Kate Muldoon’s Party Takes a Detour to Evade an Ambush and Reach Roily

Kate Muldoon’s party takes a detour to evade an ambush and reach Roily, turning Mrs. Horton’s warning and Kate’s childhood memories into a practical escape route. The journey is significant not because the travelers confront Max Landon’s men, but because they recognize that the familiar road has become a killing ground and use the terrain to arrive by another way.

The Threat on the Main Road

The danger becomes clear at breakfast, when Mrs. Horton explains why she has roused the others early. She believes Max Landon will prevent Kate from reaching Roily and expects him to place an ambush a few miles outside town, where the canyon narrows. Its rocks and concealed positions would allow his men to wait until the riders came close. Del Delaney has already considered the possibility of an ambush, but he and John Smith have not found a way around it. Mrs. Horton supplies the missing judgment: the party must still go to Roily, but it cannot safely use the main road along the river.

Her warning describes more than a general risk. Del reasons that, after three earlier failures, Max Landon is likely to send a group rather than depend on a lone attacker. The narrow canyon gives that group cover and leaves the travelers little room to respond. Going forward on the expected route would therefore expose Kate and her escorts to an attack chosen on the enemy’s terms. The decision to detour follows from the combination of Max Landon’s persistence and the road’s geography.

Choosing the Mine Road

Mrs. Horton’s alternative depends on an old route to the Enterprise Mine. Kate remembers traveling there with her father when she was young. He kept a small herd near the mine, high enough that the grass grew slowly, and made summer trips to check on the cattle. Those visits give Kate more than a place-name: she remembers the route and can help identify it even though it has not been used for many years. Her recollection also carries a family history. She remembers that her father had once hoped to make a boy out of her, a memory she recalls with a small bitterness.

The route is difficult rather than direct. Mrs. Horton says the riders must climb almost to timberline to reach the Enterprise Mine, then turn toward the North Star Mine; from there, the ride into Roily is easier. Kate recalls the steep descent from North Star and her father’s wonder at how machinery and timber had been hauled up the grade. Mrs. Horton also warns that the old Enterprise road is hard to find: grading has altered the place where it once left the main road. The plan thus depends on Kate recognizing an obsolete trail, not simply following a marked road.

Finding the Trail and Passing the Ambush

The party saddles up and enters the narrow canyon leading to the river, riding upstream. Del travels about fifty yards ahead of Kate. He expects to draw the first fire if the group encounters the ambush, giving Kate and Smith a chance to turn back or seek shelter. He also understands the limits of that precaution: if he is removed from the situation, Smith would face poor odds in trying to get Kate back to Mrs. Horton’s home. His position in front is an attempt to reduce the danger, not a guarantee of safety.

As the canyon tightens and Roily lies only six or seven miles ahead, the party reaches the area where Max Landon might have stationed his men. Kate realizes that they have passed the turnoff. Del rides back, watching the eastern side for an opening that might mark the old mine road. He cannot see a trace of one. Kate points to a steep-walled canyon higher on the slope and explains that grading has cut away the visible connection. She believes the old route begins there, though it may now be little more than a trail after fifteen years or more without use.

Kate identifies the place by a landmark her father had named the Old Man: a rock formation across the river. Del cannot see a road, but Kate’s recognition provides a reason to trust the location. This moment makes her memory essential to the detour. The route is obscured by changes to the ground and the passage of time; what remains legible to her is the landscape as her father taught her to see it.

The Hidden Force and Arrival in Roily

The party climbs toward the mine road and reaches a vantage point above the narrowest part of the canyon. From there, one of the travelers can see the road and river below, along with what appears to be about six men crouched behind rocks at the foot of a cliff. The number is uncertain, but six horses are visible. The observation confirms Mrs. Horton’s warning: an armed group is waiting in the place where the main route would have carried the riders. Del is relieved that the party took her advice, and Max Landon’s planned interception is left behind them rather than met head-on.

Within an hour, the travelers reach the North Star Mine. It appears maintained, with a watchman in a shack whose chimney is smoking; when he steps out carrying a rifle, he makes no hostile move as the party passes. The mine road is clear and seems to have been used recently. The riders descend, see Roily below, and reach town about another hour later. Their arrival completes the detour: Mrs. Horton’s reading of the danger, Kate’s knowledge of the old route, and Del’s decision to ride ahead have together brought Kate into town without forcing the party through the ambush.

The Detour’s Significance

The episode is a contest over who can read the landscape first. Max Landon appears to have chosen the canyon for its concealment and narrow approach; Mrs. Horton counters by predicting that choice, while Kate supplies the local memory needed to leave the road. A route weakened by disuse becomes the party’s protection precisely because it is not the obvious way into Roily.

The escape also gives distinct forms of judgment their place in the group’s survival. Mrs. Horton sees the danger before the departure, Kate recognizes the changed mine-road entrance, and Del accepts a forward position despite knowing that it cannot make the party invulnerable. The hidden men confirm that the threat was real, but the party’s success comes from avoiding the confrontation, not winning it. Reaching Roily turns a threatened passage into a successful one and shows how knowledge shared across generations can alter the outcome of an armed pursuit.