by Bobbi Smith
“Come on. Let’s get down below so we can get off as soon as we tie up.”
They hurried down the companionway to the main deck and waited impatiently for the thick ropes to be securely tethered before they left the ship. As some of the men from the steamer joined them, they rushed in the direction of the station. The brush near the shoreline was thick, slowing their progress as they fought their way onward through the pouring rain.
“Hello!” they called as they finally broke through the bushes into the clearing.
Marshall caught sight of the low light in the cabin just as Walter heard the sound of their call.
“Help’s here!” Walter shouted as he ran forth to greet the men who had come to rescue them.
“Walter?” Marshall and George stopped, paralyzed, as they recognized one of their own pilots.
“Mr. Westlake! Thank God you’ve come!” Walter rushed forward to shake their hands and they moved to stand under the protection of a spreading tree.
“So it is the Enterprise…” George looked back at the boat, his expression grave. “Jim…is he…?”
Just as Walter was about to answer, Delight came hurrying out of the cabin. “Marshall! George!” she cried.
“Delight?” Marshall was stunned, and he and George exchanged questioning looks. “What are you doing here?” He turned to take her in a comforting embrace. There was no sign of Jim, and he was dreading the news she was about to give them.
“Oh, Marshall…” She was crying as he hugged her supportively. “It was so terrible…there was the explosion and fire and…”
“Delight,” George interrupted, needing desperately to hear news of his son. “Jim…Where is Jim?”
“He went with Mark…” She faced him and started to explain.
“With Mark? Where?” Marshall pressed.
“After the guerrillas. They attacked the boat just as we were pulling away. There must have been explosives on board or something, but there was a tremendous explosion and then the fire started…”
“And the Rebs…did they get the gold?”
“Yes. That’s why Mark and Jim went after them.”
“Just the two of them?”
She nodded, “There were at least fifteen of the Rebels…I begged him not to go…”
George looked worriedly at his son. “How long ago did they leave?”
“It’s been hours.”
“We’d better track then, before the rain washes out the trail completely,” Marshall said. “How bad are the injuries?”
“Ollie’s the worst. We’ve got him in bed in the cabin. He has a bad head injury. Rose and I…”
“Rose is here with you, too?”
“Yes, we both made the trip with Jim.”
George and Marshall wanted to know the whole story, but right now there was no time. They had to go after Mark and Jim and try to help them.
“How many survivors are there?”
“Eight, not counting Jim and Captain Clayton,” Walter answered.
“I want you all on board Captain Bell’s ship. Walter, you take charge and see that everyone gets back to St. Louis as quickly as possible,” George instructed. “Don’t worry about the cost.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want to see Ollie before we go,” George was saying as he started toward the cabin with Walter, leaving Marshall and Delight alone momentarily.
“Jim was all right?”
“He seemed to be…” She looked up at him. “You’re going after him?”
“Yes.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. But why…? How did you know?”
“We have Martin to thank…”
“Martin?” She almost panicked. “What has he got to do with this?”
“He came to me this morning. He’d overheard some plans being made, and he related everything he’d heard to me.”
“Martin said he’d heard plans about the attack?”
“Yes.” Marshall noticed that she’d paled at the mention of her stepfather’s name. “Why?”
“Didn’t Jim tell you about Martin?”
“What about him?” He suddenly stiffened.
Delight looked up at him nervously. “He’s the reason I ran away in the first place…and he’s the reason why I’m here right now…”
“I don’t understand.”
“Martin tried to force himself on me. After I threatened to reveal his real nature to my mother, I thought it was safe for me to go back, but Wednesday night he tried again.”
“You’re saying he attacked you Wednesday night?”
“Yes. In fact, I barely made it to Jim in time.”
Marshall was totally disgusted. What an accomplished con man Martin was…he actually had had him believing that he was in serious danger. Probably the only danger he was in was from Jim. And here, he’d given him money to get away.
“Then it was all an act. But how would Martin have known about the raid?”
“I don’t know, but I think we’d better find out when we get back.” She was furious as she realized that Martin probably had helped to arrange the attack as revenge against Jim and herself.
“Well, you go with Rose and Ollie…”
Marshall was dismissing her and she would have no part of it. “No.” She stated simply.
Marshall glanced at her quickly, noting the determined look in her eye. “No?”
“I’m going with you.”
“There’s no way…” he began.
“There is a way,” she insisted. “I’ve even found a horse.” She pointed to the mount she had tied to the hitching post. “I’m going.”
“Delight, this chase will be no place for a woman,” Marshall argued.
“If you don’t take me with you, I’ll follow you anyway,” she declared.
“But I’m sure Jim would be happier if he knew that you were safe in St. Louis.”
“Marshall, I’m going along. Jim may need me.”
“No.” He was used to having his orders followed, and Delight’s stubborn nature was new to him. Renee had never openly defied him.
“Marshall.” She glared at him. “Jim and I were married yesterday afternoon in Sainte Genevieve. And I have every intention of helping you find him. Even if I have to follow you on my own.”
“You got married?”
“We did.” Her chin rose as she became even more determined in her efforts. “He is my husband now.”
Marshall hugged her quickly, catching her by surprise. “That’s wonderful. But don’t you think it would be better if you went home…? Stay with Renee. We’ll be back as soon as we can…”
“No.” She said the word with such intensity that he argued no further.
He studied her for a moment before starting off toward the small house. “Let’s see what Father’s doing.”
George was coming out as they mounted the rickety front steps. “He’s still unconscious…they’re going to take him on board now.”
Two of Bell’s men carried Ollie as carefully as they could from the shelter, while Rose dogged their every step.
“Delight. I’m going on ahead with Ollie.” Rose paused briefly.
“Fine. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“What? Get back? From where?”
“I’m going with Marshall to find Jim. You go on, Rose. Ollie needs you.”
“Be careful.” Rose hugged her quickly.
“I will.” She managed a small smile. “Go ahead…” Delight watched her friend hurry after Ollie and then turned back to her new brother and father-in-law.
“Delight’s going with us,” Marshall confirmed as George gave him a strained look.
“We don’t have time to take any women with us…”
“George,” Delight’s firm tone reflected her mood, “I’m going.”
George thought the idea was outrageous and started to say so, when Marshall stopped him. “We don’t have the time to debate this. Delight is Jim’s wife.” He let that statement sink in.
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“You really were married?” George looked at the woman who had just lived through hell this past night and a new respect for her grew.
“Yes, sir.” She smiled at him. “Yesterday.”
“You’re sure you’re feeling up to this…it won’t be easy.”
“Yes, George. I have to go…I can’t just sit and wait.”
“She’s dressed for it,” Marshall supported her. “She has her own horse, and she’s told me she’s going whether we want her to or not. So I suggested we dispense with the arguments and get on the trail.”
“All right,” George finally agreed. “I’ll talk with Bell; you get our horses.”
“Fine. Delight, wait here.”
The two men disappeared back toward the other steamer and were gone for long minutes, leaving Delight to wonder at the wisdom of her decision. She knew they didn’t want her along, but she felt she had no alternative. The thought of going back to St. Louis and waiting in helpless comfort was totally unacceptable. She had to go with them…she had to. Without Jim she had nothing. He was her whole life.
Finally, Marshall and George reappeared on horse back. George waited off to one side, while Marshall approached her.
“Here, put this on.” He handed her a slicker. “I can’t have my new sister-in-law coming down with pneumonia.”
She flashed him a grateful smile and put on the oversized garment. Then without any hesitation, she mounted up. “I’m ready. And I promise, I won’t cause you any trouble.”
“You already have.” He grinned at her, understanding full well how his brother could have fallen in love with her. “But we’ll manage.”
She smiled widely and then reined her horse in line with his. “Let’s go.”
They headed off then, with George in the lead, following Jim and Mark’s trail.
Jed took a swallow from his canteen and walked around the small cave. He was tired of sitting and needed to stretch his legs for a while. They had ridden the entire night and everyone was exhausted. The rains had slowed them, but they had still traveled a goodly distance and were confident that all was well. After posting two men as lookouts, he had told the rest of the men to retire. Now, it was just a matter of keeping the horses rested and in good shape so they could make it to their drop-off point.
Jed paused at the mouth of the cavern and leaned easily against the rocky opening, savoring the peace of the moment. It had been so long since he’d had any real peace. Against his will, his thoughts went over the past three years…three years of unending turmoil during which he’d learned how to hate and how to kill. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he remembered how simple life had been before the war.
And it had been simple for Jed. He’d been happily married; his wife, Emily, had been pregnant with their first child; and he had just bought his own farm in southwest Missouri. Everything had been perfect, until that day when he’d gone out with the one slave he owned to work the fields and they’d attacked…the pro-Union forces had burned his house, and when Emily had tried to fight them off they had killed her, but not before they had used her for their sport. His life had never been the same since that day. He had buried the woman he’d loved and, along with her, his dreams for the future.
He’d had no reason to stay on there for everything he’d cared about was gone. So, he’d sold the land and joined the Confederate army soon after that. Since that time, his days had blended together in a long pro cession of raids and skirmishes in which he’d been neither the victor nor the vanquished. Until tonight…at last he felt he’d accomplished something worthwhile. He knew the gold could make a difference for the South, and he wanted to deliver it to the right people in time for it to do some good.
When the shots rang out, he dropped to his knees and flattened himself against the rocky wall, gun in hand. The men who had been sleeping in the cave were instantly awake and grabbing for their weapons.
“What was it, Col o nel?”
“I don’t know…it might have been one of the guards.” He shifted position to try to get a better look up the path that approached the cave. “I don’t see anyone yet…I’m going out.”
As the men hurriedly gathered up their things and got ready to move, Jed disappeared outside, moving slowly through the surrounding bushes and trees, watching and waiting for some indication of what the trouble had been. When he heard the sound of a horse coming full speed in his direction, Jed jumped behind a fallen tree and took aim, ready to shoot if it was anyone besides one of his own men. The sight of Matt Carson heading his way relieved him considerably, and he rose from his hiding place.
“Lieutenant!” He hailed.
Carson reined in, and then picked his way through the underbrush to his commanding officer’s side.
“What happened?”
“They were following us, sir.”
“Who, for God’s sake? I thought we’d killed them all…”
“Evidently we didn’t, sir.”
“How many?”
“Just two. I shot them both.”
“Good work, Lieutenant. But we’d better ride anyway, just in case there are more coming behind them.”
“Right, sir.”
They headed back to the cave where the men had assembled, ready to travel, and then mounted up and headed south.
Jim and Mark had been riding at top speed since they’d left the station. The pelting, chilling rain had soaked them to the skin, but they paid little attention. The downpour was rapidly washing out the Rebs’ trail, and they knew they couldn’t stop. Any delays in following would probably result in their losing them completely. The hours passed in slow, wet determination as they relentlessly pursued the guerrillas. It was at the first light of day that Mark paused on the bank of an overflowing creek.
“What do you think?” he asked, surveying the muddy trail.
Jim urged his horse up next to Mark’s. “I don’t know. As bad as the weather is, I doubt that we’ve gained on them. But then, they can’t run forever…”
Mark looked around, the silence of the woods grating on his nerves. “I keep thinking that we’re missing something…”
“I don’t think we have. The trail’s not all that fresh. Do you want to rest? We just passed that old abandoned farm house not far back; we can always go there and dry off for a while.”
“No. We can’t afford to stop…not while it’s still raining this hard,” Mark replied, his weariness overcome by his desire to retrieve the gold. “Can you make it? You look like your shoulder’s bothering you.”
“It’s sore, that’s all. I guess from the explosion.” Jim rubbed his aching shoulder. “I’m all right.”
“Let’s go, then.” Worrying that the rain would totally obliterate the tracks, Mark decided to ride on. It was that fateful choice that took them up that last rise and into the sights of Matt Carson’s waiting rifle.
They had no idea they were that close to the Rebels, and they were caught totally by surprise when Matt fired. The sound of the gunshots spooked their mounts, and, as the bullets found their targets, the horses reared. Twisting violently in fright, they plunged off into the underbrush, leaving Jim and Mark sprawled, unconscious, in the mud.
Delight was chilled to the bone. Despite the fact that Marshall had given her both the slicker and his hat, she was drenched. Rivulets of icy water ran down her back, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she followed them along the narrow trail through the still, leafless trees.
They were surrounded by a silence that was broken only by the constant pounding of the rain. In the long hours that they’d been riding, there had been no sign of man or beast. The cloud-enshrouded sun continued its struggle to brighten the Missouri countryside, but the landscape was as desolate as the mood she was in. Spring had not yet renewed the face of the earth. Everything looked dead…the trees, the bushes, the ground, covered as it was by the fallen leaves…and she shivered, hoping that this feeling of death that gripped her wasn’t an omen.
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nbsp; “Marsh!” George’s tone was soft and urgent as he waved for his son to come up beside him. “Look!”
Ahead, standing nervously in a small protected copse of trees, was a horse.
“I’ll get him.” Marshall rode on slowly, taking care not to frighten the already jittery beast. Dismounting, he approached on foot, talking softly to soothe it. With relative ease, he grabbed the reins and rubbed the horse’s wet neck with strong, reassuring strokes. “Come on,” he called, and George and Delight rode forward as he tied the horse to a strong tree limb.
“Well?”
“He’s pretty banged up…looks like he was running out of control through all the brush. There’s…” Marshall stopped as he spotted the bloodstain on the pommel.
“What is it?” Delight asked quickly.
“Blood,” he said. “Do you recognize this as one of the mounts Jim and Mark were riding?”
“I can’t say. It’s possible, but things were so confused last night…”
“It’s not a Union saddle,” George remarked hopefully.
“They used the ones in the stable at the landing,” Delight supplied.
“But it is a Union gun,” Marshall said, pulling the rifle from its scabbard.
They fell silent again as he loosened the reins and walked back to his own horse. “We’ll take him with us, just in case.”
“Just in case of what?” Delight asked innocently.
“In case we find out that he did belong to Mark or Jim.”
They pressed on, constantly on watch now.
Jim opened his eyes slowly. Overhead, the scrawny, naked branches of the trees met in a ghoulish arbor that offered him no protection from the still driving rain. His first instinct was to try to get to safety…but he didn’t move. Fear gripped him. Were they still close, watching him? He had no idea how long he’d been out, so it was impossible for him to know.
Jim waited long, chilling minutes until he was certain that he’d heard no sounds nearby, before finally deciding to make a move. Rolling slowly to his side, he was suddenly assaulted by a searing pain shooting up his left leg. He couldn’t stop the groan that escaped him as he clutched at his thigh and his own blood, hot and sticky, stained his hands.
