"All right. Is everybody clear on their jobs?" asked Kid Curry. Nobody answered, but six pairs of eyes around the table in the hideout's cookhouse peered at him blankly. Hannibal Heyes stood in the corner with his arms crossed and his head bowed in exasperation. This could take all night. "Wheat, what are you gonna do when we get to Apple Valley tomorrow night?"

"I'm gonna take my horse to the livery and have the blacksmith fix the shoe I'm gonna loosen."

"And what else?"

Wheat looked confused for a second, but said, "Uh, I'm gonna keep an eye on the bank 'cross the street and signal you when it closes up for the night and the light's out."

"How're you gonna do that, Wheat?" asked Curry.

"I'll light me a cigarette and you'll be watchin' for the spark."

"Good. Preacher what's your job?"

"I'm gonna set up a soapbox and preach to the good folks of Apple Valley while you and Heyes rob 'em blind," grinned the tall, thin outlaw. "And, I'm gonna be ready to set up coverin' fire if something goes wrong when you hightail it with the cash."

When Curry's eyes turned to him, Lobo smiled wolfishly. "I'm gonna snuff the streetlight in front of the bank and then I'll make sure the horses are in place for the getaway. If the safe is blown, I'll bring 'em up the alley right quick."

"Hank, do you know what to do?"

"Yessir. I'm watchin' the back of the bank and keepin' out of sight unless I hear all hell break loose. Then I'll provide cover."

"Kyle?"

"Huh?"

"What's your job, Kyle?" growled Heyes from the corner.

"Oh. I'm carryin' the dynamite till we get there and helpin' with the getaway."

"Where are you going to be, Kyle?" questioned the Kid.

"I'm gonna be in the audience while Preacher's talkin'."

Heyes pushed off the back wall and strode to the center of the room. "Everybody will wait outside of town until the sun goes down. Then make your way into position. Remember, Lobo, the sheriff goes home at dark for his supper so the light needs to be taken out after he's walked past the bank."

"But, if there's no light, how're you gonna see what's in that big, beautiful safe?" protested Hank.

"Hank," sighed the Kid, "we've already gone over this. There ain't any shades on the windows. If the light's on, the whole world will be able to see that me and Heyes are robbin' the bank."

"It'll be a full moon tonight. There'll be plenty of light to work by. We won't start on the safe until it's up. That gives us all about twenty minutes to get into place." Heyes opened the door to leave. "Remember, no shooting unless we have to blow the safe and, if you have to shoot, be damned sure you don't hit anyone, just throw a scare into 'em. Get some sleep. We're heading out at dawn. C'mon, Kid."

The two leaders walked in silence to their cabin. Once inside, with the door closed, the Kid turned to Heyes. "You really think this is gonna work?"

"No reason it won't. The boys know where they're supposed to be and they understand the plan. It's simple enough a five-year old could execute it."

"Yeah? Well, last I looked, we didn't have a five-year old, Heyes."

OOOOOOOOOO

"There's Wheat's signal. Bank's closed and the light's out," said Curry from his vantage point in the forest on the outskirts of Apple Valley. Heyes was sitting behind him greasing the bar spreaders one last time to be sure they wouldn't squeak. It settled his nerves to keep his hands busy before a job.

The two outlaw leaders stealthily made their way to the bank. The moon had not yet risen over the mountains and it was still pitch black as they eased down the back alley. They saw Hank, with a whiskey bottle in his fist, leaning against a wall. He nodded as they passed, but cringed slightly as Heyes stopped in front of him, sniffing for fumes. Fierce dark eyes warned him not to make his act a reality.

Wheat stood by the light hanging inside the livery. The blacksmith had his horse's hoof in his hand and was nailing a shoe in place while the big outlaw leaned against the door frame staring out into the street, bored to tears. He could hear Preacher exhorting the pious folks and Kyle. He had to assume Lobo had the horses under control and Hank was in place. So far, so good, he thought.

Curry waited pensively as Heyes spread the iron bars covering the window and slipped inside the building. Quietly, he followed Heyes through the small opening. The moon was casting a light shadow through the front windows and he could just make out the safe behind the tellers' cages. Heyes nodded to him to go stand by the big plate-glass window facing the main street. He could see that the avenue was nearly deserted; Preacher had rounded up most of the people out and about. Wheat was clearly visible at the livery and gave the Kid a small shake of his head warning his boss he was too easily seen. Curry drew back into the shadows.

Heyes had his ear to the safe and was intensely focused on the tumblers. Hopefully, he'd be done before Preacher ran out of good words. An important part of his plan was to keep the area in front of the bank as cleared as possible. He didn't want to have anyone raise an alarm and trigger a shootout. A muffled click signaled the first tumbler had fallen into position.

Time stretched into eternity as the Kid waited for the safe to open. He heard a soft chuckle from Heyes. Two down, one to go. Pulling his partner's dented silver watch from his vest pocket; he strained his eyes to read the dial. Sixteen minutes since they started, fourteen minutes left before they summoned Kyle to blow it open. Tucking the instrument away, he looked out the window again and it slowly dawned on him that there seemed to be less light than there'd been the last time he'd looked at the watch. It was too dark outside! He tried to see Heyes at the safe and realized his partner had disappeared into the gloom. With a muffled curse, he ran to the back door and carefully unbolted it. As he swung it open, he saw Hank across the alley staring at him quizzically. The Kid shook his head and gave him a thumb's up to let him know things were going as planned even as he feared they weren't. Curry stepped into the alley and looked up at the stars. Above the hills hung the full moon; only it wasn't full, it was barely there at all. A tiny sliver of light glowed around the edges of the blood red orb. The muscles in his stomach seized up and he went back inside as quietly as he could. "Heyes!" he hissed through his teeth.

"Done!" crowed Heyes. He sat back on his heels and looked up at his best friend. "It's all there. Eight thousand big ones." With a crazy laugh, he began stuffing the cash into a coin sack, missing the frown carved into the Kid's face.

"Heyes!"

"What?"

"We've got a problem."

"We do? What's going on?" Heyes finished shoveling in the cash and tied off the sack before looking up at the Kid again.

"Oh, nothin' much. Just the biggest eclipsed moon I've ever seen," answered Curry with dripping sarcasm.

Heyes gaped up at him stupidly. "Moon?"

"Yes, Heyes, it's a damned eclipse."

"#$%&*!" Heyes tossed the sack to his partner and rushed to the front window. As he watched, doors opened up and down the street and folks gathered in the thoroughfare to stare up at the unusual sight. "There're people everywhere!"

The Kid went to the back of the building and barely cracked open the door. Hank was still there but he was no longer alone. Curry could see two men wearing aprons and more people standing in the alley staring up at the unusual sight. Murmurs of amazement drifted to his ears. Softly, he shut the door and returned to Heyes. "We're trapped. We couldn't even shoot our way out of this if we wanted to!"

Heyes looked frantically around him. There was no other way out except the front or back door. He'd thoroughly cased this job. The apartment overhead was occupied by an elderly couple who went to bed early every night. Even if he had the tools to go through the ceiling, he couldn't do it quietly enough not to wake them. As their situation sunk in, his shoulders drooped. "This is it, Kid. We always knew sooner or later our luck would run out."

"I guess it has."

Both men's legs went shaky at the same time and they leaned back against the wall and slid down to a sitting position, shoulder to shoulder.

"I just hope those knuckleheads don't shoot the town up trying to get us out of here," moaned Heyes.

"So we wait?"

"It's all we can do. Hopefully, the boys will be just as confused as we are and we can wait here until the eclipse is over. Maybe we can sneak out then without anyone seeing us. If not, we're dead meat." Silence fell over them like a shroud. They could hear the babble of the crowds and vaguely make out Preacher's voice. It was faint but growing stronger. Their ersatz holy man was coming nearer. Heyes stood up and went to the window. "Kid, come here."

Curry peered over his partner's shoulder out into the street. He saw a huge crowd coming towards the bank led by the black-dressed, austere Preacher. Kyle was alongside him. "What the hell? They're bringin' 'em right to us!"

"No, listen!" whispered Heyes.

As the crowd neared, the two outlaw leaders began to pick up a few words here and there and the nature of the Preacher's message became clear. "Sinners, repent! Judgment day is upon us! Feel the Lord's fury, see his might! The faithful must gather for the rapture!"

Shouts of 'amen' and 'praise the Lord' filled the trapped outlaws' ears. People flowed onto the sidewalks; many of them weeping in wonderment and pressed tightly up against the window, but all eyes were on the man calling them on.

"We must show our obedience to our heavenly Father. To the mount! The faithful must gather on the mount!" More people appeared and joined the crowd. Lanterns bobbed and floated within the human tide. Across the street, Wheat stood opened-mouth watching the spectacle. Kyle slipped out of the flow and joined his stunned partner as the blacksmith melted into the stream of bodies. In a matter of minutes, the majority of the population had disappeared up the street and out of sight. Only the glow of lights showed their progress up the mountain.

"I'll be damned," said Curry.

"You already are," said Heyes as he went to the back door and eased it open. He found Lobo and Hank waiting with their horses. "C'mon, Lobo's here."

The outlaws mounted and quietly rode out of town in the opposite direction of the procession. A few stragglers and observers watched them ride by without interest, having already been shocked by what they were witnessing.

Wheat and Kyle joined their friends at the edge of the forest. "What about Preacher?" asked the big, burly outlaw.

"Kid and me will wait for him," said Heyes, handing the sack of money to Wheat. "Take the gang back to the Hole. Lobo, I'll take Preacher's horse."

OOOOOOOOOO

Concealed in the dark woods along the trail to the summit, Heyes and the Kid followed and listened to Preacher whipping his flock into a frenzy of emotions under the darkened moon. He yelled and harangued and chided them for nearly two hours, leading his people further and further from town, stumbling in the dark night, towards the top of the mountain. His voice was hoarse and his hair dripped with sweat but he never let their attention wander. Like a pied piper of the faithful, he led them on. As the thin man reached a clearing, a sliver of light appeared on the edge of the moon. Women screamed and clutched their children pointing at the sky. Men fell to their knees and sobbed. Preacher bellowed "Hallelujah! The good Lord has saved us. We are saved!" He stopped and faced his parade. Walking back and forth in front of them and spreading his arms wide, he bellowed, "Prostrate yourselves, close your eyes, and pray for your salvation!" Like one organism, the people of Apple Valley fell face down on the ground and prayed their hearts out, yelling out their words of worship. Preacher smiled delightedly and, as he reached the edge of the crowd closest to the trees, dropped his arms and disappeared into the forest.

Heyes and the Kid caught up to him when he was halfway down the mountain. He heard the horses crashing through the underbrush and waited for his leaders to appear. The men mounted quickly and picked their way down the rest of the slope in the brightening moonlight.

"Preacher!" Heyes couldn't help laughing. "You were amazing!"

"Thanks, Heyes," croaked Preacher.

"Tell you what, I'm buying you a whole barrel of whiskey to wet your whistle," said the Kid.

Preacher grinned. "I'll be holdin' you to that promise, Kid."

"I thought we were done for," Heyes shook his head ruefully. "You really ought to go back to the church. The way you worked that crowd, I almost wanted to join up with you."

"I guess you ain't the only one with a silver tongue, Heyes," chuckled Curry. "How the heck did you manage to sermonize those folks for almost two whole hours? I'da run outta words in two minutes!"

"Well, you know what they say," Preacher paused, "the Lord works in mysterious ways."