Jerry smiled and shook his bandaged head. 'Can't say as I do. I'll get the wagon in place.'
'I'll be at the curve with a rifle. As soon as they hear you they'll get ready to open fire. Just as soon as I get a target, I'll drop him.'
'Sounds good to me.'
'Good luck, Jer.'
Jerry nodded his head and climbed into the wagon. Frank walked back to the curve and got into position. The guards had probably been warned by a lookout high above the road, for there was no one in sight.
As he waited for Jerry to get into place, Frank wondered if the four men who had ambushed him and Viv that sunny afternoon had been part of the two gangs. He didn't think they were. Dutton's men, he was sure.
Another man he damn sure had to deal with as soon as he got the road opened. And he would get the road open. Frank didn't have any doubts about that. Doubts about his ability to deal with any given situation were not something that plagued him. He just bulled ahead and got it done.
Jerry got the wagon into position and unhitched the team, leading them to safety, then came back and removed the cases of dynamite and caps, stashing them behind some rocks, well out of the line of fire. He returned to crouch beside the wagon, rifle in his hand.
'Ready for the dance?' Frank called.
'Play the fiddle, Frank. It's your tune.'
Frank started cranking, the lead flying from the hand cranked machine gun. The heavy slugs tore into the wagons, knocking great chunks from the sideboards.
'I thought you said both them Gatlin's had been ruint?' someone called from the outlaw side.
'Yeah,' another man yelled. 'Damn shore don't sound like it to me.'
Frank gave the outlaws another half a magazine and got lucky this time: a man staggered out, both hands holding his torn up belly. He collapsed on the rocky road and died.
'Jess is dead!' a man called.
'I see him, you idgit! I ain't blind.'
'No, yore just stupid! That there is Frank Morgan, and I told you he wasn't gonna take this lyin' down.'
'If you want your share of that money in the bank you'll shet your mouth and hold this here road.'
'I want me some of them women in the town,' another man said, his voice carrying clearly in the thin mountain air. 'I got me a real powerful yearnin.''
Frank gave the outlaws another half a magazine, and that ended conversation on their side for a few minutes.
While Frank was changing out the magazine, Jerry's rifle cracked and an outlaw screamed and fell to the hard road, one leg broken. The .44-.40 slug had busted his knee. Moaning in pain, the man dragged himself out of sight, behind some rocks on the side of the road.
Hundreds of feet above the road, some of the outlaw gang began hurling large rocks down at the road. But the top of the ridge angled outward, and rocks hit nowhere near the wagon. The outlaws gave up their rock throwing very quickly.
For a few moments, the siege became quiet, both sides apparently at an impasse.
Jerry edged closer to Frank. 'How are we goin' to get the dynamite down to the blockade? We sure can't toss it down there. It's too far.'
'I've been studying on that, Jer. I think we'll use the spare wheel off the wagon.'
'A wheel?'
'Yes. It's a gentle slope down to the blockade, and the road is fairly smooth. We'll tie the charge to the wheel, light it, and roll it down there.'
'And if it falls over, or rolls off the edge before it gets there?'
'There are four more wheels on the wagon. And we've got lots of dynamite. The trick is going to be cutting the fuse the right length.'
'I'll get the wheel. You handle the charges. Me and dynamite made a bargain a long time back: it leaves me alone, and I do the same for it.'
Frank smiled. He was an experienced hand with dynamite, and knew that it wasn't just the charges one should be cautious with, but the caps. He'd seen men lose fingers, hands, and entire arms after getting careless while capping dynamite.
Frank tied together a dozen sticks of explosives and carefully capped the lethal bundle. Jerry rolled the big wheel up and squatted down, watching while Frank cut and inserted the fuse. Then Frank secured the charge to the wheel with a cord and looked at his deputy.
'You ready?'
'If that's a fast-burnin' fuse, we're in trouble,' Jerry said.
Frank chuckled. 'We'll soon know, won't we?'
'You don't know?'
'Nope. You got the dynamite and fuses. Didn't you ask?'
