What would it take for a man to have the courage to escape on foot into a blizzard like this with no weapons and no warm clothes?
Smoke moved through the night as fast as he could, considering the snowstorm made the darkness almost absolute and he was running through snow that was getting deeper by the minute. It was only his excellent night vision that kept him from breaking an ankle or impaling himself on a tree limb in the heavy forest.
Knowing the storm was coming almost directly out of the north, he realized all he had to do to keep on track was to keep the wind directly in his face. That way he avoided traveling in circles as most inexperienced men did when moving in unfamiliar territory.
Smoke knew the mountain ranges all around them were closest directly to the north, and getting up into the High Lonesome was his only chance to avoid the men who would surely be on his trail no later than daybreak. The closest mountain was about seven miles away, and he had absolutely no chance to make it before daylight, not on foot traveling through darkness in snow that was rapidly getting up to his mid-calves.
His only weapon was a five-inch clasp knife, and he was completely without any other supplies or food. He laughed out loud into the freezing north wind. Only a mountain man, and a crazy one at that, would think that he had any chance at all against more than a dozen well-armed men on horseback on his trail under these conditions.
Well, this crazy old mountain man still had a few tricks up his sleeve, and if he could keep from freezing to death long enough, he’d show them a thing or two. Then, it would be time to pay them back.
Other Mountain Man books by
William W. Johnston
THE LAST MOUNTAIN MAN
RETURN OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
TRAIL OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
REVENGE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
LAW OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
JOURNEY OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
WAR OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
CODE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
PURSUIT OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
COURAGE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
BLOOD OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
FURY OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
RAGE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
CUNNING OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
POWER OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
ORDEAL OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
TRIUMPH OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
VENGEANCE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
HONOR OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
PRIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
CREED OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
GUNS OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
HEART OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
JUSTICE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
VALOR OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
WARPATH OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
TREK OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
QUEST OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
AMBUSH OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
Teaser chapter
Copyright Page
Notes
ONE
Smoke Jensen and his friends, Cal, Pearlie, and Louis Longmont, turned their horses’ heads south and rode out of the town of Noyes, Minnesota. They rode slumped in their saddles, dog-tired after the months they’d spent in Canada working for William Cornelius Van Horne.
Cal, still excited about the adventures they’d had and the unforgettable scenery of the northern Rocky Mountains, jabbered on and on about how he wished he’d been born in the days of the mountain men.
Louis and Smoke just looked at each other and smiled, for they knew those days hadn’t been nearly as romantic as they’d sounded in the stories Cal had heard around the campfire from Bear Tooth and Red Bingham and Bobcat Bill.
Of course, they weren’t about to tell the young’un that and ruin his ideas about the “good old days.”
They rode on for about two miles, until they came to the railroad station that was their goal.
As they reined in their mounts in front of the stationmaster’s office, Louis stretched and observed, “That was very nice of Bill Van Horne to arrange for us to ride all the way back to Big Rock on the train instead of on horseback.”
“Yeah, it’ll sure save some wear an’ tear on my backside,” Pearlie agreed as he stepped down out of his stirrups. “The way I feel now, if’n I never see another saddle as long as I live it’ll be all right with me,” he added, rubbing his butt with both hands.
Smoke laughed. “Not only that, but Bill said we could ride in James Hill’s own private car on our trip south.”
“Hill?” Cal asked. “Ain’t he the man Bill said bought up all the railroads in this part of the country?”
Smoke nodded. “That’s right, Cal. Hill owns just about every inch of railroad track between here and home.”
“Jiminy, then his own private car ought’a be somethin’ to see.”
“I would imagine it will be rather lavish,” Louis said as he got down off his horse.
“I don’t know what lavish means,” Pearlie said, “but I hope it means it’s stocked right well with food, ‘cause I’m hungry enough to eat a bear.”
“Well, now, that’s a surprise,” Cal said sarcastically to his friend. “From the way you was talkin’, I figured you’d be too tired to eat an’ you’d just go right to sleep once we got to the train.”
Pearlie looked at the young man as if he’d uttered a blasphemy. “What? Go to sleep without eating? What kind of man would do that?”
After Smoke spoke to the stationmaster, and their horses and gear were stowed in the cattle car, the man showed them into James Hill’s private car. As they entered, he told them to just pull the bell rope next to the door if they needed anything and a steward would take care of it.
Just before he left, he stopped in the door and looked around the car, shaking his head. “You boys must be powerful friends of Mr. Hill’s,” he said, “’cause this is the first time I’ve ever seen him loan his car out to anyone.” He paused and grinned. “Hell, when the President came out here last year on a tour, Mr. Hill gave him another car. Said this one was too good for politicians to use.”
“Thanks for all your help,” Smoke said, smiling and shutting the door behind the man.
As the stationmaster stepped down out of the car, a man moved out of the shadows next to the station building and stood there staring at the train.