©1997 by Kathy.
Emma Shannon walked over to the bunkhouse, rubbing her hands against the cold
morning. It had been raining heavily for the past two days, and the yard was
a quagmire. The fire in the bunkhouse had been kept going all night so it would
take no time at all to get the breakfast going. She hurried inside, her brown
eyes looking to see whose bed had been slept in. Being a cook for the Sweetwater
Pony Express waystation meant she was never quite sure exactly how many people
she had to cook for. "Morning, Ike."
Ike McSwain, one of the riders, smiled and nodded. Emma turned to the fire,
pleased to see the coffee was on. She turned when Ike thumped twice on his chest
to indicate he wanted Emma to look at him. Unable to talk, Ike used Indian sign
language to communicate. He pointed to Kid's bed. <He's not home yet - 2
days late.>
The riders had regular runs, and the route was clearly set out, but there was
all kinds of trouble along the route, and the boys were especially talented
at finding it. As well as their regular runs, the riders were always being asked
to do special runs for the army, or for Russell, Major & Waddell, or acting
as deputies - official or otherwise - for the town Marshall, Sam Caine. Keeping
track of who was meant to be where was quite a job.
The door opened and Lou McCloud walked in. Her jaw was set; it was obvious that
Lou had made up her mind about something and nothing on earth would change her
mind. "Mornin' Emma," she said.
"Mornin' Lou. Mornin' Mr. Spoon," she added as the manager of the
waystation came in after Lou. "Breakfast'll be ready in no time."
"Mornin' Emma, Ike, Lou." Teaspoon Hunter went immediately to the
coffee pot and poured himself the first drink of the day, then sat down without
taking off his hat. "Kid back yet?"
"Nope." Lou's short answer made Teaspoon look at Lou sharply. He knew
the two riders were close, but as yet, he didn't know that Lou was a girl, and
had no real suspicions that they were really in love.
"You goin' after him?"
"Yep."
"You know that's gonna leave us shorthanded, 'specially since Jimmy, Cody
and Buck are off helping Sam get those fellas who tried to hold up the bank
last week."
"I made up my mind, Teaspoon. Ain't like Kid to be two days late, not from
Benton. He knows that run real well, and there ain't been no Indian trouble
lately. I know something's wrong."
Teaspoon gave in the the face of Lou's determination. "I know. Well, I'll
get Matthew in from town as a stand-in. He rides good enough, and I know he
could use the money. 'Course, it'll mean I pay him instead of you."
<I don't mind taking an extra run,> Ike said.
"Thanks Ike," Teaspoon said, " but the others will probably come
home before you need to do that. Not even Buck could track people in this rain."
"Better eat while you can." Emma served up the hotcakes she'd been
making while the others talked.
It was two in the afternoon when Lou found Katy, Kid's horse. She'd had to take
her time, searching for any sign of Katy or the Kid. Fortunately, the rain had
let up about 10 o'clock. Lou had stuck to the route she knew Kid used and she
found Katy easily enough. Katy was standing under a tree, her right foreleg
lifted so there was no weight on it. She whinnied softly when she saw Lou coming.
"Hey, Katy. Where's the Kid? And let's have a look at that leg." Lou
lifted the leg and saw a small but sharp stone lodged in the hoof. She hooked
it out quickly, them examined the hoof carefully. There was some blood, but
no sign of infection, although the flesh was red and swollen. "There you
go, girl. Now where's Kid?"
Lou looked around, but as Teaspoon said, not even Buck would find tracks after
the rain. Lou tied Katy to the tree, mounted, then walked her horse towards
Benton. She saw Kid lying on the ground, unconscious, only one hundred yards
from where she found Katy.
"Kid! Kid! Talk to me!" Quickly she jumped off the horse and ran to
him. There was dried blood from a nasty wound on his forehead, and his clothes
were soaked through. He wasn't wearing his slicker, which meant he'd been hurt
before the rain started, two days ago. He was breathing fine, so Lou hoped he
wasn't hurt too badly. "Oh Kid, be all right," she breathed as she
began to make preparations for taking him back to the waystation.
He woke up slowly, squinting against the bright light coming in through the window. The sun was either setting or rising, but he didn't know which, because he didn't recognise the room and couldn't tell whether the light was coming from the east or west.
Come to think of it, he didn't know where he was, either. He was in bed, that much was plain, and the bed seemed to be in a downstairs parlour or front room - he could see stairs in the corner which led upwards - but where was the house? In a town? On a farm? No matter how he tried, he couldn't remember.
There was a glass of water on a chair beside the bed, and he reached out for it, forced to take his time as the room started to spin as soon as he raised himself from the pillow. Still, he was so thirsty he had to have the water. When he finally got the glass to his lips, he drank quickly. He put the glass back on the chair, lay down and promptly fell asleep.
