Chapter 23

Opal Anne woke and fed Pauli while Rory quietly began to drive the wagon towards the riverbank. I crossed first with a rope tied to my saddle horn and the front of the wagons yoke. Once across, I wrapped the rope around a tree and when the mules and wagon lost contact with the bottom of the river, I pulled on the rope to minimize their drift.

The deeper water and slow current made crossing the river only a bit of a challenge and after some time, the mules found a footing and were able to pull the wagon across the remainder of the way. Finally across, I untied the rope from the yoke, coiled it and returned it to its place on my saddle while the wagon proceeded. I trailed behind, watching for signs of the agents behind us.

When I was sure that there was no immediate threat behind us, I rode ahead to find the easiest trail forward. When I’d come this way while looking for Mick, I’d not paid attention to pathways for a wagon, and now, with the sun just high enough, I could see far enough ahead to be able to guide the wagon. We drove the entire day on the far side of the river and never saw the six riders.

Riding scout ahead of the wagon by a couple of miles and I saw no signs of anyone or anything until we came to the point where the trail came down from the plain. I waited for the wagon to catch up to me and instead of heading up the trail to the plain, we kept going towards the debris field, then towards my brothers camp.

We were about a half a mile from the camp when we could hear gunfire.

“I’ll go in first!” I told my brother and took off riding towards the noise, pulling my rifle out of it’s scabard.

At some point, without us seeing it, the six riders had gotten past us and found my brother’s camp. They had dumped over the two sluices and had Betty Mae and Raylene and the babies huddled near the river. The riders were making as much noise as they could and the man that appeared to be the leader kept yelling at the wives.

“Where is the rest of the O’Dell gang? Where are the cowards?”

At that point, I rode out around the curve in the river as fast as my horse would carry me. My rifle was up and ready. Using years of experience of shooting from a charging horse, I put a bullet in the leader’s chest. My second shot caught the next rider’s horse in the chest and dropped him, causing the rider to fall and break his neck.

Suddenly there was gun fire behind me as Rory drove the wagon out of the curve with Opal Anne standing and firing her rifle. With the wagon jerking about, she wasn’t going to hit anything, but she caused a lot of distraction. At this point Raylene panicked. She screamed “Rory!” and began to run at full speed towards the wagon with Roddy in her arms.

One of the remaining riders, a man with a silver band around his hat, took aim and fired his rifle, his shot going through both Raylene and into Roddy, dropping them both to the ground, dead. Rory jerked back on the reins and brought the wagon to a sudden stop causing Opal Anne to fall back into the wagon when she failed to steady herself. Rory jumped out of the wagon, shotgun at the ready. His erratic running from side to side made him an impossible target and he was able to get close enough to the man with the silver hat band, and shot his horse.

The horse collapsed, throwing the rider. Rory ran to him and crushed in the side of his skull with the butt of the shotgun. One of the other riders was able to take aim on Rory and shoot him in the back. Rory dropped to his knees next to Raylene and turned his shotgun on the approaching rider. He got off a shot with the other barrel, the slug catching the man full in the face.

I drew a bead on one of the other riders and dropped him with a shot to his body. I dropped the last rider as he was trying to escape. He fell off his horse and I rode straight to him, finding him alive with a crease across the side of his forehead. He was alive, but unconscious.

I ran back to Rory, who was holding Raylene and Roddy in his arms while trying to remain upright on his knees. He looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“This was MY son.”

Those were his last words before he pitched over sideways, dead.

“Rory!” I yelled dropping to my knees at his side.

“Paul!” A voice was screaming at me.

“Paul!” Again.

My body was being shaken. I turned my head, but I couldn’t see clearly. Everything was blurred. Then the voice again, “Paul!” More shaking.

“He’s coming around, Opal Anne,” a voice said from the dark.

“Paul?” a soft familiar voice said. I could feel the warm breath against my cheek as she spoke.

I opened my eyes, blinked a few times and then could see clearly. Opal Anne was right next to me; Pauli was lying on my chest. I placed a hand on her and felt her warmth and her breathing.

“Pauli?”

“Yes, Paul. It’s your daughter. How do you feel?”

“What happened?” I asked.

“You attacked the camp.”

“Right, the riders were shooting the place up ... they killed Raylene and Roddy ... and Rory!” I was getting verbally and physically agitated.

“Relax, my love,” Opal Anne said; calming me so I wouldn’t upset my daughter. “Yes, Rory is dead and so are Raylene and the baby. You killed the man who was shooting at Betty Mae and Michelle, and then shot the last rider. I’ve got him tied up,” Opal Anne said.

“Where is Betty Mae? Michelle?”

“They are in the wagon with Mick.”

“Dead?”

“No, you saved them. Betty Mae is with her husband.”

“You OK?”

“Yes. When Rory stopped the wagon, I fell and got a bit of a bump on the head, but I’m fine.”

“How long have I been out?”

“About a half an hour. I got up out of the wagon to see you run to Rory and after a few seconds you keeled over. I was afraid that you’d been shot too. But when I got to you, I checked you and couldn’t find any wounds. I dragged you over here into the shade, set Pauli on your chest and took care of Betty Mae.”

“I need to sit up,” I said firmly.

Opal Anne tried to take Pauli from me, but I held her tight in my arms. Opal Anne helped me to sit up and then after I felt steady, to my feet. I took stock of the carnage. There were a couple of dead horses, a wounded horse, six dead men, a dead woman and a dead baby. And, tied to one of the overturned sluices was one of the agents responsible. I walked to him.

“What’s your name, mister?”

He looked up at me and shook his head. I kicked him in the stomach.

“What’s your name, mister?”

He coughed and tried to catch his breath, then looked up at me with anger in his eyes. I kicked him in the stomach again. He puked.

“I can do this all day long,” I said calmly. “Your people have killed my two younger brothers. They killed my youngest brother’s wife and her baby. If you think that you have the slightest chance to come out of this alive you need to talk to me.” I kicked him in the stomach again to drive my point home.

“OK,” he paused to try and inhale. “I’m Liam ... McHorn ... We were told ... that the ... O’Dells gang ... were rustling ... cattle and ... we were sent ... to stop them.”

“Well we’re the O’Dells. Have you seen any cattle?”

The man shook his head, still trying to catch his breath.

“That’s right. We’re prospectors, not cattlemen, not rustlers. You’ve killed a lot of my family over the past week. There will be a reckoning.”

“The company has a lot of men. They are going to want to get even,” he said breathing easier.

“Look around. Does this look like even? You lost eleven men last week and now five more. We lost two men, a woman, and an infant. An infant! His name was Roddy O’Dell. The son of Rory O’Dell. Remember that,” I yelled at him, then I took a quick step towards him and kicked him in the stomach again.

“Paul!” Opal Anne got me to calm down. “He’s not going anywhere. See how Betty Mae is doing, please,” she said from behind me.

I turned and looked at my wife, my partner, and best friend. She smiled and tilted her head in the direction of the wagon. I turned and moved while Opal Anne knelt next to the man. I walked to the wagon, the sounds of sobbing getting louder. Walking around to the open back, I looked in. Betty Mae was lying next to Mick’s body holding Michelle in her arms.

“Betty Mae? Come on down, we have some things we have to do.”

She looked at me and frowned.

“This is Michelle O’Dell,” she said proudly between sobs. “She is Mick’s daughter.”

“I know,” I said softly. “Please come and help me take care of Rory, Raylene and Roddy.”

“They’re dead.”

“I know. But I don’t know if more men are coming and I’d rather make a stand at our home on the plain than here. Please.”

Betty Mae looked at me, not fully understanding, but she still got out of the wagon and helped Opal Anne get the Roddy and Raylene wrapped in canvas and put into the wagon. I took care of Rory’s body myself. We did all this in plain sight of the last rider. When we were done, Opal Anne went and spoke to the rider again. His expression was not one of confidence any longer.

Betty Mae went to her cabin, followed by Opal Anne and soon they were out with arm’s full of Betty Mae’s possessions. I then went around and checked to make sure the dead horses were dead. I shot the two badly wounded horse that had been trying to limp around camp. That left two more horses.

Opal Anne approached me, “Paul, we need to get these men to town, so Jack can take care of the situation.”

“No! We need to bury Mick, Rory, Raylene, and Roddy on the plain and prepare for war. When these men don’t come back, more will follow.”

“Then we need to send a message back that the O’Dells are ready to go to war if that is what they want. We need to send a message that the people who sent these men will fully and completely understand.”

“I agree.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Opal Anne said sternly. “You’ve seen and done enough, Paul. Take the wagon back to the plain. Leave your horse and I’ll follow. Get our home ready to defend.”

The look in her eyes told me that there would be no point in arguing with her. I loaded all of the possessions that Betty Mae wanted into the wagon, tied off all but one of the remaining animals onto the back and then began the drive back to the plain.

Opal Anne watched her husband, daughter, sister-in-law, and niece leave in the wagon. She walked over to the closest of the riders two remaining horses. She slowly walked to each man and stripped them of anything valuable. She then removed each man’s genitals with her skinning knife and stuffed them into each man’s mouth, all in sight of the sixth rider.