Chapter 7

It was getting nightfall. Butch Gordon was sitting with his men who were dressed as Indians and were told to raid the next farm and while they were raiding the farm, the others would be raiding the village. They had decided to raid Tall Bears Village. Billy Bronson had rode in and told them that one of the boys that had been caught was one of the Bolt Brothers! Butch liked it. He would decide what to do with them tonight before the raid.

"Billy, I want you to bring me the Indian boy. Make sure he is tied securely. Wild Card, get that white boy we just brought in, bring him here to me, I want to have a little talk with him and his friend!" Butch said with an evil smile on his face. Richard was nearby he wasn't quite into killing just for the pleasure yet, so he thought maybe he could talk Butch into something a little less drastic.

"Hey Butch, what you want with those kids? Why don't we sell them to the Mexicans when they get here next week?"

Butch looked at Richard, this young'un' would need to learn sooner or later, you don't leave loose ends untied.

"Well, Richard, that is a mighty fine idea however, since these two boys one belongs to a chief and the other is a brother of the man that owns a mountain, I have a bargaining chip here. You see, we can get the Indians and the others to leave all we have to do is use them as hostages. When the brother and chief step aside to let us go, we can get far enough away to either sell them or kill them!" he laughed and dismissed Richard. And thought to himself, he could shoot that kid as well. No one would care about him!

Mary was in the cave with the children. She wanted so much to leave, she decided that she was not cut out to be an outlaw's girl. She wanted to live in a city and have pretty clothes to wear and fine jewelry. She had heard that in San Francisco she could get a job at a saloon and there were many men who would pay for her company. She had gone to school and was an accomplished pianist. So, she could entertain and make a lot at the same time. To do that, she would have to leave. But how? She wondered. Looking at the children, all the little girls whose dreams would be dashed after being sold south of the border as slaves, she did not want that to happen, as much as she did not really like children, she did not like the idea that these children would not ever get their dreams.

Edith and Sally were the oldest and Edith, who was 12 took care of her sister Gretel who was 6. Sally was alone, she had been taken because they had raided her parents farm and her brothers were killed along with her parents. There had been no one and as had happened with Edith, Richard had come around and carried her off to the camp.

Jeremy was still tied, but Edith came over to give him some supper.

"E-e-Edith that is your name, isn't it? He said quietly.

Edith nodded.

"I know this cave; my brother and I explored it a couple of years ago. There is a secret entrance. We can escape without anyone knowing it until it is too late?" Jeremy said as he ate his stew.

Edith sat with him. She wondered if he would do what he was suggesting, then she thought of the children.

"But Jeremy, we have all these little girls here, okay about 6 of them, if we leave, they might kill them!"

Not if I get to my brother Jason, he can get back here in time and rescue them! Do you want to come with me!" he asked.

"But what about your friend? Don't you want him rescued as well?"

Jeremy thought about that, he would have to plan to rescue the girls and Laughing Stone. "I will think about that. Thank you for bringing the stew, it was delicious!" he said. She picked up the dishes and went back over to the stew pot and helped with the children. Jeremy thought he liked her. Not sure what he liked about her, but he liked her. She had pretty blonde hair, she spoke with an accent though. He sat back, his hands untied, and he thought and thought what he could do. Laughing Stone was brought into the cave and placed by Jeremy. He did not have anything to eat. But they wanted him and Jeremy in the cave together, since the raid was taking place there would be only a few to watch them. Clearwater came over near them and said that he would watch them and if they made a wrong move that he would cut their throat!

Both shuddered. Laughing Stone looked at Jeremy and saw that his hands were free. He made signs to Jeremy who actually had not noticed that his hands were free. They both smiled and waited. It was going to be a long night and maybe they could escape. Edith had not said anything to anyone about tying Jeremy's hands nor did anyone really look to see if he still had his hands tied.

It got really quiet. The lights were doused, the little girls had been herded over by the pool. The men that watched them were instructed if anything were to happen and the raiders did not come back, they were to toss the girls into the pool. Mary knew that plan, she had a plan of her own. She had gathered a few buckets and placed them near the girls. She told Edith and Sally what to do and how to do it in case she was unable to get to them fast enough. Richard had gone on the raid with the men, Clearwater, and a couple of guys one named Charlie and the other named Rocky. They were drifters and had landed there with this gang. They themselves were not the best in the bunch but they did their share. They had been tasked to toss the little girls into the pool.

Butch and his raiders had just reached the Indian village. They were going to attack soon in the dark. The confusion and fear would take them by surprise, and he was going to make sure that he killed most of them. The children he would also kill but take some for selling as slave to other tribes as well. All was quiet he was about to give the signal when Richard came up and said that others had been spotted guarding the Indian village and that it might not be a good idea to raid tonight. The same thing happened at a farm as well. Butch wasn't pleased but knew that if there were sentries and guards, he would not be able to destroy the village, someone had warned them. He wondered who had done that. He called doff the attack and hoped that Billy had called off his attack as well. They rode back to camp. It was dark and there were no fires. There were no sounds coming from the cave either. Butch sent Richard and another man into the cave. He had left Clearwater and those other two. When Richard and the other man came back out, there was no one in the cave! All was quiet. And very dark. Butch was not too happy about that.

"Two of you take a torch and go inside, does it look like anyone was killed?" Go as deep as you can maybe they went past the pool?" said Butch. Richard and the other man went back in with torches. Richard saw the tracks and he noticed that the boys and all the girls had gone deep into the cave. Where was Mary, he thought?

"Hey Rich, I'm going a little deeper maybe they just went deeper into the cave!" Richard nodded and waited by the entrance. He went over to where Jeremy had been held. His ropes had been untied.

"Dammit Mary, now why would you go and do that for?" He asked in the silence of the cave. The other man came back and said that it seems as if there was another entrance that was smaller. The girls and the boys were certainly smaller and could get out that way. They went back to Butch who immediately launched a search party.