Long Road to Cheyenne Read Online Free PDF Page A

opinion of. I’m gambling here on a gut feeling about you, a feeling that you’re an honest man. It’s not a good idea for a woman and two young girls to travel alone in the country I’m bound for.” She paused. “This terrible incident we just survived served to emphasize that fact. I’m determined to make my way to a little camp named Destiny. According to the map my husband sent me, it’s about six miles from Custer City. That’s why I want to talk to you. I have enough money to buy horses and supplies when we get to Custer City, and maybe enough left over to hire a guide to help me find Destiny. I’ve worried some over how I might find a man I could trust to guide me and help protect my family. I think you’re such a man. Please tell me I’m right.”
    Her proposal certainly took him by surprise, and he had to stop and think about it for a few moments. “Well, yes, ma’am, you can trust me, all right, but if you don’t mind me askin’, how come you’re travelin’ up here by yourself? Where’s your husband?”
    “I don’t know, Mr. Sutton. I received a telegram from him over three months ago, saying he was going to come home. He never did, and I haven’t heard from him since. I’m hoping to find him, because he would have let me know if there was a reason he changed his plans. I fear something terrible has happened, and I need someone to help me. Will you?”
    He hesitated while he tried to decide if he wanted to consider it or not. After a moment or two, he said, “To tell you the truth, I ain’t sure where I was headed, or what I was gonna do when I got there. I just figured I’d decide when I did get there.” He hesitated again, and turned to look back at Bob and Larry when Atsuko came from the kitchen with three plates of food. Unwilling to let his steak get cold, he quickly decided. “Well, like I said, I was just gonna do whatever landed in front of me, so I reckon goin’ to Destiny with you and these young ladies is what came up. I’ll do it.”
    “Excellent,” Mary said, greatly relieved. “Now go back and eat your supper before it gets cold. We’ll talk about your pay and anything else we need to after supper.” She smiled warmly and extended her hand to shake on the deal.
    Cam returned to his table and sat down to eat his supper, ignoring the pair of grinning faces beaming expectantly up at him, eager for a report. He took knife and fork in hand and sawed off a generous hunk of beef. “Pass me that shaker of salt,” he forced through the mouthful of tough steak.
    “Pass me the salt, hell!” Bob responded impatiently. “What the hell was that little social all about?”
    “Yeah,” Larry chimed in. “Me and Bob noticed that lady lookin’ you over a couple of times. She lookin’ for a daddy for them girls? She’d be a little too much for you, wouldn’t she? I mean, with a couple of young’uns already hatched.”
    “Yeah,” Bob agreed. “She’d do better lookin’ at a man like me.” He cocked his head and winked. “You know, she ain’t a bad-lookin’ woman. I wouldn’t kick her outta the covers, and that’s a fact.”
    Cam put his knife and fork down but continued chewing the tough bite of meat for a moment while his eyes shifted from one expectant face to the other, then back again. He rose halfway from his chair to reach across the table and grab the saltshaker. Seated again, he finally spoke. “I swear if you two don’t beat all I’ve ever seen. That lady ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ like that. She wants to hire me to guide her and her daughters to someplace outside Custer City, someplace she called Destiny. You ever hear of it?”
    Larry shook his head, and Bob replied, “Can’t say as I have. It couldn’t be a very big place. What does she wanna go there for?”
    “Lookin’ for her husband, I reckon—said we’d talk more about it tomorrow.”
    “You gonna do it?” Bob asked, no longer joking.
    “I reckon,” Cam answered with a shrug. “I