Lonely On the Mountain (1980) Read Online Free Page A

see you?" "Uh-huh. I laid it out nice and ready for him. I think they're hard up." I turned to Gilcrist and the Ox. "When you finish, ride out and let Cap and Brandy come in." The Ox wiped his hands on his pants. "Do the kid good to wait a mite. Teach him something." I looked across the fire at him. "If he needs teaching, I'll teach him. You relieve him." The Ox leaned back on his elbow. "Hell, I just got here. They can wait." "Relieve him," I said, "now." The Ox hesitated, then slowly got to his feet, deliberately prolonging the movements.
    "Oh, all right," he said. "I'll go let mama's little boy come in." He mounted his horse and rode out. Gilcrist got to his feet, then commented, "Better go easy with him. He's a mighty mean man." "Where I come from they're all mean if you push them," I said. "If he stays on this job, he'll do his work." Gilcrist looked around. "Mighty big country out here. Looks to me like a man could do what he wanted." "Boot Hill is full of men who had that idea." Tyrel spoke casually, as if bored.
    "It's a big country, all right, big enough for men who are big enough." Gilcrist mounted up and rode out, and Tyrel threw his coffee on the grass. "Looks like trouble." "I saw it when I hired them, but who else could I get? Nobody wanted to ride north into wild country." "Maybe they wanted to. Maybe they had reason." "That big one," I commented, "looks strong enough to wrassle a bull. Maybe I should save him for Logan. Logan likes his kind." "Maybe. Maybe you won't be able to save him, Tell. Maybe he won't wait that long." Cold winds blew down from the north, and there were occasional spitting rains. The scattered patches of snow were disappearing, however, and the trees along the river bottoms were green. There were pussywillows along the bottoms, too, and patches of crocus growing near the snow.
    We moved north, day after day, following the course of the James River but holding to the hills on one side or the other.
    As we came down the hill into the valley where the James and Pipestem met, Tyrel rode over to where I was. "Cold," he said, meanin' the wind, "mighty cold!" "There's wood along the river," I said, "and we'll rest up for a couple of days. It's needful that Orrin have time. No tellin' whether he'll find the men we need or not." "Wish we could get rid of them two." Tyrel gestured toward the Ox and Gilcrist.
    "I just don't cotton to them." "Nor me," I said, "an' old Cap is keepin' his mouth shut, but it's hard." Turning to look at him, I said, "Tye, all day I've been thinkin' of the mountains back home. Must be I'm gettin' old or something, but I keep thinkin' of how it was back home with ma sittin' by the fire workin' on her patchwork quilt. Night came early in the winter months, and lookin' out the window a body could see pa's lanterns making patterns on the snow as he walked about. He'd be doin' the last of the chores, but when he came in, he always brought an armful of wood for the wood box." "I recall," Tyrel said. "We sure spent some time climbin' around those mountains! All the way from Chunky Gal to Roan Mountain. I mind the time Orrin got lost over to Huggins Hell and was plumb out of sight for three days." "I wasn't there then. I'd already slipped along the mountains and over the Ohio to join up with the Union." "Nolan went t'other way. He rode down to Richmond and joined the Confederacy. We had people on both sides." "It was that kind of a war," I commented, and changed the subject. "When we were talkin' about who'd been to the north, I clean forgot the drive I made right after the war. Went up the Bozeman Trail into Montana. I didn't stay no longer than to get myself turned around and headed back, although it was a different trail I rode on the return.
    "It was on the way up I got my first taste of the Sioux. They're a rough lot, Tyrel.
    Don't you take them light." Tyrel chuckled suddenly. "Tell? You mindful of an old friend of yours? The one we called Highpockets?" "You mean Haney?