Juliet's Moon by Ann Rinaldi

Author:Ann Rinaldi [Rinaldi, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Chapter Nineteen

"QUANTRILL WANTS to establish a winter camp in Texas," Bill Anderson was telling me. "That's what I'm supposed to be doing now. Heading to cross the Red River into Grayson County. We have some people there already. They sent a courier to tell Quantrill that the river is a hellhole, full of quicksand bogs, and to take the ferry. And that they found a good spot for the camp on Mineral Creek. But Quantrill wants me to put my stamp on it before he heads down there. Doesn't trust the scouts. Trusts me. Whadd'ya think of that?"

He was sitting next to the fire, smoking a cheroot. I was scrubbing out the coffeepot with sand after nearly throwing up my supper of rabbit that I'd helped skin. He'd made me take a dose of the horrible whiskey to settle my stomach. I almost died from the taste of it, the way it burned going down, but then a peculiar thing happened: I got all warm inside and I didn't want to throw up anymore.

Girls do the dishes after supper, Bill had told me. At least his sisters always did, always helped the help. And a campout was no different from a fancy dining room. I didn't argue, afraid of what he might do to me.

"The courier said there's plenty of forage for the horses in Texas, and the creek is full of turtles and the like, catfish and trout. The woods are full of pigs and deer. I'd like to get there sooner than soon and make my own report to Quantrill. Do you understand?"

I nodded yes. "But I may be holding you back."

"No, ma'am," he answered. "You keep me company and that'll get me there faster. Two heads are better than one. And you lookin' so much like Jenny, well, it keeps me cheerful. I like teaching you things. We're out here in the hinterland enough so we can travel days now. And tomorrow I'm gonna teach you to shoot."

I lay there under the stars unable to sleep. I could easily slip away, I knew, if not for the fact that I did not know where I was, so there was no sense in escaping.

But lying awake was a good thing, too. For in the night lit only by a crescent moon, I saw forms moving in the nearby woods, and I trembled with fear.

Someone is out there, spying on us. No. Several someones.

I could do nothing. I felt helpless with Bloody Bill Anderson sleeping on the other side of the fire. If I woke him, what would he do? How far did the name "Bloody Bill" go with him? Would he kill them all? And if I didn't alert him, would they kill us?

Wait. Suppose the creeping dark forms were Seth and Martha and some friends come to get me?

I wanted to throw up again. I decided I needed more whiskey, so I crawled around the fire, as quietly as I could, to where Bill's flask lay beside him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.