Shootout of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone

all the way over to the bunkhouse. Pearlie noticed it first and he began sniffing the air.
    “What are you doing?” Cal asked.
    Without answering, Pearlie pulled on his boots, then started for the door. Before he reached the door, Cal got a whiff as well and, even though he only had on one boot, he ran after Pearlie, hopping and skipping across the yard with one boot on his left foot and the other in his hand.
    “No, you don’t!” he called out after Pearlie. “You ain’t goin’ to get ahead of me!”
    The two young men burst into the kitchen just as Sally was taking the pastries from the oven.
    “My, oh, my, do them smell good!” Pearlie said.
    “It’s do ‘those’ smell good,” Cal corrected.
    Sally smiled. “Very good, Cal. I’m impressed.”
    “Seems to me like somebody that can’t speak English good probably ought not to get any bear claws,” Cal said, putting on his other boot.
    “Oh, I’m afraid that would leave you out as well,” Sally said.
    “Why?”
    “It’s can’t speak English well,” Smoke put in, coming into the kitchen then.
    “Oh, well, I was just teasin',” Cal said. “Sure I want Pearlie to have some.”
    “That’s very generous of you, sharing my bear claws like that,” Smoke teased.
    “Your bear claws? That’s funny, I thought I was the one that made them,” Sally said.
    “Well, you didn’t make ‘em all for yourself, did you, Miss Sally?” Cal asked.
    Sally put the pan on the table. “No, I didn’t make them all for myself. You can have one as soon as they are cool enough for you to—oh, never mind,” she added with a little laugh when she saw Cal and Pearlie each grab one, then toss it from hand to hand until they could raise it to their mouth.
    “Must be a special occasion for you to make bear claws this morning,” Smoke said. “Anything I might know about?”
    Sally smiled. “Maybe,” she said.
    Smoke knew she was referring to their intimacy during the night, and he smiled back, then reached for a bear claw. “Always glad I could please,” he said.
    “What? Why, you!” Sally sputtered.
    “What are you all talking about?” Cal asked.
    “Cal, are you going to put that boot on, or just stand here in my kitchen with it dangling from your hand?” Sally asked.
    “Oh. I’m going to put it on,” he said. And with the bear claw hanging from his mouth, he sat on the floor and pulled the other boot on.
    “What are you two boys going to do today?” Smoke asked.
    “Ride fence up in the north quarter,” Pearlie answered.
    “You’ll be out all day. Better have the cook put you up a lunch.”
    “Yes, sir, I thought we would.”
    “And maybe?” Cal asked, mumbling the word around the pastry.
    “You can each take a couple more with you,” Sally said.
    “Thank you!”
    The two young cowboys grabbed the bear claw–shaped doughnuts, then hurried out of the kitchen to begin their daily chores.
    “I wish someone would invent a machine to let you look inside a person,” Smoke said as Pearlie and Cal hurried across the yard to the barn. “I swear, the only innards either of them have is stomach.”
    Sally laughed. “You aren’t far behind,” she said.
    “It’s your fault,” Smoke said as he reached for a second. “You are just too good a cook.”
    “Smoke, may I ask you a question?”
    “Sure.”
    “What was your dream last night?”
    Smoke hesitated for a moment. “I dreamed about Nicole,” he said.
    “I hope it was a pleasant dream.”
    Smoke walked over to Sally, put his arms around her, and pulled her to him. He brushed her hair away from her forehead and kissed her there.
    “It was,” he said. “But you have no reason to be jealous.”
    “I’m not in the least jealous,” she said, turning her head up so his kiss came to her lips.
2
Return of the Mountain Man

Chapter Five

    Back in the jail cell in Cloverdale, Nevada, Bobby Lee Cabot was lying on his bunk, his hands laced behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Outside