Ben saw all the horses tethered to his hitching post as he rode back to his house. Wind was throwing his head as he stood to the side. He knew they were home because Cochise was also tethered outside.
He slid off Buck and handed him to Hoss to put away. He went into his house. Four Indians sat around his living room talking with Little Joe and Candy. Wolf was nowhere to be seen and Bear was happily bouncing in Candy's arms.
"Where is she?" he asked instantly.
"Upstairs taking a hot bath. She was in the cistern out on the North 40. Haynes threw her in there to get her to give permission to take Bear." Joe said.
"And when she didn't he left her there to drown during the storm." Joe nodded. "Is this the war party?"
"Yes. Mr. Cartwright, these are the chiefs who took over Red Feather's role. This is Growling Bear and White Lightning." Candy said as he moved Bear's hand from his nose. "They pulled us from the cistern this morning and allowed us to dry off and warm up before we came back."
"Did you find Haynes, Pa?" Joe asked.
"No. We thought you would."
"He's probably taken refuge back in town. There's not much we can do there." Sheriff Coffey said.
"He'll be with an Indian woman." All the men looked at the staircase. Bear went berserk in Candy's arms as Wolf came down the staircase. She went straight to him and held him tightly. "She'll be wearing a brown feather with a red tip and a gold band on her left ring finger."
Candy looked down then. "She stole your wedding band?"
"Yes. She was jealous the entire time. Apparently she liked you and was angry you married me."
Joe snorted. "If this wasn't a serious thing it would be funny."
"There's one more thing. Sheriff Coffey, the war party has agreed to help us if they get to take Haynes home and try him for murder."
"They'll kill him." Coffey said.
"So will we. We will convict him and hang him." Hoss said. "Why not let the Indians do it on their own property. I know Wolf wouldn't want to see him hang."
Coffey looked at the woman in question. She was looking at her son. Candy was talking to her about something in quiet terms. She laughed at it without making too much noise.
"I guess I can turn a blind eye. That depends on if they're in town or not."
"Oh, they're in town all right, Sheriff. We can prove it." Joe said.
"How?" Hoss asked.
Joe and Wolf looked at each other then at Candy. He looked between his wife and friend.
"Oh, no. I'm not doing it." He complained. Joe and Wolf just looked at each other and smiled.
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"I can't believe I'm doing this." Candy groaned as he walked into the saloon.
"Sure, you can. You know you love your wife and now that you know her sister has feelings for you, it's time for you to act on those feelings." Joe said. He had accompanied Candy into town to make sure he was going to do what they had decided the night before.
Candy was to make Flying Eagle follow him home. That would make Haynes follow her because at that point he will want to get to the baby. By that time, the entire war party would be ready to take him into their custody.
The only problem was Candy wasn't too thrilled about using his wiles to entice someone who wasn't his wife. Wolf was behind it all the way but he still didn't feel right about doing it.
"Just go for it." Joe shoved his friend into the saloon.
Candy looked back behind him as his friend disappeared. This was not his day. He didn't want to be doing this but he had to so his family was safe.
He looked around the saloon. Everyone was there. They were at their same seats and that made it easier for him to go in and pick out someone. Haynes wasn't there which meant he was at the hotel. As he turned to leave, he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye. It was Flying Eagle. She was coming down the stairs and out the back way.
He moved through the saloon quickly and caught up with her. He turned her around and saw the feather in her hair. It was the one Red Feather had given Wolf when they had had Bear.
"No. Stop." She said weakly.
"I've just come to see if you wanted to go to the Ponderosa with me." Candy said.
Flying Eagle looked at him. He knew what was going on. She was trying to see if he was earnest. He was trying to be earnest as much as he possibly could without giving away his true motives.
She smiled brightly. "I would love that."
He took her arm and led her out the front in front of the prying eyes of the posse and the saloon girls. He tipped his hat, his signal at Joe that they were headed to the Ponderosa. Once they were on his horse and headed back towards home, Joe hopped on his horse and rode towards the rendezvous point.
Candy helped Flying Eagle off his horse and walked away with her. She was being as shy as a girl in love, which she might as well be since she had taken her sister's feather. They walked around and talked for a little while. She was a good person but she got caught up in the wrong crowd.
An hour later there were sounds of hooves. She started looking around for an escape route. Although he hated to, Candy pulled his gun on her.
"Don't think about it." He said.
She turned and looked at him. "You wouldn't shoot me."
"You threw your sister into a cistern to let her die."
"And you went in after her."
"She's my wife."
"And I'm her sister. It works that way."
"No, it doesn't. She didn't do anything to you. She even took you when she ran."
"She took me because Father and I had it planned that way. I would follow her and find out where she was living then report it back to him. He would come after her for the baby and then have a bargaining chip."
"What would you do if she didn't go with you?"
"What we did five days ago. We take her and hide her somewhere where no one would ever find her."
"Unfortunately for you I found her and the war party came along."
"You can't do anything to me. I'm royalty."
"No, you're not."
"Drop the gun."
Candy abruptly dropped the gun and turned around with his hands up. Haynes kicked the gun away and yanked Candy to him so he could attempt to tie his hands up. Arrows started flying everywhere. That signified that the war party had arrived. Candy dove out of the way and grabbed his horse's reins. As he leapt into the saddle, Flying Eagle grabbed his ankle.
"Don't leave me here. He'll kill me."
"Oh, they'll do much more than that." Candy said. He yanked the feather out of her hair and the ring off the chain around her neck. "I think these belong to my wife." He smiled then spurred his horse on.
Joe met him atop the hill. They watched the war party snatch Haynes and Flying Eagle up and haul them away. The two men looked at each other before riding to the ranch.
