The fugitives rode steadily for an hour. They had left the main trail a short distance outside of town and angled off across country into the brush. They slowed the pace as they made their way carefully through thickets and briars until they entered a heavily wooded area. Here they found a good place to camp and hide for the night. They were fairly sure they would not be followed as long as they had Sarah Price hostage. The campsite they chose was close enough to the ransom drop off location at Three Rocks, that they would not have to venture far in the morning to retrieve the ransom money.
They picketed the horses where there was grazing. There was a chill in the night air so they built a small camp fire with dried twigs and branches to keep it as smokeless as possible. What little smoke drifted upwards would be dissipated before reaching the tops of the trees. The area was secluded enough that the fire glow would not likely be seen much further than the perimeter of the camp.
They all gathered close around the small fire, seeking its warmth. Sarah Price hunched her shoulders over the flame; her arms wrapped tightly about her. The warmth of the fire felt good on her face. Tears were still dripping down her cheeks. Bud sat on one side of her and Garth on the other. Jeremy was across the flames next to Pete and Frankie.
“Sure is getting cold,” Frankie the Kid said as he crouched closer to the flames.
“We shoulda asked for blankets and supplies,” Garth said.
Frankie took the remark as criticism. “Wasn’t time for that,” he answered with annoyance. “We’re fine. We’ll keep warm enough. Just keep thinking about that twenty thousand dollars we’re getting tomorrow.”
“I know how we can keep even warmer,” Pete said. Then without waiting for anyone to ask how he said. “I’ll bet little missy there has enough heat to keep us all warm.” He leered across the flames
Sarah cringed and leaned back from the fire.
“That’ll be enough of that talk,” Jeremy snapped angrily. He rose to his feet. “No one touches this girl. You hear me?”
“Hey, I’m the boss around here,” Frankie retorted looking up at Jeremy looming above him. He made no attempt to rise to his feet himself. “My boys only take orders from me. You hear?”
“Yeah I hear,” Jeremy growled. “Just remember, I ain’t one of your boys and best you remember who got you out of jail.”
“And you just remember that you might have been shot escaping if we hadn’t helped you.” Frankie sneered.
“I’m not getting into any yapping contest over who helped who, I‘m just telling you that nobody‘s going to touch this girl Anybody who wants to try, go ahead. But I‘m telling you, it ain‘t worth dying for.”
“My, my,” Frankie said. “That’s sounds like a threat.”
“No. I’m just telling you how it is.”
“I wouldn’t get so worked up if I were you,” Frankie scoffed. “You seem to be forgetting she set you up for a gun down.”
“I’m not forgetting anything,” Jeremy said glancing at Sarah. In the firelight. He could see her gazing up at him: the streaks of tears reflected by the flames.
Jeremy stepped around the campfire, poked a boot toe into Garth’s rib pushing him aside. He squatted and forced his body into the vacated space. Garth moved further away and Jeremy seated himself.
“What are you staring at?” Jeremy snapped at Bud who had made no effort to move. “Move over. Give us some room.”
“There you go again,” Frankie complained. “Telling my boys what to do.”
“And there you go flapping your jaws again,” Jeremy retorted. “We’ve already had this conversation. You want to open it up again.”
“Just the same. They’re my boys,” Frankie mumbled almost to himself; definitely not wanting to go where Jeremy was leading. He leaned back from the flames and sat quiet in the shadow.
Sarah continued to stare into the fire; fully aware that Jeremy’s eyes were on her. She couldn’t look at him. Not after what she had done.
After a moment Jeremy broke the silence. “Why? Why, Sarah? Why did you set me up to die? You love your father that much? To let me die for him? I can understand that he’s your father, but even at that, why would you let him get away with murder?”
“I didn’t……..” she started. “I didn’t do it for my father. I didn’t even know he was in on setting you up. I really thought I was there to help you.”
“With an empty gun?”
“I didn’t know it was empty. Peso gave it to me. He said my father would hang you if I didn’t help you. He said he wanted to help you too. He knew I used to be close to you. He didn’t want me to have you on my conscience and he didn’t want my father to be responsible for your death.”
“He used you, Sarah,” Jeremy said. “Peso Martin never cared for anyone but himself.”
“But….but I believed him,” Sarah said. “He told me he loved me. I believed him. I…I’m so sorry Jeremy. I can’t blame you for hating me. I…I hate myself.”
“I don’t hate you, Sarah, “Jeremy said softly. “and you mustn’t hate yourself either.” He pressed closer, put his arm around her and drew her closer.
“Looks like you’re finding a way to get warm,” Garth chided.
“Forget it,” Frankie snapped at him. “Just concentrate on keeping yourself warm.”
“He got you buffaloed?” Garth sneered.
“No. He don’t got me buffaloed. Just do as I tell you, I’m still your boss,” Frankie said.
“How’s that again?” Garth came back angrily. “I don’t see you being no great shakes at being boss. I ain’t rightly impressed at the decisions you been making lately.”
“Didn’t I get us out of jail? Didn’t I get us lined up to get a fortune tomorrow? Tell me just what I’ve done wrong.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” Garth said. “You should have asked for provisions along with the horses. Are you forgetting we haven’t eaten in quite some time. I don’t know about you and the rest of you guys, but I’m powerful hungry.”
“We were in a hurry,” Frankie protested. “I told you we didn’t have time. We’ll just have to tough it out for tonight. Once we get that money, we can live high on the hog for a long time.”
“Garth is right,” Bud popped up. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Pete said..
“How about you?” Jeremy asked Sarah.
“I’m too cold and upset to know,” Sarah answered. “But I probably am.”
“Well, the others are right. We do need food.” Jeremy said.
“Where are we gonna get food?” Frankie sneered. “It’s too dark to hunt. That leaves going into town and we ain’t going to do that.”
“No. We don’t have to,” Jeremy said. “I think I know where we might find some friendly folks who might help us.”
“Yeah? Who?” Frankie sneered.
“Friends of mine. They live around here. I don’t want the likes of you in their house, so I’ll go get the food and be back.” Jeremy stood up.
“That sounds like a right good idee,” Pete said, again leering across the flames at Sarah.
Jeremy caught that look, then directing his gaze at Pete, “The girl goes with me.”
“Oh come on, Galahad,” Frankie said also rising to his feet. “You know I can’t let you do that. You out there alone with the girl. How do we know you’ll come back. She’s our ticket to twenty thousand dollars. No way are we letting her out of our sight. We’re just gonna have to go along with you.”
“You can come,” Jeremy conceded “But, your boys stay here.”
“No,” Garth protested. He jumped to his feet. Bud and Pete followed suit.
Frankie glanced from Jeremy to each of his companions. He read the distrust in their faces. He smirked wryly and glanced back to Jeremy. “All right,” he agreed.
“You can’t,” Bud sputtered.
The others were complaining too.
“Just calm down,” Frankie said. “It’s best if we aren’t all together if someone were t
o spot us. You guys just sit tight until we get back.”
“How do we know you’re coming back?” Bud growled.
“Because, even though you guys are a bunch of morons, I still need you. We’ll be back. You can count on it.”
“Someday, Francis,” Bud thought to himself, once again. “You’re gonna call me a moron once too often.”
“Grampa? How long are we going to wait here? I’m getting powerful itchy to get Jeremy out of that jail.” Kitty had been pacing about the campsite like a nervous cat. The fire was dwindling down and the darkness floated in like a heavy blanket. The night air was chill and Kitty hugged herself tightly to keep warm. Her breath steamed into the night.
“I suppose you’re right there, girl,” Cyclone said trying to push himself to his feet. He struggled at first, then managed to right himself. He arched his back and rubbed his leg. “Dampness sure is raising hob with my rheumatiz,” He mumbled.
“All right, Rap, Chief. It’s time to get going,” Cyclone called to the two men still sitting on the ground. Chief had his hat tipped down over his eyes as he semi slept with his back propped up against the trunk of a tree. He stirred and lifted his hat to peer up at Cyclone and Kitty He took his time stretching, then started to rise to his feet.
Arapahoe had quickly jumped to his feet as soon as Cyclone gave the word. He seemed more spry than earlier. His stupor had been slept off and with no replacement for the empty flask that he had tossed a short distance away, he was surprisingly sober for Rap Brown. “It’s about time,” Rap said as he pushed himself to his feet. “We finally gonna go get my horse back?”
“We’re gonna get Jeremy back,” Cyclone said with irritation. “If we get your horse back too, well, that’s good too. But best you worry more about Jeremy than that danged nag of yours.”
“Hell. There’s no point in worryin’ about Jeremy,” Rap said, adjusting his gun belt to its usual position. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. And don’t call my horse a nag. Besides, I thought you said we weren’t goin’ to break him outta jail.”
“I said we wasn’t gonna ride into town, just as stupid as you please and bust him out. We got another way of doin’ that.”
“How?”
“Never mind. You’ll find out. Let’s get goin’”
“It’s awful dark out there Cy. How we gonna see where we’re goin’?”
“I guess you’ve forgotten, Rap,” Cyclone chuckled. “We got the best tracker in the west with us.”
“Huh? Who’s that?”
Chief Henry stepped close. He was smiling and chuckling. His big teeth shining white in the dark.
“Cy, you’re getting senile. You know Chief can’t even see in the daylight,” Rap blustered.
Cyclone grinned. “Maybe not. But he can see just as good in the dark.”
Chapter Twenty One
Wildcat Kitty and the Cyclone Kid Page 22