Fair Land, Fair Land Read Free

was the fire to make and
the meal to be heated. Meal? Salmon and rice again and coffee that
had lost its flavor. With what good nature they could summon, the men
complained of this steady and indifferent fare. Tobacco was
short-rationed, too. The wonder was that the crew wasn't really
grumpy. Higgins stepped toward him and asked, "Hey, you hear a
shot?"
    " Don't think so."
    " Maybe it was just in my mind. No game in this
whole scoop of country, far as we've seen."
    " Nothing to be alarmed about at any rate."
    "Higgins shook his head, as if to rid it of
imagined sound, but still said, "I swear it didn't sound much
more'n a whoop and a holler away."
    " Anyhow, we'd better put the fly up and then
start a fire."
    " Yeah."
    They strung a rope between two trees at the edge of
the clearing, threw the canvas over it and spread and secured the
sides, tying them to what growth was handy.
    Higgins said, "Now I'll gather the makin's of a
fire, if so we can light this damn wet wood."
    " No big hurry. The stock hasn't bedded down
yet."
    Higgins sat on the log beside him, saying, "I
don't know about Oregon. It's so goddamn rainy. Here we are, all of
us, smellin' like wet dogs."
    " Wait till we get there. It's too early for
judgments."
    " Maybe so, but first acquaintance ain't
promisin'."
    One of the riders called out, and Higgins got up and
squinted.
    " There's a man afoot on the way."
    " I can see him."
    " Got a rifle. Walks like an Injun. Look! Botter
and Moss wavin' him welcome. Damn my soul if it ain't Dick Summers!"
    " It can't be, but still —"
    It did turn out to be Summers. He came into camp
smiling, asking, "How be ye?" He shook the offered hands.
    " You don't bring bad news`?" Mack asked,
suddenly fearful.
    " Naw. Naw. All fat and sassy."
    " My wife?"
    " Same with her. I left the bunch on safe water,
making for the Willamette. Could be they're stakin' claims by now,
though it's a mite soon."
    The men on horseback had ridden close, casting their
eyes back now and then to make sure the herd was safe. It was.
Through the gathering dark Mack could make out that some of the
animals were lying down.
    Mack motioned toward the log he'd been sitting on and
said, "Rest yourself."
    Before Mack could speak, Higgins asked the question.
"How come you're here, Dick?"
    Summers smiled and answered, "They showed me a
plow, and I took off." His eyes moved from the men to the
resting livestock to the camp, and Mack thought he knew what Summers
had noted. He said, "I had to leave the wagons behind. My
mistake, I suppose. I heard a man named Barstow was building a wagon
road, but it runs south of here, and I counted on a shortcut."
    " Worst part's behind you, I'm thinkin'."
    Higgins put in, "Leastwise, we didn't have to
shed any plunder."
    " Thanks to you," Mack answered. Then to
Summers, "He made pack saddles out of some lumber we had. And it
was his idea to lash poles to the sides of the oxen, make rope
platforms behind, load the stuff on and let the poles drag."
    "All the same Indians," Summers said.
"Travois."
    Mack relighted his pipe. "What the Oregon party
was shy of — what we"re shy of — is what we should have
given thought to. Horseshoes, for heaven's sake. Hig has his tools
but no forge of course, and he has to do what fitting he can with
what few shoes we have." He flung out a hand, feeling the
oversight, himself guilty as any, feeling sore-footed himself. "Sand,
water and rock, what they do to hooves! Painful to watch, I tell
you."
    Summers nodded. "Oxen get sore-footed, too, as
you've seen for yourself, but I don't put stock in ox shoes. For not
havin' enough horseshoes, I fault myself some, but that don't help.
For any sore-footed critter the only answer is rest on soft turf."
    " We're resting tomorrow," Mack said.
    "Rest and trimmin', which Hig can do."
Summers fell silent, then his gaze went to Higgins. "You reckon
you could make a couple of pack saddles for me?"
    " I come high."
    " Higher'n fresh meat, old hoss?"
    Higgins smiled his