Chapter 10

The pistol lessons went right well. We started out with a lecture on gun safety. These women all knew only too well what a bullet could do ta a human, so they were not difficult ta convince that they had ta be careful with a gun. Next, I showed them how ta load the chambers in the cylinder. We were concentrating on the Navy Colt, so I pointed out that they should not expect the first bullet ta be a killing bullet. The .36 caliber bullet just was not large enough ta do that much damage under most circumstances. The important thin' was ta score a hit. The second or third bullet could be the killin' one.

I also made a point of showin' them how ta change cylinders in a hurry. I urged them not ta forgit ta put the caps on the nipples soz the gun would fire. They was all smart women who had good hand-eye coordination, soz they learned all this stuff right quick-like. I was proud of them an' told them so. I was glad that we were usin' the Navy instead of the .44 caliber Army Colt, similar ta what I used. The Navy Colt was good fer a small hand, which all of these women had, an' it did not recoil as bad as the .44. Of course, all we had was the Navy Colt, except fer my two Starr DAs.

Anyway, they started out with the two-handed grip ta give them confidence in their aim. Ta be sure that they was confident in what they could do with a pistol, we stayed with the two-handed practice through the next day. By then, all but Martha were doin' very well with their shootin'. I was havin' a hell of a time keepin' Martha from jerkin' the trigger. Alls I could figure was ta keep her practicin'. Then I discovered somethin'—Martha was anticipatin' the recoil an' the noise. I could not do nothin' about either one directly, I just figured that practice would fix the problem. I had her do a lot of dry-firin', an' that helped a lot.

I had the women practice every spare moment, 'cause that incident with the three galoots had scared me fer what could happen ifen I was not there ta look after them. After a week of practice, I let them shift ta shootin' with only one hand. Strangely, Martha did a hell of a lot better with this one-handed shootin'. I sure do not know why it happened that way, but I did not argue with the happy facts of life.

Anyway, I kept them at it until we started ta run out of powder, caps, an' lead fer bullets. There was no way around it, it was time fer a trip inta town ta stock up on what we needed. Fer one thin', I planned ta git as much powder, caps, an' lead as we could find. I figured that, with a war comin', such was gonna git scarce when the Yankees stopped sellin' it ta the South.

We decided ta make it a major expedition an' all of us go. The women did not git ta town very often, an' they all wanted ta go. I ruminated on the question fer all of 10 seconds afore I agreed that we should all go. Fer one thin', we did not want ta leave the extra hosses an' mule unguarded while we were gone, soz we were gonna have a remuda ta take with us. We figured that we would need two wagons fer the trip home, but one wagon would do fer the first half of the trip.

There was no choice about where we went. We simply had ta go ta Home Springs ta have any hope of gittin' what we needed. We took all of the hosses an' mules, one wagon, an' tack fer the rest of the hosses. The women each kept her pistol loaded an' handy, since we made a temptin' target. Sarah was able ta wear her pa's clothes, so she helped me by ridin' a hoss an' tendin' the remuda. The other women drove the wagon an' rode in it.

Ta be sure ta have enough money fer everythin' we needed, I went whole hog an' got 10 small bags inta which I put $100 each in gold. I hid the bags around the wagon soz we could find them, but they were not obvious ta a road agent. The women in the wagon kept the guns in their laps, an' Sarah wore hers on her thigh like most men did. I wore my two Starr DAs in my shoulder holsters an' two Navy Colts at my thighs. I also kept my hideout derringer in my boot.

We were not lookin' fer trouble, but we did keep a close watch. Not only did we have ta worry 'bout road agents, but we was pretty deep inta Comancheria, soz we had ta keep an eye out fer Injuns. Our second day out was the kind of day I was hopin' ta miss. We were spotted by some Comanches, an' they figured ta devil us ifen they could not do nothin' else.

There was four of them, an' they looked kind of young ta me. I guessed that they was mostly out ta prove ta themselves an' each other just how brave they were. They came chargin' at the remuda, 'cause capturin' hosses was the top of the list ta prove how good a warrior ya were. Luckily, I saw them in time ta win the race ta the remuda, soz Sarah an' I had our guns ready when they rode up. I told Sarah ta shoot at the men, since I figured that pipsqueak .36 caliber was not gonna do any good against hosses. On the other hand, I had some .44s, soz I went fer the hosses.

Well, as luck would have it, Sarah scored the first hit. She caught one of the braves in the hip with her bullet. I ain't sure how it happened, but it was enough ta make him fall from his hoss an' break his neck. Sarah yelled what I swear was a war cry, cause it sure caught the attention of the Injuns. What really shook them up was that it was obviously the voice of a woman. Hell, there was no glory in fightin' women, soz they pulled off their charge right away. However, at that moment, I managed ta put a bullet inta one of the remainin' hosses, an' it fell with its rider. He acted like he broke his back in his fall, soz we were ahead of the game on points. The Injuns backed off, an' I rode over an' put a bullet inta the head of the one with the broken back. I scooped up the other hoss, an' rode back ta the remuda with it. We won so easily 'cause the Injuns did not even have bows. All they had were lances, an' there was not much they could have done against our guns. I chalked that up ta their lack of experience, but I was still mighty glad ta escape any harm!

We was damned lucky, 'cause that was the only trouble we had on our trip, except fer the occasional rattlesnake. They did not want ta mess with us any more than we wanted ta mess with them, soz all we had ta do was ta give them time ta slither off out of the way. The company was pleasant, an' I enjoyed the trip. We did decide ta save our sex 'til we got ta the hotel in Home Springs.

Home Springs was a bigger town than I expected, an' it had a fully outfitted gun shop. That was nice, 'cause we could pick up the supplies we needed. I was surprised when I went in an' saw the display of new Henry rifles on the rack. There was eight of them, an' I was immediately interested. I had heard some rumors of repeatin' rifles about a year ago, but I kind of shrugged that off as a pipe dream. However, when I saw them on display, I just had ta try one out.

The gunsmith took me out back ta his shootin' range an' let me try one out. Hot damn! Now that was a weapon! The Henry was .44 caliber an' held 14 rounds in the tubular magazine. I just had ta have one. Furthermore, I wanted the women ta try it out ta see ifen they could handle the recoil. These rifles would be perfect ifen we had ta face another Comanche attack!

I went ta the nearest general store an' corralled the ladies. The clerk was in the process of gatherin' up their order, an' it was a big one, soz they had some time that I could borrow their attention. We walked back ta the gun shop, an' I showed them what I was so excited about. We took the Henry out ta the range an' everyone of them women fell in love with that gun! I wound up buyin' six of the thin's. They was $28 each, an' it was a good thin' that I had brought so much money with me, 'cause $168 just paid fer the rifles. I paid another $80 fer 2,000 rounds of ammunition. I bought so much 'cause I wanted ta be sure that we would have enough ta last several years.