One truth still caused her insides to clench.No one was going to rescue her.Not her grandfather in New York.Not the polite society she’d grown up in, with all its rules and protections.Certainly not Elkhorn’s brute of a sheriff.Whatever happened next depended on her own courage and intelligence.
“I hope you were right about the ten miles,” Sheila called back to Wendell as she splashed across the creek.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
The sharp reportof a rifle in the distance drew Doc Burnett’s gaze to the window.It echoed off a distant ridge, coming back before either he or Lucas moved.
Doc stood and instinctively moved to his patient’s side.He realized he couldn’t do much to protect her, if needed.Still, she was his responsibility.At the same time, Lucas was on his feet and bounding to the doorway, where he peered out into the golden, late-afternoon sun.His cocked six-shooter was in his hand.
“What was that?”he yelled out.
“Dunno.Jeb’s up watching the trail.”
Lucas turned to Doc and shot a warning glare at him.“You stay here.Don’t move, and don’t make no noise.You hear?”
The young outlaw didn’t wait to get an answer and slipped out the door.
Doc took a step closer to the door, listening.A spark of hope flared inside him.Perhaps Wendell and Dodger had been captured when they went to his house in Elkhorn.Perhaps the judge had forced them to tell him where they’d taken Doc.Or perhaps they’d had to make a run for it and a posse had pursued them back to the outlaws’ camp.
He was the only doctor in the area, and miners and townsfolk called on him day in and day out.He must have been missed, having been gone for five days.They had to be on the lookout.He could very well imagine the judge directing the sheriff to have someone watch the house.And even if the town officials had done nothing, he believed his friend Caleb Marlowe would be concerned about him.
The thought raised his spirits tremendously, but the next one sent them plummeting.
What if Sheila had actually come out here, as she’d hinted in her letters?No, that was impossible.He would have gotten word.
But what if shehadcome out to Colorado?
What if she had reached Elkhorn and found him gone?She would certainly be worried.
But no.Doc tried to brush aside the thought.He was simply tormenting himself.Surely, she was still in New York.
But he couldn’t completely shake off the thought.The idea of his daughter possibly waiting in that house, not knowing whether he was alive or dead, pressed harder on his heart than any fear for himself.
He didn’t have much more time to think about it.
Gunfire erupted, and two shots struck the shack, one piercing the wall on the far side of the doorframe with an explosion of splinters.For a half minute, the shooting continued, with shots being returned from right outside.When it halted, Doc heard muttered curses not far from the open door.
In his mind’s eye, Doc envisioned an army of men surrounding the camp.Their sole intention was to rescue him and the wounded passenger.
“What…what is it?”
He turned to his patient and found her eyes open.Her lips were dry, her brow covered with sweat.He sat beside her.The fever was worsening.
“Were those gunshots?”she asked.“Tell me.What’s happening?”
“I think we’re being rescued.”
Doc reached under the cot and pulled out the surgical tools he’d stored there.Choosing a scalpel, he slid it into his jacket pocket.He’d do whatever he had to do to help the men coming to free them.
“Rescued?”Her voice was breathless and seemed to border on panic.“Who?”
“I’m hoping it’s a posse from Elkhorn.”
He moved to the edge of the doorway and peeked out.Lucas had taken shelter behind a cart with a broken wheel that sat akilter beyond a cooking fire.Another outlaw with a rifle was sprawled with his back to a water trough closer to the shack.Both were reloading their weapons, anticipating the next move of the attackers.
“Though I don’t have great faith in the town sheriff—the man could kill us by accident—I’d be happy to see a troop of one-armed monkeys out there if they rescued us.”
No more shooting.For the moment, all was quiet, but surely the storm was about to break.
