As Mars carried him up the rising roadway, Jake said, “I don’t think the possibility of running into a giant grizzly is going to prevent you from wanting to explore my refuge; will it, Sara?”
He grinned as he could hear her confident voice as she dared him to stop her. But before he could show her his private kingdom, he had to reach Helena then return. That meant that he had to stay alert.
While the rugged terrain limited his vision, it didn’t impede the scent of a dead mule. He was within a few hundred yards of the first carcass, before he spotted the buzzards circling overhead. Then both Mars and Vulcan had become skittish when they picked up the scent. The mule had been out of sight, so Jake didn’t know what had attracted the scavengers. It had been a large animal, but the most likely candidate was a large deer or even an elk.
After passing the carcass, the horses settled down and Jake no longer thought about what type of animal was feeding the vultures and four-footed scavengers.
More than an hour later, Jake began searching for a campsite. He was around a thousand yards from Izzy Huffman and Dan Newton when Mars suddenly snorted and jerked his head back. Before Jake could calm his red gelding, he heard a similar reaction from Vulcan. After he looked behind him to make sure Vulcan had calmed down, he pulled up and stood in his stirrups searching for whatever had bothered his horses. He didn’t see any vultures overhead because the second mule’s carcass was hidden by the pines. The smell of death was too dispersed for a human’s nose, but more than powerful enough for Mars and Vulcan to react.
When Jake couldn’t see any signs of another dead animal, he lowered himself into the saddle and just as a precaution, slid his Winchester from its scabbard. He didn’t cock the hammer but did release his Colt’s hammer loop. He felt a bit foolish before he nudged Mars into a walk but figured as no one was there to snicker at him, it didn’t matter.
Because the mountain on the left side of the road only left a few yards of space, he kept his eyes focused on the right side as Mars maintained a steady, slow pace. It wasn’t long before even his less sensitive sense of smell picked up the foul odor, despite the light wind taking most of it to the west. Mars and Vulcan were still a bit twitchy but seemed to have settled down. He’d keep the Winchester in his hands for another couple of minutes before he slid it home. Two minutes later, when he was still three hundred yards from the two deserters, he slid the repeater into its scabbard but left his Colt unsecured.
Dan was still sitting with his Springfield on his lap while Izzy continued looking to the south but shortly before Jake was about to enter Dan’s field of vision, he turned and looked up at Private Huffman.
“Do they hang deserters now that there ain’t no war, Izzy?”
Izzy kept his eyes on the roadway as he replied, “I think so, but I ain’t about to find out. They didn’t even need us, Danny. All we did was drill and clean stuff. They’re probably just happy ‘cause they don’t have to pay us anymore.”
Dan laughed and exclaimed, “They ain’t paid us for the last two months, Izzy!”
Jake was startled when he heard Private Newton’s loud voice. He pulled Mars to a sudden stop and quickly turned his eyes to the source. He almost missed seeing them because of the trees, but because he’d heard Dan so clearly, he was able to concentrate in the right direction. He still might have missed them if the two deserters weren’t wearing their army uniforms which still had shiny buttons and belt buckles.
He assumed that if he could see them, they would be able to see him but hadn’t spotted him yet. So, he pulled Mars back down the slope until the two men disappeared from his view and continued for another hundred yards. Once they were well out of sight, he had time to decide how to deal with them. He had only spotted two soldiers, but they might only be pickets as part of a training exercise. But the distance from Fort Shaw and the fact that it was manned by the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment made it highly unlikely. They were probably deserters, but he was puzzled about them being there. If they were running, they shouldn’t have set up camp with so much daylight remaining.
Jake sat in the saddle for another minute before he found the answer when he connected the scent of a dead animal with their choice of a campsite. He quickly added the earlier reaction by Mars and Vulcan to account for their other dead horse. It also gave him a good idea of their intentions which could have meant his death if he had continued riding.
He turned Mars to the right and pulled just off the roadway before he dismounted. He tied his red gelding’s reins to a pine branch and pulled his Winchester.
He grinned at the equine brothers and said, “I’ll be back in a little while, boys. And thanks for the warning.”
Jake walked parallel to the road about fifty to a hundred feet away as he wound around the trees and boulders. He stepped carefully to avoid making noise but didn’t think the deserters would notice even if he’d started whistling. Despite their situation, they seemed to be having a enjoying themselves.
Izzy was now sitting beside Dan but still watched the road heading south. Since Dan’s loud exclamation that alerted Jake,
