Mary Connealy (38 page)

“I wonder how Ma and Beth are doing?” Sally asked calmly.

Mandy didn’t like the way the man was staring at her, all meanlike, so she put a blindfold over his eyes from the supply of pigging strings, ropes, and neckerchiefs Ma had stored down here for just such an occasion. The man struggled as she covered his eyes, but she had him bound tighter than a year-old calf at branding time. Then she turned to her little sister.

“Ma planned this trap and it worked. No reason the others shouldn’t.”

“I sure wish Pa would get here.” Sally settled herself to watch through the slits in the front porch steps.

Mandy checked the load in the rifle, snapped it back shut, and laid it well out of reach of the outlaw. “Me, too.” She went to her lookout in the rear of the crawl space. “Someone needs to get here and save us.”

“I think there’s someone coming from the front.” Sally backed out of the way to let Mandy through.

“Got it.” Mandy caught up the pigging strings and clamped them with her teeth.

The second man Sophie and Beth snared didn’t yell, because he cracked his head smartly on the trunk of the tree when he got snapped into the air and hung unconscious in the net Mandy had woven from hemp.

They freed Andy, another ranch hand, but although his eyes flickered open once, he was in no shape to help them. He had a nasty gash on his head, and when he tried to talk, he mumbled something Sophie couldn’t understand. Sophie took the time to stop the bleeding and bandage him; then she and Beth left him lying in another cave to recover.

A quick but thorough check of the mountainside didn’t turn up any more outlaws. “If the sheriff was right about there being eight men, six of them might be down there right now with the other girls. We’d better get down there and help.”

“Ma, look!” Elizabeth pointed to the cabin, which they could see from their vantage point. Sophie looked just in time to see a man fall through the front porch floor. In seconds, Sally was visible covering the porch back up. She wouldn’t have done that if the man had given them trouble.

Sophie looked around the ranch yard to see if anyone had noticed one of their own disappearing. No one else was in sight.

“All right. That takes care of three of them. Five left.” Sophie studied the terrain all around them. Frustrated, she muttered to herself, “Where are they?”

Beth was silent, also looking the land over. Finally she pressed her hand to Sophie’s. “Right above us, off to the left.”

Sophie turned and saw two riders. “They’ll be passing right in front of one of our rock slides.”

The two of them silently ducked back into the cave and ran.

Clay saw the final turn in the trail that would give way to a view of the ranch. The trail widened and flattened out. Adam and Luther caught up to him and galloped with him, three abreast.

Luther said, “No shooting.”

“We’d’ve heard gunshots all the way to Sawyer Canyon, Clay.” Adam raced his roan, bent close to its neck until he was talking into its mane. “I haven’t heard a one.”

“I haven’t heard Sophie calling for help again either.” Clay couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.

They kept pushing and just rounded the corner of the trail that put them within a long uphill mile of the ranch, when they heard a thundering
crash
in the hills behind the cabin.

“What’s that?” Clay sat up straight on his Appaloosa, but he didn’t slacken his pace.

Luther stared at the distant hills behind the ranch house even as they charged on. “It sounds like an avalanche.”

“It’s a booby trap being sprung.” Adam laughed over the thunder of hooves. “It’s something I taught Sophie to do years ago.”

“She told me about those,” Clay remembered.

Luther’s voice echoed with satisfaction. “That means she’s alive.” Luther’s furred hat blew off his head, revealing a shining bald scalp. Clay glanced quickly behind him and saw the hat spook the sheriff’s horse, where Josiah rode just a few lengths back.

“And she’s made it through the caves into the hills,” Adam said with pride. “She’s got room to move in the hills. My Sophie-girl is an almighty fine woodsman. She’ll be okay.”

“It’s one woman and four little girls facing down a gang of desperate men.” The wind whipped Clay’s words away as he growled, “Forgive me if I keep on worrying.”

Mandy noticed Laura’s eyes flickering open seconds before the little girl sat up.

“Where Mama?” Laura rubbed her eyes and stretched her chubby little arms up to ruffle her blond curls.

“Great, now we have to chase after her b’sides catching all these low-down varmints.” Sally scrambled on her hands and knees over to Laura.

Mandy put a blindfold on the other outlaw. This one had knocked himself senseless when he fell through the porch, but she didn’t like to think of his beady eyes on her should he happen to wake up. “I declare, the work just never ends around a Texas ranch.”

Laura whimpered a little, confused by the murky crawl space. Sally lifted her into her lap. “I’d better get her up the tunnel afore she gives us away.”

At that moment they heard rumbling on the mountain. Mandy’s heart lifted and she looked over at Sally. The two girls beamed at each other in the murky cellar.

Mandy gave her chin a satisfied jerk. “It sounds like Ma and Beth are all right.”

Sally patted Laura’s back. “Maybe, when I take Laura to the tunnel, I’ll meet ’em coming back down. It’s got to be Beth’s turn to baby-sit by now.”

Mandy checked the outlaws for hidden weapons. “You know you’re in charge of baby-sitting during attacks, Sally.”

Sally turned to Laura. “Why don’t you grow up so you can help us fight off bad guys?”

Laura quit whimpering and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

“She’ll most likely get to do most of the work with the new one Ma’s having,” Mandy said brightly, “now that we’re working as ranch hands for Pa.”

“Yeah.” Sally joggled a burp out of Laura and gave her a disgusted look. “But what are the chances of us getting attacked again? Texas is getting purely peaceable these last few years.”

“As long as she’s quiet, why don’t you stay here with me?” Mandy asked. “It’s a lot quicker getting the porches put back together with your help. And with you watching out the back while I watch out the front, no one can get past us.”

“Sure.” She glanced at her now-contented baby sister. “I think Laura’s okay for now. I’ll stay as long as I can.”

Sally scooted over to the lookout spot. Laura kicked her feet, seemed to decide she had all the dirt off one thumb, and switched to the other. Then she sat on Sally’s lap, staring curiously at the two men who were in the crawl space with them.

Sophie quickly examined the two men their avalanche had felled. “Neither of them is dead.”

“Are you sure?” Her bloodthirsty daughter sounded disappointed.

“Beth, we don’t want to kill anybody.” Sophie plopped her hands on her hips and turned to her daughter. “The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”

Beth tightened the cords on the motionless man’s arms then got busy on his legs. “Surely even the Ten Commandments have exceptions, Ma.”

Sophie thought about it, even though they really needed to get moving before someone came to check out the noise. “That may be true, but to be on the safe side, we’d best not be killing anybody if we can possibly avoid it.”

“Fair enough.” Beth straightened from her work and watched the trail for trouble.

Sophie winced as she bound a leg she was sorely afraid had been broken by a falling tree trunk. “Let’s get down to the ranch and see if there’s any of this vermin to clear out around there.”

“Should we go back by the cave and see how the girls are doing in the cellar?” Beth asked.

“I think I see someone holed up in the barn.” Sophie studied the yard below.

“The barn?” Beth perked right up. “We can do some real damage to someone in the barn.”

“Beth,” Sophie said sternly, “quit enjoying yourself.”

“Yes, Ma.” Beth forced her face into a frown.

They worked their way down the hillside, avoiding the trail and keeping cover around them at all times. Sophie stopped several times to inspect the land in all directions. She saw definite activity in the barn, but she couldn’t figure out why anyone would be holed up in there. Did they think they were hiding?

“They’re waiting to ambush anyone who rides into the yard,” Beth said abruptly.

The minute she said it, Sophie saw a group of men round the far end of the trail. She recognized Clay riding in the lead of at least a dozen men. “By the way they’re riding, I can tell they’ve figured out we’re in danger.”

Beth grabbed Sophie’s arm. “He’ll come charging in to save us and ride right into gunfire.”

“Maybe those men expected him and that’s the whole reason they’re in there.”

Elizabeth whispered, “I like havin’ a pa, and he’s been a right good ’un. I don’t want to have to hunt up another.”

“Then let’s go try and keep this one alive.” Careful to remain out of sight, Sophie led the way toward the barn.

“That sounded like an avalanche.” Judd looked away from the window.

“Why would there be an avalanche?” Harley asked. “I don’t like it.”

Judd sneered. “I swear you’re getting so’s you worry just like a woman these days, Harley.”