DRENA HILLS
Author’s Note: This story follows
directly after the episodes 5th Victim and Stagecoach No. 7. I have always thought they fitted well
chronologically. Heyes and Kid are
heading to town to take stagecoach at the end of ‘Fifth Victim’ and at the
beginning of Stagecoach 7, Heyes is dressed in the same clothes and is
sleeping…probably wore out from the painful trip to town! Then at the end of No. 7 when they leave the
stagecoach to buy horses, I just can’t see the men trying to capture them
neglecting to mention who they were hanging around for. The fact that Joe the driver suggested they
leave the coach means he was thinking the same thing, that once the sheriff and
his men get wind of what caused the delay they will be after them. All of which
combined with being forced to fall over in those chairs a half dozen times must
have made Heyes’s recovery from that gunshot wound difficult…
“The world stands aside to let
anyone pass who knows where he is going.”
-
David Starr Jackson
Medicine Bow,
“You think we lost them?” Kid Curry said looking back
as they paused under the shade of a tree to survey the sloping countryside
beneath them.
“Kid you’ve asked me that four times
in the last hour, I don’t know!” Hannibal Heyes yelled back.
Frowning his partner took a closer
look at his cousin.
“You feeling all right?” Kid asked
bluntly.
“Will you stop asking me that as
well? I told you I’m fine!”
“I know, I know,” Kid found himself
yelling now too. “I worry about staying on my horse and you…”
“Exactly,” Heyes said curtly.
“Right,” Kid said rolling his eyes and
giving himself a moment to control his temper.
The last thing they needed was to turn on each other; it was just what
the posse trailing them would want.
But the truth was the last two days of
hard riding had taken their toll on his partner, not completely recovered from
a gunshot wound to the head only a week earlier. Kid himself was dead tired and trail weary
and he could just imagine how his friend must be feeling. The doctor had been adamant about Heyes
taking it easy for a few weeks, but since the day they had left the Carlson’s
they had been given little chance.
Kid might not have worried as much, if
his partner hadn’t been so unusually quiet, a sure sign he was hurting. Normally Heyes was rather creative about how
lousy he felt during a posse ride and waxed on eloquently whenever they stopped
to rest their horses. But this run had
been different as if Heyes was attempting to save his energy for just keeping
upright and if he were honest not worrying his partner.
“Medicine Bow just up ahead, we can
get supplies there and change horses,” Kid said finally.
His partner looked over grateful Kid
had decided to avoid an argument. He
hadn’t meant to be so sharp, but the headache he had been nursing since leaving
the stage had been growing with each mile of hard riding and he was starting to
feel sick to his stomach.
“Good idea,” Heyes said. “We can ride in separate and see if word has
been sent ahead.”
“I’m hoping they are too greedy for
that,” Kid said turning his horse towards the town in the distance.
“Kid?” Heyes said stopping him by his
tone. “I’m fine really.”
Looking over Kid considered the
reassuring smile his dark eyed partner was flashing at him.
“So you keep saying Heyes,” Kid said
kicking his weary animal into a walk.
They were over a mile high here and while the summer temperature was
just over 60 the air was dry in the high dessert country and drained a man almost
as bad as the heat could.
“So why won’t you believe me?” the
older man by two years asked.
Why?
Kid thought silently because you ain’t complaining. You’ve been shot in the head, knocked to the
floor a half dozen times and just out ridden a posse for two days, that’s why cousin,
but all he said was.
“Whatever you say Heyes.”
***************************
As wagons trains went it bordered on
the pitiful. Just ten wagons in length
it was a mere shadow of the mammoth caravans that had crossed the west only 20
years earlier before the arrival of the railroad.
To make matters worse the scouts that
had led the trains were now either dead or moved on and the ones that remained
were sketchy in their reliability or trustworthiness, as the Landers Group was
finding out.
John Landers was a huge strapping man
born and bred in
They had arrived in Medicine Bow, the
farthest the railroad could take them to their destination in
But the shock of ‘the real west’ was taking its toll
on them to the point that many in their group were considering turning
back. The rough cattle town where every
other building was a saloon was a rowdy mix of drunken cowboys and preying gamblers
and the staid emigrants were hard pressed to find anything to get excited about
in the muddy streets of what the west considered ‘civilization’. These doubts, fueled by the jarring reality of
what still lay ahead grew stronger with the delay and had forced John Landers
to call a private meeting to reassure his party and perhaps maybe even himself.
“Look I know Hartwell is a rough
looking fella, but we haven’t got much choice,” Landers barked to the wagon
train’s families gathered together nervously outside of town and the earshot of
strangers. “Now I made it real clear to those friends of his that we just
needed him and they were content that the best man had won.”
“I don’t know Pa,” his youngest son
Dirk said shaking his head at the memory of Avis Hartwell who had applied for
the job with two other dangerous looking trail bums named Dolph Luther and
Dixon Serle. “I don’t like the way he
looks at Maggie,” he continued mentioning his wife, who blushed beside him
embarrassed.
“Maggie is a good looking woman,” his
father said bluntly as if the leers from their new guide had been her fault. “Man needs to understand that will cause a
few stares. Besides we’ll just use him
till we can find someone better,” Landers bluffed. “We’ve lost nearly two weeks here trying to
find someone and time is not on our side,” he said forbiddingly to convince
them. Truth was the hard drinking well armed frontiersman was not his first
pick to lead his family and the others either, but he had the experience and he
had been willing to work for a good price.
“Why can’t we just do it ourselves?” Sam
Veldhuizan, one of the younger men called weary of waiting.
“Because we don’t know where water and
grass is and a guide does,” Landers argued knowing full well the job would fall
to him and in this strange new world he felt uncomfortably out of his element.
“What about those
“I also am not comfortable with their kind,” Hattie
Vanderheide agreed. She had given up a job
as school teacher to come west with her brother in law John Landers and so far
was starting to think staying single might not be the worse fate.
“No, no place for them with us,”
Landers assured her.
“What about the Gallaghers?” another
voice called out and everyone was surprised to see it was the bookish Ted
Perkins who had surprised everyone by packing up his family and joining the
exodus. “Dan’s wife ain’t looking so
good and you just said we need to move out.”
Landers had been waiting for that
question. Dan Gallagher had been a good
friend for many years, but he was a practical man. “Have to think about the good of the group,”
Landers said firmly.
“You mean we just leave them?” Perkins
gasped not sure he had heard correct and a little worried about such a precedent.
“Pioneering isn’t for the weak,” Deke.
John’s eldest son said bored. “Which is
why were gonna leave them blackies and chinks behind too.”
“How you gonna do that, they’ll just
follow,” Veldhuizan commented suddenly not so sure it was a good idea to turn
down a couple of extra wagons and their men considering the country that lay
ahead.
“Can’t follow if they are in jail,”
Landers boomed.
“And how they gonna land in jail,
ain’t no crime for following a wagon train,” Perkins persisted now clearly
worried for other reasons.
“You leave that to my pa,” Deke laughed.
*************************
“Where you think they’re all going?”
Wil Nishan frowned looking up from the wagon axle he was repairing. The
ex-slave was just reaching his late twenties and all ready had a wealth of
experience as a blacksmith and a carpenter.
If it had just been him he might have taken on the town’s only smithy
and tried to carve out a life for him there, as it was he was all ready getting
business on the sly from town’s folk looking for a bargain.
But he knew the local businessman
would not stand this for long and his only chance at a real lively hood for him
and his little brother was a place where he was the only choice.
The Chinese man beside him watching
and trying to learn shook his head, but his expression was worried. He was maybe ten years older than Wil, with
dark sharp clever eyes and a quick mind the younger man had quickly come to
rely on for its intuitive take on people.
“Can’t be good,” Zi said handing him a
tool before he asked. Wil had been mentoring
him and this along the skills the Chinese immigrant had learned on the railroad
had given them both hope they could open a business up north together.
“For us you mean, I notice they didn’t
invite Dan either,” Wil said glancing over at where the Gallagher’s wagon was
parked. “Your grandpa still looking
after her Zi?”
Zi nodded, “He doesn’t know when he
isn’t wanted, woman screamed first time he gave her medicine.”
“Dan is grateful,” Wil assured
him. “Besides hard to resist his little
girl’s pleading.”
“I notice no one else come to help
him, I thought they were all friends,” Zi said bitterly.
“Zi man has to look after his own
they’re just worried she might be contagious.”
Zi snorted, “Grandfather told them,
the doctor here told them, but still they shy away. How come you so forgiving of them?”
Wil shrugged his shoulders, “Ain’t got
time to worry about how other folks act, got enough trouble with me and
Abraham,” he grinned indicating his 8 year old brother who was playing nearby
with Zi’s little nieces. “Besides my
momma used to wail into me something fierce for being ungrateful. Woman had an
uncanny knack for seeing a blessing in things like this.”
“Your momma had a good imagination,”
Zi said shaking his head.
Wil grinned and then frowned as his
brother went by with a large wooden box and a determined look, “Yea and she
gave it all to Abe!”
***************************
“I got ‘em!” Abraham Nishan said proudly setting the box
of discarded fuses and parts he had appropriated from the town’s dump. “Watched those miners leave it and pounced!” Though barely nine he had a skill as a
scavenger that been born of poverty and honed from hunger.
Cadwyn Gallagher looked suitable
impressed. She was just eight and with
her red hair and freckles dismissed as too young to get into any serious
trouble. It made for a good decoy when
the grown ups came looking.
The last member of the industrious
trio was 8 year old Jin. The little
Chinese girl had been drawn immediately to the two children who represented “
“You sure your Uncle Zi isn’t going to
miss this?” Cadwyn said thinking of the pleasant Chinese man who could always
make them smile.
“He might not have if little niece did
not look so suspicious leaving wagon this morning,” Zi said from behind them.
The three children whirled and looked
guiltily at the box.
“We just make fireworks for
“You just blow up town with this much
powder,” Zi said shaking his head trying not to smile. “This for grown ups!”
Abe groaned, “Everything is for grown
ups!”
“You no worry I make sure you have sky
lights for holiday,” Zi laughed picking up the parts they had collected
impressed.
“My father the best at fireworks,” Jin
said proudly and then a sad shadow passed over her face.
Zi understood and slipped an arm
around her, “We make him proud Jin, we celebrate like real Americans!”
**************************
“John I can’t move her,” Dan Gallagher
said wearily as he faced the group leader an hour later. “You have to give us a few more days, she’s
getting better I know she is!”
The young father of two looked like he
had aged in the past two weeks and an odd hopeless pallor had crept over his
normal sunny positive demeanor.
Gallagher was a teacher and by nature an optimist raised by a preacher
father who expected his son to trust God through all things. But lately his faith and his optimism had
been sorely tested.
“Dan, I’m sorry, but we’re moving out after
lunch maybe you can catch another group coming through later,” Landers said
briskly wanting the discussion over quickly.
Dan Gallagher shook his head bitterly,
“You know as well as I do that is very unlikely. You’re just going to abandon us? Leave me with Ellie sick and the baby isn’t
even a year! John I put every cent I own into this move!”
“Have to think of the good of the
group.”
“But…”
“I’m sorry Dan, but I gotta look after
my own.”
John Landers hurried away determined
not to look back. Gallagher was a good
man, but the west was no place for the weak.
Only strong men like himself could forge a place and survival of his own
had to take first priority.
He rounded the corner and stopped. Maddie that ex slave servant of the Pipers
was talking to that blackie Wil Nishan.
Should have known those two would drift together. He had warned Josiah about bringing her
along.
Walking by he made sure she knew he
had seen them and was pleased by her startled frightened expression.
Satisfied he continued on his way to
the sheriff office.
*************************
It was Cadwyn who noticed him first and would brag
endlessly later how the whole thing had been her idea. She had been banished from the wagon while
Jin’s grandfather looked after her mom and with no real supervision hindering
her she had gone to her favorite spot, the corral fence to watch the
horses. Cadwyn had never been able to
get enough of horses in her young life and found just watching them almost as
wonderful as riding them.
Her new best friend Jin came along just because
anything with Cadwyn had the potential for fun and even though the large
animals frightened her a little she stood by loyal afraid she might miss
something.
She noticed Kid immediately and shook her head
disapprovingly at the state of his horse.
Poor thing looked all tuckered out!
“You need to let him rest some!” Cadwyn said sternly to Kid who looked down at
the two little girls and finding his first smile in days.
“Yes ma’am, planning on doing that now,” Kid said
tipping the stable boy double to look after the animal and gaining a satisfied
nod from Cadwyn.
Jin watched her friend amazed. Cadwyn wasn’t afraid to talk to anyone, not
even this dusty fierce looking stranger.
“You must have rode bunches of miles,” Cadwyn said
liking any grown up that took her advice.
Kid smiled and gave her a wink, “Afraid just about
everywhere is far from here ma’am!” And
turning he tipped his hat and walked off his mind returning to more sobering
thoughts.
“I bet he’d make us a grand scout, way better than
that mean ole Hartwell fella!” Cadwyn said thoughtful.
“Bo no like wagon train scout, he look at her wrong
she say,” Jin said remembering her sister’s shivers whenever the man came near.
“Come on let’s go check him out!” Cadwyn said liking
this new distraction.
“Check what out?” Abe said wandering up.
“Our new scout!”
Normally neither Heyes nor Curry would have considered
Medicine Bow for a refueling stop. During their outlaw days they had robbed
both banks in town and the train just outside it, which while incredible still
wasn’t that amazing, only Heyes had come up with a plan to do all three in the
same 24 hours. The plan had worked like
a charm with a posse taking off after them leaving the Cattleman’s Association
vulnerable. When that robbery was
discovered nearly every able bodied man in the vicinity had been deputized and
spurred into the pursuit; leaving Heyes’s real target, a train coming in with a
gold shipment, wide open for the taking.
Fortunately lawmen in Medicine Bow
didn’t last long either lured away to employment that paid better or finding
themselves in a position that no longer needed a paycheck.
Added to their luck it was a Saturday
afternoon and all the local cowhands were arriving in town and two more cowboys
didn’t stir up much attention from the locals eager to get home and off the
streets before the weekly hoorahing began.
Kid warily passed the telegraph office. He knew they would have been caught long ago
if not for the beneficial vice of human greed.
With lines now strung up all over the west all one town had to do was
telegraph surrounding areas to put them on the look out for them. But that would mean losing the reward and
most posses weren’t willing to risk it.
Which was why he was hopeful word of
them being in the area hadn’t leaked out and as he passed a deputy leaning back
in his chair dozing he began to feel a bit more optimistic.
Casually melting into the throng of
cowhands sizing up where to begin spending their week’s wages Kid paused to
take a sweeping glance down the main street.
Little had changed, except maybe perhaps need had added another saloon
or two. Surprised he noted the Calistoga
wagons camped at the end of town. Wagon
trains were few and far between now days with the railroad taking over the
burden in a much safer fashion. Probably
heading for the
His eyes finally rested on the Indian
mother and her son cautiously maneuvering along the street trying their best to
go unnoticed. It was not unusual to see
refugee Indians skirting through town but it was usually old women and
sometimes children, too little threat for the army to waste sending soldiers to
round up.
He sighed feeling a pang of sympathy,
but knowing he could do nothing he turned his eyes away and in doing so almost
missed the assault.
The cowboy had come out drunk and
broke from the saloon and was just ready for trouble. The woman had the misfortune to be directly
in his path and seeing a chance to relieve both his lust and his anger he
grabbed her and pulled her to him.
The child, barely five immediately
reacted to his mother’s scream and pushed between them trying to free her from
the lecher’s grasp.
He was merely rewarded with being
kicked hard to the ground where he fell and lay whimpering in pain.
Cadwyn let out a yell of injustice at
such treatment of the little boy, but before she could think of doing anything
about it her prospective ‘scout’ beat her to it. Pulling the mother free Kid turned his
attention to the attacker who enraged made the mistake of going for his gun.
There was no contest and as the man stood there wetting himself in fear at how
fast this stranger’s six gun had been aimed at his belly Kid decked him with
one punch reducing him to insignificant lump on the ground that no one gave a
second glance to. Abe turned to Cadwyn,
her eyes wide with amazement and Cadwyn grinned smugly congratulating herself
on her keen eye at scout finding.
The mother ignored it all racing to
her son and scooping him up sobbing.
This clearly was the last straw for her and her crying was hopeless and
exhausted.
“Here ma’am let me help you, we’ll get
him to a doctor,” Kid said crouching down beside her.
“No white doctor help him,” the woman
said flat toned.
“Her grandfather will!” Cadwyn said
instantly at their sides. “He’s a healer
he can fix anyone!”
“You do get around don’t you?” Kid
said suspicious.
“No I was following you,” Cadwyn
explained honestly with her best smile that made Kid blink. “Tell them Jin.”
“Grandfather heal anyone hurt,” she
smiled shyly at the little boy who had stopped crying sensing help.
“Worth a try, come on,” Kid ordered
picking up the child.
The woman froze unsure what to do, but
Cadwyn and Jin merely each took one of her hands and pulled her along.
****************************
“Wil I have to go, Mr. Landers saw
us…”
“Saw us what Maddie? Talking?” Wil
laughed. “No law against that now, we
free folk just like them.”
“Always been one law for them and one
for us,” Maddie said resigned. She was
slender and timid and at first had listened to her employers and gave Wil Nishan
no never mind. But Wil was just so
persistent in the nicest ways. Helping
her fetch water, carry packages. Always
treating her proper and making her feel so special.
“Not any more Maddie you’ll see,” Wil
smiled at her gently. “We get up north
and I get my own place then I’m gonna come a courting proper.”
“Those be pie in the sky dreams Wil Nishan,
besides Mr. Landers told Mr. Piper he ain’t gonna let you and Mr. Zi even leave
with us…” she stopped horrified at what she had revealed.
“So that’s what that meeting was
about?” Wil said with a sigh.
“I have to go.”
“Maddie don’t go with them, stay with
me.”
She paused prepared to take flight and
for a moment put years of fear and browbeating aside to consider such an
amazing idea.
“Maddie you get over right this minute
you got work to do girl!” Tilly Piper’s
shrill voice pierced through her imaginings.
“I have to go!” Maddie said looking amazingly like a small
animal caught in a cage. “Be careful
Wil!”
Wil sighed and turned as she hurried
off to find two piercing black eyes watching him amused.
“She’s a nice bit of muslin boy,” Avis
Hartwell said lazily stepping off of the porch where he had been
eavesdropping. “Don’t think I would mind
a taste of that myself!”
Wil clenched his fist angry and Avis
grinned hopeful.
“Don’t Wil he isn’t worth the
trouble,” Dan said suddenly at his side catching his arm before he could
swing. And then quietly he
whispered. “His two friends are watching
across the street, you don’t have a chance.”
Wil, from years of practice, finally
let his anger go and nodded.
Laughing Avis dismissed them both and
sauntered away like a man who had all the cards dealt him for a winning hand.
“Thank you Dan, I don’t know what
Landers was thinking picking him.”
Gallagher watched Hartwell join his
friends, “I think he may come to wonder that himself.”
***********************************
“You still not able to talk him into
letting us come?” Dolph Luther said angrily as the three trail scouts settled
at a back table of a saloon with a fresh bottle. Luther was tall as a mountain and stark bald
on top. His temper was as infamous as
his strength and he didn’t like things not going his way.
“You and
Dixon Serle smiled mindlessly as he
slurped down his drink. A horse kick to
the head had left him a dangerous idiot who only seemed to find pleasure when
he was inflicting pain on anything living and breathing.
“You just keep them behind so we can
catch up,” Luther said with a scowl.
Hartwell looked up and chilled the
larger man with just a glance. “And you
don’t be late.”
***************************
“We need to pack up and be ready!” Zi said frustrated to the old Chinese man
carefully filling his sack bag with herbs. “They will use any chance to leave
us!”
“I must first check on the Gallagher’s
woman, she does not have much time left,” his grandfather said unhurried.
“We will be left!”
“Zi with such people we will be left
the day we start out,” his grandfather Xue told him calmly.
Zi watched him walk away and threw up
his hands. He hadn’t asked for this. He
had come to
The wagon and supplies had taken all his and his grandfather’s
savings. Even then, like Wil, he had been unable to afford the grand Calistoga
wagons of the
“Uncle Zi!
Little boy hurt!” Jin said
running up and the wiry man turned surprised at the unusual group invading
their camp.
“Medicine man here?”
the mother asked fearful.
Zi turned surprised to see two eyes meeting his with
forced bravery. The woman was perhaps in
her late twenties, the boy the man was carrying clearly in great pain.
“My grandfather healer,” Zi nodded. “Boy sick?”
“Got a mean kick to his middle,” Kid explained as Zi
made a place to lay the child down.
“Will he take a look at him?”
Zi nodded surprised by this good Samaritan’s
help. “Jin, go get him. We take care of boy,” he assured Kid who
nodded and reached in his pocket to pay him.
“No,” the woman said with great dignity. “But thank you.”
“Ma’am,” Kid said tipping his hat and giving the child
a smile hurried off with Cadwyn and Abe quietly slipping off to follow.
“Come sit, he be right back,” Zi said intrigued by the
woman and if he were honest more than a little interested. It had been a long time since a woman had
caught his attention like this. And
feelings he thought he had banished forever suddenly sprung to life ignoring
the broken heart that had made him leave his homeland.
Gingerly she took a seat on the log Wil had been
working off of.
“Let me see, I break many parts in
The woman had no idea what an acrobat was, but clearly
wasn’t impressed. “Then you not good
acrobat,” she decided honestly.
To her surprise Zi burst out laughing, “Make good
point, but I did get good at fixing mistakes!”
Kneeling down he smiled at the boy whose eyes were
clouded with pain.
“I, Zi,” he introduced.
“I am called Namid, this is son, Heammawihio,” she
said almost proudly.
“You have more letters than me,” Zi smiled his hands
gently moving over the child’s rib cage.
It was at least cracked; the child must be in agony.
“I have no money,” the women said straightening. “I…pay you with…” the woman stopped
embarrassment and fear making her eyes drop.
“You cook?” Zi asked hopeful. “Grandfather terrible cook, nieces try, but
burn a lot.”
The woman looked up hopeful, “I cook!”
Zi gave her a broad smile, “You hired lady!”
An hour later the child lay in a painless sleep, his
ribs bound and his mother taking over the chores of loading up the wagon for
travel. Upon the news she too was
heading north Zi had felt his spirits lift in a way he didn’t want to think too
hard about.
His grandfather, his work there done for the moment
excused himself and Zi found himself for the first time in weeks with nothing
to do.
“Looks like were heading out,” Wil Nishan
said walking up. “Maddie slipped me
word.” He stopped eyeing the Indian
woman. “Who’s she?”
“Our cook!” Zi said proudly.
“Uh huh,” Wil said noting the sparkle
in his friend’s eye. “Well about time you got someone to help you, man eat as
much charcoal as you do is gonna drop dead one day. She heading out with us?’
“Boy hurt, he ride in wagon why he get
better, she cook,” Zi said.
“Well it’s just in time cause Lander
and company are heading out at
“Not according to my grandfather,” Zi
said disgusted. “He doesn’t think they
will let us.”
“Well they aren’t gonna have much
choice,” Wil said eyes narrowing. “They
know two wagons don’t have a chance alone out there. Besides they are better off with more folks
all together.”
“That did not stop them from telling
Dan they will not wait for him,” Zi said quietly.
Wil looked startled. He could understand these white folks not
caring for him, but Dan and his family was one of their own. “Gallagher’s wife
still ailing?”
“I think she’s dying.”
The young black man frowned,
“Traveling like this takes its toll on a body, ain’t never seen so many grave
makers as we’ve seen so far and they say the rest is up ahead…uh oh here comes
trouble.”
Zi turned and watched as the sheriff
and two of his deputies strode purposely towards them.
“Maybe they come to say goodbye.”
“Yea,” Wil said. “I just bet they have.”
********************************
“Daddy why are they leaving without
us?”
Dan Gallagher looked down on his
daughter Cadwyn and tried to find a reason to explain why they were being left.
“Mommy is sick honey we have to wait
for her to get better.”
“Jin’s grandfather says she is very
ill and we should not make any noise around her,” the child said sitting down
next to him unconcerned. Her daddy
always made things better. “So I told
little Shawn not to cry, but he never listens, he just wants momma.” She had left Kid after seeing him head into a
hotel and convinced her prize scout was not leaving town any time soon she had
gone in search of her father to tell him the grand news of her find. But Jin’s grandfather had returned from
seeing the Indian boy and her father had not been able to concentrate while the
old man looked at her mother.
On being mentioned the wizened Chinese
man gracefully climbed down from their wagon with an ease that belied his 70
years.
At first Dan had been adverse to
letting the strange old man help him nurse his sick wife, but eventually he had
been worn down by fear, exhaustion and the insistence of his little daughter
who had befriended the man’s four granddaughters as playmates. The oldest, Bo, had been in a godsend in
helping him with the baby as it quickly had become apparent that there was no
way Dan was going to be able to care for his sick wife and children and prepare
for the trip.
Through the children the three diverse families had
come to know one another and formed an informal alliance. It was Gallagher that had petitioned for Zi
and Wil’s wagons to be allowed to join the caravan, a bold move he had never
regretted as it quickly became apparent the only help he was going to get once
they were on the road was from these strangers.
“Cadwyn go tell Bo I need her,” the
old man ordered the little pigtailed girl.
She nodded and hurried off and Dan’s
heart fell as he realized the old man needed to speak with him alone.
“I am afraid she is gone. Her suffering is over,” Xue said quietly his
eyes filled with compassion.
“No, she can’t be…” Dan said but could
not even manage to rally enough anger to fight the news he had been dreading. His wife had never been strong and if he was
honest she had never recovered completely from the birth of their son. Then uprooting and leaving her childhood home
had brought on a bout of melancholy that had quickly gone to fever. She had collapsed on the train and been
bedridden ever since. It was almost as if she had left them all ready.
“I will tell Zi to come and help with
burial,” Xue said practically.
“Mr. Gallagher come quick they are
arresting Mr. Zi and my brother!” Abe
yelled running up frightened.
“What?” Dan said in amazement. “For what reason?”
Xue shook his head with the resigned
sigh of a man who was no stranger to injustice.
“It seems heading in the same direction is indeed against the law.”
***********************************
Hannibal Heyes reached the mercantile
and for a moment just stood in the doorway feeling like he had run a race and
not just casually crossed the street.
Unsure if they had lost the posse the best thing for them both to do was get supplies and get out of town before
anyone could see them long enough to remember them.
Closing his eyes for a second against
the headache that had been his companion for the last two days he hoped he could
find something in the store to help him heal up or at least feel better. Truth was he needed a comfortable bed and a
week’s sleep, but until they felt sure the posse had given up that wasn’t going
to happen.
Shutting the door he stepped into the
shop and breathed in enjoying the peaceful calm from the busy street and a hint
of a smile escaped as the familiar smells of dill, cinnamon and sawdust greeted
him. If civilization had a scent, this
was it.
The store was a large one with shelves
lined with canned goods next to bolts of cloth and farming equipment. Relieved he had the money he needed to
procure necessary items as well as a few luxuries he got to work filling a
corner of the counter with the items.
He noticed the first little girl when
he stopped at the jars of hard candy and licorice. His mother had often given him licorice to
help when he was ill and he was hoping it might do something he reached in and
laid several strands on the counter.
The girl was only perhaps 6 with long
black hair and almond shaped eyes. Her clothes were plain, but clean designed
to help her fit in and feel less foreign.
However the look a child gets when it spots candy was universal.
“Want a piece?” Heyes asked not that
old that he didn’t remember the longing.
The shop keeper sorting out his purchases
frowned. She was an older blond woman who still had her Dutch accent and a face
marked with a permanent no nonsense scowl brought on by trying to do business
in a town as wild as this one.
“Shoo! Shoo!” the woman said like she
had spotted a stray dog.
The child stared at her terrified.
“She isn’t bothering anyone,” Heyes
told the woman with an annoyed glance and reaching into a jar handed the child
a stick of candy. “Put it on my bill,” he told her disapproving look and then
grinned when suddenly a second smaller girl no more than 3 joined her sister
and looked up at him hopeful.
Laughing he reached in and handed her
a stick as well ignoring the look his partner who had just entered the store
was giving him.
“See those coolies are all the same,”
the woman snapped in disgust at his generosity.
“I think its more children are all the
same,” Heyes told her and turned back to find his audience had grown and was
now even more diverse. Jin, Abe and Cadwyn, having come in search of Bo and the
other children had stopped startled by this stranger’s kindness. All of them looked up at him hopeful and rolling
his eyes he faked a defeated sigh. “Looks
like I’m buying a round for the house,” Heyes surrendered and under her
critical eye he handed over a bag of candy to the children who gasped at such a
treasure.
“I’m so sorry!” a fourth older Asian girl said running up
hair flying behind her. She was no more
than 12, but clearly in charge of the younger children and terrified they had
gotten in trouble.
“They didn’t do anything,” Heyes
smiled.
She stared at him as if his kindness
was more foreign to her than the language she was attempting to master.
“You are most kind!” she said relaxing
slightly and then letting the hint of a smile escape at her sisters’ happy
faces. “They love the sugar sticks too
much! But it is wrong to make strangers
pay for them,” she said reaching into a small drawstring purse hanging around
her neck.
“Nope my treat,” Heyes told her firmly
and giving the children a wink turned back to his purchases and then added,
“And make sure you get one out of it!”
The older girl cocked her head as if
trying to analyze him and then shaking her head as if he were a mystery she
began ushering the children out.
“I don’t know Caddy; I think this
fella would make a great scout too!” Abe
whispered.
“Maybe we can hire him for the
jailbreak and the other fella for the scout,” Cadwyn said practically.
“Where we gonna get all the money for
this?”
Their musings were interrupted as one
of the cowboys off in the corner haggling over a new saddle noticed them.
“Hey Betty you selling chinks now?” a
voice called and Heyes turned his attention to the two cowboys he had noticed
earlier checking out a saddle.
“Let it be Mike,” the woman said
wanting no trouble.
The older girl had frozen in fear,
almost as if she was hoping she could escape notice by not moving. The cowboys laughed and one said something
quietly to his friend and gave her a look that did not bode well if she was
caught alone later and she knew it.
Terrified she quickly pushed the children forward, but her escape was
not fast enough. A large man with all
the markings of a salesman complete with his sample case barreled down the
aisle oblivious to the small figures coming in the opposite direction or just
not caring.
His case swung wide and the smallest
girl would have been knocked down hard had not Heyes caught her and swung her
clear just in time.
The salesman unconcerned continued to
the counter and Heyes setting the child down with a smile followed him up and
tapping him on the shoulder waited until the man turned before decking him.
“Ma’am,” Heyes said to the store owner
and picking up his packages left his money on the counter and stepping over the
unconscious man walked to the door where his partner stood waiting.
Cadwyn paused noting the looks that
passed between then. She should have
known these two were friends!
“That’s him!” Cadwyn whispered as the
group stepped outside to watch the two men walk away.
“Ain’t gonna do much good as a guide
if Wil and your Uncle are in jail!” Abe said worried. Suddenly he felt frightened. Wil was all he had and the sheriff leading
him away had made him feel very alone in the world.
“My Pa will get him out,” Cadwyn said
unaware of how terribly her world had just changed. “Come on lets talk to them before they get
away!”
*************************
“John, Ellie is dead,” Dan Gallagher
said quietly walking up to the man climbing aboard his wagon.
A quiet hush came over the group.
“Sorry to hear that Dan,” John Landers
said with a cough as he picked up the reins.
“Don’t suppose you know anything about
Zi and Wil being arrested?” Gallagher said numb with anger and pain.
“They aren’t my concern,” Landers said
simply.
“They are if they were thinking of
trying to keep up with your group. John
how could you?”
“Move out!” Avis Hartwell whistled riding by and heading
out.
“Good luck to you Dan,” John said
ignoring the stares of his wife Milly.
“But John surely we can help him see
Ellie buried,” Milly whispered.
“You heard the man were moving out.”
“You are gonna need help Mr.
Gallagher,” Maddie said jumping down from the back of the second wagon having
heard it all. “I’ll look after your younglings while you take care of your
wife.”
“Maddie you get back on this here
wagon!” her employer’s shrill voice rang
out. “We ain’t waiting for you!”
“Ain’t asking you to,” Maddie said
calmly.
“Thank you Maddie,” Dan said grateful. “I’d be obliged if you would round up my
children while I have to have a talk with the sheriff.”
**************************
Quickly rounding the corner the two
men sought sanctuary in the alley where Heyes paused and leaned against the
wall of the building beside him and caught his breath.
“What was that about keeping a low
profile?” Kid asked dryly trying to keep his voice light, they were in trouble
and they both knew it.
Heyes groaned disgusted with himself. He hadn’t meant to lose his temper, but the
man forcing him to rescue the little girl had caused him to move in such a way
that had made him wince in agony.
“He made my head hurt,” Heyes mumbled
feeling like an idiot even as he said it.
Kid nodded seeing no need to point out
Heyes could have avoided the action by not coming to the child’s rescue, but he
was in a bad enough mood all ready. “I
got us a room.”
“You really think sticking around is
such a good idea now?” Heyes said dryly.
Kid had to nod, “Maybe not. You want to get a drink before we leave?” Kid
asked knowing it was a bad idea too, but not liking how pale his cousin looked.
Hannibal Heyes stared at this partner; they had been
on the run too long for Heyes not to recognize this offer had been made for him
and him alone. “Since when do I need you to moddle coddle me?”
Kid’s frustration and worry exploded, “Heyes
you look like hell. You haven’t eaten
barely anything for two days and between the shoot out at the stage station and
all that hard riding we just did you just about broke every rule that doctor
gave you about healing up,” he finished in a shout new worry clouding his eyes.
Heyes gave him an indignant look, but
it didn’t have much effect as he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and had to
steady himself by leaning back against the wall.
“Hey mister!”
The two men turned warily at the young
boy’s voice to find the children from the store in front of them, Abe taking
the lead.
“Name is Abraham Nishan, this here is Cadwyn
Gallagher, and Bo, Huan Yue, Jin and Jia Li, they ain’t got last names you can
pronounce.”
“Smith,” eight year old Jin said
boldly picking a name she had heard her uncle thinking of adopting to
compliment his new trade.
“Well its real fine to meet you all,”
Kid said eyeing his partner warily. “But
we need to be moving on…”
“We want to hire you!” Abe said not
budging.
“Hire us?” Heyes said recovering
enough to be amused. “To do what?”
“Break our family out of jail!” Abe said.
“Children!” an old man’s voice said
relieved. “I look everywhere for you. Cadwyn come your father needs you.”
Kid and Heyes glanced at the old
Chinese gentleman gathering the children up like a hen with her chicks.
“They were kind to us grandfather and
helped Jia Li,” the oldest Bo said.
“We hired these men to bust Wil out,” Abe said
proudly.
“Now wait a minute,” Kid said with a
laugh.
“They gave us licorice!” Cadwyn added
to confirm their reasoning.