Chapter Thirty-Four
The stallion's clarion call resonated through the valley, echoing and reechoing from stone walls, telling anything with ears that an enemy had appeared in the tiny, concealed Eden.
Ty dropped his dinner plate, grabbed his carbine and sprinted for the willows. Within seconds he was under cover, but he didn't slow his speed. Running, twisting around slender limbs, leaping roots and rocks, heedless of noise, Ty raced toward the entrance of the valley.
When he arrived at the edge of the willows' dense cover, he stopped and watched the meadow for signs of man. Nothing moved near the cleft, which was the valley's only access to the outer world. Carbine at his shoulder, Ty stared down the metal barrel at the expanse of grass. Nothing moved in the emptiness but the wind.
Lucifer's wild, savage call to arms came again, making the skin of Ty's scalp ripple in primal response. The stallion was far up the valley, out of sight in the narrow bend where the Indian ruins were hidden. Neither Zebra nor Janna was in sight.
Desperately Ty wanted to call out to Janna and reassure himself that she was safe. He kept silent. He didn't want her to give away her position to a skulking renegade.
Ty had no doubt that the stallion's savage cry had been triggered by the presence of a sttange human being. In the weeks since he had come to the valley, Ty had never seen signs of anything larger than a rabbit within the valley itself. Of all the animals in the vast land, only man had the curiosity-or the need-to follow the narrow, winding slot through stone-lined darkness into the canyon's sunlight.
Stay down in the ruins, Janna, Ty prayed silently. You'll be safe there. The Indians avoid the spirit places.
The birds that usually wheeled and darted over the meadow were silent and hidden. Ty's narrowed glance raked the valley again, looking for any sign of the intruder.
Suddenly Lucifer burst out from the area of the ruins into the larger meadow. Zebra was running at his side. When the stallion dug in and stopped, the mare kept galloping, stopping only when she was several hundred feet beyond. Lucifer reared and screamed again, hooves slashing the air, putting himself between the mare and whatever danger threatened.
As the stallion's feral challenge faded, the cry of a hawk soared above the silence, followed by J anna's voice calling what could have been Ty's name. He turned toward the sound. Over the metal barrel of the carbine, he saw Janna coming from the area of the ruins. A man was walking behind her. Reflexively Ty took slack from the trigger, let out his breath and waited for the trail to turn, giving him a view of the stranger.
It was Mad Jack.
Gently Ty's finger eased from the trigger as he lowered the carbine from his shoulder. When he emerged from the cover of the willows and trotted out into the open and across the meadow, Lucifer neighed shrilly, as though to warn him of danger. Ty turned aside long enough to reassure the stallion.
"Thanks for the warning, but it's just a crazy old prospector," Ty said, talking soothingly to the stallion.
Lucifer snorted and stamped nervously but permitted Ty to stroke his neck. Even then the stallion never stopped watching the two figures that were coming out of the ruins. When the people began walking toward him, Lucifer spun and ran away, sweeping Zebra before him. Ty turned and waited for Janna and Mad Jack.
"Right fine lookout you have there," Mad Jack said, holding out his hand for Ty to shake.
Smiling, Ty took the old man's hand. He was surprised at how fine Mad Jack's bones were beneath his scarred, leathery skin. The prospector's grip was a quick, light pressure, as though any more would be painful.
"Run out of stomach medicine again?" Ty asked, although he suspected that medicine was the last thing on the other man's mind.
Mad Jack laughed. He knew what Ty was thinking-that he had come to check up on Janna, not to replenish his supply of medicine.
''You be half-right, son. I come to check on my gal."
"Well, you can see that she's bright eyed and bushy tailed," Ty said dryly.
Mad Jack's faded eyes appraised Janna with a frankness that made her flush.
"You be right," he said, fishing in his pocket for his chewing tobacco. " 'Course, mares in foal look right sassy for the first few months, too."
"Don't beat around the bush," Janna said in a combination of embarrassment and exasperation. "Just say anything that's on what passes for your mind."
"I make it a habit to do just that. So are you?"
"Ami…?"
"Pregnant."
Red flags burned on Janna's cheeks. "Jack!"
"Well, are you?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yes," she said succinctly. "As sure as I am that water runs downhill."
Jack rubbed his face and sighed. "Well, dura it all anyway. That's gonna fuss things up considerable."
"Have you been drinking?" Janna demanded.
"No." He sliced off a big hunk of tobacco, stuffed it in his mouth and said, "I been thinkin', which is a horse of another color entirely. Both of 'em make my head hurt, I'll give you that."
"What," Ty asked, "is going on?"
"Mad Jack has been thinking," Janna said. "That's a serious matter."
"Damn straight it is," Jack agreed. "Last time I got to thinkin', I took old Jimbo-he was my mule-out of the traces, hiked my leg across his back and headed west. Nary a word to my wife since then, nor my kids, neither. Thinkin' is right hard on a man."
"Sounds like it wasn't real easy on your wife, either," Ty said dryly.
"That's what I got to thinkin' about," Mad Jack agreed. "I been pokin' in rocks for years, tryin' to find the one glory hole what's got my name on it. Well, I don't rightly think I'm gonna find it this side of heaven and more 'n likely I'm a-headed straight for hell." Jack spit, wiped his mouth and continued. "Now, oF Charity-that's my wife-probably died of some woman's complaint or another by now, but my kids was right healthy grasshoppers. Some of 'em are bound to be alive, or their kids. An' that's why I'm unhappy that you ain't pregnant," he added, pointing at Janna.
Ty looked sideways at Janna. She was watching Mad Jack as though he had just sprouted horns or wings or both.
"I don't understand," she said flatly.
"Hell, gal, it's as plain as the color of the sky. I got gold to give to my kids, an' I ain't gonna leave this here country and you can't get out the gold alone, an* if you ain't pregnant, you ain't got no stud hoss to protect you, an' my gold won't get delivered an' my kids won't know their pappy ever thought about 'em."
Janna opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She swallowed and tried again, but it was too late. Ty was already speaking.
"Let me be sure I understand," Ty said smoothly, seizing the opportunity with both hands. "You have gold you want taken to your children. You thought if Janna were pregnant, we'd be leaving the valley and we could deliver the gold to the fort for you."
Mad Jack frowned. "I had in mind something more… friendly like than the fort. See, I ain't sure where my kin are no more. Now, if'n I go hire some man at the fort I don't know from Adam's off ox, how can I be sure my gold gets to my kin once I turn my back?"
Ty tried to say something. It was impossible. Mad Jack had been thinking, and the result of that unusual exercise had made the future clear to him.
"I can't be sure," Mad Jack said forcefully, answering his own question. "But if'n I give the gold to a friend, I can rest easy. You get my drift, son? Now, you ain't my friend. No offense, just the God's truth. Janna here, she's my friend. If'n she told me she'd get the gold to my kids, I know she would or die trying.
"And that's the crux of the matter. She's game but she ain't real big. Ain't mean, neither. Carryin' gold needs someone who's mountain big and snake mean."