Chapter 5

The thieves appeared to be overconfident. The acted as if they didn't have a care in the world. There was a lot of laughing and joking as they moved the wagons to a storage area and put the mules in a corral.

Hank and Bill counted 11 men working on getting things ready for the night before going into a building for supper. They figured that there were at least 12 men in the gang, since there obviously was a cook working inside on supper while the 11 they could see were working outside.

"Shit, Hank! That's too many fer us ta tackle by ourselves. What kin we do?"

"Yeah, we got a problem. Ifen we call in the men from the mine fer he'p, that damned manager is shore gonna want ta find a way ta cheat us outa the reward. I see at least $1200 on the hoof, an' I want it all fer us! We gots ta capture 'em by ourselves ifen we're gonna git the reward. Let's look the place over an' maybe we kin come up with sumpthin'."

They waited until all the gang was inside eating supper before sneaking up to the mess hall and looking in. Hank counted 13 men, including the cook and his helper, so there wasn't much chance that they could capture them all with a frontal attack. They circled the building and retreated to consider the alternatives.

Bill said, "We're gonna have to come up with a way to cotch 'em one at a time. They're too many fer us to try fer all at once."

Hank agreed and said, "I gots an idee. There's two doors and two windows. Ifen we could block the doors closed an' force 'em to come out the windows, we could git 'em as they came out."

"That's a good idee. Both doors open inward, soz we could tie the doorknob to a wood bar 'cross the door, then they couldn't open the doors an' would have to use the windows. Each of us kin cover a window with our shotguns an' they wouldn't stand a chance. We could force 'em out by threatenin' to burn the place down around their ears."

"Let's git started afore they finishes eatin'. Ya take that door an' I'll take this one."

They got busy and quickly sealed the two doors against use. They covered the two windows, which could be seen from one corner of the mess hall. Hank fired his shotgun to get their attention, and then shouted to the men inside, "PAY ATTENTION, YA GALOOTS IN THE MESS HALL! WE GOT YA COVERED! WE WON'T SHOOT IFEN Y'ALL SURRENDER, BUT WE'LL BURN THE PLACE DOWN IFEN YA DON'T! COME OUT ONE AT A TIME! WE'LL SHOOT ANY FOOL WHAT BRINGS A GUN WITH HIM! Y'ALL GOT 5 MINUTES TA DECIDE!"

In less that 5 minutes, there was a voice from inside the mess hall, "WE SURRENDER! DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE COMIN' OUT!"

Hank replied, "OK! TAKE OFF YER BOOTS AFORE YA COME OUT! COME OUT NOW, ONE AT A TIME! JUST USE ONE WINDOW!"

The first man climbed out the window on Bill's side. Bill directed him to an open area and had him lie down on his face. Twelve more came through the window and Bill had them lie down close together, beside the previous ones to come out. Once there were 13 out, Bill stood guard while Hank cut a door loose and went inside to be sure there weren't any holdouts. Not finding any, he came over to Bill and they prepared to take the crooks back to the mine.

Bill put halters, but no saddles, on 13 of the mules and led them to where the prisoners were being held. One at a time, Bill tied a man's hands behind his back and boosted him astride a mule. Bill then tied the man's feet together under the mule's belly. This is a damned uncomfortable way to sit on a mule's back, and the mule doesn't like it, either. A man has to be very careful or his balls get pinched!

When they had the last man astride a mule, they hitched them in three lines behind the buckboard and rode slowly to the mine. There were a few cries of pain until all the men found a way to sit to take any possible pressure off their balls. A mule has a prominent backbone, and a man hates to ride a mule bareback because of the way the mule's backbone rubs his crotch as the mule walks, though there's a rumor that most women like the feeling.

Amid a lot of complaining, they finally made it to the mine office after nearly 3 hours of riding. They had to roust the mine's manager out of bed, and he was pretty pissed off until he heard that the bounty hunters had captured the thieves. Then he was happy until he was told that they wanted $1300 reward. Now, he was unhappy again. He refused to pay until Hank pointed out that the only way he was going to get his gold ore back was to pay up the agreed reward.

Without further ado, they went to the office, and Hank collected the money. They unhitched the trains of mules from the buckboard, and Hank told the unhappy mine manager where to find his ore. With that, Hank and Bill left the unhappy manager to deal with the 13 unhappy crooks. They headed into the nearest town to find a hotel for the night. They were beat! Who said bounty hunting was an easy job!?!

The next morning, they decided they were carrying too much money and headed back to Santa Fe to deposit their surplus money in Saul Jakob's bank. They were both riding in the buckboard, discussing which bordello to visit while in Santa Fe. Suddenly, they were accosted by a man holding a shotgun and wearing a hood and a duster. "Yer money or yer lives," he said, "if ya'll pardon the expression."

Hank and Bill had already discussed what to do if this ever happened to them, so they went into their act. Bill looked anguished and sobbed, "Oh, Hank, don't let him hurt me." and he turned away as if he were going to get out of the buckboard.

The bandit acted startled and said, "Hey, ya better sit back, down or I will plug ya." This was the distraction Hank was looking for! Hank drew his pistol from his shoulder holster and fired nearly point blank into the bandit's chest. The bandit pulled the trigger as he fell, but his shot went over everybody's head. Ada turned her head as if to say, "Good shot! But he nearly singed my tail." Hank tipped his hat and said, "Sorry, ma'am."

They pulled off the dead man's hood and Hank commented, "This here is Sam Hopkins. There's $250 fer him. Let's throw 'im in the back of the buckboard and turn 'im in in Santa Fe."

The rest of the trip to Santa Fe was uneventful, and they turned Sam Hopkins in for the reward. They now had nearly $1000 apiece to deposit, so they went to the bank even before finding a hotel suite. Bill commented, "I'm making so much money that I ought to retire, but I'm jus' havin' too much fun ta quit! I hope I live long enough to enjoy all this money."

They had a party at one of the swankiest bordellos in Santa Fe that night, but left the next morning for Las Vegas, again. They had decided to head to Guadalupe County over near the Texas border. They hadn't been there, lately, and they hoped for some good luck.

They had nearly reached Tin Cup when they noticed a big rainstorm ahead of them. Hank remarked, "That looks like a real gully washer ifen I ever seen one. We need to be on the lookout fer flash floods."

"Yeah, I'd hate ta be caught in an arroyo when one of them things hits."

About an hour later, they came to a place where the road paralleled a large arroyo. The whole bottom of the arroyo was wet, and there were puddles of water still not soaked in. A little farther, they crested a hill and saw a stage coach on its side at the edge of the road where it had turned to cross the arroyo.

Hank had Ada pick up speed, and they hurried to see if they could render assistance. There were no mules in evidence, and the tongue was wrenched from its place on the coach. The mules were gone, probably washed away by the flood. A man was leaning against the overturned coach while another man appeared to be trying to set his broken arm.

Hank pulled up beside the two men, Bill asked, "Is there anythin' we kin do ta he'p y'all?"