Yankton

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Have Gun, Will Travel

Silver City was an honest-to-God Gold camp, with the saloon being the only all-wood structure in town, the rest consisting of canvas tents formed over a wooden floor and framework. Before I rode into town, I carefully concealed my Colt AR under my horse blanket, as well as making sure my Colt .45 auto was hidden as well. The "hotel" consisted of a large tent affair with canvas partitions separating eight beds. I was lucky enough to get the last one. Luckily, my roll bag had a good lock on it so I stuffed as much as I could inside, then chained it to the bed. All I had to my name was a ten dollar gold piece, which got me a bed for the night and enough to buy a beer or two. I made some inquires at the saloon aboutAbner Moon, the man who stabbed Kitty. Using the last of my precious money, I learned that he had a small claim southwest of here on Castle Creek, perfect for what I had in mind. The man who told me this seemed to be well known around town, so I took a chance and asked him, "My partner are interested in escorting gold shipments to the bank, any opportunities for that sort of thing around here?"

"How do we know you're not just trying to make off with a gold shipment, you're a stranger around here," "Well I'm afraid you've got me sir. I know it's a tough business to break into, I'll admit that. My names Brian Yankton, my friends name is Mark Sedgwick. Let's just say that we've got a few tricks up our sleeve, we think we can offer honest service at a reasonable price, we are interested in a long term arrangement, stealing from our customers isn't going to get us anywhere but dead. All we ask is to give us a try. We'll be back by here in a few days, if someone's interested, tell them about us, we'll talk, that's all I ask." The man studied me for a moment, then replied, "I'll pass the word around, got any references?" Sheriff Bullock, Dora DuFran and a young woman who goes by Montana up in Deadwood, I'm afraid that's all sir." The man made no comment, other than to repeat the fact that he's pass the word around.

I spent a rather fitful night, people tromping around, shouting cursing, occasional gunfire, and if that wasn't bad enough, a tent of snorers. Around three in the morning I felt the presence, or should I say his "smell." I opened my eyes to see a shadowy figure bending over to see what he could take from my roll pack. Pulling my .45 auto, I said in a low but clear voice, "There's nothing in there that's worth your life friend, now just back slowly out and move on." The figure did as I asked, disappearing out of the tent. I waited a few more minutes just to be sure, but he was gone. After first light, I was packed up and ready, I made short work of an MRE skipping coffee, as I wanted to get going. Around an hour later, I found Castle Creek, and began a careful journey upstream, my Colt AR drawn and ready. I eventually came on a couple men working a sluice box, and I gave them a description of Moon. "Two claims down," replied one of them, ""He's living out of a tent, only one in these parts that's got one." I thanked them, then rode on. From time to time, I would stop and rece the terrain in front of me, finally I spotted Moon's tent then his diggings along the creek. Not knowing how dangerous this guy was, or how well he was armed, I found a spot roughly two hundred yards away up on an opposite slope; I secured my horse behind some trees and made my way fifty yards closer, setting up behind a large rock.

Clicking on my ACOG sight, I scanned the little camp. Centering the scope on the tent, I could see Moon doing something in his tent. Waiting until he started to come out, I shouted.

"Abner Moon! I'm here to take you back for the attempted murder of a w***e at Dora DuFran's the other night. Now! You can just surrender peaceably, probably get a slap on the wrist from the judge, and be back here in a couple days, or we can do this the hard way, your choice." Upon hearing me shout, he immediately threw himself down in front of a nearby tree, and shouted back. 'That w***e tried to cheat me; you came all the way down here to arrest me for that?" "That's not the story Dora tells," I replied, I hear you couldn't get "it" up." Moon replied with gunfire, obviously, he hadn't pegged my location as yet because the bullet hit way off to my left. The smoke from his rifle was preventing me from getting a clear shot at him, so I held my fire, my sight centered on the tree where I could see him hiding. Scanning the area, I spotted where he had his horse tied; there was a medium sized cottonwood between his present position and that horse. I figured he'd try and make for that horse, so I centered my scope just a little to the left of the tree.

Sure enough, Moon broke for the tree, sliding in behind it, but since it was smaller in diameter than the first one, he was exposed for a couple seconds that's all I needed.

The round took him in his left side punching him backwards killing him instantly. I kept watching for another minute but he was definitely dead. I collected my horse and walked over to Moon's camp. He was most certainly dead, I took several pictures of him with my cell phone camera, so Dora would know I got her man. Going through his pockets, I found almost thirty dollars in gold coins, a twenty and a ten dollar gold piece. I tore his camp apart as I was sure he had a stash of gold hidden somewhere. After an hour of searching, I discovered a rock that seemed to have a lot of footprints around it, flipping it up I found a tin can with a leather pouch inside, containing a modest amount of dust and small nuggets. After that, I buried Moon and went about rounding up anything I could sell. He had a beat up Henry rifle, as well as an Army Colt. I spent the night at his camp sleeping in his bed and eating his food, what there was of it. In the morning, I packed up his tent as well as useable supplies and packed them on his horse. Pushing hard, I made Deadwood by 7:00 at night. Stopping at Dora's I knocked on the door. This time Dora answered, and seeing it was me, hugged me and ushered me into her office. She then sent one of her girls to get Montana, who eventually showed up wearing practically nothing but a wrap.

Upon seeing it was me, she made no apologies, and stood there as I said to Dora. "Moon is dead, what I'm about to show you Dora are actual photographs of his sorry ass corpse. These are real and actual photos, Montana here will back me up on this." Dora looked a Montana who shrugged as I turned on my I-phone and brought up the photos. I then proceeded to show her the grisly results of my work. She studied the images in total amazement, more so at my phone than anything else. "I don't know what this device is," said Dora nervously "And I don't want to know, but that is Abner Moon." I had taken several pictures of him, even pulling his shirt off to get a good view of the wound. "Was he hard to kill?" asked Dora. I shook my head, "I'm a professional sniper Dora, I specialize in one shot kills, I gave him an opportunity to surrender, he refused, he paid the price." Dora looked at Montana who said, "This is genuine Dora, believe me Moon is dead those are actual photographs." Dora then thanked me, and paid me the balance of my money as I started to leave; Montana stopped me and said, "Are you going home?" "Well that was the general idea," I replied. She got a funny look on her face, "Change in plan, put your horses out back in the stable, bring your gear inside, you'll be spending the night with me, don't argue, when your done fooling around, my room is upstairs at the end of the hall last door on the left." With that, she turned and left.

I took the horses around in back to the small stable gave them a quick brushing and fed them some oats. All the while, my mind was racing with a million thoughts. It finally dawned on me that if I had gone home I would have interrupted Mark and Melonie, well I certainly wouldn't want to do that. I left most of the stuff I'd taken from Moon's camp in the stable, and carried my roll bag, weapons and saddlebags inside, no use in putting off the inevitable.

I went upstairs past the other girls "entertaining" their clients to Montana's room. Knocking on the door, I was met by Montana who beckoned me in. The room was cast in semi-darkness by a single lamp, Montana was wearing a wrap which she casually let slide to the floor. She was wearing nothing underneath, and as she slowly approached me, she said in a low voice, "Mark and Melonie are busy right now; you wouldn't want to interrupt them now would you? She started to remove my vest, "Let's get you ready for bed Mr. Yankton." As they say, "when things are going your way, just sit back and enjoy the ride." As Montana helped me undress she said, "I've been waiting for this moment ever since I laid eyes on you. At first, I thought you were just shy, but I quickly realized that wasn't the case, then it dawned on me that you were being the perfect gentleman, not wanting to hurt Melonie, your chivalry is most touching, but only made me desire you all the more. When your friend Mark showed up, I knew things would start to happen, and happen, they did. I was able to have a "woman to woman" chat with Melonie the other day. We shared our feelings, and our schemes. Melonie isn't the woman you think she is, you were seeing her as some caricature form some Victorian novel, or perhaps this is how you people from the future view those of us from the past. Whichever, Melonie is a woman with wants and needs. Now don't get me wrong Brian, I know you were trying to walk the "line" with her as you were doing with me, because of this…This partnership thing, most admirable, but just between the two of us she was able to express her hopes and fears."

"I'm so sorry Montana," I replied, guess I really screwed things up. My feelings for you were just so strong, I was afraid that if I acted on them Melonie would feel like the odd man out, that's why I asked Mark to come into this thing. Maybe now with the four of us we can simply be ourselves, Mark and Melonie, you and I." Montana pulled herself on to me our faces an inch apart, "Tell me Mr. Yankton, are all male/female relationships in your time this complicated?" I grinned, "All the time, most are worse than this." At that point, all talking ceased, as pure animal instinct took over, and pent up passions exploded. I quickly discovered Montana was very demanding and aggressive in bed, however I didn't disappoint. After the first "go-round", we lay there, our bodies drenched in sweat, Montana very softly saying, "I'm very impressed with your love making skills Brian, they are certainly miles above anything I'm accustomed to here." I snickered, "Your no slouch yourself Montana, you have certainly dispelled all my pre-conceived notions of s*x in the 19th century." Our break over, we resumed play, switching positions rapidly seeking as much pleasure as we could… I awoke in the morning to find a contented Montana lying across my chest, gently stroking my cheek, I began to stroke her lower back as she "purred" in delight, "I think I've fallen in love with you Brian, "she whispered. "I can tell what a man thinks of a woman by the way he uses his hands, and I have never experienced a man such as you before." I found myself falling for her as well, but there were "issues" that needed to be cleared up first. "Before we let this thing go any farther Montana, we need to sit down and resolve a few things first, but right now, let's just bask in the moment and hold each other."