“Good grief, they’ll be out lookin’ for you then. Makin’ sure you’re dead.” Sam shook his head and frowned. He couldn’t get involved in this. He’d be on the other side of a rope himself if he did. Somehow he had to walk away. “Until they can declare you dead or…worse…out of your head, they can’t just take it over. It wouldn’t be legal.”
“I guess,” she answered. “But Harry fully intends to get me out of the way, one way or another. And I don’t think he cares which way.”
Sam finished the grave digging and hauled the body into the ground. He covered it with dirt and sat down to build a cross over it. The girl watched him. He got two branches and tied them together with some string from his pocket and made a make-shift cross.
“You carry string in your pocket?” she asked.
“Sure do. Never know when you might need some.” Sam glanced at her.
“Lord, we give him unto You, as he died before his time,” Sam said, shoving the cross into the ground as best he could.
“Amen.” The girl bowed her head.
Nodog whined.
“You religious?” she asked out of the blue, eyeing him carefully.
“Sure, aren’t you?”
“Never thought on that too much. Dad and I didn’t go to church much, had too much work to do. But I believe in God, though. And I know why Jesus died on that cross, and I reckon that’s about all I know.”
“That’s good. That’s probably enough. I’d say you got some religion then, probably more than most.”
It was getting harder by the moment to figure out what to do about this situation. Sam prided himself on dealing with issues as they arose but this one stumped him. What was a white girl out in the middle of nowhere with no horse, no buggy and no idea where she was headed, doing out here?
He couldn’t take her along. He couldn’t leave her here.
“Look…if I loan you a horse and gun, you can get back to the nearest town and contact the Sheriff. Everything will work out fine, once you do that,” he assured her. Surely they would take the word of a woman, especially the daughter of the wealthiest rancher in the area.
“But you only got one horse…”
“That’s okay, I’ll make out. You go on and take it; you need it more than I do.”
She shook her head as she stood beside him and looked into his eyes. “I can’t do that. My daddy taught me better. Although that’s about the nicest thing anyone’s offered in a long time. But no, I can’t leave a man stranded in the middle of nowhere, without a horse or gun. Pa always said a man without a horse or gun might as well be dead. No sir, I can’t take it.”
“Look, I’ll be fine. I was raised with the Shawnee, I know how to take care of myself out here. You go on, take it. No matter, no matter at all,” Sam assured her.
“I won’t do that,” she protested as he led his horse straight up to her. “It’s uncommonly kind of you, but I can’t do it.”
“Well, right now there just aren’t a lot of choices. So go on, take it.” He reached to heft her up.
“Look, it’d be murder to leave you out here with no protection.?
? She turned so her face was staring up at him. It was the first real look he got of her and he realized she had startling blue eyes against pale skin and dark hair that shone in the sunlight. The woman was appealing as all get out and Sam squirmed at the knowledge. He didn’t want to be attracted to a misfit white woman.
Something made Sam melt inside at her concern for his safety but he shook his head. “We don’t have any choice. I’m a black man, you are a white woman. You go on now. I can’t take you with me…that’s for sure and certain.”
“But…”
With that, Sam hauled her up into his arms and thrust her atop the horse, then strapping the only rifle between them in the sling, he whipped the horse. “Go on now…I got a pistol. Besides, I got Nodog, don’t you see?”
The horse ran and she held on, looking back at him.
The whole incident looked surreal to Sam. How could have things gotten to this point, he wondered. He had to admit, there was nothing the Shawnee had taught him about being with a white woman. Yet he’d witnessed his sister and brother-in-law every day.
Sam instinctively knew that was not an option. He knew he’d done the right thing though and felt able to handle any more intrusions that might come his way. Being on foot didn’t bother him, not with as many treks as he’d made with Lee and Chase.
Well, he did know how to take care of himself. And with Nodog by him, he would be safe enough. He’d manage and he wouldn’t have her to contend with either. What was the girl thinking? That he’d leave her here alone? That he’d take her along with him? She had to see it was all impossible.