T. E. Story # 69

Josh and I covered the rear of the wagon with some cut branches, and settled down to wait.  Josh looked li he was a bit scared.  I was a tad scared myself.  My view of the whole problem was that we had to avoid these people.  It was obvious to me that if the two men that Hezzie and Dan met were associated in any way with the people in Washington City that Col. Abert was looking into, probably they had notified the local constabulary and told a wild story.  Now the Sheriff and Posse were seeking to find out where they are, and apparently these two men had linked us to their mission in some way.  Now the only people that the sheriff has to contact are us.  Therefore I am sure that they will come back this way and they will be looking for us, possibly to take into custody for some lengthy questioning.  This I would much prefer not to undergo.  Not far from the wagon is an old stone wall and I have taken all the papers that would reveal or give a clue to who we really are, and wrapped them in an old piece of canvas and stored them in the stone wall.  They are hidden well.  Then Josh and I erased the wagon wheel marks which indicated that a wagon had turned off the road  just before the bridge.  The wagon is invisible from the road, and Josh and I found a shallow cave under the bridge where we will wait until we hear the posse returning as I am sure it will do.  Once I am sure that the posse is out of our way, Josh and I will make a dash for the ferry.  Now it may be that the sheriff and his men will be at the ferry, so hopefully Dan or Hezzie can arrange some kind of warning a mile or so up the road so that we will know, and find some place safe to wait until they clear the ferry vicinity. Josh will set up a set of rocks with a note, along the wrong side of the road to warn "JJ" and give him directions.  I will send him to the Ferry to make sure it is clear, so that at least one of us can make contact and arrangements to avoid these people.  If the sheriff and or his posse take the ferry to the other side then we must assume that word will be carried to the other bank of the Potomac.  We will then be forced to take a steamer back to Washington City, and leave the remainder of the mission to complete another time.  The problem of "melding in" with the locals is bad enough without the law looking for us. This is my way of dealing with the problem.  However, if Hezzie has a better set of ideas, I am certainly willing to listen.  I would much rather complete the mission than have to report failure to Col. Abert no matter what the reason.  I have explained my reasoning to Josh and my plans and he has agreed that they are sensible, but like myself he would much rather complete the mission.