Chapter 9

Wayne Landry, the gun maker in Julesburg, sent a message to Mat and Sarah that he had something to show them the next time they were in town. Because Landry knew of their interest in special guns, Sarah went into Julesburg the next day to see him. When she walked into his shop, Landry jumped up from his workbench and greeted her with considerable excitement. "I've got something you must see! It's a lever action rifle chambered for the same .45 long cartridge that your dragoons are using in their pistols. It's a '73 model Winchester lever action and has a good stopping power at two to three hundred yards. It would complement the shotguns, nicely, when you need longer range. I can get twenty-seven in excellent, but used, condition within the week, but we have to act quickly before someone else snaps them up! Here is a sample."

Sarah looked over the rifle with considerable interest. It was not too heavy, so a horse would not tire too quickly from the extra weight; and she liked the idea of doubling up on the cartridge use. She said, "Wayne, this looks like a winner for us. Order them all immediately. We'll find a way to pay for them."

"Don't worry, Sarah. You folks have given me so much good business that I can afford to carry you for a little while. Besides, what you are doing is good for all of us!"

True to his word, Wayne delivered the twenty-seven rifles to the York ranch within five days. Bill immediately issued them to the dragoons, and they spent some time practicing and getting them sighted in at two hundred yards. Since all of the men were excellent shots, this whole exercise went smoothly. The men were delighted with their new weapons. Bill took the time to sight in the remaining unassigned rifles, just in case.

"Senor Villa, I have a proposition for you. We need to have a ranch destroyed and a particular woman killed in the raid. They have unusually good fighters, so we want to hire sixty men to overwhelm them quickly. We will pay your usual fee for such a job, and we will pay a bounty of $5 for each man killed and $100 for the deaths of Sarah York and Bill Hudson. We'll pay $1 for each woman and child killed.

"But, and this is very important, you are not to damage the main house or the wells except for any incidental damage which might come about from the attack. We will deduct any repair costs from your fee!"

"Very well, I will accept the contract, but I cannot attend to it personally. I will send one of my best lieutenants to command the raiding party. We will be ready in two weeks."

The three engineers working on the dam were progressing very slowly, because they were being continually interrupted by well meaning visitors who wanted updates on the dam and lake. It didn't take Sarah long to notice this and find a solution. She had offices constructed for the engineers within Fort York and placed a "secretary" outside to door to keep away unwanted visitors. She also decided to move the library to the fort so that it would be conveniently located for the school and for the engineers. While she was about it, she had offices constructed for her, Bill, and Mat.

It was a good thing Sarah had ordered Bill to post lookouts on the roof of the fort. They spotted the dust from the raiding party in plenty of time to sound the alarm, and everyone reached Fort York in time.

Bill assigned four dragoons to the main room and eight to the roof. He made sure that those on the roof were wearing their tabards and helmets... The remaining fourteen .45 rifles were issued to other men who were assigned fighting positions, six in the main room and eight on the roof. Those on the roof wore also issued tabards and helmets. The riflemen and dragoons were scattered around to the various firing positions to await developments.

Meanwhile, Sarah was busy getting the main room organized. She had the school furniture moved to the cellar and beds brought in and arranged to group families, as much as possible. Blankets were draped from ropes as privacy screens. Women were assigned to supervise the younger children and keep them out of the way, while the older boys were detailed to carry ammunition from the cellar armory to the main room and roof as needed. The older girls were assigned to help Carmelita. Then they settled in to wait.

The raiders rode up and were astonished to find no one to kill. The cowards had run away! Scouts were sent to investigate the worker's huts and take any valuables they might find. Several more trusted and intelligent scouts were sent to inspect the main house, but reminded not to take any loot nor damage anything... All the scouts reported that no one could be found anywhere about the ranch, except for the large square building which appeared to be occupied.

One of the scouts was told to see what was going on at the large building. He rather nonchalantly rode up to the main door and banged on it with his rifle butt. He shouted, "Open up! We will not harm you if you give us your valuables!" The answer was a shotgun blast to his face. His horse found this to be a disagreeable attitude and ran away.

This action resulted in the raiders firing mostly unaimed shots harmlessly at the fort from out of pistol range. There was answering rifle fire from the fort which killed or seriously wounded seven raiders. Eight down and fifty-two to go!

There was great jubilation within Fort York, and Bill on the roof, and Sarah in the main room, had to work to bring order. Unfortunately, though no one was hit by bullets, there was one casualty: during the celebration Bill was accidentally bumped down the stairs and he broke his leg. It was a clean break below the knee, but he would be out of action for a few weeks. Sarah had him moved to the hospital area and tenderly tended to; Carmelita leading the way. Sarah then went on to the roof to assess the situation.

Sarah appointed one of the steadier dragoons to take tactical charge of the roof under her overall direction. Juan snapped to attention and said, "Yes, comandante!"

Sarah commanded, "Juan, make sure that no one wastes shots. We have a lot of ammunition, but it is not unlimited. Reminded every one to stick to the rifles, unless a bandit advances to the moat; that's when the shotguns will be the most effective. I will give the same order, downstairs; it is very important ever body obeys."

"Yes, comandante. I will see that your orders are obeyed."

"Thank you, Juan. I know that I can depend on you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

The raiders were taken aback! Never before had they faced effective resistance. Never before had they lost this many comrades in such a short time. Those peons would pay!

The bandit commander ordered the raiders to dismount and attack on foot. It was obvious to him that their horses were of no use in this attack. The horses were gathered and released into the corral. The bandits ran toward the moat. When they came to it, they dropped to the ground and began firing at the loopholes and battlements.

The bandits were within range of the shotguns, now, and the fire was withering. Sarah had the marksmen in the main room stick with their rifles, and she had the four dragoons move to the roof and they should have Juan send her four of the riflemen. As soon as the riflemen showed up from the roof, she assigned them to firing ports and Sarah rushed to the roof. She found that the shotgun fire from the roof was indeed devastating to the bandits, but it was uncoordinated. Sarah looked over the situation, and had Juan move some of the dragoons to other positions to even up the distribution of shotguns around the roof. It was time; Sarah had more shotgun shells delivered to the roof.

After about fifteen minutes, the bandits had enough. They turned around and ran away. The bandit commander was able to halt the retreat at the horse corral. A head-count showed that the bandits had lost another twenty-one men, killed or seriously wounded. One more attack like this and the bandits would be virtually annihilated. Twenty-nine down and thirty-one to go!

What to do? He couldn't order another attack like the last one; his men would refuse. He had to break into the fort, but how? The only thing he could think of was a night attack. Hopefully, his men could break in if they could reach the main door. There was also a small rear door. Could he use an attack on that door to draw attention away from the attack on the front door? The only way to know was to try.

The finalized plan was to send six men to attack the small rear door. They would carry axes to chop down the door. They could certainly expect some reaction to this attack. Once they heard the chopping begin on the rear door, the ten men attacking the front door would count to two hundred and rush the front door. They would also try to chop the door open, making room for the remainder of the bandits to rush through this passage.