“Have you ever heard of sweet Bessie from Pike? Who crossed the wide prairie with her husband Ike?”

“Will you be quiet?” Mike hissed, he was so agitated he failed to notice that Jessie had dropped her accent. “Can't you see...” He stopped talking wondering how she could not see. He was right there, standing with the man who had captured them.

The new comer was tall and broad and when he looked at Mike and Jessie the young man felt his blood run cold. The bitter glances seemed to have no effect on Jessie however, who had started singing under her breath about a woman named Bessie. He was starting to wonder if her parents had ever dropped her on her head when she was a baby, maybe more then once.

“O' course I con see,” Jessie opened her eyes wide when she looked at him. The truth of the matter was she felt a cold lump of fear right in the middle of her gut, it was leaving her with a sick feeling. However, she was not about to let the two men know that.

“What are we going to do with them now?” the new comer was asking the man with the gun. Jessie had to listen closely to hear what they were whispering.

“We could keep them in the cave...” the man with the gun began, but he was interrupted.

“And risk being found out? Are you mad!”

The man waved his gun in Mike and Jessie direction and she noticed Mike squirmed.

“Should I just do away with them right now?” he asked in a low growl.

“It would have been better had you just left them alone in the first place,” the other yanked the man's gun hand down. “What exactly were you thinking in the first place?”

“They were getting too close to the...”

That was when the new comer noticed the intent look Jessie was giving them, he quickly clamped a hand over the man's mouth. The man with the gun scowled until the new comer motioned his head toward Jessie who quickly dropped her eyes, but not soon enough.

The man with the gun scowled darkly and marched over to Jessie, Mike's eyes widened as he watched him, he looked from the man to Jessie who was doing a good job hiding her rising fear. The man knelt down in front of her.

“You have sharp ears do you?” the man asked in a low voice.

“Sharp enough,” she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Sharp ears can land some people in trouble,” he leaned closer, his face was now inches from Jessie's and she could smell his breath.

“Those some people should be careful,” she replied and Mike moaned.

“A warning you should take to heart,” the man flashed the gun in front of her face as he sat back. “If you understand my meaning?”

“Loud and clear,” Jessie smiled at him, and then her smile vanished. “But ye should be warned tae.”

The man cocked his head to one side and looked at her doubtfully. “About what?” he demanded.

“I've got free from men more cleaver then ye, I've oot smarted more men, and I wull dae sae again. If ye dinna lat us gae now, I canna promise tae gae easy on ye.”

Mike rolled his eyes and the man scoffed, not realizing the truth in the girl's words. He was soon to regretted not heeding her better.