Travers' words, but Sophie restrained herself from an
impatient response. "I'd like to understand," she said.
"Baby hates James.
Because he's one of the big cattlemen, don't you see?" The
register of Miss Travers' voice shot even further upward, and Sophie
wondered at her sudden emotion. It was such a change from the way she
usually spoke, and seemed artificial somehow, as though she were
trying to convince herself as well as Sophie. "With all the
ranches James has bought up," Miss Travers went on, "the
Cloud Peak Company's the biggest owner in the state. Baby's implying
she knows ill of them because he's one of them, the biggest one, and
they make her life miserable. She hates them all."
"Why do they harass
her? I don't see what difference Baby and Zack can make, a couple of
homestead claims on all this land." Even as she spoke, Sophie
realized her question was off-target. It followed the logic of the
conversation, but missed the feeling she had heard in Amy Travers'
voice. But what was the locus of that emotion? Sophie couldn't
pinpoint it.
"There are more and
more homesteaders every day," Miss Travers was saying, her voice
dropping. "And each of them cuts into the open range the big
owners need for their cattle. And Baby and Zack are fairly close to
Cheyenne too, close to where the big owners headquarter. That makes
them more of an irritant than if they'd homesteaded somewhere else.
It also makes them easy targets. A man can ride out there after
supper, shoot out a few windows, and be back in time to drink with
his friends."
"You don't think Zack
Wilson's a cattle thief?"
Miss Travers shrugged. "No
more, I'd say, than the big cattlemen, though they figure out ways to
make their thievery legal. They get together at the Cheyenne Club and
devise their schemes, and the next thing you know, there's a law on
the books that lets them steal unmarked cattle from the
homesteaders."
They were back at the
Stevenson house, and as Miss Travers brought the buckboard to a halt,
Sophie tried to bring the conversation back to what Baby had said.
"It just didn't strike me that hatred for James was the main
force behind Baby's words," she said. "She seemed to want
me to know that Helen was her friend." She saw Miss Travers
stiffen with annoyance. "Miss Travers, I'm simply trying to know
my sister."
"I wouldn't spend time
worrying about Baby, then. You should come to a temperance
meeting--there's one tomorrow afternoon. Why don't you come? It's at
three o'clock in the Presbyterian Church. Come, and you can see the
women who were really Helen's friends." She was thoughtful a
moment. "Or have you considered looking for your mother? Maybe
you should take up a task which was important to Helen. That might
help you to know her. I've even thought I might try to find Julia
myself, for Helen, you know."
"Leave it alone, Miss
Travers."
The schoolteacher's eyes
widened in surprise, and Sophie felt uncertain how to go on. She
wasn't prepared to discuss her innermost thoughts with Amy Travers,
but having taken things this far with her unthinking response, she
felt she had to continue. "It's always seemed to me that my
mother must not want to be found. She made a choice to leave us, to
be apart from us, and she's kept to that choice all these years,
never relenting once. If I were to find her, I'd be in the position
of a petitioner, begging her to do something she obviously doesn't
want to do. It's not a role I'd feel comfortable in."
Miss Travers didn't answer,
and while Sophie could not be certain of the feeling in the
schoolteacher's deep-set eyes, she thought she saw a gleam of
understanding. Sophie looked down at Amy Travers' hands, those soft
hands which had written the loving inscription to her sister, and she
remembered how Miss Travers had killed the snake and comforted her
with those hands. She was suddenly aware that Amy Travers might reach
out to her again, and she didn't want that. Quickly she got down from
the buckboard.
"Wait, I'm
impatient response. "I'd like to understand," she said.
"Baby hates James.
Because he's one of the big cattlemen, don't you see?" The
register of Miss Travers' voice shot even further upward, and Sophie
wondered at her sudden emotion. It was such a change from the way she
usually spoke, and seemed artificial somehow, as though she were
trying to convince herself as well as Sophie. "With all the
ranches James has bought up," Miss Travers went on, "the
Cloud Peak Company's the biggest owner in the state. Baby's implying
she knows ill of them because he's one of them, the biggest one, and
they make her life miserable. She hates them all."
"Why do they harass
her? I don't see what difference Baby and Zack can make, a couple of
homestead claims on all this land." Even as she spoke, Sophie
realized her question was off-target. It followed the logic of the
conversation, but missed the feeling she had heard in Amy Travers'
voice. But what was the locus of that emotion? Sophie couldn't
pinpoint it.
"There are more and
more homesteaders every day," Miss Travers was saying, her voice
dropping. "And each of them cuts into the open range the big
owners need for their cattle. And Baby and Zack are fairly close to
Cheyenne too, close to where the big owners headquarter. That makes
them more of an irritant than if they'd homesteaded somewhere else.
It also makes them easy targets. A man can ride out there after
supper, shoot out a few windows, and be back in time to drink with
his friends."
"You don't think Zack
Wilson's a cattle thief?"
Miss Travers shrugged. "No
more, I'd say, than the big cattlemen, though they figure out ways to
make their thievery legal. They get together at the Cheyenne Club and
devise their schemes, and the next thing you know, there's a law on
the books that lets them steal unmarked cattle from the
homesteaders."
They were back at the
Stevenson house, and as Miss Travers brought the buckboard to a halt,
Sophie tried to bring the conversation back to what Baby had said.
"It just didn't strike me that hatred for James was the main
force behind Baby's words," she said. "She seemed to want
me to know that Helen was her friend." She saw Miss Travers
stiffen with annoyance. "Miss Travers, I'm simply trying to know
my sister."
"I wouldn't spend time
worrying about Baby, then. You should come to a temperance
meeting--there's one tomorrow afternoon. Why don't you come? It's at
three o'clock in the Presbyterian Church. Come, and you can see the
women who were really Helen's friends." She was thoughtful a
moment. "Or have you considered looking for your mother? Maybe
you should take up a task which was important to Helen. That might
help you to know her. I've even thought I might try to find Julia
myself, for Helen, you know."
"Leave it alone, Miss
Travers."
The schoolteacher's eyes
widened in surprise, and Sophie felt uncertain how to go on. She
wasn't prepared to discuss her innermost thoughts with Amy Travers,
but having taken things this far with her unthinking response, she
felt she had to continue. "It's always seemed to me that my
mother must not want to be found. She made a choice to leave us, to
be apart from us, and she's kept to that choice all these years,
never relenting once. If I were to find her, I'd be in the position
of a petitioner, begging her to do something she obviously doesn't
want to do. It's not a role I'd feel comfortable in."
Miss Travers didn't answer,
and while Sophie could not be certain of the feeling in the
schoolteacher's deep-set eyes, she thought she saw a gleam of
understanding. Sophie looked down at Amy Travers' hands, those soft
hands which had written the loving inscription to her sister, and she
remembered how Miss Travers had killed the snake and comforted her
with those hands. She was suddenly aware that Amy Travers might reach
out to her again, and she didn't want that. Quickly she got down from
the buckboard.
"Wait, I'm
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