Savage Courage

Tonight he wore buckskin pants that had been cut away up past his knees, surely because it hurt too much to have the garment rub against his terrible wounds.

One arm seemed to dangle from his shoulder where it had come close to being torn from the socket by the panther.

But he had enough movement left in it to help him hold the shotgun aimed at his two captives!

“How did you get away from the fort?” Shoshana blurted out. “How could you get this far? How did you know we were here?”

“Now, ain’t you jest full of questions,” Mountain Jack said. He laughed throatily. He glanced over at Storm. “And how about you? Why are you so quiet?”

Storm just glared at him, his mind working out how he could stop this man’s madness once and for all.

He now knew how wrong it had been to hand this man over to the white people. It was obvious they did not know how to deal with such criminals as Mountain Jack.

Storm was waiting for just the right moment to lunge at the man, for it was obvious it would not take much to down him. Mountain Jack’s wobbly, injured legs were barely holding him up.

“How did I get free?” Mountain Jack said, sn

ickering low. “How did I get here? First let me say that I wasn’t even looking for you. You were the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to get as far as I could from the fort.”

He paused, licked his lips, then continued. “I ain’t never seen such lazy soldiers as I witnessed at Fort Chance,” he said. “And dumb. I guess they thought I was too injured to even think of escaping, much less succeed. They left me in the hands of the fort doctor. They didn’t even put me behind bars.”

He laughed again. “I fooled ’em all,” he said. “I pretended to be dying. You wouldn’t believe the amount of groanin’ I did. It’s funny to think about. All who came and looked at me thought I was at death’s door. Well, seems I play a mighty good game. After everyone was asleep, even the useless sentries, I just walked out as free as a fiddle. I even stole me a firearm and knife. Even now they have no idea I’m gone. Not until daybreak, and by then, I hope to be even farther away than I am now. But first things first. I have you two to take care of, since I just happened upon your camp.”

“You don’t look like you are able to ride a horse,” Shoshana said. “Did you?”

“Yep, and it’s tethered only a short distance away,” Mountain Jack said. “A while ago, it whinnied as I was tying my reins to a limb. I thought that gave me away. But no one came to investigate. I guess everyone just thought it was one of those horses you have penned up in that corral.”

Shoshana remembered hearing the whinnying now. She had, in fact, concluded it was one of the horses they’d captured.

“Now, you two just walk quiet-like away from this camp, and then you’ll finally get your comeuppance for what you did to me,” he said tightly. “Yep, you rescued me from the panther’s den, but then handed me over to those who I thought would have hanged me by now. Seems I’m as elusive as ever, especially to that hangman’s noose.”

Just as Mountain Jack started to back away from the debris that had not long ago been Shoshana and Storm’s dwelling, a noise startled him.

He turned just long enough for Storm to grab his rifle. He used the weapon to knock the firearm from Mountain Jack’s hand.

As his shotgun struck the ground, the impact caused it to fire. Mountain Jack was shot full in the chest.

“No, no . . .” Mountain Jack said, crumpling to his knees. He rested there for a moment, staring from Shoshana to Storm, then fell over face forward, dead.

Shoshana looked quickly around as the others, awakened by the gun’s blast, came running, weapons in hand. Their eyes were wide with fear, especially Dancing Willow’s.

Storm noticed a beaver scurrying away, oblivious to what it had caused by having made so much noise as it scurried through the brush.

Storm smiled at Shoshana, then drew her into his embrace. He felt how hard she was trembling. “That evil man is finally, truly dead,” he said, stroking her back. “My wife, he will never trouble us again.”

“I can’t believe he was able to threaten us again,” Shoshana murmured, clinging to him. “I thought Colonel Hawkins would make certain of that.”

“Mountain Jack was skilled at deception. He was able to fool everyone into believing he was dying,” Storm said from across Shoshana’s shoulder. He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear as they gathered around, their eyes on the dead man. “He escaped and found his way here, although I am certain we were the last people he wanted to come across. He was a fool not to travel onward when he saw our camp, but the need for revenge kept him here.”

He looked toward the spot where the beaver had disappeared. “It was a beaver that got the best of Mountain Jack tonight,” he said, laughing low.

Shoshana gazed up at Storm. “A beaver?” she said, eyes wide.

“It was a beaver that startled Mountain Jack into turning around,” Storm said. “I imagine he thought it was the panther coming to finish what it had started. He didn’t know that the panther was dead.”

“In a sense, the panther did finalize its kill,” Shoshana said, shivering at the thought. “It was fear of that panther that killed Mountain Jack.”

Storm turned and gazed at the scalp hunter’s body again, then looked over at Shoshana. “But enough about Mountain Jack,” he said. “Although it is night, I would like to start for home. I do not think this is the place a woman carrying my child should be.”