Summary: The annual Harvest Dance turns into a harrowing experience for Little Joe. (outlaws, kidnapping, SJS,  JAM JPM)

Rating K+ (7,895 words)

Harvest Dance Series:

Harvest Dance
Repercussions

Harvest Dance

I don’t even notice her until she whispers right into my ear, “I can see what you’re doing.”  I jump a little in surprise and nearly snort the swallow of spiked punch through my nose.

“You’re doing it wrong,” she says.

As casually as I can, I turn my head and cut my eyes in her direction. The new girl. Anne Marie Wentworth. She needs to keep her nose out of my business.

I mutter back at her, “Shoo, skedaddle.”

Instead of leaving me alone, she puts her soft, cool hand over my fingers gripping the punch cup’s handle. She raises the glass of cider in her own hand and drinks it down.   Then, slick as a whistle, she empties the punch into the cut glass that should hold cider. “See? Much sneakier!” She grins at me and moves away from the refreshment table and closer to the dance floor.

I cast my eyes around the community hall looking for my family. Usually one or both of my brothers keep a rather obnoxious eye on me which I’d like to avoid at the moment.  Glory be! Hoss is actually dancing. He must have worked up his courage ‘cause his partner is Ellen Sue. He’s been pining after her for a couple of weeks. I crane my neck to peer through the crowd. Pa is laughing at something Doc Martin said. The Widow Hawkins is lingering close by, and Pa is working hard not to catch her eye. That leaves Adam. I see him now. Right over there, leaning against the wall lookin’ right at me with that sarcastic eyebrow raised. I watch him start to gather himself to move toward me. Hunh-uh. I got other plans.

The musicians strum the opening chords of a waltz. I swallow the last of my punch and leave the glass on the edge of the table. I rush up and catch Anne Marie’s wrist pulling her onto the dance floor.

I’ve only known her a few weeks. She and her bluestocking sister came into town at the end of the summer from somewhere back east. They don’t even live in a house; they have a suite at the International. Her sister is older than Adam and spends her days talking to the miners and immigrants. Anne Marie goes to school with me although I can’t see why she bothers. She’s smart and seems to know nearly as much as Miss Jones.

I take Anne Marie in my arms for the dance. Usually I’m inclined to hold my partners a little closer than Pa thinks is polite. But I’m careful for the moment since I suspect Adam is still watching.

Anne Marie’s eyes are almost level with mine. She’s nice looking- just not my type. Firstly, she is tallish and I am shortish. I still have hopes of stretching a few more inches, but at fifteen, I am starting to think I can quit kidding myself that I’ll ever be as big as my pa. She has wide gray eyes the color of storm clouds. The lashes and brows are dark and stand out against her pale skin. Her hair is almost the same color as mine and falls in soft feathery ringlets way down her back. She has the kind of hair that always seems to escape from the pins and combs she uses to keep it arranged.

Secondly, she doesn’t even act like my type. I’m getting to where I get some attention from the girls at school. They laugh at my jokes and touch my arm. Sometimes they lean into me and look up through their eyelashes. If Pa only knew how distracting all that attention can be, he’d be surprised my grades aren’t actually worse. But Anne Marie doesn’t flirt at all. She laughs at me like she doesn’t buy my nonsense but still enjoys the show.

She’s a good dancer. I like to dance myself. I hate to stand around the walls or refreshment table when I can be moving and enjoying the music. At the beginning of our dance, we make a few awkward steps, but then she follows my lead completely.   Some girls are so hard to lead. They hold themselves all stiff like they’re nervous about being touched or as if they would rather push me around the floor.

Dang, it’s hot in here. The place is pretty full. The heat from all of these folks is making the air muggy, and it’s a bit hazy from dust and smoke. Anne Marie has little curls lying damp at her temple and against her neck.  Anne Marie’s dress is a pretty silvery gray that almost matches her eyes. It doesn’t have much sleeve, and the neckline makes for an interesting display of her shoulders. At least she isn’t as buttoned up as I am.  Even though I abandoned my jacket almost as soon as I got here, my shirt collar and string tie are starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Little Joe.” I look up at her face then and she nods toward the edge of the crowd. “Is that how folks around here usually dress for a dance?”

As we turn with the music, I take a look at the fellow she means. He still has a heavy coat on even with the heat in here. His collar is turned up, and his hat is jammed over his eyes hiding his face. Hoo boy. I stop right there on the dance floor and take a good look around. I see more bundled up men moving purposefully through the crowd. That can’t be good. Where’s a brother when I need them?   No one is in sight.

We’re just standing there on the dance floor looking around. It’s amazing Anne Marie hasn’t fussed or pulled at my arm even though we’re getting in the way of the other dancers.

Adam and his partner, Emily, swing by us. “Little brother, your feet are supposed to be moving while the music is playing.”

I grab at his arm while I keep Anne Marie tucked close to my side.

“Look around. Do you see those fellers still in coats and hats?”

You don’t have to tell Adam much twice. He scans the room, and I can see his jaw tighten. His eyes get a little darker and a whole lot colder. That’s when my stomach gets all knotted up. I’m not wrong- something’s going to happen.

He leans into me, “See if you and Mitch can convince your friends to go outside for a breath of air.” He doesn’t even wait for my reaction. He tugs at Emily and moves away so fast she is skipping to keep up with him.

I start to tell Anne Marie that we should mind my brother when everything goes bad. There’s a crash over by the musicians’ box. The music stops, and the gunfire starts. Although no one seems hurt, people are screaming and shouting and running for the door. Nobody gets far before it becomes clear that the exits are blocked by the men we saw who are now holding guns on everyone. I keep hold of Anne Marie while I look wildly around for my family. Okay, there they are on the other side of the room. Dang, the big open space separating us looks as wide as the lake.

The outlaws have herded everyone into groups. We’re being pushed toward a crowd of folks near the refreshment table and the front door. Some of the ladies are crying, and the men are angry and restless. Lots of fellows that usually wear side arms don’t have them on tonight. The ones who did wear them are being robbed of them by the outlaws. I’m mad as a hornet at these guys and scared enough to empty my stomach in front of the crowd. Anne Marie’s fingers are like ice, but she’s calm enough.

One the men steps into the center of the empty dance floor. He’s wearing a gun belt and carrying a buffalo gun that he points at the crowd.   He’s a big guy—ugly, too. He glares around the room waving that cannon until the crowd hushes up. I expect he considers himself a born leader.

“Friends,” he shouts, “You may find the evening’s entertainment a bit unconventional. Surrender your valuables to my men and do so quietly, or I promise that someone’s evening will end poorly.”

He nods at his men, and they move through the crowd in pairs–one man holding a sack and the other covering his partner with a pistol or rifle. The men have already taken the jar of cash that has been collected for widows and orphans. I watch my father and brothers hand over their wallets and watches.

It seems to take a long time. When a couple of outlaws head our way, everyone just hands stuff over. I turn out my empty pockets—my family can tell you I’m always broke. One of the men reaches around me and yanks a thin chain off Anne Marie’s neck. That’s when I see the outlaw I think of as Boss nod at his man who suddenly pulls hard on her arm jerking her away from me. I jump forward, but his partner puts the muzzle of his rifle right against my chest. I hear Pa shout, “Joseph!” and I stay put.

Boss starts gesturing for his man to pull Anne Marie out of the crowd. The man shoves her roughly toward Boss.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me explain what’s going to happen. We goin’ to leave, and you folks are goin’ to allow us to ride away. I’m not in the mood for argument or resistance.”

At that he pulls his arm back and punches her so hard she goes to the floor. Even from my spot in the crowd, I can see he has cut her cheek.

The crowd erupts with shouts of horror. I don’t even know right away that I’m pushing forward and shouting, “You leave her alone!”

As I charge up toward them, I hear Boss say, “And we have a volunteer.”

Then two of the outlaws have me by the arms and drag me up to the him. Boss grabs me by the hair, and I spit in his face. That might have been a poor decision on my part because he plows his fist into my jaw and follows with a couple of punches to my gut. I’ve been in plenty of fights at school and even a few fights with my brothers, but I’ve never been hit like this. Boss is a big man, and his fist is like iron. My vision lights up with a shower of sparks, and I can’t breathe. His men drop me to the floor, and I struggle to stay on my hands and knees. Pa is roaring in fury and calling my name.

A blast into the ceiling from the buffalo gun gets everyone’s attention. “Shut up, all of you!  Let me tell you what’s going to happen. These two youngsters are going to ride along with us for a spell. If no one follows, come along dawn, we’ll send them on home.

Someone shouts, “You are not taking those children with you!”

Boss shakes his head as if it is too bad that folk can’t seem to understand.

“Y’all can choose to follow us tonight. Of course that will lead to a messy altercation in the dark that I guarantee won’t bode well for your young’uns. As soon as we see sign of a posse, we’ll take these two apart and let y’all pick up the pieces. If you doubt me, let me assure you that neither youth” and he pauses a moment to aim a brutal kick into my ribs “or beauty” and yet another kick to the ribs “or innocence” and this kick hits me in the side of the head “will stop us from killing these kids.”

Finally, he stops pounding me, and I lay on the floor curled up in a ball and nearly sobbing.

Satisfied that he has made his point  to everyone, he turns to his gang and says, “Let’s go.”

One of the men reaches down and grabs Anne Marie’s wrist and hauls her up, pushing her to the door. Someone pulls me up from the floor and off my feet. I hardly know what is going on until I feel the cold night air and understand that I am outside. One of the gang is holding a horse, and I am thrown up and into the saddle.

I blink to clear my eyes and see that they have managed to grab my father’s horse, Buck. I am stupidly grateful.  They push Anne Marie up behind me. My pa is a big man, and he uses a deep saddle- big enough for a couple of skinny kids to ride double. It’s crowded, but it could be worse.

Everyone is mounting up, but Boss shouts for someone to shorten the stirrups so I don’t fall off. Anne Marie is trying to get her seat behind me.

She whispers urgently, “I don’t know how to ride this way! How do I hold on?”

I just grab her hands and pull them snug around my waist.

Boss stops then and looks at us hard, “Children, not another word.”

He gives a signal, and that crowd of horses bolts down the street and out of town.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank Heaven, Buck has a smooth gallop. All of us tease Pa that riding Buck is like sitting in a rocking chair. I have never been more thankful. My head is swimming, my sides are on fire, and if I had half a chance, I’d be bawling my head off for my pa.

Anne Marie and I can’t do anything but hold on and ride hard and fast. At first, I’m afraid she is going to slip off, but she finds out how to hang on without bouncing against me or leaning forward too hard.

It seems that these guys have reconnoitered this route pretty well. They know exactly where they’re going, and even in the dark there are no mishaps.

Finally, Boss calls for a halt to rest the horses. My breathing is becoming a challenge, but there’s no way I’ll let him know that. He circles his horses around to face us. I glare at him, but keep my mouth shut mainly because I can’t find the breath to speak. Now that we’ve stopped, I notice how cold the night feels. Anne Marie is shivering, and she rests her head between my shoulder blades. The horses stomp and blow while the men pull long drinks from their canteens.

The gang acts giddy now that escape seems a sure thing. They’re joking and swearing and punching each others’ arms like they’re my age. Boss keeps his hard eyes on us. Great, he wants to stare me down—clearly he ain’t played that game as recentl y as I have. Finally, he snorts at me, spits, and hollers for everyone to move out.

Making that stop didn’t do me any good. I feel real sick to my stomach, and it’s getting harder to sit up in the saddle. We ride and ride—I don’t know for how long. When we stop for the second time, the moon is way up and lighting up the landscape like a Chinese lantern. It might be a pretty night, but I can’t appreciate it lying across Buck’s neck like I am.

The gang starts their usual antics when I hear Anne Marie clearing her throat. Boss swings around. She has her hand raised like she is trying to get Miss Jones’s attention at school. When he nods at her, she speaks up.

“Sir? Don’t you think we have been good prisoners?” The gang starts hooting and laughing.

“Why, darling, I think you two have been models of decorum.”

It’s a good thing that it’s too dark for him to see me roll my eyes. Decorum? Who is this guy? Professor Outlaw?

“Don’t you think you can leave us right here? We’re only slowing you down,” she asks.

Now the men go quiet. Boss seems to consider her request. I start praying that he doesn’t take exception to her sass.

“Boy, you have any idea where we are?”

I don’t have a clue. I’ve been doing more holding on and holding up than watching landmarks. But I lie, “Yeah I know where we are.”

“Find your way back, ya think?”

When I nod, he decides. He slides to the ground and strides over. He grabs Anne Marie’s arm and jerks her down. She goes down hard onto her backside in a heap of skirt and petticoats. He pulls me off and slams me onto my feet hard enough to make my teeth rattle so as to prop me against Buck’s sweaty hide. He runs his hands so roughly along my ribs that he has me whistling in pain. Grabbing the front of my shirt, he gives me a push that lands me on the ground next to her. This jasper so does not like me.

“Stay here. I expect you’ll see the posse in the morning. Of course, if you like, you can try walking home.” He turns and grabs Buck’s bridle. I gotta do something; I can’t let him take Pa’s horse.

“Leave us the horse, “I grunt out. “We can’t manage without him.” Boss doesn’t look quite convinced.

I try again. “That horse belongs to Mr. Ben Cartwright, and he’s gonna be real mad if you take him.”

“Mr. Ben Cartwright, huh? How do you know that?”

“Everyone round here knows that horse,” I do my best to keep my voice nonchalant and my face all innocent.

I‘m praying that he will buy this line and let us keep Buck when he takes a hard sniff and shrugs. It looks like he’s feeling generous.

“Keep the horse, kids. You two ain’t going nowhere soon anyway.”

Boss mounts his horse and starts to signal for them to all leave. I feel like we may finally be safe when one of those yahoos start to argue with him.

“Look. These kids are worth something. Let me have them.”

This guy’s pals hoot and tell him that he will be able to afford a woman, not a baby. Anne Marie scoots over to me as close as she can get, and I put an arm around her trembling shoulder. I sit there trying to figure out how to push myself off the ground to defend us.

“I don’t want her,” he growls. “But I know those who’ll pay good money for a couple of pretty kids.”

“Well, Rufe,” Boss drawls out his words loud and low. Everyone else hushes up. “If we were stealing kids to sell, we might have done things different. For one thing, I wouldn’t have marked them up.”

Rufe wants to mouth off, but Boss cuts him short. “You all follow me ‘cause I plan. My plans pay off. We don’t get caught, and we don’t get shot. The posse’ll come up on these two and slow down to put them back together. Hell, half of them will be so pleased just to get the kids back they’ll go on home.”

Rufe really doesn’t know when to shut up ‘cause he pushes his horse close in to challenge Boss. “Well, I see it different. I see you passing up a good opportunity. Tell ya what. I’ll leave with these two, and we’ll call it even.”

Time stands still. Anne Marie and I are down on the cold hard ground in the middle of these men and horses, and I sure can’t see a way out.

Boss hasn’t broken eye contact with Rufe. Their heads are so close, I’m sure they can smell each other’s rotten breath. In a blink, Boss backhands Rufe. I know from sad experience how hard Boss can hit. The horses sidle and dance around while Anne Marie and I clamber up trying to stay out from under their hooves.

Rufe’s nose is bleeding, and he’d like to fight, but Boss has pulled his gun.

“Listen up, bastard,” Boss hisses. “I wouldn’t let you out of my sight for the Army payroll! You’re too stupid not to get caught, and you’re too ornery not to turn on us. The smartest thing I could do is to shoot you off that horse and let you rot where you fall.”

Rufe is pretty close to becoming buzzard food, and he knows it. He drops his eyes and backs his horse up nice and slow.

Boss glares around at the others. Not one of them meets his eyes. He raises his arm in a signal to move and within a moment, we’re left behind choking from the dust and jostling and holding on to Buck for all we’re worth.

XXXXXXXXXX

I find I am leaning hard on Anne Marie and still trying to make a little sense of things.

“Now what?” she whispers.

The moon is so bright it’s casting shadows. For the first time since all of this started, I get a good look at her. Her hair is a wild tangle around her face, and she’s missing whatever was holding it in place. The left side of her face is swollen and covered in dried blood from the punch she got. I feel bad for her.

“It’ll be all right,” I tell her even though I am swaying on my feet as I speak.

“Okay,” she says. “I trust you, Joe.”

I can’t help it. My jaw just drops. Nobody, nobody trusts me. Not my pa, my brothers, Miss Jones, Doc Martin, the list goes on. They all spend a good part of their time checking up and checking in on me. Even my best friend, Mitch, only trusts me to get him into trouble. Here I thought Anne Marie was smart.

All righty, then. I swallow down the lump in my throat and try to think hard. I’ve got a hand on Buck’s heaving flank, and I know he’s spent.

“Let’s all of us just rest a few minutes,” I say as decisively as I can. She helps me loosen Buck’s cinch a little and loops the rein around a nearby tree branch.

Then we go through Pa’s gear and saddlebags. He is always preaching preparation at me so let’s see what he’s got. The canteen looped around the horn is nearly full. Both of us take a long drink. He’s packed pipe tobacco, lucifers, a neckerchief, and jerky along with an oily packet of goobers. I offer Anne Marie something to eat. She shakes her head. I’m not hungry myself. Sadly, there is no rifle in the scabbard.

Now is a good time to look around. A couple of scraggly trees are at the edge of a little clearing of rocks, clumps of brush and grass, and churned up turf. There’s no water close by. Buck’s probably thirsty. Anne Marie cups her hands, and we fill them with some canteen water for him.

It’s also chilly as all get out. We gather some leaves and deadfall into a heap. Anne Marie grabs a few bigger chunks of wood close at hand. I strike a lucifer and pretty soon we have a small fire going. With my luck tonight, if we were depending on me striking sparks from a rock, we’d be cold for a long time.

All of a sudden, I just feel done in. I don’t think I can stand up much longer. She helps me to the ground and uses a clump of grass to pillow my head and shoulders. It hurts to stand, it hurts to sit, and it hurts to lie flat. Perfect. Moving around has worn me out. I lay back and try to gather my energy and wits for whatever has to be next. I almost think I could sleep.

“Joe, let’s fix you up,” Anne Marie announces.

Dang it, I think I was nearly asleep, and I jump a little in surprise.   She seems to do this to me a lot.

“Huh?”

“Where do you hurt?”

Well, at the moment, it’s a little hard to narrow down, but my ribs probably need the most attention. I could tell from the way that Boss poked me when he pulled me off the horse that his workout at the dance had busted something. I’ve seen a few of the ranch hands with busted ribs, so I concentrate on remembering what was done to help them.

Anyway, I explain my thinking to Anne Marie, and between us we iron out the details. After she hauls me up to sit cross-legged, she kneels in front of me. She’s ripped up a bunch of her petticoat into strips, and the pieces are lying in a heap at her right side. Then we argue a bit about whether she can wrap my ribs over my shirt. Of course, I’ve only seen it done on a man’s bare chest.  But at the moment, in the moonlight with a girl, it seems improper to sit here without a shirt while she wraps part of her undergarment around me.

We don’t argue too long because I don’t have much energy, and she’s a lot bossier than I realized. She eases the shirt off me, and we can both see some of the bruising. There is no easy way for her to help me, so I sit in front of her with my arms draped around her neck while she winds the cloth around my ribs.

The problem is that this position is sort of up close and personal to her shoulders and her bosom. I can even smell a hint of lemon verbena clinging to her hair. I have to admit, I am feeling a mite . . . distracted. “Steady, boy,” I scold myself, “really not the time.” It actually helps when she tugs real tight on the cloth strips since I have to concentrate on pulling air in and out of my lungs. When she finishes binding my ribs, she helps me ease back into my shirt and vest.

We soak some more of the cloth in canteen water. I hold it against the wound on her face until the dried blood loosens, and we can wipe it off without scrubbing. She does the same for the marks on my face. When we finish we just rest for a while. Her back is propped up against some granite and my head is in her lap. We watch the fire and try to figure out what to do next.

“Do you think that man will come back?” Her voice is shaking. I was wondering the same thing. Old Rufe seems like the defiant sort to me.

“Naw,” I say confidently. “He’ll want his share of the loot, won’t he?” She sniffles a little, and I can feel her nod. We sit still for a while.

“I wish we had a weapon, just in case,” I mutter.

She jumps a little at my words and nearly spills my head off her lap. Realizing what she’s done, she helps me sit up and get settled against the rock. Then she starts shoving her hands into the folds of her skirt. She seems real satisfied with herself when she finds a pocket. I expect her to pull out one of those housewife kits girls carry to mend their clothes. Instead, she hands over a sweet little pocket pistol.

“A gun? You have a gun?” I squeak. I turn the single shot derringer over in my hand. “Why do you have this?”

She shrugs. “My sister and I always carry one.”

“I think your sister might be crazy, but I like her instincts.” I try to hand the derringer back, but she won’t take it. I shove it inside my vest.

“How long do you think before help comes? Do you think they’ll wait for morning?”

That’s a good question. I can’t see my family waiting hours to come after us. I also know it takes a while to get a posse organized, especially at night. And nobody likes to track at night.

I suggest, “We could ride back slow and try to meet them.”

Unfortunately, from where I’m lying on the ground, Buck’s saddle looks like it could be at the top of  Sun Mountain. I sigh. Pa sure does love a tall horse. I figure we can manage if we help each other into the saddle. A few minutes later, we douse the fire, and she has her arm around me tryin’ to lift me into the stirrup. This is actually not going very well.

Suddenly Buck snorts and nickers, and we can hear another horse answer from not far away. We freeze, and I know that we are both thinking the same thing- Rufe has circled back to get us. I take her hand, and we move painfully into what brush I can find to conceal us. It doesn’t take long for us to hear hoof beats, and then I actually see a couple of riders.

I let out the breath I have been holding. I’d know my brothers anywhere and to see them riding up now makes me feel a little weak and misty with relief.

“Hoss, Adam!” I call out, “We’re over here.”

They cover the remaining ground between us in just seconds, and they’re off their horses in a flash calling my name.

Hoss gets to me first. He’s got an arm around my shoulders, and he pulls me gently into him. I squeeze my eyes shut and manage not to weep against his chest. He pats me on the back and eases me back down to the ground.

“Little brother, don’t you have all the luck,” he joshes me, “a moonlight ride with a pretty gal.” I swipe a punch at his arm, and I can’t help grinning. “Let me take a look at you.”

Since he saw the beating I took, he knows where to start checking. Our fireside medicine seems to meet his approval. Hoss balls up his vest for a pillow and makes me lie down to rest while he builds another fire.

Adam has been talking quietly to Anne Marie. He touches her cheek gently and listens attentively as she answers his questions. Adam can be a real scary hombre, but he’s smiling and showing those dimples of his, and she looks all sappy and trusting. He takes her hand and helps her settle down close to the fire. Then he comes over to me and shakes his head.

“You are a magnet for trouble, boy.” He’s smirking, but he gives my shoulder a squeeze as he sits down beside me. “What’s the damage, Hoss?”

“Looks like a few hurt ribs. They done a good job binding them, though. A good size knot on his head and some general roughing up.”

Hoss peers over the fire at Anne Marie. She’s sitting with knees drawn up to her chest, and her arms are wrapped around them. Even though she’s wrapped in Adam’s coat, she’s shivering.

“I sure hated watching that muggins hit you, miss. You feelin’ all right?” Hoss asks.  She just nods and puts her head down on her knees.

I tug at Adam’s sleeve. “What took you so long?”

“Ungrateful pup,” he answers back. He takes a minute to tuck Hoss’s coat around me. Like Anne Marie, I’m shivering. “They were very well-prepared outlaws. They had the doors blocked from the outside.   Hoss and I went out a window . . .”

“Hoss went out a window!”

“Yep. It was something to see. I’m afraid we didn’t give Pa the time to argue with us, but I expect he’ll be long with the posse soon enough.The gang had scattered all the horses they found on the street and at the livery. They had even dumped the guns they’d collected from everyone into a horse trough. Luckily, Sport and Chub had been in an alley they missed- along with our rifles still in the scabbards. We weren’t that far behind you, but we didn’t want to get too close. So we followed slow and marked the trail for the posse.”

“You tracked us in the dark?” Anne Marie sounds impressed.

“Yep.” Hoss grins at her. “A nice bright night like this and a handful of shiny bread crumbs sure helped.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out bits and pieces of the ornaments she’d had stuck in her hair. Now she grins back at him. “Now you two settle back and rest while we figure on what to do.”

Anne Marie doesn’t wait to be told twice. She curls up on the ground next to me. I swear it looks like she’s asleep as soon as she closes her eyes. I lean back myself and relax for the first time in hours. Even though my eyes are closed, I strain to listen to my brothers’ conversation. Old habits die hard.

“Better off to let them rest here and wait for the posse. Joe’s pretty banged up, and he shouldn’t ride with them busted ribs.”

I can hear Adam agree. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they both aren’t a little sick from everything that’s happened.”

It sounds like we’ll be staying awhile, so I feel like I can probably sleep. Then it occurs to me to warn them.

“Better keep an eye out for Rufe.”

“What’s that, punkin?”

“One of the gang. Didn’t want to let us go. Said he could sell us for plenty. We were thinking he might come back.”

I open my eyes a little. Adam looks stone-cold furious. Hoss’s jaw is set and his eyes are narrow, but his voice is calm and gentle. He pats my leg, “Hush, don’t worry about that galoot. Me and Adam will keep an eye out.”

I mean to tell them I have a gun too, and I can help keep watch, but it’s too hard to stay awake and I let go of trying.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

All of a sudden, I wake up a little confused about where I am. There’s cold ground under me and Hoss’s coat’s around me. I hear the pop of the fire every now and then and catch a whiff of the smoke when the breeze blows in my direction. Somehow every piece of me is complaining about what happened earlier—especially those pieces in contact with the gravelly soil. Someone’s resting . . . sleeping maybe . . . beside me. Anne Marie? Since it’s not ground shaking snores, it can’t be Hoss. I start to giggle but smother it down quick.

Wriggling around trying to get comfortable. a big warm hand pats my leg, and I unglue my eyelids enough to see Hoss next to me. He’s leaning against a rock peering across a fire that’s burning low. It has to be near morning. The moon is getting pretty low in the sky, but I don’t see any sign of dawn yet.

I decide to try to sleep some more when I hear just a little scraping sound–like maybe the sound of a knee or boot toe over rock. It’s the kind of sound that brings me wide awake real fast. I smell something too-maybe like someone that’s gone too long without soap. My hearts starts to bang against my chest, and I pant a little from the fear that’s running through me.

My eyes are opened wide now. Hoss is staring into the dark being careful to keep his eyes away from the fire. The hand that had patted my leg is pressing firmly now. He hasn’t made a sound, but I know he’s means, “Stay down!”

Where’s Adam? I want desperately to push up off the ground to be ready for whatever is coming. Lying still like this is torture. Concentrating on the little puffs of air I pull in and out past the pain in my ribs helps control the panicky feelings.

I turn my head slowly toward Anne Marie. Her eyes are wide open,too. Hoss eases his hand off my leg. He cradles his rifle in the crook of his right arm and keeping his left hand close to the ground, he makes a few quick gestures. I nod just a little while I watch his fist. He shows me one finger, two fingers and then three fingers. Then he jerks his thumb toward the rock behind us as he kicks a boot into the fire sending up a cloud of sparks and dust. I dig my heels into the dirt to scramble away, but I ain’t going fast enough to please him. He grabs me by the shirt and practically flings me behind the boulder. I catch hold of Anne Marie, and she comes scrambling after me.

Just a minute ago, the night was quiet except for the night insects and the soft breeze. Now there’s a riot of gunfire and shouting. A haze of smoke fills my nostrils. Someone yells out in pain and falls to the ground. I swipe the water out of my eyes while I try to see who was hurt. Anne Marie is sobbing into my ear and clutching my shoulder so hard it hurts.

There’s a lull. No more gunfire. Darn it, I can’t see anything. Where are my brothers?

I hear Adam drawl, “You might as well give up. Your partner’s been hit.” I could kiss old granite head.

Hoss yells, too. “Give up, mister. It’s all over.”

Silence.

Then, I hear him . . . smell him too. Dang it, I never even heard Rufe sneak up behind us. He’s got a gun jammed into my back, and he’s holding a big hunk of Anne Marie’s hair in his other hand.

“Naw, it ain’t over,” Rufe growls, “Lookee here!”

He shoves Anne Marie back into the clearing in front of the fire. He gestures with the gun for me to follow, but he doesn’t wait for me to move. He throws me sprawling next to her. Before I can do anything else, he grabs my belt and rolls me onto my hip to face him. He traps Anne Marie between us and pins my leg to the ground with a hard knee, leaning into my thigh with all of his weight.

The man reeks. He’s got his  filthy arm crooked around her neck soiling her dress and skin. The pistol is pressed against her temple. She’s straining to breathe around the pressure on her neck, and the struggle has her skirt bunched up half over me.  I can see his face clearly because he’s almost resting his chin in her hair.

“Look here, boys! You just drop those guns or I’ll shoot these two,”  Rufe yells.

Since the three of us are tangled together with him using us as shields, I don’t see how my brothers are going to get a shot at him.

“Give up, mister.” How can Adam sound so calm? “You shoot those kids, and you’re dead. Why not surrender now while it’s only robbery?” Adam’s actually giving pretty good advice. Rufe just doesn’t seem the type to benefit.

Old Rufe is shaking with the strain of holding us down, but he ain’t giving up. I hear him cocking the pistol as he shouts, “You boys are going to watch me blow this little girl’s brains out before I give up to you!”

I believe him.

I stare up at him from my position on the ground. My hands are free for what it’s worth. There’s no way that I can wrestle him or even punch him. Rolled up on my right hip with my backside to the fire, I might as well be a log he’s leaning against. Watching him, I notice his face change in a way I don’t like at all. For someone who’s probably made stupid decisions his life’s work, he sure looks like he’s about to make a topper.

Because I haven’t moved or spoken for so long, everybody’s counted me out. My eyes never leave Rufe’s face. He hasn’t glanced down at me once. His whole left side is open to me because of that arm he has around Anne Marie. It isn’t much distance. He can’t see me fumble around inside my vest because of Anne Marie’s skirt.

There’s only one chance. He doesn’t feel me lift my arm, and he doesn’t notice when I press the derringer between his ribs. But I hear him whisper to Anne Marie, “Say goodbye, darlin’”

I pull the trigger.

That little gun is louder than you would think. I had to stretch way up as high as I could — nearly under his arm. I tried to angle it away from Anne Marie toward his back. I guess I did it just right.

Maybe the bullet hit his heart. He jerks and slumps over on top of us. His lifeblood comes pumping and pouring out the hole in his side. It spills and splashes over Anne Marie and seems to drench my chest and face. I struggle to push away, but neither of us can move.

I’m choking on his blood. Anne Marie is screaming and struggling to get his dead weight off us. My brothers run up, and finally we are free. I don’t think they’re clear on just what’s happened. They’re both frantic to see how we’re hurt. Before I know it, Adam has me clutched to his chest wiping at my face.  Now Rufe’s blood stains Adam’s shirt as he holds me against him. I show my brother the little pocket pistol in my hand. He just shakes his head.  I want to explain, but there’s a ringing sound in my ears, and everything goes completely dark.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

What a wretched few hours this has been. I woke up with a wet cloth wiping at my face. Anne Marie had settled down into little hitching sobs. I found that most of me from head to waist was splashed with gore. My shirt and the cloth binding my ribs are soaked with it. It is stiff in my hair, and when I look at Anne Marie I can see that her left side-her arm, waist and skirt are stained. The ends of her hair are stuck together. My brothers’ clothing is ruined from holding us and caring for us. There isn’t near enough canteen water to clean anyone up.

Rufe’s pal has been patched up, and he’s tied to his horse. He’s not saying much now, but he sure talked his head off earlier. Hoss told him to save it for the sheriff. Rufe’s body is across his saddle. I’m trying not to look.

I know that my brothers think it would have been smarter to stay at the campsite and just wait for the posse. But it really didn’t take much to convince them that we had to get out of there. Adam says he just didn’t want to put up with a couple of hysterical kids for the rest of the night. That makes me mad. I ain’t hysterical. I’m just . . . cold and sorta sick. Anne Marie ain’t hysterical either. She’s just sad and shaky.

Hoss lifts me up onto Buck and puts Anne Marie behind me. That’s good. We started this trip together, and we should finish it. We start moving back toward town just fast enough to call it moving.

It’s only an hour or so after sunrise. Looks as if it will turn into a pretty day even though there’s a swirl of ground fog around us now. We hear the posse before we see them. It ain’t hard to imagine what we look like to them appearing out of the mist this way. Horses and men surround us abruptly. All the noise that comes with a crowd of horses and men kinda dies away when they take a good look at us.

Sheriff Coffee is there, naturally. He takes charge right away,shouting orders for someone to ride back to town for the doctor and a wagon. As he helps Anne Marie down, I see Hoss point to the outlaw tied to the horse and to the horse with Rufe lying belly down.

Some of the men are told to mount their horses and leave to find the hideout that Rufe’s pal was nice enough to tell them about. A couple of others are to take the outlaw and Rufe’s body and head back to town.

My eyes start to sting, and there’s a big lump in my throat. I swipe my sleeve across my face, and before I get my arm down, my pa is at my side.

“Joseph!”

Pa’s voice is all raspy like he’s choked on too much trail dust. He needs a shave, and the suit he wore to the dance is a sight. He holds his arms up to me, and Adam helps ease me down. Before my feet touch the ground, he’s got his arms wrapped around me. After a moment, he gently pushes me away far enough to look me over. As his eyes take in all the signs of violence, the color just drains from his face.

“What did they do to you, boy?” Pa whispers, “What did they do to all of you?”

Adam is right beside me with his hand on my back holding me steady. “It’s not his blood. Not our blood. Everything is all right. He did good. They both did good.”

Did good? I don’t see how that can be true. I’ve got a man’s life all over me. At the thought of everything that’s happened in the last hours, I can’t hold it together one more minute. Right now, right here in front of all these men, I’m crying in Pa’s arms. They’re all kind enough to ignore me, and my brothers step in front of us to allow me some privacy.

“Don’t worry, son. We’ll get both of you patched up and home before you know it. A bath, clean clothes and you’ll feel like a new man.” Pa’s determined to sound cheerful. “I’ll bet you’re hungry. I know Hop Sing will make you a fine meal-anything you like!”

Anything I like. I’d like to be home. I’d like a bath and a meal. I’d like to sleep for a day or more. I’d like to finish my dance with Anne Marie. I’d like to be the same Little Joe I was this time yesterday. But I am happy for what I’ve got right now. I guess that’s good enough.

The End

Next in the Harvest Dance Series:

Repercussions