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Show LEE NELSON'S - isillilii CHAPTER 49 Holding Kathryn at gunpoint, Boggs tied a dirty rag over her mouth and bound her hands behind her back. Then he helped her onto his pack horse, Kathryn straddling the sawbuck, her legs in front of the partially-full canvas bags that were hanging from each side of the saw-buck. saw-buck. The canvas bags contained soiled Indian clothing. As an afterthought, Boggs ripped rip-ped off a corner of Kathryn's shawl, then slashed her arm with his skinning knife to bloody the piece of shawl before throwing it down on the new snow. It was the perfect piece of bait to make sure Sam followed. In approaching Blackweasel's camp that morning, it had been Boggs' plan to merely hide in the willows, hoping for a chance to get a shot at Sam. But that plan had had one big flaw. After shooting Sam, he would probably end up with a bunch of angry Blackfeet on his tail. Finding Kathryn wandering up the trail was an unexpected bonus, Oan opportunity to lure Sam away from the camp. Kathryn was just the bait Boggs. needed, and a beautiful piece of bait at that. And Boggs knew exactly where he would take Kathryn. Before getting get-ting involved with the smallpox and Indians, he had been working a silver mine in a litle box canyon between Bannock and Virginia City, not more than 10 miles upstream up-stream from Blackweasel's new camp. The mine shaft was nestled in the side of a cliff overlooking a little shack. The entrance to the shaft was a perfect place from which to ambush anyone approaching the shack. A narrow path on the side of the cliff was the only way to reach the shaft. For the first time she could remember, re-member, Kathryn feared for her life. With her hands tied behind her back, it was all she could do to keep her seat as the pack horse trotted and galloped along the rocky trail. Her hands were tied too tight. They were cold, almost numb from lack of circulation. And the sawbuck quickly wore painful blisters in soft places. Kathryn had no idea where she was being taken. She only knew that Boggs wanted Sam to follow. But even with the bloody piece of shawl on the trail, she had her doubts. Sam had been about to head in the other direction with Lance when she began to walk upstream. up-stream. She hadn't expected to see him again. Maybe she wouldn't be missed until long after Sam and Lance were on their way downstream. down-stream. Maybe that was best. Boggs wanted to be followed. Whoever followed would be walking into some kind of trap with Kathryn as bait. Kathryn realized she might never see Sam again, or anybody else, for that matter. She knew Boggs wasn't above killing her, not if there was some benefit for him in doing so. After about two hours of hard travel, Boggs led Kathryn's horse off the main trail and into the entrance entr-ance of what appeared to be a box canyon. Much of the snow had melted by then, so to make sure his trail wouldn't be missed, the old man ripped off another piece of shawl, reopened the wound on Kathryn's arm to soak up some O fresh blood on the cloth, and hung the material on a bush that marked the turnoff point. Kathryn spotted a little log shack with a dirt roof at the far end of the canyon at the base of a high cliff. The thought of being alone in that shack with Boggs was almost more frightening to her than death. She couldn't help but wonder what tortures, tor-tures, what abuses, a man like Boggs was capable ot. harlier, she had hoped that for the sake of his own safety Sam wouldn't discover her trail. Now, she hoped he had that somehow he would find a way to avoid the apparent ambush and save her from Boggs. Boggs tied both horses to a rail in front of the shack. After Boggs had cut her arm and bound her wrists too tightly, Kathryn was braced for rough treatment. To her surprise, he was suddenly very gentle as he helped her down from her horse and guided her towards the little plank door. The windowless cabin was dark inside, and before Kathryn's eyes could adjust to the darkness, Boggs gently pushed her to a sitting position posi-tion on a cluttered bunk against the north wall, leaving her hands tied behind her back. The bedding smelled of rancid fat and rat droppings. drop-pings. But the sick feeling welling up in Kathryn's chest was not a result of the smell. It was the fear, the awful anticipation of what might happen. Boggs bent over a little wood stove and shoved in some paper and sticks, wich he ignited with a wooden match. "Soon be so warm in here you'll want to take your clothes off," he grunted as she shoved some bigger pieces of wood onto the fire. Standing upright, Boggs turned to face Kathryn. He was grinning. The firelight leaking from the stove provided just enough light for her to see the outline of his broken brown teeth as he grinned. "Almost wish I hadn't left a trail for young Storm," said Boggs as he hobbled towards her, his wooden stump of a leg thumping on the packed dirt floor. He reached out and took hold of her arm as she instinctively withdrew. With his other grimy hand, Boggs jerked the gag down from her mouth. "How would you like to spend a winter here with ol' Dicky?" He laughed. Kathryn froze, her eyes wide with fright. "We'll talk about that later," said Boggs, "but first we got to take care of Storm unless there's something else you d rather do, something that might keep old Dicky's mind off Storm for a bit..." Kathryn spit in his face. It was an instinctive action, surprising her almost more than it did Boggs, who abruptly turned to one side. Without With-out bothering to wipe the spit away, he hobbled to the corner of the shack where he picked up a coil of rope, slipping it over one shoulder. shoul-der. He returned to Kathryn, roughly grabbing her arm and pulling pull-ing her to her feet. After jerking the gag back in place over her mouth, Boggs pushed her towards the door. Kathryn felt a wave of relief as she bent over to avoid bumping her head on the doorjamb as she stepped step-ped outside into the daylight. But the relief was short-lived as Boggs slipped his rifle from its scabbard, then escorted Kathryn around to the rear of the cabin, where they began climbing the trail to the mine shaft in the side of the cliff. |