But they didn’t come. Dusk came and then darkness. Still they didn’t come.
“What are they planning?” Salty called.
“They’re going to burn us out.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s the only way. They’ve already lighted the torches.”
Salty could see an ominous glow through the brush.
“What can we do?”
“Get out before we become sitting ducks.”
Gathering up his rifles and stuffing all the ammunition into his pockets, George dashed out the door, through the breezeway, and straight for the creek. Salty followed.
“They’re getting away,” one of the McClendons called. Shots peppered the night around them.
“Forget them,” another voice called. “It’s the gold we’re after.”
“But we don’t know where it is.”
“Silas says he knows.”
George and Salty reached the creek, crawled through the brush, and slipped over the bank. “Now where’s Zac’s cave?” George muttered.
“Down here,” Zac’s voice called to them out of the night.
The dry summer had reduced the creek to a thin ribbon. But the violence of the periodic floods was evidenced by a creek bed up to twenty feet wide and six feet deep. A thick grove of towering pecans bordered the creek on both sides where it took a sharp turn. Swollen currents had carved out a network of tunnels between the deep, thick roots. The air was thick and dank, but it was blessedly cool.
“It’s quite a cave. A dozen people could hide here.”
“They’ll never find us,” Zac said proudly.
“Maybe not, but I don’t mean to give them a chance. We’ll stand watch.”
“I’ll help,” Zac offered.
“Not yet. Salty and I will take turns. You and Rose need your sleep. We don’t know what they’ll do tomorrow.”
“Are you sure we can’t help?” Rose asked. “Hiding while you take all the risks makes me feel like a coward.”
“We don’t have any choice,” George said. “They outnumber us. The only way we can hope to win is by attrition. If they catch even one of us, it’ll be over. If we have to run, we’ll need all our strength.”
“Do you plan to run?”
“No, but I’m not going to risk our lives foolishly. Now get some sleep. I’ll call you when it’s morning.”
“Do you think they’ll come looking for us?” Salty asked. It was about three o’clock, time for him to take over the watch. He had joined George in the brush along the far bank of the creek.
“Yes. When they don’t find any gold, they’re going to be sure we took it with us. At the least they’ll think I know where it’s buried.”
“I shouldn’t have hired Silas. I never liked him much.”
“You can’t tell what’s in a person’s mind. It could have been any one of the others.” George was silent for a few minutes. “He was a fool to tell McClendon. He would have done better to come to me himself. That old man won’t share anything with anybody, including his own sons. He means to kill Silas once he gets his hands on the gold.”
“Do you believe what they said, about your father, I mean?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I don’t know. He was daring enough to do anything. He would have taken the gold if he wanted, but I don’t think he would have done it for his family.”
George laughed harshly. “He never did anything for his family.”
They sat in silence for some time.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew Pa?” George asked.
“He said I wasn’t to say anything until you asked,” Salty said. “He said you might be so angry you wouldn’t want to know anything about him.”
“I was, but I guess I keep hoping I’ll learn something that will explain him to me. I doubt Pa himself knew why he did things. He probably just turned any way the wind blew him. Still, I keep hoping there was something more to him than that.”
“There was,” Salty said. “He knew he’d made a mess of his life, and he hated it. He just couldn’t do anything about it. That’s what killed him in the end. Or caused him to get himself killed.”
George gave a snort of contempt. “Pa wouldn’t kill himself. He liked himself too much for that.”
“He hated himself,” Salty contradicted. “He knew he was a failure, knew he’d disappointed you and your brothers, and he couldn’t live with that.”
A few choice expletives cleaved the night air. “You expect me to believe that, after the way he treated us? What about my mother?”