About 30 miles outside of town the Marshall saw a young girl running towards him. He stopped his horse and waited for her to catch her breath to find out what was wrong.

Gasping for air, Melissa finally blurted out that Jake was hurt, the wagon was on top of him, and Melissa couldn't get it off. "You've got to hurry, come on." She said quickly as soon as she could talk normal again. She took off running for the ravine where the wagon had toppled over. She kept glancing back to make sure the Marshall was following, and since he was, she kept running towards the ravine. She stopped at the edge of it until the Marshall caught up. She went slipping and sliding down the ravine.

Trevors stopped his horse at the top of the ravine and watched as the girl went down it. He could see a man down there underneath a wagon. He looked around hoping to see somebody else that could help. Unfortunately he didn't see anybody in the area. It wasn't too steep, so Trevors found a good spot and descended slowly leading the prisoners behind him.

At the foot of the ravine, Trevors pulled out his rifle and shot the two horses that had been pulling the wagon. There was no need for them to suffer anymore then they had to for Trevors could see that one was barely alive and the other had broken a couple of legs.

"Hurry! HURRY!" Melissa screamed afraid that Jake might die.

Marshall Trevors swung down off his horse and walked over to Melissa. He saw Jake pinned under the wagon. "Ok young lady, I'm going to lift the wagon up and you pull him out. Ok?" Melissa nodded and stooped down and grabbed a hold of Jake beneath his underarms.

Trevors tried to lift up the wagon, but it was too heavy for him. He tried it several times but had no success. He would either have to unload the wagon or get one of the prisoners to help him. It would take too long to get the wagon unloaded and the man was moaning. There was no telling how many bones the man had broken. Trevors untied one of the prisoners and made him dismount. "Your going to help me move this wagon." He told the prisoner. "And if you don't I'll shoot you in the leg. Understand?" The prisoner was frowning, but he nodded his head.

"Don't do it, Billy." One of the prisoners hollered.

"Shut up," Trevors replied. "Or I'll shoot you, too."

He motioned for Billy to move over to the wagon. Billy went over and stood close to Jake. Trevors stood towards the back of the wagon. That way he could keep an eye on Billy and the girl.

Trevors and Billy lifted the wagon, and Melissa pulled on Jake. But Jake was too heavy for her. She couldn't pull him all the way out. Billy had to put his end down before Melissa could try pulling him out again. Complaining Billy said, "That's heavy. We need more help. That girl can't pull him out."

"Hey Marshall, I'll help you. Come untie me, and I'll pull the man out." The prisoner known as Wayne offered.

Trevors rubbed his chin. "Alright Wayne, but if you try anything--."

"I know, I know. You'll shoot me in the leg." Wayne grinned as the Marshall untied his hands. When done Wayne jumped down off his horse and joined Billy near the wagon. "Ok little girl, move back. Let me handle this." Melissa stood up and looked at the Marshall.

"What's your name?" Trevors asked.

"Melissa." She replied.

"Do you know how to use this?" Trevors held up one of his pistols, and Melissa nodded. "Good. Here take this, and if any of them try anything, then shoot them in--."

"In the leg." Melissa finished the sentence for him and gave him a cute smile. He smiled back at her.

"Alright heave." Trevors said as he pushed up on the wagon and Billy did likewise. The wagon went up a few inches off Jake, and Wayne pulled the injured man out from under the wagon. Wayne quickly turned around and swept Melissa's feet out from underneath her. Taken by surprise Melissa shrieked. Billy let go of the wagon quickly and ran around the wagon to the other side hoping to find a weapon or at least to get out of the way of the gunfire.

Startled by the pressure on her legs buckling out from underneath her, Melissa dropped the gun as she fell to the ground. The two outlaws still tied to their horses saw their pal make a move, so one of them kicked his horse hard to make him move forward in doing so it blocked the Marshall's view of Wayne.

Wayne dived for the gun and immediately rolled over on his back to aim at the Marshall. But he couldn't fire at him because his comrade was in the way. So he stood up and pointed the gun at Melissa. The Marshall grabbed the reins and moved the horse out of his way, but he was too late. He couldn't gain control again because the outlaw was using Melissa as a hostage.

*****

On her way to Dreamville Kitten heard some horses and men not too far away. Curiosity got the better of her, so she decided to see what was going on. She rode over to the ravine and looked down. Shocked to see a man pointing a gun at Melissa, she did the first thing that flashed into her mind. She drew her gun and started shooting into the air hoping to frighten the dangerous man. "Leave her alone," She hollered at the top of her lungs.

Startled the man glanced up to see who was there. The Marshall took this opportunity to shoot the gun out of Wayne's hand. Surprised crossed Wayne's face as he realized he had let the Marshall get the drop on him. Under his breath he cursed himself for being so stupid.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wagon Billy had found himself a rifle that had fallen beside a log. He had picked it up and was heading around to the back of the wagon to give Wayne a hand when he heard the gunshots and shouting. He turned around and dived for the ground praying that he wasn't going to get hit. When he saw that it was girl on the ridge, and that she was shooting in the air. He sighted her in the rifle and fired.

The Marshall turned his head to look up at the ravine as he did so he saw the horse go tumbling down the hill. When Wayne saw the Marshall turn to look at the commotion, he grabbed Melissa and bellowed, "Marshall drop your gun or I'll snap her head like a twig." Trevors had no choice. He dropped his pistol.

Billy seeing no more threat from the girl on the ridge went around the wagon and covered the Marshall. Wayne picked up the pistol and told Melissa to stay put by Jake or else. With fear in her eyes Melissa watched as he untied his buddies from their horses. "Tad what are we going to do now?" Wayne asked.

"First off we're going to tie up the Marshall. He took the rope that had bind him and tightly secured Trevors to the wagon. "Sam tie him up." Sam tied Jake to the wagon. He wasn't sure why Tad wanted him to though because anyone could see that Jake wouldn't be walking anywhere.

"Why we tying him up? He ain't going no where." Sam inquired.

"No, but when we leave he could crawl over and untie the Marshall, stupid." Tad replied.

"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that." Sam said as he stood back from Jake to look at his splendid knot tying job.

"Now what, Tad?" Wayne inquired as he lustily looked at Melissa.

"Terror run." Trevors hollered at his horse. Terror spun around and immediately ran off.

"Grab the girl, we're making tracks." Tad replied.

"Leave the girl." The Marshall angrily said.