Renegades and Stubborn Pride (sequal to Renegades and Pretty Women)

Chapter Two

　

“Mama, look!” Clayton exclaimed the next day as he jumped up and down and pointed at the trap he had set and baited with peppermint sticks. “It worked, mama! It actually worked!”

Joe threw her head back and laughed when she saw the opossum that her son had managed to catch inside.

“Well I’ll be damned.” she said with a shake of her head. “We can either keep him fer supper or let him go. What do ya want to do with him?” she asked her son, knowing the opossum’s fur wouldn’t be any good for selling.

“Let’s let him go, mama.” Clayton said after a moment. “Opossum gives me a tummy ache and besides, if I were mindin’ my own business and eatin’ peppermint sticks and somebody fried me up fer supper, I’d be real mad.”

Joe chuckled under her breath, amazed at some of the things that came out of her son’s mouth.

“Nothin’ worse than a mad opossum.” she agreed, somehow managing to keep a straight face as she did so. “Get him out of there then.”

Joe watched Clayton closely, fully prepared to jump in and help him if the need should arise. The boy walked to the angry hissing opossum and glared at the beast when it snapped at him.

“Now you listen here, ya ugly sack of fat and fur!” he warned. “My name is Clayton Winchester and I don’t mean you no harm. I’m tryin’ to help ya.”

Joe watched with disbelief as the opossum seemed to calm down and then her son pulled his pocket knife and cut the rope away from the critters foot. With one last hiss at them both, the opossum ran off into the woods.

“Well, cowpoke, just think, if yer career in stand up horse ridin’ don’t work out, you might just have a career as a opossum tamer.”

Clayton giggled and Joe smiled at him. Her son seemed to have a knack for getting animals to do just what he wanted them to.

“Well come along then, mama. We’re burnin’ daylight!” he warned as he put away his knife and hopped onto Chief to head to the next trap. Joe was laughing as she got onto her own mare and led the way.

***

A tremor of unease washed over Joe’s spine as she and Clayton neared their cabin that afternoon. Something was wrong.

Immediately her hand went to her gun and she tried to move her horse in front of Clayton but the boy had already seen Bart’s horse beside the barn and he leapt from his pony.

“Uncle Bart! Uncle Bart!” Clayton exclaimed as his legs pumped quickly and carried him toward the cabin.

Joe heard the snorting of a horse and it hadn’t come from Bart’s.

“Clayton!” she cried out in warning, pulling her gun as a man burst from the cabin and scooped Clayton up into his arms, pressing his revolver tight against the boys temple.

“Drop that gun, pretty lady.” the man ordered with a sneer. Joe didn’t recognize the man. Where was Bart? She couldn’t take a chance on shooting. Not with Clayton’s body in front of the mans and their heads so close together.

“Who the hell are ya?” Joe demanded and the man chuckled.

“Does it matter? Do as he said and toss the gun down or we’ll kill your boy.” Joe turned to see five more men on horseback, guns drawn.

“Do as they say, Joe!” Bart’s voice came from inside the cabin. Joe thought it sounded as if he were in pain. “They’ll kill the boy if you don’t. They ain’t just empty threats.”