Sometimes Things Are Different
Chapter 6
When Jess rode out of Rawlins, he thought going through Elk Mountain would be the shortest route back to Laramie, but he also decided to head toward Fort Steele on his way to Elk Mountain. He was still quite uneasy about what he had seen and heard in Rawlins. Surely all that loco mess couldn't be true, but he had to find out one way or the other. And, since he had been a dispatch rider for the army, he knew that the one person in the world that would tell him the correct date and the correct name of the United States President would be the commander at Fort Fred Steele. Jess reached the turn off for Fort Steele as the sun was straight up above him. "Good," he thought, "Even if it takes half an hour to git ta tha fort, I kin probably still git ta Elk Mountain before I have to stop for tha night."
But when he had made the short ride to Fort Steele, Jess received another shock. As he rode through the open gate, it was obvious that the fort had been abandoned for months, or even a few years. He stopped Traveler in the middle of the grassless yard in the center of the Fort and looked around on all sides. Some of the buildings appeared to have been partially burned. On others the wood showed clear evidence of weathering, which was clearly the result of a period of neglect. If the entire fort had been burned, he would have suspected an Indian attack; however, the weathered boards on the buildings that were still standing and completely intact indicated that the military had just abandoned the fort. "Why isn't the army still here?" Jess thought as he turned Traveler toward what appeared to have been the commander's office. Slowly getting off the horse and tying him to the rail, Jess cautiously walked toward the building's door. He saw no sign of arrow holes or bullet holes anywhere on the door or the windows of the building. Pulling his pistol out of his holster with his right hand, he reached for the door handle with his left hand; however, he quickly saw that there was no need to grab the handle on the door since it was already cracked open. Swiftly kicking the door fully open with his foot, he scanned the entire front room. There was nothing but bare walls inside. "No furniture, no nothin'," He thought. Shaking his head, he returned to his horse and remounted. Now he was more confused than ever. Wasn't it just last week that Mose had said that he had driven the commander's daughter back to the fort from her trip back East? "Yes," he thought, "that was exactly what Mose had said jes last week." Now he knew that Mose sometimes embellished his descriptions of passengers, but he had never known Mose to make up lies. No, Mose had definitely mentioned the fort commander's daughter returning to Fort Steele just last week.
He rode back out the open gate and headed toward Elk Mountain. "Well, that was shor a waste of time," he thought, "better make up the time and ride as far as I can fore we camp."
Jess slept fitfully again that night. He finally just gave up on sleep and sat up before the sun was even up. He sat there on his blanket thinking for several minutes. He didn't understand what had happened in Rawlins, and he certainly didn't understand how the fort could have been manned and operating just a week ago and, yet, now it looked like nobody had been there in some time. "I must be going loco," he said out loud. Just then he noticed that Traveler was watching him. Getting up he went over to his horse. Stroking the horse's head, he said, "Trav, am I out of my mind?" Then laughing, he said, "I shor do wonder what ya think about all o' this." As he saddled Traveler, he suddenly felt the need to feel the money belt. For a moment he wondered if he had even seen Ellen Miller and gotten the money. As his hand felt the money belt under his shirt, he at least was reassured that he had the money that Slim needed so badly. He broke camp quickly and got back on the trail home, knowing that if he made good time, he would get to Laramie by sundown.