The Wild Bunch
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or anything by Sam Peckinpah. Rating: K Time: The year 1902.
"How so, if the Spanish had surrendered?" The brunette asked.
"Just like in Cuba, the Spanish had a rebellion on their hands in the Philippines. The Filipino insurrectos, as the rebels were called had surrounded Manila when Spanish power in the Philippines collapsed. The US Army, the Eighth Corps, held Manila. We had about 19,000 troops and Aguinaldo, the leader of the insurrectos had about 15,000, maybe more."
Castle smiled and got a faraway look in his eyes. Then he resumed speaking.
"We had a damned good little army. One regiment of Regular Army infantry plus some Regular Army artillery and engineers. The rest of us were volunteers that hadn't been in the army a year yet. But, except for one regiment from Pennsylvania, the rest of us were from west of the Mississippi River. Country boys who could shoot, although most of us were armed with the lousy old trapdoor Springfield rifle, a single shot breechloader. Just the regulars and a few others had the Krag repeater."
"Are those the rifles you three are carrying?" The brunette asked.
"No, these are Spanish Mauser rifles we picked up along the way. They're better rifles than the US Krag."
"What's the tube on top of your rifle?"
"That's a German Zeiss telescopic sight. I got it off of a Spanish officer."
"Did you kill him for it?" Asked the young redhead, sounding horrified.
"No, I paid him for it. He was getting on a ship going back to Spain. Cost me fifty dollars, but it's worth every cent."
"So, you fought the Filipinos when?" The brunette asked.
"That was February 1899."
"That's almost three years ago."
"Well, the Filipinos kept fighting. Now the state volunteer regiments, like the First California, were legally enlisted only for the war with Spain. Legally we had to be discharged. But the US needed troops to fight the insurrectos. Congress set up the US Volunteers who would serve in the Philippines for two years while the Regular Army got ready to take over."
"Starting in March of 1899 they started recruiting state volunteer troops who were in the Philippines, but due to be discharged. That's when the three of us enlisted. They recruited twelve infantry regiments and one cavalry regiment right there in the Philippines. Another dozen regiments were raised in the US. We were in the 30th US Volunteer Infantry and served on the Island of Luzon, the main island. And sure enough, we were discharged after two years. And here we are?"
"And why are you here in New Mexico?"
"That's because of my little brother Timothy." Ryan said. "He was always the smart one in the family. Not only did he finish high school, but he took classes at New York University, studying engineering."
"Now in 1898, he joined Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders, to fight in Cuba. There he met a fella named Mike O'Brien who was from New Mexico. He owned a cattle ranch on the Rio Grande River, just north and west of Texas. While they were in Cuba, O'Brien's wife wrote that they had found silver on the ranch. Now Mike knew nothing about mining, but Timothy knew a bit, so Mike hired Tim."
"When we arrived in San Francisco coming back from the war, there was a telegraph from Tim saying they were having trouble with some folks from Texas, and they could use some fellers handy with guns."
"We've told you our story, now you should tell us yours." Castle said.
"Fair enough." The brunette said. "My name is Kate Beckett. This is my friend, Ann Hastings." She pointed to the blonde. "This is Lanie Parish." The buxom Black woman raised her hand." The older redhead is Martha Rodgers and that's her granddaughter, Alexis Rodgers."
"Have you ever heard of "Boss" Bracken of Socorro, New Mexico? It's four days ride from here, maybe five in this weather."
Castle shook his head as did his two friends.
"He's the political boss of the town. He rules by violence and corruption. If he can't buy you, he kills you. As long as the mine was operating here, Mr. Melton, the mine owner, kept Bracken well away. But one day, the vein of silver they'd been working disappeared. The dug down, they dug up, they dug right and left, but they couldn't find the vein. With no silver, the mine closed down and Mr. Melton and the miners left. Sherriff Dodge and his deputies left. With no miners, the stores closed, and more people left. Pretty soon almost everyone was gone."
"Why would this Bracken care about a ghost town?"
"My father, Jim, was a lawyer. He'd been gathering evidence of Bracken's crimes. Bracken had some of his men set fire to Miss Parish's boarding house, where we lived."
"I managed to get Kate out." Lanie said, "but her mother and father died in the fire. You could smell coal oil all over that part of the building."
"Bracken is afraid that I have some of my dad's evidence, which I don't."
"She's not the only one Bracken has hurt." Said Ann. "My dad ran a ranch south of here. Rustlers know they can sell stolen cattle in Socorro, no questions asked. They rustled our herd one night. My dad, my brother and two drovers rode after them. They never came back."
"They killed Ashley." Alexis said and began to cry.
"Ashley was her fiancé." Martha said, holding the sobbing girl. "Three of Bracken's men came here. They found Alexis and…" She shook her head. "They were dragging her off when Ashley came running. They shot him down in cold blood."
"Alexis escaped and ran for it." Kate said. "The men couldn't catch her because they were holding their pants up with their hands. I shot two of them with my last two buckshot rounds. The other one dragged his friends off, firing at us. He was a coward. He left his friends behind but took all but one of their guns. One man had dropped his. Before he rode off with their horses, he hamstrung our five horses. We had to shoot the horses to put them out of their misery. That left us with one round in the pistol Ann has. We hung the two wounded men."
"We saw them." Rick said. He looked at the pistol in Martha's hand.
"That's a Colt Model 1860 Single Action Army Revolver. It's still a cap and ball pistol. All these years you didn't have it converted to fire cartridges?"
Martha laughed.
"Dear me. We never used this gun to shoot anyone. My late husband and I used it in our act."
"Your act?" Rick asked.
"Yes, Jackson, my late husband, and I were entertainers. I still am, of course. We sang, danced, told jokes...Anything to keep the audience happy. One of our little gags was for Jackson to shoot an apple off of my head. Not for real, of course. He'd load the Colt with just some black powder and fire it at me. Now, there was a length of thread through the apple and when the shot was fired, a stagehand off stage would yank on the thread and the apple would go flying off my head."
Martha laughed and smiled as if remembering better times.
"One time, the stagehand got so drunk he passed out. Jackson fired at the apple, and nothing happened. So, he kept firing and still nothing happened. Finally, he decided to knock the apple off of my head. But the shots and finally woken the stagehand and he fumbled around for the thread and before Jackson could knock the apple off, it went flying backwards. The audience laughed so hard; we kept that bit in."
"Those were good days, Mr. Castle. Oh, we never played in New York or any really big cities, but we brought a lot of laughter and fun to a lot of people."
"Do you and your granddaughter know how to shoot?" Rick asked.
"Oh, Jackson taught me how to shoot the old Colt with no bullets. And now, thanks to you, we have better weapons."
"I know a little about shooting from Grandpa." Alexis said. "The man who sent the men who killed my Ashley is still out there. I want him dead."
"Well, Miss Alexis, wanting a man dead and being able to kill him are two different things. But I can see your point. We can help you be a better shot."
"Aren't those Army issue revolvers you're carrying?" Miss Beckett asked.
"Yes, they are. Back in February of '99 I was assigned as a stretcher bearer taking US wounded to the field hospital. There was a big old pile of weapons outside of the hospital, along with boots, uniforms, and equipment of all sorts. Javi and I still had those old single shot Springfields. Now if a whole crowd of insurrectos came at you, you had one shot before you had to reload. I figured the Army wouldn't mind if me and Javi had back up weapons. So, we all carry the 1892 Army revolvers. Plus, I have something else."
"You have another pistol in a shoulder holster, I believe." Miss Beckett said.
"Very good, Miss Beckett." Castle pulled his other pistol from its holster.
"What is that?" She asked.
" A Colt Model 1900 automatic pistol. It's .38 caliber but uses a different cartridge from the .38 long Colt the revolvers use. Let me show you how it works." Rick removed the magazine from the butt of the pistol and made sure there wasn't a round in the chamber. "Now, when you fire it, the recoil pushes this slide back, which catches the base of the next bullet in the magazine and seats it in the chamber so you're ready to fire again. When you've fired all seven rounds in the magazine, you just drop the old one out and slap in a new one. That's quicker than any revolver can be reloaded."
"But you need to have extra magazines." Miss Beckett said,
Rick smiled.
"I have plenty of extra magazines."
"It's getting dark." Miss Beckett said. "We should get some sleep. We want to get a good start tomorrow."
"Where should we head to?" Rick asked.
"Anywhere far from Socorro and Boss Bracken. We should go up Sandy Creek Canyon and head for Benton, New Mexico. They won't let Boss Bracken near them."
The men laid out their bedrolls on the floor of the saloon while the women slept in the office and storeroom in back. They were mounted and ready to ride just before dawn the next day,
They headed for Benton. It was still cold, but the sky was clear and there was no wind. They made better time than Castle had hoped.
"When we get to the top of that hill ahead of us, " Kate said, " we'll be able to see if Sweeney's store is still there. It was a stop between Benton and Silver Belle, but it's probably closed down now."
They rode slowly up the steep hill. Castle stopped them just before they reached the top.
"It's always a good idea not to be outlined against the skyline. I'll take my binoculars and take a look."
He was not too surprised to find that Miss Beckett had followed him. He dropped to all fours and quickly looked down at the valley below them. No one was there. Kate crawled up beside him.
"You can just see Sweeney's store beyond those big grey rocks." Kate said.
Castle got out his binoculars and looked.
"No smoke from the chimney and the door's wide open. As cold as it is, I think that means no one's at home."
Castle was just about to stand when he saw a man riding towards them.
TBC