Ch 8
Jimmy drove the carriage through town to get the attention of the posse. He watched as they pulled out of town. Cody turned and put his fan up to cover his face as he looked.
"Looks like they are taking the bait." He said.
"Good. Let's make it hard then." Jimmy said as he slapped the reins.
The horses thundered down the trail. Lou watched as the men slowly left town to chase after them.
"That looks like all of them." Said Lou.
"This is as fast as this thing will go!" Said Jimmy.
"We still got a good lead on them." Said Cody.
"We'll go as planned, make it to the canyon and make a stand to kill time." Said Jimmy.
Teaspoon and the others waved to Emma as they pounded across the prairie. They led the girls through the riverbed and over rocks to make them hard to track. They made the old mine in record time. Noah and Kid helped the ladies down as Teaspoon unloaded the money. He sat it in the back of the mine.
"We never really looked at everything in those satchels." Said Mary.
"Never had a reason to Mary." Said Sheila.
Teaspoon and Audrey sat down to look. Teaspoon thumbed through money after stacks of money until he saw a folded piece of paper. He looked at it.
"Mary?"
"Yes sir?"
"Y'all appeared to have taken the title to the boat."
"My goodness, truly?"
"Yes ma'am and it is yours."
"I knew it."
"Ya know, he ain't gonna stop til he gets this back."
"I know."
Teaspoon looked around at the others hoping that the rest of them were fine.
Jimmy, Lou, and Cody raced toward the canyon. The men on horseback gaining ground.
"Now Cody!" Yelled Lou.
Cody put his purse down and picked up his rifle. He took aim and fired. He hit the first man. He fired and hit another one.
"Two down!" Yelled Cody while reloading.
"Yeah and bout ten more!" Screamed Lou.
Jimmy turned the horses toward the spot in the canyon. He pulled the carriage to a stop around a boulder. They all jumped off hiking up their skirts as they ran. Cody snatched his purse and umbrella before running for cover. They spread out amongst several hidden areas. They watched as the men came roaring in the canyon. Jimmy pulled his revolvers and opened fire hitting two more men. Lou did the same, striking another. The remaining men dove for cover.
"Audrey! Mary! Sheila! Come on out. You got something of mine and I want it back! If you hand it over, I might let you live!" Hollered Max.
"That must be Max." Said Jimmy over to Cody.
They stayed quiet and didn't say a word. Lou lost her footing which let pebbles slide under her foot. She fell back. Jimmy knew that they knew her position now. He grabbed his skirts and ran farther up the hill as shots rang out.
"There she goes! Shoot her!"
He dove behind another rock. Cody smiled and opened his umbrella.
"There's Sheila! Get her!"
He laughed as he jumped up and ran to another spot.
Jimmy shot another man as he stood to fire at Cody.
Lou turned and ran off to the side.
"There!"
Another man stood to fire as Jimmy and Cody fired at him, wounding him.
Max looked at his remaining six men. He watched the women run from one place to another. He looked closely.
"It ain't them." He said to the man next to him.
"What?"
"It isn't them! It's a trick! They had to go in the other direction!" Yelled Max.
Jimmy saw the men ease back toward their horses. He looked over to Lou who was right next to him.
"They found us out! Their leaving!"
Jimmy and Lou stood to fire as the men quickly rode off. Cody walked over still holding his umbrella.
"We got to warn Teaspoon." Said Lou.
"We'll never make it in a carriage with tired horses, Lou. Sides Buck and Ike should be on their way now. He knew to be ready." Said Jimmy.
"At least we bought them time to hide. They should be there by now." Cody said fanning himself.
"Let's go on behind. We cut the number in half but we could still come up and help." Said Jimmy.
"Sounds like a plan." Said Louise.
"Cody, grab our clothes out the carriage."
Cody stopped and looked at his feet.
"Um, I maybe left them at the station."
"Fuck Cody."
"It's ok, it ain't like we are naked or anything."
"I'm in a dress and not just any dress, a damn dancing dress!"
"Now Jimmy, Cody's right. And it ain't a dancing dress, it's a ball gown." Smiled Lou.
Jimmy looked at his dress and groaned. Cody took his umbrella and climbed in the carriage.
"Come on, times a wastin." He said.
Lou looked at Jimmy with laughter in her eyes as he gathered his many skirts to climb in the driver's seat. He glared at Cody while snatching his frilly umbrella from him. He threw it in the dirt.
"Aw come on Jimmy! Now it's all dirty!"
"I'm going to kill you before this is over, Cody."
"You're so jealous that you didn't get one. That's all that is."
Louise picked up the umbrella and handed it back to Cody smiling. She climbed up beside Jimmy. She reached over to straighten Jimmy's floral hat.
"Let's go Miss Hickok."