we have around here are Crow.”
“Well, that’s just the thing, you see. It ain’t just the Cheyenne that’s been doin’ this Spirit Talkin’,” Davis said. “It’s spread all over the Sioux nation: Lakota, Oglala, Brule, Miniconjou, Hunkpapa, and even some among the Shoshone and the Crow. So, what if we was to sort of give the Injuns a little poke, so to speak, and prod ’em in to goin’ onto the warpath, why it would wind up running all the squatters off,” Davis said.
“What good would that do me?” Bellefontaine asked. “If the Indians run everyone out of the valley, I won’t be able to be in there either.”
“Sure you will,” Davis explained. “What will happen is this. Once the Injuns go on the warpath, why the army will come in and move ’em out, not only from the public land, but more than likely run ’em off their own reservation as well. And once that happens, it will leave the whole valley open. At least from here all the way to the Yellowstone.”
“Do you think you could do that? Get the Indians to attack the prospectors?”
“Oh, yes, I think me ’n Regret could do that just real easy,” Davis said. Bellefontaine stared at Davis for a long moment. Then a huge smile spread across his face, and he hit his hand on the desk.
“By damn!” he said. “You two boys come up with that idea, did you?”
“Yes, sir, me ’n Regret.”
“Well, let me tell you, that is one hell of a good idea! How soon can you get started?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Angus Ebersole had seven men with him. In truth, it made his gang a little unwieldy by having so many, but it also made him formidable. There were few posses that were this large, and no target he ever selected would have as many guards as he had men.
He was waiting now with his men along the Northern Pacific Railroad for the train that would be coming through in about half an hour. The train, he knew, would be carrying the payrolls for Fort Lincoln, Fort Rice, and Fort Harrison. The payrolls for three army posts would be a considerable amount, enough money so that, even divided eight ways, it would make this operation a very profitable one.
“Dewey, Hawkins, do you have the wood laid out on the track?”
“Yeah, it’s all there. Think we ought to light it yet?”
“Not yet, we don’t want it to burn down too much before the train gets here.”
“Hey, Taylor, what are you going to do with your money?” Peters asked.
“I’m goin’ down to Arizona where the weather is warm and the Mexican girls is hot,” Taylor replied. “I’m goin’ to get me a room, a case of tequila, and have me a different senorita ever’ night.”
“Ha! Well, that sounds good enough for me. What about you, Smitty?”
“I’m goin’ to find me a poker game,” Smitty said. “And I’ll win ever’ hand ’cause I’ll buy the pots. I’ll bet so much that the suckers won’t be able to match me.”
“Nothin’ like spendin’ your money before you got it,” Dewey said.
“Hush,” Ebersole said, holding his hand up. “I think I hear it.”
Straining, the men could hear a distant whistle.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Hawkins said. “Hadn’t we better light the fire?”
“All right. Go ahead, get it started,” Ebersole ordered.
Augmented by kerosene, the fire took quickly, and was blazing brightly when they first saw the train. From this distance, against the great panorama of the surrounding mountains, the train seemed quite small.
Now they could hear the train easily, the sound of its puffing engine carrying to them across the wide valley, echoing back from the towering mountains. When they heard the steam valve close and the train begin braking, Ebersole knew that the engineer had spotted the fire and was going to stop. Squealing, squeaking, and clanging, the train ground to a reluctant halt, its stack puffing black smoke, its driver wheels wreathed in tendrils of white steam drifting off into the night. The engineer’s face appeared in the window, backlit by the orange glow of the cab.
“What’s up?” the engineer asked. “What’s the fire for? Is there track out ahead?”
“Get your hands up,” Ebersole said.
“What? Good God man, are you telling me this is a train robbery?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m tellin’ you. Taylor, climb up there on the coal tender and keep your eyes on the two of ’em.”
Falcon was sound asleep when the train came to a sudden, screeching halt in the middle of the night. The stop was so abrupt that it woke him up, and he slid the curtains apart just long enough to look out into the aisle of the sleeper car. He saw a porter.
“Porter, what happened?” he asked. “Why did we stop?”
“I don’t know, sir,” the porter answered. “I was sleepin’ in the back of the car my ownself. I thought I might take a peek outside and see if I can find out what it is.”
Falcon saw Cody sticking his head through the curtains of the top bunk just across the aisle from him, and Ingraham was looking out from the bottom bunk.
“You have any idea what’s going on?” Cody asked.
“No, but I don’t like it,” Falcon said. “I think I’ll have a look around.”
