Buck awoke just as they approached the orphanage gates, and his head hurt something fierce. The boy groaned, and the man riding behind him said, "just sit still and be a good boy, you hear?"
"I'm gonna be sick," Buck said, as the man very quickly hoisted him up and held him over the side of the horse.
"Thanks for the warning, kid."
Buck could not believe that he was back at the boy's home. He felt awful, his head continued to throb…..and he was afraid that Chris was dead. Vin, Josiah, Nathan and Ezra weren't expecting them back until Monday morning, so no one would probably even come looking for him for two or three days…..and even then, he didn't know if they would know where to look.
Mr. Oates, the headmaster of the boy's home, was standing at the gate. "Welcome back, Wilmington. We've missed you, but unfortunately we're going to have a make a bit of an example of you so the other boys don't get any ideas. Put him in solitary," the man ordered as he kicked the little boy hard in his midsection. All of the air rushed out of Buck, and one of the men had to carry/drag him past all of the other boys in the yard.
He was thrown roughly into a tiny dark cell and the door locked. Buck laid on the floor and cried.
It was almost dark when Chris started to stir. His head pounded, and there was a familiar, burning pain in his torso. He knew he had been shot. Panic set in, and he tried desperately to stand as the memory of what happened came rushing back to him. "Buck," he cried hoarsely and fell to the ground once again.
Yosemite was just getting ready to go home when Pony made his way back into town. He didn't see any injuries to the horse or any signs that his rider had been hurt, but he had a bad feeling nonetheless. He found Ezra Standish in the saloon and informed him that Larabee's horse had just shown up…alone.
Ezra thanked Yosemite and immediately rose to find Nathan Jackson. Ezra couldn't think of any good explanation why Chris would have let his horse wander back to Four Corners without him, so the conman feared the worst. He and Larabee had their share of disagreements, but he considered the man a good friend…..and he had already grown very attached to the boisterous, blue-eyed boy.
"We need to locate them...now," the gambler insisted.
"I'm worried too, Ezra," Nathan said, "but we don't stand a chance of findin' 'em in the dark. Let's get supplies ready and head out at first light. I'll put together a medical kit," Nathan continued, "need to make sure I have child-sized supplies in case Buck is hurt."
"Your point is a valid one, Mr. Jackson," Ezra sighed. "I'll let Mrs. Travis and Emma know what's going on, so someone can inform Misters Tanner and Sanchez when they arrive back in town."
"Damnit Larabee, get your ass up," Chris said out loud and finally made it to his feet. He removed what was left of his shirt and tied it around his waist to slow the flow of blood. His head was swimming, and he grabbed onto a tree for a moment to try and get his bearings. He then set off very slowly towards Four Corners.
After leaving the newspaper office, Ezra rode out to Mrs. Dunne's house. It was close to midnight, and he knew he would likely wake her.
He knocked lightly on the door, so as not to arouse JD. He heard someone stirring and smiled when he saw Emma's sleepy face peer through the curtains. She immediately opened the door and said, "Ezra, is everything ok?"
She looked beautiful, Ezra thought, in her nightgown with her hair falling on her shoulders. It took him a moment to say, "may I come in?"
"Certainly," she stepped to the side and motioned for him to enter. "Should I make some coffee?"
"Coffee would be wonderful; I fear it is going to be a long night."
She quickly put some water on, ran to her room to grab a robe, and returned to sit next to the auburn-haired man at the table. She placed her hand on his and asked, "what's going on Ezra?"
"Buck and Mr. Larabee have disappeared. Chris' steed rode in tonight devoid of its riders."
"They were going to go fishing, right? Has anyone checked Mr. Larabee's cabin? Maybe the horse just got loose and came back to town?" She questioned as she rose to prepare the coffee.
"Mr. Jackson and myself are heading out at first light, and while I hope you are correct...that seems an unlikely scenario, knowing Mr. Larabee and his horse as well as I do."
She shook her head, sat back down with two cups of coffee, and asked, "so you believe something bad has happened to them?" She didn't even want to think about that scenario. She had grown quite attached to the orphaned boy herself, and she knew JD would be devastated if something happened to his best friend. It had only been a couple of years since the little boy had lost his father.
"While I do not possess the keen perception skills of our Mr. Tanner, my gut feeling is yes - something is amiss."
"I, of course, understand that you must go look for them," she paused, "but promise me, Ezra, that you will be careful. Should I send Mr. Tanner and Mr. Sanchez after you when they arrive back in town?"
"Thank you, but Mrs. Travis said she would inform them of the circumstances," Ezra looked into her deep brown eyes, "do not concern yourself about me. Mr. Jackson and I will be fine, and we will send word if we require additional assistance."
"Would you like to stay...tonight?" Emma asked shyly.
"My dear Emma," the southerner stood, holding her hand, and walking towards the door. "How I would love to stay...but I must make preparations for tomorrow."
"Take care Ezra and good luck!" She yelled as he and Chaucer rode off into the night. Her heart was beating rapidly, at the thought of what almost occurred and from fear for what the man faced tomorrow. "Might as well finish my coffee," she said to herself, "I'm not going to be sleeping anytime soon."
It was pitch black. Chris was stumbling after every few steps, but the stubborn man just kept rising and putting one foot in front of the other. The blood had soaked through his shirt and mixed with the sweat of his efforts. His head throbbed, and he was so thirsty that the sensation was maddening….but he just kept picturing Buck out cold and in the hands of those awful men. He kept walking.
Ezra and Nathan were at the livery about an hour before dawn. They were both worried about Chris, but it was fear for the boy that was really eating at their insides.
They lacked the tracking skills of Vin, but Ezra and Nathan did their best to follow Pony's trail from last night in reverse. They took Pony along, hoping they would find someone to ride him home.
Chris was barely upright. He continued to try and walk, but by now, it was more like crawling. Not only was his weakness getting the best of him, but even his eyes were playing tricks on him. He could swear that was two of his men heading his way, but they shouldn't be expecting him back in town for another day.
"Chris!" Nathan yelled and jumped down to help support the obviously exhausted and injured leader. Chris' torso was covered in blood, and there was a wound on the side of his head. "Here, sit down and drink some water," the healer helped lower the blond gunslinger to the ground and placed his canteen to Chris' lips.
Larabee drank greedily. He was so thirsty.
"Easy, Chris," Nathan approached. "Don't wanna make you sick."
"Buck, they took Buck," Chris mumbled deliriously. He didn't ever remember being this tired, but he knew he had to tell them what happened.
"Mr. Larabee, who took Buck?" Ezra squatted next to the injured man and asked.
"From the orphanage," Chris answered, struggling to keep himself conscious. Nathan was doing his best to check out the gunslinger's wounds.
Ezra and Nathan looked back and forth at one another. Had they heard correctly? Someone from the orphanage had come and kidnapped Buck?
"Chris, I'm gonna lay you on your side and check out the bullet wound," Nathan described as he probed at the hole in his friend and patient. "You're a lucky son-of-a-gun; it went clean through," Nathan smiled but then said seriously, "ya lost a lot of blood though."
"Wrap it up," Chris slurred, "gotta get after 'em. They hurt Buck."
"Chris, you ain't gonna be able to ride," Nathan said gently. "Even if I get you patched up, you'd probably set it bleedin' again on your horse. Did they shoot Buck too?" Larabee's grown body was able to survive this amount of blood loss, but Nathan knew that would not be the case for a boy Buck's size.
"Not before I was knocked out...beat him badly. Clean the wound, stitch it, whatever it takes Nate," Larabee instructed in a slurred voice, as he continued to fight the overwhelming desire to shut his eyes. "I'm goin' with ya."
"Ezra will go look for Buck," Nathan attempted to convince the stubborn man. "I'll patch you up, and you and I'll take a nice and slow ride back to Four Corners. Vin and Josiah should be back in a few hours, and they could go after Buck and Ezra."
"NO!" Chris yelled. "I let 'em take him; I'm gonna get him back." His determination was making his voice sound stronger now. "Besides, I'm the one who Mary showed where the orphanage is. I'm sure I can find it…" His voice trailed off again.
"Mr. Larabee," Ezra locked his pale green eyes with Chris'. "I'll find him, I promise. You are grievously injured and in no shape to accompany me."
"I'm fine," Chris pleaded, "just give Nathan ten minutes to patch me up, and I'll be ready to go."
Nathan looked at Ezra and shook his head. He then set about bandaging the bullet holes. He decided not to stitch them since the bleeding had slowed a fair amount. If there was already some infection in there, stitching would just make it worse.
Once Larabee was clean and wrapped, Nathan gave him one of his extra shirts, and they helped the man stand.
Chris was weak as a newborn colt, but once on his horse – he knew he could make it. The pain was bearable…his biggest problem was lack of energy from blood loss and no sleep. Chris could still picture the map of the orphanage area that Mary had showed him, so he took off on Pony leading the way.
It was so dark in his cell, Buck didn't know if it was day or night. His head still hurt, and he was starting to feel hungry. He wasn't sure what scared him more: how long they were going to keep him in here or what they were planning to do when they let him out? He closed his eyes and dreamed of his mother.
As the regulators closed in on the area where the orphanage was located, Standish thought they should stop and get a plan together. Ezra knew they couldn't just go charging in there without risking injury to Buck or the other children. "Mr. Larabee," the gambler said, but the blond did not respond. "Mr. Larabee," he repeated and rode closer. Finally, "Chris!" as Ezra reached a hand out and grabbed the gunslinger's arm. He felt the injured man jump. Larabee had either been lost in thought or asleep, Standish wasn't sure which.
"Are you alright?" Ezra asked, looking at his exhausted friend. Not that he and Nathan had any sleep last night either. They had spent the night gathering supplies and getting ready to search for Chris and Buck.
"Yeah, we should be gettin' close," Chris said hoarsely.
"Why don't we stop for a few minutes and discuss our plan," Ezra motioned to a shady spot next to a stream. "I'm sure the horses would appreciate a break as well."
Chris shook his head in agreement.
The men dismounted and gathered under a shady tree. While Nathan checked Chris' bandage, Ezra noticed the gunman staring at him, "may I help you with something, Mr. Larabee?"
"Yeah, I think maybe you could," Chris smiled. "You still look fairly clean and presentable. What do you think about pretending to be a rich rancher, wanting to "buy" a few boys?"
Ezra should have guessed that was what Larabee's plan was going to be.
"While you work your magic, Nate and I will wait out here and be ready to act. If we can get Buck out of there, then we'll head to the nearest town and send a wire to the judge. Maybe he can give us the authorization to shut the place down or at least arrest the headmaster?"
"Somebody's gonna have to find a place to send all of the kids," Nathan said. "If we shut it down, there will be a lot of homeless boys."
"Yeah," Chris sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "We'll let the judge know the situation and see what he suggests…but first things first. I want Buck back, safe and sound."
The men parted ways at the road that led to the orphanage. "Good luck, Ezra," Larabee said. "If we don't hear from you within two hours, we'll come lookin'."
"I will do my best to get our young charge back," Ezra turned and rode away.
Standish was greeted at the gate by a large guard. "Good afternoon, sir. My name is Ezekiel Simpson. I just relocated here from the south and am looking to staff my fine ranch. I heard that your establishment has a good reputation for providing quality, young labor."
"Come on in," the guard opened the gate. "I'll let Mr. Oates know that you are here."
A few minutes later, an older gentlemen appeared and introduced himself as Martin Oates. "I've heard you are interested in some of our young men, Mr. Simpson."
"That is correct," Ezra said, "if possible I would like a couple of young men of the age of about 9 or 10 years old."
"Well, we're a little short on boys right now. I think we may only have one in that age range. Would you be willin' to take an older boy?" Headmaster Oates asked.
"In my experience, the older boys often get into more trouble, and younger boys have a hard time fulfilling their duties," Ezra continued to play along. "How about if I take the one boy now, and you contact me when you get more children that age?"
"Well, our one 9-year-old got into a bit of trouble, but let me have one of the guards fetch him and you can see if he will work out for you. We may be able to offer a bit of a discount since he is banged up a little." Oates left the room, and Ezra felt sick to his stomach at what he was hearing. He imagined a number of these boys were rented out or sold for even worse purposes than being worked hard on someone's farm.
Mr. Oates returned and opened a curtain on a window that showed the room next door. Ezra could see a bruised and exhausted Buck slumped in a chair with his hands tied. "How could anybody treat a little boy like that?" he wondered but did his best to keep his composure.
"He does look a little worse for wear, but he appears quite strong for a 9-year-old," Ezra said and swallowed hard. "I think he will do just fine."
"Alright, let's get the paperwork settled, and the guards will meet us outside with the boy and his belongings."
Chris and Nathan sat on a hill overlooking the orphanage property. They saw Ezra and an older man walk outside. It wasn't long after that a guard escorted Buck over to them.
Ezra tried to signal to Buck to stay quiet, but the boy was too excited, "Ezra!"
"What? How does this boy know you?" Oates asked. "He must be one of Larabee's men. Take the boy and this fellow back inside."
Ezra pulled his gun and shot the guard.
"Shit!" yelled Chris, when he saw Ezra pull his weapon. "Let's go!" The men raced down the hill.
Buck was able to get free, but Oates plowed into Ezra, knocking his gun across the lawn. Ezra yelled for Buck to "run for the gate!"
Chris took out the gate guard, found the keys and opened the gate. They entered and Buck was only about a hundred yards away. Chris' smile quickly turned to a scream though as a guard shot the little boy and Buck fell. "BUCK!"