Chapter 4

The toll road ended at a little town in the middle of nowhere. From our point of view, this was a good location, because we were now in the rolling plains that we had been told about. We turned west and headed out. Except for some big rivers where we would need a ferry, we were supposed to be free of major travel hazards, except for bandits. But we were not afraid of bandits!

The trip through the rest of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was pretty quiet, but we were in a hurry, now, since we wanted to beat the cold weather. Travel conditions were quite good, so that we were able to make 15 miles a day without straining the mules.

It took us 50 days to make it to Saint Louis, and there we had our first major decision to make. We could winter in Saint Louis, or we could continue to Independence. Furthermore, we could go overland to Independence or we could take a riverboat up the Missouri River. We discussed the matter, and decided to take the riverboat. It was expensive, but we had the money, so that was what we decided.

None of us had ever been on a riverboat, so that was an adventure in itself. It was fun for the first couple of days, but that got boring, too, since all we could do was sit around and watch the shore go by. I could have played poker in the salon, but the women would have still had nothing to do. Fortunately, I never had much use for poker, so I stayed with the women and we were bored, together.

On the fifth day, the boredom left for good! We rounded a bend in the river and ran head on into a bunch of river pirates. We'd heard of them, but had dismissed them as some sort of joke intended to scare us newcomers. Well, let me tell you, river pirates were no joke!

They started out by firing a three-pounder shot across our bow from the shore. That woke everybody up! We were sitting in our cabin just prior to going for lunch when the attack occurred. I grabbed my rifle, which I never let out of my sight and sent the women to collect some muskets, powder, and shot from the wagon. I ran on deck and saw the cannon on shore. The cannoneers were reloading, so I fired a bullet into the back of the man carrying a cannon ball.

As fast as I could reload and fire, I shot the rest of the cannon's crew. Meanwhile, the captain had called for full speed, and we were dashing out of range of the cannon and muskets on shore. Ahead of us was a boat containing what looked like eight rowers and 10 men with muskets. They looked like their intent was to pull along side and board us, so I took careful aim at the rowers and picked off all of them on one side. The boat had no rudder, so the pirates were unable to control the direction they moved in with the rowing unbalanced. It didn't take long for us to leave them behind.

Just as I was taking my last shot, the first mate ran up with several sailors carrying muskets, but there was nothing left for me or them to shoot at. My wives had also joined me just before the sailors got there, but they had not fired, either. The mate asked my name and thanked me before he dismissed the sailors and left to talk to the captain.

About 15 minutes later, the captain showed up in the dining room with the first mate, and introduced himself. He shook my hand and thanked me for my fine work that day. He also provided me with a bank draft refunding the money we had paid for our tickets. The captain told me that several boats had been boarded and burned in that general area, so he was grateful for my help.

We invited him to join us for lunch, but he declined, since he had already eaten lunch while he was in the pilot house. However, he did join us and drank coffee while we finished eating. We talked about the problem of river pirates and what could be done about them.

The captain, Trevor Johnson, said that he did not know of any way to eliminate the pirates, since they had miles of forest to hide in. The only thing that could be done was to fight off each attack as we had done that morning. We talked some more, and he asked to see my rifle.

After we finished eating, we went on deck, and I demonstrated how my rifle worked. He wanted to know where he could purchase several for use by his boat crew in fighting off pirates. I told him that my father had invented the rifle and had taught me how to make them, so I could make rifles for his crew if he was willing to pay $100 each for them. They were that expensive because I would have to find the necessary tools and purchase them before I could make the rifles. Capt. Johnson shook his head at that, but conceded my argument. We talked for a while longer, then he excused himself with the call to duty in the pilot house.

The next few days were spent in the same lethargy that we had experienced prior to the pirate attack; we all agreed that something would have to be done if we ever had to spend much time on board a river boat.

We had just finished lunch and were heading back to our cabin when a shout went out, "PIRATES ON THE STARBORD BOW!" We raced to our cabin to pick up our weapons and hurried back on deck, rushing toward the bow. This time, the women were carrying loaded muskets, they only needed priming.

We were on the first deck above the main deck, not the most expensive location, but the most comfortable one, we had been told. Anyway, we ran to the railing and saw two boats of men rowing hard to reach us. They had the current to help them, so they would reach us very soon.

The men in the boats were waving muskets and sabers, so it was obvious that they did not have gentle intentions for our fate. They were about 75 yards away from the bow, but definitely within my accurate range. I decided to do what I did before and shoot the rowers on one side of the boat. I started firing as fast as I could and hit a rower with almost every shot. There were five rowers on each side of the boat, so they had trouble controlling the boat after I had hit three of the rowers on one side. One of the rowers on the other side of the boat jumped to replace a wounded rower and regain control of the boat.

I kept shooting, and soon I had all of the rowers removed from one side and that boat was out of the picture for a while. That was when I started shooting at the rowers in the other boat. I had shot two of the rowers on one side in that boat, and the rest of the rowers realized what I was doing. The remaining three rowers on that side abandoned their places in hopes that I would not shoot them.

By now, the two pirate boats were close enough for my wives to start shooting. They only hit one or two men in the nearer boat, but it was enough to make the rest of them dive for cover. Unfortunately for them, there was not much cover to be had in an open rowboat, so we still had plenty of targets. My wives continued to shoot very effectively with their muskets, they just could not shoot as often as they wanted to because of the time required to reload. They were generally firing at the rate of two shots per minute, but I was firing six shots per minute. In fact, I was rapidly approaching the time when I would have to shut down to clean the fouling from my rifle.

Luckily, the captain had put on full speed, and we had run passed the pirate boats. This time, the first mate and his shooters had defended us from the main deck, so he just waved to us after the shooting was over. About 4:00 o'clock that afternoon, the captain sent word that he would appreciate our company at his table for supper. We replied that we would be honored, and my wives were very excited by the prospect.

As soon as we received the invitation, they went tearing through their suitcases looking for their fines clothes for the event. I was a little embarrassed, since I did not have any special dress-up clothes to wear, so I brushed the dust off of what I was wearing as best I could and announced that I was ready to go.

It was more than just a supper—it was a banquet! My wives were the belles of the event, and they all waltzed with Capt. Johnson after dinner. The only dancing I could do was a poorly done square dance, so I was glad that the women had this opportunity.