Chapter 14

Just as Shaylee and her sister arrived back at their house they heard gunfire. They both ducked and turned toward the sounds with guns drawn. Up the road, they saw Winston running from his house toward the livery stable, followed by Burt and the others.

Winston only managed to get fifty feet from his front door before he was gunned down. By the way his body twitched and jerked as it was falling, as well as the red blotches that appeared on the front of his white shirt from the exit wounds, it was obvious that he had been hit at least six times. The momentum of his flight, and the fact that the main street had a sleight downward slope, caused the man's body to pitch forward and then continue to roll down the street.

As the body rolled to a stop a gust of wind caught the bundle of money that Winston had been clutching to his chest. The blood stained bills rose into the air like so much confetti and swirled down the street.

"Well! I hope that is the last of the crooks around here, for a while," said Maeve.

Shaylee just nodded as she holstered her weapon and turned back toward the house.

With a sigh Shaylee said, "One can only hope; but, knowing human nature, one or more of those good men will turn when the temptation to become rich presents itself."

"I s'pose so ... greed being what it is."

The two women went into the house and told the rest of the family all that had transpired. They then all set to work preparing a big breakfast. They talked, over the meal, and decided that they would keep to their watch schedule regardless of the good news. They felt that prudence would be far better than playing catch up. Since it had been a long interrupted night, all but the watch retired to bed.

Over the next few days the town council had the bank manager open the safe so that the papers could be examined. It was decided that the town would own the bank, and that the staff would continue running the business.

By the end of the week, Mrs. White's house had been gone through, so that her papers could be examined. It was found that she and her henchmen had been far more involved in illegal affairs than had been previously known or suspected. Within two weeks all of her possessions were auctioned off, and the house was turned into the new town hall.

The town was coming alive again, and the people were happy once more.

By the end of the month an early warm spell cleared the snow away, and Shaylee called for the continuation of their journey. Another wagon was purchased, the furniture loaded, and the house sold to the bank. The travelers took their leave, with the well wishes of the entire town.

Once on the road, Shaylee took a deep breath and smiled broadly. She was happy again. She hadn't realized just how depressed staying in that town had made her.

Maeve rode up beside her sister and said, "Is it living in a town that bothers you or the fact that you are not traveling?"

Shaylee frowned and thought for a bit then said, "You know, I am not quite sure, but I am very sure that I am happy to be out of that particular place."

"Fair enough, but here is why I put that question to you. I am afraid that I am going to lose you, once we get to where we are going. I fear that the wanderlust has taken you, heart and soul. I just have a problem understanding you these days," Maeve finished with such a deep sigh that it was almost a sob!

Deeply touched, Shaylee reined her horse up and looked her sister in the eye.

With great emotion she stated emphatically, "I will not leave you, EVER! You are my sister and my blood!"

"You do realize that I love that old man, and that I want to settle down with him? I want to be a woman again. I want a place to put roots down and, if God grants me the blessing, have more children. I cannot keep traveling."

Shaylee looked deeply into her sister's eyes and said, "I will follow your lead! That I promise with my whole heart!"

"I will pray that you find a man that you can love and cherish, too."

"Do as you wish, but I really doubt that will happen. I never felt the fear and respect of others as a woman that I feel now. Maeve, men fear me! Men listen to what I say! The Spanish Kid is someone to be esteemed and reckoned with, and I like that feeling. I do not expect to ever wear a dress again, EVER!"

"I understand how that whipping changed you; but that said, I am saddened by that. Okay, then. We best get moving," said Maeve as she gigged her horse forward.

The travel was hard at first, since the ground was wet from the spring melt. Finally, after two weeks of slogging through the mud, they dropped off of the high prairie onto drier land. With higher temperatures and an earlier spring, the lower valley floor was much firmer.

"We need to rest the animals for a day or so," said Jean.

"Truth be told, I could use a break, too. I am still soft from all of that sitting around during the winter," said Maeve.

There followed a round of agreement from the rest of the travelers and the decision was made to stop. The two-day stop turned into a week when it was discovered that the new wagon—loaded with the expensive house furnishings—needed repairs.

As they traveled Shaylee and her sister did the out riding again, switching off every other day. They were looking for the best trail and the best fording places. Something that was difficult that time of year as all of the rivers were running high with the spring runoff.

After fording four rivers without incident, disaster struck!

At the next river Maeve tried the ford first. Although the water was running fast, she found the bottom to be solid. She signaled that the river bottom was firm enough. However, for whatever reason she did not check on the width of the ford. As soon as the lead wagon ... the new wagon with all of the new household goods ... got to the middle of the course, the down river wheels dropped off of firm ground and bogged down in the softer bottom. The wagon tipped over.

In the blink of an eye all of the household goods that Mrs. Dupris had loved so much were either at the bottom of the river or rushing down stream. To make matters worse the two down river wheels shattered under the uneven stresses of the rollover. Once the wagon was off of the ford and into deeper water it was caught by the fast moving current and pulled the four mules and Belle, whose turn it had been to drive that wagon, down river with Belle screaming and the animals braying in terror.

Maeve tried to ride to the rescue but failed as she and her horse were caught in the fast flowing current. Maeve managed to get her horse turned toward the riverbank as, one by one, the mules drowned behind her. Meanwhile, Shaylee raced along the bank, passing Belle by one hundred yards. Grabbing the lasso that hung from her saddle as she dismounted Shaylee then swung the loop over her head and cast it at Belle, as she was swept past.

Shaylee's cast was true and Belle was rescued from certain death!

"We need to camp here for the night and dry Belle out while we see what can be salvaged," said Shaylee as she began to take Belle's wet clothes off.

"I think we should start with the guns and money in the wagon before it breaks free of that snag that is holding it in place," said Jean as he pointed at the wagon.

When the mules drowned their dead carcasses sank to the bottom and got hung up on the rocks. Thus the wagon was prevented from moving down river. As the shattered wagon lay on its side, swinging back and forth in the current, the weapons and the strongbox that was bolted to the floor could clearly be seen.

"If we get some ropes onto that thing then cut it free from the mules we should be able to get it to the bank without too much trouble," Jean continued.

Maeve stood with hands on hips looking out at the wagon, thinking. Then she said, " there are no trees or rocks to anchor the ropes to so I guess we should use that big heavy coach as the anchor, but not from this side of the river; I think that we need to get everything across the river first. What do you think Shaylee?"

When there was no response from her sister Maeve turned to see why. What she saw surprised her; Shaylee was fussing over Belle like a mother hen—the girl was shaking horribly and her teeth were chattering so much that she could not speak due to her dunking in the snow fed waters. Shaylee was acting in every way the mother, even to the point of pushing Edmee back into her old nursemaid role.

"Edmee, get a fire going. This child is chilled to the bone. Cecile, get some dry clothes and towels," said Shaylee.

She stripped Belle out of her wet clothes. Something the girl was too cold to do for herself.

Suddenly there was a thunderous cracking sound as the wagon-tongue snapped. Now free of the weight of the dead animals the wagon sped down stream until it met a huge boulder and shattered! The front of the wagon with the strongbox and guns sunk from view.

Seeing that Shaylee had everything under control Maeve mounted up again and headed down river to see if anything could be salvaged from the disaster. She returned an hour later. Maeve unsaddled her mount and then brushed the animal down. Once that was done she hobbled the horse and let it graze while she went to the fire and grabbed a cup of coffee for herself.

"Is there anything worth worrying about?" asked Jean.

"Not a stick," said Maeve dejectedly. She then looked up and continued, "Look, I'm sorry! That whole mess was my fault! I should have checked the ford better."

"What is done is done. No sense in dwelling on it now," said her sister.

"How is Belle," asked Maeve.

"Oh ... she will be all right. She is sleeping now. I gave her some hot tea and wrapped her in the big down quilt. She did give me a scare there, for a bit, though," said Shaylee.

"I am glad she is okay, said Maeve. Then she turned toward Jean and asked, "How much was in that strongbox, Jean?"

"Ah not much, about three hundred and forty dollars and most of that was paper money. It was what was left of the take from the Mercer gang, that strongbox was just the overflow from the rest of the strongboxes."

"Well I am glad that we split the money between all of the wagons," said Maeve with a sigh.

"Well at least the good linens and china are in the coach's boot," said Jean.

"Yes I would hate to have lost those things. Mother brought them all the way from Paris," said Cecile.

"Look, I am worn to a frazzle and I think we all should get some rest. This has been enough excitement for one day. We can leave early tomorrow. Right now I am going to bed," said Shaylee.

All agreed and did not even bother to cook the evening meal; everyone just snacked on pemmican.

Later that night as Maeve and Jean lay in each other's arms Jean said, "I think that your sister has finally had to admit that she loves the girls."

"I think so. She is going to have some heavy thinking to do as we travel."