Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 28
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
After our rest, we continued in a north westerly direction. Around about dinner time, the first day out since the rest, we came across a truly astonishing sight. Two large pavillion style tents had been set out, as was a large table with a full silver tea service, a roaring fire, and even a curious device which, when its handle was turned, produced wonderful music.
We signalled for Su Ching to wait there, and we approached the camp.
At our approach, the four men at the outdoor table turned to us and smiled. The one at the head of the table got up and approached us.
He was a bit of a sight himself. English riding boots, jodhpurs, a silk smoking jacket with matching silk neckerchief, and a monocle. Looked like something right out of a story book, he did.
The funny thing was, we were later to find out we looked just as odd to him.
He introduced himself as Grand Duke Aleksandr Petrovich Romanoff. The other men at the table were his his hunting companions, named Alfred, Boris, Charles, and Dimitri. Boris and Dimitri were Russians like Romanoff, the other two were Americans. There was another man, Oleg, who was clearly a servant of some kind.
We introduced ourselves, and Romanoff invited us into the camp for dinner. We gratefully slimbed off of our mounts and gathered at the camp table.
Romanoff signalled for Oleg to bring out the food, which consisted of roast pig and vegetables, washed down with large helpings of something he called Weiss beer.
"These are the kind of fellows we were talking about", smiled Alfred.
"Yes, exactly" Romanoff replied, in his sibilant Russian accent. "true heroes of the vild vest, yes?"
"The wilder the better", smiled Buffalo, wolfing down the delicious food. All at the table laughed.
We got to know each other as the meal progressed, and our new friends encouraged our tales.
"You have stared death in the face many times, my friend" asked Romanoff, awe in his eyes.
"If you're uglier'n the devil, maybe he ain't got the heart to take you down so quick, I reckon. 'Give this feller another chance', I reckon, is what that cloven hoofed rascal is thinking" answered Buffalo.
I noticed, in one of the pavillion tents, a strange looking dog with long hair, and a long triangular face. His large eyes, eerily illuminated by the campfire, watched me coldly as I observed him.
Dinner finished, Oleg brought out cigars and small glasses of port (Buffalo signalled that his beer glass was to be refilled with the port instead), as well as the unexpected treat of a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. I have no idea how they transported it, or kept it cool.
"Truly, your tales are remarkable. All of you. Fighting off Indians, and bank robbers, and outlaw gangs", Romanoff shook his head sadly. "I am sure our tepid tales of hunting lions in Africa and mountain lions in the wilds of British Columbia seem very tame to you. Very tame"
"Well, lions don't shoot back", answered Tony, "so I'm all for it!"
Romanoff and the others laughed. "Ziss is true, ziss is true", he smiled. "If they did they would be truly dangerous game"
We continued talking and eating and drinking well into the night. New found friends and delicious food. It truly does not get any better than that!
C&C Wild West: Dead Mule (Complete)
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 29
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We awoke with fuzzy heads and cold limbs. The tents and campfire were gone, as were our horses and gear. And our new "friends". In fact, none of us could tell where in tarnation we were in the big featureless plain we found ourselves in.
Pinned to Gabriel's hat was a note that read:
Gentlemen (and lady)-
I am sorry to have inconvenienced you with my small deceit of last night and do hope you are feeling in fine condition as you read this. By now, I am sure you are acquainted with your situation. What I propose now is a small wager. There is a large stone corral (made from three large boulders, with stumps placed in between) to the north west of your present position, about 30 miles. The bet is simple. If you arrive at that landmark alive, you will receive all of your gear, and an extra $1000 in silver for your trouble. Of course, I and my party will be hunting you along the way. I realise we are but mere hunters, and you are the stuff of the legendary wild west, but we have the rifles, and the horses on our side.
To be fair, we will not start until 9 of the clock.
I have always felt that man is truly the most dangerous game, because he _can_ shoot back
--Romanoff
"Well, that sucks", said Buffalo.
"I'm not going to run off to some corral just to amuse that bloody aristocrat", grumbled Tom.
"Maybe we don't have to", Gabriel answered cryptically.
"What do you mean?", Annie asked
"Well, look at your belts. They left us with our pistols and knives, but we have no water or our coats. Moving through 30 miles of desert like that would be murder"
"But you're thinking of murder of a different kind", nodded Tony
"Exactly. We don't run 30 miles. We run maybe 3 miles, find a good spot, and wait for the hunters to become the hunted.
"But they have rifles", answered Annie dubiously
"Best not to be seen then," answered Gabriel, "not until we see the whites of their eyes, anyhow"
The party adopted Gabriel's plan and arrayed ourselves in a rough horseshoe formation, in an area of some scrub brush and small boulders which provided some cover.
Sure enough, after a few uncomfortable hours, we heard the crunch of horses hooves on the hard packed desert. After that, we could see the 5 hunters. I also noticed that unfortunately, Romanoff had brought his dog with him, and there was not one dog, but two.
As they got closer to us, the dogs became agitated. Romanoff let them have their head, and I felt a sickening lurch in my stomach as they headed right towards where Annie had hidden herself behind a rock. But luck was with us, and they whined around her for a bit, then moped back to Romanoff.
"Probably came through here", Alfred said, noticing the dogs.
"Perhaps", Romanoff answered, spurring his horse to the opposite side of our ambush arrangement, where Tom was stationed. His horse got so close to Tom, I thought he was going to ride right over the scout. Instead, at the last possible minute, Tom jumped out and yelled "Fire!". So we did
Tom jumped up right beside Romanoff, and fired a blast from his revolver, hitting Romanoff's horse. The steed buckled but Romanoff was an expert horseman, and brought the animal back under control. Tony fired into the group of hunters, taking Dimitri in the shoulder. Buffalo charged from his hiding place, tomahawk drawn and swung at Alfred, but missed. Annie fired at Romanoff, but also hit his horse. Gabriel decided to keep his powder dry and remain hidden.
Although the hunters were not so foolish as to not expect ambushes, and they had in fact caught the scent of something in the area, they were startled by the ferocity of the attack. Most fired their rifles wildly, while trying to regain control of their mounts. Dimitri however was able to hit Tony with a serious wound to the shoulder.
The dogs, on the other hand, were trained to attack. One leapt at Tom, the other at Buffalo.
The party then redoubled their efforts to bring down Romanoff. Annie fired and hit the Russian, while Tom shot and hit the horse again, this time killing it. Romanoff rolled deftly from his dead mount, suffering no ill effects. Tony returned fire on Dimitri, dropping him dead from his mount. Buffalo managed to rake a tomahawk strike down the thigh of Alfred. Gabriel stepped from his hiding place and fired a shot into Romanoff, knocking him unconscious.
This had an odd effect on the hunting party. The other hunters, already taken aback by the ferocity of the ambush, and now seeing their leader fall so quickly, decided to run for it. The dogs on the other hand, seeing their master fall, had only vengeance on their canine minds.
One dog continued to attack Tom while the other charged at Gabriel, barking and gnashing its long yellow teeth.
Gabriel drew his knife and managed to grab the dog around the head. One deft twist later, and the dog and his head fell separately to the hard ground. At the same time, Tom finished off the dog attacking him
Seeing the other three riders (Alfed, Boris, and Charles) all riding in different directions to escape, Annie had the smart idea to retrieve a rifle from the fallen Dmitri. Rifle in hand, she took up a prone position on the dusty ground and fired at the galloping Charles, hitting him in the back. The shot was not fatal, but it did force Charles to tumble from his horse.
Alfred's horse reared in the face of the Buffalo onslaught, then Alfred wheeled 180 degrees and galloped away. Buffalo was able to take one last swipe at him but missed.
Boris was feeling calmer the further he got from the ambush site. He had been so startled in the ambush that he had actually dropped his rifle in the sand back there. Unfortunately for him, Annie turned her rifle in his direction for her next shot. Remembering to breath slowly and gently as she squeezed the trigger, she angled the barrel above her target and fired. In response, Boris' horse crumpled, stone dead. Boris rolled unsteadily from the dead horse and continued to flee back towards the encampment, now on foot. Annie jumped from her position and followed him. Her Indian blood did her proud, and she was soon able to eat up the distance between her prey and herself.
As she pulled up alongside the fleeing Boris, her long stride easily making up the distance, she calmly turned to him and said "Nice day for a jog"
"Whuh?....Aiiiiigh!" said Boris, at first confused, then realising she had managed to run him down.
"Surrender or die", Annie said sweetly, still calmly running alongside of the frightened Boris while pointing her rifle at him. Boris surrendered immediately.
Alfred, meanwhile managed to ride off and escape at full gallop. Charles had the idea to do likewise, but he had trouble remounting his frightened horse. While he futilely tried to remount, Gabriel was able to charge towards him. Once Gabriel was comfortably in pistol range he fired at Charles, killing him.
Everyone convened back at the site of the fallen Romanoff. Tony was asking him some questions. Gabriel chimed in.
"The hunters become the hunted", he said, with menace in his voice. "Now, how do you like that?"
The pinkish froth on Romanoff's chin hinted that he was not long for this world. "I...I like it fine. To die in the hunt is glorious. To die at the hands of western desperadoes such as yourselves is even...even better"
"Well, if he's so eager to die, why don't we help him along?", asked Tom. To be honest, there was not a single dissenting voice
"Get a rope", said Buffalo.
But it was too late, and Romanoff had already slipped away. No doubt in his own mind to Valhalla, on the wings of buxom maidens. But if you ask me, the place that feller was heading probably had more folks with pitch forks than buxom maidens.
We walked back to the hunters' encampment. Alfred had obviously beaten us there, as the area was somewhat disturbed, and the servant was nowhere to be seen. However, in Romanoff's tent, we did indeed find a storage chest with all of our gear, and another smaller chest which did in fact hold $1,000 in silver. $1325 actually. We also retrieved the silver tea set and some other acoutrements. When we found Su Ching again, we loaded his wagon up with what we could.
Surprisingly, we made more money letting some crazy Russian hunt us like lions than we did saving the whole town of Dead Mule. Virtue really doesn't pay.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We awoke with fuzzy heads and cold limbs. The tents and campfire were gone, as were our horses and gear. And our new "friends". In fact, none of us could tell where in tarnation we were in the big featureless plain we found ourselves in.
Pinned to Gabriel's hat was a note that read:
Gentlemen (and lady)-
I am sorry to have inconvenienced you with my small deceit of last night and do hope you are feeling in fine condition as you read this. By now, I am sure you are acquainted with your situation. What I propose now is a small wager. There is a large stone corral (made from three large boulders, with stumps placed in between) to the north west of your present position, about 30 miles. The bet is simple. If you arrive at that landmark alive, you will receive all of your gear, and an extra $1000 in silver for your trouble. Of course, I and my party will be hunting you along the way. I realise we are but mere hunters, and you are the stuff of the legendary wild west, but we have the rifles, and the horses on our side.
To be fair, we will not start until 9 of the clock.
I have always felt that man is truly the most dangerous game, because he _can_ shoot back
--Romanoff
"Well, that sucks", said Buffalo.
"I'm not going to run off to some corral just to amuse that bloody aristocrat", grumbled Tom.
"Maybe we don't have to", Gabriel answered cryptically.
"What do you mean?", Annie asked
"Well, look at your belts. They left us with our pistols and knives, but we have no water or our coats. Moving through 30 miles of desert like that would be murder"
"But you're thinking of murder of a different kind", nodded Tony
"Exactly. We don't run 30 miles. We run maybe 3 miles, find a good spot, and wait for the hunters to become the hunted.
"But they have rifles", answered Annie dubiously
"Best not to be seen then," answered Gabriel, "not until we see the whites of their eyes, anyhow"
The party adopted Gabriel's plan and arrayed ourselves in a rough horseshoe formation, in an area of some scrub brush and small boulders which provided some cover.
Sure enough, after a few uncomfortable hours, we heard the crunch of horses hooves on the hard packed desert. After that, we could see the 5 hunters. I also noticed that unfortunately, Romanoff had brought his dog with him, and there was not one dog, but two.
As they got closer to us, the dogs became agitated. Romanoff let them have their head, and I felt a sickening lurch in my stomach as they headed right towards where Annie had hidden herself behind a rock. But luck was with us, and they whined around her for a bit, then moped back to Romanoff.
"Probably came through here", Alfred said, noticing the dogs.
"Perhaps", Romanoff answered, spurring his horse to the opposite side of our ambush arrangement, where Tom was stationed. His horse got so close to Tom, I thought he was going to ride right over the scout. Instead, at the last possible minute, Tom jumped out and yelled "Fire!". So we did
Tom jumped up right beside Romanoff, and fired a blast from his revolver, hitting Romanoff's horse. The steed buckled but Romanoff was an expert horseman, and brought the animal back under control. Tony fired into the group of hunters, taking Dimitri in the shoulder. Buffalo charged from his hiding place, tomahawk drawn and swung at Alfred, but missed. Annie fired at Romanoff, but also hit his horse. Gabriel decided to keep his powder dry and remain hidden.
Although the hunters were not so foolish as to not expect ambushes, and they had in fact caught the scent of something in the area, they were startled by the ferocity of the attack. Most fired their rifles wildly, while trying to regain control of their mounts. Dimitri however was able to hit Tony with a serious wound to the shoulder.
The dogs, on the other hand, were trained to attack. One leapt at Tom, the other at Buffalo.
The party then redoubled their efforts to bring down Romanoff. Annie fired and hit the Russian, while Tom shot and hit the horse again, this time killing it. Romanoff rolled deftly from his dead mount, suffering no ill effects. Tony returned fire on Dimitri, dropping him dead from his mount. Buffalo managed to rake a tomahawk strike down the thigh of Alfred. Gabriel stepped from his hiding place and fired a shot into Romanoff, knocking him unconscious.
This had an odd effect on the hunting party. The other hunters, already taken aback by the ferocity of the ambush, and now seeing their leader fall so quickly, decided to run for it. The dogs on the other hand, seeing their master fall, had only vengeance on their canine minds.
One dog continued to attack Tom while the other charged at Gabriel, barking and gnashing its long yellow teeth.
Gabriel drew his knife and managed to grab the dog around the head. One deft twist later, and the dog and his head fell separately to the hard ground. At the same time, Tom finished off the dog attacking him
Seeing the other three riders (Alfed, Boris, and Charles) all riding in different directions to escape, Annie had the smart idea to retrieve a rifle from the fallen Dmitri. Rifle in hand, she took up a prone position on the dusty ground and fired at the galloping Charles, hitting him in the back. The shot was not fatal, but it did force Charles to tumble from his horse.
Alfred's horse reared in the face of the Buffalo onslaught, then Alfred wheeled 180 degrees and galloped away. Buffalo was able to take one last swipe at him but missed.
Boris was feeling calmer the further he got from the ambush site. He had been so startled in the ambush that he had actually dropped his rifle in the sand back there. Unfortunately for him, Annie turned her rifle in his direction for her next shot. Remembering to breath slowly and gently as she squeezed the trigger, she angled the barrel above her target and fired. In response, Boris' horse crumpled, stone dead. Boris rolled unsteadily from the dead horse and continued to flee back towards the encampment, now on foot. Annie jumped from her position and followed him. Her Indian blood did her proud, and she was soon able to eat up the distance between her prey and herself.
As she pulled up alongside the fleeing Boris, her long stride easily making up the distance, she calmly turned to him and said "Nice day for a jog"
"Whuh?....Aiiiiigh!" said Boris, at first confused, then realising she had managed to run him down.
"Surrender or die", Annie said sweetly, still calmly running alongside of the frightened Boris while pointing her rifle at him. Boris surrendered immediately.
Alfred, meanwhile managed to ride off and escape at full gallop. Charles had the idea to do likewise, but he had trouble remounting his frightened horse. While he futilely tried to remount, Gabriel was able to charge towards him. Once Gabriel was comfortably in pistol range he fired at Charles, killing him.
Everyone convened back at the site of the fallen Romanoff. Tony was asking him some questions. Gabriel chimed in.
"The hunters become the hunted", he said, with menace in his voice. "Now, how do you like that?"
The pinkish froth on Romanoff's chin hinted that he was not long for this world. "I...I like it fine. To die in the hunt is glorious. To die at the hands of western desperadoes such as yourselves is even...even better"
"Well, if he's so eager to die, why don't we help him along?", asked Tom. To be honest, there was not a single dissenting voice
"Get a rope", said Buffalo.
But it was too late, and Romanoff had already slipped away. No doubt in his own mind to Valhalla, on the wings of buxom maidens. But if you ask me, the place that feller was heading probably had more folks with pitch forks than buxom maidens.
We walked back to the hunters' encampment. Alfred had obviously beaten us there, as the area was somewhat disturbed, and the servant was nowhere to be seen. However, in Romanoff's tent, we did indeed find a storage chest with all of our gear, and another smaller chest which did in fact hold $1,000 in silver. $1325 actually. We also retrieved the silver tea set and some other acoutrements. When we found Su Ching again, we loaded his wagon up with what we could.
Surprisingly, we made more money letting some crazy Russian hunt us like lions than we did saving the whole town of Dead Mule. Virtue really doesn't pay.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 30
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
As we were loading up Su Ching's wagon, we realised we did not have enough room for everything from the Russian's camp. I suppose we could have loaded it all onto our horses, but we preferred to let them travel light.
Tom mentioned to Su Ching that we were running out of room in the wagon. He smiled agreeably
"No problem, chief. We fix that number one. Super." He motioned for Tom to come over to the back of the wagon, and then Su Ching pressed down on two "rivets" at the corners. There was a soft "click".
Su Ching smiled. "Sometimes must be secret stuff, yes chief? Imperial do not see, do not angry. Yes? Most special happy?"
"Well I'll be", said Tom, and flipped open the now loose rear panel. Inside was a compartment attached to the base of the wagon, about four feet by four feet.
"Hmm. *something in chinese*", yelled Su Ching.
"*angry screeching in chinese*", yelled back Su Ching's wife
"She forget to take blanket out. And left canteen too. We keep that top board, right chief? Like on ship? Top board?" Su Ching asked, pulling the blanket and now empty canteen out of the cubby hole
"She say not her. Women! Hey chief?"smiled Su Ching
While we were stowing the gear, Gabriel again had the old prospector's map out. He and Tony were poring over it intently. Buffalo wandered over.
"Hey, that looks like a stone corral", Buffalo said, pointing to an area on the map marked lter viehkafig.
"You're right", Tony said. "Maybe those guys did us a favour. Let's head out there"
So we gathered our gear and headed back out into the desert
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
As we were loading up Su Ching's wagon, we realised we did not have enough room for everything from the Russian's camp. I suppose we could have loaded it all onto our horses, but we preferred to let them travel light.
Tom mentioned to Su Ching that we were running out of room in the wagon. He smiled agreeably
"No problem, chief. We fix that number one. Super." He motioned for Tom to come over to the back of the wagon, and then Su Ching pressed down on two "rivets" at the corners. There was a soft "click".
Su Ching smiled. "Sometimes must be secret stuff, yes chief? Imperial do not see, do not angry. Yes? Most special happy?"
"Well I'll be", said Tom, and flipped open the now loose rear panel. Inside was a compartment attached to the base of the wagon, about four feet by four feet.
"Hmm. *something in chinese*", yelled Su Ching.
"*angry screeching in chinese*", yelled back Su Ching's wife
"She forget to take blanket out. And left canteen too. We keep that top board, right chief? Like on ship? Top board?" Su Ching asked, pulling the blanket and now empty canteen out of the cubby hole
"She say not her. Women! Hey chief?"smiled Su Ching
While we were stowing the gear, Gabriel again had the old prospector's map out. He and Tony were poring over it intently. Buffalo wandered over.
"Hey, that looks like a stone corral", Buffalo said, pointing to an area on the map marked lter viehkafig.
"You're right", Tony said. "Maybe those guys did us a favour. Let's head out there"
So we gathered our gear and headed back out into the desert
Looking forward to wrapping this up tonight. Even though I'll be very open to playing these characters again some time.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society
Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/
My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society
Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/
My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 31
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode out to the stone corral. Sure enough it was a bunch of giant boulders that formed a loose ring. Between the boulders, someone had placed some large stumps. It looked to be a fairly effective corral, and we noticed animal tracks inside. So it was still being used.
Tony noticed an arrow carved in the westernmost rock, pointing west.
"Good eyes, Tony", smiled Annie. "We'll make an outdoorsman out of you yet"
"Not likely", answered Tony. "I guess I just enjoy sand free britches, and sand free bread, and sand free water too much. "
"Bit of sand never hurt no one", muttered Buffalo. "Puts hair on your chest"
A bit farther out, Tom noticed a low flat rock with markings on it. On closer inspection, that was also an arrow. Drawing a line between the two pointed straight at a jumble of rocks.
"Just like the map!", exclaimed Gabriel, eagerly pointing to the map
As we rode towards the large rock formation, Tom again noticed a team of riders observing us. They were a bit closer this time, and he was able to make out their attire with his binoculars.
"Definitely Indians", he said. "Can't make out if they are Apaches, though".
Well, at least we knew _who_ had been following us all this way. But why?
"Those aren't Indians", Annie said, also using binoculars.
"Look like Indians", Tom said.
"Yes, they do", Annie replied. "But they don't ride like Indians. Too far forward on the horse, too stiff"
"Well, why the heck are people dressed like Indians following us then?", asked Gabriel.
No one had a good answer. They continued to track us from quite a distance, then they disappeared again.
We rode on to the rock formation, which proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Clearly, at one time, there had been a massive cap stone sitting on top of the underlying boulder, just as our map showed. But it must have recently come loose. All we saw was a giant boulder with many smaller pieces of boulder lying around it.
It would have taken a heck of a bang to knock of a rock like that, I think.
"Anyone see any arrows?", asked Tony
We searched the boulders but could not find any signs. Finally, Buffalo had the bright (yet crazy) idea to climb the giant boulder, which must have been at least thirty feet, if it was an inch.
He got up about twenty feet and yelled down. "I see something"
"What is it?", asked Gabriel
"An arrow, it's pointing west"
"What do you see out west from there?" Tom asked
"Not much. There seems to be some kind of burned area out there"
So Buffalo climbed down , and we headed off as the arrow directed us.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode out to the stone corral. Sure enough it was a bunch of giant boulders that formed a loose ring. Between the boulders, someone had placed some large stumps. It looked to be a fairly effective corral, and we noticed animal tracks inside. So it was still being used.
Tony noticed an arrow carved in the westernmost rock, pointing west.
"Good eyes, Tony", smiled Annie. "We'll make an outdoorsman out of you yet"
"Not likely", answered Tony. "I guess I just enjoy sand free britches, and sand free bread, and sand free water too much. "
"Bit of sand never hurt no one", muttered Buffalo. "Puts hair on your chest"
A bit farther out, Tom noticed a low flat rock with markings on it. On closer inspection, that was also an arrow. Drawing a line between the two pointed straight at a jumble of rocks.
"Just like the map!", exclaimed Gabriel, eagerly pointing to the map
As we rode towards the large rock formation, Tom again noticed a team of riders observing us. They were a bit closer this time, and he was able to make out their attire with his binoculars.
"Definitely Indians", he said. "Can't make out if they are Apaches, though".
Well, at least we knew _who_ had been following us all this way. But why?
"Those aren't Indians", Annie said, also using binoculars.
"Look like Indians", Tom said.
"Yes, they do", Annie replied. "But they don't ride like Indians. Too far forward on the horse, too stiff"
"Well, why the heck are people dressed like Indians following us then?", asked Gabriel.
No one had a good answer. They continued to track us from quite a distance, then they disappeared again.
We rode on to the rock formation, which proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Clearly, at one time, there had been a massive cap stone sitting on top of the underlying boulder, just as our map showed. But it must have recently come loose. All we saw was a giant boulder with many smaller pieces of boulder lying around it.
It would have taken a heck of a bang to knock of a rock like that, I think.
"Anyone see any arrows?", asked Tony
We searched the boulders but could not find any signs. Finally, Buffalo had the bright (yet crazy) idea to climb the giant boulder, which must have been at least thirty feet, if it was an inch.
He got up about twenty feet and yelled down. "I see something"
"What is it?", asked Gabriel
"An arrow, it's pointing west"
"What do you see out west from there?" Tom asked
"Not much. There seems to be some kind of burned area out there"
So Buffalo climbed down , and we headed off as the arrow directed us.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 32
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode in the direction indicated by the arrow.
After a day's ride, we came to an odd thing. We found a series of large black burns in the desert. They seemed to be in a roughly symmetrical pattern. We asked Annie if she knew of any Indian heathen rites that would look like this, but she was as baffled as we were. There did not seem to be much in the way of debris from the fires.
To me, they looked more like blast marks from dynamite. But who would be dynamiting out here? Unless it is some cruel new torture that the Indians have created. I have heard that it is better to kill oneself than to fall into their clutches. Luckily, Buffalo has offered (repeatedly) to kill me if it looks like the Indians will get us. I have rebuffed his kind offer on numerous occasions, but I still keep my pistol pointed half at Buffalo when I see those Indians observing us now.
About another day's ride later, we came to a shallow draw, at the bottom of which there was a natural waterhole. We were getting low on water again, so this was just what we needed. Tony and I were again the first to the water. I don't think we were as used to the deprivation of a hard ride as the others were.
This time the water smelled fine, so we eagerly filled our canteens.
"Hang on", said Tom.
"What?", I asked, filling my mouth with the cool refreshing water.
"That water isn't right.", Tom said calmly. "It's been tainted."
Spooosh! I spat the water out of my mouth.
"How can you tell that just by looking at it?", I asked, still spitting the water out of my mouth
"Well, I don't want to get too technical, but you have to look at the surrounding rocks, examine the type of vegetation nearby, examine the clarity of the water...but most importantly, there is a sign over there that says "Pois-" "
Buffalo and Gabriel laughed.
"Ha Ha good one chief! Most excellent funny time function", said Su Ching
Tony walked over to the half submerged sign and pulled it from the earth. Sure enough, it read "Poison", and had a death's head on it to boot. He dumped his canteen into the sand.
From the waterhole, we looked off into a wide plain that butted up against some mountains. From where we were, we could see the remains of an old building near the mountains. All that stood there now was a chimney.
However, the truly arresting sight was the small tent city that seemed to have sprung up around it. Some of them even had Apache Trading Post stitched onto them.
We rode down towards the mountains, and towards our destiny
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode in the direction indicated by the arrow.
After a day's ride, we came to an odd thing. We found a series of large black burns in the desert. They seemed to be in a roughly symmetrical pattern. We asked Annie if she knew of any Indian heathen rites that would look like this, but she was as baffled as we were. There did not seem to be much in the way of debris from the fires.
To me, they looked more like blast marks from dynamite. But who would be dynamiting out here? Unless it is some cruel new torture that the Indians have created. I have heard that it is better to kill oneself than to fall into their clutches. Luckily, Buffalo has offered (repeatedly) to kill me if it looks like the Indians will get us. I have rebuffed his kind offer on numerous occasions, but I still keep my pistol pointed half at Buffalo when I see those Indians observing us now.
About another day's ride later, we came to a shallow draw, at the bottom of which there was a natural waterhole. We were getting low on water again, so this was just what we needed. Tony and I were again the first to the water. I don't think we were as used to the deprivation of a hard ride as the others were.
This time the water smelled fine, so we eagerly filled our canteens.
"Hang on", said Tom.
"What?", I asked, filling my mouth with the cool refreshing water.
"That water isn't right.", Tom said calmly. "It's been tainted."
Spooosh! I spat the water out of my mouth.
"How can you tell that just by looking at it?", I asked, still spitting the water out of my mouth
"Well, I don't want to get too technical, but you have to look at the surrounding rocks, examine the type of vegetation nearby, examine the clarity of the water...but most importantly, there is a sign over there that says "Pois-" "
Buffalo and Gabriel laughed.
"Ha Ha good one chief! Most excellent funny time function", said Su Ching
Tony walked over to the half submerged sign and pulled it from the earth. Sure enough, it read "Poison", and had a death's head on it to boot. He dumped his canteen into the sand.
From the waterhole, we looked off into a wide plain that butted up against some mountains. From where we were, we could see the remains of an old building near the mountains. All that stood there now was a chimney.
However, the truly arresting sight was the small tent city that seemed to have sprung up around it. Some of them even had Apache Trading Post stitched onto them.
We rode down towards the mountains, and towards our destiny
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 33
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode down into the tent-city in the cool of the early morning. It had the typical exuberant atmosphere one finds when young men, alcohol, and easy money mix. The popping of gunfire mixed with various hootings and hollerings. The stench was awful, although a breeze came out of the hills on occasion, which was a blessing.
The hills above the camp seemed to be covered with black holes, from the mouths of which small figures scurried in and out like termites. Each group seemed to be jealously guarding their own small hole. There was a fair amount of yelling, and even a few pistols waved about.
"We ain't the only ones out here to get rich", noted Buffalo Johnson. "Hope we ain't too late"
"We're fine" Gabriel answered, although I think the presence of all of these gold hunters had made him very nervous. With hundreds of greedy prospectors combing through the hills in search of gold, would the map's treasure still be there?
As we rode through the "streets" a few of Dead Mules ex-residents recognized us. "Hey sheriff, decided to get rich too, huh?" one asked Gabriel with a smile. Another doffed his cap and said "To hell with the Committee!" Others cheered that sentiment. That raised our spirits somewhat.
We rode over to the ruins of the Burned Station, which was thankfully free of occupation. The adobe and wood walls had burned to the ground, but the stick and mud chimney still stood proudly. We set out our tents and waited for Su Ching to wrangle some vittles
"*something in chinese*", cursed Su Ching, waving Tom over to his wagon.
"What's up, old bean?" Tom asked agreeably
" We no food, chief. Only por-rid-ge"
"Porridge, for tea? Never! I'll get us some victuals", Tom replied
I had a sudden vision of lanterns as Tom said that, but I had the wisdom to remain silent. We had been running low on food before we encountered Romanoff. We recovered some food at his camp, but most of it seems to have left the camp with either Alfred or the servant.
Tom and Gabriel headed into the heart of tent-city in search of food. As they wandered through the city, trying to find the Provisioner, Gabriel asked a few people about any Mendozas in camp. Most people had no idea what he was talking about, but one old timer (he called himself a 49er) had some recollection of the name.
"Mendoza! That's ancient history. 60 years back, he was said to have found the Lost Conquistador Mine, on account of it was them Conquistadors that ran the mine hundreds of years ago"
"He disappeared a while back. Nothing much heard of him, or that mine, for awhile. Then, ten years back, some crazy immygran' clockmaker name of Dutch Jack rolls into Dead Mule with a mule and starts spreading around nuggets. People tried to follow 'im whenever he left town, but never succeeded."
"Some fellers calling themselves Mendozas called him out on it. Said that he stole the Mendoza mine. Dutch Jack didn't pay them no mind, but that just made the Mendozas madder. Jack told me he didn't see how you could steal something that was never theirs in the first place."
"Whew! All this talkin' has really parched the ol' voice box. Can ye' help an old 49er", the old man asked, holding out a shaky hand, palm up.
"Sure, old timer", Tom replied, and flipped him a silver dollar.
"Er...thanks", answered the old miner, a touch ungratefully I thought.
As we headed further into the city, Tom heard some moaning from a tent with a red cross on it. He poked his head in.
There was the usual assortment of fist-fight and knife injuries, but we also saw two fellers lying on beds, both with long gashes on their arms and legs.
"What's with them?", Tom asked, nodding at the bed ridden men.
"Animal attacks", the doctor answered while attending to a broken arm. "We've had a rash of them lately"
Tom wandered over to the fallen men. The first did indeed seem to have been attacked by a mountain lion or something similar, to Tom's experienced eye. But as he told me later, the cuts on the second man were too long, too deep, and more importantly too precise for typical animal attacks. They lacked the jaggedness of animal claw wounds, especially at the exit point of the tear. He didn't know what animal had caused them, but he wanted to avoid it.
After that, we finally made it to the Provisioners. I think I started to get nervous when I saw the "Division of the Apache Trading Post, Dead Mule" sign. I don't know if Tom even saw it.
Tom stepped through the door and went up to the harried clerk. The clerk was selling goods as well as assaying the gold that was being used to buy the goods, so he was kept busy.
"Help you?" asked the clerk
"Yes, my good man", said Tom in a friendly manner, "we are seeking comestibles to fuel our mineralogical investigations"
"The who with the what now?" replied the bewildered clerk
"We need some food", interjected Gabriel.
"Ahhh", answered the clerk
"Yes", Tom said, a bit huffily, "let's start with a dozen eggs..."
"Dozen eggs, twelve dollars", answered the clerk, writing in a note pad.
"...Two jugs of milk..."
"Two jugs of milk fiftee-"
"Did you say twelve dollars for eggs?" Tom asked, astonished
"Yep, dollar each", answered the clerk, bored. Clearly, he had heard this shocked bleating many times before.
"Are you insane?" thundered Tom, "Am I insane? Has the whole world gone insane? Where is my gun?"
"Hang on there, Tom", I interrupted quickly, "maybe he just misspoke".
"Nope", replied the clerk. "Supply and demand. We got the supply, you got the demand, and more gold'n you know what to do with," he snickered.
"We haven't found any gold yet, you highwayman!" yelled Tom, reaching to the gun at his hip.
I was starting to see why the 49er had been disappointed with his dollar tip.
"Plus, getting the food out here ain't easy, you got Indians, wild animals, mysterious booming noises at night" answered the clerk, oblivious to Tom's outrage.
"We'll take seven eggs, a loaf of bread and some cheese. I assume the water is free?" Gabriel interjected, his arm wrapped tightly around Tom's tense shoulders.
"Well's down the street. Do you need a jug? Four dollars."
"Uhm, no", answered Gabriel
We headed back to camp lighter in the pocket, but with some food. On the way back, I thought for a minute I noticed a small figure in dark loose fitting clothing watching us, but when I turned back for a closer look he was gone.
When we got back to our camp at the chimney, Annie came out to greet us.
"Good news", she said. "Buffalo figured out where the map says to look next"
Seeing our expressions, she added, "No really, Buffalo figured it out."
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode down into the tent-city in the cool of the early morning. It had the typical exuberant atmosphere one finds when young men, alcohol, and easy money mix. The popping of gunfire mixed with various hootings and hollerings. The stench was awful, although a breeze came out of the hills on occasion, which was a blessing.
The hills above the camp seemed to be covered with black holes, from the mouths of which small figures scurried in and out like termites. Each group seemed to be jealously guarding their own small hole. There was a fair amount of yelling, and even a few pistols waved about.
"We ain't the only ones out here to get rich", noted Buffalo Johnson. "Hope we ain't too late"
"We're fine" Gabriel answered, although I think the presence of all of these gold hunters had made him very nervous. With hundreds of greedy prospectors combing through the hills in search of gold, would the map's treasure still be there?
As we rode through the "streets" a few of Dead Mules ex-residents recognized us. "Hey sheriff, decided to get rich too, huh?" one asked Gabriel with a smile. Another doffed his cap and said "To hell with the Committee!" Others cheered that sentiment. That raised our spirits somewhat.
We rode over to the ruins of the Burned Station, which was thankfully free of occupation. The adobe and wood walls had burned to the ground, but the stick and mud chimney still stood proudly. We set out our tents and waited for Su Ching to wrangle some vittles
"*something in chinese*", cursed Su Ching, waving Tom over to his wagon.
"What's up, old bean?" Tom asked agreeably
" We no food, chief. Only por-rid-ge"
"Porridge, for tea? Never! I'll get us some victuals", Tom replied
I had a sudden vision of lanterns as Tom said that, but I had the wisdom to remain silent. We had been running low on food before we encountered Romanoff. We recovered some food at his camp, but most of it seems to have left the camp with either Alfred or the servant.
Tom and Gabriel headed into the heart of tent-city in search of food. As they wandered through the city, trying to find the Provisioner, Gabriel asked a few people about any Mendozas in camp. Most people had no idea what he was talking about, but one old timer (he called himself a 49er) had some recollection of the name.
"Mendoza! That's ancient history. 60 years back, he was said to have found the Lost Conquistador Mine, on account of it was them Conquistadors that ran the mine hundreds of years ago"
"He disappeared a while back. Nothing much heard of him, or that mine, for awhile. Then, ten years back, some crazy immygran' clockmaker name of Dutch Jack rolls into Dead Mule with a mule and starts spreading around nuggets. People tried to follow 'im whenever he left town, but never succeeded."
"Some fellers calling themselves Mendozas called him out on it. Said that he stole the Mendoza mine. Dutch Jack didn't pay them no mind, but that just made the Mendozas madder. Jack told me he didn't see how you could steal something that was never theirs in the first place."
"Whew! All this talkin' has really parched the ol' voice box. Can ye' help an old 49er", the old man asked, holding out a shaky hand, palm up.
"Sure, old timer", Tom replied, and flipped him a silver dollar.
"Er...thanks", answered the old miner, a touch ungratefully I thought.
As we headed further into the city, Tom heard some moaning from a tent with a red cross on it. He poked his head in.
There was the usual assortment of fist-fight and knife injuries, but we also saw two fellers lying on beds, both with long gashes on their arms and legs.
"What's with them?", Tom asked, nodding at the bed ridden men.
"Animal attacks", the doctor answered while attending to a broken arm. "We've had a rash of them lately"
Tom wandered over to the fallen men. The first did indeed seem to have been attacked by a mountain lion or something similar, to Tom's experienced eye. But as he told me later, the cuts on the second man were too long, too deep, and more importantly too precise for typical animal attacks. They lacked the jaggedness of animal claw wounds, especially at the exit point of the tear. He didn't know what animal had caused them, but he wanted to avoid it.
After that, we finally made it to the Provisioners. I think I started to get nervous when I saw the "Division of the Apache Trading Post, Dead Mule" sign. I don't know if Tom even saw it.
Tom stepped through the door and went up to the harried clerk. The clerk was selling goods as well as assaying the gold that was being used to buy the goods, so he was kept busy.
"Help you?" asked the clerk
"Yes, my good man", said Tom in a friendly manner, "we are seeking comestibles to fuel our mineralogical investigations"
"The who with the what now?" replied the bewildered clerk
"We need some food", interjected Gabriel.
"Ahhh", answered the clerk
"Yes", Tom said, a bit huffily, "let's start with a dozen eggs..."
"Dozen eggs, twelve dollars", answered the clerk, writing in a note pad.
"...Two jugs of milk..."
"Two jugs of milk fiftee-"
"Did you say twelve dollars for eggs?" Tom asked, astonished
"Yep, dollar each", answered the clerk, bored. Clearly, he had heard this shocked bleating many times before.
"Are you insane?" thundered Tom, "Am I insane? Has the whole world gone insane? Where is my gun?"
"Hang on there, Tom", I interrupted quickly, "maybe he just misspoke".
"Nope", replied the clerk. "Supply and demand. We got the supply, you got the demand, and more gold'n you know what to do with," he snickered.
"We haven't found any gold yet, you highwayman!" yelled Tom, reaching to the gun at his hip.
I was starting to see why the 49er had been disappointed with his dollar tip.
"Plus, getting the food out here ain't easy, you got Indians, wild animals, mysterious booming noises at night" answered the clerk, oblivious to Tom's outrage.
"We'll take seven eggs, a loaf of bread and some cheese. I assume the water is free?" Gabriel interjected, his arm wrapped tightly around Tom's tense shoulders.
"Well's down the street. Do you need a jug? Four dollars."
"Uhm, no", answered Gabriel
We headed back to camp lighter in the pocket, but with some food. On the way back, I thought for a minute I noticed a small figure in dark loose fitting clothing watching us, but when I turned back for a closer look he was gone.
When we got back to our camp at the chimney, Annie came out to greet us.
"Good news", she said. "Buffalo figured out where the map says to look next"
Seeing our expressions, she added, "No really, Buffalo figured it out."
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 34
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
The next morning we assembled just before the crack of dawn. A few glances shot at Buffalo indicated that if we had all gathered pre-dawn for no reason, there might be some sore words.
Buffalo lined us all up so that the burned chimney of the station pointed in a roughly north west direction, towards the shaft-filled hills.
Sure enough, as the rosy fingered dawn broke through the morning clouds from the east we saw a glint of light persistently winking at us up on the hill. Fortunately, it was in a section away from the main mining activity.
We gathered up our gear and told Su Ching to wait for us, and mind our horses (and whatever provisions we had left). The morning air was cool as we began climbing the hills, scrambling over the abundant loose rock at the base of the hill.
We got up to where we thought the blinking had been coming from. Sure enough, Annie's sharp eyes soon found a piece of broken mirror wedged into the rocks. Near it we found a small weathered cross, with the faded word "Mendoza" scratched into it. At that point, I think we all started to feel a bit of gold fever.
Gabriel eagerly pulled out the yellowed map. Surveying the hill to the north west of us, he spotted a large pine, standing on its own and larger than the pines around it.
"I'll bet '30 schritten' means paces. 30 paces from the big pine", Tony said.
"I think you're right", Annie said. We raced excitedly down a small hill of scree and then up towards the pine. Marching off thirty paces is a bit tricky uphill amongst loose rock and mine tailings but we soon found ourselves at a large bush. Gabriel pulled at the bush and sure enough it was in a large camouflaged pot. Behind the pot, we found a mine entrance
Within the mine it was pitch black. It did not look to be in very good shape. The beams holding the tunnels open seemed very old and some had actually fallen. Small rock and dirt falls littered the tunnels.
"Better keep our guns holstered for now", Gabriel said, noting the quality of the tunnels. "We don't want to bring this mountain down on top of us"
Fortunately, Tony had remembered to bring our two precious lanterns. One of which he gave to Buffalo at the front of the party, and one to Annie at the back. We headed in.
The main tunnel seemed to lead north/south. From off to the east we could hear soft growling and bone gnawing noises, which set my stomach aflutter. Gabriel waved everyone to silence, then Buffalo stepped forward with Gabriel down the side passage with the noises.
As Buffalo came into the room, lantern before him, he saw a large cougar gnawing on a long yellow bone. To the side were a smaller cougar and two young cubs. At sight of the light, the two adults charged.
The male leapt at Buffalo, scraping a paw down his chest. Buffalo swung at it with his tomahawk, hitting it in the shoulder.
The female jumped at Gabriel, hitting him with both claws to the arm and a bite to the shoulder. Once she had latched onto the shoulder, she was able to bring up her hind legs and rake them down Gabriel's chest. Gabriel was seriously wounded by her attack, which perhaps addled his senses, because he took a swipe with his cavalry sabre at the male, hitting it in the other shoulder
Annie and Tom took Gabriel's admonition against gunfire to heart and drew out their bow and blowgun respectively. Both knelt down on the cold mine floor and used their sniping skills to best effect. Somehow, they were both able to avoid their companions and hit the male with grazing shots. Tony moved forward, knife drawn, to stand beside Buffalo.
The cats attacked with terrifying ferocity. The female again landed a couple of claw attacks on Gabriel's arms, greatly weakening him. He swung his sabre again but missed. The male hit Buffalo with both a claw and bite attack. The latter allowed him to get some leverage and rake his strong hind legs down Buffalo's chest. Buffalo returned the favour with a tomahawk chop to the cat's lower leg. Annie managed to land another hit with an arrow on the male, Tony grazed the male with a swipe of his knife, but Tom missed with his blowgun.
The male was weakening at this point, blow gun darts and arrows hanging from his bloodied sides. But he still managed to land another claw on Buffalo. Buffalo swung but missed. Tom and Tony combined to finally bring down the big beast.
Meanwhile, Gabriel was trying to keep the female off of him but she managed to land another bite on him, which entailed another rake. Gabriel fell to the floor before the hind legs were even able to get purchase on him.
At the sight of her fallen mate, the female charged at the remainder of the party bottlenecking the entrance to her lair. Tom and Annie both scored telling blows to her flanks with their knife and tomahawk respectively, but the big cat managed to bull her way through the party and charged down the tunnel and escaped.
"That is odd", said Tom, breathing hard.
"What is?" asked Tony, nervously fingering his knife and on guard for the return of the female.
"She deserted her cubs. Never heard of that before", said Tom
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
The next morning we assembled just before the crack of dawn. A few glances shot at Buffalo indicated that if we had all gathered pre-dawn for no reason, there might be some sore words.
Buffalo lined us all up so that the burned chimney of the station pointed in a roughly north west direction, towards the shaft-filled hills.
Sure enough, as the rosy fingered dawn broke through the morning clouds from the east we saw a glint of light persistently winking at us up on the hill. Fortunately, it was in a section away from the main mining activity.
We gathered up our gear and told Su Ching to wait for us, and mind our horses (and whatever provisions we had left). The morning air was cool as we began climbing the hills, scrambling over the abundant loose rock at the base of the hill.
We got up to where we thought the blinking had been coming from. Sure enough, Annie's sharp eyes soon found a piece of broken mirror wedged into the rocks. Near it we found a small weathered cross, with the faded word "Mendoza" scratched into it. At that point, I think we all started to feel a bit of gold fever.
Gabriel eagerly pulled out the yellowed map. Surveying the hill to the north west of us, he spotted a large pine, standing on its own and larger than the pines around it.
"I'll bet '30 schritten' means paces. 30 paces from the big pine", Tony said.
"I think you're right", Annie said. We raced excitedly down a small hill of scree and then up towards the pine. Marching off thirty paces is a bit tricky uphill amongst loose rock and mine tailings but we soon found ourselves at a large bush. Gabriel pulled at the bush and sure enough it was in a large camouflaged pot. Behind the pot, we found a mine entrance
Within the mine it was pitch black. It did not look to be in very good shape. The beams holding the tunnels open seemed very old and some had actually fallen. Small rock and dirt falls littered the tunnels.
"Better keep our guns holstered for now", Gabriel said, noting the quality of the tunnels. "We don't want to bring this mountain down on top of us"
Fortunately, Tony had remembered to bring our two precious lanterns. One of which he gave to Buffalo at the front of the party, and one to Annie at the back. We headed in.
The main tunnel seemed to lead north/south. From off to the east we could hear soft growling and bone gnawing noises, which set my stomach aflutter. Gabriel waved everyone to silence, then Buffalo stepped forward with Gabriel down the side passage with the noises.
As Buffalo came into the room, lantern before him, he saw a large cougar gnawing on a long yellow bone. To the side were a smaller cougar and two young cubs. At sight of the light, the two adults charged.
The male leapt at Buffalo, scraping a paw down his chest. Buffalo swung at it with his tomahawk, hitting it in the shoulder.
The female jumped at Gabriel, hitting him with both claws to the arm and a bite to the shoulder. Once she had latched onto the shoulder, she was able to bring up her hind legs and rake them down Gabriel's chest. Gabriel was seriously wounded by her attack, which perhaps addled his senses, because he took a swipe with his cavalry sabre at the male, hitting it in the other shoulder
Annie and Tom took Gabriel's admonition against gunfire to heart and drew out their bow and blowgun respectively. Both knelt down on the cold mine floor and used their sniping skills to best effect. Somehow, they were both able to avoid their companions and hit the male with grazing shots. Tony moved forward, knife drawn, to stand beside Buffalo.
The cats attacked with terrifying ferocity. The female again landed a couple of claw attacks on Gabriel's arms, greatly weakening him. He swung his sabre again but missed. The male hit Buffalo with both a claw and bite attack. The latter allowed him to get some leverage and rake his strong hind legs down Buffalo's chest. Buffalo returned the favour with a tomahawk chop to the cat's lower leg. Annie managed to land another hit with an arrow on the male, Tony grazed the male with a swipe of his knife, but Tom missed with his blowgun.
The male was weakening at this point, blow gun darts and arrows hanging from his bloodied sides. But he still managed to land another claw on Buffalo. Buffalo swung but missed. Tom and Tony combined to finally bring down the big beast.
Meanwhile, Gabriel was trying to keep the female off of him but she managed to land another bite on him, which entailed another rake. Gabriel fell to the floor before the hind legs were even able to get purchase on him.
At the sight of her fallen mate, the female charged at the remainder of the party bottlenecking the entrance to her lair. Tom and Annie both scored telling blows to her flanks with their knife and tomahawk respectively, but the big cat managed to bull her way through the party and charged down the tunnel and escaped.
"That is odd", said Tom, breathing hard.
"What is?" asked Tony, nervously fingering his knife and on guard for the return of the female.
"She deserted her cubs. Never heard of that before", said Tom
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 35
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Gabriel and Buffalo had both been sorely wounded in the fight, so we carefully re-disguised the entrance to the mine and made a bee-line for that tent with the red cross. The doctor there worked wonders on the two of them. He said that their wounds looked worse than they were, resulting in a lot of concussion type damage and shallow wounds, but not too many deep gashes which can prove very long lasting and debilitating.
The next morning, both Gabriel and Buffalo were back on their feet, although a touch unsteadily. We returned to the mine, making sure no one followed us. The cubs were gone but we did not know if the mother had returned for them and left, or if she was somewhere else in the mine.
We progressed up the main tunnel, passing nervously through an area that had already partially collapsed, forcing us to move through in single file. We soon came to another side tunnel, this one leading west. We could hear faint chipping noises, as well as the occasional mutter. We managed to sneak up to the entrance of the room with silent hand signals. Inside, we could see an old prospector chipping at the walls with a rusty pick-axe.
Tom stepped forward to be our diplomat (Lord help us!).
"Howdy old timer, what are you doing in our mine?" Tom asked
"Your mine! What in tarnation do ye mean? This is my mine, fair and square"
"How long has it been your mine?" Tom asked
"For a long time", the prospector replied, flapping his hands to shoo some flies from around his head. (There were no flies around his head).
"Well, Dutch Jack gave this mine to us", Tom said
"Never heard of him," the old prospector said. "Best watch for the cats on your way out"
Tom decided persuasion might not work with this crazy old coot.
"Looks like you hit a rich vein there", Tom said, pointing to the far wall.
"Where?" the prospector asked eagerly, whirling around to see the vein.
Bonk.
Tom and Buffalo dragged the now unconscious prospector over to the corner and tied him up. Meanwhile, Tony and I went through his effects.
"Well, if this doesn't say 'crazy', I don't know what does", Tony smiled, showing the contents of the miner's pockets. He had two marbles, a ball of string, two feathers and some small rocks.
I found a small pouch that contained what looked like a large flake of some kind of shale. When I picked it up, it was suddenly warm to the touch. Intrigued, I put it in my pocket and then promptly forgot about it.
Further along the main tunnel we found a sleeping bear (who was quickly dealt with) and another exit from the mine. We headed back in, and took the other shaft leading from the main tunnel. This had initially seemed blocked with debris, but closer inspection showed a man-sized hole. Tom volunteered to wriggle through, lantern in hand.
After a short while, we noticed that the glow of his lantern dimmed then stopped.
"Tom? Tom?" Annie said, first quietly, then a bit louder.
A minute later Tom crawled back through. "Almost blacked out there. Lamp went out too"
"Probably some gas trapped in there", Gabriel said. "Let's clear out this debris and air it out"
Tony set to work with the pick-axe he had purchased as part of his lantern ruse back in Dead Mule, and soon cleared the rock. We let the air clear for a few minutes. Then we headed through. Behind the debris, we found a room filled with old mining supplies, which also had some debris at its north end, with another man sized hole.
Tony again set to work and it was soon cleared. Behind it we found a long ladder leading down to another level of the mine.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Gabriel and Buffalo had both been sorely wounded in the fight, so we carefully re-disguised the entrance to the mine and made a bee-line for that tent with the red cross. The doctor there worked wonders on the two of them. He said that their wounds looked worse than they were, resulting in a lot of concussion type damage and shallow wounds, but not too many deep gashes which can prove very long lasting and debilitating.
The next morning, both Gabriel and Buffalo were back on their feet, although a touch unsteadily. We returned to the mine, making sure no one followed us. The cubs were gone but we did not know if the mother had returned for them and left, or if she was somewhere else in the mine.
We progressed up the main tunnel, passing nervously through an area that had already partially collapsed, forcing us to move through in single file. We soon came to another side tunnel, this one leading west. We could hear faint chipping noises, as well as the occasional mutter. We managed to sneak up to the entrance of the room with silent hand signals. Inside, we could see an old prospector chipping at the walls with a rusty pick-axe.
Tom stepped forward to be our diplomat (Lord help us!).
"Howdy old timer, what are you doing in our mine?" Tom asked
"Your mine! What in tarnation do ye mean? This is my mine, fair and square"
"How long has it been your mine?" Tom asked
"For a long time", the prospector replied, flapping his hands to shoo some flies from around his head. (There were no flies around his head).
"Well, Dutch Jack gave this mine to us", Tom said
"Never heard of him," the old prospector said. "Best watch for the cats on your way out"
Tom decided persuasion might not work with this crazy old coot.
"Looks like you hit a rich vein there", Tom said, pointing to the far wall.
"Where?" the prospector asked eagerly, whirling around to see the vein.
Bonk.
Tom and Buffalo dragged the now unconscious prospector over to the corner and tied him up. Meanwhile, Tony and I went through his effects.
"Well, if this doesn't say 'crazy', I don't know what does", Tony smiled, showing the contents of the miner's pockets. He had two marbles, a ball of string, two feathers and some small rocks.
I found a small pouch that contained what looked like a large flake of some kind of shale. When I picked it up, it was suddenly warm to the touch. Intrigued, I put it in my pocket and then promptly forgot about it.
Further along the main tunnel we found a sleeping bear (who was quickly dealt with) and another exit from the mine. We headed back in, and took the other shaft leading from the main tunnel. This had initially seemed blocked with debris, but closer inspection showed a man-sized hole. Tom volunteered to wriggle through, lantern in hand.
After a short while, we noticed that the glow of his lantern dimmed then stopped.
"Tom? Tom?" Annie said, first quietly, then a bit louder.
A minute later Tom crawled back through. "Almost blacked out there. Lamp went out too"
"Probably some gas trapped in there", Gabriel said. "Let's clear out this debris and air it out"
Tony set to work with the pick-axe he had purchased as part of his lantern ruse back in Dead Mule, and soon cleared the rock. We let the air clear for a few minutes. Then we headed through. Behind the debris, we found a room filled with old mining supplies, which also had some debris at its north end, with another man sized hole.
Tony again set to work and it was soon cleared. Behind it we found a long ladder leading down to another level of the mine.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 36
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
This level had a darker, damper feel to it. The walls (which were now more like crudely carved tunnels) appeared to be sweating. We could hear the drip! drip! of water falling in a pool ahead. Further inspection with out lanterns revealed two equally unpalatable options. In the south east portion was a murky pool of unknown depth in a large cavern. In the north east portion was a passage leading down deeper into the mine. The water here was right up to the ceiling of the passage, leaving a mere six inches breathing space. However, as we played our lanterns through the passage, Annie thought she could see dry land at the other end of it.
Buffalo and Tom decided to swim through the passage while Tony, Gabriel, Annie (and myself) stayed back. Buffalo took Tony's rope with him, with the intention of pulling Tony across once Buffalo was on the other side. Gabriel came up with the clever idea of using some surplus wood to float the lantern across with them, as they dog paddled the distance.
As Tom and Buffalo pulled themselves up on the bank, they could hear a faint splash from the other end. Tom took a gander at their surroundings while Buffalo ferried Tony across.
There was a pile of bones in one section, and in another, the corpse of what looked to be the female mountain lion. In the far corner was a pile of what looked to be old sticks. Tom moved over to look at the mountain lion, while Tony and Buffalo had a look at the old sticks.
"Gold!" yelled Tony, fingering the "sticks". "We're rich! Richer than congressmen!"
"Yeehah!" hollered Buffalo, struggling to hold up one of the "sticks" in his hand.
"Come over and look at this", Tom said to the celebrating duo.
"Did you hear me say we are rich?" asked Tony.
"Look at this lion", Tom said.
"Yeah, so, it ran away from us and died somehow. Who cares? Gold!" Tony smiled
"Have another look. This looks exactly like the female we fought. Same colouring, same size, even the same markings around the mouth."
"So?"
"Note the rigidity of the corpse, and the decay of the flesh. This cat died seven, maybe ten days ago"
"You mean we fought its ghost back there?" Buffalo asked, a quaver in his voice.
"I'm not sure, but something's not right"
Meanwhile, Annie, Gabriel and myself were waiting back on the other side of the water. We waited anxiously for everyone to swim across, then after a few minutes we heard shouts of gold and riches. We smiled to each other and (quietly) congratulated ourselves.
The others seemed to be talking about something else, so Gabriel and Annie began talking about ways to get the gold out through the water logged passage. Gabriel was just making an interesting point about how much gold actually weighs (and thus how many trips it might take to remove it all) when the wall attacked him.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
This level had a darker, damper feel to it. The walls (which were now more like crudely carved tunnels) appeared to be sweating. We could hear the drip! drip! of water falling in a pool ahead. Further inspection with out lanterns revealed two equally unpalatable options. In the south east portion was a murky pool of unknown depth in a large cavern. In the north east portion was a passage leading down deeper into the mine. The water here was right up to the ceiling of the passage, leaving a mere six inches breathing space. However, as we played our lanterns through the passage, Annie thought she could see dry land at the other end of it.
Buffalo and Tom decided to swim through the passage while Tony, Gabriel, Annie (and myself) stayed back. Buffalo took Tony's rope with him, with the intention of pulling Tony across once Buffalo was on the other side. Gabriel came up with the clever idea of using some surplus wood to float the lantern across with them, as they dog paddled the distance.
As Tom and Buffalo pulled themselves up on the bank, they could hear a faint splash from the other end. Tom took a gander at their surroundings while Buffalo ferried Tony across.
There was a pile of bones in one section, and in another, the corpse of what looked to be the female mountain lion. In the far corner was a pile of what looked to be old sticks. Tom moved over to look at the mountain lion, while Tony and Buffalo had a look at the old sticks.
"Gold!" yelled Tony, fingering the "sticks". "We're rich! Richer than congressmen!"
"Yeehah!" hollered Buffalo, struggling to hold up one of the "sticks" in his hand.
"Come over and look at this", Tom said to the celebrating duo.
"Did you hear me say we are rich?" asked Tony.
"Look at this lion", Tom said.
"Yeah, so, it ran away from us and died somehow. Who cares? Gold!" Tony smiled
"Have another look. This looks exactly like the female we fought. Same colouring, same size, even the same markings around the mouth."
"So?"
"Note the rigidity of the corpse, and the decay of the flesh. This cat died seven, maybe ten days ago"
"You mean we fought its ghost back there?" Buffalo asked, a quaver in his voice.
"I'm not sure, but something's not right"
Meanwhile, Annie, Gabriel and myself were waiting back on the other side of the water. We waited anxiously for everyone to swim across, then after a few minutes we heard shouts of gold and riches. We smiled to each other and (quietly) congratulated ourselves.
The others seemed to be talking about something else, so Gabriel and Annie began talking about ways to get the gold out through the water logged passage. Gabriel was just making an interesting point about how much gold actually weighs (and thus how many trips it might take to remove it all) when the wall attacked him.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 37
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Yes, you read that correctly. The wall attacked him. One minute, he was making a diagram with his hands, and the next, two yellow eyes appeared in the wall beside him and a wall textured arm slashed out at Gabriel, striking a cruel blow on his side.
He grimaced and took a shocked step back. In front of him stood what to all intents and purposes looked like a part of the wall, but with arms and legs and glowing yellow eyes. Gabriel was so shocked he reflexively reached for his pistol, the same weapon he had told everyone to avoid for fear of a tunnel collapse. He fired a shot into the creature, causing it to hesitate and growl slightly. A fine spray of dust and debris fell warningly from the ceiling, but thankfully there was no cave in.
Annie was so startled by the apparition before her she dropped her lantern to the floor. That caused weird shadows to play across the walls, enhancing the eerie feeling of unreality of our situation. Recovering her nerve quickly, Annie drew her tomahawk and charged at the creature.
Hearing the commotion from the other side, Tom, Buffalo, and Tony piled back into the water filled passage and swam back to give aid to their friends.
The strange creature seemed fixated on Gabriel and struck out at him again, grazing him with those large clawed hands. The snap of its enormous maw clacked through the cavern, but fortunately missed its target.
The creature drew back its lips from its yellow fangs and hissed at Gabriel "Hoonam, give!"
Gabriel's response was to draw his old cavalry sabre and strike the creature. Annie also hit it again with the tomahawk. At each hit, the stony creature reacted in a surprised way, as though it had never been struck before.
Soon Tom, Tony and Buffalo had charged down the (fairly wide) passage and were also able to strike at the creature. The creature, realizing it was sorely outnumbered, promptly disappeared.
I'm not sure how it happened. It was no trick of the light. It was standing there, a man shaped blob of rock, then it was gone, just like that.
Some hesitated for a moment, but Tom plunged his knife directly into the now empty space where the creature had stood. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain. The others quickly caught on, and after multiple thrusts into the "empty air", the creature slumped, now visible, to the floor. As it did so, it no longer looked like a piece of the rocks at all. Rather it was a pasty grey colour with reptilian skin, like one of them gators they have in the Floridas
"What in blazes was that?", Buffalo gasped, breathing hard.
"I don't know, I don't want to know", Annie replied, clearly shaken by what she had seen.
"Right". Tony said. "Let's get our gold and get out of here. If I never see that apparition in my dreams I will count myself truly blessed. Madre Dios." Then he fervently crossed himself. In all the days of "Father Sanchez", I don't remember him ever looking so god-fearing.
We were all pretty spooked, truth to tell. It wasn't until later that I realized, when the creature said "Hoonam, give", it had been looking at me as much as Gabriel, but he was fortunately placed between the creature and I. I shivered at the thought of those claws rending my flesh. But, luckily it was dead now.
We set up a human chain to gather the gold from the island and take it up the ladder to the first floor, and from there to the entrance to the cave. We decided we would wait for nightfall to move it from the cave mouth to our wagon down below.
Moving that much gold (Gabriel estimated there was over $10,000 worth!) took a long time, just as Gabriel had feared. In fact, there was no need to wait for nightfall to move the gold from the cave mouth, as it took us the entire day to move it up to the cave mouth.
We were all pretty wet, hungry, and exhausted by the end of it. I was stationed in the hall, moving what Buffalo handed me from the flooded passage up to Tom, who spent the day going up and down the ladder with gold held precariously in a jury-rigged pack on his back.
The atmosphere of dark, damp menace down the shaft, the fight with the weird creature, and the exhilaration of finding the gold all combined to play tricks with my mind. While carrying the gold back and forth, I started to hear noises in the dark. Then, towards the end of day, I thought I saw something in the large pool. I stepped towards the pool to get a better look (which sounds foolish now, but we were all not thinking clearly at that point)
At first, I took what I had seen to be my lantern reflected back from the pool. As I watched it closely, I realized it was not one light but two. And it was not reflected lantern light. What I was seeing were two bright yellow eyes. And those eyes were staring, unblinking, into my own.
I gasped and stepped back from the pool. When I looked again, the eyes had gone. I cursed my fertile imagination and set to work ferrying what remained of the gold
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Yes, you read that correctly. The wall attacked him. One minute, he was making a diagram with his hands, and the next, two yellow eyes appeared in the wall beside him and a wall textured arm slashed out at Gabriel, striking a cruel blow on his side.
He grimaced and took a shocked step back. In front of him stood what to all intents and purposes looked like a part of the wall, but with arms and legs and glowing yellow eyes. Gabriel was so shocked he reflexively reached for his pistol, the same weapon he had told everyone to avoid for fear of a tunnel collapse. He fired a shot into the creature, causing it to hesitate and growl slightly. A fine spray of dust and debris fell warningly from the ceiling, but thankfully there was no cave in.
Annie was so startled by the apparition before her she dropped her lantern to the floor. That caused weird shadows to play across the walls, enhancing the eerie feeling of unreality of our situation. Recovering her nerve quickly, Annie drew her tomahawk and charged at the creature.
Hearing the commotion from the other side, Tom, Buffalo, and Tony piled back into the water filled passage and swam back to give aid to their friends.
The strange creature seemed fixated on Gabriel and struck out at him again, grazing him with those large clawed hands. The snap of its enormous maw clacked through the cavern, but fortunately missed its target.
The creature drew back its lips from its yellow fangs and hissed at Gabriel "Hoonam, give!"
Gabriel's response was to draw his old cavalry sabre and strike the creature. Annie also hit it again with the tomahawk. At each hit, the stony creature reacted in a surprised way, as though it had never been struck before.
Soon Tom, Tony and Buffalo had charged down the (fairly wide) passage and were also able to strike at the creature. The creature, realizing it was sorely outnumbered, promptly disappeared.
I'm not sure how it happened. It was no trick of the light. It was standing there, a man shaped blob of rock, then it was gone, just like that.
Some hesitated for a moment, but Tom plunged his knife directly into the now empty space where the creature had stood. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain. The others quickly caught on, and after multiple thrusts into the "empty air", the creature slumped, now visible, to the floor. As it did so, it no longer looked like a piece of the rocks at all. Rather it was a pasty grey colour with reptilian skin, like one of them gators they have in the Floridas
"What in blazes was that?", Buffalo gasped, breathing hard.
"I don't know, I don't want to know", Annie replied, clearly shaken by what she had seen.
"Right". Tony said. "Let's get our gold and get out of here. If I never see that apparition in my dreams I will count myself truly blessed. Madre Dios." Then he fervently crossed himself. In all the days of "Father Sanchez", I don't remember him ever looking so god-fearing.
We were all pretty spooked, truth to tell. It wasn't until later that I realized, when the creature said "Hoonam, give", it had been looking at me as much as Gabriel, but he was fortunately placed between the creature and I. I shivered at the thought of those claws rending my flesh. But, luckily it was dead now.
We set up a human chain to gather the gold from the island and take it up the ladder to the first floor, and from there to the entrance to the cave. We decided we would wait for nightfall to move it from the cave mouth to our wagon down below.
Moving that much gold (Gabriel estimated there was over $10,000 worth!) took a long time, just as Gabriel had feared. In fact, there was no need to wait for nightfall to move the gold from the cave mouth, as it took us the entire day to move it up to the cave mouth.
We were all pretty wet, hungry, and exhausted by the end of it. I was stationed in the hall, moving what Buffalo handed me from the flooded passage up to Tom, who spent the day going up and down the ladder with gold held precariously in a jury-rigged pack on his back.
The atmosphere of dark, damp menace down the shaft, the fight with the weird creature, and the exhilaration of finding the gold all combined to play tricks with my mind. While carrying the gold back and forth, I started to hear noises in the dark. Then, towards the end of day, I thought I saw something in the large pool. I stepped towards the pool to get a better look (which sounds foolish now, but we were all not thinking clearly at that point)
At first, I took what I had seen to be my lantern reflected back from the pool. As I watched it closely, I realized it was not one light but two. And it was not reflected lantern light. What I was seeing were two bright yellow eyes. And those eyes were staring, unblinking, into my own.
I gasped and stepped back from the pool. When I looked again, the eyes had gone. I cursed my fertile imagination and set to work ferrying what remained of the gold
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 38
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode out of the tent city at midnight. We were hungry, tired, and not a little spooked by what we had seen in the fight with the creature. I was having trouble getting those yellow eyes out of my thoughts.
Su Ching was a bit surprised that we were already riding out of the mining camp, but he had learned not to ask too many questions. The wagon was able to hold some of the gold, but we had to pack a number of the gold rods into our horses' saddle bags, which slowed down the horses.
As much as we hated to do it, we had to go back to the provisioner for more supplies. Strangely, his store was open that late at night. The prices were as ludicrous as before, but we had at least a week or two of travel ahead of us, and we needed at least the necessities. We paid him in Romanoff's silver, so as not to arouse suspicion by trying to cash in one of our gold rods.
The first couple of days we had to accustom ourselves to the slow speed we could achieve with the now fully laden horses and wagon. On the afternoon of the second day we again saw the "Indian" riders observing us. They kept their distance.
That same night I experienced a most unsettling dream. I was back in the passageway of the mine, moving towards the terrifying but hypnotic sight of the two yellow eyes in the pool. As I stood there, frozen in fear, a reptilian creature stepped from the pool and came towards me.
It was smaller than the one Gabriel and the rest had fought off. I also noticed two partially healed wounds on its back, in the same general vicinity where Tom and Annie had landed their knife and Tomahawk strikes on the retreating female cat.
Its eyes held me hypnotized as it walked towards me, one long taloned hand outstretched before it. As it came towards me its features began to change, becoming more and more noticeably human. I recognized the face it was assuming, it was on the tip of my tongue, but then I woke up.
Needless to say, I awoke in a terrible state. I found Annie crouched over me.
"What's wrong?" she asked. I could see Gabriel and Tom looking around for an attack.
"Noth...nothing", I answered unsteadily. "Just a bad dream I guess"
"Rich men don't have bad dreams", Annie smiled.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
We rode out of the tent city at midnight. We were hungry, tired, and not a little spooked by what we had seen in the fight with the creature. I was having trouble getting those yellow eyes out of my thoughts.
Su Ching was a bit surprised that we were already riding out of the mining camp, but he had learned not to ask too many questions. The wagon was able to hold some of the gold, but we had to pack a number of the gold rods into our horses' saddle bags, which slowed down the horses.
As much as we hated to do it, we had to go back to the provisioner for more supplies. Strangely, his store was open that late at night. The prices were as ludicrous as before, but we had at least a week or two of travel ahead of us, and we needed at least the necessities. We paid him in Romanoff's silver, so as not to arouse suspicion by trying to cash in one of our gold rods.
The first couple of days we had to accustom ourselves to the slow speed we could achieve with the now fully laden horses and wagon. On the afternoon of the second day we again saw the "Indian" riders observing us. They kept their distance.
That same night I experienced a most unsettling dream. I was back in the passageway of the mine, moving towards the terrifying but hypnotic sight of the two yellow eyes in the pool. As I stood there, frozen in fear, a reptilian creature stepped from the pool and came towards me.
It was smaller than the one Gabriel and the rest had fought off. I also noticed two partially healed wounds on its back, in the same general vicinity where Tom and Annie had landed their knife and Tomahawk strikes on the retreating female cat.
Its eyes held me hypnotized as it walked towards me, one long taloned hand outstretched before it. As it came towards me its features began to change, becoming more and more noticeably human. I recognized the face it was assuming, it was on the tip of my tongue, but then I woke up.
Needless to say, I awoke in a terrible state. I found Annie crouched over me.
"What's wrong?" she asked. I could see Gabriel and Tom looking around for an attack.
"Noth...nothing", I answered unsteadily. "Just a bad dream I guess"
"Rich men don't have bad dreams", Annie smiled.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 39
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
The following morning, everyone was a bit on edge, what with disturbed sleep and the general weight of the treasure we carried with us. We breakfasted on porridge and water and headed out.
As we came into a low, broad canyon, Annie who was outriding for us waved her hand. She had spotted something. We pulled up our horses and waited for her to either signal us to continue or ride back to us with what she had seen.
She looked left and right up into the rise above us, then turned her horse to ride back to us. That's when the shot took her in the left shoulder, and she was shot clean off her horse.
After the first shot, a volley of fire erupted from both sides of the canyon. I took the opportunity to duck inside of the wagon, but my muckraker curiosity led me to poke my head out the side to see what was going on.
Gabriel was trying to hold his horse under control, while yelling at Tom to get up the side of the canyon. Tom nodded and raced up the canyon in his typically quick sure-footed way, his sniper rifle held loosely in his hand. Tony yelled that he would stay with the wagon, and jumped from his horse into the back of the wagon (which was already a bit crowded with myself and Su Ching's wife already in there, and with Su Ching himself following soon after)
After that was settled, there was a shout from the ridgetop.
"You got one chance. You got something that belongs to the Mendoza family. Hand it over, and no-one else needs to get shot"
"How do we know you will keep your word?" Gabriel asked pragmatically.
"You're no good claim jumpers who stuck your noses where they ain't wanted. So I guess you'll have to take your chances" was the loud reply, followed by harsh laughter from elsewhere on the ridge.
"Offer unacceptable!" Buffalo yelled and rode straight up the mouth of the canyon, and straight into the ambush.
"Damn it Buffalo", Gabriel smiled, "I wanted to be the one that said that!" Then he goaded his horse and galloped with Buffalo right into the line of fire.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
The following morning, everyone was a bit on edge, what with disturbed sleep and the general weight of the treasure we carried with us. We breakfasted on porridge and water and headed out.
As we came into a low, broad canyon, Annie who was outriding for us waved her hand. She had spotted something. We pulled up our horses and waited for her to either signal us to continue or ride back to us with what she had seen.
She looked left and right up into the rise above us, then turned her horse to ride back to us. That's when the shot took her in the left shoulder, and she was shot clean off her horse.
After the first shot, a volley of fire erupted from both sides of the canyon. I took the opportunity to duck inside of the wagon, but my muckraker curiosity led me to poke my head out the side to see what was going on.
Gabriel was trying to hold his horse under control, while yelling at Tom to get up the side of the canyon. Tom nodded and raced up the canyon in his typically quick sure-footed way, his sniper rifle held loosely in his hand. Tony yelled that he would stay with the wagon, and jumped from his horse into the back of the wagon (which was already a bit crowded with myself and Su Ching's wife already in there, and with Su Ching himself following soon after)
After that was settled, there was a shout from the ridgetop.
"You got one chance. You got something that belongs to the Mendoza family. Hand it over, and no-one else needs to get shot"
"How do we know you will keep your word?" Gabriel asked pragmatically.
"You're no good claim jumpers who stuck your noses where they ain't wanted. So I guess you'll have to take your chances" was the loud reply, followed by harsh laughter from elsewhere on the ridge.
"Offer unacceptable!" Buffalo yelled and rode straight up the mouth of the canyon, and straight into the ambush.
"Damn it Buffalo", Gabriel smiled, "I wanted to be the one that said that!" Then he goaded his horse and galloped with Buffalo right into the line of fire.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 40
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
At the last minute both Buffalo and Gabriel, almost as though they had planned it, jerked their mounts sharply to the right and trotted into some scrub and small boulders to south.
All we could hear was crackling gunfire from all around us. One managed to take Gabriel's hat off, and Buffalo took a shot to the hand
Then we heard a sharp high-pitched crack, which we knew to be the sound of one of our snipers' high-powered Winchesters. This was followed by a scream. Tom was up there somewhere, and he had got one of the bastards.
With Tom up on the ridge to the north, and Gabriel and Buffalo under cover to the south, what had seemed a simple two way ambush had just gotten a lot more complicated for our ambushers.
Gabriel dismounted and got low under a bush with his rifle. He fired a shot into where he thought the voice had come from, and was rewarded with the sound of scrambly movement.
Buffalo, meanwhile kept his horse charging straight up the line, and actually overran a position of two of the ambushers, who had hidden amongst the boulders. With a grin, Buffalo pulled his Tomahawk from his belt and leapt between his two foes, swinging like a mad forester
The two that Buffalo had surprised did not like their odds against the axe swinging mad man so both chose to charge down the canyon on foot towards our wagon, and away from the crazed Buffalo that had overrun their position.
The ambushers were dressed in Indian garb, but they did not look like real Indians when you got up close, even to my ignorant eye. As they ran down the hill towards us, Annie struggled unsteadily to her feet. The shot to her shoulder had been a terrible wound, and her left arm hung uselessly at her side. But her right hand still clutched her Winchester protectively.
She held the rifle at her hip and fired a shot into the chest of one of the two fleeing towards her, dropping him on the spot. However, now she had to get another bullet in the chamber, and the only way to do so would be to brace the Winchester with her numbed left arm while she worked the lever with her right but that was impossible.
She smiled at the "Indian" charging towards her. He blinked in surprise and came to a full stop. Then she held her fingers through the guard of the gun, and flipped the entire weapon around her hand, re-cocking it one handed.
The poor fool now realized he was between an angry Buffalo and a spiteful woman. He chose the woman, and fired a shot that went wide from short range. Annie shot him down where he stood.
Tom managed to shoot another, taking him clean through the forehead with a shot that ignored the giant boulder of cover the man thought he was safely hidden behind.
Buffalo charged across the gap into the area Gabriel was shooting at. He found a couple of riflemen, one of them the Mendoza brother we had tangled with back in Dead Mule. Both dressed as Indian braves.
The rifleman leapt up and stuck at Buffalo with a knife, but missed feebly. Buffalo swung his tomahawk and landed a mighty blow to the man's thigh. Mendoza turned his rifle from the wagon and towards Buffalo for a point blank shot. As he did so, he shifted away from the cover he had been enjoying behind a rock. Gabriel was able to take a careful shot and hit him in the abdomen, almost killing him.
Annie re-cocked her rifle, and was slowly sinking to the ground to line up a sniper shot on Mendoza when Tom's shot rang out, killing the ambush leader. Buffalo quickly dispatched the remaining "Indian" with a meaty chop.
However, we had left our flank a bit unguarded, and those of us in the wagon were surprised when the flap was pulled back and a Mexican face, covered in war paint and a feathered headdress, appeared in front of us. Not as surprised as he was, though, when Tony's sawn off shotgun pointed at his face.
"Oh Sh-", said the "Indian"
Boom!
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
At the last minute both Buffalo and Gabriel, almost as though they had planned it, jerked their mounts sharply to the right and trotted into some scrub and small boulders to south.
All we could hear was crackling gunfire from all around us. One managed to take Gabriel's hat off, and Buffalo took a shot to the hand
Then we heard a sharp high-pitched crack, which we knew to be the sound of one of our snipers' high-powered Winchesters. This was followed by a scream. Tom was up there somewhere, and he had got one of the bastards.
With Tom up on the ridge to the north, and Gabriel and Buffalo under cover to the south, what had seemed a simple two way ambush had just gotten a lot more complicated for our ambushers.
Gabriel dismounted and got low under a bush with his rifle. He fired a shot into where he thought the voice had come from, and was rewarded with the sound of scrambly movement.
Buffalo, meanwhile kept his horse charging straight up the line, and actually overran a position of two of the ambushers, who had hidden amongst the boulders. With a grin, Buffalo pulled his Tomahawk from his belt and leapt between his two foes, swinging like a mad forester
The two that Buffalo had surprised did not like their odds against the axe swinging mad man so both chose to charge down the canyon on foot towards our wagon, and away from the crazed Buffalo that had overrun their position.
The ambushers were dressed in Indian garb, but they did not look like real Indians when you got up close, even to my ignorant eye. As they ran down the hill towards us, Annie struggled unsteadily to her feet. The shot to her shoulder had been a terrible wound, and her left arm hung uselessly at her side. But her right hand still clutched her Winchester protectively.
She held the rifle at her hip and fired a shot into the chest of one of the two fleeing towards her, dropping him on the spot. However, now she had to get another bullet in the chamber, and the only way to do so would be to brace the Winchester with her numbed left arm while she worked the lever with her right but that was impossible.
She smiled at the "Indian" charging towards her. He blinked in surprise and came to a full stop. Then she held her fingers through the guard of the gun, and flipped the entire weapon around her hand, re-cocking it one handed.
The poor fool now realized he was between an angry Buffalo and a spiteful woman. He chose the woman, and fired a shot that went wide from short range. Annie shot him down where he stood.
Tom managed to shoot another, taking him clean through the forehead with a shot that ignored the giant boulder of cover the man thought he was safely hidden behind.
Buffalo charged across the gap into the area Gabriel was shooting at. He found a couple of riflemen, one of them the Mendoza brother we had tangled with back in Dead Mule. Both dressed as Indian braves.
The rifleman leapt up and stuck at Buffalo with a knife, but missed feebly. Buffalo swung his tomahawk and landed a mighty blow to the man's thigh. Mendoza turned his rifle from the wagon and towards Buffalo for a point blank shot. As he did so, he shifted away from the cover he had been enjoying behind a rock. Gabriel was able to take a careful shot and hit him in the abdomen, almost killing him.
Annie re-cocked her rifle, and was slowly sinking to the ground to line up a sniper shot on Mendoza when Tom's shot rang out, killing the ambush leader. Buffalo quickly dispatched the remaining "Indian" with a meaty chop.
However, we had left our flank a bit unguarded, and those of us in the wagon were surprised when the flap was pulled back and a Mexican face, covered in war paint and a feathered headdress, appeared in front of us. Not as surprised as he was, though, when Tony's sawn off shotgun pointed at his face.
"Oh Sh-", said the "Indian"
Boom!
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 41
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
After the fight with the Mendozas/"Indians", we decided it might be best to head back to Dead Mule. We had originally thought to leave the Arizona Territory entirely. Too many men there seemed to have caught gold fever, and too many knew that we had been friendly with Dutch Jack. But Dead Mule was closest, we were a bit banged up, and we needed to resupply.
A couple of days out of Dead Mule, I had another troubling dream. The creature from the pool came to me in a vision again, a vision straight from hell. She had taken on a human form that I recognized vaguely, but the more I concentrated on it, the more my dreams shifted oddly to prevent me from seeing her visage.
She was travelling on foot from the tent city. A couple of riders approached, in a friendly manner, asking something. The creature nodded mutely at their offer and tried to mount one of their spare horses. The horse shied away wildly from its touch at first. However, the creature was soon able to calm, or fool the horse in some way, and she was able to mount it, while in her human guise.
My dream then shifted scene to that night at their camp. I saw her sitting around the fire, but her back was always to me. The other two men eventually threw their coffee dregs into the fire and headed into their tents. After a while, she stood up and walked sinuously into the tent of the first man. After a moment, she returned, back still turned to me, but her arms now covered in gore up to the elbow. Then she headed into the second man's tent.
I woke up screaming again.
That morning, we had camped beside a fruitful well, so Su Ching's wife headed out to get what water she could for our meal and for the horses.
The rest of the group packed up the camp and saddled the horses (which was now heavy work with all of the gold and silver in the various saddle bags)
After a fairly long wait Su Ching's wife returned and carried her two full buckets of water into the wagon. Su Ching called out to her but she did not respond (probably chiding her for being a slow poke, I reckon).
I had been sleeping in the wagon so that my bad dreams did not disturb the others as much at night. I smiled at her and began clearing my camp bedding from the wagon floor so she could get to work. I was still a bit muggy from waking. She was shoving the water buckets into the wagons while Su Ching worked at the front of the wagon to secure the mules to their bracings.
Helpfully, I reached to pull one of the heavy buckets towards me, and Su Ching's wife gratefully pushed one hairy forearm forward to help move the bucket towards me.
Lost for a moment in a waking daydream, I thought about how Su Ching really was fortunate to have such a wife. She was hard working, calm under pressure, and a good cook. Not to mention her lovely long black hair, her liquid almond eyes, her hairy forearms..
Wait. Hairy forearm?
At my reaction, Su Ching's "wife", a.k.a. the inscrutable Mo Kwei, leapt past me and towards the interior door to the front of the wagon where poor Su Ching worked, oblivious to his doom.
"Mo Kwei!" I screamed "Mo Kwei!"
"Whaaa?" wailed Su Ching from the front of the wagon.
Mo Kwei was almost past me when I did a foolish thing. I wrapped my arms around his chest and tried to hold him back. It was like trying to hold back a bull. He pulled me along like a sack of flour over his shoulder.
"Mo Kwei!" I continued to yell.
Mo Kwei bulled forward, with me dangling uselessly behind him, and slashed at Su Ching with a small but very sharp looking blade. Su Ching was soon cut deeply on his arm.
"*Something in chinese*", wailed Su Ching
"*Something in chinese*", hissed Mo Kwei, slashing again.
By that time, Buffalo and Gabriel had made it to the wagon. Gabriel fired his pistol, actually managing to somehow miss us all and hit Mo Kwei in the leg. Mo Kwei neither flinched nor uttered a sound at what looked to be a deep painful wound.
Buffalo charged forward, yelling something about "pyjama'ed fellers" and something or other "ain't right". He managed to wrap his huge arms around my own, crushing both Mo Kwei and myself in a hearty bear hug. I don't know how Mo Kwei felt, but I honestly thought I heard my ribs popping.
"Grapple 'im, Gabriel!" yelled Buffalo. Gabriel tried to oblige but the mass of wrestling bodies was difficult to get a hold of. Mo Kwei somehow managed to charge towards the side of the wagon, with both Buffalo and myself holding on, and slam Buffalo into the wooden side with much force. I felt Buffalo's grip weaken as he was battered into the wagon.
I started to black out from both the squeezing and the slamming. Gabriel managed to get one arm around one of Mo Kwei's forearms for a moment, but it was like trying to hold onto a horse's leg who didn't want you grabbing at his leg, and Mo Kwei spun free of Gabriel's grasp easily.
Tom and Annie rushed from setting up the horses, intent on also piling on Mo Kwei in one massive pyjama pile up.
Mo Kwei was forced to concede that, yet again, those pesky kids had ruined his plans to assassinate what was, after all, a simple launderer. With a supreme effort of will, he managed to somehow breath outwards in an explosive manner and break both Buffalo's and my own more feeble hold on him. Then he reached into one of his damned pouches and again produced one of those noxious smoke bombs.
The globe shattered on the ground. As I had just been released from a crushing bear hug, I involuntarily took a big gulp of the now tainted air. I was soon on my knees, coughing and wiping my watery eyes. Gabriel was also affected.
From my position on the ground, I could see the small legs of the pyjama clad maniac pumping madly as he sped away from our position at an impossibly fast run.
"Oh no you don't", wheezed Buffalo. "Not this time".
Buffalo, somehow managing to resist the effects of the smoke ball that had so debilitated the rest of us, cocked back his arm and threw his tomahawk. It seemed to rotate end over end in slow motion for ages, then at the very end it buried itself deeply into the back of Mo Kwei's head at full speed. He collapsed immediately to the ground, dead as a door nail.
Su Ching wailed something in Chinese. We did not know what he was saying but after we rode out to the well we found his wife tied up but otherwise unharmed. He seemed relieved
When we got back to camp, Mo Kwei still lay there, and he was still dead. I checked.
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
After the fight with the Mendozas/"Indians", we decided it might be best to head back to Dead Mule. We had originally thought to leave the Arizona Territory entirely. Too many men there seemed to have caught gold fever, and too many knew that we had been friendly with Dutch Jack. But Dead Mule was closest, we were a bit banged up, and we needed to resupply.
A couple of days out of Dead Mule, I had another troubling dream. The creature from the pool came to me in a vision again, a vision straight from hell. She had taken on a human form that I recognized vaguely, but the more I concentrated on it, the more my dreams shifted oddly to prevent me from seeing her visage.
She was travelling on foot from the tent city. A couple of riders approached, in a friendly manner, asking something. The creature nodded mutely at their offer and tried to mount one of their spare horses. The horse shied away wildly from its touch at first. However, the creature was soon able to calm, or fool the horse in some way, and she was able to mount it, while in her human guise.
My dream then shifted scene to that night at their camp. I saw her sitting around the fire, but her back was always to me. The other two men eventually threw their coffee dregs into the fire and headed into their tents. After a while, she stood up and walked sinuously into the tent of the first man. After a moment, she returned, back still turned to me, but her arms now covered in gore up to the elbow. Then she headed into the second man's tent.
I woke up screaming again.
That morning, we had camped beside a fruitful well, so Su Ching's wife headed out to get what water she could for our meal and for the horses.
The rest of the group packed up the camp and saddled the horses (which was now heavy work with all of the gold and silver in the various saddle bags)
After a fairly long wait Su Ching's wife returned and carried her two full buckets of water into the wagon. Su Ching called out to her but she did not respond (probably chiding her for being a slow poke, I reckon).
I had been sleeping in the wagon so that my bad dreams did not disturb the others as much at night. I smiled at her and began clearing my camp bedding from the wagon floor so she could get to work. I was still a bit muggy from waking. She was shoving the water buckets into the wagons while Su Ching worked at the front of the wagon to secure the mules to their bracings.
Helpfully, I reached to pull one of the heavy buckets towards me, and Su Ching's wife gratefully pushed one hairy forearm forward to help move the bucket towards me.
Lost for a moment in a waking daydream, I thought about how Su Ching really was fortunate to have such a wife. She was hard working, calm under pressure, and a good cook. Not to mention her lovely long black hair, her liquid almond eyes, her hairy forearms..
Wait. Hairy forearm?
At my reaction, Su Ching's "wife", a.k.a. the inscrutable Mo Kwei, leapt past me and towards the interior door to the front of the wagon where poor Su Ching worked, oblivious to his doom.
"Mo Kwei!" I screamed "Mo Kwei!"
"Whaaa?" wailed Su Ching from the front of the wagon.
Mo Kwei was almost past me when I did a foolish thing. I wrapped my arms around his chest and tried to hold him back. It was like trying to hold back a bull. He pulled me along like a sack of flour over his shoulder.
"Mo Kwei!" I continued to yell.
Mo Kwei bulled forward, with me dangling uselessly behind him, and slashed at Su Ching with a small but very sharp looking blade. Su Ching was soon cut deeply on his arm.
"*Something in chinese*", wailed Su Ching
"*Something in chinese*", hissed Mo Kwei, slashing again.
By that time, Buffalo and Gabriel had made it to the wagon. Gabriel fired his pistol, actually managing to somehow miss us all and hit Mo Kwei in the leg. Mo Kwei neither flinched nor uttered a sound at what looked to be a deep painful wound.
Buffalo charged forward, yelling something about "pyjama'ed fellers" and something or other "ain't right". He managed to wrap his huge arms around my own, crushing both Mo Kwei and myself in a hearty bear hug. I don't know how Mo Kwei felt, but I honestly thought I heard my ribs popping.
"Grapple 'im, Gabriel!" yelled Buffalo. Gabriel tried to oblige but the mass of wrestling bodies was difficult to get a hold of. Mo Kwei somehow managed to charge towards the side of the wagon, with both Buffalo and myself holding on, and slam Buffalo into the wooden side with much force. I felt Buffalo's grip weaken as he was battered into the wagon.
I started to black out from both the squeezing and the slamming. Gabriel managed to get one arm around one of Mo Kwei's forearms for a moment, but it was like trying to hold onto a horse's leg who didn't want you grabbing at his leg, and Mo Kwei spun free of Gabriel's grasp easily.
Tom and Annie rushed from setting up the horses, intent on also piling on Mo Kwei in one massive pyjama pile up.
Mo Kwei was forced to concede that, yet again, those pesky kids had ruined his plans to assassinate what was, after all, a simple launderer. With a supreme effort of will, he managed to somehow breath outwards in an explosive manner and break both Buffalo's and my own more feeble hold on him. Then he reached into one of his damned pouches and again produced one of those noxious smoke bombs.
The globe shattered on the ground. As I had just been released from a crushing bear hug, I involuntarily took a big gulp of the now tainted air. I was soon on my knees, coughing and wiping my watery eyes. Gabriel was also affected.
From my position on the ground, I could see the small legs of the pyjama clad maniac pumping madly as he sped away from our position at an impossibly fast run.
"Oh no you don't", wheezed Buffalo. "Not this time".
Buffalo, somehow managing to resist the effects of the smoke ball that had so debilitated the rest of us, cocked back his arm and threw his tomahawk. It seemed to rotate end over end in slow motion for ages, then at the very end it buried itself deeply into the back of Mo Kwei's head at full speed. He collapsed immediately to the ground, dead as a door nail.
Su Ching wailed something in Chinese. We did not know what he was saying but after we rode out to the well we found his wife tied up but otherwise unharmed. He seemed relieved
When we got back to camp, Mo Kwei still lay there, and he was still dead. I checked.
Dispatch From the Wild West pt. 42
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Epilogue
Two days after that, we rode into Dead Mule in the early evening. It seemed like forever since we had originally arrived in that sleepy town. And now we were returning, both as saviours of the town and with a haul of treasure to make a U.S. Senator jealous (even the most corrupt!).
We signed back into the hotel. There were more open rooms this time, and we did not need to share, but we chose to do so anyway for security reasons. Tony and Tom bunked their bags in their rooms and immediately headed down for some poker. Gabriel and Annie volunteered to watch the bags in the room. Buffalo made for the La Loma Alta.
I decided to stay in my room, and stood at the open window looking down at the street below, and the mountains, still vaguely visible to the north-west. I lit up a cigar and enjoyed the bottle of sipping whiskey I had had the foresight to have sent up to my room.
It was hard to believe that we had fought both the Matomoros boys and the Red Hats right out there in those streets. Not to mention the Mendozas, and that crazy Russian. And Mo Kwei of course. All of them, and all defeated. Now it was all behind us, and we could enjoy the fruits of our industry.
I let the whiskey work its magic, and slowly relaxed as the night washed over the town, covering everything in its black cloak. Out in the darkness, to the north-west, I could have sworn I saw something. Probably my imagination, I thought, or I was a touch too generous with the delicious whiskey.
But I had to admit, it did look like something. In fact, what it looked like was two glowing yellow eyes. And the eyes were watching me.
A soft voice in my mind hissed, "Hoonam, give"
By Bill Honeywell
San Francisco Gazette
Epilogue
Two days after that, we rode into Dead Mule in the early evening. It seemed like forever since we had originally arrived in that sleepy town. And now we were returning, both as saviours of the town and with a haul of treasure to make a U.S. Senator jealous (even the most corrupt!).
We signed back into the hotel. There were more open rooms this time, and we did not need to share, but we chose to do so anyway for security reasons. Tony and Tom bunked their bags in their rooms and immediately headed down for some poker. Gabriel and Annie volunteered to watch the bags in the room. Buffalo made for the La Loma Alta.
I decided to stay in my room, and stood at the open window looking down at the street below, and the mountains, still vaguely visible to the north-west. I lit up a cigar and enjoyed the bottle of sipping whiskey I had had the foresight to have sent up to my room.
It was hard to believe that we had fought both the Matomoros boys and the Red Hats right out there in those streets. Not to mention the Mendozas, and that crazy Russian. And Mo Kwei of course. All of them, and all defeated. Now it was all behind us, and we could enjoy the fruits of our industry.
I let the whiskey work its magic, and slowly relaxed as the night washed over the town, covering everything in its black cloak. Out in the darkness, to the north-west, I could have sworn I saw something. Probably my imagination, I thought, or I was a touch too generous with the delicious whiskey.
But I had to admit, it did look like something. In fact, what it looked like was two glowing yellow eyes. And the eyes were watching me.
A soft voice in my mind hissed, "Hoonam, give"
The End
Cast
Annie Yellowhawk---------- Titania "Groin Gouger" LeFay
Gabriel Jackson---------- Treebore a.k.a "The Equine Assassin"
"Buffalo" Johnson---------- Jaybird a.k.a "Snake Eyes"
Frank Green---------- Leif a.k.a "Wives for Horses"
Tony Martinez---------- spak_man a.k.a "The Preacher" a.k.a "The Prospector" a.k.a "Miss Daisy May" a.k.a. "Rex the Dog"
Tom "The Duke" Merriweather--------- Bran a.k.a. "Lanterns MacShootsAlot"
Special Guest Star
Mo Kwei ---------- Jet Li
Directed by Aramis
Filmed in Glorious Panavision in Elfrida, Arizona
Watch for "Darkest Before the Dawn", Coming Christmas 2008
Cast
Annie Yellowhawk---------- Titania "Groin Gouger" LeFay
Gabriel Jackson---------- Treebore a.k.a "The Equine Assassin"
"Buffalo" Johnson---------- Jaybird a.k.a "Snake Eyes"
Frank Green---------- Leif a.k.a "Wives for Horses"
Tony Martinez---------- spak_man a.k.a "The Preacher" a.k.a "The Prospector" a.k.a "Miss Daisy May" a.k.a. "Rex the Dog"
Tom "The Duke" Merriweather--------- Bran a.k.a. "Lanterns MacShootsAlot"
Special Guest Star
Mo Kwei ---------- Jet Li
Directed by Aramis
Filmed in Glorious Panavision in Elfrida, Arizona
Watch for "Darkest Before the Dawn", Coming Christmas 2008
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Silva the Everdying
- Ungern
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