Chapter 9

The two riders stopped for the night with a couple of hours of daylight left. With a total of eight horses now, Jake was mindful of their needs, so when he found a place to stop near a small stream, he took the opportunity. It was nothing like the size of the one the first night they had been together, but it would do to water the horses and fill their canteens.

They had put several miles between them and the site of the confrontation they'd had earlier in the day. Sue seemed to have taken it well, but Jake wondered how she really felt about having killed that man. She had certainly been shocked and distraught to start with, but had seemed to recover quickly. Jake smiled as he remembered her, desperate to get the man's boots off. Why had she wanted his boots anyway?

They made camp swiftly. They had done this together several times by now, there was just more to do this time. Sue gathered wood and got a fire going, using one of Jake's matches, while he unsaddled six horses and watered them at the stream. He dug his brush out and got started on the new horses first. They all seemed in reasonable condition. The big man had been riding a big horse, a couple of hands at least bigger than the stallion that Jake was riding. The dandy's horse was almost completely black with just one white sock to break up the lack of colour, and the average-looking guy's horse was - average looking. But there was nothing wrong with any of them and they seemed to have settled into the string well.

Having got the camp ready, Sue came and took over the brush. It was a pity that they only had one, but it gave Jake the chance to go and do something else important. He retrieved his gun-cleaning kit and his powder, bullets and caps and settled down to spend some time sorting out guns.

First he worked on his own. Having fired two shots, and then wanted to get away from that place as soon as possible, he had reloaded the two chambers on the move. Now he checked those were done properly, cleaned out the barrel, and oiled the mechanism that rotated the cylinder and made the concealed trigger spring down when the gun was cocked.

Next he reloaded the gun that Sue had used to kill the smaller man. He had swapped it for the spare pistol they had been carrying, so her original needed cleaning and reloading.

Jake then took out the three guns they had recovered earlier in the day. First he looked at the revolver that had been used by the first man he shot. It was very similar to his own Colt Paterson, although it looked like an earlier model that had been fitted with the latest loading system more recently. However, it used the same caps and bullets, so he had no problem cleaning and loading it. The weapon was in good condition and had obviously been well cared for.

The other two were older, single shot guns which hadn't been fired as Jake and Sue had been too quick for them. They had both been in the dirt though, so Jake checked them over and made sure they were reasonably clean internally. Surprisingly they were, but Jake oiled them anyway so they would have a good action. He removed the caps and then worked the movement a few times, but at least he didn't have to withdraw the charges. He would probably let Sue fire them when they were next doing shooting practice so he could reload them then.

By this time Sue had finished with the horses so she settled down to make some food. They still had some left from last night but Jake was really hankering for something other than cooked meat. Jake went to where he had left the new saddles to check them out. The big man had a big saddle, and the small dandy had obviously had his saddle fitted to him. Jake thought that might suit Sue better than the one she was using. It was also quite fancy, made from black leather and with some interesting tooling on it.

The middle-sized man, who Jake had thought to be the most dangerous as he had the revolver, also had a rifle in a boot on his saddle. Again it looked similar to the one Jake had, but it seemed to have been made by another manufacturer and not by the Hawken brothers who had made his. It had only a single trigger, and would probably need its own bullets as the bore was likely to be different. It too was loaded, so Jake decided to fire that the next day so he could reload it himself.

That just left the packs and saddlebags from the three new horses. It was time to see what was in them. Sue seemed almost excited, like she was about to open presents.

The big man's gear contained nothing much. A dirty shirt, some powder and shot for his pistol, tobacco and papers, a blanket (well, blankets always come in handy), some hard jerky of questionable age, and that was about it. Not much to show for his life, which maybe explained why he had wanted to steal their horses.

The gunman's pack, as expected, contained powder and bullets for his rifle as well as for the Colt. He also had the tools to dismantle it and keep it clean, which would be useful. There was another spare shirt which looked fairly clean and Jake's size. He was pleased with that as he seemed to have lost his own spare to Sue. Another blanket and, wrapped in it, a pair of socks with, inside them, 40 golden eagle coins. Jake picked some of them up to feel the weight. Four hundred dollars - he wondered where it had come from. But wherever it was, they were his now, or rather - theirs now.

Sue, who wasn't used to money, picked up one of the golden coins and looked at the design stamped upon it. She was impressed by the picture of the eagle on one side, and wondered who the person in the strange hat was on the other. It was certainly a pretty piece of shiny metal, though she had no understanding of the value of it.

Still amazed at the find of the gold coins, Jake came to the dandy's pack last. Sue had already taken his boots and his pants - they were put to one side. In his pack were two shirts that looked to be a better fit for Sue than the one of Jake's she was wearing, two pairs of socks, a kerchief, bullets, powder and caps, a razor and a bar of soap. Sue seemed more pleased to see the soap than anything. All of these were wrapped in his blanket (it's a good job that blankets are so useful!).

He had also had a nice pair of saddlebags. They contained useful odds and ends such as a tin of matches, a small folding mirror, a hairbrush, two toothbrushes, one still in a box marked ADDIS, a folding knife and various other odds and ends.