lethal knife play with ease.
It hadn't been easy for Jamie, not at first. Some of the men had
resented the Rebel who had won his promotions so easily. Some hadn't
thought a Reb ought to be given a gun, and many had had their doubts
about Jamie in Indian country. He had been forced to prove his way at
every step, in battle or in negotiations. They'd met up with a tribe of
warring Apache once near the border, and he had shown them something of
his mettle with his Colts as the battle had begun. Later he found out
there had been some whispering about all the Slater brothers, and how
deadly he and Cole and Malachi had been during the war. Overnight, it
seemed, his reputation had become legendary.
He smiled in the darkness. It had been worth it. He had gained a loyal
following, and good men. Nothing would come slipping through his lines
tonight. He could rest with If he could rest at all.
Despite himself he felt his eyes drawn toward the wagon that stood just
outside the circle of small cavalry-issue Aframe tents.
'What a burden,' Jon said quietly from behind. Jamie swung around,
arching a brow. Jori wasn't the usual subordinate, nor did Jamie expect
him to be.
'Why don't you quit making the comments and start telling me something
about this von Heusen fellow.'
'You really interested?' Jon asked.
'Try me. Come on. We'll get some coffee and take a walk up by the
ridge.'
Monahan gave them coffee from a tin pot at the fire, then the two men
wandered up the ridge. Jamie found a seat on a flat rock and rested his
boots on another. Jon stood, watching the expanse of the prairie. By the
soft light of the moon, it was a beautiful place, the mountains rising
like shadows in the distance, the sage rolling in ghostly fashion and
the camp fires and stars just lighting up the darkness around them.
'She's telling the truth,' Jon said.
'How can you know?' Jamie demanded.
Jon shrugged, scuffed his boots against the earth and turned to hunker
down near Jamie.
'I know because I've heard of this man before. He wanted land further
north during the war. He was a cattle baron up there then, and he was
ordered by the government to provide members of the Oglala Sioux on
reservation land with meat. He gave them maggot-fiddled beef that he
wouldn't have fed to his own sows. The Indians formed a delegation to
speak with the man. He called it an Indian uprising and soon every
rancher in the area was at war with the Sioux. Hundreds, red and white,
died. Uselessly, senselessly. And von Heusen was never punished.'
Jamie was quiet for a moment. He stared toward the remnants of the wagon
train.
'So he's got property now in Wiltshire. And he wants more. And he likes
to rile up the Indians. I still can't do anything, Jon. Even if I
believed Miss. Stuart, there wouldn't be anything I could do.'
'Because you can't prove anything.'
'Exactly. And no sane white man is going to believe it.'
'That's too bad,' Jori said after a moment.
