A Man for Temperance (Wagon Wheel) by Gilbert Morris Page B

looking at each other, and somehow both knew they had stepped over some kind of a line. They could never be the same toward each other as they had been before. Taking a deep breath, Temperance nodded. She put the Bible back in her reticule and asked, “Does Benny sleep here?”
    “Yeah, but he’s got a gun. He sometimes gets the idea that he’s tough, and he’d shoot you if you tried to bust me out.”
    “I know that. You just be ready to go sometime before midnight.”
    “I think you’ve lost your mind, Peabody. This ain’t never gonna work.”
    “Yes, it will, Thaddeus. God will get you out of here, and we’ll get these children to their people!”

Chapter Six
     
    TEMPERANCE TOOK THE GOLDEN brown chicken out of the grease, laid it on the towel, and let it drain. She looked out the window and saw with satisfaction that there was only a thin sliver of a moon. It looked like a tiny shell that had been washed by the tide as it hung over the sky.
    A glance at her clock showed her that it was past ten o’clock, which meant she would get into town about eleven—exactly what she planned. Turning her attention to the chicken, she put it into a basket on top of a white covering and then put the smaller basket into a larger one. She added a jar full of potato salad and carefully stacked biscuits wrapped in napkins.
    Going to the lower cabinet, she pulled out the jar of hard cider she seldom used. It was as potent as any liquor and had a delicious taste. Her father had taught her to make it back in Maine, and she kept a milder form of it for use at the table. But this had the kick of a mule. She removed the lid from a quart jar, filled it half-full of the cider, then set the jug down. Reaching on the top shelf of the cabinet, she pulled out a large brown bottle holding a pint of liquid. This was laudanum, the potent drug used by all frontier people for killing pain. Carefully she added three more spoonfuls, but then stared uncertainly at it. She didn’t want to kill the man, but she did want him rendered unconscious. Satisfied that she had added enough of the drug,she capped the bottle, put it back, then added the spiked cider to the large basket. She closed the lid and took it outside to the wagon. She had already made pallets in the back for the children for she would have to take them with her.
    Going back inside, she went into the bedroom and leaned over saying, “Rose—Rose, wake up.”
    Rose woke up and opened her eyes sleepily. “What is it, Temperance?”
    “We’ve got to go to town.”
    “Is it daytime?”
    “No, it’s night, but we’ve got to go. Can you get Billy dressed while I get the baby ready?”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s still a little cool out, so wear something warm.”
    Fifteen minutes later Temperance shut the door and walked quickly to the wagon. Timmy was protesting slightly but went right to sleep under the warmth of the covers she wrapped around him. She put him down on the floorboard in a box she used whenever she took him to town and then reached down and picked up Billy. Rose scrambled to the seat and pulled Billy over beside her.
    “Why we going to town, Temperance?”
    “There’s something I have to do there. Why don’t you get on the pallet? You can go back to sleep.”
    “I think I will. Come on, Billy.”
    Temperance watched the two crawl under the blankets and cover up. Then she spoke to the team. The two horses stepped forward, no doubt wondering where they were going at such an unusual hour. As they left the yard, a coon looking like a bandit with its black mask came cautiously down from the pecan tree in the front yard and watched the wagon as it left.
    * * *
     
    THE STREETS OF WALLA WALLA were dark as Temperance drove into town—which was what she had hoped. She had not been to town this late at night before, and as she drove the team down the street, she could hear the tinkling sound of a piano coming from one of the saloons and the off-key voice of a woman trying to