(I)  BOSTON BEGINNINGS

The Home of Carlton Colt. Boston, Massachusetts. Late 1800's

Carlton Colt lay on his deathbed attended by his fifteen-year-old daughter, Cassie, and his niece, Callie Colt, a
beautiful brunette of the age of twenty-three. Cassie was in tears at the thought of her father passing away. She
never knew her real mother, who died when she was very young. In order to have a motherly influence for Cassie,
Carlton had married a high-society French lass by the name of Sadie DeSade. Ever since then, Sadie had made the
life of young Cassie a nightmare with her cruel and sadistic treatment, all of which escaped the eyes of her father,
who was under the spell of Sadie's potion.

"I want to tell you something before I move on to a better place." Carlton said in a weak voice. "I believe your
stepmother has been trying to kill me slowly to get my fortune."

"I knew she was evil, Daddy." Cassie moaned tearfully. "I tried to tell you."

"I know, princess." Carlton rasped. "But I could never see it until now."

"We need to get you away from here, Uncle Carl." Callie Colt suggested.

"It's no use." Carlton said. "I'm too far gone."

"No, Daddy!" Cassie bawled. "You can't die! You just can't!"

"Listen to me very carefully, both of you." Carlton said. "That woman will try to take over my estate here in
Boston, but I never told her about a deed to a gold mine I have in out West in California. I want you both to get
there as quickly as possible and get it before Sadie finds out about it. The key is right here under the mattress."

Callie Colt reached under the mattress to find the key while Cassie continued to sob.

"Find the California National Bank in San Francisco." Carlton said between coughs. "The deed is inside a safety
deposit box with the same number that's on the key. I want the two of you to have it. Promise me you'll go to
California and get the deed."

"We promise, Uncle Carl." Callie Colt assured the dying father of her cousin.

Cassie could not speak. She was too distraught over her father's condition, and the thought of leaving her home to
travel clear across the United States was too much.

"I need you to do one more thing." Carlton groaned.

"What is it, Uncle Carl?" Callie Colt asked.

"Put me out of my misery." Carlton requested. "That woman and that quack doctor are coming soon to give me
some more elixir, and I can't take it any more."

"Uncle Carl, I can't." Callie Colt said as tears welled in her eyes.

"You have to." Carlton insisted. "Just take one of these pillows and do me in."

"Please, Uncle Carl." Callie Colt began to sob.

"I never approved of what your Daddy done with his life, but he was my brother and I loved him." Carlton told his
niece. "Try not to follow in his footsteps. I don't want what happened to him to happen to you. And promise me you'll
take care of my little Cassie."

"I promise, Uncle Carl." Callie Colt assured her uncle as tears rolled down her cheeks.

After Cassie begged her father not to give up, Callie Colt realized what she had to do, and told the weeping Cassie
to say her good-byes.

Cassie reluctantly complied and told her father. "I love you Daddy! I'll miss you so bad."

"I love you, too, Princess." Carlton said and then made Cassie turn her back.

Callie Colt took a deep breath before taking one of the goose-down pillows and placing it gently over her uncle's
face. Then, in what was the most difficult thing she had ever done in her life, she pressed down to smother the breath
out of her Uncle Carl.

It only took a few minutes, and he was gone.

As Cassie sobbed and tears fell on the pillow from Callie Colt's own eyes, the door opened and Sadie DeSade
entered with the doctor.

"What is going on here?" Sadie exclaimed as she found Callie Colt leaning over her husband's bed, holding a pillow
over his face. Her eyes went wide and she screamed.

"My husband!" Sadie cried. "You've killed him!"

"No!" young Cassie exclaimed. "He wanted to die! He said you poisoned him!"

"How dare you!" Sadie said and turned to order the stunned doctor. "Get the authorities. I want both of them taken
into custody for murder."

Callie Colt backed away from the bed as the doctor hurried out of the room. Things looked bad and there was no
way they could prove Carlton had asked her to do this.

It was only her word that she had, and everyone who knew Callie Colt also knew that her parents were well known
grifters that had been killed by a wealthy landowner they had swindled. There was only one choice, and that was to
run and head for California.

"Let's get out of here, Cassie." Callie Colt told her cousin.

"You aren't going anywhere," came a voice from the doorway as Sadie DeSade's twin brother, Marcus, stepped into
the room with a gun drawn.

Callie Colt's skin began to crawl at the sight of Marcus DeSade. Ever since she'd met him, he had been after her to
marry him, but Callie Colt could sense that there was something mean about him, like he wanted to hurt her. She
was disgusted by the lascivious way he looked at her, with only lust in his eyes.

"You won't get away with this!" Cassie cried out. "My Daddy gave us the key for a deed to a gold mine, and when
we get it, we'll come back and get what's rightfully ours!"

"Hush, Cassie!" Callie Colt hissed, trying to warn her cousin from revealing the secret.

Sadie and Marcus both looked at Cassie with surprise and sudden greed, and then Marcus ordered Cassie. "Give
me that key right now."

It was just the distraction Callie Colt needed. She unhooked her whip from her belt and lashed out at Marcus,
striking him across the back of the hand to make him drop his gun. Marcus yelled out in pain, and when he
attempted to retrieve the gun, Callie Colt lashed out again, this time striking a vertical cut across his forehead and
cheekbone over his left eye. Marcus winced and grabbed his face in agony as Callie Colt expertly lashed once more
to retrieve the pistol with her whip, and then held Sadie and Marcus at bay as Cassie looked on in stunned
amazement.

"Cassie, run and fetch some rope from my buggy." Callie Colt ordered her cousin.

Callie Colt held Sadie and Marcus at gunpoint until Cassie returned with a coil of rope.

"Okay, tie her up." Callie Colt ordered Marcus as she tossed him the rope. "Quickly."

Marcus, wary of the pistol pointed in his direction, did as he was told and tied Sadie's wrists behind her back and
bound her to a sitting chair. Then Callie Colt had young Cassie tie Marcus up as well.

"I'll keep an eye on them while you pack a suitcase." Callie Colt told the frightened Cassie. "Hurry, we don't have
much time until the authorities get here."

Cassie rushed out of the room while Callie Colt took a scarf from Sadie's stylish outfit and stuffed it into her
protesting mouth. Then she took a handkerchief from Marcus' breast pocket and readied it to gag him.

"I'll get you for this!" Marcus snarled at Callie Colt. "We'll get you both! I promise you!"

"You'll have to catch us first." Callie Colt said defiantly before stuffing the cloth in his mouth and tying it behind his
head. She checked the ropes once more to make sure they were secure before she told them. "This will give us a
nice head start."

Callie Colt relieved Marcus and Sadie of their cash before leaving them to their struggles. She also allowed Cassie
a few more minutes to gather some precious possessions before they took off and escaped just before the
authorities arrived.

                                               ****

Boston Train Station

As Callie Colt and Cassie passed through the crowded train station, Callie Colt's fingers were itching badly. They
always did whenever she was in a large crowd. All those wallets and bags to be plucked like feathers were tempting,
but the recent admonition from her Uncle prevented her from going with her instincts.

They went to the ticket window and handed the clerk some money and Callie Colt asked, "How far west will this get
us?"

The clerk counted the money and replied, "Chicago."

Callie Colt requested two one way tickets and then asked. "What time does it leave?"

"You just missed the last one an hour ago." The clerk replied. "The next one leaves at this same time tomorrow."

"Damn." Callie Colt said, the clerk looking at her dismay as he handed over the tickets.

"What will we do now?" Cassie asked in a worrisome tone as they walked away.

"It's just as well." Callie Colt said. "We'll hide out at my place until tomorrow. That way I can get all my things
together."

"I'm so scared." Cassie said.

"Don't worry." Callie Colt assured her cousin. "I won't let anything happen to you."

                                               ****

The authorities arrived to release Sadie and Marcus DeSade from their bonds. Sadie explained to them what she
discovered and ordered them to find Callie Colt and her stepdaughter, Cassie. She also made arrangements to have
her husband cremated the next day. All she had to do now was meet with the lawyer to have Carlton Colt's estate
turned over to her. When she was finally alone with Marcus, they discussed future plans.

"What about the gold mine?" Marcus asked.

"We're going to get it, of course." Sadie replied. "But first we must find those two little bitches. When I get my
hands on Cassie Colt, she'll wish she had never been born."

"I want that Callie Colt." Marcus said as he touched the temporary eye patch the doctor used to cover his whip
wound. "I want to make her pay for what she did to my face."

"Don't worry, Cherie." Sadie said with her thick French accent as she stoked her brother's cheek. "We will have
our revenge."

                                               ****

In a hideout tucked away in downtown Boston, Callie Colt tried to comfort her saddened cousin who lay crying on
the bed.

"Would it make you feel better if we went to the funeral service tomorrow?" Callie Colt asked. "I'm sure it will be
early, and we'll still have time to make the train."

Cassie stopped sobbing for a moment and looked up at Callie Colt with tear stained cheeks. "But how? That wicked
woman will be there. And the authorities I'm sure."

"Don't worry about that." Callie Colt said as she brushed a wisp of hair from the rosebud cheeks of her young
cousin. "I have an idea."

                                               ****

The entombment service for Carlton Colt started promptly at 11:00 a.m. the next day. As wealthy and well placed in
Boston society as Carlton Colt was, the attendance outside the mausoleum in Boston cemetery was tremendous. In
the back of the large crowd, there appeared to be a thin young man with a bushy mustache, and a young boy wearing
spectacles, standing and watching as the minister proceeded with the service.

Callie Colt, provocatively disguised as a gentleman, eyed Sadie and Marcus DeSade from a distance as she held the
trembling hand of her cousin Cassie. She handed the teary-eyed Cassie a handkerchief from the suit that had once
belonged to her father. She'd tailored another suit the night before, to fit her cousin, who was tall and well
proportioned for her age of fifteen. They both hid their long hair under dapper bowler hats and no one was the wiser.

After the end of the service, Sadie and Marcus whispered to each other as they greeted those who offered their
condolences.

"I went to the train station early this morning." Marcus whispered into his sister's ear.

Sadie, who was feigning sadness at the loss of her husband, whispered back. "Well?"

"The clerk remembers two young women who purchased tickets to Chicago on the train that leaves today at 3:00."
Marcus informed her. "When I showed him a picture of Cassie, he recognized her immediately."

"Excellent, little brother." Sadie said, trying not to show a smile. "We'll have to be at that train platform tomorrow,
don't you think?"

Marcus looked into Sadie's striking green eyes, and they both seem to have an unspoken communication, as only
some twin siblings will.

                                               ****

Callie Colt was correct in her instincts for her and young Cassie to remain in disguise as man and boy in order to
elude the authorities and the DeSades. As they headed for the boarding platform, several law enforcement officers
were watching the crowd of train passengers for the two fugitives.

From inside the train depot office, Sadie DeSade watched as well and nudged her brother.

"Do you notice anything peculiar about those two?" Sadie asked, as she pointed out a dapper gentleman and a boy
wearing spectacles.

Marcus looked the two over as the passed the office, unaware of being watched. "Yes. It appears to be a swishy
gentleman and his young charge."

"What else?" Sadie said. "Watch closely."

"They're both a little wide in the hips. So what?" Marcus asked, and then a light seemed to go off in his head.
"Wait a minute. You don't suppose..."

"Look at the smaller one's suitcase." Sadie pointed out. "Just like our luggage. And I'll bet the initials engraved
near the handle read 'CC'."

"Should I alert the officers?" Marcus asked, ready to pounce.

"No, I have a much better plan." Sadie said with a gleam in her eye. "Why don't you purchase two tickets for
Chicago?"

Marcus grinned and said. "You're beautiful when you're thinking wicked thoughts."

                                               ****

The train was an hour away from Boston, heading west to Illinois, when Callie Colt finally started to relax. She sat
across from her young cousin, Cassie, in their private passenger compartment, still wearing their suits and
disguises.

"This mustache is starting to itch." Callie Colt complained. "I think it's safe to change."

"Thank goodness!" Cassie said as she removed her glasses and hat and let her long brown tresses fall around her
shoulders.

After Callie Colt locked the compartment door and pulled down the shade, the two of them removed their men's
clothes and started to put on their feminine undergarments. Callie Colt couldn't help but notice how well developed
her cousin was. At the tender age of fifteen, she already had a full chest, slender waist, shapely hips and long legs.

"I never noticed what a beautiful young lady you've become." Callie Colt told her cousin, trying to take the young
girl's mind off of their perilous situation.

Cassie blushed and smiled. "I'm nowhere near as pretty as you, Callie."

"I guess we'll be a couple of regular heartbreakers when we get to California, won't we?" Callie Colt teased her
now giggling cousin.

Callie Colt finished putting on her suede leather chaps, matching bolo jacket, ruffled shirt, kid gloves, stiletto boots,
and bolero hat. Her ensemble brought admiring looks from Cassie, who was putting on her own stylish corset, bustle
and petticoat dress with high heel buttoned ankle boots.

After Callie Colt helped put a satin ribbon choker around Cassie's slender neck, she told her cousin. "I'll be back in
a moment. I need to run to the ladies' room to wash up."

"Okay." Cassie said. "Please hurry back."

"Don't worry, cousin." Callie Colt said with a comforting hand on Cassie's shoulder.

Callie Colt then left Cassie alone in the compartment and headed down the hallway toward the next passenger car.
At the end of the car, a door to one of the other compartments swung open several feet away, and Callie Colt's heart
froze. It was Sadie DeSade, and she was staring right at Callie Colt as if she were a snake ready snare her nemesis.

Callie turned to head back to her own compartment and gasped when she saw Marcus DeSade smiling evilly at the
opposite end of the hallway, heading toward her with a small derringer pistol pointed waist high in her direction. She
had no choice but to enter their compartment when Marcus reached her and forced her inside.

Once Callie Colt was in the DeSade's compartment, Marcus handed his sister the ivory handled derringer while he
took a coil of rope from one of his satchels.

"You thought you were clever, didn't you?" Sadie said as she held Callie Colt at gunpoint while Marcus eagerly
bound her wrists securely to an overhead luggage rack.

"What are you going to do?" Callie Colt asked Sadie, with only Cassie's welfare in mind.

"I'm going to retrieve my stepdaughter and take her back where she belongs." Sadie said with an ominous tone.
"Then I'm going to teach her proper manners and respect."

"You leave her alone!" Callie Colt demanded. "If you harm her, I'll..."

"You'll what?" Marcus snarled as he suddenly grabbed Callie Colt by her silken brunette locks and yanked
painfully, causing Callie to gasp in sudden fright.

"As for you, my dear." Sadie said with a cold grin, "I'll let my brother entertain you until we get to the next station.
I'm sure you'd like to get better acquainted with him, seeing as how he is so enamored with you."

Callie Colt looked at Marcus and her body tingled with fear as he touched the eye patch with one black gloved hand.

"I'll leave you two lovers alone." Sadie DeSade said with a knowing grin as she exited the compartment. "I have a
young runaway I need to discipline."

"No." Callie Colt said in desperation as the door closed, right before Marcus removed a handkerchief from his
jacket and stuffed it into her mouth.

"I think this is fitting retaliation for the way you left us back at Carlton Colt's home." Marcus said. "But now, you
must also pay for how you scarred my perfect face."

Callie Colt's eyes went wide with fright when Marcus removed a small dagger from his belt and held it up
threateningly to her face. She tried to scream out, but the stifling cloth in her mouth only allowed a muffled,
"Mmmmmph!"

"Don't worry, Mon ami." Marcus chuckled. "I wouldn't dare mark that angelic face of yours. But I'm certainly
going to get what I've been after from the first moment I saw it."

Marcus reached up with his left hand and ran it up Callie Colt's torso and stopped right above her chest. Then, as
Callie squirmed, he fondled and squeezed her full breasts.

                                               ****

Cassie looked up with relief at first when the door to her compartment opened. Every second that Callie Colt was
away seemed like an eternity. Her look of relief suddenly turned to horror when she saw her wicked stepmother
enter the compartment and lock the door behind her. Cassie was too frightened to scream. Instead, the freshly
scrubbed teen turned as white as a sheet and feinted in her seat.

                                               ****

Marcus had Callie Colt's ruffled blouse open all the way down to her belt and was now admiring the generous
cleavage that was virtually spilling out of the top of her brassiere. He ran his knife along the lace edges, causing
Callie Colt to tense up and shiver with fear.

Marcus took obvious delight in studying every inch of his beautiful captive. It was the moment he had been
dreaming of for over two years now, and he was going to savor every moment of it. The fiery, demure brunette had
captivated him, and all he thought about was how to make her his own. And now he had her exactly where he wanted
her.

Callie Colt couldn't stand the thought of this scoundrel sullying her virgin body. But more than that, she was
frightfully worried about her innocent young cousin, who was now in the evil clutches of her sadistic stepmother. She
could only imagine what she was going through at this moment.

                                               ****

Fortunately, Cassie Colt was blissfully unaware of what her stepmother had been doing.

She was still passed out as Sadie DeSade bound her stepdaughter hand and foot with a set of silk scarves. Then, she
carefully placed Cassie on her stomach, and tied her ankles back up to her wrists in a hog-tied position. With two of
her last scarves, Sadie took an almost fiendish delight in placing one of them inside Cassie's mouth, and then
wrapping the other across her lips and soft cheeks to secure it snugly, and then tied the ends behind her head.

Sadie removed a bottle of smelling salts from her travel bag and waved it under Cassie's nose to awaken her. When
Cassie began to stir, Sadie replaced the bottle back in the bag and began to lightly slap the now-flushed cheeks of
her stepdaughter.

"Wake up, you little hellion." Sadie demanded of the young girl.

Cassie moaned and her senses began to clear. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and realized her awful fate.
She began to twist and struggle when she saw her wicked captor staring down at her with evil intent, and her gag
prevented her from crying out.

"Struggle all you want, Cassie." Sadie said with glee. "I rather like it."

Tears welled up in the eyes of the chaste young teen as she wondered what had happened to her brave and
protective cousin. Surely, Callie Colt would rescue her soon.

                                               ****

Callie Colt was in no position to rescue her young charge, because her unwanted suitor, Marcus DeSade, was now
tormenting her. She tried desperately to squirm away from his pawing hands, but Marcus used the advantageous
situation to satisfy his base desires. When he stopped molesting her for a moment, Callie Colt breathed a sigh of
relief.

Her relief was short-lived. She watched Marcus reach into the pouch of one of his satchels and take out a small dark
glass bottle with no label of its contents. Callie Colt watched in puzzlement as he opened the top and removed one
glove to dip his forefinger in the bottle. Then he set the bottle aside and removed the cloth from Callie Colt's mouth.

Marcus warned her. "If you bite, I'll make you pay. Especially your little cousin."

Callie Colt trembled at the thought, and reluctantly allowed Marcus to rub his finger in a slow circle around her
plump lips, and then slowly insert it into her mouth. The substance on his finger was bittersweet, and she could not
help but salivate and swallow as his finger invaded her mouth.

"Suck it off, my sweet." Marcus told her as held his sharp dagger at her soft throat.

Callie Colt did as she was told and sucked his finger as if she would an icicle, while Marcus watched her with
quickening arousal. After she was finished, Marcus removed his finger, and Callie Colt swallowed to choked down
the substance.

"What is that awful stuff?" Callie Colt asked as the liquid burned her throat slightly.

"The same thing my dear sister used on your unfortunate Uncle Carlton." Marcus said with a chuckle. "To make
him fall madly in love with her. Sort of an aphrodisiac elixir."

Callie closed her eyes as her head began to swim and rush with a reaction to the drug. Suddenly a warm sensation
began to well in her stomach and the area between her legs began to tingle with a not unpleasant sensation, making
her wet and aroused.

"It gets stronger over time with each dose." Marcus exclaimed. "Unfortunately, it has a nasty side effect. Over a
long period of time, it causes the vital organs to deteriorate. Your first dose is very small, you see. If I were to give
it to you all at once, you would perish with intense ecstasy. That's why I'll save the next one until you're ready.
Eventually, the more I give you, the more you will fall hopelessly in love with me."

"You bastard!" Callie Colt cursed her tormentor. "You won't get away with this!"

"You'll change your tune, soon enough, belle ami." Marcus said, as he approached her once again with wicked
intent. "I am a very patient man."

"You're no man!" Callie Colt declared as she brought her knee up suddenly and found his crotch with full force.

Marcus gasped and purged his lungs of air as the shock of stunning pain caused him to bend over at the waist in
heaving agony. With her other booted foot, she caught him squarely in the temple and knocked him out cold on the
floor of the compartment.

When Callie Colt saw that Marcus was unconscious, she bent her body at the waist and swung her legs up to where
wrists were bound, and used her sharp spur to cut the ropes.

Once free, Callie Colt used the ropes to tie up Marcus, and then used the handkerchief that had once stuffed her
mouth to gag him for the second time in two days. After he was securely trussed, Callie Colt removed his derringer
and more of his money, and stuffed him tight in the closet of the passenger compartment. She then used the last bit
of rope to secure the closet door handles shut to make escape hopeless for Marcus DeSade.

Callie Colt buttoned her blouse back up, unlocked the door and rushed back to rescue her helpless cousin Cassie.
When she reached the compartment, she found the door locked.

She knocked, hoping Sadie would think it was Marcus and open the door.

                                               ****

Inside, Sadie had pulled down the drawers of the sobbing Cassie to reveal her blushing cheeks, and was about to lay
into her with a riding crop when a tap came upon the door.

Assuming it was her brother Marcus, she went and opened it a crack to tell him she was busy. When she saw Callie
Colt on the other side, she immediately tried to shut the door, but Callie Colt pushed her way in, knocking Sadie to
the floor on her rump.

Callie Colt entered and closed the door behind her and stood defiantly with her fists on her shapely hips and Sadie
glared up at her from the floor.

"I believe this is kidnapping." Callie Colt said.

"They'll never believe the word of a thief and murderer." Sadie hissed in derision. "You're the one who's in
trouble."

"Well, we'll just have to do something about that won't we?" Callie said as took the derringer from her pocket and
aimed it at Sadie. "Untie my cousin."

Sadie snarled and got up to undo the intricate knots of Cassie's bonds until she was free.

Cassie yanked the scarf gag out of her mouth and rushed to Callie Colt's side in fear as she pulled her knickers
back up underneath her dress.

"You and I are going to take a little trip." Callie Colt told her nemesis. "Let's go."

"Where are you taking me?' Sadie demanded to know.

"Where you belong." Said Callie Colt as she herded Sadie out of the compartment and towards the back of the
train. "With the rest of the bags."

"Where's my brother?" Sadie asked as she was led to the baggage car.

"Don't worry. He's safe and sound." Callie Colt said. "But he won't be molesting anyone for awhile. At least not
until we get to Chicago."

Once inside the baggage car, Callie sought out a clothes trunk among the all the crates and luggage and had Cassie
open it. Callie Colt told Cassie to remove a few items of clothing while she gagged Sadie and bound her hand and
foot. As Sadie tried to scream through the muffling gag, Callie Colt stuffed her into the trunk and covered her with
clothes before she shut and locked the trunk. The two of them lifted another heavy trunk and placed it on the trunk
containing Sadie.

"I hope she suffocates." Cassie said with still tear-misted eyes.

"We can't have two murders on our hands." Callie Colt said as she took a knife from her boot and carefully
punched some holes in the side of the trunk. "Being blamed for one is going to be bad enough until we can prove our
innocence."

Once their work was done, Callie Colt and the shaken Cassie returned to their compartment and rode the rest of the
way to Chicago with alert uneasiness.

                                               ****

Once the train arrived in Chicago, Callie Colt and Cassie departed the train quickly and made their way into the
heart of the city. It wouldn't be long before Sadie and Marcus were discovered, and they would be as mad as
hornets, hell bent more than ever on revenge. Callie Colt decided the best way to travel next was by stagecoach and
avoid the trains for awhile. They found a Wells Fargo depot and used the stolen money from the DeSades to buy two
tickets to Kansas City.

Hopefully, they could stay one step ahead of the evil Sadie and Marcus DeSade until they reached California to get
their hands on the deed to the gold mine, which now rightfully belonged to the Colt cousins.

=====

(II)  STAGECOACH TO KANSAS CITY

Callie Colt and her young cousin Cassie were lucky to get the last two available tickets on a stagecoach headed for
Kansas City. They were going to share the trip with another traveler, Doctor Cox, who was a slightly built
gentleman with round spectacles. The three of them exchanged pleasantries as the stagecoach headed out on the
trail from Chicago. After a few hours, they were out on the empty prairie, and the conversation waned.

"If you don't mind my asking." The doctor inquired after awhile. "What are two pretty young ladies doing travelling
alone all the way across the country?"

"It's a long story, I'm afraid." Callie Colt said, trying to avoid the question.

"I couldn't help notice that the young lady there seems a bit nervous." Dr. Cox said.

"She's never been away from home, I'm afraid." Callie Colt explained.

"I might be of help to her." Dr. Cox suggested. "To calm her nerves. It's a very simple treatment, and I could do it
right here."

"That's very kind of you, Doctor." Callie Colt said with a trusting smile, and then turned to her cousin. "Would you
like to try it, Cassie?"

"I suppose so." Cassie replied. "Will it hurt?"

"Absolutely not." Doctor Cox answered, as he removed a shiny medallion from his breast pocket and held it up for
the two ladies to see. "All you have to do is listen to my voice."

Doctor Cox held the medallion by a thin thread, and tapped it once with his finger, sending the medallion spinning
colorfully. He told Callie Colt, "You can benefit from this as well. Watch the medallion carefully, and try not to take
your eyes from it."

Callie Colt and Cassie could not help but be mesmerized by the odd way the medal object reflected the light,
creating a rainbow of colors and shapes. As they watched the spinning disc, Doctor Cox soothed them with his gentle
voice for several minutes, listening to his subtle suggestions of relaxation until they were both under a deep state of
hypnosis.

Doctor Cox sat back in his seat excitedly and looked at the two beautiful girls, who were now under his command
with their eyes closed. He couldn't believe his good fortune to have such winsome travelling companions. They were
very good subjects for his hypnotic talent, and like a giddy child in a candy store, he didn't know what to do first.

He decided to start with Cassie, and said to her. "Cassie, would you mind coming over to sit next to me?"

Cassie didn't move at first, and Dr. Cox felt his heart sink when he thought they were not fully under, but then
Cassie arose and moved across the stagecoach compartment to sit next to Dr. Cox, who returned to his state of
animated glee.

"Do you like sweets, Cassie?" Dr. Cox asked her.

In her state of hypnosis, Callie replied sleepily. "Um hmm."

"What is your favorite, my dear?" Dr. Cox asked, almost trembling with anticipation.

"I like, um, hard cherry candy." Cassie answered, as she licked her top lip, as if she were anticipating the taste.

"Well, you're in luck my dear, I just happen to have some with me." Dr. Cox said with an almost child-like chuckle.
"Would you care for some?"

"Um hmm." Cassie said as she nodded her pretty chin.

"What do you say?" Dr. Cox asked.

"Please, sir." Cassie responded by rote. "May I have some candy?"

"What a polite young lady." Dr. Cox said with admiration. "Yes you may."

Dr. Cox, with his hand shaking slightly, placed his finger up to her mouth and touched Cassie's velvety lips. Cassie
in turn parted her lips and allowed Dr. Cox to insert his finger into her mouth.

Once Cassie felt something inside her mouth, she began to salivate, as she tasted it on her tongue. As far as she
was concerned, his finger was a piece of cherry candy, and soon she was sucking and licking it eagerly.

Dr. Cox grinned as the young girl suckled his forefinger, and watched in utter fascination as her moist lips wrapped
themselves around his digit as her pink tongue slipped out from between her lips occasionally. He could feel himself
becoming very aroused.

Meanwhile Callie Colt sat across from them, head nodded and eyes closed, as if in deep slumber, breathing
shallowly in her state of hypnosis. Dr. Cox had another idea.

"Callie, don't you think it's rather hot today?" Dr. Cox inquired of Callie Colt.

Callie Colt responded with a slight nod of her head. Her senses were suddenly awakened, and she indeed felt as if it
were uncomfortably warm in the stagecoach. She squirmed slightly in her seat and bent her head back slightly.

"I don't believe I've ever traveled in such warm weather." Dr. Cox said. "Have you, Callie?"

Callie Colt shook her head slowly from side to side and muttered. "No."

"It's almost tropical, you might say." Dr. Cox said with a grin.

The words of Dr. Cox began to have their desired effect. He looked on happily as Callie Colt began to remove her
suede leather bolo jacket in reaction to the hot temperature her mind was registering. She sighed as she lay the
jacket on the seat next to her and removed the scarf from around her neck to fan herself.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were inside an oven." Dr. Cox said.

Callie Colt was breathing heavily now as her ample chest rose and fell. She definitely appeared to be reacting to a
sweltering heat that only she could feel. Dr. Cox watched anxiously as Callie Colt removed the top button from her
blouse, and his heart began to race with excitement. He almost forgot about Cassie, who was still suckling his finger.

"My goodness." Callie Colt sighed as she opened another button and dabbed at the bare skin just below her neck,
as if she were wiping away perspiration.

"Don't mind me if you'd like to open your blouse, Callie." Dr. Cox said. "I'm a doctor, and it wouldn't bother me one
bit."

Callie Colt's face made an odd expression, as if she were struggling with the thought, but in her mind the heat was
unbearable, and she had to have some relief. She slowly undid the rest of the buttons of her blouse until her
brassiere was exposed.

Dr. Cox looked on with utter delight as the bountiful cleavage blushed into a light shade of pink. He swallowed at the
sight of the creamy tops of her mounds, and resisted the temptation to grab them with both hands. Soon enough,
Callie Colt's belief that it was a hundred degrees inside the stagecoach led her to undo her brassiere until her
luscious mounds were fully exposed with their soft nipples extended outwardly like two thimbles.

Dr. Cox was trembling now as he watched Callie Colt try to cool herself with the air rushing in through the
stagecoach windows. He watched with fascination as her breasts jiggled and bounced while the stagecoach rambled
over the rocky trail. His member was almost popping out of his trousers, and he used his free hand to open them and
take it out.

"You must be very thirsty, Callie." Dr. Cox said, coming up with a sinful idea.

"Umm, yes." Callie Colt muttered as she continued to fan herself. "So thirsty."

"I have something that will quench your thirst, Callie." Dr. Cox said with a grin. "It's tied to my belt. I'm afraid
you'll have to kneel down in front of me to get to it."

Callie Colt slowly arose from her seat. It seemed odd to her what she was doing, but she had to have something to
drink, it was so hot. Once she was on her knees, she felt her hand being guided until she felt a long soft tube of some
sort and held it in her hand.

"This is a juice pouch." Dr. Cox explained. "You have to build up pressure by gently squeezing and pumping it.
Then it will open up at the end and you can drink from it."

Callie Colt was at a loss. She had never heard of such a thing and only held it in her hand.

"Here, let me show you, my dear. It's very simple." Dr. Cox said as he took his free hand and placed it over Callie
Colt's, instructing her on how to alternately squeeze and stroke. Soon, she took over by herself and Dr. Cox allowed
her to go to work.

"That's it, Callie." Dr. Cox said with a sigh. "Just like that. Yes. Believe me, it will be worth the effort. It's the most
wonderful thing you'll ever taste"

It was almost too much, thought Dr. Cox. Here were two of the prettiest young ladies he'd ever met, under his
hypnotic power. A fresh-faced teen, who was busy licking and sucking his finger like candy, and a demure brunette
who was tending to his shaft with great care. He could be bounced from the medical profession for this.

"There's a small bit coming out of the end now, Callie." Dr. Cox said. "Give it a taste."

Callie Colt bent her head down to take the tip of the rubbery shaft in her plump lips and used the tip of her tongue to
lap at the pre-come which oozed from the end of what she believed to be some kind of juice pouch. The taste was
exquisite, and she became impatient for the rest. Soon, she was pumping her fist a little faster and trying to squeeze
more out as she kept her mouth on the end, trying to help it along by sucking gently.

Dr. Cox closed his eyes and groaned in ecstasy. He would never forget this day as long as he lived, and opened his
eyes again to watch the auburn-haired beauty work her full lips around his member as her soft hand kneaded and
stroked him. When he felt Callie Colt's tongue dig gently at the tip of the head, he was soon on the verge of orgasm.

Callie Colt was desperate for the liquid. She used more of her mouth now to try and suck the precious juice out. The
pouch seemed to throb in her hand, and she took that as a sign that it was ready to release it's tasty contents. Callie
moaned and sucked quicker now as more liquid seeped from the end. Then, in pleasant surprise, it suddenly popped,
and a torrent of juice filled her mouth and throat. She swallowed it eagerly, sating her heat-induced thirst. Dr. Cox
was right, Callie Colt thought. This was the most wonderful ambrosia she had ever tasted. It was so good, she didn't
want to waste a drop, and she continued licking and sucking until she had every ounce down her parched throat.

Once Callie Colt was finished, Dr. Cox sighed and helped her back up to her seat and turned his attention to Cassie,
telling her. "That's enough my dear. I wouldn't want you to get a cavity. You'd better go back now and sit with your
lovely cousin."

Cassie pouted when Dr. Cox removed his sweet-tasting finger from her mouth, giving it one last lick of her playful
tongue. She then moved back over by Callie Colt, where the two of them sat with their eyes still closed and in a deep
hypnotic trance.

"My, my, it's getting a little chilly all of a sudden." Dr. Cox said, and his words had the desired effect once again.
Callie Colt shivered as goose bumps covered her exposed flesh and made her rose-colored nipples harden. She
quickly replaced her brassiere and buttoned her blouse back to its original state. Then, she put her short jacket
back on and tied her scarf around her neck until she was comfortable again.

"I'm going to clap my hand once." Dr. Cox told the two young women after he calmed down. "When you awaken,
you are going to feel a warm sense of calm and relaxation. You won't be so anxious anymore, Cassie. And you will
feel very comfortable, Callie."

Dr. Cox clapped his hand once, and watched as Callie Colt and Cassie came out of their hypnotic state. Each one of
them took a deep breath and stretched, as if they had just had a long and restful sleep.

When Callie Colt came to her complete senses, she looked over at Cassie, who had a sleepy smile on her face. Then
she turned to the doctor and looked at him with bemused puzzlement.

"Oh, I feel wonderful." Callie Colt said blearily. "What happened?"

"I just finished my treatment." Dr. Cox informed her. "How do you feel Cassie?"

"Like I just woke up from a wonderful dream." Cassie replied.

"My goodness." Callie Colt exclaimed. "I didn't feel a thing."

"That's the whole idea." Dr. Cox replied.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Cox." Cassie said. "I feel much better now."

"Don't mention it, my dear." Dr. Cox said with a knowing grin. "It was my pleasure."

=====

 (III)  CAPTURED IN FATE

The stagecoach trip toward Kansas City was rather pleasant for Callie Colt and her cousin Callie, until they were
stopped unexpectedly by several mounted lawmen a few miles from a small Missouri town called Fate. Dr. Cox and
the Colt cousins were all asked to come out their compartment by a rather stout sheriff and his deputies.

As they stood out in sun on the open trail, the sheriff spoke up with a gravelly voice. "My name is Sheriff Cole.
We've been telegraphed by the law in Illinois to be on the lookout for two young women travelling alone to
California."

"What's this all about my good man?" Dr. Cox inquired of the gruff-looking sheriff.

"The women are wanted for murder and thievery." The sheriff explained as he kept his eyes on Callie Colt and
Cassie. "And these ladies fit the description."

"Well, I can assure you these are not the two you are looking for." Dr. Cox said. "They are my nieces. We're on
our way to Kansas City where I'm starting my medical practice."

"Is that so?" Sheriff Cole replied, spitting a wad of tobacco juice down on the spats of Dr. Cox. "Well I think you're
a damned liar. I suggest you get right back in that coach and be on your way, sawbones. We're taking these two in
until the law comes to get 'em."

"Oh no!" whimpered Cassie as she as she held tight to her cousins.

Callie Colt wrapped a protective arm around her frightened young cousin while the stagecoach driver dropped their
bags down off the roof of the coach. She whispered to Cassie. "Don't worry, I'll get us out of this mess."

After Dr. Cox climbed back in the coach and headed away down the dusty trail, Sheriff Cole ordered Callie Colt and
Cassie to climb on the extra horse he brought with him.

"If the two of you give me any trouble, I'll rope your asses so tight you won't be able to move an inch." Sheriff Cole
warned.

Cassie winced at the Sheriff's barked warning as Callie Colt glared at him for frightening her cousin unduly. They
reluctantly gathered their bags and climbed on the gray mare.

Soon they were on their way to the town of Fate.

                                               ****

On the dusty trail, Cassie began to sob quietly as she held on to her cousin, Callie Colt. The deputies kept a
watchful eye on them as well as the sullen Sheriff Cole. When they reached a gully, one of the deputies' horses
slipped as it tried to cross. In turn, another horse reared up, causing a commotion that gave Callie Colt the perfect
chance to escape.

Callie Colt spurred her horse across the gully and left the men in her dust as she yelled for Cassie to hold on tight.
She took off for a grove off lush trees to see if she could lose the lawmen that were now in hot pursuit.

Sheriff Cole cursed at his deputies and urged them to catch their escaping prisoners before they got away, and soon
all of them were riding hard through the trees, trying to avoid the low hanging branches and other shrubs.

Callie Colt's heart pounded as she rode through the grove. When she heard hoof beats coming close behind, she
turned to look behind her to see how close her pursuers were.

"Callie, look out!" Cassie screamed, but it was too late. When Callie Colt turned back around, her eyes went wide
and she put her arms up as a thick branch knocked the two of them off the horse.

Cassie screamed as she fell, and she was knocked unconscious by the spill. Callie Colt herself landed on her back,
causing the wind to be knocked out of her. She saw with dismay as Sheriff Cole and his deputies rode up and quickly
dismounted as she lay on the ground gasping for air. Before she could even attempt to get up, two of the deputies
set their boots down hard on each of her wrists, pinning her to the ground while another two stepped down on her
ankles.

Sheriff Cole looked down from his horse in anger as Callie Colt's back arched upward, heaving for air as she was
spread out on the grass. He took a coil of rope from his saddle as he dismounted and growled. "I told you not to
make trouble, hellbitch."

Callie Colt struggled desperately as Sheriff Cole grabbed her and trussed her up like a calf. She was bent in half at
the waist and bound with her wrists between her ankles.

"You fat bastard!" Callie Colt screamed. "Let me loose!"

"Watch your mouth!" Sheriff Colt warned as he backhanded her across the cheek.

Callie Colt winced and screamed, and then spat a string of saliva at the sheriff.

"All right, that done it!" Sheriff Cole snarled as he yanked his bandana from his neck and used it silence Callie
Colt. She tried to bite him as he stuffed the sweaty cloth in her mouth, and then tied it off in the back. "This will
keep that ornery trap of yours shut!"

Callie Colt nearly choked from having the disgusting rag in her mouth. She watched helplessly as a deputy carried
her cousin and laid her over the gray mare. Two others carried her bound up body to the horse and hung her from
the side like a saddlebag. On the way back to town, she hung uncomfortably as dust was kicked up in her face.

                                               ****

It was later in the evening when Sheriff Cole sent his last deputy home and out the door of the county jail. His job
now was to wait for the Illinois law to collect his prisoners. But he had some time to kill, and now he was all by
himself with the two pretty fugitives.

A doctor had tended to Cassie, and it was determined that she only had a mild concussion. She lay asleep in a
separate jail cell from Callie Colt, who sat restlessly, trying to come up with a plan for escape. She jumped with a
start when she heard the loud turn of the key and clang of the door, which led into the room of jail cells. When she
saw that it was the sheriff, her blood boiled.

Sheriff Cole closed and locked the door behind him and waddled over to Callie Colt's cell.

"Howdy." Sheriff Cole said with a smile, revealing a filthy set of tobacco-stained teeth.

Callie Colt said nothing in response, and only glared at him with hatred and disgust.

"I hope you ain't got no hard feeling against me." Sheriff Cole said. His mood was totally opposite from what is was
earlier in front of his deputies. "I'm just doing my job is all."

"What do you want, sheriff?" Callie Colt finally said.

"Why don't we get better acquainted?" Sheriff Cole suggested with a suggestive grin as he rubbed the stubble on
his chin. "I ain't such a bad sort once you get used to me."

"You fat tub of lard." Callie Colt hissed. "I wouldn't touch you with a hickory stick."

"Well, then." Sheriff Cole said. "Maybe your little cousin there will be a might friendlier."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Callie Colt warned, nearing the bars. "She's only fifteen."

"She looks a lot older." Sheriff Cole responded, eyeing the sleeping Cassie lustfully.

"I swear I'll cut your balls off if you touch one hair on her head." Callie Colt said in shaking anger as she grabbed
the bars of the cell.

Sheriff Cole laughed as he headed over to Cassie's cell. "You'd have to get through them bars first."

"Wait!" Callie Colt called out. "Don't! Please! I'll do whatever you want!"

The sheriff stopped and went back to Callie Colt's cell. "I knew you'd change your tune. "

"Just tell me what you want." Callie Colt pleaded as her heart sunk. She knew what she would have to do to get out
of this mess. "And promise to leave her alone."

"I promise." Sheriff Cole said as he crossed his chest and spit on the floor. "Now put your hands through them
bars."

Callie Colt looked at him in puzzlement, not understanding what he wanted.

"I ain't taking no chances with you." Sheriff Cole said. "Put your hands through there so I can handcuff 'em to the
bars."

Reluctantly, Callie Colt did as she was told, and realized it was going to be next to impossible to get out of this. After
she allowed Sheriff Cole place metal cuffs on her wrists, she watched in dread as he unlocked her door and entered
her cell.

"You got a nice little tail on you, young lady." Sheriff Cole said as he walked up behind Callie Colt and slapped her
firm behind. "When was the last time you was rode?"

"I've never been and I never will be!" Callie Colt said in sudden furious anger, as her face blushed red. "Especially
not by the likes of you! Let me loose this instant!"

"It's too late now." Sheriff Cole said as he grabbed her hips and pushed himself up behind her. "We already came
to an agreement, and you can't back out now."

"This is rape!" Callie Colt exclaimed.

"Not if you enjoy it!" Sheriff Cole crowed. "And by the time I'm done, you will enjoy it."

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Callie Colt snarled as hot tears welled up in her blue eyes. She shut her blue eyes tight as she
felt his pawing hands roam over her shapely form and shuddered.

"Careful." The wicked sheriff warned. "You don't want to wake up your little cousin."

Callie Colt squirmed in the sheriff's grasp and groaned as she felt him undoing the front of her blouse. The thought
of this animal touching her supple flesh was simply abhorrent.

Sheriff Cole licked his greasy lips and took his sweet time removing Callie Colt's lace brassiere. Once open, he
fondled her ripe melons as he breathed his whiskey-tinged breath in her ear. She cringed when he licked the side of
her cheek, and struggled helplessly as the aroused sheriff had his way with her.

"Let me help you off with these britches." Sheriff Cole whispered in her ear lustfully as he began to unto the belt to
her suede leather chaps, and slowly pulled them down with her denims to expose her perfectly shaped derriere.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the next room as Sheriff Cole heard someone enter the jail and call out for him,
just as he began to undo his own belt buckle.

"Damnation!" Sheriff Cole cursed. "I told them sons of bitches to get on home!"

The sheriff quickly buckled himself back up and yanked up Callie Colt's chaps before he exited the cell as quick as
a flash and removed the handcuffs from her. He allowed her a few seconds to close up her blouse before he
unlocked the door to see who was in the jail.

Once the door was shut and locked, Callie Colt breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on her cot. That was a close
call, but she knew the hateful sheriff was not about to give up.

She had to think of something, and think of something quickly, or else.

                                               ****

Sheriff Cole was face to face with an intimidating group of lawmen from Chicago, led by U.S. Marshall Jake Rudd.
They explained that once they got a telegraph telling them that Callie Colt and her cousin Cassie were in the
custody of the Fate County Sheriff, they high-tailed it all day to the sleepy little town, along with a pair of strangers
who talked kind of funny.

"Where are they?" Sadie DeSade demanded to know.

"They're in the cell room." Sheriff Cole answered. "I was interrogating the older one."

Sadie looked the disheveled sheriff up and down, and when she noticed his shirttail sticking through the front
buttons of his trousers, she muttered, "I'm sure you were."

Marcus DeSade spoke up. "Please release them now to our custody, sheriff. We're taking them back to Boston
immediately."

"Hold on now, Frenchy." Marshall Rudd said, irritated by the dandy with the eye patch, who was a bit too
demanding. "We've been riding hard all day. I suggest we make sure we have the right people, and then spend the
night here in town. We'll head out in the morn'."

"We can't stay in this dreadful place." Sadie DeSade exclaimed. "It's positively medieval."

"Look, I've had enough sass out of the two of you to last me a lifetime." Marshall Rudd growled. "Take a gander at
the prisoners and then find the nearest hotel."

Marcus and Sadie looked at each other with rolling eyes and resigned themselves to the fact that they were going to
have to follow the Marshall's orders, much as it pained them.

"All right, lead the way." Marcus sighed and grumbled to Sheriff Cole.

The sheriff led them to the peephole on the door to the cell room and slid it open to allow Sadie and Marcus to peer
inside. Both their wicked hearts picked up as they saw Callie Colt and Cassie each lying down on their cell cots.

"That's them." Sadie said with a glint in her eye. Already she was plotting on a hundred different ways to punish her
stepdaughter for all this commotion. Meanwhile, Marcus was waiting impatiently for the chance to get his hands on
Callie Colt once again.

                                               ****

Later, at the Henderson Hotel, Sadie and Marcus stewed in their humble room.

"I can't stay a second longer in this dreadful place." Sadie complained. "I think we need to take matters into our
own hands."

"What did you have in mind?" Marcus asked, warming to his sister's suggestion.

"Let's you and I pay a little visit to that little gnome of a sheriff." Sadie said.

"Yes." Marcus agreed with a widening smile. "Perhaps we can talk him into letting us have custody of his
prisoners."

                                               ****

Sheriff Cole was sitting with his boots propped up on his desk, sleeping. The only reason he was not molesting his
prisoners was because Marshall Rudd left one of his men behind inside the cell room to help keep an eye on the
prisoners, despite Sheriff Cole's protests. When he heard a knock on his door, the sheriff nearly fell out of his chair,
and he jumped up to see who was at the door. When he pulled the shade up, he was pleasantly surprised to find the
pretty Frenchwoman he had met earlier standing outside the door. He hurriedly unlocked the door and allowed her
to enter.

"Good evening, sheriff." Sadie said in a demure voice.

"Evening, ma'am" Sheriff Cole stuttered like a nervous teenager. He sure liked the pretty way she talked. "What
can I do you for?"

"I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind." Sadie answered.

"Not at all." Sheriff Cole replied as he allowed her to enter his office. "Have a seat right over here. What did you
say your name was, Miss?"

"You can call me Sadie." Sadie said with a charming smile.

"Sadie." Sheriff Cole repeated. "That's a pretty name."

Sadie DeSade groaned silently in her head. This man was absolutely repulsive, and she wondered when was the last
time he had bathed.

"Thank you sheriff." Sadie replied politely. "That's very kind of you to say."

"Can I get a drink, Sadie?" Sheriff Cole asked with dreamy eyes.

"That would be nice." Responded Sadie.

Sheriff Cole scrambled to get a bottle of whiskey and two glasses from his desk drawer. He was horrified to find the
shot glasses so dirty, and apologized to Sadie before he went to the wash room to clean them out. While he left the
room, Marcus entered the office quietly and hid in an alcove.

Sheriff Cole returned with two spotless glasses and set them on the desk to pour two shots of whiskey, and then
handed one over to Sadie DeSade, who smiled primly.

"Here's to new friends." Sheriff Cole said in toast as he held his glass up. "Bottom's up."

As Sheriff Cole closed his eyes and drained his glass, Sadie took a sip of hers and nearly choked on the bitter taste
of the strong whiskey. It was the vilest thing she had ever tasted, and she succumbed to a fit of coughing.

"I guess this is a little strong for a delicate lady." Sheriff Cole chucked.

                                               ****

Inside the jail cell room, Callie Colt had been in deep conversation with the young deputy left to watch her and
Cassie. His name was Dill, and Callie Colt had been explaining their predicament to him. The handsome deputy, who
was only a young eighteen-year-old, lent an understanding ear, especially after he noticed how pretty young Cassie
was.

When Callie Colt and Dill heard coughing in the next room, he went to the peephole to check what was going on.

"Who's there?" Callie Colt asked in concern.

"Some woman talkin' to the sheriff." Dill answered. "Dressed real fancy."

"Does she have light brown hair?" Callie Colt inquired.

"Yep." Will responded. "Is that the lady you was tellin' me about?"

"Yes." Callie Colt answered nervously. "She's come to do us harm."

"Don't worry, I won't let her." Dill said bravely.

"She has a brother with an eye patch." Callie said. "Is he there?"

"Not that I can see." Dill said. "I'll keep a look out for him, though."

                                               ****

When Sadie DeSade's coughing fit ended, she asked the sheriff sweetly, "Sheriff, could I trouble you to allow me to
see the prisoners?"

"Well, normally I wouldn't, but since you is so friendly and all, I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in it." The
sheriff responded. "Just be careful. She's a hellcat."

"I'm well aware of her temperament." Sadie responded as she followed Sheriff Cole to the door of the cell room.

Sheriff Cole inserted his skeleton key and turned the lock. The door swung open with a loud squeak and Sadie
passed through the door with the slightly drunken sheriff. Callie Colt and Sadie DeSade locked glaring eyes once
she entered the cell room.

Dill stood at attention with his hand on his sidearm. "What's up sheriff?"

"This young lady would like to have a little visit with the prisoner." Sheriff Cole answered.

"Marshall Rudd said no visitors." Dill responded.

"Bite your tongue, whippersnapper." Sheriff Cole barked. "You may be Illinois law, but this here's my jail, and I'll
allow anyone I see fit in here."

Just then, Marcus entered the room with a drawn pistol and placed it the back of the head of the sheriff, and told
him. "Don't move, or I'll remove the back of your thick skull."

As Dill was about to go for his own sidearm, he froze when Sadie pulled a derringer and put it to his temple with a
warning, "Don't you move either, handsome, unless I say so."

Callie Colt watched with dismay as Sadie and Marcus removed the sheriff and Dill's revolvers, and then tied them
up and gagged them both before herding them into an empty cell, where they were locked in. Then they turned their
attention to Callie Colt and Cassie, who was stirring from Sheriff Cole's muffled protests in the next cell.

"So we meet again." Sadie said with a callous grin. "This time we won't play any games."

"You haven't learned your lesson, have you?" Callie Colt said defiantly.

Cassie gasped in the next cell when she fully awoke and saw Sadie and Marcus DeSade before her. She prayed it
was just a nightmare she was having. But she realized it was real when Marcus entered her cell and grabbed her. As
Callie Colt watched in horror, Cassie struggled mightily and tried to scream, but Marcus clamped a firm hand over
her mouth, muffling her cries. He threw her down stomach first on the cot, and then straddled Cassie to keep her
from resisting while he used a cord of rope to tie her wrists behind her.

"Leave her alone!" Callie Colt warned. "It's me you want!"

"Turn your back and put your hands behind you." Sadie ordered her nemesis. "Or I won't be very nice to little
Cassie."

"You lying devil!" Callie Colt hissed. "You'll hurt her anyway!"

"You're right of course." Sadie grinned. "But you don't have much choice, do you?"

Callie Colt stared Sadie down, but finally relented when she realized Sadie was right. Once out of the jail cell, she
would figure something out to save herself and her innocent cousin. She reluctantly turned her back to the bars and
placed her hands behind her back.

Marcus, who had already trussed up the whimpering Cassie, took great delight in reaching in to bind Callie Colt's
hands together tightly and securely. His expert knots prevented her from moving her wrists even a fraction of an
inch. Once bound, he opened the cell and grabbed her roughly by her silky auburn locks.

"You are mine now!" Marcus hissed in Callie Colt's ear as she winced from his rough manhandling. "There's no
escape now, belle ami."

Sadie and Marcus DeSade cruelly gagged and collected their captives, and led them out behind the jail where
Marcus had brought their stagecoach around. Marcus made sure to gather Callie Colt and Cassie's belongings, so
he and Sadie could look for the key to the safety deposit box in San Francisco. While Sadie took the tearful Cassie
inside the coach compartment, Marcus led Callie up into the driver's seat, and then forced her to lie down on her
stomach upon the wooden buckboard, where he finished trussing her up tight in a hog-tied position. Their plan was to
sneak out of town before Marshall Rudd awoke, and head to St. Louis. There, they would board a train to California
to get their hands on the deed to the gold mine, which rightfully belonged to Callie Colt and her cousin Cassie.

End of Part One