One made a face. “I’m the colonel’s daughter. I can shoot.”

Trapper had no doubt.

“So can Two and Three. The little two will learn in another year.”

They sat down behind a fallen log and watched the road. After ten minutes of silence One said, “Mrs. Adams wanted me to tell you that we’re all going back to the wagon if you want to wash in the stream when we get back.”

Trapper scratched his dirty hair. “You think I need to?”

“Yes. You do. We took a vote and it was unanimous.”

They waited until sunset and then they rode back to camp. Wherever the four men who’d passed were, they wouldn’t be riding back tonight. Maybe they were headed toward Jefferson. On horseback they’d make double the time he was making with a wagon. The road was more of a winding trail now, too uneven to chance at night.

His little nest of ladies was safe tonight.

When he got back, supper was almost ready.

Trapper handed One the rifles and told her and Two to keep watch while he walked down a slope to where the horses were grazing. The sun was setting, with just enough light to see the towel and soap a foot from the stream. His saddlebags were there also.

If he was going into town, even though it was probably little more than a trading post and a few huts, he’d clean up. Trapper stripped and dove in. The water was cold, so he didn’t waste any time. In ten minutes he was out of the water, dry, and putting on a clean set of clothes.

When he sat down by the fire for supper, each one of the girls walked past him and patted him on the shoulder. Number Four even kissed his cheek.

As they ate, he explained that tonight would be the first night he’d have a watch. After midnight he’d wake One and Two to stand guard while he slept a few hours. Emery said she’d take another two hours. Before dawn he’d take back over.

He felt they were safe tonight. They were too far from the trail for anyone to see their small fire. If a raid came, it would be after dawn.

To his surprise the girls asked questions. For them this might still seem like a game, but they wanted to know the rules.

If danger was coming their way, they needed to know what to do. Where to shoot to stop a man, but not kill him. How to hit a man twice their size and make him drop. How to read an attacker’s movements. All that he’d learned in the army about staying alive poured out. They would have to be his troops if trouble came.