Now Playing: The Robin Hood of the Range
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Episode Seven concluded with:
Cissy
heard shuffling sounds nearby. Without hesitation she hurried to the right side
of the barn where two lines of hay bales were stacked. She lifted the lantern
over the bales and was greeted by the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her.
Cissy gasped again, this time more out of
wonderment than fear. She looked at the man who was lying on the floor. “You’re
Ricky Cates!” Her voice was a stage whisper of excitement and adulation.
“You’re the Robin Hood of the Range!”
Episode Eight:
Cates
lowered the gun. He knew immediately that the girl wasn’t a threat and could be
a help. He smiled weakly. “That’s right.
I’m him.”
Cissy
looked at the bloody mess which was Cates’ left shoulder. “What happened to
you, Mr. Cates?”
“Ricky.
Please call me Ricky. What’s your name?”
“Cissy.
Cissy Runyan. I live here with my Ma and Pa.”
Cates
broadened his smile. “Okay if I call you Cissy?”
The
girl shrugged her shoulders and briefly moved her face out of the lantern
light. “Reckon it’d be all right.” She quickly regained her composure. “Now,
tell me what happened to you, Mr.—Ricky.”
“I
robbed a bank of two hunnert dollars. That ain’t much money to take from a
bank…”
“I’ve
read all about you. You only take a little money from the bank. Just enough to
give to poor folks.”
“That’s
right. And sometimes I depend on poor folks for help. I was holed up at the
Bolger place. Know them?”
“Just
a little. Our family don’t get around much.”
“A
posse tracked me there. They opened fire on the Bolger house with no warning at
all. Killed Simon, Elsie and that hired hand of theirs, Isaiah. I tried to
defend them, but--”
“I
know how hard it must have been, what with you only shooting to wound, never to
kill.” Cissy moved around the bales of hay and crouched over the gunman,
holding the lantern where she could get a good view of the wound. “It doesn’t
look too bad. I can pull the buckshot out. Your real problem is losing blood.
How long have you been here?”
“’bout
thirty minutes,” it occurred to Cates that for once, he was telling the truth.
“After leaving the Bolger place, I stopped by a grove of trees somewhere and
tried to make a bandage to stop the bleedin’. Passed out for a while, then got
back on my horse. Remember seein’ this barn. The door was open. I was half
unconscious. Rode in and closed the door. Can’t remember much after that.”
“Girl,
what’s takin’ so much fool time?!”
“Who’s
that?” Cates asked.
“My
pa. He…he drinks some.”
There
was another shout. Dencel Runyan was getting closer to the barn.
Cissy
looked at the open door. “Pa will come in. He’ll see your horse. He’ll start
lookin’ around and find you.”
Tomorrow:
Episode Nine of The Robin Hood of the Range
