Saving Alice Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

As soon as the horses started to make dust, Jim Watson scrambled to his feet and ran the few yards to his rifle that still lay beside the coach where he had laid it. He swiftly raised his gun to his shoulder to take sights on the fleeing riders.

“No! My wife!” Matthew called out with a weak voice, still getting his breath. But he was too late to stop Watson. The thunder of the riffle drowned Matthew’s plea with its first shot. Without hesitation Watson took aim again. Three more times the riffle boomed forth its report. By now the whole party of passengers had regained their feet and were standing behind Watson.

“Looks like you got two of ‘em,” exclaimed one of the passengers.

“Yeah. Maybe winged another,” replied Watson, “but I ain’t too sure.”

Matthew didn’t notice who was speaking. He too had made it to his feet and stood by the coach looking at the receding riders. He felt an utter helplessness clutching his heart more tightly than he was pressing his right arm to his stomach. With his left hand he had formed a fist and was pounding it against the marred side of the coach. Then, after a short moment, the helplessness was turning into a growing panic with the passing of each second.

This was all wrong. When he had felt the tug of God to go out west to plant a church, he had wrestled with the idea for a number of months without mentioning it to Alice. He had heard stories of the rugged land and the people who lived there. Not that he was all that concerned about his own safety. He had lived his whole life under the constant danger of the streets in the Chicago slums. His biggest concern had been for his newlywed wife. She was not from the streets for she had grown up in a privileged family far from the dangers of life. So after struggling with the growing tug of God’s call, Matthew decided to put it to the test and see if God was truly calling him.

The test was to lay it all out before his wife. If she gave even the slightest hint of hesitation, then he would know that the west not for them. So he laid before her the most daunting description he could think of to tell her of what God may be calling them to do. Instead of hesitation, he saw her eyes brighten with each passing word. He kept trying to make it sound worse and worse, and still she grew more excited. Finally he started to flat out argue that it was too dangerous for her. But Alice was not to be deterred. She said that God would be her caretaker. Exasperated, he finally decided that God must be leading them and that God would have to take care of them.

But now his worst nightmare had taken place. God was supposed to have taken care of her, and now Alice was gone. Not having time to fully pursue this line of thought, he mumbled under his breath a simple plea to God, “Oh, God! Please help me! Please, oh please God, keep Alice safe from harm.”

Desperately looking around to the other passengers he laid his frantic plea before them, “Someone’s got to go after them!” But everyone looked uneasily away from Matthew and nothing was said for a seemingly long moment.

Finally the driver piped up, “Naw, it ain’t no use gettin’ after them. Best we ought ta do is climb back on board and get ta town fast as we might’n being able. We should be there by just a bit past mid day or so, if we push the team a bit hard.”

 “But my wife!” Matthew pleaded, but he could see in their eyes that it was fruitless to beseech them for help. Matthew started to look around in despair at the whole scene around him. To one side of the coach was the distant dust of the thieves. He saw the driver returning to pick up his hat that had fallen off. There was the still body of the unfortunate thief the leader had called Willy lying prone on the ground with his gun just beyond his head. Then, as he turned around he saw the horse, Willy’s horse. It was still standing were it had skitted off to in the nearby grass with its reins hanging from his head. A desperate hope started to rise in his chest.

Though still sore, he had regained his breath. Releasing his hold on his stomach, he turned towards the dead thief and in a few short steps he gathered up the gun that lay near the lifeless body. Quickly, he turned to stride to the horse, but it started to shy away from Matthew’s fast approach. He stopped his progress, not wanting to chase the horse away. After a sort pause, speaking softly, he took a tentative step toward the horse, which stood still long enough for him to take the last few short steps to get a hold of the reins. He shoved the gun under his belt and looked at the horse. Standing on the horse’s right side, he started to wonder how he was supposed to climb on. Seeing the stirrup as a good step up, he put his right foot in it and started to step up. To his dismay he discovered that if he followed through by throwing his left leg over the back that he would be facing the wrong end of the horse. Instead of dropping to the ground and starting over, he laid his stomach across the saddle while the gun dug into his abdomen and pulled his foot out of the stirrup. With his left foot he tried to find the elusive stirrup, but to no avail. So he wiggled himself further up on his stomach into the saddle until he could kick his right foot around. The first kick did nothing but make the horse take a few quick steps to the right, which made him slip just a bit. With another wiggle and a stronger kick, Matthew hooked his foot on the other side of the horse’s rump. With an effort he awkwardly pulled himself up onto the horse’s back. Sitting upright in the saddle, he positioned his feet in the stirrups and arranged the reins as best he knew how.

Watson stepped up to the side of the horse, “Son, you don’t even know how to ride a horse. You’re gunna be nothin’ but buzzard bait out there. Look here, we’re gunna be to town later on today and we can tell the sheriff what’s goin’ on, then he’ll be gettin’ a posse or somthin’ together and goin’ after those skunks. But you don’t stand a lamb’s chance against a pack of wolves if’n you go it all alone.”

“My wife doesn’t have that long. I’m going after her now!”

“But listen to reason…” but before Watson could continue with his plea, Matthew suddenly gave a hard kick to the side of his newly acquired horse, and yelled, “Lets go!” With that the horse jumped forward, nearly throwing Matthew off the back of the horse, but he quickly grabbed at the saddle horn and hung on for dear life.

The horse raced off over the field in the same direction as the fleeing gang. Within a moment he raced passed the first of the two fallen thieves, and then the next. Off in the distance he could see the dust of the running horses just cresting a hill and slipping over the other side out of sight. He was leaning forward nearly against the horse’s neck and holding on to the reins and the horse’s mane with a desperate grip while his legs instinctively pressed hard into the sides of the horse. The wind was beating at his eyes and making them water as he tore across the fields.

 After a few moments of riding he had crested the hill that hid his pursuants. He could see the dust he was chasing had grown much closer and he could see more distinctly the four riders, but he was still too far away to make out Alice. He yelled in the horse’s ear, “Go! Go! Go!” which seemed to keep his horse going at break-neck speed up and over a couple of gently sloping hills. Now Matthew could finally see Alice’s blue dress billowing from in front of the thief. Encouraged by his progress he slapped the horse’s neck while yelling at the heavily breathing horse to go faster still.

Suddenly he realized that the group of thieves was no longer moving. He was coming upon them quite quickly now. He figured that they must not have seen him coming. They think they’ve gotten away¸ he thought. I’m going to catch them! Hope sprang up when he saw two of the group dismount their horses. There was no way they were going to get away now. He had them.

But just as he started to wonder what he was going to do when he actually caught up to them, he saw a puff of smoke and then heard something wiz past him. They’re shooting at me! Before he could do anything in response to this new complication, he saw another puff of smoke. In the next instant something hit the right side of his head, thus throwing his head to the left. His body slipped uncontrollably from the saddle while his hands tried desperately to hold on, but there was no stopping his fall. In the blink of an eye he was hitting the ground with a terrific thud. Instantly he had been knocked out and his body took on a rag-doll tumble through the high grass. After a number of yards Matthew’s body came to a stop lying on his back with his arms splayed out in a cloud of dust.