Chapter 2

All of the men in front of the cantina were stunned at the results of the duel. The loud mouthed ramrod had been in many gunfights and had easily won them all. I could tell that it would be a few more moments before the truth fully sank in. I needed to be ready in case one of these men took it into his head to "get even."

I think that I stood in the street for a full minute before the men in front of the cantina relaxed their tense muscles and looked at each other. Without a word, they turned to their horses, mounted, and rode out of town.

Arthur Woods came running up and said, "I shore am sorry I'm late, John. I didn't wear my gun ta work today an' I had ta go home ta git it. I shore am glad ta see that ye didn't need my feeble efforts."

"Don't worry about it, now, Arthur. I got real lucky. That blow hard was easy to get flustered, so he wasn't as fast as he might have been."

Jesse said, "Damn it, John. I ain't never seen anybody pull so fast. I didn't know ya had it in ya. I'll bet nobody coulda beat ya today!"

"Well, I hope I don't need to try again soon. I really don't like to kill, but I seem to get myself trapped into situations where I can't avoid shooting at somebody. On top of that, one of these days, I'm bound to meet somebody faster than me."

"Maybe, but it won't be around here!"

"Jesse, who were those yahoos, anyway? I didn't recognize any of them."

"They're from Col. Pike's spread about ten miles ta the northwest. Butch wuz the only one who ever came around here, much. That's prob'ly why ya didn't know 'em. Course, now that ya done kilt their ramrod, ya may hear more from 'em."

"Yeah, it looks like I'll need to be more careful when I ride out of town."

Arthur said, "Look, John, it's almost time. Let's go eat lunch."

When we reached the door of the house, Amy said, "I heard the gunfire. I guess everything turned out OK."

Arthur grinned and said, "I was too late ta be a part of the fun. John took care of the problem afore I ever got there. From what I heard, I wish I coulda seen it. John punched so many holes in the other guy he looked like Swiss cheese."

"It's my gun that does the trick. I build it special."

"Can I see it? I ain't never heard of no shotgun made like that. Do ya think that ya could make me one?"

"Sure I can, but it takes a very strong hand to handle it. We better have you try out my gun before we go to the expense of making one for you."

"That's a right smart idee. Do ya think that we could try it this evenin' afore dark?"

"Sure, maybe we could have an early supper and all three of us could go for a little ride and you could give my gun a try. Amy might even want to try it. I have an idea for a gun for her along these lines if she's interested."

"We'll do that. Let's eat, now."

As we were eating lunch, Amy brought up a subject she was interested in. "John, Daddy an' I have been talking an' we have a proposition for ya. Since ya're a bachelor and might want ta switch ta a woman's cookin', we wondered if ya would like ta eat here all the time. It ain't much more work fer me ta fix fer one more mouth an' we would shore be glad ta have ya."

"Why, Amy, that's the best offer I've had in ages! I'd love to switch away from my own cooking. It's so bad that I can hardly stand it. But, there is one condition, before I accept your generous offer, you have to agree to let me pay the cost of the food. I make a pretty good living with my shop, so the expense won't matter that much to me, and it would give you a chance to replace some of the things you lost on your trip here. Please say 'yes'."

Father and daughter looked at each other and Arthur nodded. Amy grinned and said, "It's agreed. Ya'll eat here from now on."

We talked about other things for a while and then it was time for Arthur and me to return to work. I promised to come around at 5:00 o'clock and Arthur would arrange for horses for them from the livery stable.

That afternoon, I took the time to make up two shells with a single slug in each. I wanted to see what kind of damage that would do. At 5:00 o'clock, I presented myself for supper and we had an excellent meal; Amy was, indeed, a very good cook.

There was still plenty of daylight after we finished eating, so the three of us rode a short distance away from town. We found a place with some trees we could use for targets so we prepared to try the gun. Arthur shot first and found that he was not fast with the special shotgun, but he was deadly with it. He announced that he wanted one as soon as he could get it.

Amy then tried the gun. She was amazed at the damage it could do and agreed that it was so much better than the single-shot derringer she carried that she wanted one. I suggested that we step down in size for her to 20-gauge. This would weigh a little less and be easier for her to handle. She agreed and I said that I would start work on their weapons tomorrow.

I then tried out my single slugs. I found that at 30 feet, I could cut down a tree with it! The impact was fantastic! I wondered how accurate it would be in a shotgun with a full length barrel. I just had to find out! But, first I had to make the guns for Amy and Arthur.

Fortunately, I had two shotguns in stock which could be modified. The first thing I had to do was modify the receiver to provide a "hammerless" style and to have a reliable safety. This was a rather long and tedious job which took me over a week on each gun. Basically, what I did was copy my gun as closely as possible. Getting the grip safety to work reliably was the most difficult problem, but I finally got that resolved.

I had some trouble getting the grip tailored to fit the user's hand until it dawned on me to use a bar of soap as raw material to carve a suitable grip. I admit to dragging out the work with Amy as I really enjoyed her company and holding her hand.

Cutting the barrels to length and polishing them was trivial after all the other work, but I finally had the guns ready after nearly a month of continuous work. A leather worker at the far livery stable was able to make up the special holsters, so we were ready to try them out; I had suitable bandoleers in stock.

We went out on a Sunday afternoon for a combination picnic and gunnery practice. The picnic was my idea, neither Amy nor Arthur had ever heard of such a thing. Anyway, we found a shady place and had an enjoyable and leisurely late lunch. After lunch, we tested out the guns.

Arthur was very happy with his weapon and rapidly proved adept at using it, though he would never win any quick-draw contests. The gun was too heavy for that. On the other hand, Amy proved to be nearly as fast as I was in drawing the gun and getting it pointed in the right direction. Her 20-gauge weapon was only slightly less effective than my 16-gauge, so she was quite pleased with it. I just hoped that she didn't get too cocky with it and get herself into any trouble I couldn't get her out of.

I then tried my single-slug in a full length shotgun I had brought along. Its stopping power must have been fantastic even at 300 yards, but the accuracy left a lot to be desired. It really needed a rifle to be considered a success, so I started thinking about how I could make one. In the meantime, the recoil was going to keep it from ever being popular. I was also concerned about how the break-action at the breach was going to stand up to the abuse from the recoil; that needed considerable thought.

Meanwhile, life continued in its usual progress, a little joy mixed with the mundane of day-to-day life, The one really bright point was that Amy and I got to know each other very well and love blossomed into full flower. We spent a lot of time sitting on the veranda in the evening while Arthur sat in the sitting room, sleeping, though he would never admit it. We finally set a date to be married; a Methodist circuit rider came through town once every four weeks and he agreed to perform the ceremony.

The livery stable next door was scheduled as backup in case of bad weather, but the main venue was to be our front yard. The entire town was invited and they all showed up; the prospect of free food will do that! We had a grand time celebrating at the reception and we all got very tired, but not too tired for Amy and me to have our private celebration that night.

Amy and I moved into her bedroom and Arthur moved into the apartment behind my store, at least for the next few nights, though he did come to the house to eat.

That first night was a real adventure for both of us, since we both were virgins. After we had removed our clothes somewhat embarrassedly, as we had never seen each other's bodies, we spent a lot of time exploring each other with our touch and our kisses. Amy's breasts were soft, but firm, and as delectable as I had expected from what I could see through her clothes. Her abdomen was firm with the muscles developed by all active frontier women and there was no flab anywhere on her body, but she was not skinny; in other words, I considered her to be perfect.