by Merry Farmer
A sudden grin played across her lips. She glanced to him. His heart seemed to expand in his chest. He swung closer to her, took her hand, and kissed it as they neared the crest of the hill.
“I’m more worried about finding our way back,” Callie confessed as they slowed.
“Well, if we’re lucky Pete will have sent out a search party and they’ll have torches.”
“And if we’re not lucky?”
He stopped glancing around and looked at her. “Then we spend a long, cold night in the wilderness and head back to the wagon train when the sun comes up.” He slid his arm around her waist and held her close. “But we may have to come up with a few ingenious ways to stay warm through the night.”
She giggled and pressed into him. John had never been so content to be lost in the wilderness, facing the possibility of grave danger.
He was halfway to kissing her when a flicker of light over the next hill caught his eye. He turned toward it, squinting. Judging by her intake of breath, Callie saw it too.
“It’s glowing,” she said, hushed. She huddled closer to him.
“It must be a campfire. What else could it be so far away from civilization?” John wiped his glasses with the back of his hand and tried to focus.
“Indians?” Callie suggested.
John shook his head. “I believe they’re smarter than that. Someone who doesn’t know the wilderness must have lit a fire on the other side of that hill where anyone can see it.”
“It has to be them.” If she had disapproved of the idea of going after the thieves before, Callie’s worries seemed long gone now. “Let’s climb that hill to see if we can get a better view,” she added in an excited whisper.
“If you say so, Mrs. Rye.” He nodded and pulled away from her long enough to tie the horse to the nearest tree.
Once the horse was secure, John took Callie’s hand and started down their hill and across a long, wet field to the hill that hid the fire’s glow. He walked as fast as he could without making significant noise, which wasn’t as fast as he wanted to go. Silence was their only defense, so he tread carefully, keeping an eye out. Only Kyle, Reverend Joseph, and Finch had rode away from the wagons, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have friends lurking in the dark. Although after what he’d seen at the tea party, John didn’t think Finch was part of whatever Kyle and the reverend seemed to be up to.
As they started up the far hill, John motioned for Callie to stay low. The light grew brighter, outlining a few trees in the valley on the other side of the hill. By the time they neared the crest, John had dropped to his hands and knees, Callie with him. They crawled the last few inches on their bellies in the sodden grass to peek over into the light.
A shallow valley with a small clearing between three scrubby stands of trees stood on the other side of the hill. A round fire-pit containing a blazing fire sat in the center. A pot was steaming on a trivet over the fire. Kyle and Reverend Joseph sat on logs on one side, several feet between them, and Finch sat on the other. Callie’s teapot lay discarded beside the fire, its lid wrenched off. Kyle, who sat closest to where John and Callie hid, was squinting over a yellowed piece of paper.
“Is that’s what I saw inside of the teapot?” Callie whispered. John twisted to peek at her. Her eyes glowed as brightly as the campfire.
“How do you even know the bank will honor that scrap?” Finch said as though he was in the middle of making a point.
“It says so. Right here.” Kyle tapped the paper. “Says the bearer of this certificate is the owner of fifteen acres of hill country, including a documented gold mine.”
“Fifteen acres?” Finch scoffed. “That’s nothing.”
“It’s something if it has a mine on it,” Reverend Joseph argued.
John couldn’t see perfectly in the near dark with only the campfire to light the scene, but the reverend had lost his starched collar. Without it, he looked as plain and tough as any miner, as any criminal. An uneasy feeling spread down John’s spine.
“But how do you intend to claim it?” Finch went on. “You think you’re going to be able to just walk into a bank claiming you’re Barney and they’ll believe you?”
“Barney’s deed,” Callie hissed beside John. “Kyle is the one who had it after all.”
“No.” John whispered as softly as he could. “You were.”
“What?” Callie balked, eyes wide.
The trio around the fire froze. Each of them sat up, eyes darting around in the dark. John planted a hand on Callie’s shoulder and pushed her down, hiding his head in the grass of the hill as best he could. For several painful seconds, the night was quiet. John didn’t dare to breathe. If they were caught, there was nothing he could do to protect Callie. Not without his gun.
“Anyhow,” Kyle went on at length, “what do you plan on doing with it if we hand it over to you?”
“Same thing as you,” Finch answered. “Only smarter.”
“What do you mean, smarter?” Reverend Joseph growled.
John let out a breath and relaxed. Callie inched her head up from hiding and stared into the camp.
“I mean that you two enterprising gentlemen need me to pull this off,” Finch answered. Even in the dark, John could see his flashy grin. The fool was trying to charm two criminals.
“Kyle wasn’t stealing the teapot,” Callie whispered by John’s side as she put the pieces together. “He was hiding the deed he stole inside of it.”
John nodded as sparsely as he could. “That’s what I suspect. Pete was bound to find it on them if they held onto it, but—”
“—but no one would look in our things,” Callie finished.
John closed his hand over hers as the argument by the campfire went on.
“What you need is someone to help you,” Finch continued with his argument. “You need someone clean-cut and above reproach to, say, pose as your lawyer, claiming the property for you.”
“But it isn’t ours,” Reverend Joseph said.
“Shut up, idiot,” Kyle snapped. “He means that one of us should still pose as Barney while he pretends to be the lawyer. Don’t you?”
“You’re a smart man, Mr. Sullivan,” Finch said. “And all I ask for my services is a third of the mine.” Kyle and the reverend burst into curses. Finch didn’t seem deterred in the least. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t want a cut? I’m no fool to make my way in the world by grunting and sweating in the dirt. I’m meant for better things, things like this.”
“I knew he couldn’t be trusted,” Callie whispered.
John arched an eyebrow in agreement.
“You give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot you here to silence you,” Kyle demanded, eyes narrowed at Finch.
John’s pulse shot up. If they started fighting in earnest, it could give him an opportunity to rush in and grab Callie’s teapot. Or it could end up with everybody being hurt or killed. He squinted as he studied the camp. Finch wore a gun belt that carried some sort of revolver, but neither Kyle nor the reverend looked to be armed. Kyle held only the deed and the reverend clutched his Bible to his chest, fingering the cover. In the midst of it all, the teapot lay discarded.
“If we could just get them to move away from the fire,” he murmured to Callie, “then we could rescue the teapot and run.”
“We can’t let them make off with Barney’s deed,” Callie whispered her reply.
John rocked to the side to gape at her. “A teapot is one thing, that deed is the whole reason they’re out here. They’ll guard it with their lives and they’ll fight for it.”
“It isn’t theirs,” Callie insisted.
John didn’t know if he wanted to kiss her or scold her into next Sunday. “I won’t risk your life to retrieve a piece of paper. You’re more valuable to me than any mine.”
In the dark, he could barely make out her smile, but he could feel the heat of her body as she pressed into him with an awkward sideways hug. “We have to at least try,” she said. “And I think I have an id
ea.”
Callie could tell by the way John stuck close to her side as they backed down the hill and far enough from the camp to talk that he didn’t like the situation they were in, but he made no move to march her away to safety. Of all things, it warmed her heart. Greg would have done the same thing. She would find ways to thank John for his confidence later, but right now she had a teapot-and-deed rescue mission to plan.
“Did you see where they had their horses tied to the trees?” she spoke softly to John as soon as it was safe. He nodded. “They look far enough out of the light of the campfire that we might be able to sneak in and untie them and make them run.”
“We’re sure to be seen,” John said, rubbing his stubbly chin.
“As soon as we free the horses, we’ll cut back into the shadows. Then, when they scatter to catch the horses, we’ll snatch up the teapot and the deed.”
“The teapot would be simple enough to take if we try that, but Kyle could easily carry the deed with him,” John told her.
Callie bit her lip. He was right. “I suppose we have to take that chance.”
John stepped closer to her, rubbing his hands along the damp fabric sticking to her arms and pulling her close. “Promise me that if we try this, if we try and it doesn’t work, we’ll run, deed or no deed.”
“But it belongs to Barney.”
He dipped forward to kiss her lips lightly. “I love how deeply you care for others, Mrs. Rye, but I care for you far too much to see you at the wrong end of a gun barrel.”
His words warmed her to her soul, and helped her to see just how mad the whole situation was. “All right,” she said. “One chance, one try. We’ll untie the horses and send them running, then we’ll see what happens.”
“And if the plan doesn’t work, head for safety, as fast as you can.”
Callie nodded. She had a feeling she would be doing some running one way or another before the night was done. She grabbed the damp lapels of John’s coat and pulled in for a last kiss before heading off to try their luck at trickery.
Kyle and Reverend Joseph had tied their horses to trees on one side of the camp while Elton had his secured to a bush on the other side. John circled around to the side with two horses while Callie set out to untie Elton’s horse. The conversation around the fire was still going on by the time she looped far around the hill in the darkness and approached from the side.
“You had nothing to do with taking it in the first place,” Kyle was arguing, nearly shouting. “Joe’s the one who picked that old coot’s pocket and I’m the one who got him so drunk he didn’t know his own name. So don’t you go acting like you have any part in this.”
“I was the one who suggested you hide the deed in the Rye’s wagon,” Elton replied.
Callie started. Elton had grown ten times angrier while she and John were away making plans. Callie could see his profile in the firelight as she snuck up to the edge of the camp, twisted and bitter. She didn’t know how anyone saw him as handsome now. She should have known he would be involved in something like this from the start.
“Planting the deed in there nearly cost me my life,” Kyle growled. He still held the deed in his fist and shook it at Elton. “Four-eyes nearly shot my leg off.”
“He only grazed you,” Reverend Joseph muttered.
“Shut up.”
“It was your fault for being stupid about it and trying to rob them upfront,” Elton scoffed. “My plan was to hide the deed for the time being, then rob them blind once we reached the end of the trail.”
Hot fury swirled in Callie’s gut as she reached the bush with Elton’s horse. How dare he even think of stealing from a man as noble and honorable as John? She wished Mr. Evans could hear all of this and take the lot of them into custody.
“Yeah? Well your plan was codswallop.” Kyle spit into the fire.
“Actually, it was a pretty good plan,” Reverend Joseph replied with a glum sigh.
“No one asked you,” Kyle snapped. “You’ve made a piss-poor reverend this whole time. It’s a wonder half the wagon train hasn’t figured out you’re no better than Barney himself.”
“I can read!” The reverend sat straighter, face pink with offense. “And those folks trusted me.”
“No they didn’t,” Kyle snorted. “Anyone with ears knew you weren’t no reverend the second you tried to give a sermon.”
Something about the statement sent a chill of dread down Callie’s spine, but she kept moving. She could have guessed the reverend was a fake if she’d put her mind to it. She could have guessed a lot of things. Now, though, she had other things to put her mind to.
Across the camp, she could just barely make out the shape of John between the other two horses. She swallowed and rushed the last few yards to Elton’s horse, searching for the spot where its lead was tied to the bush. If she could see John, then any of the men at the fire could see him, if they cared to look. That also meant they likely could see her too. Maybe this hadn’t been such a grand idea after all. The best she could do was to fumble with the damp leather of Elton’s horse’s lead and loosen it.
“I’ll give you one last chance to reconsider,” Elton went on.
“Or what?” Kyle balked. He shook his fist with the deed in it. “I’ve got the only thing that matters here.”
“And a fat lot of good it will do you. You think Joe will be able to pass for Barney when he couldn’t even manage playing reverend?”
“I wasn’t so bad,” Joseph muttered.
“I’ll play the part if I have to,” Kyle argued, “and you can go to hell.”
“If I go,” Elton shot back, “I’m taking that deed with me.”
As Callie slipped the knot in the horse’s lead from the branch, Elton launched off of his log. He lunged across the clearing beside the campfire and threw himself at Kyle. Sensing the commotion, Elton’s horse whinnied and stamped, then wheeled around and ran. Callie yelped as it came close to bowling her over.
“What the hell?” Kyle shouted, but whether because Elton grabbed at the deed in his fist or because of Callie’s cry, there was no telling.
Callie stumbled into the light of the campfire as she tried to get away from the horse. Kyle’s eyes flew wide as he spotted her. He skittered out of Elton’s way, and when Elton turned to pursue him, he saw Callie as well.
“You brought her with you?” Joseph shouted. He jumped to his feet, fumbling with his Bible. The cover ripped open, revealing a gun nestled in a hollow space cut from the pages. He grabbed the gun and tossed the Bible aside. “You dirty cheat!”
Elton narrowed his eyes and barked, “Callie?”
Before Callie could panic at being caught, Joseph cocked his gun and fired. The bullet whizzed past Callie’s ear with an evil hum. She screamed and covered her head.
“No!” John shouted from across the camp. The two horses he had been untying jerked and whinnied. John ran out from between them as they bolted, barreling toward Joseph.
“You bastard,” Kyle growled. He threw himself at Elton, pulling the gun out of Elton’s belt and dropping the deed in the process.
Elton was too stunned to stop him. The two of them went tumbling to the ground. Across the camp, John threw a punch at Joseph. Joseph was down an instant later. His gun flew out of his hand, but not before he fired another wild shot.
A third shot split the night as Kyle and Elton grappled over the second gun. Elton held it, but as Kyle scratched and clawed for it, he lost his grip. The gun blasted and Elton shouted. He didn’t stop fighting, though. He held his arm with one hand and kicked at Kyle with the heel of his boot. Kyle roared as Elton smashed his knee. With a second kick, Elton slammed the same knee and managed to nick the gun, sending it spiraling.
Callie dashed forward, grabbing the gun with shaking hands, nearly tripping over her skirt. Kyle and Elton continued to grapple as she skittered on to where her mother’s teapot lay forgotten by the fire. The deed lay crumpled in the mud beside it, so she snatched that up as well,
then ran toward John.
John and Joseph were locked in struggle, rolling through the mud. Joseph reached for John’s throat, but before he could close his hands in a choke, John brought his fist down hard on the crook of Joseph’s elbow. Joseph shouted, then jerked his knee up. John bellowed in pain.
“Stop it!” Callie shouted. She fumbled the teapot and deed in one hand, pointing the gun at the wrestling pair with her other. “Let him go!” Her hand was shaking so badly she wouldn’t have been able to hit a target five feet in front of her.
“Callie,” John grunted, but was stopped from saying more as Joseph took a swing at him.
“Let him go,” Callie yelled.
Joseph either hadn’t heard her or didn’t care. He battled with John, flipping him to his back and closing his hands around John’s throat at last.
“John!” Callie shouted in a panic. She raised the gun and fired it into the air.
Joseph flinched long enough for John to roll away from him. He scrambled to the side, reaching for Joseph’s gun where it had landed a few feet away. The moment he had it, he clambered to his feet.
“One more move and I’ll shoot you,” he warned Joseph, cocking the gun and pointing it at him.
Joseph rose to his knees, covered in mud, pale as the moon. Elton and Kyle continued to struggle behind them. Callie twisted to stand with her back to John’s, teapot clutched to her chest, shaking gun pointed more or less at Elton and Kyle. She debated firing the gun again to get them to stop.
In the end, she didn’t have to. Shouts and thundering rumbled from the other side of the hill she and John had snuck over. They were indistinct at first, but growing louder by the second. John must have heard them too. He kept his gun pointed straight at Joseph’s head, but turned to the hill. Even Joseph heard the noise as it resolved into pounding hoof beats and shouts, and craned his neck to see what was coming.
The faint flicker of torchlight was visible on the far side of the hill for a second before half a dozen mounted men came charging over the hill, led by Pete Evans. They reigned up fast, their horses skittering down the wet hillside, when they saw the scene before them.