“If we’re goin’,” Clemmie said, “let’s be gettin’ at it.”

Rusty sensed that she would not need much persuasion to stay here and face Dawkins down with a shotgun. But the family was without menfolk now except for Purdy. In the short run she had to do what seemed best for her young ones. There would be time enough in the future to return and make a stand, to face the challenge of the land and Caleb Dawkins.

Clemmie shouted at the team, and Geneva flipped the reins to set the mules into motion. Rusty watched the two wagons set out on the dim trail southeastward. He rode back to where the boys waited. “We’ll give them time, then fall in behind. No use in them havin’ to breathe the dust these horses raise.”

One of the boys pointed. “We’ve got company yonder.”

He saw a man on horseback and a man in a buggy. They made no move to approach but watched from afar. Though at the distance he could not see the faces, every instinct told Rusty the man in the buggy was Caleb Dawkins.

“Come to watch the Monahans leave,” he said. “He probably feels like he drew four aces. But these folks’ll be back, and we’ll see who laughs loudest then.”

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Familiar landmarks set Rusty’s pulse to racing. He came to a place where he and Mike Shannon had camped once while searching for unused grazing land during a dry year much like this one. He imagined he could hear his foster father’s voice telling him about the Mexican War, well-remembered old stories Rusty had heard before and wished now he could hear again.

Vince Purdy pulled his wagon up close. “Kind of early to be campin’.”

“Just studyin’ about better times. We’ll travel a little farther before sundown.”

Thoughts of Daddy Mike led him to Isaac York and the terrible day Mike was shot. Stationed far from home, away from the familiar places that triggered old memories, Rusty had managed most of the time to relegate the past to a far-back corner of his mind. Now as he returned to the land he knew so well, the memories came in a rush, resurrecting an old bitterness he had not managed to overcome.

He hoped he would not encounter Isaac York. He would stay no longer than was necessary to get the Monahan family placed. He would avoid the settlement, where he was most likely to see York. On no account would he go near the York farm for fear of arousing an impulse he might not be able to control.

His heart quickened at sight of the Shannon cabin. From afar it looked just as he had left it. Then he noticed smoke curling from the chimney. That struck him odd. He allowed himself a moment of fantasy that he would find Mother Dora there, cooking supper. He knew better, but the image brought him an inner glow before cold reality dashed it.