“You’re having breakfast with us in the morning; aren’t you?”
“Probably. It depends on how soon I have Mars and Vulcan ready to go.”
“Maybe I’ll bribe Charlie to take his time filling your food pack.”
Jake laughed as he stood then he and Dave left the office.
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Four hours later, Jake blew out his bedroom’s lamp, then slid beneath his quilts. He had moved everything he’d be taking with him to the barn and would only have to add Charlie’s food pack before he left. He was ready and anxious to begin his search. While finding his father and learning what had happened that fateful day was still important, his need to return unharmed to Sara was now his top priority. He hoped that it didn’t interfere with his need to find his father or drive him into distraction before he even reached Helena. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t bumped into her on Friday. He might have spent much more time trying to find his father, but he was certain that even if he hadn’t returned to the Elk by November, Sara would still be waiting.
But he was still happy that they’d had that accidental near collision. He just wished he could spend a little more time talking to her before he left in the morning.
CHAPTER 5
Jake waved to the crowd of Elk men before he turned Mars toward the access road. He was leaving later than he’d expected as he had indulged in a larger breakfast with the men. Charlie had stuffed the food pannier, and Jake had thought about shifting some of the weightier foodstuff to his personal pack, but just used the Sharps to offset much of the weight disparity.
He turned onto the westbound road and didn’t look back before setting Mars to a medium trot. He still hoped to reach Fort Shaw before sunset. It shouldn’t put that much strain on his two powerful young geldings. The long summer day still gave him another ten hours of sunshine to cover the sixty miles. He’d take breaks fairly often but was confident in Mars and Vulcan’s speed and endurance.
The road between Fort Shaw and Fort Benton, while not as busy as it had been in the past, was still well-traveled. He expected to meet oncoming traffic during his long ride but didn’t see anyone on the road stretching out before him. He hadn’t seen anyone leaving the town when he left the ranch either, so he’d have the roadway to himself for a while. The traffic heading to Fort Benton wouldn’t start appearing for until early in the afternoon.
It was already surprisingly warm for this time of day, and Jake expected to shed his light jacket before much longer. He had his heavy coat in his clothing pannier for the still chilly nights but wasn’t planning on riding after sunset.
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He shrugged off his light gray jacket after he’d been riding for two hours. Mars and Vulcan hadn’t shown any signs of fatigue yet, but Jake was still going to stop to let them rest at the next creek.
He still hadn’t seen any oncoming traffic but hadn’t expected to find any yet. He was still a good forty plus miles from Fort Shaw.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled Mars to a stop and let him and his brother drink from a small stream while he lifted a canteen, unscrewed the cap and took a few swallows. He had eaten so much at breakfast that he wasn’t even sure he’d stop for lunch.
After his horses were watered, he resumed the westward ride. He was proud of himself for not woolgathering even though he hadn’t seen a single soul. While he hadn’t spotted any traffic, he was well aware of the threat of highwaymen. There weren’t as many as there had been when the road was busy, but they still preyed on unwary travelers and freight wagons.
The landscape was all new to him but didn’t appear any different than the land that made up the Elk. Aside from a few hills and sporadic, small pine forests, it was mostly flat plains of tall grass. If it hadn’t been for the mountains along the southern and western horizons, it would look much like the Great Plains. There were more rivers and creeks crisscrossing the land than in Dakota Territory and even the hills were probably much taller than those one might find in the Plains. He knew that the Teton River was to his north and the Missouri River was just out of sight to the south. He estimated that he was near the Great Falls that made Fort Benton the last port of the Missouri that could be reached by riverboat. It was what made the town so important as traders and then miners used it to deliver their finds and to stock up on supplies.
He was still looking south when he realized that he had let his mind drift. He snapped into the real world and turned his eyes to the front. Seconds later, he picked up a dust cloud in the distance. He expected to see traffic about this time, so he wasn’t concerned. Outlaws didn’t usually like to be seen. So, he just continued at the same pace and soon picked up the traffic that was creating the dust cloud.
He still wasn’t worried but when he was able to see more clearly, he noticed it was a single rider leading a pack horse. If it had been two men, he wouldn’t have acted at all, but as he stared at the oncoming rider, he wondered if it was his father returning from Helena. The horses seemed unremarkable, so it could be his father riding the two plain brown geldings that Dave had seen him use to make his escape. Jake couldn’t make out
