Chapter 15

Everyone rode past the item lying in the road, but Heath saw it, jumped down and picked it up. Quickly rejoining the rest of the men, he stuck his finger through the hole in Jarrod's hat and rode up beside him. "You want this souvenir, Jarrod?" he asked.

Jarrod could see what he was holding and how he was holding it. Jarrod hadn't had a chance to get another hat, so he chuckled, took his battered old one from Heath, and put it on. The hole was scarcely an inch above his hair.

Nick saw what they were doing. "The Barkley luck had you covered today, Pappy," he said.

Jarrod smiled. "Comes from all my good clean living, Nick."

Nick laughed and they moved on.

They kept their spirits up and laughter was not uncommon, but getting closer to Wright's property, the laughter faded and they were far more observant about what was going on around them. The terrain was open now. The light was beginning to fade but they would have seen anyone coming. They didn't see anything – until they were very close to the road that branched off toward the Wright ranch.

Nick held his hand up, stopping everyone, and pointing. Beyond a hill, cross country, he could see dust rising. "That could be riders," he said.

Jarrod said, "Yeah, and enough of them that we know where they're coming from. That could be his whole army."

"I can't believe he'd have that many after us," Nick said. "Even if he managed to win out, he'd be losing. His operation is exposed now, no matter what."

"Never underestimate a tyrant's hurt pride," Heath said. "They don't like being seen as weak."

"But tyrants don't leave themselves open, either," Jarrod said. "If I were a betting man, I'd say Wright isn't with his army. He's making a run for it."

"I'd bet with you," Heath said. "What do you want to do, Jarrod?"

Riders appeared at the top of the hill. A lot of them. "Well, there's not much cover here. I'm not too keen on just sitting here and getting hit."

"You commanded cavalry in the war," Nick said. "You up for a good old fashioned charge?"

Some of the men heard his question, and assents started going around. "Charging when it wasn't expected often scared the other side off," Jarrod said. "We don't have enough time to line up for it properly, but we'll go for it – but Jason!"

Jason was nearby and listened. All the horses were beginning to get skittish.

Jarrod said, "You pull yourself back up the road to that rock outcropping a couple miles back. Wait for somebody to come for you, and if nobody does in half an hour or so, you head back to Stockton."

Jason hesitated.

"Go!" Jarrod yelled, and Jason went. Then Jarrod told his brothers, "I'm gonna ride right through this bunch and go for Wright's place."

"Not alone, you're not!" Nick yelled. The riders coming on were getting closer.

"You come after me after you get these guys under control," Jarrod said, his voice getting louder. "Wright is mine, and I'll have him."

Jarrod took off at the head of the Barkley troops, and everyone followed along right behind him.

And then it was chaos. Shots were fired, but everyone was moving so much that it was a long time before even the first man was hit. By that time, Jarrod had blasted his way right through the oncoming men, who kept their concentration on the Barkley men now beginning to fire at them. Jarrod didn't take the time to glance back, figuring he was either going to make it through and away fast or he was going to get shot out of the saddle at any moment. He got lucky. He could hear the fight fading into the distance as he got away, and he finally looked over his shoulder as he crested the hill.

Men were down, but no one yet was after him. He couldn't see how his brothers were faring, and he couldn't take the time to look harder. He kicked his horse into a faster gallop and was over the hill in seconds.

Jarrod was on the Wright property and up to the house within a few minutes, where he slowed, suspicious. There was no one – no one at all – anywhere. No guards, no workers, no children. Not a living soul. He trotted carefully up to the house, dismounted and tethered his horse to the rail there. He pulled his sidearm out, looking around.

Everybody was gone.

Or was Wright still around here somewhere? Carefully, Jarrod went up to the front door and turned the knob. The door opened. Jarrod went inside.

Cautious, he took it slow, looking everywhere. If Wright wasn't here, he could be out in the barn, moving in behind him. He could even be hiding out in the vegetable garden. Jarrod figured Wright had sent all his trusted men out to confront his brothers and their men, but where was he? Where were his enslaved workers?

Jarrod looked everywhere in the house. Wright was not there.

He wasn't sure how long it took, but as he was coming back to the front door, he heard a couple horses ride up fast. Putting himself against the wall beside the door, he looked carefully out through the glass, and saw his brothers dismounting in the yard. Jarrod opened the door but did not stand in the doorway, just in case Nick and Heath were skittish. "It's Jarrod!" he yelled.

Both Nick and Heath had their sidearms drawn, but lowered them as Jarrod came out onto the porch, lowering his. "Where is everybody?" Nick asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "I know where his loyalists are – out fighting with you. But I haven't found him or anybody else yet."

"We got the best of his men out there," Heath said. "Lost a few of our own, but Wright lost more."

"Where's Jason?" Jarrod asked.

"Sloan went to fetch him," Heath said.

"We better check some of these outbuildings," Nick said.

"Yeah, but I'll bet Wright is gone," Jarrod said. "He probably took off as soon as his army was gone. And his slaves are probably scattered all around here."

"Not everywhere," Heath said and pointed off toward a field off to his left.

The disappearing light made it difficult to see, but they did see them. People were coming up out of the field, looking as if they were coming up out of the ground. Jarrod remembered watching entire regiments of soldiers seeming to rise up out of the ground like that during the war, hidden by swales in the terrain that were pretty well invisible at a distance. The people coming toward them were on foot. Each of the Barkley men was pretty certain they were the enslaved workers, coming back.

There were women in the lead. The Barkleys recognized Mrs. Linklater and Mrs. Henry. They smiled and headed toward them.

"Where's my son?" Mrs. Linklater cried as soon as she thought she could be heard.

"On his way!" Nick called back.

"Is anybody hurt?" Jarrod called.

Everyone shook his head as the people drew close. Sheriff Linklater came to the forefront now. "I took a little beating, but no, we're all right. We all took off when the guards left, not even an hour ago."

"Did you see where Wright went?" Jarrod asked.

"He mounted up and took off to the east as soon as his men were gone," the sheriff said.

Jarrod sighed. He had wanted Wright. He had wanted his hands around the man's throat.

Nick and Heath saw how dark his anger was getting. "Easy there, Pappy," Nick said. "Soon as we get to Millertown, we'll get wanted posters out."

Jarrod nodded and hostered his gun, feeling that now at least the sheriff in Millertown had a problem he couldn't brush off. "We gotta get you folks out of here, at least back to Done In. Do we have the men to get them there and protect them?"

"We have to clean up out at the fight," Heath said. "We should get whoever's alive to Millertown, get help if they're wounded and get them in jail if they're not. That's gonna take a while and it's already nearly dark."

The sheriff said. "We can stay here tonight. We'll be all right."

"Jason!" Mrs. Linklater suddenly cried and began to run toward a rider with another horse carrying a small rider, coming down the hill.

"Whoa," Nick said, grabbing her. "Relax, he'll be here in a minute.""

"Tell you what," Jarrod said. "Heath, you stay here with me. Nick, you and Sloan get back to the fight and take care of getting that mess organized and off to Millertown. Do you have enough able-bodied to do that?"

"Yeah," Nick said, and he began to remount as Sloan arrived and Jarrod lifted Jason down into the yard.

"Ma!" Jason yelled and ran into his mother's arms. In a moment, the whole Linklater family was surrounding them.

Jarrod smiled, but he looked away, in the direction Wright had gone. He was livid that the man had gotten away, but he was also wary enough to be on the lookout, in case he hadn't gone far. In case he was planning on coming back.

Not that he should have. He should have gotten as far away as he could get, and still be going. But a tyrant like Wright didn't necessarily do what seemed smart. Tyrants tended to think they were invincible.

Heath saw where Jarrod was looking. "We'll keep a sharp eye out, Jarrod."

Jarrod nodded.