Chapter 13

As soon as Jeremy heard Joshua get up, he lay very still; he knew Josh was going to find a way to get to Jason, so Jeremy waited until Josh had slipped out of the window. Jeremy followed after his brother and arrived at the livery stable after Josh. Jeremy was going to walk in and stop Joshua or at least get a ride with him to Tacoma, but he heard a familiar voice talking to Joshua. Without hesitation, Jeremy grabbed a pitchfork Yelled Josh's name, and ran at the voice with the pitchfork. The voice was surprised and fired a shot and dropped the lantern, which started a fire.

"Jeremy, get those horses out of here!" Josh shouted as he grabbed the horse he had saddles and the reigns of a couple of more horses as well. They got out, the man that Jeremy had heard had been knocked down by one of the horses. The townspeople came to see what was happening, Josh and Jeremy stood with the animals and watched as the stable went up in flames. The owner, Mr. Haskell, was glad they had rescued the horses. Joshua and Jeremy had rescued all six of the horses including the extra horse that had been the man's horse. Lottie came out and saw that the boys were standing by the horses. She went over to them and asked them what happened.
"Th-the-there was a-a-a man, that had tried to hurt J-j-j-Jason and me and he wa-wa-was going t-t-to hurt Joshua. So, I ran at him with a pitchfork, 'c-c-c-cept" Joshua continued for Jeremy:

"'cept the horse kicked him out of the stable. He is lying on the ground now over there!" Joshua pointed to the place where the man had landed. But he was not there anymore!

"B-b-b-but he-he-he was there!" Jeremy said ready to cry at a moment's notice. Mr. Haskell went over to where the boys said someone had been, he shouted to the men:
"There was a man here, there is blood in the grass, let's fan out and search for him, he could be hiding in the trees. Rabbit, get your dogs, we can flush him out!" Mr. Haskell yelled to a young boy who had two dogs with him. He went back to his house and grabbed two more dogs. They went to search for the man. Mrs. Haskell saw the boys and told Jeremy and Josh that they should go back with Lottie.

"Jeremy, Josh, Lottie is coming now. Go ahead and go back to Lottie's and don't worry Butch and Rabbit will find that man!" Mrs. Haskell said just as Lottie had come up to them.

Lottie had no idea why the boys were out at that time of night, but she decided they needed to get back to bed. Josh and Jeremy both walked back with her to the saloon. She got them some warm buttermilk and then made sure they were in bed. She looked at the window and the window ledge and knew how they had gotten out. As she went around to each boy, she said:

"You know, those shoe marks on the ledge of the window will need to be cleaned off tomorrow, I bet you boys can add that to your chores!" she said as she kissed each of them goodnight and covered them up.

Two days later the boys woke up and dressed as usual. Lottie was in the kitchen preparing their breakfast and humming. There was excitement in the air, this was the morning that Jason would be coming home on the stage. The boys could hardly wait to see their brother. They hurried through their chores and made sure that the cabin was clean and ready for Jason. Lottie had told them that they would be staying with her for a couple more weeks but would be able to visit Jason anytime he said it was okay.

"Did you clean the stove? You know that lady, what was her name...?" Joshua asked Jeremy.

"Maggie!" Jeremy said sullenly. He did not want Maggie there at all! He wanted to share Jason only with Joshua and he did not want to share his family with Maggie. She had been nice to him but if she was too nice to Jason, he would have something to say about that. Josh swept the floor. Miss Lottie had made sure the cabin was aired out and there were clean sheets on all the beds. She even brought some flowers in to decorate the room.

The bell at Lottie's sounded, and the stagecoach had arrived. Everyone, the loggers, and the other townspeople were all there to greet Jason when he arrived home. The stagecoach pulled up to Lotties, a man got out of the stagecoach first. He then helped a lady get out. Then the driver handed me a contraption that looked rather large and bulky. It had wheels and he had to put it together. Jeremy went over to him and asked if he could help. He let Jeremy help and soon Joshua wanted to help as well. When it was put together the lady showed them how to put the brakes on so that the chair wouldn't move. Then the man took hold of Jason's hand and helped him out of the coach into the chair. Both Joshua and Jeremy couldn't wait anymore. They ran to him and gave him hugs and Jeremy climbed onto Jason's lap, then Joshua tried to do it as well, but he was getting a little too big for Jason to be able to hold both boys, but he tried anyway.

"Now, boys how am I supposed to get moving if you both are sitting on me!" said Jason, and he laughed, both boys got off and watched how the lady steered the chair up a ramp that Swede had built just for the occasion.

Burt had escaped the dogs, he had hidden in a cabin, and he found out it was the Bolt Cabin, he laughed as he figured it out. He went through their things and found a beautiful gold watch; he took that and a couple of small trinkets that he thought he could sell. The dogs completely bypassed this cabin. It had been outfitted for someone in a wheelchair.

"Well, Mr. Bolt, seems as if I am going to get my pay after all!" Burt laughed, he had slept and woke up very early. There were no horses available, his horse had been with the other horses, and he was sure someone would be watching those horses, so he decided to go up to the logging camp, sometimes they kept a couple of horses to help haul the lumber or other essentials as well. He took the horse and left the area before the loggers made their way to the logging camp.

Maggie was setting up the stove and remarked how nice the place was and how clean it was. Joshua blushed, he thought that she was a pretty lady, but at the same time, he couldn't figure out why he liked her but was mad at her. At the same time. Jason had slept well, and both boys had come early to help. They had missed their brother very much. In a different way. Joshua missed the companionship of an older brother and mentor; Jeremy just plain missed his brother outright.

Maggie had put some lunch out on the table and Jason had woken from his morning nap.

"Jason, are you going to take naps just like we did when were little?" asked Jeremy who thought it was funny that a grownup would take naps.

"Well, is there something wrong with me taking a nap?" Asked Jason with a mischievous smile on his face. Jeremy looked at him with a serious look and said:
"Yes, you are a grown-up, so that means you have to stay awake all day!" Jeremy said as he ate his sandwich and drank his milk.

"Jeremy, he is sleeping because he still is hurt!" Joshua said and then said:
"I'm right ain't I" Jason looked at the both of them and said:
"Yes, Joshua, you are right, my body is still healing and sometimes it takes a long time for it to heal. But Jeremy is also right, I need to heal a little faster because as a 'grown up' I have a job to do and a business to run!" Jason said and drank all of his coffee. Maggie was cleaning the dishes and Jeremy was back to sitting on Jason's lap when Earl came in with a report about the stranger who had shown up the night before.

"Before you boys leave, I want to tell you Mr. Haskell said thank you for saving his horses." Both boys looked at Earl and said they would stop to see him on the way home.

"Did they catch that man yet?" asked Jeremy

"What man?" Jason asked.

"T-t-t-t-the sa-sa-same man that was at-at-Mag-Maggie's house!" Jeremy said. Joshua did not know that Jeremy had known who the man was.
"How'd you know it was him?" Joshua asked.

"His v-v-v-voice!" Jeremy was genuinely scared of him. He was trembling on Jason's lap. Jason instinctively held on to him a little tighter to help calm him down. He looked at Jeremy and asked what happened. Jeremy looked at Joshua, should he tell about climbing out the window? Joshua shook his head yes.

"Joshua climbed out the window last night, I think he was going to go to Tacoma to meet you there. It was my idea and so, when he left, I followed him. When I got to the stables, he had been stopped by that man Burt, and I just grabbed a pitchfork and ran right at him, he got knocked over but then he dropped the lantern and Joshua said to get the horses out. So we did."

"But we think he escaped," Joshua said and then looked at the lawyer, Mr. Martin who nodded his assent and said:
"He is still out there somewhere. I was coming over to let you know and to let Maggie know as well. I am not sure what to do yet, they have not found him, and the dogs seem to have been thrown off the scent. But there are some still out there looking for him!" Jason took all this in, he was proud of his brothers for what they did.

"Joshua, Jeremy, I want to thank you as well for being so brave, I know that sneaking out was not right and I think Lottie has taken care of that, hasn't she?" Both boys looked at Jason and nodded, they had to clean the window sill and then get someone to cut the branch from the tree because it was getting too close to the building.

"So, you need to go do the rest of your chores and we will see you for supper," Jason said, Jeremy hugged Jason and then Joshua shook Jason's hand. They both left and Earl, Maggie, and Jason sat and talked some more.