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She sat there for what seemed like eternity, not making a sound until eventually the mud on her ragged clothing grew hard. Instinctively, she removed what was left of her tattered clothing to cuddle naked under the warmth of the blanket. Just for a little while, she told herself. Just long enough for her body temperature to return to normal.
To be sure, she tucked her clothes beneath the floorboard of her hiding spot. If the owners were to return unexpectedly, she did not want any trace of her being there.
Chapter 2
“Haddock!” Joe Shelby, lead ranch hand, called out to him from the far side of the barns. Glancing over he noticed the man gesturing for him.
Handing his reins over to Chuck Rhodes, he wondered what Joe wanted and hoped it wouldn’t take long. He wanted to take a fresh bath before Kathleen arrived.
“What is it Joe?”
“What do you make of this?” The ranch hand pointed toward the chicken coop and Wade followed the direction of his finger.
A splatter of fresh blood covered the ground. A litter of feathers surrounding it.
On their way home, they had stopped by the neighboring ranch of Bob O’Connor, the rancher who lived between the Haddock’s Circle H ranch and the town of Lantern. Whenever Wade and his ranch hands were out on the trails for any length of time, Bob would check in on his homestead and tend to the animals.
Lifting a hand, Wade rubbed his grizzly beard and chewed thoughtfully on the tobacco tucked into the corner of his mouth. Bob hadn’t mentioned any unusual activity at the ranch.
“Cougar?” Joe asked.
Lately, there had been a number of missing cattle up in the highlands and he suspected the mountain cougar was to blame, but so far there was no indication the animal had found its way onto the homestead. Wade examined the pen fence and noted no sign of damage but did notice the blood had a trail that led to the barn. “Get my rifle.”
Joe gave a quick nod, was gone and back in a matter of minutes and handing Wade his Winchester. Placing a silencing finger over his lips, he slowly crept toward the barn. Just outside the door, he cocked his head and listened for any movement or sound. He wholeheartedly expected to hear a wild animal devouring one of his birds. Instead, there was only silence.
Rifle cocked and positioned, he entered the barn and paused only long enough for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Again silence filled the air. He glanced back and saw Joe covering his backside, a rifle cocked on his own shoulder. Wade moved forward. What he saw shocked the hell out of him.
Lying in the corner of the barn was a boy, wrapped in a blanket and sleeping peacefully, unaware of the new arrivals. He was filthy, his head covered in a thick cake of mud. His face barely visible beneath a good layer of dirt. However what was noticeable was the very obvious trace of chicken blood around his mouth.
Wade sighed and lowered the rifle but not the entire way. Instead, he used it to nudge the boy awake. He sprang up like lightning, startling Wade into snatching up his gun once more.
“Whoa there, kid.” He pointed the barrel directly in the boy’s face.
His eyes were wide awake now and Wade thought how comical they looked, huge and round through a mask of mud.
“What are you doing here, boy?”
He didn’t respond, simply sat there staring wide-eyed up at Wade.
“Did you hear me? I asked you what you were doing here?”
Again, no answer.
Wade frowned. What was the matter with the kid? With the rifle he nudged the boy in the chest and was rewarded with movement. The boy scurried further back into the corner. “You realize stealing is a crime, boy?”
Once more, he received only silence from his intruder.
“You get jail time for that. Ever been to prison?” When Wade still got no response, he turned his head and looked at Joe who only shrugged. “Don’t you speak, boy?”
“Maybe he’s one of them mutes,” Joe offered.
&n
bsp; “Maybe,” Wade said and eyed the boy closer.
He was shivering in the corner and looked like a trapped and frightened animal. He felt a sense of sympathy for the kid and figured he must have been awfully hungry to devour a chicken raw. He wondered where he came from and looked at him closer.
Unable to make out his appearance because of the barn’s dim lighting and the boy’s appearance, he did, however, sense something familiar about his eyes and for some reason thought of the people who lived up on the mountain.
