Daughter of Grace

by Michael Phillips

  He shook Pa’s hand, then left.

  The next morning bright and early we all rode to town.

  Everyone wanted to go, and with Buck Krebbs on the loose, Pa was in no mood to argue. He told Katie to keep Tad and Emily with her near the wagon. I guess he figured Zack and I were big enough to take care of ourselves. Uncle Nick stayed with Katie, I went to Mrs. Parrish’s office to see if she’d heard anything, and Pa went to the bank to see Mr. Royce.

  The whole town was abuzz with talk of Becky’s kidnapping. Mrs. Parrish knew everything, and the minute I walked in she ran toward me and embraced me. I told her what Pa was doing.

  A few minutes later I saw Pa through the window walking out of the bank and back toward the wagon. I rushed outside, not even thinking to close the door.

  Pa was walking toward the wagon. Katie was still sitting in it with Tad and Emily. Uncle Nick was on the ground leaning against one of the wagon wheels. Zack was behind the wagon kicking a rock in the dirt. I ran up just as Pa got there.

  He just looked at Uncle Nick and shook his head.

  “What?” exclaimed Uncle Nick.

  “He turned us down,” said Pa. “He laughed in my face. I said, ‘Have you heard about my daughter?’ and he said, ‘I heard something to that effect, and I’m sorry, Hollister, I truly am, but fifty thousand is a huge sum of money.’ I told him we were good for it, and that’s when he laughed.”

  Pa couldn’t help sounding angry. But there was more desperation in his voice than bitterness or hatred.

  “The oily scoundrel’s probably in on the whole thing!” cried Uncle Nick angrily.

  “I thought of that,” said Pa.

  “He’s nothing but a double-dealing snake!”

  “A snake who’s the only one around here with money.”

  “You told him we’d work it off?” asked Uncle Nick, calming a little.

  “Yeah. I even said we’d sign over the mine as collateral for the money. That’s when he laughed again. ‘A hunk of ground for fifty thousand?’ he said. ‘And when the mine plays out a year from now, where does that leave me? No thanks, Hollister. Far too risky an exchange! Look, I’m sorry about your kid. But this is business. And this would be a bad loan, pure and simple. Any banker in the country would turn you down flat.’ That’s when I walked out. I couldn’t listen to another word. But I could feel his gloating eyes on my back. I knew the rascal was smiling inside, getting his revenge on us for spoiling his little scheme last year.”

  Pa was silent. He and Uncle Nick both stared at the ground, trying to decide what to do. I hadn’t noticed at first, but now I saw that Mrs. Parrish had followed me out of her office. She was halfway across the street and coming toward us.

  Pa didn’t see her. All at once he lifted his head and said to Uncle Nick, “Nick, you go over to Rafferty’s. Bring him to the title office. You and me’s gonna sign over a quitclaim on the mine to Krebbs. It’s the only way we’ll ever see Becky again.”

  Without another word, he walked off down the street in the direction of the Miracle Springs Land Office.

  Chapter 35

  The Offer

  The moment Pa headed off, Mrs. Parrish changed her bearing across the street so that she would intercept him. They were only about twenty feet from the wagon when she stopped him.

  “May I have a few words with you, Mr. Hollister?” she said.

  “I’ve gotta get down to the title office, ma’am,” replied Pa, still walking.

  “If you would just spare me a moment or two,” she persisted. “What I have to say may affect your plans.”

  “You know about Becky?” said Pa, stopping and looking directly at Mrs. Parrish.

  “Yes. I know everything. As I came out of my office a moment ago I could not help hearing of your conversation with Mr. Royce.”

  “A skunk!” said Pa.

  “I would not want to disagree with you, Mr. Hollister.” Mrs. Parrish paused a moment. When she continued, her voice was different than I had ever heard it sound before. It almost had a quiver to it. “Perhaps you would allow me to help you.”

  “You, ma’am?”

  “Yes. Please—I want to help. I can’t bear the thought of you giving up the mine.”

  Pa stared at her intently. “Just what is it you aim to do, ma’am?” he asked. “I want you to know I appreciate that you’re fond of my kids, but right now, just how do you figure you can help?”

  “Let me give you the fifty thousand dollars.”

  Pa’s face clearly showed the shock he felt from her words.

  “You . . . you . . . would do that, ma’am?” Pa half-stammered.

  “If only you’ll let me.” Mrs. Parrish was now looking Pa deeply in the eye. “Please, say you’ll let me help, won’t you, Drummond?”

  Pa didn’t know what to say. He looked down at the ground, scuffling in the street with his boot. I knew he was thinking real hard. I couldn’t help remembering what he’d said once when Mrs. Parrish had offered to help one time before: “I ain’t takin’ no handouts from a woman!”

  “I know it would not be an easy thing for you to do,” Mrs. Parrish said. “And there would be no way to keep it quiet. But to save your daughter, and the mine . . .”

  She let Pa finish the thought for himself.

  Finally he looked up, but still said nothing.

  “And for the future of your upcoming marriage!” added Mrs. Parrish. “I’ll not only be doing it for you and your children, but also for your bride.” She glanced toward Katie and the rest of us. “Think of it as my wedding present, just a little early.”

  At last Pa spoke. As he looked at her, his face showed that he’d been conquered.

  “You’ve got that kind of money, ma’am?” he asked quietly.

  “I can get it.”

  “No handout—it’d be a loan?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ll pay you back every cent—with interest!”

  “You just name your terms, Drummond,” she said with a slight smile, “and I’ll satisfy your every request.”

  Pa shook his head and sighed.

  “Then I’ll go along, I reckon,” he said.

  “Fine! You do whatever else you need to and meet me in my office in an hour.” Mrs. Parrish turned and started to walk away.

  Pa stopped her. “Ma’am,” he said, “I really am much obliged to you.”

  She smiled, then crossed the street back to her office, while Pa turned in the direction of Sheriff Rafferty’s office.

  In a few minutes Mrs. Parrish came back out of her office carrying a small parcel of papers. She did not even look across the street where I still stood by the buckboard with Katie and Zack and Tad and Emily. She walked straight to the bank and inside.

  Pa and Uncle Nick didn’t come back for quite a while. Fifteen minutes later Mrs. Parrish walked out of the bank. I had wandered up the walk in that direction, but when she came out she headed straight back to her office without saying a word to anyone.

  After she’d closed the door of the bank behind her, I saw Mr. Royce come to one of the windows, then spread the curtain aside with his hand and watch her as she walked away. He had a gleam in his eye and a horrible look of triumph. Mrs. Parrish wasn’t carrying any papers.

  An hour later Pa came back. He went over to Mrs. Parrish’s—alone.

  After a minute he and Mrs. Parrish came out together. They walked to the bank and inside. Ten minutes later they came out again, Pa carrying a large leather bag.

  Mrs. Parrish went back to her office, and Pa went down to the sheriff’s. When he came out his hands were empty. He came straight to the wagon, called to us, then he jumped up onto the seat. We all piled in. He yelled to the horses and we were off toward home.

  “What do we do now, Pa?” asked Zack.

  “We wait,” said Pa.

  Chapter 36

  The Plan

  We didn’t have to wait long.

  Sheriff Rafferty came riding up in a cloud of dust just about an
hour after noon. “This is it, Drum!” he shouted, dismounting as his own dust overtook him, and running toward Pa with a letter in his hand.

  Immediately everyone swarmed around. Mr. Jones was there now too, both to share the anxious waiting with his friend and to help if he could.

  “A kid rode into town a few minutes ago and delivered this to me,” the sheriff said. “I didn’t know him. Told me he lived down by You Bet. Said a stranger gave him five bucks to ride to Miracle and give this letter to the sheriff. The kid said he said sure, the man gave him five dollars and the letter, then rode off. That’s all the kid knew.”

  Pa took the letter and read it out loud.

  Give this letter to Drum Hollister. It’s fer him.

  Hollister, I hope fer yer kid’s sake you got the loot. Put it in a coupla saddlebags an ride out the trail to Deadman’s Flat over the Chalk Bluff Ridge. Go a quarter mile past Steephollow Creek. There’s a road off left with a sign—To Negro Jacks—stuck to a tree. Behind the tree’s a dead stump, half-hollered out. You throw the saddlebags in there! Don’t try findin’ us cuz we ain’t there. We ain’t nowhere near there, but we’ll get the loot an when we does we’ll let the girl go. If you ain’t got the cash, you sign over yer deed on yer claim to Buchanan J. Krebbs an’ put that in the saddlebags instead. Do what I says, Hollister! Remember the wolves!

  “Well, let’s go!” said Pa. “Where’s the money, Simon?”

  “Hold on just a minute, Drum! Let’s talk this out a spell. There’s still a chance we can figure out where these guys are. We don’t want to give them the money if we don’t have to.”

  “I thought we had all this settled!” snapped Pa. “There ain’t no other way but to do as Krebbs says.”

  “Well, I ain’t so sure,” said the sheriff. “I been thinking while I rode out here—if we could just figure out who’s in it with him—”

  “Somebody’s in it with him for sure,” interrupted Uncle Nick. “Krebbs can’t read or write his own name! He’s the dumbest—”

  “That’s right!” said Pa. “I plumb forgot. He couldn’t have written these two notes.”

  “Barton!” said the sheriff. “He’s had schooling. I’ve run into him a couple of times. Saw him reading a newspaper once. He could have done it. And Hammond saw him the other day, probably watching the school from across the way by Markham’s place.”

  “He must’ve seen Becky going off toward the woods,” I suggested.

  “Barton’s from Dutch Flat,” Mr. Rafferty went on, hardly noticing my idea. “And I know ol’ Negro Jack. His place ain’t four miles from there!”

  “I bet that polecat Hatch is in on it with ’em!” said Uncle Nick.

  “Krebbs always had a way of smelling out the lowlifes around a place,” said Pa. “I don’t doubt but what you’re right, Nick. I’d wager plenty that Dutch Flat’s where they’re holed up.”

  “Okay, now we can’t go riding in there with twenty men,” said Mr. Rafferty. “They’ll kill the girl.”

  “They’ll be hiding her someplace safe,” said Uncle Nick.

  “What’d he mean about wolves?” asked Mr. Jones, speaking for the first time.

  “Oh, nothin’, Alkali,” said Pa. “It was just some threat they made in their first note.”

  “What threat? What’d they say?”

  “They said if we tried anything they’d high-tail it outta there and leave Becky where the wolves’d find her.”

  “And they’s down by Dutch Flat, ya say?”

  “That’s how we got it figured,” answered the sheriff.

  “Well, there’s a pack o’ wolves that’s seen sometimes down jist south o’ there. Ya heard o’ ’em—on Frost Hill.”

  “So if they were hiding her away someplace—” began Mr. Rafferty, but Uncle Nick’s voice cut him off.

  “The cave!” he cried. “They’ve got her in ol’ Hatch’s cave! That’s it, I tell ya, Drum! When that ol’ cuss had me there, I could hear the wail of wolves and he kept tellin’ me he was gonna leave me there to get eaten by ’em.”

  Everyone was quiet, thinking hard.

  Sheriff Rafferty turned and walked away, slowly, looking first at the ground, then up at the sky. It only took him about two or three minutes.

  Suddenly, he spun around and strode back to where the rest of us were standing.

  “I think I’ve got it,” he said. “I think we just might be able to save Becky and keep our hands on the money. Now look here, Drum—just in case they’ve got somebody watching us, you’ll ride out like he says, alone, with the saddlebags and the money. But we’ll follow, about five or ten minutes behind you. You dump the bags, but we’ll keep half our men there. If any of them come to get it, we’ll ambush them. Meanwhile, the rest of us will circle back up across Chalk Bluff Ridge and down on the other side of Dutch Flat. Isn’t that where Frost Hill is, Jones?”

  “Yep. Ya come down off the ridge, across Bear River.”

  “And where’s the cave?”

  “Right there, Squires Canyon.”

  “Okay, we’ll split up, half guarding the money, half circling back behind the cave.”

  “I’m riding to the cave,” said Pa. “She’s my girl.”

  “Fine by me. But you’ll need help,” said the sheriff. “They’ll have a guard, but probably only one or two men. If you and two or three of the boys get the drop on them, you should get her fine. One of you ride back to Miracle with the girl, the others ride back up the ridge to where we’re waiting at Deadman’s Flat. Once the girl’s safe, we’ll send the money back to town, then all the rest of us’ll ride on to Dutch Flat and see if we can smoke out this fella Krebbs.”

  “What if they come for the money and see you there before I’ve got Becky out?” asked Pa.

  “They couldn’t get anyone to the cave before you got there. You’d have a lead on them. And they’ll never figure us to know where they’re hiding her.”

  “That may be,” said Pa seriously. “But if anything goes sour, you give them the dough, you hear?”

  “Fair enough,” said Sheriff Rafferty.

  There was a pause. The men looked around at each other, anxiety and determination on all their faces, as if to say, “Let’s get this done!”

  Finally the sheriff drew in a deep breath and said. “Well, if we’re agreed, I’ll ride into town. Several of the men have already volunteered to help. Nick, Drum, Alkali, you men round up whoever you can on this side of town—Shaw, Hammond, whoever might be willing, I’ll get the money from the safe in my office and be back here with the men in, say, an hour.”

  Pa nodded.

  Just as the sheriff was in the saddle and wheeling his horse back down the road, Pa glanced around.

  “Where’s Zack?” he said.

  “He rode off,” said Emily.

  “Tarnation!” exclaimed Pa. “Which way? Did you see him, Emily?”

  “Over the hill by the mine, I think, Pa.”

  Just then the door opened and Katie walked out.

  “Zack said to wait till you were through to tell you this,” she said. “He said to tell you he went to get Little Wolf, and not to worry about Becky.”

  Chapter 37

  The Ride

  Pa ran to the barn.

  “Blue Flame’s gone!” he yelled.

  He ran back. “Nick, Alkali,” he said, “you round up whoever you can, like Rafferty said. I’m gonna ride after the sheriff and see if I can catch him and tell him to be back sooner’n an hour if he can. Otherwise, I’ll try to cut Zack off across the ridge if those two ride that direction and through Miracle on their way to wherever they’re going. I think I know where!”

  Pa was already mounted and on his way as he was yelling out his instructions. “Fool kids!” he said to himself as he galloped after the sheriff. “Liable to get themselves killed, along with all the rest of us!”

  Within two minutes everyone was gone, and it was just Katie and me and the two younger ones. Suddenly I realized we were alone, and I re
membered the sheriff’s words about wondering if they had someone watching us. Buck Krebbs was sure familiar enough with our place!

  I went inside to show Katie where Pa kept his rifle and I asked her if she knew how to use one. She said she did. Knowing Katie, I wasn’t surprised.

  Mr. Jones got back first. He had Patrick Shaw and his eighteen-year-old son Caleb with him. Uncle Nick was next with two other nearby miners. All the men had rifles.

  Pa and the sheriff came about twenty minutes later. Altogether they brought another six or seven men. Zack wasn’t with them.

  I begged Pa to let me go. I promised to stay behind and out of the way.

  “Not even if you had fifty thousand dollars, Corrie! I got two kids out there already, and that’s two too many.”

  “About the money, Pa,” I said. “I think Mrs. Parrish might have done something awful to get it.”

  He looked down at me from where he sat on his horse, wanting to ask me what I meant but knowing there was no time. Sheriff Rafferty was already explaining the plan to the men.

  “Don’t worry, Corrie. I aim to do my best to get it back.”

  He reined his horse around, joined the others, and after a few last-minute words, Pa took the saddlebags with the money and sped off over the hill to join the trail running east. The sheriff and the men waited about five minutes, then followed.

  The rest of us went inside.

  Everything was still and quiet for three hours. We heard nothing more until we heard a horse outside. It was Little Wolf, alone. The first thing I noticed was the blood on his arm.

  Frantically I ran to him, shouting out questions. And between Little Wolf’s story and the information we got later that night, I found out all that had happened.

  Pa rode east, then south across Washington Ridge, by Fowler Spring and Sailor Flat, over Buckeye Ridge, across Chalk Bluff Ridge and down into Deadman’s Flat. The whole time he was watching out, but never saw a soul. That was about an eight- or nine-mile ride.

  He got there all right, found the Negro Jack sign, and tossed the saddlebags in the hollow stump. He said he didn’t think Krebbs had anybody there yet; they probably didn’t figure Pa’d be so quick getting the money. So Pa sat off to the side and waited, but he didn’t think anybody’d been watching or trailing him either. In ten minutes Sheriff Rafferty came with Uncle Nick and the rest of the men.