Read Online Alan E. Nourse - The Fourth Horseman by Alan Edward Nourse - Free Book Online
Authors: Alan Edward Nourse
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the little house tucked away in the hills above the town. Jerry was a small, bright-eyed, wiry man driving a plumber's van. He looked at Frank's Forest Service ID, and then at Frank, and nodded briefly. Yes, he was one of the group that just got back from the Enchantments. Yes, it was the group Comstock had organized, and no, he wouldn't mind talking to Frank about what had happened up there if he thought it would do any good. "Goddamned awful about Bob and those others," he muttered. "I don't know what hit 'em, but something sure did." He led Frank into the house, introduced his wife and a small son. "Beer?" Frank nodded, and the man tossed him one. "Just let me change my clothes," he said.
A few minutes later Jerry sank down in a living-room chair with his own beer. "So what do you want to know, exactly?"
"Everything that happened up there," Frank said.
"If I knew what happened I'd sure tell you, but I don't," Courtenay said. "All I really know is that one minute everything was going great up there, beautiful country, the whole crowd of us were having a ball, and then the next minute it seemed like everything turned to shit."
"There were twenty of you?"
"Twenty-one in all. Bob Comstock had his group all lined up, and then he found out we were thinking of going up a week later, and we knew some of his crowd pretty well, so we decided to go up together. We all took the same flight to Seattle, and then got the bus over the mountains to Leavenworth and started up the trail next morning. We drifted in to Upper Snow Lake above five in the afternoon and decided to call it a day."
"You see anybody odd along the way?"
"Well, there was this lady cop from the Forest Service came into our camp about six-thirty and climbed all over us. Bunch of laws we'd never heard of before . . ."
"It's a Wilderness Area. You didn't see the rules posted down at the trailhead?"
"Well, no. I mean, we'd had a few beers in the morning before we started out, and the kids were all over the place, and we didn't hardly see anything. Anyway, this girl came over and made us put out our fire and break up our camp and all that stuff. Seems like they coulda put up some bigger signs or something. And hell, the fire was right out on the rocks, it wasn't gonna start anything burning."
Frank nodded patiently. Suddenly, with an agonizing pang, he could see Pam walking over there in her little green hat and taking on this crowd of twenty-one people without a second thought, looking up at them and saying, "Look, folks, these are what the rules are and this is how it's going to be done," and then jolly well seeing to it that it was. "Did you notice anything peculiar about the girl?" Frank said.
"Well, she was just a tiny little thing, kinda risky to be wandering around up there all by herself, I thought, but she wasn't takin' any crap, she read the riot act and that was that. We started putting the fire out and she headed back toward her camp. Had a bad cold, though, she did. Got to coughing there by the fire and couldn't hardly stop. Matter of fact, I remember hearing her coughing all night long, clear across the lake."
"You didn't see her in the morning?"
"No, she was gone before we even got up." Courtenay produced two more beers. "We broke our camp around noon and started around the lake and up that steep path toward Lake Vivian. Lousy trail, straight up, you'd of thought we was mountain goats, and it must have been a hundred in the shade by then. I thought I was gonna die with that backpack on, before we got to the top."
"You didn't see any other people that looked—odd?"
"Hell, yes, there was plenty of them." Jerry shook his head. "Let me tell you, you got some weird hikers in that part of the country. People came charging up that trail at a dead run, like their lives depended on getting up there in thirty minutes flat. I swear to God, white-haired old ladies were catching up to us and passing us by, going uphill. I don't know what they were trying to
A few minutes later Jerry sank down in a living-room chair with his own beer. "So what do you want to know, exactly?"
"Everything that happened up there," Frank said.
"If I knew what happened I'd sure tell you, but I don't," Courtenay said. "All I really know is that one minute everything was going great up there, beautiful country, the whole crowd of us were having a ball, and then the next minute it seemed like everything turned to shit."
"There were twenty of you?"
"Twenty-one in all. Bob Comstock had his group all lined up, and then he found out we were thinking of going up a week later, and we knew some of his crowd pretty well, so we decided to go up together. We all took the same flight to Seattle, and then got the bus over the mountains to Leavenworth and started up the trail next morning. We drifted in to Upper Snow Lake above five in the afternoon and decided to call it a day."
"You see anybody odd along the way?"
"Well, there was this lady cop from the Forest Service came into our camp about six-thirty and climbed all over us. Bunch of laws we'd never heard of before . . ."
"It's a Wilderness Area. You didn't see the rules posted down at the trailhead?"
"Well, no. I mean, we'd had a few beers in the morning before we started out, and the kids were all over the place, and we didn't hardly see anything. Anyway, this girl came over and made us put out our fire and break up our camp and all that stuff. Seems like they coulda put up some bigger signs or something. And hell, the fire was right out on the rocks, it wasn't gonna start anything burning."
Frank nodded patiently. Suddenly, with an agonizing pang, he could see Pam walking over there in her little green hat and taking on this crowd of twenty-one people without a second thought, looking up at them and saying, "Look, folks, these are what the rules are and this is how it's going to be done," and then jolly well seeing to it that it was. "Did you notice anything peculiar about the girl?" Frank said.
"Well, she was just a tiny little thing, kinda risky to be wandering around up there all by herself, I thought, but she wasn't takin' any crap, she read the riot act and that was that. We started putting the fire out and she headed back toward her camp. Had a bad cold, though, she did. Got to coughing there by the fire and couldn't hardly stop. Matter of fact, I remember hearing her coughing all night long, clear across the lake."
"You didn't see her in the morning?"
"No, she was gone before we even got up." Courtenay produced two more beers. "We broke our camp around noon and started around the lake and up that steep path toward Lake Vivian. Lousy trail, straight up, you'd of thought we was mountain goats, and it must have been a hundred in the shade by then. I thought I was gonna die with that backpack on, before we got to the top."
"You didn't see any other people that looked—odd?"
"Hell, yes, there was plenty of them." Jerry shook his head. "Let me tell you, you got some weird hikers in that part of the country. People came charging up that trail at a dead run, like their lives depended on getting up there in thirty minutes flat. I swear to God, white-haired old ladies were catching up to us and passing us by, going uphill. I don't know what they were trying to
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