Darla's trailer was sticking out of Cooter's garage when the boys and Darla pulled up in the General Lee.
"Hey, Cooter!" Bo called as he climbed out of the General's window; Darla followed.
"Mornin', y'all!" Cooter came out from the front of Darla's rig, smiling as always, wiping his always-dirty hands on his ever-present rag. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Darla. "Well, look whose back among the land of the livin'!"
"Thanks to all of you," said Darla, smiling back at him.
"Cooter, this here's Darla; Darla, this is Cooter Davenport, the best mechanic in Hazzard," said Luke.
"Nice to meet you," said Cooter, offering a hand.
Darla took it. "Likewise," she said. "Bo and Luke tell me you're the one that can get my rig and trailer back among the living?"
"Well, I can, but it's gonna take a while. Y'all come on in," Cooter said, and gestured them inside. They walked around to the front of her rig and got their first real look at the damage.
"Ouch," said Bo.
Darla's grill guard had taken the brunt of the damage, but the driver's side of the front end was mangled. The lights were all shattered from the impact, the bumper was crumpled, and so was the front rim of the hood. Bo tried not to look at the cracked windshield with the brown stain on it.
"Guess it could have been a lot worse," said Darla, leaning in closer.
"Yeah, it coulda been; you coulda been goin' a lot faster," said Cooter. "Most of this is just little stuff, it won't be too hard to bang out," he said, gesturing to the front of the rig. "The trouble is you went over a fallen tree on the side of the road, to hit the tree that's still standin'. That means you got a —" Cooter stopped after that, because Darla had grabbed his skiff and a flashlight, laid down and slid underneath the rig.
"Dang!" was the first thing she said. "Well, my oil pan's toast, I guess; I just about tore that off." The boys and Cooter knelt down and peered underneath as she spoke. "Looks like I tore a line or two too. At least it looks like the block's intact. Now how did I do that, did the oil pan just pop off?" They heard her shuffle around. "Missed the brake lines, that's good. And the skid plate kept me from dropping the tranny—"
"Now, miss, you stop that!" Cooter exclaimed.
Bo and Luke both looked at Cooter. Darla scrooged around to look at them. "What?"
"You keep talkin' like that, an' the boys here are gonna have you tunin' up the General Lee an' I'll lose half my business!"
The boys laughed. "Don't you worry, Cooter," said Bo, "We ain't gonna take our business anywhere else. She's good though, ain't she? You shoulda heard her run down the General's engine earlier!"
From under the car, they heard Darla chuckle. "Like I said to Bo before, Mr. Davenport, just because I can see it doesn't mean I know how to fix it. Doesn't look like I got any bad surprises, though." She slid back out and held a hand out to Bo. He pulled her to her feet, but didn't let go of her hand. "You sure surprised me," he said.
"I'm full of surprises that way," she said dryly. "Now, let me grab some things from the trailer cabin."
"Can I help?" Bo asked eagerly.
Darla smiled and nodded. "I guess; I don't have much." Then she took a good look at the front of the trailer. "Oh, geez," she moaned.
"Yeah, that's the other thing I was gonna mention," said Cooter, as he and Luke walked over. The trailer's crossbars and hitch were completely mangled. The bar just behind the hitch was creased and bent almost forty-five degrees, and the crossbars were twisted and cracked. There was a clean-cut line on the back of Darla's truck where her trailer hitch used to be.
"When you hit the tree, the trailer didn't come loose; it just bent right here," said Cooter, indicating the creased part. "Everything just went helter-skelter from there. I had to cut the trailer loose from your rig to move it."
"I guess you probably can't fix this, can you?" said Darla glumly.
"Well, not exactly. The good news is you didn't bend the frame on the rig or the trailer, so I can just cut the crossbar off and weld a new one," said Cooter. "The bad news is, I ain't gonna find a crossbar like this here in Hazzard. I'll have to call around Capitol City or Atlanta, an' see what I can find."
"Well, you make whatever calls you need to, Mr. Davenport; you won't need to worry about getting paid," said Darla.
"Please, call me Cooter," said Cooter, grinning. "Mister Davenport makes me sound way too old!"
Darla grinned. "Cooter, then," she said as she popped the side door on the trailer and disappeared inside; Bo followed her in.
Cooter shook his head, grinning. "If they build 'em all like that in Kentucky, I might have to pick up an' move," he said.
"I'm not convinced she really is from Kentucky," Luke said quietly.
"Whaddya mean?"
"We had a couple of guys from Louisville in my Marine unit," said Luke, "And she don't talk like they did. I mean, sometimes she does, but other times…I dunno, she clips some words, and she rolls her 'r's a little. She might be from Kentucky, but...I don't think we've gotten the whole story with her yet."
"'Specially if you still don't know who ran her off the road yesterday," said Cooter.
"You got that right," Luke agreed.
"You live in here?" said Bo, looking around. The front compartment of Darla's trailer was bigger than their bathroom at the Duke farm, but not by much. "Where do you sleep?"
"On this," she said, and handed Bo a fold-up camp cot. "When I'm not sleeping in the truck bed or Treasure's stall at a racetrack, anyway." She looked around and grabbed a small suitcase, a duffel bag, and a rolled-up nylon bag that reminded Bo of Uncle Jesse's old shotgun sling. Then she reached up and unhooked a small cabinet. She fished around in the small space, then withdrew a bottle half-full of an amber liquid.
Bo smiled a little. "Medicinal purposes?"
"Doesn't everyone need that?" Darla said. There was barely room to move with the two of them in the cramped space, and Darla tripped as she turned around. Bo dropped the cot to catch her. For a second, they just stared at each other, like they had the night before. Bo had a couple of crazy thoughts about kissing her run through his head, but then he heard Luke's footsteps behind him. "You guys all right?" he said.
"Um—yeah," Bo said quickly, reaching down to grab the cot. He ignored Luke's questioning look as he stepped out of the trailer. Darla took another look around the tiny space, then followed Bo out.
"As soon as I find the parts for the trailer, I'll give y'all a holler, okay?" said Cooter, as they put Darla's things in the trunk of the General Lee.
"Thanks, Cooter!" said Bo. He slammed the trunk shut and headed around to the driver's side. Darla was standing there, looking for all the world like a little girl about to ask for a piece of candy, knowing full well that it would spoil her dinner.
Bo couldn't help but smile at her expression. "What?"
Darla bit her lip. "My head really is feeling better," she said.
Bo laughed. "All right, all right—you can drive," he said.
"Thank you!" Darla jumped and clapped her hands as he swung his legs over the door. Luke was already in the passenger seat, shaking his head and trying to hide a smile.
"What?" asked Bo.
"Nothin,'" said Luke, letting his smile widen. He's letting her drive? This has got to be a first! He's hooked, Luke thought. Darla slid in the window and practically bounced in the seat as she started the General. But as she cranked the engine, they heard a faint siren. Bo and Luke twisted around to look behind them, and saw Rosco's patrol car coming toward them from a block away.
"It's Rosco!" Bo exclaimed. "Now what in the heck does he want?"
"We ain't done anything today, have we?" asked Luke.
"Who is it?" asked Darla, turning around to look.
"It's Rosco, our excuse for a sheriff," said Bo.
"Yeah, and he's usually lookin' for an excuse to arrest us Dukes," Luke added.
Darla's expression darkened as the sheriff's patrol car moved to cut them off. "Arrest you? What for?" she asked.
Luke said, "Who knows, he'll think of a reason by the time he gets here. This is sort of a normal thing for us."
"Listen, Darla, I think we'd better take a rain check on you driving—" Bo bit off whatever else he was going to say, because Darla floored the General and tore out of Cooter's parking lot, skidding around Rosco and taking off around the town square.
"Ooh! Ooh! There they go, there they go!" Rosco exclaimed as he tore out after them. He reached for the CB. "Boss! Boss, this is sheriff Ros-co P. Col-trane, an' I'm in hot pursuit o' them Duke boys!"
In the city office, Boss grabbed his mic. "The Duke boys? Rosco, you dodo, what the heck're you chasin' them for for? I told you to stake out Cooter's garage and nab that dang horse thief!"
"That's what I'm fixin' to do, Boss!" Rosco yelled back. "I done found that horse thief, and she's with them Dukes!"
"What? WHAT? Oh, that's marvelous, that's marvelous!" Boss yelled, laughing. "I can get the bounty on that horse thief, and I can get all them Dukes for aidin' and abettin!" Boss threw the mic down and laughed more. "Oh, this is my red-letter day!" he cackled.
Bo and Luke were both staring at Darla. They'd heard the exchange between Rosco and Boss. "Horse thief?" exclaimed Bo.
"No!" Darla said, keeping her eyes on the road as she drifted around a corner. "Look, I'm not a thief! Those horses are my family's! Please, I can explain, but not while I'm trying to run from him!" She jerked a thumb behind her.
The boys looked at each other. "You know if we pull over now, Rosco'll haul all of us in," said Luke.
"Yeah, you got that right," said Bo. He quickly scanned the streets ahead of them. "Turn right here."
"What?"
"Right! NOW!"
Darla cranked the wheel and flew around another corner. Luke looked behind them. "We're gonna have to get outta town if we wanna lose Rosco," he said.
"Better add Enos to that," said Bo with a rueful smile as he saw Hazzard's other squad car fall in behind Rosco. "Here he comes."
They sped out of town with Rosco and Enos following behind them. Whether it was from skill or adrenaline, at least Darla could drive. She quickly got a feel for the General Lee and had it flying down the dirt roads.
Red-hair and Scrawny, meanwhile, were listening in on the CB chatter. Red-hair grabbed the mic. "Listen up, Sheriff," he said. "You remember our deal; you and your boss get half the bounty on this girl if you help us round her up."
"I know it, I know it, I'm in hot pursuit!" Rosco yelled back. "Ooohh, this is gonna be a great day for my little fat buddy!"
"Bernardo?" Darla breathed.
"A bounty, now?" said Bo.
"Well, that explains Boss's interest," said Luke.
"Oh, this just keeps gettin' better an' better!" Bo exclaimed, and looked over at Darla. She was still staying ahead of Rosco, but her eyes hadn't moved from the CB box. "Bernardo," she murmured again. "Give me the mic," she said. Bo looked puzzled, but handed it to her. She said, "Listen,sheriff—I don't know what your deal-makers promised you, but I can promise you this; they'll never keep their word." She paused for a second. "Y Bernardo, en caso de que usted, nunca tendrá la línea de sangre de mí, ¿etiendes?" She threw the mic down and drove on.
"I thought your accent was a little off for a Kentuckian," said Luke.
"Well now, wait a minute, what did you just say?" Bo exclaimed. He tried to run through what she'd said, but high school Spanish class was a long time ago, and he'd never done well in it. Darla just shook her head.
Luke suddenly sat up straighter. "Bo, we're on Stone Canyon Road," he said quickly.
"So?"
"So, we're comin' up on Cedar Creek!"
"So?"
"So, there ain't no bridge on Cedar Creek!" Luke yelled. "Not here!"
"WHAT?" Darla shrieked. She took her foot off the gas.
"No, hit the gas!" said Bo.
"What?"
"Floor it!" Bo yelled, and jammed his foot down over hers on the accelerator. The General Lee jumped forward.
"Are you loco?" Darla yelled.
"Some people say so!" said Bo, and turned the wheel a little. "Now, you see that outcroppin' there? Head straight for that, don't turn!"
"What? No!" Darla squealed.
"We do this all the time, Darla! Trust me!"
"I can't believe we're doin' this!" said Luke, and braced himself.
Darla screamed as the General Lee flew over Cedar Creek and landed with a huge thud on the other side. The back end careened to the right, but Darla managed to turn into it, and brought the General to a skidding stop. Bo and Luke looked back over their shoulders. Rosco locked up his tires and almost stopped before he got to the creek. His front tires slipped over the edge. But Enos didn't hit the brakes in time, and managed to knock Rosco over into the creek bed.
"Enos, you dipstick!" they faintly heard him yell as he struggled to get out of the car.
They turned back around and just stared ahead for a minute. Bo said, "Luke, has anyone ever jumped the General Lee before that didn't have the name Duke?"
"Just one," said Luke, remembering the time Lulu Hogg did it. They both looked at Darla. Lulu, at least, had had more fun when she'd done a jump. Darla was staring straight ahead, her face was chalk-white, and so were her knuckles; her hands were still firmly clenched around the steering wheel.
"Um—Darla? You can let go now," said Bo.
"Madre de Dios," Darla breathed. "What the hell did I just do?"
Bo fought back a smile, remembering the first time he'd ever jumped the General Lee. "Can I drive now, please?" he asked quietly. Darla didn't answer, just nodded.
"C'mon, let's go," said Luke. "It's just a matter of time before they show up at the farm."
Rosco called Boss from Enos's patrol car. "Uh, Boss, this is sheriff Ros-co P. Col-trane callin', uh…uh, them Duke boys, well, uh, they got away…" he said.
"What? What?" Boss yelled back. "Oh, no no no, not today they didn't! Not today! Rosco, you git out to the Duke farm, and you arrest all them Dukes and that horse thief, ya hear?"
Red-hair and Scrawny were still listening to the CB from their hiding place in town. Scrawny grabbed the mic this time. "Who're these Dukes you keep talking about, Hogg?"
"Oh, they'se a family o' trouble here in Hazzard county," said Boss. "If'n there's any trouble at all, them Dukes'll be smack in the middle of it!"
"Where're they at, Hogg?"
"They got a farm down on the south end o' Hazzard, down on Old Mill Road," Boss answered.
Scrawny put the mic down. "Time to pay these Dukes a visit."
Daisy was out hanging wash on the line when the General Lee came tearing back into the yard. Bo slid to a stop and pulled himself out, then pulled Darla out after him. "All right," he said to her, as Luke climbed out the passenger side, "You said you could explain all this, now you better start explainin'!"
"What's going on?" Daisy looked at Luke as she asked.
"Well, from the sound of things, whoever's on Darla's tail is still here, and now they've got Boss and Rosco helpin' 'em," Luke began. "They're talkin' about a bounty bein' on her head for horse thievin'!"
"What?" Daisy exclaimed, as Jesse came outside.
Darla ignored all of them. As Luke repeated what they'd just heard on the CB, she popped the General's trunk and unrolled the nylon bag. Bo was right; it did look like Uncle Jesse's old gun sling. Darla grabbed a shotgun and two shells and quickly loaded up.
"Whoa, what are you doin'? Gimme that!" said Luke. He tried to grab the shotgun out of her hands.
"Stop it!" Darla tried to wrestle it back.
"Luke, you leave her alone!" Bo tried to shove Luke away.
"Give it here!"
"No!"
"Let her go!"
"That's enough!" Uncle Jesse yelled. "Now break it up, all of ya!" He yanked the gun out of Darla's hands and used it to push Bo and Luke apart before fists started swinging. "Now park your tempers for a minute!" he yelled at the boys, eyeing both of them. Bo and Luke glared at each other for a second but backed down. He then turned his gaze to Darla. "You've just gotten my nephews into a heap of trouble," he said. They all heard the anger simmering in his gravelly voice. "Now if you don't want us to turn you over to Rosco as soon as he shows up—which he's bound to do any second now—then you better start tellin' us who you are, who them horses belong to, who you're runnin' from, and just what in tarnation's goin' on!"
Before Darla had the chance to say anything, they saw Enos's patrol car coming up the road. Luke looked grim. "That didn't take long," he muttered.
Bo went to put an arm around Darla, but as soon as she saw the patrol car, she bolted for the barn. She was quick, but Bo was faster and caught her before she'd made it half a dozen steps. "Now, hold it!" he yelled, and grabbed her around the waist.
"You idiota loco, lemme go!" she screeched. Bo lifted Darla up off her feet (not hard to do, seeing as he was so much taller) and dragged her back to the General. She kicked him in the shin, but he held on.
"Stop a second!" he yelled at her, but she fought him, trying to break his grip. Given how strong she was, she very nearly succeeded. But she had nothing on Bo in size; he shoved himself up against her and pinned her to the side of the General; her toes barely touched the ground.
"Stop!" he shouted. Panting, Darla finally ceased her struggles. Bo looked down at her; she looked like a frightened rabbit that had exhausted itself trying to get loose from a trap. Bo's resolve wavered for a second, but he had to know. "Now you got about ten seconds before Rosco gets here, so I'm askin' you, right now, and I want the truth: Are you runnin' from the law?"
She quickly shook her head. "No!" she whimpered.
Bo relaxed his grip and set her on her feet, but didn't let go of her. He looked over his shoulder; Enos had pulled up in front of the house. He turned back to Darla. "That black truck that ran you off the road," he began, "there were two guys in it. Are you runnin' from them?"
Darla nodded; tears threatened in her eyes. "Please," she said, "They're after me, and they're after Treasure and the bloodline. They'll kill me if they get their hands on me, and they'll take the bloodline, and I can't let that happen! Please!"
"Okay, okay, shh, I believe you," he said. He pulled Darla into an embrace. "Shhh, it's all right," he murmured to her. Not much of what she's just said made sense, but he didn't doubt her. He looked over at the others. "Y'all can do what you want," he said, "but I promised that no harm would come to her as long as she was here, and I aim to keep my word."
The others looked at each other. "We need to listen, y'all," said Daisy.
"I think there's more to this here story," said Jesse, "an' we need to hear it 'fore we make any decisions."
Luke was still doubtful, but he knew Bo wasn't going to budge. It had been quite a while since he and Bo had exchanged blows over a girl, and he had no desire to do it again. And Darla was right about one thing—whoever was chasing her was serious about doing her harm. "You're right, Uncle Jesse," he finally said. "We need to hear the whole story. All of it," he added, eyeing Darla. Darla looked at Luke from Bo's arms; she'd heard the threat. Bo heard it too; he said nothing, but his arms tightened around Darla.
"Don't you worry, Darla," said Daisy. "We'll listen, and we'll do whatever we can to help you."
Rosco was yelling before he even got out of the car. "Awright, freeze!" he yelled, getting out and slamming the door. He brandished his pistol at the Dukes as he walked up. "Just freeze, freeze, freeze, ever'body freeze!" He was beside himself with joy at catching Darla with the Dukes. "Well, looky here; I me a horse thief, and a buncha horse-thief aiders an' abetters, khew khew!" he said. "Awright, now yer all under arrest, all o' ya! Now jus' get a move on!"
Bo positioned himself between Rosco and Darla. "Now you wait just one minute, Rosco," he said, "you ain't takin' her anywhere, not 'til you hear her side of the story!"
"Rosco," said Jesse, "There's somethin' goin' on here, and we don't know the whole story. But whoever these people are that're chasin' her, they're obviously dangerous men."
Luke chimed in. "Uncle Jesse's right—they could've killed Darla, runnin' her off the road the way they did, and the horses too. Why would they do that? If these guys were really bounty hunters, they'd want her alive, and they'd want the horses unharmed."
Daisy looked at Enos. "Enos," she pleaded, "you know that no Duke would ever give safe harbor to no horse thief."
"Well, I believe ya, Daisy, but I'm under orders," Enos said, looking worried. He had to admit, Luke had a point. He'd dealt with a few bounty hunters in Los Angeles, and their first rule was, you brought bounties back alive, or you didn't get paid. The whole "dead or alive" mentality was long gone.
"Yeah, you're under Boss's orders," said Bo, "and all he cares about is money! He don't care at all about Darla here!" He looked back at Rosco. "Now Rosco, how can you and Boss be so sure them two guys are tellin' the truth and Darla's the one lyin'?"
"Will you hush?" yelled Rosco indignantly. "All y'all hush! You been taken in by this here master criminal, that's what it is! You've always been a sucker for a pretty girl, Bo, ever'body knows that, now come on, 'cause I'm cuffin' and stuffin' all o' ya!"
Darla slumped over. Bo moved to catch her, but instead of hitting the ground, she shoved at him with all her strength. Bo staggered back as she spun, grabbed her pistol from her ankle holster, rose and pointed it straight at Rosco. "Dgitdgit!" the sheriff stuttered.
"Don't try it, deputy!" she barked as Enos reached for his gun. "Put it through your left hand and drop it!"
"Not 'til you drop yours," Enos fired back. He didn't draw, but he didn't remove his hand from his weapon either. Rosco was still standing there with his hands raised.
"I'm really not in the mood to be argued with, deputy," said Darla, and cocked the gun hammer back. "Drop it! Now!"
Enos realized he had no choice, and tossed his pistol to her.
"Darla, what are you doing?" Bo hissed.
"Holdin' the Sheriff at gunpoint ain't likely to make him listen, Darla," Luke added.
"Yes, well, this Sheriff—Rosco, is it?—doesn't exactly strike me as being the listening type," Darla snapped. In spite of the situation, Bo had to fight back a snicker; Darla had only been in Hazzard for a day, and she already had Rosco figured out.
Darla's gaze didn't waver from Rosco. "I'm much more than a pretty girl, Sheriff," she said. "I'm a pretty girl with a gun, who's spent months trying to save my family's legacy, trying to stay a step ahead of people who will stop at nothing to take it from me! And if you turn me over to them, I'll be dead before dawn. Now, these men who came to you and your Boss, what did they tell you?"
Rosco was still speechless. Darla suddenly swung her arm and pointed her pistol at Enos. All the Dukes stiffened at that; Daisy gasped. "Tell me! NOW!" Darla shouted.
Enos gasped and squeezed his eye shut, and the words started tumbling out of him. "Two guys came to see Mister Hogg this mornin' and they said they was bounty hunters and that you was a horse thief and that there was a twenty-five thousand dollar price on your head and they'd give Mister Hogg half if me an' the sheriff came out here to arrest you!"
Darla didn't move, but she appeared to steady herself before she spoke again. "And one of them had hair like mine," she said quietly. It was a statement, not a question.
Enos looked at her long braid, and looked surprised. "Well, yes ma'am, he sure did."
Darla closed her eyes; Bo saw her jaw clench. She really did slump this time, leaning against the General Lee, and dropped the gun. "I can't run," she said in a broken whisper. She hid her face in her hands, shaking.
"Hey," Bo said softly, going back over to her. "I promised you, nothing would happen to you here—"
"You don't understand," she said, not looking up. "If Bernardo is here in Hazzard, then he's getting desperate. And if he's willing to risk Treasure's life, then he's definitely willing to kill me. He'll stop at nothing, even if it means risking the bloodline I'm protecting. And now all of you may be in danger for trying to protect me, because I can't get away from him!"
"Shhh," Bo whispered, and wrapped his arms around her again. She clung to him tightly. The whole thing about the bloodline still didn't make sense, but no one could doubt her fear.
Jesse looked at Rosco; his eyes narrowed. "Rosco," he growled, "you ain't got no warrant; you ain't even got no probable cause to arrest this girl, or any of us Dukes for that matter. All you got is the word of two complete strangers, who could very well be crooks themselves. And since she's on my land, it's my decision whether she stays or goes, and I say she stays!"
"Dgit—well—ooh," Rosco stuttered, but Jesse ignored him. "Now," he said to all of them, "I suggest we all go inside, sit down, and listen to Darla's story."
