Chapter 6 You take the High Road, I'll take the low road
Jason, tried to undo the ropes that tied him. He could hear the fire raging around the camp. He looked at the pole and decided to try to move it enough so that it would fall. The tent would be on top of him, but he was fairly certain the smoke and fire would not harm him. He could hear shouts outside:
"Jason, Jason, where are you?" Jeremy called out. He searched some of the tents that were there but to no avail. Everyone had left the logging camp and headed back to Seattle. One of the young warriors, Brave Deer shouted to Jeremy:
"Jeremy, Jeremy, over here!" he shouted above the roar of the fire. It was very hot near where he was standing. Jeremy took Brownie with him and went over to where his friend was standing. He saw the work tent had fallen, but they both heard a shout:
"Help! Help!"
"It's Jason, help move the tent off of him!" Jeremy asked the two Indians. They struggled a bit because the canvas was quite heave and also, they had to be sure not to move it too close to the fires that were spreading. Wakando's son had taken some dirt and began to put it on top of the little fires trying to put them out, he noticed an opening under the canvas and crawled in to it. There he saw Jason, still tied to the pole of the tent.
Jeremy was worried that Brownie would run if he let go of her. He looked around at the tent, it had certainly collapsed. Both Indian braves walked around and looked for an opening. They found a spot and motioned to Jeremy to bring Brownie close to the tent. They tied the rope onto the canvas and pulled it open a little ways. Brownie was beginning to get nervous. Jeremy stood by brownie holding her head and whispering quietly to her. The braves moved under the tent and found Jason; They pulled him out! Jason was untied and was beginning to stand up when a tree began to fall in their direction. They all leaped as far away as possible. The fire was raging now all around the clearing and inside the camp.
Jeremy hopped on Brownie and helped Jason up or was it the other way around? Jason hopped on Brownie while Jeremy was still holding onto her reigns, he reached down to the braves but they had already left the camp. Jason then reached down to Jeremy and Jeremy hopped on behind Jason.
They rode Brownie out of the trees that were on fire. She was breathing heavily and would need water very soon. When they saw the lake, they immediately went towards it and walked Brownie into the water, she immediately started to drink. Jason washed up as well. Where they were the fire had burnt out. His loggers had done what they could but could not get it to stop or slow down. They realized that this fire would have to burn out so they had created a back fire, the Indians had shown them how to do that and they had essentially surrounded the fire with its own and waited.
"Thank you Jeremy for coming back, I saw the people who were starting the fires. I am not sure but they may be Mr. Smith's men!" Jason said as he stood in the lake and rinsed off.
"J-j-Jason, not Barnabas?" Jeremy said as he too was washing the soot and ashes from his face.
"No, Jeremy, I believe they are Mr. Victor Smith's men!" Jason said as he looked towards the forest and then he said;
"Do you think Brownie can take both of us all the way to Seattle?" Jason asked. Jeremy nodded to his brother and said:
"We are close enough, I think it would be better for her to walk, we will walk along the lake for a while. Can you make it without a problem? It is straight downhill!?"
Jason looked at the burnt forest, the flames were still burning here and there, he looked up at the sky and then looked towards the town.
"You take Brownie, keep an eye out for any suspicious things happening. I will be in Seattle and meet me there in an hour. Look out for Victor Smith and others be careful. Keep you eyes open!" Jason said as he started to jog down the hill towards the town.
Jeremy kept to the side of the lake just in case some flare ups might happen. Brownie was starting to act like herself again, now that there was no fires or the sounds of a rushing fire.
Aaron Stemple was watching the fire come closer to the town as Clancy made sure that everything was in order and ready to pull away from the dock, when he saw someone, two someone's running to the dock.
"Clancy wait, two more coming!" Aaron shouted. Clancy stopped and looked, both he and Aaron saw that it was Molly and Christopher. They were frantically running and almost fell. When they got to the ship, Aaron went and helped Molly on and then Christopher.
"Please Captain Clancy, you can't leave, something happened to Candy and Biddie!" Molly said as she tried to catch her breath.
"Barnabas did not want Candy to go with him but she did. We were supposed to follow the trail behind them but something happened and they ended up on another trail!" Christopher said to Captain Clancy who was watching the flames as they came nearer to the city.
"We heard Barnabas talking to his brother! His brother Victor said that he wanted Barnabas to kill Biddie!" Molly said she was very worried for her sister.
"Victor is a lawyer, why would he want to kill Biddie?" Aaron asked them. Christoper was the first to speak:
"I was helping Barnabas and Biddie pack while Molly was helping Candy pack. I overheard that Victor wants to kill Biddie so that he can take the insur-insurance money from Barnabas!" Clancy was dumfounded, Aaron looked serious at them.
"Which way did they take?" Aaron asked. Molly answered:
"We were following them when a tree fell that was burning. We stopped and went back. But, I think it was the high road towards Tacoma. The rest of the people had to turn and take the lower road to Olympia!" Molly said. Aaron and Clancy stood there for a few moments.
"Molly, where are the Bolts?" Aaron asked her. She shrugged and said she did not know.
"I think they are up at the camp. But, I am not sure?" said Clancy who was concerned about the fire he saw burning. Just then Dr. Wright came and asked what was happening. When she found out she said:
"I know Jeremy went up to the camp to find Jason and make sure the men were taken care of, I think they were all up there! She said when something blew up at the end of the town.
"I am getting out of port, if youse wants to stay? Stay at your own peril!" Clancy said as he walked back up to the wheelhouse and called his crew to make ready to sail. Aaron stood there for a moment with Dr. Wright, he looked at her and at the children.
"Dr. you take the children with you please. I am going to see If I can't find the Bolts or what is left of them!" Aaron said.
"Mr. Stemple, I want to go with you to help!" said both Molly and Christopher at the same time. He looked at them and said they were safer on the ship and he would be sure that Candy would be okay. Dr. Wright took both children's hands and walked with them to the ship.
"Clancy, Aaron, stop! I need to talk to you!" Jason said still jogging down to the port. Clancy waited and so did Aaron. When he arrived, Clancy gave him some water and they waited.
"What is happening Bolt! Is everyone safe at the camp?" Aaron said to Jason and waited for him to answer.
"Nothing is there anymore; the fire destroyed our camp! But I saw two people starting the fires and I have a feeling Mr. Victor Smith is behind all of this. Have you seen him Jason asked.
Aaron looked at him and then remembered what the children had told him:
"Victor may very well be behind all this! The children came back and told me that Candy and Biddie rode together with Barnabas and that no one can take the road that leads to Tacoma, it is blocked, they all have to go to Yelm!" Aaron told Jason all that the children had said to him. Jason had a frown on his face and realized that Candy and Biddie were in dire need of rescue. He did not know where Jeremy was but he could not wait, so he and Aaron made a plan, Corky and Big Swede were also planning to leave on the ship but when they heard that the ladies were missing, then they volunteered to help Jason.
Chapter 7 Jeremy finds Candy
Jeremy led Brownie in the lake near the bank. She had calmed down quite a bit. He surveyed all the land that was burnt. The smell bothered his nostrils and he sneezed a few times as did Brownie. He came up off the shores of the lake and found that they were on the road leading to Tacoma.
"Well, Brownie, we might meet a lot of people coming this way!" He said as he turned on to the road and looked from one end to the other.
"Maybe we are between groups leaving Seattle. I am sure they would have taken this road it is the most direct route to Tacoma from Seattle!" He looked again and saw nothing. He decided that he would get on Brownie and ride ahead to see if Candy and Biddie were okay. First he had to find a rock to stand on, it seemed that sometimes Brownie just wasn't cooperative enough to let him try two or three times to get on the horse.
In the cabin, Candy stood near a chair. She was not feeling too well, but she hoped that it would soon pass. Biddie was sitting nearby. She herself did not feel all that well. Barnabas and Victor were arguing again and it seemed like Victor was winning.
"I told you Barnabas, you have to kill her! I don't care if you love her. You can get another woman any where in the world. Now, I propose that we use this poison that was in the cabin and place it in her food…"
"Victor, if I kill her, I will be killing to people. Her and the baby. That baby is my baby and I am kind of partial to it already. Victor, I will prevent you from killing her or anyone else. Give me that poison, and I will get rid of it!" Barnabas said as he reached for it. Victor immediately punched is brother and knocked him out. He had Ralph drag him into the room with the ladies and shut the door. Biddie ran over to him and tried to help. Candy suddenly had to lean out of the window.
"Oh, Barnabas, please wake up? I wish I had a wet cloth!" Biddie said as she looked around the room. There was no other way in the only door was locked and now it looked like Barnabas was going to be a victim of his brother just as much as Candy and Biddie.
Ralph and the other two were sitting in the kitchen eating some lunch. Victor had some himself.
"So, what are we going to do with the ladies?" Ralph asked as he took a bite of his food. Victor took a sip of his coffee and said:
"We will do what I have planned, except that Barnabas will die. In fact, when they come to find them, it will look like he shot her and then himself!" Victor said smiling at his ability to figure things out quickly. The men smiled as well, if there was only Victor, they could get all the money and get rid of him as well! Or at least make it look like he killed everyone!
Jeremy rode up near the cabin but felt something wasn't right. He placed Brownie near a bush so she could eat and rest. He then crept up on the cabin. He heard voices, one of them was Candy, he got closer and was about to look in the window when she stuck her head out and let her breakfast out. Jeremy jumped back without making sound, looked at her and shushed her. She smiled a sickly smile; he understood without any communication. She heard the door open and put her head back in the window and took a towel and wiped her mouth.
"Were you looking for someplace to escape? There is no escape my dear, you will be here and if you are lucky, you may have your life, but I am afraid that my brother must do his duty and I must do mine!" He looked over at Barnabas and pulled out a gun.
"Dear Brother, I will not use the poison instead I came up with a wonderful idea. You see, I will shoot you both. First I will shoot her and then you dear brother then make it look like you committed murder and then killed yourself! Don't you think that is an excellent plan?" Biddie stood up and was going to slap Victor but Barnabas kept her back and said:
"My love, I don't want you anywhere near him. He may try to kill us but it is going to take a lot more than threats to kill us!" Barnabas said as he stood up and faced his brother. Biddie stood behind him, Candy was still next to the window. She glanced outside but Jeremy was nowhere in sight.
"Well, if you kill him, I will have to tell everyone that you committed triple murder!" Victor looked at her and said:
"What do you mean 'Triple Murder'?"
"Well, You have Barnabas, and Biddie and a baby on the way, that makes three people you will have killed!" Candy said to him.
"Yes, Mrs. Bolt, that is true, but you will be my fourth! You see, I cant leave you alive, you are only a bargaining tool for me. Oh, rest assured I will be killing 5 people. That is your baby, and you along with those three…"
A large noise came from behind him and he was not sure what hit him, but Ralph and the others were soon on top Jeremy who had snuck in. They knocked him out and while Candy went to help Jeremy they all laughed.
"Oh, my, Mrs. Bolt it will be six. This will be quite fun!" Victor said and then shut the door and locked it.