she drowned,â I continued. âI got her to the lean-to, found the cut, made a tourniquet, and stitched her up.â
âWith a hair from Juanito.â The Mexican smiled. Well, I thought he grinned. It was hard to tell underneath that thick beard.
âActually, I think it was the Jenny.â
He nodded. âAh, LucÃa. Bueno . LucÃa will like having helped save the life of a holy woman.â
He wasnât done with his interrogation. âBut where is your valise?â
I give him the dumb look.
âClothes? Food? Bedrolls?â
âOh. Well. Sheâs a Sister of Charity. They take the pledge. You know, live in poverty. Them kinds of things. She figured on relying on the Christian charity of homesteaders such as yourself for food and lodging.â
He chewed on that. And before he could ask another question, I slowly rose, saying, âIf you donât mind, Señor de la Cruz, Iâll go out and put on my boots. They should be dry by now.â
After his nod of approval, I walked back to the lean-to. Got the boots on, and looked all over where the Sister had been lying down. No pepperbox. Nothing but the crucifix Iâd broken to save her hide. That I picked up, slipping it inside my vest pocket as I walked to the river. Didnât find the Continental nowhere on that path.
I looked downstream and upstream and into the piñon and juniper woods along the river. Upstream came the faint sound of an AT&SF trainâs horn. The eastbound train was making its way toward Las Vegas, and that got me to fretting. A posse might be aboard that train. It also got me to thinking something else, because about that time the notion struck me that Sister Geneviève had lost her hideaway pistol. Made plenty of sense, what with her dangling from the side of a moving locomotive, falling off a trestle into a river, then getting practically swept downstream after sheâd passed out. Yeah. That was it.
Satisfied, I returned to the jacal.
Thatâs where I found the .22. It was in Geneviève Tremblayâs right hand. She was awake, and had that âLadies Companionâ cocked and pointed an inch from the farmerâs face.
C HAPTER E IGHT
âThat had better be you, Mister Bishop.â Once again, she sounded like that madam Iâd knowed up around Trinidad. Didnât look at me, didnât lower the pepperbox, didnât take her eyes off the burly farmer.
âItâs me,â I said, once my voice box recovered from the shock. âThatâs, um, thatâs Jorge de la Cruz, Sister. Weâre at his farm. He fixed you up. No need thanking him with a .22 through his eyeballs.â
Her finger relaxed on the trigger just a tad.
âNot for him, maâam, you would have bled to death.â
She lowered the pistol, and I stepped inside while she asked in Spanish for the farmerâs forgiveness.
âEs nada.â
âWell,â I let the good Sister know. âI mean, I done some good doctoring to yourself. Even fished you out of the river like you done me.â
The big farmer nodded toward me. âIt is Señor Bishop you should thank, Sister.â
I decided he was a one standup guy for a farmer.
âHe stitched your cut, stopped the bleeding.â Then he was giving me a mean look, but not so Sister Geneviève could see, and I knowed why. He had stressed the name Bishop . Iâd told him my name was Big Tim Pruett.
Well, a body never can get all his lies past scrutiny.
I give the farmer a polite grin and sat on the cot beside the nun. âI knowed I should never have given you that little pepperbox.â Turning to the farmer, I explained. âFor her protection, señor. You know, not everybody in these parts is honorable, even to a woman of faith.â
Jorge de la Cruz was by the hearth, filling a mug with hot soup. He picked my spoon up from the table, didnât bother washing or wiping it, just dropped it in the
Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton