Rocky Mountain Justice (The Legend of Camel's Hump) (13 page)

The big black patrol car pulled in to the ranch house yard. It stopped about twenty feet from where Ike and Bird were sitting in their porch chairs. Ike was smoking and Bird was looking at an old Life Magazine for the thousandth time. Ike waved lazily at the sheriff as he climbed out of the car. The sheriff waved back. “I got us another one!” At that, both Ike and Bird rose and walked toward the car, with Ike saying, “I thought we were gonna wait a while before we went after a new one.” The sheriff chuckled and replied, “Yeah. But this one just fell into my lap. I’d just finished delivering a prisoner to the Indian Police over on the reservation. When I was on my way back, this one was walking beside the highway. Offered her a ride and here she is!” With that he opened the car’s trunk, reached in, and unceremoniously dumped a teen-aged girl out on the dusty driveway.

By now, Ike and Bird were at the car and both got a good look at the girl lying in the dirt. She was bound and gagged, but conscious. She sat up and looked around, trying to get her bearings. When she spotted Bird, her eyebrows flew up and her face took on a look of shock. Bird immediately spun around and glared at Sheriff Montgomery. Her words came out so fast they were stumbling on one another. “You stupid bastard! Where’d you get this one?” The Sheriff stepped backward, startled. “Over by Polson.” Bird’s face took on a look of pure insanity. Rage made her voice shake as she spoke. “Jesus Christ, Man! Where is your brain? This bitch knows me! You know that we don’t get them off of my Reservation! What if she gets loose?”

Ike decided that he wasn’t needed and he walked back to the porch, sat down, and lit a cigarette. The sheriff stood in the yard, listening to Bird. The girl was wide-eyed, staring at the unlikely tableau before her. Bird kept talking, her voice rising to a shrill shriek. Finally Sheriff Montgomery spoke, “Shut the hell up, Woman. Let me think. Ike, come over here and take a look at this one. Let me know what you think about it.” Slowly Ike got up and walked over. He didn’t want a confrontation with Bird, but he wasn’t about to get crosswise with someone as dangerous as the sheriff.

He walked over to the girl and reached down, lifting her to her feet. She was shaking, obviously frightened. She kept staring at Bird, her eyes pleading for help that wasn’t coming. Ike put his cigarette in his mouth and, using both hands, casually ripped the girl’s shirt open, exposing breasts that were obviously just maturing. The girl tried to scream but the gag stopped her. She shrank back, trying to cover herself with her hunched shoulders. But Ike had seen enough and he turned back toward Bird and the sheriff. “She looks like a good one all right; probably worth the risk. But we gotta be careful. The Flathead Res is just too close to home.” With that he headed back to his chair on the porch.

Bird didn’t like any of this. She was still furious and Ike’s statement made her even madder. Bird and the sheriff were now face-to-face in the yard beside the new girl. Bird’s shrill voice started up again and she was shaking her fist in the sheriff’s face as she screamed at him. “You don’t understand. This isn’t just another piece of meat. She is part of my tribe! God Dammit, you’re a complete idiot! If she gets out, she can identify us. She can’t stay here! She knows me! I know her! You got her off the Flathead Reservation where I used to live! You dumb somanabitch! We agreed that you’d go to other places for them!”

Bird showed no sign of quieting, but the sheriff interrupted the tirade by punching her, hard, in the mouth. She flopped over on her back and lay there, obviously stunned. Ike didn’t move, just sat on the porch, grinning at the spectacle in front of him. Sheriff Montgomery moved to stand above the prone Bird and took out his pistol, pointing it at her head. His words were slow, measured, and his voice was almost too low to hear. “Who in the hell do you think you’re talking to? If you ever, ever, call me another name, you’re one dead injun bitch. Do you understand me?” When she didn’t answer, he bent over and rammed the end of his gun barrel into her forehead, drawing blood. She spat out the words. “I hear you.” He stepped back and holstered his revolver, turning to speak to Ike. “You need to teach her some manners, my friend. She should know better than to pull this shit on me.”

Behind him, Bird came to a crouch and reached inside her dress, groping for something. She hunched over and seemed to gather herself. Without warning, she launched herself at him with a hunting knife held high, aimed at his back. Out of the corner of his eye, the sheriff noticed the movement and jumped to the side, drawing his pistol as he moved. She never reached him. The pistol roared its deadly message and she stopped as if she’d hit a wall. Blood blossomed on her shirt and an astounded look came over her face. The sheriff was moving slowly now, a big grin on his face. He turned to face her and took a step closer, raising the pistol until it was pointing at the bloody spot in the center of her forehead. Then, still grinning, he squeezed the trigger. Bird’s lifeless body flew backward, landing in the dust beside the car. Her legs and arms twitched and then she lay still. Little puffs of dust rose around her and settled slowly on her lifeless corpse. The girl tried again to scream, but again the gag muffled the sound.

Ike had not moved from the rocker on the porch. He had a serious look on his face as he took in these latest developments. Slowly he took out another cigarette and lit it from the ember on the end of the first one, drawing deeply and blowing smoke across the porch. Then he looked at the sheriff who had not moved from where he’d been standing. He was reloading his revolver, his face expressionless. Ike was the first to speak. “Now you’ve done it. Who the hell is going to do the cooking and cleaning around here? Where am I going to get another bitch that will keep her mouth shut?”

Sheriff Montgomery put the pistol away and picked up the terrified girl by the arm. Steering her roughly ahead of him, he walked to the porch where he sat her, not unkindly, in a chair. Then he took a seat beside Ike, in the chair that had always been Bird’s. He lit his own cigarette. “Ike, I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t have her trying to kill me, could I?” Then he thought for a minute. “I dunno where the hell we’ll ever find a replacement. I guess you’re gonna have to learn to cook. I’ve got some leg irons in the car. We can let the Indian bitches do the cleaning as long as we keep some shackles on ‘em. But I wouldn’t trust them to do any cooking.”

Ike replied immediately, “That’ll work, but that’s gonna be the easy part. What the devil am I going to tell the people in the grocery store when Bird don’t show up?” The sheriff didn’t think much of this problem. “Oh hell, Ike, you’re making a big deal out of nothing. All you have to do is tell the idiots in town that the bitch left and went back to Indian-town. They won’t care. It’s not like anyone liked her, is it?”

Ike took another long drag on his cigarette. “Well, I’ll tell you this much, my friend. You’re doin’ the burying this time. I ain’t carrying that fat pig all the way back there by myself.” With that, he sat back, shaking his head. Sheriff Montgomery readily agreed, “I’ll take care of the burying. It’s my turn, I guess. I’ll probably need some help moving her back there, but I’ll do the digging.”

With this, the sheriff stood up and handcuffed the girl to the chair she was setting on. Then he walked over to one of the sheds near the house, opened its door and went inside. Soon he came out, pushing an old wheelbarrow. He wheeled it to the side of Bird’s corpse and dropped it, pushing down on the wheelbarrow’s carriage to make sure it was firmly seated in the dusty soil. Then he reached under Bird’s arms and attempted to lift her. But she was too heavy and he dropped her, looking toward the porch for help. Ike stood up and ambled over to the body. He took Bird’s feet and together they lifted her, struggling under the weight. They worked the body into position over the wheelbarrow and lowered her into it. Bird was now in the wheelbarrow, with her legs hanging over in the front and her head swinging loosely behind it. Her face seemed to be grotesquely staring back at the wheelbarrow operator, but that didn’t concern either of the men. Ike returned to his chair as the sheriff wheeled the overflowing cart back to the same shed, put it inside, and closed the door.

He walked back to the porch and sat down, stretching out his legs. After a moment, he took another long pull on the wine jug as Ike opened the conversation. “You know, Karl, those tracks that we saw a while back are still bothering me. Now that there’s another squaw that’s gonna be locked up here, whoever made them might be back. It could be trouble.” The sheriff took another swig. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Do you have any idea who was out here?” Ike thought for a minute, “No. But whoever it was is probably connected to that Flynn kid. He seems to be the leader of the pack around here. I’ve seen him looking at me in town and you can bet that he’s laying some kind of trap. He’s looking for revenge, I think.”

The sheriff smiled and leaned back in the rocker. “Don’t worry about Flynn. I’ve got a trick up my sleeve that’ll put him in prison over at Deer Lodge for a long, long time. I’ll make a call and hurry some fingerprint work that I’m having done by the state people over in Helena. As soon as I get his prints back, I’ll give you the pleasure of arresting him.” Ike was startled at this, “What for? Did he cross the line?” He was grinning from ear to ear. This was good news to him. The sheriff chuckled at the reaction. Yeah, I have absolute proof – or I soon will have it – that the Flynn turd started that fire that burned the widow’s house down!” Ike broke into a roaring bout of laughter and was soon joined by the sheriff. All thought of Bird’s recent demise was forgotten for the moment.

When the laughter died down, Ike said, “That calls for a celebration!” He walked over to the Indian girl and removed the handcuffs, taking her by the arm and steering her toward the house. Looking back at the sheriff, he said, “We can take care of that fat squaw later. Right now, I think we could both use some fresh stuff.” The sheriff grinned and stood up. They went into the house, dragging the terrified girl behind them.

It wasn’t long until Red and Dawn arrived at their lookout spot. The sheriff’s car was there, but that was something they had known and there didn’t seem to be anything else worthy of note. Usually the sheriff, Ike and Bird would sit on the porch, but today they were apparently inside. With nothing happening, Dawn and Red were soon bored. They watched the sheep and the old milk cow graze in the pasture and they checked out the mountains on the other side of the clearing for the thousandth time. Nothing was moving anywhere. They just stayed a short time before going back to town. Nothing was out of the ordinary here.

In the house below them, Ike pulled up his pants and said to the sheriff, “OK. We’ve put it off long enough. Let’s get Bird over to the dumping grounds before she starts smelling worse than before.” Sheriff Montgomery nodded his agreement and stubbed out the cigarette he had been smoking. Then they locked the sobbing girl in her stone prison before walking to the shed that held Bird’s remains. Slowly they began moving the wheelbarrow with its heavy load around the house and over the hill to the west.

Dawn and Red got to their bicycles and started toward town, oblivious of the gruesome project underway back at the sheep ranch.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Another Prisoner

T
he next few days were uneventful. The house was almost complete and the boys finally had some time off. The days were spent swimming in the river and lying on a little beach. For the first time that summer, the friends behaved like teenagers and just enjoyed the summer. The sheriff’s car never came to town, so Dawn and Red didn’t go to their surveillance point for the entire week.

One evening during the week, they were sitting at their table in Otto’s when Ike came in shopping for groceries. They immediately went silent and watched Ike as he moved around the store. Otto, being his normal boisterous self, asked Ike, “Hey Ike, what’cha doing here all alone? Does the wife trust you to get the groceries by yourself now?” Ike just grinned uneasily, but Otto didn’t stop, “She’s not sick, is she? Hope not.” With that, Ike finally replied, “Naw, she just went home to visit her folks for a while, that’s all. I’m a temporary bachelor, I guess.” He was hugely good-humored about it. Otto took his cue from Ike’s boisterous reply and joked about being glad that he didn’t have to eat Ike’s cooking. Ike hurriedly gathered his purchases, paid the bill, and left the store. The kids at the table speculated for a while about Bird’s absence and then went back to their conversation.

On Sunday afternoon, the day before the big Labor Day Celebration, the sheriff came back through town. Dawn saw his car passing through town and ran to find Red. Together, the two made their way to the base of Camel’s Hump, hid their bikes, and hiked down the hill to check out activities at the sheep ranch.

It was quiet when they arrived and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Dawn noticed that the big lock was back on the stone building’s door. But the door was wide open, so they decided it meant nothing. They had been there for over an hour and were about ready to give up and go home when Ike emerged from the house and went over to the little stone prison building. He went into the building and emerged a moment later with a bucket, the contents of which he unceremoniously threw on the ground alongside of the building.