Gabe and Van were on foot, leading their horses. They crossed the pasture with the girls a few paces behind. The last hour or two had turned into a hard push. All of them were feeling the heat of midday, hungry and tired. About three miles back, Gabe started to second-guess himself, wondering if he’d made the right decision when he insisted they stick to the creek bed, forsaking the well-worn cattle trail through the canyon. He’d come this way thinking at least they’d have water for their horses down here in the bottom, but it had taken them longer to reach the hot spring, having to circumvent the mesas and jump the creek back and forth.
The barn in sight, he said over his shoulder to Jo, “You and Birdie can go on in the house. Let Dad know you’re both safe. Van and I’ll see to the horses.” He reached the corral gate and swung it open to let the girls go ahead, taking their horses’ reins as they passed.
»»•««
The barn door to the corral stood partly open, and Birdie slipped inside. She stopped to absorb the coolness of the interior, mopping her face with the fabric of her dirty skirt. Jo staggered over to a nearby block of wood and sat down in a huff of exhaustion.
Once her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the barn’s interior and hearing voices, Birdie made her way to opposite end of the barn to see what all the commotion was about. Buck yelled at someone to get. Birdie peeked out the door through a knothole.
Jo started to push the barn door open, but Birdie thrust out her hand to stop her. She put her finger to her lips and then pulled Jo away from the door. She whispered, “You know any of those men out there?”
“I don’t know. You pulled me back too soon—I didn’t get a good look.”
“Well, go look,” Birdie said, her voice low. “But don’t open the door, or let anyone see you looking.”
Jo shrugged her shoulders and did as suggested. She stood bent over, looking out the knothole for a long moment. Both of them listened to the muted voices, catching words from time to time but unable to make sense of any of it.
They both pulled away from the door. Birdie waved her hand, and they made their way back toward the opened door to the corral at the opposite end. “I don’t recognize any of the men in the black coats or the one with the red coat,” Jo said, her voice a whisper. “Did you see Mr. Norquist? He looks all beat up.”
“No, I missed that,” Birdie said. “Who do you suppose they are? And why are Daddy and Buck standing there looking like two thunderclouds?”
Van came in from the corral with an armload of tack. He stopped when he saw they hadn’t gone in the house. “What’s going on?” he asked in too loud of a voice.
Birdie shoved him back out the door. “Shhhh, Van. Keep your voice down. Something’s going on out in the yard—strangers are out there, and they don’t look friendly. Jo says Mr. Norquist looks beat up, and Daddy and Buck don’t look too pleased. I heard Buck tell someone to get.”
»»•««
Gabe overheard the conversation. He tossed the tack over a stall rail and said to the girls, “Both of you stay back. Van and I’ll go have a look.”
Not surprisingly, neither Birdie nor Jo obeyed him, and they all trooped forward. By means of various cracks and knotholes in the barn, they all watched and listened to the drama taking place in the yard before the house.
Gabe heard the man in the red coat loud and clear when he threatened to blow up Petra’s boulder. “Over my dead body,” he said, his lips against the rough plank of barn siding.
He didn’t need to hear anything more. Van and Jo followed him back to the opened barn door of the corral. Pacing back and forth, thoughts scattered, he scrubbed the back of his neck.
“What can we do?” Van asked.
Gabe stopped in front of the barn door to the corral. “Who the hell is that bastard? What makes him think he can come here and make threats? Why the hell should he want to blow up Petra’s boulder? I don’t get it.”
Birdie skipped up to him and tugged on his shirtsleeve. “You left too soon. The red coat is blackmailing Buck into selling the hot spring, and Daddy into one of his mining interests in Norquist Enterprises. He’s holding Mother, and probably Edditha and Adella, hostages inside the house. And, he thinks he’s got Jo and me.”
“You heard all of that?” Van asked.
“Yeah, I did. Well, he didn’t call Jo and me by name, he said daughters. We have to do something.”
“Divide and conquer,” Jo said.
Gabe shook his head. “No.”
“Yes,” Birdie said, hoping from one foot to the other, arms waving, dismissing his objection. “When they go off to blast Petra’s boulder, you and Van follow them and see to it they don’t get a chance to set the dynamite. Jo and I’ll make our way inside the house.”
Gabe couldn’t stop shaking his head. “How do you purpose to do that? And how in the hell are Van and I going to stop them from setting charges under Petra’s boulder?”
“Well, I think it could work,” Jo said. “If two men go off to blast Petra’s boulder and the redcoat and the other henchman go inside with Dad and Rafe, we can make a dash for the back stoop.”
“Then what?” Van asked her. “What are you going to do then, Jo?”
Gabe stopped shaking his head. The plan had begun to sound plausible. “It’s not a bad idea, Van. Dad has a couple of guns back in the tack room. There might be a revolver in there. The girls are home safe, so they’ve lost one piece of leverage. Dad and Rafe don’t know it yet.”
“Stopping them from setting charges in the canyon might be tricky,” Birdie said, a frown on her lips. Her brows knit together.
“We don’t have time to stand around debating,” Gabe said. “We’ll take the shotguns. Jo, you and Birdie take the revolver, if there is one. I know there’s shells for the shotgun, but I don’t know if there are any bullets for the revolver.”
“I’ll go see what I can find,” said Van. Jo followed on his heels.
Birdie laid her hand on his arm. “I love you, Gabe. Don’t get shot.”
His hand going to the side of her face, he returned her intense gaze. “Birdie-Alice Bollo, I love you, don’t you get shot either. I mean it, Birdie, don’t take chances. For once, play it safe. I’m going to be very, very careful, now that I know what I want. I want to live to spend my life making love to you.”
“I promise, I’ll be good,” she said and pressed her lips into the palm of his hand.
Van reappeared, carrying two shotguns and the revolver. “Dad keeps these in good working order, all oiled up and ready. But we only have three shotgun shells and two bullets for the revolver. I know Dad keeps more ammunition in the house, but this is all we’ve got out here.”
”Jo, the revolver should work properly, although I don’t know when he last shot anything with it.”
“Listen,” Jo said. They all heard riders leaving the yard.
“We better get going. You two be careful,” Gabe said, giving his sister a bus on the cheek.
»»•««
“I’m done talking,” McDaniel said.
Buck hadn’t felt this helpless in a long time. “You son-of-a-bitch, you set charges under the boulder and I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
“Take care of it, men,” McDaniel said without a smile, waving two of his men to saddle up. “I doubt it, Mr. Buxton.”
Buck didn’t think. He simply leaped off the porch going for McDaniel’s throat.
»»•««
All hell broke loose. Birdie couldn’t take it all in. Her heart jumped into her throat when her Daddy charged the thug with the gun. The gun went off, and the shot planted itself in the porch post, splinters of wood flying. Cornell rushed forward and kicked the gun out of the man’s grasp. Simultaneously, the screen door flew open and the women appeared, all of them with blood in their eye and ready to do battle. Her mother wielded a broom, Edditha had a mop, and Adella held an iron skillet above her head, looking to pound somebody’s pate into the ground.
The women, screaming war-cries, charged down the steps. Doreen swatted the thug Birdie’s daddy had taken on. Adella and Edditha made short work of the one of the black coats. Cornell landed a few good kicks to the head of the redcoat Buck pinned to the ground and then turned to kick the man in the black coat for good measure.
By the time Birdie and Jo made it to the center of the action, all the varmints were subdued.
»»•««
Buck rolled off the unconscious red coat onto his knees. He grunted and painfully got to his feet. He dusted off his arms and looked up to see Jo rushing toward him.
“Where the hell did you come from?” His arms closed around her. He swung her off her feet.
While twirling Jo around, he caught a glimpse of Birdie. She flew into Doreen’s arms, Rafe joining them in the reunion.
“Van and Gabe found us,” Jo said between sobs.
“Where? How?”
Birdie, clinging to Doreen with her head against Rafe’s chest, swiped the tears from her dusty cheeks. “Gabe…Gabe and Van, they’ve gone to stop them from blowing up Petra’s boulder.”
“The hell they have,” Buck said, setting Jo on her feet. “Rafe?”
“Let’s go,” Rafe said.
Buck nodded to Cornell. “We’ll leave you and Nils, and the ladies, to tidy up the yard.” He gave Jo a buss on the forehead and then set off for the barn.
Rafe fell in step beside him. Birdie skipped to keep up, saying over her shoulder to everyone, “I’ll get the rope. We’ll lash them to the porch rail.”
Inside the barn, Buck handed Birdie two coils of hemp. She gave Rafe a quick buss on the cheek and disappeared back out into the yard. As they saddled up, Rafe said aloud what Buck feared most. “I don’t think we can catch up with them, Buck. They got a head start. Van and Gabe will have to climb up the mesa. They might get up there before the men can climb up the side of the canyon to set the charges. It might be possible.”
Buck led his mount to the barn door and mounted. Rafe did likewise. “I don’t give a damn about the boulder right now. It’s Van and Gabe. They could get blown to bits up there if those peckerwoods set those charges. I’ve thought about Petra’s boulder a lot. It’s granite. There’s not a lot of granite around here, most of the rock in the canyon is basalt, mudstone, or shale. That boulder could be the keystone to bringing down the whole east rim of the canyon for all I know.”