Chapter 8: Bushwhacked

JJ woke up the next morning, got his Bible out and prepared for the day. He chose the Bible verse that he would meditate on that day and ended his devotions with prayer.

He rubbed Sawdust down and saddled him back up. It was easier to rub him down in the morning, because his skin was dry. He swung into the saddle, and went to the edge of the trees, and surveyed the surrounding area. Off in the distant mountain, he saw a flash of light. It looked like the sun glistening off a metal strip of a saddle, or possibly, a gun. Then he saw it again, and again.

JJ realized someone was sending a message with a mirror. He had learned the Morse code in his senior year at school. The person sending the message was making many mistakes, but JJ got enough of it to know what was being transmitted:

"New calves need brad iron ... stop

Need lookouts post corners ... stop

Henry say inform James need diver son ... stop

JJ knew he was on to something, he knew that brad meant branding. So they needed a branding iron for calves, but to have need of lookouts could only mean one thing. But, what was a diver son? What could that mean? After thinking for a while, he realized that it meant "a diversion."

Could that diversion have been in Fort Benton? Could Robert's murder have been a diversion? Did they want to kill two birds with one stone by getting rid of Robert and Barney? Could Barney be today's diversion? JJ then knew that, before he went to investigate this new discovery, he had to go back about six miles to the railroad line and send a message to Steve. Pushing Sawdust hard, it only took about fifteen minutes to get there.

Once he got to the rail line, he followed the telegraph line until he found a ground wire that had extra wire. He broke off a piece of wire, long enough to achieve his purpose. Then he proceeded exactly how his teacher had taught him: He got his canteen and poured water on the ground at the base of the guywire. He found a stick. Then, he moved Sawdust under the post. He climbed up on top of the saddle, and tied one end of the wire to the guywire. JJ then wrapped the wire around the stick, and he was able to reach the line, thereby enabling him to wire tap the message in Morse code. He knew he could not receive messages back so he made sure of each tap.

"Marshal Steve on trail of rustlers ... stop

Cafe killing may have been diversion ... stop

Prepare for another diversion today ... stop

Warn Barney he could be in danger ... stop

Will pursue trail to Horse Thief Canyon. stop

If more info will contact ... stop"

JJ worked his way back the way he had come. Once he got back to the edge of the trees where he had made his discovery, JJ then proceeded to work his way along the edge of several meadows. As he got closer to the area from where the message had been sent, he proceeded with caution. He knew that the lookouts were around somewhere. It was critical that he spot them before they spotted him.

He came to a narrow passage that was about five feet wide and that wound through some rocks. Stopping before he went any further, JJ listened. He could hear the sounds of a roundup coming from the other side of the passage, but there were no other sounds that might indicate the whereabouts of the lookouts.

He proceeded slowly through the passageway, he didn't see anything. Suddenly, someone jumped from a ledge behind him right onto Sawdust's back! Simultaneously as he landed on Sawdust, JJ felt a terrible blow to his head and was knocked out cold. The man had hit JJ with the butt of his gun.

When JJ came to, he was groggy. He had a lump behind his right ear and had a massive headache. His hands were tied behind his back and his ankles were tied together. JJ lay there for a few minutes, wondering where he was. It was dark where he was, but he noticed that some rocks on the wall were a little lighter towards his front right side. Following the lighter area with his eyes, he noticed a hole that indicated that might be the way out. As his eyes adjusted, he realized he was in a cave.

He heard distant sounds, but they were so faint, he could not make them out. JJ came to his senses and started to think of a way to get loose. He looked around, and saw some jagged rocks protruding out of the wall about ten feet in front of him. Pushing down on his hands and feet at the same time, he was able to work his way to the rocks. He turned around so that his hands lay on the rocks, JJ started the process of rubbing the rope on the jagged ends.

As the rope started to fray, the pain he felt became more intense from the rock rubbing the skin off his wrists. Finally, the rope gave away, freeing his hands. JJ took a minute to rub his sore wrists then untied his feet.

He worked his way along the wall toward the entrance. There was a tree covering most of the light from the outside. JJ move up to the opening. He pulled the limbs back and looked through the leaves. JJ saw that he was on the side of a good-sized hill overlooking a pasture of about a hundred acres.

He was about thirty feet up the hill. At the bottom of the hill at the beginning of the pasture, was a corral, where he could see Sawdust was still saddled. On the other side of the corral about a hundred feet away were ten men, five on the ground branding calves, and five on horseback roping the calves. They were working feverishly branding twenty or thirty head of calves, which were about weaning age. To the right was a canyon wall that seemed like a dead end.

He then noticed an opening at the far end, past the men. He studded the opening, and assumed that this was where he had been hit on the head. To the left, there was heavy scrub brushed that looked like it would eat you alive. It would be rough ridding if he went through that brush. The only chance of escaping seemed to be up and over the hill behind from where he was. Although he was unable to see the escape route from where he was, he knew it was his only opportunity to reach safety. He didn't know how high or steep the way would be. JJ realized that it would be a slim to no chance if he made it past the men that were branding the calves.

JJ also had another problem. He had no guns, as the men had taken them away from him. If they hadn't taken his old guns out of his saddlebags where he had put them after he had practiced and proved the colts, he would have guns once he got away. JJ had taught Sawdust to come to a Mocking Birdcall, followed by a special whistle on the end that only Sawdust could recognize. Preparing himself to run out as soon as Sawdust jumped the fence, JJ whistled the tune, praying that Sawdust would move fast. Sawdust perked his ears up at the command and, making a circle to get enough speed up to jump, he was over the fence and on his way up toward JJ.

As Sawdust jumped the corral fence, one of the men saw him and shouted as he saw JJ come out of the cave, "I don't know how he got loose, but he's getting away!"

"We gotta stop him or our goose is cooked!" shouted another man.

At the moment Sawdust reached JJ, the men on the horses were racing around both sides of the corral cutting off any escape routes except the one up and over the hill.

JJ swung into the saddle. He looked up the hill and saw how steep it was. Making a split second decision, JJ decided to chance it, knowing that Sawdust was rested and would be able to make it to the top quickly. This would give him the advantage over the other riders, as their horses were not as fresh as Sawdust. He turned Sawdust up the hill and spurred him into action. Sawdust needed nothing else to encourage him. He lunged up the hill with such a burst of speed, that all JJ could do was grab the horn and lean forward in the saddle.

This gave Sawdust all the extra encouragement he needed. JJ was amazed at how fast Sawdust went up the steep grade! It was as though Sawdust knew it was their only chance to escape.

Reaching the top, he looked back, expecting the men to be coming up the mountain hard behind him. There were just four of them, and their horses looked as though they were moving in slow motion as they came up the mountain. JJ spurred Sawdust on down the other side through the trees, and out of range of his pursuers. Putting enough distance ahead of them, JJ had time to make plans to surprise them.

He stopped Sawdust and jumped off. He looked in his saddlebags and found the guns that he had left loaded and ready. Then he got his rope off the saddle horn and tied it up between two trees. He tied it about one foot above Sawdust's head, so the other horses would run under it.

JJ hopped on Sawdust and backtracked about fifty yards. He hopped Sawdust again, and waited for them to reach him. He let them think he had stopped there. JJ didn't have long to wait. He saw all four of them riding hard towards him, two in front and two behind. He looked as though he was surprised. JJ hopped on his horse and raced away toward the rope. As luck would have it, he heard gunfire over his head, giving him an excuse to grab the saddle horn and swing down on the side of Sawdust's shoulders, thereby going under the rope. After he passed under the rope, he raised up in the saddle and spurred Sawdust even harder. He pulled his gun out and fired back, striking the ground around them. This caused them to look down where the bullets struck the ground, taking their attention away from the rope. They all ran into the rope at a full gallop.

The first two were knocked off in front of the back two horses, causing them to swerve around them. This caught the men ridding them off guard. The sudden move by the horses made the men reach for their saddle horns in order to steady themselves, thereby not being able to dodge the rope. The blow from running into the rope at about twenty miles per hour rendered all four men completely useless, as they grasped for their breath.

All JJ had to do was walk up and handcuff each one of them to each other and to the same tree that took all the fight out of them. They couldn't even put up a fight. They just looked at JJ stunned, as if to say "what happened?"

JJ then noticed that the one named Bobby had his nice pretty pearl handled colts in his holster. Taking them and all their guns, he put them in his saddlebags along with his spare guns. As he returned his colts to his holster, JJ made a mental note as to who had his guns, in order to file robbery charges later.