did, her thoughts overcame her concentration. Steele’s framing Balto for murder, Amos is lying to cover for him, and Flint… She stopped in mid-thought. That’s it! That’s it! It worked then, why not now? She turned around with the spark of an idea in her eye.

“Mother, I…”

But she stopped. Luna Daniels was gone.

Jenna sighed and said a silent prayer of thanks before creeping down the narrow hallway into Flint’s room. She returned to her own room moments later with a black hat, trousers and a vest to match it. She smiled in triumph as she gathered her hair in her hands and tied it into a bun before slipping on the hat.

Chapter Four

The following morning, Flint woke to find a note on his lap.

I couldn’t bear to say good-bye.

9:15 to El Paso. –Jenna

Flint looked at his pocket watch and cursed. 9:10. He leapt to his feet and bolted outside. Amos was still sleeping on the porch bench. Flint took his hat off and smacked the deputy awake.

“Ow! Hey, what’d you do that for?”

“Jenna’s leaving town, you idiot, and she got past both of us!”

Flint turned and took off running down the street with Amos following a ways behind. By the time they reached Applegate’s small railway station, smack between town hall and a group of houses, it was 9:15. The train was nearly full, but Flint spotted Jenna, dressed in her favorite white summer dress, stepping into the last empty compartment.

“Jenna!” he called after her.

Jenna turned and saw him, but stepped on the train without a second glance and shut the door. Flint, meanwhile, had run into wall of people. He tried to push his way through, but the conductor cried, “All aboard!” and the whistle blew. Before Flint or Amos got halfway to the train, it pulled away in a cloud of smoke and steam. Both looked at each other and began to make their way back toward town.

No one noticed a black-clad figure walking across the tracks from where the train had been carrying a tiny suitcase with a bit of white sticking out.

Balto woke to the sound of someone banging on his cell bars. Having not gotten much sleep at all, he pretended not to hear it and laid still. The banging persisted until finally Amos’s voice replaced it.

“Wake up, wake up, you worthless hybrid,” he chuckled, “Judgment Day is upon us. We best not keep the gallows waiting.”

Balto got up slowly and stretched as Amos unlocked the cell door and bound his hands together. At that moment, Steele walked in.

“Ready to die, wolf-dog?” he said.

“You first,” Balto replied.

At that moment, the town photographer walked in and began setting up his camera.

“Come on, wolfie,” Amos said, “Time for your picture.”

He sat Balto down on a stool against the wall as the photographer prepared the camera.

“Alright,” the photographer said finally, “Please face the camera…Good. Now don’t move.”

He took two pictures: one from the front and one from the side. With that, he bid Steele and Amos good day and left.

Amos handed Steele the end of the rope that bound Balto’s wrists and the sheriff wasted no time in dragging his prisoner out into the scorching sun. Though his strength was practically exhausted, Balto still managed to stand proud and tall as he was led to the town center. There, a crowd of citizens awaited him and his two-man escort with shouted insults and curses aimed at him, but still he held his head high as he mounted the stairs to the gallows. The town priest followed the three up and gave him his final rites. As the priest stepped down, the noose was placed around Balto’s neck and tightened. He raised his muzzle to the heavens and waited for the end.

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion echoed through the streets, followed by the staccato cracking of rifle shots. The women in the crowd retreated to their homes, dragging their children with them, while the men grabbed their rifles and pistols and set off toward the small pillar of smoke that could be seen over the rooftops. Some one cried ‘Fire!’ and the bell at the town hall rang in alarm. Yet even as all this was happening, Amos and Steele remained by the gallows. Amos was looking around in amazement when Steele shouted,

“Get on with it!”

On his brother’s signal, the younger Thane released the trap door below Balto’s feet and he fell for less than two feet before the rope went taunt. Satisfied, Amos took off after the rest of the men with his rifle in hand. Steele started after him, but turned back and watched as a sudden breeze made Balto sway in the wind. He smirked and followed his younger brother toward the far edge of town.

As they left, though, neither of the Thane brothers could hear a small sound over the cries of the townspeople and the clanging of the town hall bell. Balto’s eyes still held a faint trace of life as he struggled to take a breath as the thick rope dug into his throat. The fall had not broken his neck as had been expected, but was now slowly strangling him. The cause was Balto’s height. Because he was taller than most of the gallows’ previous criminals, the deputies had had to raise the noose an extra six inches to ensure that his feet would not touch the rafters supporting the stage once the trap door was opened. The result, be it fortunate or unfortunate, was that there simply had not been enough lax rope to snap Balto’s neck. Yet even as his eyes began to glaze over, there was the crack of a rifle nearby, and suddenly, he dropped completely through the open trapdoor and onto the ground below.

A black-clad figure, completely unseen, had been watching and waiting patiently from the second-story balcony of a shop. Then, once the crowd had dissipated as planned, the figure took a waiting rifle and with one shot cut the rope. As Balto dropped to the ground, the figure clambered over the railing and dropped to the ground.

Balto was just regaining his sight as he took deep breaths of blessed air when the figure in black pulled him out from under the gallows. He got quickly to his feet, looked back at the shredded rope, and suddenly realized that this person had saved his life. Yet for the life of him he could not recognize the figure, thanks to the orange bandanna covering the husky’s muzzle.

“That was an amazing shot,” Balto said. The black-clad figure only nodded. “Who are you?”

Imagine his surprise when the figure pulled the bandanna down and took off the black hat, revealing Jenna’s smiling face.

“Did you ever have any doubt?” she said, pulling him into a warm embrace.

Balto returned the embrace, but then slowly pulled back and studied her at arm’s length.

“Jenna, you can’t be seen with me,” he stammered, “If anyone finds out that you cut me down, they’ll be after you too.”

“They’ll never suspect,” she replied confidently, “For all intents and purposes I left town earlier this morning on a train to El Paso. Now let’s get out of here.”

On Balto’s suggestion, Jenna quickly packed a few days worth of clothes and a few other essentials in a small suitcase and bought a ticket to El Paso again. Thankfully, a different clerk was at the register for her ‘second’ trip, and stamped her ticket without hesitation. She and Balto parted ways at the railway station.

“I’ll ride ahead and meet you there,” Balto assured her, “I still have a friend there.”

Jenna nodded and kissed him on the cheek before he rode off on his horse to follow an old footpath to El Paso. Fifteen minutes later, Jenna boarded her train.

Meanwhile on the farthest edge of town from the rail station, Steele, Amos, and all the other townspeople who had responded to the explosion and the cries of ‘fire’ arrived to find nothing more than the charred remains of a wooden barrel. One sniff of the air told them all they needed to know about the cause.

“Gunpowder,” somebody said.

“Must’ve been some kid pulling a prank,” said another.

“How does a kid get hold of a barrel of gunpowder/” demanded yet another.

As the townspeople argued, Steele stepped up beside his younger brother.

“We better go cut down the corpse,” Steele said.

Amos nodded, and the two snuck off back toward the gallows. The two talked and laughed about how their troubles were over, but when they reached the town center, both fell silent as they stared at the frayed piece of rope that dangled from the scaffold. Amos leapt up and inspected it; at the same time, Steele discovered the loosened noose end of the rope on the ground nearby. Two pairs of footprints led away.

“Someone cut him down,” he growled as he threw the rope down in frustration, “Amos, go tell the judge. I’m sending word out to all neighboring towns. He will not get away.”

Flint walked up beside him and examined the gallows.

“Who would cut him down, though?” he said, “Are you sure the rope didn’t just break.”

“Positive,” Steele said, “Flint, is your sister at home by any chance?”

“No; she left just this morning for El Paso.”

“Then that’s where we’ll start our search.”

“Why there?” Flint said, “There are so many people who would recognize him once they get your telegram. Why would he go to any town for that matter?”

“He’ll go to El Paso because it’s the last city before the Mexican border,” Steele replied with a grin, “He’ll need supplies, and he’ll probably want to check in on his girl, too.”

Just then, Amos returned.

“The telegram’s been sent, Steele,” he said.

“Good.”

“There’s one other thing,” Amos continued, “A witness said a black-clad figure cut him down, but she didn’t see anything else.”

“Put a notice out for that man, and then mount up. We’re going to El Paso.”

Less than an hour later, Jenna stepped off the train in El Paso. In no time, she made her way to the town stable, where she ran into the stable owner’s young aid. A few minutes later, the lad was recounting the bills in his hand as Jenna led a young