Jack’s voice faded away. “Whatever you think.” His head sagged and Jordy eased him back.
Chapter Fifty-One
The dog cart had been converted to a cozy nest, with Jordy and Sierra adding their own bedrolls to Jack’s to cushion the floor. Jack mostly slept as the riders made their way across the prairie. The terrain would not be considered forested and the grass was not lush. Mesquite was plentiful and they did come across some scattered oaks and cottonwoods and even a cluster of willows along a stream where they were able to replenish water supplies and water the horses. By the end of the day, they had moved into some hill country, but the hillocks proved to impose no obstacles, offering sufficient gaps between them to permit passage.
They took a break late afternoon near a spring that erupted from a limestone hillside and trickled down the slope and ran off in a stream that was no more than a foot wide. Jordy built a small dam from dirt and stones to catch the flow in a little pool for the horses to drink and then filled canteens from the water’s source. They agreed to nap and rest the horses for four or five hours, then saddle up for a night ride.
Sierra found some ground at the base of the hillock that had silted in over the years that promised some softness for bedrolls. Jordy assisted Jack out of the cart and helped him stagger off to relieve his bladder. Unfortunately, the urine came in drops and was colored a dirty yellow. They needed to get him to drink more water. Jordy had about given up on getting Jack to eat. Sierra had removed the bedrolls from the cart and spread them out side by side, hers next to Jack’s, leaving room for Thor on the other side. Jordy’s was next to Sierra’s, but he noted she had kept a good yard between them. He did not care. A woman was the last thing on his mind right now. Well, sometimes when he watched her scurry about and move that firm fanny just so, his mind wandered where it should not.
Sierra did have some luck encouraging Jack to drink a fair amount of water before she let him lie down on his bedroll. They shared the hardtack and some dried beef with Thor before the dog returned to Jack’s side. During another time, Thor would have chased down a rabbit or dug up some varmint to supplement his meal, but the dog never let Jack out of his sight now.
“I’ll build a fire and make coffee when we get up, unless you want some now,” Jordy said.
“Wait till we get up. That’s when I’ll need it. Could we walk a few minutes before we try to rest?”
“Sure. I doubt if I will sleep much anyhow,” Jordy said.
Leaving Jack in Thor’s care, they strolled a short distance away from where the bedrolls lay, checking the horses they had staked out nearby as they walked. Jordy was surprised when Sierra slipped her hand into his and grasped it.
“He is dying, isn’t he, Jordy?”
“The odds aren’t good for him. Every time I go to check on him, I worry he won’t be breathing. He can’t always talk, and when he does it’s a whisper. Our best hope is to keep him alive till we reach Tess’s. Maybe she can pull out a miracle. The important thing is that we get him there alive. We’ve got to do that much for him.”
“Is Grandpa Jack a religious man?”
“I’ve been with him fifteen years, and I can’t answer that. He thinks about religion a lot and he’s got lots of books about different religions. When I was fourteen, he insisted I read the Bible cover to cover and quizzed me on it to be sure I wasn’t just flipping pages. It turned out to be mighty interesting reading. He said I could pick what to believe, if anything, but an educated man in America needed to know and have some understanding of the Bible.”
“So you didn’t go to church much?”
Jordy smiled, “Nope. Easters with the Army chaplain after Fort Concho was built, then the Methodists after they organized a congregation in San Angelo. Jack did funerals and even weddings if he couldn’t weasel out of it. He said he liked to go Easters to hedge his bets. Of course, he never discouraged me from going. But I was never much motivated.”
“So he’s not an atheist?”
“No. He would dismiss that notion out of hand. He always says religious folks cannot prove what they believe. It is a matter of faith. But Jack points out that atheists cannot prove otherwise, so they cannot arrogantly claim superiority. They just have faith in what is not, sort of a religion that denies the existence of God.”
Sierra said, “I was baptized Catholic. Mama was devout, and while she was alive, I went to mass with her every Sunday. Papa was Methodist but he deferred to Mama on religious matters. After Mama died, I attended church with him until we moved out on the prairie where there weren’t any churches. When he sent me to school in San Antonio, I went to confession sometimes and went to mass quite often, but my behavior there was not angelic by any means.”
“Now that might be an interesting story.”
“Well, you are not going to hear it, so put that notion out of your head. Anyway, I am a Christian and firm believer, and I have been praying for Grandpa Jack.”
They turned back toward the bedrolls. He was aware she had not released his hand, and he rather liked hers entwined with his. He attached no significance to it beyond that she had become comfortable with him, like a little sister. But he still was not feeling like an older brother.
Jordy said, “The only thing I remember about church
