By Kirsten Page
"Rachel, that's not right that only Buck gets to go, and you know it." Noah's tone came on harsher than he had intended. Rachel knew that, but it still caused her to back up a step.
Her reply was calm and quite soft. "Someone has to stay around and take care of the mail. People are dependent on you, and you can't just walk away from your job." She paused for a moment and waited for resistance or at least an argument from him. She knew that Cody and Ike would probably understand her point. "People are depending on you to get that mail through. I'm just as worried about Lou, Kid, and Jimmy as you are, but we have to trust that Teaspoon and Buck will find them."
With nothing else to stay they nodded in agreement. Noah took her point well, and dropped the subject. "What needs to be done around here?" He asked, this time his voice was soothing and relaxed. Rachel had so willingly taken him in as part of the family, and he had to keep reminding himself of what all she'd done.
Rachel smiled grateful. "Well, why don't we start with me fixing you boys something to eat."
There was a simultaneous ring of the boys speaking and Ike signing, and a round of happy smiles. "Sounds good to me!"
"How do we know where to start?" Buck asked trying to shout over the thunder overhead.
Teaspoon turned to him, his face dripping with water. "Well, I spose we'll just head towards the Dakotas. I gave the them directions, but with this large territory it would be easier than finding a drinking partner on New Year's to get lost out there."
Buck smiled at Teaspoon's analogy. He had a way with words. "Then let's not waste any time!"
The two riders plowed through the endless mass of pouring water in search of their long-lost friends.
"What are they doing all the way out here?" Jimmy asked his friend.
Kid was staring intently at the horses that were now grazing not far from the cave's entrance. Some of them looked quite familiar to him. "Jimmy, do you recognize any of those from William's Station?"
Jimmy stared intently. "Oh come on Kid, there's probably a hundred horses that look like those around these parts." He stopped for a moment trying to figure out why Kid had even brought that up. "What are you thinking?"
Kid looked at him for the first time in several minutes. "I don't know, something's just not right. What's around here that they'd be moving a whole herd of horses through these parts?" The question wasn't really directed at his friend, but more a question that would linger there for a moment.
"Well, we could always go ask them." Jimmy offered. He instantly wished he could take the suggestion back after the I don't think that's such a bright idea look Kid shot him.
"If something's wrong, I don't want to go get tangled in a mess that we can't handle." Kid turned back to check on Lou, who was finally looking somewhat better.
Jimmy followed at his heels. "Kid, what are you talking about? I really mean it, there are days when I don't understand you. You'll get all fired up one moment over something that could be important, and then you have to go think about it for a few hours." Jimmy marveled at his last comment.
"Yeah? Well that tends to be your problem, Jimmy. You don't seem to think about anything." Kid's face looked guilty after saying that, but he refused to apologize about it, so he quickly changed the topic back. "What I'm saying is this; we're stuck out here in land that only the good Lord knows about, and then we find some men moving horses up through this territory. I don't know about you, but that seems strange to me."
Jimmy stopped Kid in his tracks and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, lots of ranchers are always buying horses to trade or sell. What's so strange about that?"
Kid shrugged his friend's arm away. "Nothing. Just forget it, alright?"
"No! You had a point, and I want to hear it!" Kid could just really irritate him at times, and it appeared that this was one of those times. When he didn't get the response that he wanted, Jimmy started to march out towards the men that had now made camp. Kid can be so infuriating! First we're lost out here, Lou gets sick, and now Kid's got some strange notion about the fact that men are moving a herd of horses across the plains. He knew that this had all been blown out of proportion, but he figured it was all of the stress of everything that had gone on that caused him to snap.
Kid called after him. "Jimmy, no, don't. We don't know what......."
Jimmy didn't hear the final sentence that Kid spoke, he tuned it out and proceeded ahead. This is so stupid. He stopped and called to Kid, "I'm going to get directions, we need to at least find out where we are."
"Great, Jimmy." Kid sighed. He turned his attention back to Lou whose fever seemed to stabilize, but refused to leave. He wiped her sweaty face. She tried to brush it away, but her strength gave in. Kid reached for her hand and held it gently. "You'll be ready to go home soon." He said softly before planting a kiss on her cheek.
He rose to stretch his stiff legs, but was stopped in mid-step by the ringing of gunfire. Kid rushed to see where the sound was coming from. He saw a struggle between two men off in the distance, and he watched as one of them fell face first to the ground. "Jimmy!" Kid called out as he resisted the urge to run towars his friend. "Great, just great, now what." He wasn't sure how he would get them out of this one. One gun against six men?
On to Chapter Six