MacCallister: The Eagles Legacy: The Killing Read Online Free PDF Page A

ain’t forgot it. More’n likely she’s plannin’ on you askin’ for to take her. Especially since you been gone for two months.”
    “I’ll be back before Saturday, but I’m not for sure exactly when it will be. Mayhaps you can ask Miss Parker to the dance for me.”
    “Duff MacCallister, I may have spent the last twenty years in the desert, the mountains, or at sea, but even I know that ain’t right. You need to ask her yourself, is what you need to do.”
    “Aye, you are right, I’m sure. But let me ask you this. Would you be for deliverin’ a letter to her for me?”
    A broad smile spread across Elmer’s face.
    “Well now,” he said. “That I’d be willin’ to do.”
     
     
    It was before dawn when Duff awakened the next morning and, unexpectedly, he could smell coffee and bacon. Dressing quickly, he walked into the kitchen and saw Elmer leaning over the stove, looking into the oven.
    “The biscuits will be done in a few minutes.”
    “Elmer, you did not have to go to all that trouble,” Duff said. “I was just going to make myself a cup of coffee and then be gone.” Although Duff had been a tea drinker when he first came to Wyoming, he had managed to develop a taste for coffee as it was so much more available than tea.
    “And that don’t make no sense a’ tall,” Elmer said. “You got a long ride ahead of you. You need somethin’ that’ll set good in your stomach. I got some good bacon grease here. I’ll make us some gravy to go with the biscuits.”
    “It does look good,” Duff agreed.
    “Do you have the letter?”
    “Aye.”
    “Leave it there on the sideboard,” Elmer said. “I’ll ride into town and deliver it today.”
    Duff laid the letter on the sideboard, then sat down at the table to enjoy the breakfast.
     
     
    Dawn was just breaking when, having eaten more than he really wanted, but not wanting to seem ungrateful for Elmer’s efforts, Duff walked out to the barn and saddled Sky, his big bay. As he rode out, he threw a wave toward Elmer, who was standing on the front porch holding a cup of coffee in one hand, and with his other, leaning up against one of the porch roof support beams.
    As Duff rode south that morning, the notches of the eastern hills were touched with the dove gray of early morning. Shortly thereafter, a golden fire spread over the mountaintops, then filled the sky with light and color, waking all the creatures below.
    Stopping at noon, Duff shot, skinned, and cleaned a rabbit, then spitted him over an open fire. He had brought a few of Elmer’s biscuits with him, and the biscuits and rabbit made a tolerable meal. Sky found some sweet grass, and they both enjoyed water from Horse Creek.
     
     
    It was mid-afternoon by the time Duff reached Cheyenne. The capital city of Wyoming was a town of considerable importance, not only in the territory, but in the entire Northwest. No more than a tent town in 1867, just over twenty years later it had become a bustling city with substantial buildings, many built of brick and three stories high. There were over ten thousand souls in the town, and that number represented over half of the total population of Wyoming.
    Boardwalks ran on either side of every street, and at the ends of each block, planks were laid across the road to allow pedestrians to cross to the other side without having to walk in the dirt or mud. Mounted, Duff waited patiently at one of them while he watched a woman cross the road, holding her skirt up above her ankles to keep the hem from soiling. After she was clear, Duff clucked Sky on, and the big horse stepped gingerly across the plank as they headed toward the J.C. Abney livery stable at the far end of the street.
    “Hello, Mr. MacCallister,” the eighteen-year-old youth who worked for Abney said, as he stepped out of the barn to greet him. “Is Sky going to stay with us for a while?”
    “Hello, Donnie. I’ll probably just be here overnight,” Duff answered. “Two at the most.”
    The