Kate stopped in her tracks and turn to lookat Mr. Dickens. "I had no idea you had such a generous nature aboutyou. Although, it doesn't shock me. You are about the only one intown who befriended me."
Wes helped Mr. Dickens hired hand stow thecorn in his barn, then he went up to the house to hopefully get acup of coffee from Dickens himself.
"Who are these people you are talkingabout?" Kate asked as Wes came in and sat down at the table withthem.
"Some settlers that came up the Mississippisome time back and were share-croppers. Most of them spent theirmoney just comin' west. They struggled along, almost starving outthere on the prairie until me and the Mayor decided to do somethingabout it. Every year we get together and try to help them out."
"Came up the Mississippi huh?" Kate was wideeyed with interest now.
"Most of them didn't have a dime to theirname by the time they got here. And some of the landowners aroundhere wouldn't spare a dime for them. But they got kids and I can'tstand to see a kid starve." Dickens was saying.
"You're a remarkable man, Mister Dickens."Kate told him, putting her hand on top of his.
"Every man ought to do something good beforehe leaves this earth." Dickens told her.
"Well," Kate watched him pour them all somecoffee and continued. "I'm kind of glad you wanted my cornthen."
Dickens shot them both a glance now, "Well,doing what is right makes me feel good and I sleep well most of thetime. You might not believe it, but used to, most of the people ofthis town was that way. But greed took hold and now it's every manfor himself. You ought to know, ain't nobody offered to help youand Jim."
"I gotta admit, I brought a lot of that onmyself, by being unfriendly." Kate hung her head. "Jim was tooproud to ask for help. And he thought I was flirting if I looked atanother man."
"Yeah, pride can sure pull a fast one onyou." Dickens nodded as he stirred the sugar in his coffee.
"Well now Wes, you are mighty quiet today."Dickens noted.
"Just listening." Wes smiled.
"Tell me, you seen any more of that cat outthere?" Dickens asked.
Wes quirked his head, "Cat?"
"Yeah, the one that got a hold of herhusband."
"I hadn't even thought about it. But if hetook blood then he could be dangerous." Wes fretted. "I haven'tseen any signs of a cat around though, of course I wasn'tlooking."
"Sure could son, sure could." Dickens raiseda brow. "And they tell me, once they mark their territory, theycome back to it, especially if they took blood."
"You think there might be more trouble fromhim?" Kate's eyes widened.
"Could be."
"One more load and we'll have the cornpulled. Then I could take some time to scout the place a bit. Ifhe's around it shouldn't be too hard to find traces of him."
"Mr. Dickens, I can't have Wes scouting forthat cat, it might get him too." Kate slapped the table hard. "ThenI'd feel responsible."
"Well you sure can't hunt him down yourself,Kate. And you could be in danger out there. He's already marked theplace with his blood."
Dickens firmed his lips and then smiled."Wes is a good hunter Kate. He can take care of himself. Besides,he'll be after stock next I expect."
"That's true." Wes affirmed.
"But I can't afford to lose my one and onlyhand!" she complained.
"Might lose more than that if we don't catchhim." Wes informed her. "A cat don't just come once and never seenagain. No ma'am, he'll be stalking around looking for more."
"But—"
"Don't you fret, Wes knows how to handlesuch things. And you need him to check it out, at least." Dickenspointed out.
"But wouldn't we hear him, if he wasabout?"
"Maybe, cat's have big territories, youcould be after someone else next time." Dickens said plainly."Heard tell they claim up to twenty miles of territory as theirown."
"I hadn't thought of that." Katemurmured.
"You just let us men take care of that Kate.It isn't women's business." Dickens insisted.
"I guess I got a lot to learn, don't I?" shesounded contrite. "But I couldn't go through another night like Idid when I found Jim."
"No ma'am, I don't think you could." Dickensstared at her suddenly pale face.
"You don't know how bad I felt dragging himbehind that mule. I just couldn't lift him. And I was so bloodiedby the time I got to the Tate's place I had to throw away thoseclothes, I'd have never got the stains out. The Tate's probablythought I was insane that night, the way I looked."
Dickens chuckled, "All of us go throughthings like that out here, Kate. And they are old enough tounderstand that."
"I need to go over and thank them forfetching the Reverend and undertaker." Kate looked as though shehad just thought of it.
"That'd be a good start in getting to knowyour neighbors. You see, it's alright to have problems like that,we all do, but going back and thanking them would go a long way toimpressing them."
"Manners you mean." Kate chuckled.
"Yeah, that's the word. Manners."
"You're right. I'll do that."
She drank her coffee and Wes and Dickenstalked for a bit, then they headed back to the farm.
But they were nearly there when they raninto the Smith boys.
"Well now, lookie here, Arnold, looks likeJim Marley's wife has a new man. Ain't that somethin'?" Brent Smithhollered putting his wagon in the way so Wes would have to goaround.
"Mr. Smith, your wagon is blocking theroad." Kate noticed.
"Ain't you gonna introduce your new man tous?" Brent asked.
"Wes Dolan, these are the Smith boys, theylive on the other side of me." She told Wes.
"Gentlemen!" Wes tipped his hat.
"Where's Jim?"
"He died!" Kate said very plainly.
"Died? From what?" Arnold the younger oneasked.
"Cougar." Wes said matter-of-factly.
"A cat, well, why didn't you tell us? I meana cat can do a lot of harm. Did Jim kill it before he got it?"
"No, there was no sign of the cat when I gotto Jim." Kate told them.
"Well," Brent glanced at his brother. "Webest be tellin' Pa about this. He'll want to get to the huntin' ofhim. In fact, did you tell anyone?"
"Just the Tate's, the Reverend, theundertaker, and Dickens."
"Well, we
