Free Demon's Pass by Ralph Compton Page A

lot of grief if he was dead. Don’t nobody like the bastard, and you’d be doin’ everyone a favor.”
    â€œNo,” Clay responded. “I have no intention of killing him.”
    â€œWell, you might not kill him, but I sure aim to fire him,” a voice said from the crowd. Parker saw Charles Garland working his way through the crowd. Garland owned the wagon yard and had been the one who had sold the wagons to them. Garland looked over at Parker. “I’m told you caught Fenton short-packing the wheel hubs.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œWell, I’m glad you caught him, son, ’cause that’s not the way we do business. You don’t have to worry none about your hubs. I’ll get every one of them greased proper for you and, to apologize for what Fenton did, I’m going to throw in two extra buckets of grease for you to carry with each of the three wagons.”
    â€œThat’s very generous of you, Mr. Garland,” Clay said.
    Fenton, groaning, was just now getting to his feet. He looked around with eyes that seemed to have some difficulty in focusing.
    â€œFenton, you’re fired. Get whatever gear you might have stored back up there in the shed, and get out,” Garland said.
    â€œYou firin’ me over somethin’ this fool kid said?” Fenton protested. “Hell, he don’t know what he’s talkin’ about.”
    â€œIs that so? Well, he certainly knows how to tell when someone’s not doing their job properly.”
    â€œYeah, and the kid can handle a bullwhip pretty damn well too!” someone shouted, and everyone laughed.
    By now, the sheriff was on the scene and he was admonishing the crowd to break it up and move on. As the townspeople started to disperse, Clay and Parker looked at each other for a long moment, then both laughed.
    â€œYou all right?” Parker finally asked.
    â€œI’m fine, as long as I don’t have to actually use my arms,” Clay teased. “How about you?”
    â€œI’m fine,” Parker said. He laughed again. “And I had a real good seat for the show.”
    Clay nodded. “Yeah, well, I’d as soon not had the starring role but, once it started, it was too late to get out of it.” Then, Clay abruptly changed the subject. “Oh, I almost forgot why I’m here. Come over to the stable and have a look at our mules. I just bought eighteen of them, and they are the best-looking creatures you ever saw.”

Chapter 6
    At the Cheyenne Village
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    â€œIn twelve days you will be married to Two Ponies,” Moon Cow Woman said. “There is much to do before then.”
    â€œWhat must be done?” Elizabeth asked.
    â€œYou must learn the ways of our people. And you must learn how to be a good wife. That way, you will not be beaten.”
    Elizabeth gasped. “Beaten? You mean Cheyenne wives are beaten?”
    â€œOnly when they are unwomanly, and do not behave as wives should behave,” Moon Cow Woman said. “Then it is a husband’s duty to beat his wife.”
    Elizabeth thought of the gentleness she had seen in Two Ponies’ face, and she wondered if she had misread him.
    â€œDoes Two Ponies beat his wives?”
    â€œI myself have never been beaten,” Moon Cow Woman said. “But Willow Branch and Morning Flower have often been beaten. They are Arapaho, and they are sisters. They are Two Ponies’ other wives. They are unhappy that you will be a new wife, for it threatens their rank with Two Ponies.”
    â€œI’m sorry they are unhappy,” Elizabeth said. “Perhaps I can make friends with them.”
    â€œNo,” Moon Cow Woman said easily. “They have taken a vow to be your enemy. You cannot become their friend.”
    â€œOh,” Elizabeth said. “Surely if I try very hard, I can win them over.”
    â€œArapaho are known to lie with dogs when they wish pleasure and no man is