Free Emily's Fortune by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

this exchange at all, for he obviously preferred to see where he was going rather than to look at where he had been. ButEmily hated it even more, because now and then his eyes fell on her directly. Still, she was so exhausted from her close escape in the water that she rested her head on Jackson’s shoulder and soon fell asleep.
    She did not know how long she slept, but she woke with a jolt as the stagecoach came to a sudden stop.
    â€œNow
what?” Uncle Victor exclaimed.
    Emily sat up and looked out.
    A fallen tree blocked the way, and huge boulders on either side kept the horses from going forward. The driver called out for a few strong men to help move the tree.
    But at that very moment, two bandits emerged on horseback around one of the rocks. One pointed his pistol at the driver, and the other opened the door of the coach. Marigold and Petunia screamed. Emily was frozen with fright.
    When Uncle Victor tried to rise from his seat, the bandit placed his pistol against Victor’s head and said quietly, “Nobody moves unless I tell him to.”
    So nobody moved, not even the man with the tigertattoo. Emily wondered if anyone in the coach was even breathing.
    The bandit spoke again: “Now…easy-like…empty your pockets and open your bags.
All
of you.” He started with Uncle Victor. When Emily’s uncle hesitated, the bandit pressed the gun even harder to his head. “Give me all that’s in your pockets,” he said.

    Uncle Victor had to obey. Out came a few silver coins and a couple of gold pieces. The bandit took it all. Uncle Victor looked as though he could chew the bandit in two, but not even he dared to move with a gun at his head.
    When the bandit turned to the two sisters, however, Marigold fainted in Uncle Victor’s lap, while Petunia reached over Marigold and clutched at his shirt.
    â€œSave us! Save us!” she cried as Uncle Victor tried to pry her fingers loose.
    The bandit started to laugh. “You got your hands full, mister,” he said. “You want to get away, we got an extra horse out there.” He took a ring off Marigold’s finger as she opened her eyes, and she fainted all over again.
    After he had taken Petunia’s necklace and emptied the pockets of Oscar, Angus, and Jock, he took a few coins from the elderly man. Then he turned to Jackson and Emily.
    There was nothing in Jackson’s pockets but a piece of bread and a few crackers. When Emily opened hercarpetbag for the bandit, she hoped he would not take out her dress and petticoat for all to see, and he didn’t. He pointed to the little box with Rufus in it.
    â€œOpen it,” he said, his gun still trained on the men.
    No! No!
Emily thought in terror.
Not Rufus!
She opened her mouth to protest, but Jackson elbowed her in the ribs.
    â€œOpen it, Eli,” he said.
    Emily lifted the lid of the box. The bandit saw the turtle and laughed. “Keep it, kid,” he said. “Ain’t got no use for a turtle.”
    But the horrible, awful truth was that Uncle Victor had seen Rufus too. Emily did not dare look at him but kept her eyes on her lap.
    The bandit took all the gold and silver he had collected, the rings off the fingers of the ladies, and the watches from the pockets of the men, and stuffed it all in a sack, then backed out of the coach. He robbed the driver of both his money and his pistol as the second bandit trained his gun on them all. Finally, firing two shots in the air, they galloped off and were soon lost among the rocks and shrubs.
    The men in the coach began to howl and growl, and the sisters sobbed and wailed. The driver came back to see that no one was hurt.
    â€œWe’re all poorer than we were when we started, but we’re alive,” he said. “And I still need that tree removed from the road so we can continue the journey. Why don’t you all get out and walk a little to calm yourselves.”
    So Oscar, Angus, and Jock moved the