Chapter 5: Escape
Authors note: Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing. I appreciate the feedback. Sorry it took so long to get this up. Life is busy. Anyway, enjoy!
"Daisy?" Jesse Duke called from the front porch of their little farm.
"Out here, Uncle Jesse," Daisy answered from where she stood, washing her jeep, Dixie, in the yard. Uncle Jesse ambled toward her with a worried expression on his face.
"Do you remember where them boys said they was goin'?" he asked.
"Well, I thought they were headed up to the swimmin' hole around noon," she said. Uncle Jesse frowned.
"That's what I thought. I ain't heard hide nor hair from 'em since then, and it ain't like 'em to stay out this long without checkin' in." Daisy looked down at her watch.
"I didn't realize what time it was. It's nearly five!" Jesse nodded.
"I'm gonna get on the CB, an' see if I can't get ahold of 'em. Why don't you head to town an' find out if anybody's seen 'em?"
"Sure, Uncle Jesse, just as soon as I'm done cleanin' Dixie," Daisy promised.
Balladeer: Now it's about time somebody realized them boys was missing. And while Daisy and Jesse were trying to find out what happened to the boys, Bo and Luke were working out an escape plan back in Gimble's mine.
"Come on, what's takin' so long?" yelled Hank from above.
"We're comin', we're comin'," Luke answered, helping Bo inch his way up the rope to the ledge above. Once they had reached the top, Luke began gathering up the rope.
"All right, throw that rope over here," demanded Hank from across the rift.
"Wait a minute, how we gonna get over there?" Wes asked. Before Hank could answer Luke spoke.
"Simple. I'll lasso this rope around that big beam up there. You swing across." He pointed to a sturdy wooden plank sitting horizontally across the mine's ceiling, it's ends securely cemented in the upper walls of the mine.
"Yeah, right," Joe scoffed. "Then you can fix it so we all fall down to the abyss."
"No, he's right," said Hank. "We'll swing across. An' then if they try anything, I'll have an even better reason for shootin' 'em." He cocked his gun to emphasize his point. Luke just nodded and gathered the rest of the rope.
"Be ready," he whispered to Bo. The younger man just nodded, wide-eyed and nervous. It took Luke only four tries to get the rope up and over the beam, grabbing the other end of it as it swung back toward him. He tied a hook knot and pulled it taut.
"All right, now swing it over here," Hank called.
"Hold on, I gotta make sure it's stable," said Luke, and that's when he made his move. He jumped on the rope and swung across the rift, kicking the gun out of Hank's hand and knocking him over. The other two Milton boys were too stunned to react at first, which gave Luke just enough time to knock Hank out, before starting toward them. As Luke went swinging toward Joe, Wes went for his gun. Just as he was aiming to fire at Luke's back, Bo was on top of him, having swung across by the rope himself. Wes was first to get to his feet, and yanked Bo up by the collar and spun him around. He was met with a fist square in the jaw, and was knocked to the ground, out cold. Almost simultaneously, Luke knocked out Joe. He whipped around, only to find that Hank had come to, and was throwing punches with Bo. As his younger cousin fell to the ground after a hard blow to the face, Luke tackled Hank. Getting up quickly, he sat on the older man's chest and socked him right between the eyes. Hank was out cold. Luke stood up and ran to Bo's side. "You all right?" he asked, helping his cousin to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Bo lied, swaying on his feet.
"Well you look terrible. Come on, we gotta get outta here 'fore they wake up." And they ran out of the mine.
"Well, I can't get ahold of 'em," Jesse said in a frustrated tone. "You find anything?" Daisy, who had just come back from searching all over town for her cousins, shook her head.
"I talked to Cooter, Ms. Tisdale, Doc Applebee, an' even those two girls they were datin' last month, Bobbie Sue and Betsy Hawkins. Nobody's seen 'em, Uncle Jesse. I'm beginnin' to think somethin' happened."
"Now, now, let's not go jumpin' to conclusions. I'm sure…" Just then the CB in Daisy's jeep began to crackle.
"Lost sheep to shepherd. Lost sheep to shepherd. You got your ears on out there?"
"This here's shepherd—where in the heck have you boys been?" Jesse said, more strictly than he meant to.
"It's a long story, Uncle Jesse, one we don't got time to tell right now. We're in trouble, and Boss Hogg and Roscoe might be too."
"Well, what can we do to help?" asked Jesse.
"Meet us out at Eagle's Glen in five minutes," Luke instructed. "We'll tell ya all about it there."
"I'll be there in three," answered Uncle Jesse. "Shepherd out."
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