Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [51]
When they weren’t engaged in piracy on the high seas of the Great wood, they wandered the rocky crags that surrounded the small lodge in the meadow, pretending to be lost somewhere in the ancient wilds of Africa—not recognizing themselves for the pioneers and explorers that they really were.
As the nights became colder Mr. Hawkins suggested that they sleep indoors around the crumbled fireplace, although he continued to sleep out of doors, the pistol and rifle always at his side.
Beatrice seemed happy, but also became more withdrawn. She slept inside with them, but as the cool weather approached, her coughing returned; and many nights Lionel would wake to find her sitting upright and staring into the fire, trying to catch her breath, or standing at the lodge’s thick-glassed windows, looking out into the night sky.
One morning they woke to find Mr. Hawkins and his bedroll covered in a light powder of snow, but the snow had all but melted by mid-morning, and the day turned out no different from the rest of these last days of summer. Beatrice agreed with Mr. Hawkins that they could all stay in the little meadow as long as they worked together and didn’t ask each other too many questions about why they each needed to stay there instead of moving to a more suitable climate.
On the morning of the second snow, they awoke to find Mr. Hawkins covered in another light dusting. He was sitting by the open-air fire, talking to their grandfather.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
NEWS FROM THE OUTPOST • LIONEL’S FEATHER • THE BEST OF TIMES • THE RETURN OF TOM GUNN
THEIR GRANDFATHER had been wandering the foothills and mountains for a week, trying to shake the scouts that the army post had sent to the Milk River to spy on him. He did this for two days and then circled back after what would appear to have been a satisfactory hunt but was actually a concerted attempt to keep the government men guessing as to what his recent forays into the mountains were really about. By his third attempt, he had successfully lost them within a day, but he’d continued to wander for the past week to ensure that they weren’t following him to the lodge in the meadow.
Lionel was so happy to see his grandfather that he felt as though he had actually flown from the crooked door to where Grandpa sat with Mr. Hawkins at the fire.
“I see yer still growin’,” Grandpa laughed, as Beatrice, Corn Poe, and Junebug joined them. “I might have mistaken you for a wild band of lowdown dirty renegades if I didn’t know better.
“And you,” Grandpa said, placing his big hand on Corn Poe’s head, “I should’a known I’d find you here.”
Corn Poe squirmed joyously from the attention.
“Why didn’t y’all tell me you was his kin?” Mr. Hawkins asked, handing their grandfather a tin cup of coffee.
“Hell, I’ve known ol’ Avery John Hawkins since before all of you were even born,” Grandpa said, accepting the coffee.
Grandpa explained that he and Mr. Hawkins knew each other a long time ago when Mr. Hawkins first came to Montana with the government. Then he told Mr. Hawkins about the troubles that waited for them below, and that Mr. Hawkins was sworn to secrecy, to which Hawkins nodded.
Grandpa informed them all that the government was still frantically searching for the prize horse Ulysses, despite the approaching winter. Grandpa suspected that the search was being spearheaded and driven by Jenkins and Lumpkin.
Rumors were circulating through the outpost that a group of boys from Heart Butte had supposedly seen the horse, but that last they heard, Beatrice and Lionel were heading to Canada. This led to an exhaustive search that yielded little result, leaving