Part XXI

It was on the fourth day after he'd left that Jimmy's nose picked up a scent that he started to follow. Wood smoke. He'd been starting to worry that winter would come before he found his way to where other people were. The days were still warm, but it seemed like every night was chillier than the one before.

Jimmy slowed as he got closer and could hear the sounds. This was more than one or two men camping. He couldn't remember hearing and scenting so many people at one time. Some of the talk stopped and men turned from what they were doing to look over the boy as he came into view, leading his mule.

What he had stumbled across was a prospectors camp - a rough group of around a dozen or so men who had gotten together to make a rough base camp. During the days when weather permitted, they went out looking for the elusive metals that might make their fortunes. Other times, they were here together, affording each other a bit more security than a man on his own could expect.

None of the men spoke to him, but Jimmy suddenly heard a voice that didn't belong to a man.

"Land sakes - must you all stare like a pack of half-wits?"

When he looked for the source of the voice, Jimmy saw what was easily the largest woman he'd ever seen in his life. In every sense of the word. She was just three inches shy of six feet, with braided blonde hair and a zaftig figure that would have brought a Valkyrie to mind if he'd known of such things. Her personality matched the rest of her - bigger than that of the other women he'd known in his short life.

One of the men called over to her.

"Well, tain't every day a youngun comes creepin' up outta nowhere, Katie. Man's got a right to stare."

The woman just made an impatient noise as she walked briskly over. Moving over to stand by Jimmy, she looked down on him with narrowed eyes for a minute or two, then her face suddenly lit up in a smile.

"You appear to be a young man with a lot of story behind him, but that can wait. You don't look like you've had a square meal in a good awhile. Tie your mule up to that rail over there and I'll get you a plate ready."

As soon as she'd said that, the men all went back to what they'd been doing, with the exception now that some of them gave a short greeting to Jimmy. If Katie accepted him, they accepted him. It was as simple as that.

Katie took a moment to repin one of her braids that had come a bit loose, then pointed Jimmy to small tub of water while keeping up a fairly steady stream of chatter.

"Take a second to rinse a little of the trail off of your hands and face. Food tastes better when you mix less dirt in. That's better - have a seat here on this box. We don't have much in the way of fancy furniture here - or fancy anything for that matter. Here you go - good bowl of stew and some bread will do you good. Now, I see a boy and I see a mule, but I don't see much for tools, so I reckon you aren't a propsector like these old goats. What brings you to these parts?"

He took a spoonful of the stew. After days of jerky, it was all he could not not to wolf it down. He'd never had anything quite like it and he found it delicious. But he swallowed and tried to think of how to answer her. After running it through his head, he decided to go with the story that Victor had used - with a small adjustment. It kept enough truth to make it easy to remember - and left out the truths too hard to explain.

"My brother an' I got seperated from our folks when the spring flood hit the river we were crossing. He and I managed to scramble up onto a ridge, but where we had been staying was under water in seconds. I didn't know water could make sounds like that - or plow over full-grown trees like they were nothing. So, it was just me and him then."

Pausing again, he took a sip from the tin cup of water that Katie offered him.

"We didn't know what else to do, so we started heading East as best as we could. We met an Indian woman traveling with a trapper that took a liking to us and she showed us some plants we could eat and traded for some jerky. Then one day while we were looking for food, I came face to face with a bear. My brother attacked the bear to get his attention off of me ... and ... well... the bear didn't leave much of him."

Sitting the bowl down. Thinking of losing Victor made him lose his appetite and even if that wasn't when Victor had died, he was dead. Taking another swallow of water, he made the rest of the story brief.

"I covered over his remains as best I could and just started walking again. Been just eating the jerky that was left and berries I found along the way. I don't know how long it's been now since then."

Katie just clucked sympathetically and urged him to pick his bowl back up.

"Well, you may want to go further east than this, but this is as far east as you'll make it before spring, boy. You'll stay here with us."

There was only a second of pause as she turned her head and glared at someone who had made what she considered to be a disparaging noise.

"Anyone can feel free to disagree with me, of course. I'm sure that anyone that does can manage to cook for themselves."

There was a throat or two cleared after that, but not a word of objection to the camp gaining a new resident.. Katie nodded to herself in satisfaction and turned back to him.

"Well now, that's settled. I can't go calling you boy all winter though. What should we be calling you?"

He was quiet for a minute more as he thought back on that rattlesnake and what Victor had said about the family blood. He was all that was left of that family now. He picked his bowl back up, then looked up at Katie.

"Logan. You can call me Logan."