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When the settlers had all been woken up and compared stories, the situation was no clearer other than the basic facts that Gabriel and Amelia were no longer in the camp. Jeremiah stalked around, barking out questions.
Then he turned to the east as if by the force of his will he could encourage the sun to rise so they could begin searching for him. Only when it was discovered that supplies had gone missing did his fears about foul play recede.
“That means it’s unlikely they were both kidnapped,” Jeremiah said. “But did he take her? Or did she take him?”
With nobody being prepared to answer, Corrigan spoke up.
“Last night Gabriel was fascinated by her,” he said. “So I’d guess while he was on guard duty he talked with her, and then . . . and then something happened.”
“Such as?”
Corrigan waved his arms, but with Jeremiah snarling at him, he felt he had no choice but to answer, albeit phrased using a positive version of events.
“She encouraged him,” he said. “That made him feel sorry for her. So he freed her.”
“Why would he then leave with her?”
Corrigan reckoned his brief conversation with Gabriel provided an obvious reason, but he didn’t think Jeremiah would appreciate the suggestion that Gabriel was besotted with her, so he shrugged.
“Perhaps he didn’t want to disappoint you.”
“Then he failed, and so have you,” Jeremiah said and he began stalking back and forth. “I knew letting him talk to you was a mistake. You did what I feared you would and fired him up with tales about your exploits.”
Jeremiah set his hands on his hips, defying Corrigan to disagree.
“I told him to put her out of his mind, but obviously telling a young man that was doomed to fail.”
Jeremiah frowned, clearly unwilling to admit Corrigan was right, but also lost for anything to say until he bunched a fist.
“What can a woman and a kid hope to do out there afoot?”
“With raiders about they’ll have to be cautious,” Virgil said, joining in the debate for the first time, presumably to save Corrigan from annoying Jeremiah again by replying. “So they won’t have gone far.”
“That means we don’t have to wait for the light,” Jeremiah said, slapping a fist into his palm. He turned to the south. “My son’s no fool. He’ll have directed her away from any trouble and back toward Pearl Forks.”
“You could easily ride by them in the dark,” Virgil said, pointing at the thin stream of light on the eastern horizon. “Gabriel won’t have come to harm yet, so wait and we’ll organize a proper search.”
Jeremiah gave a curt nod before heading back to his wagon, effectively postponing the other debate of who would be in the search party.
“I’ll send Clement Wainwright with him,” Virgil said, joining Corrigan. “The rest of us will carry on to Independence, and Jeremiah and Clement can follow on behind when they’ve found Gabriel.”
“They’ll need to be careful, too,” Corrigan said.
“Traveling light, they’ll find it easier to avoid the raiders than we will.” Virgil slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Which means you need to stop worrying about them and concentrate on keeping us safe.”
––––––––
Sunup found Chuck in good spirits for once and Corrigan’s gloomy demeanor only went to delight him even more.
“Don’t look so annoyed,” Chuck declared as they rode along a quarter-mile on from the wagon train. “That kid’s made things easy for you. Everyone’s too concerned about what happened to Gabriel to look out for Eleazer.”
Chuck leered at him, seemingly defying him to admit that this turn of events was bad news.
“They are,” Corrigan said. “But plenty can happen between now and tomorrow when we head down into Hangman’s Gulch. Let’s hope Eleazer doesn’t get bored and move on.”
This comment did at least remove Chuck’s smirk, letting them ride along in silence so that Corrigan could reconsider how he would defy Denver’s orders. Chuck appeared aware of his thoughts as, unlike on the previous days, he stayed close to him, not giving him a chance to confide in Virgil.
As the day wore on, the gradually rising land revealed the route they had taken for many miles, but there was no sign of anyone following on behind. They had yet to catch sight of Jeremiah and Clement when, that night, they stopped at the base of the final climb up to the Devil’s Hump.
Corrigan spoke quietly with Virgil. Then Virgil explained to everyone that tomorrow they would need to set off at first light to ensure they could crest the summit and reach the flatter ground on the other side in one day.
As Chuck had now become his shadow, Corrigan didn’t mention the possibility of them using an alternate route, although he chose his words carefully by avoiding mentioning Hangman’s Gulch. After a long day, the settlers were exhausted and their spirits were low, and they dropped even lower when Clement joined them, sporting an aggrieved expression and a livid bruise on his cheek.
Apparently he and Jeremiah had disagreed about the best way to search for Gabriel and the result had been a parting of the ways. After this unsurprising revelation, Virgil didn’t post any guards that night.
He explained that in such an exposed place nobody would be able to approach them silently. Corrigan didn’t disagree, as the trouble would be waiting for them on the other side of the ridge anyway.
When they set off the next morning, Jeremiah still hadn’t returned. By the time they’d traversed half of the way up to the summit of the ridge, the clear air and the high point revealed the terrain for many miles and confirmed that he and Gabriel wouldn’t be joining them.
With that matter now resolved, Corrigan put his mind to the task ahead. The settlers were straggled out below so he stayed close to Virgil in the lead wagon in the hope that Chuck would move on ahead.
Chuck responded by riding between Corrigan and Virgil’s wagon, giving him no chance of having a private conversation. When they reached the top, the train had spread out in a line below.
Virgil drew to a halt. Corrigan dismounted and found a sharp stone and a patch of loose dirt. By the time Virgil jumped down and joined him, he had sketched out a map of the area.
Chuck moved his horse to stand over him. He sneered at the map as if it might contain hidden traps, but when Corrigan pointed at Hangman’s Gulch, he grunted with approval. Then he moved to circle around them, but he struggled to control his mount over a patch of rough stones.
His horse edged sideways, scattering Corrigan and Virgil. When they’d righted themselves, hoofs had obliterated the map, making Temperance lean out of the wagon.
“Why did you do that?” she demanded. “He needs to understand the route.”
Chuck turned away, seemingly unwilling to offer an apology for his mistake. Instead, he moved his horse around to her side. When he gave Temperance a surly reply, Corrigan sketched the map again quickly.
“This route is our first option for going down,” he said, pointing.
“I’m obliged for that, but why is he so edgy?” Virgil said, as an argument developed between Temperance and Chuck.
“He has good reason.” Corrigan’s urgent tone made Virgil turn back. Then he pointed at a treacherous unnamed route down two miles on. “You’ll ignore the first option and go down through the second one.”
“I understand, but if we get into difficulties, we’ll just follow you and Chuck,” Virgil said, now examining the map carefully.
“You won’t. Chuck and I have agreed that we’ll scout around on the first route down.” He pointed at a spot halfway down the gulch. “There’s a point here where we can see your route and if there’s trouble ahead, we’ll signal to you. If everything looks fine, we’ll join you.”
He drew a line between the two gulches, although in reality there wasn’t an easy way to complete this journey.
“Where do we wait for you?”
“You don’t.” Corrigan thought for a moment. “Keep going no matter what happens. If you hear gunfire, get down as fast as you can and then keep going.”
For long moments the two men faced each other until Virgil gave a determined nod. He even smiled at Chuck. Then, with Temperance having quieted, Corrigan mounted up and joined Chuck.
He and Virgil had spoken in low tones and Chuck gave no sign that he’d overheard their conversation. In fact he looked aggrieved while Temperance’s smile suggested he’d come off second-best in the argument.
When all the wagons had reached the summit, at a slow pace they trundled along the ridge. Between the two stretches of lower ground that created the hump, the top of the ridge was flat and around a hundred yards wide, but with precipitous drops on either side everyone had to be careful.
Corrigan rode on ahead and, with him moving away from Virgil and Temperance, Chuck joined him. As they moved on, Corrigan frequently checked behind him that the wagons were safe, but he let a gap build and before long Chuck took the lead and the gap grew even wider.
After thirty minutes Hangman’s Gulch came into view so Corrigan waved at Virgil to let him know they’d reached the area he’d mapped out. Then he hurried on to draw in directly behind Chuck.
He reached him as Chuck passed a sentinel rock that marked the entrance to the gulch. Then he followed Chuck as he picked his way down the gently sloping top of the gulch. The route would become trickier farther down, but the easy start let Chuck and Corrigan move on quickly.
By the time that Virgil was close to the sentinel rock, they’d built up a two-hundred-yard gap. Corrigan willed Chuck to keep going so that they could move out of sight of the wagons, but on a high point Chuck stopped and faced the top of the ridge.
Within a few minutes Virgil would move past the sentinel rock, revealing Corrigan’s duplicity so Corrigan moved on to stand beside Chuck where he considered how he could distract him. He edged forward as if searching for the best route down, but Chuck ignored him and continued to face the wagons. Corrigan dismounted.
“Is that where Eleazer’s hiding?” he asked, pointing.
Chuck didn’t turn away from Virgil’s wagon, which was slowing down before the large rock, presumably so Virgil could give the others instructions.
“Nope,” Chuck said in a distracted manner.
“Then where is he?” He waited, but Chuck didn’t turn. “If you know, you need to tell me.”
“I know, but I’m not giving you a chance to stop him.”
“You won’t know this, but I saw the aftermath of the last raid in the gulch. I know that I can do nothing.”
Chuck grunted and then, with the wagons bunching up, he dismounted and joined him. The two men moved on to a flat boulder where they stood close to a drop of around fifty feet that gave them a good view of the route they’d have to take.
Chuck roved his finger from side to side, marking out the journey until he’d reached a point that was out of their view where presumably the raid would take place. Then he chuckled.
“You’re right,” he said with a grin. “The settlers won’t stand a chance.”
Corrigan reckoned that by now it would be obvious that the wagons weren’t following them down so he forced down his disgust and gave an unconcerned smile.
“Why go to all this trouble for a bunch of no-worth settlers?”
“That’s not your concern.”
Chuck started to turn so Corrigan raised his voice.
“You mean you don’t know.”
Chuck turned back and slapped a firm finger against his chest.
“You don’t understand and I don’t reckon you’ll live for long enough to work it out. It’s better not to know and asking questions doesn’t get you nothing.”
“You must be curious.” He smiled when Chuck furrowed his brow, but at least he’d gotten his attention so he continued. “You batter people who owe Denver money, but one day someone will retaliate and it won’t be Denver on the receiving end.”
“Denver pays me well,” Chuck said.
“There are always other opportunities, especially for men who don’t want to spend their lives doing another man’s bidding.”
That proved to be the wrong angle to take as Chuck waved a dismissive hand at him.
“I prefer living to dying.”
Chuck turned around. Corrigan grabbed his arm and swung him back before he could notice that half of the wagons had moved on past the sentinel rock.
“You don’t know what living is, if you’re always one step away from dying,” he said, speaking quickly to keep Chuck’s interest.
Chuck laughed. “You’d know all about that.”
“What does that mean?”
Chuck’s eyes glazed, as if he’d said too much. Then he tore his arm away and turned, this time in a purposeful manner that Corrigan couldn’t stop. Above, all but the trailing two wagons had moved on by and Virgil’s lead wagon was trundling out of view. With an angry grunt, Chuck rounded on Corrigan.
“Why are they heading past Hangman’s Gulch?” he said.
Corrigan smiled. “Because it’s dangerous down here.”
Chuck slowly shook his head. “I didn’t reckon you’d have the guts to defy Denver, but at least you won’t have to regret your treachery for long.”
Before Corrigan could retort, Chuck leaped at him. He hit him in the chest with a leading shoulder and knocked him backward, sending him reeling across the boulder to the edge and the fifty-foot drop beyond.