The sound of a horse snorting alerted Hoss and Joe to the fact that someone was around back. Like a great many sheriff's offices, this one had a back door that accessed an alley behind the building. The door was in the jail room, and Joe and Hoss had of course noticed it earlier, but it didn't do them any good seeing as they couldn't reach it. Now it interested them because they wondered who would be creeping into the sheriff's office the back way, and if it should concern them.

Had they not already been told where Candy was, they might have suspected he'd come back to let them loose. But they did know where he was, assuming they believed Deputy Mayer, whom they had no reason to doubt. Even had their pa known where they were, he couldn't have arrived so quickly, so that ruled him out. They knew no one in Elodie save their captors.

The horse snorted again, and Joe recognized it.

"That sounds like Candy's horse," Joe remarked.

"Joe, if ever there was a horse that sounded just like every other horse-" Hoss didn't finish his sentence, because he heard the sound of the door being unlocked.

It opened a moment later, and Deputy Mayer slipped in. Joe and Hoss exchanged puzzled glances that didn't quite dare to be hopeful. Mayer looked extremely worried and very distracted, barely even aware of Hoss and Joe watching him as he entered the building furtively, like a thief, even though he knew as well as they did that the front office was currently empty.

Mayer looked unsure of himself and what he was doing, but not knowing what he'd come to do made it impossible for Joe and Hoss to guess if they should be encouraging or discouraging him, so they merely sat and observed as he made his way over to the door, then stopped to listen.

"Sheriff Holt will be over here any time now," Mayer said, seemingly talking to himself more than either of the Cartwrights, "Miss Weston's tryin' to stall him with some dinner, but..." he trailed off.

The sheriff's office had been quiet and empty for most of the day. Lunch had come quite late, brought by Lacy, with Mayer watching her. They hadn't stuck around for conversation, in fact they seemed like they could hardly stand to be in the room at all before they departed.

Now it was obvious why. They had been changing their minds about what to do. Joe and Hoss rose slowly, stiff after having been locked in the small room for so long, especially in the cold.

"I told Lee and the others to bring Canaday back alive... but I don't think they will," Mayer continued, fumbling with the keys before managing to get the right one in the lock of the cell, shaking his head as he did so, "I sent Colby with them, thinking he'd keep them in line... but Lee..." he turned the lock and the door opened, "Still, you should go to Dewton. That's where your pa will be."

"What about you?" Hoss inquired, knowing only too well that henchmen who turned on their leader seldom lasted long.

"Whatever happens, Elodie is my place," Mayer replied, "I can't leave. Besides, Lee has my horse."

He led the way cautiously to the door, and peered out before leading them outside to where the horses stood waiting. Mayer had retrieved their gun-belts, rifles and saddlebags, which were all waiting on the saddles of their horses. Mayer pulled another gun out of his belt.

"This is the one we took off Canaday," Mayer explained, "I don't suppose he'll be alive by the end of the night... but I figured you should have it anyway."

Joe took the pistol and gazed at it thoughtfully, before saying, "Hoss and I are going after him."

"You can't!" Mayer protested, "I sent Lee, George and Colby out. Lee's got the temper of a bear with a sore tooth, and Colby's a crack shot. You shouldn't even take the road to Dewton if you can avoid it. If you can't, just get off if you so much as hear any riders coming."

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Joe said.

"Candy isn't just a hired hand," Hoss explained, "He's also a friend of ours."

"They will kill you," Mayer persisted.

"We'll take that chance," Joe said, taking his gun-belt down from the saddle and putting it on.

Mayer looked helplessly from Joe to Hoss, who was retrieving his own gun-belt

"Okay," He sighed finally, in a tone not denoting permission but unhappy resignation, "Okay. Now, the sheriff in Dewton shouldn't have anything against you, Lee and George only mentioned Canaday. So you should be able to go to the law once you get there. But make sure to avoid anybody wearing a badge that isn't the sheriff. A couple of our deputies are still out looking for Canaday, and they may have holed up in Dewton to avoid staying out at night. If they see you, they'll probably kill you."

"Any other helpful advice?" Joe inquired, somewhat impatiently.

"Get as far as you can before tomorrow morning. Sheriff Holt won't try to track you in the dark, but he'll be out at first light, along with every able-bodied man he can roust out of bed."

Joe didn't make a response to that, and instead swung up on Cochise's back. Mayer had brought Cochise and Chub, along with Candy's horse, each of them fully tacked. Hoss handed Joe the reins for Candy's horse before he got up on Chub. Just as they were starting to turn their horses away from the back of the sheriff's office, they heard a woman's shout of warning.

"Go!" Mayer instructed.

To emphasize the command, he smacked Cochise on the rump with his hat, and the little pinto leaped into the street. The alley was a dead end, which meant they had to go down main street. Mayer's objective in letting them out the back was to reduce the chances of their being seen before they got underway. But there was no other way to get out of town other than through it.

As they rode by, Joe noticed Sheriff Holt pull out his pistol, and Lacy thwart him by grabbing onto his arm. A second man whom he recognized as the owner of the livery came out of the saloon and grabbed hold of Lacy to get her out of the sheriff's way. From the interior of the building there issued an unearthly and deafening roar, and an instant later a beast the color of the surrounding night lunged through the open door and slammed into the back of the livery owner, driving him to the ground.

Joe and Hoss didn't stop to sight see. They spurred their horses into a gallop and ran out of town, not once looking back. They had other things to do just now besides deal with the sheriff of Elodie and anyone who might have heard the commotion and be coming to his aid.

Even aside from the possibility of recapture, the boys knew they were now in a race against time. Their pa would be going to Dewton, likely to deliver the ransom. They didn't know how the money was to be delivered, but they fully expected that whoever was waiting to retrieve the money would probably kill their father once the transaction was made. Besides which, the men dispatched from Elodie to retrieve Candy would probably be trying to kill him as soon as they got out of town.

Recently fed, watered, groomed and warmed up, Cochise all but threw himself into the snow, and Joe had to rein him in so he could check where they were going before they'd already gone. Outside of town, when he hit the deep snow, Chub threw his head up and tried to find a way around it, but Hoss urged him on and the dark brown horse did what was asked of him.

In the dark, on a snow-covered road they were not well familiar with, it was difficult to tell where they were, or if they were still on the road at all. Perhaps fortunately, the road had been well-traveled since the snow fell last, a lot of riders had come and gone between Elodie and Dewton.

The broken up snow became their main indication that they were on the road. It wasn't long before Hoss was riding just a little ahead of Joe, because his big horse would keep to the broken trail if he could, whereas Cochise seemed to rather enjoy forging his own path. The little pinto seemed disinclined to do anything the easy way if there was the possibility of adventure to be had. Just now, that habit of Cochise's was a bad one, and so the brothers used the more reliable Chub to make sure they didn't lose the path in the dark.

Both Hoss and Joe had traveled in the dark before, but there were thick clouds gathered in the sky, blotting out the moon and stars, and leaving them very nearly blind. It was unclear if Chub was picking his way by sight or by feel, but whatever kept him on the road was good enough. The horses could see better in the dark than the men could, but they had many other fine senses to work with as well.

Though there had been little wind when they started out, it wasn't long before there were some strong gusts blowing against them. As the wind got stronger, Cochise became more determined to plunge into the deeper snow off the trail. Joe realized the little horse was looking for shelter.

"I think we may be in trouble," Joe called to Hoss over the sound of the wind, the volume of which he only realized when he tried to make himself heard.

The noise of the wind had crept up on them, as had its speed.

"I think you may be right, little brother. Chub keeps tryin' to stop and turn tail to the wind."

"Cooch too," Joe said.

They didn't have to discuss between them what that meant. Lesser horses might duck and shy at a little stiff wind or cold, but Cochise and Chub were reliable, steady horses. They were acting up not because of a little wind, but because of what was coming. Joe didn't know if it was going to snow, or if the wind was merely going to blast hard enough to cause a whiteout. Either way, they didn't want to be stumbling around in the open when that happened.

But they were caught. They couldn't go back to Elodie, and there was no telling how far Dewton might be. Around them there were only the black shadows of a few trees, not enough to provide much shelter, and the howling of the wind. The snow was already beginning to be lifted from the ground, Joe realized it was swirling ominously around his horse's legs.

But it wasn't either of the Cartwright boys or their horses that saved them from what might have been a deadly night out in the storm. It was Candy's horse. Willing and eager to follow any other horses that happened to be around, he wasn't preoccupied with trying to communicate anything to a rider. Instead, he was alert to his surroundings. Suddenly he raised his head and whinnied what sounded like a response to another horse's contact call.

Joe looked over at the chestnut, almost invisible to him because of the interference of the dark and debris carried on the rising wind. The animal's head was high, his nostrils flared and ears pricked up. He was seeking confirmation to what he believed he'd heard. After several seconds, the chestnut whinnied again, then dropped his head, accepting the fact that he was already attached to a group and couldn't go visiting the other horse he'd heard.

But now he'd been stopped and noticed his rider was listening intently, Cochise must have heard the other horse as well, because his ears twitched forward and he started to lift his head as if to say something, then abruptly thought better of it for whatever reason.

"Seems like there's a horse out there," Hoss remarked, observing the behaviors of both Candy's horse and Joe's, "Maybe one with a barn."

"I'll take that bet," Joe replied, and nudged Cochise in the direction that Candy's horse had been listening.

Cochise was only too happy to break away from the road. He plunged into deep snow, but shortly floundered to another trail, one that had also been traveled recently. Hoss followed. When Cochise paused uncertainly, Candy's horse took the opportunity to neigh a contact call.

This time, Joe was close enough to hear the response. Not just one horse, but several, replied. It was enough to get them underway again. Cochise moved forward eagerly, clearly hearing something he liked in the voices of the other horses. Joe didn't know if it was an invitation to share their barn or if they'd complimented him on his vocalizations. One could never tell what spurred strange horses into liking or disliking each other just from calling to each other over a distance.

Without requiring any further instruction or guidance, Cochise trotted through the dark until something large abruptly blocked the worst of the blowing wind. Joe realized they'd entered a yard, bordered on one side by a barn, on another by a ranch house.

Candy's horse neighed again, and there was a definite response from inside the barn.

"I could kiss you," Joe told the horse, who wasn't paying any attention to him.

Cochise shifted his weight and turned back his ears. Joe laughed, relieved and amused by his horse's quick jealousy. He patted the animal's neck and waited for Hoss to catch up. They dismounted and led their horses over to the closed barn where they could huddle out of the wind.

Then they went to knock on the door of the ranch house.

The door was flung open, and the Cartwright boys stood blinking in the sudden light. Joe got the impression of a tall man with a dark mustache, who frowned at them.

"You're not the doctor," the man remarked, which under the circumstances seemed like an utterly bizarre thing for him to say, and Joe had trouble comprehending what it might mean.

"No sir," Hoss replied, for once quicker on the uptake than Joe, "We just got caught in this storm, and were wonderin' if we could-" he broke off because the man had already gone away, leaving the door standing open.

Hoss looked at Joe, who merely shrugged. They decided the open door was close enough to an invitation, and they stepped across the threshold, closing the door behind them.

The interior of the house was warm and inviting, if smaller than they were used to. They stared around, their eyes adjusting slowly to the light provided by a roaring fireplace and several lighted lamps scattered at odd intervals across the room.

When they heard the sounds from down a short hall, they suddenly understood. Exchanging looks, they confirmed that both of them had heard it, and knew what it meant. The man was looking for a doctor because there was a woman down that hall in the process of giving birth.

"I guess we better see what we can do to help," Hoss said, pulling off his jacket and laying it aside.

"Right," Joe agreed, removing his hat hurriedly.