Starfish (16 page)

Lionel could see the soldiers readying themselves from his new hiding place. He tried to get a count for Mr. Hawkins, but with all the movement and his limited view, he had trouble keeping track of the men. He thought that there must have been at least twelve, but that there could be as many as twenty. All this in pursuit of Beatrice, Lionel, and Ulysses; Lionel figured that the captain must really miss his horse.

He crawled out as far as he dared and eyed a break in the trees. He took another look at the soldiers and saw that Brother Finn was bringing Barney up from the stream. Barney's clothes were torn and bloody, and his face was battered, cut, and bruised, just like Tom Gunn's. Lionel didn't feel particularly friendly toward Barney—or Tom Gunn, for that matter. After all, they had been the ones who had joined up with the government to collect money at his and Beatrice's expense. But he still felt sorry for them. Barney looked scared despite now being untied, and Lionel noticed that he stuck as close as he could to Brother Finn's and the captain's sides.

Lionel looked back toward the woods and decided that it was now or never—he had to make a break for it. He pulled himself forward out of the hole and into the high grass that stretched up the back side of the exterior chimney. There, out of the corner of his eye, Lionel saw a soldier coming toward him. He felt a leaping in his throat. This wasn't just any soldier. It was Jenkins's buddy from the water trough, Private Samuel Lumpkin.

He thought about pulling himself back into the safety of the chimney, but a moment later, without thinking, sprang to his feet and ran to the trees. Lionel heard a rough, grumbled burst of surprise from Lumpkin as he ran across the open section of the meadow. Lionel looked over his shoulder as he burst into the shade of the wood to see Lumpkin raise his rifle and aim toward the thick foliage. He aimed it at Lionel.

“Stop!” Private Lumpkin yelled, but Lionel kept running.

Lionel heard the first bullet whiz wildly over his head, followed by the echoing crack of the rifle. Lumpkin fired again, prompting shots from other soldiers, but Lionel kept running. In the distance, he could hear the captain calling for the men to stop firing, but another volley hurtled past him and he watched the bullets bite into the soft bark flesh of the trees that stood before him.

Lionel continued to run. He could hear the men enter the woods behind him and then heard men on horses. The horsemen had trouble following Lionel directly as he ran, jumped, slid, and climbed his way across the Great wood, but he couldn't shake them. He dropped, stumbling down into a gully, and then scrambled up the other side. He saw the men drop into the gully, so he quickly changed direction by climbing up the exposed roots of a toppled tree and running the length of its fallen torso toward its upper branches.

As Lionel ran, he realized where he was. This trunk was once the deck of his ship, the branches its rigging and mast. He was in the stretch of broken trees where they had played pirate, and he knew this terrain well. He stopped and looked around the wood and thought about the long days of summer when they had played out Mr. Hawkins's pirate tales in these tangles. Now he was also running, but instead of in search of make-believe buried treasure or evading imaginary captors, he ran for his life.

Lionel climbed through the thicket of branches at the tree's prone top and then jumped down to another trunk that lay rotting underneath. He heard the men coming out of the wash and dropped to the far side of this tree, and burrowed himself under the trap of leaves collected at the elongated base.

Lionel lay, trying to slow his heavy breathing. He thought that his heart was about to burst out of his chest, and he could hear the men's horses approach the clutter of fallen trees and stop.

“I've lost his trail, Sergeant,” a soldier reported. “It just disappeared.”

“Well, find it!” Lionel heard Jenkins shout.

Lionel held his breath and exhaled slowly through his nose as more men entered the area.

“Spread out—he can't have gone far!” Jenkins continued to bellow as another horseman joined him just on the other side of Lionel's hiding place.

“What do you make of it?” It was Private Lumpkin.

“What do I make of it?” Jenkins shot back. “I think that the captain's gone soft is what I make of it! Back in the day, if ya didn't hang rustlers ya would, at the very least, have 'em horsewhipped! Soft, I tell ya! Soft!”

Lionel lay under the rotting earth listening to Lumpkin and Jenkins continue to commiserate.

“Ya give these bastards an inch…” But Jenkins was interrupted as “over here—I've found tracks!” echoed through the woods.

“This best be him,” Jenkins said, jerking his horse's head, and then he and Private Lumpkin were gone.

Lionel could hear the men as they moved to where the calls continued. Boy, had he done it this time, he thought, feeling the heavy ring of bear claws around his neck. How was he supposed to find Beatrice without leading these men straight to her?

He pushed the wet leaves off him and slowly raised his head. He thought about cutting directly across the Great wood to the base of the mountains. Maybe he could forgo the switchback trail and just climb straight up to where he had last seen Beatrice, Mr. Hawkins, and the rest of them?

He climbed over the trunk and, keeping low to the ground, cut across the woods back toward the meadow. He could hear Jenkins calling out orders and thought at one point that his scar-snarled voice grew louder as though he was, once again, getting closer.

Lionel ran as fast as he could, but the soldiers seemed to be multiplying among the trees that towered above them all. Lionel thought about how over the course of this summer, he and his sister had spoken in reverent whispers in these woods. These soldiers could be heard clear to Canada, if anyone was listening.

He ran down another wash and fell as he tried to make his way up the other side. His legs ached, and his lungs felt as though they were on fire; but the voices and the sound of approaching hooves made him get back on his feet. Lionel wondered if he should try to hide again or make a final, desperate break for the meadow.

Something moved somewhere above him, and Lionel ran. He came out of the lower end of the depression and turned to find Jenkins riding at breakneck speed directly toward him. Lionel spun around and ran, the heavy breathing of Jenkins's horse getting closer with every beat of Lionel's thundering heart.

“There he is! over here!” bounced from tree to tree. Lionel could hear the horse at his heels and knew that it was only a matter of seconds before Jenkins was on top of him. He felt a biting sting slash across his back and shoulder, and fell. He looked up to see Jenkins turning his horse, a riding whip still swinging from his wrist.

“You stay put and quit all this runnin' and carryin' on!” Jenkins growled, raising the whip high above his head and bringing it back down on Lionel as he lay in a heap on the forest floor.

Lionel felt the burn of the whip. He covered his head with his hands as another blow landed, then looked up through clenched fingers to see a streaking shadow pass directly in front of him and collide with Jenkins's horse. Jenkins flew from his saddle, and his horse fell, barely missing him.

Lionel looked up to see Beatrice turn Ulysses on a dime. She was holding their grandfather's rifle in one hand, the rawhide reins in the other. Her face was once again painted in the dark black mask that she had worn at the sweat lodge with Barney and Tom Gunn. She looked wild, like a creature of these woods, as she drove her heels harder into Ulysses's side.

Jenkins pulled a large pistol from its holster as he stumbled to his feet. Beatrice and Ulysses countered, making another pass; this time Beatrice brought the butt of their grandfather's rifle across the side of Jenkins's head.

More soldiers emerged from the trees, and Lionel thought he heard shots fired. Before he knew it, he was running again; now somewhat frightened by the fierce intensity that showed in Beatrice's blackened eyes.

Beatrice pulled Ulysses around to make another pass at Jenkins, but then, seeing the approaching men, thought better of it and spurred the big horse toward Lionel. The men fired their rifles despite the captain's orders, so Lionel kept running, oblivious to the fact that Beatrice was behind him. The next thing Lionel knew, Beatrice had swooped him up into her arms and set him in front of her, straddling Ulysses's withers. She pushed Lionel's head down and drove the horse harder through the trees.

Lionel looked up trying to catch his breath. He couldn't get more than a sip of air into his burning lungs. He saw flashes through the trees of government horsemen trying to get ahead of Ulysses and cut off their escape. Now, Lionel thought, we'll see how fast Ulysses really is. Ulysses must have somehow heard what Lionel was thinking, because the big horse dug in and sped ahead of the men. Tree branches slapped at them as they outstripped the pursuing government horsemen.

Lionel looked back and saw that more horsemen had quickly joined them, and that one of them was Jenkins. Jenkins rode, beating his horse forward with unrelenting fury despite the steady stream of blood that poured down the creviced scar on his face.

“Beatrice!” Lionel cried. “They're coming!”

Ulysses answered for her, putting more ground between the children and the soldiers. Lionel wrapped his arms around Ulysses's neck and lowered his head further. He could see an opening in the trees ahead and thought that they must have reached the end of the Great wood. He looked to his right and saw another cluster of horsemen slashing across the trees in front of them.

Beatrice must have seen them too, because she pulled the big horse farther toward the opening in the trees; but one of the men cut with them, and as they reached the clearing, the two horses were running neck and neck. The government rider was just about on top of them when Lionel saw yet another horseman break from the tree line.

Lionel hung on for his life. The government rider was so close, Lionel could almost touch him. The rider pulled even closer and reached out to grab ahold of Ulysses's reins; but Beatrice batted his arm away with the rifle.

The rider tried again, but then their grandfather suddenly appeared at the man's side. Lionel could not believe his eyes. His grandfather was riding his mule on a direct collision course.

Beatrice spurred the big horse forward just as their grandfather sandwiched the government rider between his mule and Ulysses's right flank. Beatrice and Lionel turned to see their grandfather reach up and effortlessly knock the man off the back of his horse. Lionel felt like cheering but knew that they were a long way from safety.

They rode fast, now side by side with their grandfather as they crossed the clearing toward a strange rock outcropping that was cluttered with fallen timber. Lionel looked back and saw that Jenkins had reached the opposite tree line.

Jenkins dismounted and was raising his rifle to shoot.

Ulysses continued running, the trees that lined the clearing passing in a blur on either side. Lionel looked back just after Jenkins fired and heard the shot spiral overhead. Beatrice turned Ulysses toward a large fallen tree that even on its side looked to be about ten feet high. Another shot rang overhead, and Lionel saw Mr. Hawkins appear crouched on the top of a log straight ahead of them.

Mr. Hawkins leveled his heavy rifle on the rot of the fallen log and fired twice, both shots hurtling past Lionel, Beatrice, and their grandfather, then splintering a tree branch on the opposite end of the clearing just above Jenkins's head.

“Now, I missed them first two on purpose! The next time I pull this trigger you best believe it's gonna be different!” Hawkins shouted, the delayed thunder of his rifle rolling in echoes across the woods as if to emphasize his point.

Jenkins and the rest of the government men bolted for cover, and an eerie calm fell over the clearing. Ulysses continued into the safety of a cluster of rocks across the far end of the clearing opposite from Mr. Hawkins's position. when they rounded the corner, Lionel was surprised to see Corn Poe and Tom Gunn hunkered down with their hands over their heads.

“They're shootin' at us!” Corn Poe exclaimed as though some of their party hadn't figured it out yet.

Beatrice didn't bother spending time alleviating Corn Poe's concerns or commenting on his obvious claim. Before Ulysses even stopped, she dropped off the horse, and with their grandfather's rifle in hand, scrambled up to the high point of the rocks.

Lionel could see Junebug lying on his back about fifty paces away from them behind the big fallen log, holding the Hawkins's string of horses by the reins. Mr. Hawkins remained against the trunk with the heavy rifle sighted and aimed in the direction where Lionel had last seen Jenkins.

Mr. Hawkins turned, and with a wild look in his eye, shouted across their end of the clearing, “Y'all all right? They didn't hurt ya, did they?”

Their grandfather waved as Lionel dropped from Ulysses's back and into his arms.

“You okay, boy?” their grandfather said, looking over the welts from Jenkins's whip.

Lionel answered by burying his head into his grandfather's chest as random shots from the government's guns continued to crack and whiz into and off of the rocks surrounding them.

“Now, just where in the hell did you get to?” was all Corn Poe could think to say.

When Lionel looked up to answer, he realized it was too late. Jenkins and the government men were on top of them.

H
UNKERED
D
OWN
• J
ENKINS'S
H
ANDS AND
H
AWKINS'S
A
CCORD

JENKINS REACHED
them first. He and Lumpkin had dismounted and continued on foot through the trees that skirted the clearing to the huddled rocks where they hid. Jenkins appeared from their blind side, and before anyone knew it, knocked their grandfather to the ground and turned, facing Ulysses and Lionel.

“I told ya to quit yer runnin',” Jenkins said through clenched teeth. “Now ya gone and really made yerself some troubles.”

Jenkins inched forward as more soldiers emerged from the trees.

“Now, hand me the reins to that goddamned horse before I cut ya from guts to gullet,” he said, pulling the Frozen Man's knife from his army belt.

Lionel noticed for the first time that a single bear claw curled around the hilt of the Frozen Man's long, jagged blade. He looked from the knife to his grandfather, who, although back on his feet, stood staring into the barrel of Lumpkin's rifle.

“Ya leave that boy alone,” Grandpa demanded. “This is a matter for the captain.”

“Well, the captain ain't quite here, is he?” Jenkins said, inching closer. “And I've got a little score to settle with yer sister, don't I, Li-o-nel? It
is
Li-o-nel ain't it?”

Lionel looked down at the shiny, taut skin stretched and sutured across the back of Jenkins's hand.

“Ya lookin' at me hand, ain't ya? You remember, huh? Yer sister Beatrice is quite handy with the shears when she wants to be. But don't you worry; while it ain't what I'd call operatin' at one hundred percent, the doctors did patch 'er up, and she works just fine.”

Jenkins clenched the mangle of tight sinew into a fist to emphasize his point.

“Now, I've grown tired of askin'…where's yer sister?”

Beatrice did not allow Lionel to answer. She jumped from the rocks above and knocked Jenkins, once again, to the ground. Jenkins dropped the Frozen Man's knife, and in a split second Beatrice held it with both hands high above her head. Jenkins clamored for his pistol, but never reached it. Lionel watched as Beatrice drove the blade down as hard as she could, pinning Jenkins's good hand to the earth where he lay.

They all stood for a silent moment before Jenkins let out the first of many bloodcurdling screams. Lumpkin spun around and cracked Beatrice in the ribs as hard as he could with his rifle. She fell against the rock as he threw back the lever to take aim.

“Kill her!” Jenkins screamed. “Kill her!”

Grandpa was reaching out toward Lumpkin when a shot was fired, but it wasn't from Lumpkin's gun.

“You pull that trigger and I'll blow ya to kingdom come!” suddenly boomed across the clearing from tree line to tree line.

Lionel turned to see Mr. Hawkins and Junebug, now on horseback, with both of their rifles trained on Lumpkin's head. A small spiral of blue smoke drifted from the barrel of Mr. Hawkins's rifle.

“I've had just about enough of this!” Hawkins declared, a slight tremble in his voice. “You drop that rifle, or I swear to God, damn the consequences, I will shoot you dead where you stand.”

Lumpkin stole a hesitant glance at Jenkins.

“I mean it!” Mr. Hawkins shouted, firing the rifle again in the air.

Lumpkin lowered his rifle as more of the government men, including the captain, entered the clearing.

“That goes for all of y'all!” Hawkins shouted, turning toward the captain. “Me and the boy will keep pullin' these here triggers until we can't pull 'em no more!”

Lionel looked at Mr. Hawkins. His eyes were bright with fear and rage.

“The fact there's more of y'all don't matter to me.” The barrel of Mr. Hawkins's rifle was now pointing directly at the captain. “If it comes to it, and you're set on gunning us down, you better think about which ones me and the boy end up taking with us. I promise, it will be a fair percentage!”

The captain lowered his pistol and stepped his horse forward. “I don't think it needs to come to that.”

“I sure in hell hope it don't! I don't like killin' folk, but if it's between me or them, I will if I have to!” Hawkins returned.

“I assure you, if you please lower the rifle, I'll see that this is all dealt with justly.”

“Don't do it, Captain!” Jenkins spat, clutching his bloody hand with the mutilated one. “That there is Avery John Hawkins. He's a wanted man. A murderer. I've seen the warrant for his arrest. Figures we'd find him in cahoots with this lot.”

The captain turned to Hawkins, the pistol lower, but still in hand.

“Yes, sir. I am a wanted man, but don't make the mistake of thinkin' that you're bringin' me in today,” Hawkins shouted, the heavy rifle balanced now between Jenkins, Lumpkin, and the captain.

Lionel thought that during these few fleeting moments, the earth must have slowed down just a bit. All of the men who now stood, guns aimed at each other, were silent. He could hear the wind in the tops of the trees, the unsettled, subtle movements of the horses, and what he thought must have been the rapid beat of his own heart. But the moment didn't last.

“I'll tell ya what I'll do. I'll make a deal with ya,” Mr. Hawkins continued. “If you promise me that you'll see to it that these children is treated fairly, I'll let as many of your men as I could have killed live.”

The government men shifted uneasily.

“Me and the boy, we just want to be left alone, so we're gonna go. You can follow if ya like, but that's the deal. I'll let ya live right now, if you do the same.”

The captain looked to Beatrice and Lionel's grandfather. Everyone else's eyes darted anxiously from the captain to Mr. Hawkins.

“That's the deal, and the only way there ain't gonna be further bloodshed.”

“Okay, Hawkins, deal,” the captain said. “You have today.”

“Soft, I tell ya!” Jenkins cried.

“And, Corporal,” the captain said to one of his soldiers, “place Sergeant Jenkins and Private Lumpkin under arrest.”

“Under arrest?” Jenkins sputtered.

“I warned you! Now, don't worsen your situation!” the captain shouted, silencing Jenkins instantly. The captain turned his horse to face Hawkins. “Do we have an agreement?”

“We do,” Hawkins answered, his rifle still pointed at the soldiers. He looked over at Beatrice, who lay at Lumpkin's feet. “I'm sorry, Beatrice…Lionel. You couldn't come where me and the Junebug are going, anyhow.”

“What about me?” Corn Poe exclaimed.

Mr. Hawkins looked at the boy.

“It's best for you to stay, Corn Poe. You stay with Lionel, there. He'll take care of ya, won't ya, Lionel?”

Lionel looked up at Mr. Hawkins on his big horse and then over to Junebug sitting silently next to him.

“You all gonna be all right,” Mr. Hawkins said, with a hint of question to it.

“We're all right,” their grandfather answered, pulling a box of yellow pencils from his coat pocket. “We'll be just fine.”

Grandpa tossed the box to Junebug, releasing the Hawkinses after all they had done for Lionel and Beatrice. Junebug caught the box, nodded, and the Hawkinses turned their horses, rifles still at the ready, and a moment later, they were gone.