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  The Trail West

  Nate King was a master trapper, a loyal friend and an almost legendary grizzly killer. But when a rich Easterner hired the bravest of all the frontiersmen to guide him to the virgin lands west of the Rockies, Nate found his life threatened by hostile Indians, back-shooters and renegade settlers out to rob him and his party. If he failed to meet every challenge and defeat every enemy, Nate was in very real danger of winding up dead!

  Dedicated to Judy, Joshua and Shane.

  Table of Contents

  About THE TRAIL WEST

  Dedication

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Prologue

  When Richard Ashworth felt a hard object pressed against the base of his spine, he froze. Moments before, the handsome New Yorker had stepped out of the bright midday sun into a dimly lit restaurant. His eyes had not yet adjusted to the gloom. He had no idea who was behind him or what was gouging his back.

  A voice as rough as sandstone and with an accent as thick as pea soup snarled in his ear, “Didn’t you see the sign on the door, mister? This place is closed until six. Come back in a couple of hours.”

  Most anyone else would have done as the speaker demanded. But Richard Ashworth had too much to lose to let himself be scared off by an underling. Squaring his shoulders, he gave his name and said, “I believe I’m expected. I was told to meet the Brothers here.”

  The Brothers. From the docks to the heights of Harlem, from Governors Island to the rustic cabins that fringed the city inland—that was how the notorious pair were known. Everyone Ashworth knew had advised him to stay away from them, but he was desperate.

  The pressure on Ashworth’s spine went away. Hulking shapes loomed out of the shadows. A man the size of a small carriage lumbered around in front of Ashworth and raked him from head to toe with a look of ill-concealed contempt. “No one said anything about a meeting to me. Lou, go check while we keep our friend company.”

  Ashworth put on an air of casual calm. Inwardly, though, his stomach churned. He suspected that, if the Brothers failed to remember his appointment, the monster who served as their watchdog would haul him back into the alley and break half the bones in his body.

  The man’s thick lips split in a cruel smirk. “We don’t often see your type around here, friend.”

  Ashworth knew to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn’t resist asking, “My type? What exactly do you mean by that?”

  The man’s smirk widened. Fingers as thick as walking canes jabbed at Ashworth’s attire. “Fancy beaver hat. Fancy cloak. Fancy clothes and shoes. You look like one of those newspaper advertisements for a store on Fifth Avenue.”

  Gruff laughter issued from several throats. Ashworth held his temper and said, “I should think, my good fellow, that it would be in your best interest to keep a civil tongue. I doubt that your employers like to have their business acquaintances treated in so cavalier a fashion.”

  More laughter greeted the remark. The huge man said, “A lot of fancy words, too. I bet you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, weren’t you?”

  Before Ashworth could show his resentment, the one named Lou returned and whispered in the huge man’s ear.

  “You’re in luck, Silver Spoon. Follow me.”

  The Brothers sat at a corner table, stuffing food into their mouths. Both were big, corpulent men. Their balding pates glistened as if slick with grease. Their suits were finely made, but seemed ready to burst at the seams. Napkins dotted with sauce and bits of pasta had been tucked into their collars.

  Neither glanced up when Ashworth halted. Clearing his throat, he introduced himself. “First off, I want to thank you for agreeing to hear me out,” he said, beginning the speech he had carefully prepared. “You have no idea how much this means to me—”

  One of the Brothers—Ashworth did not know if it was Salvatore or Antonio—held up a hand that resembled a ham. “We are busy men, Mr. Ashworth. Get to the point. Tell us why you have come.”

  The man’s brusque manner annoyed Ashworth. Rudeness was a trait he rarely tolerated, but in this instance he made an exception. “I have a certain business venture in mind. To put it into effect, I need capital, and the word on the street is that you have money to loan. So I thought—” Once more Ashworth was interrupted. The other Brother—and again, Ashworth had no idea whether it was Antonio or Salvatore—fixed flat brown eyes on him.

  “So you thought that you’d waltz on in here and talk us out of the money with no problem? You think you can pull the wool over the eyes over a couple of old-country bumpkins just off the boat?”

  “I never thought any such thing,” Ashworth said.

  “That’s good to hear,” the Brother said. “Because we’re not a charity. And we’re not a bank either. If you borrow from us, you pay thirty-percent interest on your gross profit. Plus you’ll sign over your house on Long Island and the estate on the Hudson as collateral. Fail to make good and they become ours.”

  Ashworth was startled, both by the amount they demanded and their intimate knowledge of his personal resources. “How do you know so much about me?”

  The Brothers exchanged glances. “Honestly, Mr. Ashworth,” the same one said, “didn’t it occur to you that we would take the precaution of having you checked out? We know that your family was once one of the wealthiest in New York. We also know most of the money is now gone and you want to rebuild the family fortune.” Ashworth could not help but be impressed. His financial state was a closely guarded secret to keep creditors from baying at his door.

  The other Brother wagged a fork at him. “Now do as I told you and get to the point. The guy who set up this meeting for you told us a little about what you have in mind. We want to hear it all.”

  In complete detail, Ashworth revealed his grand scheme. He was scrupulously honest, and to his immense relief, they listened without batting an eye. When he was done, he waited expectantly for their decision.

  “I don’t know,” one said. “The risk factor is terribly high. We stand to lose our fifteen-thousand investment if you don’t make it back.”

  “On the other hand,” the other argued, turning to his sibling, “we stand to make twice that or more if he does half as well as he thinks he might.”

  The Brothers huddled. Ashworth strained to hear what they were whispering, but he could not make out a single word. At length they straightened up. Without being aware that he was doing so, he held his breath.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal,” the Brother who had liked the proposition said. “On one condition.”

  “What might that be?” Ashworth asked, so overjoyed that he was ready to grant any request they might make.

  A thumb as squat as a sausage was jabbed at the huge watchdog who had escorted Ashworth in. “You have to take Emilio along.”

  Ashworth and the giant said in unison, “What?”

  The Brother smiled. “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

  Ashworth hesitated. The last thing he needed was someone looking over his shoulder every step of the way. But it made sense for the Brothers to want to keep track of how their mo
ney was being spent. “Fair enough. I agree.”

  “Good. Meet us here tomorrow at the same time and we’ll finalize the arrangement.”

  That was it. The meeting was ended. Emilio led Ashworth to the entrance and opened the door for him. Sullenly watching the happy man walk off, Emilio mentally cursed the fool for ever crossing the restaurant’s doorstep. In his anger he slammed the door and did something he had never done before: He marched back into the dining room and over to his employers.

  “Forgive me,” he said in the language all three of them had spoken for decades before they ever came to America, “but I must know. Why me? What did I ever do to make you so mad?”

  “You make it sound as if you are being punished,” Salvatore said.

  “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Antonio declared. “We need someone to watch over our investment and you are the only one we can trust to get the job done. It is as simple as that.”

  Emilio fidgeted. “Again, forgive me. But do you know what you ask? Have you not heard the stories? There are wild beasts out there that can tear a man to pieces. And there are savages everywhere.”

  Salvatore leaned forward. “Don’t tell me that you are afraid, Emilio?”

  The suggestion brought scarlet to Emilio’s cheeks. “I have never known fear. You know that.”

  “Then quit complaining,” Antonio said. “You will be well paid. In fact, you will get your heart’s desire when you return. All we ask is that you make sure Ashworth does not run off to the Oregon Country with our money.”

  “And if he succeeds in his venture,” Salvatore said, “you are to wait until he has sold the furs. Then kill him and bring the entire proceeds to us.”

  Emilio’s pulse had quickened at the mention of his fondest wish. “I understand,” he said, bowing his chin. “As always, I am yours to command.”

  The Brothers smiled.

  One

  The brute caught Nate King unawares. One moment the mountain man was riding westward across the prairie without a care in the world, his powerful buckskin-clad frame perched astride his superb black stallion. The next, there came a violent snort from out of the high grass and a riled bull buffalo reared up in a wallow off to the right.

  Nate instantly drew rein. He wanted to kick himself for not having noticed the wallow sooner, even though he could hardly be blamed. It was well hidden, for one thing. For another, the rank scent of urine and sweat was being wafted to the southeast by the stiff breeze.

  A heavy Hawken rifle rested across Nate’s thighs, but he made no attempt to use it. He hoped that the bull would amble off and leave him be. Having three pack animals in tow, he wasn’t hankering for a clash.

  Besides, Nate already had enough buffalo meat to last his family a long spell. He had spent the past two days butchering a cow almost as large as the shaggy specimen balefully eyeing him, and the packhorses were burdened with the results of his handiwork.

  Nate saw the bull toss its horns, then snort again. Still, Nate made no sudden moves. No one knew better than he did how unpredictable buffalo could be. The simple act of lifting a hand might cause the creature to charge.

  The bull cocked its massive head. It couldn’t seem to make up its mind whether Nate was a threat or not. Uttering a third snort, it began to turn and leave.

  “Good riddance, you mangy critter,” Nate said under his breath, pleased the encounter had turned out so well. More often than not, random incidents like that one resulted in life or death situations. And he could do without that.

  Just then one of the packhorses let out with a strident nicker. In a flash, the bull whirled. For an animal that weighed close to half a ton, it could move incredibly fast when it wanted to. In a flurry of pounding hooves and bobbing tail, the behemoth swept up out of the wallow and plowed through the grass toward the interlopers who had presumed to disturb its rest.

  Nate King let the lead rope to the pack animals drop, reined his stallion to the right, and applied his heels. His intention was to lure the bull off, to have it chase him instead of the packhorses. In that, he succeeded all too well.

  The bull angled to intercept the stallion, its broad brow and curved horns parting the stems in front of it like the prow of a great ship would ply the sea. Able to cover ground as swiftly as any horse, it narrowed the gap rapidly.

  Nate goaded his steed into a gallop. Holding the Hawken in his left hand, he fairly flew northward. Between the drum of his mount’s hooves and those of the onrushing bull, the plain around him rumbled as if to the boom of thunder. He cast repeated glances over a broad shoulder to ascertain exactly how close the bull was.

  The brute proved amazingly quick. In a span of heartbeats, its flared nostrils were nearly brushing the black stallion’s tail. For a few harrowing seconds it appeared that the bull would bowl the horse over.

  Nate bent forward, lashing the reins for all he was worthwhile praying to his Maker that he wouldn’t end his days stomped to a pulp by a cantankerous four-legged cuss that had fewer brains than an adobe brick.

  The mountaineer thought of twisting and firing, but discarded the notion. Hitting a vital organ at that angle would be next to impossible. The only plain target was the bull’s brain, which happened to be housed in solid bone so dense that a lead ball could never penetrate.

  Nate contented himself with fleeing. He knew that buffalo were swift over short distances, just as he knew they lacked stamina. Within a few hundred yards the one behind him should play itself out, he reasoned, and he could escape.

  The afternoon sun bathed the gently waving grass in a shimmering golden glow. Any other time, and Nate would have been entranced by the natural beauty the pristine landscape offered. Even after more than a decade of living in the wilderness, he never tired of nature’s scenic wonders. It was one of the reasons he had enjoyed living in the majestic Rocky Mountains for so long.

  As Nate had learned the hard way, everything worthwhile in life had its price. Life in the mountains might be paradise on earth, but it was a paradise rife with hostile Indians and bestial wildlife. A free trapper had to stay alert every minute of the day and night or he’d pay for his folly with his life.

  An irate bellow reminded Nate to concentrate on the matter at hand. The bull was so close that it forked a horn at the stallion’s rear legs and nearly hooked one. Nate flailed his limbs to inspire the horse to even greater speed.

  Over a minute went by. Then two. Nothing else moved on the vast ocean of grass. It was as if Nate and the bull were the only living things in all existence.

  The fact that one was by itself indicated to Nate it was an old bull that had been left behind. Such rogues were extremely belligerent, always ready to fight at the drop of a feather. They had to be, in order to stave off roving wolf packs and prowling panthers.

  It compounded Nate’s dilemma. The bull just might chase him until it or Nate’s horse dropped from sheer exhaustion. Nate had managed to gain a few yards, but the buffalo showed no sign of giving up any time soon.

  Bending low and shifting his torso backward, Nate tucked the Hawken’s smooth stock to his shoulder. It was difficult to fix a steady bead. The barrel kept bouncing up and down. He did the best he could, sighting on a spot just above the bull’s right eye. Holding his breath, he thumbed back the hammer, pressed his forefinger to the trigger, and started to squeeze.

  Suddenly, inexplicably, the bull veered off. It bore to the east at a steady trot, bobbing its head and rumbling irately deep in its chest.

  Nate uncoiled his finger and eased the hammer down. Straightening, he looped around to the west to return to his packhorses before they strayed too far. Hardly had he gone fifty yards when the harrowing ordeal was all but forgotten. It had, after all, been nothing exceptional a typical occurrence in a typical day, one of countless near-fatal episodes he’d lived through since taking up residence on the frontier.

  A brisk canter brought Nate to the vicinity of the wallow. Two of the packhorses were there, grazing peaceful
ly. But the third, the one that had nickered and caused the bull to attack, the one that had given him no end of trouble during the whole trek, had somehow slipped the lead rope and wandered off.

  “Damned nuisance,” Nate grumbled. Gathering up the other two, he rode in a small circle until he found where the third had headed to the southwest.

  “If I were an Apache, I’d eat it,” Nate complained as he followed the trail of bent grass. Talking to himself had become a habit he no longer shunned. It relieved the monotonous quiet that sometimes bore down on a man’s soul like a heavy weight. And it fostered the illusion of companionship when there was none, a needed antidote to the toxin of prolonged loneliness.

  Judging by the stray’s tracks, Nate saw that the animal had picked up speed as it went along. Nate became more annoyed as time passed. Every minute spent pursuing the troublemaker was another minute’s delay in reaching his family, and more than anything, he desired to see them again.

  About half an hour after leaving the wallow, Nate spied several familiar objects lying less than a hundred feet ahead. He scowled. Mentally, he tongue-lashed the stray with every cuss word in his vocabulary. The errant animal had managed to buck off the packs Nate had so painstakingly arranged that very morning, scattering the contents over a wide area.

  Dismounting, Nate collected every last item. Among them was the cow’s hide, which had to be refolded and tied tight. The sun was perched on the western rim of the world when Nate rose and studied the pile.

  Since the other packhorses were already laden with as much as they could safely carry, Nate had to leave the pile there until he reclaimed the troublemaker. He didn’t like it one bit. A grizzly or wolves might happen by and make short work of the jerked meat he had spent hours drying in the hot sun—meat his loved ones were counting on him to bring.

  In a bitter temper, Nate swung onto the big black and resumed riding. He had half a mind to trade the stray at the next rendezvous to a trapper known to be partial to horseflesh. It would serve the animal right for giving him such a hard time.