Chapter 12

We thought we were out of danger, that the Worley’s had forgotten us. What we didn’t account for was every mile we traveled took us closer to them. They didn’t have to chase us, all they had to do was wait. We had relaxed our vigilance by the seventh day, and they took advantage of that, hitting us as we were crossing a wide but shallow river. About a third were already over, that many or more in the river, when they hit. Whoever planned the ambush had experience because they caught us completely unaware.

I was traveling ahead with Luc and Lillith. A train five days in front of us sent word they’d like to do some trading, listing what they wanted. I packed as many items as I could on Lillith and set out. Hearing the shots I knew sometrhing major was wrong and turned around, urging Luc into a gallop, Lillith trailing behind.

The ones who were already across had their rifles out but had trouble finding targets. Our enemies were well concealed and only the occasional puff of powder gave them targets. The ones in the stream were concentrating on getting across, depending on those on the bank for cover fire. Those still on the far bank were locked in a desperate struggle and I arrived just in time to see Becky throw up her hands and tumble from her seat.

Something snapped in me and I charged into the river, blazing away with both pistols. It’s next to impossible to hit anything from a moving horse, but I got lucky and hit two, one fatal instantly and the other just a light wound. The rest were steppin’ and fetchin’ pretty good, giving my group better targets. I was pulling the Navy out of my waistband when something hit me and I tumbled off Luc into the water.

I rolled over and started floating downstream, my last vision before passing out was of Luc charging after me.

It was dark when I woke up, lying half out of the river on a sandbar. I tried to figure out how I happened to be there and when I tried to move a jolt of pain went through me and I remembered everything. Grunting, I pulled myself completely out of the water and passed out again.

Waking to an odd sensation, I grinned. It was Lillith, licking my face. I swatted her nose gently and she ambled off, satisfied I was alive. I could make out Luc standing behind her and felt worlds better. He had a bullethole in one ear and a groove down his flank, and looked about as happy as I felt. I managed to prop myself on a log and wait for daylight.

An examination of my wounds was depressing. I’d been shot through the side of my chest but it appeared not to have hit anything major, riding along on the outside of my ribs. I had a groove along the right hip and my ear felt funny. Reaching up I traced it, only to discover the top third gone! Then I looked at Luc and the whole thing seemed kind of funny, Luc had almost exactly the same wounds I had. Laughing didn’t make me feel any better but I grabbed on to a tree limb and slowly pulled myself up. When my head stopped swimming I limped over to Luc. He nuzzled me gently and we spent a few minutes just leaning against each other.

I didn’t have anything to treat his wounds, but I did take my wet scarf and bathed them as gently as I could. He seemed to appreciate it. I wiped mine for a minute before giving it up as a lost cause. A thought hit me and I touched my holsters, not surprised to find them empty. Even the Navy was gone. I still had my Winchester on Luc, so I wasn’t defenseless. Then I looked at Lillith and her packs. Part of what the people I was meeting wanted to trade for was weapons.

Lillith had two Henry’s, two shotguns, and two of the Buffalo guns, with ammo for each, as well as five pistols. It was getting on towards fall and they needed the long guns for winter meat. If I could get back to my group or find my attackers, I’d be well heeled.

Also in the pack was two pounds of black pepper, a few other spices. I threw in some sewing supplies as a sweetener. Needles, thread, a few thimbles. They would pay in cash or be willing to trade if they had something I could use. I had one of the younger Mennonites with me leading another pack mule and I idly wondered what happened to him.

Luc wasn’t too keen on me sewing up his gash but he stayed still. I took off their bridles and loosened the saddle and pack but didn’t take them off, not sure I would be able to put them back on.

That done I pulled a little pot out of Lillith’s pack, started a small fire, and shaved some jerky into the heating water, adding pepper and salt as it simmered into a thick broth. I passed out again, waking to find it dark. I was surprised but figured if anything came by that Luc didn’t like he would have woke me up. I heated the broth back up and drank it, marveling how good it tasted. Then again I figure I hadn’t eaten for almost two days.

The broth put me out again but I woke at first light, madder than hell. Enough lying around. I had people to check on and plans to make. I tightened the cinches and bridles, and swung up on Luc, waiting for the dizziness to let up. I was on the wrong side of the river, but there was a pretty good ridge on the other side and I had to go upstream anyway. I rode slowly, keeping to the brushline and a good eye out.

Two hours later I came across the ruts of about a dozen wagons and knew they had to be ours. What puzzled me was they were going the wrong way so I started trailing them. When the tracks of horse got a lot thicker I knew I was close to a ranch, so I veered off towards a small knoll to see what I could see.

It was a pretty good sized ranch with a two story house and a large bunkhouse. There were a lot of men in the yard and just past the cookhouse were the wagons. Taking out my spyglass I could make out my people. The adults seemed to be tied to the wagon wheels while the kids were loose, even though they stayed close.

They had a couple of guards, but most were clustered around the house and cookshack. I could make out bottles being passed around and they were laughing and whoopin’ it up. Just before dark a few broke off and headed towards the wagons.

They said something to my people and I could see them shaking their heads. The head honcho pulled one of the young Finnish women up and said something that got him a slapped face. He backhanded her to the ground and then raised his hand again. I don’t remember aiming the big Sharps until I felt it buck in my hands. It would have been comical the way his feet flew out from under him if I hadn’t known he was probably dead before he hit the ground.

I snatched up the other rifle and shot the coal lamp hanging over the cookshack, grinning as I watched flames spread. Hands rushed over to stop the flames and I opened up with my Winchester. Two went down and the rest scattered. I emptied it and snatched one of the two Henrys, emptying it into the bunkhouse and main house, seeing the glass shatter. They must have thought there was a dozen men on that hill.

It was getting darker and they could easily see my muzzle flashes and a few started firing back, when they were hit by a barrage of fire from another angle. I grinned knowing my friends were out there. I took advantage and loaded up, making sure all the weapons were ready to be used again. Then I rode back about half a mile before finding a little copse choked with brush and pulled Luc and Lillith in with me. I went to sleep almost instantly and woke to light streaming in my face and realized I could hear voices. One of them was Jed.

“We need to be careful. If that is Josh in there he may not know we’re friends.” The rush of relief make me feel warm all over and I spoke up.

“Damn it boys! Some of us are trying to sleep here. Come on in, and I’m tellin’ you right now one of you better have a coffeepot.”

Jed. Finn, Bart, and Mack came in. They looked a little shocked and I realized I hadn’t had a chance to clean the blood off me. I waved my hand. “I’m all right. Somebody tell me what happened.”

While we were talking Bart pulled out a frying pan, cooking bacon and pullin’ it out. Then he chopped up a couple of potatoes and an onion and fried them as well. It was probably one of the best meals I’d ever tasted.

Jed was grinnin’ to beat the band. “We were scoutin’ around yesterday trying to come up with a way to get our people back when you opened the ball. You got two for sure, and hit two more hard enough to take them out of the fight. We nailed a couple more when they tried to put out the fire. A few of us stayed on the ridge all night, shooting into the buildings with no pattern. I’ll warrant there wasn’t a lot of sleepin’ for them last night. That ought to put them in a good mood this morning. They can’t do anytihing because every time one of them sticks their head out we try our best to shoot it off.”

I had a sudden thought. “How many?”

Jed knew instantly what I was asking and pain flashed across his face. “Twelve. Eight men, three women, and the Jacobs boy.”

I mentally damned them all to hell. Eric was nine years old. “Any wounded?”

“Nine. Becky got shot int he shoulder and Mary-Beth got hit in the side dragging her under the wagon. Sven’s got a broke collarbone. All the rest are just grazes.”

I could tell he wasn’t telling me everything. “And?”

“Viktor got hit. He’s gutshot. He was still alive when we left but he’s probably gone by now.”

Well then, some Colorado town just got deprived of a damn good jeweler. We got deprived of a damn good friend. We’d spent many a pleasant evening with him, listening as he spoke on a lot of subjects. The man was educated and witty and I learned a lot just listening. I soaked everything up like a sponge and for my age and where we were I was a pretty well infomred person on a lot of subjects.