“I knew that. I remember what you said about the cows stopping at the fences in a snowstorm.”
“I figured you did, especially after Jem used a nursery rhyme for supporting evidence. The jumpers that Max was talking about are the men that beat up Jem. Marshal Bridger put them on a train going east. We’re only supposing they might jump the train and circle back this way. That’s why Jessop and Jake rode out to Hickory.”
“What in the world has Jem done to these men that they might come after him?”
Morgan shook his head. “If they do come back—and, again, there’s no certainty that they will—it’s the cattle that they’re after, not Jem.”
“Rustlers.”
“We think so.”
Jane did not reply. She slowly turned her cup in its saucer.
Her prolonged silence finally prompted Morgan to speak. “What is it?”
She shrugged, sighed. “I appreciate that you want to offer me the explanation I’ve been asking for, but I had hoped for something that might at least rub shoulders with the truth. Frankly, Jem’s cow over the moon reasoning was easier to swallow.”
Now it was Morgan who fell silent.
Jane said, “I’m sorry. It is just hard to believe.”
“I don’t know why.”
“The risk, for one thing.”
“Thieves aren’t necessarily smart, just determined. What’s the other?”
“The coincidence. As far as I can tell, you have no reason to suppose the men that fought with Jem are cattle thieves unless you know of some connection between them and the rustling happening here at Morning Star. If there is a connection, you should tell me that, because it seems incredible that they would stop bedeviling you and your men and your cattle to go into Bitter Springs and pick a fight with Jem.”
Morgan sat back in his chair. “How long have you known there’s been rustling here?”
“About as long as you have been trying to keep it a secret.”
“Huh.”
“One of the things I have not understood, other than why you thought I should not know, is why you have been so insistent that I remain indoors. That insistence has taken away my opportunity to learn to ride, to shoot, even to gather eggs and work in the garden. When it comes time to hang the laundry, there’s always someone else around to do it. I went to the corral one day, just to watch you and Sophie, and you shooed me away like one of the hens. What danger do you suppose rustlers present to me that someone’s always close by? They are interested in cattle. Why would they come here?”
Morgan’s mouth twisted wryly. “This is just a guess, you understand, but I’m thinking what you know about rustlers you got from a book. Nat Church and the Hanging at Harrisonville comes to mind immediately, but I will allow that some badly researched story in one of those important New York newspapers could also account for it.”
Jane pressed her lips together.
“I thought so,” he said. “They’re cattle thieves, Jane. Horses are cattle, too. Taking stock from the barn and corral is easier than rounding up mustangs on the range. Not only easier, but the stock is better. Our saddle horses are good animals. Put aside all your thoughts about what you think they’ll take, and consider nothing else but the fact that they’re thieves. They have no honor, no scruples, and no respect for what rightfully belongs to someone else.”
Morgan leaned forward, set his arms on the table, and regarded Jane frankly. “For all kinds of reasons I’d rather not say out loud, I don’t want them anywhere near you. Maybe trying to keep what’s been going on from you was a mistake—you’ve proven to me that we’ve been pretty clumsy at it—but I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.”
Jane laid one hand over his. “I know that. I’ve always known that.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t do it again, Jane. That part about it maybe being a mistake, well, that’s when I look at it sitting where you are. From where I’m sitting it still doesn’t strike me that I did something wrong.”
“I suppose it’s a disagreement that we’ll have from time to time.” She squeezed his hand before she released it. “Now tell me why you think there is any possibility that Jem’s fight was with the same men you’ve been hunting.”
“Marshal Bridger said they came to town together by train with a story about looking for range work. They didn’t have gear, which bothered him some. He directed them to Whistler’s place, but they went to the Pennyroyal instead. That bothered him more. He didn’t know about the trouble we’ve been having until Jem told him about it after the fight. By then, he had already sent the men on their way. Too late to do anything except maybe speculate. What the marshal got from the witnesses, and what I got from Jem, is that Jem had a bull’s-eye on his back from the moment those men walked into the saloon. Miss Harrison might have encouraged it some because she can’t always help herself, but those men were spoiling for a fight, and not with anyone. They wanted it with Jem.”
Jane nodded slowly. “So the speculation is that they recognized him because they’ve seen him on Morning Star land. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“But it is speculation.”
