Free Blood Feather by Don Bendell

prepared him a meal, and they talked over coffee. Joshua told her all about Blood Feather, and she shivered with the thought of the killer. He explained that he would leave the next morning for Fort Union in New Mexico Territory and would then head due east from there toward the lands of Quanah Parker in Texas.

5
    Quanah Parker
    Fort Union was built for the third time in 1868 and was the largest and most important fort, supply depot, and trading post in the entire area. The fort was built with native rocks, clay, and lumber. The adobe buildings were covered with red bricks brought in from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It was also well stocked with plenty of supplies brought in from Leavenworth by wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail.
    This was the final, post–Civil War version of the fort. It housed four companies of both cavalry and infantry. The Fort Union Quartermaster Depot supplied all forts in the entire New Mexico Territory.
    When Joshua rode in from the north, the fort stood out of the trees on his right as a sentinel standing watch in front of the wooded foothills of the distant Sangre de Cristos. The Santa Fe Trail passed from east to west in several large tracts both north and south of the fort, a pathway to the west which had been used for centuries by Indians of many tribes and by white men, Mexicans, and Spaniards. Mountain men and Indians had been trading at Fort Union for years, and there were many trails coming and going from the busy fort. Now it was also occasionally getting attacks from those on the warpath, fighting for their very own preservation by trying to stop the recent onslaught of buffalo hunters.
    The fort was abuzz with activity as Joshua rode up to it, and he soon found himself in the supply depot speaking with a burly, jovial man with a bushy shock of bright red hair and a body covered with freckles.
    He shocked Joshua with the first words out of his mouth: “And you’ll be Joshua Strongheart from southern Colorado. My name is Dutch O’Reilly.”
    He stuck out a beefy hand, which engulfed Strongheart’s as they shook.
    Joshua said, “You have a trace of an Irish or Scottish accent and your name is O’Reilly. Why do they call you Dutch?”
    Dutch roared with laughter. “Beats me! I have always wondered that meself. Irish, by the way.”
    Joshua chuckled and replied, “You mean you really do not know why you’re called Dutch?”
    â€œNope,” the man replied. “No idea. Men started calling me that years ago, and it as stuck with me.”
    Joshua shook his head and said, “How did you know who I am?”
    Dutch laughed again. “Zach Banta thinks the world of ya and described ya to a tee. Also heard from several all about yer gunfight up in Florence a year or so ago. Looks like ya had another shoot-out, the way you’re favorin’ yer leg and that cast on your arm.”
    Strongheart said, “Zach Banta knows everybody. That man is amazing! I suppose you probably know everybody, too, in your line of business?”
    â€œAye, it pays to know as many folks as ya can.”
    Strongheart asked, “How long have you been in supply?”
    â€œThirty-some odd years. Yeah, I know a few folk,” Dutch answered.
    â€œDo you know Quanah Parker by any chance?” Strongheart asked, and Dutch laughed.
    Dutch replied, “Naw, and I sure don’t want to now, Strongheart. He is a fearsome enemy. The man has smarts. Real smarts. I know some who have had dealings with him, and each has told me he is one of the smartest men they know, white or red. You gonna parlay with him?”
    Joshua said, “Yes, they want me to have a talk with him.”
    â€œAye, so you’ll be headin’ east outta here?”
    â€œIn the morning,” Strongheart said.
    Dutch said, “We’ll fix you up some supplies and a nice gift ya can take the ole bugger. Pick ’em up at daybreak.”
    Strongheart said,