Chapter 7 The Heat
The early hours of the morning were warm. The temperature gage was rising. Emma Peak fanned herself as she spike with Mr. Muncy. The two of them had concocted the plan and had an official minister with them. Reverend Josiah Walsh. He was a reverend in name only in that he had once been a minister but had found better pay working in a gang of thieves. He would scout the banks, trains, and payroll stages before the heist. As a minister, no one suspected his involvement and certainly as he sat and watched the heist taking place pretending to be a victim himself, he was never caught. In fact, consoling a widow or a young woman was his way of getting more money, especially if they had the money.
"Ah, Mrs. Peak, I see that your daughter is ready for her marriage!" Reverend Walsh said as he took her hand and kissed it.
"Yes, Valerie does look beautiful, doesn't she?" Mrs. Peak said as she straightened the veil on her daughters head. They all walked out towards the jail. When they arrived, Mr. Muncy, and his men let Jason out of the jail.
"I am sorry, but for this special occasion, the rest of you will be witnesses!" Mrs. Peak said as Jason was led out to the office. Valerie stood there smiling under the veil as the reverend stood in front of them. Jason looked at Mrs. Peal, understanding why but not wanting to say anything. Mrs. Peal looked at her daughter and at him.
"Since you refused to marry me, Jonathan, your son will marry my daughter! Then we will own the mountain!" Jason grimaced and was about to say something when the Reverend started his recitation:
"Dearly Beloved we are gathered here to unite this man and woman in matrimony,…" He looked at Mrs. Peak who smiled, then he said:
"If there is anyone here who objects to this marriage, let him speak or forever hold his peace!" Mr. Muncy's men had guns focused on the people in the jail. Mr. Muncy had his gun on Jason. The silence was deafening.
"I now pronounce you…" At that moment, a door burst open and a fight ensued. Jeremy immediately went to his brother and cut the ropes that held his hands. Swede had overcome Mr. Muncy and several of the other loggers and millers, opened the jail cells. Mrs. Peak and Valerie were escorted to a jail cell, 'to keep them safe' and the door was locked. Aaron himself was gladly helping the cause. The Reverend Walsh, tried to sneak out of the jailhouse, but Joshua caught him and placed him in the other cell. Jason grabbed Mr. Muncy and was about to shove him into a wall. When Valerie, pulled a gun and pointed it at him. Aaron saw that and quickly moved as she fired the gun towards Jason. Aaron pushed her hand off just enough for the bullet to go into the ceiling. Jason stopped and looked at Aaron and smiled. Aaron smiled back. Soon the perpetrators were locked in either a jail cell or handcuffed to the bars of the jail cells. The ladies were in a cell by themselves.
Swede took a drink of water from the water barrel just outside the doors to the office. Jason, Aaron and the Bolt brothers also took a drink.
In a root cellar near the saloon, Lottie and Carla and the baby were sitting, they had water and food. Luis had seen to it. He had not told Mr. Muncy, the boss man, but he had decided not to join the group. He was hoping that after this little escapade, if the Bolts survived, he and Carla would be able to live in Seattle. Luis, had left to see if he could repair the telegraph lines. He was hoping to get a sheriff or some police to come to Seattle to help with the situation. When he arrived at the first downed telegraph line, he saw a young boy and a girl along with another man working to repair the wires.
Back at the saloon, they looked all over for Lottie, they could not find her. Then as Candy came in from the back, she heard a baby cry. Jeremy was with her and heard it as well.
"Jeremy, did you hear that?"
"No?" he looked at Candy and all of a sudden he heard it…
"Yes, it is coming from the cellar!" He said
"Do you think a cat got caught in the cellar?" Candy asked as they went nearer.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
"Oh, pequeña tranquila, Por favor!" Carla held her baby close, hoping that a little more milk would be good. She did not want them to be discovered by Mr. Muncy, neither did Lottie for that matter.
"Carla, see if the baby is wet?" Carla at first did not understand, then when Lottie pointed to the baby's bottom, she understood. Just as she was about to check the diaper, the doors to the cellar opened and Lottie heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, is anyone down there?" Candy called. Jeremy climbed down the ladder and saw Lottie and Carla and the baby.
"Oh, Jeremy, am I glad to see you. Is everyone all right?" Jeremy smiled and said yes, then he took the baby first and climbed up the ladder and gave the baby to Candy. Next he helped Carla up the ladder then Lottie, he climbed up afterwards.
"Oh, isn't she a beautiful baby?" Candy said holding the baby in her arms. Jeremy stood there for a moment, he thought:
"What a beautiful mother Candy will be!" He smiled from ear to ear. Just then Swede came over and they all walked back into the saloon together. The brides where ecstatic over the baby, Biddie organized a baby brigade, to get baby clothes and other items that they could find for the baby. Carla was so overwhelmed that she started to cry.
"Oh, I wish Luis, could be here!" She said. Lottie looked at her and knew who Luis was and said to the others: "Luis is the man who saved her baby and her from the group that was going to sell her to the Indians! There was a horrible man who was going to kill the baby but he saved the baby as well!"
"Where is he now?" Jason asked, worried about this new man that might come and harm them.
"Don't worry Jason, I think that he is a good man. I do not know where he went, he put us in the cellar because of the heat and because we were in danger. He was trying to keep all of us safe!" Lottie said and then Carla looked over at her and they decided it was time to change the baby and she and the other ladies went upstairs to take care of Carla and the baby.
Chapter 8 Sending out an SOS
While Christopher was tying the wires together, Micah had been attaching the wires on the ground to a telegraph machine. It was simple but it would work. They would need new wire to hook up to Ben's store, but at the moment they were a mile away and using the nearby trees for wires.
"Micah, do you have the machine attached?" Molly asked as she rolled the extra wire into the brush. Micah nodded, he looked up to Chris who was on top of the pole, Chris waved and climbed down to the ground.
"It is all set; we can start transmitting!" Chris said as he jumped the couple of feet onto the ground. Molly came up, she was going to be the one to send the message. She typed out the morse code for S O S: … - … She did that twice and waited. Soon the telegraph machine started to move on its own.
"Where are you? What is wrong?" were the first two questions. Molly tapped 'SEATTLE' then she tapped: " NEED SHERIFF AND POSSE NOW!"
Chris was looking towards the town. He saw someone coming up the road to where they were at. Molly and Micah quickly grabbed the equipment and hid in the bushes. Chris wasn't fast enough so he stood looking up at the trees.
"Amigo, what are you looking at?"
"Oh, just watching some birds flying!" he said keeping his fears in check. He did not know the man but had seen him in the company of Mr. Muncy. Molly and Micah hiding the bushes watched, Molly felt like she was going to sneeze. Micah put his finger up to help her.
'Achoo!" his finger did not help her.
"Amigo, you have friends nearby?" He asked as he pulled out his gun. Pointing it at Christopher.
"Whoever you come out, with your hands up, por favor!" Molly and Micah came out both had their hands up and walked out of the bushes. The man smiled at them and said:
"Ahh! That is very good of you, I suppose you have been trying to work the telegraph, Sí?" They nodded yes. Christopher was about to say something when Molly looked at him with a stare that put fear in his eyes. He kept his mouth shut.
"So, you have not sent a message yet?" the man asked. Micah was the one to speak up:
"No, not yet, we were getting ready to!" He looked at both Christopher and Molly who nodded in assent.
"I see, well, then I suppose I can take you back to the boss man and he will figure out what to do with you!" The man said as he pointed his gun now towards Molly.
"I want you to walk in front of me, I will be holding onto the girl, if you do anything, she will be killed first!" The man said as he grabbed Molly's arm. At that moment, Molly pretended to slip, which helped her to knock the gun out of his hand. Another man, came out from hiding and rushed the first man who was down in a flash, they both fought, finally the second man had the upper hand and knocked the first man out. He stood up and smiled at the three.
"Pardon me, My name is Luis, I have made a decision which may cost me my life, but your lives will be spared!" Micah was the first to stand up and shake his hand. He kept himself between Molly and Christopher in order to do his best to protect them.
"Hello, Luis, Didn't I see you at the saloon, the first night? You had Lottie, why are you helping us?" Luis stood there and said:
"As I said, I made my decision. I am helping you because I want to have a nice life here in Seattle and I am planning to marry a beautiful young woman, her name is Carla Maria Vasquez…" "The lady who had the baby?" Molly asked.
"Sí, but first, we need to stop the takeover!" Luis said.
"I do believe it has been stopped. The men from the logging and milling company's have gone into Seattle earlier this morning.
'Tap, tap, tick tick…" they had forgotten to unhook the wire from the equipment and Molly turned to see that the telegraph was operating. Micah went over and listened to the message, tapped a few more questions and answers. Molly, Christopher and Luis were waiting as they listened to the telegraph machine work. They were not paying attention to the man who had been knocked out by Luis. Nor were they paying attention to a group of people moving toward them. By the time they had received the message that help was on it's way, three huge men and Mr. Muncy showed up. All of them had guns.
"Well, isn't this a nice turn of events!" Rollo, Harry, take Luis and tie him up!" He looked at Molly, Christopher and said:
"Jack, tie them up and take them to the top of the mountain!" his men did what they were told. Then he wrote a note and told Micah he was to deliver it to Mr. Bolt and Mr. Stemple!
"Take this young man to the town, drop him off and then come back up here. The two men did as they were told and got on their horses and they tied his hands and the rope to one of the saddles. He was to run the mile with them following the horses. They went to Seattle. Meanwhile, Molly and Christopher were marched up to the top of the mountain. There, he had the men tie one of end of the ropes to a tree and placed them on the very edge of the cliff. All he would have to do was to shoot the rope and they would tumble to their deaths.
Micah was 'delivered' to the front of the saloon, the two men cut the rope and left without a word. Micah had fallen a couple of times and was hurting. Jeremy and Joshua ran out and brought him in. Candy was there and helped to clean him up. It was about an hour before he was able to say anything. He handed Jason the note and Jason read it.
"If you want to see the two children alive again, you must pack up and leave the town before noon tomorrow!" M Muncy!
Jason crumpled up the note. He did not speak for a moment. When he saw that Micah was doing better he asked him where the children were. He did not tell Candy, but she already guessed.
"Jason, we have to save the children!" She said, Jeremy looked at his older brother and then asked:
"J-j-jason, can't we go up there and rescue them?"
"Not if we want them to live!" Jason said. Aaron came over and said;
" Micah said that they had sent a message to the sheriff in Tacoma so we should be getting help soon!"
"But Aaron, if they see the Sheriff arriving and with a posse, then they will kill them!" Joshua said to Aaron as he walked up to them.
"How did Muncy escape? I thought you took care of him?" Lottie asked while helping Carla with the baby.
"We did take care of him, didn't we Jason?" Aaron asked. Jason looked at Joshua and at Swede and then realized that in the fight Muncy had escaped.
"I am very sorry; he must have escaped while we were fighting!" Jason said. Corky said:
"I saw him once and then when we had everyone in the jail cells. I did not see him, I thought he may have been hiding behind the rest of the group!" Micah had come down the stairs and said:
"He had others who were waiting up in the hills. But we sent the message, so the sheriff and the posse will be here as soon as they can!" Candy was worried and said to Jeremy:
"I don't know what to do, Jeremy, they are my brother and sister!" She started to cry. Jeremy held her close and let her cry. Carla came over to Candy and said: "Luis, he is there, he will do his best to help them, I know he will!" and Lottie added:
"You know, if we send Jeremy and Joshua to meet the sheriff, I think they will get through?" Jason looked at his brothers, they knew some ways and paths through and around the mountain that anyone who did not know Bridal Veil Mountain would never suspect anyone to arrive from that side.
"I will go!" Josh said and looked at Jeremy who looked at Candy and said:
"I will go as well, that path, do you remember the one we took when I was ten and you were 14? That was our first camping trip without Jason!" Jason looked at his brothers and said:
"I remember, you did not have my permission and then I had to go find you because you were both late coming home!" He looked serious:
"You almost got yourselves killed!" He said a little louder than normal. Both Jeremy and Joshua smiled and said:
"Jason, we didn't and now we are older and know that path quite well!"
"Yes, I just took that path last week coming back from Tacoma. We can meet the Sheriff there."
"Are you sure he is going to go that way?" Aaron asked them.
"Yes and no, They could be coming that way, it is the best way to sneak into Seattle without being seen." Jeremy said. After a few more comments and discussions Jeremy and Joshua were ready to go looking for the Sheriff. Candy had gone back to the dorm, changed into her riding clothes and borrowed Aaron's horse.
"Jeremy, Candy can't go with us, she has to stay here to help when the children get back!" Jeremy looked at his brother and smirked,
"Okay, Joshua, you tell her she cant go!" Joshua looked at Jeremy, then at Candy. He shook his head and said:
"Okay, let's go!" They rode off to meet the sheriff. Jason and Aaron shook their heads as well and made plans to fool Mr. Muncy.
"Aaron, do you remember what we did to help Wakando?" Aaron shook his head yes.
"Well, we are going to ask everyone here to start packing to make it look like we are leaving town tomorrow. Then…" Jason trailed off and he and Aaron started to talk to the people and get everything ready.