His Prairie Duchess

by Kit Morgan

  “Then I’d say that’s exactly where they’ve gone.” Said Mr. Mullmerk.

  “If we head due east we’ll reach them in a couple of hours.” Duncan said.

  “Maybe we should send some men up this part of the ridge to check things out, just in case.” Sheriff Hughes suggested.

  “Good idea, send a few men up. If they don’t find anything, have them return to the Triple C.” Duncan ordered.

  “Will do.” Sheriff Hughes said then called his men.

  Four went up the ridge to check things while the rest headed east. With luck they’d get there in time. And even though the men knew the outlaws wouldn’t kill the women right away, who knew what other horrors they would suffer in the mean time.

  The men pushed on. What hope did the women have until then?

  Sixteen

  “And another thing! You good-for-nothing-low-down-dirty-stinking-scum-bag-cotton-eating imbeciles don’t have any salt! If you want me to cook for you you’d better come up with some decent supplies!”

  The outlaw gang stood in open mouthed shock as Mrs. Dunnigan continued her tirade. A cookpot hung over an open fire. If she thought they were a bunch of imbeciles before, she had no doubt in her mind after what happened next.

  One of them was stupid enough to hand her a ladle to stir the pot. Even the Van Zuyen women cringed when that happened.

  “I can’t make a decent pot roast without salt! What’s the matter with you? Have you all got straw for brains? Why the very idea!”

  Jeb came into the cave. “Will somebody shut her up!”

  His men stood and stared at Mrs. Dunnigan who began to wave the ladle around with her next words. “I’d rather die than make a pot roast without the proper seasonings!”

  Jeb pulled out his gun. “That can be arranged.”

  “NO!” Several of his men cried.

  “What the sam blazes do you mean, no? That wind bag hasn’t shut up since we took the gag off!”

  “But Jeb! You can’t kill her! At least not until after dinner!” One of his men pleaded.

  “No pot roast is worth all this!” Jeb growled and stomped over to the Van Zuyen women. He grabbed Madeline and yanked her to her feet. Trussed up as she was she had to rely on him to hold her up. Jeb held the gun to her head. “Now listen here you cantankerous wind bag! Make that pot roast and be quiet about it or I’m gonna shoot the little lady here!”

  “Unhand her this instant!" Mrs. Dunnigan orderd. "And who are you calling a wind bag you ... you ...THEIF!”

  Jeb’s mouth hung open in shock. He looked at his men. He looked at Mrs. Dunnigan. He even looked at Madeline who could only shrug. He then snapped his mouth shut and glared at the ladle wielding banshee. He snarled, raised his gun, and aimed it at Mrs. Dunnigan. “I’m gonna shoot her.”

  “Not until after dinner!” Several men cried and actually formed a human shield to protect their new found treasure.

  Jeb’s head cocked to one side in disbelief as his mouth once again fell open. “You mean you’re siding with that crochety old crow?”

  “No sir, Jeb. We’d never do that.” One of his men assured him.

  “We ain’t siding with no woman,” another quickly added. “We’re siding with the pot roast!”

  “Oh for the love of...” He shoved Madeline to the ground. “Just cook lady. Don’t talk, just cook. Or I swear I’m gonna shoot somebody. Anybody at this point and that includes you!”

  Mrs. Dunnigan scrunched up her face, narrowed her eyes, and glared at him. “Where’s the salt?”

  “Somebody get this woman some salt.” Jeb barely managed to push out before he left to go check on his other prisoners.

  * * *

  Cozette struggle in her bonds when the men weren’t looking but it was no use. She and Sadie had been taken via the wooden platform hundreds of feet up into another cave. It had been lifted into the other cave through a hole in the upper cave’s floor which was about eight feet across. Anyone who stumbled upon the cave and didn’t know the hole was there would fall to their death, and some probably had over the years.

  The cave obviously had an outside entrance and from what Cozette gathered in watching and listening to several other men busying themselves going in and out, the cave’s entrance was also hidden by a lot of brush and branches. They must be at the top of the ridge.

  It also looked like there was a hole above them, and the rope and pulley system was anchored outside the cave over their heads. Again, should someone be poking about up above and not see the hole, they’d fall through the smaller hole into the upper cave and on through the larger hole to the enormous cavern below.

  Cozette shuddered at the thought and tried to stay very still. She noticed Sadie studying their surroundings and looking at the pulley system above their heads. She must have come to the same conclusions. She too shuddered and tried not to make any unnecessary movement.

  They all remained on the wooden platform for a few moments and waited. For what, the women didn’t know.

  “You have what I wanted?” They heard a distinct English voice ask from the other side of a rock formation.

  Cozette and Sadie both looked at one another. Niether one recognized the voice. Could it be Thackary Holmes?

  “They’re in there, tied up. What do you want me to do with them?”

  Cozette and Sadie did, however, recognize the voice of the gang’s leader, Jeb.

  “Lay a trap. They’re bait. But I will take the one when I leave. I don’t care what you do with the others. Just be sure you kill the males.”

  “You got it. I’ll take my money now if you don’t mind.”

  The women listened to the distinct sound of heavy coins being counted out, then dropped into a bag. “Just be sure you kill all three of them. I’ll not risk any of their line carrying on. I want the Sayer heirs wiped out.”

  “What about the one gal in there? Been married to one of them boys a while now. Good chance she’s carrying a brat at this point.”

  “Hmmm, smart man. You could be right. Do away with her as well.”

  “Sure thing, but not until we’ve had a little fun first if’n you know what I mean. Besides, she owes me a good time.”

  Sadie’s eyes suddenly widened over her gag. She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes.

  Cozette looked about and risked struggling with her bonds. They had to get out of there! But how?

  * * *

  Duncan and his brothers signaled a halt They’d ridden along the tree line for the last two hours and come to the edge of the ridge. At this point the ridge itself became incredibly steep. They’d never get the horses up there. They’d instead have to try to climb up on foot.

  “Where do you think they are? There’s really no place for them to hide beyond this point.” Sheriff Hughes lamented.

  “Fetch me Duprie.” Duncan told the nearest man.

  Within moments Mr. Duprie was there. He dismounted and looked for any signs of the outlaws. “They were here. And they have a wagon. Must be at least six other horses, maybe more. I see tracks over there as well. You were right, they come from different direction.”

  “But where are they?” Harrison asked. “You don’t think they climbed up to the top of the ridge from here with the women on foot do you?”

  Mr. Duprie looked up the ridge. “Too rough and too dark to take women up that. A man could do it, but not a woman.”

  “And they especially aren’t going to be able to drag Mrs. Dunnigan up there.” Colin added.

  “Prescisly,” Harrison agreed. “Which brings us back to my original question. Where are they?”

  “Wait a minute, do you smell that?” Sheriff Hughes asked.

  “Smell what?” Duncan began. “A campfire?”

  Mr. Duprie sniffed the air. “A campfire is not all I smell! I smell meat cooking!”

  The men looked about and lowered their voices. “We’ll split up. Find them! They’ve got to be around here somewhere!” Sheriff Hughes said.

&nb
sp; “Good Heavens!” Colin suddenly blurted. “But that smells like Mrs. Dunnigan’s pot roast!”

  Duncan and Harrison sniffed the air. They then exchanged glances with the Sheriff.

  Sheriff Hughes signaled to the rest of the men to gather round. Once he had everyone’s attention he gave the order. “Ok men, split up. Find that pot roast!”

  * * *

  Duncan, Colin, and Harrison dismounted and slipped in among the trees. The smell of Mrs. Dunnigan’s legendary pot roast was getting stronger by the minute. They had to be practically right on top of the outlaws. But there was still no sign of them. Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Berg crept up to join them.

  “Any luck, lads?” Mr. MacDonald asked in a low voice.

  “None, and you?” Duncan whispered.

  “Nothing. But if my sense o' smell is correct, I’d say the source is coming from over there.”

  The men looked in the likely direction. There was nothing but a wall of brush against an extremley steep incline.

  “Are you all thinking what I’m thinking?” Colin asked.

  “I’d say we bloody well are, brother.” Duncan told him.

  Harrison looked to the ground. “And I say we’ve been so busy trying to sniff out a pot roast we didn’t look for the obvious.” He pointed to the ground. Even in the moonlight they could see the wagon tracks that led straight to the wall of brush.

  “Weel then laddies, that solves the problem o' where they are. Now what?”

  Duncan was about to comment when a woman’s scream suddenly rent the air. But it hadn’t come from behind the wall of brush in front of them. It came from somewhere above them.

  “That sounded like Sadie!” Harrison exclaimed.

  “Bugger!” Duncan cursed. “They do have them up there!”

  Another scream, only this one did come from behind the wall of brush.

  “They’ve split them up.” Colin said.

  “We’ll handle things down here, you lads get up there.” Mr. MacDonald told the three brothers. “Hurry!”

  And they did.

  * * *

  “That’s right, how about another one, sweet heart?” Said Jeb. “Make it a good scream this time so they can hear ya. You make it sound like your’re in a bad way and I’m sure they’ll hurry along.”

  A bound Sadie sat precariously on a simple wooden bench suspended over the huge gaping hole like a swing. And even though there was a makeshift backing made of rope behind her, one wrong move, one slip, and she would surely fall to her death.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked horrified at Jeb and several of his men. They seemed to be enjoying her discomfort immensely.

  One of the men took a pole and pushed on the bench. Sadie screamed in utter horror at the slight movement. The men laughed. Cozette lay bound beside a crate behind them and helplessly watched the men taunt her friend. When they’d reached the upper cave it took a few moments before men came and placed several wide planks of wood across the hole so they could get everyone off the platform. They then slackened the heavy ropes and pushed it away from the hole. There was room on the other side of the hole to lean the platform against the wall of the cave. The bench was then lowered down from above after which the men removed Sadie’s gag and placed her on it. As soon as they had her on the bench and pulled the planks out from beneath her feet to expose the never ending blackness below, she screamed.

  Cozette turned her face away. How horrible! And how helpless she felt! If only she could get free!

  “Now you ladies make yourselve’s comfortable,” Jeb teased. “We’ll be back with some folks just die’n to keep you company.” The men laughed and left the cave.

  Sadie whimpered a moment then looked to Cozette for comfort. “What are we going to do?” She finally choked out.

  Cozette shook her head as she fought against fresh tears. I don’t know!

  Both women suddenly froze as someone entered the cave and hurried around the rock formation into view. “Good God! What’s going on here? Are you all right?”

  Thackary Holmes was the last person either of them expected to come to their rescue. Sadie actually thought she might be seeing things and blinked a few times to clear her vision. But no, there he stood, looking as if he couldn’t decide which one of them to rescue first. “Mr. Holmes! Help us, please! Get me off this thing!”

  “Oh dear me! You poor girl! Right away!” He turned to Cozette. “Oh! And look at you, Miss Duprie! Let me help you!” He got her up on her feet which were still bound, and scooped her up into his arms. “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to safety!”

  “Mr. Holmes!” Sadie cried. “What are you doing? Help me!”

  “One thing at a time, Mrs. Cooke! I must get Miss Duprie out of harm’s way!” He said as he quickly left the cave.

  “Mr. Holmes, what are you doing? Come back here!” Sadie called after him.

  But once gone from the cave, a helpless Cozette in his arms, Thackary Holmes had no intention of going back.

  * * *

  “That’s it, toss your guns over there or I shoot the lady.” A voice hissed from behind. A woman’s helpless whimper followed. Duncan, Colin and Harrison stood frozen in place a brief moment before they complied. They’d climbed up the ridge as fast as they could and just as they reached the top Duncan nearly collapsed. They let him rest a moment then started for what looked like a triangle of logs lashed together on top of a small rise. It was then they were ambushed from behind.

  As soon as their guns hit the ground they were set upon by men who quickly lashed their hands behind their backs. Their captors then spun them around to face their leader. Jeb stood next to a young man who continued to whimper like a frightened girl.

  Duncan rolled his eyes at the sight then closed them, his jaw tight.

  Harrison could only stare.

  Colin’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I can’t believe we bloody well fell for that!”

  Johnny batted his eyes, blew them a kiss, then broke into hysterics. “We got you good!”

  Jeb slapped him on the back. “Good work. Now, let’s finish this.”

  * * *

  Andel Berg was, for the most part, a gentle man. But one thing he couldn’t abide was seeing a helpless female in trouble. And what he saw made his blood boil.

  He crouched behind a rock next to Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Duprie They managed to find the entrance to the cave and sneak in without being seen. The dozen or so men inside were too busy devouring Mrs. Dunnigan’s cooking. But soon they finished and now it was obviously time for dessert. Dessert being the Van Zuyen women.

  “What’ll it be boys?” A man yelled as he pulled the bound women up from the ground. “Prime rib?” He gave Mrs. Van Zuyen a shake. “Or lamb chop?”

  Mrs. Dunnigan looked quickly about as she began to understand the situation. “Stop! You filthy scum aren’t going to touch either one of them!”

  “And why not?” A man next to her drawled. “Are you willing to go first?”

  Mrs. Dunnigan looked at him in shock then teetered a bit as if she were about to faint. But before anyone knew it, she suddenly up and hit the scoundrel with her ladle across the face with enough force to send him sprawling.

  The other men stared at her for a scant second, then looked to their fallen comrade. As one they burst into laughter then went for the Van Zuyen women. They cut their bonds at their feet, dragged them to a corner, threw them each on top of a wooden plank, and lashed them down by the waist. They then leaned the planks against a low rock formation. The men wouldn’t even have to get on the ground to take what they wanted.

  To Mr. Berg and the others, it was obvious the gang had done this sort of thing before and had a system. The men actually formed two lines. One for Mrs. Van Zuyen, and one for her daughter Madeline.

  “Andel, wait.” Mr. MacDonald stopped him before he could jump out from behind the rock. “Ye canna just run out there and open fire. One o' the women might get hurt.”

  “He’s right,” Mr.
Duprie added. “And that’s fourteen guns to our three.”

  “Wait until they start dropping their gun belts, lad, then we’ll take them.” No sooner had Mr. MacDonald said it, the gun belts began to come off.

  One of the first men in line took the gag off of Madeline. “I like it better when they scream.”

  Madeline took one look at him, not to mention the men lined up behind him, and did just that.

  The entire atmosphere in the cave changed. Lust was indeed a powerful force. The rest of the men couldn’t get their gunbelts off fast enough.

  “Seven for you, laddie, and seven for me?” Mr. MacDonald whispered.

  Andel Berg smiled.

  “Mr. Duprie, take care o' the women. Get them out as fast ye can.” Mr. MacDonald told him then quickly glanced at them both. “Ready gentlemen?”

  They nodded.

  “Good. Let’s go!”

  All chaos broke out as the two giants leapt over the rock and uttered the most blood curdling war cries anyone had ever heard. One would swear Mr. Berg was more a viking warrior than a blacksmith. And Mr. MacDonald fought like nothing any of them had ever seen. The two didn’t even pull their guns. Not once. Even Mrs. Dunnigan gaped at the sight (in between clobbering men with her ladle when they came within range of course) and wondered where they had learned to fight like that.

  Mr. Duprie meanwhile, attempted to worm his way through the chaotic mess, kicking gunbelts aside as he did, to get to the women. Several men bent on receiving their just desserts, (literally, as they had cut the Van Zuyen women from the planks and were making off with them) fought to make it to the nearest exit.

  Shots were eventually fired and Mr. Duprie saw Mr. MacDonald take a bullet in the shoulder. He then doubled his efforts to get to the women before the men could make off with them. But one man took Mrs. Van Zuyen down one passage, while two more took young Madeline down another.

  “Mr. Berg!” Duprie cried as he pointed to the passage Madeline had been carried off.

  “Go! Get the wee lassie, man! I’ll take care o’ the rest!” Mr. MacDonald told him as he expertly felled another man with one fist.