crazy.'
Dish remembered the night before he had hired on with the Hat Creek outfit, when Gus had lent him two dollars for the same purpose on which he had apparently spent fifty. There was no figuring the man out.
'You oughtn't to blabbed,' he told Lippy.
'I ain't told nobody else,' Lippy said, realizing himself that he shouldn't have blabbed.
Lippy soon went back to the wagon, subdued by his own indiscretion, but not before assuring Dish that the story would go no further.
Dish unsaddled his horse and got his bedroll. He lay on the blanket all night, his head on his saddle, thinking of Lorie, wondering if his chance with her would ever come.
The Kansas sky was thickly seeded with stars. He listened to the Irishman sing the sad songs that seemed to soothe the cattle. He spent the whole night thinking about the woman in the tent nearby, imagining things that might happen when they finally came to Montana and were through with the trail. He didn't sleep, or want to sleep, for there was no telling when he would get a chance to spend another night close to her. His horse grazed nearby on the good grass, which grew wet with dew as the morning came.
Dish saddled a little before sunup and rode out to look at the herd, which was perfectly peaceful. Then he went to the wagon, ignoring Jasper and Soupy, who were as insolent as ever. He wanted to teach them both a lesson, but couldn't afford the time. The herd had to be set moving, and somebody would have to hold the point. It was a ticklish problem, for he couldn't hold the point and help Lorie too. He fixed a plate for Lorena and just grabbed a hunk of bacon for himself.
'Why, look at him, he's taking her breakfast,' Jasper said. 'Dish, you're so good at toting food, you ought to work in a hotel.'
Dish ignored this sally and walked over to the tent with the plate of food. He was hoping she would be in a talking mood. All night, as he had lain awake, he had thought of things he might say to her, things that would make her see how much he loved her or convince her how happy he could make her. If he could just get her talking for five minutes he might have the opportunity to change everything.
But when he walked up to the tent, Lorena was already standing outside it, buttoning her shirt. She turned and he stopped and blushed, fearful that he had ruined everything by approaching at the wrong time. All the speeches he had practiced in the night left him at once.
'I brought your breakfast,' he said.
Lorena saw that he was embarrassed, although she had only had the top button to go on her shirt. It was just a second of awkwardness, but it brought back memories of her old life and reminded her how it had once pleased her to embarrass men. They might pay her, but they could never really get their money's worth, for being embarrassed. She had only to look them in the eye for it to happen-it was her revenge. It didn't work on Gus, but there were precious few like Gus.
'I'll take down the tent while you eat,' Dish said.
Lorena sat on her saddle and ate. It took Dish only a few minutes to roll up the tent and carry it to the wagon. Then he came back and saddled her horse for her.
'I've got to ride the point,' he said. 'Just follow along with the wagon. Lippy and the cook will look after you. If you need anything, send for me.'
'I need Gus,' Lorena said. 'I wish he hadn't left. Do you think he'll come back?'
'Oh, why, of course he will,' Dish said. It was the friendliest she had ever talked to him, though it was about Gus.
'I get shaky,' she said. 'Gus knows why. I hope he gets back tonight.'
'It depends on how big a start the horsethieves had,' Dish said.
The day passed, and there was no sign of Gus. Lorena rode close to the wagon. Every few minutes Lippy turned and looked back at her as if he had never seen her before. Almost every time he did, he tipped his hat, which was even filthier than it had been when he worked in the saloon. Lorena didn't acknowledge him-she remembered how he had always tried to look up her skirts when she came downstairs. She just rode along, watching the horizon to see if she could spot Gus returning. The horizon shimmered so that it would have been hard to see Gus in any case.
They crossed a little creek about noon. There were a few scraggly bushes growing along the line of the creek. Lorena didn't pay them much attention, but Po Campo did. When the herd had moved on, he came walking over to her, his sack half full of wild plums.
'These plums are sweet,' he said, handing her a few.
She dismounted and ate the plums, which indeed were sweet. Then she walked over and washed her face in the creek. The water was green and cold.
'Snow water,' Po Campo said.
'I don't see no snow,' she said.
'It comes from up there,' Po Campo said, pointing west. 'From those mountains you can't see.'
Lorena looked but could only see the brown plain. She ate a few more of the wild plums.
'I've been finding onions,' Po said. 'That's good. I'll put them in the beans.'
I wish you'd find Gus, she thought, but of course that was impossible. They rode into the dusk, but Gus did not return. Soon after the herd was bedded, Dish came and unrolled the little tent. He could tell from Lorena's face that she was sad. She had unsaddled, and she sat by her saddle in the grass. It pained him to see her look so alone and so tired. He tried to think of something to say that might cheer her up, but words had deserted him again. They always seemed to desert him just when he needed them most.
'I guess those horsethieves had a big start on them,' he said.
'He could be dead,' Lorena said.
'No, not Gus,' Dish said. 'He's had lots of experience with horsethieves. Besides, he's got the Captain with him. They're expert fighters.'
Lorena knew that. She had seen Gus kill the Kiowas and the buffalo hunters. But it didn't ease her fears. She would have to lie in the tent all night, worrying. A bullet could hit anyone, she knew-even Gus. If he didn't come back, she would have no hope of protection.
'Well, I'll always help, if you'll let me,' Dish said. 'I'll do about anything for you, Lorie.'
Lorena knew that already, but she didn't want him to do anything for her. She didn't answer, and she didn't eat, either. She went into the tent and lay awake all night while Dish Boggett sat nearby, keeping watch. It seemed to him he had never felt so lonely. The mere fact that she was so close, and yet they were separate, made the loneliness keener. When he had just thrown his blanket down with the boys, he didn't imagine her so much, and he could sleep. Now she was just a few yards away-he could have crept up to the tent and heard her breathing. And yet it seemed he would never be able to eliminate those few yards. In some way Lorie would always be as distant from him as the Kansas stars. At times he felt that he had almost rather not be in love with her, for it brought him no peace. What was the use of it, if it was only going to be so painful? And yet, she had spoken to him in a friendly voice only that day. He couldn't give up while there was a chance.
He lay awake all night with his head on his saddle, thinking of Lorie-not sleeping, nor even wanting to.
74.
WHEN THEY FOUND Wilbarger's man Chick and the boy who had been traveling with them, there wasn't much left to bury. The coyotes and buzzards had had a full day at them. As they rode toward the little knoll where the buzzards swarmed, they passed a fat old badger carrying a human hand-a black hand at that. Newt was stunned-he assumed they would shoot the badger and get the hand back so it could be buried, but no one seemed concerned that the badger had someone's hand.
'He had a hand,' he pointed out to Pea Eye.
'Well, whoseever it was won't be using it no more, and that old badger had to work for it with all them dern buzzards around,' Pea Eye said. 'A hand is mostly just bone, anyway.'
Newt didn't see what that had to do with it-it was still a human hand.
'Yes, that's interesting,' Augustus said. 'That old badger made a good snatch and got himself a few bones. But
