Chapter
Ghost
The posse had broken camp pretty early. It had taken the family uncomfortably long to reach Hoss. If they were going to get to him fore anything happens they would need to push themselves faster, longer, harder. Push these men to the brink of their capabilities. They were tired but they could rest when the job was done. More than one life was at stake here. More than one life depended on the posse reaching them in time.
While scouring the trail Hoss had left behind Adam saw something up ahead.
"Look at that." Adam pointed out. "Chubb. That's Hoss's horse." He dismounted and took Chubb's reigns in his hands which were haphazardly looped over the branch of a creosote bush. He rubbed an open palm down his neck to both offer the lonely horse some comfort as well as examine it for wounds or blood or anything that would indicate why the horse would be left out here alone. There was nothing. Adam looked around him for the rider. "He's got to be around here somewhere. He wouldn't just leave him like this. Hoss!" He yelled out. Ben yelled out too.
"Hoss. Hoss." They echoed eachothers cries.
"Look around." The men scoured out searching the nearby trees and shrubs. Their search didn't have to last too long. Just long enough to imagine the worst.
"Look. There he is." Clancy sees him first. Beyond the hill in an open valley. A large shadowy figure lay like a lump on the ground at the base of a redwood.
"Hoss." Adam was the first down the hill and kneeling at his brother's side. His head slumped forward. Adam looked over his middle brother. Hoss showed no outward signs of injury. He shook him. Hoss peeked an eye open. He'd been asleep. It was curious how he slept through them calling his name. Albeit they weren't right next to him when they shouted for him, but he was within hearing range. Furthermore within shouting range. He could have called back to them had he woken. He played with his mouth and took a hard, gritty swallow, as if he was swallowing past sand that had embedded itself in his throat. His lips were dried and cracked. His cheeks rosy. "Get him some water." Adam commanded the men who had gathered around. Ben went to work on freeing Hoss's binds. They wondered now how long Hoss had been like this. Tied up like this with no access to food or water. He showed signs of severe dehydration.
"You look like you've been out here all night." Adam said tipping the canteen to his lips which one of the miners had brought from his horse. His hands finally free Hoss took control of it and tipped the liquid back into his throat, imbibing the cool water. "What happened? Who did this to you? Was it the men?" Hoss nodded as he drank. "I told you to wait. You foolish boy."
"I did wait Adam." He said lowering the canteen and wiping his lips. "You told me to wait unless I had to. Well, I had to. They were beating on him. Two against one." Adam sat back on his heels, incommode. "It was hardly a fair fight. They were both bigger too. He didn't stand a chance against them."
"Who? Who were they beating on?" Clancy asked. Hoss realized then he should have specified.
"Joe." He responded humbly.
"What happened?" Adam queried.
"I found them like that. Just the two of them against little ol' Joe. He was giving it to them pretty good, I'll give him that. But he never stood a chance. Not weak like he was."
"Weak?" His pa's sonorous voice burrowed through.
"It looked like his fever had come back." Taking on two grown size men while sick. Why did this sound exactly like something his littlest brother would do? He had to hand it to his middle brother. He called this one. Adam was just surprised it had taken this long. "He was giving them both a run for their money but then they got the upper hand. They had him pinned against this very tree and were using his stomach as a punching bag." His words illed the pater. "It was hard to watch that. I couldn't stand by and do nothing. Let them do that to Joe right in front of me."
"So you went in."
"They were all distracted with each other. I went in there gun drawn. I had the upper hand. At least, I thought I did but there was another who was hiding in the trees. He had the drop on me. I took my eyes off Joe for just a moment. The two with Joe had the chance to put him in front of them. They were going to kill him if I didn't drop my gun."
"How bad is Joe?"
"He got a walloping, but I was able to break it up in time 'fore it got too bad."
"What about Danny? Is Danny okay? Did you see him?"
"No. I didn't see him, but Little Joe did."
"So he's alive?" Clancy asked hopeful. Hoss furrowed his brows and lowered his eyes to the grass. Adam could see something was eating at his middle brother. Like what he wasn't saying was more important than what he was saying. For Clancy's sake it was probably something that shouldn't be said.
"Is he okay?" Clancy pushed.
"He says, that Danny has it pretty bad. He's been beaten." Clancy lowered his head remorseful. He kind of knew that was the case. His abductors told them as much with the bloody shirt they left for them. It just pained him to hear it confirmed.
Hoss held a grimace. Adam picked up on the fact that there was more that he wasn't saying. His face was so loud they all picked up on it now.
"What?" Clancy asked.
This was the hardest for him to admit, but admit it he had to. Lord knows in what condition they'd find him in. He had to prepare Clancy for whatever they would find. "By the way Joe made it sound… they might be torturing him." He gulped. "Joe says, they do things to him to make him scream. They get enjoyment from it." His jaw fell open. Hoss's word's stole the breath from Clancy's lungs. Ben and Adam looked at the dejected man, not knowing how to comfort him.
"What kind of men are these?" Clancy asked.
The kind of men Joseph is trapped with. Adam couldn't help but think.
"He's not dead yet." Hoss added. "but Joe said, he might be soon, if we can't get to him." Clancy was pained by these words. Ben put an arm around him to sooth him.
"Did they happen to mention where they might be taking him?" Adam asked. "Give you any clue?"
"They told Joe, they were going to take him to a doctor. But Joe said he didn't believe them. Not with the way they've been treating him."
"What do you think?"
"Well," Hoss considered. "It did seem that they were headed for the city. But I don't get the feeling that their intentions were to find him a doctor. I think Joe might be right in that. They said something about not being able to let him go without a price. That doesn't sound to me like someone with the intentions of getting someone else help."
Clancy pulled away from Ben, crouching in. "Did you tell them we'll pay?" He was insistent. "Did you tell them?"
"Yes I told them."
It was Jeb's turn to step in. "If they are going to the city, then that could complicate things."
"How so?" Ben asked.
"Well, as long as they stay out here in open country than we have every right to keep tracking them until we run them into the ground. If they get into the city though, I'd no longer have jurisdiction. If we'd want to keep trailing these men, than we'd have to get the city police involved."
"How difficult would that be?"
"I could send a telegraph to Roy. Let him know the situation. With Roy's help we should be in pretty good standing."
"Are you okay to ride?" Adam asked.
"I sure could use a bite to eat but you get me on that horse, I'll be alright."
They filled him with viand, sustaining his hunger and rode out.
~.~
He was running. The men were on his tail. He knew it was risky to run, with as weak as he felt and what all was at risk, but when the moment came he knew he had to try. He hadn't it in him to endure anymore of what they had planned for him.
They got lax. It was late morning or early afternoon. They stopped to rest and get a few bites down of trail food. After allowing him the luxury of relieving himself, they each left him alone while they relieved themselves. They likely didn't perceive him as a threat. With as weak as they saw him. He wobbled if he stood still for too long. His face felt hot and dry. He was probably a sight. They saw him as weaker than he was and so they left him. There was a window. A window he just couldn't pass up. They went north and he went south.
As his heart raced with exhaustion, he considered that they probably didn't see him weaker than he was. They saw him weak the proper amount. He was weak. He pushed himself onward. He was still within earshot when they discovered his insurrect. He could hear Squirrely's curses and the orders to follow.
"You go that way. Try to head him off!" He had not gotten far enough away to his liking. Still he ran. Not ran. Hobbled along the uneven terrain. Winded and out of breath. He could feel them closing in. The fact that he kept stumbling didn't help. His bound hands offered little leverage and aided nothing in keeping him upright. Every time he stumbled he chided and used his feet alone to push himself upright and forward again. Praying for a lifeline.
Still, he thought, if they caught him they would be fumed enough to kill him. It would be better to die out here than to have to endure one more night of what they got planned for him. They were far enough away from Little Joe and his family now. He was sure he'd done his job. He'd done all he could for them. He didn't have it in him to survive one more night. He assured himself he was doing the right thing. Truth was he was scared and weak and ready to give up. Pushing himself closer to death. Pushing them into a reason to kill him. To end his torment. Squirrely's voice was behind him, taunting him.
His legs gave out. He put his legs beneath him to push himself onwards but collapsed again. The men who were running behind him had slowed to a smug stagger. He resorted to crawling as he felt the men approach. He felt them approach. They were right above him. Their voices distorted by the blood swooshing in his ears. He collapsed again and rolled onto his back as he felt them above him. His vision blurred all he saw were shadows against a blue sky. The figures took hold of him. He felt himself being lifted upright and yet at the same time falling backwards, away from them. Into darkness.
~.~
They hadn't been on the horses for very long about two hours, maybe less, when Hoss spotted something up ahead.
"What is that?" Hoss asked.
"Where?"
"Up ahead."
"I see it too." Brown leather and covered in road dust. Adam got a cold chill as he thought about the gift they'd left behind in the form of Danny's bloodied shirt and the message written within. It could be another article of Danny's clothing, if he was still alive; or Joe could now be suffering the same fate. They're now abusing him in order to send them a message. He closed his eyes to send a silent prayer upwards, then pushed Sport forward. The men trailing warily behind. As they got closer they could all see it was clothes. Not just clothes though. It was even worse than that.
"It's a body." Adam said somberly. Their innards twisted within them. The progression stopped.
The brothers, who were up in front, dismounted, still fifteen feet away.
It was either Danny or Little Joe. Ben and Clancy, remaining in their saddles, stared on. One of them would be sentenced to grieve. The other one would luck out. Neither one wanted it to be the other's boy. They each wanted it to be their own boy even less.
The brothers crept forward. They hadn't gotten very far, about five feet or so before Hoss stopped in his tracks, impotent to take another step towards the body. Feeling his brother stop he glanced back at him. Hoss's face was afright.
"It's Joe. Adam, its Joe." He said in a panic. Adam turned to to the body which was face down. Stepping back to his brother, he placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "We don't know that Hoss. It could be anybody."
"No Adam, look." Hoss pointed. Adam looked back. "Those are his clothes." The color washed from his face as familiarity flooded in. Seeing in his mind's eye his younger trouncing lively in the yard. Hoss was right. They were his clothes.
"Are you sure?" He asked anyways not wanting it to be true.
"It's what he was wearing." Hoss exclaimed. Adam was filled with dread.
At these words Ben slides off his horse, than Clancy.
Adam proceeded forward until he was right up next to it. Standing over it, staring down. He was both terrified as well as anxious to see for himself. Adam was scared. More scared than he could ever remember being. Scared he wasn't going to like what he sees. Afraid of the cold dead eyes that would stare back at him. Terrified they might belong to the curly haired boy he helped raise. The corpse had yet to begun to smell. It hadn't been out here for very long, which means it fit the timeline of when Hoss had last laid eyes on their baby brother. He turned the stiff body over and the pale and dusty eyes stared into his soul. His face rendering the last emotions this man ever felt. Fear, pain and confusion. He found the image so frightfully grotesque he had to turn away. The face was abhorrent. The face of a monster. Ben fell to his knees. Clancy and Jeb were at his side offering him solace. Adam wanted to go to his pa but not yet. He had to look again. He had to know, to really know. He gathered himself and forced himself to look back. To really look. Was their familiarity behind this fleshy form?
He examined his lifeless face.
"It's not him. Pa." At these words Ben looked up. "It's not Joseph." Ben let out a shaky breath. Clancy stood from Ben's side and made his way over, feeling now the terror grip. The same terror that had gripped Adam a moment prior. He was asking Adam with his look. Is it Danny?
"I'm sorry." Adam shrugged subtly. He didn't know. Not for certain. He wished he could say with certainty that the face that stared back was not Danny's. Guiltily he didn't know. He didn't know Danny's face well enough. All he could tell was this body once filled with life belonged to a young one about Danny and Joseph's age. His face was bloodied. Dried, caked with dirt. He'd been beaten and had taken multiple shots.
Clancy was at his side studying the face at their feet. He turned his back to the corpse wishing to face it no longer.
"I'm sorry." Adam consoled. With nothing else to say he placed a sympathetic hand on the surrogate's shoulder. Clancy slid his palms down his face and turned his face to the heavens.
"It's not him."
"What?"
"It's not him. I'm not sure who it is but it's not him."
"Are you sure? Corpses can often look nothing like the men they once were."
"Yes. I'm sure. It's not Danny."
"That's Joe's jacket though." Hoss said. "I know it is. If it's not Joe or Danny, then who is it?"