Free Venom by David Thompson

ready for such a big step. He watched her walk off, both she and Dega smiling broadly. His daughter—in love. He could hardly believe it.
    The work resumed. Horses were brought, ropes were rigged, and the logs were dragged to the site. They had to skirt the gully each time; it was directly in the way. Once, as Nate was guiding a claybank pulling a log, he thought he glimpsed a snake. He almost stopped to look for it but remembered his folly of the snake hunt and went on by.
    For two days they felled and trimmed and hauled large pine after large pine. The logs were laid out in rows. Nate and Shakespeare then went from one to the next, notching them. The notches had to be cut just right. Too shallow, and the logs wouldn’t fit snug. Too deep, and the ends tended to weaken over time.
    Samuel drank it all in. He asked if he could notch a few and Nate showed him how. He got the first notch done and stood back.
    “How did I do?”
    Nate inspected it. “Right fine.”
    “I hope you don’t mind that I want to help. You know why it’s important to me, don’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “If there is ever somethin’ I can do for you…” Samuel didn’t finish.
    “No need,” Nate said.
    “As much as I respect you, there is. You’ve treated me more decent than anyone on this earth. I would die for you if I had to.”
    Nate chuckled and clapped Samuel on the back. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
    “I’m serious, Mr. King. I keep bringin’ this up because you don’t realize what it means to me and my family. We have a place to live, thanks to you. We’ll have a new home, thanks to you. Most of all, we’re free, thanks to you and Winona. Free, after all those years as slaves.” Samuel bowed his head and coughed. “I have wanted my freedom more than I have ever wanted anything. I dreamed of it when I worked in the fields. I dreamed of it at night. To finally have my dream come true…” He coughed again.
    It gave Nate a lot to think about. That night, as he lay weary but content in his bed with Winona’s cheek on his shoulder and her hair tickling his ear, he remarked, “I like that Samuel Worth. He’s a good man at heart.”
    “He is like someone else I know,” Winona said.
    “Touch the Clouds?”
    Winona laughed and poked him in the ribs. “My cousin is a good man, too, but he is not as good as you.”
    “I bet Blue Water Woman would say the same about Shakespeare and Lou about Zach and Tihi about Waku.”
    “They would, yes. But you are special.”
    “How so?”
    Winona kissed him. “You are mine. ”
    It was a while before they got to sleep. Nate slept well and woke before dawn. He carefully eased out from under Winona’s arm and slipped out of bed.Rising, he stretched, then went through his morning ritual of donning his buckskins and powder horn and ammo pouch and possibles bag and going outdoors to heed nature’s need.
    The sky was still dark. Stars sparkled in the firmament. A strong breeze stirred his hair. He breathed deep of the smell of the lake and the dank scent of the nearby forest and listened to the hoot of an owl. Instead of using the outhouse he walked around to the corral and heeded nature there while checking that the horses were all right. Of late they had been acting up. He suspected a mountain lion or maybe a bear, although he had not seen sign of either.
    Nate yawned and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. He went to the lake. The water was tranquil. He dipped his hand in and splashed some on his face. Somewhere a goose honked, as if startled. He remembered when Zach and Evelyn were little and he taught them to fish. Evelyn hated it. As he recollected, she called fish “icky” and never did develop a taste for fish meat. Neither did he. He much preferred succulent venison or juicy buffalo meat or the tastiest meat of all, cougar.
    Rising, Nate turned to go back to the cabin. He took two steps. Directly in front of him something hissed. He froze, suspecting a snake. The