Blue Water Woman was using the butt of her rifle to move a large rock. “I hope it is not what I think it is.”
Winona arched an eyebrow in a silent question.
“Shakespeare has been going on again about how no one lives forever,” Blue Water Woman revealed. “He says he has a feeling, a premonition, that he isn’t long for this world.”
“Men can be so silly,” Winona said. When her friend didn’t respond, she said softly, “Blue Water Woman?”
Blue Water Woman turned. Her eyes were misting. “I am worried, Winona. It is all he talks about anymore. At first I thought it was his age. His joints hurt and he cannot get around as well.”
“He gets around better than men half his age.”
“You know that and I know that, but he says he is not the man he used to be. The other day he talked about how when he was younger he could swim a lake this size. Now he says he would be lucky to make it halfway across.”
“Everyone grows old. It is part of life.”
“It is part of dying,” Blue Water Woman said. She walked to a boulder and sat. She rested the stock of her rifle on the ground and gripped the barrel in both hands and leaned on it. “In all the winters we have been together, I have never seen Carcajou like this.”
Carcajou, as Winona knew, was a nickname given to Shakespeare in his younger days, before he discovered the Bard. It was French for “wolverine.” Shakespeare never talked about how he got the name, not even to his wife.
“I tease him about it and he doesn’t tease back,” Blue Water Woman was saying. “That in itself worries me. It is as if a part of him has given up on living.”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a little?”
“No.”
Winona sat on another boulder and placed her Hawken across her lap. “I have good ears if you want to talk about it.”
“I know you do,” Blue Water Woman said. “You are the best friend I have ever had.” She bit her lower lip. “What I am afraid of is that Shakespeare is right. I could not live without him.”
“We are getting ahead of ourselves,” Winona cautioned. “When he shows more signs of his age than he has, then we should be concerned.”
Blue Water Woman nodded bleakly.
“My people have a medicine we use in old age. We learned it from the Nez Perce. It is the seed of what the whites call the wild peony plant. You can chew it or drink it in a tea.” Winona grinned. “Shakespeare need not know what the tea is for.”
“You are a devious woman.”
“Women have to be devious dealing with men. Men do not think as we do. They do not listen when we give them advice. They can be stubborn. And they have their pride.”
“You do not need to tell me about pride. Shakespeare has enough for ten men.”
“Men are like foals,” Winona said. “They must be led. If we have to, we must trick them into thinking an idea is theirs when it is ours. When they balk, we must be patient, as we would with a foal, and coax and flatter them.”
“Shakespeare does not take well to flattery,” Blue Water Woman said. “He is too intelligent. He sees right through it.”
“The same with Nate…most of the time,” Winona said. “He is smarter than he gives himself credit for.” She gazed over at the two men. They had stopped talking and were coming toward them. “Remember my offer of the tea.”
“My people have a tonic, too…” Blue Water Woman said, and got no further. “Husband,” she said, smiling at McNair. “We thought maybe you had stopped hunting.”
“We thought the same about you.” Shakespeare kissed her on the temple. “Saw you sitting over here. You must expect the rattlesnakes to crawl up and say, ‘Here I am.’”
“We had one do that. Then it stuck its tongue out at us and crawled off laughing.”
Winona linked her arm with Nate’s. “Why so quiet? Something bothering you?”
“This hunt has turned into a waste of time. We should go see how Waku and his family are doing.”
Waku and his family—and one other—were seated in the shade of a large spruce at the east end of the lake. The one other raised her arm and happily waved as Nate and the others approached.
“Do my eyes deceive me or is that fair young Evelyn sitting next to fair young Dega?” Shakespeare said.
“Evelyn offered to help them hunt,” Nate detailed. “She told us it was the neighborly thing to do.”
“Did she, now?” Shakespeare chuckled and nudged Winona with an elbow. “I trust I’ll be invited to the wedding?”
“Husband,” Blue Water Woman said.
Waku and his family hadn’t found a single rattlesnake, Evelyn reported. Her arm was so close to Dega’s that when she moved, she brushed against him.
Shakespeare turned and whispered in his wife’s ear, “Isn’t she the little hussy?”
Along about then Zach arrived. He told them of the snake that nearly bit Lou.
“But you killed it?” Nate said.
“It couldn’t be any more dead, Pa.”
Nate nodded and faced the rest. “I owe all of you an apology. We spent all this time looking, and for what? One measly rattlesnake.”
“You did what you thought was right,” Winona complimented him.
Shakespeare said, “I was hankering to stroll around in the hot sun anyway. I haven’t sweated near enough this summer.”
Blue Water Woman rolled her eyes.
Nate held his Hawken in his left hand and hooked his right thumb in his belt. “It wasn’t a complete waste of our time. We know we don’t have to worry about the rattlers. There are hardly any around.”
In the gully to the northwest, in the underground chamber, the female who had recently mated was entwined in a writhing mass of sinuous forms. Other females had recently given birth and hundreds of little ones were exploring the den. In her dim way the female realized that never before had there been so many of them.
So very, very many.
In the days that followed, the rattlesnakes were largely forgotten. The folks in King Valley were busy with other things.
Nate asked the Worths to pick a site for their cabin. He rode with them around the lake, pointing out spots he thought were good, but he left the decision up to them. They made a complete circuit and when they were back where they started he drew rein and said, “Well?”
Samuel liked an area on the north shore midway between Zach and Lou’s cabin and the Nansusequa lodge. It was flat and well back from the lake and in the shadow of tall spruce. He mentioned it, and Emala shook her head.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“For one thing, I’d rather be closer to Winona. I like her. She’s a fine lady and my friend.”
“You can ride over to see her every day.”
Emala fluttered her cheeks. “I’m not fond of sittin’ a horse, thank you very much. Horses scare me. And
