Chapter 5

I gave myself a break for such poor planning by telling me I'd only been in charge of this bunch for less than a day, but it was small comfort. I'd have to fix everything I could today though. First thing was the money for the new wagon and team.

When Mary went to get it I told her to bring out everything we had that was easy to get. She did, and counted it out at the back of the wagon. There was twenty-three hundred and eighty dollars in gold, a little more than she'd thought at first. I took the twelve hundred for the new outfit and told her to put all the rest in the new wagon and get everyone in it for the trip to town. Jim said he'd put the spare mules in with our others. He thought he'd be staying with the wagons while we were gone, but I gave him the sad news he'd be going to town too.

I found Jack and John Flanders having coffee near Jack's wagon and it only took a few minutes of bullshit before I could pay John off. I asked Jack if he'd keep an eye on our things since we were all going to town. He said he try to keep a watch that way, but recommend I give one of the young boys around camp a nickel or so to stay with them. I took it as good advice and Carl Thurgood, a boy about twelve I snagged on the way back said he'd be glad to do it.

Carl and I walked to the wagons and I showed him what to watch and then climbed in the new wagon with the others. We headed right back toward town. It took less than an hour to get there and we went into the biggest store in town first thing.

We needed buckskins or some kind of pants and shirts for everyone. I hoped we could get it all in one store, and I told Helen to buy everybody a couple of pairs of lace up boots and plenty of socks. The women had all been wearing the kind of shoes they would in a house and I knew that wasn't going to work for our trip. I thought Jim might be a problem with the footwear selection, since his feet were so damned big, but he had some pull on boots now and I'd let Helen do the best she could.

I found the owner pretty quick by asking a clerk. I introduced him to Helen and told him she'd be gathering up quite a few things and I'd be back later to pay up in gold. It made his day and I was about to leave when a halfway lardass started causing a commotion.

"Is this the kind of place lets niggers come in with white folks?"

I could tell from his accent he was a good old Georgia boy. No doubt displaced by the war. Walking right over to him I slapped his jaws as hard as I could, but it didn't knock him down, quite.

"You damned dumb ass George cracker. Are you so stupid you don't know the war's over and your side lost?"

"I'm gonna kill your nigger lovin' ass, Yankee," he said, reaching for his 36 Patterson.

He was the kind of bully I loved. He was maybe five eight and weighed probably two-twenty - short and plenty big around as they say. Stupid too, since he was trying to pull his gun before taking off the strap that held it in the holster.

I didn't use a strap and I slapped him again, across his nose with my Remington. I did knock him down this time. I was still standing over him with my pistol's hammer eared back when a town deputy came in.

"What's going on here?" the young deputy asked.

"I was just telling this ignorant assed Georgia cracker the war is over, and he lost."

"Hell, if he's so stupid he don't know that you should have just killed him and be done with it."

"I guess it ain't too late. Look, he's still trying to draw," I said, shooting the idiot in the chest.

There had only been a few people headed toward the store to see the excitement before my pistol thundered inside it. Twenty seconds later I could see though the windows they were streaming this way now. What a bunch of idiots, they had no way to know if we were done shooting.

"He was damned sure still trying to draw Mister. I could see that myself. Ya know, that kinda stupid goes plumb to the bone. Better come by the office before you leave town. The Marshal might want to talk to you, but I'll tell him what I seed," the deputy said, and damned if he didn't just walk off.

The next twenty minutes were a lost cause. The store owner sent for someone to haul the dead guy away but it took longer to get all the gawkers to leave. Finally I was able to get it straight that Helen would do the shopping and I'd be back later to bail her out.

The livery stable was the next stop for me. I didn't need to buy any horses but I figured it would be the best place to start looking for a new driver or two. Hell, it had worked for Bill, kinda.

Of course word of the pseudo gunfight preceded me and there were plenty of people pointing at me and whispering as I went. At the livery I asked the wrangler if he knew anyone who needed a job driving a wagon west, and he did for a fact. He sent one of the stable boys off to find "Old Charlie" - whoever that was.

Ten minutes later "Old Charlie" showed up, but he introduced himself to me as just "Charlie."

Charlie looked like exactly what he claimed to be, a cowboy who was too old for that kind of life anymore. He was interested in the job, and when he found out I'd pay sixty and found he was anxious to go.

"Only one drawback mister. I got a young sidekick, sorta. His folks got kilt 'bout a year ago and I been kinda takin' care of him since. He's only twelve but he knows horses by now too, and he can drive a team near good as I can."

"Hell Charlie, that's even better cause we need two drivers. Will he work for thirty and found?" I asked.

"What about it Jimmy? Thirty and found suit you?" Charlie asked, yelling across the street toward a boy I hadn't noticed.

"Yes," Jimmy shouted, and he came a runnin'.

"You got your possibles somewhere?" I asked.

"Yep. We got a little hut just outside town," Charlie said.

"Do you have enough to get you to Oregon, or California?"

"No sir, we don't for a fact."

"Don't go callin' me sir, Charlie. It'll make folks think I'm puttin' on. Y'all come on with me and we'll get you ready to travel. You and Jimmy got weapons?"

"Nope. Jimmy never had a gun of his own, even though I done taught him to shoot. I had a greener but had to sell it for food 'bout a week back."

"Can you shoot a rifle too?"

"We can both do that, but I ain't had one in a while."

"You'll probably remember how once I get you another'n. Let's go find some weapons first.

The same man was in the general store where I'd bought the two used Henry's earlier. He recognized me right away and no doubt he thought he'd found a sucker for the two brand new Henry's I saw on the wall. I guess he had too, but the Henry's weren't the thing that caught Charlie's eye. He motioned me back outside right away.

"I know that skinflint Tom Dodson. He'd steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes, but I think you can get the best of him if we work it right.

"You probably didn't notice them two new Greeners he's got, but they are something special. You don't load 'em from the muzzle. Those two are the new breach loaders. They take a cartridge just like a Spencer or a Henry. They just come out with 'em 'bout a year or so back."

"If they're so great and so new how can we come out with a good deal?" I asked.

"Cause Tom don't give a shit about how good they are and nobody that comes around here knows anything 'bout 'em either. Tom don't even own a gun for hisself, the only thing they're good for to him is to sell. Them Greeners are so new nobody wants 'em, specially since you have to buy them custom made shells. Hell, you can't get shells for 'em anywhere on this side of the Mississippi right now 'cept here."

"How in the hell is that gonna help us if we can't buy more shells later?" I asked.

"If we buy the two Greeners that he can't sell to nobody else, what's he gonna want to do with the thousand shells he already has for 'em?"

"Oh."

"Oh is right. He's got a lot of money tied up in something that ain't selling at all. When we go back in go ahead and buy me and Jimmy a Spencer if you want to, but I'll be pinin' away over them Greeners. I'll try to talk you into buyin' them instead and Tom with help me since he wants to get rid of 'em so bad. Wait and see, you'll get a deal."

Charlie was making good sense and I didn't need any explaining to know a ten gauge Greener you could reload fast would be one hell of a weapon. It was no trouble at all to get off five shots or more a minute with a breach loading anything, and a double barrel would surely do at least ten. I was nearly as anxious for the Greeners as Charlie when we went back inside.

Things played out about like Charlie thought. He stared at and slobbered over the doubles while I bought he and Jimmy a Henry, a Spencer, and two Remingtons like mine each. By the time we got down to business on the Greeners I got them for forty dollars each and paid fifty more for the thousand shells he had in stock. I figured Charlie and I had made a hell of a deal.