“Who is that handsome man standing beside him?” Walter’s sister-in-law asked. “He’s so…rugged- looking!”
“Lord, Martha!” her sister exclaimed. “He’s savage-looking!”
“He’s some sort of law enforcement officer,” Walter explained, examining the picture. But his badge is somewhat different from…ah…Smoke’s. Excuse my hesitation, Sister, but I never heard of a man being called Smoke.”
“Get used to it, Walt,” Sally said, a testy note to her statement. After being in the West, with its mostly honest and open and non-pompous people, the East was beginning to grate on her more and more.
Her father picked up on her testiness. “Sally, dearest, it’ll soon be 1882. No one carries a gun around here except the law officers, and many times they don’t even carry a gun, only a club. There hasn’t been an Indian attack in this area in anyone’s memory! We are a quiet community, with plans underway to have a college here; a branch of the state university. We are a community of laws, darling. We don’t have gunfights in the streets. Keene was settled almost a hundred and fifty years ago….”
“Yes, Father,” Sally said impatiently. “I know. 1736, as a matter of fact. It’s a nice, quiet, stable, pleasant little community. But I’ve grown away from it. Father, Mother, all of you…have you ever stood on the Great Divide? Have you ever ridden up in the High Lonesome, where you knew you could look for a hundred miles and there would be no other human being? Have any of you ever watched eagles soar and play in the skies, and knew yours were the only eyes on them? No, no you haven’t. None of you. You don’t even have a loaded gun in this house. None of you women would know what to do if you were attacked. You haven’t any idea how to fire a gun. All you ladies know how to do is sit around looking pretty and attend your goddamn teas!”
John wore a pained expression on his face. Abigail started fanning herself furiously. Sally’s brothers wore frowns on their faces. Her sisters and sisters-in-law looked shocked.
Martha laughed out loud. “I have my teacher’s certificate, Sally. Do you suppose there might be a position for me out where you live?”
“Martha!” her older sister hissed. “You can’t be serious. There are…savages out there!”
“Oh…piddly-poo!” Martha said. She would have liked to have the nerve to say something stronger, like Sally, but didn’t want to be marked as a scarlet woman in this circle.
“We’re looking for a schoolteacher right this moment, Martha,” Sally told her. “And I think you’d be perfect. When Smoke gets here, we’ll ask him. If he says you’re the choice, then you can start packing.”
Martha began clapping her hands in excitement.
“Smoke is a one-man committee on the hiring of teachers?” Jordan sniffed disdainfully.
“Would you want to buck him on anything, Brother?”
Jordan stroked his beard and remained silent. Unusually so for a lawyer.
Smoke and York left Leadville the next morning, riding out just at dawn. They rode north, past Fremont Pass, then cut east toward Breckenridge. No sign of Davidson or Dagget or any of the others with them. They rode on, with Bald Mountain to the south of them, following old trails. They kept Mount Evans to their north and gradually began the winding down toward the town of Denver.
“We gonna spend some time in Denver City?” York asked.
“Few days. Maybe a week. We both need to get groomed and curried and bathed, and our clothes are kind of shabby-looking.”
“My jeans is so thin my drawers is showin’,” York agreed. “If we goin’ east, I reckon we’re gonna have to get all duded up like dandies, huh?”
“No way,” Smoke’s reply was grim. “I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not. We’ll just dress like what we are. Westerners.”
York sighed. “That’s a relief. I just cain’t see myself in one of them goofy caps like you wore back in Dead River.”
Smoke laughed at just the thought. “And while we’re here, I’ve got to send some wires. Find out how Sally is doing and find out what’s happened up on the Sugarloaf.”
“Pretty place you got, Smoke?”
“Beautiful. And there’s room for more. Lots of room. You ever think about getting out of law work, York?”
“More and more lately. I’d like to have me a little place. Nothin’ fancy; nothin’ so big me and a couple more people couldn’t handle it. I just might drift up that way once this is all over.”
“You got a girl?”
“Naw. I ain’t had the time. Captain’s been sendin’ me all over the territory ever since I started with the Rangers. I reckon it’s time for me to start thinking about settlin’ down.”
“You might meet you an eastern gal, York.” Smoke was grinning.
“Huh! What would I do with her? Them eastern gals is a different breed of cat. I read about them. All them teas and the like. I got to have me a woman that’ll work right alongside me. You know what ranchin’ is like. Hard damn work.”
“It is that. But my Sally was born back east. Educated all over the world. She’s been to Paris!”
“Texas?”
“France.”
“No kiddin’! I went to Dallas once. Biggest damn place I ever seen. Too damn many people to suit me. I felt all hemmed in.”
“It isn’t like that up in the High Lonesome. I think you’d like it up there, York. We need good stable people like you. Give it some thought. I’ll help you get started; me and Sally.”
