The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,240

your nose, than out hiding behind some tree waiting for a chance to back shoot you.”

“I know,” Eulis said. “We’ve got to have workers and we ain’t exactly in a place bursting at the seams with men who are willing to mine someone else’s gold.”

“Just be careful,” Letty said.

Eulis grinned and then winked at her.

“I’m always careful, girl. You mind yourself, too.”

Letty nodded. “I’m going to ride up to the new home site and see how the work is coming along. I’ll see you later.”

Eulis watched her ride out across the valley and up into the trees. When he returned to the men, they were suddenly acting as if they’d taken vows of diligence. Before long, they’d fallen into a kind of rhythm that boded well for the mine. Eulis took it as a good sign.

Meanwhile, Letty’s trip to the new home-site had taken a sudden turn for the worse. She had just ridden up to what was going to become their front yard when her horse did a fancy little sidestep, reared up on its back legs, and promptly dumped her into the dirt.

She’d already discovered that the men who’d been working on the property were not on the premises, which meant they’d gotten themselves another grubstake and were out trying to strike it rich. The way she figured it, their big fancy house might never get finished, what with all the fools suffering from gold fever.

Cursing the horse and all manner of males, she was dusting herself off and reaching for her hat when she became aware of a rustling in the undergrowth. Well aware that there were grizzlies fresh out of hibernation, as well as all manner of two-legged varmits, she ran for the horse to get her rifle.

The horse shied once as she made a lunge for the dangling reins and would have bolted if she hadn’t caught them. Yanking hard on the bridle, she pulled the horse to a halt, grabbed her rifle out of the scabbard, and aimed it toward the bushes. Within a matter of seconds, a bone-thin, half-grown pup of questionable heritage came slinking out on its belly.

Letty didn’t know whether to be relieved or disgusted. The pup stunk to high heaven—all the worse for wear because of a previous bout with a skunk. It was a brown and white short-hair, obviously part hound, with huge feet, floppy ears, and the beginnings of mange. She could count every rib. The humane thing would have been to put a bullet in its head right then and there, but it would have been easier to shoot a man, than a helpless animal who meant her no harm. She tried threats instead and began waving her arms and shouting.

“Get, you mangy critter! Go on! Get away before I put a bullet between your eyes!”

The pup whined as it continued to belly crawl until it had crawled all the way to her feet. At that point, it gave a big groan and rolled over on its back. Submission was all it had to offer and gave it gladly.

Letty rolled her eyes and then stomped her foot.

“Go on now, I said! Get! Get!”

The pup added another soft whine to the belly he’d bared.

“Oh, for the love of—”

Something rattled in the grass behind her. Before she could turn, the pup had sprung to its feet and lunged past her, barking and snarling like a dog gone mad.

She saw the rattlesnake at the same moment that her horse reared up and bolted. Before Letty could aim her gun, the pup had the snake in its mouth, shaking it like a rag doll. Just when she feared the pup was going to get bitten, it turned the snake loose.

It went flying, like a thick brown piece of rope, coiling and uncoiling as it sailed through the air.

Letty blasted the head from the body in mid-air. The silence that came afterward was deafening.

Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t hear herself breathe. Every hair on the pup’s back was standing up like the quills on a porcupine’s back.

She lifted a shaky hand to her forehead, swiped away the hair that had come loose from the ribbon and jammed her hat back on her head.

“Well now,” she muttered, still eyeing the half-starved pup.

Hearing her voice, the pup turned and looked up at her, as if waiting for a sign.

Letty sighed.

The pup took the sound as some inner signal. Within seconds, the hair on his back smoothed out like the feathers on