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The Unexpected Angel
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It was a dry windy day in Four Corners and Mary Travis was waiting for
the stage to arrive. Though she wasn't waiting for the arrival of
her son Billy, but for someone else. She was waiting for Angelica
Stuart and her father the Reverend Thomas Stuart, who used to be the town's
minister. The reverend was leaving his daughter in town in the care
of Mary while he went to Dodge City to try to turn into a righteous place.
It's not that Angelica needed looking after at the age of 18, but her father
wanted to insure her safety. He knew of the seven men who guarded
the town and knew that would be the securest place for his daughter.
The stage came bounding into town in a film of dust. It came to a halt and the door popped open to reveal the reverend and he then helped his daughter down. Mary went over to them and embraced Angelica. "It's been so long." Mary said. "I know I've missed this quaint town." Angelica responded sweetly. "I do hope having her here with you isn't an inconvenience?" the reverend asked. "No, don't be silly it's nice to have some campionship. I was looking forward to her staying." Mary responded as the luggage was dropped on to the ground. "I have to get back on the stage right away, so I'm going to miss you so much my dear little angel." He said as he hugged his daughter. JD was watching the touching scene and wondered who she was. "I'll be its Thomas Stuart." Josiah said as he walked up to JD. "You know them?" JD asked. "Yeah, I spent some time with him years back. He's a good man and that lovely young lady is his daughter. She 's a joy to be around." Josiah commented. "My word. I thought that was my mother again with all that luggage." Ezra said as he walked up to the two of them. "It would be real nice to see your mother again." Josiah said. "She's a busy woman gentlemen. She hasn't the time to come visit me all the time." Ezra said. "That truly is a pity of the highest order." Josiah said. Ezra looked over at the beautiful young woman with her flowing copper locks hanging from her cream colored bonnet. She surely was an enchanting sight out here Ezra thought to himself. She had the fairest ivory skin he had ever seen with an angelic smile. "Gentlemen I suggest we assist the young lady with her possessions." Ezra said. "Yeah, I'm sure Mrs. Travis would appreciate that." JD said as he followed Ezra. "Mrs. Travis might we be of some assistance?" Ezra asked looking at the young lady who smiled at him. "Why thank you. Angelica this is Ezra Standish, he's one of the men who help protect the town. This is JD Dunne our sheriff and this Josiah Sanchez who also works with them." Mary said. "Mr. Sanchez I remember you, you worked with my father once." She said pleasantly. "I remember, you were just a little girl then, my you have grown up a bit." He said. "Why thank you so much. If you gentlemen could help me with my things and bring them over to the Clarion office?" She asked. "We would be more than delighted to assist you." Ezra said smiling at her with his gold tooth glinting. The three helped Mary and Angelica with her things and then took their leave. Though Ezra was enchanted with the young woman so much so he had difficulty playing poker in the saloon later that same day. "JD I think we have another love sick calf on our hands." Buck said smiling over at Ezra from the bar. "I know he was so nice to her." JD said snickering. "I fail to see the humor in someone as you so callously put it being 'a love sick calf'. Honestly, does a man have to be in love to be courteous to a woman? I was raised to help damsels in distress so to speak." Ezra said shuffling his deck of cards. "I heard that she's one of those good little girls." Buck said. "That and Josiah told me that they used to be rich but her father wasted all their money and know they're dirt poor." JD added. "Isn't that a pity." Ezra commented as one of the saloon's tables were over turned. "We must scourge the earth of these vices!" a man bellowed through the saloon. "What the hell is this?" Buck asked as he and the others pulled out their guns. "This is the den of the devil, the root of all the evil in this once Garden of Eden." The man shouted drawing passersby into the saloon. "Is this charlatan for real?" Ezra asked as he looked at his friends. "I think we better make sure he doesn't hurt no one." Buck said. Angelica had heard the commotion and walked into the saloon and heard this man ranting and raving how drinking and gambling had caused the town to spiral downward into a hellhole. "Sir, what are suggesting? That because people exercise their right to drink and gamble that the town is no longer a virtuous place, well then I think you are very mistaken." She said. The others were surprised by her boldness and thought it very noble of her to defend the people in the saloon. "How am I mistaken? Are you not a God fairing woman?" he asked. "I should think so. My father is a reverend. Though I was taught not to judge others the way you are. This is a free country and people have the right to do what they see fit. That's why God gave us the freedom of choice, so we can decide what is best for us. I suggest you take your soap box preaching elsewhere." She said firmly. The man walked over to her and grabbed her arm. Ezra and Buck sprang into action. "Get your dirty paw off the lady." Buck said as he pointed his gun at him. "I think it would be best if you took your leave now." Ezra said as he jabbed his .45 in the man's side. "Very well, but you have not seen the last of me." The man said as he let Angelica go and walked out of the saloon. "Ma'am are you all right?" Buck asked. "I'm fine thank you. He has nerve to call himself a man of God when he goes around grabbing women like that." She said angrily. "He's nothing more than quack. He does not possess a righteous bone in his body I assure you. He's one of those people who like to stir up trouble." Ezra said as he looked down at her admiringly. He had yet to met such a beautiful woman with such an essence of being. There was just something about he thought to himself, something very enchanting indeed. "Some people thrive on making other people's lives miserable." Angelica responded. "Ma'am I couldn't agree more, I just hope that jerk doesn't come back." Buck said as he noticed Chris walked in to the saloon. "What was the ruckus all about?" Chris asked. "Some preacher came in here trying to tell us that drinking and gambling is wrong and stuff." Buck said. "I do hope he isn't of the dangerous sort. I best keep an eye for him." Chris said as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. "You best go back to Mrs. Travis." Buck said to Angelica. "Could one of you gentleman take me back, I wouldn't want to walk back alone after that?" Angelica asked. "I would be more than contented to take wherever you need to journey." Ezra said as he grabbed his hat. "Why thank you so much." She responded as she put her arm out to him. They both walked out of the saloon and went on their way to the Clarion office. "I told he was love sick. Can't you just hear him mooing?" Buck asked as Josiah walked up to the bar. "I know did you hear him? He was like 'I'd be so contented', what kind of talk is that?" JD asked. "I know, he's probably buttering her up so he can role in the hay with her. You know what they say about those good little girls, sometimes they do bad things." Buck said as he laughed. "I hope you don't think that way about her. She's not like that Buck, you take that back." Josiah said. "Hey, there Josiah, I was only teasing, now." Buck said as he waved his hands to ward off Josiah. "I'm worried about that man that was here earlier. He belongs to a strange radical sect of a religion that's trying to rid the country of sin." Josiah said. "I know Mary told me about it. They're camped outside town." Chris responded. "We best keep our eyes open for trouble." Josiah said. The others nodded in agreement. ******************************************************************************************** The next morning dawn broke over the desert sky and Mary Travis came running out of the Clarion office screaming. "Angelica!" She shouted on top of her lungs running up and down the street. "My word, Mrs. Travis you could wake the dead lamenting like that." Ezra said as he ran up to a distraught Mary. "What the devil is going on?" Chris said as he and the others ran up to her. "Angelica is gone and this was left on my door." Mary said as she handed Ezra the letter. Ezra stared at it for a moment and began to read it aloud, "I have taken the heathen to a better place to make her repent for her sins. That's all it says. That charlatan must have abducted her." "We'll form a posse and find her Mary, don't worry." Chris said as he rubbed her shoulder. "You have to. I promised her father that I would take care of her. I've failed." Mary said fighting back the tears. The seven rode off in search of Angelica. They rode hard and fast and followed the obvious tracks that the fleeing party had left for Vin to trail. The tracks stopped at the edge of a cliff. "They took her down that ravine probably. I suspect that's why I see the camp fire off in the distance." Vin commented. "Can we storm the camp?" JD asked. "We best wait till we can see how many are down there." Vin said. "You're right, but we don't know what they're doing to that girl." "Probably purging her." Josiah added. "Purging?" Nathan questioned. "Purging is like cleansing her of her sins." Josiah said. "Sounds charming. I knew that man was a threat to her. He warned her he'd be back for her." Ezra commented. "We've got to get down there and save her before they hurt her." JD said. "We can go down there and surround them and then ambush 'em." Chris said as he got back up on his horse. The others followed suit and they began to ride down the ravine slowly. Once they arrived down near the site of the camp Chris assessed the situation. "I say we wait a bit to see if some of them leave camp maybe to get food or water and then we can take them." Chris said. Ezra did not like the idea of waiting he felt that Angelica's life was in serious jeopardy. He decided to sneak away from the camp and take matters into his own hands. Ezra stealthily moved about in the high brush that was surrounding the camp and saw Angelica tied up sitting all by herself. She had some bruises and her dress was torn in some spots. He was relieved to see that no severe injuries had been committed to her person. He walked up to her and she smiled joyfully at the sight of this handsome gentleman who had so nobly came to her rescue. "I so delighted to see you. I was terrified that no one would come to look for me." She said. "Nonsense, of course someone would come emancipate you. I would not envisage you staying here with these eccentrics." Ezra said as he began to untie her. "I'm just so grateful that you came for me. Did you come alone?" she asked as she got up off the ground. "No, my affiliates are also with me." Ezra said as he heard gunfire and jumped in front of Angelica to shield her from the onslaught of bullets. "What the devil is all that gunfire down there?" Chris asked. "I don’t know, but it looks to me like something is going on down there. I think we best get moving." Vin suggested. "Where's Ezra?" Buck asked looking around. "I haven't seen him for a while." JD responded. The others looked around and noticed that Ezra left his horse behind. "He probably went down there alone. That's why there's all that gunfire." Vin stated very annoyed. "I could kill him for this. He never listens." Chris said through his clenched teeth. "Stay down!" Ezra shouted to Angelica as she tried to get up from behind a large boulder. "Are you hurt?" she asked her eyes filled with concern. "No, I'm fine." He responded noticing how beautiful she was with her hair all tousled. His thoughts were disrupted when a man came up behind the two of them and aimed a double barrel shotgun at them. Ezra put his gun down and raised his arms in the air. Angelica slowly got up alongside him. "Come on, start walking." The man said. They obeyed and walked back to the main part of camp. The seven saw both of them being led to tent near a large tree. "I see 'em." Buck said. "I say we wait to see what they do for a few minutes." Vin said to Chris who just nodded his head. "You do not have the right to interfere with our plans for this sinner." The man from the saloon the other day said. "Well, you sir, do not have the right to abduct a young women either." Ezra said calmly knowing his comrades would come and save them. "That is what you think, she has gone off the path, but there is hope is for her. Though there is none for you. It's time to string you up for your evil ways." The man said as some other men walked over with a noose. "What are you doing? You call yourselves God faring people but you kill people for no real reasons. This is ridiculous." Angelica said enraged by the thought of her handsome hero being killed. "We must get rid of the evil element in this world and he's part of that." He said as two men grabbed Ezra and put the noose around his neck. "Gentleman I plead with that I am not an amoral person, just a bit misguided." Ezra said looking over at Angelica and realizing that these men were very serious. "Boys, I think we best move even faster. Look, they're stringing up Ezra." Buck said pointing in that direction. They already had Ezra standing on a portable desk. "Oh my…" was JD's shocked response. "I can shoot him down." Vin said as they picked up there pace. "You can't do this to him. He didn't do anything. For goodness sakes he's the law in town. It's his job to bring me back." Angelica said pleading with the man. "That makes no matter. On the count of five remove the desk." He said. "NO!" Angelica screamed. It was too late though the count down had started and before she knew what was happening the desk was removed and Ezra was swinging. The seven had made it to the clearing and Vin took some shots at the tree, but someone shot him and he fell down. Angelica ran over and grabbed his sawed-off and fired one shot with deadly accurate aim and the rope split in two and Ezra fell to the ground with a thud. The others were mystified beyond belief how that petite young lady who just happens to be a minister's daughter could have an aim that good. She surely did not look like she possessed the skills necessary for marksmanship. Angelica ran over to Ezra and he rubbed his neck and looked over at her admiringly. "My word, you are a superior shot. Apparently I am now in your debt for your intrepid exploit. I am also grateful." Ezra said smiling at her as the others walked over to them. "Damn girl, where did you learn to shoot like that?" Buck asked. "I used to go duck hunting with my father. I was always an excellent shot." She said modestly embarrassed by the attention she was drawing. "Well, we are glad you were able to handle the situation." Chris said looking over at Ezra. "As am I." Ezra said smiling at her and he realized that she was blushing. He thought that was so precious. "I'm mad as hell at you for doing that alone. You almost got yourself killed, I think that is lesson enough for you." Chris said glaring at Ezra. Nathan walked up to the group and went to go look at Ezra's neck. "You look all right. You might want some rest for a day or so and your neck might be stiff for a while." He said. "How's Vin doing?" Ezra asked. "They just winged him." Nathan responded. Ezra walked off with Angelica thinking how fortuitous he was that she was able to save his life. Not only did she look an angelic, but also she was an angel. Apparently her parents gave her a befitting name. TO BE CONTINUED… |
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