Louis L'Amour by The Warrior's Path Page A

or other.
    â€œAnother case of a maid where many would be inclined to say, ‘Good riddance.’ I would say there has been some knowing selection going on here. The mistake was when they took Carrie.”
    Maverick’s place was a considerable fortress, with a goodly house and several guns mounted on the palisade. He had the sort of men about to defend such a place, a rough and ready lot, for he dealt in furs, and many of these were men who spent much time trapping. With so many of them and his strong place he had nothing to fear from Indians. I knew he was a respected man but one who went against the grain of the congregations because of his easy ways and tolerant views.
    It was said he had been close to being expelled on several occasions, but his own forthrightness as well as the fact that his father had been a minister of some influence prevented that.
    He welcomed us and put out mugs of cold cider on the table.
    â€œThey are here,” he assured me, “and well. Your brother did us well by bringing a haunch of venison with him, and the maids are resting. They arrived last night, and my wife has seen to them.”
    â€œWe have talked much,” Blaxton said, “and I think you should hear what he has to say.”
    I spoke briefly, having consolidated my argument by talking with the Reverend Blaxton, and Maverick listened while drinking his cider.
    â€œBlaxton is right, of course. It will do no good to speak against them, and it will do you much harm. With all politeness, I must remind you that you are no-bodyhere. Or less than nobody, coming from the wild lands to the south. Joseph Pittingel is a respected man, and feared as well. I have had few dealings with him except to use one of his ships to freight some mast timbers to England.”
    It was bothersome that those who had done this thing should go free of blame and lay ready to perform the same deed again, yet what could be done, I knew not.
    â€œThis lass,” I said on a sudden thought, “the lass you spoke of who was taken before this? There has been no word of her?”
    â€œNone. She had a way of walking near the shore, and some said it was to give a bold eye to the sailor men, but I know naught of that. One day we saw her no more and her mother came wailing and worrying about her, and we conducted a search, but all felt she had but run off and not been taken at all.”
    â€œSuch a maid—” I started to say when Maverick interrupted.
    â€œAye, I ken her well! A bold lass for her years, and she not yet sixteen! It would take more than a kidnapping to curb that one! I have seen her kind before this, and such women endure. They have a quality that takes them through when others might fall by the way. Bold she may have been, but there was good steel in her, too!”
    â€œSo she may be alive,” I said.
    â€œHer?” Maverick snorted. “It would take a deal to dampen her down. I confess, I liked the lass. Trouble she was, trouble for her mother from the first, and a worry to the congregation, for she flaunted herself about, ready to make eyes at any man who looked well to her, although, mind you, I think at that time ’twas all in play, not that she was not ready for something more. Had her good mother been wise, she’d have married her off—”
    â€œIt was planned,” the reverend said, “but the lass would have none of it. She wanted none of the locallads but something more. I do not know what exactly, but adventure, I think.”
    â€œI think—” I spoke aloud, but it was to myself I spoke—“I think I shall go to the West India isles! I think I shall try to find this lass.”
    They stared at me. “To find one maid in all the Indies? You are daft. Daft, I say! And if you found her, what then? Do you think you would be permitted to speak to her? And if so, what?”
    â€œAn affidavit,” I said. “A sworn statement. Or even the lass