Chapter 7: Becoming an apprentice

I explained to Mr. Armitage why I had to take a few days off. He was definitely unhappy because I had been having so much success; however, he did understand that I was wounded too badly to chase bad guys right now. In any case, he would really be in trouble if I just quit, so he backed down when he received my promise to return to work as soon as I could.

As it turned out, I had a good use for the time that I was home. I had a chance, now, to learn my part of the wedding ceremony, and I set to it with a will. Oh, Man, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for! There was a tremendous amount of stuff I had to learn, and a few days was too short a time for me to become comfortable.

Therefore, when the actual wedding took place, I was a nervous wreck. Fortunately, all of the guests knew that I was a gentile and I was trying to get through this thing without messing it up for Leah. You cannot imagine the relief I felt when I finally stepped on that glass and broke it! Later I was told that I had done as well as most Jewish grooms in keeping straight to my part of the wedding process. Leah was happy, and that was what I really was interested in. She was also very happy with the ring that I had slipped on her finger, so it was worth every penny!

We had only a few minutes to ourselves before the post-wedding meal. I am sure that 99% of the time, I had no idea what I was eating, but it all tasted so good that I was not reluctant to eat anything set before me. I found out later that each of the women had contributed a dish, and I could not understand how all of those Jewish men managed to stay so slim! That day and night seemed to be as joyous for Leah as our first night together, and that was all it took for me to feel the same way.

There was no honeymoon as we knew of them in the 21^st century, so I was expected to return to work the day after the wedding. That was a Saturday, but the Sabbath customs did not really apply to me, and I was mindful of the promise that I had made to Mr. Armitage. The robberies that usually occurred on Saturday were close enough to Tucson that I was able to spend all of Friday at home. I was especially happy with that so that I could celebrate our wedding with Leah.

I had to leave Tucson very early and hurry to the probable ambush site, but I managed to get there in time to be waiting for the bandits. This time, only four men were involved in the robbery, and I wondered where the other men were. I was to find out!

The bandits went through their usual routine of blocking the road and getting into their firing positions, but I did note that the bandits did a better job than usual in protecting their backs with rocks or small hillocks. I had to wait until they rose to shoot at the stagecoach before I could get in a good shot at them. I suspected that something was different, but I could not figure out what it was.

The stagecoach arrived and the shooting started. I had made three shots with my Winchester and had hit one man when I was seemingly inundated with bullets coming from my rear. I did not hesitate to roll to my left to another, better protected shooting position. From the first, prompted from all of those "training films" that I had seen, I had always made sure that I had a safe line of retreat planned before I fired my first shot. I was not sure whether it was a case of poor sights on the rifles or limited practice with the rifles, but I was grateful that the Mexicans were not as good a shot as I was!

I guessed from the very limited information that I had that there were at least three-five men behind me who were shooting in my direction. I could see some of their powder smoke, which was how they had spotted me, so I quickly saw that there were four plumes from recently fired rifles. Those plumes also told me that the men behind me were close enough for my shotgun, so I switched immediately.

I was going to keep my rifle with me as long as possible in case the range lengthened, but I was prepared to drop it if it got in my way. Nevertheless, I felt that it behooved me to keep my options open as long as possible in this unexpected situation. With this many people attacking me and from two different directions, I had no idea how the situation was going to play out.

Now that I had some idea of where the men behind me were hiding, I decided to attack them first because I deemed them to be the most dangerous. I slithered out of my current hiding place while bullets were still raining down on my original firing position. I figured that I needed to get to one side, even if I could not get behind the men to my rear, so I wormed my way to my left. My intention was to try to take out the guy at that end of the line and to work my way across as the opportunity presented itself. The thought of protecting the stagecoach was now wiped clean from my mind—my main purpose at the moment was to save my own life!

Fortunately for me, this area was littered with rocks of all sizes. I moved from one rock to another without drawing fire. The attackers had no idea where I was, and I hoped to keep them confused for as long as possible. I was helped by finding a small arroyo running in the direction I wanted to go, so I was able to use that to make considerable progress toward my first target. Ah, at last! I saw a pair of legs extending out from a clump of rocks, so I knew that I had found my first man. I had the choice of putting several rounds into his legs or moving farther to try to find an immediately killing shot. I decided on the latter, and that was almost my undoing!

I have no idea what I had done to give myself away, but as I moved farther down the arroyo, the man whose legs I saw whipped around and snapped off a shot at me. That was his last shot because I shot him in the chest with two rounds from my shotgun, and he was converted to a pile of bloody rags in a moment.

Okay, I had announced my presence, so I had to be even more watchful if I did not want to collect a very inconvenient hole somewhere in my body. At this point, I decided that the rifle was not doing me any good, so I left it in the arroyo and switched my undivided attention to my shotgun.

I slid over the edge of the arroyo on my belly the way I had seen the actors do it many times on TV. Apparently, that was the proper way to act, because I collected another bullet fired in my direction. It went over my head, which was perfectly all right with me.

This shooter also had to expose too much of his body to get off his shot at me with his rifle. That was what I needed, but this time my shot was a little high. As a result, this time the shooter lost his head. I could not have placed the load of buckshot more accurately if I had been given minutes to aim. I breathed a sigh of relief as it looked like my luck was holding.

Now I had only two more men to account for, provided my original count had been accurate. I had to keep telling myself to keep that thought in mind. If there were a fifth man whom I was unaware of, I could wind up very dead at any moment! I was in something like the same position as the fighter pilots who had to look in all directions for an enemy.

My situation was possibly even more precarious because the two men I was after had been given plenty of time to move. They had not fired, so I had no hint where they were if they had done so. At least, there were no hills around so that I did not have to look up as well as side to side—my neck was already getting tired with what I had to do at this point.

What was that!?! I realized that I had heard the click-clack of a cartridge being jacked into a Henry rifle chamber. The man with the rifle had to be pretty damned close for me to hear that noise so clearly. That pushed me to even more awareness of my surroundings, if that could be possible! I do not know what made me do it, but I flicked the fire selector into full automatic mode. I could spare shotgun shells better than I could spare skin!