Chapter 5

Suddenly, both doors were jerked open at virtually the same time. Two men on my side were pointing revolvers at the passenger compartment, and I fired my first shot as soon as I was sure where one of the men was standing. That was the man who had opened the door, and he fell to the ground as my bullet penetrated his chest. I fired my second shot the moment I saw the second man. In my haste, I hit him in the gut, instead of the chest, but he, too, fell to the ground, so it did not make much difference.

Meanwhile, Nina fired both barrels from her shotgun through the door when it was only partly open. She immediately dropped the shotgun and drew a pistol with her right hand. Her range had been so short that the buckshot had little time to spread, but she had practically cut one of the bandits in half and had seriously wounded the other one. Both of the men were lying on the ground, and the wounded man was writhing in pain. Rightfully, she ignored him and looked for any other bandits on her side of the coach. Sensibly, she did not poke her head out the door.

The two bandits on my side of the coach were certainly out of the battle, and I did the same as Nina in looking for any more bandits. I saw nobody, so I quickly reloaded my pistol, one of the great virtues of the S&W pistols. I holstered my pistol and picked up the other shotgun from the floor of the passenger compartment.

With considerable care, probably wasted, considering the minimum thickness of the coach’s walls, I looked out of the open door. I saw a man with a rifle climbing on a horse. He was obviously running away and did not even look at the coach in the process. Hell, the man was so close that I did not bother with the shotgun. I drew my pistol with my left hand and shot the man in the back as he tried to ride away.

The man was not firmly in the saddle, and he fell off his horse right away. The horse ran another 15 feet or so and stopped when he felt that he had no one in the saddle. I figured that accounted for all of the bandits, but I did not take any chances as I looked for more bandits. There were none to be seen on my side of the coach, so I told Nina not to shoot me as I came around the back of the coach to check on her side.

I jumped to the ground and walked cautiously around the back of the coach. Nobody was to be seen back there or on Nina’s side of the coach, so I told her to relax. I handed her my shotgun and climbed to the driver’s box to check on the driver. Dammit, he was dead, too. At least, the mules were in good shape, so we could continue as soon as the tree limb was removed from where it blocked the road.

The two women had recovered from their faints and were jabbering away at their husbands. Nina ignored them and exited the coach. The other passengers were totally useless, so I ignored them, too. Nina helped me tie the five bandits to their horses. Two were still alive, but they got no extra consideration. Yes, my assessment had been correct, and the bandits had all of the earmarks of being from Mexico.

As a matter of course, we looted the bodies as we took care of them. This must of been their first robbery attempt because they only had a little bit of loose change in Mexican money. Their guns and horses were the only thing worth salvaging, and we could take care of that later.

I hitched the bandits’ horses to the back of the coach and tied the bodies of the two dead crewmen to the roof of the coach. Since Nina was wearing a dress, I was the one volunteered to drive the coach to the next relay station. The tree branch was easily moved from the front of the mules, Nina returned to the passenger cabin, and I climbed back up to drive the mules.

As a bit of good sense, as well as a dig at the other passengers, Nina did check the valise to be sure that it had not been opened while we had been busy. It was okay, but she did glare at the other passengers as a warning to be on their best behavior. They already knew that she would use her guns if provoked, so they were very polite for the rest of the ride to the relay station.

Things got kind of complicated when we got there. I explained what had happened to the station master, and he was profuse in his thanks, even though one of the women passengers complained about Nina firing the shotgun from inside the passenger compartment. The station master laughed at her, and she said that she was going to report his ill manners to the railroad. He laughed again, and she practically collapsed in tears. At that point, she was ignored by all of the people who counted.

We still had time to make it to the connection with the train if we hurried. Unfortunately, there were no replacement drivers or guards at the relay station. Nina and I were anxious to make the connection, so she agreed to drive the coach if I were the guard. The station master gave us receipts to collect for the five dead bandits at $35 each and also refunded the money for the coach part of the trip.

Nina changed into men’s clothes and climbed up to drive. The woman who had bitched about Nina and the station master refused to ride in a coach driven by a woman, especially one dressed like a man. We had no trouble leaving her and her Milquetoast of a husband at the relay station while the rest of us continued on our way.

We made it in time and boarded the train, but with no time to spare. It was Nina’s superb driving that made it possible for us to get there in time. Even the other two passengers complimented her on her driving.

We had tickets in one of the new Pullman sleeping cars, and we were looking forward to trying that out. I asked the conductor how we should handle the receipts that the relay station master had given us, and he said that I could redeem them at their next stop. It would be a division point, and there would be plenty of time while the locomotive and train crew were swapped. Okay, that was fine with me, so I did not worry about it.

Ah, this was the way to travel. We were moving along at the break-neck clip of 35 MPH (Miles per Hour), and the few bumps and the swaying of the car were kind of hypnotic. We had checked our rifles and shotguns with the conductor, but we kept our pistols and valise of gold with us. The conductor was going to give us a hard time about keeping our pistols until I told him what was in the valise. At that time, he agreed that we had a point, so he did not bother us again about our guns. Nina changed back to women’s clothes, and nobody gave us a hard time.

We were glad we had our guns when there was an attempted train robbery. We had made one of our frequent stops for water when we were hit by a full gang of bandits. There had to be at least 21 bandits in the gang. There were five passenger cars, including our Pullman, in the train, and three bandits entered our car to rob the passengers. Our Pullman was next to the baggage car so that it would be convenient for the porter to bring us our overnight bag when it was time to go to sleep.

We were at the end of the car next to the baggage car so that we were riding facing the rear of the train. Nina was sitting next to the window, and I was on the aisle. One bandit entered our car at our end and two men came in at the opposite end of the car. As soon as the three men were all in the car, the man at our end shouted, “THIS IS A ROBBERY! GIVE YOUR MONEY AND OTHER VALUABLES TO MY FRIENDS AS THEY COME TO YOU! DO NOT MAKE TROUBLE, AND NOBODY WILL BE HURT!”

The two men at the far end of the car had cloth bags which they stuck in the faces of the passengers and demanded the money and valuables. I whispered to Nina, “You take the man at our end when I shoot the other two.” I did not act at first because I wanted to be absolutely sure of my shots, and the best way to do that was to let the men get closer.

About half-way down the aisle, there was a hang-up when a bandit demanded a woman’s wedding ring, but she could not get it off over her swollen knuckle. “Okay, dammit, get that ring off in a hurry or I will cut your finger off. Now move! I ain’t fooling.” The woman began to work frantically to get the ring off, to no avail. The bandit lost patience and holstered his revolver. He took out a huge Bowie knife, and the woman screamed. This got the attention of everybody in the car.