“That’s for damn sure,” Red put in.
Jake made some squiggles along the line he’d drawn to indicate the ridge. “If we get around here and come up this ridge come morning, the sun will be at our backs as it rises…and it will be in their faces. We’ll have a big advantage. It’s hard to shoot uphill at a man, but it’s damn easy to be at the top of that hill shooting down at them. We’ll hit them the minute the sun breaks over that ridge. A rising sun can practically blind a man. It will be really hard for them to see us at all, so if we’re lucky, we can bring down half of them before they even know what’s going on. Then Lloyd and I can move in and blow the rest of them away. We’ll use those fucking sonsofbitches for target practice. Any man who touches my daughter or my little grandson is going to find out he made the biggest mistake of his life.” Jake rose from the fire then. “Ten minutes and we leave again.” He walked off alone.
The rest of them sat there, looking at each other.
“The man has spoken,” Fenton Wales said.
“This is gonna be a whole lot more satisfying than killing a deer,” Ruben Tate offered. “A deer, I respect. These men shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”
“I can’t think of a better man to be risking our lives with than Jake Harkner,” Harry Wilkes said quietly. “And you, Lloyd,” he added, nodding toward Lloyd. “Lord knows you’re as dependable with those guns as your pa is.”
Lloyd sighed and tossed his cigarette into the fire. “Maybe, but he’s the best, Harry. And when he’s this upset, you can bet he’ll use those guns till they melt in his hands. I’m just praying I don’t watch my pa get shot to pieces tomorrow. If that’s what it takes to get to Evie and Little Jake out of there, he’ll do it.”
Brian sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his neck, hanging his head in obvious agony.
“Brian, your wife is the nicest woman I ever met,” Red spoke up. “We’ll get her out of there, or some of us will die tryin’ to. That’s a promise.”
Every man there knew the hell Brian Stewart had to be in right now. He stared at the fire, obviously struggling with his emotions. “I’m grateful,” he managed to answer, his voice gruff from grief.
Everyone quieted again until Jake returned and poured his remaining coffee on the fire, then kicked dirt on it. “Let’s ride,” he told them.
No arguments. They all mounted up and rode again…and rode, and rode…once in a while slowing down to ease up on the horses, twice getting off their mounts and walking with them for a while, stopping to let them drink, but never actually stopping altogether for more than five minutes.
Every man here, including me, knows the danger we are heading into, Jeff mentally noted, but two things keep us going—a deep respect for Evie Harkner Stewart and her husband, and the knowledge that we are led by a man who knows exactly what he is doing.
Even as a writer, Jeff couldn’t imagine what must be going through Jake Harkner’s mind. What a joyful time they could be having, waiting for Randy to get home, knowing she was well, if not for this ugly thing with Evie. The future of Jake’s entire family lay with what would happen when they reached Dune Hollow, yet now he seemed so much calmer. Jeff wondered if it was something the preacher had told him.
They rode until it was almost too dark to see. Jake pulled up then and trotted his horse in a circle around the rest of them, talking quietly. “We’re around the back side of Dune Hollow right now. I took the longer way around, so if they have scouts watching, they didn’t see us. We’ll move deeper into the woods to the left and make camp there. No fire. If they have scouts up on that ridge, they’ll see it. Sorry, boys, but just biscuits and water tonight. Pour some water into your hats for the horses, and each man keep his horse right beside him to keep it from any alarm that might make it whinny. And no smoking. The lit end of a cigarette can show up for a mile or more. Everybody get out your bedrolls and stay in a tight circle. I need to talk to all of you again, and I don’t want to have to yell.”
They all did as they were told. Once their eyes adjusted to the light of the half-moon, they could actually see each other well enough to know who was who. Everyone ate quietly and took care of personal business farther out in the trees. The woods came alive with the sound of crickets and an occasional owl.
“If we’re close, why can’t we hear anything?” Jeff asked Lloyd softly. It was the first time he’d spoken to the young man since leaving Guthrie.
“They’re on the other side of the ridge. A ground barrier like that completely cuts off all sounds from the other side of it. Didn’t you ever hear that’s why men close by never heard what was happening to Custer when he and his men were massacred?”