Chapter 2

I woke first, because of light streaming in from the sunrise. I looked over at Sally who was cuddled right up against me. She looked so peaceful and beautiful, but I had to kiss her lips and it woke her. I was watching so closely my eyes nearly crossed when hers fluttered open. I could tell she didn't remember exactly where she was at first, and then it came to her and she smiled her widest.

"At least turnabout is fair play," she said.

"Huh?" was my witty reply.

"You went to sleep first so you woke first too," she said.

"Now, we can fight over who gets dressed first and has to make the coffee," she said, and I gave in without a fight and told her I would.

Of course we'd come uncoupled during sleep and there was a slight tearing sensation when I moved my sperm-glued dick away from her upper thigh. It didn't really hurt me and even though Sally squeaked about it I don't think it hurt her either. Trying to be a gentleman about the whole thing I pulled the cover off her and bent to lick up my dried on mess. She put up with it for a couple of minutes and then she told me to get up, get dressed, and get out since she had to use the thunder mug.

I had to take about a month long piss myself so I did as she bid me and hit the ground running. It was a lucky thing I did. Hit the ground running that is, since some jackass who'd been watching our wagon fired a shot at my motion. I thanked myself immediately since I had remembered to strap my gun belt around my waist when I was dressing. I also used my head and stumbled to the ground. Really, I did it on purpose. I'll swear I did. It might have saved me for the second time this morning since I drew my Ruger as I was going down and spun over facing the direction I thought the noise had come from.

I was on my back just as the ambusher rose to his feet and I sent a round at him at once and I hit him just below the lower end of his sternum. With the Jacketed hollow points I was using it was the last shot he'd ever require. I was pretty sure the now misshapen bullet had torn a large part of his heart and connecting blood vessels to shreds as it went spinning though his chest. The flood of blood pouring out convinced me I was right at once and even though he made a last ditch effort to fire again he wasn't able to pull the trigger until his Army Colt conversion was pointed nearly straight down and the bullet damned nearly hit him in the foot.

What a way to wake up. I was instantly alert and began looking around. I spotted his horse tied to a tree limb nearby, but try as I might I couldn't find any other signs of danger. Sally screamed out my name then and I had to calm her with a reply and then I had to rush off to water a tree. I counted myself lucky for not receiving any lead and I guess I'd never forget to take a look around before jumping out of a wagon again.

I built a small fire, enough to get the coffee going, and then fetched the enameled coffee pot and filled it with water from the nearby stream. With coffee on the way I walked over to the body and wished I'd shot him somewhere else. He had a nice shirt on but it was a bloody mess now along with the nearly half inch hole right in the chest. His jeans weren't too messy yet and so I pulled off his boots and removed his pants hoping one or the other would fit me at least half-assed. His hat was lying close to the body too, but a quick try let me know it was way too small to fit my watermelon-sized head.

His pockets were worth the trouble checking though. He had a fold-up pocketknife and forty-seven gold double eagles. Nine hundred and forty dollars was nothing to sneeze at for a split second of work. His double holster gun belt was a fine one too. It had been nicely made and after I checked I found my Ruger would fit it nearly perfectly. The cartridge loops even held the .44 magnum cartridges just as well as they held the .44 rim fires for a Henry. Speaking of a Henry repeater, he had an almost brand new one in his saddle scabbard and over two hundred and fifty cartridges in his saddlebags. I put a .44 mag into the Army Colt and tried to fire it, but it didn't touch it off.

It would have been handy if it had, maybe, but then again if it caused the thing to go off like a hand grenade in my hand it might have been a little bothersome. As I thought about it a little more I decided I'd been a dumbass to even take a chance on such a thing. Now that I had a perfectly serviceable dual holster gun belt I decided I'd lobby for another Ruger Superblackhawk if the spacemen got in touch with me again.

I was happy enough with my finds though, or with my ill-gotten gains anyway. I figured the Henry would look more normal than my Marlin, at close range at least, and the Army Colt could just provide more shots if it came down to it.

I'd just finished up with my search and acquire mission on the dead man when Sally came out of the wagon. I hadn't put the coffee into the pot yet and she gave me a tiny bit of grief over it, but then she took care of it since the water was at least boiling by now.

"Was he just sitting out here?" she asked.

"Yes, and apparently he was waiting for whoever to come out. Luckily I stumbled just before he shot because I didn't even look around when I first came out. I'm glad to have his things though. He has a pretty nice horse, a good, nearly new saddle, and he had an even newer Henry. He also had nine hundred and forty dollars worth of double eagles.

"Damnation. He had a lot of money for a saddle bum," she said.

"Yeh, he did, and I'm pretty sure he was robbing for a living instead of working cattle." I said.

"It might pay to look around in the woods near here then. He was probably using a wagon he'd already stolen to camp out of," she said, and I thought at once she was probably right.

When the coffee was done I built up the fire a little and then sat down and drank a couple of cups with Sally. She had some ham fried and a couple of eggs cooked to go with it ready in a few more minutes and so we ate and then she started cleaning up.

I mounted the horse our benefactor had tied up and rode off in the woods for a little and then crossed the road to look on that side. Just as Sally had mentioned I found a wagon, but I didn't like what I found with it. At least there was a shovel in it and so I started digging a couple of graves. There was a young man and an even younger girl lying near the wagon. The man had been shot and the girl's throat had been cut. She had obviously been raped too. I buried the two of them; all the time wishing the robber was still living so I could kill him again, taking more time to cause pain this time.

I checked out the wagon and it held clothes for the young girl and the young man. I tried on his pants and shirts and they both fit me fairly well so I rode back to Sally and hitched the team to her wagon. When she was done cleaning up I helped her into the wagon, tied Ben, the name I'd given the jackass's horse, to the back and headed us across the road. I told Sally the tale as we moved.

When we got up beside the other wagon we got down and I asked Sally to say a few words or a prayer over the two unknown bodies and she did. I helped her into the wagon then to let her look around. She gathered up all the young man's clothes and told me they would probably fit me. She left the girl's clothes where they were saying they wouldn't fit her at all.

I had to move our wagon over closer to the back of the other one then since Sally found a barrel of flour and one of cornmeal in the wagon and when I moved the first one she told me there was a secret door under it. I moved the other barrel before we looked inside the compartment and I was surprised to find a tin box inside it. I was more surprised to find six hundred and nineteen double eagles in the tin box, but I was happy enough.

It made me sad in a way, thinking the two bodies we'd buried were a young couple just getting started in life and had it cut short by such an asshole. I got out of the wagon and walked to his body then and took my bowie knife and cut his guts open. Maybe it would entice the animals to get rid of him faster.

Sally and I took off then. She asked if I didn't want to try and figure a way to take the wagon with us, but even though I tied the mules on behind ours I didn't want the other wagon.