Chapter 6 - THE FIRE IN THE MINE
Silas did not enter the tunnel.
He rolled a burning bundle of brush across the entrance.
Smoke spread through the mine.
Clara covered her mouth with her sleeve.
Elias pulled at the burning branches, but a gunshot struck the rock beside his hand.
Silas was waiting outside.
“There must be another exit,” Clara coughed.
They carried the metal box deeper into the mine.
The passage narrowed.
Smoke followed them.
Copper’s neigh sounded faintly beyond the rock wall.
The horse had refused to remain where Elias left him.
He was somewhere above them.
Elias pressed his ear against the stone.
Then he noticed a thin line of cool air near the floor.
Together, they moved loose rocks until a narrow opening appeared.
It led into an abandoned ventilation shaft.
Clara crawled first, dragging the box.
Elias followed.
They emerged behind a line of boulders fifty yards from the entrance.
Copper stood nearby, reins caught on a branch.
Silas was watching the burning mine and did not see them mount.
Elias pulled Clara onto Copper behind him.
The roan carried them down the slope before Silas realized they had escaped.
A bullet passed over Elias’s shoulder.
Copper did not slow.
They reached the Mercer ranch after midnight.
Inside the metal box were seventeen forged deeds, a list of payments to Silas, and two pages from Owen’s journal.
One entry described seeing Silas cut the brake strap beneath Owen’s wagon.
Another said Thomas Mercer had witnessed the act.
Owen intended to meet Circuit Judge Rebecca Sloan in Fort Griffin.
The final sentence ended halfway across the page:
If Thomas does not return by dawn, the proof is buried beneath—
The rest had been torn away.
Clara stared at Owen’s handwriting.
Silas had not merely threatened her husband.
He had sabotaged the wagon.
Elias turned away, struggling to control his anger.
“If Thomas witnessed it, Silas killed him too.”
“We still need evidence that will stand in court.”
“These pages are evidence.”
“They are copies. Silas will call them forged.”
Clara examined the broken brass plate.
When both halves were aligned, an engraved X appeared near the town cemetery.
Owen had buried something there.
Before they could leave, Ruth arrived from Red Hollow.
She had ridden through the night.
“The town relief money is missing,” she said. “Silas is telling everyone Clara stole it.”
Clara looked toward the upstairs window where her room stood above the printing office.
“The ledger.”
Ruth’s face fell.
“Silas searched your room in front of witnesses. He found the money beneath your mattress.”
“And Thomas’s empty knife sheath?”
Ruth nodded.
“He found that too.”
Silas had planted both.
The church bell began ringing in the distance.
Not for worship.
It was the alarm used to summon the entire town.
May you like
Silas was calling for Clara’s arrest.
👉 By sunrise, Clara would be accused before a crowd already frightened enough to believe whatever Silas told them.
