Captain James sighed as he lifted the saw from the chain to see it hadn't dented it. "These here blades are mighty dull. I don't know what kind of chain you put yourselves in but it's a tough one. At least we were able to cut you out of your coats."

Beatrice bemoaned he coat which Cyril said he'd sew up again. She tried pushing the clasp over her hand again. "Are you sure you don't have a hammer or an axe..."

"I didn't see anything but this saw," James said as the wind wagon rolled slowly in the breeze. He picked up the slack of the chain. "If you had some honey or some butter you might be able to slip your hands through."

"Tree!" Cyril suddenly called out and the three of them went to the front of the wagon. The trees rolled into view growing hither and thither from the desert sand.

"I don't believe it!" Beatrice shouted. "Wysteria was right, they do remind me of hands. Can we stop and get a closer look?"

The wind wagon was stopped and Beatrice climbed down taking Tennessee with her. She raced over to the Joshua tree and embraced it. "We did it!" she declared.

Tennessee touched the bark of the tree. He didn't want to admit it but he was proud of their conquest.

"How much farther now?"

Beatrice's voice snatched him back to reality and they returned to the wind wagon to look at the map. "It looks like we need to find the ring of trees. It seems they are located north of here. My guess would be toward Wyoming. What do you figure, Captain?"

James stood over them and looked down at the map. "Could be," he said. "Did you say a ring of trees?"

Beatrice nodded. "That could be anywhere."

"I wouldn't say that, young lady," James said tapping his jaw. "Say, Cyril, pass me that news paper that featured us five years ago."

Cyril went to the stern and opened a wicker chest. He took out a rolled news paper and handed it to his brother.

James unraveled the news paper and held it so Beatrice and Tennessee could see. "It was when we first built Old Mary here," he said. "We took her out for a test just around the Wyoming and Utah boarders." He tapped the photograph of a contraption tangled up in the trees. "Folks talk about it still from here to Yellowstone Park."

"We were the laughing stocks of the west," Cyril said.

"But Old Mary works perfect now," Beatrice said. "We would have died out there if you two hadn't come along. You aren't laughing stocks anymore, you're heroes." She swung her arm, yanking Tennessee.

James and Cyril both smiled. "The young lady is right!" James said. "Uh, say we can get you near the border if you like. But I can't take Old Mary further than that. Different terrain."

Beatrice and Tennessee both nodded.

"We'd appreciate it very much," he said. "But what was it you were thinking about the ring of trees?"

James laughed. "Oh, they're the one we got tangled up in." He showed them the picture again. Two copses linked together forming a perfect ring. "They sit below a water fall in a lovely grassland. Very enchanting. When you get there you may not want to leave."

Beatrice looked over at Tennessee as the brothers prepared to start Old Mary again. She watched him studying the map and yawned. As the wind wagon rolled on and the brothers sang a sea faring song the Joshua trees rolled out of view like hands waving goodbye.

/

Ladybird scrubbed vigorously at her skin with the sponge as she sat near the fire in the wash basin. Wysteria had their blankets hanging in front of the fire warming them until they were both ready to climb into the bed. It was another night in another place and the weather was changing as they moved north into Colorado.

Ladybird rinsed, dried off then pulled her nightgown over her head. "I'm saddle sore," she said as she finished dressing for the night.

"We could rest tomorrow," Wysteria offered.

Ladybird went over to the bed. She hated to think what bugs had been there. "We'd lose a day," she said as she removed the sheet that was already there. "And that might put us farther away from Beatrice.

Wysteria came over and helped her flip the mattress. Seeing as it wasn't in any better condition they opted to make a pallet on the floor. Spreading their blankets they stretched out their tired bodies listening to the piano music drifting through the boards from below.

"It's Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag," Wysteria whispered as she lied on the floor. "There is something lulling about it nonetheless."

Ladybird sighed as she listened to the happy tune coming from below them. By the time the pianist had finished playing the two sisters were fast asleep.

It was somewhere in the quiet night that Wysteria found herself suddenly awakened by a slamming noise. She sat up slowly and looked at Ladybird who was still sleeping. The sound of shoes on the floor made her look to the door and she got to her knees as her mind registered that the slamming sound had sounded a lot like a door.

Getting up she went over and pushed against it to make sure it was shut, whishing it had a lock. The sound of a baying horse made her jump in her skin and she went over to the window. Looking out into the street she saw a rider in a white cape seemingly floating like a phantom as they were carried away by an almost invisible black horse.

/

"I think someone came into the room last night," Wysteria mentioned to her sister as they sat at breakfast the next morning. "I heard the door slam and someone walking up the hall."

"Are you sure it wasn't another room?" Ladybird asked her.

"Well no," Wysteria admitted. "But I just got this strange feeling we were being watched last night and now..." she looked around the room. "I also looked out the window and saw a rider in a white cape riding away fast."

"White cape, you really are in trouble if they are after you missy."

Wysteria and Ladybird looked at the nearby table to see and old man eating hominy. "Don't listen to him, Wysteria; he's trying to scare us," Ladybird said.

"I will have no need to try when you meet the likes of them," the old man said and a chill passed through the whole room. "Some people call them the undertakers. The meanest mercenaries around. They appear in these parts every once and again but don't get in their way. The wear white but they make red. Heartless cutthroats they are." he lowered his voice. "Windstalkers."

A hand suddenly went on his shoulder. "All right Old Crow," the inn owner said. "What have I told you about frightening my customers? Come on let's go." The man took the old man by his arm and removed him from the room.

Ladybird and Wysteria watched as he was dragged away in loud protest.

"They'll get ya if they're after ya, they don't gotta want ya," the old man said leaving his laughter behind him as he was lead around the corner.

Slowly the patrons returned to their breakfast and Ladybird did the same. "Go on and eat, Wysteria, we'll be leaving soon," she said.

Wysteria stared at the door that the old man had disappeared through, his words echoing like gongs in her head.

/

Saddling their horses, Ladybird and Wysteria set out again. They had a lead that they may find a ring of trees at Yellowstone Park so they aimed for that direction.

"Are there wolves in the park?" Wysteria asked her sister.

"I don't know about wolves," Ladybird said. "But I do know it has geysers."

"Geysers?" Wysteria questioned. "You mean those things that shoot water into the air?"

Ladybird nodded. "We'll see them I'm sure." She fastened the top button on her coat as a cold wind blew.

Wysteria smiled as she imagined seeing water spray from the earth in a cold climate. "Do you think Beatrice will see them too?" she asked.

Ladybird closed her eyes and imagined for a moment the three of them were together in Yellowstone watching the mighty geysers irrupt to the sky. She imagined the map taking them to the circle of trees and across the vast open land. The frozen lake, the mountain and the three mercies guarded by the sentinels. It then became clear in her mind that perhaps this map had a greater purpose then a treasure. Something that can't be sought after with picks and shovels. Something they once had but lost. Love for one another.