Savagery of The Mountain Man

“Yes, I remember that,” Sally said. She shivered involuntarily as she recalled the brutal winter.*

“You want to have dinner at Louie’s?” Smoke suggested.

“Sure. Only, let’s stop by the post office first.”

Chapter Five

Louis Longmont ran a saloon, but as he insisted, “Longmont’s is not your run-of-the-mill warm-beer-and-bad- whiskey saloon. It is as proper a place for ladies as the finest restaurant.”

The Frenchman was true to his word and, when they were in Big Rock, it was Smoke and Sally’s favorite place to relax. After picking up their mail at the post office, they stepped into Longmont’s.

“Smoke, mon cher ami!” Longmont called as he saw the three sitting at the table. “How wonderful of you to grace my establishment with your beautiful young lady.”

“Louis, you make me blush,” Sally said.

“Blushing becomes you, my dear. Oh, whatever you have for dinner, you must save room for my tarte francais de soie.”

“Oh, it sounds lovely,” Sally said. “I shall look forward to it.”

“What is, uh, whaever that is you said?” Cal asked.

“It’s French silk pie,” Sally explained. “Don’t worry, knowing you, you will like it.”

“I like any kind of pie,” Cal said with a broad smile.

“Mon jeune ami, this isn’t just any kind of pie,” Longmont said resolutely.

A few minutes later, Louis served them personally.

“Roti de boeuf avec les pommes de terre. Bon appetit,” he said as he set the steaming plates on the table before them.

“That just looks like roast beef to me,” Cal said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it looks like good roast beef, but it don’t look like whatever that is you said it was.”

Louis chuckled. “This is Hereford. I think you’ll find it a bit more tender than what you are used to.”

“See what I’m talking about, Sally?” Smoke said with a resigned sigh. “Even Louis is switching over to Hereford.”

After their meal, Smoke began looking through the mail they had picked up at the post office. He smiled as he held one of the letters up.

“It is from Pearlie,” he said.

“Read it aloud,” Sally said.

Smoke opened the envelope, removed the letter, and began to read.

Dear Smoke, Sally, and Cal,

I take pen in hand to pass on to all of you my regards and to tell you that my thoughts are often of Sugarloaf and the many fine times we have had together.

I am still in the New Mexico Territory where I have taken a job as shotgun guard for the Sunset Stage Coach Company. Five days a week we go from Los Brazos to Chama. The trip to Chama takes about three and a half hours. We stay there for one hour, then we come back to Los Brazos.

There is much desert land here in New Mexico, and also mountains. The cactus flowers are very pretty, but I do not think New Mexico is as pretty as Colorado.

I have thought much about Lucy, and I have wondered how it would be if she had not been killed. But it is not good to think much about such things. I am glad that you are a justice of the peace and that you were able to marry us. I know that our getting married made Lucy very happy, and when I think about it now, I am happy about it too.

Tell Cal I am taking very good care of his silver hatband, and I promise that, one day soon, I will bring it back to him.

Your friend,

Pearlie

“Did you hear that?” Cal asked happily. “He said one day soon, he would come back.”

“He certainly did,” Sally agreed.

“I wonder how soon is soon?”

Half an hour later, after having eaten Louis Longmont’s French silk pie—Cal had two pieces—the three drove in the buckboard down to the depot that served the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. They reached the depot just as