The next morning Teasdale arrived at Frewen Castle. When Benjamin showed him in to the parlor, he saw Frewen, Clara, and Jennie all with worried looks on their faces.
“William, have you heard?” Frewen asked.
“Yes,” Teasdale said. “That’s why I have come to wait with you.”
“That is very nice of you,” Frewen said.
Teasdale went over to the sofa where Jennie was sitting. “Mrs. Churchill, I’m so sorry this has happened. And now I feel guilty about it.”
“Why should you feel guilty?” Jennie asked.
“Because I made a horse available for the boy,” Teasdale said. “And if hadn’t been out riding by himself, he would have never been abducted.”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Jennie said. “I’ve never seen Winnie happier than he has been these last several days, riding all over creation. If you hadn’t given him a horse to ride, I’m sure Moreton would have.”
“Benjamin,” Clara called.
“Yes, madam?”
“Would you please bring tea for everyone?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Benjamin said.
“I must say, you are taking this better than I would have thought,” Frewen said.
“Matt told me he would bring Winnie home safely,” Jennie said. “And I believe him.”
“Does he have any leads?”
“Only what the note said,” Frewen replied. Walking over to his desk, he picked the note up, then brought it to Teasdale who sat down to read it.
“It says they want him there by ten o’clock,” Teasdale said. “It’s probably about time for him to leave, don’t you think?”
Frewen chuckled. “He’s already there.”
“What?” Teasdale answered in surprise.
“He said he wanted to be there when they arrived, so he left in the middle of the night.”
“But isn’t that rather foolish of him?” Teasdale asked.
“Foolish? How?”
“They asked him to be there at ten o’clock, not in the middle of the night. Aren’t you afraid that if they feel they have been double-crossed that they might do harm to the boy?”
“I don’t feel that way at all,” Frewen said. “I think they wanted him there at ten o’clock because they planned to ambush him. This whole thing was merely to set a trap for Mr. Jensen. I’m sure you have heard that someone has posted a five thousand dollar reward, payable to anyone who can kill him.”
“Yes, the story is all over the valley,” Teasdale said. “And from what I understand, there have already been several who have tried, unsuccessfully, to collect the reward.”
“To their sorrow,” Frewen said. “So far six men have tried, and six men have died.”
Benjamin returned with the tea and for the next few moments the four sat around the parlor, sipping their tea in silence.
“Tell me truthfully, Moreton,” Teasdale said. “Considering everything that has happened, are you not having second thoughts about this ranching venture of yours?”
“I will confess that this entire enterprise has been much more difficult than I ever would have imagined, and I have tried to explain this to my backers. If the spring rains fail, grazing on the upper range is nonexistent. We’ve had two bitter winters. And when we do manage to get our cattle through the winter and drought, the herd has to be driven for five hundred miles before they can be shipped to Chicago. And then, on top of all that, I’ve had my herd decimated by this despicable Sam Logan character.”
“There is a way that you can avoid all this,” Teasdale said. “My offer to buy you out still goes.”
“I appreciate that, William, I really do,” Frewen said. “But there is no way I am going to turn my back on this now. I just can’t face the humiliation.”
“Humiliation? Moreton, you have had six of your cowboys killed, you have had nearly a third of your herd stolen, and now your nephew is in great peril. Humiliation is the absolute last thing that you should worry about.”
“Maybe humiliation was a bit too strong a word,” Frewen said. “I suppose the word I should use is pride. I have too much pride to quit now.”
“Moreton, I’m sure you are familiar with the saying: ‘Pride goeth before a fall.’”
“More specifically, Proverbs sixteen, verse eighteen, ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,’” Frewen said. “Yes, I have considered that, believe me.”
“I have to hand it to you, Moreton, to stick it out the way you have.”
“I’ve been lucky to have a friend like you, William,” Frewen said. “Not only because I need a reminder of England now and then, but also because you have faced the same hardships I have, and you have stood up to them better. You are not only a friend, you are an inspiration.”
Teasdale cleared his throat. “Yes, well, uh, I suppose I had better get back to Thistledown. I just wanted to come over and let you know that I am thinking about you and the boy. Please feel free to call upon me if there is anything you need.”
“Thank you,” Frewen said.
Teasdale went back to the ladies, and bowing before each of them, lifted their hands to his lips.
“You are a very brave woman, Lady Churchill,” Teasdale said. “I do hope everything turns out well for you.”
“Thank you, Sir William.”
As Teasdale drove the buggy back to his ranch, he considered what Frewen had told him about Matt Jensen going to Nine Mile Creek in the middle of the night. He had not anticipated anything like that, and he was sure that Logan hadn’t, either. This would be a change in plans. Could Logan deal with it?
Surely he could. Jensen was only one man. One man against six.
Teasdale brightened as he thought about that, and he hurried the horse into a trot. He needed to get back to Thistledown to plan the next move after they got rid of Jensen.
Chapter Twenty-six
It was a little before nine o’clock in the morning when Matt heard them coming. Lying flat on the rock and sliding back so as not to be seen, he watched them approach.
“Poole, you get up there and keep a lookout. When you see him comin’, give us a signal.”
The one called Poole started up the side of the bluff and Matt knew that he would be coming to this very rock, so he slipped down from the rock and started down, so that as Poole was climbing up, Matt was climbing down.
“Hey, Greer?” Poole called back.
“Yeah?”
“What’s the reward on killin’ Jensen?”
“Logan says Teasdale has offered five thousand dollars to anyone who can kill Jensen.”
“Does that go for us, too?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not.”
“Ha! And what do we get from him for each cow we steal? Five dollars? We’d have to steal a thousand cows to make that kind of money. He must really want him dead.”
“Yeah. So tell me, are we goin’ to shoot the son of a bitch here? Or are we goin’ take him back to the cabin?”
“Logan wants us to bring him back to the cabin,” Greer said.
“Yeah, you know why he wants us to bring him back. That’s because if we take him into Logan before we kill him, it would be a six-way split. But if we kill him here, it will only be a three-way split.”
“You want Logan mad at you, do you? I don’t know about you, but Logan ain’t the kind of man I want to cross. He said bring him back to the cabin, and that’s just exactly what we’re goin’ to do.”
“Hey, Poole,” Bragg called up. “Do you see him comin’?”
“Nah,” Poole shouted back. “I don’t see nothin’.”
“Hell, if he’s goin’ to get here at ten o’clock, you ought to see him by now. No doubt he’ll be followin’ the river. Look again.”