Chapter 43 Section VII

It took him half an hour to call in the reserve officers and deploy patrol cars on the major highways in Carbon County's southeast, northwest, and east.Highway Patrolmen were ordered to check every car and every trunk.What they were looking for was a beautiful brunette in a white silk dress.Just after three o'clock, Officer Ed called from the police car outside T-Bar Ranch. "It's a strange thing, Sheriff. We've got nearly twenty notes from eyewitnesses. The man on horseback came in because everyone thought he was at the Wild West rodeo. He was wearing buckskin, Riding a tall sorrel mare, wearing a fox fur hat, with a dangling feather in her head, and a bow."

"Bow? What kind of bow? Made of pink ribbon?" "I don't mean the bow, Sheriff, but the bow, the bow of the bow. That's all the more strange." "Don't be surprised. Go on." "Witnesses say that when the man rushed to the altar and bent over to hug the bride, she cooperated with him. People said that she seemed to know him, and she hugged him tightly with her arms and rode together. Over the fence. If she hadn't held him tight, she would have fallen off her horse, and here she is now." A stone hanging from the sheriff's heart fell to the ground.If he is lucky, what he encounters is not a kidnapping case, but an elopement.He smiled.

"Did all the witnesses testify to that, Ed? The man didn't beat her, knock her out, throw her in the saddle, take her captive?" "Obviously not. He's caused a lot of havoc, though. The wedding is screwed up, the party is ruined, the bride is running away, the groom is making a fuss." The Sheriff smiled even wider. "Oh, that's kind of scary," he said. "Anyone know who that guy is?" "Looks like. The bride's father said the daughter had an affair with a young lad who posed as a Frontiersman at Heritage Castle over the summer. Did you know?"

Lewis knew something about that castle.His own daughter took the kids there for a day and loved it. "Anyway, the girl broke off her engagement to Kevin Braddock because of the relationship. Her parents thought she was crazy for doing so and persuaded her to renew the engagement. The man's name was Ben, they said. Craig." Officer Ed went back to take notes.Sheriff Lewis was trying to contact Heritage Fort when Professor Ingalls called. "It's probably not a big deal," he began to report. "One of my young employees ran away. Just last night." "Did he steal anything, Professor?"

"Oh, no. He had his own horse and costume, and a rifle. I had it confiscated during that time. But he broke into the armory and took it." "What does he want that thing for?" "Hunting, I hope. He's a nice young man, if a bit wild. He was born and raised in the Pryor Mountains, where the folks seem to be mountain folk. He never even went to school." "Listen, Professor, this may be serious. Could this young man be a danger?" "Oh, I hope not." "What else did he bring?" "Well, he's got a hunting knife, and a hatchet is missing. Plus a Cheyenne bow and four flint arrows."

"He took your antiques?" "No, he made it himself." The sheriff thought for a moment. "Is this man Ben Craig?" "Yes, how do you know?" "Go on, Professor. Is he in love with a pretty young governess visiting the castle from Billings?" He heard the professor on the other end of the phone discussing with someone named Xia Li behind him. "He seemed to be deeply in love with such a girl. He thought she accepted his love, but I heard that she wrote to him asking to end the relationship. He was so shocked that he even asked about her wedding. When and where. I hope he didn't do something stupid."

"Unfortunately, he has just snatched the girl from the altar." "Oh my God." "Listen, is he going to trade the horse for a car?" "No. He can't drive and has never been in a car. He will camp in the wilderness with his favorite horse." "Where is he going?" "Almost certainly the South, Mount Pryor. He hunted and hunted there all his life." "Thank you, Professor, you have been of great help to us." He ordered the barricades removed and called the Carbon County helicopter pilot to get airborne and report for duty.Then he waited for the inevitable call from Big Bill Braddock.

Sergeant Paul Lewis is an excellent law enforcement officer, calm and kind when things go wrong.He would rather help people out of trouble than take advantage of them, but the law is the law, and he will not hesitate to enforce it. His grandfather had been a cavalry warrior and had died on the plains, leaving a widow and a baby boy at Lincolnburg.The war widow married another soldier stationed in Montana.His father grew up in Montgomery and was married twice.After her first marriage in 1900, she had two daughters.After his wife died, he remarried, and in 1920, at the age of forty-five, had his only son.

Sheriff Lewis is fifty-eight years old and will be retiring in two years.He plans to go to some lakes in Montana and Wyoming later, where he can fish for fierce trout. He wasn't invited to the wedding, which didn't surprise him.Over the past year, his officers have dealt with four drunken brawls involving Kevin Braddock.In each case, the bar owner was offered generous financial compensation and was reluctant to press charges.The sheriff was used to young people getting into fights, but when Braddock Jr. beat a bar girl for refusing to comply with his outlandish demands, Lewis felt the seriousness of the problem.

The sheriff puts Kevin Braddock in jail and prepares to bring charges against him, but the girl suddenly changes her mind, remembering that she accidentally fell downstairs and injured herself. There was another situation that the sheriff never told anyone.Three years ago, he got a call from a friend in the Helena Police Department.They used to be classmates in the police academy. The colleague described a nightclub raid by Helena police.It was a drug den.Police recorded the names and addresses of everyone present, including Kevin Braddock.If he had drugs on hand, he must have gotten rid of them in time, so he was released.But that nightclub is a gay hangout.

At this time, the phone rang.It's Valentino, Big Bill Braddock's personal attorney. "You may have heard what happened here this afternoon, Sheriff. Your assistants will be here in a few minutes." "I heard that things didn't go exactly as planned." "Please do not cover, Sheriff Lewis. This was a brutal kidnapping and the perpetrator must be brought to justice." "That's what you say, lawyer. But I have a lot of statements from customers and deliverers, to the effect that the young lady voluntarily cooperated with the horse, and that she and the boy, the rider, had a conversation been in a relationship. So, it looks more like an elopement to me." "Sophistry of rhetoric, Sheriff. If the girl wants to break the marriage, nothing can stop her, but now she was taken by violence. The criminal broke into the place and kicked two of Mr. Braddock's employees. and caused great damage to private property. Mr. Braddock is going to prosecute. Are you going to get the criminals, or are we going to get them?" Sheriff Lewis doesn't like being threatened. "I hope you and your client will not go to enforce the law privately, lawyer? That would be the most unwise move." Lawyers brushed off counter threats. "Mr Braddock has a deep concern for the safety of his daughter-in-law. He has a right to seek her." "Is the wedding over?" "Wedding what?" "Is your client's son legally married to Miss Pickett?" "this……" "In that case, she is not your client's daughter-in-law. She has nothing to do with them." "Until further information is obtained, she is still the fiancée of my client's son. He is an act of an enthusiastic citizen. So are you going to catch the gangster? Don't forget about Helena." Sheriff Lewis sighed.He knew how much influence Bill Braddock could wield over state legislators.He wasn't afraid of this, but this young man, Ben Craig, undoubtedly pissed off the big man. "After finding out his whereabouts, I will rush there immediately." He said.Putting down the phone, he thought it would be safer to find the lovebirds before Braddock's gang did.The helicopter pilot called, and it was nearly four o'clock, two hours before the sun went down and the sky darkened. "Jerry, I want you to find T-Bar Ranch. Then fly south toward Pryor Mountain. Watch ahead and to the left and right." "What am I looking for, Paul?" "A lone rider on horseback, heading south, probably into the mountains. Behind him is a girl in a white wedding dress." "Are you joking?" "No. Some tramp on horseback just snatched Bill Braddock's son's fiancée from the altar." "I think this guy is great," said the police helicopter pilot.He had just left Billings Airport. "Help me find him, Jerry." "It's a small matter. If he's there, I can find him. I'm off." Five minutes later, he flew over T-Bar Ranch and turned his course to due south.He kept a thousand feet in the air so he could see the moving rider below him and scan the situation ahead and ten miles to the left and right. He could see Route 310 to his right, and the railroad line heading south to Warren Village and then across the plains into Wyoming.Ahead, he could see the peaks of Mount Prior. In order to prevent the rider from being pursued and turning west across the road, Sheriff Lewis asked the Highway Patrol to patrol along Route 310 and pay attention to the grass on both sides of the road for a rider. Big Bill Braddock wasn't idle either.After leaving the staff to clean up the mess on the lawn, he and his guard went straight to his office.He had no sense of humor himself, but the people around him had never seen him so angry.He sat quietly behind his desk for a while, surrounded by a dozen people, waiting for his order. "What shall we do, boss?" one of them finally asked. "Thinking," growled the rancher, "thinking. Where could he go, alone, with a heavy load, and a limited range?" Ex-Green Beret Special Forces soldier Max is examining a map of Carbon County hanging on the wall. "Not going north, or he'd have to cross the Yellowstone River, which is too deep. So, south. Back to that replica castle over the hill?" "Yes. I want ten of you, mounted and armed, to go south and spread out to form a line five miles wide. Go fast and catch him." When the ten herders saddled their horses, he was outside giving them their task. "Each of you has a wireless phone. Keep in touch. If you spot him, call for reinforcements, and when you surround him, bring the girl back. If he tries to threaten her or you, you know what to do, you understand mine. Meaning. I demand the girl be brought back, and no one else. Go." Ten riders jogged out of the gate, spread out to form a fan, and galloped away.The fugitives had set off forty-five minutes earlier, but with two men on horseback, saddlebags, rifles, and a heavy buffalo hide. At the ranch, lawyer Valentino came back to report the situation. "The sheriff seems to be taking it lightly. But he will organize a search. Patrol cars are on the road and a helicopter will probably be dispatched," he reported. "I don't want them to get there first," Braddock snapped, "but I want to know what he got. Max, go to the radio room. I want a scan of all the police channels in this county and a permanent monitor. Get our choppers up in the air and get ahead of the horse-riding party to find the bastard and lead the riders to him. We need more than one chopper, rent two more at the airport. Go, now." They were all wrong.Professor, Sheriff and Braddock.The Frontiersman did not make his way to Mount Pryor.He knew that was too obvious. He stopped five miles south of the ranch and wrapped a saddle blanket over Breeze.The blanket was bright red to shade the dazzling white dress.But he had never heard of helicopters.After a brief stay, he headed diagonally to the southwest, where he remembered crossing a long strip of black rock in the spring. He was able to make out, from a mile away, a line of straight poles with strings drawn from them.The poles traversed across his face, out of sight.It was a telephone line over the Burlington Railroad, which ran parallel to the road. At 3:30 in the afternoon, police helicopter pilot Jerry, who was hovering in the sky, reported the situation. "Paul, didn't you say a lone rider? But there's a whole army down here." Braddock's pursuit party, the Sheriff thought. "What the hell did you find, Jerry?" The sound from mid-air was interspersed with crackling noises. "I counted at least eight riders, in a horizontal file, galloping south. Looked like help from the ranch, and they were all riding light. Also, there was another helicopter circling the foot of the mountain ahead. , very close to the replica castle." Lewis cursed softly.He wishes he was in a police helicopter now, not in his office. "Jerry, if the fugitives are ahead, try to get ahead of them. If Braddock's men get hold of the lad, he'll probably die." "Got it, Paul. I'll keep looking." At the ranch house, the head of the radio room came to the office door. "Mr. Braddock, boss, the police helicopter is right over the heads of our pursuers." "So there's a witness," Marks said. "Tell our people to keep looking," Braddock snapped. "We'll settle the matter in court later." Sergeant Lewis was delighted that sitting in his office gave him control over the situation.At five minutes to five, a phone call came in, and a voice shouted excitedly: "I see." "Speaker, reveal your identity." "Patrol T-1, on Route 310. He just crossed the road, riding southwest. I saw him go into the woods." "Which section of Highway 310?" "Four miles north of Brigill." "Confirm that the target is on the west side of the road," Lewis ordered. "Yes, Sheriff." "Stay on the road in case he turns back." "Understood." Sheriff Lewis examines the map on the wall.If the rider proceeded further, he would encounter another railroad line and the wider Interstate 212 through the mountains into Park County, Wyoming. There were two patrol cars patrolling the interstate.He asked the patrol car to continue heading south and keep his eyes open for anyone trying to cross the road from east to west.He then called the police helicopter pilot. "Found him, Jerry, west of you. He just crossed 310, riding southwest. Can you make it there? About four miles north of Brigill. He's back in the open wasteland." "Okay, Paul, but I'm almost out of gas and it's getting dark." The sheriff took another look at the small town on the map called Brigill. "There's an airstrip in Brigill. Save your fuel and fly there. You might spend the night there. Your wife Jenny's there. I'll let you know." Those words were all overheard by those in the ranch house.Max scans the map. "He didn't go to Pryor Mountain, that's too obvious. He's heading towards Badlands and Beartooth. He wants to ride all the way through there and into Wyoming to hide. Smart enough. Me too will do." Braddock's radio operator told the ten riders to turn due west and continue their search across the road.They agreed, and refrained from reminding him: they had galloped fifteen miles at the risk of breaking out.And it was getting dark again. "We should send two cars, with people, to the interstate," Marks said. "If he wants to go to the Badlands, he has to go across the interstate." Two huge off-road vehicles set off, with eight other personnel sitting in the vehicle. As he neared the interstate, Ben Craig hopped off his horse and climbed up a tree on a hill to survey the obstacle ahead.The road is on the plain, and there is a railway parallel to it.Occasionally, some vehicles going north and south pass by.All around him is a wilderness, full of streams and rocks, the ground is uneven, and there are some wild grasses as high as horse belly that the animals do not eat.He slid down the tree and took the tin box and flint and steel from his saddlebag. A light wind blew from the east, and the weeds blazed and quickly formed a line of fire a mile wide, spreading westward toward the road.Wisps of blue smoke rose into the darkening sky.The east wind blows the smoke to the west, outruns the flames, and the road disappears in the smoke. A patrol vehicle five miles to the north saw the smoke and drove south to investigate.When the smoke thickened and blackened, the patrolmen stopped, but it was too late.They were soon surrounded by thick smoke, and had no other choice but to reverse the car. A tractor-trailer headed south toward Wyoming saw taillights ahead and slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a police vehicle.The brake system worked with precision and the front of the car stopped, but the trailer behind was not so lucky. Trailers generally fit together, but can bend like jackknives.Due to inertia, the trailer behind hit the trailer in front. The two folded up and slid sideways in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic at both ends of the road.There are cliffs on both sides of the road, and people cannot drive around the obstacles. The officers of the patrol car jumped out of the car and fled the smoky area with the truck drivers on the road ahead.There was only time to make a phone call before abandoning the car. But the phone call had enough information.Fire trucks and lift trucks were quickly heading south to deal with the accident.The clearing was carried out all night, and finally the road was cleared at dawn.The news reaching Wyoming shut down all traffic south of the mountains, and only those already on the road spent the night in the wilderness. In the chaos, a lone rider slowly crossed the road under the cover of the smoke screen and entered the wilderness to the west.The man covered his face with a handkerchief while the girl riding behind him was wrapped in a blanket. The rider dismounted on the west side of the road.Rothbard's body was shaking with exhaustion, and there were still ten miles to go to reach the woods ahead.Breeze shifted into the saddle, but she weighed only half her lover's weight. She took the blanket off her shoulders.In the evening, her wedding dress looked bright and dazzling, and her long hair fell down to her waist. "Ben, where are we going?" He pointed south in reply.Under the reflection of the sunset, the peaks of Xiongya Mountain tower above the forest line like flames, guarding another better life. "Through the mountains and into Wyoming. No one will find us there. I'll build you a log cabin and I'll hunt and fish for you. We'll live together forever in freedom." She smiled, for she loved him so much and believed in his promises, and she was happy again. Braddock's private pilot had no choice but to turn back.He was running low on oil, and the ground beneath him was too dark to see clearly.He landed in the ranch with some of the last fuel left in the tank. The ten riders of the pursuit party, sitting on exhausted horses, limped into the small town of Brigil and asked for a night.They ate at a roadside restaurant and made their beds with their saddle blankets. Jerry landed the helicopter at the Brigill airstrip, and the airport manager arranged for him to sleep in a bed for the night.

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