Chapter Twenty-One

Excerpt from Chapter Nineteen

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."

Jarrod, Fred and Henry Olsen had wasted no time-and had no trouble-finding the old tracks that led from the road to the path. "Ten to one your brother and that woman with him left these tracks when they were leaving the mountains." Henry said as Jarrod, who had dismounted his horse, knelt down on the ground. Nick's horseshoes were made in such a manner as to leave a tiny mark in any hoofprint they made. His hot-tempered brother had the blacksmith custom make them after a close friend of the family's had lost a family member…due to the fact they'd been following the wrong tracks during the search.

"Well," Fred, who know about the mark, asked as Jarrod stood up.

"One set belongs to Nick's horse; I'll assume that Henry's right about the other set of prints." Jarrod remounted his horse. "I will bet everything I have Mr. Stillman is trying to get them to take him to another part of this trail and out of the mountain on some other road."

"I agree, think we should follow this path for a spell." Fred replied as he pushed his horse forward. Henry and Jarrod did not argue as they followed behind him.

None of the men spoke as they rode along the road, their eyes and ears wide open. They didn't want to chance not seeing something… or missing anything. It was the main reason they saw a long haired mountain man off in the distance.

Hank smiled "Ole Phillip Jackson, don't think he'll ever leave the mountains willingly." He went on to explain how long the mountain man had been living in the area. Immediately after making the statement, his face paled.

"What is it?" Jarrod and Fred both demanded.

"I…" Hank turned his head and looked at his companions. "I have seen that young deaf girl before. No, I never actually met her so I didn't know she was deaf. That's why my mind wasn't making the connection. And, I could only see her stepmother's back as she, Nick and Brian disappeared out of sight."

"Who is she?" Fred asked only Hank didn't answer…as his eyes were now on Phillip who was fast closing the gap between them.

When he'd seen his visitors, a frown had slowly crept over Phillip's face. While he was too far away to see the sheriff badge Fred wore, he still recognized the lawman, Jarrod Barkley and Hank. Immediately, his mind went to Nick, Elizabeth and Tabitha. He wasted no time in making his way to the three gentlemen. He shocked Jarrod and Hank by looking at Jarrod and asking, "What are you and these men doing up here, Mr. Barkley? Nick, my 'daughter', and 'granddaughter'," He flicked his fingers in the air, "left for the valley quite some time ago. Didn't you see them on your way up?" The fact that he didn't like the idea was extremely clear in the stiff way he was standing, and the high level of concern that was in both his eyes and his voice.

While he wondered how the mountain man knew who he was, Jarrod figured they had their answer-when it came to who Hank had finally recognized. He shook his head. "That has a yes and no answer." He then explained everything. Since the man had indicated that the woman with Nick was a daughter in his eyes, Jarrod was not surprised by the shock and outrage that leapt into the man's eyes.

"If he really is depending on them to get him out of the mountains," Phillip growled, "Elizabeth will do her best to lead that imbecile to my place-as it's closer than hers." He shook his head. "If," he looked at Hank, "you would stop and think, this path doesn't actually run in a straight line…and eventually runs into a dead end." He started to turn. "You best follow me to my home. From there we can decide what we're going to do."

Hank wasted no time in following while Jarrod balked. That is, he hesitated until Fred, who figured he'd best confess what little he knew of the mountain man, told him, "You might not realize it, Jarrod, but Phillip has a pretty sound reputation in more than one place." He looked at the famous attorney as if to ask if Fred had to spell it out for him.

"He's a lawman?" surprise appeared in Jarrod's eyes as he urged Jingo forward when Fred starting following John and Phillip.

"No, but he's helped out the Pinkertons immensely. I mean, when they have work that brings them out this way." Fred went on to say that, if the woman with Nick was Phillip's 'daughter', the gentleman was probably right.

"And, if he's not?" Jarrod asked, the whole time he was still looking around.

"We'll cross that bridge once we get to his home." Fred answered, and then fell into silence.

~oOo~

Nick wasn't sure how far they'd walked before Brian allowed Nick and Elizabeth to change directions. All he knew was he wished they'd come across another cave, or something else that would suffice when it came to giving them some shelter. While it wasn't snowing and the wind wasn't blowing, it was still cold…and he was beginning to really feel it. He could tell it was starting to get to Elizabeth as well-as she was starting to have trouble walking. Just as he was thinking he was going to have to try something extreme, an old, rickety, shack appeared. The door was barely hanging on and there was more than one small hole in the place. There was a small pile of wood that set next to the outside wall. Definitely not a vacation home, still…

"It wouldn't hurt to stop and rest in that place." Nick turned his head slightly. "We still have a long ways to go."

Brian would have argued only he too was feeling the effects of being out in the cold. Why did winter have to hit so early? "Fine, but don't get any ideas!" He barked as he laid his hand on the top of his pistol.

Nick simply wrapped one arm around Elizabeth and took a hold of one of her arms. "Thanks," She smiled at Nick-and then went back to concentrating on walking.