The Fire Inside

Chapter 4

The trip down the mountain, was relatively uneventful. Dutch called out to two of his men, who you hadn't seen before to scout ahead. One was about the same age as Arthur, and blonde. The other one was much younger, and dark skinned. They were called Micah and Lenny. You thought you would try to remember their names.

As you were crossing the River, the wagon that Arthur and Hosea were on lost a wheel. You were relieved it wasn't the one that you were driving. You didn't think Dutch would be too pleased if you'd managed to break the wagon.

Arthur and Hosea stopped to fix it, and yelled that they would catch up. You noticed that Charles went to help. Whenever you had seen Charles, he had always been with Arthur. You wondered if they were like best friends or something. You were trying to see how everyone fitted into the gang, but it seemed a bit confusing at times. The only thing you did know, was that Dutch was the leader.

You'd heard him call Arthur, son a few times. You didn't think they were related, they looked nothing like each other. You kind of wanted to ask Dutch about that, but you weren't sure that you should, so decided to stay silent.

The place where the gang decided to make their camp, was very pretty, and very green. You could still see the mountains in the distance, from the cliff top you could see the river. But the roadway, was surrounded by trees, with a half fallen tree, making an archway, where the track led up to the main camp.

As soon as the convoy of wagons arrived, they set to work setting up the camp, with a variety of different tents.

Dutch's was the largest, then Arthur's. Susan seemed to be organizing everyone, with the help of Mr Pearson, who was the camp cook. You now understood why they had called it Pearson's stew. He had his own wagon, and a campfire in the centre of camp where he put the stew each day.

Hosea and Arthur arrived, when a lot of the tents had been setup. Hosea didn't seem very happy about being here, but Dutch was enthusiastic. You wondered if that's why everyone followed him, because of his enthusiasm. No one seemed to question him overly much, except perhaps for Hosea.

Dutch called everyone over, to his tent, and started to make a speech, about everyone pulling their weight. You stood and watched. You were a little worried. What could you do. You could read and write, but you'd never really had a job, apart from helping your daddy around the ranch. You were quite good with horses. You used to catch wild ones, then your daddy would sell them on, once they were tame enough.

Once Dutch had finished his speech, he stood there talking to Hosea.

You walked over, to the two men.

"I'm just wondering what I can do?" you asked, "If I'm staying I'll need to do something!" you added.

Hosea, was just about to speak, when you heard a voice behind you. One that you immediately recognized.

"You'll do what you usually do, you lazy little bitch. That's jack shit, and cause trouble!" Sadie hissed.

You spun around and glared at her.

"At least I don't hurt anyone, or put them in an early grave," you spat.

"Why, you little bitch, I'm gonna show you, once and for all!" she yelled.

You felt her balled fist collide with your face. Sending you flying backwards. Blood started to run from your nose.

Before she had a chance to grab you, and hit you again, she was grabbed by someone you didn't recognize, and they held her back.