Saddlebag Dispatches—Winter 2020

Page 141

T

HE INDIAN APPEARED IN the middle of the trail. At this distance, Jedediah couldn’t be sure, but to him, he looked to be no more than seven or eight summers old. He sat slouched on a pretty paint pony just watching Jed. Mountain man instincts sent out their alarms, and Jed drew up staring back at him. Cheyenne kid for sure, he thought, noticing the beadwork patterns by habit. Jed raised his hand palm outward in the sign of peace. The kid made no move but continued to stare. Jed nudged Hoss into a walk. The kid whirled his pony and rode off up the ridge, where he disappeared in the woods and snow. Jed fingered the beading on his buckskin rifle cover thoughtfully. Now, why would that kid show himself like that and then young wouldn’t be allowed to stray far from camp. That means there’s more Cheyenne close by. Jed pulled the buckskin cover back enough to get his gloved finger on the trigger. By the time Jed reached the part of the trail where he saw the kid, snow already covered the tracks. He looked hard up the ridge where the kid went but saw

nothing. He knew this country too well to try following an Indian in this weather. “I reckon the others will know we’re here now, old hoss. We better keep an eye out and look for a place to fort up if they come for us.” He moved on down the trail. Jed’s keen eyesight set his instincts to quivering like a rattlesnake’s tail when he saw movement in a clump of aspen up ahead. He pretended not to notice but wished hard for a cluster of dead-fall or a pile of rocks to crawl into. He didn’t like moving out in the open like this with hostiles about. Whoever it was had already seen him. No point in doing anything about it now. He held Hoss to a slow walk. If my time is up, it sure is a pretty day to die. A paint pony walked out of the aspen with a kid on its back. near to death to be that far ahead of me. Jed held Hoss to a walk, searching all the while for a place to make a stand. When he glanced back, he saw the paint pony’s rump disappearing up the ridge. Like sunlight breaking through clouds, it dawned on him. “Damn,” he said as he jerked his horse off the trail


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Articles inside

Whispering West by Richard Manley Heiman

1min
pages 154-155

The Second Seminole War by John T. Biggs

24min
pages 160-169

Linda Cristal: Queen of the Silver Screen by Terry Alexander

5min
pages 156-158

Tom Starr: The Outlaw and the Man by Regina McLemore

11min
pages 134-139

Prickly Pear by Michael McLean

18min
pages 119-122, 124-125, 127

Jedediah's Passport by Dennis Doty

15min
pages 141-142, 144-147

Not So Long in the Tooth by Anthony Wood

13min
pages 149-153

Sotto Voce by Neala Ames

6min
pages 129-131, 133

A Cowboy's Dream by Kyleigh McCloud

16min
pages 101-104, 106-109

The Last Rider Part Three: Working the Line

37min
pages 68-70, 72-73, 75-78, 80-81, 83-84, 86-87

Grave Circumstances by Julie Egar

5min
pages 65-67

Maury's Mustang by Don Noel

10min
pages 58-63

Dixie's Mettle by Ben Goheen

13min
pages 51-55, 57

North Star by Sharon Frame Gay

25min
pages 39-41, 43-49

The One and Only Kirk Douglas by Terry Alexander

7min
pages 32-37

Saddlebag Dispatches—Winter 2020

13min
pages 25-27, 29-31

Boy Witch by John T. Biggs

15min
pages 15-17, 19-23

Shadows and Dust by Marleen Bussma

1min
pages 12-13

Sixgun Justice by Paul Bishop

6min
pages 8-10

Behind the Chute

2min
page 6
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