“Zack!” I said, speaking softly. “Look! Isn’t that Jester?” I hadn’t forgotten what that man Duke had said about Hatch killing Uncle Nick, and I was afraid if he found us sneaking up on him, he’d kill us too.
We got down off our horses and led them the rest of the way. It was Jester, so we knew Pa must be close by. We tied Snowball and Blue Flame, then kept going on foot. We were on the top of the ridge now, but still hadn’t seen anyone.
The next time a voice shouted out it was so close it made me jump nearly out of my skin. I didn’t know the voice, so it must have been the one Duke called Hatch.
“Ya might as well come on out, Matthews!” he shouted. “Ya got nowhere to hide!”
There was no reply.
“I know ya’s in there, Matthews, ya cheatin’ scum, an’ I mean to fill ya full o’ lead!”
I looked at Zack and he looked at me. Both pairs of our eyes were wide open, but we didn’t dare utter a sound!
We crept forward on tiptoes, inch by inch, trying not to let the dry leaves and twigs crack under our feet.
All of a sudden I tripped, but halfway through my fall I felt a huge pair of arms grab around me. I started to scream, but just as suddenly a great hand clamped itself over my mouth and held it fast.
My heart was beating like a frightened rabbit’s, but I looked up to see myself safe in the loveliest arms I could imagine.
“Pa!” I whispered as he released his hand, motioning for silence with his finger over his mouth.
He looked us over, from one to the other, bewildered, then whispered, “What in tarnation are the two of you doing here?”
“Oh, Pa,” I answered back, “it’s my fault. I had something to tell you that I didn’t think could wait even another day. But now with that man down there trying to shoot Uncle Nick, it doesn’t seem so important now!”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he replied softly, glancing around again down the hill. “That Grizzly Hatch is just crazy enough to kill us all! Now listen to me, the two of you. I want you to go back the way you came. I don’t know what horses you have or how you ever managed to find me out here in the middle of nowhere looking down on Squires Canyon. But I want you to go back and get on them horses and get out of here! If Hatch finds out there’s four of us, he’s likely to get crazier’n ever!”
“Maybe we could help, Pa,” suggested Zack.
“There’s nothing to do, boy! I been here two hours already myself. But he’s got Nick down there trapped in that little cave at the end of the canyon. He may be crazy, but he ain’t stupid. He’s got Nick’s horse, he’s got a full view of the mouth of the cave. Nick can’t make a move Hatch won’t see, but I can’t get a clean sight of Hatch. Now get outta here, I tell you!”
“But, Pa, maybe with four of us . . .” Zack said, letting his voice kinda trail off.
Pa turned toward him, slanting his eyebrows like he does when he’s thinking. Then a slow smile spread over his mouth.
“You may just have something there, Son,” he said after a minute. “You’re right—now there’s four of us! Only Hatch doesn’t know it! If we can make him think it’s still just me and Nick, we might be able to lure him away from that cave opening.”
He stopped, thinking some more, glancing down toward where Hatch was watching the mine, then along the canyon, then back up along the ridge where the three of us sat. “Yeah,” he muttered to himself, “it just might be crazy enough to work! Zack, my boy,” he said, turning to Zack, “we’ll try it! Now—do you think you can shoot my gun?”
“Yes, sir!” said Zack eagerly. “At Grizzly Hatch?”
“No, no! For heaven’s sake, we don’t want to kill anybody! We just want to give him something to think about. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”
Five minutes later, after Pa was done explaining his plan, he stood up. “Now you wait till you hear me throw a rock over in your direction. That’ll be the signal I’m in position up behind the cave. The minute you hear that rock, Zack, you start shooting. But aim right where I showed you! I don’t want you accidently hitting him. We just want him to think we’re firing at him! Then I’ll yell at Hatch and try to get him to leave his position and come after me. At first he won’t believe I’m Nick. But then you gotta call out something from up here. Doesn’t matter what, just make your voice sound low enough to be mine. Say something like, ‘Hey, Nick, how’d you get outta the cave?’ If Nick’ll just keep his fool trap shut till Hatch comes after me, this oughta work! Now, Corrie, when you see him climbing up the other side there—”
He pointed with his finger and I followed with my eyes.
“—when you see him coming after me, you know what to do.”
I nodded.
“But remember, he’s got to only think there’s me and Nick!”
We both nodded our heads, then Pa went back up toward the horses to start making his way around and down the other side of the ridge to the back side of the cave, while we sat and waited. He said it could take him more than half an hour to get in place.
Silently we crouched where we were and waited. It seemed forever, and we never saw or heard anything more from Pa. Hatch yelled and shot at the cave a couple of times, but that was all. Finally we heard a small stone land not far away from us.
I looked at Zack. He looked at me, then he fired Pa’s gun in the direction Pa told him to. Immediately when the echo had died away, we heard Pa’s voice shouting from across the canyon, off to the right and behind the cave.
“Hey, Hatch, ya ol’ buzzard!” he called out. “Thought you could keep me down, did ya? But ya didn’t know that cave had another way out! Nice shootin’ Drum! Give him another one so I can get outta here!”
Zack fired two more shots, then called out, trying to make his voice as deep as he could, “Come on, Nick, let’s get outta here!”
Then for the first time I saw the man Pa had called Grizzly Hatch. He stood up from behind the rock where he’d been crouched. He looked toward the cave, then up in our direction, then back toward where Pa’s voice was still badgering him.
I lay real low so he wouldn’t see me, but I could see him looking back and forth and could tell Pa’s plan had worked. He was getting confused and really thought Pa was Uncle Nick. He was stocky and squat, not particularly tall, though he looked strong. He wore a beard but not a long one like Alkali Jones’—it looked more like he just forgot to shave for a couple of weeks. His hair was dark black and so long it came down over his ears, and he wasn’t wearing a hat. I was too far away to make out much about his features. But even from where I was watching, I was glad I couldn’t see them. He looked mean.
“I’ll join ye directly, Drum!” Pa was shouting. “Just as soon as I work my way ’round the mouth of this canyon. You just keep that ol’ coot Hatch where he is! The old weasel will never catch me!”
Zack fired again.
By this time Grizzly Hatch was downright in a boil, which is just how I figured Pa wanted him so he’d quit thinking about the cave. He didn’t seem too worried about Zack’s shooting in his direction—or maybe he was crazy like everyone said.
All at once he lit out from where he was, ran down the hill shouting out curses in the direction of the cave. It had been so quiet from inside it I began to wonder if something had gone wrong and Uncle Nick had disappeared somehow!
Zack fired again and shouted, “Hey, Hatch, come back here, ya varmint! Look out, Nick, he’s comin’ in your direction!”
Hatch was now scrambling up the other side of the canyon in Pa’s direction, shooting and yelling wildly.
I stood up. Now it was my turn.
“If he comes back, you yell out a warning,” I said to Zack. Then I began making my way down the hill toward the cave from the left, where Hatch couldn’t see me even if he looked back. When I got to the floor of the canyon I looked around. By now I couldn’t even hear anybody else, just an occasional shout in the distance. I ran across the flat ground and up the short incline to the cave on the oth
er side.
“Uncle Nick . . . Uncle Nick!” I said into the black opening as loud as I dared. “You in there?”
All was quiet a moment. Then I heard, “Corrie . . . that you?”
“Yes! Come quick! Pa got the man away from the cave!”
I heard Uncle Nick’s shuffling steps from inside, then he stepped into the light, holding his hand up to his squinting eyes. The sun was just setting behind the ridge and shining right toward us.
“How’d he manage that?” he asked.
“Come on, come on!” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along. “I’ll tell you later. We gotta get outta here before he comes back!”
I ran back down the way I’d come, still trying to keep as quiet as I could, half pulling Uncle Nick behind me. Finally, he broke into a run himself and we made our way back up the hillside to where Zack still sat with Pa’s gun.
“Why, dad-blamed if that don’t beat all!” exclaimed Uncle Nick. “I been busted outta my prison by two kids! You know how to use that thing, Zack, my man?”
“Who do you think was doing all that shooting you heard a minute ago?” I said. “Zack used that gun just fine. But now we gotta get back to the horses to meet Pa!”
Zack and I quickly retraced our steps to where we’d left our horses with Jester. Still bewildered by the events of his sudden rescue, Nick shuffled along behind us, asking where Pa was. But we didn’t stop to answer. I was still afraid of Hatch sneaking up behind us!
In a couple of minutes we reached the horses. We stopped, breathing hard. My panting was only half from running down to the cave and back up the hill. The other half was from still being afraid for Pa. Now he was out there with Grizzly Hatch after him!
It was a terrible wait. Every so often we’d hear an explosion of gunfire or some shouts. Once or twice I heard Pa yell out something too. Then everything was dead quiet for about five minutes.
Suddenly through the brush came a trampling sound making right for us. Without thinking, I grabbed at Uncle Nick and jumped behind him. But almost the next second Pa broke through the trees running toward us as fast as he could.
“Mount up!” he yelled the instant he saw us. “Let’s get outta here!”
“But my horse, Drum! He ran my horse off!” said Uncle Nick, hesitating.
“Dad-blame ya, Nick! It’s your own durn fault! Now get up there on Snowball! Having your skin in one piece is better’n a horse!”
“But that was a new saddle, Drum!”
“Get up there, Nick! Hatch is right behind me! I don’t wanna tell ya again!”
“Snowball? Why, that’s just a kid’s horse!”
“After this little escapade, I ain’t so sure you can handle anything more!” said Pa, clearly irritated. “Zack, you take Blue Flame, Corrie, you get up on Jester with me, and Nick, you get on Snowball!”
We all mounted up, though I could feel Uncle Nick almost pouting as he did, hardly noticing that Pa’d just saved his life by risking his own. Pa jumped up on Jester’s back, then reached down and hauled me up in one quick motion. I held on to the saddle horn as tight as I could, Pa reached around me with his arms, took the reins in one hand and squeezed me tight with the other, dug his heels in, and off we went. Zack on Blue Flame was right behind us, followed by Snowball and Uncle Nick.
As we sped along the ridge, I thought I heard shouts behind us. A couple of gunshots rang out. Pa’d been right. Hatch was right behind us. But dusk was settling in and Hatch was nowhere near his horse. In another minute or two I knew we were safe.
Chapter 12
Around the Campfire
Pa lashed Jester’s rump with the reins and the poor horse galloped for all he was worth.
I was bouncing up and down in front of Pa, and if his arms hadn’t held me in on each side, I’d have wound up off in a ditch. Zack didn’t have any trouble keeping up, but Uncle Nick fell a little ways behind, though Pa still kept pushing as hard as he could go.
Before I knew it we were speeding through a clearing, then we were on a wider road like before, and a small cluster of buildings came into sight. Pa later told me it was Gold Run, but at the time I was hanging on too hard to ask. A few men were standing outside the saloon watching us as we tore past. A couple of them yelled at us, but Pa just kept on going without even slowing down.
Just past the saloon he turned left onto another road, and in less than a minute we were past the little collection of shacks and racing again through the brush and trees and woods.
After about ten more minutes, Pa finally slowed the pace, though he still couldn’t let Jester stop and walk. At last, after another five minutes, he did stop.
By now it was night. The moon was shining on the water as it passed in front of us, but even without the light, I’d have known we had reached a river from the rushing sound.
“This here’s the ford across the North Fork of the American,” Pa said.
Over the sounds of the river, I could hear the heaving of all three horses. “Once Hatch tracks us to Gold Run and them fellas at the saloon tell him which way we was goin’, this is right where he’ll figure we’re headin’.”
“We gonna cross that river, Pa?” asked Zack.
“Naw, but we’re gonna make Hatch think we did. Come on, follow me.”
Pa urged Jester forward toward the water, then stopped. “No, wait. We’ve gotta leave him a clue to find—somethin’ he’ll recognize as ours, somethin’ that’ll make him know we came by here and went on—”
He stopped, thinking, looking around at all of us. Then he said, “Nick, gimme that hat o’ yours.”
“Not my hat, Drum!”
“You got us into this mess! Now do I hafta take it from you, or are you gonna give it to me?”
Silently Uncle Nick took his hat off his head and handed it to Pa. “He’ll know this, all right,” said Pa. “He came near shootin’ a hole clean through it!” He tossed the hat down a couple of feet from the water’s edge, then continued out into the river.
“It’s shallow all the way across,” he said to me. “Even in the dark, these horses won’t have a problem. But we ain’t goin’ all the way across.”
“Why not, Pa?” I asked.
“Cause we’re headin’ south, Corrie. Can’t you tell? Home’s back behind us. But I don’t want that ol’ cuss Hatch findin’ out where our claim is. I heard o’ him for years, and I heard he’s a bad ’un. I don’t think he knows who we are or where we’re from, and I wanna keep it that way! So we’ll make him think we’re headin’ down to Indian Hill, then we’ll double back up by Grass Valley and head home that way.”
We walked the horses twenty feet out into the river, then he pulled Jester’s head around and began leading him downstream to the right. Zack and Uncle Nick followed. Slowly we made our way, following the shoreline, till we were well out of sight of the place where Pa’d thrown Uncle Nick’s hat. Still he kept leading the way down the river for ten more minutes. I could hear louder sounds from the river up ahead when Pa finally turned again toward the bank. “Hear them rapids up ahead, Corrie?” he said. “Time for us to get back on dry land and head back north. I don’t think Hatch can track us now!”
“You really think he’d try to follow us, Pa?”
“Fellas like him don’t forget when they’ve been made a fool of! I still gotta find out from Nick what went on back in Dutch Flat, but yeah, I think Hatch’ll do his blamedest to find us. I don’t doubt he’ll be askin’ around in Dutch Flat an’ Gold Run tonight, an’ it won’t be long before he’s standin’ at that ford back there, cursin’ to himself as he’s holdin’ Nick’s hat, an’ vowin’ revenge. Let’s just hope he’s mad enough to ride across the river an’ just keep on goin’!”
“We gonna ride all the way home tonight, Pa?” I asked.
“From where we are now, Corrie,” he answered, “with no trail to follow for the next three or four miles, in the dark with only half a moon, we’re likely three hours from Miracle.”
“Zack an
d me brought some food, Pa. And blankets.”
“And the young’ uns?”
“They’re with Mrs. Parrish.”
“Then maybe it’d be best for us to find some place to bed down for the night. But we better get up past Grass Valley . . . maybe near Nevada City somewhere. Then we’ll be outta Hatch’s territory.”
We rode on in silence for a while, and I leaned back against Pa’s chest. I felt so safe and protected with him behind me and his arms around me. Even if he had decided to go straight back to Miracle, I could have ridden with him like that forever! By now nothing could have been further from my mind than what had sent me and Zack after Pa in the first place.
A couple of hours later the four of us were sitting around a small fire, munching on the biscuits, dried venison, and apples Zack and I had brought along.
“Wish we had some coffee,” said Uncle Nick.
I half expected Pa to make some sour reply. He hadn’t been any too nice to Nick the whole time, though I suppose he was right about Uncle Nick getting us into the tight spot we’d been in. But once he had the fire going and I pulled out the food we’d brought, Pa seemed to relax a little.
“Yeah, coffee and some o’ them beans ol’ Grimly used to make,” replied Pa. “That’d be ’bout as good as it gets. How that ol’ coot could get so much from a pot o’ beans and an old worn out ham-hock, I could never figure.”
“Them wasn’t all bad times, ya gotta admit—eh Drum?”
Pa half smiled as he stared into the flickering fire. Maybe it was just the dance of the light over his forehead and eyebrows, but a look came over his face that I had never seen before. It was a faraway look. All at once he seemed to be someplace else.
“Yeah, they had some good moments,” said Pa after a spell. His voice sounded the way his eyes looked.
“An’ you recollect his flapjacks?” Uncle Nick went on. “Can’t ya just smell ’em? After a hard afternoon’s riding—”
“Likely runnin’ from a posse!” added Pa with a little laugh, but not taking his eyes off the fire.
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