Chapter Nineteen

Excerpt from Ch 18

Jarrod might have added something to Fred's comment only Tabitha was tugging on his sleeve and pointing in the direction the tracks were leading. He took the same paper and pencil he'd given to the young woman earlier and hurriedly wrote 'The posse will pursue them in a minute. First, someone needs to help you find a safe place to stay in town until this is over.' He handed the note to her and started to ask the group who was willing to take the young girl back to town while the rest of them continued the search only find himself and Heath practically jumping into their saddle….as Tabitha was already on her horse and practically flying alongside the clearly marked path her stepmother, Nick and their captor had left behind.

By the time Jarrod caught up with the young girl, he was sure that the child could easily win any official horse race—or at least come close. If asked, Heath and the rest of the men with him would have agreed. As it was, Jarrod grabbed the reins to Tabitha's horse while Heath quickly flew off his horse and yanked the young girl off the horse-though he did his best not to be too rough. No one was surprised by the look of disgust in her eyes as she struggled to get out of Heath's grasp.

"The rest of you keep following the trail." Heath looked at Jarrod. "That is, after you tether my horse and hers to a nearby tree." When Jarrod started to take the paper out of his pocket, Heath shook his head. "Once I get her calmed down, I'll write on the ground, even it means using a stick on the road. That paper isn't big enough to write everything the two of us will be saying to each other."

Jarrod quickly tethered Charger and the girl's horse to a nearby tree. He and the rest of the men wasted no time riding away…an action which had Tabitha squirming even more. "Boy howdy," Heath held on tight and spoke to no one in particular. "Have you been taking wrestling lessons from Nick?"

While Heath hoped Tabitha would stop struggling, and Jarrod and the other men were riding hard, Brian had grown impatient-as he didn't want to continue traveling on a main road. "You said there was a path that connected to this road!"

"It does." Nick snapped over his shoulder. "We've got another mile to go before we get to it."

Brian shook his head. "We have to get off this road. If that path is only a mile away, surely we can go east for a little while and then simply head north again…until we bump into it."

Elizabeth and Nick looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They couldn't believe the man would want to try such a thing in snow that did not have a clear-cut path on it-a benefit the road and used paths would give them. That idea was something Nick was more than happy to point out to the man. Nick turned and looked at their captor with an 'are you kidding me look' in his eyes. "As I said, if you are in the hurry you seem to be, I know another way out. However, you don't want to push that horse through the snow. It will only slow you down and, in all reality, heighten the chances of us getting lost. It's not like I know these mountains like the back of my hand-nor does she. We could go too far and miss the path when we made the turn."

Brian didn't want to listen to reason-even if Nick was telling him the truth. He just wanted off the road-as he feared the men looking for him would simply break off in smaller groups-in order to cover more ground. "Just do as I said and be careful you don't miss anything!"

Nick wanted nothing more than to chance attacking the man only he feared that, if he did such a thing, the man who was forcing them back up into the mountains would shoot Elizabeth. Taking a chance on being shot himself was one thing, but to endanger Elizabeth was another. "Have it your way." Nick turned off the road and began walking through the snow, again grateful for the items Phillip and his wife had insisted on giving him and Elizabeth. Elizabeth said nothing as she walked alongside Nick.

Nick, Elizabeth and Brian were just disappearing out of sight when Jarrod, Fred and the men with him had reached the spot where the escaped prisoner and his two prisoners had left the road. Jarrod, the Stockton sheriff and the men with them all swore. "There's too much snow to catch up with them!" Fred looked at the men who had come with them from Haynes. "Do any of you know this area well enough to know all-or most- of the roads that they might wind up on?"

Peter Olson, a prematurely gray gentleman who was in his mid-thirties, nodded. "My brother, Henry," he nodded towards a black-haired gentleman who was on Peter's right, "We know these mountains like the back of our hands. Well, maybe not that good, only well enough to feel comfortable riding around in the area without the fear of getting lost." His brother nodded his head in agreement. Peter continued talking. "There's a path a mile up from here that connects to this road and runs across country until you get to another main road. There's also a path a few more miles up, does the same thing. Though, how would he know about those roads-or any others? We all know him; he's never been one much for camping and hunting." He added he wished he knew what 'the nut' was thinking.

"I'll wager that the young girl's stepmother knows a way out—which means he's using her knowledge to avoid any posse." Fred spoke up while looking at Jarrod-as if to say he was sorry Nick was caught up in the mess as well and that they hadn't gotten to them fast enough. Similar, frustrated, looks were in the other men's eyes.

Jarrod wasn't about to have Fred-or any of the men-blame themselves. At the same time, he wasn't going to simply sit around either. "Fred, how about you and I going with Henry; he can lead us to the first path he talked about. Peter can take the other men."

"Fine, only we only have a few more hours before we'll be forced to turn around and go back. It's not like we have shelter for the night."

"Yes, you will." Henry spoke up. "My brother and I know more than one place we can hunker down for the night if we need to and-thanks to our sister," he and his brother patted their saddle bags, "we're well supplied for food for a couple of days."

"Fine, let's split up and get going! If we haven't caught up with them within twenty four hours, we'll meet back in town and start sending wires out!" Fred ordered. None of the men argued and soon they had split into two groups and were once again on the move.