Chapter Three
The Saga of Shadowhawk
Most of the outside work on Johnny and Chrissy’s house had been completed but there was still a little to do to the inside.-A great deal of the work had to do with furnishing and decorating.-They had just about finished with the nursery and had just got all the furniture in it.-There was a crib and a cradle; a bathinette and changing table; a chest to hold the baby’s clothes and there were several little outfits already hanging in the closet.
Ed had had a lot of work to do at his own house, too.-When Chrissy married Johnny and moved into their trailer, they had fixed windows in the end of the house where the secret passage had been.-Then they had moved Candy into what had been Chrissy’s room.-They had remodeled it and made it a little girl’s dream come true with a canopy bed, a child size dresser and chest of drawers and a dressing table with three-way mirrors that would let her be sure she was parting her hair and tying her hair ribbons just right.-On one side of the newly installed window with the window seat built in Ed had fixed a big walk-in closet.-On the other side were wide shelves to hold all Candy’s dolls, stuffed animals and toys.--Candy was crazy about it.-
Andy had been content in the room where he and Candy had slept until she got her own room.-Now, however, they were fixing up the room across from Ed & Penny’s room where Uncle Cliff and Aunt Lorraine had slept until they both passed away just before Ed & Penny found the place.-It would now be decorated for Andy and since he liked Stargate and SG1, the Sci Fi Series, his room would have curtains, comforter and posters, etc. from that television program.-There were posters of Captain Amanda Carter, Major Jack O’Neil, Teal’c, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and General Hammond, as well as several others.-Andy was as excited as a six-year-old could get.-His new room was almost ready and soon school would be out for the summer.-And his Dad had promised to take him fishing at the creek that ran along the edge of their property.-They called it Sugar Creek but Andy had tasted it and the water didn’t taste sweet to him, not in the least.-He didn’t mind at all that Candy would be invited to go along, too.-Of course, he would probably have to object a little in order to maintain his masculine image, though.
The room that had been the twins’ would now be re-furnished for the new baby they were expecting in August.-It was right next to their parents’ bedroom and would be extremely handy for the nursery.-A new door would be cut through from Ed and Penny’s room so they would have quick access if the baby needed tending to in the night.-Andy and Candy certainly didn’t need any special attention at the ripe old age of six.-Even with all the “ghostly” noises, they seldom complained of feeling insecure or scared.
The one thing they both looked forward to all week was the story hour at the Fordsville Library where Mrs. King would read a chapter or two from a book and then they would talk about it.-Right now they were reading one called “Shadowhawk” and they both liked it a lot.-It told the story of an Indian of the Iraquois Tribe who lived about two hundred years ago.-One night Shadowhawk had ridden away from the tribal grounds on his big stallion, Cougar, and had gone to the local settlement to have a couple of drinks at the saloon.---Shadowhawk was watching some men who were playing poker at one of the saloon’s tables.-Suddenly someone came rushing into the saloon shouting that the bank had been robbed. A witness had seen men in a long black overcoats with big black hats and-handkerchiefs over their faces.-Shadowhawk was dressed in brown leggings and a rawhide shirt with fringes but he knew that when anything went wrong around town, they had a tendency to blame the Indians.-It didn’t usually matter what kind of alibi an Indian had or whether or not he matched the description of the criminal, they usually blamed it on the Indians and quite often strung them up from the nearest tree without even thinking about a trial.-So he began to edge toward the front where he had left his horse at the hitching rail.-As soon as it seemed that no one was paying attention to him, he slipped out the swinging doors and headed toward Cougar.- He had no sooner loosened the reins and jumped on Cougar’s back than someone shouted that the robber was getting away.-Several shots rang out and one of them found its mark.-The bullet had just grazed his arm but it hurt like the devil and kept dripping blood, which would make it quite simple to track him.-As Shadowhawk got close to Sugar Creek, he thought of a good hiding place, so he turned toward the cliffs intending to hide in their shadows.-When he came in sight, however, there was the dim glare of lanterns and men’s voices.-He could hear three men talking.
“You can’t just leave me here like this simply because my horse broke his leg.- I can ride double with one of you.”-
“Riding double would slow us down and we’re not going to get caught just because of you.-We got away clean, anyway.-You didn’t need to be riding so fast that when your horse stumbled, he would fall and break his leg.”
“Look, Lefty, you can hide out for a few days near here and then we’ll pick you up when we come back for the gold.”
“But where in the hell do you expect me to hide?-There’s no place to hide out.-I’d have no food and no way to stay warm without a fire and that would be a dead giveaway.”
“Oh, would you stop your griping, Lefty?”
“Yes, he will.”-The boss man was tired of listening to him.
There was more shouting and arguing and then Shadowhawk heard the first man pleading for his life.-“No, no, don’t shoot.”-But a shot rang out and one of the men fell to the ground.-
The one who had shot him motioned for the other one to shove him into the hole where they had evidently buried the gold bars they had stolen from the bank and then they both covered the hole.-One of them got a small axe and made an ‘x’ mark on an oak tree that stood nearby.-Then he walked to another oak tree on the other side of the hiding place and emblazoned another ‘x’ on that one.
About that time, they heard the hastily formed posse in the distance and took off.-Shadowhawk didn’t think there was any way the sheriff and his posse would believe him if he stayed around.- Since the men were gone, he urged Cougar into the darkest shadows of the cliff until the posse had gotten well past where he was hiding.-Then he headed back for the Indian camp.
The moon was bright and it didn’t take long for the posse to realize they were now tracking two shod horses instead of one without shoes.-Suddenly, though, several shots rang out and as one whizzed past the sheriff’s ear, they realized they were being ambushed.-Apparently the two men they had been catching up to had decided the posse was after them and began shooting at the sheriff.-
The sheriff and his men took cover and returned fire.-After only about fifteen minutes, the two ambushers were dead.-The posse put the bodies on their horses and started back to town, thinking they had lost the Indian who had robbed the bank completely.-As they doubled back, however, one of the men spotted a big splatter of blood on some rocky terrain and they knew they had once again come upon the trail of the Indian.-They immediately tied the two horses with the bodies on them to some bushes along the way and started back on Shadowhawk’s trail, following the blood right to the Indian’s camp.
When Shadowhawk reached the campground, the chief, who was also Shadowhawk’s father, saw that he had been riding hard and asked what was going on.
“I’m being accused of robbing the bank; but I didn’t do it.-The posse will be right behind me.-Don’t let them take me back.-They’ll hang me if you let them take me.-You know they will.”
“Alright.-Go into the woods and hide for now,” the Chief told him.
Shadowhawk hid and when the posse had left he went back to see what had happened.-The chief looked at him sadly.
“My son, the sheriff would not believe you were innocent; so I had to tell him that the tribe would punish you.-I told him unless you could prove your innocence, you would be banished from the tribe and could never return.”
“But I am innocent.- I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.-You can’t punish me for that.”
“That was the only way I could think of to save your life.-Go, my son, sa
y a hasty goodbye to your mother, get a few provisions together and leave.-It’s your only choice.”
Candy had almost cried at the injustice that had been done to poor Shadowhawk.-Andy had been upset, too.-That night, Andy had crept into her room and they had talked far into the night.-Now they were finding it difficult to wait until Thursday again so they could hear what happened next.