deep enough not to be seen. She dropped the wood she had gathered and began walking rapidly until she reached the top of the hill. Once there, she came out of the woods onto flat ground that was easier, and started running.
Rebecca ran at least two miles before she stopped running, then she walked until she regained her breath. That was when she saw the dust of the approaching herd, and that gave her the energy to run again.
Tom was riding point when he saw a young woman running toward them. Realizing at once that it was Rebecca, he urged his horse into a gallop and closed the gap between them in a few seconds.
“Rebecca, what is it? What is wrong?”
“Ambush,” Rebecca said, panting so hard that she could scarcely get the word out.
“My God! You were ambushed?”
“No,” Rebecca said. “You will be!”
“Get on,” Tom said, reaching down to grab her hand and help her mount the horse behind him.
Tom galloped back toward the herd. By now some of the others had seen what happened, and they were riding out to meet them. Once there, he helped Rebecca down.
“Water,” Rebecca said. “Please.”
Tom gave Rebecca his canteen and she drank deeply from it. By the time she finished drinking, she had recovered her breath enough to be able to talk.
“Seth Lovejoy is waiting on the other side of the river,” Rebecca said. “I know this man. I am sure he is waiting to get revenge.”
“Is he all alone?” Clay asked.
“No. He has some men with him, but I don’t know how many.”
“What about Sally and Maria?” Smoke asked anxiously.
“They are still there, preparing to cook the meal as if nothing is wrong. “Sally is the one who sent me to warn you.”
“Lovejoy doesn’t know he’s been seen?” Clay asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did he see you leave?” Duff asked.
“No. I pretended to be collecting firewood until I reached the woods. Then when I was deep enough that I knew I couldn’t be seen, I started running.”
“Good for you,” Falcon said.
“That was Sally’s idea,” Rebecca said.
“So, what do we do now?” Clay asked.
“Clay, you, Dusty, Tom, Dalton, and Rebecca stay with the herd,” Smoke said. “This the kind of thing that Matt, Falcon, Duff and I should handle. We will take care of Lovejoy.”
“Besides which, I’m the one he is after anyway,” Matt said.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to come along?” Clay asked. “You heard Rebecca. He has some men with him.”
“And there’s no telling how many he has,” Dusty added. “Lovejoy is a very rich and very powerful man. He could have thirty or forty men with him. If you ask me, we should all go.”
“Suppose he does have thirty men,” Matt said. “If all of us go to meet him, that would be his thirty against our seven. What do you think about those odds?”
“Not much,” Dusty admitted. “But thirty against seven is better than thirty against four.”
“Not necessarily,” Tom said. “I can see Matt’s point. According to Euripides, ten men wisely led are worth a hundred without a head.”
“You rip a what?” Dusty asked.
“Euripides. He was a Greek playwright about four hundred years before the birth of Christ,” Tom explained.
Falcon laughed. “Tom, is there anything you don’t know?”
“If there is anything Tom doesn’t know about, I don’t know what it might be,” Clay said. “He’s like one of those books, what do you call them, that has all the information in them?”
“That would be an encyclopedia,” Duff said.
“Yeah, he is like one of them.”
“Well, both Tom and Euripides are right,” Smoke said. “It would be best for just the four of us to go. Trust me, we’ve had a lot more experience in this sort of thing than the rest of you.”
“I think I should go,” Tom said.
“No, you would just ... ,” Smoke started but Tom held up his hand.
“Hear me out. I don’t mean go with you. I mean I should go to the wagons, just sort of ride up as if bringing some sort of message from Clay. That will do two things. That will make them think that we aren’t on to them, and while they are busy watching me, you four can do whatever it is you have in mind.”
“Take me with you,” Rebecca said.
“No, there’s no sense in putting you in danger again,” Tom said.
“They saw me leave,” Rebecca said. “If they don’t see me come back, but they see you ride up, they may get suspicious.”
“I hate to admit it, Tom, but Rebecca has a point,” Smoke said.
“All right, I’ll take you with me.”
“I’ll get you another horse,” Dalton offered.
“No,” Tom said. “If they saw her leave on foot, she needs to return on foot.” Tom remounted, then held his hand down to help her up. This time he slid to the back of the saddle and she sat in front.
“We’ll start back first,” Tom said. “They’ll see us and while they are trying to figure out what is going on, you four men will have freedom of movement.”
“Clay, you know this river,” Smoke said. “Is there another ford close by?”
Clay shook his head. “The nearest ford is about ten miles southeast,” he said.
“That ain’t entirely true,” Dusty offered.
“What do you mean? Do you know a closer ford?” Smoke asked.
“Not one that a herd of cattle can use. But I know one that a man on horseback can cross. Only thing is, even on your horse it’s going to get you wet about halfway up to your knees. And that water is going to be really cold right now.”
“Never mind that. How far away from the cattle ford is it?”
“It’s about a mile downstream.”
“That’s too close,” Matt said. “They could see us.”
“No, they can’t,” Dusty said, smiling.
“What do you mean?”
“Here, let me draw you a map on the ground. This will tell you how to get there. And I can also show you how it is that you won’t be seen.”
Finding a stick, Dusty scratched a map in the dirt. He drew the river, then showed a bow.
“See here?” he pointed out. “You’ll come across the river here. They’ll be waiting here. You’ll not only be across the river, you’ll be behind them because of the way the river bows here.”
“Any way to tell where this ford is, exactly?” Falcon asked.
“Yes, right at the edge of the water there are three large rocks, all lined up, flat on top and stair-stepped down from the biggest, to the next biggest. You can’t miss it.”
When Tom had picked her up the first time, Rebecca had merely ridden bareback behind the saddle. But that was only for a hundred yards or so. This was to be a much longer ride, so she was in the saddle with him, and as she knew it would be, it was a tight fit. She was pressed back against him so close that she could feel the warmth of his body, the hard ripple of his muscles, and the presence of his breath on her neck. He had to put his arms around her to hold the reins, and as she felt his strong arms on either side of her, a warm tingling passed through her.
The rhythmic motion of the horse, the closeness of his body behind her, and something else, the pressure of the saddlehorn against her pelvis, caused ripples of pleasure to move through her body. And yet, the pleasures she
