Chapter 12

Mick was true to his word and didn’t say a thing about the gold to Rory or the women. The next day he, Rory, and I helped to pack up the wagon and Mick helped me reload the packs onto my mules. The two mules took their burden and as usual never seemed to mind. Maybe the handful of oats from Opal Anne satisfied them, especially Thumper. That sorrel mule always seemed to have a kind heart around Opal Anne.

Mick suggested that we rig up a tripod that we could take with us to unload the mules when we camped each night. We put a rig together and loaded it into the wagon. Once we were all packed and my brother’s mules hitched to it, we began our trek to Fountain City. Betty Mae and Raylene rode in the wagon, which Rory drove.

Opal Anne and Pauli rode next to me, each of us leading a mule. Thumper didn’t need to be led, he wouldn’t stray far from Opal Anne. He was the one that pounded the bears head into the ground during our last trip. I think in his mule brain he saw himself as her protector.

Coming out of the mountains, and onto the trail to Fountain City, we ran across the first people we’d seen in a long time. We traded the usual courtesies and then asked about stories having to do with the safety of the trail nowadays.

“Actually, last fall there were some bandits that did some damage, and rumors of a big band of Indians chasing them. But so far this season it’s been nice and calm.”

That was good news for me. I didn’t relish the word getting out that someone was using this trail to transport a lot of gold to Fountain City in the quantities I was. That news would draw all sorts of miscreants.

On our first night we stopped by a creek with several others. Mick and I unloaded the mule’s packs with the tripod. We set it up between the wagon and the creek to be out of sight as much as we could. Opal Anne and the other women sat around the fire nursing the babies. They were joined by several of the women traveling in the group we were with.

Once Opal Anne and Pauli had their fill of food and talk, I set out our sleeping arrangements between the two big packs. I wasn’t going to have anyone sneaking up on us in the night. In the morning, after breakfast, I was looking for Mick to come and help load the mules when Rory showed up.

“OK, big brother, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean, Rory?”

“Yesterday, you and Mick loaded your packs and when we camped last night, he and you unloaded your packs. Hell, you and Opal Anne slept with them, for God’s sake! What’s in the packs, big brother and why don’t you want me to know?”

“Because he doesn’t trust us anymore, little brother,” Mick said walking up behind Rory. “He doesn’t trust us because we sleep with each other’s wife and we don’t know who fathered the babies. Raylene and Betty Mae have already asked him to fuck them in trade for you and me fucking Opal Anne. So, he doesn’t trust that we wouldn’t try to fuck his wife. I think, with good reason.”

Rory looked like he had been slapped. He looked back and forth between me and Mick. Although Rory was the smallest of us, his hard work on the farm had given him two things. First, he was a crack shot with damn near any hand held weapon. Second, he was strong as an ox and fast as lightning.

“You don’t trust me? Me, Paul?”

I never saw the right hook that knocked me down and made me see double. As soon as I was down, he was on me. He hit my arms a few times because I was still able to think enough to defend myself if not return an attack. One hit got through to my ribs and I thought he’d knocked my lungs out.

Then, just as fast as it started, Rory’s attack stopped. I opened my eyes to find Mick holding our angry and struggling little brother. What’s more Mick had lifted him off the ground.

“Damn it, Rory! Calm down,” Mick said loudly in Rory’s ear.

“He doesn’t trust me? ME? The one that stayed home and kept the family home intact? I’ll teach his ass trust.”

“Calm down!” Mick yelled again, finally getting through to the angry brother in his arms.

Rory stopped struggling. He opened his mouth to speak a couple of times before sounds came out. While this was going on, I slowly got to my feet, trying to decide if I should get ready for another attack or not. Then Rory spoke again.

“You don’t trust me, Paul?” Rory’s voice broke a bit as he fought back his emotions.

“I’m sorry, Rory,” I said as I slowly stood. “I’m finding it hard. I told Mick yesterday that I wasn’t sure if he was the honorable man who fought in the war for what he believed in or just a man trading off whores with another man. Two men who might be interested in taking a shot at my wife, since, as your wives said, it’s all in the family. Why would I trust a man who trades his wife?”

“But you trust Mick?”

“Rory, this may be hard for you, but he gave me his word as a soldier that he wouldn’t tell anyone. And on that oath, I believed him.”

“So, because I did the honorable thing and stayed on the farm to keep the family going, you can’t take my word for something? Because I’m not a soldier?”

“Rory,” Mick interrupted. “There is a bond between soldiers that’s very strong and based on personal honor.”

“Stronger than the bond between brothers, Mick?” Rory asked, raising his voice.

I looked at Rory. The look in his eyes showed the depth of my insult. No, there was more than that, he was intensely and personally hurt.

“Paul, you’ve hurt me as a man,” my youngest brother hit the mark with that one.

“Rory, what sort of man trades wives with another man? I can’t get the sight out of my head of you banging away at Betty Mae while Mick and Raylene were sitting and watching. I don’t want that kind of marriage and I’m not sure I can trust men who do.”

I looked at Rory and knew this was the breaking point for our family. He was my brother. My little brother. I was supposed to lead by example, being the eldest.

“You’re right. Alright, Rory, I’ll tell you,” I gave in. “But I need you to promise me that you will not tell anyone, not even whichever wife you’re sleeping with tonight.”

“Hey! That was low, Paul,” Mick argued. “OK, so you don’t agree with our lives, but that shouldn’t take away from our brotherhood. You’re my brother and I would take a bullet for you anytime anywhere.”

“Me too, Paul!” Rory added.

“OK. OK.” I looked around to be sure no one was within earshot and I looked back in Rory’s eyes. “Rory, the two mule packs are holding almost 160 pounds of gold.”

Rory looked stunned. Eyes wide open, mouth open. Head shot forward.

“If word got out that we were transporting 160 pounds, we would be up to our asses in bandits or people who might threaten our wives or kids if we don’t pay a ransom?”

“I understand, Paul, you can trust me,” Rory said solomnly.

“OK,” I nodded to him. “I do. Now our original agreement still stands. You and Mick will each get twenty-five percent of what I find. If the spring, summer, and fall work like things have so far, by this time next year, we should be able to leave the mountains and move into nice houses and live off of your investments like civilized people again.”

Rory and Mick were going to help me load my mules when Rory asked a question.

“Paul, why don’t we just put the packs in the wagon? Makes no sense to burden the mules if you’re not trying to keep things a secret from Mick and me.”

“What about the women?” I asked, suspicious of Betty Mae and Raylene.

“They won’t do anything,” Rory said. “They’ll both be sitting in the seat with me.”

“Alright, let’s put the packs in the wagon and head out.”

It took a lot less time to put the pack rigs into the wagon than it did to put them on the mules, so we were on our way in no time. The trip was uneventful until we made camp for that night. There were four wagons in the group we were traveling in. We hadn’t hobbled the animals yet but had them grazing near the wagon.

We were at the end of the line of four wagons camped along the path of the creek. And that made us the last wagon that the three strangers passed as they rode past the camp.

“Hey, Mitch, look!” one of the riders said.

“What?” He answered brusquely.

“Teats!”

The man identified as Mitch pulled back on the reins on his horse and looked in the direction the other man was pointing. He saw Opal Anne and the other wives sitting by the fire nursing their babies. Since none of our wives looked like old worn out prairie women, the riders stood in place to have a look. Rory began to move towards the driver’s seat of the wagon where his shotgun was stored. Mick and I moved towards our gun belts.

“Just stay where you are, boys.”

I turned to see where the voice was coming from and saw that there was a fourth rider that had split away from his friends to move along the creek side of the wagon train. This allowed him to come up behind us. He had his pistol out and pointing at Mick and me. We both froze in our tracks.

“We and the boys just want to look at the pretty ladies and maybe spend a little time with them. Maybe play with them a little,” the one name Mitch said, while he dismounted from his horse.

“Mister, why don’t you just leave us alone,” Raylene said firmly. “Our husbands won’t do anything to you, if you just ride out.”

“Bitch, they ain’t gonna do anything if they don’t want to get you killed. Now just play nice and maybe we’ll even take you with us. You look like the sort of woman that needs a real man, not some sod buster.”

With that Mitch walked over to Opal Anne and took hold of her teat and gave it a squeeze. She squirted milk from that breast, while clutching Pauli in her arms. Because of the pain in her breast, Opal Anne screamed, which just did not go over well with Thumper. The sorrel mule charged Mitch from behind and took a bite out of his shoulder, right at the base of his neck. Mitch screamed and dropped his pistol, giving me and my brothers the opening we needed.

Rory scrambled into the wagon and grabbed his shotgun, while at the same time Mick and I dove for our gun belts. In the blink of an eye, the other three riders were covered, Opal Anne had kicked Mitch in the stones, he was on his knees, with one hand on his stones, and the other on the bite Thumper had given him. Mitch was bleeding badly from the bite on his neck.

“Drop your guns and get off your horses, then get over here and lay on you backs,” I yelled out loudly.

The three riders obeyed quickly and, as soon as they were on the ground, Rory jumped off the wagon and had the shotgun aimed at their faces. As soon as they were down, Opal Anne handed Pauli to Betty Mae, ran over to Mitch and began to take care of his wound.

“Raylene, get me a rag!”

Raylene ran to the wagon and returned with a rag which Opal Anne pressed to the bleeding man’s neck.

“This looks bad,” Opal Anne said before barking out a loud command. “Raylene, check with the other wagons and see if anyone has any doctoring experience.”

Raylene took off running and Opal Anne kept squeezing the wound as hard as she could. Betty Mae had taken the three babies and gone into the back of the wagon, while Mick approached the three men on the ground.