Chapter Nineteen
A/N We're going to visit one of my brothers tomorrow. I have no idea what time we'll be back tomorrow night so...I'm posting this tonight.
Excerpt from Chapter Eighteen: Jarrod pulled the messages out from his shirt pocket and read them again. As he did so, two lines jumped out at him. *'Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the coast; Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain.' "He's heading west." Jarrod said after reading the lines out loud.
"We best get going then." Heath answered as he turned and headed for the livery stable; they'd left their horses there upon arriving in Lovell.
~oOo~
Henry Cox, who had been to Lovell and searched for the three Barkley brothers, now pushed Gene's horse back in the direction of Macklin's cabin as fast as he could, keeping his eyes opened wide. Before he'd ridden away Gene had given him a full description of his brothers, and Henry didn't want the miss the gentlemen Gene said were his family. As he rode, he cursed Macklin and all he stood for and himself for not having the courage to tell his father what Macklin was really like. Having allowed himself to get caught up in his thoughts as he passed one large Pine tree after another, Henry almost missed seeing the three men in a clearing off in the distance. As it was, he had to turn around and push the horse even faster. The whole time he was yelling "MISTER BARKLEY" as loud as he could; hoping at least one of them would hear him. He was relieved when he got his desire.
Nick, Heath and Jarrod pulled up on their reins and, stopping their horses, looked in the direction they heard someone calling them…or at least one of them. "Do you know him?" Nick asked as he looked at his two brothers; both shook their heads and replied in the negative.
"We might as well meet him half way." Jarrod said as he pushed Jingo forward; his brothers didn't hesitate to follow. In no time at all the distance between Henry and the three Barkley brothers had been closed.
"Glad you heard me," Henry did his best to smile politely, though his anxiety clearly showed through.
"Who are you, what do you want and," Nick, who realized just what horse Henry was riding, added in an even louder tone of voice, "why do you have my brother's horse?" After all, if this man had Eugene's horse, it couldn't be a good thing. His reaction didn't faze Henry as Gene had warned him about Nick just before Henry rode off, nor did the suspicious looks Jarrod and Heath were giving him; Harry had expected that.
"Your youngest brother lent him to me and sent me to fetch the three of you; actually, he sent me back to Lovell. However, when you weren't there, I started back." He caught his breath, as he was talking rather fast, "I recognized the three of you from his descriptions. Boy am I glad to find you three!"
"Where is he!" Nick again snapped, a part of him wanting to slap his baby brother for tailing Macklin all by himself.
"Watching Macklin's cabin; at least, he was when I left him." Henry answered as he quickly explained everything. "Macklin's more than bad. Like I told Gene, the man's only has one person in mind, and that's himself. Wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to get on top of the ladder in his world as it were,"
"Would you lead us there, make sure we don't miss it?" Jarrod leaned forward in his saddle and asked as he started getting strong impressions he and his brothers needed to hurry…and hurry fast.
A part of Henry didn't want to; he was worried about his family and wanted to go home. However, the majority of him knew if Macklin was to be stopped for sure, Henry needed to make sure Gene wasn't alone. "Sure," he answered as he pushed Gene's horse forward. Nick, Jarrod and Heath quickly followed.
~oOo~
Gene, who had kept an eye on Macklin's shack, watched as Macklin exited the shack and headed for his horse. At first the youngest Barkley cursed and wondered what was keeping his brothers and Henry. Then again, there was always a chance the young man had changed his mind and simply taken Gene's horse and went home. Then, as Eugene watched Macklin ride away, the thought came to him he could slip into the shack and look around. With the sun showing signs of going down, the thought he might actually find some incriminating evidence propelled Gene to move slowly and cautiously away from his hiding place once Macklin was out of sight, down the hill and up to the door of the shack. The whole time he was keeping an ear out for the sound of anyone returning. He didn't want to be caught off guard.
Reaching out, Gene took a hold of the door handle and slowly opened it up. He carefully peeked inside, hoping to find no one else in the shack. He didn't. Quickly, he moved around the shack…it had a small couch that sat against east wall, a couple of cots that lined the north wall and a huge, black pot belly stove in the northwest corner of the room. There were shelves that lined the west wall and a table that sat next to the south wall, and next to the door he'd entered through. There were also some drawers that sat off in the northeast corner; they sat next to a small desk. He was also surprised to see a back door between the two cots. He would not have thought a place this small would have a back exit.
Gene looked from the shelves to the desk and decided to check the shelves first; as a man like Macklin might try to hide anything incriminating somewhere besides an obvious desk. Soon he was moving things around on the shelf, taking small jars down and looking through them. He was thrilled when he opened one and pulled out some papers …all of which turned out to be records of dealings with Crown, along with notes Macklin had made concerning his plans to get rid of Crown and take his place. However, most importantly, one of papers had every single name of men who were working with Macklin and where they were at.
"Can't put these in any obvious place either," Gene thought as he quickly folded the papers and slid them into the side of one of his boots. He then put the lid back on the jar before returning it to its spot. He then moved swiftly over to the desk…just in case Macklin had been crazy enough to put something in it as well. However, he had no more gotten the door open and begun his search when he heard the back door open and the sound of a pistol's trigger being pulled backwards.