Beneath the Texas Sky by Jodi Thomas

Author:Jodi Thomas
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780821724095
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 1988-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Bethanie watched as the painted savage ran toward the dugout door. For a moment, her body seemed to be made of stone. Though her mind screamed for action, her muscles were incapable of following her command. The Indian slowed to signal a friend, and Bethanie suddenly took flight. She darted across the darkened half-cellar to the cave entrance. As the braves hammered against the door, Bethanie crawled behind the shelf. They might not have seen her, but it wouldn’t take them long to figure out that the door to the dugout had been bolted from the inside. She hastily pulled the boards into place, concealing the cave’s entrance, just as the intruders came hurling through the door.

Bethanie ran into the darkness of the cave, too frightened to care that the uneven rock edges were tearing her clothes. Gulping for breath, she reached the light of Ruth’s lantern. As she knelt beside her sleeping child, Bethanie whispered to Ruth, “They’re in the cellar.”

Ruth grabbed Bethanie’s arm, her eyes wild with fright. “They won’t find the cave.” Panic twisted the older woman’s normally calm face. “But if they do, you must promise me one thing.” She pulled the old Walker-Colt from her basket. “I was captured by Indians as a child. I saw what they did to the older women. Her hands were shaking as she handed Bethanie the gun. “Should they find the cave, you must shoot me before they take me.”

“No!” Bethanie whispered as she heard the Indians rummaging in the cellar, already far too close.

“I beg you!” Ruth whimpered quietly. “Ben saved me years ago from them. I tried to kill myself later to keep from going crazy. Because I’m dark, everyone thought I was part Indian and treated me with the same disgust the Indians did.” Tears broke from her wide eyes and ran in zigzag patterns down her wrinkled cheeks. “Ben promised me he would shoot me rather than allow me to endure the hell of capture again. You are his wife; you must fulfill his promise.”

Bethanie could see Ruth was hysterical and incapable of reason. She must quiet the woman. Bethanie took the gun. “All right,” she comforted. “I won’t let them take you alive.” For Ruth the fear was over, and she seemed resigned to accept the ending.

Ruth breathed deeply and leaned back against the wall of the cave. She closed her eyes as if resting after a long journey.

Bethanie had no time to think of Ruth’s strange request, for she was too busy listening for any sound that might indicate the Indians had found the cave opening.

Time paused in long breaths as the women waited. Finally the noise in the cellar died down as the sound of gunfire returned. Bethanie’s heart jumped. Somehow the men were fighting once more. Could the lull have been to catch the Indians off guard? The memory of the burning barn pushed away any such logic, but hope still grew even on barren soil.

Seemingly an hour of low thundering gunfire passed.

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