Under the Distant Sky by Al Lacy Page B

hostiles from coming against the town.”
    “May I ask, Colonel Bateman,” Mary Beth said, “if there are some friendly Indians who live close by the fort?”
    “Yes, honey. The Shoshones are quite friendly. They are avowed enemies of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, and Blackfoot. The Shoshones come in and out of the town all the time. In fact, if you decide to run the store there, Sol, they’ll give you plenty of business, too. Of course, you’ll have to trade goods for goods with them, but they make some pretty nice jewelry and pottery, which you can turn around and sell, and make a profit from it.”
    Chris grinned at Mary Beth. “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could make friends with some Shoshone Indian kids?”
    Patty Ruth twisted her mouth around for a few seconds, then said, “Papa, would the Sho—Sho—uh…them kind of In’ians take our scalps?”
    “No, honey. Like Colonel Bateman said, they are friendly to white people. They don’t take scalps.”
    As silence descended on the table, Hannah said, “Colonel…”
    “Yes, Hannah?”
    “There’s something else Sol and I have discussed. We’ve agreed that we wouldn’t move anywhere unless there was a good Bible-believing church there. What’s the church situation in Fort Bridger?”
    Colonel Bateman glanced at Solomon, then gave his attention to Hannah. “It’s interesting you should say this. We just happen to have Reverend Andrew Kelly and his new bride, Rebecca, in one of our wagons. I can guarantee you, he believes the Bible. He’s been preaching some of it to me on this trip.”
    “Good for him,” Solomon said.
    “Tell you what, Sol, he’s almost as good at it as you,” the colonel said.
    Solomon grinned and glanced at Hannah. She seemed more relaxed, having heard about Reverend Kelly.
    “Here’s the situation,” Bateman said. “Right now, there’s an elderly retired preacher holding services in the town hall,which was built just recently. The services are for both civilians and military. The townspeople and the military people who attend the services are all aware that Reverend Kelly is coming. Kelly, I understand, will actually organize a church and be its pastor. He’s a young man. Twenty-seven, I believe. Didn’t Rebecca tell you, Sylvia, that she’s twenty-two?”
    “Yes. They got married about six months ago. And she told me that Andy—as she calls him—is very eager to get to Fort Bridger and preach the gospel.”
    “This is sounding better all the time,” Solomon said. “Colonel, could we meet the Kellys? We’d like to talk to them.”
    “No problem. I decided just this afternoon that we’d stay another day before pulling out. Already announced it to everybody in the column. You can come to the camp and meet them anytime tomorrow.”
    “Good! We’ll do that!”
    During the rest of the meal, the women exchanged stories about what had happened since the Coopers had left Fort Benson, and the men talked about the War and some of the men Solomon had known.
    When both pies had been devoured, the adults moved to the parlor, and the Cooper children—having previously volunteered—did the dishes.
    As the Batemans and Crawleys were preparing to leave, Darrell Crawley laid a hand on Solomon’s shoulder. “Sol, if the words of an old friend have some import, you and Hannah give some real serious thought to coming to Fort Bridger. We’d love to have you there.”
    Solomon grinned. “Thanks, ol’ friend.”
    “You’ll need to make up your minds pretty soon, Sol,” the colonel said. “As you know, the last wagon trains heading that way will leave in a month.”
    “Yes, sir. Hannah and I are aware of that. You’ve given us a lot to think about tonight. We’ll discuss it and pray about it.”
    After the Batemans and Crawleys had driven away and Solomon had closed the door, Chris and B. J. cornered him.
    “Papa,” Chris said, his eyes sparkling, “can we go to Fort Bridger? Boy, it sure would be neat to be around all