Angels Watching Over Me (Shenandoah Sisters Book #1) (23 page)

Katie nodded.

‘‘Then let’s go.’’

We got outside. I closed the door behind us carefully, then we took off side by side. The first trees were maybe fifty yards away. We had to climb over one rail fence, which we did. By then we could have been seen from the kitchen if anyone had been looking out the window. But I heard nothing behind us.

We ran as fast as we could, and in another thirty feet we were in the trees. Katie stopped and fell to the ground.

‘‘Not yet, Miss Katie,’’ I said, ‘‘we’ve gotta get farther. They can still see us from here.’’

I gave her a hand and pulled her to her feet. We ran a little more and when we couldn’t see any of the plantation buildings I finally began to feel safe.

We stopped to catch our breath. After half a minute I started walking again.

‘‘Where are we going?’’ asked Katie.

‘‘We’re gonna try to get back to the house,’’ I said. ‘‘We’ll have to keep in the woods. But if we walk all the way around to the other side, we’ll come toward the front of the house without them seeing us.’’

‘‘Why?’’ said Katie. ‘‘What are we going to do?’’

‘‘I ain’t sure yet,’’ I muttered. ‘‘I’m workin’ on it.’’

‘‘What did that man mean about finding the dough?’’ asked Katie. ‘‘Was he talking about our bread?’’

‘‘No, Miss Katie—dough’s money. It sounds like they’re looking for money.’’

‘‘But we don’t have any.’’

‘‘We might, Miss Katie,’’ I said.

‘‘What do you mean?’’

‘‘Your uncle’s gold. Didn’t you hear? They said they were trying to find Ward.’’

Her eyes got wide again.

‘‘But it doesn’t sound like they think the gold is here,’’ I said. ‘‘—Come on.’’

There was no time to think about gold now. I had to figure out a way to get rid of the men . . . and keep ourselves alive!

We crept through the woods, making a great big wide circle back toward the house. I half hoped we’d imagined the whole thing or that we’d get back and find the men gone. But after what had happened already to both of us, I don’t guess there was much sense in thinking like that. This predicament was happening all right, just like everything else we’d been through.

And sure enough, the men were still there. I saw the three horses tied up in back. I ducked back into the woods and we kept going.

As we sneaked through the trees and bushes, I gradually came up with a plan in my head. A pretty crazy one, I reckon, but then what else could we do?

When the coast was clear and I hoped the men weren’t looking, we scurried toward the front of the house on the opposite side from the barn and kitchen where the three had gone in, making our way closer and hiding behind each of the big oaks until we were approaching the big white front entryway.

T
AKING ON THE
M
OTLEY
S
TRANGERS
34

M
ISS
K
ATIE,’’
I
WHISPERED
. W
E WERE AT THE
front of the house and ducked down low against the wall. ‘‘—You know where your daddy’s guns are? In that cabinet in the hall between the living room and the parlor?’’

Katie nodded, her eyes getting big again. ‘‘What do you want with my daddy’s guns, Mayme?’’ she said.

‘‘We’re gonna try to scare those men away.’’

‘‘How?’’

‘‘I’ll tell you when the time comes. What I want you to do first is sneak around the side of the house, there toward the kitchen wall. Keep under the windows. When you get to the corner, get some rocks and throw them at their horses.’’

‘‘Rocks—what for?’’

‘‘To startle ’em. When they run outside to see what’s wrong, I’ll dash in and grab us two guns.’’

‘‘But, Mayme—’’

‘‘You can do it, Miss Katie. Don’t be scared.’’

‘‘I
am
scared!’’

‘‘Nothing will happen to you.’’

‘‘What if something happens to
you
!’’

‘‘Nothing’s gonna happen to me neither. I’ll be in and out of there quicker’n you can snap your fingers.’’

‘‘What should I do after I throw the rocks?’’

‘‘Keep hidden around the corner. The minute you see the men coming out the door, get back to the front of the house and out there into the woods and past the oaks where we just were. I’ll meet you there.’’

‘‘I can’t do it, Mayme. What if they hear—what if they come after me?’’

‘‘You’ll be clear on the other side of the house while they’re out tryin’ to figure out what spooked their horses.’’

She wasn’t none too pleased about the arrangement. But she finally nodded and said she’d try. And I’ve got to hand it to her, she held up her end bravely enough.

I helped her get going off along the side of the house between the white columns, making sure she hunched down under the windows. Then I crept up onto the front porch. I waited.

When I heard a rock thud on the ground in back and a horse start to whinny, I opened the door a crack to listen. I heard chairs scraping back from the table and booted feet going out the door.

I darted inside, into the hallway by the parlor and to the cabinet. I fumbled to get it open, took out a rifle and a shotgun, then grabbed a bunch of shells, stuffed them in my dress pocket, and hurried out the way I’d come.

The second I was out the door I saw Katie across the field ahead of me from one oak to the next, holding her dress up and running like a jackrabbit.

I took off after her, but not as fast since I was lugging the guns. I was glad the house was between the horses and us. Every second I was afraid of shouts or a shot behind me. But neither happened. We made it to the woods and ducked down out of sight again. Both of us were gasping for air.

‘‘You did right fine, Miss Katie,’’ I said between breaths.

‘‘I was scared,’’ she panted.

‘‘So was I. But look—I got the guns.’’

‘‘What are we going to do with them?’’ she wanted to know.

‘‘We’re gonna shoot ’em.’’

‘‘Shoot the three men!’’

‘‘No, silly, just shoot the guns off. Scare ’em.’’

‘‘I never held a gun in my life.’’

‘‘Ain’t nothing to it. Except it gives a little kick on your shoulder.’’

‘‘What do you mean, a kick?’’

‘‘It just knocks you back a bit. You have to lean into it so it doesn’t knock you on your rump.’’

‘‘But how’re we going to scare them?’’

‘‘By making them think a whole bunch of men are shooting at ’em. Now, come with me. I’ll show you what to do.’’

‘‘Oh, Mayme. I’m afraid. What if I do it wrong?’’ she moaned.

I pulled her to her feet, and handed her a gun, which she took in her hands like it was going to explode any second.

‘‘You’ll do fine, Miss Katie. We’ve gotta get your house back. We don’t want them to stay here, do we? They might stay forever if we don’t do something.’’

‘‘How do you know how to shoot a gun, Mayme?’’ she asked again, like she couldn’t help herself.

‘‘ ’Cause I watch and listen,’’ I said as patiently as I could. ‘‘I’ve seen white men with guns, and I listened to our own men talk about them. The master used to take my grandpapa hunting with him, and grandpapa talked about it. Grandpapa kept one of the master’s guns in our cabin, and I used to watch him clean it. But I’ve never shot a gun in my life either. I just figure it can’t be too hard.’’

I carefully looked over at the shotgun I held, then the rifle in Katie’s hands.

Katie just stood there staring at me like she did when she was all worked up about something. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to think clearly when somebody was staring straight into your face from about a foot away. But I did my best.

I figured Katie’d be safest right here, at the edge of the woods, far away from the house. I leaned the shotgun against a tree so I could show her how to use the rifle.

‘‘You’re gonna shoot this one, Miss Katie,’’ I said. ‘‘It ain’t got the kick of a shotgun, but you still gotta lean forward and hold on tight.’’

She looked terrified.

‘‘Now here’s how you load it,’’ I explained. ‘‘We’ll load it right now—here’s the shells. I’ll leave this handful with you. Just put them on the ground beside you. Here . . . take a few shells. . . .’’

I made her take some and load them into the gun herself so she’d know how.

‘‘You might need to load and shoot real fast,’’ I said.

‘‘Why, Mayme?’’

‘‘If something goes wrong—if they come after you, or if something happens to me—’’

‘‘Mayme!’’

‘‘Miss Katie!’’ I said sternly, forgetting myself, ‘‘now you gotta grow up real fast. We’re in a dangerous pickle, and if those men come after you, you might have to shoot at them. That’s just the way it is. It can’t be helped. Just stay hiding here in the trees so they can’t see who you are, then shoot, reload the gun, and keep shooting toward the house.—Let me think for a minute.’’

I was trying to remember when we’d been looking at the men from inside the barn.

‘‘Do you recollect if those men were wearing gunbelts?’’ ‘‘I don’t remember. I don’t think I saw any guns.’’ Katie’s voice trembled.

‘‘Me neither. We’ll hope not anyway.’’

‘‘What are you going to do, Mayme?’’

‘‘I ain’t sure. But first I’m gonna go back to the barn with the shotgun. Once we start shooting, we don’t know what they’ll do. I’ll just have to do what comes to my mind. But if something happens to me, you just keep shooting.’’

‘‘Oh, Mayme . . . I’m so scared!’’

‘‘Me too. But we’ve gotta try to get rid of those men. Now here’s what I want you to do.—You see the back of the barn past the house?’’

She nodded.

‘‘I’m gonna sneak back there. First I’ll see if I can swipe their rifles off their horses. I don’t know if I’ll be able to. Then I’ll go back around and into the barn. When you see me go inside the back door where we came out, you count to three hundred like this—’’ and I counted slowly to give her the rhythm—‘‘and then you start shooting. It doesn’t matter where you shoot. Just aim up in the air over the fields there someplace. I just want them to hear it and come running outside. When they do, then I’ll start shooting from inside the barn. You load the rifle up again as fast as you can and empty it again. But this time aim sort of in the direction of the house, over the top of the house or something. But not toward the barn!’’

‘‘How do you aim it?’’

‘‘Just point it, that’s all, and look down the barrel.

And remember, when you pull the trigger the first time, hold on real tight. After that, you’ll get the hang of it and it’ll get easier.’’

There was no time for her to practice. She’d have to learn how to shoot a gun by doing it, and I hoped she didn’t shoot herself—or me. If we hadn’t been so desperate, I would have started laughing at the look on her face.

‘‘I’m going now, Miss Katie. Can you do it?’’

‘‘I’ll . . . I’ll try, Mayme.’’

With Katie in place, I crept back toward the barn. As confident as I’d tried to sound for her sake, I was mighty scared myself. I didn’t more than half think it would work. But if it didn’t, and they came after us, especially if they tried to hurt Katie, well then I reckon I was ready to shoot at them for real—even try to kill them if I had to. But I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

I got to the barn all right without seeing or hearing anybody. The three were probably in the kitchen eating that fresh bread we’d just made.

I put the shotgun down against the wall of the barn and inched my way along the far outside wall, then ducked down low and walked in a crouch toward their horses from behind. There were all three rifles sticking out of the rifle pouches beside the saddles! Once I got close I started talking to the horses real quiet-like to keep them from getting jumpy, then rubbed their noses and necks. They moved around and snorted a little, but didn’t raise too big a fuss.

I pulled out the rifle closest to me. The horse got a little skittish, but I kept stroking its side and whispering to it. Then I walked around and got the next rifle and put it under my arm with the other one.

But the third horse didn’t like the idea of me walking up so close. It turned and kept moving its hind end away, and I couldn’t get to the gun.

‘‘Take it easy, you!’’ I whispered. ‘‘I don’t mean you no harm . . . come here, calm down.’’

I scratched under its long chin for a few seconds with my free hand, but it was still acting nervous. I was getting nervous too. This was taking way too long! I had no idea where Katie might be right now in her count.

Finally I just ran forward before the horse could move again and grabbed the gun and yanked it out. The horse gave a little whinny and stomped around. But by then I was running back for the barn as fast as I could with the three guns.

I hurried behind the wall and stopped to listen. I still didn’t hear anything from the house. The horses calmed down again. I was pretty sure no one had seen me.

I caught my breath, then picked up the shotgun where I’d left it and snuck back along the wall, around to the back of the barn, and then inside. I hoped Katie had been watching.

I made my way over to the house side and peeped out one of the barn windows. If I could just shoot at them and get them scared without them coming after me . . . but I guess I wouldn’t know that until I saw what they did. I leaned the four guns against the wall, then got out two shells and started to load the shotgun.