Chapter 10

We spent a total of two days collecting our reward and selling enough stuff to end up with over $100. That was certainly good pay for a couple of day's work. We returned to the Neutral Territory, but not to the same town, figuring that we might have worn out our welcome there.

We spent nearly five weeks wandering around without finding any more wanted men, and we began to wonder if we were wasting our time. We were about ready to head back to Texas when we ran into a rather bizarre situation. It was almost like a movie script.

We were going through our usual routine in a saloon when four men walked in. They were the roughest, toughest, most disreputable looking bunch a person could imagine. On top of that, I recognized that all four were wanted, and, when added up, the reward amounted to $1,240. Now that was a prize too good to pass up! I got real lucky and got the drop on them, but the bartender didn't want any shooting inside his establishment, so he pulled out his blunderbuss and got the drop on all of us.

"GIT OUT! ALL OF Y'ALL! OUT! OUT! OUT! IFEN Y'ALL AIN'T OUT OF MY PLACE IN TWO MINUTES, I WILL START SHOOTIN'. THIS HERE BLUNDERBUSS IS FULLY LOADED, AN' I AIN'T KIDDIN'! GIT OUT!"

Hell, none of us had a choice! We all ran for the door, and Jane and I were the last ones out. We found the four men standing in the street waiting for us. It wasn't noon, but it reminded me of a high-noon shootout in a multitude of B-grade Western movies.

As soon as we came through the door, the four men drew their pistols and began to shoot. I drew and dove to the ground in one motion, and I hoped that Jane was doing the same thing. I heard her shotgun go off twice as I began firing.

The four men were still standing there when I hit the ground, and I recovered quickly. I fired at them as soon as I could bring my gun to bear. I know that I hit three of them, and Jane put buckshot into two of them, so one of them was doubly dead! I looked around for Jane and recoiled in horror!

Jane was lying on the ground, writhing in pain and gushing blood from her right thigh. I jumped up and ran to her, pulling out my bowie knife as I ran. I cut away her pants leg at the crotch and saw that she had been hit in the upper thigh near her hip. I used her cut-away pants leg as a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood.

Fortunately, she had not been hit in the main artery of her leg, so I had a chance to save her. I called for a doctor, not hoping for much, and my hope was justified. A man staggered up, so drunk that he could hardly move, and claimed to be a doctor. God Damn It, I would shoot Jane before I would let that fool touch her!

Nevertheless, she needed attention, and I was going to have to dig for the bullet and to clean the wound. I carried her to the "doctor's" office and laid her out on the table in his back room. Thank god, he was well stocked with chloroform and morphine—both had become common since the War.

The doctor followed me in, complaining all of the way about how this was his office, not mine. I shoved my gun in his belly and said, "I'm going to clean her wound. I'll pay you for what I use, but I will kill you if you try to touch her!"

He backed off and sat down on a nearby chair. He pulled a whiskey bottle from a pocket and drank from it while I worked. Fortunately, I knew in general what to do, so I got Jane to lie down and let me apply the chloroform. As soon as she went out, I pulled off her pants and cleaned the area around the wound with alcohol. I spent two hours digging for trash, dead flesh, bullet, and bone chips. Yes, the bullet had hit her thigh bone, and it was in very bad shape! Finally, I had done what I could, and sewed her back up. I cleaned and bandaged her thigh, and I wondered what I should do next.

Jane was naked from the waist down, so I pulled a sheet up over her and cleaned up while I waited for her to recover. With no suitable antibiotics available, I was scared to death of gangrene or some similar infection showing up. When she came to from the chloroform, I gave her a shot of morphine. Once Jane seemed to be stabilized, I ran to the saloon and hired one of the whores to stay with her. I promised the woman a Double-Eagle if she would look out for Jane until I could get back. This was what the woman would make in a month, so she was delighted with the job.

The bodies had been pulled from the middle of the street, but nothing else had been done. There was a part-time undertaker in town, and he was looking for business. Unfortunately, I couldn't deal with him, since I had to show the bodies to a sheriff or marshal before I could get a receipt. I did tip him two-bits to help me load them on their horses and get them tied there.

One of the men had been carrying a saddlebag that was damned heavy, so I peeked inside. Oh, my God! The saddlebag was loaded with gold. I couldn't tell how much, but my guess was that it was from a recent bank robbery. Well, shit, it was mine, now!

I threw the saddlebag onto my horse and led the bunch to the doctor's office. I had to return to Texas with the bodies if we were going to collect our bounties, so I made a deal with the whore and the doctor: Jane would stay in the doctor's office until I got back, and I would pay them each $5 a day to look out for her needs. But, I warned the doctor that all I was doing was renting space, and he damned well better not try to "doctor" Jane while I was gone. I left two Double-Eagles to pay for their time and for necessities for Jane while I was gone.