The sound of hooves pounding quickly down the road
drew the attention of several young men as they sat out on the front porch
of a two-story clapboard house.
It was a strange assortment of
young men. An Indian, and African-American, one with no hair, one blond
and dressed all in buckskin, one that looked too small to be any good, and
another that looked like he'd shoot you if you looked his way. Their eyes
scanned the area.
"Kid's not due back until tonight, right, Lou?"
The tough looking one asked the small one.
"No, Jimmy. He's not."
Lou replied.
The one without any hair tapped the Indian on the
shoulder and signed something. "Ike said, that the rider's coming in a
hurry. There's also more than one rider." The Indian said.
"How
can you tell?" Lou asked him.
"The horse doesn't sound right." He
replied.
Just then the Kid and his horse rounded the bend in the
road. Kid was riding hard. He pulled Katy to a stop just in front of the
house. The others stared at him in shock, and at the young woman in front
of him on the saddle. She looked like a china doll, a rather strange china
doll. Pale skin, dark hair, thin and dressed like a man. "Ike, help me.
Take her inside." Kid said lifting the girl up and passing her to Ike. Ike
carried her inside. Teaspoon and Rachel jumped up when he walked into the
main room where they were.
"What happened, Ike? Who's that?"
Teaspoon asked.
Ike jerked his head in the direction of the group
of riders around Kid. Teaspoon walked out the door and across the yard to
the others, leaving Ike and Rachel to care for the girl.
"Bring
her in here, Ike." Rachel said, walking over to the room that she normally
slept in. "Just lay her down there on the bed." She instructed. Ike did as
he was told.
When Rachel came over and began to unbutton the shirt
the girl was wearing Ike turned to go.
"Don't go anywhere, Ike.
I'm going to need your help."
Blushing hard Ike stood looking at
the ceiling while Rachel gave him the girls clothes, guns, knives, and hat
to hold.
"Just put those clothes in the chest and come with me to
see what Teaspoon found out from the others." She told him.
As
they walked out into the main room all of the other riders looked worried.
Who is she? Ike signed to Buck.
<Ask Teaspoon>, Buck
signed back.
Ike turned to Teaspoon and signed the question to
him.
"All I'm going to tell any of you is that her name is Colleen
Callahan. That's all you need to know for now."
<How'd she get
here?> Ike signed.
Buck asked the Kid. Kid told them the whole
story about what Holloway had said. He even included the gruesome news
about Sunset Creek. They all sat in silence for quite some time. The quiet
was interrupted when Deputy John Samara walked in the door.
"Where
is she?" Were the first words out of his mouth. Everyone stared at him in
shock. "I know she's here, Holloway told me. Just let me talk to her." He
said. Everyone relaxed.
"No one's going to be talking to her for a
while yet, John. She's still out cold." Rachel told him, walking to him to
give him a hug and take his coat, hat, and gun belt. "Why won't anyone
tell us what happened?" Kid asked.
John and Teaspoon looked at
each other.
"Can I tell them, Marshal Hunter?" John asked.
Teaspoon nodded to him.
John opened his mouth to say
something but was interrupted by a strong female voice from the back.
"Excuse me, but I would dearly love to know where I am. Would
someone mind coming back here and telling me?" Rachel stood. "I'll go. You
tell them, John." John cleared his throat and began.
"Colleen
Callahan, Callie as she's better known, is one of the best female
gunfighters ever. Her parents were killed in the range wars about twelve
years ago. She and her sister were sent to an orphanage in Sante Fe. A nun
who worked there adopted them and changed their last names from Callahan
to Gallagher. Colleen never was able to forget about what had happened to
her parents, she was determined for revenge. When she was about 15 she ran
away from the orphanage with three of her friends: James Crags, Michael
Runes, and Luke Morgan. There was trouble wherever they went. Gunfights,
saloon brawls, things like that. Well, about a year and a half ago, Callie
and her boys went to Sunset Creek looking for an old enemy that had shown
up again. The man that had killed her parents. Some fellow named Van Dahl.
They were set up. Her boys were all said to be killed and for a while
everyone thought that she was dead. Truth was though, that she had just
been hurt real bad. Three gunshot wounds, and being bashed across the eyes
with a whiskey bottle will make anyone want to lay low for a while. But
there's something else about her that I'm fairly sure only a few people
know. Callie's, well, see that whiskey bottle hit her across the eyes and
she's, well, she's..." John trailed off, looking at the back of the room.
"For one thing, she's up." He said abruptly.
Everyone turned
in the direction he was facing. A young woman stood there looking in
John's direction with a defiant and cocky statement. "What were you going
to say, John? That I'm blind? It's no great secret." She said. The face
that they'd all seen now had a strong mesmerizing voice and crystal blue
eyes to go with it. She had a very beautiful face, despite the scars that
ran around her eyes. The way she was standing there you never would have
been able to tell she was blind. Ike watched her every move. Her cocky
attitude was very evident. She was looking in John's direction like she
could see him. It was eerie. Her clothes were men's clothes. They fit her
loosely, but you could still see that her shape was very feminine. She had
a pair of ivory handled Navy Colts, much like Jimmy's only hers were
engraved with something and the one on her right side had a small silver
cross hanging from it, slung low on her waist. A knife was strapped to her
left leg. She had another knife at her belt. Her shirt was white and she
had on a tan vest over it. Her pants were dark brown and they were pulled
down over her boots. She held her hat in her hands. It was black with a
feather attached to the hatband. The feather was small and red. She put
the hat on her head; frowning when she felt the bandage that was wrapped
around her temples. Ike thought she looked amazing.
"I've got to be
going, Deputy. Real nice of you to invite me to stay, Rachel, but I've
been here too long." She said.
"Please stay, Callie. It's
dangerous for you to be out. I'm sure one of the boys won't mind giving up
a bed for one night." Rachel said.
"Boys?" Callie asked.
"Yes. The Pony Express riders for Sweetwater. There's Buck; he's
the one closest to you. He's an Indian half-breed. Then there's Kid and
Lou. Kid's the one who brought you here. Then there's Cody and Jimmy. Then
over here there's Ike. He can hear but he can't speak." Rachel told her.
Callie shook hands with each of them and then turned to Rachel. "I
really have to be going. Good night." Then, with one hand out she walked
across the room, feeling her way to the door. When she stepped outside she
whistled loudly. A few moments later a horse trotted into view. "As you
can see, I brought your horse." John said. "You're wrong, Deputy." She
said bitterly. John looked at her in shock. She turned her head in his
direction so that the scars were plainly visible. "I can't see." She told
him then, turning, mounted her horse and spurred it into a gallop. In
moments the sound of hooves disappeared. The group stood there inside the
door in a kind of shocked silence. Ike tapped Teaspoon on the shoulder and
signed him a question. <Should she be riding when she's hurt?> Ike
asked. "No, she shouldn't be riding! Come on all of you! We've got to find
her before she gets sick or hurt or something such as that!" Teaspoon
said. No one moved.
"COME ON ALL OF YOU!" He yelled. With a start
all of the boys ran to the barn and saddled their horses. As soon as they
were all saddled they set out in search of someone that none of them knew
and they were all fairly certain they would never
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