Resolution. ”
“In Resolution?”
“Yep.”
“That’s so dangerous,” she said. “What was he doing in there.”
“We all went in,” I said, “after dark, thought we might pick off one or two. Rose felt it was his turn.”
“Why?”
“Why was it his turn?” I said.
“No, why did you all go in there.”
“Trying to cut the odds,” Virgil said.
He continued to watch the riders as he spoke.
“And trying to get them to come after us.”
“Why do you want them to come after you?” she said.
“Get them out in the open,” Virgil said. “See what we can do with them.”
“They’re out in the open now,” she said, looking down at the riders.
“Not all of them,” Virgil said.
“And they’re too open,” I said. “We’d have to cross a half-mile of open country to get to them. They are professional gunmen.”
“So you wouldn’t have a chance,” Beth said.
“Not a big one,” I said.
The deputies went out of sight around the curve of the hill.
“What if they sneak in behind you?” Beth said.
“Cato and Rose are up there,” I said. “Other side of that hill. Between us, we can see the whole circle of the compass.”
Beth looked up at the hill and then back down at the now-empty slope in front of us.
“Virgil,” she said.
“’Course,” Virgil said.
He was still watching the empty slope. I started to move away.
“No, stay, Everett,” she said. “You can hear this.”
I nodded and leaned back against the rock.
“My husband thinks you don’t like him,” Beth said to Virgil.
“I don’t,” Virgil said.
“Because of me?”
“Hard to like a man beats his woman,” Virgil said.
“I know. God, don’t I know that.”
Virgil didn’t say anything.
“But… Virgil, he’s trying. He’s trying so hard.”
“Trying what?” Virgil said.
I could see Beth take in a big breath.
“He’s trying so hard to be a man,” she said. “He come from nothing, and he was still a boy when we come out here, and the land and the children were enough to break him, and… and now it’s all plomped down on him: Indians, gunmen, killing. He’s lost his land, he’s trying to hold the other homesteaders together… He’s trying to hold himself together… It’s too much for him.”
“He been hitting you again?” Virgil said.
“No, Virgil, he hasn’t. I swear to God he hasn’t touched me since I left him before the Indians.”
“What would you like?” Virgil said.
“Don’t treat him like a boy,” she said. “Talk to him like he’s a man.”
Virgil stared at her for a long time without speaking.
“We meant something to each other,” Beth said. “It wasn’t just fucking. I know it wasn’t.”
“That’s true,” Virgil said.
“So please, Virgil, for me,” she said. “Just treat him like a man.”
Virgil nodded slowly.
“All right,” he said.
67.
Virgil and I sat on our horses on the little rise that sloped down to what used to be the Redmond ranch. The burned-out buildings had been cleared, and the property was staked out in house lots that looked a good bit smaller than the original. Beyond where the house had stood was a creek that had cut its way maybe a foot deep into the prairie. A few cottonwoods grew along it.
“Cluster of trees there,” Virgil said. “Provide some cover.”
I nodded.
“Man and a horse, I’d say.”
Virgil nodded, running his eyes over the layout.
“Hill over there, other side, beyond the house that way,” he said.
“That would work, ’less they come that way.”
“No reason they should,” Virgil said.
“Might start getting cautious,” I said. “We’ve picked off four of them so far.”
Virgil shrugged.
“They do, the ball goes up a little sooner.”
“Okay,” I said.
“So,” Virgil said. “We put two over there. One behind the cottonwoods.”
He glanced around the hilltop where we were.
“One of us up here,” he said, “back’a that outcroppin’.”
“And Redmond down there, starting to rebuild,” I said.
“Yep.”
“You think he’ll stay?” I said.
“Claims he will,” Virgil said.
“But do you think so?” I said.
“Wants to be a man,” Virgil said.
I didn’t say anything.
“I ain’t rubbin’ Beth’s nose in it,” Virgil said. “If he can do it, it’ll help us bed this thing down a lot earlier.”
“And if he gets killed in the process?” I said.
“It’s a risk you and me are taking,” Virgil said. “And Cato and Rose, and we got a lot less at stake than he does.”
“I know,” I said.
We turned the horses and headed back toward the lumber camp, swinging wide around town as we went.
“Mrs. Redmond know about this plan?” I said.
“Don’t know,” Virgil said. “I didn’t tell her.”
“He will,” I said.
“Maybe not,” Virgil said. “Maybe scared he won’t be able to carry it off, and don’t want no one to know unless he does pull it off.”
“You may be right,” I said.
The horses were beginning to labor a little as we went uphill. We slowed them to a walk.
“When you want to do this?” I said.
“Tomorrow seems good,” Virgil said.
