The Walters Brothers

Elsa was the camp cook and had a good meal waiting on us when we got back. I got the livestock settled and we called it a night.

I took them to the mine the next day, grinning at the shock on their faces. "You're going to ride away from this?"

I told them of our plan to have a syndicate take over, paying us a premium, leaving us free to go home and find ranches of our own. They understood but were really quiet the rest of the day.

I figured it would be just Eion and I working the mine, but Elsa went with us. "What am I gonna do? Sit around camp all day? I need to stay busy, and it will be that much more we can take out."

She helped us for a week before starting another job, separating the gold from the quartz. Pretty soon we had a pile of white quartz about waist high that stuck out like a sore thumb, a sure sign of a mining operation. We stopped mining long enough to dig a pretty good sized pit, and Elsa would throw the tailin's in every day, then throw a few shovels full of dirt over it.

We worked six days straight before resting. I got out the scales we'd bought and had them measure out 14 ounces of gold, telling them it was their pay. They were shocked, the value of the gold far and above what they would have normally earned. It was runnin' about twenty dollars an ounce at the time. If they stayed four months and added what Gallison would make, they would have a pretty nice grubstake by the time we worked a deal with whoever Zeke settled on. Maybe they could continue to work for them but I doubt the pay would be as good.

Esla cried and shocked us all by giving me a big kiss. I turned about eight shades of red while her dad laughed. Gallison showed up the next day saying he took extra time and wandered a bit to make sure no one was following. I hoped he was right but his trailcraft was limited. I decided I'd ride his back trail just for peace of mind.

They showed him the gold and he was shocked. Then they told him the wage he'd be getting and he was speechless. I left the next morning knowing the mine was in good hands, packing enough food for two days.

Chapter 12

I saw nothing the first day, and decided to turn around about noon the next day. As it was, I'd be eating jerky before I got back.

The first couple of hours were uneventful but just before ten my scalp started tingling and my horse seemed uneasy. I'd learned long ago to trust my instincts, so I loosened my shotgun so I could drag it out easier, and made sure the strap was off my pistol.

My horse saved my life. I was on a narrow trail, steep drops on both sides. It made me so nervous I pulled the shotgun out, holding it across the saddle. Blackie shied suddenly, and the bullet meant for me went through his neck and still managed to hit me in the shoulder. Blackie was falling so I kicked out of the stirrups and went over a bank, landing about twenty feet down in a clump of brush.

The fall knocked the wind out of me and it took a minute to recover. I realized I could hear voices. "Reckon he's dead?"

"If he ain't he will be. He's hit, you can see by the blood. He's down in that holler, and I don't see a good way out. All we have to do is ride off and leave him."

I could barely see the riders through the brush. I saw one wearing a derby. A derby I had seen before. There was nothing I could do, wishing I'd grabbed the rifle instead of the shotgun.

Derby spoke. "You'll excuse me if I want to be sure. Hank, you and Ben find a way in there. Drag his body out. I want to piss on it before the day's out."

The other rider spoke. "You want to waste time, it's your business. Me and my boys are ridin' on. That claim has to be close and my cousin says it's probably going to be the richest in a long time. Still don't think it was a good idea for him to get a job as a guard for Wells Fargo? We've already managed to jump two claims but nothing like this."

You could hear the anger in Derby's voice. "Don't go gettin' no ideas. Fifty-fifty, remember? We'll ride on with you but Ben and Hank will stay long enough to find that body. Cut his head off when you find him boys. I'll enjoy pissing in his face even if he can't feel it. Let's ride."

There had to be over a dozen in that bunch. I hoped they didn't catch Elsa and the boys unaware. I'd pounded it into them before I left to keep a constant check, just in case of something like this. In the meantime I had my own problems. The two after me had ridden off, looking for an easier way into the ravine. My shoulder hurt like the devil but I still had my pistols and the shotgun. If I was gonna die they were gonna die. I crawled as best I could downhill knowing that was the direction they'd be coming from.

It took them almost two hours before they came into view. They were walking, trying to be quiet. It wasn't working. These boys had never spent much time in the woods. If things worked out right they'd never get the chance to improve.

They came by me not twenty feet away, one about a foot in front of the other. I gave them as much chance as they gave me, opening up with the shotgun and firing three times before I stopped. At that distance it blew them apart. They died without a word.

I walked over slowly just to make sure they were dead. Yep, dead all right. They had nothing of interest exept for a really nice Bowie knife. I took it and the best looking hat. Mine had come off in the tumble down the ravine.

I walked back, finding their horses half a mile along at the entrance to the ravine. They were better horses than I figured but then again, men who rode outside the law couldn't really afford a slow horse. I took them, stopping on the trail to remove my saddle and bridle from Blackie. It hurt me to see him layin' there. He'd been a good hoss, carrying me all the way from Texas without complaint. They'd taken my rifle and emptied my saddlebags. There were a few shotgun shells scattered on the ground and I reloaded immediately. There were a couple of Winchesters on the outlaw's horses and they seemed in good shape.

It was kind of awkward, but I bound up my shoulder as best I could, grateful the bullet hadn't hit bone. The pain made my attitude towards those who had done it less than forgiving. I pointed the horses towards our claim, letting them walk to favor my shoulder. I was in no hurry. I knew where they were going and the ground they had to cover, and if they were planning on backtrailing me it would confuse the shit out of them.

Deliberately I had changed directions half a dozen times and even rode back over my own tracks twice. They better have a damn good tracker or it was going to take them a while to get to the claim. I pointed the horse along the quickest route, confident that if I didn't beat them I wouldn't be far behind them.

Darkness stopped me. Checking the saddlebags I was grateful to find a small bag of coffee and a battered old pot, and a bit of jerky. I'd be all right until I got back to the claim. Thinking of Elsa's cooking made the jerky even less flavorful.

There was nothing for breakfast so I was packed and ready to go as soon as daylight hit. I cussed a little when I got to the blue spruce. Apparently they had a pretty good tracker and my rambling hadn't fooled him any. They had figured it out and dragged it to the side, leaving the trail for anyone to see. Judging by the tracks I couldn't be more than an hour behind them.

I caught up to them just as they were topping the ridge and they had pulled up to scope out the valley. No time like the present I thought as I hunkered down behind a couple of downed trees. Both rifles were completely full and I lay them and my shotgun out knowing it might be a while before I could reload.

Derby had half turned, talking to the other leader, and I was damned tired of that hat. I should have gone for a safer shot, but it was only 75 yards and I was pissed. I was more than happy to give them the same chance they had given me, none at all. My shot blew the derby off his head, and most of his head off his shoulders. Levering the rifle as fast I could I nailed a couple more but couldn't say for sure they were kill shots, and dropped three horses. There was a lot of yellin' and cussin' as they dropped over the ridge and into cover. I immediately ran forward, stopping behind a nest of rocks far to the left of where I had been.

I gave them about half an hour before I slid around the rocks, working my way to the left. There was a goat path there and while it was scary as hell in a couple of places a man could walk it if he was careful. Apparently I'd made a believer out of them because no one took a look before I made it to the path. Forty minutes later I was below them, watching as they hunkered down. There were still eight of them but you could tell by the way they left him sprawling one was a goner. Another had a sling over his right arm so I figured he was out of the fight. I was just about to dust them when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I rolled over bringing the rifle to my shoulder before I realized it was Gallison. They heard the shooting and he came to scout around. He still hadn't seen me so I took a chance, slinging a pebble that hit him on the arm.

He looked over swinging his rifle, then realized who I was and started towards me. I held up my finger and shook my head no. When he nodded I moved my hand in a circle before pointing left. He understood, grinned, and slid farther over. I was going to try to box them if I could.

I gave him fifteen minutes. I'd already lined up my first target, hoping Gallison understood I wanted him to start on the left. After the first shot I was going to continue working left while he worked right until there were no targets, I got shot, or they got away.

My first shot him the man square in the back and severed his spine. I got the second one before they figured out the bullets were coming from behind them. Gal had opened up by then and a man stood up, then flopped over backwards down the slope. Eleven men had started out to kill us and jump the claim. Three managed to make the ridge and ride off.

Elsa and Eion had come running after the shooting was over, pistols in hand. I was pretty tired so I eased back against a rock. I woke up three hours later in the late evening. They had a fire going and I could smell the stew simmering. Elsa made damn good stew.

After they fed me they heated water and bathed my wound. It was red and puffy and hurt like hell. "Looks infected son. We don't take care of it, you'll lose that arm and if it spreads inside you're a goner. Want us to try and fix it?"

Did I have a choice? Eion sat me up and they placed hot cloths on both sides of the wound. He'd whittled a tree branch down into as straight a shaft as possible. They had carried several jugs of corn whiskey with them, partially to sip but mostly to treat wounds with.

"I ain't gonna lie to you Brad. This is gonna hurt like hell. The hole is a lot bigger on the back side and we think that's where the infection started. You take about four good slugs off that bottle, then Gal and I will hold you as still as possible while Elsa runs this through the wound. The whiskey soaked rag should clear up the infection. We're gonna let it bleed a little to finish it off. That's the easy part. After it's bled a little we're gonna slap a red hot knife blade to the exit wound, to seal it up and make it heal faster. Now drink up and tell us when you're ready."

I'd never be ready but realized there was no choice. I killed half the bottle in three gulps, waited until it hit, and nodded. It was a damn good thing the men holding me were miners with well developed arm and shoulder muscle or I would have thrown them both off. That stick hurt like hell! When it was done I kind of hung between them huffing and puffing, mightily glad I could not see the knife coming. I let out a yell they could have heard in Cherry Creek when it hit, the stench of buring flesh filling the air. I must have passed out again. It was just breaking daylight when I opened my eyes again.

My shoulder was almighty sore but didn't feel as bad as I thought it was until I tried to move my arm. "Easy," said Elsa, "Give it time to heal. You won't be swinging no pick for a good while. Let me get you a cup of coffee and some flapjacks. It'll make you feel better."

Elsa made the best sourdough flapjacks in the world. They would have been good plain but Gal had found a bee tree a couple weeks back. We smoked it and robbed about two thirds, leaving the rest so they wouldn't go away. The honey made them twice as good. We didn't waste anything, using the comb to make candles for the mine.

She grinned when I finally stopped. "Well, at least they didn't kill your appetite. We're gonna go gather the bodies and see what we can find."

"There should be a derby lying around. I'd be most pleased if you'd fetch it to me."

Four of the horses had stayed near, so they gathered them up and dragged the bodies to the ridgeline. The horses were good animals, there again outlaws couldn't afford bad ones. Their pistols were mostly Peacemakers with one Remington and a pistol I didn't recognize. I found out later it was British. They must have been expecting a fight, because they'd brought plenty of ammo. The rifles were all Winchesters of varying ages and one Sharps in 45/70. Eion and Gal upgraded their weapons, taking the better ones. Eion found an old .22 pepperbox on one of them and Elsa took that one because it would fit into the pockets of her skirts.

"It ain't much but if I have to use it they'll be up close and I won't miss." She wasn't grinning when she said it.

We also found their pack mule loaded down with supplies. They must have planned on moving in and staying a while. More for us.

We talked everything over that night. "Zeke won't be back for at least a month, maybe longer. I got a feeling them boys won't give up so easy so I expect they'll give it another try as quick as they can get more men. I can't use a shovel right now, so I'll do guard duty. if there is a bunch of them we'll probably get overrun. We need to make plans now for if that happens."

"We need rallying points. We also need to stash a few weapons and supplies in different places in case we need to cut and run. And it wouldn't hurt to find another way out of this valley."

It seemed Elsa was the brain of the family and we went along with her ideas. We halted mining and made our plans.

Chapter 13

Since I couldn't do much real work I spent the next week scouting and watching the trail. We'd made the stashes we talked about, weapons, ammo, a little grub and coffee, some rags for bandages, that sort of thing.

I wasn't just ridin' around. There were a few choke points on the trail in, and I had Gal and Eion help me loosen the base of a couple of big boulders, and rig a deadfall out of some mighty impressive logs. It probably wouldn't hurt them but it would clog the trail and make them jumpy.

They hit three days later and I almost missed them. They'd gotten smart and hired three renegade Indians. I was watching from the ridge, staring at a cloud of dust and wondering how many they were when I felt more than heard something. I didn't stop to think and rolled to the left. An arrow hit the rock where I was lying and the archer, seeing he missed, had dropped his bow and was trying to get his rifle to bear. I hit him three times the last in his head as he was falling. Another rose up almost in front of me, shocked beyond believing when I dropped the rifle and went for my shotgun. He was literally on top of me before I could get it to bear, the barrel almost against his chest. The shot knocked him backwards and he remained standing for a few seconds, looking down. I could see the woods behind him through the three inch hole.

The last fired as I was rising to my feet, nearly ripping my holster in two and knocking me down again. The brave must have thought he got me, because he rose up, his war cry echoing off the rocks. He stopped in mid yell, because I blew most of his jaw off. The next round took the rest of his head.

The sudden stillness was deafening and it took me a minute to recover. I was going to have a hellacious bruise on my hip where he'd hit my holster. I also had a shallow groove I didn't remember getting on my left arm, right beside the one I got in Mexico.

Scrambling back to the ridge I dusted off my binoculars and focused on the dust cloud. Son of a bitch, there had to be thirty of them! Eion was coming across the valley and I waved a yellow scarf, the all clear signal.

He dropped beside me and I let him get a look. "That's a lot of riders."

"It is. Way more than we can handle alone. I don't want any of us getting hurt, so we may have to give it up for a while. We'll worry about getting it back when Zeke shows up. I need you to help me spring the traps, then we'll dust them a bit and get the hell out. They'll take this valley but it's gonna cost them.

We slipped down to the first trap, a huge boulder standing right over a sharp rise in the trail. I always meant to push it back because it made me nervous, but now I wanted it there. We had dug carefully, undermining it until it was barely hanging on. It took them almost an hour to get close but as soon as most of them were in the gap we pushed. The sonofabtich didn't move! We tried two more times and they were less than twenty feet away before it finally gave.

Oddly, it didn't make any noise until it hit the trail below. Then there was all kinds of noise as the boulder hit, dragging smaller stones with it. There was a lot of shouting and a few screams when it hit the tightly packed group. Seeing as how they were a mite distacted, I emptied the shotgun while Eion gave them every shell his rifle had. Horses were bucking, rocks were rolling, and there was no way they could return fire and precious little place they could hide. We aimed for men and horses alike. It galled me to kill a good horse but the less mounts they had the better. They were just starting to look for something to shoot at when we pulled back.

I watched through the glasses as the dust cleared. There were four horses down and another hobbling around, with at least three men on the ground, obviously dead. When they pulled the boulder baclk far enough to pass, I saw another dead horse, the rider still on it. I guess he rode that gelding straight into hell.

Eion had brought the buffalo gun along, and as soon as the first rider appeared he blew him out of the saddle. There was a lot of cussing as I emptied another rifle in their direction and Eion got a couple more shots off with the big gun.

They were down five or six men and horses, and they hadn't even made the valley yet. Still way too many of them. We watched as it took them an hour to creep through the gap, waiting until they made it to the next trap. A pile of logs, many with broken branches, piled up between two trees. We had carefully sawn the trees until they were just barely standing, so the only thing holding them was the bottom piece. It was partially sawn through as well so when they started to move it wouldn't hold much back.

The trail was clear and wide and the logs far enough away to not look like much of a threat. We waited until the front riders had passed before we blew the bottom log. I wasn't a fan of dynamite but Zeke picked up a dozen sticks just in case. I would have to tell him how much I appreciated his foresight when he got back.

Horses started bucking and the men were scrambling to get them under control when the logs hit. Four went down under the logs and rocks that had dislodged in the blast. We managed to hit the three on this side of the jam. Two dropped from their saddlles but the third came off his horse and rolled behind a boulder. We fell back yet again, the force before us reduced by a third. It still left us badly outnumbered.