Page 25 of Follow the Lonesome Trail

A poor little orphan and a hopeful love story on top of it? Jimmy wanted to gag. Maybe this wasn’t worth a hundred dollars after all. He had half a mind to walk away right here and now and leave Miss Ruby to whatever sappy sweet thing was bound to happen to her perfect little self next.

“Awful sorry about your pa,” Frank said, nodding sympathetically.

Jimmy couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed Frank by the shoulders and gave him a good shake.

“You’re sorry for her ? You ain’t figured out what this means yet, have you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “It means there’s no actual ruby, that we risked our necks robbin’ this stage for no good reason, and most of all, it means we ain’t gonna get paid!”

He shoved Frank roughly away and stomped a few paces down the road. He took off his hat, smacked it against his knee, and shoved a hand through his hair in exasperation. It was a mess, sure and certain. And to think, not half an hour ago he’d been congratulating himself on a job well done.

“Jimmy…” Frank began slowly, as if not quite sure he wanted to voice his next thought. “I ain’t so sure this is over yet. I get the odd feelin’ our man knew it wasn’t a jewel.”

Jimmy turned back. It wasn’t like Frank to be doing the thinking, but he felt a bit of relief that someone else was having the ideas for once. “What are you gettin’ at?”

“It’s like this, see.” Frank scratched uncertainly at his beard, looking a bit out of his depth but forging ahead valiantly.

“He gave us her name and flat out told us where to find her. Like as not he didn’t wanna tell us outright what we were signing up for because kidnappin’s a hangin’ offence.

He got us to do his dirty work by makin’ us think we’d just be pulling some low-risk robbery. ”

“Sounds like you boys need to ask for more detail before agreeing to jobs,” Ruby remarked as she unfurled a delicate lace fan and began fluttering it. Jimmy was sure she hadn’t been holding the fan a second ago. How many hidden pockets did that dress of hers have, anyway?

“That’s rich coming from you, Little Miss Mails-Herself-To-A-Stranger,” Jimmy grumbled.

It was infuriating that she was right. Maybe the whole mess could’ve been avoided by just a few more clarifying questions to their mysterious client.

But he couldn’t go back and talk sense into his past self now.

The only way out of this mess was forward.

“The way I see it, we got two options.” Jimmy ran his thumb over the frayed brim of his hat. “We can cut our losses and run, maybe search the coach first for anything worth takin’ with us. That way we keep our hands clean of kidnapping.”

“We can’t just leave her!” Frank’s protest was as immediate as it was emphatic. “Night comes on fast out here. All sorts of things could go wrong. Wolves, rockslides, bandits—”

“Not to complain or nothin’,” Ruby interjected, still fanning herself as properly as if she was sitting in a parlor, not stranded on a mountainside. “But I did already have some trouble with bandits today.”

“See, that just proves my point!” Frank threw up his hands. “It’s doggone dangerous out here!”

“ We’re the bandits she’s talkin’ about, you beanhead.”

Frank gave an embarrassed little cough and scuffed his boot in the dirt.

“But we ain’t those kind of bandits, ma’am,” he clarified. “We would never hurt a lady. Right, Jim? Or leave her out on the mountain all alone. Come on now, let’s hear option two.”

“It ain’t much prettier,” Jimmy warned. “But hear me out. This ain’t no ordinary woman.

Look at her: fancy name, fancy dress, fancy manners…

someone’s gotta want her back. Even if our man doesn’t, then her man probably will.

And he could be rich. There’s some well-to-do folk in Silverstone.

Like the gent that owns the mines, ol’ What’s-His-Name. ”

Frank’s eyes widened as he realized what Jimmy was implying. “You talkin’ ransom? That makes us full-blown kidnappers, Jimmy.”

Jimmy shrugged, trying to pretend that the idea didn’t bother him. He avoided meeting Frank’s eyes and turned to Ruby instead. “Your fella, is he rich?”

“Now, I don’t rightly know,” Ruby replied. “Never did ask him.”

“We’ve been around Silverstone plenty. We might have come across him,” Frank offered. “What’s his name?”

“Um…” Ruby faltered. It was her turn to look embarrassed.

“You don’t know his name?” Jimmy was downright flabbergasted. “And you’re gonna marry this fella?”

“Of course I know his name! I just don’t remember it at the moment,” Ruby protested. “I do know it’s from the Bible. Boaz… or something Old Testament-y like that. We’ve only had but a few letters. Mail from East to West is slow, and you people have a bad habit of interfering with delivery!”

It shouldn’t have surprised Jimmy when she produced an envelope from yet another invisible pocket, but it did anyway.

She shook out the letter with a flourish, revealing a page full of tiny, neat script.

Something about the letter made a prickle of unease crawl along the edges of Jimmy’s mind, like a spider that skittered out of sight before he could get a good look at it.

“Here it is!” Ruby exclaimed, pointing to the miniscule writing. “I was close, his name’s Obed—same Bible story as Boaz. Obed Birmingham, of Silverstone.” She clutched the letter to her heart and gave a dreamy sigh. “ Mrs. Ruby Birmingham . It does have a nice sound, doesn’t it?”

“Mr. Birmingham sure writes purty,” Jimmy chuckled. “That ain’t the pen of a logger or trapper, that’s certain. Betcha a dollar that was written by a man with soft hands.”

“I’m writing this letter, ya ninny,” Ruby huffed. “It’s from me, to Obed. This is my handwriting.”

“Oh,” Jimmy said. “Guess that would explain the soft hands.”

“Guess you owe me a dollar.”

“Birmingham don’t sound familiar.” Frank shook his head and looked to Jimmy for confirmation. “Winthrop’s the name of the rich fella that owns the mines. Odds are this Birmingham’s a nobody.” Frank shot an apologetic glance at Ruby. “No disrespect meant, a-course.”

The look on Frank’s face told Jimmy that his partner was every bit as relieved as he was. The ransom plan was off, and neither of them was sad to see it go.

Jimmy glanced at the lengthening shadows on the mountain around them. He chewed his lip, hesitating only a moment before making up his mind. If they were going to make it to the rendezvous point by sundown, they’d need to make tracks, and quick.

“Well then, I guess we’re gonna take option three.”

Ruby and Frank turned questioning looks on him.

“We head to the meetup,” Jimmy explained. “Get Miss Ruby off our hands as quick as possible. She’ll be someone else’s problem then.”

“But ain’t that still kidnapping?” Frank asked.

“She claims she’s just a parcel in the mail.” Jimmy shrugged. “So, no. We’re just robbing the mail stage, like we were paid to do.”

“That oughta hold up in court just fine,” Ruby said, nodding earnestly. Jimmy couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, but her encouragement was starting to grate on his nerves.

“You know, for a piece of mail, you sure do an awful lot of talking,” he grumbled. “Did somebody forget to put sealing wax on that mouth of yours?”

Frank looked ready to haul off and hit him, but Ruby just laughed. The clear, bell-like sound shattered the tension.

“Fair enough, Mister Jimmy, fair enough,” she said. With a graceful swish of her skirts, she sank down onto the stagecoach steps, magically produced a pencil nub, and settled in to work on her love letter. “I’ll be good and quiet. Holler at me when you’re ready to go.”

Frank turned to Jimmy with a shrug. “I guess the new plan’s just the old plan, huh?”

Jimmy smacked his hat back onto his head, shoved his hands in his pockets, and gave a decisive nod.

“We take the lady to the meetup, get paid, get outta town, and then make sure we never take a job without asking questions again, no matter how good the money is.” Jimmy shook his head in exasperation. “Turns out some rubies are more trouble than they’re worth.”

The sun had dipped behind the western peaks by the time they reached their destination.

They’d missed the rendezvous by over half an hour, thanks to the gathering darkness and Ruby having to pick her way along the mountain trails in her ridiculous pointy-toed shoes.

Frank had tried to convince Ruby to let him carry her over some of the rougher stretches of the hike, but the mere suggestion of that indignity had been met with such a poisonous look from Ruby that he’d shrunk away like a whipped dog.

Frank had to content himself with staying a step or two behind her the whole way, ready and waiting in case she needed his aid.

“It’s just up ahead,” Jimmy called over his shoulder. Ruby lagged nearly twenty yards behind him, with Frank trailing her like a faithful shadow. “Don’t make it take all night.”

“If you tell me to hurry one more time,” Ruby shot back, “I’m gonna trade boots with you and see how fast you can hike in these pretty little things.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes and went back to scanning the area.

The bowl-shaped hollow was easy enough to pick out.

According to his note, the cache was buried at the base of a tree on the far edge of the hollow.

It would be marked somehow, but he couldn’t remember what the mark was.

He reached for the letter to review the instructions from his client, but before he got a chance to unfold and read it, Ruby shrieked.

Jimmy looked up just in time to see her fall, her foot having caught in a tangle of undergrowth.

“Miss Ruby!” Frank hollered. He grabbed at her as she fell, catching her wrist—and losing his balance in the act. They both crashed to the ground, sliding a good ways down the slope in an ungainly tangle. They skidded to a rough stop in a heap of loose rubble.