Hoofbeats of Danger by Holly Hughes

Author:Holly Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497646544
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER 8

INTO THE WOODS

Annie didn’t even remember running across the corral. The next thing she knew, she was kneeling beside her father. Her pulse pounded in her ears. All she could do was stare down at her father’s motionless figure and the stain of dark blood on the ground beneath his head. Redbird knelt behind her, gently feeling Pa’s wrist for his pulse.

Drawn by the uproar, people ran from all corners of the station—Billy, Jeremiah, Nate Slocum, various passengers. Mrs. Dawson came hurrying out of the station house, wiping her hands on her apron. As she reached the corral gate, all the color drained from her angular face. Pushing aside the onlookers, she knelt beside her husband.

“How did this happen?” she moaned, hoarse with emotion. No one replied at first, and her voice rose harshly. “Will someone please tell me what happened here?”

Ambrose bent over to pick up his gun. “That crazy horse kicked him in the head,” he said uncertainly. “It must have gotten spooked when I fired my gun.”

“And why did you fire your gun?” Ma demanded, still not looking up. She reached out gingerly to touch the bloody gash in her husband’s temple.

“I just fired a warning shot. I had to, when I saw that Injun near the corral.” He nodded toward Redbird, who was kneeling just behind Annie.

Annie twisted her hands tensely in her lap, hearing the accusation behind his words. She saw her mother’s eyes fly up, looking for an Indian intruder. But seeing Redbird instead, Ma closed her eyes gratefully. “Redbird! You’re the answer to a prayer. We’ll be needing your touch.”

Nate Slocum strode past the knot of curious passengers. Annie saw genuine worry in his keen blue eyes as he looked at the stationmaster sprawled on the ground. “That’s a nasty wound, Mrs. Dawson,” the driver said. “Let’s move him inside.” He turned and motioned to three passengers standing behind him. “Give us a hand here, fellas. You there, take his feet.” The skinny man in spectacles hastened to obey. The two gray-haired men eased their hands under Mr. Dawson’s shoulders.

Nate Slocum gently cradled the stationmaster’s injured head in his palms. “One, two, three, lift,” Slocum said. The team hoisted Annie’s father shoulder high and began to shuffle in step toward the station house. As Annie sprang out of their way, she noticed Davy and the boy named Horace silhouetted in the firelit doorway, watching with frightened eyes. Seeing the men carrying the limp body toward him, Davy whimpered and scurried out of the way. Annie felt a stab of sympathy for her little brother, overlooked amid all the confusion.

As her father was carried inside, Annie stayed behind, feeling useless. She stared around the bare station yard, washed by the morning’s first rays of thin sunlight. She saw Jeremiah and Billy standing by the fence, looking too shocked to tend to their chores. The stagecoach guard stood a little ways beyond them, his hands hanging at his sides.

Behind Annie, Redbird started to move silently toward the station house.

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