The Rider of Phantom Canyon (13 page)

Strongheart took off, heading west from Westcliffe, then turned south, the thirteen- and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range towering before him in the sky. Clouds hovered over some of the majestic peaks, looking as if they were straining to break over from the western San Luis Valley side of the range. He would spend the night up high in the trees on Medano Pass, which crossed over the range into the San Luis Valley and into the Great Sand Dunes. He had been over this pass, located twenty-three miles south of Westcliffe, many times. The Great Sand Dunes was a large, 44,000-square-mile area right up against the mountain range made of fine sand with dunes that rose as high as 750 feet up into the air, constantly shifting, with a few
streams of water that actually ran under and around them and, like the dunes, were always shifting course and location. The San Luis Valley was the largest high-mountain valley in the world, and the winds in the valley were such that the sands would come from dry areas of the Rio Grande at the southwestern end of the 50-by-150-mile, 8,000-foot-high desert valley and settle up against the twelve to fourteen thousand peaks in the southeastern portion of the valley. In fact, it would eventually become a national park.

On the eastern side of the range, Strongheart made camp later up in the trees overlooking the V. R. Clinton Ranch. He could see several thousand head of longhorn cattle grazing in the lush green pastures. The Wet Mountain Valley was fast becoming known for outstanding pastures and hay and alfalfa. Looking around the valley spread out before him in the late afternoon, Strongheart could see large harems of elk and large herds of mule deer with hundreds in each group grazing in several of the giant pastures.

When he set up camp, Strongheart made a large pile of rocks as a solid rest for the powerful binoculars he obtained from Zach Banta. He would use all available light to glass the ranch often and figure out his best route of approach. There was no information, no intelligence on V. R. Clinton, his ranch, or his plans, and Strongheart was bound and determined to find out more by sneaking in as close as he could to the main house, which was a large two-story stone building
with a very large rock wall around it inside the sprawling ranch perimeter.

One thing he easily identified was ranch hands down below working the cattle and doing ranch chores, but there were others who looked to be vigilant and were obviously hired guns, not real cowboys.

He sat down after dark eating his supper and drinking coffee, then rolled up in his bedroll, looking at the stars and the snow-covered peaks of the range, such as Colony Peak and the distant Crestone Needles and Crestone Peak, as well as Marble Mountain, which has the Spanish Caves in an area up very high that is honeycombed with limestone caverns and connecting caves called the Caverna del Oro, or the Cavern of Gold, said to contain millions of dollars' worth of gold treasure left by the Spanish conquistadors.

Little did Joshua know a rider was aware of his intentions and was searching for him now, even after dark. The follower finally made camp himself, knowing it was insane to try to find the Pinkerton agent in the trees and rocks when he knew Joshua would make a camp that would not be easy at all to detect.

The follower also did not know that he was being followed as well. The follower made camp about one mile north of Strongheart, and his follower made camp about one mile north of him. Nobody seemed to want to let Strongheart know in the darkness how popular he had become, mainly because such a revelation might be met
with a hail of bullets. The follower, knowing Strongheart would be awake before dawn, would awaken then and start moving at daybreak. He did not make a campfire, worried that Strongheart might see it during the night and sneak up on him. His follower was even more experienced in the wilderness than he was and did make a small, smokeless fire, snugly nestled in a small jumble of boulders that reflected the heat from the fire, blocked out any reflection, and filtered much of the little smoke there was. That watcher knew there was little chance he would be discovered by Joshua or anybody.

Shortly after daybreak, Strongheart crawled into the saddle and headed toward the ranch. He saw a gulch that was filled with scrub oak and went right up and through the large stone wall around the ranch and would provide excellent cover for his approach. However, he did not want to go that way, because it was the most obvious. There were two smaller gulches, also filled with vegetation, and neither went all the way to the wall. He could safely leave Eagle there without worry of him being spotted and sneak most of the way to the wall, and would then have to carefully low-crawl on his stomach for maybe three hundred feet, using selective cover.

Joshua Strongheart was now focused on the ranch below and the various activities going on; he was not watching his backtrail as carefully as he normally did. The follower was watching him with a small telescope and was now coming down off the mountain, following the same route Strongheart had used. However, his focus
was on Strongheart, and he was not watching back up the mountain behind him, or he might have seen occasional glimpses of the second follower carefully putting the sneak on him. It took several hours for Joshua to get into position on the one draw so he could dismount, leave Eagle hidden out of sight in the trees, and move on by foot.

He dismounted and removed his boots and tied them with a leather thong to his saddle horn. He carefully, quietly removed the large-roweled spurs with two jingle-bobs on each and slid them into his saddlebags while he retrieved his moccasins and an extra .45 Peacemaker, tucking it into his belt in the back. He strung his bow and slipped it and his mountain lion–hide quiver full of arrows over his head and shoulder, wearing both diagonally on his back. The tall Pinkerton moved forward, Lakota style, walking slowly, toe first, then the heel.

He made no sound. With the quilled, soft-soled antelope-skin moccasins, Joshua could feel every pebble underfoot and would stop whenever his foot touched a stick. He would gingerly move his foot to another spot. When the undergrowth opened up, he would lie down on the ground, low-crawling forward, using his forearms and knees.

Strongheart was now close enough to the large stone wall he could literally throw a rock and hit it. The perspective was certainly different at ground level. It was, he estimated, ten feet in height.

The follower's large horse, like Eagle, was also trained to ground-rein, so he left him in the trees, and the two horses sniffed each other's noses, then calmly grazed in place, side by side. Removing his spurs, he pulled a pair of woolen socks over his boots, checked the bullets in his .44, and moved forward slowly, carefully. He had to close in to Joshua and hoped the wily Pinkerton agent would not spot him until he was almost upon him.

The other follower already had moccasins on and held back in the trees, watching the first follower, then stealthily, slowly moved forward.

Strongheart watched to his left, the north, and kept his eye on what looked like two legitimate cowhands roping, branding, and neutering bull calves. They also had a third cowhand, who was obviously another hired gun, not doing any work but sitting his horse, watching over the scene. Joshua pulled out his binoculars and observed the man for a while. With the two active cowhands, he knew he could sprint the last few yards and vault the ten feet up the wall and pull himself over. However, the gun hand was too watchful. Joshua had to figure out how to distract the man. He considered shooting a long, arching arrow and hoping when it struck it would make enough noise to distract him, but he knew he would have to aim at a spot so far away that the man would not even hear it strike.

He concluded he would inch his way forward on his belly all the way to the wall, moving so slowly the
shootist would not see him. Then he would, like a lizard, grab the rocks with fingers and hands and work his way up to the top of the wall. Carefully watching the gunman, he slowly started moving forward. He knew at that distance he would not be very noticeable unless he moved quickly. Like a snail, Joshua inched along. It took him over an hour just to move several paces.

Reaching the wall, he started to lift himself up, ever so slowly, gripping with his fingers and the sides of his feet on the edges of stones. By now, the follower and the second follower were both in place in the trees watching, and both were amazed at his incredible strength to cling to the fingerholds in the rocks. It took a half an hour for Joshua to reach the top of the wall, then he had to slowly pull himself on top, where he lay perfectly still, all his muscles in his arms and legs shaking. He dared not move, though there could be people inside the compound below him watching him now or aiming guns at him. Joshua felt he had to simply take the risk and lie there until he recovered. Because he was in such excellent physical condition, it did not take long for him to do so.

Then, ever so slowly, he turned his head toward the inside of the wall and saw the large house. There before him, he saw her, totally nude, her long, golden hair hanging down around both shoulders, and she was grinning. Helena Victoria was standing in a second-floor bedroom staring at Joshua, wearing nothing but a large smile on her face. She did nothing to hide
her nakedness, and Strongheart knew he had to think and move more quickly than she. He had to move fast and get back up into the trees, as she would call down the hounds of hell on him.

First she would have to put on a robe, at least, and he was already sprinting back toward the follower who was hidden in the treeline. The follower headed toward his horse as fast as he could move and vaulted into the saddle just as Joshua spotted him.

Strongheart said, “What are you doing here, and how did you get here?”

Scottie Middleton said, “I'll tell you when we are safe!”

Just then, Joshua heard a large bell clanging three times from the ranch compound. He knew instantly that it was a prearranged signal for help. He jumped up on Eagle, and they rode fast into the taller trees. The second follower was watching and was running fast ahead of them, retracing Joshua's trail back up the mountain.

Joshua was really puzzled at how Scottie had appeared and why. They rode well up into the trees and headed north along the front of the mountain range, following deer and elk trails at nine to ten thousand feet. Strongheart knew they could not push the horses like that, so he slowed Eagle to a walk for five minutes to cool him down, then finally stopped in an aspen grove and dismounted. Scottie followed suit.

They pulled canteens off their horses and drank deeply.

Joshua said, “Okay, tell me, Scottie, how did you find me, and why did you come after me?”

Scottie said, “I will, Joshua, but shouldn't we be running the horses farther? You know they have to have a lot of hands after us.”

Strongheart said, “Maybe we should, but we need to let them have a blow and rest a little. They have been mainly staying down at five thousand feet. We are running them at twice the height. Sometimes, Scottie, you just have to give your horse a rest and stand and fight if you have to. Grab your rifle and make sure you have plenty of bullets.”

With that, Joshua went over and grabbed his carbine, and Scottie grabbed his. They went back and sat down on logs. The other follower was catching up, but a hundred feet higher up the ridge.

Scottie said, “You know that woman you mentioned, Helena Victoria? Her real name is Victoria Roberta Clinton. V. R. Clinton is a she, not a he.”

Joshua was amazed and said, “I just saw her through the upstairs window when I was on top of that wall and wondered what her connection was there, but how do you know, Scottie?”

“When I heard you and the sheriff talking about V. R. Clinton, I remembered Bernard Clinton at school,” Scottie said. “Everybody ignores him, because he is
strange, but I have always been nice to him. When you made me go to school, I talked to Bernard outside and asked him if he lived in Westcliffe. He said he does, but he lives down in Cañon City during the weeks we have school. His ma has money, he said, lots of it, and she didn't want him going to one of those one-room schoolhouses around Westcliffe. She sends him to Cañon City, and he stays with the Macons, Robesons, Adamics, or one of the main pioneer families. I can't remember which, but it don't matter.”

Strongheart smiled, saying, “Doesn't matter.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you find out where she gets her money from?” Joshua asked.

“No,” Scottie said.

“She got it from Robert Hartwell,” a woman's voice said above them. “She was his woman.”

Scottie and Strongheart both spun and drew their weapons to see the exquisitely beautiful cousin of Strongheart standing behind a tree above them. A paint horse followed her, and she carried a carbine and, like Joshua, wore a bow and a quiver of arrows on her back diagonally. She wore a doeskin dress that did little to hide all the curves in her body. Scottie immediately thought that she was the most beautiful Injun woman he had ever seen, then revised his thinking. Her face was the prettiest face he had ever seen on any woman.

Joshua holstered his pistol and said, “Cousin,” as she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms.

He pushed her back and said, “I must be getting old or stupid. Both of you have put the sneak on me today. Scottie, this is my cousin Wiya Waste, which means ‘beautiful woman.' Wiya Waste, this is my friend Scottie Middleton.”

Scottie removed his hat and stammered, “A, um, pleased to meet you, ma'am.”

She giggled and said, “My, what a handsome young warrior you are. My cousin has told me much about you.”

“He has?” Scottie said, very well pleased.

He looked self-consciously at Joshua, who simply grinned.

Strongheart then got grim-faced. “Wiya, you live many days north of here at the circle of my father and his brother's wife, your mother. Why have you come here?”

He said it that way so Scottie would understand their relationship.