Chapter Sixteen
Although Linda and Ely fell asleep quickly, Karl wasn't able to. As he lay there beside the others he should have felt relatively relaxed and comfortable but he didn't. Not only was he certain that he would be wakened often during the night, in fact he would probably awaken each time one of the others went to take her place on guard, but on top of that he had a myriad of worries on his mind. He only hoped that the others would sleep fairly soundly. In his mind he was already trying to plan the next day yet he couldn't really plan much until the day began to develop. At the present time he felt there were just too many unknowns.
The one thing Karl hadn't mentioned to the others was that he liked having Bruno inside. With the dog lying by the hearth they had a very effective alarm system at work. Bruno's ear would detect a lot more than most people would even see. Karl had seen him on the hunt and he trusted Bruno's senses to a far greater extent than he did his own.
On top of that, he trusted everyone to do their best and felt that the way he had set up the rotation gave everyone time to rest. Realising that he needed to sleep as much as he could, he willed himself to relax. It seemed only minutes later when Keri and Ely were speaking quietly as Ely arose. He rolled over carefully, trying not to disturb Linda who was snoring softly on the other side of the huge bed.
"Ely, before you go, can I have a hug? Then I'll get Keri to slip into the middle of the bed so she can sleep soundly for a few hours and I won't disturb her when I get up." He whispered.
"You weren't supposed to wake up, you big lug." Ely murmured, walking over to hug him as he sat up. "Now go back to sleep."
"Yes Boss." He grinned, then kissed her lightly before laying back.
Ely slipped out of the door and Keri leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"And how do I get into the middle of the bed?" She asked.
"Slip under the covers and crawl over me." He teased. "I promise I won't do anything you don't like."
"That sounds promising, the problem is that we both need to get our sleep." She chuckled, easily slipping over him and snuggling against him for a few moments, letting him warm her up.
"Another night I'll make sure we celebrate like I promised, Little Mommy." Karl whispered in her ear and kissed her lightly.
"Oh shit!" She giggled softly. "I'd forgotten about that promise in all the fuss but I'd have remembered and reminded you later."
"I thought so." Karl sighed quietly. "Unfortunately right now we'd better get some sleep."
"Umm hm." She muttered and snuggled tightly against him.
As they relaxed, Karl fell asleep in her arms and was surprised when Trudy leaned over him and shook him gently. He'd slept right through Ely coming back to bed and Linda getting up.
"Rise and shine Karl, I'm off to bed." Trudy whispered. "Not much happening other than the storm, Linda can tell you about it."
"Okay Trudy, thanks." Karl slipped out of bed and dressed quickly, trying to be as quiet as he could.
A quick trip to the john and he was almost ready to take his place outside. He stopped in the living room long enough to check on the dog who seemed to be resting easily, then he heard the coffee perk in the kitchen gurgle as it finished its cycle. Chuckling that Trudy would have put on fresh coffee for him, he poured two cups. Then, making sure the tiny light in the kitchen didn't reach the outside door and pausing to grab a light jacket, he stepped out onto the porch.
He could hear the wind moaning in the trees as well as the rain drumming down quite heavily but since it was still fully dark he couldn't see much. He paused for a moment, acclimatising his sight to the dim light from the distant yard light. He could just make out Linda's figure where she was sitting in a deck chair. In only seconds his eyes had adjusted enough that he could see that she had a blanket over her knees and the rifle resting at her side. She smiled at him as he handed her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks Karl, it's sort of creepy when you're out here by yourself. You hear the trees and things moving in the wind." She whispered. "Some of the sounds almost spook a person."
"Yeah." Karl answered just as quietly. "Have you heard or seen anything suspicious?"
"Not really, it's been more the sound of trees rubbing against each other and such. Oh, did Trudy tell you the cow and calf came wandering back?"
"What? When did that happen?"
"I guess it was just before Ely came to waken me, She was wet and cold when she came to up to trade places, so I imagine it had just happened before that. Trudy said that all Ely had to do was open the gate for them and the cow and calf walked right into the pen then moved close to the building. I guess it was really storming hard and they wanted the shelter."
"I suppose they decided that shelter was better than freedom. Maybe they worked the gate free before and just wandered away, now they've wandered back." He frowned, not really believing in that idea.
"Not unless they know how to untie knots." Linda sighed. "Trudy had tied the cow before and the rope was taken when the cow disappeared. She said that when the cow came back this time, she had a different rope around her neck."
"Aw shit." Karl sat forward, staring at the pen where the cow and calf had to be, but unable to make them out in the darkness. "I guess that means for certain that we have someone else here on the island."
"Trudy and I came to the same conclusion. We were wondering if the cow could be tracked."
"That's not a bad idea. In this weather her hoof prints will be plain for a while. Of course they'll disappear quite quickly in this sort of storm too."
"How quickly? Could we follow them tomorrow?"
"You mean today." Karl said, glancing at his watch. "It'll be daylight in an hour or so."
"Oh, you know what I mean." Linda snapped, then she sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be grouchy."
"That's okay. I was just trying to be fairly light hearted."
"I know, I'm just a bit touchy." She sighed. "Would you like another coffee? I need to go in to use the can. I could get you one on my way back out here."
"Yeah, I could use another cup." Karl handed her his cup as she shifted the rifle to lean it against the wall at his side.
He watched her go inside and he found himself wondering at her easy acceptance of everything that was going on. Then he reflected that they all seemed to be functioning at an unexpected level of awareness of their surroundings. He thought it might be a matter of self protection, they had shed a few thousand years of civilization in only days and in a way they were now thinking along the lines of tribal members in a clan.
If that was right, he realised that by challenging and proving George wrong last night, he had pushed himself into a clear leadership role. Surprisingly he regretted doing it, but at the same time he felt that George had been making a mistake. In his own mind, George was still a brilliant man but he was also more of a theoretician than a practical leader. It was then that he realised George probably felt relief, while he felt the added burden of responsibility.
"I guess that makes me the defacto chief of the tribe and George a village elder." He grinned to himself, somehow amused at the thought of comparing them to a tribe.
Instead of allowing himself to worry about it, he forced himself to concentrate on scanning over the scene beyond the porch while listening for odd noises. In a moment he was sure he heard two women's voices murmuring softly inside the cabin and only seconds later he knew his ears hadn't been deceiving him. When Linda came outside, Keri was with her.
"What's this?" He asked quietly.
"I couldn't sleep any more." Keri spoke in a whisper. "I woke up when you got out of bed and I've been tossing and turning since then. I finally got up so that I didn't wake Ely. I'm taking Linda's place in a half hour anyway. I thought she could go back to bed a bit early."
"That's fine with me." Karl shrugged. "Although I wasn't planning on having her call you at all."
"I figured that." She laughed softly. "I think that's part of the reason I'm so wide awake. I knew if I fell asleep, you might not have me called. Linda, you should get some sleep."
"And what if three people are needed?" She demanded, sounding almost irritated.
"Linda, if we need someone, you'll be the first to know." Karl frowned, thinking that she sounded unlike the person he was used to.
"And by the time I get down here anything could have happened." She snapped.
"Hey, just a second." Karl was getting a bit worried about her reaction to the situation. "Right now I'd say lack of sleep is making you grouchy as hell."
"Sorry." Linda sighed. "I guess I should rest, I think perhaps I've got PMS."
"It sounded like it." Keri chuckled. "That's one thing I won't miss for a few months."
"Hah, I remember those times, but you were doing the distribution." Karl smiled. "You should have been on the reception end."
"Hmph, you should feel like a bloated old cow with a belly ache once." Linda snapped. "If all men had PMS just once in their life, the world would be a better place."
"Yep, I think you need some sleep." Keri smiled, wrapping Linda in her arms and hugging her tightly.
"Oh fuck. I'm sorry for being a bitch." Linda sighed.
It only took a moment or two more and a hug from Karl as well before they convinced Linda to finally go inside and catch some more sleep.
"Well, at least she isn't pregnant too." Keri grinned at Karl after a moment. "I think for a while yesterday you were worried that she might be."
"Of course I was." Karl sighed. "But are you sure that she's not, couldn't she have PMS and still be pregnant?"
"Nope, I don't think so. That was my first clue that I might be pregnant, no PMS, and then my period went overdue. I carefully didn't tell anyone though, not until I was pretty well positive and then I made a doctor's appointment. I was on the way home from the doctor with the good news when the earthquake hit. I was driving along and all of a sudden the road just wasn't there. I skidded into some bushes off to one side of the road and slammed to a halt. In that short time I went from being so happy that I was singing along with the car radio to being so scared I was whimpering."
"You weren't hurt at all?"
"Nope, just scared completely shitless." She grinned. "I actually peed myself because I was so scared. I thought it was something wrong with me, that maybe I was having hallucinations or something."
"So what happened then?"
"Well, I sat there for a while and calmed down then I got out of the car. Since I'd just ridden the ferry back from Seattle after a two-day stay, I had a suitcase along so I changed my panties and put on some jeans. Then as I was starting to walk back to the road another tremor hit and I knew for sure what was going on."
"I figured if it had been a big enough quake to throw me off the road in my car, I might have a hard time getting home and after I thought about it for a minute I went back to the car. I grabbed my suitcase, my flashlight, a piece of rope, a hammer and a pair of pliers. I packed everything but the rope in the suitcase, then I used the rope to make a sling to carry everything easier and I set out to walk home."
"A hammer and a pair of pliers?"
"Hey, they were the only tools I could find in the car." She said emphatically. 'And you've got to remember I'd just been in a car wreck so cut me some slack huh? I thought about it afterward and decided I did pretty damn good for being bloody well shook up. You should have seen the car. I'm fairly sure it was a complete write off and yet I walked away without a scratch, so your harping about always wearing a seat belt paid off.
"Well, that's one good thing."
"Hey, you'd have been proud of me. Instead of just diving into things like usual, I actually took the time to think first, then made up my mind what I was going to do before I did anything at all. I looked at the car, decided that it was a total wreck and set about to salvage what I could possibly use if I got into trouble. Then I set out to walk the twelve miles home. It took several hours because I had to detour around two big landslides, several wrecked cars, oodles of downed power lines, and various other small obstacles. The worst was when I had to find my way down one side of a ravine, across a stream, and then up the other side because a bridge got knocked out by the quake. When I did get home, I found that two big trees had crashed down onto the roof, pretty well crushing the house. Everyone was crammed into one room and trying to make some sense out of the mess. It was chaotic but at least everyone was okay."
"Ely said you had a rough time."
"It really wasn't that bad. I mean, we didn't have a party or anything, but we managed. That first night the six of us just sort of huddled together and tried to stay warm. In the next few days we got moved to the boathouse and even if we didn't have all that we could wish for, we were doing okay. Then that damn nosy old bastard from down the road started interfering with our lives and just after that we found out you were okay and you were coming to rescue us."
"There was no damn way I was going to let that old bastard screw with you too, so I snuck over to his place to see what I could do to stop that, luckily I sneaked over there at the same time that he was sneaking over to spy on us. I was so pissed with him. I mean here it was Daddy had been the guy who got him involved with short wave radio. Daddy even gave the old prick one as a damn gift and after all of that, the old bastard was being a fink and reporting on us. When I looked in his window and saw that he was living far better than we were and hadn't offered to share anything or to help us in any way I knew he was a bastard. He even had power somehow while we were fighting a damn generator."
"I guess I just lost my temper. I climbed in an open window, took every one of his radios that I could find and I was going to smash them. Then I decided I wanted to do something, well something dirtier to the old prick. I remembered that time you and I found that old boat that had been wrecked and I'd wanted to try to save the radio. And I remembered how the salt water had eaten it all up inside. So I took the radios and put 'em all on the floor, tipped each one forward, poured salt from the old pricks own kitchen into the back. Then. . . ." She broke into a giggle, sounding almost like a naughty little girl. "Then I peed in them and I let the pee and the salt soak for a while. After that, I put them all back where they had been, and I plugged them all in, just so they could fry."
Karl just looked at her with a weird grin on his face, shaking his head slowly. "Vicious Bitch when you get mad, aren't you?" He commented.
"Yep, I had a couple of good teachers who taught me not to get mad, just to get even. What topped it off though, was when I got home. He was trying to push past Ely to see what we had been doing in the boathouse and screaming about reporting us to the authorities. Then he was yelling something about the idea that it was his right to see whether we were breaking the law. So I ordered him off with my shotgun and told him that if he trespassed again, I'd blow his balls off. Oh, and just as a demonstration that I could shoot, he was carrying a little radio of some sort, I think a walkie talkie or something. Anyway, I had him set it on a fence post and just as he was walking away from it, I blew that fucking thing to bits. I think the meddlesome old bastard shit himself. At least he was waddling funny as hell when he ran off."
"Remind me not to get you mad at me." Karl said quietly, laughing softly.
"Oh come on, when did you ever set out to make life hell for someone else?" She snorted. "That old bastard really pissed me off. I can't stand someone who can be so fucking two faced."
"Easy girl, easy." Karl grinned at her, "Your red headed temper is showing."
As often happened that made her giggle, just as it had when he'd teased her years ago.
"What are you going to do if I have a little red head baby?" She smiled at him. "Are you going to tease him or her as much about being a 'hot-blooded flame top' as you did me?"
"How would I know that now, it depends on the kid's personality. Actually, it scares the hell out of me, your being pregnant now that is. For Ely, we knew a doctor was only a half hour helicopter flight away or having her flown to a hospital was just over an hour. Now we may have to handle it on our own."
"Huh, you don't realise just how good Trudy and Ely are. I'd rather have them deliver my baby than a lot of doctors. Besides, women have been giving birth at home for thousands and thousands of years. Don't worry Daddy. I'm going to give you're a great little baby."
"It still worries the hell out of me."
"Well, what worries me more right now is that there might be other people on the island that we don't know anything about." She sighed.
"Yeah, I don't have enough to go on to make any sense out of that myself." Karl sighed. "I'd like to know how many are here, both people and animals. I mean there's a cow and a calf and we think there's a dog as well as at least one person. We don't know if it's a man or a woman. We don't know it there's more than one person. We can be pretty sure whoever it is came by water but what happened to the boat? And how did they know about the passage in here through the gorge?"
"Well, it does show on some charts even though it is marked as an unnavigable channel." Keri said quietly. " Maybe someone was in a boat and at the wrong place in the little bay at the outside. The tide could have swept them in. Then if it was flowing fast enough to suck them in, it could have wrecked their boat on that rock slide."
"If it did, it would have wrecked them all right. They'd have been bloody lucky to survive." Karl shivered his shoulders. "I remember watching from the cliffs above and seeing that water boil down in the cut at full flood. It still gives me the willies and that was before the slide. It would be a bloody miracle to come through there alive with the churn that those rocks must give it now."
"Perhaps, but there would be a chance." She sighed softly. "Imagine if the water was just deep enough and that they hit the rocks with enough force to carry them over the slide area, perhaps the boat was so damaged that it sank in the bay. They could have just swum ashore."
"I suppose." Karl sighed, "But that's a lot of ifs and maybes. Now if they did that and were able to swim ashore, why the hell didn't they ask for help?"
"Oh come on, there could be a ton of reasons." She snorted. "Maybe they're crooks and the cow and calf are stolen. Maybe they're scared that we have the flu. Maybe they just don't want the authorities to find them and they figure we'd report them."
"I guess." Karl said slowly, not wanting to argue.
It had begun to grow lighter and a brief windstorm struck, making them retreat back against the building to keep from getting wet with the driving rain. When they stood to move back against the building they noticed that it felt colder than before and that the wind was whipping the tops of the trees heavily.
"Dammit." Keri whispered, "Karl, this baby making business often means that if I sit still and I move suddenly then I need the bathroom. Will it be okay if I take a short break?"
"Sure," He chuckled. "But do me a favour and make me a fresh coffee before you come out, if you would, please?"
Keri actually put the coffee pot on first before rushing up to the bathroom. It was almost ready when she came down. Before going back outside she noticed the dog perk up his ears. Going over to pet him she noticed that he seemed tense.
"What's up Bruno?" She asked as she pet him gently. "Do you hear something?"
His soft "Ruff" sounded almost like confirmation. Ignoring the fresh perked coffee, she hurriedly slipped back outside and moved to Karl's side.
"Karl, Bruno seems tense and he gave one of those warning barks of his." She whispered.
"I heard him." Karl murmured. "Do me a favour, go up on the upper floor and slip out onto the deck. If you see something, tell me, but not loudly."
"What if I tap on the deck. Three quick taps to call your attention, then a break, followed by two taps for something strange on the left, three for on the right."
"That sounds good." Karl was staring out into the semi-darkness.
The light was just strong enough that he was able to make out indistinct shapes. The combination of that, along with the driving rain and distraction of the noises created by the storm meant Karl kept his eyes roving almost wildly. It took him a second or two to realise that there was a dark object hurtling across the goat pasture and perhaps another second or so before he reacted. Grabbing the rifle, he levered a shell into the chamber and leading the racing figure by several feet, he snapped off a shot.
The crack of the rifle was astoundingly loud and Keri, who had been just about to open the door to go back inside, let out a squeak of surprise.
"Fuck! I missed." Karl snapped, levering another cartridge in place as he watched the animal spin and race back the way it had come.
Swinging the rifle on his shoulder, he aimed more carefully and fired once more. His shot coming just before whatever it was came to the fence and tree line. This time he was rewarded by a high-pitched yelp. His target seemed to drop low to the ground, then slip into the trees and brush at the edge of the clearing.
Karl was still staring outward, his eyes panning across the landscape when Keri finally spoke.
"What the fuck was that?" She whispered.
"Dog, I think, or a wolf." He snapped. "Go inside and tell everyone we're okay. Those shots will have wakened everyone from a sound sleep."
And Keri realised he was right, the rising sounds from inside the cabin were going to make it hard, if not impossible, for them to concentrate. She slipped inside to reassure everyone and quieten them back down. Karl meantime went back to concentrating on the murkily lit landscape.
The only objects that Karl could see moving were the tree tops that swayed in the wind and a few of the goats that seemed to be milling slightly as if they had belatedly realised that perhaps they were in danger. The storm seemed to be lessening and Karl was able to see better with every passing moment.
Meanwhile inside, Keri was trying to get everyone to be quiet, explaining that Karl had shot at what looked like a dog that was attacking the goats. Bruno was trying to get up to investigate and she was having trouble keeping him calm. David came over and sat at the dog's side which settled him down immediately. Keri had hardly gotten to her feet again when Ely came charging down the stairs.
"Wait Ely." Keri said sharply. "Don't run out. Karl is very intent. You might break his concentration and that might be dangerous."
"Yeah! I know!" Ely said sharply, then turned toward Karl's den where George and Trudy had slept. "Dad, are you up?" She asked at their door.
"Of course." He sounded irritated, almost angry. "What would you like?"
"Sorry to bug you, Dad, but we seem to be under attack, I know you've got a little gun tucked away in your briefcase, can I borrow it for now? I'd like to help Karl."
"Oh, certainly, it will only take me a moment to get it." He answered.
"I'll get it dear." Ely and Keri heard Trudy say, then in a few seconds she slipped out the door with a small black pistol in her hand.
"It's really just a pop gun." She almost whispered as she handed it to Ely. "It's only a 22 caliber and it's not loaded or cocked. I just put the clip in, but the safety is on. Oh, and all we have are the nine bullets in the clip."
"Better than nothing. Thanks." Ely said quietly as well, then wheeled and headed for the door.
"Keri, you might talk to Linda, I think she's quite upset." She said over her shoulder.
At the door she paused. "Karl, I'm coming outside." She called softly.
"Okay." He answered just as quietly.
It was getting quite light outside by the time Ely joined Karl. He glanced at her and noticed the pistol instantly.
"Where the hell did you get that?" He demanded.
"Don't get mad." She said softly. "Dad had it tucked away and I knew about it, but it slipped both of our minds last night. It wasn't until I heard you shoot that I thought of it."
"Oh fuck." Karl grinned at her. "I'm not mad, in fact I'm happy as hell. If I'd have known about that pistol about an hour ago, I would have been out there, carrying it when that damn dog came around, which might well have been a mistake. But with you having it now, I can leave you here on the deck and go have a look around without as much fear of being under a surprise attack or at least not of being overcome."
"And what makes now better than an hour ago?" She demanded.
"Less wind, less rain, and more light." He answered. "Before the storm comes back, I want to go out and look around a bit, okay? I'll leave you the rifle and take the pistol."
"I'd rather you waited for full light and I'd like Linda and Keri down here too. It's a hell of a lot easier to keep an eye on a ninety-degree arc than almost three hundred degrees."
"Okay, you slip back in and get Keri and Linda or Trudy or whoever. All of you put on coats, this rain will give you all chills if you get wet and we can't afford to be sick." He ordered quietly. "Oh and while you're inside, see if your Dad can get the weather forecast would you?"
"Okay, anything else you can think of?"
"Yeah, ask David to stick close to Bruno. If Bruno gets restless, let him give a warning. Bruno heard something going on before I ever saw that damn dog. He thinks he's still on guard even if he's stuck inside."
"That fucking dog is always on guard." She muttered.
"Now just a minute, what's wrong with him?"
"Well for one thing, he stinks to high heaven. The house is going to reek of his stench in a day or two. Either he has to move outside soon or we're going to have to figure out a way to wash him."
"Okay, we'll figure something out later." Karl couldn't help grinning. "I know he stinks. Right now, he smells like an alarm system to me though."
"Hmmph, I'll give you that much." She grunted. "Do you have spare shells for that rifle?"
"Yeah, they're on the top shelf of the curio case, just inside the door. I put them there last night. Where's the part box I left with Keri and your Dad last night?"
"On the window sill, behind the chair. Didn't Linda or Trudy tell you that when you took over?"
"If they did, I wasn't listening." Karl admitted. "Look, I know we need to smarten up. Things like that could be damn important. How are you for shells for the pistol?"
"Nine shells, that's it. The rest are at the other house I guess."
"Oh great. What is it a .22?"
"Yeah, you don't happen to have a box of .22 short rimfire cartridges sitting around, do you?"
"Cripes, I do too. "Karl looked surprised and then chagrined. "In fact, at the very back of the cold storage room, there's a metal cupboard, an old clothes locker actually. Inside it there's a small shotgun, a 410 gauge I think, and a single shot .22 rifle, on the shelf above them there are shells for both. The guns are wrapped in oiled rags, so we'll unwrap them and wipe them down out here."
"Oiled rags? Why?"
"To stop them from getting rusty. I stored them there when I built the cabin two years ago. To be honest, I'd forgotten I had them." He sighed. "Now I don't want the oily rags in the house. They can spontaneously combust if they're left around in a pile, so don't unwrap them there, okay?"
"That doesn't make sense. If they've been stored in oily rags for years, why wouldn't they start a fire in storage."
"I suppose it's because the metal of the guns keeps them cool. I don't know, I just know it works." Karl snapped. "Now would you move damn it. I want to get out there and look around before the rain washes away all the signs from everything."
"Oops, sorry, why didn't you say something before?" She snapped back as she hurried inside.
Karl sighed deeply, then reminded himself that while he had automatically assumed that everyone would act as if they were back on the boat and under captain's orders because of what he saw as an emergency, it seemed that wasn't the case. He knew that it was his fault for not saying something sooner. He'd made the common error of assuming that others would think like he did and he mentally kicked himself for it. He was kicking himself for not remembering the .22 rifle and the .410 shotgun as well. He realised that if he were to do a good job of being a leader, then he had to start trying to think of every detail possible. All the time he was berating himself, he was staring out at the rapidly lightening scene and trying to concentrate on altogether too many things at once.
When Keri and Ely came out of the door in a couple of minutes, Ely walked over to him and looked him square in the eye.
"Karl, I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I know that sometimes you have to make decisions on the spur of the moment and can't take the time to explain. I fucked up, okay? I didn't realise why you were in a hurry."
"Okay." Karl sighed. "Sometimes there just isn't time enough to explain every detail. For now it looks like I'm stuck with being the boss and I'm afraid I'm treating it like I was on board the 'Skolka'. I was expecting everyone to follow captain's orders."
"Which is absolutely right." Ely said quietly. "Want to kick my ass now, or later?"
"Later will do and I won't kick it. I have a better idea." Karl managed a wry grin. "Now hand me that shotgun, the bundle in your left hand. I'll wipe it down and then I'll carry it when I go out for my walk. I'll leave the two rifles and the pistol with you and whoever else is staying here, okay?"
"Okay, Keri, while we're wiping these down, why don't you take the big rifle and concentrate on keeping guard." Ely said quietly but firmly.
Karl noticed both her body language and her words. He approved, she'd just automatically assumed the job of second in command and Keri hadn't disputed her actions. Mentally, he heaved a sigh of relief while hurriedly wiping away extra oil from the barrel and action of the shotgun. Although it seemed to him to take forever to clean the gun, it was only a few moments before he was opening the small box of shotgun shells and slipping several into his pocket as well as one into the chamber of the shotgun. Just as he was doing that, Trudy stepped out onto the porch.
"Karl, George said to tell you that they're predicting that there will be intermittent rain and gusty winds all morning, there's a strong chance of heavy rains and stronger winds this afternoon and evening. They're broadcasting a small craft warning out on the water now and they say they might upgrade that to a storm warning later in the day."
"Wonderful." Karl said ironically. "Just the kind of day I want to be out in the brush hunting for someone that probably doesn't want me to find him."
"Why do we need to find him?" Trudy asked quietly. "It seems to me that all we have to do is wait and he's going to make some mistake or another and we'll be able to. . . ."
Karl held up a hand and stared at her.
"Trudy, this island belongs to us, well, to George and this family and I now have a lease on part of it, so to start with, whoever is here is trespassing. What if there are several people? What are they going to eat? Are we going to share what we have? How many people are there? From what I've seen they're acting secretive and I want to know why." Karl paused, then continued. "My dog was attacked, I imagine while he was protecting something he felt was mine. Their dog or his dog or whatever, stole the loaf of bread from right here on the porch and just now attacked my goats. I admit we tied up the cow and calf, but instead of walking up to us like an honest person and asking us to return the strays, whoever is out there snuck up here then slipped away with them and never contacted us. That just doesn't sound like someone I want roaming the island freely."
"I guess I never thought of it that way." Trudy admitted, looking at him in surprise.
"The bigger worry I have is that whoever it is wants to take over and is just waiting for help that he has coming from somewhere else. This place is a paradise compared to what a lot of people are living in right now." Karl continued, then he looked her right in the eyes. "What if he does have help coming and they are all crooks? What if they're rough customers who come in with guns? Or what if they have this damn flu that you were so worried about before?"
He snapped the shotgun closed with finality and looked up at Ely.
"You three stay here and keep an eye out, actually why not have one person go up on the deck off the bedroom then Linda could help too. Trudy, you take a coat up to her and both of you watch from up there. If anyone sees anything that I should know about, holler. I'm only going out and around where I can be seen, okay?"
"What happens if you're attacked?" Ely said quietly.
"Well, you're going to have to make a judgement call. I can't make your decisions for you." Karl frowned. "I can tell you that if someone out there shoots at me, I intend to shoot back. If you guys shoot at someone or something, I intend to drop to the ground or else get to shelter fast. Just make damn sure you don't shoot me! Okay?"
"Okay, we'll do our best to warn you if we can." Ely answered quietly and although she moved toward him as if to hug him, Karl was already on his way toward the steps.
As he stepped down the steps off of the porch, he could feel the tightness and pain in his legs. "Damn, of all the fucking days for my arthritis to kick up." He thought. "Oh well, better hurting than dead."
He moved slowly to the end of the porch and checked there, waiting a moment or two before he walked toward his old cabin to check the gate of the pen that held the cow and calf. They looked wet but didn't appear to be excited at all, which he thought was a good sign. The tag end of rope around the cow's neck definitely wasn't one that he would have used, and it certainly wasn't the rope that she'd had around her neck the day before. This one was an old manila rope and it looked like it was rotten from age, the end was frayed as if it had been broken from strain. Probably one good jerk from the cow and it had snapped. Whoever had tied her wasn't a farmer. The rope wasn't strong enough to hold a large calf, let alone a cow. He stepped close and managed to slip the rope from around her neck. Then, leaving the cattle in the pen, he moved on to check other things.
Moving slowly and carefully, he tried to keep an eye on everything around him as well as glancing back at the main cabin occasionally. He hadn't really seen anything out of the ordinary but it seemed that he was double checking every swaying branch and moving bush. By the time he got to the goat pen he was finding that walking was much easier, movement was easing the pain of the arthritis for once instead of making it worse. Once he'd slipped inside the goat pen, the billy and one of the nanny goats, stood up and moved as if to protect the rest of the small herd. Karl grinned at them, not worried by their movements, in fact he'd been expecting exactly what they had done.
"Good boy, Billy." He grinned, talking softly. "You keep a good eye on your ladies."
Leaving the goats alone, he moved slowly across their pasture looking for any sign of the earlier trespasser. He wasn't sure if he saw where the dog or wolf had spun and when he'd moved further on he couldn't find any sign of any blood or fur anywhere near where he thought the animal might have been when it had yelped from his shot. Walking along the inside of the fence, he kept his eyes open and listened carefully for any sign or sound of anything unusual. He paused when he came to the gate that opened into either lane, one way into the lower pasture, the other way out onto the clearing.
That was when he noticed that the latch on the gate was flipped completely over from the way he normally left it. In fact, latched this way it was just barely holding the gate closed. While he was studying it, he happened to look down and he realised that there was a boot print in the mud on the other side of the gate. He was sure that no one had come that way from the cabin since they had come back to the island. That meant that someone else had definitely been there. Since the print was in the mud where the goats had churned up the ground on their way in and out of the lower pasture, it was distinctive, but not clear. In fact at the moment it was partially full of water from the rainfall.
Going through the gate, he avoided stepping anywhere near the footprint while he latched it properly, even slipping the locking pin that hung on a small chain into place. It was when he was bending over to look at the print that he noticed how the dog had gotten under the fence A rock, almost as big as a wash tub, was jammed against the fence, forcing the bottom wire inward and upward about six or eight inches. He supposed that the rock must have fallen from the hillside during the earthquake and had rolled to a stop against the fence.
"First things first and one thing at a time." He told himself softly. "What does this boot print tell me?"
The print was big, at least two or three sizes larger than his own size nines and it had a tread like a hiking boot. He wasn't detective enough to make out much more. Leaving that, he moved to the rock and managed to roll it away from the fence enough that the wires dropped down to only an inch or so from the ground. He was positive this was where the dog had gotten into the goat pen. In fact there was black hair caught on the bottom wire of the fence. He paused then and looked around, even casting an eye back toward the cabin.
All of the women must have been either sitting down, or hunched low. It took him a moment to make out the four different heads above the porch and deck railings. Anyone else probably wouldn't have noticed them, at least not if they weren't looking for people there. He intended to tell them he approved, then he let his gaze wander over the clearing that stretched out toward the cliff edge. As familiar as he was with the area around the edge of the drop off, he knew there was only one place at this end of the small plateau where anyone had any chance of coming up from below. He shook his head, thinking that he would never try to climb up that way if the ground was wet. There was just too much chance of slipping and going over the edge.
He also knew he was going to have to go look, just to check it out. The question was, did he want to be alone, or did he want someone with him? He sighed softly, making up his mind that it was better to be safe than sorry. As it was he felt that he was taking enough chances, better not to be out of sight of support. Walking slowly, he moved back through the orchard on his way back to the cabin. About half way back, he found the tracks of the cow and calf, it looked like the prints had been made going both ways. Turning, he looked along the tracks and realised that they headed straight for an area of trees and bushes near the place he had thought it was barely possible to climb up from the lower part of the island.
Realising that while he was in the orchard, Ely and the others would be nervous because he wasn't clearly visible, he hurried back toward the cabin.
"Well?" Ely asked as he got close to the house.
"There's at least one guy and a dog." Karl replied. "He's been inside the goat pen, and he doesn't know how to latch gates so he can't be a farmer. Besides that, the rope he used on the cow was a rotten old hunk of manila and wouldn't have held the calf for long, let alone the cow. Oh, and he has big feet, about size twelves with hiking boots on so I don't think he's a great sailor. They don't usually wear hiking boots. His dog isn't all that big and has long black hair. As well I think I know how they're getting up from below."
"Cripes, who are you, Sherlock Holmes in disguise?" Linda asked from the deck above.
"Nope, he left a clear boot print in the mud by the lower gate to the goat pen and the dog left a bit of hair on the fence when he crept under it, the rest of what I said are just guesses on my part."
"You sounded quite certain." She replied.
"I am!" He said firmly. "Now . . . " He paused to think for a moment. "Ely, I want you to come with me. Leave the big rifle with Keri and you bring the .22. We have to check that path, if you can call it that. The one that goes down into the gorge along the clay bank and I want someone along just in case. At the same time I want the house protected while we're gone."
"Karl, after we do that and come back here for breakfast, let's go over to the other house and get Dad's .45. It's an old Colt revolver and it packs a wallop." Ely said quietly.
"Yeah, and how about the black powder rifle and the flare gun from the boat?" Linda asked.
"I want to leave those on board, just in case we need to make a run for it sometime." Karl stepped up on the porch. "But we might go down to the boat and hide them somewhere out of the way for now. Just in case our sneaky bloody 'friend' breaks into the boat."
"I'd like my shotgun from the shed at the dock while you're there." Keri said quietly. "It's a twelve-gauge pump and I know how to use it. On top of that I have loading paraphernalia packed in my bags and four boxes of store-bought shells."
"We'll make up our minds about all that when we get back from checking that path." Karl said quietly, turning to Ely. "Are you ready for a walk in the rain?"
"Let's go." She said resolutely. "But right now, I wish I had that .45, not this popgun."
"I've seen you shoot." Karl answered. "That 'popgun' is deadly enough at short range and it's a hell of a lot easier to handle accurately than a .45. Come on."
As they stepped out into the rain, he glanced back. "We won't be long, and by the way, that was a damn good job everyone did, keeping low like that. I had to really look hard to see anyone when I was down at the end of the goat pasture."
He and Ely hardly spoke as they crossed through the orchard and out toward the far end of the clearing. As they neared the trees, Karl stopped momentarily, gesturing ahead and to his left, he pointed out a gap in the trees and shrubs.
"That's where a slope comes up from below and I've seen feral cats come up there." He spoke quietly. "I wouldn't want to try to climb up in weather like this unless I absolutely had to. The rain would make the clay on part of that slope just like grease. There's about a seventy-five-foot drop off at its edge and right below it is the lower falls on the stream, so you'd fall onto rock."
"Just what do you want to do?" Ely whispered?
"Well, I'm going to check and see if there are footprints or tracks on the path. If there are, maybe I can see if there's an easy way to stop anyone from climbing up this way again. I want you to stay behind me about forty or fifty feet. Try to stay where they can see you from the cabin. If anyone shoots an arrow or something at me, I intend to drop like a rock and shoot back while I'm laying on my belly. That means you can shoot right over top of me if you need to, okay?"
"You trust my shooting that much?"
"I wouldn't tell you to do it if I didn't." Karl replied and before she could say anything more, he turned and began to slowly approach the drop off.
Right where the slope dropped over the edge quite steeply, the chewed up ground revealed where the cow had dug in her hooves and pulled back. Even though he was standing ten or fifteen feet away, Karl could see the signs of her refusal to go further.
"Damn, I wonder if the guy was pulling on the rope when it broke? If he was, he'd have lost his balance for sure." Karl thought but didn't dare to talk aloud just in case the guy was alive and laying in ambush.
He slowly moved closer to the edge until he could see a short distance down the crude trail. There were footprints from both a man's boots and a dog's feet and slightly off to one side, hanging abandoned on a bush, was a short length of manila rope. It matched the rope he'd seen around the cow's neck. The track further down was indeed churned into raw clay. He could see where not only the man, but even the dog had skidded on the slick surface. Right now, he felt that neither man nor beast could come upward easily but at the same time, he couldn't see any easy way to make it impassable, especially if the rain stopped for long.
Sighing to himself, he moved further along but parallel to the track, trying to see if he could see further down along it without actually exposing himself to a view from below. That's when he realised that there had been a small landslip. A short stretch of the trail was completely gone. A small section of the clay on the cliff face appeared to have dropped away, perhaps caused by the rain or perhaps by the weight of something or someone moving on it. Now he wanted to see over the curve of the hill and down to the rocks below to see if the falling soil had carried anyone or anything over the bank. He knew that there was no way he could do it from his present vantage point, the shape of the cliff made it impossible. Instead, after a moment of deep thought, he turned back toward Ely.
"There's been a little landslide. You can come look if you want but don't get too near the edge, it doesn't look very stable." He said quietly. "Maybe you can give me an idea of how I can see down there without falling myself."
Ely moved forward slowly but couldn't quite bring herself to move as close to the edge as Karl had. Still she could see the edge of raw earth that was exposed to the falling rain.
"If anyone was on that . . ." Her voice trailed off.
"Yeah, anyone or anything. Iit might have been the dog or perhaps the cliff fell afterward, after he ran across that area."
"Listen. You can hear the water going over the falls." Ely whispered.
Both of them stood silently and listened to the roaring water for a moment and then Karl took Ely's arm, turning them toward the cabin. Neither of them felt like talking at the moment so they walked back to the cabin in silence.