Chapter 24: Moonshine

Sam and Arthur returned to camp after their sexual escapade in Border Glade. Arthur could tell Sam was feeling a little better, although he couldn't help noticing that she was still drifting off in her thoughts, probably still thinking about the man she killed that day. He felt bad for her, but at the same time, he was extremely grateful that she had saved his life, even at the cost of her innocence. Sam had gone hunting that evening, wanting to be alone, she had explained. So he spent time writing in his journal about all of what had occurred that day. As he finished up, he noticed Dutch approaching him and so Arthur shut the book.

"Hey, Arthur," Dutch said. "I can't find Sam. Do you know where she went?"

"Sam went hunting," Arthur replied. "Said she wanted some time alone."

Dutch arched a brow. "Well, aren't you worried about her?"

"Of course I'm worried but I wasn't about to fight with her about goin' off on her own. She's been through a lot today."

"Yes, she has. But I think she'll be okay."

"Here's hopin'," Arthur said.

"Is she gonna stay with us, you think?"

"She said she's thinkin' about it, but after today? Probably not," Arthur said glumly.

"Hmm. Shame. People here like her."

"I know. Me too."

"Well, when you see her, tell her Hosea wants to see her. He might have a score she can get in on."

Arthur nodded and Dutch walked away. He wondered if Sam would be fine with him being gone a couple of days. He really needed to go find that debtor Winton Holmes. He had it in his mind to ask Sam to come with, but now that Hosea needed her, Arthur would have to go without her. Perhaps he would go to Rhodes first for the other debtor. Arthur got off his cot and ambled on over to his horse. He climbed on and trotted out of camp to head into town.


It was still evening when Sam returned to camp with a deer and some rabbits. Hunting had helped clear her mind so she was feeling more okay than she had earlier, but she was still horrified at what she had done. Sam wondered why the sting of it was now less. Maybe because this world was truly changing her as a person, or maybe it was the influence of the gang. But now, after having some time to think, Sam realized it didn't really matter what was causing it. It would be better if she just went home, she thought.

But could she truly go back home and live the life she had been accustomed to for so long? Thinking about how mundane of a life she really had made her resent it. But here, in this time, Sam had excitement, danger, and Arthur. Someday she would have to leave, but it didn't have to be now. Right?

After giving Pearson the deer and rabbits, Sam walked over to her tent when she was stopped by Tilly.

"Hey Sam. How you doin'?" Tilly asked.

"I'm fine, and yourself?" Sam answered.

"I'm fine."

Tilly looked uncomfortable as if she wanted to say something but didn't know where to begin. Sam let out a loud sigh. "What is it?"

"Well, I heard about what happened today and I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay."

Sam rubbed her face with both hands. "Gossip sure gets around quick here, doesn't it..." She looked at an anxious Tilly and threw up her hands. "Well, I'm dealing with it, I guess."

"Well, if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Sam laughed bitterly. "What could I possibly say to help you understand what I'm going through? You never killed a man."

Tilly raised her chin, as if she was being defiant. "Actually, I have."

Sam blinked a bunch of times and her brow wrinkled up. "Excuse me?"

Tilly inched closer. "Remember that man that was harassin' me in Valentine a while back?" Tilly whispered.

"Uh huh."

"I used to run with him and his gang, and well, I killed his cousin."

"Jesus Christ on a fucking cross..."

"I know, but that boy had it comin'. It was either him or me."

Sam crossed her arms and scoffed in amazement. "How old were you?"

"Twelve."

"You're shitting me."

"Nope," Tilly answered with a head shake. "Sliced his neck right open."

Sam took off her hat and ran a hand through her straw blonde locks. "I had no idea. Did you feel bad?"

"I felt bad for a while, but over time, I realized I had no other choice if I wanted to live. That's how I came to terms with it..." Tilly put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "And it sounds to me like you didn't have a choice, either. It was him or Arthur."

Tilly was right. Sam had no choice but to save her lover. She would never forgive herself if Arthur was shot while she stood by and did nothing. Sam still felt guilty, but at least she didn't kill the man in cold blood. "That...actually makes me feel better. Thanks, Tilly," Sam said, giving the younger girl a smile.

"You're welcome. Now, you wanna come sit with us girls and chat for a bit?"

Just when Sam was about to say yes, Dutch called out to her. Sam excuse herself from Tilly's presence and walked over to Dutch. "Yeah?"

Dutch was at his tent with a lit cigar in his hand. "Hosea might have a job for you. He's waitin' near the edge of camp with John and the wagon of that moonshine we acquired. It's near the trail out of here towards the main road."

"Alright, I'll head right over."

Sam left Dutch and started walking in the direction of where the stash was. It wasn't that hard to find.

"Hey, Sam," John said to her.

"Hey there. What's going on?" Sam asked.

Hosea motioned towards the moonshine. "Sellin' it back to where it came from."

Sam tilted her head to the side. "You're what?"

"Well I ain't got a market for it. They made it, they must have someone to sell it to." John helped Hosea lift some hugs off the ground. "Stuff looked kinda lonely out here. I think we'll cut ourselves a deal."

"Hmm. Seems a bit...dangerous." Sam gave Hosea a smile. "I'm in."

Hosea laughed while he walked to the front of the wagon. "You, Dutch and Arthur was just doin' your duty when you requisitioned it. Now I'm doin' mine."

Sam laughed and climbed into the driver's seat. "Well, I wasn't deputized. I was only helpin'."

"Alright, I should get goin' now," John said.

"You're not coming with?" Sam asked, turned at the waist to look at John.

"No, Dutch has somethin' else planned for me. Somethin' about the Braithwaite's horses."

John waved goodbye and headed away while Sam turned back in the seat. "You wanna drive or should I?"

Hosea smiled. "Go ahead, give it a whirl." He handed her the reins and she flicked them once. The horses got going and they went out onto the main road. "Okay, let's head out to the Braithwaite's place. You know the way?"

"Yeah. Arthur and I delivered some letters to both families today. One Beau Gray to one Penelope Braithwaite, star-crossed lovers, then Penelope's letter to Beau."

"The mind boggles. You think they're of use?"

Sam looked at Hosea strangely. "I don't know what you mean."

"I mean are they involved in this talk of gold I keep hearin' about?"

"I don't think so." Sam sighed and flicked the reins again. "So what are we doing?"

"I think the good citizens taking the trouble to return their stolen goods deserve some reward, don't you? And it's time we made a formal introduction and, well, to see if you can handle yourself."

"Just don't make me shoot anyone, please."

Hosea sighed. "Yeah, I heard about that. How are you holdin' up?"

Sam shrugged. "Well, it was him or Arthur, so I'm coming to terms with it. I think."

"Well, I'm glad you saved him, Sam." Hosea placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He's like a son to me."

Sam grinned at Hosea. "I'm glad I saved him too."

Hosea removed his hand and sighed. "So, look, these are two big old plantation houses and all I keep hearin' is that they hate each other so much they can't see past it. But I'm sure there's money in this for us somewhere, if we can get in the middle of it."

Sam and Hosea were heading down the avenue of the Braithwaite estate and Sam marveled at the house. It looked bigger than the house at Caliga Hall. In fact, it was bigger. Sam slowed at the arched entrance on account of there being armed guards.

"Well, we're here," Sam said.

"Modest little homestead, isn't it?" Hosea said sarcastically. Sam stopped the horses and Hosea gave the guards a wave. "Hello, gentlemen, how are you?"

Three of the guards began to approach them. "What's that in the back there?"

"Moonshine, my fine fellow," Hosea said as two guards went to the back. "May I have a word with the man of the house?"

"The "man" of the house is a lady. Mrs. Catherine Braithwaite."

"May I speak with her? I want to discuss a business opportunity. I mean no harm, no harm at all. You may happily shoot me if I do."

Sam gave Hosea a look of incredulity. "What?"

"Okay, okay. She's at the house," a guard said. One guard sat on the back of the wagon and Sam got the horses going. "We'll be watchin' you."

"You heard the man. Driver, proceed, please," said Hosea.

Sam started to sweat, having a sudden bad feeling about all this. She stopped the wagon in front of the house and the front doors opened to reveal an elderly woman.

"What you want?" she barked at them.

"Found somethin'...out in the hills, thought," Hosea stated as they both got off the wagon. "Thought maybe you was in the market for it."

"For what?"

"Some liquor."

"I ain't in the market for what's already mine!" the woman yelled.

This must be Catherine Braithwaite. Sam could already tell she was not a very nice woman. Hosea walked up to the house and Sam followed.

"Way we see it, it's ours. What with us possessin' it. And I-I checked all over, for the life of me I couldn't see your name on it," Hosea joked. Some men with guns came out from behind Catherine Braithwaite as she put her hands on her hips. Sam became more nervous. "Oh...relax, I ain't here to rob you. Though it seems that's easy enough. Wanna do a deal. What do you sell that stuff for?"

"A dollar a bottle."

"Then give us fifty cents."

"It's already ours!"

"Look on it as a reward, for finding the property. Alternative is we go sell it someplace else."

"The alternative is you get shot," one of the men said.

One of them aimed a gun at Hosea and Sam gulped. Sam wanted to wring Hosea's neck. What the hell was he doing, antagonizing the people with guns? This was a horrible idea. Oh, why the fuck did she agree to come along? Oh yeah, because it was dangerous, and apparently that was her thing now.

Hosea put his hands up. "Now, who wants to get shot over a bottle or two of liquor?"

Another man raised his gun but Catherine grabbed and lifted it away with a chuckle. "Pay the man."

One of the men counted some money then gave it to Hosea. "Pleasure don't business with you. And, listen...we didn't take it," Hosea said, looking back at Sam before he faced Catherine again, "least not without orders from-"

"Oh, I know exactly who gave you your orders. Old Sheriff Gray," said Mrs. Braithwaite in a bitter and mean tone. "You know what? I don't want it. In fact, sir, now you can do me a favor. There's an extra ten bucks if you do. Drive the stuff into Rhodes, head over to the tavern run by Mr. Gray, and give the stuff out for free."

"Momma!" a man said behind Catherine.

"Hush now," she said while looking over her shoulder. She then looked at Hosea. "I believe they call that a promotional expense."

"Ha," Hosea chuckled briefly before turning to Sam. "As you wish, madam."

"You two come back sometime and tell me how you made out. Maybe we'll play a little cribbage."

Sam and Hosea walked to the wagon and got up to their seats. "Alright, next stop: the Rhodes saloon."

Sam took the reins and snapped them. She wanted to get out of there immediately. As they went down the boulevard, Sam was breathing heavily. She was so mad. "You...I have half a mind to fucking kill you, Hosea!"

Hosea laughed. "Why? What did I do?"

"We almost got shot!"

"Ah, but we didn't, did we..."

Sam growled at him. "I almost shit my god damn pants!"

Hosea laughed wholeheartedly. "Well, I'm sorry, Sam, but you did want to come along."

"Yeah, but I-"

"You didn't think it might be dangerous to bring back a notoriously nasty family the liquor we stole from them?"

Sam opened her mouth but then closed it. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. In her time, this would've been the equivalent of a drug deal that could have gone really bad due to the product being stolen from the drug dealer in the first place. "It crossed my mind, yes."

"You know what I think? I think you like the excitement."

Sam eyed the man humorously. "Well, perhaps I do. Compared to what my life was like before, being around you guys is pretty damn exciting, but dangerous."

"I think you like the danger too. It coincides with the exciting part."

It was true. She liked the danger and excitement, yet when danger presented itself, she would choke like a big scaredy cat. She didn't know why. Maybe because this whole thing was completely out of her depth. It occurred to her that she'd have to learn how to be brave when looking danger in the eye.

"Now, look...this could get ugly. You, Dutch and Arthur already have that...thing goin' on on town with...the sheriff."

"Uh huh. And?"

"Now we're insertin' ourselves in this blood feud, so we'll need somethin'." Hosea bent down and grabbed a straw hat and a roll of gauze. "Turn off the road and stop for a minute."

Sam halted the wagon by a wooded area and looked at Hosea. "Okay? What are we doin'?"

"You need to look like a man."

"Okay, but what is the gauze for?"

"For your chest."

Sam looked down at her breasts and sighed. "Okay."

"Just go off in the trees there and wrap them up."

Sam took the gauze with an eye roll. She jumped off the wagon and went into the trees, then she started unbuttoning her shirt. Once that was done, Sam tossed her bow and rifle. Her shirt fell to the ground, then she tied one end of the gauze to a bra strap and began wrapping. It was a little difficult getting it to be tight enough but luckily her breasts weren't too big. She was a B cup at the most. Once she tied the other end to another bra strap, she looked herself over. Her chest was flat enough to pass for a man. Sam quickly got her shirt back on, got her rifle and bow on, buttoned it, and tucked it into her pants. Hosea took a gander at her as she walked back.

"Good," he said. "Now, as for that hair..." Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out a hair binder before getting back on the wagon. She tied her hair up in a bun near the top of her head and Hosea set the straw hat on her. He adjusted it so no hair strands would come out. "There we go. Now smoke this pipe. Bring your lip forward, just a bit...squint...oh, perfect."

Sam didn't want to know what she looked like, but she figured that she was quite a sight. She snapped the reins and got back onto the road. "Are you sure I can pass for a man?"

"Oh, we're gonna get people so drunk they won't even notice. But yes, you can pass for a man."

"What are you gonna be?"

"I'll be your uncle. You'll be my mute nephew turned idiot. Hmm, I'd leave your rifle and bow in the wagon, though."

Sam sighed. "Well, what if it all goes to shit? How will I defend myself?"

Hosea pulled out one of his guns and a small box of bullets. "Here."

Sam nodded, put the bullets in her satchel, and stuffed the gun in the back of her pants. She removed the bow and rifle, stuffing them in the wagon. Now, she'd never shot a revolver before, but it couldn't be that hard, right? She remembered what Arthur taught her and Sam hoped the lessons also applied with handguns. They arrived in Rhodes and Sam turned into the saloon lot. Sam stopped the wagon and jumped down.

"Okay, Fenton, stay calm know. For your momma, my sister, she loved you so," Hosea said. "Just a shame you had to strangle her in a rage...right, grab two cases of that stuff and follow me."

Sam rolled her eyes as she went to the back of the wagon. "For fucking fuck's sake, just shoot me now..." she muttered under her breath.