The distant storm was remaining at bay and grew no closer as Uriah Moon walked to the office window and studied the vast mountains opposite Fort Hook. The tall vigilante held his steaming coffee cup as his eyes narrowed and squinted hard at the distant rocks. Black shadows now replaced the earlier bright sunlight which had graced their rugged surface. Moon stroked his long beard and looked over his shoulder at his cousin at the office desk. Colonel Ambrose sat wide-eyed as he considered the baffling instructions which army headquarters had burdened him with. He could not understand what was the urgency which had prompted his orders.
He glanced at his tall mysterious cousin and knew that without his unbelievable courage, the Hooper sisters would not even have been rescued. Now it was as though the girls were suffering from leprosy or something akin to it.
Why were they demanding they be sent from Fort Hook?
The question haunted the military officer.
Moon took a mouthful of coffee and knew the conflict which Ambrose was wrestling with. The vigilante had never envied anyone in all his days and he certainly did not envy his tormented kinsman at this moment.
The previous thirty minutes seemed to have lasted an eternity to the silver haired vigilante. He turned away from the wide window and paced to the desk and was about to refill his cup when the office door burst open and Sgt. Potter rushed to his commanding officer.
Potter leaned close to the colonel and whispered something in his ear. Something which made Ambrose take notice and look Potter straight in the eyes.
‘Are you sure?’ the colonel asked as Moon reached the desk and watched both men carefully.
Potter nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Okay, Tyler,’ Ambrose waved at his underling. ‘Get confirmation and come back with it.’
Uriah Moon stood like an expressionless statue and watched as Potter rushed back out of the office. The vigilante then looked down at the seated and grim-faced colonel and moved before him. He had not seen his kinsman look quite so concerned as he now did.
‘Now what’s wrong, Ambrose?’ he asked as he placed his cup down beside the coffee pot and placed his fingertips on the desk.
The colonel glanced up at Moon.
‘Plenty, Uriah,’ he sighed.
Moon pulled his gold time-piece out of his vest pocket and flicked its lid open and stared at the time for the umpteenth time. It was ten before seven and the tall man knew that it was time to head to June Marcus’s house to keep his supper date. He snapped the lid shut and put the watch back into his pocket.
‘What exactly has got you so troubled, Ambrose?’ he asked as he picked up his Stetson and placed it over his mane of white hair.
The colonel rubbed his jaw.
‘Potter just informed me that headquarters has telegraphed us yet again to get the Hooper girls out of the fort immediately,’ Ambrose said thoughtfully. ‘I just don’t understand it, Uriah. Potter is checking but they seem adamant that they want those girls off on their way to Cougar’s Bluff tomorrow at sunup.’
Moon stared down at his relative.
‘What’s the urgency?’ he asked.
‘Damned if I know, Uriah,’ Ambrose admitted. ‘They haven’t even been here at Fort Hook for a whole day yet. They wouldn’t be here at all if not for you.’
Uriah Moon shook his head and turned away from the troubled colonel. His long legs began to stride toward the office door when he paused and looked over his wide shoulder at his totally confused cousin.
‘I’m going to have some supper with Mrs. Marcus,’ he stated in a low drawl. ‘You want me to mention this to her?’
The colonel nodded. ‘That might be helpful, Uriah. Try not to upset the girls though. This has been a mighty rough time for them.’
Moon did not utter another word. He just continued on to the door, grabbed its handle and left the office.
Colonel Ambrose listened to the heavy footsteps as they descended to the parade ground and stared long and hard at the coffee pot before him.
He then leaned back in his padded leather chair and tapped his fingers together as his mind raced. He could not understand why this was happening and why he was expected to virtually throw the young girls from the relative safety of his fortress out into the dangerous terrain between it and Cougar’s Bluff.
It seemed inhuman to the colonel.
It was as though the girls were being punished for suddenly becoming orphans. His hands clenched into fists and pounded on the desk several times but it did not help.
‘This army is being run by mindless cretins,’ he ranted. ‘I bet none of them have ever set foot beyond Virginia.’
The normally calm military man got to his feet and marched to where he knew the alcohol was kept. For the previous couple of hours, he had attempted to sober himself up a vain bid to work out this baffling puzzle. Yet it remained no clearer. He opened the polished wooden doors of the cabinet and pulled out one of the many brandy bottles stored within and twisted its stopper.
The fragrant scent of cognac filled his nostrils as he strode back to his desk and seated himself again. He checked his coffee cup and shook the last of its beverage at the floor and then filled it with brandy.
He took a mouthful and swallowed.
That did not help either.