Read Online A Big Sky Christmas by William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone - Free Book Online

Alice Dennison. R.G. is one of the single men traveling west—or at least he was—and Alice is the daughter of one of the immigrant families. They’re a fine couple and an excellent match, and everyone is happy about it.”
    â€œExcept that fella Bradford,” Jamie said with another nod toward the preacher.
    â€œOh, he doesn’t mind the marriage. Actually, he performed the wedding ceremony. He just doesn’t like dancing . . . among other things.”
    From the sound of that comment, Jamie thought that Moses didn’t get along very well with Reverend Bradford. He didn’t pursue that question, however, since it was none of his business.
    As the three fiddlers—two whiskery old-timers and a skinny, gangling man who was much younger—came to the end of the merry tune they had been playing, people laughed and applauded. One couple seemed to be at the center of the dancers, and Jamie ventured a guess that they were the ones who’d gotten hitched earlier.
    Moses confirmed it, then pointed out the wagon train captain. “There’s Captain Hendricks.” As the musicians took a break and the immigrants began to mill around and talk he nodded in Hendricks’s direction. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
    Lamar Hendricks was a tall, fair-haired man with a rawboned, middle-aged face under a broad-brimmed brown hat. He wore a brown leather vest over a homespun shirt. As the two men approached him, he said, “There you are, Moses. I was starting to wonder what had happened to you. Where’s Mr. Ralston?”
    â€œThat’s an, um, interesting story, Captain,” Moses replied. “By the way, this is Jamie Ian MacCallister. He’s quite a famous frontiersman.”
    Hendricks grunted. “Is that so?” Obviously, he hadn’t heard of Jamie. He held out a hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. MacCallister.”
    â€œYou, too, Captain,” Jamie replied with a nod as they shook hands.
    Hendricks turned back to Moses. “Were you not able to find Mr. Ralston?”
    â€œOh, I found him, all right. But there’s been . . . an accident. Mr. Ralston is injured.”
    A look of alarm instantly appeared on Hendricks’s face. “An accident? What sort of accident?”
    Moses looked pretty uncomfortable at the prospect of answering that question, so Jamie saved him the trouble. “I broke the varmint’s leg.”
    Hendricks’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why in the world would you do something like that?”
    â€œBecause he was trying to do the same or worse to me.”
    Moses said, “Mr. Ralston attacked Mr. MacCallister, Captain. I found him in that saloon he frequented, just as I feared I might. He had been drinking heavily. When Mr. MacCallister disagreed with him about something, Mr. Ralston started a fight. I saw the whole thing. Mr. MacCallister was only defending himself. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
    â€œWell, maybe not,” Hendricks said with a frown, “but don’t expect me to be happy about what you did, MacCallister. We were counting on Jeb Ralston to get us to our new homes in Montana.”
    â€œThen you were counting on a drunken bully,” Jamie said, not mincing words.
    Hendricks controlled his anger with a visible effort. “You’ll have to excuse me. I need to start figuring out what we’re going to do now. We have to find another wagon master as quickly as possible.”
    â€œYou see, that’s just it, Captain,” Moses told him. “I’ve asked Mr. MacCallister if he would consider guiding us to Montana Territory.”
    Hendricks looked surprised again, and still angry. “You had no right to do that, Moses. I’m the captain of this wagon train. We need an experienced guide—”
    â€œAsk around town,” Moses suggested. “Mr. MacCallister is a famous frontiersman, much more well known and