Chapter 8

It was just as well that we had no excitement for the next week, as that gave plenty of time for Jane's small wound in her thigh to heal. Well, it was not necessarily completely healed, but it was healed enough that it did not bother her. We continued our trip east, and we began to wonder if we were wasting our time. We were discussing that very topic when we came upon a stagecoach robbery in progress.

The coach was stopped because of a tree limb blocking the road. There were four bandits, and they were pulling the passengers from the coach as we first saw them. Their security was terrible, because they did not see us until we had gotten quite close. There were two men and two women passengers, and the bandits did not hesitate to murder the two men as soon as they were sure that the coach was empty. Two quick pistol shots were all that it took.

The men now turned their attention to the women, and it was obvious that rape was the main subject at hand. The women were forced to the ground, and their dresses were pulled above their waists. Since this was at the height of the hot season, neither woman was wearing anything under her dress, so they were ready for rape as soon as their dresses were flipped out of the way.

As we arrived, one man was holding a woman and the other man was dropping his pants. I had at first thought of using the 10-gauge shotguns, but now it looked like my pistols would be adequate. I was a little bit concerned about the women being injured by the buckshot from Jane's 16-gauge, but she certainly knew by now how to use it.

We were up close to the bandits before anybody saw us, but it was too late for them to do much. I fired at the man preparing to fuck, and Jane fired at the man who was holding the victim down. In each case, only one shot was needed, and we switched to the next pair.

These two men knew we were there by now, but could not react fast enough to do themselves any good. Jane and I divided the labor just as we had done on the first pair of bandits with the same results. As it turned out, neither woman had been penetrated before we arrived, so it was a happy result from that point of view. We both reloaded before we did anything else; it just was not prudent to do it any other way.

I heard moaning coming from the driver's box, so I climbed up there while Jane tried to comfort the two women. I found that the guard was dead, but the driver was not seriously wounded. He was shot in the arm, but the wound would not be life threatening if it was treated soon enough to ward off gangrene. The wound had to be damned painful, but he would be OK if he would just let me run things.

I had been in the Boy Scouts and had earned the First Aid Merit Badge, so I could handle the wound in the driver. I told him to relax, and I would get him some laudanum from my pack. I returned to the roadway and found that Jane had calmed both women down. Fortunately, neither one had any relationship to the two dead male passengers, so we didn't have that to worry about.

I helped the two women into the coach and asked them to remain there while Jane and I took care of the other people. I pulled my first aid kit from my saddlebag and climbed back up to look after the driver. Meanwhile, Jane rounded up the bandits' horses that had started to wander off. I cut off the driver's shirt sleeve and cleaned his wound after giving him a shot of laudanum. I didn't like that stuff, but no other anesthetic was available.

He was asleep by the time I was ready to clean the wound, so I was happy for that good luck. I cleaned the wound of a few cloth fibers and some dead flesh and washed it out with whiskey. I sewed up the wound and bound it with a clean bandage. The driver was going to live, but he was going to hurt for a few weeks. I just hoped that he didn't become addicted to the opium in the laudanum.

As carefully and as gently as I could, I got him down from the driver's box and loaded into the cabin of the coach with the two women. The two dead passengers were stuffed into the boot, and the four bandits were tied to their horses. The horses were hitched behind the stage, and Jane used her horse to drag the tree limb away from the road.

We had checked the bandits and their saddlebags for goodies before we tied them to the horses, and found an unusually large sum of money. In total, it was $132, when we added in the money in their saddlebags. None of us could drive a team of six mules, so I had to lead them to the nearest relay station, which was about six miles away.

At the relay station, we got receipts for the bandits and sold their horses and tack to the station agent. We probably could have gotten more if we had taken the horses all the way to town, but that was more trouble than we wanted to mess with.

We turned in the receipts and collected $25 for each dead bandit. I had hoped for more, but that was enough money to make the deed worth while. When that was done, we went to the nearest saloon to see what the local gossip had in store, and whether or not any of it was of interest to us. We had done this enough that it was routine for us by now.

We each bought a beer to keep the bartender happy, and Jane had to fend off two drunks who wanted to know if she was a new whore in town. However, before long, we had heard all of the news that we were going to get. The two other saloons in town had no more to offer, so we ate supper and took a hotel room.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and left town. Everything considered, we were doing better than most bounty hunters managed, but we were still looking for another big score, hopefully something like that episode with Kid Carter.

Some days, good luck just jumps up and slaps you in the face to get your attention. About a week after our adventure with the stagecoach robbery, Jane had to make a call of nature trip into some local woods. She had gotten back among the trees, but had no time to piss, when she let out a scream. It didn't sound like pain, but I didn't take any chances.

I ran to see what she was upset about, and I found her in a little clearing with her pants sopping wet. She was standing next to a human skeleton that was horribly broken and twisted. One glance was enough to show that this was not all due to animal activity, unless you classify Indians as animals. It was obvious that this was a torture death, and it had happened well over a year ago, from the condition of the bones.

Well, there was nothing that could be done for the victim, but I was curious who he was. Jane had taken her pants off and was trying to lay them out on a bush to dry. She was in no mood for playing around, so I did not tease her. Instead, I walked around to try to see if I could find any more information. I found some tack in terrible shape from the weather, but no sign of a horse.

There were saddlebags lying on the ground, and when I looked inside, I found four leather bags that contained gold bars! A quick count came to $24,000 in gold bars. I wondered if this was loot from a bank robbery—I couldn't think of another explanation. In any case, I had no qualms about keeping the money, because there was nothing to show where it had come from. This was about 90 pounds of gold! The first question was how were we going to transport it? A little thought told me that we needed a pack animal. Nothing else would work.

Jane's pants were not yet dry, so she was not going anywhere. She agreed to guard the gold while I went to the first town to buy a pack animal. I fetched her shotguns and ammunition, her canteen, and some jerky. I took both horses because I was going to be riding as fast as I could go with another horse on a lead rope, and I might need to trade off when a horse got tired.

I took off in the direction we had been going, and luck smiled on us again. I came to a town after only six miles and was able to pick up a pack mule and pack saddle for a not too unreasonable a price. I hurried back to Jane and we loaded up the mule with all of our gold, including what we had collected previously. Man, it was a relief to get rid of that heavy moneybelt!