Chapter 10

The caravan wuz down ta 17 guns, now, with nine on the Gatlin' Guns an' five drivin'. That only left three fer outriders, and nobody much wanted that job. We wuz all usin' smokeless powder, soz the snipers didn't give away their location when they shot. That made life difficult fer the man operatin' the Gatlin' Guns—they didn't know where ta shoot. They just sprayed the general area where the shot came from an' hoped ta hit sumpthin'.

The next day, the snipers knocked off one outrider, the point man, an' two of the men runnin' the Gatlin' Guns. Washington had ta make a decision 'bout where ta put his men. He put one man on point, Bill Ziggy, but the rest stayed with the wagons. Bill wuz picked up on this occasion, cuz we didn't want ta take a chance on him bein' shot by us by mistake. Bill wuz glad ta come in, cuz he said Washington wuz startin' ta act down-right crazy. He had no idee who wuz shootin' at his wagon train, an' he wuz startin' ta see ghosts, it seemed like. A body didn't dare come up on him without makin' a lot of noise, cuz he had already shot at Ansul, once, by mistake.

Ansul had doubled the guard at night an' had the off-duty men sleepin' in the wagons in case of attack. The whole train wuz real antsy, an' ya didn't know who might shoot first an' ask questions later. I figured that they wuz gitin' close ta breakin' pretty soon, soz I wanted ta keep the pressure on.

That night, two of the hired guns took off. They must of figured that it wuz better ta be alive an' broke than ta be dead an' rich. Washington really went wild the next mornin', threatenin' ta shoot any man what even looked like he wuz plannin' ta run. A course, this didn't do nothin' ta improve morale. I didn't know 'bout his threat at the time, but, jus' by coincidence, I decided ta put out more snipers. I figured that, without outriders, there wuzn't much chance of the snipers bein' found by guards, soz we didn't need two-man teams any more. In fact, all nine of us left Ezra ta drive the chuck wagon an' went out with our rifles on kind of a hunt fer bad guys.

I know, it ain't a joke when ya plan ta kill somebody what don't know ya're aimin' at him, but we wuz kinda light hearted as we left on our "hunt" cuz we could all see they end of the chase astarin' us in the face. The wagon train came ta a halt pretty quick that day, cuz we managed ta knock off every one of the drivers. A hell of a lot of Gatlin' Gun ammunition wuz wasted that day, though Andy did pick up a scratch from a wild shot. He took a lot of razzin' from everybody else accusin' him of lookin' fer glory an' a bonus fer bein' shot. Andy wuz the only one what didn't think that wuz funny.

The wagon train wuz reduced by one wagon that day, cuz they abandoned the wagon what wuz jus' carryin' miscellaneous stuff, so they wuz now down ta four wagons. They wuz also runnin' low on men ta shoot the Gatlin' Guns. We started concentratin' on nailin' those people an' leavin' the drivers alone. When the gunners realized that wuz what wuz happenin', there wuz even more frantic shootin' every which way. I wouldn't of been surprised ta see one Gatlin' Gun crew shoot up another one in their excitement when they wuz sprayin' bullets all over the place.

We had ta back off some when the trail finally came out from the trees onta open prairie. We had ta move farther back from the train ta keep from bein' shot, ourselves, soz the number of hits on the train fell off. In this area, we concentrated our attacks fer when the train wuz fordin' a stream or other such activity what distracted the gunners enough soz that we could git in closer.

The end finally came when the train had ta move through a cut in a ridge. That let us git real close an' cut way down on the effectiveness of the Gatlin' Guns. We hurried ahead an' set up an ambush fer when the wagons wuz most vulnerable. We figured that this would be the last battle, an' even Ezra joined in with his murderous shotgun.

We set up on both sides of the cut since we would be shootin' down an' not likely ta hit a friend. I asked Ezra ta concentrate his fire on the Gatlin' Gun crews, since he had such a formidable weapon, while the rest of us shot at the other possible targets. Ezra gleefully agreed, an' we tried ta wait as patiently as we could. A course, we wuz all pumped up with excitement while we waited fer the wagon train ta finally git inta position.

As usual, the wrangler with his hosses wuz trailin' the wagons, an' we really wuzn't much concerned with him, anyway. We started shootin' as soon as the last wagon in the train wuz in the right place, so the wrangler took off with his hoss at a dead run as soon as he heard the gunfire. We ignored him, soz he got clean away; he wuz lucky! The hosses kinda milled around, not knowin' what ta do. Nobody shot at them, soz they wuz all right, right where they wuz.

Exra had the honor of the first shot, an' he blasted inta the Gatlin' Gun crew what wuz stopped just opposite him. His first blast took out the gunner an' one he'per. The other loader wuz downed by the blast from Ezra's other shotgun barrel. Ezra ducked back ta reload, an it wuz a good thing that he did. Even usin' smokeless powder, the location of Ezra's shotgun wuz easy ta spot, jus' from the noise. The other two Gatlin' Guns zeroed in on Ezra's location an' pumped I don't know how many rounds into the sky an' dirt around there. By then, Ezra had moved ta another place, soz he wuz in no danger.

Us other shooters wuz blastin' away at anybody what wuz stupid enough ta show hisself, an' we kept their heads down pretty easy. Meanwhile, Ezra had moved on ta attack another Gatlin' Gun an' wuz jus' as effective this time as he had been at his first opportunity. He moved again afore the last active Gatlin' Gun could pick him off.

Meanwhile, the wagon drivers had not been able ta duck fast enough ta avoid bein' shot, an' Ansul wuz included in that lot. That left Washington unaccounted fer, plus a couple of the hired guns. Afore anybody could react, there wuz another pair of blasts from Ezra's shotgun, an' the last Gatlin' Gun wuz put out of action.

Followin' the last blast from Ezra, an eerie silence fell over the battleground. A few moments later, a shout of "YA'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" wuz followed by the sound of a single gunshot. Silence followed that for a minute or so.

Then there wuz another shout from a different voice, "DON'T SHOOT! I SURRENDER! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME!"

I answered, "HOLD YER FIRE, BOYS! Y'ALL, ON THE WAGON, STAND UP WITH YER HANDS IN THE AIR!"

A moment later, two men stood up with empty hands held high in the air. I sent John an' George ta collect the prisoners while the rest of us, all but Ezra, went down ta search the wagons fer anybody hidin' out. Ezra wuz happy ta be our cover man; he wuz right proud of what he could do with his shotgun.

We finished the search without findin' any more live enemy, soz Ezra went back fer his chuck wagon. The rest of us took care of pitchin' the bodies of the dead men inta a convenient gully, after they had been searched fer valuables. Washington's body had a key ring which held the keys ta the strongboxes on the wagons. There wuz 12 strongboxes, each one holdin' a passel of gold coins an' bars.

We managed ta git the wagons turned around an' headed back ta Eagle Pass. We didn't expect no trouble, but we didn't take any chances. Every one of us had a job, either drivin' or mannin' the Gatlin' Guns. Fortunately, that wuz another gun that Ezra knew how ta use (where did that man learn all that?) an' he showed us what ta do. The hosses wuz well enough trained that we didn't need a wrangler; they followed us back ta Eagle Pass without us losing a single one.

We pulled inta town six days later an' drove up ta our office. Hester came runnin' out ta greet us, it wuz like all of us wuz commin' home ta her. We hauled the money an' the Gatlin' Guns inside, an' I paid a loiterin' kid two-bits ta fetch Pa.

Meanwhile, John an' Jim went ta the nearest saloon fer three buckets of beer ta use fer a little celebration in the office. Pa showed up 'bout the time the beer did, so we had a glass while we opened the strongboxes. Damn! That wuz the most gold any of us had ever seen! Pa suggested that we count it, one box at a time. Once we had it all counted, we could take out our 10% and leave the rest in the strongboxes ta store in his vault.