A few minutes later, Maria raced upstairs. “He’s not there. And Shanty’s gone.”

Jenny clutched Mac’s arm. “You need to go after him.”

“Why?” Mac said. “The lad came home yesterday in his own good time. He’ll do so again. But he’ll get a talking to, that’s for sure.”

Jenny heaved a deep sigh. “Something doesn’t feel right.” She went into Will’s room. She picked up clothes he’d strewn on the floor—that wasn’t like him. Then she noticed two familiar books on his desk. “He found our journals,” she murmured. “I wonder what that means.”

At Jenny’s insistence, Mac rode toward the Abercrombies’ farm. “I don’t know whether William is with Jonah, but it’s worth asking,” she’d said. So he saddled Valiente and headed there straight after breakfast.

“What in the devil is wrong with that boy?” he asked Valiente. The stallion snorted and tossed his head.

Were Will’s frequent departures Mac’s fault? Mac had little guidance in being a strong paternal figure—his own father had been distant, except when disciplining Mac. As Will had grown, and particularly in recent months, Mac’s relationship with the boy had been strained. And Will’s discovery about his paternity had only made the situation worse.

He should have done a better job talking to Will, Mac thought. He’d tried to present the facts clearly, but there wasn’t any way to sugar-coat the violence that led to Will’s existence.

Mac ached to take vengeance on the two villains who’d survived his last encounter with Jacob Johnson. Mac no longer regretted killing Isaac Johnson, as he had in the immediate aftermath. He’d been glad at the time that Jenny didn’t have a death on her hands, that her bullet had merely wounded Jacob. Now he wished Jacob had died as well—now that the past had returned to haunt them.

At least Bart Peterson remained far behind in Missouri.

Will’s discovery of the truth about his parentage was a tragedy. Mac hoped the boy would learn to cope with the misfortune of his beginnings and find his way back to them. If Will had left them for good, Jenny would never be the same—losing Will might destroy her.

When he arrived at the Abercrombie claim, he found Daniel and Esther in a tizzy. “Jonah’s gone,” Esther told Mac. “Sammy said Jonah left before dawn.”

“Do you have a horse missing?” Mac asked.

Daniel nodded. “The mare Jonah usually rides. She’s gone, and so are my saddlebags.”

Mac frowned. The boys were probably together, but he and Jenny hadn’t noticed any missing saddlebags. He told Daniel that. “Perhaps they don’t intend to be gone long,” he said. “Any idea where they might be headed?”

Daniel shook his head. Behind him, Esther did the same. “He didn’t tell Sammy,” she said.

Mac remounted Valiente. He couldn’t search for the boys with no idea where to look. “You’ll send word if you see either of them?” he asked.

Daniel nodded. “Of course. And you’ll do the same for us.”

Jenny peered out the kitchen window in late morning, hoping Mac would return soon with William. Of course, he and Daniel might have gone elsewhere to search for the boys, so it might be hours before Mac got home.

But shortly before the noon meal, Mac rode Valiente into the yard. She rushed out to meet him.

He dismounted and shook his head. “Jonah’s gone also, but there’s no sign of where they went. I rode by our claim in addition to checking with Daniel and Esther. Nothing.”

“Then the boys are together?” she asked.

Mac shrugged. “Can’t tell for certain. But it stands to reason. I doubt they’d both disappear at the same time unless they left together.”

“Where could they be?” Jenny asked, fear creeping into her voice. William was her oldest, the child who’d been with her through the dark days after Mac left her. She thought she and Will were close, but he’d left home without a word to her.

Mac grimaced. “I don’t know.” He led Valiente into the carriage house.

Jenny whispered, “Oh, William. What have you done?”

Chapter 21: Starting for Jacksonville

After a few hours of riding, Will and Jonah reached the Molalla River. “There’s the ferry,” Jonah said, when the river came into sight. “You got money, or should we ford it?”

“How much?” Will asked. He fingered the coins in his pocket. He had enough for the ferry, but they might incur many more expenses before they found Joel Pershing.

Jonah shrugged. “The rate for a horse and rider across the Willamette is fifty cents. I expect it’s about the same here.”

“Let’s look at the current.” It was a warm day, and Will would rather not spend his money.

They rode to the Molalla’s northern bank. The current was fast. “We best take the ferry,” Jonah said, and Will nodded. They urged their horses up the bank. Jonah grabbed a cow horn hung on a fence post to hail the ferryman.

“Where you boys headed?” the ferry operator said after they paid their coins and walked their horses on board the wooden vessel.

“Jacksonville,” Jonah said. “My brother’s a prospector in them parts.”

The man raised an eyebrow as he pulled them across the river. “Jacksonville’s a fur piece from here.”

“Yes, sir,” Jonah said, at the same time Will asked, “How far?”

The ferryman’s eyebrow rose higher. “Some three hundred miles, give or take.” He frowned. “You know where you’re goin’?”

“Yes, sir. Mostly, we do,” Jonah said.

The man spat into the water as he squinted at them. “Keep heading south to Roseburg, then you’ll hit the old Applegate Trail. Follow that to Grant’s Pass. Then to Jacksonville.”

“So there’s a road all the way?” Will asked as they hit the far bank.

“It ain’t more’n a trail in parts,” the ferryman said. “To get a wagon through, you might have to clear out brush. But ridin’ good mounts—” He nodded at their horses. “You’ll be all right.”

They thanked the man and continued south.

That night, Will and Jonah camped in a copse of woods near a farm. They could see lights in the farmhouse windows, but didn’t dare approach it, and they built only a small fire. Will got out his biscuits and bacon, Jonah his ham and bread.

“How much food did you bring?” Jonah asked, chewing a piece of ham.

“Enough for a couple of days,” Will said. “Not for two weeks.”

“Same here,” Jonah said. “I guess we’ll need to hunt. I brung my rifle and some bullets. A shotgun, too.”