White Water Passion. Dawn Luedecke
layers of dirt.
“If you haven’t already seen him,” Wall continued, “Garrett will be along in a while. He’s our leader.” The grumble of hungry men sounded behind Wall’s words as he took his place in line.
“I’ve met him.” Beth handed out the bowls as the men filed on by.
“And he agreed to let you ride?” one of the timber beasts asked.
Wall nodded sideways toward the man. “That’s Luther. He was in line for the job you got.”
“This here is Simon’s cousin,” Aunt June let out, shooing a lingering logger down the food line.
“S’that so?” The corner of Luther’s lip lifted in disgust as he grabbed up his bowl and sat at the table. “So we have to bow to you too?”
Beth shook her head. “I don’t—”
“Oh, bosh, Luther,” Aunt June scolded.
“Don’t get yer back up, Luther.” Wall took his food and headed toward the table. “You know damned well the Devil May Care job wasn’t yours, and Simon will be a good boss. Way better than ol’ John was. We’re lucky he shucked outta here this year. Simon will take care of you beasts better than that mudsill that done left.”
Luther dipped low over his bowl and shoveled a sloppy spoon full of stew into his mouth. Brown liquid dripped down his chin, but he didn’t bother to wipe it clean as he scowled at the tabletop. Beth felt bad for him. She didn’t mean to disrupt anyone’s lives but Simon’s and Garrett’s, but there was no way to change the course she’d started.
* * * *
“Where is he?” Simon asked as Garrett shifted his weight onto his right foot. “If it’s important enough we needed to leave Beth alone with Aunt June, the damned fool could at least be on time.”
“He’ll be here.” Garrett checked the dense trail, barely visible under the straggling vegetation. The note he’d received made him nervous. Something was in the air, but God only knew what. “It’s not like anyone knows who Beth is, let alone the fact that she’s down there.”
“Why’d you leave her alone with Aunt June anyway? Do you want to get her discovered?” Simon shuffled his feet.
Perhaps he did. Truth be told, he didn’t know why he’d handed her over to his aunt, or how he felt about her being there in the first place. Maybe it was in secret hopes that she’d get caught and sent back home, but it may be that he needed to get his head straight so he could mull over the situation, and the tone of the letter gave him pause.
The selfish part of him wanted to spend what little time he had with her, but the rational side needed her to be tucked back home in Missoula where he could fight to forget the way her blue eyes sparkled like the top of Seeley Lake on a sunny day whenever she smiled.
Garrett stiffened at the crunch of footsteps.
“I didn’t know if you’d gotten my note.” A pinch-faced logger he recognized from the Bonner camp approached. “I didn’t want anyone else to know we were meeting. Best keep this between us.” The man extended his hand. “Name’s Jessip.”
“What’s so important we couldn’t speak in camp?” Garrett shook the logger’s hand.
“There’s something brewin’ from some of the other logging companies. I’ve been offered a job of sorts. One that pays mighty well, if you get my drift.”
“What sort of job?” Garrett eyed Jessip with care. He didn’t miss the hint in the man’s voice, but he wasn’t about to pay for worthless information.
Jessip stood quiet.
“Out with it,” Simon snapped.
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Simon took a threatening step forward. “We don’t—”
“How much?” Garrett asked.
“They offered me a thousand dollars, but I’ll take five hundred, and you get me a contract for a steady job.”
Garrett extended his hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal. I’ll contact the mill, put in a good word, and request a contract. It should come through, as long as the information is important and legitimate. The money I can’t give you until the end of the season.”
The man spit in his palm and shook Garrett’s offered hand. “I’ll look for you at the Missoula train depot after the pay is handed out.”
“What do we need to know?” Simon asked.
“I’ve been tasked to make things happen around camp, you know, to stop the logs from getting to the mill.”
“Why?” Simon looked ready to spit nails.
“They didn’t say.” Jessip smoothed his left eyebrow with his forefinger. “They said they’d give me a thousand to stop the logs from going downstream.”
“Find out,” Garrett commanded. “You’ll get your five hundred and a contract, provided nothing happens to the logs.”
With a smile that lifted only the right side of his face, Jessip agreed. “I’ll send you a notice when I know more. We can meet here again.”
Garrett raised his head in silent accord and watched as the man tipped his hat and bid his adieus. Both Garrett and Simon stood silent until Jessip was no longer within earshot.
Garrett started down the trail.
“What do you want to do, Gar?” Simon sped up to keep pace.
“Keep an eye on the camp. If anything at all happens, we meet up with Jessip. I don’t know if we can trust him. A thousand is a lot of money to turn down.”
“Why would someone want the drive to fail?” Simon veered off the trail near the cabins and picked his way through the forest vegetation, headed toward the cook fire.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
“Hopefully the man has enough honor to keep his side of the bargain. If someone is trying to sabotage the drive, we could use an inside man,” Simon said before entering the firelight of camp.
Garrett answered with a nod and followed. With any luck, they had stopped an attack. He cursed his bad luck. First Beth, and then a saboteur. The other logging companies had to choose this of all years to plan an attack. He’d wanted to go out silently, and without notice or fuss. He had a gut feeling that bad things lay ahead.
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