Meleah's Western Part 14

I suppose I should go ahead and post. I forgot it was Friday.:) It is different when you are out of town. But I told you I would post. I was wanting to get a poem written for today, but it didn't happen. I was busy doing other things. Going to used book stores for one thing. We went to four book stores and have over 50 "new" books to take home. I didn't count them all, and as we got more yesterday, we might be closer to 60+.:) Mom and I love books.:)

Well, the poll I had put up here sure was interesting. I had three people tell me they read this blog on Fridays most of the time. But no one reads it any other time. Such is the way of things.

Now, I was debating before I left town on Monday which thing I should bring to post. Should I bring the Western, or "In the Father's Embrace"? It turned out that the Western was easier to do, so sorry, you'll just have to put up with the next part.:)

Part 14

The fire blazed up and sent out a shower of sparks as Ty stirred it up before placing another log on top thus causing the snow on it to melt with a hiss. The day was drawing to a close. The evening meal had just been finished, and Sally and Aunt Leah were washing the last of the dishes. The three men sat around the fire in relative silence enjoying its warmth and Uncle Matt, his pipe. It wasn’t until the cabin was tidied up for the night that Sally and Aunt Leah sat down too. Aunt Leah settled herself and pulled out her knitting.

The day had been quiet. No disturbances had occurred to break the peace, and there had been no talk of trouble. Ty knew that questions would come sometime, and indeed he felt the need of wise counsel before setting off again in his search. Now, as he sat silently thinking, he wondered how this all would end. Would he find his sister? It seemed so hopeless, and yet he had promised his father. And always, in the back of his mind, there lingered a slight worry about those he had fled from. Would they try to follow him? Would they continue to wait for his return? Surely they knew he had been back and then had left again. Would he always be running and hiding from them?

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted. “Well Ty, ya goin’ ta tell them or am I?”
Ty turned with a blank expression on his face and regarded Carson with a puzzled air.
Carson chuckled. “Ya do have a way of not hearin’ the conversation that’s goin’ ‘round ya. I reckon I need ta say it all over again. They’re wantin’ ta know what brought us all out this way.”

Glancing around at the small circle about the fire, Ty stretched his legs and leaning back began the tale of how his father had been taken sick. How he and Carson had been away and had ridden back as quickly as they could. How his father had died leaving Ty the seemingly impossible task of finding a sister he had never heard about. “An’ when I discovered that they were goin’ ta be comin’ to the cabin ta search for me, well, we all jest lit out. Sally wouldn’t stay anywhere but with me though it was a long ride. An’ Carson led us here,” Ty finished up.

Uncle Matt nodded but said not a word. Aunt Leah on the other hand was full of sympathy and clicked her tongue over their troubles. “Ya poor dears! An’ ta think ya rode all that way yesterday an’ in that storm too.” She shook her head. “No wonder ya were all plum tuckered out. Well, ya’ll can jest stay here ‘long’s ya want to.”
“That’s right kind of ya, Aunt Leah,” Ty thanked her.
Uncle Matt spoke up. “Ty, there’s jest one thin’ I reckon I don’t rightly understand. Jest who is them that’s after ya, and why did ya have ta run?”

For a moment Ty was silent. All eyes were fixed on him. Even Carson looked interested, for he had never heard the story. All he had known two years before, when he had ridden up to visit his friend, was that Ty had to get out, so he had taken him when he left.

“Well,” the words came at last though very slowly. “We could jest say I know somethin’ that could well land them all behind bars, an’ I reckon they aim ta keep me quiet. Ya see, we ain’t got no sheriff nor nothin’ out there, an’ well . . ..” Ty left his sentence to die away into silence.
“How many of them are there?” Uncle Matt questioned.
“Oh, I can think a nearly half a dozen, an’ there ain’t a poor shot among ‘em. That’s why I knew we had ta get out. Carson an’ I are good shots an’ Sally can hold her own well’s the next man, but ya see, I ain’t wantin’ ta take justice inta my own hands. It would ha’ come to a shoot-out no doubt ‘bout it. I ain’t never shot a man, an’ would like ta get by without shootin’ any neither if’n I can.”
Once again Uncle Matt nodded. “Can ya tell the law ‘bout them fellows if’n ya was somewhere else?”
“I reckon I could, though it don’t seem’s though it’d do much good seein’ as how the law would be in one place an’ them others some place different.”
Sally spoke up. “Ty, couldn’t ya make them believe that ya wouldn’t say anythin’ ‘bout what ya know?”
Ty shook his head. “Even if they’d believe it, Sally, which they wouldn’t, it wouldn’t be right. I have ta tell if’n I get a chance.”
“It was that bad?”
Ty nodded at Carson. “If it were jest somethin’ little, I don’t reckon they’d be comin’ after me.”
All fell silent for some time as each thought on what Ty had just revealed.

“Ty!”
Ty turned and noticed at once the startled, frightened look that had leapt into Sally’s eyes and the sudden quiver of her chin.
“Ty, if they are so determined ta make ya quiet, will they . . . I mean ya don’t think they will . . . would they try ta follow ya?”

The agony of fearful suspense that sounded in every word Sally uttered called out for a swift denial, for an assurance that all would be quite safe away from the cabin. However, Ty knew he had to be truthful. His very soul agonized over the terror he knew his words would cause in his sister’s heart, yet she had to know the danger. She had to know everything was not what one could wish.

Ty laid a hand gently on Sally’s clenched ones and looked her straight in the eye. “I don’t know, Sally. They could try ta find me, an’ I reckon we must always be on our guard.”

Should I keep going?