Amos snickered as Fred looked at Jake and said, “I spotted him comin’ down the road and figgered he was gonna stop by to leave his horses. But he didn’t even come into town. I remembered him ‘cause he headed north takin’ the trail to Woman’s Breast. I took him to be some kinda outlaw to be goin’ that way, so I just watched for a minute to make sure he didn’t come back. He didn’t, so I joined Amos to get ourselves some free food.”
Jake knew he’d been incredibly fortunate to have asked the only man who had probably seen his father after he left the ranch.
“Did you see if he had a cream-colored Stetson with a dark band?”
Fred shook his head as he answered, “It was around sunset, and he never got that close. I couldn’t even tell you if those horses were all brown or had markings. They coulda been mares or stallions for all I know.”
Amos then asked, “So, do you wanna leave your big boys with us for the night?”
Jake glanced at the low sun as he replied, “I think I’ll head up that way to see if he’s still there. You didn’t see him come back; did you?”
Amos replied, “Nope. But that don’t mean much. You could ask the soldiers. Maybe one of them saw him passin’ by again.”
“Does anyone still call Woman’s Breast home anymore?”
Fred answered, “I reckon the only ones still livin’ up there are squatters and a few prospectors. That’s why I was kinda surprised to see him head that way.”
“I can’t figure out why he would either, but it won’t hurt to check. Thanks for your help. I’ll stop by on the way back and maybe Mars and Vulcan will grace your livery for a night.”
Amos chuckled as he said, “You sure use big words, son. You musta had a lot of schoolin’”
“I only reached the third grade before I had to start pulling my weight on my father’s ranch. My mother was my teacher after that.”
As Jake mounted, Fred said, “You must have a right smart mother.”
Jake looked down as he said, “I did until my father murdered her on the second of July. That’s why I’m looking for him.”
Both Stoker brothers just stared at Jake as he wheeled Mars about and walked him out of Fort Shaw.
Once on the road, Jake headed north, and soon the road degraded into little more than an almost unused trail as the prairie grass reclaimed the prepared ground. He’d ridden for about five miles when the blue sky began shifting to a light red. He knew he could reach Woman’s Breast in less than three hours, but he didn’t want to ride into an unknown place and a possibly dangerous situation in the darkness. The moon wouldn’t even be a sliver tonight, so Jake decided to pull up when he found water for Mars and Vulcan.
The sunset turned the entire sky red from horizon to horizon when he found a nice stream that bowed close to the trail just ten minutes later and turned Mars to the right. He dismounted and as they dipped their muzzles into the water, Jake began removing Vulcan’s packs.
As he prepared his cold camp, Jake tried to understand why his father would choose to go to a town that was a borderline ghost town rather than head to Helena. Maybe he was concerned that Sheriff Zendt had wired a warrant for his arrest to the county sheriff. If he’d headed north to lay low for a while, it would make sense. But Jake doubted if he had taken enough supplies to last three weeks. He probably had enough money to buy the whole town, but Jake suspected that it was more likely that he had ridden south after a few days. He could have passed through Fort Shaw at night.
While Mars and Vulcan grazed on the smorgasbord of prairie grass, Jake opened the food pannier and pulled out a paper sack. When he opened it, he was greeted with the wonderful scent of bacon. He reached inside and took out a massive bacon and fried egg sandwich. If the slices of crusty bread hadn’t been so thick, the grease would have turned it into a soggy mess. There were two sandwiches in the bag, but he doubted that would be able to finish them both.
He wolfed down the first sandwich in just a minute before he belched and drank some water from one of the canteens. He left the second sandwich in the bag while he finished setting up his camp and let his stomach deal with the mass of grease that he’d sent down his natural well.
Jake laid out his bedroll and thought about adding his blanket, but decided it wasn’t necessary. He sat on the bedroll, removed his Colt and took his cleaning kit from his saddlebags. After he removed the spent casing, he tossed it away and pulled a fresh .45 Long Colt cartridge from his gunbelt’s loop. He inserted it into the empty chamber and after closing the loading gate and releasing the hammer, he suddenly realized that Fred Stoker may not have seen his father at all. He might have been the man who planned to rob him earlier that day.
He had noticed the poor quality of the man’s horses, but now tried to recall their coloring. They were both shades of brown, but the packhorse was almost tan. But Fred said he wasn’t sure in the low light, so it could have been the highwayman and not his father. Maybe the outlaw was hiding out in Woman’s Breast until he needed to find another victim. It made more sense than his father heading that way, but Jake would still ride to the
