"Will he see the message Roy?"
"Let's hope so Sara. He's very smart. We'll just have to trust him."
Suddenly, the rope started moving up the opening and in no time it reached the end that Roy was holding. Roy stood and with reverence as he raised the canteen into the air, sending it into the abyss with open palms. More dirt and rocks tumbled out as they watched the watering can disappear. They could hear it bumping along the shaft as the sound slowly faded away. Eventually, they could not hear anything, but they continued to stare up at the ceiling anyway.
"Did Abe make it to the top Maw?"
Sara scooped Billy into her arms and hugged him. "Yes, we think so Billy. Your brave brother is going to go get some help."
Roy kneeled down and hugged Sara and Billy, breathing a sigh of relief. He had no idea what time it was but assumed it was dusk since they could not see sunlight through the opening in the ceiling. There was not much they could do now except wait. After a while they opened a jar of canned vegetables and with their fingers, they ate a meager supper. A few hours later, Sara placed Billy between her and Roy and they curled up to conserve body heat. The stress of the ordeal was exhausting and in no time the three people were soundly asleep.
Abe struggled to retrieve the canteen because it snagged several times on something below. Tugging and jiggling the rope, Abe guided it toward the top. Soon, he heard the metal banging against the sides of the shaft and his excitement grew. He gave an enormous sigh of relief once the canteen was in his hands. Abe coiled the rope and then surveyed his position.
The log cabin was smoldering and the barn was completely gone. Abe did not see the mules or Sugar-Girl and saw that the horses for the bad guys were gone too. Moving cautiously down the hill, Abe continued his search of Roy's farm. The log cabin was charred, but the side wall logs were still standing. The roof was burnt and collapsed into the center of the room. Someone had damaged the plants in Roy's small garden and thrown his personal items from the cabin into the front yard. Abe shook his head in disbelief.
Upon inspecting the barn, Abe found no burnt carcasses, but the other contents were a complete loss. One buckboard wagon was still parked and undamaged, but the other was a mass of charcoal and hot metal parts. When Abe took a drink from the canteen, he spotted the message someone had scrawled on the side. Abe smiled, saying to no one, in particular, "Yes Roy, I'll wait until morning because it's too dark."