Storm Trouble
Mary Travis was looking forward to the beautiful, spring day as she stepped out onto the boardwalk of the dusty little town. Her father-in-law, circuit court Judge Orrin Travis, would be arriving on the stage that afternoon, and the young, blond-haired widow had not seen him in nearly a month.
As she continued on her walk, she noticed six of the town's peacekeepers standing outside the saloon. In her haste to see what was happening, she bumped into Ezra Standish, the seventh peacekeeper and resident gambler, coming down from his room at the boarding house.
"Good morning, Mrs. Travis," smiled Ezra.
"Nice of you to finally join us Ez," Buck Wilmington interrupted as Ezra and Mary approached the group. Buck, who had a reputation as the town ladies' man, figured if he had to get out of bed early and leave his lovely companion, then Ezra should have to drag his "late night, gamblin' butt out before 10AM" as well. Ezra ignored Buck's remarks; he was quite accustomed to being chided for not being an early riser in this group.
Four of the men: Buck, Vin Tanner, Nathan Jackson, and Josiah Sanchez were preparing their mounts to ride out, but neither Ezra nor Mary knew the reasons why. Mary was the first to ask, "is everything alright?"
Leader of the seven and infamous, fast-drawing gunslinger, Chris Larabee, said "been a busy mornin'."
"There are a lot of folks sick out at the Indian Village – fever of some sort, so Nathan and Josiah are riding out to help them for a few days," Chris continued. "Lucy Miller's boy, Jake, stopped in at the jail about an hour ago and said his little brother, Sam, went missin' sometime yesterday morning. His ma is beside herself, so Vin and Buck volunteered to help look for him."
"Sam is kind of ornery," Mary commented. "Hopefully he just ran off for a bit and will come back when he gets hungry."
"Yeah, I hope you're right Mary," Chris agreed. "The boy's only 6, so it would be kind of surprisin' for one that young to stay away more than a day on their own. Maybe he got lost though; I'm sure Vin and Buck'll find him."
They all knew Sam Miller; the little tow-headed boy was friendly but got into trouble from time to time. His family moved here about 6 months ago. The story heard around town was that the boys' mother had been widowed and felt like their best chance was to move and start fresh in a few place.
"You ready, Josiah," asked Nathan, a former-slave who obtained medical training as a stretcher-bearer in the Union army. The tall, dark man's skills were relied upon heavily by the town and surrounding communities, such as the Indian village. "Ready whenever you are, Brother Nathan," Josiah called back while hopping onto the back of his big white horse.
"Good luck, Nathan," said Vin, followed up by JD's "we'll see you in a couple of days."
JD Dunne was the youngest member of the seven. Fresh off the stage from Boston, the black-haired, hazel-eyed youth was initially denied entry into the group, but persistence paid off. Now years later, JD had proven himself to be a valuable member of the "Magnificent Seven." Dunne was confident that Nathan would be able to treat the people in the village; no one worked harder and more selflessly to help folks around Four Corners than Jackson – day or night, often for no pay.
Josiah, the large former preacher and eldest member of the seven, turned and smiled as he and Nathan rode off into the sunrise.
Buck then turned away from his departing friends and looked at Vin. "So, whatta you think? Should we head over to the Miller place and start searching for the boy from there?"
Vin Tanner was a former buffalo hunter-turned- bounty hunter and an expert tracker. The lean brown-haired man was one of the younger members of the group but most folks considered him second-in-command behind Larabee.
"Yeah," Vin replied. "I'd be more apt to track him if we start where he started. His ma said she saw him night before last, then he was gone the next morning when she got up. Their place is only a little ways from town, so Chris and JD'll ask folks here if they seen him."
Buck saw Blossom peeking out the window of her room, and he tipped his hat and gave her a smile as he and Vin rode out toward the Miller farm.
Chris then turned toward Mary and asked "When is the Judge's stage due?"
"The wire he sent said 11 o'clock. I think he planned on speaking with you upon arrival then meeting me for lunch afterwards," Mary replied.
"I'm heading over to the jail to keep an eye on the prisoner, so send the Judge over when he arrives." With that, Chris too walked away. Mary knew it wasn't proper to stare, but she found Mr. Larabee to be an attractive man. She watched the lean, blond-haired gunslinger until he disappeared through the doorway of the jail.
The prisoner was a cantankerous fellow by the name of Russell Storm. He was a young man in his mid-20's with wild, dark curly hair, and his life mainly consisted of riding around the countryside with his buddies spending his daddy's money. His father, Daniel Storm, was a Texas rancher, and he made his fortunes selling beef and participating in other activities – legal or otherwise – that he thought would fetch a hefty profit. For the most part, the young man and his friends moved from cantina to cantina getting liquored up, getting into fights, and pestering women. Last week they crossed the line when a drunken Russell accidentally discharged his gun, shooting town resident Tom Burns. Mr. Burns lived, thanks to Nathan's quick work, but his condition was touch-and-go for quite a few days.
The judge did not tolerate such behavior and sentenced Storm to a year in prison. He was held in the jail in Four Corners until the seven could find time to move him to a larger facility. Larabee suspected that is what Orrin Travis was going to ask him to do today; take Mr. Storm to the Yuma territorial prison. Wouldn't that be perfect timing with so much other stuff going on this week?
The judge's stage arrived just after 11 o'clock, and sure enough – Travis asked that at least two of the seven regulators escort the man to Yuma starting the following morning. With this young man's powerful relatives, and escalating threats across the territory, the judge wanted him put away in a maximum-security prison as soon as possible.
Larabee knew that Nathan and Josiah wouldn't be back before tomorrow. He wasn't sure about Vin and Buck, so for now he had to plan to drag a cranky prisoner hundreds of miles to Yuma with either Ezra or JD as his companion. Larabee trusted the kid to keep a better eye on the town, so as much as Chris hated to admit it, it seemed as though the best choice was to take Ezra with him to Yuma. He didn't know if the hardest part was going to be the ride there or having to tell Ezra that he had been selected to go.
Vin and Buck had been searching for 6-year-old Sam Miller for nearly 6 hours. They stopped at the homestead earlier and spoke to the mother and siblings. As the son who came into town reported, the mother was very worried. She kept saying over and over again that he was gone when she woke up yesterday morning, and that she had no idea where he might go. Since there were a number of children and horses at the house and all of them looking for Sam, it was difficult for the lanky tracker to determine which tracks belonged to whom.
Over the first 4 hours, the two peacekeepers scoured the area close to the house and determined that Sam wasn't close by. In the last two hours, they followed some horse tracks about a half mile from the homestead. There appeared to be some child-sized footprints that met up with the tracks but didn't continue on foot beyond that. After following the tracks for another few hours, Buck finally spoke up and said "It's getting too dark Vin. We should find a good spot to camp for the night and start again in the morning."
Vin knew the taller man was right, but his mind thought the worst about the horse tracks and little Sam Miller. They were shod horses, so not likely renegade Indians….unless the Indians stole the horses from the white man. Either way, it didn't seem like a good omen for the kid. Reluctantly, Vin agreed, and he and Buck bedded down to grab a few hours of sleep before starting again at first light.
Chris walked through the bat-wing doors of the saloon and found Ezra at his usual table. The place wasn't busy this time of day, and Ezra was playing a game of solitaire to pass the time. He saw Larabee walk in but didn't look up or acknowledge Chris until the fair-haired gunslinger sat down at his table.
"To what do I owe this pleasure, Mr. Larabee? I don't suppose you came to play a game of cards?" Ezra smiled while shuffling the cards one-handed.
"Sure, Ezra. Deal me in," the man in black replied. As he and Ezra played a round of five card stud, Chris filled the gambler in on his conversation with the judge, and their upcoming journey to Yuma.
Nathan and Josiah arrived at the Indian village just before noon. They set up a couple of quarantine tents to isolate the sick patients, and they chose a few of the villagers to assist them. Rain, a woman who was a good friend of Nathan's and visited him a few times in Four Corners, insisted that she be one of Nathan's helpers. Although Nathan worried for her health, he was happy to spend the extra time with her.
Josiah went to work brewing large kettles of tea. Nathan wanted to try out three or four different mixtures to see which would work best. All of the folks had a fever, and many a cough as well. Nathan appreciated the villagers' willingness to help and be helped. These folks did not complain about his awful-tasting concoctions and followed his instructions without complaint….not at all like the six men he often treated back in town. Despite their good nature, a lot of these folks were extremely ill, and Nathan knew it was going to be a long and difficult night.
