The Angel Of Devil's Camp. Lynna Banning

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СКАЧАТЬ heart flip-flopped at the prospect before her. Perhaps the colonel would be busy giving orders to his crew and wouldn’t notice. Maybe the cook…

      She dared not think about it too much. To keep her mind occupied she set about unpacking the rest of her things. She laid the tin of candles on the cot, stacked her underclothes on the sink counter, then slid her father’s revolver underneath and covered the pile with a tea towel Charlotte had embroidered for her. A line of poetry was stitched around the perimeter. “Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt.”

      Tears stung her eyelids. She must write to Charlotte, must write to all her sisters, and assure them that she was safe and…and not the least bit frightened.

      On second thought, she wouldn’t lie. “Safe” would have to suffice!

      She ran her hand over the mound of clothing covering the revolver, smoothed down her skirt and headed for the door. At the last minute she whipped the tea towel off the pile of garments and stuffed it into her pocket. She would need it.

      Tom watched the black-clad form moving down the path from the cabin to the cookhouse and narrowed his eyes. She seemed to float slowly over the earth, and when he realized why, he grinned in spite of himself.

      With extreme care she pushed one foot ahead of her, waited a second, then shifted her weight onto it. Only then did she move her other foot forward. Testing for rocks, he guessed. Or snakes. She looked like a miniature black-sailed ship skimming the ground.

      You are one helluva fool, Tom Randall. He’d never get her out of his mind if he didn’t stop watching her.

      He wrenched his attention back to the open accounts book on his desk. Devil’s Camp wasn’t near breaking even, much less making a profit. Payroll was high. The men made good wages, and they deserved it; he’d hand-picked most of them when he mustered out of the army. Logging was dangerous, and he needed a seasoned crew. But lumber prices were dropping.

      He wondered sometimes why he’d taken on this operation. Maybe because the first thing he saw when he’d ridden away from Fort Riley was trees, tall Douglas firs so thick a man couldn’t reach around them. After years of killing Johnny Rebs and then Indians, felling timber seemed like a good, clean thing to do. Trees made lumber, and lumber built houses and barns and churches and stores. Civilization. He liked being part of things that would have a future, things that would live on after his own days on earth were over. He guessed he was like his father in that way.

      Maybe that was how Walt Peabody felt about that cabin he’d built for Miss Hampton. At the thought of her, he glanced up to see a black skirt vanish into the cookhouse.

      He massaged his tight neck muscles and got to his feet. Great balls of fire, a woman at supper. He’d best go over and keep order.

      Meggy craned her neck to peer through the screen door of the cookhouse. No sign of activity. No cook. No crew of hungry men. She lifted the watch pendant at her breast. Exactly five o’clock.

      But she heard the clatter of pots and lids, and wonderful, tantalizing smells wafted from inside. She’d just step in and—

      A slight figure in a black cotton tunic bustled out a doorway, swept onto the long, narrow porch outside and banged an iron spoon against a metal triangle. The sound jangled in her ears, and when it stopped another sound took its place. Marching feet.

      Her blood turned to ice water. Yankee soldiers.

      “You stand back, missy,” the bell ringer warned. His long pigtail swung behind him as he sped noiselessly across the rough floor. “Men come,” he called over his shoulder. “You come with Fong.”

      Meggy took a step in his direction, but in the next instant the screen door slapped open and a herd of jabbering men, all sizes and shapes, poured into the room, climbing over benches and even the long trestle table, to jostle a place for themselves.

      Quickly she followed Fong to the sanctuary of the kitchen, then peeked back around the corner and released a sigh of relief. Not one of them looked like a soldier.

      The hulking blond Swede she recognized from the burial this morning. And the Irishman. Two gangly youths with identical patches of freckles scuffled over the space next to the Swede until a man with long, straight black hair separated them with one arm and took the place for himself.

      More men tumbled in, pushing and shoving and shouting good-natured insults at each other that made her cheeks warm.

      “You help, missy. Bullcook quit yesterday.” The Oriental shoved a huge bowl of mashed potatoes into her hands, turned her about and gave her a little push. “Hurry. Colonel Tom not like to wait.”

      Meggy gulped. A blob of butter the size of her fist melted in the center of the steaming potatoes. She was so hungry! She inhaled the delicious aroma and felt another nudge at her back. “Go now. Eat later with Fong. Not good one missy with dozen misters.”

      Quiet fell like a sheet of chilling rain when Meggy stepped into the dining room. No one moved. No one spoke. Twelve faces stared at her in complete silence.

      She forced her feet to carry her forward to the table, where she set down the bowl of potatoes.

      The Irishman rose and swept off his cap. “Boys, I’m presentin’ to you Miss Mary Margaret Hampton. She’s Walt Peabody’s next of kin.”

      She tried to smile. “Gentlemen.”

      “That they aren’t, lass. Some of ’em haven’t seen the likes of a lady up close for six months, so I wouldn’t be fraternizin’ too much.”

      “Aw, come on, O’Malley, be reasonable,” a man shouted. A chorus of similar protests followed.

      “Gosh, she shore is a purty one. She kin set on my lap and fraternize all she wants!”

      “We want to hear her talk! Been a long time since we heard a woman’s voice.”

      “Let’s have us a chiv—”

      “Hold it!” a voice boomed from the doorway. Tall and lean, Tom Randall strode toward her, his eyes shooting sparks. Meggy’s heart began to skip beats.

      “Thought I told you not to bother my men,” he said just loud enough for her to hear.

      She swallowed. “I was not ‘bothering,’ Colonel. I was serving potatoes.”

      He turned away from her without a word. “Boys, we’ve got us a problem. Maybe one of you can solve it.”

      A murmur of interest hummed through the room. Meggy noticed how he used his body to shield her from view. Fong was right; one missy and a dozen misters not good! She edged backward toward the kitchen.

      “The problem,” Tom continued, “is this. We’ve got no meat.”

      Meggy stopped still and heard her stomach grumble. No meat? What smelled so good, then?

      “We haven’t had any meat for weeks, Colonel. How long is this gonna go on?”

      “That’s not exactly true, Price. We’ve eaten a rabbit or two, and a squirrel.”

      “And some scrawny little pigeons,” someone ventured.

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