Tell us where the gold be,” snapped Bird’s-Eye, a grizzled man with a permanent scowl. “If’n you do, we won’t have to shoot you, Teacher-gal.”
Slowly Christy sat up, trying to get her bearings. Miss Ida and Mr. Halliday were in rooms at the far end of the house. Only Ruby Mae’s room was nearby. Christy could scream, but who knew what Bird’s-Eye would do? She could smell the moonshine on his breath.
This wasn’t the first time she’d faced down this man’s gun. She knew better than to take him lightly.
Lundy cocked his gun. He jerked it at her. “We knows it’s hid in here. So you might as well come clean.”
Both men, Christy noticed, were whispering. That meant they didn’t want to face Mr. Halliday and David. They just wanted the gold.
Well, she only had one choice. Tell them the truth.
“I don’t have it,” Christy said, as calmly as she could.
“Don’t go lyin’ to us, Teacher-gal. ‘Thou shalt not lie.’ Ain’t that one o’ your rules? We knows it’s here.”
“Gotta be,” Lundy said. “That day by the creek, you said it was all locked up. That means you know where it is. And I figger it’s gotta be here at the mission house.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t have it.”
“Prove it.”
“Fine.” Christy went to the trunk and unlocked it. She pulled out her jewelry box. Her hands were trembling as she opened it.
“This is where the gold was hidden. But somebody stole it yesterday. I—I don’t know who.”
Lundy shoved the gun against her back. “You got it hid somewheres else.”
“I’m telling you the truth, Lundy.”
“Liar!” Bird’s-Eye raised his hand to strike her.
“If I call out, I’ll wake everyone in the house,” Christy said calmly. “And . . . and Mr. Halliday has a gun.” She wasn’t sure if that was true or not. But she certainly hoped it was.
“I hit you hard enough, Teacher-gal, and you won’t be able to scream,” Bird’s Eye growled. “I oughta—”
“No!” a small voice cried.
Christy spun around.
Ruby Mae stood in the doorway in her cotton nightgown. She was clutching her feather pillow to her chest. She rushed over and grabbed at Bird’s-Eye’s arm with her free hand.
“Let her be, Mr. Taylor,” she whispered. “I know where the gold is.”
Bird’s-Eye and Lundy exchanged a wary glance. “I’m waitin’,” Lundy said, jerking his gun at Christy.
Tears flowed down Ruby Mae’s face. Frantically, she began digging into her pillow. Feathers floated everywhere as she searched.
“This better not be no trick,” Lundy muttered as he brushed a feather from his face.
“A-choo!” Bird’s-Eye sneezed. “If’n this . . . achoo! . . . ain’t true, I’ll . . . achoo!”
“There!” Ruby Mae cried. She dropped a sock onto the bed.
“Looks like a plain ol’ sock to me,” Lundy said.
Ruby Mae emptied the sock. Gold nuggets rained onto Christy’s quilt.
Lundy’s eyes went wide. “So they weren’t lyin’ about the gold! There it is, plain as day, Pa!”
“Weren’t my gold.” Ruby Mae looked at Christy. “It’s Mr. Halliday’s, I’m pretty sure. I shoulda told him I thought it was his a long time ago. But I was just so darn hopeful . . .” She frowned at Lundy. “And it ain’t yours, neither.”
Lundy dropped his gun and scooped up the gold into his hands. Bird’s-Eye ran to join him.
“Looky here, Pa! We is kings now. Just like they was princesses!”
“I beg to differ with that assessment,” came a voice from the hallway.
Mr. Halliday appeared in the doorway. He winked at Christy.
Bird’s-Eye went for his gun, but before he could, there was a loud click. Mr. Halliday trained a silver pistol directly on Bird’s-Eye’s hand.
“Hand the guns to Miss Christy,” Mr. Halliday said calmly. “And hand my gold to me.”