Innocence and the Outlaw

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

"They got guards set up." Chance whispered as he, Paul and Chase lay on their stomachs on the same ridge they'd viewed the camp from before. Chase nodded as he scanned the lookouts. There seemed to be three of them. One on a ridge to the left and two on a ridge to the right. The two on the right were standing less than fifty feet apart.

"You are both too green to be of much help in the middle of all the fighting." Chase stated and both Paul and Chance glared at him and puffed up with pride.

"I am twice your age, you damn injun and I ain't green at all." Paul assured him.

"Yeah me neither." Chance added with indignation.

"Your pride is both useless and unneeded. What I need is stealth and silence and neither of you are any good at that."

"Am too." Paul argued. He shifted his weight and winced when a twig snapped beneath him.

"Quiet as a shadow there, pa." Chance said with a roll of his eyes. Chase was thinking about pistol whipping them both and doing this on his own. But then again it might cause some tension between he and Leah when her father and brother showed up with bumps on their heads and addled brains. Chase looked at Paul.

"You say you're good with a rifle." he said and Paul patted his Sharps rifle proudly.

"Damn good." he replied.

"Good. Then you can stay up here and provide me cover fire. But do not shoot unless I'm found out. Then shoot anyone that makes a move toward Leah."

"What about if they make a move toward you?" Paul asked and Chase shrugged.

"I can take care of myself." he assured the man. "Chance, you are good with a revolver?"

"Pretty good." Chance replied. "Of course the only things I've ever really shot with it are glass bottles and tree stumps." Chase sighed and rubbed his face roughly.

"That's fine. Just pretend these men are big, ugly tree stumps." he replied. "You'll come down there with me but you'll find something to take cover behind and stay there. Just like what I told your pa, don't shoot unless I'm found out."

"Got it, chief." Chase bristled.

"Don't call me chief." he growled and Chance shrugged.

"Okay, boss." Chase bristled more.

"Don't call me that either."

"What should I call you?" Chance asked and Chase rolled his eyes.

"Chase oughta do it." he replied. "Now let's get going. It's nearly hard dark and I would like to be done with this and get a little sleep before daybreak."

***

Leah waited in the darkness of the cabin for Tobias. She had no doubts that he would be coming and her heart was racing and her mind whirring as she thought about what she would have to do to him. Leah had never killed anyone and the thought of spilling someone's blood and taking their life made her nauseous and yet she would do what she had to do to save herself.

She clutched her necklace from Chase firmly in her hand and listened to the sounds around her. Camp was fairly silent. She could hear the guard posted outside her cabin pacing back and forth across the porch, his boots scraping on the splintery wood as he drug them.

She assumed most of the men had long since gone to sleep since they no longer believed Chase was coming. She had heard Tobias talking not long ago and even he seemed to now believe that Tig had either done his job correctly or the other Indian simply wasn't going to risk his life just for Leah.