Wild Abandon

Careful just to inch the horse and buggy along, Lauralee watched as she came directly below her aunt and uncle’s bedroom window.

Her pulse raced.

Her throat went dry.

Her eyes misted. This was not the way she would have liked having said her final goodbye to two very special people. By leaving them, she knew that she was leaving behind many opportunities.

But there were boundless opportunities offered her by going with Dancing Cloud. While with him, every day would be filled with many blessings.

Only if his people accepted her, she again fretted to herself.

She sighed heavily when the circular drive was left behind her as well as the Peterson House. Her eyes were intent now on all sides of her, watching for any sudden movements, any signs of life. She rode in an elusive manner, watching over her shoulder to see if she was being followed.

Clint McCloud.

He was always on her mind, especially when she was alone. Although she had her small derringer slipped into the pocket of her skirt, it did not give her much peace of mind.

Her aim was no better than a toad’s!

Feeling more confident by the minute, and satisfied that no one trailed her, Lauralee slapped her reins and sent her horse into a harder gallop. She wanted to get this over with. Not only to get Dancing Cloud released to freedom, but to get her insides settled down into something akin to being normal again.

She was queasy.

She was tense.

She was strangely cold all over, yet still perspired. The gaslights up ahead along the street alerted Lauralee that she was almost to her destination. She swung the horse and buggy into a small side street, then up again toward Broadway. She had missed the jail by one block. She would go by foot back a half block and get the fire started across the street from the jail.

Then she would swing around again in her horse and buggy and go to the rear of the jail. She would find Dancing Cloud’s horse tethered there. She would saddle it.

After Deputy Dobbs ran from the jail to see about the fire, it would be easy for Lauralee to sneak into the front door. She would release Dancing Cloud. They would flee into the night while the fire wagon bells clanged noisily as they arrived at the scene of the fire.

She frowned at the thought of having to set fire to the small wooden building that sat squeezed between two brick establishments.

But there was one thing in her favor.

It was unoccupied.

And it was going to be torn down soon so that a brick building could be built in its place.

The irony of her having chosen to set fire to this building was that it had just recently been purchased by her Uncle Abner. He planned to lease the new brick building out to bring in more business to Mattoon.

“I shall just hurry the process along,” Lauralee whispered to herself, smiling. “Uncle Abner, if the fire wagons don’t arrive quickly enough you will not have to pay for the demolition of the squat, ugly wooden building.”

She shivered at the thought of being caught and labeled an “arsonist.” Her aunt and uncle would be disgraced for life for having brought her into their lives.

Knowing that she had to chance even that, Lauralee climbed from her buggy and secured her reins on a low tree limb. She then grabbed the heavy bag of kindling and paper. Keeping in the shadows as much as possible, she inched her way along in front of the buildings.

Her heart hammering hard, Lauralee stopped and leaned her back against the wall of the wooden building long enough to get her breath. Her eyes studied the jail. There was only a faint lamplight shining from the windows at the front.

Then she smiled when she saw the shadow of Deputy Dobbs walk past one of the windows. He would surely see the fire as it progressed into something raging and brilliant in the darkness of the night. After he left the jail unguarded to run and check on the fire . . .

As planned, Lauralee methodically placed the bits of kindling and paper around the foot of the wooden structure. Her fingers trembled as she struck one match and then another, setting small fires along the bottom of the building. There was one thing that she had forgot about. The sidewalks. They were made of wood and corncobs. If they began burning, a path of fire would make its way down Broadway Avenue.

“Lord, please just let burn what I want to burn,” she whispered, peering into the dark heavens. “You know that what I am doing is right. Dancing Cloud’s life depends on it.”

She dropped the last burned-out match. Not turning to see whether or not the building was going up in flames yet, she ran hurriedly to her wagon, climbed aboard, slapped the reins, and soon found herself behind the jail.

Sliding from the seat, her eyes wide, Lauralee went and looked around the corner of the building. The fire quickly caught her eye. The flames were lapping up the front of the building. She jumped with a start when the glass in the window exploded and sprayed in all directions.