Return to Tatanka Crossing Read online

  Return to Tatanka Crossing

  The war has been over for three years but only now is Charlie Jefferson returning home.

  If he has changed during his absence, so too have the inhabitants of the Wyoming valley he left behind. Neigh-bourliness has been replaced by greed and hostility; the cluster of buildings around Sam Flint’s trading post has developed into a small township where gun-carrying saddle-tramps congregate; and a man called Brent Deacon is forging an empire at the expense of the original settlers.

  Choosing to interfere on behalf of Lars Svensson, who is accused of murder, brings Charlie into conflict with the dangerous Deacon, but the reasons for their animosity are much more personal.

  By the same author

  The Hanging of Charlie Drake

  The Drummond Brand

  In the High Bitterroots

  Return to Tatanka Crossing

  Will DuRey

  ROBERT HALE

  © Will DuRey 2012

  First published in Great Britain 2012

  ISBN 978-0-7198-2327-5

  The Crowood Press

  The Stable Block

  Crowood Lane

  Ramsbury

  Marlborough

  Wiltshire SN8 2HR

  www.bhwesterns.com

  This e-book first published in 2017

  Robert Hale is an imprint of The Crowood Press

  The right of Will DuRey to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him

  in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  CHAPTER ONE

  If Charlie Jefferson jumped to the conclusion that the rider across the river was Ruth Prescott, it wasn’t to be unexpected. She’d been predominant in his thoughts for days, ever since he’d begun the trek north from Texas; ever since he’d decided that he’d delayed his return long enough. Ruth was one of his reasons for coming home; probably the major reason. When he’d ridden off to war she’d vowed to wait for him, told him she’d watch for his return every day, and now, in the first instant of realization that the pinto rider on the far bank was a girl, his homecoming hopes appeared to be fulfilled.

  Even when the first little doubts entered his mind he refused to believe that the girl wasn’t Ruth. The fact that he was yet several miles from Tatanka Crossing and that it was a further two-hour ride beyond that to the Prescott ranch only vaguely indicated to him the likelihood that the person under his inspection wasn’t Ruth. And the blonde hair that had fallen to her shoulders when she’d removed the flat-crowned, black hat was fairer, less yellow than he remembered, and worn in a ponytail. Ruth had always avoided that style, adopting other ways to wear her hair which made her appear more ladylike than cowgirl. But he had been away almost six years. His habits had changed in that time, it was natural to assume that Ruth’s had, too.

  It wasn’t until she removed the buckskin waistcoat she wore, turned it inside out and replaced it so that the black underside showed, that Charlie realized the girl was too slim to be Ruth. Not only that, she was too young. This girl was no older than Ruth had been when he’d gone off to war, probably younger, and the emotion that had momentarily filled him now dissipated as quickly as it had grown. Disappointed though he was by the realization that the rider wasn’t Ruth, he still watched, intrigued by her behaviour.

  She had come into view upriver from where he’d stopped to refresh himself and Smoke, his grey gelding, riding below the ridge on the tree-lined slope, which fell sharply at first, then more gently to the lush riverbank. She’d pulled up the black-and-white pinto at the edge of a faint trail leading to a much-used crossing point, and had looked back in the direction of Tatanka Crossing, turning the horse in circles, keeping him active as though anticipating company that would excite horse and rider into action. Then she’d begun with her wardrobe, first removing the black hat, revealing the blonde hair that told Charlie the rider was a girl. This she hung by its cord around the saddle horn. Then she changed around the waistcoat which she was wearing over her off-white shirt, and finally she tucked her hair back inside an old, grey, soft hat, which she pulled out of a saddle-bag. Two minutes later they came.

  The first rider topped the far ridge, cast a glance behind but, without any noticeable restraint of his mount’s headlong flight, began the run down to the river. He was slim, a youthful rider dressed in black trousers and a white shirt partly covered by a black leather waistcoat. On his head he wore a grey hat. His similarity to the girl who had been under Charlie’s scrutiny did not end there. He, too, rode a black-and-white pinto and the difference of its markings from those of the animal the girl rode were not immediately clear. The pinto seemed eager to complete its downhill charge, its ears back and tail flying, but barely had it started on its way than the rider pulled it to a walk, waved a hand in acknowledgement of the girl’s presence, then turned the horse towards a particularly dense clump of elderberry bushes, many of which were scattered along the incline on that far bank. Within seconds horse and rider had disappeared from sight behind the foliage.

  Adopting a position which would ensure maximum speed from the mount she rode, the girl put heel to horse. Low in the saddle she rode, her body stretched forward, her head close to the horse’s neck. The black-and-white pinto raced down the far embankment at almost reckless speed. Obviously accustomed to this stretch of the trail, horse and rider crossed the watercourse without falter, fearless of what might lie beneath the surface. On reaching Charlie’s side of the river they galloped up the slope towards the timber line of willows and cottonwoods.

  No sooner had the pinto strided clear of the water, however, than across the river, topping the high bank at the same point where the first rider had come into view, came four more riders. They rode upright in the saddle, more cautious as their mounts plunged over the escarpment, doubtful of the pluck of the beasts as they tackled the sharp drop that began the descent. The earth subsided slightly beneath their weight and they slid and juddered their way, past the bush where the first rider remained hidden, down to the easier slope and the firm ground of the riverbank. A shout went up from one of the four as the fast moving pinto was spotted, then gunshots, two, fired without any hope of hitting their quarry because the distance between was too great for a revolver, but the noise served to announce their presence, a signal of their intention which drew a backcast look from the girl in front.

  The four splashed through the shallow, quick-running stream, less wary than they might have been of under-water hazards because their quarry had already crossed without mishap, and when they gained the other bank the two whose pistols had already been discharged, fired again. One of the others yelled for the shooters to save their ammunition, the black and white pinto was already among the trees and lost from sight. Soon, they too had urged their mounts up the slope and were ducking and weaving among the trees before disappearing over the escarpment beyond.

  Thirty yards downstream, Charlie Jefferson witnessed the brief flurry of activity, his presence unknown to any of those who had ridden by. They had been too intent upon their own role in the drama to pay attention to anything on the periphery. The girl had been intent on drawing the attention of those behind and reaching the cover of the trees without mishap. Accordingly, she had adopted a riding position which maintained focus on what lay ahead, twisting away from Charlie, facing upstream, except when glancing back at the sound of the pursuers’ gunfire. And the pursuers looked neither to right nor left as they crossed the water. Already it was clear that their mounts were more ponderous than the pinto, and keeping them on course was task enough for the riders, who were careless of anything that was not in their direct line of pursuit.

  Charlie had remained motionless when the four had appe
ared. He’d watched as, in less certain fashion, they’d followed the pinto’s trail down to and across the river and he’d studied the determination on the faces of the pursuers as they’d splashed through the stream, firing useless bullets in the direction of the lone rider. The two who had fired their weapons were typical ranch hands; their clothes grubby, their faces dark due to a mixture of weather, stubble and trail dirt, and with a meanness in their look that denoted a tendency to violence. One wore a red shirt above his denim pants and the other a blue one. The third man, the one who had given the order to stop firing, was tall, clean shaven and riding a chestnut travelling horse that was bigger and had a deeper chest than the rangy cow ponies of his compadres. He wore a cord jacket and a light-coloured hat which, although not new, had managed to retain its original shape. He rode with an air of authority, clearly in charge of the little group.

  The last member of the group was the youngest and wore a badge of office attached to his leather waistcoat. The shots, when they were fired, seemed to surprise him, as if heralding a turn of events that hadn’t been part of the plan. For a moment he seemed to pull on the reins, unprepared to continue the pursuit, but by that time they were plunging into the stream and the cold spray from the horse in front seemed to give fresh impetus to his own mount. The order to cease fire after the second volley didn’t remove the uneasy expression from his face but he stayed with the others as they tackled the incline up to the trees.

  At the sound of gunfire the rider who had taken refuge behind the elderberry bush emerged into Charlie’s view. He watched the pursuit until all the riders were out of sight, then, unaware of Charlie Jefferson, he turned his horse upstream and rode away.

  Charlie Jefferson and Smoke were weary travellers. Their journey north from Texas had taken several weeks. Behind them were the dry, dusty lands of the Indian Territories and Kansas. Now, so close to their destination, Charlie was reluctant to ask more of Smoke. He’d broken camp at sunup, knowing that this was the last day of their journey. Already that morning they’d covered several miles, stopping only to refresh themselves at this familiar stream he knew as the Feather Waters because their destination lay less than an hour away. He’d allowed Smoke to dip his head in the water while he wiped away the accumulated dust and sweat from his own face and neck with a cold, soaked neckerchief. But curiosity now had the better of him. He tightened the cinch, climbed into the saddle and turned the gelding towards the ridge they’d recently descended. He urged Smoke on in the wake of the other riders, his interest aroused. The incident was too close to home to be ignored.

  Charlie brought Smoke to a halt when they got to the crest of the ridge over which the riders had disappeared. Only a short while ago he’d breasted this ridge from the opposite direction and had been gladdened by the sight of the cool stream valley which lay below, knowing that this was the beginning of the fertile north land fed by water from many sources among the Rockies. Now, facing the opposite direction, it seemed that the heat and discomfort he’d endured for the previous three days assailed him again. He raised his hat with his left hand and wiped his brow with the same shirtsleeved arm.

  Before him was a panorama of incalculable extent. The land stretched west and east without any significant feature to mark its limit, and ahead, the far horizon was the blurred, purple smudge of the southern hills. Three days earlier he had crossed those hills. What distance he had travelled since he couldn’t rightly say but it had been hard and dusty land and the view he now had reminded him of its inhospitality. Below, and beyond the immediate maze of giant boulders, lay a giant bowl of scrubby grass. From his vantage point it resembled a huge lake that had drained away and left behind a hostile, sun-baked terrain.

  Until reaching the stream, dust had, to Charlie, been a throat burning, eye-watering irritant. Now it was an indicator of the horsemen’s location. It rose, hovered and dissipated, marking their twisting progress among the randomly strewn boulders on the plain below. Down there it was easy for a rider to set a trail that would obscure them from the view of anyone trailing, winding in and out between twenty-feet-high boulders that at ground level were not only obstacles to sight but demanded caution by those in pursuit. Up high, Charlie was able to see the dust trail of the horsemen, and, from time to time, catch a brief glimpse of the men themselves as they followed a hap-hazard trail on a south-westerly course. All thought of following them was chased from his mind. Smoke was in no condition to try to reduce their lead. What did surprise Charlie, however, was the fact that he couldn’t see any dust raised by the girl. Of course one horse wouldn’t raise as much as four, but it still seemed strange not to see any at all. In addition, there had been no glimpses of that rider along the open stretches, as there had been of the others.

  Charlie sat on the ridge for a moment longer watching the dust until he realized it was beginning to settle in one spot. Momentarily he wondered if the pursuers had caught their quarry but the answer to that question became manifest when the pinto and its rider emerged from between two boulders almost directly below him.

  At the foot of the ridge they halted and, presenting only a back view to Charlie, the girl undertook in reverse the changes to waistcoat and hat she’d earlier performed on the other bank of the river. Charlie rode Smoke among the cottonwoods when the girl began to make her way back to the ridgeline. She, too, kept to the timber covering to ensure she wasn’t visible on the skyline to her distant pursuers. For a moment she paused to check their location. Satisfied that she’d given them the slip, she turned the pinto to the descent to the Feather Waters, waded through, then climbed the rise to the far ridge, sparing a glance at the elderberry bush that had acted as cover for the real object of the posse’s pursuit. Assured that he was long gone, she continued on the trail towards Tatanka Crossing.

  Charlie Jefferson waited until she’d cleared the far ridge before following. He had no expectation of catching the girl because he wasn’t prepared to push Smoke to anything more than a walk. In any case, it seemed certain that their paths would soon cross. If her destination was Tatanka Crossing it was not far from his own. He’d recognize her again, that was certain, but something in his consciousness told him that he wouldn’t have to go looking for her, that this incident wasn’t yet done with him.

  As it happened, they met sooner than Charlie anticipated. Not far from Tatanka Crossing, along the escarpment that hovers above the Tatanka river by which Sam Flint had established his trading post, he came across her examining the pinto’s off foreleg. Charlie Jefferson was almost upon her before she heard his approach. Startled by the stealthy arrival, the girl ceased her examination and took a position by the pinto’s head, holding the bridle and gathering the reins in case the stranger came to cause trouble. As Charlie got closer her initial cautious expression was replaced by a smile.

  ‘Hi,’ she said.

  ‘Everything OK?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘Fine. Just fine. A cut on her hoof got infected a couple of weeks ago but she’s fully recovered now.’

  ‘Need to take care of her. Don’t want to be riding her too fast.’

  Wariness returned to the girl’s expression. She climbed into the saddle aware of a knowing edge to his tone. She cast a look back along the trail they’d both used and for a moment was troubled by the possibility that he’d witnessed the events by the far stream. But he was casting an eye over her horse, looking pleased with what he saw. She spoke as they began to make their way down the embankment towards the town, putting a little laughter in her voice, hoping to twist the conversation in another direction. ‘She can go fast. Do you want a race?’

  Charlie grinned. It had been a long time since anyone had offered him such a challenge. Not since the gatherings in this valley, before he went to war. Racing had been a popular event in those far-off days and he’d been one of the most successful riders. He shook his head. ‘You’d have the advantage of me. Smoke here can hardly raise a canter, at present.’

  The girl eyed the big grey hors
e with what, to Charlie, seemed a very critical eye. ‘You’ve ridden him hard,’ she said.

  ‘Not hard. Just far. He needs a rest.’

  ‘Well, offer still stands. Whenever you’re ready.’ She smiled mischievously and added, ‘But you won’t win.’

  Charlie noted the blue of her eyes and the dash of freckles across her nose and upper cheeks. ‘You’re pretty sure of yourself, young lady,’ he said. ‘Smoke has a fair turn of speed.’

  ‘Ah yes,’ she replied, ‘but Collie here,’ she patted the pinto’s neck, ‘was bred on the Svensson ranch.’

  ‘One of Taub Svensson’s horses! Then you’re a lucky girl. Nobody knows horses better than Taub.’

  ‘You never could beat one of his horses, could you?’

  ‘That’s not true. And how would you know? Hey, do you know who I am?’

  ‘Of course I know you, Charlie Jefferson.’ She let the smile on her face fade and adopted an expression of effrontery. ‘Do you think I’d offer to race against any dusty saddle tramp? What kind of girl do you think I am?’ By now they’d reached the first buildings of Tatanka Crossing. She turned her horse as though to ride off, but before she did she threw another smile at him over her shoulder, and a few more words. ‘I’ll tell Pa what you said. Come a-visiting, Charlie Jefferson. We’ll be happy to see you anytime.’ Then she rode off up the street, leaving Charlie in front of the building that he had helped to build when only nine years old: the original trading post.

  CHAPTER TWO

  As he watched the girl ride along the street, dismount and hitch the pinto to a rail, Charlie analysed her parting words and came up with her name. She was Taub Svensson’s daughter. Jenny, he recalled, who had been little more than a baby when the original families had first settled in this valley, and barely a teenager when he’d headed east to join the Union army. His silent deliberation also came up with a name for the rider for whom she’d acted as decoy; her twin brother, Lars. The similarity of form and face had been remarkable when they were children and Charlie recalled how alike the two riders had been at the far side of the river, not only in the garb they wore and the horses on which they were mounted, but also their physique and mannerism. It had been difficult to distinguish one from the other. It didn’t explain why Jenny had undertaken such a risk, but, whatever the cause, his knowledge of the Svensson family prompted his favour. She was on the boardwalk now, looking back to where he still sat astride Smoke. Charlie sensed that she was smiling at him. He touched the brim of his hat in acknowledgement, then she was gone.