"Mmrmm," Andrew groaned, squinting his eyes as an intense pounding drummed at the side of his head. His mind spun for a moment in pain and confusion, still half asleep. Finally, after waiting long enough to accept that the pounding wasn't going to go away, he braved opening his eyes to see a dark grey sky above him. It took Andrew a minute to remember where he was but then quickly remembered as a memory from last night flashed through his mind. Colleen's screams for help, Clyde pinning her down, he tried to block it out but knew he would never truly be able to forget it. That explains the headache, he thought, remembering the fight he had gotten into with the man.
Sitting up slowly, he looked around to see Clyde and the blonde-haired man already up and packing their things. It was still on the dark side, with just the first traces of morning light starting to appear.
"Good, you're awake," the blonde said as he took sight of Andrew sitting up.
"Morning," Andrew huffed with a slight glare. His anger hadn't cooled since last night, but it was a new day, and all that mattered now was finding a way for him and Colleen to get out of here. He couldn't let his anger get in the way. He knew his best bet with these guys was to stay level-headed.
"We're packing up," the blonde continued. "Wake your girl so we can get moving."
He stood up slowly, keeping close to Colleen, "Jeremiah isn't in a stable condition to travel, he needs more time to rest."
"We don't have time, boy. We're leaving as soon as we're packed."
"Let me at least check on him before we go," he said, leaning down towards Colleen to wake her up first. The last thing he wanted to do was to wake her and remind her of the mess they were in, but he had no choice. He took in her face, her right eye, just like his, was swollen and dark purple. On her neck were an array of smaller bruises clearly created by fingerprints, the most prominent of which being two reddish-purple bruises right at the front from where Clyde's thumbs had pressed into her trachea. Smaller scattered dots of bruising trailed along the sides of her neck. Knowing he didn't have any time to waste, Andrew sighed and shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up. "Colleen," he said softly, "Colleen, wake up."
After a few seconds, Colleen turned her head and looked up at him, blinking her eyes a few times as she focused on his face. "Andrew?" she rasped.
"Hey, I'm sorry to wake you, but we're packing up."
Colleen sat up slowly, looking around as the men packed up their belongings. Leonard came in from the woods a moment later, fastening his belt. She took a slow breath before looking up at Andrew's face. His eye and the side of his jaw were both swollen, with a cut in the middle of his lip. "How are you feeling?" she asked with a frown. Her voice sounded hoarse and lower than usual.
"I'm fine," he said dismissively, not worried about his own injuries. His eye and jaw didn't hurt that bad, in fact, the headache was the worst of his pain. But that didn't matter right now. He just wanted to make sure Colleen was okay after what happened last night. He looked back at her with concern. "How are you doing?"
Colleen shrugged, not knowing what to say. She was terrified. Terrified of what had happened, terrified of what had almost happened, and even more scared that it may all happen again tonight. "I'm fine," she said quietly after a few seconds, looking down at the ground.
"Colleen," Andrew said softly, craning his neck down to reach her eyes. "It's just me. How are you? Really?" he added.
She looked up at him, slowly meeting his concerned eyes. She decided to focus on how she felt physically for now. If she thought about last night she was sure to get emotional, and that was the last thing she needed at this moment. As far as her physical injuries were concerned, it wasn't too bad. Her eye was sore, but looking up at Andrew's, he likely felt the same. "I'm okay," she said with more conviction, trying to brush off his worry.
"How's your throat feeling?" he asked, moving stray pieces of Colleen's hair behind her shoulders and leaning in closer to examine her bruises.
Colleen swallowed painfully as a memory flashed through her mind. "It hurts, but mostly just when I talk."
"Does it hurt at all when you breathe?"
"A little, but it's not that bad unless I'm trying to take a deep breath. Talking hurts worse." She was being truthful, breathing really wasn't awful, but when she talked, it felt like someone was scraping a fork down the insides of her throat.
"Okay," Andrew said, sitting back and giving her a serious look that she had seen him give patients before. "Try not to talk too much. But if it gets worse or you have any trouble breathing let me know immediately, okay?"
"Okay," she said with a quick nod, standing up alongside him. She brushed down her wrinkled dress, looking down at just how dirty it was. There was a rip in the bottom of the skirt from where it had caught the tree root last night and patches of brown dirt created stains from the back to the front. She smoothed it down once more as she got her footing.
"I told them we needed to check on Jeremiah before we took off," Andrew said to her as they walked towards the wagon. Colleen simply nodded in return. They walked over, pleased to see their patient awake, drinking water from a canteen.
"Good morning, Jeremiah," Andrew greeted pleasantly, his friendly bedside manner shining through even in this unideal situation. He helped Colleen into the wagon before stepping up himself. They kneeled down next to the man, Andrew grabbing his medical bag that sat a few feet away. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asked. Jeremiah grumbled something unintelligibly in reply. Andrew took out his stethoscope and put it in his ears, listening to the man's heartbeat. A frown came over his face as he moved the bell of the stethoscope across his chest. "Take a deep breath for me." His eyebrow furrowed as he listened.
Colleen looked at him with a frown. "What's the matter?"
"His heartbeat is faster than I'd like it to be." He removed the ear tips and set them around his neck, placing his hand on Jeremiah's forehead before moving both down to his neck, feeling under the man's jaw. "His fever's back up," he said quietly, looking worriedly at the man who now had his eyes closed, trying to fall back asleep.
Colleen reached out to feel the man's forehead for herself, frowning as she felt just how much warmer he was than last night. She looked him over, taking in his condition. "He's sweating," she said worriedly. It was cool out. Even with a fever, she knew Jeremiah shouldn't be sweating this much.
"We need to figure out what's wrong," Andrew said as he lifted the man's shirt to check his wound site. He cursed under his breath as he looked at the red and inflamed skin.
"What?"
"His wound is showing signs of infection." He examined it carefully.
"What do we do?" she asked with a wince and a cough as her throat pinched. She tried to think of anything she had seen Dr. Mike do over the years.
"I don't have much with us," he replied. "All we can do for now is clean it."
Colleen nodded and reached into the medical bag, pulling out a cloth and looking for anything they could use to help clean Jeremiah's wound. Something caught her eye just behind Andrew, a bottle of whiskey. That could work. "Here," she reached for the bottle and handed it off to him.
Andrew carefully poured some of the whiskey onto the cloth and rubbed it gently around the area of the wound before redressing it with a clean bandage. "We'll have to keep a close eye on this." In response, Jeremiah groaned in pain before turning his head to the side, breathing deeply in sleep.
Colleen nodded again, looking at the man in worry. "Andrew," she whispered, ignoring the pain in her throat, "what if something happens to him?"
Andrew looked back at her, trying to keep his expression calm, "Don't worry about that right now. All we can do is keep an eye on things and treat him as he needs. He'll be all right," he said as his eyes flashed down to the bruises on Colleen's neck and back up to her face. He tried to ignore the hollow feeling in his stomach that knew that something may happen to them if something happened to Jeremiah. He could only hope that he could figure out a way to get the two of them out of here before that happened. Before he could say anything else, the blonde-haired man walked over.
"We're taking off," he said. It wasn't a question. He lifted the back of the wagon and shut the hatch with a slam. Colleen and Andrew glanced at each other before looking back down at their patient, making sure he was in a comfortable position for travel that wouldn't aggravate his injury. Once they made sure he was settled, they sat back down, leaning against the side of the wagon. Colleen looked out through the woods, worry written all over her face. She glanced down as she felt Andrew give her hand a squeeze. She looked back at him, trying to read his face, he looked as though he was lost in thought.
Andrew wanted to say something to her to calm her fears, but the truth was, he was lost in thought. He was doing everything he could to think of a way for them to escape. Though he didn't have a plan yet, he spent every free moment trying to come up with one. And just like yesterday, Andrew didn't dare tell Collen this with Clyde sitting just above them in the driver's seat of the wagon. For now, he had to stay quiet. So, he held onto her hand, squeezing it tightly as a sign that he was right there with her.
Back in Colorado Springs, the town was waking up to a dreary and cloudy morning. Out at the homestead, Grace was finishing up making breakfast for Brian, Anthony, and Katie. She had hardly slept last night, worried for Colleen and Andrew's safety, and praying that Michaela, Sully, Robert E, and the rest of the gang would find them and bring them back home. Brian had stayed awake with her for a little while, but eventually, Grace forced him to go to bed with the promise to wake him up if they returned. She had only managed to get a couple hours of sleep before morning came.
Upstairs, Brian rolled over with a yawn, instantly jumping up and out of bed once he remembered what had happened last night. He got dressed in a matter of seconds before quickly coming down the stairs and into the dining room. "Grace?" he said as he saw her setting breakfast on the table, Katie in her arms. "Did they find Colleen?" he asked anxiously.
Grace looked at him sympathetically. "No, they didn't." She set Katie in her highchair. "Not yet anyway. They will. Oh, they're gonna find them alright," she said with more determination.
"Where do you think they could be?" he asked as he sat down and helped himself to the eggs placed on the table.
She sighed. She had no idea. She and Brian had no idea that they were taken by criminals, the last they heard was just that Colleen and Andrew had disappeared. Grace thought of the best thing to say to the boy. "I'm not going to lie to you, Brian. I don't have any guesses as to where they are. But this is Colleen and Andrew were talking about. They're both smart. Wherever they are, I bet they're going to be home real soon. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold," she said firmly. Brian complied, taking a small bite of the eggs. He looked up as Anthony entered the house.
"Morning, Brian," Anthony greeted.
"Good morning. What were you doing outside?"
"Oh, Anthony woke up a little while ago," Grace said, feeding Katie some eggs, "I asked him to water the garden so we could head into town sooner. As soon as you boys are finished we'll go."
"Okay," Brian said, quickly taking another bite. He hadn't felt very hungry before, but now he rapidly ate his breakfast. The sooner they were finished the sooner they would be able to go into town and see if anyone had heard anything. He took another bite of his eggs and washed it down with some milk.
Anthony sat eating his breakfast on the other side of the table while Grace continued to feed Katie.
"Thanks for taking care of the garden, sweetie." She said to the boy.
"You're welcome," Anthony said between mouthfuls.
In no time at all, the four found themselves making their way into town. It was Saturday, so Brian and Anthony didn't have school, leaving them with a full free day ahead of them. It was still pretty early, and the sky was covered by a thick shade of clouds, leaving a gray and chilly feeling in the morning air. "Let's see if anyone's heard anything," Grace said as she parked the wagon near her and Robert E's house. She stepped down and grabbed Katie, heading onto main street towards the Mercantile. Brian and Anthony followed after her.
The floor creaked as they stepped inside. Loren stood at the counter going over some order receipts.
"Morning, Loren," Grace said, looking around the rest of the store to find it empty. She wasn't too surprised, given how early it was. "Have you heard anything?" she asked as she stepped toward the counter. Brian and Anthony stood next to her, waiting for his reply.
Loren sighed, looking down at Brian's worried face. "No, not much. I was just over at Jake's, he said that he and Hank are going to head out later to try and meet up with Sully and Michaela and the rest of them." He looked back toward Grace, "Robert E, Matthew, and Preston went to meet up with them last night. Matthew said the group of men are traveling south, so they were headed out that way."
"What men?" Grace asked, confusion all over her face. "Loren, what are you talking about?"
"Didn't you hear?" he asked with a frown, "A couple from the resort came into town last night, said they saw Colleen and Andrew leaving with some men."
"Who are they?" Brian asked worriedly.
"Criminals, apparently. Matthew said he knew about some dangerous men passing through this part of Colorado and they matched the woman's description of the men she saw leaving with Andrew and Colleen."
"Oh my God," Grace placed a hand on Brian's shoulder.
Fear was etched all over the boy's face. "They were really taken?"
Loren paused before speaking, wishing there was anything else he could say. "It appears so. I'm sorry, Brian. But Dr. Mike and Sully, and Matthew, and everyone else is headed in the right direction. They're going to find them."
"You really think so?"
"Of course, I do. According to Jake, Matthew checked all his records on these guys. He's confident they're headed south."
"You said Robert E was with them?" Grace asked, readjusting Katie on her hip.
"Yes, he, Preston, and Matthew went to catch up with Dr. Mike and Sully last night."
"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath as she processed this new information. "Thank you, Loren."
The man nodded with a frown as he watched them all exit the store. He was just as worried as they were. He made a mental note to find Brian later and make sure he was doing okay.
As they left the store, Grace looked over at the boys, who were at a loss for words. "Well, come on now. Like Loren said, everybody looking is headed in the right direction. We can't just stand around." She led them back down the street as they headed over to the café, blocking out the ill feeling she got when passing Robert E's empty workspace. Knowing that she had to keep a level head, she kept marching forward, bouncing Katie on her hip. She had to get the day's preparations started if she wanted to have lunch ready for the town on time. It was Saturday after all, her busiest day of the week. Although today, she wouldn't just have Anthony to help her, but also Brian, and she was grateful that the boy would have something to help keep his mind occupied.
The two boys trailed behind, side-by-side. "I'm really sorry, Brian," Anthony said as he looked over at his friend. "I wish there was something I could do."
Brian looked back at him. "Thanks, Anthony," he said, giving him a warm look.
They all walked over to the café and were soon busy with the day's preparations.
South of Colorado Springs deep into the woods, the search party consisting of Michaela, Sully, Matthew, Preston, and Robert E was also getting started with their day. They had woken early, and Sully, being the skilled mountain man that he was, had made sure that all their canteens were filled and that the horses were ready to go. They were just finishing up their preparations while eating a quick breakfast of some biscuits and jam they had packed.
"Let's head out," Sully said to the group, seeing that they had everything and were ready to go. They were getting an early start, which is exactly what he wanted. If they were going to catch up to the wanted men, then they needed to get moving as soon as possible. Especially since Sully wanted to continue through the woods for a while, meaning they'd be traveling a bit slower than if they were on the road.
They all mounted their horses and took off, Sully leading the way with Michaela right behind him. Matthew was impatient, but he knew he had to keep a level head, especially after his blow-up at Sully last night. At least they could travel a bit faster now that it was morning. He sighed and continued forward, Robert E and Preston just behind him.
Hours later, Colleen and Andrew continued to sit in the wagon as they traveled further south through the woods. Andrew's head was pounding even worse than before, making it feel like his entire skull was splitting in two. The bouncing and jostling of the wagon were not helping. He was also stressed about Jeremiah. All this travel wasn't good for his condition. The man needed to rest properly in a bed, not in the back of a rickety old wagon. The wagon suddenly lurched as it went over a bump in the ground, making Andrew groan and clutch a hand to his head.
"Andrew?" Colleen looked at him in worry. "Are you alright?" She placed a hand on his arm.
"It's nothing. Just a headache," he mumbled, squinting his eyes.
"Here, have some water," she handed him the canteen near their feet.
Andrew tipped his head back as he took a long drink. He swallowed it and set the canteen back down. "Thanks," he said quietly.
"Why don't you try and rest your eyes for a bit?" She rubbed her hand up and down his arm. It was obvious that he was in pain, she just wished she could make it go away.
Andrew didn't want to rest his eyes for fear of falling asleep. He was still trying to work out a plan for their escape, and if he fell asleep he would lose out on who knows how much time. However, as another burst of pain shot through his skull, he agreed, slowly nodding before closing his eyes. He leaned his head back against the wagon but quickly realized that was a bad idea. With the wagon bumping over the uneven terrain of the woods, resting his head against the side of it was a surefire way to make his headache even worse. He tried sitting forward to prop his elbows on his knees while resting his head in his hands. It wasn't great, but he didn't know what else to do.
Colleen watched as Andrew struggled to find a comfortable position to rest. Whenever the wagon went over a large bump, she watched his face contort into a pained expression. "Here," she said softly, "sit up." She waited for him to comply. As he did, Colleen gently grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. "Lay your head on my shoulder," she instructed.
He glanced up at her slowly, giving her an appreciative look before leaning against her side and setting his head down carefully to rest on her shoulder. He took a slow deep breath and closed his eyes. This was much better. "Thank you, Colleen," he whispered.
"You're welcome," Colleen said quietly with a smile. "Get some rest."
It was relatively quiet as they traveled through the woods. Colleen almost drifted off herself, the rumbling of the wagon creating a soothing rhythm. As tired as she was, she forced herself to stay awake. Andrew had fallen asleep on her shoulder almost immediately, which she was grateful for, hopefully, it would help soothe his headache. That being said, Colleen didn't feel comfortable falling asleep right now. At least one of them needed to be aware of their surroundings, especially as they continued to travel further and further south.
A little while later, the rumbling in the wagon turned into more of an uneven bounce, and Colleen craned her neck to try and look at the ground around them. She couldn't get a good look as she was sitting, not to mention she couldn't move very much since she didn't want to wake Andrew.
"Woah," Clyde said slowly to the horses, navigating them over the rough terrain. It felt like they were riding over a bed of rocks. They couldn't be though, Colleen thought, they were still in the middle of the woods. Although… as she carefully listened to her surroundings, she thought she heard a rush of water in the distance… the creek? Perhaps that could leave the ground a bit more uneven.
Suddenly, the wagon went over a particularly large bump, and she couldn't help but lose her balance, almost falling over sideways. She felt Andrew's head slide off her shoulder as she caught herself with her hand.
"What's going on?" he mumbled as he startled awake. He sat up slowly and looked around. Colleen also took the opportunity to look around now that she could move more freely. She had been right about hearing water. At some point along their travels, the creek had slowly widened into a river, the water flowing faster and freer. It wasn't more than fifty feet away, leaving the terrain underfoot rocky and uneven.
"It's just the ground, there's a lot of rocks" Colleen explained, studying his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Uh… a little bit better, but… not great."
"I wish there was something I could do. If I could, I'd make you some tea."
"I'll be alright, but thank you," he added, "it'll go away eventually. It probably doesn't help that we haven't eaten anything in 24 hours."
Colleen nodded, not wanting to think about food. She didn't dare ask the men for anything, but now that it was on her mind, it occurred to her that she hadn't seen them eat anything since they had been captured either; they would need to eat something soon too. She turned back to Andrew, "Try to relax," she said with a small smile that turned into a frown as they went over another large bump, "as much as you can," she added.
Before either of them could say anything more, a painful screeching sound came from the opposite side of the wagon. Colleen and Andrew looked at each other in alarm. Another screech sounded followed by a thunk, the wagon hobbling in distress wildly before it finally tilted to the side sharply with a loud whack! It stopped moving. The entire bed of the wagon was at a steep slant, everything in it sliding to the right, including its passengers who had been sitting on the opposite side.
Colleen gasped as she fell forward, catching herself on a bag of the men's belongings. Her face pinched up in pain from the quick inhale of the gasp in her throat.
Andrew was also thrown forward, landing on Jeremiah's arm, but thankfully not his side. He grabbed the man to steady him as they leaned against the opposite side of the wagon, Jeremiah moaning.
The wagon bed was at a full tilt, everything leaning against the lower side. Andrew and Colleen carefully moved to look over the edge to find that the wheel had completely broken off. The wagon was resting on the broken axle of the right side.
"Woah!" Clyde bellowed to the horses, tugging on the reins. They had been forced to stop as they could no longer pull the wagon, but they were clearly worked up, stomping and whinnying in place.
"What happened," Jeremiah murmured groggily.
"The wheel broke off the wagon," Andrew said, kneeling beside him He placed a hand on his chest, "Are you alright?"
Jeremiah waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, I'm fine," he grumbled.
Andrew and Colleen shared a look, not taking his word for it. They carefully stepped out of the wagon onto the ground, looking at the full extent of damage to the wheel. The axle had completely snapped, signs of corrosion and rust all about it. The wheel lay a few feet away on the ground. "I need to check his wound, someone help me get him down," Andrew said firmly, looking around at the other men. Clyde hopped down and helped him move the sick man to the forest floor, finding a spot to set him on the rocky ground. "Let me check your side," Andrew said quietly to his patient, worry hitting the edge of his voice. Jeremiah's wound was already infected, if it reopened it could get even worse.
"How does it look?" Colleen asked, moving to his side.
Andrew lifted the man's shirt, checking the inflamed skin on his side. It was still red, but not any more than this morning. Luckily, the accident in the wagon hadn't popped his stitches. "It's okay," he said quietly with a wince, pinching his eyebrows together.
She looked at him with concern, "Are you okay?"
"Ugh, I don't know," he replied honestly.
"Try to relax for a minute," she echoed her earlier sentiment, hoping that the man would actually be able to this time.
She waited until he slowly sat back against the wagon and closed his eyes to take in the scene all around them.
They were somewhere deep in the woods, though she had no idea where specifically. The trees were lush and full, blocking most of the view of the sky above them. Through the thick green leaves, a pale grey sky tried to peek through. A little way to the left was the river, and in front of her sat the broken wagon. Just to its side, Clyde, Leonard, and the blonde stood around, studying the broken element and discussing their next plan of action. Seeing that Jeremiah was okay and Andrew was resting, she listened inconspicuously to the men's conversation.
"What if we re-assemble the axle to the-"
"We don't have the tools to do that. It snapped in half. You know how old this piece of junk is."
"So, what are you saying, we just leave it here in the woods?"
"We don't have a choice, it's irreparable."
"What if we try-"
"We don't have what we need!"
Silence came over the group. Colleen breathed quietly, listening intently. They began their conversation again.
"Look, I know what I'm talking about. I've fixed up rigs like this before, and I can tell you right now that we don't have what we need to fix it. The wheel didn't just fall off, the axle is split in two, we need a new one. And even if we had one, I don't have the tools to put the whole thing back together."
"Fine, so what do we do?"
There was another long pause before the blonde spoke up, "We all go on horseback."
"All of us?"
"What did I just say?"
"But how are we all going to-"
"You think I want to do this?" the blonde bellowed loudly. "Jeremiah can hardly sit up, you think he can ride a horse? We don't have a choice. We're all going horseback, and that's final."
"We've only got four horses-"
"I'll figure it out. Go fill the saddlebags as much as you can. And fast," he added. "we're wasting daylight."
The three men quickly took note of their most valuable possessions and filled the saddlebags of the horses around them. Leonard and the blonde each had their own horse, while two had been saddled up to the wagon, leaving them with four horses in total. "Here," Colleen spoke up, holding out Andrew's medical bag toward Leonard, "we need to bring this."
"We don't got space for that, essentials only-"
"This is essential," she said louder, finding both her courage and her voice, even through its rasp. "Jeremiah is still hurt, and if you don't want anything to happen to him, we need what's in here." She continued to hold the bag out to him, waiting while giving him a small glare. Though she was terrified on the inside, it did feel good to speak up. "It's why we're here."
After staring at her for a few seconds, Leonard finally gave in, taking the medical bag and shoving it into the left-side saddlebag of his horse. Colleen exhaled shakily and looked back down at Jeremiah on the ground. He was awake, but a little dazed. She reached down and felt his face, he was burning up, even worse than before. Oh no, she thought. She looked over at Andrew, who sat reclined against the wagon with his eyes closed. "Andrew," she said quietly, touching his arm. "Did you hear the new plan? We're all going to ride horseback."
"Huh?" he said, blinking his eyes open. "We can't, Jeremiah can't handle that."
"He's going to have to," she said quietly. "There isn't any other way."
Andrew sighed, looking around at everyone packing up their things, there wasn't any point in arguing it, even for Jeremiah's safety. Even he could see that there wasn't another option. "Okay, let's figure out the best way for him to ride," he said, looking at Colleen as he moved to stand up. She offered him a hand.
It took them a little while, but they had finally figured out their new travel arrangement. There were four horses total, and six people, meaning several people had to share a saddle. At first, Andrew had suggested that he and Colleen could share a horse but, as one might expect, that was turned down immediately. In the end, Andrew ended up riding one of the horses with Jeremiah on the seat behind him. Colleen sat behind the blonde man on his horse, reluctantly holding her hands around his middle. She felt very uncomfortable being this close to him, and she hated having her arms wrapped around his body, but she would much rather sit with him than Clyde, who still looked her up and down every chance he could.
At first, Leonard had been insistent that Andrew should NOT be on his own horse, but it was assumed that he wouldn't try and run off without Colleen. Not to mention, the men gave Andrew a chilly warning that made his insides run cold if he were to do anything suspicious. The rest of the men flanked him on all sides as they traveled further south.
Andrew could feel the heat coming off of Jeremiah as the man leaned into his body from lack of strength. He wished they could stop for a while so Jeremiah could rest. He didn't want to think about what might happen if his condition continued to get worse. He looked over to his left, where Colleen simply looked at the ground as she rode behind the blonde man. He tried to send her a warm look, which was eventually received after she finally looked his way. He just wished he could tell her that he was still trying to think of a plan to get them out of here. He had a horse now, that felt like a step in the right direction. If he could only find a way to get Colleen riding with him… Of course, they were surrounded by the other men, who had guns, and would likely use them if they tried to escape, but getting rid of the wagon gave him a little bit of hope.