Caleb blinked, confused by her words. “’Scuse me?” he said.
Althea took a deep breath. It was so difficult to describe her feelings when things became like this and she was trying to describe something she could only sense.
“It’s hard to explain,” she said, and finally Althea decided that it was best to just try to be as direct as possible about all this. “All I know at the moment is that Joseph is out here somewhere, and he’s in trouble.
Caleb frowned. Well, if this isn’t the oddest thing I’ve ever run into, he thought. I guess the only thing I can do is just do my best with it.
He gave the reins a light slap, and with that they were off. This time Caleb chose a slower pace, and they eased past Joseph and Althea’s ranch.
Inside the stagecoach, Althea gazed longingly at her home, but she knew this was no time to stop or even pause.
Caleb spurred the horse on a bit faster now that he could see the main trail more clearly. Once he was on it he recognized some of the landmarks he used, rock outcroppings and such, which were quite familiar.
But that still left him with the question of where to go. Caleb thought about stopping to talk to Althea again, but it seemed he’d exhausted all the help she would be able to provide.
The trail began to narrow, and once again he slowed the horses, knowing he needed to look for details. Caleb knew a bit about how scouts operated, and about how they thought as well.
But that still didn’t help with his main problem: Where had Joseph been going?
And without that information, finding him would be like locating the proverbial needle in a very large haystack.
He wondered if he should call Althea up to the top of the stagecoach, so they could look together. It might help to have an extra set of eyes, but for the moment Caleb decided to just keep the pace slow enough that he wouldn’t miss anything.
Even if he didn’t have a clue about what he might be looking for.
Then, a few seconds later, he got some unexpected help. Suddenly, without warning, Althea poked her head out the window, and she looked up at him.
“Go right!” she yelled, extending her arm off in that direction.
Caleb pulled at the reins, slowing the horse to a crawl.
“Where?” he asked, yelling down to her.
“There’s a trail along here somewhere,” Althea said, sounding more than a little uncertain.
He rolled his eyes, making sure he was looking straight ahead so she wouldn’t see him when he did.
There’s all kinds of little side trails out here, Caleb thought. I wonder which one she’s talkin’ about.
“I’ll keep an eye out,” he said. “Holler up at me if you see the right one.”
“I will,” Althea yelled, and then her head disappeared back inside the cab of the stagecoach.
She wanted to say more, but Althea didn’t know how to explain it. She had a clear idea in her mind’s eye of what the right trail would look like, including the bluff they would come to just before it became visible.
But Althea knew there was no way she could tell any of this to Caleb, for she knew how crazy it would make her sound.
And on top of that, she was the only one who could actually see the pictures she had in her mind with any kind of detail.
The terrain out here wasn’t exactly varied, and Althea knew it was those details that represented the keys to finding Joseph.
For a moment Althea felt a bit of panic, and she took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Would they really be able to do this?
She thought hard, trying to visualize the trail and add in exactly where it might be. As soon as she did this, though, Althea began laughing at herself.
She knew better than to try to do something like this; as soon as any effort came into it, it was almost guaranteed that she would fail.
Althea turned her attention to the passing scenery, trying to pick out some detail that might give her the pivotal clue. But she knew this wasn’t her strength, either, and finally Althea just sat back in the cab and took several more deep breaths.
Then, suddenly, Althea felt the stagecoach lurch slightly. For an instant it felt like they were about to come to a halt, and a wave of worry hit her.
What if something had happened to the stage? What would they do if they became stranded out here, and what would happen to poor Joseph?
Althea shook her head, trying to put all of that out of her mind. Too many negative thoughts interfered with her ability to sense and see things in her mind. Everything depended on her and her skills, and Althea knew she had to sharpen them as much as possible.
Little did she know, however, that she was completely wrong about that. In fact, she couldn’t have been more wrong about it she’d tried.
Caleb felt the wheel lurch slightly, and he pulled up on the reins. What in tarnation was going on?
Dang, he thought, I just looked at this fool thing this morning. How on earth could something be wrong already? Could I possibly have missed something?
He resisted the urge to look down at the wheel, knowing that might distract him into a possible disaster.
Caleb knew from painful experience that he needed to stay focused on what the horses were doing, so he kept his eyes on the trail.
Then he saw a flash of something else, just for an instant. For a second Caleb thought it might be something glinting off a rock, a burst of sunlight, or something else that had just crossed his field of vision.
Suddenly he decided to follow his instincts, and Caleb slowed the stagecoach even more. They were barely moving now, and he looked for the flash a second time.
And then, he saw it.
In fact, it wasn’t a flash at all. He had seen a glint, but it wasn’t because of the motion of the stage.
Something was lying on the ground, next to and just behind the rock up ahead. And that rock led to a side trail, which Caleb realized instantly must have been what Althea was talking about when she’d yelled about a trail being off to the right.
He looked a second time, and that was when Caleb got a clue about what it might be. But he knew he needed to stop to make sure.
Caleb pulled up on the reins hard, knowing Althea would feel a bit of a jolt for sure. It couldn’t be helped, though; there was no way he was going to let this pass without checking it out.
He jumped down off the top of the stage, not quite waiting until the thing had stopped moving.
His haste almost proved costly; Caleb nearly got clipped by the corner of the stage, and he imagined he’d given poor Althea more than a bit of a fright when he came flying off the top of the thing.
But that wasn’t his primary concern at the moment. Caleb flew toward the spot where he’d seen the flash, knowing that the rocks out here sometimes played tricks on those who came. It wasn’t rare at all to see something unusual, then have it disappear and be able to find it moments later.
As he got closer, though, Caleb quickly realized that what he’d seen wasn’t going anywhere. And it was exactly what he thought it was when he’d first seen it.
Caleb picked up the rifle carefully, examining the butt end, which had been partially covered by some grainy sand. The glint he’d seen had come from the barrel of the thing, most likely, which had been sticking out from behind the rock.
Once he picked it up, Caleb examined it. The first thing he tried to figure out was what kind of shape it was in. The last thing he wanted was to discover a weapon that had been long discarded because it wouldn’t fire or was in a state of ruin.
But this one looked fine. Caleb was just about to start turning it around to give it a better look when Althea came rushing toward him.
She’d hopped out of the stage as soon as she saw what he was doing, and before he knew it Althea was standing next to him.
She watched from a slight distance, and when Althea saw him looking at the rifle she came up to him like she’d been shot out of a cannon.
“That’s Joseph’s,” Althea s
aid, trying to keep the alarm from her voice. “May I see it?”
Caleb nodded. He actually wanted to keep looking it over, for he was sure he had more experience with rifles than Althea, although he couldn’t verify that for certain.
“That makes sense,” he said as he handed it to her. “Doesn’t look like it’s been out here for very long.”
She took it, and as soon as she touched it Althea began to get an idea of what had happened.
“It hasn’t been fired recently,” she said, her voice firm. “I’m sure of it.”
Caleb frowned at her. “How do you know?” he asked, having been just about to try to figure that out.
“Trust me, it hasn’t,” she said, not wanting to take the time to explain how she knew.
Then Althea felt something else as she continued to hold the rifle.
“He’s been here not too long ago,” she added, looking around.
“How do you know that?” Caleb asked, not bothering to disguise how incredulous he felt about her claim.
“I just do,” she said, and then Althea looked around. “He’s close by, too.”
Caleb was going to repeat his question, but at this point he figured it would be a waste of time. He checked out the trail, then looked back at the stage.
“Well, we’ll never get the stage down this narrow thing,” he said. “We could take the horse if you want.”
She thought about his question for a few seconds, and then Althea shook her head.
“No,” she said definitively, and Caleb wondered how she could be so sure about not wanting to do that. “He’s close by.”
Althea looked down the narrow trail, which turned off after about ten yards or so. “Down that way,” she said. “We’ll go by foot.”
Caleb nodded, and a half dozen questions quickly occurred to him. Before he could ask any of them, though, Althea handed him the rifle.
“Here, you take this,” she directed. “I’m sure you have more experience with it than I do.”
He shook his head and smiled, not at all certain that was the case. Caleb had very little experience with rifles, but he was more than happy to carry the thing just to have it along.
“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “But we should definitely have it with us.”
“I agree,” Althea said, and then she quickly turned. “This way. And we need to hurry.”
Once again Caleb wanted to ask why, but he was starting to learn that any question he would ask in response to something Althea said was bound to sound strange.
“Alright then,” he said. “Let’s go.”
She hurried down the trail, and for a moment Caleb thought about trying to slow Althea down. The trail looked to be full of some pretty tight turns, and they could run into just about anything, even though he didn’t hear any noises.
“You might want to slow down a little,” he suggested as Caleb tried to keep up.
“No,” she said. “He needs us. We need to find him as quickly as possible.”
He shrugged. “If you say so,” Caleb replied.
By the time he got his words out, though, Althea had turned and started out again, and he wound up talking to her back.
She hurried down the trail, but it didn’t take long before a series of tight turns slowed her down. At one point Caleb nearly ran into her back, which would have been bad news given that he was carrying the rifle and holding it just in front of him.
The turns proved to be important. Slowing down allowed both Althea and Caleb to pay more attention to the landscape around them, and to any sounds they might hear.
And even more important, it helped Althea use her sixth sense to a more significant degree.
Ultimately, though, they didn’t need it. The trail was beginning to widen again, and Althea started to fall into despair.
Where is he? she thought. I can feel Joseph around here somewhere. But I also know I need to locate him soon, or none of this will matter when I actually do find him.
Then, finally, she heard a sound. It was faint, but Althea knew immediately where it was coming from.
The end of the narrow portion of the trail was obvious. There were two rock outcroppings, one on either side. They couldn’t see beyond the opening between them yet, at least not completely, but it was obvious the trail was about to open up.
The sound Althea heard was a moan of sorts. She cocked her head, and at first she thought it might be some kind of animal.
She was used to the lowing of the cattle she tended to, and it almost sounded like that. She extended her arm to signal to Caleb, who was behind her, that they needed to slow down a bit.
He pulled up, and that allowed Althea to listen further.
There, she thought. It’s coming from over there. And it’s human.
Althea tilted her head to the left, to indicate to Caleb that the noise was coming from that side. He waited for her, for the boy had heard nothing, nor did he have any sort of sixth sense to assist him in their search.
“He’s over there,” Althea said softly, feeling the need to whisper. She didn’t think there was anyone else about, but there was no sense taking chances.
“All right,” Caleb said, keeping his voice down, and Althea led them into the outcropping on the left.
At first, he wondered where in blazes they were going. The opening was far too narrow to lead to any kind of trail, and it looked to Caleb like Althea was about to take them down a blind alley.
Then he heard the moaning, too.
Once they were flanked by rocks on either side, the sound became amplified, and Caleb realized it was human. It was the sound of a man, in pain, but it was also quite faint, and that was when they both began to worry.
They found Joseph near the end of the small crevice, stretched out and lying on his side. His color was wan, and it was obvious that he’d been there for some time.
“Joseph!” Althea said, and then she remembered not to yell, and to keep her voice down. There still might be men about, robbers or Apaches. Ambushes had been known to happen; in fact they were quite common.
Caleb started to put his hand on Althea’s shoulder, to possibly silence her, but then he realized how inappropriate this was unless there was genuine danger at hand.
And so far that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
But Joseph was definitely in trouble. He moaned again when he heard Althea’s voice, slightly louder this time, and then he managed to roll over onto his back.
“Do you have a canteen with you?” Althea asked when she realized that Joseph wasn’t going to respond. She turned to the boy, and Caleb reached into the pocket of the small pouch he’d brought with him, just in case.
“Yeah,” he said, and quickly he pulled it out and handed it to her.
Althea examined it, and she pulled the cap off so she could pour a tiny amount of water into her cupped hand.
She turned to Joseph and dribbled some onto his mouth, making sure he was facing toward her but angled in such a way that he’d be able to drink it if he regained consciousness.
Sure enough, he started to come around, but only a little. Joseph managed another moan, this one slightly louder, and he shifted about, moving his legs a bit.
“He’s in a bad way,” Caleb said, feeling like a fool for stating the obvious.
“Yes,” Althea said, nodding, and then she turned to the boy. “We need to get him out of here. Right away.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said, and he turned to look at the rocks that nearly surrounded them. “But how?”
He’d just been thinking aloud, but Caleb saw immediately how his words affected Althea. She frowned, and for a moment he thought she might cry.
Then Althea shook her head firmly, and she, too, turned to look around.
“I’m not sure,” she said tentatively. “But I don’t think we can carry him all that way.” Then she paused. “What do you think?”
Caleb smiled just a little, happy to be relied on for whatever expertise he could supply.
“I think you’re right,” he agreed. “But if we brought the horse back here we might manage it.”
Joseph moaned again and shifted, and Althea realized they didn’t have much time at all. If they didn’t get him back to where he could be treated by a doctor, all of this would be for naught.
“I agree,” she said, looking back up at Caleb, and then down at Joseph again. “It’s also the only choice we have.”
Caleb nodded, and he heard the urgency in her voice. “Right,” he said. “I’ll go back and get Thunder . . . maybe you can figure out what’s wrong with him? I mean, if it’s alright to move him and all.”
“Alright,” Althea replied, sighing as she did. She could tell Joseph was hurt bad, and she knew that one way or the other they had to try.
“Please hurry,” she added, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. “We don’t have much time.”
Caleb nodded again, and quickly he turned and started to run. And just like that, he was gone.
She turned back to Joseph, knowing she needed to figure this out. Althea had no idea how to do this, but slowly she began to run her hands gently up and down his body.
She had no idea what she was looking for, but she figured the less she found, the better and easier it would be to get him out of here.
Unfortunately, Althea ran into something fairly quickly. Joseph moaned and then nearly yelped, and for a moment his eyes opened and Althea thought he was going to wake up.
Not good, she thought. He may have broken his leg.
She looked around, wondering where the boy was. As she did, Althea marveled at the fact that someone she’d met just moments ago would become so important in her life so quickly.
Just as the thought occurred to her, Althea heard the sound of horse hooves rapidly coming toward her. She turned and smiled as Caleb rode up and quickly dismounted, noting with approval that he appeared to be an excellent rider.
“I think he may have broken his leg,” she said, deciding to be direct now that the boy was here. “Getting him up on the horse might be difficult.”
Caleb grimaced as he looked down at Joseph. “Well, we’ll just have to do the best we can,” he said. “It’s not like we can wait around for help to come.”
The Mail Order Brides of Last Chance Page 17