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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2057422" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 95  “Outlaw Hunting”, January 10th, 1882:The horsemen all reach town without any further problem from outlaws. "Chester go tell the Marshall what happened!" Jake shouts to the ex-soldier.   Jake turns to his elf companion and says "Nanuet, let's get these guy's to the doc." As they ride over with the newcomers Jake's expression is not pleasant as he says to Nanuet, "A fella could start to take this personal." They arrive at the Doc Eaton's and the younger men help Humphrey and Elliott into the building. Jake looks to Nanuet and says, "Do we let this pass tonight, or do we head back there on foot and DO something about this?" Nanuet looks at Jake with fire in his eyes.  Nanuet replies, "You have to ask? I am not enjoying being shot at any more than you, and if you are going to be doing business with this mine we need to make sure it's safe. I am ready when you are Mr. Jake!" Chester spurs his horse to the Marshall's office. He leaps out of his saddle and races for the entrance. *Bang, bang, bang* "Marshall!" Marshall Earp shouts from inside, "What is it?" "Marshall, me and some others just got ambushed in the hills outside of town. Ralph Elliott and Humphrey Lewis are hurt. We took them over to the doctor's."Nanuet and Jake head back to the El Parador and stable their mounts. They take any extra firearms and ammo that they can carry from their saddle bags and head back out towards the ambush site. Maska who was waiting just outside the lights of town lopes alongside the trail silently. They look for a spot to get off the trail and begin to discuss their tactics.  "I couldn't see how many, but we will need to get alongside or behind them. They have the advantage with cover and higher ground, so we need to equalize it with surprise."Chester returns to Doc Eaton's with Marshall Wyatt Earp and the Marshall heads inside The six men who rode to town with there are still outside of the office. The man leading the group of men asks Chester where a good place in town would be to stay and also to get a drink."I'm staying at the El Parador on the corner of Fremont and South. Another good place to try would be the Paradise City Hotel one block west on Allen and South. As far as drinking, there are a lot of saloons in town, but I recommend the Lone Star on Allen and Main. Thanks for helping us back into town, Mr. ..." Chester trails off, hoping the man would give him his name."Billy Comstock," he tells Chester. He then gestures to the two other older men and says "And these are two long-time friends of mine, Andrew Mizner and Elisha Whittemore. We met back during the War Between the States where we were in the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. Elisha and I retired from the Army a while back but Andrew is still active in the service." Mitzner speaks up "I'm currently a Captain serving at Fort Stanton in south-central New Mexico Territory. My Colonel Dudley was kind enough to grant leave to me and three of my men to join up with my old friends." He then introduces Chester to Corporal Harrison Grier and Privates Gabriel Chapman and Charles Brookings.  “Thank you for the suggestions. We'll head over to that hotel right now. If you're around that Saloon later I'll buy you a drink.”"What a coincidence, I used to be a scout in the Fifth Cavalry out of Fort McPherson, Nebraska. It's nice meeting you gentlemen. I hope to see you at the Lone Star later. Good evening." Chester tips his hat, then goes inside the doctor's office to check on Humphrey. Seeing that he'll be fine, Chester tells Earp, that if the Marshall needs a statement later, he'll be over at the Lone Star. Leaving the office, Chester lights a cigarette. He walks his horse back to the stables at the El Parador. He removes the saddle and brushes its coat. After taking care of his mount he goes back to his room, where he drops off his rifle and reloads his pistol. Then Chester strolls over on South and up Allen to the Lone Star.Back at the Lone Star, Sonoma gets up from the keyboard and puts her apron back on  "Play time is over I have drinks to serve."  She smiles at Kate and heads out into the room swinging by the bar first to pick up 5 glasses of beer and heading to a table that will be ready to reorder at her arrival.  Along the way she checks the rest of the room for dishes to clear and seeing if she needs to refill anyone else's food while she's at itJob Kane's table decides to take a break. It appears that Neil Cassidy is having a very good night. Job introduces himself to Sonoma and orders up some food for the players at this table. Just as Katherine and Ruby are getting ready to play another set Ruby stops abruptly and whispers to Katherine "I just heard some noise coming from the kitchen. Everyone except Maggie is here in the main room and she's back at the El Parador." Sonoma also heads to the kitchen, not because she heard anything but to fill the food order for the table. Sonoma opens the door to the kitchen and a puff of black smoke billows out into the main room. She sees that flames are coming out of a metal bucket on the floor beneath curtains of the window in that room and that the curtains have caught fire. The side door to the back alley is slightly ajar. Sonoma grabs the rinse water bucket that is at the doorway and tosses it onto the bucket that seems to be the origin of the fire.  She then grabs the soup pot that is on the stove and douses the curtains enough to pull them down and dump them in the soup pot which she quickly covers with the wash basinKatherine was heading over to the kitchen just as Sonoma opened the door. She saw the puff of black smoke come out and rushed after the other woman. Sonoma already had the fire out and the curtains ripped down by the time she arrived. There is a soot covered metal bucket under where the curtains had been and the side door is ajar. "Thank goodness you were here, dear. Did you see anyone?" Kate pulled the derringer out of her blouse and ran for the door and into the alleyway.Sonoma exclaims, “Kate be careful this was defiantly set!”  Sonoma takes a quick look at the kitchen making sure the fire is out then she goes over to Ruby, "Sing distract them otherwise this entire thing is going to be blown out of proportion keep the customer distracted quick!"  Sonoma goes back into the kitchen and looks for Kate as she begins to pull things together again airing out the kitchen so the burning smell doesn't head into the saloon. Ruby looks quizzically at Sonoma. "What's going to be blown out of proportion? What did you find in the kitchen..." her voice trails off as Sonoma is already gone. Kate heads into the back alleyway looking around. She doesn't see anyone. She heads east for thirty feet and gazes into the long wide back alley of the ten business of the city block between Main, Allen, Sierra and Fremont Streets.   She looks specifically towards the Palace Saloon in the northeast corner, the Lone Star being in the southwest corner of that block. There are a few people gathered near the Palace Saloon's outhouses, but she has no way of knowing how long they've been there or from what direction they came.Ruby looks around for Kate and when she doesn't see her she goes into the kitchen. Coughing and fanning the smell out of her face she looks around and sees the open back door. "Oh Kate," she says no one in, shaking her head. "Sonoma, can you please do some singing? I’m going to find Kate before she gets herself into trouble." She heads out the door.Sonoma takes quick stock of the kitchen.  She grabs a bowl and shakes some flour sugar salt baking power and dried fruit into it she dumps in a couple of eggs and milk and makes up a quick batch of fried biscuits. She piles these on to a plate and heads to the bar there she sprinkles them with some rum and lights it on fire, bringing it to the elder Whipple's table in a flaming display of food that Sonoma hopes will cover the smell of burnt curtains from the kitchen. "Damn," Kate muttered. She immediately rejected the idea of asking the men if they'd seen anything. Even without evidence she was certain someone connected to the Palace had started this. Kate kept her eyes open as she made her way back down the alley and into the Lone Star just as Ruby was coming out. She made sure no one was nearby, then pulled Ruby in and shut and locked the door quietly behind her. "What we need are some guards. I don't want to leave this room empty, but I don't want anyone back here alone either. Someone did this on purpose." She stepped over to the door and motioned for Tom Whipple to come into the kitchen. "Someone set a fire back here, Louise says deliberately. I didn't see anyone out in the alleyway, but I'm certain it was someone working for Evan Adair. We need some guards back here. I'd go get Jake, but he went somewhere earlier and isn't back yet. I think I should go get the Marshall. This is getting ridiculous.""Wait! Tom this is all my fault, maybe I should just leave. I didn't think it would get this serious and they would try to burn down your Saloon." Ruby sighs. "I can find a job somewhere else and you can be safe then."Tom tells Ruby she is being silly, that it isn't her fault that Adair is a jerk. He then answers the question about the Marshall, telling Ruby and Katherine "No, we don't get the Marshall. He would call this to everyone's attention and Louise already covered for the fire so that nobody noticed. My father is very impressed so far, let's not ruin it. I'll cover the bar myself for the rest of the night and leave Jeff out here in the kitchen. He hates to cook but he's actually not half-bad at it. I'll go talk to him." Tom leaves and a few minutes later Jeff returns, carrying with him the shotgun that is normally kept under the bar. He props it against the wall within reach, puts on Maggie's apron (which looks rather comical on his large wide-shouldered muscular frame) and says "I think you two had better start the music up again before the patrons wonder where you are."Sonoma begins singing from the floor as she travels the room refilling beer glasses and collecting the dirty as she goes.  She times the song so that as she is ready to finish she is at the kitchen door heads in and tosses the dirty glasses in the sink.   She looks at Ruby and Kate and says "I need you on the floor.  I can get the kitchen up and running and run the drinks at the same time, but I need you to keep the people in there from wondering what is going on.  Now get out of my way and let me work"   Both Kate and Ruby see shades of Dorita as Sonoma begins to quickly make the kitchen her own, pushing Jeff Mills out of the way."All right, Louise." Kate shook her head and took Ruby's arm to lead her back out. "Tom's right. You leaving won't stop Adair now. He has a bee in his bonnet about having some real competition, and I think enough people know it that he won't give up just because you leave. So go up there and let's see if we can't put him out of business." Kate sat down at the piano and started playing energetically.Ruby knows it is her fault, that if she hadn't turned down Adair and then slapped him this wouldn't be happening. Of course, Tom didn't know that and she wasn't going to tell him. And it wasn't getting late and Jake wasn't here yet, Ruby was trying hard not to worry. She walks over to the stage and decides to immerse herself in singing so she wouldn't be thinking about anything else.Chester enters the Lone Star Dance Hall and Saloon. It is rather crowded, with around forty-five people inside. Two poker games are going on. Katherine is at the piano playing for Ruby who is on stage singing her heart out. One of the men at the bar finishes up and leaves, making a barstool available for Chester.Chester whistles in amazement. He darts to the bar, snagging the stool before someone else could get it. Once he settles in, he takes a look around the room to see if Jake, Riley, or Comstock and his friends are there. Seeing no one he knows other than Ruby and Katherine, he orders a beer and watches the show.Several miles away, Nanuet and Jake headed well off the trail and to the north. Since the road was to the south of the hill and they departed to the southwest they decided to go beyond the hill and then double back from the northeast.  They climbed the hill, finding the spot near the top where two shooters had lied down. Nanuet did a quick check in the area, finding some food scraps as well as the place where the men went to relieve themselves. He also found a spot where it appears that they had bedded down the previous night.  Jake gathers up the shell casings and concludes that weapons used were a high-caliber carbines. Nanuet estimates that the men departed shortly after the attack but were apparently on foot so they still might be in the area.  "Well I know it has been a long day, and I am not sure how far you want to take this. They can't be all that far away, and I should be able to track them well enough, Maska too. Who knows how far they are going or if they returned to a camp with more men. I am willing to track them if you are Mr. Jake." "Let's keep going" Jake says as he puts a couple of empty casings in his pocket. "I'm following you."Nanuet and Maska follow the trail of the men with little difficulty. The sky is clear and with Nanuet's ability to see in the dark he had no trouble using the light of the moon and stars to trace the tracks. Maska has no trouble finding the trail. It continues east down the hill and to the northwest lower corner of the mountain where they rode the stage down that morning. Nanuet stops when they reach a section that intersects with a number of horse tracks but he concludes that the tracks are half-a-day old, probably from that morning. He relocates the tracks of the two humans, which circumnavigate around the northern edge of the mountain. They walk for the next 45 minutes with Nanuet noting that the tracks continue to get fresher. They reach the far end of the two-mile long mountain at the northeast corner where an almost shear 200 foot high cliff stands. The tracks end at the mouth of a cave. Nanuet notes that there are older human and horse tracks there as well entering the cave but not exiting, which he estimates to be two or three more humans and a total of five horses.Nanuet and Jake take a few minutes and listen for voices or activity, and then quickly peaking and looking for light. Nanuet and Jake make their way into the cave. The cave curves and there is a 'T' intersection ahead lit by candlelight. They see a man sitting in a chair along the wall at the corner of the intersection. He is apparently on guard duty, a shotgun lying across his lap, but is not being very attentive at the moment. He is in the light and they are still in darkness so he can't see them yet. They do they see that his head keeps going through a series of nodding movements indicating that he wants to fall asleep but is trying to stay awake. They also see an empty bottle of whiskey below the chair that may be a contributing factor to his current impairment.Jake reaches down quietly and draws his hunting knife. He moves quietly to the edge of the light. Then he springs the last few feet to the sleeping outlaw and attempts to plunge the dagger into the man's neck and snatches the shotgun off his lap. However, the man was not totally asleep and snapped to a more alert state as Jake began his leap. The man's reflex action was to lift up his arms in front of him, while still holding the barrel of the shotgun with both hands. As Jake's dagger plunges the man twists the gun to the left, deflecting Jake's stab and causing the knife to cut against the man's shoulder for only a minor wound.The guard jumps up, still startled, and his reaction is to reach for his wounded shoulder. He retains the hold on his shotgun however as his chair falls over and makes a loud clatter. Nanuet runs forward while pulling his knife and attempts to silence the now alert man with a slash to his throat. Nanuet is successful. He and Jake wait to see if anyone responds to the sound of the chair falling. Maska bares her teeth and stands watch over the nearby hallway, her keen eyes cutting through the darkness.Nanuet checks the two sections of the intersection. The wider tunnel has both horse and human tracks going down it while the other has only human tracks. Jake tosses the large man to the floor out of the intersection back the way he and Nanuet came in. While he is setting the chair back up, Jake whispers, "Quick, give me his hat and coat." Jake moves the candle so that it won't illuminate his face sitting in the chair, and quickly dons the large coat over his own. He stuffs his hat under his coat, drops the dead outlaws hat on his head and assumes the position the man was in, including the shotgun across the lap.  Nanuet searches the man and finds his wallet which has $ 54 in cash include a brand new crisp $ 20 bill. Nanuet and Jake wait a few minutes and listen. Apparently the others are not alerted to the noise.  Jake offers the outlaws shotgun to Nanuet and retrieves his own. "One down, four to go. Which way now?" Jake keeps the outlaw's large coat and hat on.Nanuet checks the tracks. He says there only two fairly recent sets of tracks, both coming from the narrower hallway and back to this spot. One ends here, so would have been made by the man who was in the chair. The other set heads down the wider hallway in the direction of the horse tracks. Nanuet silently points down the wider hallway holding up one finger then pointing at the tracks. He puts away his knife and unslings his loaded rifle before he silently makes his way down the hallway leaving room for Jake if he wishes to pass him. He continues until he hears anything or sees a light source.  Maska stays behind the pair of men watching their rear.Jake trails his Indian friend down the passage trying to be quiet and following his queues. Although he is still carrying the shotgun in his left hand, he has drawn the long barreled pistol in his right and cocked it quietly. In a short while he gets to a curve and the residual light from the candle fades. Crap, he thinks, can't see a thing. Jake holsters his pistol and heads back for the candle leaving Nanuet to go on without him. He takes the candle and walks slowly back to the curve and waits there for a moment and listens. Then he continues on slowly on the opposing wall of the passage from where Nanuet walked, shotgun in one hand and the candle in the other. He stops and listens frequently.Jake approaches Nanuet with the light. Nanuet has stopped at a 'Y' intersection, unsure of which way to continue. With the candlelight he is able to check the tracks, concluding that the man actually went both way. However, the track to the right shows him going away and coming back, the tracks back being a bit heavier. He then continued on down the left-hand corridor which is the direction of the older horse tracks. Jake waits behind for a minute letting Nanuet get out of the light, and then follows slowly behind and listening.Nanuet heads to the left, trying to move as silently as possible. He thinks about just screaming and charging down the hallway just to break the tension but his rational thoughts prevail and he continues to sneak down the tunnel looking for the enemy. They are now carefully making their way down a side corridor of the cave following a fresh set of tracks. The tracks continue for another seventy feet as the corridor turns towards the right and slopes downward. Jake and Nanuet reach a section that appears warmer and far more dry than the tunnel had been before then. They both notice that several of the wooden beams supporting the tunnel roof show signs of dry rot and splitting and one point where a new beam has been propped up to support a section where the main beam has collapsed.   They see that the corridor widens and opens into a brightly-lit chamber ahead.Nanuet stops and waits for Jake. As soon as he has enough light to continue without it, he puts down the candle and draws his long barreled revolver. He approaches Nanuet but on the opposite wall of the passageway and they are looking and listening.They reach a chamber approximately twenty feet in diameter with a short corridor leading to another chamber on the opposite side. The light is coming in from the other chamber. Near the entranceway is the body of a horse, the left side of the neck, front leg and torso riddled with wounds from a shotgun blast although it is a single short-range shot to the head that apparently killed him. Nanuet concludes that the animal was killed within the last few hours. The shotgun wounds appear to be a half-day or so old while the head wound was recent."What do you think, Mr. Jake? Guns a blazing?" Nanuet says trying to be funny. He quietly gets his shotgun ready. Jake shakes his head and thinks, “I just don't understand Indian humor.”  Nanuet motions to Jake that they each move along opposite sidewalls. Jake nods and they do. They get near the opening to the other chamber and first listening and then Jake quickly takes a peek and pulls his head back in.The larger room is irregularly shaped, approximately sixty-by-thirty feet in size with pillars make of stacked rocks supporting the center. It appears to be lit by some form of magical light. Near the entranceway to this room are five saddles, a pile of saddlebags, leather reins and horse blankets. At the far right side of the room is a section of the room with a dozen hay bales that a crude chicken wire and wooden fence has been constructed around. Three horses are standing alongside the left side of the room eating from a single bale of hay. A trough of water is near them and two large metal pail-type containers are on the ground near the trough. On the right side of the room twenty feet from the entranceway is a young man, currently grooming a single horse probably in his late teens, wearing western-style clothing. He is facing the entranceway but his not noticed Nanuet or Jake yet, being preoccupied with brushing the coat of the animal, which is standing between the man and the entranceway. The only thing in the man's hands are the horse brush and comb but the horse is blocking their view of the man's belt so he may be armed.Jake and Nanuet do what they can to determine if there could be any other men in the room before taking action. They try and do so without being noticed.   They conclude that that only ones in the room are the young man and the horses. "A kid..." Nanuet shakes his head. "Should we try to lure him out?" whispers Nanuet. Jake just shrugs. Since they can't see if there are any others in the room, Nanuet tries to move silently into the room, while not being seen. He stays behind the horse, along the wall.Nanuet closes to within around eight feet of the man without being seen by him. The horse however now notices him and starts to react. Jake steps into the room only part way, exposing only the dead outlaws coat and hat. He whistles and motions for the boy to follow him and leaves the room. Nanuet uses his handle animal to immediately calm the horse. He stays still, hoping the boy will follow Jake, and that Jake has a plan. The young man says softly "Coming Lenny". He starts to walk the horse back towards the other horses and then stops suddenly when he sees the Indian in the room.</blockquote>

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