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.Manitou led them down off the high mesa eastward, and into the rougher country along the New Fork, watching the western skyline for the point at which they could swing west again and come down near the site of William Bonneville's old fort.From there they could follow the Green River to the rendezvous camps from the north.They moved with a kind of swift deliberateness, Shaw and Manitou calling frequent halts, to rest the tired animals or so that their tracks could be covered.On these occasions January, Hannibal and Veinte-y- Cinco took turns foraging and resting, for even riding the mule, January found it was difficult to keep going for more than an hour at a time.He didn't like the way Hannibal and the woman sometimes clung to the saddle, as if it was only with the greatest effort that they kept from slipping off unconscious.Rough stretches of open grassland alternated with thin lodgepole timber; in the stillness the drone of a bee, or the far-off popping cry of a grouse, seemed loud as gunshots.Again and again he turned to scan the horizons and the sky for the telltale dust of horses.As Iron Heart, he was sure, was watching for the dust they might raise.'But now the poison is gone,' said Veinte-y-Cinco, at one of these halts, 'and Boden is of no more use to Iron Heart, will Iron Heart pursue us still?''Iron Heart's a man of honor,' said Manitou.'If he's made a vow to help Boden with his vengeance, he'll do it.An' there's no tellin' what Boden'll feel obligated to do to help him, in return.'The dryness of the hills was worsened by the thin dryness of the air, and though small game - rabbits, ground squirrels and grouse - seemed everywhere in the sagebrush, firing a gun was out of the question.In answer to Shaw's question, Manitou confirmed that the winter before - 1835-36 - Iron Heart and his Omahas had indeed camped near Fort Ivy, which was close enough to Manitou's own winter hunting-grounds that he preferred to come down to trade there, rather than going on to Laramie and dealing with the AFC.'I trapped in Company brigades for two years,' said Manitou.'Hundred dollars a year, and when time came to pay out, you found most of that hundred dollars, you owed 'em for the cost of your traps an' the liquor you'd drunk at the last rendezvous.Hudson's Bay gave me a better price, and after one good year I started trappin' on my own.Preferred it, anyway.Longer I stay out here, seems like the shorter fuse I got, when 1 come amongst my own kind.'He only shook his head over the machinations of the Hudson's Bay Company and the AFC, though he agreed that it was probably Titus who'd set the AFC Crows on to January, Shaw and Gil Wallach after the feast.'Part of the game,' he said.'Red Arm don't really care who they scalp, long as Titus pays 'em in good knives an' gunpowder.It's all White Men's Business.But if it comes to war,' he added somberly, 'the tribes'll fight for the British, like they did back in '12.The Brits keep their treaties.America'll back its settlers, an' there's more of them every year.'His voice held an echo of sadness, as Sir William Stewart's had, back in the crowded banquet-tent, when he'd said wistfully: it'll all be gone.The streets of Independence, January recalled, had been crowded not only with trappers and traders and bullwhackers and trail hands stocking up for the Santa Fe caravans, but also with farmers, farmers' wives and their children.Ordinary working-folk, who spoke with shining eyes of 'free land' in Oregon, as if the United States already held uncontested title to those untouched miles - and as if it were simply free for the taking.'Will you go back to the rendezvous at all?' asked Hannibal, later in the afternoon as they sheltered among a few thin- trunked pines at the head of a draw.'If you need me.' Manitou spoke without turning his head, scanning the jumble of gullies that fell away before them.'Like I said, no tellin' what Boden'll get up to, to keep Iron Heart on his good side - an Iron Heart'11 sure want somethin' from him, to go off chasin' me through the mountains.I'd as soon go on, but if you need bait, I'll stay.''It's good of you.'Manitou shrugged.'Every book, every play I ever read 'bout vengeance, I never read one of 'em that ends well.Every man I talked to that's done it, they say the same.A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house.Was that Aeschylus as said that? When he spoke of turnin' vengeance over to justice an' lettin' justice have its way? I'll do as I can, to make an end.'January glanced back up to the top of the rocks behind them, where Shaw crouched, a tattered, feral scarecrow, watching the sky to the south-west.Easy enough to speak of making an end, when one had something to go back to.Without family to return to - without a life beyond vengeance - he saw, suddenly, that the quest itself became life.That Frankenstein needed his monster to chase, because without the chase he, too, would be swallowed up in his own inner darkness.And what do we do,' asked Hannibal, getting stiffly up - Veinte-y-Cinco had to help him - from the foot of the tree where he'd been sitting, 'if Iron Heart and his warriors have gone back to the rendezvous, to make sure Boden comes up with another plan of vengeance while we're out here?''Ain't much we can do.''An' it ain't a problem that's like to arise.' Shaw dropped lightly from the rocks, knocking bark and pine needles from his bandaged hands.'Supposin' that's their dust we got, comin' up the draw from the east [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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