up, past the Yellowstone,” Jake said. “I was near to the Milk River. You can smell Canady from there.”
“I bet you can smell Indians too,” Call said. “How’d you get past the Cheyenne?”
“They shipped most of them out,” Jake said. “Some of the Blackfeet are still troublesome. But I was with the Army, doing a little scouting.”
That hardly made sense. Jake Spoon might scout his way across a card table, but Montana was something else.
“When’d you take to scouting?” Call asked dryly.
“Oh, I was just with a feller taking some beef to the Blackfeet,” Jake said. “The Army came along to help.”
“A lot of damn help the Army would be, driving beef,” Gus said.
“They helped us keep our hair,” Jake said, laying his knife and fork across his plate as neatly as if he were eating at a fancy table.
“My main job was to skeer the buffalo out of the way,” he said.
“Buffalo,” Augustus said. “I thought they was about gone.”
“Pshaw,” Jake said. “I must have seen fifty thousand up above the Yellowstone. The damn buffalo hunters ain’t got the guts to take on them Indians. Oh, they’ll finish them, once the Cheyenne and the Sioux finally cave in, and they may have even since I left. The damn Indians have the grass of Montana all to themselves. And has it got grass. Call, you ought to see it.”
“I’d go today if I could fly,” Call said.
“Be safer to walk,” Augustus said. “By the time we walked up there maybe they would have licked the Indians.”
“That’s just it, boys,” Jake said. “The minute they’re licked there’s going to be fortunes made in Montana. Why, it’s cattle land like you’ve never seen, Call. High grass and plenty of water.”
“Chilly, though, ain’t it?” Augustus asked.
“Oh, it’s got weather,” Jake said. “Hell, a man can wear a coat.”
“Better yet, a man can stay inside,” Augustus said.
“I’ve yet to see a fortune made inside,” Call said. “Except by a banker, and we ain’t bankers. What did you have in mind, Jake?”
“Getting to it first,” Jake said. “Round up some of these free cattle and take ’em on up. Beat all the other sons of bitches, and we’d soon be rich.”
Augustus and Call exchanged looks. It was odd talk to be hearing from Jake Spoon, who had never been known for his ambition—much less for a fondness for cows. Pretty whores, pacing horses, and lots of clean shirts had been his main requirements in life.
“Why, Jake, what reformed you?” Gus asked. “You was never a man to hanker after fortune.”
“Living with the cows from here to Montana would mean a change in your habits, if I remember them right,” Call said.
Jake grinned his slow grin. “You boys,” he said. “You got me down for lazier than I am. I ain’t no lover of cow shit and trail dust, I admit, but I’ve seen something that you haven’t seen: Montana. Just because I like to play cards don’t mean I can’t smell an opportunity when one’s right under my nose. Why, you boys ain’t even got a barn with a roof on it. I doubt it would bust you to move.”
“Jake, if you ain’t something,” Augustus said. “Here we ain’t seen hide nor hair of you for ten years and now you come riding in and want us to pack up and go north to get scalped.”
“Well, Gus, me and Call are going bald anyway,” Jake said. “You’re the only one whose hair they’d want.”
“All the more reason not to carry it to a hostile land,” Augustus said. “Why don’t you just calm down and play cards with me for a few days? Then when I’ve won all your money we’ll talk about going places.”
Jake whittled down a match and began to meticulously pick his teeth.
“By the time you clean me, Montana will be all settled up,” he said. “I don’t clean quick.”
“What about that horse?” Call asked. “You didn’t gant him like that just so you could get here and help us beat the rush to Montana. What’s this about your luck running thick?”
Jake looked a little more sorrowful as he picked his teeth. “Kilt a dentist,” he said. “A pure accident, but I kilt him.”
“Where’d this happen?” Call asked.
“Fort Smith, Arkansas,” Jake said. “Not three weeks ago.”
“Well, I’ve always considered dentistry a dangerous profession,” Augustus said. “Making a living by yanking people’s teeth out is asking for trouble.”
“He wasn’t even pulling my tooth,” Jake said. “I didn’t even know there was a dentist in