Andy noted that Rusty gave Geneva a long look before he pulled away and moved on toward the main house. Clemmie and the girls came out from the dog run. Josie said, “We’ve put somethin’ together for you and Andy to eat on the way.” She handed Rusty a canvas sack and managed to hold on to his hand. He did not immediately pull it away.

Rusty said, “I’m obliged to everybody. I’m sorry we brought trouble to your door.”

Clemmie said, “Trouble is no stranger here. You’ve helped us through the worst there ever was. We’d do anything we can for you.”

“You wouldn’t do murder. That’s what it might take to settle with the Oldhams.”

Rusty shook hands with the men, except for James, who remained in the house to watch the brothers. Clemmie and both girls hugged Andy. It made him uncomfortable.

Josie said, “Mind now, Andy, you keep studyin’.”

He promised her he would, though he had reservations.

Riding away, Andy turned to look back at the lantern light in the windows. He said, “That Josie, she likes you. Likes you pretty good.”

Rusty did not answer.

Andy said, “Those Oldhams don’t. You think they like to hide and kill you?”

“I’d bet my horse and saddle on it.”

“Why we don’t hide and wait for them? Kill them easy.”

Rusty gave Andy a look of disbelief. “That’s not the way honest men do things.”

“It is Comanche way. Kill them, you fix everything.”

Rusty grunted. “I’ve got a lot more to teach you than just how to read.”

CHAPTER

FOUR

COLORADO RIVER, TEXAS, 1871

Six years had passed without war, but they had not brought peace. They had brought a reconstruction government but not reconstruction.

The blacksmith rolled the wagon wheel out for Rusty to see. He leaned it against his broad hip and said, “There she is, a few spokes, a new rim, and she’s as good as when that wagon first came out of the shop that made it.”

The original wheel had buckled when Andy brought the team a little too fast down a rough hillside. He had a youth’s weakness for speed. “It’ll do fine,” Rusty said. He dug into his pocket, wishing he did not have to spend any of the dollars he had received for cattle he sent up the trail with James Monahan. It seemed there were never enough dollars to cover his needs and still pay the heavy taxes imposed by the occupation government.

The blacksmith remarked, “You’ve taught that Andy boy readin’ and writin’, but you ain’t taught him much about caution. He’s whipped most of the young fellers his size around here and some a right smart bigger. Still got a lot of Indian in him.”