Slater Bros: Apache Summer Part 13

"He said that he did not kill your uncle."

"Tell him I know that."

Jamie spoke, then the chief broke into a barrage of words again.

Lost, Tess kept nodding and smiling.

"What did he say now?"

"Oh. Well, I told him we were traveling to Wilts.h.i.+re, and that I was going to try to prove that the white man had been guilty. If you made it worth my while, that is. The chief is suggesting that you make it worth my while. He thinks that you should bargain with me."

"Oh!" Tess gasped furiously. As she frowned, the Comanche chief frowned, too.

"Oh, my, my!" Dolly murmured beneath her breath. "Smile, Tess!" Jamie suggested casually.

She smiled. She locked her teeth, and she smiled. The chief spoke again, quietly.

"What did he say?" Tess demanded.

Jamie didn't answer her.

Jon did.

"He said that you were very beautiful, and that Jamie should take good care of you."

The chief took Jamie's outstretched hand again, then lifted his spear high and cast back his head. A loud, startling cry rent the air. Then the riders were kicking up tremendous clouds of dust again, and racing across the plain.

Moving like quicksilver, they touched the landscape and were gone. They disappeared over the hill from which they had come.

Then, slowly, the dust settled again.

Jamie turned to the wagon.

"Come on, ladies. Let's make a little time here, shall we?"

Tess caught hold of the reins, called out to the mules and snapped the leather in a smart crack. The animals started off with a jolt.

A little while later, Jon rode by the wagon. He smiled to Tess and Dolly.

"Ladies, are you both all right?"

"Just fine, Jon," Dolly told him.

"Tess?"

She nodded gravely.

"Jon, was Jamie telling the truth?" She flushed slightly.

"Did he tell me the truth about all the chief's words?"

Jon hedged slightly.

"More or less. Running River went a little bit further than Jamie told you."

"Oh?"

Jon shrugged.

"He said that it might have been Apache that attacked you. The Apache have refused any treaties, they are constantly warlike, and stray bands have been known to travel in this area frequently. The Comanche and the Apache have often been enemies."

"Does Jamie know the Apache as well as he knows this Running River?"

"No. The Apache do not want to be known." Tess s.h.i.+vered, and Jori quickly amended his statement.

"He does know a few of the warriors and chiefs. They will at least talk to him. He speaks the Apache language as well as he does the Comanche."

"It's all heathen gibberish to me!" Dolly announced. Jon grinned at Tess, and Tess felt somewhat better. There was something very rea.s.suring about Jamie's abilities.

Maybe it could be proven that the Apache were no more guilty of the attack than the Comanche.

Jon waved and rode on ahead.

"I'll take the reins for a bit now," Dolly told her. "You don't need to"

-- "I'll be bored as tears if I don't put inmy part, dear. Now hand them over."

Tess grinned and complied.

They rode until sunset, then until the first cooling rays of the night touched them. Jamie and Jon knew the terrain.

Again, they knew where to find water. Tess climbed from the wagon the minute they stopped, stretching, trying to ease the discomfort in her back. Jamie pointed out the path through the trees to the little brook, and she started out in silence, aware that Dolly followed her. The water moved over rock and along the earth, barely three inches of it, but she cupped her hands into it and drank thirstily, then splashed in huge handfuls over her face and throat, heedless that she soaked her gown.

Beside her, Dolly dipped her handkerchief in the water and soaked her face and throat and arms with it.

"Ah, the good lord doth deliver!" she said cheerfully.

"Jamie! Come on in, the water's fine, Lieutenant!"

Tess froze, aware only then that Jamie was standing silently behind her.

Dolly her ted up her bulk.

"Guess I'll head back and see if Jon's got a cooking fire started yet."

She stepped by. Jamie knelt in Dolly's place. He doffed his hat and untied the kerchief from his throat, then soaked it as Dolly had. He leaned low and plunged in his whole head, then rubbed the kerchief over his throat and shoulders. Tess stared at him, unaware that she did so.

He smiled, watching her. She jumped slightly when he touched her cotton-clad shoulder.

"You're soaked," he told her.

"I suppose so."

He grinned, recalling memories of a different brook, a different time.

"I rather like you wet."

"You" -- "Ah, now, please, Miss. Stuart!"

She fell silent, but his smile faded and he sat on his haunches, folding his hands idly over his knees.

"We've got to talk, Tess."

She didn't intend to blush, but color rose swiftly to her cheeks.

d.a.m.n him!

"What?" she said harshly.

"Well, I'm waiting to find out if you're going to bargain with me or not."

She was silent, feeling her body burn. "Well?"

"You are a b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Come, come, now, Miss. Stuart, will you bargain?" She leaped to her feet.

"Yes!" she spat at him.

"Yes-and you were right, you knew d.a.m.ned well that I would do so. I am desperate. You can have anything. Anything that you want."

She swung around in what she hoped was indignant fury. She was suddenly blinded. She nearly tripped as she started forward. She reached for a branch to steady herself. "Miss. Stuart!"

he called to her lightly.

"Oh, for G.o.d's sake! What now?" she demanded. "Well, pardon me, but you didn't wait to hear just what it was that I wanted."

"What?" she gasped.

"I said" -- "But, but ..."

She stared at him. He was still seated so comfortably on the ground, casual now, idly chewing upon a long blade of gra.s.s.

"But, but, but, Miss. Stuart! Where is your mind, dear lady, but deep, deep down in the gutter?"

He stood. Warily she backed away from him.

"Listen, Lieutenant, I'm not sure that you do shoot well enough for all this!

What do you want now?"

She backed straight into a tree. He was right in front of her, smiling.

He stroked her cheek lightly with his knuckle and laughed softly as she indignantly twisted her face to the side.

"Still waters do run deep, eh, Miss. Stuart? You ready to listen?"

"What" -- "Land."

"What?" she repeated, dazed.

"Land. I want some acreage. Some of your prime acreage, and maybe a few cattle. If I'm going to go out and die for this land, I'd like to have a bit of it in my own name."

"That's--that's what you want?"

' "That's it ."

"Land?

"Land, Miss. Stuart. I know you've heard the word." She pressed against the tree, slipping her hands behind her to hold furtively to keep herself from falling. Then a crimson blush surged to her cheeks again, and she raged out in a tempest.

"You! You made me think that--oh, G.o.d! You are the lowest, most horrid, most terrible" -- "Disappointed?" he interrupted pleasantly. She shrieked something unintelligible and swung at him.

He caught her hand before she could strike him, but she continued to pit herself against him. He pulled her against him, lacing his arms around her.

"Don't be angry" -- "Angry! I could gouge out your eyes" -- "Ouch! It would be hard as h.e.l.l for me to aim at this yon Heusen of yours if you did that."

"I could shoot off both your knee caps!"

"Then how could I get places to find out the truth?"

"All right! All right! You fight yon Heusen, then I'll gouge out your eyes and shoot your knee caps. Now let go of me!"

"No, not yet, I'd be risking my eyesight, I'm afraid. Or my--ouch!" he said as she stamped on his foot. Her feet were dangerous. And her knees.

"Don't even think about it!" be warned her, pressing her so close against the tree trunk that she could barely breath.

Nor could she kick him--his thigh was pressed close to hers. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s heaved with agitation; her heart was thundering.

His lips were close. So close to hers. He was going to kiss her again, she thought. And if he did, she'd probably let him get away with it, despite all he had done to her. "Did you know that you have a really beautiful mouth, Miss. Stuart?" he asked, his own nearly touching it.

"Ah! Not nearly so beautiful as my cattle!" she retorted.

He laughed softly again.

"You are disappointed."

"Don't deceive yourself, Lieutenant. I am vastly relieved."