“I’m sorry, Allie, that part of my life is just way too painful to be sharing just yet,” Cattie’s voice held a tremble in it, confirming Allie’s suspicions. She nodded to the well, seeming confused about something. “Why isn’t that thing gushing like one them geysers out in Palomino Springs?” she asked.
Allie trailed her gaze to the middle of the black patch and nodded too. “It’s called a cap. I can see they have one on it to contain the oil so it doesn’t spill out all over the ground and be wasted.”
At her explanation, Cattie turned from the sight and slumped down with her back against the boulder. Her eyes became suddenly moist and she wouldn’t stop gritting her teeth.
“Catalina, what’s wrong?” Allie asked.
“When them buzzards showed up, I never gave any credence to the possibility they might actually find somethin’. Now, all I can picture is our once beautiful pastures dotted with those drillin’ rig monstrosities. Again, it would actually kill Lijuan if she ever saw that.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Allie acknowledged wishing she could quell the agitation she could see in her new friend.
“I don’t want to talk about it; about what was once OUR land being spoiled,” Cattie exhaled, her gaze dropping downward.
“It’s okay … it’s okay,” Allie told her. “Tell me about your family getting home instead.”
At her request, Cattie’s gaze traveled to the distant horizon, summoning forth the rest of the memories that she had yet to discuss.
“Where was I, dear?” she asked.
“They were all heading out to make the delivery before the sun went down.” Allie provided.
“Right, right. They set out, but not before pickin’ up a last-minute passenger.” Cattie had stopped grinding her teeth now. “Everyone else was frightened off by the notion that Indians were on the warpath, but this girl caught up with them at the last minute, saying she had to get to Carlyle to help midwife the birth of her sister’s baby which was comin’ soon.”
Certain that she was about to hear a newer part of the tale, Allie gently slid to rest her back on the boulder too. She held Cattie’s hand, encouraging her to spill it all.
“The ride went smoothly,” Cattie continued, “until they started going up this windin’ road along the side of one of the canyon walls. Briar Canyon, that is. It was terribly treacherous, but at the time, was the only route to Carlyle Springs. That’s when things went to hell …”
*****
June 1868
The stagecoach carefully travelled the narrow canyon wall, with its precipitous drop to the right heading straight down to the canyon floor. Inside the coach, sitting beside Lijuan and close to the window, Cassandra could see the endless terrain of the canyon land and the brightness of the day just above it. Apart from Lijuan who was beside her in the stagecoach, Katie was straight of them along with an acne-ridden-faced woman who perpetually kept her head down while clutching a bag in front of her.
“Can you believe Honor Elizabeth is riding up front and outside with Mr. Dodge?” Cassandra said to Lijuan in amusement. “Even that won’t get her to put on a hat.”
Lijuan twitched her nose to the side to agree with her. “You know how she is about that hair of hers. Always claiming it’s her best feature. Won’t pin it up or hide it under a hat, but I did convince her to braid it into pigtails once. It was the cutest thing!”
“Well, that’s a start,” Cassandra chuckled, turning to Katie. “Miss Dodge, I do believe my sister has taken a shine to your brother.”
“I can tell he’s sendin’ that shine right back at her!” Katie bubbled with enthusiasm.
Seeing that Katie had no problem whatsoever with the idea, Cassandra nodded and turned back to her sister, “Lijuan, how has it been going in New York? You like the school?”
“It’s a good place. Honor and I have fun there,” Lijuan related to her. “It is very strange for me, though, being the only Oriental there. But I try and get down to Chinatown and spend time there. I am learning a lot about my mother’s land from people who once lived there. Perhaps I will see the place of my birth someday.”
“Perhaps you will,” Cassandra agreed, sincerely hoping it would be true. She was staring at Lijuan rather intently now, noticing the tiny drops on her forehead and the way she had been clutching the window frame for a long time.
“Now, are you all right? The way you have that death grip on that window sill, you’re liable to break it.”
“You know I’m not afraid of anything, excepting maybe heights,” Lijuan murmured, “and we are far and above that canyon floor down here. I hope your brother is a good driver.”
“The best,” Katie replied, smiling.
Lijuan nodded at first, but suddenly, her eyes widened with a thought. “Wait a minute!” her face blossomed with a touch of fright. “You don’t think Honor is driving this thing, do you? It would be just like her to want to. I’m afraid to look!”
Outside, away from the reach of their sight, Honor was indeed holding the reins of the horses. Quillan sat beside her with amusement, apparently seeing for the first time, a woman handling a team of horses like it was household chores.
“Saints above, woman! Where did you learn to handle a team like this?” he cheered.
“My daddy is William Henry Wilde, a circuit judge!” Honor told him with her chin proudly up. “Growing up, I would beg him to let me drive this big ol’ fancy carriage we own. He used to say no until the day his regular driver was sick and had no choice but to let me. From that day, until I went to school, it was me doing his driving. Got a knack for it.”
“I had a feelin’ you were good to your word about that, or else, I never would have let you take over with that thousand foot drop the right,” Quillan cheered once more.
“Because of that drop, I would say all in all, it’s best Lijuan does not know I am driving,” Honor blushed, glancing behind her to be sure her sister wasn’t sticking her head out of the window to see for herself.
Back inside the coach, Cassandra had been able to distract Lijuan from the thought of who might be driving.
“It’s nice to just be able to talk to you, Lijuan,” she was saying. “I know things have been a little touchy between us.”
“I’m the one who made it touchy,” Lijuan admitted with a sigh.
“You know I’ve spent a lifetime apologizing for the way I treated you when Pop came home from China,” Cassandra insisted. “We all thought he was dead and then he shows up with this little baby in tow. I was horrible to you for so long.”
“You know, I forgave you for that. You were just a child yourself. You didn’t know any better,” Lijuan whispered with an unconscious twitch of her eyes. The memories of their childhood weren’t really ones she liked to remember much. She had felt like the family outcast for a while before growing up taught her she was as different as the rest of the family. Like her, most of the Wilde children were half-breeds.
“No excuse for me,” Cassandra, voice was low and wracked with guilt. “Dutch was younger than I was and he welcomed you with such open arms that to this day, there is no coming between you two.” A brief look passed between them before Lijuan’s gaze returned towards the other passengers across from them but not really seeing them.
“David was my big brother. I idolized him just like I idolized you and that’s why it hurt.”
“You know how sorry I am.”
Cassandra held her hand and slightly squeezed to let her know how regretful she was.
“As I said, I forgave you long ago,” Lijuan reiterated.
“So, what is this between us since New York?” Cassandra asked only to be met with a long silence afterward.
“It’s just the stress about Father,” Lijuan finally replied. “Stress brings out the cattiness in me like nobody’s business and you are just such an easy target because you are just so damn perfect all the time.” She finished, her face forming a small smile.
“I’m not as perfect
as you think. I killed a man the day before you came to Philadelphia.”
Cassandra had totally forgotten about the other women in the coach until the one beside Katie gasped out loud to her outburst. Cassandra and Lijuan only took a brief glance at her before they locked eyes with each other once more.
“It was in the line of duty, of course, but it was a very heady experience,” Cassandra explained. “It even made me have that indiscretion with my fellow detective. Something I swore never to do, but ever since it happened, I’m wondering if I should have shot to wound and let him stand trial. His stated goal, however, was to kill me and everyone in the room.”
Lijuan clasped her sister’s hand this time around, smiling warmly at her. “Then you did what you had to do, Cassandra,” she said. “There was certainly nothing else …”
Lijuan was unable to finish her statement as a booming sound beyond the coach got everyone sticking their heads out the window instantly.
“Is that cannon fire?!” Cassandra gasped before she stuck her head out.
“What in the world?!”
Through the other window, Lijuan could see the afternoon sky blossoming with the remnants of just exploded fireworks.
“What was all that?”
Lijuan noticed that Cassandra fell silent inside the carriage just as she stuck her head back in. Recoiling into the carriage, her mouth fell open as she noticed that the other woman in the carriage had the barrel of a pistol screwed into Katie’s ear. She threw the bag she was carrying to the floor, having retrieved the gun from it.
“Miss Abigail, please … what ya doing?” Katie quivered.
Abigail, so that was the peculiar woman’s name, Cassandra thought.
“I was waiting for that signal,” Abigail grunted. “You, the blonde. Toss them six shooters you got strapped to your waist out the window.”
“I’d rather not,” Cassandra frowned. “They were a gift from my uncle, the governor of this here territory.”
Abigail cocked the pistol, frightening an already tensed Katie. “What part of throwin’ them shootin’ irons out didn’t you understand?!” she scowled.
Cassandra, muffling a groan, reluctantly threw them out and glanced back at Abigail with a scowl of her own.
“Empty all your pockets. I want to see if you got any other weapons on ya!” Abigail ordered next. The woman had a look on her face that seemed to say she was amazing herself with her boldness.
Cassandra and Lijuan slowly exchanged looks, but did as she asked. None of them had anything else on them except for Lijuan who had tucked in her belt, the hammer she had earlier thrown at Quillan and Katie’s attacker.
“I was going to ask you: why did you keep that?” Cassandra asked as soon as she pulled it out.
“I told Quillan, since he wouldn’t take money for our tickets, I was keeping it for a souvenir. I liked how it felt when I was throwing it before. Might want to have a go at it again sometime soon,” Lijuan said, glaring at Abigail.
“Shut up you two and drop it out that there window!” Abigail hissed, making sure that the gun was still fixed to Katie’s ear.
Lijuan slowly did as she commanded by sticking her head out the window and looking down briefly before bringing up the hammer and letting it fall.
“Why are you doing this, Miss Abbie?!” Katie was still pleading for answers.
“If I were to wager a guess, I would say it was for money,” Cassandra ventured.
“You’re damn straight!” Abigail yelled chipperly. “Mr. Wendell came up to me earlier and offered me a whole lot of money to do this. What choice did I have? The only job I can get is sweepin’ up hair at the barbershop. With my face, nobody but old man Finney would hire me. I even tried to be a whore once at Miss Lucy’s cat house, but nobody was pickin’ me and when they did, I got sick of hearing about extinguishing the candle.”
“We all have our crosses to bear,” Lijuan huffed, seeing as that wasn’t an excuse.
“Yeah, well, I guess I wasn’t blessed with the figures and the faces you two got,” Abigail hissed back. “Look at ya with that little porcelain doll face, and you, blondie, I bet there isn’t a man in Arizona who wouldn’t try to set a speed record unbucklin’ his belt if it meant layin’ with the likes of you. With this money, I’ll bear my cross somewhere else. Maybe even move over Phoenix way.”
“You’ve made a big mistake,” Cassandra said with conviction.
“I told you all to shut up before!” Abigail yelled at her. “Katie, you tell your brother to be on the lookout for a tree stickin’ out of the canyon wall. You tell him to stop the stage just before it. Understand?”
Katie nodded her head vigorously and quickly shouted the message to Quillan.
“What in tarnation would I do that for?” Quillan yelled back, taking the control from Honor.
“Because Miss Abigail say she gonna blow my brains all over this stage if you don’t!” Katie screamed, failing to remain calm.
Quillan almost put the horses to a halt with the sudden news. He shared an alarmed look with Honor before asking his sister if she knew what she was talking about.
“I don’t understand,” he yelled back.
“Do it or your little sister is dead and the blonde next! By the time I get to the … uh … Japanese bitch, maybe you’ll cooperate!”
“Chinese bitch,” Lijuan grumbled, correcting Abigail.
Abigail bashed her eyelashes at her disgustingly and reiterated her words.
“Chinese bitch, maybe you’ll cooperate!”
“You should really kill me first. That way, it will spare you what I am going to do to you when we get out of this.” Lijuan scowled.
Abigail ignored Lijuan and focused on getting Quillan’s attention. She frowned at a shaking Katie and momentarily pointed the gun out the window, firing a single shot into the air.
“I’m serious here!” she yelled.
Quillan and Honor jerked on the seat as the shot rang out, knowing for sure now that the coach was under attack. Honor pointed to a tree sticking out of the canyon wall a second later, remembering the instruction that Abigail had given.
“There it is,” She guided Quillan.
Quillan immediately nodded his head and brought the stage to a stop a few feet from it. For a while, they thought nothing was happening, but after a second look, they noticed that there was a large wooden door in the cliff face and it was slowly swinging inward. Two men emerged from it, each wearing a mask as the men in the stable had. Honor had a feeling one of them was the same burly man they had fought hours ago. Immediately the men stepped closer and pointed their shotguns at them, Honor and Quillan quickly raised their hands in surrender.
“This what it’s come to? Mr. Wendell robbin’ stages now because he can’t get the business,” Quillan mocked.
“You tell that snake of a boss of yours confidently that there is no payroll on this shipment,” Honor added disdainfully.
“We ain’t robbin’ nobody, boy. You get this stage through that door pronto!” the broad-shouldered man hollered at them.
“What’s going on?” Lijuan yelled from inside the coach.
Honor opened her mouth to yell back, but the other man pointed his gun at her to keep her lips shut.
“We are about to find out,” Honor heard Cassandra reply to Lijuan just as the burly man stepped his horse forward and cocked his shotgun at Quillan.
“You done heard our orders! Get the horses through the door now!” he demanded.
Inhaling short angry breaths, Quillan reluctantly commanded his team to turn and enter the tunnel. The two men instantly rode beside them, making sure that they were doing exactly what they wanted.
“What is this tunnel, Quillan?” Honor’s voice was hushed as she stared at the old and creepy walls.
“Leads to the old Van den Burgh mine. Played out years before the Civil War,” Quillan explained, also glancing around the tunnels. “This entrance has been sealed up for ages, ’til now, it seems. Wendell did a go
od job of disguising that he reopened it. I never saw anything out of order when I would go by here daily.”
Soon enough, the stage emerged out of the tunnel into a large enclosed area that was a circular canyon with only two entrances; one from the tunnel and another to the entrance to the old mine where a buckboard sat parked in the opening.
“Box canyon with only one way out. I’m truly sorry I got you into this, Miss Honor,” Quillan said with a frustrated shake of his head.
“Don’t you worry, Quillan. These bushwhackers we readily handled back at the stable. They may find themselves once again getting more than they bargained for.”
Honor wasn’t sure they had a plan yet, but it was better not to get Quillan dispirited. His eyes twitched encouragingly at her just as he abruptly stopped the horses at the sight Wendell and Maggie climbing down from the buckboard in the shadows of the mouth of the mine.
“But those men got the guns.” he said, the courage lessening in his eyes at the sight of his true enemies.
“And we’ve got Cassandra. She’ll think of some way out of this,” Honor assured him.
“Well, now. It was much cooler waiting for you all to show up inside of the mine, but hey, welcome!” Wendell’s voice was mocking as his drifting eyes stared right ahead even though he had his lips pointed to Quillan as he spoke.
“Dodge, you and your new friend hop down here!” he spat. “Everybody inside of that stage … out NOW!!
Honor and Quillan climbed down just as Katie emerged from inside the coach. Cassandra and Lijuan stepped out afterwards too, looking defiant as Abigail exited last, prodding them along with her pistol she had just re-cocked for emphasis.
“Everybody line up alongside the stage and put your hands in the air.” Maggie screamed behind her husband.
One of the masked men, the burly one, rode by as she yelled, and stopped his horse in front of Honor. His movement was swift and precise. He untied his handkerchief from around his neck, blew into it and then slapped Honor across the face with it, staggering her backward. Lijuan cursed loudly and would have charged towards him had Cassandra not thrown a furious look at her to keep her rooted to where she was. Quillan, on the other hand, stepped forward with a heated frown.
The Wildes of the West 1_The Daughters of Half Breed Haven_Old west fiction of action adventure, romance & western family drama Page 13