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Show LEE KKI-finwC ing her head, looking down at the lifeless body of Snake Woman. The old squaw was wrapped in a green blanket, only her face exposed, eyes closed. The wrinkled, leathery leath-ery skin had lost its color. The long black hair was wrapped neatly behind be-hind her head. "The police didn't even arrest the man. They said he fired the gun in self-defense," Molly continued. "The stranger was coming up the walk when Snake Woman seated in a lawn chair in the front yard grabbed a spade and tried to flatten his head. She was too frail, though. He sidestepped the spade, drew his pistol, and shot her in the chest. That was all." "Who was he?" asked Sam. Kathryn was at his side. "J.W. Wilson, according to the police. A freighter. Never heard of him before. An older man with a cane." "Why did she attack him?" asked Kathryn. "Nobody knows," said Molly. "The girl who saw it said the old woman just came out of her chair screaming, grabbed the spade and ran towards him. It didn't appear he did anything to provoke the attack." "Not here in Salt Lake," said Sam. "But maybe up in the Snake River country. Maybe in Curly Bear's village. I don't know, but I would sure like to talk to this J.W. Wilson." "First," said Molly, "let's see that this poor woman gets a proper burial. I was going to call for a carriage, car-riage, but we can use yours." It was almost dark, the sun already below the horizon, when Sam threw the last shovelful of dirt from the bottom of the new grave. "I'll fetch a lantern," said the man in black who had helped Sam with the digging. Sam crawled out of the hole and brushed off his clothing. clo-thing. Molly and Kathryn were standing beside the new pine box, the final resting place for Snake Woman. , "I'm not a bishop or an elder, but maybe I should say a few words before we lower her down," said Sam, looking towards the two women for their approval. Both nodded for him to proceed. Sam looked down at the pine box. The aroma of fresh pitch filled the air, there being no breeze to carry it away. "I don't know who you are except ex-cept that your name was Snake Woman," began Sam. "I don't know what other names you may have had as you lived among the Shoshones. I don't know who your man was, if he was kind or mean to you. I assume you had children you loved and who returned that love, but I don't know that either. "I don't know what burdens you have had to bear, only that the one of recent weeks was a heavy one, me having found you beside the mutilated bodies of your loved ones. "I don't know what secrets you are taking into the grave with you, but if you can hear me, if you have a spirit watching your body being lowered into the dirt, I want you to know that in me you have a friend, one who won't desert you even in death. To be continued next Tuesday CHAPTER 35 "You are still engaged to Brutus" Bru-tus" was Sam's first comment as the carriage glided along a tree-lined tree-lined street toward the first of two houses Sam was considering buying. "Is there something wrong with that?" responded Kathryn, look- side of town. "Where are we going?" asked Kathryn. "I want you to meet an older woman, a Shoshone squaw." CHAPTER 36 "I was gone when it happened," said Molly Skinner. She was shak- ing straight ahead past the trotting horse. "I can think of one good reason," said Sam, sensing he was heading in the wrong direction with this discussion, but unable to stop. "Her name is Phyllis, Brutus' first wife.' "You don't think I should become be-come the second wife of Brutus Young?" Kathryn said coolly, continuing to look ahead. "It doesn't bother you?" "Didn't you tell me one time that your father married your mother and another woman in the same ceremony?" Sam nodded, slapping the horse on the rump with the reins to make it trot faster. "Have your mother and that other woman been happy, married to your father?" "Of course," responded Sam, "but with you and Brutus, it's different." dif-ferent." "Is it?" Kathryn said. "I believe plural marriage is ordained of God. Don't you?" "1 don't know," responded Sam honestly. "Do you think your mother and father were living in sin?" "Of course not," said Sam. "Then you must believe in the principle." "Maybe so," said Sam thoughtfully. thought-fully. "But," he continued "I just can't see you becoming the second wife to Brutus Young." "Why not?" said Kathryn, turning turn-ing to look at Sam for the first time. Sam couldn't understand why she seemed so good-natured about the coming marriage. "Do you love him?" asked Sam. "Yes, I think I do," said Kathryn, looking ahead again. "I'm beginning to think that maybe you deserve each other," said Sam, suddenly irritated by Kathryn's behavior. "Would you mind explaining that?" said Kathryn, a note of anger an-ger in her voice too. "Besides, what makes you think you're a bet-ter bet-ter catch than Brutus?" she added. Sam paused a moment, gathering gather-ing his thoughts, wanting to be precise pre-cise and accurate with his words so there would be no misunderstanding. misunder-standing. "1 think you deserve something better than to be the second wife of Brutus Young. Maybe it isn't me, but I don't think Brutus is for you." "The authorities of the Church have approved the marriage. I don't remember my father being so happy about anything in years." "Do you feel trapped?" asked Sam without thinking, but finally catching Kathryn by surprise. Kathryn didn't respond, continuing con-tinuing to look forward over the back of the trotting horse. It wasn't until Sam noticed the slow crawl of a tear down her cheek that he knew he had finally cracked the shell. "You don't have to go through with it." "That's easy for you to say." "I suppose." There was silence for a few moments. "It would break my father's heart if I didn't go through with it." "And if you do go through with it, whose heart will be broken?" "Not yours, I'm sure," said Kathryn, getting angry again. "1 was talking about you, not me." "You dc n't knew me." "And you don't know me." "That's for sure." "Then why did you come out with me today?" asked Sam. "The excitement, I suppose." "Excitement? We're going to look at a house. That doesn't sound very exciting." "I mean being with you. A man who borrows money from prostitutes, prosti-tutes, sells firewater to Indians, scalps store clerks, and has enough money to buy a new house." Sam found himself blushing. He hadn't realized she knew so much about him. Salt Lake society had an effective grapevine. He was pleased with the conversation finally fin-ally going in a lighter direction, but Kathryn ended that with her next question. "Why did you scalp that clerk?" Sam pondered her question a moment, then asked "Do you really real-ly want to know?" Kathryn nodded. Sam looked at her. "I mean, would you really like to know?" Kathryn nodded again. Sam pulled the horse to a halt. "What are you doing?" asked Kathryn. "There's a woman I would like you to meet." "I thought we were going to look . at a house." "The house can wait." Sam turned the horse west onto a street that would lead them to the other |