“I want to know what happened while you all were gone, and I want to know now!”
“It was like this Teaspoon-,” Jimmy started.
“We followed Lou’s tracks to-,” Kid began.
“One at a time!” Teaspoon roared. “Kid, you start.”
“Buck picked up Lightning’s tracks outside of town heading to Ft. Kearney. We arrived there, turned the horses over to the Pony Express livery, and set out in different ways to search the town for Lou. Most of us had struck out on finding her and met back at one of the restaurant’s to get something to eat, except Jimmy.” Kid said.
“I think I better pick up from here.” Jimmy interrupted, and Kid nodded. “There was another livery there that I wanted to check out and it’s a good thing I did, because I found Lou. She was getting Lightning ready to ride out of town. I told her I couldn’t let her do that without her first telling me why she had run off like she had in the first place. She was real upset, angrier than I have ever seen her.”
“Can you really blame her?” Teaspoon interjected angrily. “The way the two have been fighting all the time, trying to outdo each other on showing everyone who’s the bigger jackass! Continue.”
“Kid, Buck, and Ike showed up about that time and they even tried to get Lou to calm down. To tell them what was going on. But she just continued to get even more upset, and was acting so strange. She pulled a gun on us Teaspoon!” Jimmy told the irate stationmaster.
“What?” Teaspoon exclaimed.
”She did. And she said such horrible things to Buck and Ike. We deserve…I deserve anything she wants to say or call me, because I have treated her so awful…but Buck and Ike haven’t done anything but try to be her friend. That’s when we…” Kid couldn’t finish the sentence.
“…Decided that whether she liked it or not, she was coming back to Rock Creek with us. And that’s when I suggested we tie her up and bring her back. Dang it, Teaspoon, she really didn’t give us a choice. Lou looked so sickly and was acting so strangely, we had to something to get her the help she needed…even if it meant doing it against her will.” Jimmy concluded their explanation.
“When I told you boys that you better not return without Lou, I didn’t mean truss her up like livestock.” Teaspoon told them, finding his anger starting to dissipate, as he realized just how much the two riders were already beating themselves up.
“She didn’t give us any other choice.” Kid said. “Honestly, Teaspoon…I’ve never seen Lou like that…something’s wrong…really wrong with Lou.”
Teaspoon didn’t bother telling the two riders his and Rachel’s suspicions concerning Lou, after they had taken the packet of powder to the doctor to examine. Even if it came out that Lou was indeed pregnant, it wouldn’t explain the bizarre behavior that she had been exhibiting once Kid and the other riders had found her in Ft. Kearney.
“Doc will be here soon enough to examine Lou. He’ll let us know what’s going on.”
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