The Nine Pound Hammer (27 page)

“But will we be able to catch up to them?” Nel asked.

“Don’t know,” Mister Everett grunted. “I’ll give her all we can. … ”

Hobnob stood as Mister Everett began quickly rolling up the map and shouting instructions to Shacks and Eddie.

Nel turned to Hobnob. “We’ll be crossing the Mississippi. You said the
Snapdragon’s
coming up that way. Return and tell your queen to head for the trestle. If we don’t catch the Gog’s train before then, we’ll need her—”

Hobnob shook his head. “I don’t think you understand the Pirate Queen. She’s no friend to the Gog, but she en’t exactly the type to rush into battle for nobody or nothing but her beloved steamer. She’s going to have my ears when she finds out I’m missing!”

Buck held out an envelope, the one Ray had delivered to Buck from the Pirate Queen.

“What’s that?” Hobnob asked.

“Never mind,” Buck replied. “Just give it to Lorene … your queen. She’ll understand, and she’ll help. Hurry!”

“All aboard!” Mister Everett motioned everyone to the
Ballyhoo
. The others clambered up into the cars.

Nel caught Hobnob’s shoulder. “After you tell the
Snapdragon
what’s happening, can you come back? We might need you again.”

Hobnob tucked the envelope in his pocket. “I’ll try.” He nodded and then handed the rabbit’s foot back to Ray.

“Good luck,” he added before disappearing.

The
Ballyhoo
raced on as they waited for Hobnob to come back and tell them the
Snapdragon’s
position. Ray had never felt the train go this fast before. He had his doubts nevertheless whether it would be fast enough to catch
The Pitch Dark Train
.

Nel was explaining why the Gog was after Jolie. While Ma Everett, nervously scrubbing pots and pans that already shone like copper mirrors, gasped audibly from time to time, Seth kept rolling his eyes. As Nel finished, the train began slowing down. Conker hurried to the window.

“Brushfires or something up yonder,” he said in his deep voice.

Nel got up to join him at the window. Ray felt the train slowing and could smell a hint of smoke seeping into the car.

“Shut them windows,” Ma Everett ordered.

Ray shut the one nearest him; through it he saw the land in flames. Fire lapped at the edges of the raised tracks.

“How’d a fire like that spread?” Ray asked.

“Some farmer clearing some land,” Nel answered. “Must have allowed it to get out of his restraint.”

“Or it’s the Gog’s doing,” Buck said darkly.

Nel turned with a tight brow, but before he could reply, the door to the vestibule opened and Hobnob quickly entered. “Could hardly find you. Smoke’s a pinch thick out there.”

“Did you reach her? Did you tell the queen?” Ray asked.

“Yes. Don’t know what you had in that envelope, Buck, but she’s heading north. The
Snapdragon
will be ready. Also spotted the Gog’s train. They were farther south than I thought. This old bucket reached the track first.”

“We’re ahead of them?” Nel asked, running his thumb along his jaw.

“By near ten miles,” Hobnob said.

Buck got to his feet. “We could let them get up close behind us and stop them.”

Nel shook his head. “I’m going over it. Let me think. … We don’t have the guns to take the Gog on. He’ll have his men, those Pinkerton mercenaries. They’re a vicious lot.”

Buck hit a fist to the wall. “Damnit! We’ve got to, Nel.”

Conker turned to face the two men. “Reckon we could tear up the track?”

“What?” Buck snarled, but Nel raised a hand.

“What are you thinking, Conker?” Nel asked, his eyes narrowing sharply.

“We stop just long enough to tear up a little bit of the track—”

“They’ll crash! Jolie might be killed!” Buck shouted.

“But the smoke’s pretty thick,” Conker continued. “See how Mister Everett’s had to slow the
Ballyhoo
to near a crawl. They’ll slow, too. Can’t go fast with all this smoke. You won’t know what’s ahead. So when they hit the torn-up track, the locomotive will get stuck, but I don’t suspect they’ll wreck, not bad anyways.”

“That’s a big risk,” Ray said.

Nel nodded. “But I think Conker’s right. They wouldn’t go fast enough for a real wreck. And when they stop, we wait until they’re out trying to get the locomotive back running and sneak in for Jolie. It’s a good plan, Conker. It might just work. Don’t you think, Buck?”

Buck thought for a moment. “The Gog will suspect an ambush, so we’ll have to stay one step ahead. It might work. Redfeather, get up to the locomotive and tell Everett.”

As Redfeather ran out the door, Nel turned to Si. “Go to the boxcar. Get out the crowbars and hammers—”

“Won’t need them,” Conker said, and touched a hand to the Nine Pound Hammer.

“Good,” Nel said. Drumming a finger on the table, he mumbled, “Need something. Just the right potion to even the odds … Do I have enough frankincense? … Where are those skullcap flowers?”

Amid the frantic energy of preparation, Ray watched as Nel dashed here and there though his root doctor supplies—pulling down a coil of dried snakeskin and crushing it into a powder, burning coltsfoot, mixing various herbs and powders, and mashing them all into a vat of vinegar.

“Yes, this will manage nicely,” the old pitchman muttered with a smile. “This will manage quite nicely.”

As the
Ballyhoo
was coming to a stop, Nel gave Ray a set of phials, small bottles made from thinner glass than he used to hold the tonics sold during the medicine shows. A cork was wedged into the top of each. Nel explained that the phials held a soporific, something that would cause an immediate sleep to overcome anyone who smelled them. With the supplies he had, he managed to make a dozen phials.

Nel said that it would be best if they were thrown so that the phial broke, as the vapors would be spread wider. On the chance that Ray or the others should accidentally inhale the tonic, Nel gave them each a small pinch of bitter leaves to eat that would guard against the soporific’s effects, as well as some extra leaves for Jolie if—or when, hopefully—they were able to reach her.

The
Ballyhoo
stopped between two low hills where the fire was not as close to the track. As Ray stepped down he could see that, ahead and behind, a sea of flames nearly overtook the rail line. Conker propped the Nine Pound Hammer on his shoulder. Si took a bottletree with her and
followed Redfeather and Seth, who carried his sword case. Buck came out last, armed with rifles. The air was dense with acrid smoke, and all but Redfeather quickly tied wet bandannas around their noses to keep from coughing.

Mister Everett moved the
Ballyhoo
ahead to wait. He wouldn’t risk being seen as the Gog’s train approached, but had to be near enough that they could leave quickly after Jolie was rescued. When the lights of the caboose disappeared, the six were left in an unnatural twilight. The smoky sky overhead glowed crimson-orange with the fires.

Conker gave a kick to the wooden crossties. “I’ll handle this.” He rolled back his sleeves and spit once into his hands before gripping the Nine Pound Hammer’s stout handle.

“Where’d you get that?” Seth asked as he eyed the hammer curiously.

Before Conker could answer, Buck shouted, “Don’t just stand around. There’s not much time. We need to scout out a place to hide when they arrive.”

“There’s a hill just off the south end of the track,” Si said quickly. “It looks wooded. The fires haven’t gotten up there—”

“Go! You and Ray, check it out,” Buck said.

Seth said, “Redfeather and I’ll go watch for the Gog’s train.”

Buck nodded. “Be quick and hurry back.” The two jogged down the track and disappeared into the smoke.

Ray followed Si up the hill, searching for a good position to watch the track secretly. Looking down, Ray saw Conker destroying the track with his hammer. Sections of rail ripped from the crossties like wheat under a thresher’s blade. In little time, a thirty-foot portion of track was broken apart, and Conker and Buck scattered the pieces down the far side of the right-of-way.

Conker shouldered the Nine Pound Hammer and led Buck up the hill toward Ray and Si. Ray hoped Conker was right, that the Gog’s train would not be going too fast. If it hit that section at full speed, it would be a devastating wreck. Their gamble was a risky one.

As Si set the bottletree in the ground for protection, Conker and Buck reached the top of the hill, slipped the bandannas from their noses, and settled to their knees on the pine-straw-littered ground next to Ray. In the trees of the high ground, it was darker than down below, where the smoke and nearby fires bathed the railroad tracks in an eerie glow.

“What will we do when the Gog gets here?” Ray whispered to Conker.

“Go get her.”

Si added, “We’ll have to be quick and quiet and sneaky.”

“Where are those boys?” Buck grumbled.

At that moment a figure came stumbling out of the smoke from along the track. “Over here!” Si called, and then said to Buck, “It’s Redfeather, but he’s alone.”

“What!” Buck said, getting back to his feet.

When Redfeather reached them, Buck shouted, “Where’s Seth?”

Redfeather had a red mark on his cheek that was beginning to swell. He looked around fearfully. “He’s … gone. We had a fight. He kept saying the other show would treat him better. That now that Nel had canceled the medicine show we wouldn’t—”

“What are you talking about?” Buck snarled. “Where’s Seth gone?”

Redfeather gave a hesitant glance at Buck and then looked down at his rifle. He mumbled, “To …
The Pitch Dark Train
.”

“H
E’S—HE’S JUST BEEN SO WORKED UP OVER THE SHOW
stopping,” Redfeather stammered. “He convinced himself that this man pursuing us is from another show. … ” Redfeather trailed off as his eyes followed Buck’s angry pacing steps.

“That’s not some other pitchman out there!” Buck shouted, jabbing a finger toward the track.

“I know,” Redfeather mumbled.

“It’s the Gog!”

“There’s something else,” Redfeather said. “The man … the Gog’s agent, he told Seth they were looking for a mermaid act. He asked Seth to look for something for them. Something hidden on our train. Before, when we were all keeping watch, Seth took something from your room, Buck. I don’t know what, but—”

“The music box!” Ray gasped.

“Did he bring it with him?” Buck exploded.

“I don’t know. Would it fit in his sword case—?”

“Yes!” Ray said.

“I’ll kill him!” Buck shouted.

“He doesn’t believe these men are agents of the Gog!” Redfeather urged.

“What does that matter? He’s flagging down the Gog’s train. Now they won’t wreck on the track. We’ll be found out!”

Conker said, “The Gog will back up for certain now. And we’ve cut the track off, so we can’t follow.”

“Jolie’s lost …,” Ray said.

“Not yet,” Buck said, grinding his teeth. “There’s not another track for miles for them to turn their locomotive.”

“So we should go after them on foot—” Si began.

“The fire. We can’t reach them,” Buck said.

“What if we followed the track?” Ray offered. “The fire doesn’t get all the way to it and we might be able to use it as a path.”

As he said this Ray felt the rabbit’s foot grow warm in his pocket. Ray said, “Too late. They’re coming!”

He looked down the hill. The Gog’s train—
The Pitch Dark Train
, as Hobnob had called it—was a looming shadow against the glowing fires. It chugged to a stop and a dozen men dismounted and passed the front of the locomotive. In the smoke and half-dark, it was hard to discern what the men looked like except for round-topped bowler
hats on their heads. Ray was certain that not all the long objects they carried were tools for repairing the track.

“What are they doing?” Buck asked.

“They’re going to fix the track,” Conker whispered.

“At least they’re not backing up,” Si said. She whipped her long ponytail around as she turned to grab the satchel from Ray. “The phials from Nel! If we knock them out now, we can—”

Buck shook his head. “We need to save the phials for rescuing Jolie from the train.”

Conker looked over at Buck. “But how can we get down to the train? We need some sort of cover. What about you, Buck? Could you get them from here? With your rifle?”

Buck took several deep breaths, holding the air in his lungs each time. “Maybe. It’d be tricky with all this smoke. And it might force them into a retreat. We don’t want a gunfight. We need to keep the train where it is until we get Jolie back.”

Shadows moved about the broken track as the Gog’s men set to work. One man’s voice called orders, and Ray wondered if it belonged to one of the three they had fought in the clearing. As several men picked up the disassembled pieces of rail, more than half spread out with rifles to keep watch. The locomotive reversed and began to slink away in the dark like a viper curling back into its den.

“Oh, no!” Si said. “They’re pulling the train back.” She held up her hand and examined the swirling designs.
After a few moments, she said, “They’re stopping about a quarter of a mile back.”