by Judith Pella
But as his coach pulled up in front of the Globe, Sam recalled something that propelled him from the vehicle with a light, confident step.
“With God nothing shall be impossible!”
Even at that late hour, the place was still open. He obtained Barnum’s office address, then rushed over to the telegraph office where he dashed off a lengthy signal to Philadelphia.
The reply came two days later, informing him that Mr. Barnum could not be reached because he was vacationing. It was from Barnum’s secretary, a Chester Duncan, who went on to tell Sam that Barnum was no longer accepting cases. He suggested Sam seek other legal counsel and politely offered his best wishes.
Oddly, this negative response in no way dampened Sam’s rising spirits. He doubted his request had ever actually reached Barnum. More than likely the secretary was fielding correspondence and would not bother the attorney with such a message. Moreover, Sam had not really expected a positive response in written form. From the beginning he had suspected it was going to take personal contact to convince a man of Barnum’s stature to consider Deborah’s case. Perhaps it had been a waste of precious time to send the telegraph, but he had felt it necessary to try that avenue before rushing off on a trip that could turn out to be a wild-goose chase. Still, Sam had a sense inside that he was being directed by the hand of God, that seeing that newspaper article in the first place had not been a mere coincidence.
This spiritual assurance, however, made it no easier for him to leave Deborah. He could be away two or three weeks. He had only managed to get a six-week grace period in which to put together an appeal. And that time was steadily slipping away.
He did not even spare the time to visit Deborah in prison before leaving for Philadelphia. Instead, he wrote a letter explaining everything and posted it on the way to the stage depot where he would begin the fifteen hundred mile journey. He also paused long enough to send one more telegram, this to the Wind Rider Ranch.
16
Sam’s two telegrams to the ranch proved to be somewhat ill-timed. The first one had arrived shortly after Griff regained consciousness and had begun to improve.
DEBORAH TRANSFERRED TO COUNTY PRISON STOP STONER AFRAID OF ANOTHER ESCAPE ATTEMPT STOP HAVE MET WITH HOSTILITY HERE SO WILL GO TO AUSTIN TO TRY TO FIND A LAWYER WILLING TO TAKE HER CASE STOP STONER A POWERFUL MAN IN THIS PART OF THE STATE AND HE BLOCKS OUR EVERY MOVE STOP WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED STOP PRAY FOR US END SAM.
Everyone in the family was appalled at the thought of Deborah in some horrible prison. What was even worse, Sam sounded as if he were beaten.
Carolyn broke the stunned silence after the telegram was read. “That does it! I’m going south, and no one’s gonna stop me!”
She had been hinting at this since Griff’s recovery and, so far, had been ignored. Now Griff saw she was through with subtle hints, and he responded with equal force. “You’re plumb crazy, girl!”
“You’d do the same thing if you could, Griff.”
“I ain’t no eighteen-year-old kid, either.”
“Sky, you understand, don’t you?”
Carolyn’s brother had been standing quietly by, observing the explosion between his sister and their foreman. He had no doubt in his mind who would win the debate. He also believed that there was more involved in his sister’s decision than simply supporting their mother. And he, for one, could not dispute any aspect of her reasoning.
Sky nodded and answered in his quiet, thoughtful way. “Griff, you and I are both bound here to the ranch. I promised my mother I would run things, and you are stuck in that bed. Now, if I thought I could do her more good down south, I’d go in a minute. As it is, I think it’s right for Lynnie to go. Besides, we both knew she’d have to go there sooner or later to meet up with those Stoner people. They are her family, too.”
Griff rolled his eyes and shook his head. “There ain’t no use fighting both of you.”
Carolyn smiled triumphantly. “I’ll take two horses so I can travel faster—”
“You ain’t thinking of going alone, are you?” demanded Griff.
“With you down and Slim still in Fort Worth, we sure can’t spare anyone to accompany me. It’s better if I go alone, anyway. If I do get to the Stoner ranch, I’ll be less threatening by myself.”
“More like a sitting duck!”
“You can’t really believe any harm would come to me, Griff. Caleb Stoner is my grandfather. He wouldn’t…well, I think he might actually be pleased to see me. He lost his son nineteen years ago; maybe I’ll be able to make up for that loss a little. Maybe I’ll even be able to soften that heart of his that you seem to think is so hard.”
“All right! But there ain’t no way you are gonna ride all that way alone.”
“You can’t do nothing about it, Griff.”
“Why, if I could get outta this here bed, I’d blister your bottom so’s you couldn’t sit a horse for a week.”
Carolyn suddenly repented of her disrespect. “I’m sorry, Griff. I’m just so worried about Ma, and I feel like I’ll burst if I don’t do something.”
“I know, girl. I feel the same way.”
When Yolanda reproved Carolyn for her foolhardy plan of riding through hundreds of miles of frontier alone, Carolyn finally relented. “That is no way for a lady to travel, señorita. What would your poor mama think? I could never face her if I permitted this thing.”
So Carolyn conceded by booking passage on the train out of Danville. It was going to take longer, but it was better than having everyone hounding her.
Griff stopped his arguing and even began to feel that Carolyn’s decision might be the best way after all. Besides, Sam would be there to help keep the girl in tow.
****
After Carolyn’s departure, Sam’s second ill-timed telegram arrived, informing them of his intention of traveling to Philadelphia to speak to a lawyer.
Griff groaned when he read it. “Now what’s Lynnie gonna do down there all alone! There’s no way to tell Sam.”
“Carolyn can take care of herself,” Sky said.
“You kids think you’re so durned independent!”
“You taught us nearly everything there is to know, Griff.”
“Well, it ain’t enough.” Griff ranted and raved for several more minutes, until suddenly he stopped, a look of satisfaction replacing his earlier chagrin. “I shoulda thought of this before Carolyn left. Staying in bed is killing my brain.”
“Thought of what?”
“I got me a friend at the Stoner place—that is, if he’s still there.”
“That’s incredible, Griff. How could you have managed such a thing since you’ve been trying so hard to keep anonymous?”
“It was a fella Sam and I had a run-in with a couple of years ago. He was on his way to Stoner’s ranch to take a job.” Griff smiled to himself as he recalled the encounter. “He didn’t think nothing of it when Sam asked that he keep mum about our meeting when he got to the ranch. He just figured it had to do with keeping silent about good deeds and all that. Anyway, it was as much to his advantage as to ours.”
“Good deeds?” asked Sky, curiosity piqued.
“It’s a long story. Suffice it to say that I think he’d be more than willing to look out for Carolyn.”
“I doubt Lynnie will like that.”
“Well, she don’t have to know! Now, you just gimmie a pencil and paper. I got a telegram to send. And I want you to get it to Danville as quick as you can.”
17
Carolyn was not in the most pleasant mood after three days on a train that took her east through Fort Worth and south to Waco, followed by a two-day stage ride south and west through Austin. She had been miserable and uncomfortable the entire way. And, to make matters worse, Yolanda had insisted Carolyn wear a dress and look like a lady for the trip. The stage had been especially tedious, packed with several cigar-smoking men who blew smoke in her face and talked incessantly.
In Austin, she spent half a day looking for Sam bef
ore she finally learned he had checked out of his hotel with the intent of traveling east. This puzzled her, but instead of wasting more time on that mystery, she decided to go to the county prison to see her mother.
The prison was most of another day’s ride from Austin. She secured a ride on a freighter’s wagon, and for the hundredth time on this long, arduous journey, she regretted not having ridden Patch from the ranch.
Nevertheless, Carolyn was excited to see her mother. Despite their clashes, during the weeks of their separation she had come to realize just how much she needed her mother’s love and wisdom. And then she chided herself for thinking of her own needs now when her mother was in prison and fighting for her very life.
As Carolyn passed into the visitor’s receiving area of the prison, she determined to do all she could to comfort and uplift her mother.
But when the guard led Carolyn into the locked visiting room and Carolyn first set eyes upon Deborah, all her good intentions fled. She burst into tears and started to run to embrace her.
But the ever-present guard stepped between them and directed Carolyn to a chair on the opposite side of the table from Deborah. Crushed and deflated, Carolyn sat down. She sniffed and tried to wipe away her tears, making a brave attempt to regain her lost resolve.
“It’s all right, Carolyn, dear,” said Deborah in a gentle tone, not revealing any shock at seeing her daughter in this most unlikely place. She reached her hands across the table and Carolyn, with only one hasty glance toward the guard, took them. That contact helped to strengthen her. She took a breath and began to feel calm.
“I had to come,” Carolyn blurted out an answer to the unasked question. “When I heard they’d taken you to a place like this, I just couldn’t sit by idly anymore. Sky would be here, too, but he knew you’d worry about the ranch if he left.”
Carolyn paused to take a dismayed appraisal of her mother. She was looking pale, even after only a couple of weeks in prison. The drab gray prison shift she was wearing didn’t help her color at all. And the way it hung in limp folds around her body—how much weight had she lost since this whole ordeal began? Still there could be no mistaking the essential serenity in Deborah’s eyes, such as Carolyn desperately wanted to find within her own self now.
“You shouldn’t have come,” said Deborah.
“I had to.”
“Well, then let’s leave it at that. I suppose I might have done the same thing in your place.” Deborah paused a moment before asking the question uppermost on her mind. “How’s Griff?”
“He’s as ornery as a mule. The doc says he’s gotta stay in bed a month, but every day he tries to get out. I nearly had to tie him down to keep him from coming with me.”
“I’m so glad to hear that. He’ll be all right then?”
“Oh, sure. Griff’s too tough for anything else.”
Deborah smiled. Her daughter was trying to sound just as tough as Griff.
“And Sky?” asked Deborah.
“You’d be proud of him, Ma, at how well he’s taking care of the ranch. Like I said, he woulda come with me except for his duty to the ranch. Besides, we felt it was more my place.”
“Your place…?”
“Being the oldest and all.”
“And that’s all?”
Carolyn looked away. She had wanted to wait to get into her deepest reasons for coming south. She knew her mother would hurl the same protests at her that Griff had used. Yet, now that she thought of it, how long could she wait? Carolyn had only been able to see her mother today because she had begged and pleaded with the warden on the grounds that she had traveled so far. Normal visitations were once a week, on Sunday, and that was three days away. Carolyn could not afford to waste time that was getting more precious with each passing day. If it meant that she must proceed with her plans like a herd of stampeding cattle, so be it.
She took a breath, then said bluntly, “I’m gonna go to Stoner’s Crossing, Ma, and I’m gonna get to the bottom of all this.” Carolyn did not ask, neither did she insist, but rather she spoke with implacable finality.
Deborah replied with exactly the same tone. “You are not.”
“Don’t make me defy you, Ma, not now. This is something I gotta do, and whether you believe it or not, you need it, too. I think I’ll be able to find out things where no one else—”
“They tried to kill Sam the last time he went to the ranch,” Deborah interjected.
“Ma! Is he all right? Is that why I couldn’t find him in Austin?”
“Yes, he’s all right now.” Deborah briefly explained what had happened to Sam at the ranch, and about his trip to Philadelphia. “Do you see now why you must stay away from Caleb Stoner?”
“I can do this, Ma, I can!” Was she trying to convince herself as well as her mother? “Once they learn who I am—”
“And what makes you think they will believe you?” reasoned Deborah.
That problem had not occurred to Carolyn, but she had an answer for it. “I’ll make them believe. And I will learn the truth.”
Deborah sighed. At that moment Carolyn looked and sounded as much like her father as she ever had. Perhaps she could do this thing, after all.
“Carolyn, they don’t want the truth to come out. That’s why they shot Sam. What do you think will happen to you if they learn you are trying to prove my innocence?”
“I refuse to believe that anyone’s gonna hurt me. Sam was a stranger. I’m…I’m Caleb Stoner’s granddaughter. But if it’ll make you feel any better, I don’t need to tell anyone I’m trying to get you free. I don’t even have to tell them who I really am. Maybe I can just get a job on the ranch and be free to poke around.”
“Carolyn, you don’t understand how it is there.” It was the only argument, lame as it was, that Deborah could use. How could she find words to describe the vindictive and hateful way in which Caleb Stoner had treated her twenty years ago? And even if she made the attempt, would Carolyn believe her? Deborah had felt from the first moment she told her daughter the truth that Carolyn needed to believe the best about her father’s family. Thus, she had watered down the story as much as possible. Maybe the best thing Deborah could do for Carolyn, and for their relationship, was to let Carolyn find out for herself. Besides, how could she stop her? She was locked up in prison, and Carolyn was a headstrong, independent girl. If Deborah forbade her to go, Carolyn would be forced to defy her mother, and Deborah did not want to place her daughter in that position. Moreover, she knew if that happened, it would produce a wall between them that neither of them could afford now.
So, fully realizing she was possibly sending her daughter into danger, she nodded her head in ascent. “All right, Carolyn, I won’t stand in your way. But will you take some advice from me?”
“Oh yes, Ma!”
“Don’t try to deceive Caleb. It will go better for you if you tell him the truth. If he wants proof of your parentage, show him the birthmark on the back of your arm. Your father had one just like it. Of course, that’s not conclusive evidence, but, with everything else, I think he will have to accept who you are. But Carolyn, above all, be careful. There still may be a murderer somewhere out there who will do anything to keep from being discovered. Sam’s not here for you, so please take care!” Her final words were the closest Deborah came to revealing the awful fear in her heart.
“I will, Ma, and I won’t give up until I’ve found the truth and you’re out of here.”
Then she sent a defiant glance toward the guard, and before the woman could do anything to stop her, Carolyn jumped up and ran into her mother’s arms.
“I love you so much, Ma!”
“I love you, dear Carolyn! And I will pray for you every day.”
Mother and daughter kissed and hugged each other one final time before the guard stepped forward and parted them.
Part 5
Carolyn’s Legacy
18
The Crystal Hotel in Stoner’s Crossing was not exactly the kind of pl
ace a respectable young lady would choose to stay. But it was the only hotel in town, and the first floor wasn’t a saloon. Like the rest of the town, it was run down and threadbare, as if its proprietor had little pride of ownership, but at least it was a real hotel with a lobby and front desk.
Carolyn had expected more of the town named after her grandfather. She had heard he was a wealthy rancher and had assumed that with wealth would come a certain opulence. Rich Texas ranchers were by no means noted for their modesty. But this was a town as rough and coarse as any on the Texas frontier where Carolyn had grown up. Stoner’s Crossing sported one long main street that was the center of activity, but there were also a couple of side streets on which were located several frame houses of residents and two or three shops. The main street was lined on both sides with an uneven and ramshackle assortment of buildings.
In a town of about five hundred citizens, including those residents on outlying ranches, there were four saloons and one that was called a cantina. These were rather quiet in the middle of the afternoon when Carolyn arrived by stage, but she had no doubt they’d be lively enough at night. She studiously stayed away from them.
Besides the saloons and the hotel on the main street, there was a general store, a doctor’s office above the store, a Land and Title office, a Cattlemen’s Association Hall at the far end of town, a bank, and a sheriff’s office. These were in connecting buildings on either side of the street, fronted by a foot-high plank sidewalk.
Carolyn took special note of the sheriff’s office and tried to imagine that day long ago when her mother had been led from there to a hastily built gallows. The gallows no longer remained, its wood no doubt finding a place in other construction over the years.
After entering the hotel, Carolyn requested a room. The clerk, a young man of about twenty-five with a pasty complexion and wire spectacles, pushed the register toward her. She hesitated only a moment before she signed: Carolyn Stoner.