CHAPTER 28
The kidnappers broke camp before the sun was up. They had made a skimpy breakfast on some hideous “delicacy” provided by the Indians that consisted of dried meat and a sort of gelatinous substance that Stahlmaske found almost inedible. At least there was coffee to wash the unappetizing stuff down with, although it was a bitter, unpleasant brew.
The Allingham women refused to eat. When awakened, they cried and whimpered and carried on to the point that Stahlmaske couldn’t believe he had actually slept with one of them and considered seducing the other. When it came time to leave, they clung to each other and had to be forcibly separated by the Englishmen, who threw them onto horses and tied them in place again.
Roderick strutted around like he was a king, trying futilely to impress Gretchen. Seeing the way she responded to his brother with haughty disdain, the count was a bit regretful that he hadn’t taken her more seriously earlier. He had been concerned primarily with her family’s money and had failed to see that she really was a suitable mate for him in other ways as well.
And quite beautiful, of course. She would have made an appealing bed companion.
As the men were mounting up, after Stahlmaske had been put on a horse like the other three prisoners, he said to his brother, “Give up this madness, Roderick. You know as well as I that it will only come to a bad end.”
“You will come to a bad end, Albert,” Roderick said. “I, on the other hand, will be wealthy, as well as a valuable adviser to King Friedrich Wilhelm during the coming international crisis with the Americans.”
“A false crisis that you intend to create at the behest of your British masters.”
Roderick climbed onto his horse with his usual awkwardness. His diffident attitude had vanished, but not his physical limitations. He looked at Stahlmaske and shrugged.
“My British masters, as you call them, are paying me very well and helping me get exactly what I want. So who is really the master here, eh?”
With that he dug his heels into the flanks of his horse and got the animal moving.
The group rode north through the sandy hills. A couple of the Pawnee were a good distance out in front, scouting the way. Stahlmaske knew that at least one of the Englishmen spoke the natives’ barbaric tongue, because he had seen the man speaking to them, pointing and gesturing as he did so.
Roderick and one of the Englishmen came next, followed by the other three white men and the prisoners, and finally the rest of the Pawnee war party brought up the rear. Thankfully, Margaret and Sarah Allingham had stopped crying and wailing. They rode side by side in stunned silence, their expressions dull and numbed by the fear they felt.
The Englishmen weren’t leading the horses today, and the prisoners weren’t tied as tightly and uncomfortably as they had been the previous day. They were able to ride sitting up straight instead of leaning over the horse’s neck.
Stahlmaske knew it would do no good to try to get away, though. If any of the prisoners tried to make a break for freedom, the Indians would just chase them down in a matter of moments.
The count moved his horse over closer to Gretchen’s and said, “My dear, I’m sorry that my brother has involved you in his madness. Had I been aware of this insane scheme of his, I would have put a stop to it immediately.”
“I know that, Albert,” she said. “What I cannot understand is what he hopes to gain by this. Surely he would not have done such a thing simply because he was . . . attracted to me.”
“Beautiful women have been prompting men to do foolish things all the way back to the dawn of time,” mused the count. “But I think Roderick’s true motivation is the hatred and resentment he feels for me. Perhaps I deserve that. The shadow I cast has always engulfed him.”
False modesty was not Stahlmaske’s way, and this was as close to introspection and self-examination as he was ever going to get. He didn’t really care what had incited his brother’s treachery. He just wanted to figure out what he was going to do about it.
“Where do you think they’re taking us?” Gretchen asked.
“Roderick mentioned something about a trading post. I didn’t know the British had any posts in American territory.”
“Perhaps that’s what this is about. With trouble between the Americans and our government, they might be less likely to pay attention to what’s going on out here on the frontier.”
Stahlmaske frowned in thought. Gretchen was an intelligent woman. She might be on to something with that idea.
“Whatever the reason, I plan to put a stop to it,” he said. “One thing we can be sure of, if this is Roderick’s plan there’s bound to be a flaw in it, something that will cause it to fail. It’s only a matter of time.”
“If Preacher is alive, he’ll be coming after us, too.”
Stahlmaske’s frown deepened.
“Preacher,” he said, his disdain for the mountain man obvious in his voice. “People seem to think the man can work miracles, but as far as I can tell, he’s only one step above a savage himself!”
“Sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed,” Gretchen said.
Preacher sent Russell and the other men back to fetch the horses, all except for Allingham, who begged to stay behind with Preacher and Dog.
“I want to stay here, closer to Margaret and Sarah,” he explained. His voice was determined but also ragged with fear for his wife and daughter’s safety.
Preacher considered the request for a moment, then said, “If you think you can keep a cool head, you can stay. You got to do everything I tell you, though.”
“Of course. I just want to get them back safely, Preacher. Nothing else really means anything to me. Following your orders is the best way I can do that.”
The senator was showing some sense. He and Preacher went back to the hill overlooking the camp while the other men headed back the way they had come.
The two of them watched as the kidnappers got ready to break camp. Roderick Stahlmaske was still giving orders. The four Englishmen didn’t seem to have much respect for him, but they did what he told them to do, Preacher noted. More than likely they had been ordered by their real boss to go along with whatever Roderick wanted.
Preacher knew it was difficult for Allingham when he had to watch Margaret and Sarah crying in fear and clutching each other. To watch a loved one in danger like that and not be able to do anything about it had to be pure hell.
Allingham bit his lip and stayed quiet, though, as the sky lightened even more and the sun finally came up. He and Preacher had taken their hats off, and they kept their heads down so they wouldn’t be spotted in the tall grass.
After the group had eaten breakfast, they got ready to move out. Allingham whispered to Preacher, “When will our men be back with the horses?”
“It’ll probably be another hour, anyway,” the mountain man replied.
“And during that time, those men will build up another lead on us.”
“It’ll be all right,” Preacher assured him. “We’ll be able to follow them. From the sound of what they said earlier, they don’t really want to lose us. That’s why they ain’t goin’ to any trouble to cover their trail.”
“Because they’re luring us into that trap you mentioned.”
“Yep.”
Earlier, he and Allingham and Russell had discussed what they would do when they caught up with the kidnappers. Preacher intended for Allingham and the other men, except for him and Russell, to approach openly. While they were doing that, the two frontiersmen would circle around and get behind the kidnappers to search for a way to free the prisoners. Those were all the details that could be worked out until they had gotten a look at wherever the group was bound and seen the lay of the land.
Once the kidnappers and their captives were gone, Preacher and Allingham could talk more freely. Allingham asked, “What was that about a trading post Roderick mentioned? Wouldn’t any trading posts out here belong to the American Fur Company?”
“All the ones I know about do,” Preacher agreed, “but I’ve been thinkin’ about those fellas who are workin’ with Roderick. A while back I tangled with some British government agents who were tryin’ to ruin the American fur trade so that the Hudson’s Bay Company and other English fur tradin’ companies could get a better foothold down here. As long as there’s been fur trappin’ in the Rockies, the British have wanted to come down here from Canada and take over. Could be this is just their latest attempt.”
“Stir up trouble between the United States and Prussia, eh? Maybe even start a war to keep Washington distracted?”
“I don’t see how we’re supposed to fight them dang Prussians when they’re all the way around on the other side of the world.”
“Our marines fought the Barbary pirates,” Allingham pointed out. “That’s a long way from here, too, and it’s on the other side of an ocean. I suppose the United States and Prussia could attack each other if they wanted to badly enough. We could certainly make war on each other’s shipping.”
“Would the count gettin’ killed make the Prussians mad enough to start a ruckus like that?”
“If it was made to appear that a United States senator was to blame for his death? Quite likely.” Allingham let out a disgusted groan. “God, we all really played right into Roderick’s hands, didn’t we? The count by seducing my wife, Margaret by going along with it, and me by attacking him on the riverboat. Now everyone will believe whatever story Roderick’s friends want to spread.”
“He ain’t got away with it yet,” Preacher pointed out. “He still has to kill you and the count, remember, and we don’t aim to let that happen.”
A few minutes of silence went by, then Allingham said, “I can almost sympathize with him, you know.”
“The count?”
“Roderick.”
Preacher squinted at Allingham and asked, “How in blazes do you figure that?”
“Well, if you had to spend your whole life with Albert Stahlmaske as your brother . . . wouldn’t you feel like killing him, too?”
Preacher laughed and said, “Now that you mention it, I reckon I might’ve done it a long time before now!”
They were chuckling over that when Dog growled. Dog’s instincts warned the mountain man at the same time. He and Allingham were lying at the top of the hill on their bellies, peering in the direction the kidnappers had gone. Preacher rolled over fast and snatched his rifle from the ground just as something whipped past his ear.
He glanced over and saw a Pawnee arrow sticking in the ground where he had been only a second earlier. As he sat up he saw one of the painted warriors standing several yards away, drawing back his bowstring for another shot.