By the time they got to Big Rock, it was almost nine o’clock in the morning, and they rode directly to Jed Blankenship’s blacksmith shop.
“Oh, no,” Sally said when she dismounted and walked up to the door. There was a sign on it that was too small for the boys to read from their horses.
“What’s it say, Miss Sally?” Cal asked.
“Jed’s not here. He’s gone to Silver City to help his brother who broke his leg. He won’t be back for at least a week.”
“You want me to hightail it over to Silver City and see what he has to say?” Pearlie asked.
Sally thought about it for a moment. “No, it’ll probably be quicker just to divide up the ranches around town and all of us ride around asking whose buckboard it might be.”
“Maybe it’s something simple, like one of your neighbors came by last night askin’ Smoke for help,” Cal observed.
Sally shook her head. “No. If that were the case, Smoke would still have had time to either wake me up or to get his hat and guns from the rack next to the door. You know he never leaves the house without them.”
Both Cal and Pearlie nodded. “That’s right, Miss Sally. An’ if’n one of the neighbors needed Smoke’s help, he would’ve asked either you or Cal or me to come along,” Pearlie said.
“Yes, so I suspect Smoke is in some kind of trouble, and it’s up to us to figure out who took him and then to make sure we get him back.”
“You know, it might be kind’a dangerous for you to go ridin’ up to the ranches askin’ ‘bout where Smoke is,” Pearlie advised. “If’n they took him an’ you show up, you’re liable to get shot.”
Sally smiled grimly and patted the snub-nosed .36-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver on her hip. “It won’t be dangerous for me, boys. It’ll be dangerous for whoever took Smoke.”
“Speakin’ of that,” Cal said, “why don’t we ask Monte and Louis to help us look for him? That’d sure cut down the time it’s gonna take to find that buckboard.”
“Hell, they might even know whose it is,” Pearlie added.
“Good idea, Cal. Let’s ride on over to Longmont’s and see who’s in there.”
Sally sent Pearlie to the sheriff’s office while she and Cal walked directly to Longmont’s Saloon. As much a café as a drinking and gambling establishment, the place was half-full of patrons eating one of Chef Andre’s magnificent breakfasts.
Louis was, as usual, sitting at his private table drinking strong coffee and smoking a thin, black cheroot. When he saw Sally and Cal, he immediately put the cigar out and got to his feet, motioning them over to his table.
He gave a very slight bow. “Good morning, Sally, Cal.”
He pulled a chair out and as Sally took a seat, he asked, “Will Smoke be joining us this morning?”
She shook her head, and he noticed her eyes were wet with unshed tears. “No, Louis, but Pearlie will be here shortly with Sheriff Carson.”
Louis sat down, glancing at Cal for some clue as to what was going on.
“Smoke seems to have disappeared sometime last night, Louis,” Cal said.
Louis held up four fingers to the young black waiter without taking his eyes off Sally. “Do you have any idea what happened?” he asked while the waiter put four coffee mugs on the table and began to pour them all coffee.
She shook her head. “No. Everything was normal when I went to bed last night. Smoke said he was going to have a cigar and a cup of coffee on the porch and he would be right in.” She took a moment to wipe daintily at her eyes with a handkerchief, and then she continued. “I fell asleep, and woke up this morning and he was nowhere to be found.”
Just then Monte Carson, sheriff of Big Rock, joined them along with Pearlie.
“Pearlie’s told me the gist of things, Sally,” he said. “Are you sure Smoke didn’t leave of his own accord, maybe ‘cause this woman or boy came by needin’ help?”
She shook her head. “No, Monte. His guns and his hat were still on the peg next to the door.”
Monte glanced at Louis. They both knew Smoke would no more leave his house without his hat and guns than he would walk down Main Street naked. There were just too many men roaming around the country who’d like nothing better than to catch Smoke Jensen unarmed and defenseless.
Monte nodded. “You’re right, Sally. I’m sure foul play’s involved here.”
“Sheriff, we found some tracks of a buckboard with new iron rims on the wheels. The tracks make it look like Smoke went off in the buckboard,” Pearlie said.
“New rims, huh?” Monte said, stroking his jaw before picking up his mug and drinking some coffee. “Guess I’d better go on over to Jed’s and see who’s had new rims put on lately.”
“Won’t do, Monte,” Cal said. “We’ve been there. Jed’s out of town for a few days on over to Silver City.”
“He at his brother’s place?” Monte asked.
When Sally and the boys nodded, Monte got to his feet. “I’ll go by the telegraph office and send a wire to the sheriff there askin’ him to take a ride out to Jed’s brother’s place and see if he can find out what we need to know.”
Louis nodded. “Meanwhile, we can split up and ride out to some of the nearby ranches and take a look at their wagons.”
Monte scratched his jaw again. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Louis,” he said in his slow drawl. “If’n Smoke was took against his will, whoever took him ain’t gonna welcome any questions with open arms.”
Louis frowned. “You’re right, Monte. We’d need to go in posse strength at least since we don’t know how many men we’re dealing with here.”
Monte took his ever-present pipe out of his shirt pocket and began filling it with sweet-smelling tobacco from a leather pouch. “Why don’t you all just sit here and have some breakfast? It shouldn’t take more’n a couple of hours to get an answer from the sheriff over at Silver City. Then we can all go together to find out just what’s goin’ on.”
Sally looked up at him. “I don’t know if I can just sit here without doing something, Monte, not while Smoke is in danger.”
Monte patted her shoulder as clouds of blue smoke whirled from his pipe. “I know it’s tough, Sally, but you won’t be doing him any good if you go out and get caught by the same people.”
“You’re correct, Monte. I’m being foolish.”
“No, you’re not,” Louis said, waving his hand at the waiter to come and take their orders. “You’re just being a wife who’s worried about her man. Nothing wrong with that.”
“You know, Sheriff,” Pearlie said, scratching his head. “I just don’t hardly think it’s anybody from around here took Smoke. Hell, ever’body that lives within fifty miles of Big Rock is good friends with Smoke and Sally.”
Monte nodded. “You’re probably right, Pearlie. But there ain’t been no suspicious strangers hanging around town for the past couple of weeks, and we got to start looking somewhere.”
Sally nodded. “You’re right, Monte. Why don’t you go on over to the telegraph office while we have some breakfast?”
SEVENTEEN
As they rode down the trail toward Pueblo and home, Sarah MacDougal struggled with her conscience. The more she was around Smoke Jensen, the less he seemed like a crazed gunfighter out to kill anyone who got in his way and the more he seemed like an honest, decent human being.
She thought back to when Sheriff Tupper had come to give her and her father the news of Johnny’s death. As she went over what he’d said on that visit, she realized that she and her father hadn’t really heard what he was trying to say.
He’d tried to tell them, in his own mealymouthed way, that it was Johnny’s fault he’d been shot. Of course, neither she nor her father had been willing to listen to that explanation, not when their kin was lying dead in the back of Tupper’s wagon, his teeth knocked out and his body full of a stranger’s lead.