The Oregon Sentinel: Benny and the Bank Robber, #3

By Mary C. Findley

Ben must choose: Take a dream job or follow his family into danger on the Oregon Trail.

Ben Carlisle's longtime dream has been to travel west with his family. When he is offered a newspaper job in Detroit, he is forced to question whether moving west is really God's will for him. Can he leave behind his grandfather, the girl he thought he loved, and an opportunity few writers could even dream about? Can he risk the life of one of his best friends, or face an old enemy head-on? What price will he have to pay just to make his writing live?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Findley Family Video
• Release date: Aug 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516371143

Mary C. Findley

Mary grew up in rural NY and Michael is from AZ. We met at college, taught school in AZ, MO and PA, homeschooled, and created curriculum and videos for church and commercial productions. We have three supposedly grown children and traveled the 48 states and Canada together in a tractor trailer.Findley Family Video Publications has the key verse “Speaking the Truth in Love” from Ephesians 4:15. We have four main goals:To Present a Biblical WorldviewTo Exalt the Lord Jesus ChristTo Edify BelieversTo Teach and to DelightMichael J. Findley has been on the road most of his life and his writings reflect that motion. From the rise of the ancient Hittite Empire to a generational saga of a Space Empire, the one constant is his desire to communicate the truth of God's Word through fiction and nonfiction. Homeschoolers, church leaders, and ordinary believers who want to go deeper into the Word and reach higher to put God in the exalted place where He belongs will find many answers here.They say write what you know. Mary C. Findley has poured her real life into her writing -- From the cover designs inspired by her lifelong art studies to the love of pets and country life that worm their way into her historicals. The never-say-die heroes in her twenty-some fiction works are inspired by her husband, a crazy smart man with whom she co-writes science and history-based nonfiction. These works were jump-started by a deep awareness of the dangers in our future if we don't understand ideological enemies rooted in the past. She's a strong believer in helping others and also has books about publishing advice and the need to have strong standards in reading and writing.She has traveled internationally and around the lower 48 and Canada multiple times. Anecdotes from her small town life, college experiences, European, Canadian, and south-of-the border travels, as well as adventures as shotgun rider in a tractor trailer fill her contemporary works. She has also donned the cloak of alt-Victorian adventuress as Sophronia Belle Lyon, steampunk writer with her own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and ladies) from the great 1800s novelists. In all her works you will find faith, family, friendship and fulfilling stories. Do come have a look!

Book preview

cover.jpg

Praise for the Benny and the Bank Robber Series:

Looked like a kid's book. It really surprised me with a lot of interesting twists and being deeply spiritual.

… Heart wrenching to imagine what Benny was going through, but uplifting to watch the way he grew into his faith.

Real life situations, mystery and suspense along with a little comedy keep you wanting to keep on reading. As for our family, we read it aloud and thoroughly enjoyed it. SUPERB!

I will order my grandson the entire series in book form. Although he isn't a Christian, I believe the adventures and the good values will keep him interested.

Very good writing never boring, although there are a lot of characters you don't get confused .... Story line flows.

The Oregon Sentinel

Benny and the Bank Robber 3

by

Mary C. Findley

© Mary C. Findley 2012

Findley Family Video

The Oregon Sentinel: Benny and the Bank Robber 3

© 2012 Findley Family Video

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version Bible, Public Domain.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. Exception is made for short excerpts used in reviews.

Findley Family Video Publications

Speaking the truth in love.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Background and Characters for the Benny and the Bank Robber Series

Benjamin Richardson Carlisle -- Average height, brown hair, brown eyes. Ben lost his father in Philadelphia at age ten and traveled west with his mother to his Uncle Tom’s Missouri farm. An accident put him together with Jeremy Carlisle, a bank robber, as a traveling companion.

Abigail Richardson Carlisle -- Small, blond and blue-eyed. Ben’s mother, injured while traveling to Missouri, placed her son in the care of the man who saved their lives, at that time known to them as John Clancy.

Jeremy Gladstone Carlisle -- Average height, brown hair and brown eyes. Former actor, skilled in makeup and disguises, a gambler and trained in self-defense. He robbed a bank he had worked at after gaining everyone’s trust and faking his death. He later became a Christian and studied medicine and preaching. He married Benny’s mother after serving two years in prison and completing his medical training.

Doc Daniel -- Daniel Connors is close to seven feet tall, sixty-five years old, white hair, blue eyes. He is a traveling preacher and doctor.

Horace Richardson -- Tall, thin, late sixties. Ben’s grandfather. Very wealthy, and provided a home and schooling for Ben and several of his friends in Detroit.

Violet Mitchell -- Small, pretty, black hair and blue eyes. Violet met Ben at his mother’s school in Osage, Missouri. She dreamed of becoming a teacher until she got Scarlet Fever and lost her hearing. Ben and his grandfather were able to arrange for her to go to a deaf school in Detroit.

Rose Mitchell -- Violet’s identical twin sister. Violet’s deafness forced her to learn to read and help her sister communicate. Jeremy helped Rose begin nurse’s training until she joined the others in Detroit for more schooling.

Jason Owens -- Red Hair, blue eyes, small stature. Ben’s best friend from Osage, Jason returned to Ben a long-lost Bible once belonging to Ben’s real father. Jason worked on his parents’ farm and went to school with Ben until Grandfather Richardson paid for both of them to go to boarding school in Detroit.

Murray Jacobs -- Black hair, brown eyes, Jewish heritage. Ben helped save Murray’s life while in Detroit and worked with him at the Detroit Sentinel, the newspaper where they both had internships while at school. Ben solved the mystery of a secret society at his school, the leader of which had tried to kill Murray.

Caleb Sutter -- Blond hair, blue eyes, well above average height and strongly-built. The town bully of Osage whose father was the town drunk and whose family died. After he was adopted by the town’s schoolteacher, Caleb seemed to change and became interested in map-making. He was kicked out of Cartography school for drunkenness. He hated Benny and tried to beat or kill him on more than one occasion before disappearing from town.

Tom Wilkes -- Blond hair, brown eyes, tall and very strong. A West Point graduate and Cavalry lieutenant. Ben met him at the boarding school when Tom became his protector and briefly lived with him and Jason Owens in their dorm room.

Chapter One -- Staying and Going

Ben Carlisle found a letter waiting for him when he returned to his grandfather’s house after the Christmas holidays. To his amazement, it was an offer of a permanent position as a copywriter at the newspaper, to become full time in the summer after Ben completed his third year at Brigham, when he would turn eighteen.

Grandfather, how can they offer me this? I’m a sixteen-year old kid. I didn’t even want to be a writer until a year ago. This is crazy.

Someone has seen some potential, Benjamin. Look at the salary they’re offering you. It would certainly take care of your family’s money worries.

But I can’t accept this. We’re going west. All of us. That’s what we always planned.

Benjamin ... there’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about for a long time. His grandfather led him into the study and sat him down. "I’m an old man, and I’ve just been able to piece together a part of my family after it was lost to me for so many years. The Lord knows I would never stand in the way of what you believe He wants you to do.

"But is going west really what you want? When you were eleven years old, this dream of your dad’s to go west became a part of your life. You’ve all planned and worked so hard to make it come true. And I’m sure it will, probably very soon. Doctor Carlisle will be used mightily by God to preach and to heal out there in that new frontier. Your mother will go with him, because that is her place, of course. Sarah will go too. No one questions that.

But you are a young man, Benjamin, almost an adult. God has given you a wonderful talent and you are using it to develop skills men will always value. The written word lives on past pioneers and doctors and even preachers. You have had experiences and developed a wisdom and maturity that many an older man would envy. This offer does not surprise me.

His grandfather held up a hand when Ben opened his mouth to protest. Before you ask, I had nothing to do with its being made. They did request a letter of reference after they had already decided they wanted you. Daniel Connors was asked too. He wrote me to ask if he should consult you or your family before giving his recommendation, to be sure the offer was welcome. I told him I thought perhaps you would be the best one to decide for yourself once the offer was made. Let me urge you to consider it, my boy. How you have lighted my life since we have spent more time together. How it would hurt to lose you. My son was lost to me for so many years. Can we not be a family? Can you not stay here in Detroit?

Ben promised his grandfather that he would think about the offer. He went back to school with the kind of turmoil in his heart that he had not known since the days before Jeremy became a Christian, a time when he simply could not see the hand of God leading his life. How could God have sent a temptation like this? The chance to have a real, permanent job working for a respected newspaper, and actually to be a writer. The real responsibility to his grandfather couldn’t be ignored either. Had God presented him with the true path he should follow? Was going west just God’s will for Jeremy and his mother and Sarah, not for himself? How could he have been wrong about something that had been his one goal all these years?

*****

Murray Jacobs, his friend from Brigham School for Boys, now employed fulltime by the paper, had no doubts. Talbot said he put you in for that job. It’s an offer most men only dream about. Think about all the writers who starved and struggled and never got known until they were long dead. Why would you even question if it’s God’s will or not? Only God could get you an offer like this -- no disrespect intended. It just doesn’t happen to anybody by chance. You’d be over me, Ben. Probably grooming for editor. The boss likes your work. Make no mistake. And you know how to do everything. He wanted to know why I hadn’t caught on as quick. You’d also get to stay close to sweet Violet. She’s to be offered a position at the deaf school. My uncle told me. Vi doesn’t even know yet.

Violet’s only fourteen. How can they offer her a job?

Well, it’s an apprenticeship really. But she’s in. They love her there. She was born to teach, you know. And she acts so much older than she is. And you have the credit for discovering her. You have a way of influencing people for the better, you know. That girl is what she is because you brought her along.

Ben laughed to himself, remembering Violet’s behavior over Christmas. But he wondered why Murray was making such an issue of Violet. Ben knew perfectly well that Violet would remain in Detroit two or three more years in any case.

Murray, I’m glad for Violet, but that doesn’t help me decide whether I should stay here.

Are you crazy? You’ve got a beautiful, smart, accomplished girl dead gone in love with you and it doesn’t influence your thinking? You’d actually go west and leave Violet Mitchell behind?

You’re the one who’s crazy. What makes you think Violet’s in love with me?

None so blind as they who will not see. Listen to me closely, Ben Carlisle. Violet Mitchell is head over heels. You are such a blockhead you wouldn’t know anything about women if I didn’t tell you.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter if she thinks she is in love with me. Ben shook his head to clear it. Murray could be so confusing. This is completely beside the point. Why are we even talking about Violet? She doesn’t have anything to do with this. You might as well say Rose Mitchell is in love with me. She’s staying here in Detroit too. What difference does it make to me?

Stars above. It doesn’t make a bit of difference, my boy. I can see that now. You have no interest in beautiful girls who would die for one kind look from those big brown eyes of yours, even when the girls come in pairs. But I’m a couple of years older than you, Ben, and I’m very interested. So you’re telling me the field is clear and I’m free to court what I formerly thought of as your personal property?

I have no idea what you’re talking about, Murray, but I can see you’re not going to help me solve my problem. So I’ll leave you to your courting, or whatever you’re going to do.

*****

Before, when Ben had encountered a problem he couldn’t solve, he always went straight to Jeremy. It never failed to astonish Ben how quickly Jeremy could think of an answer to something that utterly confounded Ben. But could he, and should he, write to Jeremy about this particular problem? Wouldn’t it hurt Jeremy and his mother too, to know that he was even questioning whether he should accompany them west? Or would they try to hedge and just say they’d love him no matter what he decided? Or maybe they would be firm in saying he should accept this offer because they wouldn’t want to stand in his way.

He’d chosen to be a writer. Jeremy had jokingly warned him that they weren’t prepared to support him the rest of his life while he tried to earn a living at it. Now he had a chance to earn his own living. Murray was right about how rare it was for a job like this to be offered to any writer, especially one so young and inexperienced as Ben. How could it be anything but the Lord’s will? There was certainly no question that Ben could finance the family’s trip west with the money he would make.

Ben wrote a brief letter to his parents. When it was completed he showed it to his grandfather and to Violet and Rose as well. He hadn’t told the girls about the offer before. Now he showed them the letter he had received along with his answer.

I have decided to accept the offer of a permanent position with the Detroit Sentinel, Ben’s letter said. I will be staying here in Detroit, working part-time until I complete school, and then going on staff as a full-time writer.

He told them the salary offered. The letter looked pretty dry and short, but Ben was afraid to say more. He wanted to explain how hard the decision had been. He wanted to say that he wished he could go west with them when they left. But he didn’t say any of those things. What difference would they make?

*****

Violet was beside herself with joy. Ben’s grandfather embraced him and shed a few tears. Rose smiled and said it was a wonderful opportunity and she knew Ben would do well. Ben sealed up his letter and sent it off. He had thought once that was done he would be sure. But he felt just as unsure as before.

But Benjamin, we both talked about wanting to go west, Violet protested when he voiced his doubts. When I was five I wanted to be a missionary to Africa. We grow, we change, and God leads us in different directions. Why are you so worried? You’ve done the right thing. And it’ll be so lovely to have you staying here for certain. I have to admit I wasn’t looking forward to saying good-bye to you and seeing you go so far away.

Ben frowned. I thought when you’d finally found God’s will some kind of peace was supposed to settle over you, he argued. I feel anything but peaceful.

We can’t go by feelings, you know, Violet replied. Trust the people who’ve advised you on this, Benjamin. They’re good, godly men who know all about the circumstances that concern you. And they still think you were right to accept the position.

*****

I’ve had a letter, too, Benny, Rose said a day or two later.

Really, Rose? Don’t tell me someone’s offered you a dream job too.

Rose laughed. You might say that. Jason Owens has asked me to marry him.

What?

Don’t look so shocked. I complete my nurse’s training a year from this fall. Jason’s father is so much better that he’s going to be able to go back to work on the farm. Jason has been given a scholarship from the engineering firm he started to apprentice for here in Detroit. He will return to school in a few weeks. When he finishes, he’ll become a field officer for the firm. They are sending people west to lay groundwork for roads, bridges, maybe even railroads someday.

Rose, that’s wonderful. Did Jason know about all this when we were home?

I think perhaps he suspected it. But he just received a letter confirming it last week, and he wrote me right away. Benny, I really never knew Jason cared that much for me. It was such a surprise. We won’t be able to marry until we’ve both finished school, of course, but yes, I think I can say I’ve got a dream job to look forward to.

I don’t know, Rose. I never imagined Jason as a husband and father. He used to say he was going to be a mountain man when he grew up because they never had to change their sheets. Don’t you think you’ll have to smooth off some rough edges?

I like all Jason’s edges, Benny. We’ll get along just fine. I’d like to set up a clinic somewhere out west and treat some of those mountain men. Maybe Indians too. We’ll keep busy.

I’ll have to write Jason and tell him to be sure and treat you right.

That’s my good big brother Benny. You’ve always taken care of me. I am glad you have such a good job to look forward to. It seems so perfect.

It seems too perfect. Why can’t I believe it’s what God wants me to do? Why do I still keep thinking I should be going west?

They’ll need newspapers in the west, too, dear Benny.

Murray tried to tell me they’d need writers there. But they need so many other things more. They need nurses and engineers like you and Jason. They need preachers and doctors and teachers like my dad and my mother -- Nobody needs writers. I keep wondering if I’m not on the wrong path altogether. I should be doing something useful.

You have already changed people’s lives with your words, Benny. Mine, Violet’s, Jason’s, your grandfather’s -- How can you think it isn’t important to give encouragement, to recount the Lord’s amazing working in your life, to chide us for our failures? And to think you can set all that down on paper for us to remember always. How would we study and learn and dream if no one wrote books? How would God speak to us if the Bible had never been penned? Never, never think that writing isn’t important. Never think that what you write isn’t important.

*****

Ben got a reply to his letter to Jeremy and his mother about the newspaper job. They were happy for him, they said. It was a wonderful opportunity. It was so good that he would stay with his grandfather. They would be sorry to lose his company and his help as they moved west. Louis DeBarr, the young medical student who had trained with Jeremy, had finished his work and taken his license. He had become engaged to Thea Douglas, a pretty girl whose father owned the harness shop in Osage. He planned to buy the house and the practice from Jeremy in the spring. A new schoolteacher had already been found to take Benny’s mother’s place. So they really would be able to leave at last and go west, without any help from Ben. Without Ben, period.

Ben’s heart ached. Suddenly he missed his mother and Jeremy and Sarah so much he wanted to cry. Why did he feel like he wanted to pack up and go home immediately? What a ridiculous idea. He wished he would grow up. But it wouldn’t go away. Ben couldn’t concentrate on his schoolwork. He couldn’t concentrate on his job. He couldn’t carry on a conversation with his grandfather. It was as if his family was already gone, out of reach forever. He couldn’t bear it.

Lord, please help me, Ben prayed. Five-year-olds miss their mommies, not fellows with real jobs and school and responsibilities. I have work to do and I’m not getting it done because of this nonsense.

*****

Down in the basement of the newspaper building was an old printing press. Ben had practiced on it when he was learning to repair and maintain the modern presses they used. It was so small and broke down so easily compared to the new ones. But the publisher had told Ben how that little press had helped him begin this newspaper, and he said no one had ever shown such a natural ability and dedication to make it work as Ben had.

Ben still tinkered with it at times, and one day when he should have been leaving to go home he went down into the basement and started to take it apart, to clean and oil its parts. He fingered each one and thought about how the Detroit Sentinel must have started. One man, a writer, had wanted to get his words on paper for as many people as possible to read. It had been like that since Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, where Ben had been born. It had been like that long before. A man had gone to a place where there were no newspapers. He had put together a printing press, got some paper, got some ink, and had made his words live.

Hello, Carlisle. Mr. Truax, the publisher, came up behind Ben and picked up a part of the old press. Still taking care of my old girl, are you? I used to call her Rosie. We spent so many hours together I thought she deserved a name. It’s a shame she has to lie down here useless.

She was never useless to me, sir. Rosie taught me my first lesson in publishing. If the press won’t work, all your writing means nothing. You’ve got to be able to print what you write.

Exactly, my boy. Exactly. I knew you understood it. Listen, Carlisle, I’ve had no peace since I made that offer to you to work here. I’m afraid it was a mistake.

Ben’s heart lurched. What do you mean, sir?

"I was terrified of losing you, my boy, and I wanted you to sell my newspaper for me with your by-line. I was being selfish. I wanted things to be easy for you so you’d stay with us. But there’s a dream I’ve had -- oh -- many years. I kept putting it aside because I knew I could never start over again.

"I wanted to see someone go out and start a new paper for us -- out where there aren’t any papers yet. My Rosie could go along and help get things started. I’ve heard you talk about wanting to go west with your family. What if you took Rosie, and we sent you at our expense, and you started a small paper out there for us? Wherever your family is going -- the whole territory’s so wide open, it really doesn’t matter where you settle.

Your family is leaving in the spring, as I understand it? You’ll lose your last year of school. I’m sorry about that, but it can’t be helped. You can choose your staff, arrange distribution -- You’d be the publisher, just as I am here. Well, not quite like I am here. I don’t have to fix the presses. Carlisle, it’d be very difficult. No one would blame you for saying no, and the original job offer still stands if you prefer it. I just thought maybe you had something in your heart that wanted to go west and print a paper.

Ben laughed out loud. Mr. Truax, you read my heart just perfectly right. I knew God would work things out. I accept your offer, and Rosie and I will do our best.

*****

Violet, I don’t really understand why this is upsetting you so much, Ben frowned. She actually seemed to be angry at Ben for accepting Mr. Truax’s new offer. I could understand my grandfather feeling like this, but he took it very well. You have friends at the deaf school. You have teaching responsibilities, which you’ve always wanted. You know my grandfather loves you and would have you over any time you wanted. Murray will be here --

Please don’t fret about me. If you feel you have to do this, I certainly can’t stop you. I don’t know what’s so attractive about hacking a life out of the wilderness, though. Mr. Truax offered you such a wonderful job here in Detroit.

I’ve never liked Detroit, Violet. When I lived in Philadelphia I thought a city was the only place worth living. And I still like the comforts and the opportunities. But I want to make my own opportunities, Violet. I’m going to build a newspaper practically out of nothing. And I love hunting and fishing and sleeping under the stars. I’d never get to do anything like this in Detroit.

*****

I wish I was goin’ with you, Ben. Jason was staying for summer school to begin to catch up on his engineering studies. Remember how we promised each other we were gonna go west together? Now you’re goin’ without me.

Jason, I’m so happy for you and Rose.

Well, to tell you the truth, I always liked her, even when she could talk me into the ground. Now we’re both a little quieter. But I really thought she was gonna settle on you. I even asked her -- you know I can’t ever be subtle about anything -- and she explained how she just kinda worshiped you, and loved you like a brother. I wanted to make sure she didn’t just love me like a brother, ‘cause let me tell you, I’ve got other things in mind after we get married. It’s gonna be a long year and a half. But then we’ll be right out there with you. Rose is a peach. She’s already started gettin’ together blankets and stuff we’ll need. Why did I ever think I didn’t want to get married, Ben?

Chapter Two -- A New Partner and an Old Enemy

It’s spring, and we’re going to Oregon! Ben threw his arms around Black Switch’s neck and hugged the black stallion. The rest of the school year at Brigham had flown by. Ben had spent long hours with Mr. Truax and his other staff members to complete the plans for the new newspaper, the Oregon Sentinel. Rosie had been shipped to Osage along with the other equipment for starting the paper. She had arrived two days ago, the day after Ben, and now sat in the stable’s empty stall. Ben came out to look at the little old press as often as he did to feed or curry or clean up after Black Switch. They had gotten a second wagon to carry the supplies for the new newspaper’s beginning.

Bah, says old Switch. For him it’s just going to be a lot of work, Jeremy laughed as he came in to the stable. A long walk with a lot of weight on his back. By the way, Ben, you know Rosie really can’t stay there in that stall. It’s going to be occupied.

Occupied? What do you mean, Dad?

Come outside and see. Ben followed Jeremy out into the yard. His mother and Sarah stood by the fence of the corral they had built to house their two giant draft horses, Lillian and Sam. Ben looked again. His mother held Sarah’s hand out to pat the nose of a slender colt with a shining black coat. He had four white socks. His mane and tail were white and he had a big white blaze on his nose.

As you know, Black Switch has been asked to umm -- perform certain services for some of the horse fanciers around here over the years, Jeremy explained. He’s covered quite a few mares and produced some first rate offspring. We’ve usually accepted a moderate fee and put it in the western kitty, but a couple of years ago he visited the Edwards’ place. He -- um -- well, he mistakenly got acquainted with a pretty little white filly over at Mel Lucas’ place next door and sired this handsome fellow. You can see there is a resemblance. Mel said he had no use for a budding racehorse -- our boy can run a half mile in nothing flat and not even sweat. He was scaring the cows, Mel claimed. We bought him for you, Mister Newspaper Editor. So hurry up and name him, because we’re tired of calling him Little Switch, and Pie-In-The-Face, and Hey-You, and all the rest.

Ben drew near and patted the young horse’s neck. Oregon, Ben smiled. I can’t think of anything else that fits him. Ever since you told me for sure we’re going to Oregon, it’s all I can think about. Dad, mother, he’s so beautiful. Thank you.

Don’t thank us yet. He’s barely green-broke, son. So far our best efforts to get him to accept a saddle and a rider have lasted about thirty seconds. That’s one reason Mel let him go reasonable. We’re still not entirely sure he can be trained.

Oregon flinched and took off, galloping all the way around the corral as fast as his legs could carry him. Lillian and Sam stood in the center of the fenced area and looked on in frank disapproval. Black Switch whinnied loudly from the stable. Oregon went around again, whinnying back.

Let’s go for a ride, Dad, Ben urged. He wants to run. Just look at him.

"Sure he wants to run. But I doubt he wants some pesky rider hanging on his back. Suit