Chapter 6

The next day after breakfast, I walked into the study and reminded Sarah that she was supposed to spend some time every day at the range practicing shooting and that we had agreed to go out early to miss the mid-day heat. Shamefacedly, she admitted that she had forgotten her promise. She said for me to wait a minute while she put up the papers she was working on and she would be ready.

We went by the gun room and picked up the .38-40 pistol and her new shotgun. We also took a box of cartridges for the pistol and a couple of boxes of shotgun shells. I also picked up some paper and tape for target patches. We went by the saddler and found that both of the recoil pads were finished. She thanked him profusely, and we installed the pad on the shotgun for her to check out before we left. Everything fit fine, so we were ready to go.

Since I figured to get less resistance from Sarah with the pistol, we started with that. The pistol was a Colt gate-loader and she knew how to handle it. She was also familiar with single-action shooting, so that was no problem. I had her load in five rounds and take the two handed stance we had discussed before about fifty feet away from the targets. I asked her to fire all five rounds at the right-hand target as fast as she could.

With a little trepidation, she took her stance, raised the pistol, and begin to fire. The action was a little stiff, but I was more interested in her reaction to the recoil. Amazingly, she fired the full load in a reasonable time and hit the target with four out of five shots, two would have been fatal, but the other two would certainly have been annoying. I was impressed at how well she did firing a gun she had never held before, and Sarah was thrilled at her marksmanship. She said that she had never shot so well before, and the recoil was no problem with the two-hand stance. I thought it was best to quit there with that pistol; we had learned what we wanted to know and I did not want Sarah to develop any habits with a gun she would never use again.

I got the expected reluctance when I directed her attention to the shotgun. I had covered the bullet holes in the target with the patches, so we were ready for the hard part. I then showed her how to operate the pump and how to load the magazine, which was not all that different from loading a rifle she was familiar with. I showed her how to set the safety and then release it before she was ready to fire. With all of that done, I had Sarah set the safety and load one shell into the magazine. We moved to about a hundred feet from the targets and I told her to fire, being sure to hold tight to the forehand grip. Sarah did as I said and fired. She let out a gasp when she saw the result of her shot. She had completely destroyed the target! Again, I was impressed and she was thrilled at how well she had done. I reminded her not to get a swelled head since I had deliberately selected targets that would not shoot back.

We moved back to fifty yards and I asked her to shoot at the other target. Sarah did very well this time, too, but was disappointed that there were remnants of the target left. I reminded her that the shot spread as it left the shotgun, so she must expect less damage to the target; however, each shot was about the diameter of her little finger, so a single hit could kill at close range. The whole purpose of the shotgun was for her to be able to hit a big target with one shot; that could save her a lot of grief!

Sarah had been so pleased with the results of her two shotgun tries that she had not even noticed the recoil. As a last test before we quit, I asked Sarah to load the magazine with five shells and shoot at the last target as fast as she could. Well, she noticed the recoil this time, but she was delighted at how much lead she could pour out in a short time. We agreed that it was time to quit for the day, since we had run out of targets.

On our way back in to clean the weapons, we stopped by to ask Carmelita to have six more targets made by the next morning. She agreed and we continued on our way.

After cleaning the weapons, I told Sarah that we had two gun-related jobs to do right away. We needed to go by the saddler and have him make her a saddle-holster for her shotgun to go on the right side of her saddle. She had done so well with the shotgun that I thought we could hold off on the rifle question.

The other job was to get her a holster made up for the .38 so she could wear it in the cross-draw position. I explained that the results with the shotgun had gone so well, I thought we could stick with the .38 she already had. Without a rifle to complicate the issue, we did not need to worry about too many different kinds of ammunition.

We immediately took the shotgun and the .38 with us to the saddler and told him what we needed. I thought that it would be a good idea to position the shotgun mounted vertically just ahead of of Sarah's right knee. That way, she could lean forward slightly and draw the shotgun while she was riding. I hoped to teach Sarah to fire the shotgun while she was riding at speed. That would be a positive defense against almost all threats she was likely to see. In fact, I liked the idea so much, I planned to try it, myself. I asked that he make the pistol holster first so we could start practicing with it immediately. He said he thought he could have the pistol holster ready in two days and the shotgun scabbard in about a week. I told him that was excellent, and we bid him good day.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try. We went back to the gun room and I picked up the single shot 12 gauge and a handful of buckshot shells. We then went to find Bill to ask for a horse to be saddled for me. I wanted one who did not shy at loud noises. When it was brought, I asked Sarah and Bill to meet me at the shooting range. They wondered why I need a horse for that short a trip, but I just grinned and trotted over.

When they got there, I positioned them safely back and loaded the shotgun. I then charged at one of the targets and fired the shotgun. All of us were surprised, even the horse. I was about twenty-five yards away from the target when I fired and I shredded the post. I tried the same maneuver at fifty yards and again at seventy-five yards. At fifty yards, the results were nearly as good as at twenty-five yards, but at seventy-five yards there was a noticeable drop off of hits and near hits. I was flabbergasted at these results; I knew that I could not have done any where near as well with a rifle or a pistol. Further experiments showed that I could do nearly as well shooting to my left, but not to my right. Maybe if I practiced enough, I could shoot left handed and hit something on my right. I knew that I was going to try.

But that settled it, I new that I had to have a 12 gauge pump shotgun. I would keep my rifle, but I was going to retire my saddle carbine.

I rode over and asked Sarah and Bill to meet me in the gun room right away; I had something I needed to discuss with them. I rode back to the corral and turned in my horse. I rushed into the gun room and started cleaning the shotgun.

When Sarah and Bill arrived, I had them sit down and I begin to present my idea. I proposed that we form our own squad of dragoons, but armed with shotguns, instead of rifles. I suggested that Bill select six of the cowboys who he thought would be the best candidates and we would start training them. It had occurred to me that we needed guards who could be called on at a moments notice to defend the ranch against people trying to assassinate Sarah or trying to rustle cattle. These dragoons could still do their regular jobs, but they would also be available as defensive troops.

Sarah and Bill looked at each other, paused a moment, and then both started talking at once. They were both in favor of the idea, but had questions about details. I admitted that there were a lot of details which had to be worked out, but we could take care of most of them as we went along. I needed to go into the gun shop in Julesburg tomorrow to check on some things. Meanwhile, Bill could be thinking which of the cowboys he would select. Sarah still had her daily paperwork to finish and there were a few things I wanted to check on. At that point, we broke up the meeting. As he was leaving, I asked Bill to have the two target posts replaced.

I went into the rather extensive and eclectic library that James York had assembled to see if he had anything on calvary training and tactics. To my surprise, there were two books which could be helpful; I planned to read both of them as soon as possible. I did not plan to organize a fully trained calvary unit, but one just able to perform some basic maneuvers in the field. I wanted to keep whatever tactics we came up with simple enough that we would not have to spend most of our time training. I was counting on the shotguns to overcome our amateurish blunders. The military training I had picked up at college would be enough to cover our infantry needs.

That evening after supper, Sarah and I went out to the veranda "for me to smoke my cigar." We weren't fooling anybody, but they all acted as if we were. I never actually lit the cigar; I didn't get a chance. Sarah pulled me into a wonderful loving embrace and we had our first tender kiss. I had not realized how much I wanted this until it happened.

We exchanged several more loving, closed-lip kisses, when I found that I could not hold myself back. I began to gently, but firmly, force my tongue past Sarah's lips. As soon as it became obvious what I wanted to do, Sarah responded in a like manner. We were tentative at first, but we both became more intense as time passed, until, finally, our tongues were dueling in a dance of love. I don't know how long it took, but our kissing and embracing became more and more excited. Fortunately, before we went too far, we realized what was happening and we broke off. We were both breathing hard and Sarah's hair was mussed, but we had stopped before we had gone too far, even though we both wanted to. After a final embrace and tender kiss, we parted for the night.