Blood Bond 5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked to be about as old as dirt. This was one man who would shoot first and think about the ramifications of it later. Or he might not think about it at all.
    â€œRye,” Matt told him.
    â€œWater for me,” Sam was quick to order.
    â€œI come out here in ’15, I think it was,” Ladue said. “So that would make me about eighty-five, I think. But I don’t rightly know. I do know that I got enough teeth left to gnaw on a steak. Ain’t been no further east than Saint Louie since then. Don’t want to go no further east, neither. Too damn many people.” He looked hard at Sam. “You shape up to have some Cheyenne in you, right?”
    â€œYes. My father was Medicine Horse. My mother was white.”
    â€œI knowed Medicine Horse. Slept in many of his camps. He was a fine and honorable man . . . for an Injun. And you know I don’t mean no insult by that.”
    â€œI know,” Sam said with a smile. Sam knew that his father’s thinking had been years ahead of most Indian leaders’. Too far reaching for most of the other chiefs. But, in the end, Medicine Horse knew that the Indian ways could be no more and had elected to die in battle.
    Ladue looked at Matt. “You been adopted into the Cheyenne tribe, ain’t you?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI don’t know about the breed yonder, but you got the stamp of a gunslick on you, boy.”
    â€œMy name is Matt Bodine. This is my brother, Sam Two Wolves.”
    â€œWell, now,” Ladue said with a chuckle. “I remember now. Medicine Horse did marry him a lady from back East. Sure did. Heared of both of you. Things just might be gettin’ interestin’ ’round here.”
    â€œWe’re not taking sides,” Sam told him. “If we had any sense, we’d move on.”
    â€œI’ll drink to that,” Ladue said, refilling their glasses. “This one’s on the house.” He grinned at Sam. For a man his age, he did have a respectable set of choppers. “Even the water. Too much of that ain’t good for you, son. So why don’t you just saddle up and ride on?” He chuckled. “Oh, I know. You’re both young and full of it. I was the same way. First time I tangled with a grizzly I began to realize I wasn’t immortal.”
    â€œYou fought a grizzly?” Sam asked. “What happened?”
    Matt stifled a groan and hid his grin. He had known a lot of mountain men and knew they could tell some tall tales.
    â€œWell, sir, it was like this. I was afoot, runnin’ my traps just off the northern-most curve of the Snake, when the bear popped up sudden-like. He’d been stuffin’ hisself with berries, and I disturbed him, I reckon. I clumb up a tree since I was told that a grizzly don’t climb trees. Only problem was somebody forgot to tell the bear that. So, whilst I was climbin’ down one side, he was climbin’ up the other. We met in the middle and I jumped. Damn bear landed right on top of me. Well sir, we clumb to our feet and the fur flew and the snot got flung. I shot him once, and when that didn’t even stagger him, I whopped him upside the head with my good rifle and lit a shuck outta there, with that bear hot on my heels. And a griz can cover some ground, too. I got the scars on my behind to prove it. He’d swipe, I’d jump and holler, and he’d roar. Finally, I just couldn’t run no more. So I stopped and turned around and whupped out my good knife. I faced that bear, all reared up on his hind legs. I told that bear, ‘Mister Bear, I ain’t got a damn thing agin you, but this here fight’s gonna be settled right here and now. You want to leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone. If you wanna fight, come on. Well, he come on.” Ladue stopped to take a drink of rye. He sighed and wiped his mouth. “That shore was a hell of a fight,” Ladue finally said.
    â€œWell . . . what