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Could he do it? Perhaps his own faith in God would see him through this. He faced many perils at the moment. There was Sergeant Masters, who continued to beat the Indian prisoners, and the fact that he was army and had to remain under orders. Somehow he must find time to scout out this girl for Burning Tree and his people.
***
North Western Texas
20 miles east of
Horsehoe Bend
Butterfield Stage Lines Station
Hawks stared down on them like a buzzard waiting for his prey. He'd waited nearly six years and that was long enough. It was time. He firmed his lips and shook his head as he reined his horse in. He'd been cheated six years. No more. It was time to take what belonged to him. No one was going to stand in his way now.
"You bastard child, you're gonna give ole Hawks what is his!" Hawks raised his rifle into the air like a silent pledge. "Yes ma'am, you are, I'm tired of waitin'."
***
"Way over yonder by the Old Oak Tree
There is something shining you just can't see
Just you remember you're as rich as can be
As long as you're over by the old oak tree!"
"What are you singing?" Josh Hightower frowned as he shoveled the last of the dirt over the graves, licking his chafed lips.
"I don't know, a song, Pa used to sing it all the time. Seemed kinda right to sing now. I'm surprised I can remember it, usually I forget the second and third stanzas." Katherine shaded her eyes from the sun as she grabbed the canteen of water and took a swig. She handed her brother the canteen and took the shovel from his callused hands. Her hand covered his for a moment. Just for a moment, she looked at how tan she had become against her brothers fair skin. She'd always marveled at the difference in her other siblings too. Her dark hair to their light, her darker skin to their light. But she never spoke of it. And the fact that her eyes were brown and not blue bothered her too. But surely, someone looked like her in the family past. Her mother often recalled an old aunt two generations back that was dark skinned and haired, just like her. In fact, she named her after her.
"Don't make any sense." Josh emptied the canteen pouring the remainder over his head to cool himself, his eyes narrowing on the distant plains.
"I don't guess it had to make any sense to Pa. But it sure made him happy to sing it. I remember he'd grin like a hound dog treein' a coon, when he sang it." Katherine's muddled thoughts fought for sanity, she almost smiled, almost.
"Reckon this is good enough?" Josh motioned at the graves in front of them. He glanced up at the oak tree and shook his head slowly. "Who'd have thought an oak tree would survive out here."
"It'll have to be good enough, I'm too tired to do more." She looked at the tree and marveled too. "It's a beauty, but you're right, it looks plumb out of place out here. According to Pa Mr. Berry from Mississippi planted this tree way before the war with the Mexicans."
She started to carry the shovels back towards the station, her body sagging with a weariness she couldn't explain. "That ground is hard as sin."
"That dang tree is not from Mississippi," Josh sounded frustrated at her as he caught up to her.
"What do you mean, that's what Pa said…"
"Pa was joshin' us. Can't you tell when he was joshin' us? Pa could tell some tales. That tree's been here longer than anyone or anything, why look at how big it is and how beautiful. Nope, no one from Mississippi brought that tree here. I reckon God Almighty planted it Himself."
Katherine glanced at it once more, "Maybe you're right, it's just too beautiful for words. It's the only thing that makes this place look like anything. Maybe God Himself felt sorry for the land here and planted it."
"Maybe…" Josh murmured.
"You believe in dreams, Josh?" Katherine asked out of the blue as she faced him suddenly for an answer.
"Dreams? Ain't thought about that one, Katherine. Why?"
"Oh nothing…it's just…I had one…it was so real…so," she threw her hand up to wave it a fast goodbye as Josh eyed her. "It was nothing…"
Josh almost smiled, almost, though not quite.
Had their faces become masks, because a smile might crack them? Her mind seemed to wander a lot. Like that silly dream. Meeting a man she'd never seen before, telling him he would know her. How silly was that?
