Knights of the Golden Circle

Part 7: The Trail Continues

After finding the note that morning, Caine raced to the edge of the camp looking for fresh tracks, but the ground was covered with them, and not all the tracks were from horses. Wagon tracks also did the job of obscuring the trail. Finding the woman wasn't going to be easy. Going back to his tent cabin, he reread the note. Nothing in the note gave him any clue as to where they might have gone. It was then that Caine noticed another slip of paper on the floor. What was written on there appeared to be instructions. Caine's eyes narrowed, but he knew if he did not follow up on what he found, the woman's life could be forfeit. His own oath as a Shaolin and what he was taught did not allow any compromises. If the woman died, it would be his responsibility, just as certain as it was his responsibility when he killed the nephew of the emperor. In that instance, he had no choice but to leave the only home he had ever really known and enter a strange new world fraught with just as much danger and unknown perils. If the woman were to die without his aid, he would have no more excuses. Wandering in the wilderness would lose all meaning, and his purpose would be forever lost. Caine knew what he had to do. Grabbing his brown leather pouch and hat, but leaving his bedroll, he was once again on the move. He would return with her or die trying.

The woman's life was in danger because of him. Caine knew that Wilkes had taken her, but finding her and Wilkes, was going to take time, and there was precious little of that. Wilkes had a head start, by several hours. He could be anywhere. He could have even killed the woman long before Caine had even seen that note. Caine looked at the scrap of paper then started running. The first part told him which direction to take and to search for a lone hill in open country and to climb to the top. It was a start.

The hill that Caine was searching for turned out to be no more than two miles from the camp. The hill wasn't very large, but neither was it small. It looked more like a large pile of rubble with rocks scattered across its surface. Not a scrap of green could be seen. After climbing the hill and looking around, the only thing that was not natural about this part of the country were the tracks in the distance that the railroad camp had laid several days ago. Caine looked at the scrap of paper, certain that this hill was the very one that Wilkes wanted him to find.

Caine read the note a second time instructing him to look for the one thing that did not belong on the top of the hill. He scrutinized the area and soon spotted what looked like a rusted tin box partially buried by rocks. Caine knelt, cleared the rocks away, and exposed the rest. It was indeed an old tin container with a lid. Caine lifted the lid to find another note and something else. It was a necklace of white jade in the shape of a circle. It was the very necklace that he had seen Mrs. Lee Wu wearing since he arrived at the camp. After finding the necklace, Caine read the note that was also in the tin.

"Go to the next town to the livery. You'll get the rest of your instructions there. You have two days to get there. If you're late, the woman will suffer. Wilkes."

Wilkes must have meant the town of Jacksonville, Caine passed through there several days ago before arriving at the camp. He remembered the looks some of the townspeople gave him. It wasn't a very friendly place. Now he would have to return. To get there in two days he would have to travel without stopping to eat or sleep, if he were to prevent any harm to come to Mrs. Lee Wu. There wasn't much between here and Jacksonville. He had been lucky to find even one stream to refill his canteen. And this time, he did not have any water with him.

Caine placed the jade necklace around his neck for safekeeping. He then looked toward the rising sun and knew the morning would soon be half-gone, and along with it the cooler temperatures. Climbing back down the hill, Caine set out south.

"Are you sure he will come?"

"Oh, he'll come all right. I've made certain of that. The man's on foot. It will take him a couple of days."

"I don't know if I can wait for two or three days. Why didn't you leave him a horse?"

Wilkes shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. Didn't occur to me to leave him one. Probably wouldn't ride one if I did."

"How do you figure that?"

"Just a feeling." Wilkes rubbed his chin, remembering how Caine bested him in a fight. The man was a good fighter, too good. He used his feet as easily as any man used a gun.

"What's with you?"

"I'm not sure. This Caine has me worried. He's no ordinary Chinese."

"You bet he's no ordinary Chinese, he's worth $10,000. And I intend to collect."

Continues with Part 8