Panning for Trouble: Part Two

We’re back! Did you miss us?

Here’s part two of Panning for Trouble.

            I froze as a strong hand closed on my shoulder as the man continued, “Looks like I’ve found me two claim jumpers, ain’t I?”

            “Hey!” Trevor crashed through the water and back to the bank, his trousers soaked and his pan ready to use as a weapon. “What are you doin’? Can’t you read? The sign says right on it, ‘Property of Trevor Trekker. No Acceptance of any kind’.”

            I took this opportunity to jerk myself away from him and run towards Trevor, hiding behind my friend. I chanced a peak at the speaker and was not at all surprised to behold a dark-haired, scruffy bearded man with a gun on his hip and a nasty grin to match. Ooo, I do not like this guy.

            The man raised an eyebrow at Trevor. “Ain’t never seen you around here,” he commented. “Or yer girl. You Scottish?”

            “It’s not any of your business,” Trevor growled, “but yes, I’m Scottish.”

            “Figures,” the miner grunted. “Dirty Scotsman claim jumper.”

            Its one thing to insult Trevor, it’s another to insult his ancestry. You can call him the meanest names you can think of and he won’t bat an eye, but say something mean about him being Scottish- let’s just say it isn’t pretty.

            “Excuse me?” Trevor fumed. “Who do ye think ye are?” he slipped into his rapid and thick accent, his hand curled around his pan and ready to hurl it at the stranger. “Get out of here! This is our claim and you’ve got no right to be around.”

            At this the stranger grinned. He moved his jacket a little to reveal a tiny gold star on his chest and the words Deputy engraved in it. “In case you didn’t notice,” he drawled, “I’m the law ‘round these parts and I can have any claim I choose.” He gave Trevor a hard look and I gulped. “And if you don’t get off of my claim I’m gonna have to drag you into court.”

A badge just like the one the Deputy wore.

            “What kind of lawman are you!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “And if you take us to the miner’s court we’ll prove that you jumped us, not the other way around.”

            “You don’t sound Scottish,” he remarked, glancing me over.

“She was adopted,” Trevor covered quickly. He didn’t like it when people noted I was different than him, that usually led to them getting suspicious of where we came from.

The Deputy chuckled in a slow sort of way. His brown eyes had a dangerous look to them that I didn’t like at all. “Well, seems you two are gonna be an easy case.”

            Trevor shoved me behind him as the Deputy un-holstered his gun and clicked the safety off. “You’re new and no one knows you,” he continued as he pointed the gun at Trevor, “and everyone knows me. They’ll take my word for it. And since you ain’t cooperating, I hereby place you under arrest. You’re comin’ with me!”

            This was not good. A lawman with no regards to the law and he wanted our claim. “I told you coming here was a bad idea,” I mumbled under my breath.

            “Let me handle this,” Trevor whispered. He turned back towards the Deputy. “Look, if you just have to have our claim then fine, take it. We’ll take a cue and leave.”

            He seemed to consider this as he kinda cocked his head a little and studied us both. “Yeller bellied, huh?” he snickered. “Alright, if you pack outta here right now I’ll let you go, but on one condition.” He gestured with his gun at 4T, Trevor’s wristwatch. “That’s a mighty fine contraption there. Hand it over and you can go on your way.”

            I think Trevor’s face went white, I know mine did. To take 4T was to take our means of getting back to our island. Trevor can’t make it take us home any sooner or any later, when he sets a time we have to stick to it. And we weren’t scheduled to go home until tomorrow. Without the watch, we were history.

            “No.” Trevor shook his head. “No, you can’t have that. I’ll give you anything else, but you can’t have the watch.”

            Click. The gun was now cocked and pointed straight at Trevor, the Deputy’s eyes narrowed like a snake. “It’s your life or the watch, Scot,” he warned.

            My mind raced. What could we do? We couldn’t get stuck here in California, we had to get back home! Oh, I wish I hadn’t agreed to come on this expedition! I groaned inwardly. I should have known better, the gold towns are not a picnic in the park!

            Picnic. Pan. You sometimes take pans on picnics. And Trevor had a pan. A big pan. The Deputy wasn’t watching me… This is stupid, don’t even think of doing that! My thoughts screamed.

            “We need this watch,” Trevor was explaining, drops of sweat beading down his face. The Deputy was four steps closer and had the trigger of his pistol ready to fire. “It’s a life and death situation, you don’t understand! You can have the claim, just let us go on our way.”

            “’Fraid it’s too late for that,” the man spat. “And if you won’t gimme what I want than I’ll just take care of the matter myself.”

The pan I threw at Trevor.

            What was once a stupid idea now seemed like a great one, and before Trevor knew what I was doing I grabbed the pan from his hand and threw it with all my might. Bang! I had aimed for the Deputy’s head, but instead I hit the gun, causing it to go off as the Deputy dropped it.

            “Now would be a great time to run!” Trevor grabbed my arm and we did a run-by pick up, snatching up our shoes and Trevor’s socks as we raced towards the cover of the trees.

            A string of cuss words sounded behind us, then a shot fired in our direction. Missed! It hit a pine tree five feet away, bark flying everywhere as the bullet tore through the wood.

            “I really wish we’d brought the horses,” Trevor gasped as we ran like two pumas being hunted. “Why do we always leave them behind when we could use them the most?”

            I could only nod in agreement as another shot was fired. We’ve got to find someplace to hide! Somewhere were we’ll be well out of sight and range from this crazy Deputy! The greed of gold-happens even to the law.

            Come back next week for the conclusion of our wild adventure!