Ambush of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone Page A

around.
    â€œUh-uh, Carl. I think I’ll get a room at a boardinghouse Mrs. Jensen recommended to me.”
    â€œWhat?” he asked, his eyes wide and his face paling at her words. “What do you mean Mrs. Jensen . . . ?”
    Sarah smiled, calmer now that her thoughts of an immediate kill were over, and she began to walk up the street. “I’ll explain it all to you later, over dinner.” She looked at him. “This place does have an acceptable eating establishment, I take it?”
    He nodded, his expression worried. He still couldn’t believe she’d been talking to Smoke Jensen’s wife on the train. He hoped she hadn’t given anything away. He knew that if the people of this town thought that anyone was going to try and harm their favorite son, Smoke Jensen, they’d most likely string them up from the nearest maple tree.
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    Cal and Pearlie were lying around the bunkhouse, mending socks and sewing buttons on shirts and doing all the things that needed doing after a few months away from home, when they heard the buckboard pull up in front of the ranch house.
    Cal jumped to his feet and looked out the window. “Hey, Pearlie,” he called, turning with a big grin on his face as he headed for the door. “It’s Smoke and Sally.”
    â€œHold on, pard, just where do you think you’re goin’?” Pearlie drawled from his place at the table next to the potbellied stove.
    Cal stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “Didn’t you hear me, Pearlie? Miss Sally’s back from her trip,” he said. “I’m gonna go out there an’ tell her hello.”
    Pearlie grinned and shook his head. “No, you’re not, young’un,” he said firmly.
    Cal put his hands on his hips. “And just why not?” he asked angrily. “It’s been almost a year since I seen her and I want’a tell her how much I missed her.”
    â€œSon, I know you ain’t had a whole passel of experience with womenfolk like I have, so I guess I’ll just have to excuse your ignorance on the subject and maybe try an’ explain a few things to you.”
    Cal raised his eyebrows and moved toward Pearlie. “And just what does my experiences with females have to do with anything, ‘ceptin’ your dirty mind?”
    Pearlie sighed and took a drink from his coffee mug that was sitting on a small pine table next to his bunk, along with some spare change, a pocketknife, and his tobacco pouch and papers.
    â€œThink about it, Cal. Smoke and Sally have been away from each other for the better part of a year now, and they’re fixin’ to be alone together for the first time in a lot of months.” He raised his eyebrows as if that explained everything to the young man.
    â€œSo?” Cal asked, clearly not getting Pearlie’s drift. “That’s what I been sayin’. Miss Sally’s been gone a long time an’—”
    â€œDo I have to spell it out for you, Cal?” Pearlie said with a heavy sigh, speaking as if he were talking to someone not quite right in the head. “Who do you think Sally wants to spend time with right now, you or Smoke?”
    Suddenly, it dawned on Cal what Pearlie was trying to hint at.
    â€œBut you don’t think they’re gonna . . . ?” he said, his eyes wide and his face flushing bright red.
    Pearlie laughed. “Well, if’n I was Smoke an’ I hadn’t been with my wife in over six, seven months, I sure as hell would first chance I got.”
    â€œBut . . . but it’s daylight outside!” Cal argued, aghast at the very idea.
    Pearlie sighed again and looked down into his coffee cup, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. “Boy, do you have a lot to learn, Cal, more than you can ever imagine.”
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    A couple of hours later, after Sally had heated enough water to fill the oversized tub they kept in their