embarrassingly unable to perform it. Therefore, I'm in a position to make you a bargain."
"A bargain, Colonel? Money? Land? No thanks, I'm not interested."
"Would you be interested in having all charges dropped against you? A full pardon, Major. That's what I'm offering."
"You'd be free, Jim," Captain Nolan put in quickly. "You could go home, see your family. See Tess. You wouldn't have to live like an outlaw anymore."
Tess? Indy's eyes bored holes into the door.
"Not good enough, Colonel."
"Jim! For God's sake. He's offering you the chance of a lifetime. I thought you'd be pleased. Jesus! I thought you'd be beside yourself. What the hell's the matter with you anyway?"
"Goddammit, Aubrey. I'll tell you what's the matter with me. I'm not guilty. I don't want just to have the charges dropped. I want to be proven innocent, and I want those men found guilty."
"But you killed them—all four of them. Not even the United States Army can bring charges against dead men."
Indy could feel both Shatto's and Captain Nolan's frustration.
"Gentlemen, please. Major Garrity, I understand your need to be exonerated. If I were in your position, I imagine I would want the same thing. But the problem, as I'm sure you already know, is finding the evidence, and after this late date ... well . . ."
"I provided them with all the information they needed, but it was never even brought up at the court-martial. They didn't want to hear the truth."
"I'm not without influence, Major. President Grant and I went to the Point together and I often visited his home at White Haven and he at mine. I'll ask him as a personal favor to have your case looked into."
"I want my rank reinstated with all its benefits and privileges. I want the word deserter stricken from the muster rolls."
"If you agree to train my men, it's as good as done."
Another pause, this one seeming to last an eternity. Indy held her breath and waited.
"What you're asking, Colonel—these skills you want your men to acquire—you can't expect them to learn them overnight. From what I've seen, it'll take several weeks just to get your men in decent physical condition."
"Not everyone will be participating, Major. I'll only choose the twenty best men."
"No, Colonel, I'll choose the men."
"You'll choose them? But you don't know them."
"Neither do you, but one doesn't need to know them."
Indy could almost hear her father grit his teeth.
"All right. You choose the men."
"And the horses, the weapons, the ammunition, and the clothes they wear. They'll be under my command. They won't eat, sleep, or breathe without consulting me first . . . and interference from you will not be tolerated."
"Be serious, Major. You're taking this a little too far. What you're asking is out of the question."
"Those are my terms, Colonel. I do it my way or I don't do it at all."
A chair leg scraped the floorboards.
"Ail right. All right. We'll do it your way."
"Another wise decision, Colonel."
Shatto rode east, away from Camp Bowie through Apache Pass. He was careful to cover his trail on the chance that the colonel had sent someone to follow him. In spite of their bargain, which would take him back to Bowie in four days, he didn't like or trust Colonel Charles Taylor, and he thought the Apaches' name and estimation of his character were remarkably accurate.
Hours later he cut deep into the rugged Dos Cabezas Mountains, zigzagging along a trail that an untrained observer could not have recognized. Mammoth boulders, stark and sterile, towered arrogantly above him on either side. Near sundown, the trail descended sharply and he rode into the Valley of Thunder, his home and the home of Toriano's group these past six years.
Home. He thought suddenly of another home with a green expanse of lawn, an orchard with fruit-laden trees and a pond that grew the biggest and tastiest catfish east of the Mississippi. He'd been happy there, living with his grandfather, and even happier when his parents had come
"A bargain, Colonel? Money? Land? No thanks, I'm not interested."
"Would you be interested in having all charges dropped against you? A full pardon, Major. That's what I'm offering."
"You'd be free, Jim," Captain Nolan put in quickly. "You could go home, see your family. See Tess. You wouldn't have to live like an outlaw anymore."
Tess? Indy's eyes bored holes into the door.
"Not good enough, Colonel."
"Jim! For God's sake. He's offering you the chance of a lifetime. I thought you'd be pleased. Jesus! I thought you'd be beside yourself. What the hell's the matter with you anyway?"
"Goddammit, Aubrey. I'll tell you what's the matter with me. I'm not guilty. I don't want just to have the charges dropped. I want to be proven innocent, and I want those men found guilty."
"But you killed them—all four of them. Not even the United States Army can bring charges against dead men."
Indy could feel both Shatto's and Captain Nolan's frustration.
"Gentlemen, please. Major Garrity, I understand your need to be exonerated. If I were in your position, I imagine I would want the same thing. But the problem, as I'm sure you already know, is finding the evidence, and after this late date ... well . . ."
"I provided them with all the information they needed, but it was never even brought up at the court-martial. They didn't want to hear the truth."
"I'm not without influence, Major. President Grant and I went to the Point together and I often visited his home at White Haven and he at mine. I'll ask him as a personal favor to have your case looked into."
"I want my rank reinstated with all its benefits and privileges. I want the word deserter stricken from the muster rolls."
"If you agree to train my men, it's as good as done."
Another pause, this one seeming to last an eternity. Indy held her breath and waited.
"What you're asking, Colonel—these skills you want your men to acquire—you can't expect them to learn them overnight. From what I've seen, it'll take several weeks just to get your men in decent physical condition."
"Not everyone will be participating, Major. I'll only choose the twenty best men."
"No, Colonel, I'll choose the men."
"You'll choose them? But you don't know them."
"Neither do you, but one doesn't need to know them."
Indy could almost hear her father grit his teeth.
"All right. You choose the men."
"And the horses, the weapons, the ammunition, and the clothes they wear. They'll be under my command. They won't eat, sleep, or breathe without consulting me first . . . and interference from you will not be tolerated."
"Be serious, Major. You're taking this a little too far. What you're asking is out of the question."
"Those are my terms, Colonel. I do it my way or I don't do it at all."
A chair leg scraped the floorboards.
"Ail right. All right. We'll do it your way."
"Another wise decision, Colonel."
Shatto rode east, away from Camp Bowie through Apache Pass. He was careful to cover his trail on the chance that the colonel had sent someone to follow him. In spite of their bargain, which would take him back to Bowie in four days, he didn't like or trust Colonel Charles Taylor, and he thought the Apaches' name and estimation of his character were remarkably accurate.
Hours later he cut deep into the rugged Dos Cabezas Mountains, zigzagging along a trail that an untrained observer could not have recognized. Mammoth boulders, stark and sterile, towered arrogantly above him on either side. Near sundown, the trail descended sharply and he rode into the Valley of Thunder, his home and the home of Toriano's group these past six years.
Home. He thought suddenly of another home with a green expanse of lawn, an orchard with fruit-laden trees and a pond that grew the biggest and tastiest catfish east of the Mississippi. He'd been happy there, living with his grandfather, and even happier when his parents had come
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