Chapter 4

The next week was spent in the saddle, following the coach as it made its run back and forth between Silver Spring and Horseshoe; their only day off was Sunday. They finally got lucky on Monday. It was late afternoon, and everybody was tired from the long day. In fact, Jane was nearly asleep in her saddle. She was jolted awake by Ed's sudden cry of "HEADS UP! THIS LOOKS LIKE TROUBLE!"

The stage was about 200 yards ahead of them, close enough to be seen most of the time as it twisted and turned around the curves of the winding road, but they were far enough back not to be noticed by bandits (they hoped). The stage had come to a grinding halt because of a large rock in the road. The rock would have to be moved out of the way before the stage coach could continue its journey, so the driver and guard were climbing down to clear the rock out of the way when a warning shot was heard. Both men froze in position half way down from the driver's box and waited for further orders.

Jane and Ed slowly rode closer to the site of the holdup; they were waiting for the bandits to show themselves before they committed to action. They had pulled their Henry rifles from the scabbards and had jacked a round into the chamber, but, as yet, had nothing to shoot at. Their horses were moving at a slow walk, so they were nearly as stable as they would have been in a standing position on the ground; therefore, they were a confident as they could have been of hitting their target at this range.

Two bandits scrambled out of hiding among the rocks and ran up to the crew on either side of the coach. They confiscated the men's weapons and had them climb the rest of the way to the ground. The two men were herded to the left of the coach and told to stand quietly. The lone passenger, an elderly man, was ordered from the coach and given a cursory search for weapons; he was relieved of a pepper-box pistol and a bowie knife.

One of the bandits joked, "Hey, Jake, watch out fer that there pepper-box, it may go off with all 6 barrels at any time."

"Yeah, Bill, I know. I used ta own one 'til it went off in my pocket. Scared the shit outta me and burned my leg fer a far piece. I threw it away and ain't never held one, since, 'til now."

Once disarmed, Bill searched the passenger for valuables, taking his watch and some gold coins. "He ain't got no money belt. He must keep most of his cash in his satchel. We kin check that in a few minutes."

Bill stuck his head into the passenger cabin of the stage coach to look around. "Ain't no satchel in here—must be in the boot."

Bill turned toward the rear of the coach and shouted, "HEY, JOHN. KEEP AN EYE ON THESE GALOOTS WHILE WE CHECK OUT THE BOOT!" An answering shout of "OK" told Jane and Ed what they needed to know about the presence of other bandits.

Ed said, "You look after those two bandits, and I'll see what I kin do 'bout the one in the rocks. Shoot their asses when ya hear a shot from me." Jane nodded and Ed cut away from the road toward the back side of the rocks where the third bandit had to be hiding.

When Ed reached the rocks, he dismounted; he had already returned his rifle to its scabbard. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Ed started to climb over the rocks, searching for John. He had progressed over most of the rocks when a shot rang out, and a bullet bounced off a rock near his head. Ed dropped to a prone position and thought, "Thank God, the damn fool tried fer a head shot, instead of my chest." Unfortunately, as he dropped, he managed to get his boot wedged into a crevice in the rocks. He was caught as tightly as if he had stepped into a bear trap until he was free to twist around and sit up. No way could he do that now. His only hope was that Jim could come to his rescue.

Hearing the shot and not knowing any details, the three men beside the coach ducked under it and tried to hide. It wasn't much shelter, but it made them feel a little bit better. At least, they were out of Jane's way as she shot at Jake and hit him in the hip. Her shot at Bill was a little better and caught him in the belly. Bill wasn't dead, yet, but he was sure out of action.

Jake wasn't much better off, but he could still shoot if he could find a target. Jane didn't fool around—she put two more bullets into Jake to be sure of his condition. She then hurried her horse toward the stage coach and got close enough to draw fire from John's pistol. Now that she was closer, she could tell from the sound that the shot did not come from Ed's .45 caliber Schofield, but from a Navy Colt using black powder.

She was still out of effective range, combined with the fact that John was not a very good shot, so she was not hit by the ball, but it came whizzing past close enough to get her attention. She jumped from the saddle and ran toward the rocks, drawing her Schofield as she ran. She was in sight for a few seconds, so John snapped off another shot, which, luckily, also missed. "Hmmm, this guy likes to waste ammunition. I wonder ifen he has a second gun."

Jane made it to the rocks and worried, "What happened to Ed? That first shot must of come from this here galoot. Did Ed git shot? Oh, God! I hope not!" She worked her way among the rocks, being careful to keep her head down; she didn't want to draw another bullet. Worming her way closer to John, she caught a glimpse of him through the rocks.

Now that she knew exactly where he was, she was more confident of her chances, but why hadn't she heard from Ed? Now, Jane was doubly intent on plugging the galoot who had the temerity to shoot at her loved one. Loved one! Where did that come from? Oh, shit! Jane had to admit it: she was in love with Ed Hopper. But what would he think of her? Sure, he had known her for a few weeks, but only as a man. Would he accept her love? Well, now was not the time to worry about that. She had a man to kill!

Having accepted the situation, Jane was determined to eliminate this bandit as soon as possible so that she could look for Ed. She crept closer to John's position, always on the lookout for her chance to take a shot at him. She had 3 rounds left, one more shot and she would take the time to reload. Fortunately, that would only take 3-5 seconds with the special design features of the Schofield.

There he was! John was terrified to be caught between two foes, either one of which would be happy to shoot him on sight. He knew that one or both of his stalkers would find him in the next few minutes, and this was enough to break his nerve. He had seen that Bill and Jake were dead, or nearly so, so it was up to him to save his life, if that could be done. He now made his first truly stupid move, he jumped up to run for his life. As soon as he stood up, he was shot from two directions by .45 caliber bullets that completely flipped him around so that he fell on his face, as dead as he would ever get.

Each having heard the other's shot, called out. "ED!" "JIM!" Ed couldn't move much, but he could sit up. Jane saw him and ran in his direction. When she got close, she spread her arms and pulled him to her in a lover's embrace and kissed him, hard, on the mouth. She said, "Oh, Ed, my darling! I was so worried about ya! Thank God that ya're all right!"

Ed reacted in complete shock. "Jim, what the hell are ya doin'? I can't kiss a man!"

Jane refused to release her embrace, but she said, "I'm not a man, I'm a woman. Can't ya feel my bosom pushin' again' yer chest? I've been livin' a lie, but I want ya ta know that I'm a woman an' I love ya with all my heart and soul."

"Well, Jim, or whatever yer name is, this is goin' ta take some gittin' used ta. How am I supposed ta act, with ya bein' a woman an' all?"