John Fitzgerald GB 06 Return of (15 page)

I guess the outlaw figured he had outwitted the posse with that tree trick. He made no attempt to avoid leaving footprints or bent grass caused by footsteps all the way to the first waterfall. There the footprints disappeared. Floods

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roaring down the canyon over the centuries had washed away all dirt and grass around the waterfall leaving just rocks and big boulders right up to the canyon walls. The outlaw must have washed off his boots because there wasn’t a sign of any mud or grass from the soles of his boots on the rocks or boulders.

“Stake the horses,” Tom ordered. “Deputies Forester and Smith go above the waterfall on the left side and look for signs of footprints showing the outlaw went farther up the canyon. The rest of you deputies take the other side.”

I started to follow orders but Tom grabbed my arm.

“Wait here with me,” he said.

Then Tom waited until the deputies were out of earshot. “I just sent them up there so they couldn’t hear,” he said. “Now, I’ll tell you why I bet Parley a dollar. This is where the outlaw’s trail disappeared every time Parley was the outlaw. My great brain figured out how he outwitted the posse. Pie removed his clothes and hid them under rocks or bushes.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

“So he could go in under the waterfall and hide there until the posse went farther up the canyon,” Tom said. “Then he came out, got dressed, and went back to the mouth of the canyon where he waited until the posse returned after the two hours were up-Now take oft your clothes and go under the waterfall and arrest that outlaw.”

“Why me?” I asked, seeing as how it was going to cost me a quarter if Parley was there.

“Because you are just a deputy,” Tom said, “and I am a sheriff giving you an order.”

I stripped naked and waded in under the waterfall. There was room to hide there all right, under an overhang-

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ing ledge of rock, but no outlaw. The deputies had returned when I came out shivering from the cold water. Tom had told them what I was doing. It was almost worth the trip in under the waterfall to see the look of disappointment oh The Great Brain’s face when I told him there was no outlaw there.

“Then he must have gone farther up the canyon,” Tom

said.

“But,” Danny protested, “we didn’t see any signs of footprints above the waterfall.”

“He walked on rocks to the stream,” Tom said, “and then waded upstream. The rules say the outlaw can’t go any farther than the second waterfall, and I’ll bet we find him hiding under it. But just to make sure, deputies Forester and Smith take the left side of the stream and look for footprints where the outlaw might have left it. The rest of you come with me.” Then Tom turned to me. “Can’t wait for you to get dry and dressed. You wait here.”

I sat on a big boulder to let the sun dry me as the posse left. The last thing I wanted was to be left alone in the canyon. The eerie whistling of the wind in the honeycombed cliffs was enough to make me start seeing imaginary demons. I knew bobcats, mountain lions, wolves, and bears wouldn’t attack a man on a horse or a group of men. But one little kid sitting naked on a boulder might look like a nice tasty morsel to them.

I ran to where the horses were staked and got on Dusty. The posse was out of earshot by this time or I would have hollered for help even if it did make me a fraidy-cat. I sat on Dusty listening to the whistling of the wind and staring up at the limestone cliffs. I decided to heck with it, I’d get dressed without waiting to dry off, and run to catch up with

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the posse. But just then I saw fur moving on a ledge about twenty feet from the floor of the canyon. I wondered how in the world an animal got up on that ledge. Then Parley peeked over the edge and I knew it had been his coonskin cap that I had seen. He had climbed up to the ledge using the holes in the cliff for handholds and toeholds, and then lain down flat so we couldn’t see him. No wonder the posse had never caught him.

I jumped off Dusty. “I captured you!” I shouted. “Come on down!”

Parley stared down at me. “I thought you had all gone up the canyon,” he shouted.

“You thought wrong!” I shouted right back.

“I’m not captured until the sheriff or a deputy gets near enough to touch me,” he called.

I got dressed in nothing flat with Parley watching me. I knew he thought I’d go after the posse and he could climb down and escape while I was doing it. Well I had a surprise for him. Maybe the canyon did frighten me, but I wasn’t afraid to climb up to that ledge.

I walked to the cliff and looked up at him. “If you don’t come down,” I shouted, “I’m coming up.”

“Come ahead,” Parley yelled and I knew from the way he was looking down at me that he thought I was afraid to try it.

I got a handhold and toehold and started climbing up the cliff. Parley watched me until I’d climbed about halfway to the ledge-

“You’ll have to climb higher than this ledge to capture me!” he shouted.

And I’ll be an eagle that flies backward if he didn’t start climbing straight up the cliff. I climbed back to the

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bottom of the canyon. It was about seventy-five feet from the ledge to the top of the cliff.

“Come back you fool!” I screamed at him. “You’ll fall and be killed!”

But Parley kept right on climbing up the side of the cliff using holes for handholds and toeholds. I was so fas-cinated with awe and terror that I just stood there watching him. He was about halfway to the top when the toehold he was using with his right foot broke loose from the cliff and a big chunk of limestone came tumbling down. Parley hunted around with the toe of his right foot trying to find another hole. But there wasn’t any he could reach. He couldn’t go up without a toehold. He couldn’t come down because the piece of limestone that had broken off was a handhold he had used going up. I knew that if he let go and fell on the rocks and boulders below he would be killed.

“Help!” Parley screamed as he realized he was trapped. “Hang on!” I shouted. “I’ll get help!” - I scrambled over the boulders to the top of the waterfall. Then I began running along the bank of the stream screaming for help-I knew I could catch up with the posse if I could just keep on running. My breath felt like flames of fire in my throat. My legs began to tremble so much I thought I’d fall down. Then I remembered something Papa had said one time. He had said all human beings develop superhuman strength when faced with great danger. Papa was right. The thought seemed to give me the strength to keep going. And finally I saw the posse- “Help!” I shouted. “Help! Help!”

They all turned around and came running toward me. Tom reached me first.

“What’s the matter, J. D.?” he asked.

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“Parley’s on the cliff by the waterfall!” I said. “He can’t go up and he can’t come down!”

I had a hard time keeping up with the others as we ran back to the waterfall. Parley was still hanging on the cliff screaming for help.

“Hang on, Parley!” Tom shouted. “We’ll rescue you!” Then he looked at the cliff for a couple of seconds. “Danny,” he said, “you and Seth ride back to the mouth of the canyon and come back on top. When you get there tie your lariats together. Then tie one end to the pommel of the saddle on your horse, Danny. Seth, you let the lariat down over the cliff so Danny can use his horse to pull up Parley and me.”

Danny pointed at Tom. “Parley and you?” he asked. “It will take you about an hour to get to the top,” Tom said. “Maybe Parley can’t hold on that long. I’ll scale the cliff taking two lariats with me. I’ll tie one end to a tree and let myself down the cliff so I can hold Parley until you get there. All right, get going.”

Danny and Seth ran toward their horses with Tom and the rest of us following. They mounted and rode down the canyon. Tom removed the lariats from Dusty and Blaze. He tied them together. Then he coiled them and slipped the coil over his head on his left shoulder and under his right arm. I looked up at the cliff which was about a hundred feet high and became very frightened.

“Please don’t try it,” I pleaded. “What happened to Parley might happen to you. Please don’t take the chance.”

“I’d take a chance of climbing that cliff any day in the week,” Tom said, “to save Parley’s life and make a dollar.” He handed me his watch. “Look at the time when I reach Parley.”

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Then he ran toward the cliff shouting. “Hang on, Parley, I’m coming!”

Hal Evans, Frank Jensen, Howard Kay, and I stood watching as Tom began climbing the cliff. When he reached the ledge he studied the side of the cliff for a couple of seconds. Then he walked along the ledge and started climbing up the face of the cliff about fifteen feet from where Parley had been climbing. But Tom was climbing different than Parley had. He was sort of zigzagging up the cliff. He would climb several feet and then study the cliff above him. Sometimes he went to the right and sometimes to the left before continuing straight up. I knew he was doing this to pick the best holes in the cliff to use as handholds and toeholds. We could hear him shouting encouragement to Parley. We groaned with relief each time Tom got another handhold or toehold. When he was opposite Parley he stopped. “Just hang on!” he shouted. “Hurry, Tom, please!” Parley yelled. “My hands are going numb! I can’t hold on much longer!”

“I’ll get you out of this!” Tom shouted. “Just hang on!” Up, up, up the face of the honeycombed cliff Tom climbed until at last he reached the rim where the canyon wall sloped toward the top. There were scraggty cedar and pine trees growing between cracks in rocks. Tom took hold of a cedar tree and tested it. Then he used the tree to pull himself up over the rim of the cliff. “He did it!” I heard Hal yell.

Then he, Frank, and Howard began shouting and jumping up and down. But I was so stunned with relief that I couldn’t speak or move. I watched Tom use scraggly cedar and pine trees and rocks to climb to the top of the canyon. Then he disappeared. I knew he was tying one end of the

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double lariat to a big tree on top. I don’t believe I blinked my eyes until I saw him again.

Tom came down the sloping part of the canyon wall using the lariat to hold himself and uncoiling it as he went. He stopped at the rim of the cliff and tossed the coiled-up part of the double lariat over the edge. When it uncoiled it was about six feet from Parley. I knew why Tom didn’t put the lariat any closer to Parley. He was afraid Parley might try to grab it with one hand and wouldn’t be able to hold himself with just one handhold. I watched with mixed feelings of pride and awe as Tom let himself down the face of the cliff hand over hand on the lanat-

“Hang on for just a couple more seconds!” he shouted when he got opposite Parley.

Then he held his weight with his left hand while he made a noose round his body under the armpits with his right hand. He tightened the noose and then tested it. Then he pushed himself away from the cliff with his feet until he was standing practically horizontal to the cliff with the double lariat holding his weight. He walked sideways like that until he was straddling Parley’s body. Then he bent his legs until his knees were straddling Parley’s legs. I watched him put his arms around Parley’s chest. Then he must have told Parley to let go of the handholds. I don’t know if it was the wind or what, but they both began to spin slowly around in the air.

I didn’t realize until that moment that my left hand was hurting. I looked at it. I’d been squeezing Tom’s pocket watch so hard the case had made a deep impression in my palm. I opened the lid of the case and looked at the time.

Howard touched my arm. “What time is it.” he asked.

I showed him the watch. “Ten minutes past two,” I said.

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“How long have Seth and Danny been gone?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

Hal and Frank were near enough to hear.

“I figure they’ve been gone almost halt an hour,” Hal said. “That means Tom will have to hold Parley for almost half an hour.”

“Look,” Frank said pointing up. “Parley can’t help to hold himself because he’d have to raise his arms in back of his head. That would make it harder for Tom to hold him. That’s why Tom is taking a leg scissor hold too.”

I saw Tom had wrapped his legs around Parley’s legs and taken a scissor hold by locking his ankles. This would help him support Parley’s weight.

I don’t know how long it was before Danny and Seth reached the top I only know that I felt as though I’d aged ten years before I finally saw Seth. He and Danny had followed Tom’s instructions. Seth came down the slope of the canyon holding himself by the double lariat tied to the pommel of Danny’s saddle on Danny’s horse. I couldn’t see Danny or the horse. When Seth got to the rim of the cliff he looked over the edge and tossed the coiled-up part of the lariat over the side. When it uncoiled I could see there was a noose on the end of it.

Seth shouted something at Tom and Parley. I couldn’t hear what it was because the wind was blowing stronger, making a loud whistling noise in the honeycombed cliff. But I could see what was happening. The wind was blowing the lariat out of Parley’s reach. Seth moved to the left with the lariat. Then the wind blew the noose part so Parley could grab it.

I watched Parley get the noose over his head and under his armpits while Tom held him. He lost his coonskin cap

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doing this and it fell to the canyon floor. Then after tighten-ing the noose Parley waved at Seth. Seth took up the slack in the lariat and went to the top of the canyon-A moment later I saw Parley being slowly lifted to the rim of the cliff by Danny’s horse. When Parley reached the slope he tried to stand up but his legs gave out under him. He let himself be dragged all the way to the top.

Hal, Frank, and Howard began to cheer and shout and jump up and down. I didn’t join them. I was thinking only of Tom. It seemed like a long time before Seth came back to the rim of the cliff and tossed the coiled-up lariat over the edge. Tom grabbed the noose part. He had a little trouble getting it under his armpits on account of the other lariat, but he finally made it. He tightened the noose.