Chapter 7

I heard the steps increase in tempo after we got out of sight and then they stopped. I heard the sound of voices next and then the sound of one set of footsteps heading toward the other side of the copse. I cussed to myself. I shouldn't have assumed that just because these people were unfamiliar with the woods that they would be stupid enough to stay together. Josie must have heard them too and decded to act to create a diversion, because she started moving from the place I had told her to wait. "Hey! Can you help me?, she called out. "I twisted my ankle and the fella I was with left me here until he could bring the wagon back."

I saw Josie move out into my sight and then saw a man dressed like he should have been walking in downtown Portland come into view. He didn't appear to be anyone you would have given a second glance to in the street, certainly no one you would have suspected of trying to ambush somebody. The only jarring elements about him were the rifle and the handgun he was carrying. He stepped up to Josie and looked at her, "Where's the man you were with?", he demanded.

"I told you, he went to get the wagon."

He slapped her across the face hard, "You're a lying bitch! There's no way he could have gotten out of sight so fast!" She leaned against a tree and I could see the mark left by his hand on her face. I was going to kill that guy one way or another. I was surprised at the rage I felt when I saw him hit her.

The other man came out when he saw his companion hit her and he was someone who would stand out anywhere. You've seen the caricature of the mob enforcer? You know big arms, heavy ridge over his eyes, 5 O'clock shadow? Well dress him in a three-piece suit with a tie and a hat and you would have this guy. He kept his gun pointed in Josie's direction and stood just too far away to reach him before he could turn his gun toward me.

The first man reached toward Josie and grabbed her shoulder to pull her toward him. Josie pulled out the knife that I had given her and stabbed him in the stomach as he did and he stood there in shock. The gorilla in front of me started to bring his gun up to shoot her when I ran from the copse and grabbed his gun arm trying to stab him with the knife I had in the other hand. He dropped the rifle and grabbed the hand with the knife and we struggled back and forth in the clearing. He was winning, turning the knife toward me when Josie stabbed him in the back repeatedly. He struck her with his fist, but I was holding him so the blow lacked any great force. She got up and together we continued to struggle with him until finally he fell down. I stabbed him several times in the chest to make sure he was dead. Looking toward the other man I saw he had collapsed and blood covered his shirt.

We lay there exhausted with the struggle. I thought about my wives and the children and the thought that someone might possibly shoot them made my blood run cold. I stumbled to my feet and went over the first man and took his rifle and his gun, then returned to the gorilla and started looting his body as well. I staggered toward the house when Josie grabbed me, "Stop! Think for a change. What would you do if this was anyone else?"

I had been trying to get away from Josie when her words finally penetrated my panicked mind. I stopped and thought about what I would have done in any other circumstance like this. Turning to Josie I asked, "Do you know where Willy's house is from here?" She nodded that she did. "Let him know that I may have someone trying to ambush me around the house and ask him to meet me at the ridge to the south of my house. Ask Ola to ride to the neighbors and get a posse up to meet us there."

She headed toward Willy's and I stopped her. "Take this gun with you and shoot anyone you don't recognize. Be careful!"

I started toward the house using every bit of the knowledge of how to move in the wilderness that Willy had shown me. I stopped and did a better job of camouflage first, using leaves and sticks to disguise my shape. Staying low to the ground I went forward. I remembered Willy's instructions to move slowly and at an uneven pace so as to not alert anyone listening for a steady sound of movement. I didn't see anything, but about teo hundred feet away from the spot we were to meet I heard the sound of a horse nickering. I slowed my pace even further and crawled forward to see what it was.

I found a man holding eight horses looking up the rise. I followed his eyes and saw a man with a rifle waiting at the crest of the hill looking down at the house. I tried to think of a way I could take both of them but couldn't. They were close enough together that if I attacked one, the other would notice and have time to shoot me before I could reach him. I looked but wasn't able to spot anyone else around. I backed up and waited for Willy.

I felt something and looked up to find Willy standing five feet in front of me. It always amazed me how well Willy could disappear in any cover at all and today I could really use that ability. I told Willy of the situation and my fear that if I shot at the ambushers my wives would come out looking for me and be exposed to them. He thought about it and agreed that I was probably right. For sure, Elizabeth would be looking for me and Claire and Louise wouldn't be far behind. I then told him my plan.

We crawled to where we could see the horse holder and the rifleman. We didn't graze this area and it was too steep to farm so the brush and the grass were fairly high. Willy looked at the hillside and nodded to me. He then showed me all his fingers twice to indicate that he thought it would take twenty minutes to reach the rifleman. I nodded back and crawled to a position as close as I could find to the horse holder and remain hidden. Then I lay still and waited. That was the biggest part of Willy's ability to approach unseen, by remaining perfectly still when people looked in his direction he had found that their eyes went past him. He had tried to teach me how to do it but I was unable to learn how to remain as still as Willy.

I waited for fifteen minutes and then began to creep ever closer to the horse holder. I was keying on him, waiting until he made a sudden movement before I reacted. Finally I saw him start and begin to raise his rifle, dropping the horses' reins. I rushed toward his back and he began to turn but was too late. I stabbed him in the back and held his body as a shield against a shot from the hillside. I looked up to see the rifleman on the ground with Willy holding his arm and a knife at his neck.

I lay the body down and hurried up to Willy. Together we tied the rifleman up with our ties and I stuffed a bandanna in his mouth as a gag. Together we crawled up to the crest of the hill and tried to see if there were other men around the house. I spotted two of them and Willy spotted a third hiding behind the house. Neither he nor I could spot the last man though and we figured he was hiding out of sight either in front of the house or in the barn. We dropped back behind the ridge and soon heard the sound of horses headed in our direction. We hid but it was our neighbors coming around. There were two women and four men together with Josie.

We talked about what we should do and finally decided that we were going to go toward the house and see if we could find the missing ambusher. We crawled to the ridgeline and I showed the posse where the three men we had spotted were located at. Two of the women had gone to California with me and I knew they were good rifle shots and one of the men was also known for his skill with a rifle. I told them to shoot at the men in ambush as soon as they heard any shooting. The other three were going to ride around to the other side of the homestead and approach from that side looking for anyone else and collecting the people who came to help, making sure no one escaped in that direction.

Josie insisted on coming with us in spite of my lack of enthusiasm for that idea. She finally exploded, "Damn it! I've been on my own for the last five years around muleskinners! Do you think this is the first time I've been in danger of being shot? I'm not some helpless woman you need to coddle!"

I remembered her actions during the fight with the first two men I'd run into. She had shown both good sense and a lot of courage, letting herself be hit and waiting until the second man was in place for me to attack before she acted. Reluctantly, I agreed to let her come and was surprised at my reluctance. Did I feel more for her than friendship? I would never have objected if Corrie had wanted to come. Despite his doubts, Willy accepted my wishes and Josie came with us. She had borrowed a dress from Ola to replace her torn, bloody one and I was surprised that I noticed how she looked as we went toward the house. I found she moved through the woods almost as well as Willy and I felt even clumsier by comparison.