18
Grant grimaced. He hadn’t wanted to get involved with Alvin and his friends and their schemes against Louis Hill, but Alvin demanded it. Grant thought about refusing, but he was in no mood to get beaten to a pulp again.
No longer was he the older brother and in charge. Alvin made that clear. The sooner Grant could start his new job and get away from his brother, the better.
He had met Alvin at the house of one of the younger members of Alvin’s association, Jimmy Hutchins. Well, it was the young man’s parents’ house. His mother had actually cooked them a big pot of chicken and dumplings!
Did Jimmy’s parents know what their son was up to?
They were gone for the evening helping to set up some of the Fourth of July tables in the park. Tomorrow would be a big celebration, and most of the town members seemed to have their parts to play.
“Ma said to make sure your boots were clean.” Jimmy, a long lanky boy, stepped back as the men glanced down at their boots and then entered the house.
Grant didn’t know the boy well. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. Seemed a shame that Alvin had wrangled someone so young into this venture. Jimmy had hardly begun to live his life. If they were caught, it was certain to be prison for them.
Jimmy closed the door, then led them to the kitchen. It wasn’t a big house, and they ate in the kitchen, like most of the folks Grant knew. The small table and chairs didn’t have room enough for all six of the men who’d come, but Jimmy grabbed a stool from a room off the kitchen and handed it to Grant.
“I’ll just stand. Go ahead and help yourself.”
The pot of chicken and dumplings, along with bowls and spoons, were already on the table. The men lost no time in grabbing up the food. Once everyone had their bowl and had settled down to eat, Alvin spoke.
“Hill gives a speech tomorrow at noon. Sort of a farewell to Kalispell with the false encouragement that eventually we’ll have service again.”
Grant turned to Alvin. “How do ya know that?”
Alvin frowned. “I have my sources. Don’t you worry. I know what I’m talking about.” He ate a little of the soup and then continued. “We’ll shadow Hill all day if necessary. We’ll watch for an opportune time to grab him. Everybody wear a bandanna so you can quickly put it over your face. Grant will keep the horses for us down at the rail yard. After we get Hill, we’ll take him to the old huntin’ cabin on the Flathead River. The one we used last year. Everyone know where it is?”
The men nodded. Alvin continued. “While we take him there, Grant will break into the telegraph office and senda telegram to James Hill in Minnesota and tell him our demands.”
Too bad Alvin knew that operating a telegraph was one of the first jobs Grant had back when Alvin was just a boy. He’d thought about staying with it, but it didn’t pay as well as working for the railroad. Especially since he was just an assistant, and the head man had no thoughts of leaving the job.
“Once they have our telegram, they’ll know what we require.”
“And what exactly are we requiring?” One of the men helped himself to a second bowl of dumplings.
“That James Hill agrees to keep the Kalispell line operational—several times a week—as well as keep a small shop here in town. We’ll demand immediate confirmation or threaten to kill his son.”
“And how are we gonna keep Hill from changing his mind after we let his son go?” another of the men asked.
Good question.
But Alvin just shrugged. “We’ll make it clear that they do things our way or James Hill will be our next victim. We’ll threaten the whole family. Louis Hill has a family. We’ll threaten to kill them all. That ought to be a good enough reason to do things our way.”
How could Alvin be so casual about threateninganyone’s life? He should just walk out—
“We’ll take Hill when he’s alone. We’ll throw a sack over his head so he can’t see us. Just in case, though, we’ll have our bandannas on.”
“Why don’t we just knock him out when we find him? It’ll make him much more cooperative,” one of the men threw out.
Alvin nodded. “That’s a good idea. We can sneak up and hit him from behind. That’ll keep him from crying out for help. The real problem is going to be getting him out of town without anyone seeing. Grant, once you send that telegram, you should do what you can to cover up our tracks for a ways.”
So much for walking out. Grant nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Jimmy, did you get some supplies out to the cabin?”
The young man nodded. “I stole a case of canned beans and a couple tins of crackers and a bag of coffee. That’s enough to get us started.”
“We have no idea how long we’ll have to wait it out.” Alvin seemed to enjoy being in charge. “Hopefully Hill will respond quickly to our telegram.”
