He grabbed the door and hauled it open, but as he stepped forward, a rough rope fell over his head, cinched tight around his neck, and pulled back hard, yanking him off his feet.
“That’s it, Duncan!” Henry cried. “Drag him over to that big cottonwood!”
Cole growled with pain and frustration, trying and failing to free his neck from the rope as the man named Duncan dragged him across the ground to the tree.
The others thundered after him.
Cole tried to free himself, but he couldn’t get the rope loose, and suddenly, darkness formed at the edges of his vision.
He struggled harder, but the darkness enveloped him.
When he came to, someone had lifted him onto his feet.
Everything hurt.
The rope was still around his neck. Someone had tied his wrists behind his back.
He could barely breathe. His face and body hurt, and he knew they had beaten him while he was unconscious.
His nose was broken. Maybe his jaw, too. And ribs on both sides.
He forced one swollen eye open and saw a panting Henry wiping blood from his knuckles. “Told you boys I’d whup him. Now, it’s about time to get him up in that tree.”
Realizing what Henry meant, Cole said, “Hold on. You don’t have to do this. I never hurt any of you. You can have the gold.”
“We already got the gold,” Henry said. “Where’s the woman?”
“Not here,” Cole said.
“Liar,” Tripp said, his voice thick from his own broken nose.
“We’ll find her,” Henry said. “We’ll tear the place apart and find her, won’t we, boys?”
A few men whooped excitedly. The others were as silent as funeral goers.
“You don’t have to do this,” Cole said again. “Look, I am a man of mercy. Let me go, and I will forgive you.”
Henry laughed wildly. “Hear that, boys? He’s a man of mercy. Lucky us!”
“You don’t understand,” Cole told them. “If you do this, another man will come. He might look like me, but he will have no mercy, none whatsoever. He will kill every last one of you, no matter how you beg.”
“Shut him up, Duncan!” Henry ordered. “Stretch his lying neck!”
The rope squeezed painfully around Cole’s neck. He choked as the noose lifted him off the ground and into the air.
Please, Lord,he prayed, writhing to no avail.Please protect Mary.
Down on the ground, men laughed and catcalled, telling him to dance.
Cole ignored them, knowing he was finished. Darkness formed at the edges of his vision and started to tighten again. This time, he knew it would close over him forever.
Please, Lord,Cole prayed with his final seconds,bring Conn down on these men!
5
Mary Sullivan gasped when she heard them come into the house. She crouched in the shallow basement among recently harvested crops, trembling with fear.
The intruders shouted for her, calling her “woman” and “lady” and “Mrs. Sullivan” and laughing in between.
