In the next few days, Brandy's whereabouts became unknown to most people in the camp, including Arthur and Lenny.
No one knew what they were doing when they disappeared from time to time. Sometimes we would meet Brandi, and when asked, he would always talk about him. Everyone turned to ask Arthur and Lenny, but neither of them found it. Answer the question head-on and just say that you are preparing for a surprise. Everyone wanted the two of them to translate what a surprise meant, but they couldn't say more, so they had no choice but to give up.
Micah was the first to discover Brandi's unusual whereabouts, so he did not hesitate to throw dirt on Brandi, saying that he must be in secret with Colm O'Driscoe. . However, when Micah once said such words in public and was discovered by Arthur and received a scolding and a real fist in the face, he did not dare to talk about it anymore. Later he found out that Lenny Arthur and Arthur also followed Brandi and disappeared, and they didn't even dare to let out a fart.
Of course, everyone has somewhat speculated on this matter, because in recent days, Pearson's grin has almost reached the base of his ears. Although Brandy and the others always come back with a full load after going out these days, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the cook's excitement and joy have not gradually subsided as time goes by. This can only mean one thing: the real surprise is yet to come.
About a week passed like this.
Mount Hagen, Brandy's temporary camp.
The location of this temporary camp has a wide view. When the weather is good, it can overlook the entire Lake Isabella. It took Brandy two days to find such a feng shui treasure, so she simply stayed here during this period. Here, we don’t go back to Coulter Village very much.
At this time, Brandy was sitting in the tent, with a piece of venison roasting on the fire outside the tent. At the observation point not far away, Lenny was observing the movements on the other side of Lake Isabella with a telescope. This behavior of the two of them actually follows a strict shift system, one hour each, no more, no less, and now it is Lenny's turn.
The fat contained in the venison overflowed under the licking of the flames, wrapping the entire piece of venison. The alluring crackling sound seemed to be more pleasant to the ears than the sound of the wind on the mountain. It's freezing and snowy here, and it's hard to find decent seasonings. Naturally, this piece of meat is not decorated with seasonings, but in this harsh environment, being able to enjoy this level of food can already be described as luxury.
Brandy knew this. He was used to eating meat without seasonings and gradually enjoyed it. However, having been influenced by Chinese food culture for more than 20 years, he still could not fully accept the backward food of the American Old West.
If a thing can bring you 100% enjoyment, and you live with this kind of enjoyment all year round, suddenly one day, you are deprived of the right to enjoy this thing, and you can only use it an unknown number of times, etc. The same type of thing meets the same needs, but this substitute can only bring you less than 50 points of enjoyment. So even if you eventually get used to the substitute, it will be difficult for you to forget the 100 points of enjoyment in the past. This is human nature and cannot be controlled.
That's why Brandi looked at the venison on the knife and sighed: "With a little salt, this meat will taste a hundred times better."
"Who says it's not," Lanny said slightly complaining, "I've even forgotten the last time I ate something salty. That old fat guy Pearson doesn't put a grain of salt in his stew now. , I don’t even know how to describe the taste.”
"I remember the French steak I had in a French restaurant in New York when I was a kid. Damn it, I will never forget the taste in my life." Brandi used lies to express her true feelings.
In order to hide her true identity, Brandy made up a background for herself from a middle-class family in New York, and ended up here because of an accident. He often said similar words to the above to establish his false personality. No one could tell whether there were loopholes in his words. To be able to do this, Brandy's speaking skills are certainly meritorious, but mainly because The people in the gang are all serious country bumpkins. No one has even set foot in the first thirteen civilized states of the United States, let alone knows anything about New York.
"I miss my mother's secret stew even more now," Lenny sighed. "I can't imagine anything else in the world that tastes like it."
"Lenny, how long have you been away from home?" Brandi asked after taking a bite of the freshly roasted venison, tearing off a piece and handing it to Lenny.
Lenny stuffed the meat into his mouth, and the original fragrance of the venison filled his mouth. The temperature that had not been completely robbed by the cold wind made his slightly stiff body seem to be baptized by warmth.
While chewing it with relish, he said, "I didn't calculate it carefully, it should be four years ago."
"Don't you want to go back and take a look?" Brandy asked.
"Why don't you want to," Lenny sighed, "I can't go back."
"What? Did you commit a crime?"
"Kill some scum," Lenny's tone was very understated, as if he was talking about something completely unrelated to him, but Brandi could hear the sadness, anger and helplessness hidden in his tone, "Those bastards drank He drank too much and deliberately picked on my father because of his drunkenness. My father only said a few words and they beat him to death."
"And you kill them?" Brandy asked.
"Yeah, kill him, no one will be left alive," Lenny said. "The head of the leader was smashed by me with a gun. Even if I hit his head with a shotgun, it wouldn't be like that. Then I ran away. , I left home and wandered like a lonely ghost for three years. Later, I met Dutch and joined a gang, and then I found a second destination."
Lenny lit a cigarette and handed one to Brandi. Brandi took a deep breath from her cigarette and asked, "How old were you when you left home?"
"Fifteen."
"It's not the age to leave home." Brandi sighed.
"What can I do?" Lenny smiled helplessly, "Fifteen is not the age to die."
"That's true." Brandi nodded.
"I just miss my mother now," Lanny seemed to have tears in his eyes, "She must hate me to death."
"A mother will never hate her child," Brandi comforted. "She will only miss you more than you miss her."
"Let me lend you some good words," Lenny wiped his eyes and smiled.
The sound of horse hooves suddenly came from behind. It sounded a little distant, but very clear. After a while, the sound of horse hooves turned into the sound of human footsteps, getting closer and closer.
"Hey guys," Arthur said, slapping his hands heavily on Lenny and Brandy's shoulders, "What are you talking about?"
Brandi smiled and punched Arthur on the chest and said, "Why don't you let me bring some of Pearson's heart to you? What do you mean by your empty hands?"
Arthur smiled mysteriously, reached into his bag and took out a bottle of navy rum that Pearson had shared with them before, and whispered: "I took it out at Pearson's convenience."
"You're awesome, you can dig this out. I turned him upside down before, but I didn't even find half a bottle of whiskey." Brandy grabbed the bottle and opened it eagerly. The cork took a sip.
"What is this?" Lenny was a little confused.
Brandy didn't answer, just handed the bottle to Lenny and said, "You'll know after you taste it."
Lenny took a sip doubtfully, and his cheeks immediately turned red in the next second. He almost spat out the wine he just drank: "I'll go, what the hell is this? Medical alcohol?"
Arthur laughed at Lenny's embarrassment and answered for him: "This is Navy rum, Pearson's favorite. It has no other characteristics, it is strong and strong enough."
"How do you feel now? Did your body warm up instantly?" Brandi asked.
Lenny moved his neck, felt it carefully, and said in surprise: "It really works!"
"Yeah." Brandi smiled.
While Brandi and Lenny were joking, Arthur took out his binoculars to observe the situation near Lake Isabella. Different from finding nothing in the past few days, this time, he found something unusual.
"Hey, come and see!" Arthur whispered.
Brandi and Lenny heard Arthur's words and knew that he had discovered something, and immediately got into the mood.
Brandy snatched the telescope from Arthur's hand and looked in the direction Arthur was pointing.
On the shore of Lake Isabella, a huge white figure is moving slowly. If it weren't for its actions that were different from the surrounding environment, in people's field of vision, its body would be like a huge stone covered with lush snow moss. It walked leisurely and leisurely, completely unaware that there were three pairs of eyes staring at it from the mountains not far away.
Brandi put down the binoculars, breathing a little faster. Arthur asked: "That should be the legendary white buffalo you mentioned, right?"
"That's right," Brandi replied.
"As you said, it's a rare animal," Lenny said, "How about it? Do you have a plan?"
Brandi looked at the weapons and equipment on the three people, thought for a moment, and said, "Yes, let's do this..."
Lake Isabella.
The huge white bison strolled leisurely by the lake, occasionally nibbling on the tender grass and grass roots hidden in the snow that had not yet emerged.
Suddenly, a whistle came from the mountain.
The white buffalo raised its head, but before it could react, a tough rope was tightly tied around its neck. It immediately began to resist subconsciously. The instinctive resistance force immediately took effect, and almost pulled Lenny who was holding the rope. Pulled off the horse.
"Arthur!" Lenny shouted immediately.
Before he finished speaking, another rope caught the white bison impartially, and immediately managed to maintain a stalemate in the almost one-sided situation.
"Brandy! Hurry up! We can't hold on for long!" Arthur also didn't expect that this beast was so strong. With his own strength, he could only maintain a stalemate with it for a short time.
When Brandy heard this, he didn't answer. He came over with a double-barreled shotgun and walked around to stop the horse in front of the white buffalo. He pointed the gun at the white buffalo's face and fired two shots.
Although Brandi knew that these two shots were not enough to kill the white bison immediately, he immediately took out his sawn-off shotgun and prepared to fire more shots. However, what he did not expect was that he only had the chance to fire those two shots.
The white bison was shot twice in the brain. Seriously injured, it burst out with an unprecedented desire to survive and struggled even harder. Brandy's horse was frightened. If Brandy's other hand hadn't been holding on to the reins tightly, he would have been thrown off the horse. How could Lenny have withstood such force? The hand holding the rope subconsciously relaxed. The rope came off; Arthur on the other end was pulled off the horse by the white bison because he was holding on to the rope tightly. After being dragged for a short distance, he couldn't hold on any longer and the rope came off.
"Arthur!" Brandi and Lenny exclaimed and rushed to Arthur's side immediately.
Arthur coughed twice and said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'll just take it easy for a while. You two, hurry up and catch up. I'll be there soon."
