THE HORSE THIEVES
Chapter Three
Becky and Julia rode into town early the next morning to report the incident to Sheriff Burke. Also, Julia wanted to telegraph the State Prison in Denver to see if her step-brother had escaped. The previous year, he had tried to get control of the cousins' gold mine by trying to have them killed and was now serving a sentence for attempted murder.
As they entered town, they passed near Mrs. Dalton's boarding house. A commotion was going on and two men ran out of the house followed closely by a broom-wielding Emma Dalton.
"Get out!" she thundered "I run a respectable boarding house, not a bordello!"
The two men ran fled and Mrs. Dalton stood at the foot of the steps leading to her front porch, with her tenants standing on the porch. Becky and Julia nudged their horses closer to the house, they as they got close, Atalanta began to neigh and bob her head.
"Steady girl." Becky ordered. She turned her attention to the boarding horse. She knew Mrs. Dalton by sight, nothing more and the five tenants were virtually strangers. "I like the way you handled those two." she said.
"Good morning Miss Carson. Miss Sterling." Mrs. Dalton I don't want anybody causing trouble with my girls."
"Come to think of it, I don't know your girls very well."
"You're right, and I believe your cousins knows Harriet Longabeau better than you do." Mrs. Dalton said, indicating a tall, slender young woman with dark hair and smooth skin at the end of the line. Working her way from left to right. A blonde of medium height and build was identified as Roberta Parker. a woman with red hair and dark eyes was identified as Michelle Cassidy "Mother Irish, father French" was how she described it. A young girl, no more than seventeen was identified as Bonnie Williams, and finally, a small woman with vacant, chilling eyes named Frances James.
"We'd like to stay and talk, but we have business to attend to." Julia.
"I understand completely." Mrs. Dalton.
With that, the cousins split up take on their respective chores.
Julia dashed off a quick message enquiring the whereabouts of Charles Bradford. With that petty task out of the ay, she decided to do some investigating. After all, she saw herself as a responsible citizen and should try to find out what was going on with these thieves. She was well aware of fact the horse had to be hidden someplace but where? Were there large places that could hide stolen horses? As she rode about town, she remembered there was an abandoned sawmill outside of town. Might as well check there first.
She tied Lillybelle to a post outside the front entrance and slowly crept around the back way. There seemed to be nothing back there, so she stopped to look around. Before she could react to a noise, Julia felt herself being grabbed from behind and a cloth placed over her mouth. A sickly-sweet aroma filled her nose as Julia lost consciousness.
When Julia came around, she tried to understand her surroundings. She was lying down on what seemed to be a plank, and her mouth was gagged. Her wrists were bound together and sat on her stomach. Other ropes secured her arms and on the plank. Her ankles were bound separately, but she could not understand why.
Why did I wear trousers today? she wondered as she tried to figure what was wrong. She noted two hooded figures loading wood into what appeared to be a boiler. One that had it's firebox burning. She heard a hiss of steam. The two hooded figures closed the firebox and pulled switch before they slipped out a back door. As they did, Julia saw a giant saw blade start to turn, then felt a slight movement toward the blade.