Chapter 8

By the time Jane and Ed had escorted the gold shipments to Hopewell four more times, they actually made a run without meeting any bandits. The next run was the same, and Ed wondered if they had worked themselves out of a job. One more run without encountering bandits, and the boss at the smelter decided that he no longer needed their services. Jane and Ed were getting tired of being tied down to what amounted to a steady, boring job, so they were not too unhappy with being fired.

For lack of any other ideas, they headed toward Flagstaff. If nothing else, they knew of a saloon in Flagstaff with decent beer. They were about half way between Hopewell and Flagstaff when they heard gunfire. This might be something that they could use to turn a profit, so they hurried toward the sound. The funny thing was, the sound seemed to be hurrying toward them!

They rounded a curve and started up a hill just as they saw a buckboard racing toward them, hell for leather. A young woman was driving and an elderly man was kneeling on the seat firing a Winchester at some men who were chasing them. The men were shooting pistols, so there was not much chance of either side hitting anybody. The problem was, just as the buckboard got close to Jane and Ed, a rear wheel broke and spilled both the man and the woman to the ground. Fortunately for them, they landed in some brush which served to break their falls, so no bones appeared to be broken, though they were pretty well bruised and scraped.

The pursuing gang got to the two people just about as soon as Jane and Ed, so Jane ran to look after the fallen buckboard passengers, and Ed turned to talk to the pursuers. As the 5 men skidded to a halt, Ed recognized the leader as a face from his wanted poster collection. He pulled his pistol as he jumped into the brush and shouted, "IT'S THE CURLY KID BUNCH! SHOOT 'EM ALL!"

One of the pursuers got off a shot at Ed and caught him in the upper left arm. The bullet was from a Navy Colt, so it was black powder and relatively low power. The bullet passed through his arm without hitting bone or anything vital, so, though it hurt like hell, it wasn't life-threatening if it was cleaned soon enough.

Jane saw this shot and used her shotgun to retaliate. In her haste, she fired both barrels and got a lot of return on her investment. Not only did she kill the man who had shot at Ed, but she wounded two other members of the gang. One of the men was wounded in the neck and out of the fight for the duration; the other man was hit in the right leg so that he fell from his horse. She quickly reloaded and brought her shotgun to bear on another gang member. Ed had recovered by then and shot the one farther away from Jane. Jane fired both barrels again, and blew away a lot of her target's chest.

The man wounded in the leg tried to shoot at Jane, but Ed put a bullet through his chest and diverted his attention, permanently. The man wounded in the neck was suffocating because the ball had passed through his windpipe and collapsed it. Neither Ed nor Jane knew what to do for him, so they just stood there and watched him die.

By now, both of the buckboard passengers had recovered enough to be aware of their surroundings. The woman turned to the man as said, "Pa, are ya OK?"

The man answered, "Yes, there are no broken bones, but I'm skinned up pretty bad. How about yer condition?"

"Oh, I'll git by. No broken bones, just scrapes and scratches. I'll fix both of us soon as I git my bag."

"It looks ta me like ya got a patient what really needs yer services. That tall young man took a bullet in his arm. We better look after 'im, first."

"Yes, Pa, I'll git right ta 'im ... Mister, I'm a doctor. Let me look at yer arm. We need ta clean the wound soz it won't get infected. It could kill ya ifen it ain't treated properly."

Jane went to the place where the buckboard had collapsed and returned with a doctor's little black bag. "Is this what ya need?"

"Yes, thank you. Please he'p me git this man's shirt off soz I can clean an' treat the wound." Ed's arm hurt so much by then that they wound up cutting the sleeve off and leaving the rest of his shirt still on his back. The doctor cleaned the wound and poured alcohol on it and the surrounding skin. She sewed up the entry and exit wounds and wrapped a bandage around them. They fashioned a sling and left him to sit while the doctor cleaned her father's wounds and her own.

The three of them were able to repair the buckboard and install the spare wheel. They tied the bodies to their horses, and Ed lay down in the buckboard for the trip into town, which, fortunately, was not far. They actually made it before dark. Jane took the bodies to the marshal for identification and the necessary receipts while the other three people registered at the hotel. When Jane got back, they had supper together.

Jane asked why the gang was chasing the doctor and her father and was told that it was a simple holdup that the gang had botched. Jane and Ed were happy, since they were going to make $400 out of the escapade, so they could easily take the time off to let Ed's arm heal. Jane was given instructions on how to care for the injury, and they waited in town for nearly a week before Ed felt like riding, again. Meanwhile, the doctor and her father continued their trip to Hopewell, where they were going to catch the train.

Ed spent the first day after the fight in bed, but the rest of the time was spent in one saloon or another, sipping beer and talking to people about possible job opportunities. They didn't find anything, and they were both dying of boredom by the time Ed was able to leave. Fortunately, he was completely recovered by the time they got to Flagstaff. They deposited most of their gold in the bank and looked around for something to do. McWinters, their banker, did steer them to a job guarding a gold shipment from another bank.

The bank in Flagstaff was transferring some gold to McWinters' bank to be kept safe while the first bank's vault was being enlarged. This was sort of a professional courtesy between bankers. There was enough gold that it was going to take several trips in a reinforced wagon pulled by oxen to complete the transfer. Since only one wagon was making the trip each time, everybody felt that Jane and Ed were sufficient guards, especially considering their reputations. Only a damned fool would try to steel this gold, but the world was full of damned fools, so Ed and Jane were prepared for anything.

There were 3 trips to be made between the banks, so it was decided that only one trip would be made each day. That way there would not be any rush to complicate matters. The first day's trip went smoothly, and there was nothing to disturb the tranquility of Flagstaff. However, the second day, everything seemed to go wrong. To begin with, the coffee at breakfast was cold. How in hell was a person supposed to start the day with cold coffee?

The next thing to go wrong was the belly band on Jane's saddle broke just as she put all her weight on the stirrup as she was mounting. This caused her to fall on her ass with the saddle in her lap. If this wasn't bad enough, she fell into a pile of horse shit, so she wasn't going anywhere until she went back to their hotel room to change clothes. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Ed had to laugh...

They were late getting to the bank, so the drover cussed her out for making his oxen wait. Over all, this was a lousy way to start a working day! They had gotten about three blocks on their trip when a wagon came rushing up and pulled across to block the gold wagon from moving. Four men had been lying in the bed of the wagon where they couldn't be seen until they stood up. They jumped up and started shooting their pistols at anybody and everybody nearby.

One of the things they accomplished with their wild shooting was to scare the oxen, who bolted. They must have been moving all of 5 MPH when they butted the wagon in front of them. Now, 5 MPH is not all that fast, but two oxen have a tremendous amount of momentum, considering their mass, so they hit the wagon hard enough to knock it over and dump the 4 gunmen and the driver into the street. This seemed to satisfy the oxen, because they stopped at this point.