"Then you will stand watch first," Chase directed.
"Watch for what?" Lee glanced around not seeing anything in particular.
"The man…on the ridge." Chase directed his attention once more. "A man like that will try to sneak up on us. I say this because he cannot come to us and ask for what he wants. A man like that sneaks. So we will stand watch. He's after something, but we don't know what, yet. We'll wait, he'll tip his hand soon enough."
"Alright, I'm not sleepy anyway," Lee said eyeing the ridge above them with new interest.
"Good, I will relieve you in a few hours." Chase patted him on the shoulder.
Lee stared at him, seeming to size him up, and then nodded. "Perhaps," Lee said slowly, "I've misjudged you. If I have, I'm sorry. Out here, things can look one way and be another."
Chase smiled, he liked a man who could think on his own and come to his own conclusions. Lee was a fair man, a man he could trust.
***
Katherine smiled then spread the two blankets she carried on her back over herself and her brother and sat next to him. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek as she laid her head him. It was a comfort to have him near her. To know he was alive. She was so afraid he would die on her too. And she couldn't bear it.
For the first time thoughts of living entered her head again.
The soldier lay down on the other side of the campfire, his gun ready, his eyes alert. Chase was only a few feet away. He watched Katherine and Lee settle down, but Lee kept a watch.
They camped. A large boulder protected them from the sun as it came up high in the sky the next day.
The sound of grasshoppers buzzing woke Katherine. Checking her brother, she let him sleep and moved toward Chase who was not moving, but awake.
"Are we going on foot all the way?" she asked out of curiosity.
"No, we will find some horses," He whispered easily tolerating her questions.
"Horses? Where?" She glanced about them as though they might suddenly appear.
"Mustangs," He quickly explained.
"But we can't ride them!" she protested. "They're wild."
"We will ride them after I break them," he said and glanced at her. "A horse is only as good as its master. If the master is mean, the horse becomes mean; if the master is gentle the horse becomes gentle."
"And which are you?" she asked staring into his alert gaze.
"You will see," he smiled.
Katherine had dressed for the hot beckoning sun, wearing the still dirty dress. She wore an old flop hat that was sweat stained, but it shaded her eyes and face from the hot sun. How she'd love to find a cool creek and bath herself, but it wasn't a practical idea, with a camp full of men.
"How's your brother?" Lee asked as he came awake again.
"The same, but at least he's resting well," she said glancing over at him. "And the bleeding seems to have stopped."
"Is he all you have left?" Lee's face was a mixture of emotions.
"No, I have four younger brothers, but I sent them back east to an aunt, when our folks died. I reckon I won't be seeing them any time soon."
Lee nodded, "Lost my folks some time ago. I'm from Alabama originally. Guess you figured I was southern from my way of talkin'."
"You have no one left?" Katherine stared at him a long time.
"Got a brother, somewhere, but we both been wandering around since our folks died," Lee said almost as though his mind were a long way away.
"What happened…to your folks?" She asked curiously.