Back at the shack, Bart felt awful. With his hands tied behind himself, he couldn't get the handkerchief out of his pocket, so he had no way of blowing his nose. "Come on, fellas," he said. "Untie me. I won't get away; you still have your guns."

The two men shook their heads, from where they sat on nearby chairs. "Gus will kill us if he comes back to find you untied," one of them said.

Bart groaned. He closed heavy eyelids, wishing that he could just fall asleep. His lungs protested that notion and he started coughing again. He shivered when a sudden chill overtook him, and he wondered if his fever was rising again.

The two men silently watched him, until one of them spoke to the other. "He don't look too good, Billy. You think he's dyin'?"

Billy shrugged. "Dunno."

The other man sighed, still afraid to catch what Bart had.

Bart tried to shift his position as much as he could, but there was no way to get comfortable while sitting on the floor tied up. He coughed again, and winced. "Could I at least have some water?" he asked, his throat very parched.

The two men looked at each other, each of them wondering if water would help stop the annoying coughing. Billy stood and holstered his gun, going for a canteen that was hanging on a hook near the door. He had to step over Bart's legs to get there, and Bart resisted the urge to trip him. Billy grabbed the canteen and opened it, crouching before Bart and holding it to his lips.

"If you untie me, I can do it myself," Bart said.

Billy just looked at him.

"I didn't think so," Bart said. He drank the water, relieved that they'd actually let him have it. After he drank as much as Billy let him have, he leaned his head back against the wall. The wall stopped his head, but his brain seemed to still be moving and he closed his eyes against the sudden vertigo. Another chill made him shiver.

Billy stood and sat in his chair again; just in time to witness Bart shiver. "Do you think we'll catch what he has, Dave?" he whispered.

Dave shrugged. "I hope not…I really hope not…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Gus Peters made his demand to Bret and left, he knew that Bret would need to borrow from someone the money he'd spent. He didn't doubt that Bret would succeed.

However, Bret had no intention of raising the rest of the eight thousand dollars. If Peters had brought Bart with him and made the trade, that was different, but after Peters had made the threat of shooting Bart, Bret wasn't going to sit around waiting for six o'clock. He had no idea where Bart was or what shape he was in, so there was only one thing that Bret was going to do…

Follow Peters.

It started out well, with Bret quietly tailing him, but when he went around a corner, Peters was unexpectedly gone. Bret was taken by surprise and looked around, but he didn't see him anywhere. The rain suddenly grew heavier, and for a moment, Bret didn't know what he was going to do. Should he continue on and possibly go in the wrong direction, potentially missing the six o'clock deadline, or should he go back to town and figure out a way to raise the rest of the money?

Suddenly, it hit him: Bart hadn't played in the poker competition, so he should be able to get his entrance fee back!

Reluctantly, Bret turned back towards town, galloping off to the hotel.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Peters looked out one of the shack's windows at the falling rain. It had grown heavier and was now accompanied by thunder and lightning. There were two hours left until six o'clock, and he was getting antsy, wishing that he had given Bret an earlier deadline.

The sound of coughing caught his attention, and he looked down at his captive.

Bart still sat against the wall in the same place on the floor, eyes closed. He seemed to be in worse shape now than he'd been earlier, coughing even more and looking miserable. His breathing was very noisy and his face was flushed, making it obvious that he had a fever.

"You think he might die before six o'clock even comes?" Dave asked Peters.

Peters looked at him. "He's not dying, you fool. Haven't you ever had influenza?"

"Once," Dave said. "But I didn't sound like that."

Peters had to admit to himself that Bart did seem to have a particularly bad case, but before the conversation could continue, Billy came in the door wearing a slicker with firewood tucked inside it. He went over to the fireplace and dropped a log in before lighting it. The weather was colder than usual, and the chilly wind blowing through the cracks in the shack certainly wasn't helping.

When Bart heard the crackling fire, he opened his eyes halfway and blinked at the flames. "What time is it?" he croaked.

Peters didn't answer, so Dave took out his pocket watch. "Four."

Bart closed his eyes with a groan. Still two hours left, he thought, with dismay. His body was cramped—and numb in some places—from sitting on the floor for so long, and he wondered if he'd even be able to walk when the time came to leave. Please, he prayed. At least make the rain let up by then…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Bret arrived back at the hotel, he immediately sought out Mr. Miller, the head of the poker competition. He found him in the diningroom having an early supper, and quickly sat down at the same table, taking Miller by surprise.

"Mr. Maverick?" he said.

"Can my brother have his entrance fee back?" Bret asked. "Since he didn't play?"

Miller blinked. "I suppose," he said. "But he'll have to cash a check at the bank."

"Can you give the check to me?" Bret asked.

Miller shook his head. "It's his fee, so the check will have his name on it."

Bret shook his head. "Look, Gus Peters kidnapped my brother and demanded ransom; the money that I won yesterday."

"He what?" Miller exclaimed.

Bret nodded. "The only problem is that I spent some of it. I only have until six o'clock to raise the rest."

Miller looked shocked, before his expression turned suspicious. "How do I know you're telling the truth, and not just trying to steal your brother's money?"

Bret sighed; he had a feeling he was going to say that. "Ask the desk clerk," he answered. "In fact, ask anyone…no one else but him knows that Bart was abducted, but everyone in town can tell you that I've been looking for Bart for over an hour. If the sheriff hadn't left town, he'd be helping me look."

Miller still looked skeptical, so Bret stood up and went to the diningroom doors, before motioning for someone to come over.

The desk clerk entered the room a few seconds later, and followed Bret over to the table.

"Tell him what happened to my brother," Bret said.

The clerk looked at Miller. "Gus Peters kidnapped him. He asked me to put a note in the Maverick's mailbox so he could see what room number they were in. Then when Mr. Maverick here went to buy train tickets, Peters went up to their room and abducted his brother."

"When Peters came and demanded the money, he threatened to shoot him," Bret cut in. "Please, Mr. Miller."

Miller thought about it for a minute, before nodding and taking a checkbook out of his pocket. He quickly wrote it out before handing it over.

Bret looked at it: five hundred dollars. He smiled at Miller with gratitude. "Thank you, sir…and Bart would thank you too, if he was here."

Miller nodded. "I hope you get him back safely."

Bret sighed. "I hope so too." With that, he quickly left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dave and Billy stared at Bart, who still sat up against the wall, barely awake. It was obvious that he had a high fever, and his half-conscious state had him coughing less, which made his breathing even noisier.

"How can you keep him in here like that?" Dave asked Peters. "He's gonna get us all sick!"

Peters sighed. "I didn't realize how sick he was. All his brother said was that he wasn't feeling well."

"That's an understatement," said Billy. "You should throw him outside!"

"So he can escape? No." Peters countered. "It's too late now anyway, we've already been exposed." He looked at his pocket watch. "Besides, it's already five. We'll be leaving soon."

Dave sighed heavily.

It didn't take long for another half-hour to pass, and suddenly, Bart was brought back into awareness by a pair of hands grabbing each of his arms and pulling him upright. He immediately started coughing; apparently right into someone's face—which was obvious by the exclamation of dismay that he suddenly heard—and was roughly pulled outside and manhandled onto a horse, with his hands still tied behind him.

Peters realized that Bart was in very real danger of falling off the horse like that—not that he cared, but he didn't want to have to stop to get him put back onto the horse—so he had Billy tie his wrists in front of him on the saddlehorn instead.

As they rode off, Bart realized that he actually had something to be glad about; his prayer to stop the rain had been answered.

TBC