“Ha. I’d call that pretty good insurance,” Clark said. “You got it fixed so that Conklin and I don’t have any choice but to keep you alive.”
“Yeah,” Dodd said with an evil grin. “That’s exactly the way I got it planned.”
“Shh!” Conklin hissed. “I think I hear it.”
The three men fell silent and listened.
Then they heard the driver’s whistle, followed by the crack of a whip.
“Hyar, hyar, giddap there, giddap!” the driver shouted at his team. His voice was tinny in the distance.
“Remember, we don’t do nothin’ till he gets to the top of the grade and stops to give the horses a blow,” Dodd said. “Now, get out of sight.”
The three men got back off the road, taking concealment behind rocks and low-lying bushes. The coach continued its slow and laborious climb up the long, winding grade, sometimes visible and sometimes not. Finally it made the last switchback, then reached the crest.
“Whoa!” the driver called to his team. The six horses were breathing hard and the driver set the brake, then called down to his passengers.
“Folks, we’re goin’ to be here for a few minutes to let the horses get their breath. May as well climb down and stretch your legs a bit, and enjoy the view. ”
Three men and a boy climbed out of the coach. Since there were no women, two of the men began relieving themselves, one on the front wheel, the other on the back wheel.
The driver climbed down and began checking the harnesses on his team. The guard left his shotgun up on the seat and he began climbing down as well.
“What are you doin', Tony?” the driver asked.
“I’m goin’ take a leak.”
“We ought not both of us be down at the same time,” the driver said.
“Hell, Ralph, you can see for yourself there ain’t nobody around,” Tony said. “But if you want me back up there, I’ll—”
The sound of a gunshot interrupted Tony in mid-sentence. He was at the top of the wheel, nearly ready to get back into the box, when he suddenly threw both arms up, then fell, landing hard on his back.
“Tony! “ the driver shouted, running over to him.
Emmett Clark gasped out loud when Dodd shot the guard. Fortunately, his gasp of surprise and disapproval was covered by the sound of the rifle shot.
My God, he was now a party to murder!
He hadn’t planned on taking part in a murder.
What had he planned? He was taking part in a felony, the robbing of a stagecoach. Did he think it would be a walk in the park?
“All you fellas get your hands up,” Dodd yelled as he, Conklin, and Clark moved quickly out into the road.
The driver and his passengers complied and five sets of arms went into the air.
“Can I take a look at my friend?” the driver asked.
“No, what I want you to do is climb up there and throw down the express pouch.”
“But he might still be alive,” Andy insisted.
Dodd walked over to the prostrate form of the stage guard and, at point-blank range, shot him in the head.
“Tony! “ Ralph shouted in shock and sorrow.
“He ain’t alive no more,” Dodd said. “Now throw me down that pouch like I asked.”
Ralph climbed back up into the driver’s box, then leaned over to reach under the seat. Dodd moved closer and pointed his pistol at the driver.
“Mister, if you have anything in your hand other than what I asked for when you raise up, you are going to be as dead as your friend. ”
“No, no!” Ralph said, holding up his hands. “I’m just going to get the pouch, that’s all.”
Ralph got the pouch, then threw it down.
“That’s a good man,” Dodd said. Dodd walked up to the off-side lead horse, put his gun to the horse’s head, then pulled the trigger. The horse dropped in his traces, and the other horses jerked back and whinnied in fear and confusion.
“Why did you do that?” Ralph asked angrily. “You had no call to kill an innocent horse.” He climbed back down from the driver’s box, then put his hand out to calm the rest of the team.
“I did it for your own good,” Dodd said. “By the time you get this horse out of harness, we’ll be well out of here and you won’t have any notion to try and come after me.”
“Mister, you are a mean man,” the boy shouted.
Dodd backhanded the boy, sending him careening against the side of the coach. His mouth started bleeding.
“You son of a bitch!” the boy’s father said. Suddenly and totally unexpectedly, the boy’s father hit Dodd with his
