Dream Of Mountains
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“Ain’t it a fine day,” Roper said to no one. The sun had just come up over the mountain ridges, and the sky was a brilliant blue. “I think we can have a great day.”
“Why don’t you ask the Indians what they think?”
“I did ask them. They said it was a dry day and they would rather see it rain.”
“Well, if you do ask the Indians, you might as well ask the mice what they think about the weather. They will tell you the same thing.”
Roper laughed. “I only ask them because they look so happy out there. I don’t know why they would say otherwise.”
“If you want to know what the Indians think about it, ask me.”
“How would I know?”
“Because I’m a buffalo hunter and know how to read the signs of the buffalo herds.” He pointed to the prairie, where the long grass swayed in a light breeze. “They’ve been running all morning. It’s a good sign.”
“And how would you know that?”
“Because I’ve been watching them for a month.”
“A month, you said.”
“Yes.”
“And you have not missed any buffalo?”
“Not once,” Roper said proudly.
“And how would that be possible?”
“Because I am a good hunter,” Roper said. “I watch the trail and follow them for days. I keep my eyes on them even when I sleep.”
“I am sure you do,” Chris said.
Roper laughed. “You don’t believe me.” He stopped in midstride and cocked his head toward the prairie. “Look at those buffalo.” He pointed to several cows that had paused in their grazing and were now watching him warily. “I am sure they remember me.”
He started walking again. “See, I am smarter than those mice. That’s why I am the one in charge.” Chris watched him closely and saw that he was right. “You are not like most women,” Roper continued. “You don’t love me for my fancy clothes or fine house, but because of what I can do.”
He stopped again and turned to face Chris. “I am good at hunting, I can read the signs of the buffalo herds, and I am a good father.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. “This is a buffalo nickel from the year 1876. It’s proof that I’ve been hunting buffalo since then.” He tossed the coin to Chris. “See, I am not such a bad man to have around after all.”
Chris caught the coin and looked at it in surprise. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you will marry me so we can have some children.”
Chris thought long and hard about it. Roper had saved her life and protected her from her evil brother, but he was still a hunter. And he was also a con man who had conned her twice already, taking advantage of her generosity and kindness.
He had taken her money and threatened her with violence. And he was still a liar who wouldn’t admit he had some bad habits. She had no idea what his real intentions were and couldn’t say for sure whether he was looking for a wife or a mother for his children, but she knew she didn’t want to marry him.
He wasn’t like any man she had ever met before; he was unpredictable and selfish. She had known him for only a few days, but she already wished she could go back in time and not take him into her confidence or trust him with her life.
She also knew that if she did marry him, she would have to give up her dream of becoming a detective because she could never live under his roof or work for him in his store or… She frowned as she thought about it some more and realized that it was impossible for her to marry Roper without giving up her dream of becoming an investigator.
She had too many conflicting loyalties, and she would have to choose one over the other; otherwise, she could never do her job without causing trouble for one or both of them.
She didn’t know what to do—what to say—so she kept quiet as Roper turned away from her and continued toward the saloon without saying another word. As she followed him, she realized that he was trying to take her back to his house so he could kiss her and win her heart with his charm once more.
She was tempted to let him, but something held her back; something told her that if she did, she would be back at square one, where she started from when she first met Roper. So she kept walking through the dust trail behind him.
Roper stopped in front of the saloon door and waited for Chris to catch up with him. “You’re not going in there?” he asked in surprise. “I thought you wanted to talk to me about marrying me.”
“I do want to talk to you,” she said, but I do not want to marry you.” She stopped in front of Roper’s house and looked around at the prairie around them. “There is something I really want to see before we go inside your house, so I will wait here until you are done talking inside your house.”
“What is it?” he asked as he opened the door and stepped inside.
“A buffalo,” Chris said quietly as the door closed behind him. “A very large buffalo.” She opened the door again just as Roper stepped out of the saloon and moved past her toward the buffalo he had called out to earlier.
***
Roper stepped out of the saloon and saw that Chris was nowhere to be seen. He looked around the prairie in search of her but saw nothing except for buffalo, which was unusual because they usually stayed far away from humans.
He started toward the buffalo, but then looked around again as he heard the sound of hooves approaching from behind him. It was Chris, riding one of the horses that belonged to the buffalo herders that were staying in his house for the summer.
The horse looked at Roper as if to say, ‘I can go where you go.’ Roper smiled at the horse and told him how much he liked horses too when Chris rode closer to him on horseback. “I hate to bother you,” Chris said as she stopped in front of Roper.
She had ridden up close to him without spooking any of the buffalo or horses with loud horse whinnies like most women did when they rode horses for the first time. “I saw your horse near my buffalo herders’ horses so I thought I would ride up here on horseback with him.”
She paused as if considering whether or not she wanted to ask Roper why they were here or how they had gotten there in the first place. But then she decided against it and asked instead, “What is it that you wanted to tell me about marrying me?”
Something about the way Chris said it made Roper think that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all; maybe she did want to marry him after all. “I’m not sure how we got here,” he said with a shrug. “I guess we were both riding our horses down the prairie and get back here.”
“But why?”
“Why what?”
“Why were you riding your horse? I thought you didn’t like horses.”
“I don’t like to ride them,” he said with a grin as he waved his hand in front of him in front of her, “but I like to ride them with a woman on top of them.”
Chris’ eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock at his outrageous remark, but then her face lit up with a smile as she laughed at his remark. “That’s my answer!” she cried out as if someone had hit her with an electric shock.
Roper laughed too and realized that while he had been thinking that this might be impossible after all, it wasn’t so bad after all; it wasn’t so bad at all. He looked around at the prairie again and remembered how she had gone silent when he told her that he was thinking about his ranching life and riding away from it all. “Why are you laughing?” he asked as he urged his horse closer to hers.
“Nothing,” she said, still laughing. “Nothing at all.” She looked up at him and smiled, but then frowned when Roper nudged his horse closer to hers. “Please don’t touch me,” she pleaded with him as she pulled away from his horse’s nose. “It’s bad luck!”
“No, it’s not,” Roper said as he dismounted his horse and moved closer to Chris again. “Let me tell you something about bad luck.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against his body as he bent down and kissed her gently on her lips once more.
“Bad luck happens when a man knows what he wants but can’t have it.” He turned her head so that she was facing him and kissed her again, but this time they both held onto each other while their bodies moved together.
They stopped kissing when they heard a loud whinny from a buffalo nearby. Roper let go of Chris when they heard a loud roar from a buffalo nearby that sounded like it was coming from right behind them.
He paused for a moment to listen for another sound before turning back toward Chris and kissing her again. He held his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him when she bent her body into his arms.
“You know,” Roper muttered quietly when they looked up at each other after a moment, “you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
“Thank you,” Chris whispered before bending down to kiss Roper again, but then stopped when she realized that there were more buffalo close by now. She stopped kissing Roper and turned back toward the buffalo herders’ horses while she considered how they could make their way past them without spooking any of them or getting hurt in any way.
“Come on,” Roper said as he walked toward the buffalo herders’ horses. “Let’s get started.” He led his horse toward the first buffalo herders’ mount and nudged its nose with his hand before riding past it without spooking it or anyone else nearby.
But then he looked back at Chris and realized that she wasn’t following him as fast as he had expected her to. “Come on!” he yelled out to her as he gave his horse a playful kick that made it leap forward toward the next buffalo herder’s horse.
Chris followed Roper’s lead and rode toward the next buffalo herders’ mount with Roper’s horse urging its own forward with its nose in front of hers. “That’s good,” Roper said after they rode past the third buffalo herders’ mount, “that’s good.”
He gave his horse another playful kick and urged it forward without spooking anyone else nearby. “Good!” he repeated as they rode toward the next buffalo herders’ mount, but then his horse suddenly stumbled and threw its front hooves forward in front of Chris’ horse.
Roper fell off his horse, but he managed to grab the reins before hitting the ground. He looked back at Chris and saw that she was still riding toward the next buffalo herder’s horse with Roper’s horse trying to get ahead of hers again.
“Get off your horse!” he yelled out to her as he lunged toward her mount to pull her off of it before her horse could hurt anyone else. But before he could reach her, another buffalo herder’s mount galloped past their mounts without spooking anyone nearby. “Damn!” he cursed under his breath as he watched Chris pull her horse back toward him so that he could catch up with it again.
“I don’t know why you don’t stop spooking everyone around you,” Chris said when Roper caught up with her mount again. “You’re always doing it!”
“That’s because you don’t know how dangerous it is to ride near buffalo herds,” Roper said before turning to look at the buffalo herders’ mounts as they rode away from them, but then he saw that one of the men had kicked his horse forward toward them with his whip in hand and a harpoon gun in his other hand.
“Stop that!” Roper yelled out to stop him before he could shoot them with the harpoon gun, but the buffalo herders’ mount snorted loudly and turned back toward them before it galloped forward again. “Stop!”
Roper yelled out again as he pulled on the reins of his own horse to turn it around to chase after the buffalo herders’ mount, but then another buffalo herders’ mount galloped forward with its horn lowered over its head.
“No!” Roper shouted in surprise as he saw that it was headed straight toward him and would most certainly run him down if he didn’t do something quickly. He shoved both of Chris’ horses back toward her, but she couldn’t stop quickly enough to avoid being run over by the buffalo herders’ mounts when they were still approaching at a fast speed.
“Stop!” Roper yelled out again as he pulled his horse’s head around and steered it toward Chris’ mount, but then another buffalo herder’s mount galloped forward with its horn lowered over its head and ran over him before it ran over Chris’ mount too.
***
“Roper!” Chris screamed out when she saw that Roper was lying on the ground in front of her while two buffalo herders’ mounts were galloping past him. She jumped off her own horse and ran over to him and knelt down beside him as she helped him sit up and lift himself off of the ground. “Roper! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Roper said without turning away from the buffalo herders’ mounts that had just ridden over him and Chris’ mounts without hurting anyone or running them down. He felt blood trickling down his forehead from where his hat had been knocked off when Chris’ mount was run over, but otherwise, he was fine.
He watched as one of the buffalo herders’ horses swung its head around toward them and snorted loudly before galloping off after the others without spooking anyone nearby or running anyone down.
“Let’s get out of here,” Chris said when she saw that there were no more buffalo herders’ mounts running toward them anymore. She helped Roper sit up on his own as she took his hat from his head and plopped it on his head again.
She noticed that his face was covered in blood from where his hat had been knocked off, but she didn’t see any other injuries on him as she helped him up. “You will not be fine if we don’t get out of here,” she warned him as she helped him get back on his horse and urged it forward.
“I’m fine,” Roper said without turning to look at her, but he knew that she knew that he wasn’t. She knew how dangerous buffalo herders’ mounts were even if he didn’t, and she wouldn’t let him ride through another buffalo herders’ camp again if she knew it was still dangerous to do so.
He knew that he would have to tell her about his vision before they went anywhere else, but for now, they needed to get out of there before anyone else rode by and saw what had happened.
“I don’t care if you’re fine or not,” she said as she pulled on the reins of her own horse to make it turn around and go back toward him where she could help him up again. “We’re getting out of here.”
***
“They’re gone!” Roper said when he saw that there were no more buffalo herders’ mounts heading their way. He felt a little dizzy as he sat up on his own for the first time since Chris helped him, but he knew that if he sat up any longer, he would pass out, so he kept himself sitting up for now.
“Get in front of me,” Chris said as she urged her horse forward while holding onto the reins in one hand. “I’ll help you get on your horse again.”
“You will not be helping me get on my horse again,” Roper said without looking at her. “I will not put myself in any more danger than I already have been.”
“Your injuries are not as serious as you think they are,” Chris said as she pulled on the reins of her own horse to make it stop so that she could reach over and help him get on his own again. “I’ve seen worse.”
“Your injuries are not as serious as you think they are,” Roper repeated without looking at her again. “I have seen worse.”
“Your injuries are not as serious as you think they are,” Chris repeated in a louder voice. “You have been shot at before.”
“I have been shot at before, but I didn’t die from it,” Roper said in a louder voice. “I know what I have to do now.”
“You know what you have to do?” Chris asked through clenched teeth. “You don’t know what you have to do.”
“I know what I have to do!” Roper yelled back at her before he suddenly fell back onto his rear end from his seat on his horse’s rear end when he felt dizzy again, so he leaned forward and put his hands on the ground while he waited for his dizziness to pass, but then suddenly felt dizzy again.
He reached out for something to hold onto but found nothing, so he leaned forward again and put both hands on the ground, and waited for his dizziness to pass, but then suddenly felt dizzy again.
He felt like he was going to pass out from all the dizziness, but he didn’t want to fall off his horse again, so he waited for his dizziness to pass until it seemed like it was over for good, even though it took a while longer than usual to pass this time. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You’ve been shot at before,” Chris said when she saw that Roper was suddenly turning pale from all the dizziness that had suddenly overwhelmed him. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“I’m getting on my horse,” Roper said when he saw that all the dizziness seemed to be gone for good this time. It had passed so quickly every time that he had been shot at before, and he thought that it had been because he had been riding a horse then instead of sitting on its back when it happened, but riding a horse didn’t seem to make much difference this time around.
“I can ride my own horse now.”
“You can ride your own horse now,” Chris agreed as she helped him get his boots back on. “But you need to take it easy for a while.”
“I’ll take it easy when I’ve accomplished my goal,” Roper said with determination even though his stomach was empty from the last meal he had eaten yesterday afternoon when they camped out after crossing the border into Kansas.
He knew that if he ate anything more right now, he would throw up again. He knew that nothing was wrong with him physically, but there was a moral issue involved here. He couldn’t just sit there and let someone else do what he wanted to do and feel good about himself for doing it when Chris would be doing everything she could to help him accomplish his goal.
That wasn’t fair. He needed to do this on his own. He didn’t need her taking care of him while he was trying to accomplish something important.
Roper got back up into the saddle of his own horse without any help from Chris, and it seemed like he had a little more strength in his arms to hold himself there this time around, so he rode away from her while turning back several times to keep an eye on what she was doing on her own horse.
He knew that he had to keep an eye on her since she kept looking back at him with a frown on her face, but she didn’t say anything when she looked back at him like she usually did when she saw what he was doing, so she must be trying not to show how angry she was with him for leaving her behind.
He knew that she would never be happy about it, but if he stayed behind her, then she would be able to see where the buffalo herders were coming from and make good decisions about where she should be riding at all times, which would make things safer for everyone, including him.
He realized that he had made the right decision when he saw the buffalo herders riding their horses toward them with their guns drawn, which meant that they must have been coming from Laramie since they had crossed into Kansas yesterday afternoon and hadn’t come across any other buffalo herders since then, so there were actually fewer buffalo herders than there were buffalo in Wyoming.
Most of them were being driven out of Wyoming by the cattlemen and ranchers who were moving them out of Wyoming to where they could graze on their own land instead of being run off by the cattlemen and ranchers in Wyoming.
It seemed like the buffalo herders were coming straight at them with their guns drawn and aimed at Chris when they passed each other on either side of their horses, which was a little unsettling since there was only room for two horses on one side of the trail between them.
There was no way that one of them could have gotten around the other one without putting a bullet into them when they passed each other, and they were still several hundred yards away from them when they passed each other the first time around and still several hundred yards away from them when they passed each other the second time around, so neither one of them had any idea that the other one was coming from their left or right side until they were right next to each other on either side of the trail and both of them had their guns drawn and aimed at each other.
“That’s close enough,” Roper snapped as soon as he saw that Chris was about to turn her horse toward the buffalo herders again. “Make sure they don’t come any closer.”
“Why don’t you give them some more room?” Chris said as she stopped her horse and turned it around in a circle so that they were now traveling to the left of the buffalo herders instead of the right side of the trail where they had been going before as if they were hiding from the buffalo herders behind the trees.
“It seems like there’s enough distance between us now so that we don’t have to worry about being shot at.”
“We don’t want them getting any closer than this,” Roper said as he watched the buffalo herders ride past their horses on either side of the trail and head south toward Laramie. “We just need some distance between us and them between here and Laramie.”
“What is this about?” Chris asked with a puzzled frown when she turned her horse back around and looked at him again. “What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid,” Roper said as he tried not to let his anger show in his voice. “I’m just trying to make sure that you don’t get shot at.”
“How could I get shot at?” Chris asked as she frowned at him again. “We’re well away from them now.”
“How do you know?” Roper asked. “They might have gotten closer to us after we passed them.”
“Why would they do that?” Chris asked as she looked at him with a puzzled frown.
“They might have gotten closer to us because we passed them,” Roper said with a sigh as he felt his anger bubbling up again. “They know exactly where we are and where we’re going and what we’re doing, which means that they could easily see us from a distance if we’re too close to each other.”
“Why would they do that?” Chris asked again with another puzzled frown. “They know where we are now.”
“They might have got closer to us,” Roper said as he stared at her stubbornly, “because they might want to kill us.”
“Why would they want to kill us?” Chris asked. “We’re not even causing any trouble for them.”
“We’re not causing any trouble for them now,” Roper said. “We’re just traveling alone on a trail through some trees with a few buffalo herders riding close behind us.”
“How did you know immediately that we weren’t traveling alone?” Chris asked with a puzzled frown. “Why didn’t you check first and make sure that we weren’t traveling alone?”
“Why didn’t you check first before you told me that we were traveling alone?” Roper shot back as his anger bubbled up again, “which means that you obviously know exactly how many buffalo herders are following us.”
“I didn’t know exactly how many buffalo herders were following us,” Chris said as she looked at him with a puzzled frown.
“You could have known exactly how many buffalo herders were following us,” Roper said as he glared at her, “by checking first before you told me that we were traveling alone, which means that you knew exactly how many buffalo herders were following us.”
“I didn’t know exactly how many buffalo herders were following us,” Chris said with another puzzled frown, “because I only saw two or three of them when I looked back when we passed them about five minutes ago.”
“You told me that we were traveling alone,” Roper snapped, “which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us. Which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us when we passed them five minutes ago.”
Chris tried not to let her anger show in her voice. “I didn’t know exactly how many buffalo herders were following us when we passed them five minutes ago,” she said as she stared at him, “because I didn’t see any more of them after I saw two or three buffalo herders when we passed them five minutes ago.”
“You told me that we were traveling alone,” Roper snapped, “which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us five minutes ago. Which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us when you looked back when we passed them five minutes ago.”
Chris tried not to let her anger show in her voice. “I didn’t know exactly how many buffalo herders were following us when we passed them five minutes ago,” she said as she looked at him. “But I did see a buffalo herder’s hat when I looked back after passing them five minutes ago.”
“You told me that we were traveling alone,” Roper snapped, “which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us five minutes ago. Which means that there couldn’t have been more than two or three buffalo herders following us when you looked back when we passed them five minutes ago.”
The End