Dakota Ambush

Chapter Twenty-seven

The next morning, the cool morning air was redolent with the smell of smoke and charred wood as the sun peeked up over the eastern horizon. More than a dozen wagons were parked in the soft, morning light, and in the wagons, nestled among the quilts and blankets, slept the very young children of the families that had come to help fight the fire. By light of day, the damage done by the fire could be clearly seen. The house had burned all the way to the ground, and was now nothing more than smoldering ashes. The stained-glass transom that was one of the hallmarks of the house was now a slag of melted and discolored glass. The bodies of Dobbins and Toomey, McCann’s only two cowboys, were lying on the porch of the bunkhouse, covered by a single sheet. The smokehouse, granary, bunk-house, and barn had not burned because they had been protected from the flames by the efforts of those who had come to fight the fire.

Cora McCann was showing signs of exhaustion and, like everyone else, was covered with soot and smoke. She sat on the porch of the bunkhouse, holding a picture frame in her hands.

“It’s a picture of my mama and daddy,” Cora said sadly. The picture was of a man sitting on a chair and a woman standing behind him with her hand on his shoulder, both staring stoically at the camera. “It is all I have left of them, and it was the first thing I saved.”

Nearly all of the McCanns’ furniture had been destroyed in the fire, but a few things had been rescued, and they formed a pathetically small pile on the ground at the end of the bunkhouse porch. Within the ashes of the once-beautiful house, the belongings not saved were blackened and twisted beyond recognition, though standing out undamaged, almost defiantly, in the midst of what had been the kitchen, sat the cast-iron stove. Leo was poking around through the ashes, and he opened the oven door.

“Ma!” he shouted. “The biscuits!”

“What biscuits?”

Leo pulled out a tray, upon which stood two dozen perfectly baked biscuits. He took a bite of one, then laughed. “They’re still good!”

“How could that be? I didn’t even bake them,” Cora McCann replied. “I just had them in the oven ready to bake this morning.”

“That’s how it happened,” E.B. explained. “The heat from the house burning was enough to bake them, but the oven protected them from being burned.”

“You want one, Ma?” Leo asked.

Cora shook her head. “No, pass them around to the others. As hard as everyone worked all night, some of the folks are sure to be hungry.”

Because only the very young took biscuits, there were enough to go around. They ate with relish, but the adults and the older children who had worked side by side with the adults through the long night were too tired to participate in the impromptu breakfast. They were also saddened by the death of the two young cowboys who had worked for McCann, as well as for the loss of the McCanns’ house.

“How many were there?” E.B. asked Ian. This was the first chance they had to really talk about it, because the entire night had been passed in the effort to protect the other buildings.

“There were at least nine or ten,” Ian said. “I didn’t get a real good count.”

“Leo said he recognized some of them,” E.B. said.

“Yeah,” Ian said. “It was some of the same ones we run into the day we tried to go through the toll-gate. Slater, Dillon, Wilson, Bleeker …”

E.B. shook his head. “No, it couldn’t have been Bleeker. Bleeker got himself killed, remember?”

“You’re right. It was the other one who mans the tollgate. What is his name?”

“Carver,” Leo answered.

“Yes, Carver. And that new fella that Denbigh hired was with them. Fact is, he was leading them. I can’t think of his name, but he was the fella that came to the dance and didn’t do nothin’ but lean up against the wall the whole time and stare at people.”

“That would be Lucas Meacham,” E.B. said.

“Yes, Meacham. He was with them too.”

“This has gone too far,” Louis Killian said. “If the sheriff won’t do anything, then maybe we need to go to the federal government.”

“What can they do?” Putnam asked. “We aren’t even a state. They barely know that we exist.”

“I know who can help,” E.B. said.

“Who?”

“Matt Jensen.”

“Why would he help? And what could he do anyway?” McCann asked. “He got himself cut up in a knife fight the night of the dance, remember? He’s half dead.”

“Ralph saw Doc Purvis yesterday morning,” E.B. said. “Doc said Jensen was comin’ along just fine.”

“Still, he is just one man.”

“He doesn’t have to be one man,” E.B. said.

“What do you mean?”

“The idea you had the other day of all of us getting together to try and force our way through the tollgate was a good one, but it didn’t go far enough. It could be that Frank Tanner was right.”

“What are you saying? That we should go to war against Denbigh?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. With someone like Matt Jensen to lead us.”

“Do you think he would?”

“Yes, I think he would. He is working for the newspaper, and we already know that John is a fighter,” E.B. replied. “Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if John hadn’t invited Jensen to come for this very reason. Remember, he killed Ollie Butrum in a face-to-face gunfight, and he fought Bleeker and Carver barehanded when both of them had knives. You know how that came out. He killed Bleeker and he ran Carver off.”

“All right, E.B.,” McCann said. He looked over at Cora, who was still staring at the picture she was holding; then he looked at his two cowboys, lying dead on the porch beside her. “When we go into town to bury Curly and Slim, we’ll have a talk with this Jensen fella and see what he has to say.”

Ma Perkins’ Boarding House

If anyone had asked Lucy about Matt, she could have testified that he was very much alive and very well. It was before dawn and he was still asleep when Lucy slipped outofMatt’s bed. Her clothes were lying on a chair next to the dresser, and for a moment she considered just darting down the hall to her own room naked, just as she had done a few times after a very late night bath. But, there was always the chance that one of her guests might step out of his or her room, so she decided it would be safer if she put her clothes on before she left the room.

As soon as she was dressed, she leaned over and kissed Matt gently on the cheek, then felt a warmth as she recalled their time together last night. Matt stirred slightly, but didn’t awaken, and Lucy opened the door quietly, then closed it just as quietly as she stepped out into the hall.

“Ma?” Kenny said.

Kenny’s unexpected appearance startled her and she jumped.

“Oh!” she said.

“Are you all right?” Kenny asked.

“Yes, you startled me, is all. My goodness, the sun isn’t even up yet! What are you doing up so early?”

“Me’n Jimmy’s goin’ fishin’,” Kenny said. “Did you just come out of Mr. Jensen’s room?”

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief that she was completely dressed.

“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”

“What were you doing in there?”

“That’s really none of your business, Kenny, but I heard him call out,” she said. “I thought maybe his wound had opened up again, so I stepped into his room to check on him.”

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t think of that. Is he all right? Do you need me to stay home from fishing?”

“No need for you to stay home. Mr. Jensen is fine. He’s sound asleep. He must have been dreaming or something. Where are you going?”

“Brewer’s Pond,” Kenny said. “Jimmy said there’s lots of perch there. Maybe I can catch enough for you to have fried fish for supper. Do you think Mr. Jensen likes fried fish?”

“I’m sure he does, honey. Almost everyone likes fried fish.”

“Especially the way Mrs. Black makes it,” Kenny said. “She makes the best fried fish in the whole world.”

“You mean you don’t like it when I cook?”

Kenny looked shocked. “No, Ma, no, I don’t mean that. I mean, Mrs. Black, she can cook fish and all, but you are the one who is really the best cook in the world.”

Lucy chuckled, and ran her hand through her son’s hair. “I was just teasing you,” she said. “You don’t have to say I’m the best cook just because I’m your mama. But it’s a good thing to be nice to your mama. Run along now, and have a good time.”