by a number of the furs they had gathered on their travels to make a comfortable bed. Sue and Grey Cloud had been a bit concerned about it to start with as they had never slept anywhere than on the floor, but they were coming around. Jake had pointed out that they would be out of the drafts when winter came around and that it was just so much more comfortable. Sally had said that, as she mostly slept on top of Jake anyway, she hadn't noticed the difference!

Sue joined him at the top of the ridge and he smiled at her. However, she was looking over his shoulder and her brow furrowed into a frown.

"Djaik - is that smoke?" she asked.

Jake turned to look over his shoulder, pulling Blaze round as he did so with them both ending up looking in the reverse direction.

Sure enough, in the distance, there seemed to be a haze in the sky that could be smoke.

"Sure looks that way," he remarked. "Go get the others and we'll go see what it is."

Sue was off, back down the slope even before he had finished speaking. Jake stayed for a while but, apart from that tantalising smudge in the sky on the horizon, there was nothing to see. Whatever it was, it was a long way off. He turned to follow Sue back to the cabin.

When he arrived, it was to a scene of organised chaos. Sue was leading two saddled horse out of the barn while her own black stood in the middle of the yard, reigns hanging down effectively holding her in place.

Grey Cloud was sitting outside the cabin, pulling on her boots while Sally was emerging from the door with an armful of rifles and gunbelts. Jake jumped off Blaze and went to grab four canteens which he quickly filled from the stream.

By the time he was back, order had prevailed. Sue was just remounting having closed the barn door. Grey Cloud was standing next to her horse, pushing her rifle into its scabbard fastened to the saddle. Sue had obviously just put her buckskin jacket on and was getting ready to mount.

Within another minute, they were off. Jake led them at an easy pace around the ridge they had been on earlier and off their land onto Sam Peters'. Jake wondered about the smoke. Was that the Peters place? He'd never been there - the only time he had even met Sam was the previous winter when he, Sue and Black Eagle had met Sam and his daughter in the snow. What had been her name? Sarah? She'd seemed nice enough but they hadn't really spoken.

As the four of them rode through the grasslands they moved into a line abreast. There was plenty of room and it meant no-one rode in anyone else's dust. They were riding well within the capability of their horses, but still too fast for easy conversation.

As they rode, Jake wondered what they would find. The smoke hadn't been very heavy, which either meant that it wasn't much of a fire or it had already largely burnt out by the time they'd seen it.

He wasn't pushing the horses as he didn't want them to arrive winded. The fire could well spell trouble and he wanted to be ready.

Sue was also thinking about what might be awaiting them. Her black mare loped along under her at an easy canter, covering the ground at a steady rate. The ground was fairly level so she had no problem keeping pace with her friends - no, not friends, her husband and sister wives. Whatever was in store, her first priority was to protect them, in that any of them needed protecting. The two younger girls were her main concern. Djaik could look after himself, but Grey Cloud and Sallee were not as used to this as she had become and she would look out for them.

Alongside her, Grey Cloud was looking at the land around her. Since she had arrived at Djaik's home a few weeks ago - which was now also her home - she hadn't been far from the cabin. They had made that one trip to town, which was in the opposite direction, so she'd never been out this way.

Of course, from what Djaik and Sue had said, this was someone else's land. But that was something she couldn't really understand. How could anyone 'own' land? Land was where the people lived, where the animals roamed and the trees and plants and grasses grew. Her tribe had moved with those animals, following the herds and setting up their villages where the land protected their teepees and where there was good water. How could a man own that?

She has asked Sue to explain it to her, and the Comanche woman had talked about cattle, and the land they needed to thrive, and fences to stop them wandering off, and a man's land being defined by those fences. But she still didn't really understand it and she felt that Sue didn't either.

Sally understood it. It wasn't questions about land ownership that bothered her but what they'd find when they reached the source of the smoke. She'd not been brought up to violence and danger, although she'd certainly been mistreated by Pete Blackshaw while he 'owned' her. But Jake had rescued her from that and she was now his woman. She went where he did and he had given her the revolver she wore on her belt and the shotgun fastened to her saddle. She'd practiced with both and he seemed happy with her progress and performance. But now she could see she might have to use them and she was nervous. Her three companions seemed so much more suited to it and she hoped she wouldn't let them down.

So they all rode on, each with their own thoughts, towards the distant smoke.

Stopping a couple of hundred yards from the source of the smoke, the four riders could see what had happened. Sam Peters' cabin, at least they assumed it was Sam's, was larger than theirs though still built from logs. It was easily large enough to contain two or three rooms. There was a raised walkway across the front, shaded by an extension of the roof. The central door was shut and the windows either side were shuttered. No-one was about.

To the right was a barn, also log built. The door was open. A burnt-out wagon had obviously struck the corner of the building and the logs above it were blackened and scorched. A wisp of smoke still rose from the shattered wagon. Someone had obviously made a half-hearted attempt to set fire to the barn.

Perhaps that was the man lying in the middle of the bare patch of earth between the cabin and the barn. He was lying on his back, his left arm bent at the elbow and with his hand pointing at the sky. His right arm stretched out sideways and his legs were apart. His hat lay a few feet away and there was a pistol by his right hand. He was very dead.

The watching riders took all of this in for a moment. "Take Grey Cloud and go check round back," Jake whispered to Sue. "Let me know what's round there."

Sue said nothing but, nodding to Grey Cloud, she pulled her horse around to circle the buildings, keeping a safe distance from them. The Shoshone girl's horse followed.

Jake drew the revolver that hung from his saddle. The Colt Dragoon was big and heavy but, without knowing what he faced, he might need the firepower that it gave him. He anyway had the Paterson at his waist for back-up.

Sally clutched her shotgun. She was nervous and her hands were sweating, and the gun was only really meant for short range, and this was her first time to face a situation like this. But she had confidence that Jake would see her through and, if she had to fire the twin-bore weapon, she intended to hit what she aimed at.

There was a noise to their left, but it was only Grey Cloud coming back. She pulled up next to them and said quietly: "There is nobody at the back but Sue is staying to watch."