Preacher and the Mountain Caesar by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone [Johnstone, William W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

14

Excitement sent an electrical charge through the missionaries of the Mobile Church in the Wildwood. During all of their lengthy captivity they had never heard of anything so hopeful. Blue eyes shining, her long, golden curls a-bounce under the fringe of her modest, white-trimmed, gray bonnet, Sister Amelia Witherspoon hastened to take the latest news to her friend, Sister Carrie Struthers.

“It’s a sign from God,” Sister Amelia declared confidently. “If someone can escape from this dreadful place, then someone else can as well.”

“But you said yourself that they were men,” Carrie complained, her freckled face agitated below a wreath of auburn curls. “What can we possibly do, mere women?”

Amelia looked at her friend, blinked and answered sharply. “What can we do? We can put our foot down, that’s what. Demand that the men in this company make some effort to effect our escape.”

“Well, I’m not so sure . . . ,” demure Carrie began, long, coppery lashes lowered over dark brown eyes.

Fists on hips, Amelia responded forcefully. “I am sure! The least they can do is try to get away from this insane community.”

Deacon Phineas Abercrombie bustled over, his considerable girth inflated with righteous indignation. “Here now, what is this all about?” Amelia quickly told him. It did not sit well at all. He peered disapprovingly at her down his long nose. At last he spoke his mind. “I am sure you will agree. If it is God’s will that we become martyrs, then so be it. Who are we to question Him?”

Stubborn, Amelia continued to press her point. “What sort of martyrdom is it to be killed by lunatics who believe this wretched place is some rebirth of Ancient Rome?”

Abercrombie dismissed that reasoning. “That is for the Lord to decide, Sister. I am afraid I must forbid you to discuss this topic with any others of our flock. Besides, I hear that the men who escaped have been recaptured. It is really all so futile,” he concluded with a bored sigh.

Not one to be easily intimidated, Amelia Witherspoon flounced off to speak with others of their small congregation. In open defiance of the deacon, she urged them to join in making some sort of plan to effect an escape. Watching her from a distance, the deacon grew angry at the impertinent young woman. He made a casual, angled course to the bars at the front of their communal cell. There he made a covert signal to one of the guards.

A few minutes later, with Sister Amelia still urging at least resistance if not actual escape, a centurion arrived outside the iron gate to their prison. “Which one is Deacon Abercrombie?” he demanded.

“I am he,” the deacon volunteered.

With a curt gesture, the centurion sent two burly guards into the holding pen, and they roughly dragged Deacon Abercrombie out into the stone corridor. Without another word, the centurion started off with his prisoner in the firm grips of the pair of thugs.

* * *

Buck Sears looked across the dining table in the gladiator quarters at his new friends.

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