He was known as Matt in this part of Colorado, but at home Sally always called him Smoke. “I’ll pack you some food, Smoke.”
He nodded his head. “I’ll saddle up.”
He saddled an appaloosa, a tough mountain horse, sired by his old appaloosa, Seven, who now ran wild and free on the range in the valley Smoke and Sally claimed.
Back in the snug cabin, Smoke pulled a trunk out of a closet and opened the lid. He was conscious of Sally’s eyes on him as he removed his matched .44s and laid them to one side. He removed the rubbed and oiled gun belts and laid them beside the deadly colts.
“It’s come to that, Smoke?” she asked.
He sighed, squatting before the trunk. He removed several boxes of .44 ammo. “I don’t know.” His words were softly spoken. “But Franklin is throwing a big loop nowadays. And wants it bigger still. I was up on the Cimarron the other day—I didn’t tell you ’cause I didn’t want you to worry. I made sign with some Indians. Sally, it’s gold.”
She closed the trunk lid and sat down, facing her husband. “Here? In this area?”
“Yes. Hook Nose, the buck that spoke English, told me that many whites are coming. Like ants toward honey was his words. If it’s true, Sally, it’s trouble. You know Franklin claims more than a hundred and fifty thousand acres as his own. And he’s always wanted this valley of ours. It’s surprising to me that he hasn’t made a move to take it.”
Money did not impress Sally. She was a young, high-spirited woman with wealth of her own. Old money, from back in New Hampshire. In all probability, she could have bought out Tilden Franklin’s holdings and still had money.
“You knew about the gold all along, didn’t you, Smoke?”
“Yes,” he told her. “But I don’t think it’s a big vein. I found part of the broken vein first year we were here. I don’t want it.”
“We certainly don’t need the money,” she reminded him.
Smoke gave her one of his rare smiles, the smile softening his face and mellowing his eyes, taking years from the young man’s face. “That’s right. I keep forgetting I married me a rich lady.”
Together, they laughed.
Her laughter sobered as he began filling the cartridge loops with .44 rounds.
“Does part of it run through our land, Smoke?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll pack you extra food. I think you’re going to be gone longer than you think.”
“I think you’re probably right. Sally? You know you have nothing to fear from the Indians. They knew Preacher and know he helped raise me. It’s the white men you have to be careful of. It would take a very foolish man to bother a woman out here, but it’s happened. Stay close to the house. The horses will warn you if anyone’s coming. Go armed at all times. Hear me?”
“Yes, Smoke.”
He leaned forward and kissed her mouth. “I taught you to shoot, and know you can. Don’t hesitate to do so. The pot is boiling, Sally. We’re going to have gold-hunters coming up against Franklin’s gunhands. When Franklin learns of the gold, he’s going to want it all. Our little no-name town is going to boom. For a time. Trouble is riding our way on a horse out of Hell. You’ve never seen a boom town, Sally. I have. They’re rough and mean and totally violent. They attract the good and the bad. Especially the bad. Gamblers and gunhawks and thieves and whores. We’re all going to be in for a rough time of it for a while.”
“We’ve been through some rough times before, Smoke,” she said quietly.
“Not like this.” He stood up, belted the familiar Colts around his lean waist, and began loading the .44s.
“Matt just died, didn’t he?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m afraid so. When Smoke steps out of the shadows, Sally—and it’s time, for I’m tired of being someone else—bounty hunters and kids with dreams of being the man who killed Smoke Jensen will be coming in with the rest of the trash and troublemakers. Sally, I’ve never been ashamed of what I was. I hunted down and destroyed those who ripped my life to shreds. I did what the law could not or would not do. I did what any real man would have done. I’m a Mountain Man, Sally. Perhaps the last of the breed. But that’s what I am.
“I’m not running anymore, Sally. I want to live in peace. But if I have to fight to attain that peace…so be it. And,” he said with a sigh, “I might as well level with you. Peyton told me last month that Franklin has made his boast about running us out of this valley.”
“His wife told me, Smoke.”
The young man with the hard eyes smiled. “I might have known.”
She drew herself up on tiptoes and kissed him. “See you in two or three days, Smoke.”
2
“Word is out, boss,” Tilden’s foreman said. “It’s gold, all right. And lots of it.”
Tilden leaned back in his chair and looked at his foreman. “Is it fact or rumor, Clint?”
“Fact, boss. The assay office says it’s rich. Real rich.”
“The Sugarloaf?”
Clint shrugged his heavy shoulders. “It’s a broken vein, boss. Juts out all over the place, so I was told. Spotty. But one thing’s for sure: all them piss-ant nesters and small spreads around the Sugarloaf is gonna have some gold on the land.”
The Sugarloaf was Smoke’s valley.
