Ransom by Frank Roderus Page B

then without warning backhanded him across the face. Hahn was propelled out of his saddle. He hit the ground hard, his upper lip split and running blood from John Taylor’s blow.
    â€œI never,” Taylor snapped. “Not never while I was with Jessie, you wife-stealing bastard.”
    Hahn picked himself up and brushed himself off, thenwithout comment crawled back up onto the paint horse. He collected his reins and waited silently for Taylor to lead on.
    * * *
    They reached a stream with a strong flow of water in it and stopped there to water the horses. Taylor knelt beside the brown and cupped the icy-cold water in his hands, let it warm to his touch for a moment, then drank sparingly. Hahn sprawled belly down on the bed of smooth stones that flanked the stream. The smaller man bathed his face, washing away the dried blood left by Taylor’s blow; then he too drank.
    â€œWe’ll be following this creek about a mile, mile and a half upstream from here. Nate built his place at the head of the valley. It’s pretty. You’ll see,” Taylor said, standing and bending backward half a dozen times to loosen muscles drawn tight by hours in the saddle.
    Hahn saw and imitated the movement. “Say, this really helps,” he exclaimed in surprise.
    Taylor gave him a sour look and stepped back onto the brown. He waited without comment and with no discernible expression until Hahn was atop the paint horse; then Taylor nudged the brown’s flanks with his spurs and the small party turned up the south-flowing stream.
    * * *
    Taylor and Hahn skirted a stand of aspen, pale green leaves shimmering on a light puff of breeze. As they squeezed between the nearly white trunks of the trees and the west bank of the stream, there was a loud snortand a stamping of hooves followed by the sounds of a large animal crashing through the thicket.
    Hahn jumped and nervously asked, “What the hell was that?”
    Taylor grunted. “Nothing much. A cow elk. Had a calf with her. They’re spooky anyhow an’ all the more when there’s a calf with them.”
    Hahn visibly relaxed. “I’ve never seen an elk.”
    Swinging around in his saddle to stare at the smaller man, Taylor said, “You’re serious?”
    â€œOf course I’m serious. I have never seen an elk. Not a live one anyway. I’ve seen pieces of elk brought in by hunters and I’ve seen those big antlers, but I’ve never seen a live elk.”
    â€œYou sure have been sheltered, ain’t you?” Taylor observed.
    â€œBy your lights I suppose so, but I’m trying to build a good life for Jessica and me. And Loozy too, of course.”
    Taylor snorted almost as loudly as the elk had done. “You keep forgetting that Jess is still married to me, Hahn. It’s one of those little details that seems t’ slip your mind. But then I s’pose that decency is just one of those things you haven’t got figured out yet, kinda like never seeing a live elk; you don’t recognize another man’s marriage.”
    â€œIf Jessie wanted to be with you, Taylor, she would be.”
    It was not a statement Taylor had an answer for. He faced forward again and concentrated on where they were going.
    Â 
    Ervin Ederle
    Erv got off his horse and turned to the blond bitch and her whelp. “Get down now. We gotta walk from here a ways.”
    The grown-up tossed her head to get strands of falling hair out of her face. The gesture seemed arrogant and cocksure.
    Bitch, Erv thought.
    â€œI couldn’t possibly walk right now. My limbs are cramping. We need to sit and rest first.”
    Erv looked toward the west. The sun was on its way down, but it was still a long time before sundown. “We can take a break,” he conceded.
    They were at the side of a rocky slope that was strewn with loose scree. A barely visible, very narrow path led north along the slope, the path probably worn into the side of