He was about to tell Little Bear to remind the chief of their bargain when Red Shirt looked past him and a shout went up from the assembled villagers.

  Preacher saw the surprised look on Red Shirt’s face and thought, Aw, hell. Sure enough, when Preacher turned his head and looked back over his shoulder, he saw Standing Cloud getting up.

  The warrior wasn’t too steady about it, but he made it to his feet. Blood smeared his mouth where Preacher had hit it with his left.

  The other warriors yelled encouragement to Standing Cloud, even the ones who had sided with Red Shirt earlier. None of them were going to root for an outsider over one of their own. Some of the women let out ululating wails of excitement.

  Life on the frontier was hard. These people were enjoying this break from their day-to-day routine.

  Standing Cloud shook his head back and forth. He was groggy, but as he stood there with his chest heaving, he began to get his senses back. Strength flowed back into his muscles. Preacher could tell that by looking at him.

  “We don’t have to keep on with this,” Preacher said. “I’m willin’ to end this if he is. No real harm done on either side. But if we keep fightin’, he’s liable to get hurt pretty bad.” He gestured toward Standing Cloud and added, “You tell him that, Little Bear.”

  Hurriedly, the young man blurted out a translation of what Preacher had said. Even before Little Bear finished speaking, Preacher could tell it wasn’t going to do any good. Standing Cloud was so full of rage that he wasn’t capable of calling off the fight. He let out a furious bellow and charged again.

  Preacher knew Standing Cloud was still dangerous, even in bad shape. The warrior was tall and brawny, probably outweighed the mountain man slightly, and was about equal in reach. If he ever got his hands on his opponent in a grip that Preacher couldn’t get out of, or even just landed a lucky punch, the tide of battle could change in a hurry.

  Knowing that, Preacher was well aware that he couldn’t afford to get careless. He darted aside from Standing Cloud’s first lunge, whirled, and was ready when Standing Cloud tried to turn back toward him.

  Because of the beating he had taken already, the warrior’s movements were lumbering and awkward. Preacher stepped in and hit him with a left jab that rocked Standing Cloud’s head back. Standing Cloud’s arms came up to guard his face, and Preacher’s right sank to the wrist in Standing Cloud’s belly. Breath gusted from the warrior’s mouth as he doubled over.

  Preacher grabbed the back of Standing Cloud’s head and forced it down. At the same time, Preacher brought up his right knee. It smashed into Standing Cloud’s nose, pulping it.

  When Preacher let go of him and stepped back, Standing Cloud fell on his face. He lay there with air wheezing and rattling through his broken nose. He moaned and tried to push himself up, then slumped down again, unable to rise.

  This time, the fight really was over.

  The shouting stopped abruptly as it became obvious to the onlookers that Standing Cloud couldn’t continue. Most of the villagers glared at Preacher, but some of the warriors regarded the mountain man with grudging admiration.

  It had been a good fight between two evenly matched opponents, and Preacher had won fair and square.

  Red Shirt stared at Preacher for a long moment and then walked over to him. In only slightly halting English, the chief said, “You free to go, white man. Take babies with you.”

  Preacher nodded toward the stocky young man and asked, “What about Little Bear?”

  “He one of us. Whether he stay or go up to him.”

  Little Bear spoke quickly to the chief in the Salish tongue, then turned to Preacher and said, “I told him I was going with you and the twins. I said I’d been helping take care of them, and I needed to continue with that.”

  “I appreciate it,” Preacher told him. “I know Annie likes havin’ you around, and you make it easier for Audie, too. But these are your people, so I reckon we’d understand if you wanted to stay with ’em.”

  Little Bear sighed. “No, this village will never be home for me again. Not with Bluebird and my grandfather gone. I had hoped that I might be able to follow them someday and be reunited with them.”

  “I’m sorry that ain’t ever gonna happen. But I’m dang sure that by helpin’ take care o’ those little ones, you’re doin’ what they would have wanted.”

  “I think so, too.” Little Bear took in a deep breath. “Now we need to find Audie and Annie.”

  Nighthawk had just caught Preacher’s attention and pointed back up the gulch. When Preacher looked in that direction, he saw Audie and Annie riding toward the village on the horses that had disappeared earlier. Preacher’s rangy gray stallion was with them, as were the pack animals.

  “We don’t have to look for ’em,” Preacher said. “Here they come now.”

  Dog was with the new arrivals, too, and bounded on ahead to enter the village first. People shied away from the big cur as he ran to Preacher and reared up with his paws on the mountain man’s shoulders.

  “After Nighthawk and I got caught, you went lookin’ for the others and found ’em, didn’t you, old son?” Preacher asked as he hugged Dog’s thick, shaggy neck and scratched the big cur’s ears. “You’re a mighty good fella.”

  Nighthawk loped out to meet Audie and Annie. None of the warriors tried to stop him. He walked back into the village alongside the horse Audie rode.

  “Howdy,” Preacher called to them as he raised a hand in greeting.

  Annie dismounted as soon as they were close. She ran forward and cried, “Edward! Elizabeth!”

  The two Indian women now holding the twins pulled back and tightened their grips as if they weren’t going to allow Annie to take the babies. But when Red Shirt spoke sharply to them, one of the women gave up her charge to Annie, who took the infant in a frantic hug.

  Little Bear took the other baby and held it while Annie finished fussing over the one she held, who turned out to be Edward. Then she and Little Bear exchanged the infants so Annie could be reunited with her daughter.

  Preacher wanted to talk to Audie, but at the moment, he was more concerned with Standing Cloud, who had regained his strength and senses and climbed laboriously to his feet. The warrior, whose face was bloody from his broken nose, glared at Preacher for a moment before turning away and trudging off with some of his friends around him.

  The mountain man knew he had made a bad enemy there, but Preacher couldn’t bring himself to get too worried about it. He’d made lots of bad enemies during his life. Most of them were dead now, but a few weren’t. Standing Cloud would just be added to that number.

  Preacher and Dog walked over to where Audie had reined in and was sitting his saddle calmly, ignoring all the curious stares the Salish villagers sent his way because of his small size.

  “You found the horses, I see,” Preacher commented.

  “They found us, is more like it,” Audie said. “Horse led them to us. They came up out of the brush when we weren’t expecting it. A short time later, Dog showed up and acted like you might be in trouble, so I decided we should check.” He lowered his voice slightly. “I hated to bring Mrs. Collins along in case there was danger, but with Ozark’s men trailing us, I couldn’t very well leave her behind, either.”

  “No, you couldn’t,” Preacher agreed. “The way it’s worked out, this is the best thing all around, I reckon. The Flatheads are gonna let Little Bear and the young’uns go.”

  “Why did they take them in the first place?”

  “That’s kind of a long story, and we ain’t got time to waste on it right now. How far behind us do you reckon Ozark’s men are?”

  “Nowhere near far enough,” Audie replied. “We need to be on the move again as quickly as possible. Where do you think we should go?”

  “Only one good place I can think of,” Preacher said. “We’re goin’ up. We’re headin’ for the high country.”

  CHAPTER 21

  A few minutes later, the whole group was mounted and heading out of the village. The babies were safely back in the cradleboard slings Audie had rigged for them.

  Annie wanted to hold them, but she couldn’t do that and control her horse, too, so she had agreed reluctantly to let the twins ride as they had so far.

  Nighthawk dropped back to check on the pursuit and find out how far behind them it was. Dog ranged ahead, as usual. Preacher motioned for Little Bear to ride alongside him while Audie and Annie rode a short distance behind with the mount carrying the babies between them.

  “Ain’t had a chance to ask you until now,” Preacher said. “What happened when Standin’ Cloud and them other fellas jumped you?”

  Little Bear sighed. “I was supposed to be standing guard, but I suppose I didn’t do a very good job of it. They were there before I knew it and grabbed me and the twins. They tried to get the horses, too, but that stallion of yours wasn’t having any of it. He pulled loose, prodded the others until they broke loose, as well, and then they all stampeded off into the woods. Standing Cloud didn’t want to take the time to go after them.”

  Preacher grinned, patted Horse’s shoulder, and said, “Yeah, this ol’ boy’s a one-man horse unless I tell him it’s all right. He don’t want nobody else layin’ hands on him.”

  “I suppose he found your scent and followed it.” Little Bear frowned. “Can horses do that, like dogs?”

  “This one can.”

  Once they were all back together, Preacher had gotten a spare buckskin shirt from his possibles bag and put it on. He had taken his extra set of revolvers from the bag, too, so a pair of Paterson Colts rested in their familiar holsters again. The Indians had provided a knife and tomahawk to replace the ones the outlaws had taken from him. His hat was lost somewhere back in Mack Ozark’s compound, but other than that, Preacher was fully dressed again, and it felt good.

  He hoped that by climbing higher in the mountains, they might be able to lose their pursuers. Ozark’s men might even give up if the chase was hard enough on them.

  However, Preacher didn’t expect that to happen. He had a hunch Ozark’s men were scared enough of their boss that they would put up with any hardship in order to avoid his wrath.

  The ridges continued rising, broken here and there by terrace-like shoulders of level ground. On the steeper slopes, the riders had to dismount and lead the horses. Nighthawk took charge of Annie’s horse for her during those difficult stretches while she walked alongside the horse carrying the cradleboards. Preacher knew that not holding her children had to be hard for her, but she didn’t complain.

  From time to time, he stopped and lingered behind the others to watch their back trail for a few minutes. His keen eyes sought any sign of pursuit. He knew Ozark’s men were back there, but he didn’t spot them, and neither had Nighthawk earlier when he had checked.

  If Preacher couldn’t see them, he was confident that they couldn’t see him and his companions, either. If he had been alone, he could have given them the slip without much trouble. Even if he’d been traveling with just Audie and Nighthawk, they would have left Ozark’s men far behind with no hope of trailing them.

  But a group this large, including two who were inexperienced when it came to chases like this, couldn’t help but leave plenty of signs. They would just have to stay far enough ahead of Ozark’s men that eventually the pursuers would be worn out and low on supplies and might finally give up.

  The middle of the day came and went. As the afternoon passed, the group had to stop more and more often to rest the horses. During one such halt on one of the narrow terraces, Preacher walked over to where Annie had taken the twins out of their cradleboard slings. She had unwrapped them from their blankets and was checking their diapers. The infants seemed happy, cooing as they waved their arms and legs.

  “Those are nice beadwork designs on the blankets,” Preacher commented. “I was lookin’ at ’em earlier and didn’t recognize which tribe did ’em. Did they come from the Flatheads?”

  Annie laughed softly and said, “No, Jonathan did the beadwork on these blankets. He did it to pass the time while Ozark was holding him prisoner. I was a little surprised Ozark allowed him to have the supplies, but I suppose he wasn’t a totally inhuman monster all the time.”

  Preacher bent over and fingered one of the blankets.

  “Your husband did this, eh?” he said. “Fine work. Did he learn from watchin’ the Indians?”

  “I think Bluebird may have taught him some of it. They were friends. But Jonathan always had an artistic bent.” Annie shook her head. “I know you probably have a hard time believing that a man could have a fine talent like that and still be the leader of a gang of outlaws.”

  “Oh, I can believe it,” Preacher said. “Most folks have a wider range o’ things inside ’em than you’d think.”

  Audie had walked up in time to hear the conversation. He put in, “The French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, ‘Human Nature is, in truth, a union of opposites that are not only incongruous but are contrary and conflicting.’”

  “Ain’t that what I just said?” Preacher asked. He grinned. “Does that make me as smart as that Blazer fella?”

  His grin disappeared before Audie could respond as Preacher noticed something else. Leaning forward, he stared at the blankets Annie had spread on the ground next to the twins. He muttered something under his breath.

  “What was that, Preacher?” Audie said.

  “Well, son of a—” Preacher pointed at the blankets. “Look at that, Audie.”

  The former professor studied the blankets intently for a moment.

  “There’s some fine beadwork,” he said. “I don’t recognize the tribe.”

  “Jonathan Collins did it.”

  “Really? It’s unusual to see such quality from someone who wasn’t raised in the tradition of doing beadwork like that.”

  “Now look at it this way,” Preacher said.

  He picked up one of the blankets, turned it ninety degrees, shook it out, and then laid it down flat on the ground so that its bottom overlapped slightly with the top of the other blanket.

  “Now what do you see?” he asked.

  Audie’s eyes widened. “Good heavens! It’s a map!”

  Annie frowned and said, “Really? I don’t see it.”

  “Them lines there are mountains,” Preacher said, pointing out which designs he meant. “And that there’s a river.”

  “I thought they were just pretty designs.”

  “You got to turn the blankets just right for things to match up, and it helps to be familiar with this country around here.”

  “Indeed,” Audie said. “Now that I know what I’m looking at, I recognize several landmarks.” He leaned down and put a finger against some of the beadwork near the top of the lower blanket. “This is approximately where we are right now.”

  Preacher leaned in from the other side and traced a path on the other blanket with a fingertip.

  “Look here. This is a trail o’ some sort, and it leads up here to this area that’s got several circles o’ beads around it.”

  “Concentric circles like that make it look like a target,” Audie said. “That must be a location of some importance. It’s so obvious once you realize what you’re looking at. How in heaven’s name did we miss it until now?”

  “The blankets were nearly always wrapped around the young’uns, so you couldn’t see the whole thing laid out like that. Anytime they were unwrapped, you were busy messin’ with the little ones, changin’ diapers or feedin’ ’em and such, and you weren’t thinkin’ about nothin’ else. As soon as you finished with what you were doin’, you’d wrap the blankets around ’em again, so you still couldn’t see it.”

  Annie still looked a little doubtful, but she said, “I suppose I can make out what you’re talking about. But why in the world would Jonathan put a map in beadwork on these blankets?”

  “After he decorated ’em, what did he do?”

  “He asked me to use them with the children and … and to always keep them close by.”

  Preacher nodded. “He was tryin’ to tell you somethin’. He wanted you to keep the young’uns safe, of course, but he wanted you to keep these blankets with ’em and take care o’ them, too. Because they show the way to somethin’ important.”

  “But what could it be?” Annie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Preacher replied with a shake of his head. “But there’s one way to find out.” He knelt beside the blankets and once again put his finger on the concentric circles that marked a location in the mountains north of them. “Whatever it is, it’s right there—and that’s where we’re goin’.”

  Once the discovery had been made, Preacher called Nighthawk and Little Bear over and showed the blanket map to them, as well. When Preacher asked Little Bear about the target-like design, the young man shook his head and said he had no idea what it signified.

  “I’ve never been that far northwest of the village,” he said. “I don’t know what’s up there.”

  “Did your husband ever travel to those parts?” Preacher asked Annie.

  “Not that I know of,” she said, “but that doesn’t really mean anything. Jonathan … was gone a lot. I don’t know where he was during all those times. It’s possible he went to that place, whatever it is.”

  With Ozark’s men likely gaining on them with every minute that passed, they couldn’t afford to wait around. As soon as the horses had rested enough, they mounted up again and rode out, but instead of heading up the next ridge, they followed the terrace-like shoulder. It ran north and south, and north was the direction they wanted to go.

  By nightfall, they had covered several more miles. Preacher kept the group going even as darkness gathered around them. The pursuers would have to stop for the night because of the possibility of losing the trail, but Preacher and his companions were able to keep moving.