“Come on, Hank, stayin’ to do what?” LeRoy asked. “You know damn well we can’t drive cows through two feet of snow. Not if we got behind each and every one of them and pushed.”
Hank pointed to Smoke. “This man got us out of jail and I gave my word that I would go to Wyoming with him,” Hank said. “And I aim to keep that word. As long as he is willin’ to keep goin’, then I’m staying with him.”
“Hank?” LeRoy said, questioning, without actually forming a question.
“I’ll see you when I get back.”
“If you get back,” LeRoy said. He sighed, then looked over at Billy. “Billy, you got more sense than this, don’t you?”
“Tell all the painted ladies back in Big Rock I said hello, will you?” Billy asked.
“And tell my mom I’m doin’ fine,” Jules added.
LeRoy looked over at Andy. “What about you?” he asked.
“Dooley died tryin’ to get these cows up to Wyoming,” Andy answered. “Seems to me like iffen I’d stop now, well, I’d sort of be lettin’ him down. No, sir, I reckon I’ll be stayin’ with Mr. Jensen and the others.”
“LeRoy, if you’re goin’, get all your good-byes said and be goin’,” Smoke said. “We’ve got work today.”
“Damnit! Damnit, damnit, damnit!” LeRoy said, hitting his hand into his fist. “I ain’t goin’.”
“What do you mean you ain’t goin’?” Pearlie asked. “Why not?”
“’Cause I reckon when you get right down to it, I’m as crazy as all the rest of you,” LeRoy said, laughing as he spoke.
The others laughed as well.
“I figured you were too good a man to just pull up and leave a job undone,” Smoke said. “I’m glad to have you with us.”
“But what I want to know now is, how the hell are we going to do this?” LeRoy asked. “How are we going to get out of here?”
“We’re goin’ to ride out,” Smoke said.
“That’s easy enough to say. A horse will break trail in snow. A cow won’t.”
Smoke smiled broadly and held up a finger. “Then we’ll break a trail for them,” he said.
Chapter Fifteen
All that day the silence of the white-covered scene was broken by the sound of sawing and the shouts of men as they went about their labors, cutting limbs from the trees, then tying them into place. By nightfall they were ready, but because it was too dark to proceed, they made plans to get under way the next morning.
Exhausted and cold, the men built a big fire, then huddled under the tarp to take advantage of what warmth the fire put out. Pearlie was the one who noticed it first.
“I’ll be damn!” he said, smiling broadly. “I’ll be damn!”
“What is it?” Mike asked.
“Can’t you smell it?”
Several of the men sniffed the air. “I can’t smell nothin’ but cold,” Andy said.
“That’s ’cause you ain’t never smelt Miz Sally’s apple pie before. Nor ate none of it either.”
Cal nodded. “He’s right!” he said. “I smell it too.”
Soon, the rich aroma of cinnamon and apple permeated the entire area and everyone could smell it.
Supper was biscuits and a satisfying stew, but everybody’s thoughts were of the apple pies Sally had made. After supper, she brought them out, three of them, which she carved into very generous portions for everyone.
“I thought that, after a day like today, a big piece of apple pie and a hot cup of coffee might lift everyone’s spirits,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jules said as he took a huge bite of his pie. “You thought right.”
The men’s spirits were lifted and as they ate their pie and drank their coffee, they exchanged stories. Sally and the men laughed at a story Andy told about how he and Dooley had put one over on the same sergeant Mike had gotten into a fight with.
“Say, Jules, where’d you learn to play baseball like that?” LeRoy asked. “You were purt’ near as good as them boys in them white pajamas.”
The others laughed at LeRoy’s reference to the uniforms of the St. Louis Unions.
“Pretty near as good? He was a lot better’n any of ’em,” Cal said.
“Yeah,” Andy said. “Where did you learn to play like that?”
“I don’t know,” Jules said. “Seems like from the first time I ever saw the game, I could play. I think it would be great to play ball and get paid for it like them boys was.”
“But you have too much honor,” Smoke said.
“Honor? What do you mean he has too much honor?” Pearlie asked. “I mean, yeah, I think he’s got honor and all, but what does that have to do with playing baseball?”
