Gunsmoke Serenade by Thomas McNulty
Author:Thomas McNulty
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780719821226
Publisher: Robert Hale
EIGHT
It was mid-morning of a summer’s day and if they had not known better the two men might have believed this was Eden before the Fall and no serpents threatened them. But Lacroix and Knight were well aware of the force of armed men that hunted them; and so a summer’s day might prove beautiful to the eyes, not unlike a woman, but possessing an edge like a knife that cut very deep.
‘I used lodgepole pine,’ Lacroix was explaining, ‘and built a shelter I could crawl into if I got caught in a storm. You see, I’ve a hankerin’ to fish, and when I fish I lose all track of time.’
‘I have a friend with the same habit. I’m hoping you get to meet him soon.’
Lacroix squinted at Knight. ‘Is that so? Well, anyway, I cut these poles and made this shelter. It’s simple enough, and it keeps the rain off a man.’
‘You made it far enough from the trail, but this is hardly a good hiding place.’
‘It’s not a hiding place at all, just a shelter from storms.’
The shelter was about seven feet long and four feet high, set back in the brush and invisible to anyone passing. There was just enough room for a man to crawl in and sleep off a storm. The covering was all leaves and mud, layered so that the shelter wouldn’t leak.
‘I’ve slept here when I’m out fishing,’ Lacroix said. ‘I have to shag out the snakes and raccoons, and it’s right comfortable when you get used to it.’
‘What about the other hiding place you mentioned?’
‘That’s just up the trail a way.’
‘Hell,’ Knight growled, ‘It’s a nice day for a walk.’
Lacroix grinned. Soon, they passed the bark canoe near the creek where they’d hidden it again, but this time they continued north in a straight line. They were several miles now from Lacroix’s cave dwelling.
When they emerged from a strand of birch trees after following a meandering deer trail and saw the four wolves watching them up the trail, Knight had a sinking feeling that their luck had changed for the worse. The four wolves were lined up in a row not two hundred yards away, and they didn’t look scared.
‘Well, I’ll be,’ Lacroix said.
‘I saw their tracks a few days ago. Lots of grizzly tracks, too.’
‘I don’t know which I like less, the wolves or the grizzly. I will say that a grizzly pelt brings me more money, not to mention that it keeps me warm in winter.’
‘I suggest we turn around.’
Lacroix shook his head. ‘No sir, that won’t help. They’re hungry. Look at their eyes.’
Knight saw it all right; hunger looked the same in any living creature’s eyes, and it wasn’t pleasant.
‘They’ll hunt us now,’ Lacroix continued, ‘so I reckon we best get to killing them as fast as we can.’
‘That’ll sure let everyone know where we are.’
‘That it will. The one on the far left is mine.’
In an instant, Lacroix threw his rifle to his shoulder, squinted down the barrel and stabbed a shot at the wolf.
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