Deep Trouble

by Mary Connealy

  “That’s it!” Captain Hance pointed to a grassy stretch that spread out wide and pretty. A soft spot in a hard land.

  Abe Lasley, whose brother was right now supposed to be lining up to marry Buck’s woman, yelled, “Let’s go! We should find Gabe in there.”

  Buck decided then and there he hated Abe Lasley.

  Tyra dropped his hand quickly as if afraid her father would catch them.

  Why would that be so bad? Buck bristled a little while he considered that. Tyra shouldn’t be kissing him if she wasn’t willing to hold his hand right out in front of her father. And she had most certainly kissed him all right. Repeatedly. She was in full cooperation.

  Trudging onward with his huge pack on his back, Buck again brought up the rear so he was the last to see the whole of this meadow. “Where’s the city of gold?” It was pretty clearly not there.

  “Not a huge surprise, really,” Tyra said. “But where’s Gabe?”

  And that was the real question, because if they weren’t here—

  “I ain’t gonna be able to take you to no other cities down here,” Captain Hance said. “ ‘Cuz they ain’t none. This is the only city.”

  “What city?” Buck had to ask, since the meadow was pretty clearly lacking anything even vaguely resembling a city, golden or not.

  “It’ll be a hike, but I’ll show you.” Hance waved his arm to encourage them to follow him.

  “Ghost city,” Tyra whispered to Buck.

  Buck smiled, and Tyra flashed a grin that made his heart beat fast.

  Hance began talking again. “Word was that a huge flood came through here and cut out this canyon with a single swoop. The Havasupai have a legend about it.”

  “Of course they have,” Buck murmured to Tyra, who swallowed a giggle.

  “The world began with two gods and no people. Tochapa was the god of goodness and Hokomata was the god of evil. Tochapa had a daughter named Pu-keh-eh. His plan was for Pu-keh-eh to be the mother of life in the world. Hokomata decided to prevent this by sending a great flood.”

  “There’s no way to get him to round a big rock out here.” Buck was sorely tempted to catch Tyra’s hand and hang on. But it was too open for that. Her father was going to notice right away.

  “Tochapa stepped in to save his daughter by knocking down a great tree and hollowing it out. He put Pu-keh-eh in the hollow, and she survived the flood. When the floodwaters went down, rivers were created and one of them cut down and down into the earth until it created the Grand Canyon.”

  “So what were you going to say about when we get out of the canyon?” Tyra whispered.

  Buck saw the shine in her eyes, and he had a good idea what she hoped he’d say—and she was very much interested.

  “Then, as the legend goes, Pu-keh-eh came out of her log boat and gave birth to two children, who being perfect could marry.”

  The word marry jolted Buck out of his little whispered conversation with Tyra.

  “A brother and sister got married?” Buck asked.

  Hance glared at him as if he’d stomped right on his toes, instead of asking about the fable. “They began the race of the Havasupai.”

  Buck had heard that word before. He was sure of it.

  “And Tochapa told them to stay forever in the bottom of the canyon where the earth was good and the water pure. Tochapa promised there would be plenty for all.”

  “Who was Tochapa again?” Buck asked only Tyra this, afraid Hance would answer by starting his story over.

  “The god of goodness.”

  Smiling, Tyra said, “The flood—that sounds like the Bible.”

  “This is where the first people lived, and they spread far and wide. Some of them left the canyon, but the righteous stayed here.” With a gesture almost as grand as the canyon, Hance pointed to a bluff a mile or more across the sweeping basin. “I found their homes up there. It’s a beauty of a spot. Good defense.”

  Defense against whom? Buck tilted his head a little to take it in. No gold, but someone had lived down here, all the way down here. Why would anyone come into the belly of the earth like this? What sort of people were so bold?

  Hance jammed his fists on his hips and strutted forward, cocky as a rooster. “I’ve counted me fifty rooms or more. Fifty houses, I mean. Some of the houses, you kin make out several rooms.”

  “Who built them?” Buck studied the bluff, excited to climb up the steep edges and see for himself. It was hard to judge the size from down here. Could there have been a town up there? He’d been in plenty of towns on his train ride west that didn’t have fifty buildings.

  “I done tol’ you the legend already.” Hance sounded disgusted.

  “But that’s… that’s… Noah and the ark.”

  “Yep, I reckon these folks have their own names for God, but it sounds mighty like the story of Noah, don’t it?”

  Buck wasn’t sure what to think. Everyone knew Noah and his ark were somewhere around Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. But who could say how this canyon had been formed? He’d seen a lot of rivers. He lived on the Mississippi. And he’d seen bluffs pushed up along the flood plains in many places. He’d gone down the river to New Orleans, and he’d traveled on a ship to New York and gone a ways up the Hudson. He’d seen a lot of things. But he’d never seen anything close to this for grandeur. Believing God had carved this with the Great Flood made as much sense as anything.

  Buck decided he liked the idea.

  Tochapa? God? Did the names a simple, faithful people gave to their stories make them less about God? Buck wasn’t sure, but he liked the idea that God had made Himself known all over the world. The flood was worldwide after all. So, of course there would be a story. He’d let smarter people than him decide about it, but he liked the idea. Having these legends could help people, when they heard about Jesus, accept Him more easily. And no doubt God understood that better than anyone.

  “So, if there ever was a city of gold, the gold is long gone.” Tyra pulled her gloves off, tucked them in her hip pocket, and looked… calm. Like gold didn’t hold much interest to her.

  Another idea Buck decided he liked.

  “So then where’s Gabe?” Tyra asked.

  And that was something Buck didn’t like at all. “Maybe we got here ahead of him.”

  “No.” Hance shook his head. “If he was ahead of us on the trail, he’d be here. And if he didn’t find this trail, we’d’ve met him heading back east. This is the onliest way down the canyon the whole stretch.”

  “That you know of,” Tyra’s father said.

  “I know this whole canyon.” Hance glowered, clearly insulted.

  “No one,” Abe said, squaring off against the crotchety guide, “could ever know this whole canyon. If you told me you’d been exploring it for fifty years, maybe I’d believe you. How long did you say you’ve been here?”

  The man was ancient in his quirkiness but not that old in years. His jaw turned stubborn and his eyes flashed fire. “Long enough.”

  “No, not long enough to know the whole canyon. There could be another way down.”

  “You don’t wanna take my word for what’s in this canyon?” Hance puffed up with outrage.

  Buck wondered if he might start spewing lava out of his ears until he carved another gully out of the canyon.

  “Get by without me then.” Hance stormed off, fists clenched.

  “Hey! Don’t you want to stay and earn your money? I haven’t even paid you yet.”

  The grumpy response made Buck wince. Hance vanished around a curve.

  He looked at Tyra. “Can we get out of here? Did you pay enough attention to the way we came down?”

  “Sure.” Tyra shrugged.

  Buck thought of all the drops they’d climbed down. Could they climb back up? Especially if they weren’t in exactly the right spot?

  “I was watchin’ my trail,” Lucas said gruffly.

  Even a person skilled in the wilderness could get really lost in this place.

&
nbsp; “We’ll make it fine.” Abe turned to the meadow.

  Buck was surrounded by confidence, but he couldn’t even pretend it would be easy to retrace the twisting, turning trail they’d come down.

  “I wonder when my baby brother will come limping in here.” Abe started unloading the pack on his back.

  “I’ll set up camp.” Lucas dropped his pack and pulled on the ropes that bound it together. “I saw deer sign if you wanna go hunting, Abe. I think there might be some fish in that creek over there.” He pointed to a low spot where Buck hadn’t, until now, noticed water.

  “There’s a lot to learn about the West, isn’t there?” he asked Tyra, feeling stupid and weary and worried.

  Smiling so her white teeth showed in her darkly tanned face, she said, “I reckon. Let’s help Abe set up so he can do some fishing. Maybe we can have fresh fish with our midday meal. While he handles that, I’d like to scout around, see if there’s anything on that bluff that looks like there’d once been gold in this place.” Her brows arched. “Or even a city.”

  “How much farther?” Ginger gulped deeply from her canteen.

  Shannon wanted to dive at the woman before all the water was gone. “I don’t know.” Shannon had no canteen, and she’d been allowed a sip of water twice today. And she wasn’t exactly seeing a lot of groundwater to replenish their supplies while Ginger guzzled. But of course she didn’t dive. Too many guns. But the heat was a killing thing. How long could they go on like this, even if the water held out?

  “I thought you had a map.” Ginger took another deep drink. “What good are you if you don’t know nothin’?”

  “It’s hard to tell about distance down here. We’re heading for that green stretch right there.” Shannon’s left arm had settled down to a dull ache that barely penetrated her other miseries, like hunger and constant thirst and the sun bouncing off every rock in a stifling heat. Shannon was starting to understand how a biscuit felt in the oven. And she’d really like a biscuit about now.

  They stretched out single file. Ginger rode in front of Shannon, Lurene ahead of that, Cutter in the lead. Randy Lloyd was behind her, then Gabe, then Darrel. The trail crawled along the side of the canyon, up and down, narrow and sometimes wide. But never a sign of water or grass.

  Shannon’s horse walked with its head drooped down. And these outlaws hadn’t given her a bite to eat since they’d taken her last night, and now the day was waning. She’d beg if she had to, but not yet. For now she just added her growling stomach to her other aches and pains and kept moving. Food was the least of her troubles.

  To Shannon’s surprise, Parson Ford’s fiery black mustang was a well-behaved horse, spirited but not nervous. The parson must really bring out the worst in the little animal.

  Gabe had spent most of the night and an hour or so after sunrise unconscious. He was riding now, his hands tied to his pommel, his horse being led by Randy.

  Lurene hadn’t even threatened to kill Gabe in hours. They were too tired, too hot. It wasn’t worth the effort to work up a temper, especially when Shannon was guiding them straight to where they wanted to go.

  The day wore on and the shadows crept across the canyon floor toward them. Shannon watched those shadows stretch as if they were the saving hand of God, bringing a respite from the heat of this dreadful day. They curved around a canyon and downward, and the shadows of the west wall swallowed them.

  On they went down, now in near dusk. And suddenly a glimpse of green, still gleaming in the sunlight, appeared ahead of them. Her father had made detailed notes of the rock formations, and Shannon knew there could be no mistake.

  Shannon’s horse suddenly raised its head, and its ears perked forward. Shannon heard it before she saw it. Water. A creek flowed ahead, and grass lined the rocky edges of it. This creek was very possibly the one her father had noted in the map she’d found hidden at the rim of the canyon. She’d handed all of it over to Lurene, but Shannon had read it over and over. She had every word memorized. The creek cut into a narrow canyon, and beyond that was an X and the end of this trail.

  “This creek—we need to follow it!” Shannon had a glimmer of excitement, despite the day and their terrible circumstances. She’d found the canyon that edged the creek, leading to the grassy basin her father had marked on the map. Surely this was where they’d find his treasure.

  And then what? Would Lurene shoot her and Gabe down like dogs? Shannon with her arm in a sling, Gabe tied to his saddle?

  All this work to restore her father’s name, and even if she found what she sought, the word would never get out. If anything, her father’s reputation would be tarnished further because his delusions had led to Shannon’s vanishing, never to be seen again. They’d lay that on her father’s head, and her mother would be the first to blame him.

  Shannon wondered if her mother would even grieve or just be annoyed that her plans to marry Shannon into a dynasty were thwarted.

  Lurene turned to look at Shannon, greed glittering in the woman’s eyes.

  Swallowing hard with a throat as dry as cactus, Shannon waited, wondering if Lurene might decide she no longer needed any help.

  The greed in Lurene’s eyes was about more than gold. It was a hunger to hurt someone. Shannon wondered what life Lurene had led that brought her to such an ugly desire.

  “We’ll stop for the night. The horses need a good drink, and so do we.” Cutter rode up to the water and dismounted. He seemed spiritless. As if the heat had baked away all his energy.

  Shannon felt the same, but that look of evil in Lurene’s eyes forced her to keep alert, thinking of a way to escape.

  The whole group had the same idleness about them. The water was their only focus. It was due to this that Shannon ended up beside Gabe. Not asking for permission, she untied his hands. He had to drink, too. He swung down off his horse, and his knees collapsed as he landed.

  “Hey, leave him tied up,” Cutter ordered, but there was no fire behind it.

  “He can’t hurt you. He can barely stand.” Shannon crouched beside him, steadying him to keep him from falling forward onto his face.

  His horse almost stepped on them as it made its way to the water. Shannon’s mustang had waited, ground-tied where she left it, but when Gabe’s horse went on, the mustang went, too. It flickered through Shannon’s mind that the parson had a very gentle, well-trained horse. Why was he so grumpy about the poor animal?

  “Let her take care of him. Why should we have to?” Ginger snipped as she rode her horse eagerly to the water’s edge.

  The Lloyds were right behind her, too thirsty to bother standing guard, let alone help.

  “Let’s get you some water.” Shannon slid an arm around his waist with no idea how she’d get such a large man to his feet. His head was tipped forward as if he bordered on unconsciousness.

  As soon as the Lloyds were well past, Gabe whispered, “I’m not that bad off.” He tilted his head up just slightly so she could see the bright clarity of his eyes. “My hands are numb from being tied up all day. I need to get some feeling back into them. There’s a knife in my boot, but I’m not sure I can hang on to it. I’m going to stay wobbly, hope they don’t think I can do them any harm, which I probably can’t right now. But let’s drink slow, put off the time they tie me back up.” Gabe worked his fingers, opening and closing them, trying to get the feeling back into them.

  “You quit talking over there.” Shannon turned to see Lurene drop to her knees beside where her horse drank from the stream. Though she’d shouted, she had the same careless attitude as the others. The water was too powerful a draw.

  “He can’t stand. Someone help me.” Shannon did her best to sound pathetic. These outlaws seemed happiest when someone was hurting.

  “You want him to have a drink, you figure out how to get him over here.” Lurene cupped the cold, clear water in her hands and drank deeply.

  Shannon’s throat convulsed at the sight, sound, and smell of the rushing creek. “I’m going to help
you up. Lean hard on me.”

  Gabe nodded. “Aim a little upstream of them. I’ll stagger a little. Hopefully they’ll think we had no choice in where we get our drink.”

  “Have you got a plan to get us out of here?” Shannon’s heart began to pound with excitement.

  “No.”

  That calmed her down.

  “But I just want to be ready if a chance comes. I was in the cavalry for most of ten years. I’m not afraid of a fight. And Shannon”—Gabe looked at her, his dark eyes gleaming with regret—”they’re almost surely going to—” His voice faltered.

  “Kill us?” She knew that’s what he didn’t want to say.

  “Yes. Get me up. That young one, he’s watching.”

  Shannon wasn’t sure how Gabe knew that. He didn’t seem to be looking around. Pulling Gabe’s arm around her neck, she was barely able to get to her feet, so heavily did Gabe lean. But not too heavily. Just enough to make it look really good.

  “What’s the matter with him?” Lurene asked. “He’s been awake, riding all day.”

  “I don’t know.” Shannon took a few steps. “He’s probably dizzy from the blow to his head.”

  Gabe stumbled and pulled Shannon sideways from the group. They made their way to the creek with a good amount of space between them and their captors. Shannon lowered Gabe to his knees. He bent to drink and wash his face, and Shannon did the same. She didn’t have to pretend desperate thirst.

  Shannon watched Gabe work his hands under the water, open and close them, massage them briskly while he appeared to be washing. She did her best to block everyone’s view of him so they wouldn’t realize just how alert he was.

  Gabe drank deeply and sluiced water over his head and neck. Only because she was watching him so closely did she notice him reach for his boot, slip a slim knife out, and tuck it up his sleeve. “Maybe I can get my hands loose if they tie me up again.”

  “This narrow canyon leads to the place my father marked. Whatever we find up there, gold or not, they won’t need me any longer. If they’re going to kill us, we’ll find out soon.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Lurene stood from where she’d leaned against a boulder, next to the creek. Her strength was obviously renewed by the rest.