Chapter Eleven

Lucas woke up with a start. Heart pounding, he jerked into a sitting position. Something had woken him up. But what?

In the bedroll next to him, Gail slept, her breaths deep and even, a sign that whatever had disturbed him hadn't disturbed her. His gaze went past the dying campfire to the place where Zeke had put his bedroll. Zeke was missing. Had something gotten to him?

Alarmed, Lucas scrambled out of his bedroll. He made it halfway to Zeke's place when he saw someone emerge from the trees. He was about to shriek when he realized it was Zeke.

Zeke tucked his shirt into his pants. Upon noticing Lucas, he stopped walking and stared incredulously at him. "What are you doing up? We don't have to leave for another three hours."

Lucas hurried over to him and, so as not to wake Gail, whispered, "I thought something bad happened to you."

"No, I'm fine," Zeke assured him, keeping his voice low. "I had to take care of business. Don't worry. Everything is fine. The foxes are doing their nightly rounds."

"Foxes? There are foxes out here?"

"Sure. We have lots of critters in Arizona. Don't you know that?"

"I don't know anything about Arizona except what I've seen and what you've told me."

"Oh. Well, there are foxes out there." He gestured to the north. "They hunt at night. They'll be gone by morning."

"Are they dangerous?" Lucas asked.

"No. They leave people alone. If one ever comes close to you, all you have to do is yell and throw a stick at it. It'll run off."

Lucas relaxed. At least that was one thing he didn't have to worry about out here. He couldn't wait to get back to town. Being out here with an assortment of unfamiliar animals and bandits was putting his sanity to the test.

"It's refreshing that you admit you don't know things," Zeke said before he picked up his canteen and unscrewed the lid. "A lot of people assume they don't need to be taught anything. It always makes my job harder when they think they know more than I do." He took a drink from his canteen.

"There's plenty I don't know," Lucas told him. "And I'm not afraid to admit it."

Zeke put his canteen down then gave Lucas a quick pat on the arm. "Get on back to sleep. We have another long day ahead of us. Tomorrow night, we'll be one day away from saving that sister of yours."

Zeke was right. There was nothing Lucas could do at this hour. He might as well sleep. If that was possible. His heart was still beating faster than normal. He glanced over at Zeke who was settling into his bedroll as if he didn't have a care in the world. How did he do it? Was it really because he'd grown up here? Was he so used to the "critters" around here that they no longer bothered him? No, that wasn't true. The rattlesnake had bothered him. Lucas felt better at the reminder.

Lucas reached his bedroll and snuggled back into it. Next to him, Gail remained sleeping, completely unaware that he had gotten up. He envied her ability to sleep so soundly. He envied the peaceful expression on her face even more. One look at her, and one would assume that there was nothing to worry about. Gail really did believe that they would rescue Bernadette and get back to Pennsylvania without any problems.

He turned onto his back. He was wide awake. He didn't know if he could fall asleep, but he had to try. His gaze settled on the stars, and he started to count them. Eventually, he relaxed enough so he could drift off to sleep.

***

Once again, Gail rode on one side of Lucas while Zeke rode on the other. They had left the large trees a while back. Now the terrain was more open to them, and that gave Gail a better view of the landscape. The land around them was covered in dry grass with patches of sand visible in various places. There were still trees, though they were significantly shorter than those they'd left behind. They were also sparser, allowing her a view of some hills in the distance. Now this was what she had expected when she came to Arizona. She'd read about Mesquite and Palo Verde trees. She'd read about shrubs, too, but she couldn't place what type of shrubs were out here.

This was their third day. According to Zeke, they would get to the southern part of the canyon tomorrow evening. He believed Bower, Squiggy, and Big Mike would be hiding somewhere in the canyon. She prayed that Bernadette would be there, and more importantly, that they hadn't hurt her. She prayed not only for her sake but for Lucas' as well. He cared very much about his sister. Gail had noted the panic on his face on their wedding day when word reached him about Bernadette's abduction.

"It's time for a break," Zeke called out as he trotted over to a watering hole.

Gail and Lucas followed him.

"We're in luck," Zeke said as he got off his horse. "This hole is full."

Gail waited for Lucas to help her down from her horse. She had to admit that these were her favorite parts of the journey. Her skin always tingled in the most pleasant way whenever he touched her. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her. Feeling a bit shy, despite being his wife, she returned his smile. She recalled their kiss on their wedding day and wondered when they'd get the chance to kiss again. Obviously, they couldn't kiss with Zeke around. She supposed the soonest they would get to kiss was after they rescued Bernadette.

"I dug out a watering hole further south a year ago," Zeke continued, interrupting her thoughts. "I hope it's still full for the person who needs it." He glanced over at them and grinned. "It's always nice when people help others out by giving them a water source on their journey through here. Lucas, check out how deep this thing is."

Lucas gave a slight roll of his eyes, and she secretly agreed with him. Their moment had been ruined. There was no getting it back. She and Lucas led their horses to the watering hole and let the animals drink.

While Zeke pointed out how deep the water was, Gail let her gaze go north. She wondered what the canyon looked like. All she knew from her reading was that it was a deep, narrow valley. She had only seen shallow valleys, so she couldn't envision a large one, but she looked forward to seeing it.

"I figure it's about two." Zeke looked over at her. "The way I can tell that is by the month and the position of the sun. Did you know that the sun rises and sets at different times of the year?"

She gritted her teeth. Certainly, he didn't think she had lived all of these years without noticing something that simple.

"We already hit noon," he went on, oblivious to her irritation. "You'd think that would be the highest point in the sky every single day, but that doesn't always happen. It depends on the time of year you're in."

"Is it at the highest point now?" Lucas asked.

She didn't know if Lucas sincerely posed the question or if he was stopping Zeke from talking down to her, but she was glad he took Zeke's attention off of her.

"No," Zeke replied. "That was close to 12:30. The sun is already in the western part of the sky." Again, he looked at her. "West is where California is. You and Lucas came from the East because Pennsylvania is on the other side of the country."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," she snapped.

Zeke blinked in surprise as if he hadn't expected her to know this information.

She gripped the reins of the steed and told herself to calm down. She must act like a lady at all times, even when someone as annoying as Zeke was talking to her. But try as she might, she couldn't force down her annoyance. She'd never come across someone who could bother her the way he did.

Lucas laughed. "Come now, Zeke. You knew that Gail is aware of where California and Pennsylvania are in relation to each other."

Zeke frowned. "No, I didn't. Women's concerns are the kitchen and the children. They aren't taught where the states are in this country."

Lucas stopped laughing. "Maybe that's true out here, but where we come from, women are taught geography. Gail is one of the smartest people I know. She excelled in all of her classes."

"Really?"

He nodded. "She earned the highest marks of all the ladies in her class."

Gail was shocked Lucas knew that. Perhaps that was why he had wanted to court her. She didn't think it had been her looks or charm, since she lacked those attributes.

"Oh, well, I apologize, Gail," Zeke told her. "I meant no disrespect."

Her anger cooled at the apologetic tone in his voice. "Thank you."

Lucas glanced between them, and she couldn't be sure, but she thought she detected a hint of uncertainty in his expression. He cleared his throat. "We still have a long way to go before we're ready to camp for the night, right, Zeke?"

"Yes, but we have one more day to go. Then we can figure out what to do to rescue your sister. We don't want to try it in the evening. We'll want to do it early in the morning when the bandits are likely to be asleep. Since I'm the deputy, I'll do the work. You two will be my lookouts."

"Are you sure you can handle three bandits all by yourself?" Lucas asked.

Zeke puffed out his chest. "I've been training for this my entire life. That canyon has a lot of caves. Some are small. Some bigger. My guess is they'll be in a small one. My first choice is to sneak in while they're asleep and take your sister out of there. However, if that doesn't work, I'll find a rock or crevice outside the cave and shoot each bandit as he comes out of the cave. Don't you worry. I know what I'm doing."

Gail doubted it was going to be that easy, but she chose to keep her mouth shut. While Zeke had apologized to her, he didn't see her the way Lucas did. It was nice that Lucas had defended her. She didn't expect it to change Zeke's mind about her. He probably still assumed she was stupid, but maybe he would think twice before talking down to her when Lucas was around. Turning her attention back to the watering hole, she waited for her horse to stop drinking before she filled her canteen.