Maude March on the Run! Read Online Free PDF Page B

immediately why I was holding three horses. “You can't come with me, Sallie.”
    “What have they done with Maude?”
    “She's in jail,” he said, surprising me not at all.
    “But what did you find out?” I said. “You must know something more than that.”
    “I could hardly walk in there and say, ‚I'm Joe Harden, the one who robbed that bank in Des Moines, if you want to get your facts straight, and I'd like to know what you plan to do with my friend Mad Maude,' now can I?”
    “What are we going to do?” I expected he'd been working on some story to give the sheriff.
    In a dimer I read once, Cheating Charlie's brother got him out of jail by passing a red pencil through the barred window. Then going in as if he was a doctor, he pointed to the pencil marks on Charlie's face and said, “That fellow is sickening with something contagious.”
    I doubted Marion could pass for a doctor.
    He didn't have much of a plan, either. “I'm going to keep an eye on that jail.”
    “I'm going with you.”
    “There's some things a man has to do alone,” he said, and when I opened my mouth, he added, “There's other people who ought to let him.”
    “One by one my family is being carried off by unfortunate circumstances,” I said. “I cannot stand still and watch it happen to Maude.”
    Marion got on his horse and rode out, his face set, determined.
    I put a foot in the stirrup and slung my other leg over, driving the shotgun into the cloth boot at the saddle horn. I took the reins to lead Maude's horse. Used to the city life, he didn't get tetchy in crowds.
    I rode out at a pace and spotted Marion just as he turned a corner. I kicked up my horse, anxious not to let him out of my sight for long.

NINE

    I NEEDN'T HAVE WORRIED. MARION WAS WAITING FOR ME around that corner. He'd brought his horse to a halt right in the middle of the street. Horses had to make their way around him as if he was a boulder, with no complaint from the riders. This was no doubt due to the dark look on Marion's face.
    “Don't give me any more of a fight,” he said. “Time's a-wastin'.”
    “Then let's ride.” I looked hard back at him.
    He motioned for me to come closer, and I did, pulling my horse up alongside his. With a creak of saddle leather, he leaned in near. Although it was unlikely anyone could hear us over the noise of the street, he said into my ear, “I don't want you anywhere nearby if I break that jail.”
    “You're going to bust Maude out?”
    “Shh!”
    This was better than I'd hoped for. I lowered my voice to say, “Are you carrying enough firepower? You might have to kill a few lawmen.”
    Marion pushed his hat up off his forehead. “What kind of man do you take me for?”
    “One who's thinking of jail-breaking my sister.”
    He turned his horse and rode. I followed him through the city, and I didn't fall behind. I knew better than to bother him with my questions. He still wore that dark look.
    Left to my own thoughts, I wished that telegram had come the day before. Or that Uncle Arlen had consented to take us along. I started to wonder if it was the letter I wrote to the sheriff that gave Maude away somehow.
    Uncle Arlen had said I should give it to someone riding out of town, let them mail it somewhere else along the line. I could not bear the thought of wondering when my letter might get posted, never mind worrying about whether it got lost entire. So I sent it from Independence.
    Now I wished I had taken Uncle Arlen's part when he told Maude she ought not keep that job at George Ray's. Marion had taken Uncle Arlen's part.
    Marion hadn't yet said one word to me. I'd been doing my best to look as if I wasn't speaking to him, either, but this was an effort wasted. He hardly noticed me.
    We took up a position on the street.
    The jailhouse was a two-story building with a brick front. It looked a lot like a hotel, except for the bars on the windows. I didn't see how we could take Maude out of there.
    Some hours later,