Finding Her Page 3

  Aiden thought about that. "Even if what you say is true, I got a job to do O'Riley. And I'm going to do it right."

  "I know it. I know that much well. But you're going to catch a little cougar and she's wild as she can be, untamed. You're going to bring her back to civilization to be ridiculed and spat on. Then they are going to badger her with questions and try to persuade her to go against the only people that were ever good to her. That's no life for her to live."

  "Well what the hell can I do about it, O'Riley? It could save her people's life. Besides, there is no way I could kill her."

  "You sweet on her?"

  Aiden seemed to pause, "I don't know. I get along with here well. Always have. Let's just call it a soft spot."

  "Maybe this will give you a chance to find out just how soft a spot you got."

  "Maybe." Aiden tossed him a smile.

  "I wondered what kind of woman would tame you."

  O'Riley shook his head and started scrubbing away. "You got feelings for her, don't you boy?"

  Aiden smiled, his mind going back to the sixteen-year-old girl, "I don't know. I've wrestled with that question many times. Hell, I guess I do, but don't spread it around."

  "She's the only one I ever heard you talk about for more than five minutes." O'Riley smiled, "Maybe it's time you found out?"

  "Maybe you're right." He smiled in reflection.

  Chapter Two

  The higher he climbed, the cooler the air, Aiden put his long coat on and adjusted his hat as he wound slowly around the forested area of the Black Hills. There were steep inclines to manage and dense forests that had to be maneuvered through. He took his time, he had all winter to accomplish his goal. He could do this.

  The problem was, he wasn't sure he should be doing this. Yes, he'd try to find the little girl, but finding Lucy and bringing her back still left a niggling in the back of his mind.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the Winters. They were struggling through the snow and he knew Mrs. Winters was quite an impatient person. He told the Winters to take it slowly and not force their horses and the horses would adapt, whereas they might not if they tried to travel too quickly. Some parts of this country were more than a little treacherous. In places the climb was steep, in other places the forest was so thick it had to be maneuvered, even cut through at times. The struggles to climb, the forest, and then the huge amount of snowfall made this trip miserable for the best of scouts. It was the wrong time of the year to go traipsing about the countryside. All combined it was hard on the horses and on man. Aiden didn't know why they insisted on coming in this kind of weather, but if they could stand it, fine. There were few trails, but he'd been up here a few years before and he knew better ways of getting around the hills now.

  His first night they camped near a clear stream and he caught several good-sized fish for their supper. The water was already starting to freeze so he knew it would be an early winter. He enjoyed this part of the trip as the temperature hadn't dropped so drastically yet.

  Mr. Winters was no more help than his wife, expecting him to do all the work of taking care of the horses and building a fire.

  Aiden wasn't enjoying the nasty temperament of Mrs. Winters though. She complained about everything and Aiden was tired of it. Her husband rarely got in a word edgewise.

  She was constantly asking Aiden questions and prodding him onward.

  Despite the company though, Aiden found himself in his own elements here. He enjoyed the out of doors. He didn't like the weather, but he knew he could do nothing about it except be prepared for it.

  He passed a few pronghorns, a couple of mule deer. Wildlife was abundant here in the summer, but harder to find in the winter months. It was the middle of November and he knew before long he was going to feel the chill to his bones, especially when the wind kicked up.

  He couldn't kill any big animals to eat as they'd have to spend a day cleaning and cooking it. There was time for that luxury. He wanted to get his business taken care of and get back for that long-awaited vacation the Major promised him. Just thinking about it made him relax a little.

  He had protective clothes on, he hated wearing but, in this weather, he knew it was not something he had a choice in. He'd told the Winters to dress reasonable for freezing weather. At least about that, they took his advice.

  He took his saddle and sleeping gear and laid it on a slope. He watered his horse and noticed how Smoky, his horse was growing a thicker coat of beautiful hair. He patted him on the rump. "Gonna be a cold winter boy."

  The horse neighed. He saw the Winter's horses too, as they acted as though he were to do everything for them. Why couldn't they have remained back at the fort, they would only hinder him in his job.

  His campfire was warming him as he made the coffee and on his way to the stream he glanced through the trees. It was quiet up here and he usually enjoyed his trips to this area. But this trip was laden with something he didn't think wise. Taking a woman in to face who knew what at the fort. Despite anything Lucy might have done, he couldn't imagine making her go to the fort, the one place she didn’t want to be.

  He should have turned the Major down flat, especially about Lucy. This wasn't his kind of work. Still, if Lucy was causing troubles, catching her would stop the problems before they got any worse. And he knew better how to handle her than anyone, he figured. What he couldn't live with was taking her into the fort with all the other white women staring and gossiping about her. She didn't deserve that kind of treatment, but he knew that's what she'd get at the fort. He'd have to hog tie her to get her to go in the first place.

  Major Marsh was rather a strictly by the book officer and Aiden was sure he meant to do more than talk to her, and that rankled him. He'd never been sure how far he could trust the man, although his men called him fair, this was something that would earn him some recognition. And he wondered if Colonel Gibbon knew about this.

  He cooked the fish for them and prepared to sleep. His blanket was made with his rain slicker on bottom to seal in the heat from his body, and keep the moisture out, his blankets were wool and cotton and thicker than his summer gear. He had a couple of changes of clothes and he wore his long oil skin duster to keep out the dampness and warm him. His clothes were layered for warmth and comfort.

  The woman had so many clothes on, she could hardly get about. She wore a heavy wool skirt and jacket she had a woolen scarf around her neck and good long boots. The man didn't have enough. But one thing about the man, he didn't complain like his wife.

  Aiden always brought a supply of tobacco, although he never smoked. He found it was one way to make friends easily. He didn't wear chaps often as they were bulky and made it harder to draw his gun. He always carried a Colt, and a rifle, and a knife.

  Part of his success was learning through his twenty-seven-years to dress right and carry the right equipment for any job. Being prepared kept him alive.

  The first night out he heard some wolves farther up the mountain, a lonely old owl kept him alert to any moving around.

  Mrs. Winters got up in the middle of the night when Aiden woke to a far-off mountain lion.

  "I suggest you try to get some sleep ma'am." He told her.

  "Is that cat close?"

  "No ma'am. Nor the wolves."

  "I'm just so worried about Peggy, she's so little." She wrung her hands together. "Are you married Mr. McCoy?"

  "No, never had the pleasure."

  "I was so proud to be a mother. So happy when she was born. Then my husband died and fear for the first time in my life took me over. Everything scared me. Have you ever been afraid Mr. McCoy?"

  "I think everyone is afraid of something."

  "Now this fear of losing my child forever scares me witless."

  "You said your husband died?"

  "Yes, my first husband. He had the cholera."

  "I'm sorry. Look, we'll do everything we can to find her. The Sioux have no doubt taken her as their own, and will treat her with love,
I can tell you that much."

  "Love?"

  "Yes ma'am, they love their children."

  "But she's mine!"

  He looked at her, and shook his head, "Not right now, she isn't."

  Aiden frowned, "Can you tell me how it happened, ma'am?"

  "The Indians attached our military wagon train, and the Lieutenant said it was a Sioux war party. About twenty of them. I was reloading Franks' rifle and not watching the wagon. When I went to check on her, she was gone, and so were the Indians."

  "So, you didn't actually see them take her?" Aiden frowned again.

  "Well, no, of course not, but who else could have?" she asked.

  "I don't know ma'am. Are you sure they were Sioux?"

  "That's what the soldiers said."

  Aiden nodded, "Well, we'll see what we can do."

  "She will be alright, won't she?"

  "Yes ma'am. They don't normally kill children. And if they had wanted that, they'd have done it there at the wagon. In a mourning war, they take another child, a white child as their own to replace the child of theirs that died. They figure it's only fair. A life for a life, an eye for an eye."

  "Well, that's good to know. But to be raised like an Indian, isn't that as bad as killing her?"

  Aiden considered that question. He thought of Lucy and a frown marred his otherwise pleasant features. "Get some sleep now. We have a long day tomorrow." Aiden told her, he wasn't going to try to tell her that they would treat her as their own. She wouldn't understand that, it was obvious she thought them savages, like most white people.

  She nodded. "Goodnight."

  "Goodnight."

  The next morning, he had some coffee to wake him up and ate some fat back and biscuit one of the barmaids made for him at the fort. He had enough so he shared them with the Winters.

  The first snow had fallen but it was light and barely froze the ground. He was glad he got a head start on winter. The second night went well, he managed to catch a rabbit for supper although it was a meager meal splitting it three ways.

  The third night he ran into an unfriendly black bear and killed him. It was hibernating time and they didn't like being surprised. Mrs. Winters screamed as though the bear meant to attack her and Aiden's reflexes had him downing the bear in one shot. Had she not screamed the bear might have gone on, and not bothered them. He dressed him out and cooked a big roast that they could eat on for days as they traveled. He kept the hide to warm himself with when it got really cold. He couldn't dress it out like he wanted tan it, but he could always use it as a blanket under him.

  As he climbed high though the temperature started changing, it was much colder and the next night he nearly froze when it snowed again, this time harder and longer. He used the bear skin to stay warm and kept traveling for the next few days. He kept them at a steady pace, but the odd part was, they hadn't seen a soul up here.

  Naturally the dead of winter most people had enough sense not to be traveling these hills. All but the Indians, this was their home, and they knew it well.

  That changed the next day. Running into a couple of bushwhackers he had to shoot one in the leg when they tried to steal his pack horse. The other man gave up and Aiden sent them on their way after he helped build a travois for him to haul his friend with.

  "Don't let me catch you around here anymore or I'll kill you next time." Aiden warned them.

  "Sorry mister, it was hard travelin' two on a horse though in this kind of snow."

  "Next time carry you some pack animals so you can change them out," Aiden advised the man.

  "Yeah, we'll do that. But we kind of figured we could take one of your pack horses. All we needed was one. We wasn't trying to be unfriendly."

  Aiden came right up to the man, almost nose to nose. "I got business on this mountain, and I'll be needing theses horses. In this weather a friend doesn't take supplies, especially without asking. Now get on down the mountain or I'll turn you into the commander at the fort."

  "That's Major Mash and Colonel Gibbons with the 7th Infantry, ain't no way we want to go there, mister. That place is like Hangmen's Knot. Ever since Custer moved out this way, all they want is to kill Indians and any whites that get in the way of it."

  Aiden couldn't stop the smile.

  "Your probably right about that."

  "Yeah, Custer's been stirring up trouble all along. A bunch of them high-falootin' officers have been raising Cain with the Indians, they ain't too friendly right now. That Custer doesn't put up with much from anyone. Don't nobody like goin' to his fort."

  "Yeah, well then, don't be stealing horses and you won't have to."

  "We aren't thieves, just trying to make it down the mountain. We had pack horses, but the first night out, a Cougar scared them off."

  "Well, I’m sorry about that. Did you kill the Cougar?"

  "No, we never even seem, but we sure did hear him, and so did our horses."

  "Then he's still around."

  "I reckon so."

  "Then be on your way boys, as I have business to attend to." Aiden told them and packed up his things and was off.

  "Them folks with you?" The man asked as he spotted the woman pouring the rest of the coffee out. It was the way he was looking at Mrs. Winters that alerted Aiden to what was on his mind.

  "Yeah, they are." Aiden nodded.

  "Think we could get a bite to eat, before we leave?"

  "Help yourself, there's fatback and biscuits."

  They ate and went on their way.

  "Why did you feed those thieves?" Gloria asked him as she watched them leave, one stared back at her.

  "They were hungry for one thing. And I don't like leaving any man hungry in this time of year." Aiden smiled. "In the weather, not feeding a person is like leaving them with to die. And men like that, if you don't treat them well, they have a way of remembering. I don't want a knife in my back some night."

  "You mean they'd kill us?"

  "Ma'am up here only the strong survive. The minute you become vulnerable, you are in trouble. You treat everyone with a bit of kindness and understanding and you got a lot less trouble. We have a long trip ahead."

  "I didn't like the way he was looking at me."

  Aiden shook his head, "Can't fault a man for appreciating a good-looking woman, now can you?"

  Gloria stared at him. She stared at Aiden for a long moment. Her husband still said nothing. He wondered about him. He seemed like a nice enough character, but he kept still a lot. Aiden couldn’t figure him. He knew if he hadn't been with them, those men would have raped her and killer her husband. But he wasn't about to tell them that. He had enough to contend with the weather and the thought that a hungry cat was lurking about.

  A week later Aiden was still roaming the Black Hills trying to locate the ever-elusive White Silver Fox. There were no tracking marks in the snow that kept getting deeper, the higher they went.

  He ran into a trapper and his Indian wife a few days later and they took shelter together. The trapper was quite talkative, but the Winters preferred keeping to themselves.

  "What are you doing with those people," the trapper asked.

  "They're looking for their child, she was stolen by the Indians they think. The Sioux."

  "Ain't no place for folks like that. They don't look like they know what they are doing out here." The trapper shook his head.

  "They don't." Aiden chuckled. "What's your name friend?"

  "Name's Angus, and that there is my wife, her name's Little Foot, but I call her Pumpkin."

  "Is she Blackfoot?" Aiden asked.

  "How'd you know?"

  "I figured because of her earrings. She's kind of pretty."

  "Yeah, she's a looker. I had to fight off two suitors for her and trade everything I owned for her, but I was bound to have her for my own. We got married by the chief. Been together five years now. Best woman I ever had. She can cook too."

  "Where you two headed?"

  "I got some trading to do w
ith the Cheyenne, but they've been moving around so much, it's hard to locate them." He explained. "The Cheyenne and the Sioux. It seems they are either hiding or moving about a lot."

  "That's where we are headed too. And like you say, they are hard to locate. You are welcome to join our party if you like. These snows are so heavy, people traveling alone can have all kinds of troubles. And I'll tell you now, there's a Cougar on the run around here too."

  "Cougar huh, that ain't good news."

  "No, it isn't."

  "We thank you for the invite, and it would be safer especially in this cold. She's got some cousins married into that bunch and we do some serious trading off and on. We'll take you up on that offer to join you, then. Want to warn you, lots of trappers have wandered up here lately, set bear traps and in this snow, you'd never see them. You got to be careful."

  "Can you spot them?"

  "Usually, because I know the signs to look for."

  "I saw your mules loaded down with furs. Bear traps huh? Glad you said something about them."

  "They'll be needing those hides this winter. And I can usually tell where they are set, so I'll be on the lookout for them." He nodded. "You won't have to worry about that."

  "Why have we stopped so early in the evening," Mrs. Winters asked when she noticed Aiden camping.

  "The animals need rest, feed and taking care of, if we want to survive with them out here." Aiden told her. "In this weather, it's best to see to them regular like if you want to keep riding."

  Mrs. Winters looked at Angus and his Indian wife. "My daughter is more important than some animal, sir." She told Aiden.

  "We won't be finding anyone if we lose our horses ma'am." Aiden told her, sighing with exasperation. "In the dead of winter, with no animals, we'd soon freeze to death.

  Angus stared at the woman, "The Sioux won't hurt her. They teach their children right. They don't ever hurt them. She'll be alright until you find her. After that I don't know about you though. They've taken her as their own, more than likely to replace for their dead."