DC03 - Though Mountains Fall Read Online Free Page A

DC03 - Though Mountains Fall
Book: DC03 - Though Mountains Fall Read Online Free
Author: Dale Cramer
Tags: Christian fiction, FIC042000, FIC042040, FIC042030, Amish—Fiction
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planting time and harvest, dividing the rest of his year between New York and Paris, so the peons and merchants who lived at his beck and call kept themselves very busy whenever he was in attendance. Caleb drove through the village, past the beautiful stone church with its oak trees and graveyard, right up to the ivy-swathed gates of the hacienda itself. Two armed guards met him there and, after relieving Domingo of his gun belt, waved them through.
    The main house sat on a hill well back from the gates, shadowed in the rear by a sprawling flower garden dotted with shade trees, marble benches, and shallow ponds where exotic fish meandered in the shade of weeping willows and arched-stone footbridges. Caleb left his buggy with a stableboy while he and Domingo went on up to the back entrance of the mainhouse. Yet another armed guard frisked them before leading them through a maze of hallways to a waiting room crowded with a dozen barefoot Mexican peasants.
    They didn’t wait long. When Hidalgo’s minion came out and saw an American face he ushered Caleb into Hidalgo’s grand library ahead of everyone else, explaining that Caleb was, after all, a landowner. But when Domingo got up to come with him, the butler’s eyebrows went up.
    “Your peon can wait here,” he said.
    It took Caleb a second to get his meaning, but then he hung back, his eyes narrowing.
    “Domingo Zapara is no peon,” he said. “He is my friend , and he goes where I go.”
    Despite the fact that Domingo was a head taller the butler still managed to look down his nose at him for a second, then sniffed and said in a distinctly condescending tone, “ Muy bien . Follow me.”
    Hidalgo’s cavernous library, with its high frescoed ceiling, exquisitely crafted mahogany woodwork, and Persian carpets was without a doubt the most opulent room Caleb had ever seen, and it was only one small part of a house large enough to contain twenty such rooms.
    “Señor Bender!” Hidalgo rose from behind a massive, ornately carved desk, greeted Caleb with a warm handshake, and ushered him to a leather chair in front of his desk. He ignored Domingo, who remained standing quietly behind Caleb, hat in hand.
    Hidalgo seated himself behind the desk and folded his hands on the blotter. His hands were soft, the nails neatly manicured. Ten years younger than Caleb, the haciendado carried himself like royalty and he was dressed like a politician. His smile faded as he spoke.
    “Fuentes wrote to me about the bandit attack last summer, Señor Bender. We were all deeply saddened to hear of the loss of your son. A terrible tragedy. It must have been a very difficult time for your family.”
    Caleb nodded gravely. “Sí, we miss him badly, especially now, with spring planting to do. He was a good son, and an able worker.”
    “I was also informed that one of your daughters was taken, but she was later restored to you. Is this true?”
    “Sí. Rachel was kidnapped, but this young man”—Caleb glanced over his shoulder at Domingo—“and another were able to rescue her.”
    “Sí, that is the story I heard. You are lucky, Señor Bender. This El Pantera is a very bad man.”
    Caleb nodded. Pictures of his son’s last moments flashed across his mind’s eye. A bad man indeed.
    “This is what I came to talk to you about, Don Hidalgo. El Pantera. Even now he makes plans to attack us. They say he is full of rage and he seeks revenge.”
    Hidalgo’s head turned, just a notch, so that the stare he fastened on Caleb seemed slightly wary. “And what will you do?”
    Caleb looked down at the hat in his lap, already sensing resistance in the haciendado’s language. What will you do?
    “We were hoping you might help us.”
    Hidalgo nodded. “Sí, I will be happy to help. I have told you before, Señor Bender, you and your people are welcome behind the walls of the hacienda when bandits attack. You will be safe here.”
    Caleb sighed. “Gracias, Don Hidalgo. We are grateful for your
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