Read Microsoft Word - Jenny dreamed for Free Online

passengers and glanced up to exchange a grim nod with Dev. He was an older man, and as he leaned against his desk and listened attentively, he wore a weary expression that seemed to say he had not needed this extra burden.
    Dev had arrived in the middle of the questioning, but he heard enough to confirm his suspicions that Jennifer Bryant had, indeed, been on this particular stage from Helena.
    There had been five passengers aboard, and only three now sat in the sheriff's office.
    Crandall had addressed his inquiries to the lone male passenger, a rancher from Langdon who had boarded the stagecoach at Penbwy, a town halfway between Helena and Langdon.
    The two white-faced ladies with him were his wife and daughter. The daughter was about eighteen and more than passably pretty, though, at the moment, her face was pale and drawn with shock. She, at least, was in control of her emotions while her mother seemed unable to cease her weeping. The girl did her best to comfort her mother as her father related the details of the trip and robbery.
    "As I said, we were enjoyin' the ride an' the little woman here an' m'daughter, Corey, was havin' a high time talkin' with the young English lady. The other girl, a mousy, dark-lookin'
    foreigner, was this lady's maid. Miss Bryant now, she was a real looker, Sheriff ... nothin'
    snooty or high-falutin' 'bout her, either! Class, if y'catch my drift." The rancher winked as if to intimate that he was a connoisseur of such things.
    "The facts, please, Mr. Brackston. Time is wastin'!" Crandall tried to keep his voice even and respectful even though he felt as though he were plucking a large goose, feather by feather.
    Brackston shrugged, reluctant to hurry his moment of importance. "Well, we just got done invitin' her to come visit, when ... did you know her folks are those English people who bought up Jensen's land?" He saw the anger in the sheriff's expression and the rising impatience of the young man who listened to his story so intently, and he backtracked to what was important. "Anyway, she was just about to answer when there come a shout from the driver's seat and we took off like the very devil was after us."
    "Finally, I guess Buck figured he couldn't outrun who's ever chasin' us so we slowed up to a stop and suddenly the stage was surrounded!"
    "Pa, there was only four of them!" Corey patted her mother's back as she let out a wail at the memory, turning to the sheriff with an apologetic expression. "By surrounded, sheriff, my Pa means there was two on each side. They ordered Buck to drop the strongbox, an' I heard it fall. We thought that's all there was to it, 'til they ordered everyone out of the coach." Dev and Crandall exchanged a look, wishing the girl had spoken from the beginning.
    "They took Pa's watch «an' stopped to ask Miss Bryant for her reticule. The leader was tall 'n'
    slim, wearin' dark clothes. I didn't see his face, but he sure had a nice way of talkin'. Like a gentleman, but Southern. Then, Miss Bryant, I almost fainted dead away when she said it, she said, 'Only a coward preys on defenseless women!' She tossed the reticule in his face and I think she called him a ... a high-wayman." Corey's face brightened and she nodded.
    "Yes, that was it, a highwayman. It sounded so grand!" It was clear she admired Jennifer Bryant's spirit.
    "We thought they'd rob me an' Ma, too, but the leader just laughed and grabbed her. She was strugglin' t'get away an' that little maid of hers started screechin' in some foreign language and hittin' at him. Next thing we knew one of them grabbed the maid and hauled her over his saddle an' that ... highwayman picked up Miss Bryant and managed to mount up, even with her kickin' and tryin' t'scratch. I guess that's when Buck tried to reach his shotgun an' they shot him!"
    Dev had heard enough. They had already wasted valuable time. "Which direction did they go?" he said quickly before Crandall even had a chance to speak.
    "I think it was south by