The Magnificent Seventh
Chapter Four Last, But Not Least"Billy the Kid's the last of us. He took it real hard, what happened to Wyatt. I hear tell he went to Santo Pollo, and ran afoul of the Frogerales." Calamity Jane said as we sat down at one of the tables in the Silver Spur Saloon.
"The fool boy ended up in jail, on the Banditoad Trail. If we're going to bust him out, we'll need dynamite. You have any?" Wild Bill asked, and Ratbeard, who was sitting at the table with us, and I shook our heads.
"We've no dynamite to speak of…" Ratbeard said, but then Bat piped up from the nearest table. "I've been expecting a shipment of dynamite for use in the mines – it should be on the docks now! Let us go!"
We walked to the docks of Cooper's Roost, where several crewmen were unloading a paddle steamer filled with crates marked in big red letters, "CAUTION."
The crewmen nodded at Bat as we approached, and they opened one of the crates for him with a crowbar, revealing bright red sticks of dynamite with fuses.
"One stick should be enough, but we'll take an entire crate just to be safe." Bat said, nodding towards Ratbeard, who lifted the crate of dynamite off the planks of the dock rather carelessly, as we could hear the sticks of dynamite moving around in the box, and Bat hissed at him. "Be careful how you carry it!"
We loaded the crate of dynamite into the Aquila's powder store at her bow, and we sailed east to Santo Pollo, where we each carried a stick of dynamite as we walked through town to Banditoad Trail.
We soon found the Frogerale compound where Billy was, surrounded by wooden walls with two tall wooden gates guarded by a pair of Frogerales.
Calamity Jane and Wild Bill nodded at each other, and they each took aim at a guard with their guns, and fired. The Frogerales fell flat onto their faces, and we opened the gates slowly to meet no resistance as we shut the gates behind us.
"Well alright, captain, you and your crew head up the main trail there. The boys and I will sneak around the ridges up there looking for guards. See you at the top!" Calamity Jane said. As Calamity Jane, Wild Bill, and Bat Masterson went off, my trusted associates and I hiked up the main trail.
Loading our pistols, Emmett and I stunned a patrol of four Frogerales hopping down the trail armed with double-barreled shotguns, and we continued onwards to halfway up the trail, where we intercepted a patrol of four Frogerale lieutenants, leaving them unconscious or stunned on the dusty trail.
We finally reached a wooden palisade, which was guarded by four Frogerale captains. Rena threw a smoke bomb at the Frogerales, and smoke enveloped them as the Frogerales fired their double-barreled shotguns, electrical bursts flying over our heads as we ducked behind rocks for cover.
We fired back with our own guns, and as the smoke faded away, we could see that the four Frogerale captains were stunned, lying on the dusty ground.
As we walked past the wooden palisades into the compound, we heard a familiar voice speak up from the shadows. "Ah, here you are. What kept you?"
We turned to see Bat Masterson hanging upside-down from the eaves of an adobe building, with Calamity Jane and Wild Bill below him.
We then heard another voice, unfamiliar and unfriendly, speak up from our left, and we turned to see that it was a Frogerale major, who aimed his double-barreled shotgun at us. "You are all trespassing! Surrender or you'll be sorry."
Wild Bill laughed heartily as he walked over to the Frogerale major. "There must be some mistake. We're famous lawmen, you see."
"I don't see any badges…" The Frogerale major said as he peered at us.
"We don't NEED any stinking badges! Get them!" Calamity Jane shouted, aiming her rifle at the major, as more Frogerales appeared from around the compound and took position behind cover.
"We'll guard the rear. Go!" Bat Masterson shouted as the first shots were fired, and we began running to the jailhouse, leaving him, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill to handle the Frogerales.
We narrowly avoided the crossfire between the two sides as we ran towards the doors of the jailhouse, and a few harrowing seconds later, we finally slammed the doors behind us, breathing heavily.
Suddenly, we heard the sound of guns cocking and we looked to see a firing line of Frogerales aiming at us, the warden dressed in a black uniform with green lapels and golden epaulettes, and a tall black hat with a green feather.
"Since I became warden, some prisoners have tried to escape. Some were captured. Some perished. No one ever escaped. No ever will!" The warden shouted as he aimed at us too, and we all dove out of the way as they fired.
One managed to shoot my arm, and I felt it go limp at my side. Cursing under my breath, I drew one of my pistols to reload it one-handed as I hid behind some sacks. As I finished loading my pistol, I peered around the sacks to aim and fire at one of the Frogerales' heads, but I only managed to knock his hat off.
As I hurried to reload my pistol again, I saw the doors burst open, and Bat flew in to claw at the warden's face, and Calamity Jane and Wild Bill, having returned from their gunfight outside, had their guns blazing as they entered the room, taking the Frogerales by surprise.
Stepping over the stunned bodies of the Frogerales, we hurried past the empty cells to Billy the Kid, who was lying atop the cot inside his cell. He was a white-haired goat with small horns and blue eyes, and he wore brown overalls with green straps over a white shirt with two revolvers at his sides.
Anyway, he raised his head to see us at the bars of his cell. "Who's there?"
As Billy the Kid caught sight of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill, his eyes widened. "Holy smokes, it's Jane and Bill! What're you doing here?"
"We're here to bust you out." I answered, and Jane and Bill nodded. Billy nodded as well as he leapt out of his cot. "Well, get me out of here, and hurry!"
Strapping a stick of dynamite on both of the two hinges on Billy's cell door, we all ducked for cover as the dynamite exploded and the door fell onto the adobe floor. "Jumping jackrabbits, it's good to see you all! Thanks for the rescue, strangers."
Bat coughed from atop my shoulder, and Billy turned to look at him. "And Bat! Stranger, if you've brought these three with you, I reckon it can only mean one thing – we're putting the gang back together!"
We hurried outside the jailhouse, where I spotted a line of mine carts on a track leading out of the compound, with a handcar at the end of the line. "Here, these mine carts will get us out of here in a hurry! Let's head back to Duck's house in Tumbleweed."
Emmett, Jack, Ratbeard, and I each took half of one of the two bars on the handcar to power it and the others back to Santo Pollo atop the tracks, and we were all sweaty and tired as the others climbed out of the mine carts in front of us back at Santo Pollo.
We returned to the Aquila in Santo Pollo's docks, and from there, we sailed west to Cooper's Roost before turning to port to sail through Arroyo Grande to Tumbleweed.
We returned to Duck Holliday's house, where Timmy was waiting on the front porch.
"Hey, Matt, you're back!" Timmy said as he hopped off the railing, and he leaned to his left on one foot as he tried to get a good look at the people behind me. "Who's with you and your friends?"
My trusted associates and I parted to let Timmy get a good look at the Magnificent Seven, who smiled kindly at him, and he gasped as he shouted: "HOLY CROW!"