Sixteen

Mitchell whirled, and both men stared at her.

“Well, now, if it isn’t the lady of the house,” Mitchell said, smiling as he stepped toward her.

“Stay back.” Sadie brandished the poker and held her ground. Her heart raced as she met the sergeant’s malevolent glare.

Mitchell laughed. “My, oh, my, we are fierce.”

“You didn’t tell me she was a firebrand,” the big man said. One step and he was so close that, before Sadie could swing the poker, he had it in his hands and twisted it, wrenching it away from her. He tossed it to Mitchell and jerked Sadie around so that her back was to him, and she felt something sharp at her throat.

“All right, Miss McEwan.” Mitchell smiled and paced before her as the larger man held her. “Moe doesn’t want to hurt you. Just tell us where the family fortune lies, and we’ll be gone.”

Sadie stared at him, too terrified to squeak. Family fortune, she thought. Either Tenley painted a very rosy picture of our life to this fellow, or he’s gotten the impression somewhere else. It was true her father had a large piece of land with prime river frontage. The house was adequate, but not opulent. The horses were the finest, but that was because her father had spent many years working hard to build up his breeding stock.

The man holding her squeezed her until she could barely breathe. “Where’s the money?” he croaked in her ear.

Sadie struggled to turn her head away. The stench of his breath was sickening, and his body odor made her feel ill. She hated the way he held her so tightly.

“Let me go,” she whispered. “I don’t have any money.”

Mitchell laughed. “I heard the slave boy say you sold several horses a week or so ago. Where’s the cash? There’s got to be more than we’ve found lying around.”

Sadie held perfectly still, trying not to visualize the carved pine jewel box on her dresser. In it lay the money she had left after buying the lumber and new windows. She had hoped to purchase winter supplies with it. Of course, they would find it sooner or later.

“Where is it?” Moe snarled in her ear.

Sadie gulped for air and managed to gasp, “He’s not a slave.”

“Oh, that’s right. Your brother told me his grandpa was a soft touch and freed them all.” Mitchell came close and leaned toward her. “He also told me your old man was well fixed. The sooner you tell us, the sooner we’ll be gone.”

“Tenley wouldn’t—” Sadie broke off as Mitchell raised his hand.

He’s going to strike me! She tried to pull back, but that meant leaning closer to Moe. She sobbed at her own helplessness and fear.

“Hold it, mister!”

Both men turned in surprise to the doorway. Tallie stood there in suppressed fury, and in her hands was Oliver’s old pistol.

There was an instant of silence; then Mitchell laughed.

“Tallie, Tallie, Tallie. Don’t expect me to believe that thing is loaded.” He started to step toward her, and the pistol fired with a deafening roar that made Sadie’s ears ring. One of the new windowpanes shattered. They all stood staring at Tallie; then Mitchell smiled.

“Well done, Tallie. Now we know how serious you are about protecting your mistress. We also know the chamber is empty now. Give me that thing.” He stepped forward and took the gun from Tallie’s nerveless hand. “These old pistols.” He shook his head as he examined it. “Single shot. Not much good once you’ve fired it.”

Sadie caught Tallie’s eye, hoping to see some reassurance there. Had she awakened Zeke and Pax, or had she only had time to go to the kitchen for the pistol? Tallie’s eyes were dull with despair. Sadie refused to let herself give up hope. Maybe Zeke had heard the gun’s report.

“What are you going to do with us?” she asked.

Mitchell looked up. “You got more ammo for this?”

Sadie and Tallie kept quiet, and he laughed. “Right. You know, Moe and I aren’t murderers, which is more than I can say for you, Tallie. You’d have blown my head off with glee if you could’ve held your hands steady.”

Moe let out a guffaw, and Sadie renewed her struggle. His grip tightened, and she hated having his hands on her.

“Easy now,” Mitchell said. He gestured toward the door. “Ladies, upstairs, please.”

“You want them in the heiress’s bedroom?” Moe asked, allowing Sadie to precede him into the hallway.

“No, put them in the room where I’ve been staying.” Mitchell came behind them, carrying the lamp. “We know there’s nothing worthwhile in there. It will keep them out of our way while we finish our work.”

Sadie thought of making a break for the front door, but Moe placed his hulk of a body between her and freedom. He cut the air before him with his knife and said, “Go on now. Get up those stairs.”

Sadie and Tallie went up in silence. Mitchell herded them into his bedchamber and took a quick look around. “I think they’ll be secure here, Moe, but let’s be quick.”

He took the key from the inside of the keyhole, and the two men went out. It was dark when they closed the door. Sadie heard the click of the key in the lock. Her knees went weak all of a sudden, and she felt for the edge of the bed and sank down on it.

“Tallie, we’d best pray.”

“That’s right,” Tallie said, walking to the window. “But we’d best be thinkin’ while we pray.”

“Do you think Zeke will help us?”

“Can’t count on it. If he was still up, he’d hear that pistol shot for certain. If not. . .well, when that man is out, he’s out.”

Sadie nodded in misery. “He said he didn’t sleep well last night so he was tired tonight. He’s probably down there in the cabin, snoring away.”

“Sawin’ logs,” Tallie agreed. “So it’s up to us.”

Sadie joined her at the window. “Too bad they finished the outside work and took the ladder down.”

Tallie grunted. “I be too wide to get through this window anyway. I’d bust the nice frame Mr. Harry made. But you now. . .” She turned to Sadie. “You can get out the window. I’ll help you.”

Alarm shot through Sadie as she eyed the window casement. “But there’s no ladder.”

“Bedsheets. Good, sturdy, linen bedsheets. Come on. We’ll tie them together. Hurry up. Those men won’t stick around long, and we want to put Zeke onto them before they get away with everythin’ you own.”

“Do you think Zeke can stop them any more than we did? I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“I don’t know if he can or not, but my man has a strange habit of thinkin’ when he needs to. Sometimes you’d guess he didn’t have a brain in his head, but when he wants, he can be smart as a steel trap.”

Sadie sobbed as she yanked the comforter off the bed. “Tallie, I left all the money Harry gave me in my jewel box. They’ve probably found it by now.”

“Well, we can’t help that.” Tallie knotted two corners of the sheets together. “You think this will be long enough, or should we tear them in two?”

“Don’t do that! Linen sheets don’t grow on trees, you know. I can jump the last bit, if I need to.”

“All right, but you be careful! Remember all the glass that was under the ladder? I think Zeke got most of it, but they might be a few pieces left.”

Sadie stared at the window. “I can’t go out that one, Tallie. It’s right above the front parlor window. Those hooligans might see me.” She went to the second window, on the sidewall of the house.

“That one’s above a parlor window, too,” Tallie said.

“Not directly, and besides it’s not where the broken glass was.” Sadie raised the sash.

Tallie brought the one chair over and planted it beneath the window. Sadie climbed onto it and stuck her feet out, clinging to the sheets.

“You hang on tight,” Sadie said.

“I will,” Tallie assured her. “It’s too short to tie around the bedstead. Maybe we ought to rip them, after all.”

“No! Besides we don’t have anything to cut them with, and they’re too stout to tear with our bare hands.”

Before Tallie could say anymore, Sadie lowered herself from the window frame. She dangled above the earth for a second, wondering if she could survive this escapade. She knew she didn’t have the strength to pull herself back up to the windowsill, so there was only one way to go. She inched downward as slowly as she could, hoping to touch the ground soon with her toes.

She heard Tallie moan, and Sadie called softly, “You all right?”

“Hurry up, gal. I’m no great shakes as a hitchin’ post.”

Sadie almost lost her grip when she reached the knot at the bottom of the first sheet. The bulk of the second sheet seemed too thick for her hands to grip firmly. She realized her legs were close to the side parlor window. What if the men were in there and saw her or heard her feet bump the wall? The sheets billowed out in a sudden breeze, and she slipped unceremoniously the last four feet, landing in a heap between the side of the house and a rosebush.

She held her breath. No sound came from within the house, and the parlor window was dark. They must not have returned to the room.

Probably tearing my bedroom to pieces, she thought bitterly.

“You alive?” Tallie called in a stage whisper.

“Yes. Now hush. I’ll get us some help.”

Sadie stood up and edged past the prickly rosebush, shaking out her dress. She lifted her skirt and prepared to dash around the corner and across the yard toward Zeke’s cabin. She rounded the corner at a full run and slammed into something firm but yielding.

“Oof!”

Sadie and the man she had collided with tumbled to the ground.