Truly Yours Historical Collection December 2014

by Susan Page Davis, Paige Winship Dooly, Connie Stevens

  “I can do it,” Sadie said.

  “Good. We’ll put them all out to pasture. That will at least slow them crooks down some.”

  Sadie reached up and gave him a swift hug. “Thank you, Zeke. It’s a good thing they didn’t hear Pax leave.”

  “Godspeed that boy. Now you get the mares one at a time. We’ll get Mr. Harry’s mares out first. Don’t want them stolen. Then your mares and the colts. I’ll see to Star last, and if there’s time we’ll hide all the bridles in the hayloft.”

  They ran back and forth, releasing the horses into the pasture. Sadie led one mare on each trip, but Zeke was able to control two horses at a time, and the barn emptied swiftly. Sadie puffed at the exertion and was grateful she wasn’t wearing the despised corset.

  We’re going to make it, she thought as she released Lily’s five-month-old filly into the fenced field. She wished Tallie could know what they were doing, but there was no time to get word to her now. Sadie hoped her dear servant would take her own advice and not fret.

  She bounded along the path toward the barn door. Zeke had gone in to get Star, the last horse. While he took the aging stallion to the pasture, she would conceal the bridles.

  A glow of light caught her eye, and she stopped in dismay twenty yards from the barn. Dan Mitchell and his friend had come down from the house and had nearly reached the barn door. They each lugged a sack of plunder, and Moe was carrying her father’s rifle.

  Sadie sank into the shadows at the edge of the barn and sent up a quick prayer for guidance. The two men lowered their pillowcases full of loot to the ground outside the door then went inside. She listened intently but didn’t hear anything. Her heart raced as she crept forward. Feeling her way gingerly, she took hold of the first pillowcase and dragged it toward the watering trough then got the second bundle. She didn’t take the time to remove them farther, but the dark shadows concealed them.

  She tiptoed to the doorway and leaned her head past the edge to look inside. Mitchell and Moe had their backs to her. Mitchell was holding the lantern high while Moe aimed the rifle at Zeke.

  Zeke stared at the men in the glare of the lantern. His eyes flickered from one to the other, and for an instant Sadie thought he focused on her then looked back at Moe. He held the lead rope with his left hand, and his right was grasping Star’s halter with a firm grip. The horse fidgeted and snorted then pawed the earthen floor impatiently.

  “Well now, Sergeant Mitchell,” Zeke said. “Were you aimin’ to take a ride this evening? It’s a might late.”

  “What are you doing out here in the dark, Zeke?” Mitchell asked.

  “Just tendin’ this here horse, suh. He was makin’ a ruckus, and I thought I’d put him out in the paddock, or he’d never let me get any sleep.”

  Mitchell looked around at the empty stalls. “Where are the other horses?”

  “They all out to pasture for the night, suh. We let them stay out to graze sometimes when the weather’s good.”

  “Step away from the horse,” Moe said.

  “Oh, no, suh, I couldn’t do that. If I let go of his halter, they’s no tellin’ what this horse will do.”

  Sadie gulped down the fear that rose in her chest. She had the feeling that if Zeke did as told, Moe would shoot him as soon as he was clear of the horse.

  Lord, show me how I can help Zeke! She wondered where the pitchfork was, but it was probably down at the other end of the barn, beyond Zeke, where they usually stored it, along with the other tools and all the harness. She crept through the doorway and flattened herself against the wall.

  “Oh, that horse is a brute, is he?” Mitchell asked.

  “I’ll take him,” Moe said with a laugh.

  Mitchell nodded at Zeke. “Tie him up and throw a saddle on him.”

  “Oh, suh, don’t make me do that. This here’s Mr. Oliver’s special horse, and he never lets anyone else ride him.”

  “Shut up! You fool, you think I don’t know the truth? Your master’s dead, and you’ve been helping the girl keep it quiet so you can go on living here. Got yourself a pretty soft place so long as no one knows about it, don’t you?”

  Zeke’s eyes were wide with fright. “That’s not so, suh.”

  Mitchell smiled. “The way I see it, her brother was the heir, and now he’s dead. Sadie McEwan is paying you and your wife to help her out, and you’re giving her a facade of respectability. If no one finds out she’s alone, she can go on living as she’s accustomed, until she snares a husband.”

  Moe shook his head dolefully. “Too bad she didn’t like you, Dan. Think she’d like me? Maybe we should stay.”

  Mitchell scowled. “No. If we did, Miss McEwan would have the law on us before sunset tomorrow. Time to move along, Moe.”

  Zeke’s eyes narrowed. “If we’re gonna talk plain, mistuh, you’d best think twice before you rob the McEwan family blind.”

  “Oh, you’re going to stop me?”

  “I might.”

  “You’ll do what I tell you,” Mitchell snarled. “Now saddle that horse and fetch me one from the pasture. A fast one, you hear?”

  “I told you, suh—this horse ain’t the one you want to take for a pleasure ride.”

  Sadie knew Zeke was trying to buy time, but she couldn’t think what to do that would help him. In an alcove near the door was a barrel of oats, and on a ledge in the barn wall were several brushes, a tin of salve, and a used horseshoe with several bent nails still dangling from its holes.

  She eased cautiously toward the wall and grasped the horseshoe. She remembered playing a game with Tenley once where they’d tried to throw the horseshoes Ephraim pulled off the carriage horses’ feet into a bucket. She hadn’t been very good at it.

  ❧

  “Mr. Harry! Mr. Harry! Wake up!”

  Harry sat bolt upright in bed. Someone was pounding on the door. In an instant he remembered he was in the attic of the inn in Winchester, Virginia. His next conscious thought was that Pax was screaming for him to open the door.

  “Mr. Harry!”

  “I’m coming!” He grabbed his pants and pulled them on hastily then dashed to unlock the door.

  Pax fell into the room, and Harry caught him.

  “Easy now. No sense busting your noggin. What’s the matter?”

  “The soldier,” Pax panted.

  “Soldier? What soldier?”

  “The one called Mitchell. He’s doing somethin’ bad. My pa heard a gunshot from the house where this soldier is. He sent me to get you. You gotta come, Mr. Harry. We don’t know what he’s doing to my mama and Miss Sadie.”

  Harry stared at him.

  “You telling it straight? Who is this fellow?”

  “We don’t know, suh. He showed up yestiddy, out of nowhere, saying he was a friend of Mr. Tenley.”

  Harry threw his shirt on as he talked and sat down to poke his feet in his boots.

  “I’ll have to get Pepper from the stable, out back of the inn.”

  “No, suh, I done brought Clipper. You take him, and I’ll come along on Pepper. Iffen you don’t mind, suh.”

  “Good plan!” Harry grabbed his hat and wallet and tore down the stairs. He heard Pax behind him, and at the bottom of the second flight of steps, he turned for a moment.

  “Get Mr. Ferguson. Tell him to raise some other men and come out to the farm.”

  “Yes, suh.”

  “Good lad.” Harry ran outside and found the four-year-old stallion fighting the rope that held him fast to the hitching rail in front of the inn. He untied the rope and gathered the reins. Clipper snuffled and stepped away from him. Harry remembered Zeke cautioning him once that Clipper didn’t like to stand still to be mounted. He didn’t like to be switched back of the saddle either, if Harry recalled it right. He took a few precious seconds to calm the stallion and push him up against the edge of the porch then jumped quickly onto his back. Clipper leaped toward the street, and Harry let him tear for home.

  ❧

  “He
re, take this.” Mitchell thrust the lantern toward his partner. Moe took it and reluctantly surrendered the rifle to him. Mitchell stepped closer to Zeke. “All right now, saddle that horse, or I’ll blow your head off.”

  “Yes, suh.” Zeke meekly turned Star toward the back wall of the barn. Sadie knew an iron ring was in a post there. One was closer to the barn door, right beside where she was standing. Zeke was taking Star as far away from the door and her as possible, to delay the thieves’ discovering her presence. As the two ruffians watched Zeke and Star move away from them, Sadie figured it was now or never.

  She swung her arm back and put all her strength into the toss, aiming for the back of Mitchell’s head.

  To her horror she saw the horseshoe fly over Mitchell’s shoulder and beyond him. He and Moe both jumped and stared as the shoe hit Star squarely on the hindquarters.

  The stallion screamed in terror and reared, jerking his head away from Zeke. Zeke lost his grip on the halter, and Star pivoted on his hind feet then lunged toward the barn door with Zeke doing his best to hang on to the lead rope. The horse ran between Mitchell and his friend. Mitchell was jostled so that he stepped backward, flinging the gun upward, but Star’s shoulder slammed into Moe. The big man lost his balance and fell backward to the floor.

  “Run!” Zeke yelled to Sadie, struggling to hold Star back by the rope, but as Moe’s lantern struck the floor the bedding straw of the nearest stall burst into flames, and Sadie shrank into the corner by the oat barrel. Star squealed and turned again, kicking as he wrenched the rope away from Zeke. The horse bolted to the back of the barn once more and stood trembling and pawing the ground.

  “Miss Sadie!” Zeke grabbed her wrist. “Quick now! Get out of here!”

  “No, Zeke! The barn!”

  “We can’t stop it,” he cried. The flames were already engulfing the dry wood of the stall dividers. She knew it might only be seconds before the hayloft above them erupted into a crackling inferno.

  “We can’t leave Star!” She clung to Zeke’s hand.

  Mitchell dashed through the burning straw on the barn floor and past them toward the open door. Sadie choked as the roiling smoke reached her. The stallion’s shriek came to her from beyond the spreading fire.

  Eighteen

  Harry galloped up the lane to the McEwans’ house, praying he would be in time to help. The house was dark, but he saw movement at an upper window, the one he and Zeke had dropped the frame from. A stout figure leaned from the window. The face was dark above a snowy white garment.

  “The barn!”

  “Tallie?” he called.

  “The barn, Mr. Harry! Hurry!”

  Clipper was already fighting him to return to the barn, and Harry let him have his head. As they sped closer to the large structure, he saw the flicker of flames through the doorway, and a wave of smoke hit him.

  Clipper whinnied and reared. As Harry tried to control the stallion, a man came running out the barn door. Harry didn’t stop to think, beyond the certainty that the pale-faced man was not Zeke, and leaped from the saddle onto the fleeing figure.

  He carried the man to the ground with him, and they rolled in the dust of the barnyard, wrestling for control. Harry concentrated on subduing his adversary, but he was also conscious of Clipper snorting and dancing about them and a second man yelling.

  It was only seconds, but it seemed forever before he pinioned the man on the ground. In a glance he saw a huge man pulling Clipper’s head around toward his shoulder and struggling to mount.

  “Harry!”

  He glanced up briefly to see Sadie and Zeke emerging from the barn, through a dense cloud of black smoke. Sadie was coughing as she led out a horse, and Zeke was on the other side, holding a cloth over the stallion’s head.

  “Hey!” Zeke shouted toward the man mounting Clipper. “Don’t do that! Come back here!”

  The man Harry was holding down stirred, and Harry was forced to give all his attention to keeping him prone, but he was aware of Zeke rushing past him and the clatter of hoofbeats growing fainter as Clipper galloped away down the lane.

  Within moments, Zeke was at his side with a short piece of rope.

  “Here, Mr. Harry, let me tie him with this.”

  The prisoner was soon trussed and left lying near the well and water trough.

  “Where’s Sadie?” Harry asked.

  “She puttin’ Star in the paddock. Come on, Mr. Harry. You think we can do anything about that fire?” Zeke’s eyes were bloodshot and streaming tears, and beads of sweat rolled down his face.

  Harry looked toward the barn and shook his head. “We might be able to keep it from spreading to the haystacks and your house.”

  Sadie ran toward them out of the darkness. “The horses are safe. Where are Mitchell and Moe?”

  Zeke grimaced. “Mr. Harry got the sergeant. He’s tied up over there. That big fella jumped on Clipper and streaked it.”

  “We need sacks,” Harry said. Somehow he felt he ought to greet Sadie and apologize for the way he had left, but there was no time for any of that now.

  Sadie cried, “There are two right here. Just dump out the silver. Oh, be careful. I expect my mother’s porcelain figurines are in there, too.”

  Harry and Zeke emptied and soaked the two pillowcases and began to beat out cinders that flew away from the barn. Sadie filled the two buckets that were handy by the water trough.

  “Run to the cabin for more buckets and some blankets,” Zeke told her.

  ❧

  Harry and Zeke battled the flames with all their energy. Harry was exhausted, but he kept going, moving things they could salvage away from the burning building and beating back the small blazes that flared up wherever flaming debris landed.

  He didn’t have time to worry about Sadie but was aware of her running back and forth to the water trough, soaking the wool blankets from Zeke’s cabin for them to use in smothering the small fires and hauling more buckets of water from the well.

  As they struggled to hold their own against the raging blaze, several horses thundered into the yard. At a shout, Harry looked up to see Pastor Richards jumping down from Pepper’s back and Pax clambering down from his perch behind the saddle.

  Nearly a dozen men joined him and Zeke as they renewed their efforts to keep the damage to a minimum. The loft full of hay went up in an inferno that drove them back with its stifling heat. Harry watched in awe as the roof turned crimson and collapsed. The men rushed to stamp out the brands that flew throughout the yard and into the paddock. A few small fires even began in the pasture, and men rushed out there with blankets to smother the flames.

  At last the blaze was confined to devour what remained of the ruined barn. Harry joined the others at the well. Mr. Ferguson, the innkeeper, poured a bucket of cold, clear water over his blackened head and shoulders. Zeke came toward Harry with another bucketful.

  “Here, Mr. Harry. Let me douse you.”

  Harry let him pour the water over him. It felt good. He shook his head and looked toward the blazing embers of the barn. What a waste! But at least the horses were safe.

  ❧

  Sadie stood back and watched with tears in her eyes as the barn roof caved in, throwing sparks and burning splinters many yards into the air. At least there was no wind to carry the fire farther afield. Her father’s old friend, Heinrich Glass-brenner, had arrived with Pax, the pastor, and the other men from town. He had quickly recruited several men to go with him down the nearby path to the river and fill barrels, but it was too late to save anything from the barn.

  Sadie’s throat hurt as she swallowed back the tears.

  Thank You, Lord, she prayed. Thank You for sending all these friends to help!

  And what about Harry? She couldn’t think yet about what his presence meant to her. That was up to him and God.

  “Sadie!”

  She turned in shock and looked toward the upstairs window.

  “Tallie!” Sadie clapped her hand to her mouth. How cou
ld she have forgotten about Tallie?

  She ran into the house and up the stairs to the door of Tenley’s room.

  “Tallie, I don’t have the key! Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, child. Is everyone out there, too?”

  “Yes, I think so, and we got all the horses out. What should I do? The key isn’t on this side.”

  “Send my man in. He’ll know how to get me out of here.”

  Sadie ran down to the yard and found Zeke hauling more buckets of water up out of the well in the barnyard. She reminded him of Tallie’s plight, and he quickly located Harry.

  “Think we ought to bust the door down, Mr. Harry?”

  “Where’s the ruffian who locked it?” Harry asked.

  Zeke pointed toward a hulk near the paddock fence. They had dragged Mitchell out of the way earlier so the men wouldn’t stumble over him when they wet their cloths and filled buckets.

  “He be the one,” Zeke said, “that fella you rassled with.”

  Harry strode over to where Mitchell lay and kicked him, but not nearly as hard as Sadie felt like doing.

  “Hey!” Harry said. “Where’s the key to the room you locked Tallie in?”

  Mitchell blinked up at him. “Leave me alone.”

  Harry grabbed his shirtfront and lifted him a few inches off the grass. “This isn’t a good time to make me angry, mister. Where’s the key?”

  Mitchell was trembling. He looked from Harry over to Sadie. “Don’t let him hit me, Miss McEwan!” His brow furrowed, and he stared at her. “How did you get out?”

  Zeke leaned down close to Mitchell’s face. “God gave her wings, you scoundrel. Now give it up!”

  “This isn’t my fault,” Mitchell screamed as Zeke began rifling his pockets. “I didn’t set that fire! Let me go! I can explain everything.”

  “You’ll have plenty of time to do that later,” Harry said.

  “Here we go!” Zeke straightened and held up the key. He handed it to Sadie. “Tell Tallie I’s proud of her and you, and there’s about a dozen men here that’ll need breakfast once we cool that heap of coals down.”

  Sadie grabbed the key and ran for the house.