The Enchanted Land Read online

  As he pulled Seth to one side to cut away the rest of his shirt, Seth’s face blanched, and Jake saw the pain in his glazed eyes. Carefully, Jake felt along Seth’s side and knew the ribs were broken. He removed his own shirt and tied it around Seth’s ribs, binding them.

  Jake covered Seth’s body from the drafts, and the big man slept. Jake didn’t even have a shirt to cover his bony body from the sand burrs and needles of the ground, but he lay close to Seth’s travois, and slept.

  It was late afternoon when he awoke. Seth’s breath was shallow and fast, and when Jake felt his forehead, it was cool and his fingers were cold. He was beginning to try to move, to kick the blankets off, but at the same time clutching them closer.

  “Easy, boy. Quiet now.”

  “Morgan…”

  “We’re going to her. We’ll find her. Just be quiet and she’ll be with you soon.”

  They traveled many hours, and Jake became increasingly worried about Seth. Walking beside the tired horse, he began to piece together what he knew of the few days before Seth was hurt. And by the time he came to the Colter ranch, he knew that Joaquín Montoya was responsible for this.

  Lupita hadn’t slept much since Morgan had ridden to Santa Fe with Lena. Somehow she had known that things were going to turn out badly. When neither Seth nor Morgan returned the day after the party, she was sure that something was wrong. Paul had laughed at her, but Jake worried as much about Seth as she did. They had waited all that day and night, and early the second morning he had set out to find Seth.

  “You’ll be embarrassed when you find them nestled in some cabin somewhere. The way they act around here, they may not be back for weeks,” Paul had teased Jake.

  Jake’s mouth had been set, clamped over near-toothless gums. “I’d rather be caught with my hand in the pot than be here when the boy needs me someplace else.”

  Paul doubled up with laughter. “Boy! Seth’s gonna love this! You’re half that boy’s size, and I don’t think he’s gonna need any help with that little wife of his.”

  Jake had ignored him and finished saddling his horse.

  Lupita had been nervous and on the alert ever since then, so when the first sounds came to her, she was ready in seconds. When she first saw the tired figure of Jake outlined in the moonlight, she started toward him. The sight of the travois stopped her. She turned and ran toward Paul’s cabin.

  Within minutes the young foreman was dressed and running ahead of Lupita toward Jake.

  Jake motioned toward Seth, and Paul went to him. Now that Jake had brought his beloved boy home, his own strength was going.

  Silently, the three of them carried Seth into the house and put him into the big double bed that he and Morgan had so recently shared. Lupita deftly began to cut away Jake’s makeshift bandages, removed the rest of Seth’s clothes, and began washing him. His body was hot now, and he moaned when the cool cloth touched his fevered skin. Lupita gradually became aware of loud voices in the next room.

  “You can’t go anywhere, old man. You wouldn’t even make it to the corral.”

  “Just who the hell do you think you’re callin’ an old man? It was me that brought him back.” Jake raised his fists toward Paul.

  “What’s going on here? Isn’t there enough to worry us without you two fighting? And why are you still here? One of you should go…”

  Jake lowered his fists and checked his gun. “That’s just where I’m going—to kill that Montoya.”

  “Jake, you’ve got to let the sheriff handle this. You can’t just ride into the Montoya ranch and kill Joaquín.”

  “Sheriff! Kill!” Lupita fairly screamed. “There’s one man in there nearly dead, and you two talk of more killing! Before anyone kills anyone, I want a doctor here!”

  Both Paul and Jake stared blankly at Lupita.

  “Jake, I’ll need your help here.” She knew how tired the little man must be. “Paul, go into town and get the doctor, and then get the sheriff—but a doctor is what we need most.” She turned toward the bedroom, took a few steps, and then turned back to the two men. “Does a man have to die to get you two to move?”

  Quickly, Jake followed Lupita and Paul left the house.

  In the hours that followed, Seth began to talk, mostly saying Morgan’s name over and over. As Lupita continued to wash Seth, she noticed his left hand always clenched into a fist.

  “Jake, what does he have in his hand?” It took the two of them to pry open his fist. Jake read the note from Morgan first to himself and then to Lupita.

  Jake sat down in a chair heavily. “How could she have done this? How could she leave Seth for a man like Montoya?” He looked at Seth, the tears forming in his eyes again. “She did that to him, as much as if she’d pulled the trigger herself.”

  “No,” Lupita’s voice was a whisper, “I do not believe it. No.” She looked up at Jake. “It is a trick of some sort. She loved him. She could not pretend so well.”

  “We have proof that she aimed to run off, and the proof involves Montoya, too.”

  Lupita’s eyes held Jake’s. “You may believe your little piece of paper, but I will believe what I know to be true. Señora Colter was very much in love with Seth, and she would not leave him of her own free will.”

  Jake turned his back on her. “We’ll see what the sheriff says,” he mumbled.

  It was nearly daylight when Paul returned with the sheriff. Jake had finally dozed off in the big chair beside Seth, but he was quickly through the doorway, showing the sheriff the note.

  “Hold on, Jake. I know how you feel, but I can’t just shoot the man. We went to the Montoya ranch first and Señor Montoya had witnesses who said he was there all night. This note mentions Joaquín, but we can’t even be sure when it was written.”

  “I don’t care how many witnesses the little bastard has! He nearly killed my boy!”

  “All right. We’ll go again. We’ll face him with the note. The doctor should be here any minute. He was out in Pecos, so it’ll take him a while. Paul, you ready?”

  Helplessly, Jake watched them go. An hour later the doctor came.

  He complimented Jake for the care he had given Seth on the rough trail, and after he had examined him, said there was nothing else to do but wait and see if the fever broke. He wrapped the broken ribs tightly, to keep him from breathing too deeply and putting one through his lungs.

  Seth’s fever raged for days. Lupita and Jake took turns sponging his perspiring body and forcing broth down his throat. He talked a lot about Morgan, and how he loved her, how he wanted her. He kept calling for her, asking where she was, sensing even in his delirium that she wasn’t there. With every mention of her name, Jake’s hatred for Morgan grew.

  After nearly a week, Paul and the sheriff returned to the Colter ranch. They had been searching for Joaquín and Lena Montoya all that time. They had returned to the Montoya ranch the morning after Jake had brought Seth back and found the servants closing down the house. Joaquín and Lena had left immediately after the sheriff’s first visit.

  “They didn’t plan on Seth still being alive,” Jake yelled in frustration.

  “Someone should try to find the Señora Colter.” The three men turned to stare at Lupita.

  “But she’s the one who caused all this. She and Montoya had their escape planned. It probably wasn’t Montoya’s sister who left with him at all.”

  “Jake’s right.” Paul’s voice was calm and tired. “I think we should leave this up to Seth. When he’s well, he’ll decide whether he believes his wife’s note or not.” Paul’s expression left in doubt none of his feelings toward Morgan.

  With a sigh of resignation, Lupita went back to Seth.

  It was two more weeks before the fever broke.

  “Lupita?”

  Lupita turned from gazing out of the window. She whirled toward him. “Señor Colter. You are well.” Her voice held both joy and relief.

  Seth grinned weakly at her. “I don’t think I’m well of anything yet. Ever