“Too perfect, if you ask me,” Cutter remarked.
“Listen to yourself,” Jess Hook said. “Our wish is about to come true and all you do is gripe. What good would it do her to lie when she knows what we would do to her and Parker?”
“I’m just saying we shouldn’t trust her until we see the gold ourselves,” Cutter said.
“That goes without saying. Now simmer down, will you? Five days from now we’ll be the happiest gents alive. If it turns out she’s lying, we’ll just go back to our original plan.”
“Let’s head out as soon as we have had some coffee,” Jordy proposed. “The sooner we start, the sooner we get there.”
Blue Water Woman poured when the coffee was ready. The brothers joked and laughed. Cutter, though, was in a foul temper, and no amount of friendly coaxing by the Hooks could change his mood.
For my own part, I was depressed. I was disappointed in Blue Water Woman, disgusted with our captors, and dismayed that I would not be able to paint or sketch until our ordeal was over. Or would I? I put the question to Jess Hook, who blinked and regarded me as he might a snake with wings.
“Don’t you beat all.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your life is at stake, and all you can think of is the silly work you do?” Jess chortled. “Sure, mister, sure. You can draw and paint, so long as you behave. But mind you, We’ll be in the saddle most of the time, and we’re not stopping just so you can draw some bird or bug.”
“What sort of man are you?” Jordy Hook asked me. “Playing with brushes is not fit for a grown-up.”
His absurdity angered me. “What are you talking about? The work I do is for science. For expanding the boundaries of human knowledge.”
Jess Hook whistled. “Listen to you! You never use a small word when a big one will do, huh?”
“I am only saying naturalists are important.”
Jordy said, “You can puff yourself up as much as you want, but I know silly when I see it and what you do is plumb silly.”
I have often wondered how some people can be so dense between the ears. Granted, no two minds are alike, and granted, just as there are sharp razors and dull razors, so, too, are there sharp minds and dull minds. But honestly. How mental sluggards like Jordy Hook can remember to take their next breath is beyond me.
If that seems harsh, it is only because I have been teased before about my profession. People look at me askance, as if cataloging the creatures we share this planet with suggests I am crazy. One fellow of my acquaintance referred to me as “that guy who chases butterflies.” Another once called me, and I quote, “the loon who likes animals more than people.”
In any event, the rest of that afternoon was a blur. I was lost inside myself, and except for having to tug on the rope to my packhorse now and again, I was oblivious to the world around me.
I did vaguely note that we were giving the valley floor a wide berth, and staying high enough up and in heavy enough timber that it was unlikely anyone would spot us, even through a spyglass.
Their dull intellects notwithstanding, the Hook brothers were cautious and clever.
Toward sunset we stopped for the night. Blue Water Woman was told to cook a rabbit Cutter killed with a knife. I saw him do it, and I cannot quite believe what I saw. We were in among spruce when the rabbit bolted from cover. It took a few bounds and then, perhaps out of curiosity, stopped to stare at us.
Cutter was the last in line, and it so happened that the rabbit stopped near him. His hand moved, and metal gleamed in the sun, all so fast that had I blinked I would have missed it. The rabbit leaped high into the air, a knife stuck in its side. It kicked convulsively, then was still.
I was impressed. Considerable skill is required to throw a knife with speed and accuracy.
Now, sitting by the fire and watching the rabbit slowly roast on a spit, I wrapped my arms around my knees and racked my brain for a way out of our predicament. The Hook brothers and Cutter were over by the horses, talking in low tones. About us, I guessed. Venting a sigh, I remarked to Blue Water Woman, “This is a fine mess we are in.”
“Those are the first words you have said to me since noon. I thought you had lost the power of speech.”
“How can you make light of our plight?” I responded. “We are in the company of killers, pawns to their every whim.”
“It is worse than you think.”
“That is not possible,” I assured her. “The only thing worse would be if we were dead.”
Blue Water Woman leaned toward me and whispered, “There is no gold, Robert.”
“What?”
“I lied. There is no cliff, no vein, no gold.”
I was dumbfounded.
“Are you all right?”
It was all I could do to keep my voice down. “Do you realize what you have done? Do you know how mad those three will be? They will slit our throats for sure.”
“They intend to anyway,” Blue Water Woman said. “They have no intention of letting us go.”
“Why the charade? What do you hope to gain?”
“Five days of life. Five days in which, as you whites say, to turn the tables. Five days in which we must do to them as they plan to do to us.”
That gave me pause. “Wait a minute. Are you suggesting
“If we do not, we are dead. And I very much enjoy being alive.” Blue Water Woman reached over and placed a hand on my leg. “Understand this, Robert. It is us or them.”
“You expect too much of me,” I said. “I have never killed anyone. I don’t know as I can. Frankly, it amazes me that anyone can take another human life.”
She studied me, then said, “When I was a child, our village was raided. More than once. I saw the bodies of people I cared for. I saw an uncle who had been gutted, and his intestines hanging out. I saw a girl, a close friend, whose head had been bashed in with a war club. I stood over her and watched as her brains oozed out.”
“We come from different worlds,” I remarked.
“There is more. Among my people, the men are the fighters, the warriors. But Salish women are expected to fight, too, when the need arises. When our villages are attacked, the women resist fiercely.”
I surmised what she was leading to. “You have killed before then, I take it?”
“Only when I had to. The first time, I was eleven—”
“Dear Lord.”
“—a Piegan had my brother on the ground and was about to stab him when I ran up and plunged a knife into the Piegan’s neck. I can still feel his blood on my hand and arm, still see his eyes widen and hear his gasps.”
“I could not do that.”
“I need to know I can count on you, Robert. I cannot best all three of them alone.” Blue Water Woman gave a barely perceptible nod at our captors, then whispered, “Will you help, Robert? Are you with me?”
I looked into her eyes and would have agreed to anything. Swallowing, I said, “I am with you to the extent that I will do what I can to help. But I do not think I can do the actual killing.”
“Leave that to me, then,” Blue Water Woman said. “When it happens, it will happen fast. So be ready.” She had more to say, but just then the brothers came over to the fire.
“What are you two jabbering about?” Jess Hook asked.
“Our plight,” I said. “And how happy we will be after she shows you the gold and you let us go.” I said it to test his reaction, closely watching his face as I did, and for the briefest of instants I saw in his eyes that Blue Water Woman was right; they had no intention of permitting us to go free.
I assumed Blue Water Woman would wait a day or two before she made her bid to escape. That is what I would do. I would lull them into thinking I was going along with them, and catch them when their guard was down.
Even so, I spent the evening in a state of nervous expectation. The rabbit was delicious, but I did not eat much. After our meal, the brothers and Cutter sat and talked about their previous escapades. Although “escapades” does not do their evil natures justice. They casually mentioned people they had killed and laughed about gruesome deeds they had committed.
