Chapter 2

The attack came at dawn, the raiders threw the fire sticks at the barns and went through the gardens and rows of corn trampling the vegetation. The family came out of their house, they could see that there were about ten on horseback and a few who went through the fields on foot lighting everything on fire! Mr. Crawley grabbed his shotgun and sent Martha and the girls back to their home to stay put. He did not figure the raiders coming up to the house. He was terribly wrong. The raiders sent fire raining into the upstairs of the house. Martha and the girls crouched together in a corner. The house began falling around them. Martha, not understanding English very well did not hear someone calling for her to come out. One of the girls, around 11 realized that they had to get out as fast as they could. She grabbed her little sister, only 4, and tried to get her mom to get up and follow her but her mother was so panicked she did not understand what was happening. Suddenly a large beam landed on top of her, and she was crushed. Edith took her little sister, and they ran outside hoping to find a place to hide. The marauders saw the girls and were about to cut them down when their leader said no. He told them to pick up the girls, he would sell them later if need be. Their father lay dead near the barn. He had gone to try to rescue the horses but had been shot by one of the men.

Edith and her sister were picked up by a young man, a boy really, he was barely 16 he grabbed Edith who realized that if she did not get on the horse her and her little sister Gretel would be dead. She got settled on the horse; the boy put the little one in front and told her to hang on. Her last look at the home she and her family lived in was no longer. She wanted to cry but somehow, she knew she would have to keep strong if she was going to get her and her sister somewhere safe. So, she held on to the boy and felt some comfort that he had made sure her sister was okay as well. The leader looked around, no one, and nothing left. He placed a particular staff in the center of the yard. And then left. His job was done here. The other groups would be doing the same in the Indian villages.

They travelled quickly to a group of caves that they had found. Inside, they place Edith, her sister and a couple of other young children in the corner. The young boy who had helped Edith came in and gave them some food and blankets. A young girl was with him as well. She had been his girlfriend up until a few nights ago when he had kidnapped her. Her name was Mary, and she would have married him if he had asked. But when she confronted him about kidnapping her and why he just didn't' ask her, he said:

"Mary, I thought this would be more romantic. You do know that I plan to be the best outlaw the west has ever seen!" Mary looked at him with frustration, anger and exasperation and said:

"If I had wanted to be kidnapped, and if I had wanted to be an outlaw's wife, I would have married that pirate what's-his-name when he was here. As it stands you now have an unwilling woman to care for and make sure she is okay for the rest of your life!" Mary walked away from him and one of the other men, who had been drinking his whiskey said:

"Don't worry, she will come around, they always do! I can remember when I took Liza belle, she was so angry, she did not speak to me for a week!"

"What happened to her Dave?" Richard asked.

"That durn lady crossed me too many times so I killed her. She was sleeping with one of the others in the gang I was in at the time!" he said and walked off to finish his whiskey. Richard thought about that. He could not right out kill Mary actually he wouldn't do that at all! But maybe he could let her escape with the children. He would do anything to help save those little girls that Johnson had taken. There were six in all now. How many more girls was he going to take? Would he take any boys? They had not come across boys, only girls?"

Richard shook his head. He wasn't sure if anything was going to happen, all he knew is that his family had been killed and he was the last of the Halliday's.

The next morning Jason had gone to the mountain, Joshua was with him as well. It seemed sometimes that Joshua still needed to be near is big brother. He was very leery of strangers, but he was willing to listen to them if need be. Three strangers rode into the camp and said they were looking for work. Joshua looked up and noticed a tall man, wearing a very tall hat. The other two were a bit shorter, one was rounder, but the other looked like he would be able to top trees and cut them down with no problem. Jason was in the middle of fixing a problem with one of the trees they had chopped down. So, Joshua and Big Swede went over to talk to the men. Corky came over as well. There were a couple of stumps set just in the right position for an interview with clients, employees, and employers. Joshua nodded to the strangers to sit and let Corky talk to them.

` "My name is Joshua Bolt; I am one of the owners of this logging company. This is Corky our foreman and Big Swede who also works with us. What can we do for you?" Joshua said. The tall man with the tall hat stood up and took his hat off so as not to intimidate his future employer.

"Mr. Bolt sir and gentlemen, my name is Butch Gordon. I have been out of the country for a while and have just come to Seattle. I am looking for a start so that I can claim some land and raise a farm." He said humbly.

"Well, Mr. Gordon, What can you do?" asked Corky.

"I am a good cook, and I also am good with figures and such." He said and waited. Corky looked at Joshua. Since Josh was part owner of the mountain, Jason had begun teaching him how to do the books. Josh looked at Corky and said:
"I think we can wait until Jason is finished to see if we need a bookkeeper, but it would be nice to give Longshot a bit of help when he is cooking!" said Joshua. Corky agreed and said okay for the cook job but not sure about the other.

Corky then turned around to the other two men.

Without waiting for Corky to ask, the round one said:

"Sir, My name is Billy Bronson, I am good at the work of a teamster and can take care of the explosives and breaking up log jams!"

Corky liked that he had been wanting to ask Jason for some help in that department.

"Okay, Billy Bronson, you are hired go with Swede and he will show you what to do." Said Corky and nodded to Swede who took him away. The last man was standing admiring the view when Corky looked at him and asked:

"And you sir, your friends have all got a job, did you come to work as well?" Corky had sized him up and did not have a good feeling about him.

"My name sir is Jim Swill. I drink only on weekends, I work hard, I can do any job in a logging camp 'kept bookkeeping and cooking. So, if you need an extra crew member, I'm your man!" Corky wondered about him, he was a bit unusual and decided to ask:

"What do you mean you only drink on weekends, does that mean if we are working on a weekend, you will be drinking as well?" Corky wasn't sure but he wanted to catch him lying. The problem was this man was honest. He only came with the other two men and had just met them when he stepped off the boat.

"My good man, when I say 'only weekends' it means 'only weekends' That means that if I am scheduled to work on a Saturday or God forbid a Sunday, then I will do my drinking on the next two days off! Now, do I get the job or don't I?" He stood tall and dignified. He may have had enough muscle to break a few ribs as well as keep a tree from falling on someone, but he was gentle and kind and respectful of everyone. So, Corky had nothing to say and hired him. Jason came down and stopped to wash up. He saw a tall man in a tall hat and went over to see what was happening. When Corky explained that they had hired him to help with the cooking Jason said okay. But he also was interested in doing the books and Jason was not too thrilled.

"Mr. Gordon, I am sorry, I don't hire anyone to do my books. I and my brothers do them for ourselves. But thank you for offering. You can still be our cook if you care to do that. If not, Stemples mill is hiring as well, you can talk to him if that works for you." Jason said this and took Joshua with him as he went into the office tent.

Corky stood there waiting for Butch to say yes or no. Butch stood there for a moment weighing his options. He had Billy in here so he could get information from the logging camp about the gangs who were stirring up trouble, but he wasn't sure of the other person who happened to show up on the boat just as they were leaving San Francisco.

"Mr. Gordon, Sir do you have an answer?" asked Corky who wanted to get back to the group he had been with that morning.

"Oh, I am sorry, yes, I think I will try Mr. Stemple's mill. Thank you for your help." He left abruptly taking his horse, the horse he had bought at the livery stable in San Francisco and had brought it in the ship to Seattle.