it.
“Jericho and me had a pretty good setup in Calgary,” Lundy said with a frown. “I’m not sure I want to leave it behind just like that.”
“You’ll be rich enough to go wherever you want,” Palmer argued. “Hell, the two of us could go back to Chicago. We’d be big men there now, Owen. We’d be running all the gangs on the south side within a year.”
Lundy didn’t look convinced of that at all. He said, “We’ll see. First we’ve got to get our hands on that gold we’ve been promised.”
He turned in the saddle again to give Joseph a hard, meaningful look.
“The gold is coming,” Joseph said. He lifted a hand to point at the riders he had just spotted emerging from a thick growth of trees up ahead. “There.”
Beside him, Charlotte said excitedly, “It is Anton and the others.”
It was accepted by many who knew them that Charlotte and Anton would be married someday. Joseph wasn’t so certain that was a good idea. Anton Mirabeau was a good man to have as an ally, brave and devoted to the Metis cause, but he was also reckless and could be brutal at times. Joseph wasn’t sure he wanted his sister to be married to a man like that.
Charlotte had a mind of her own, though, and a stubborn streak a mile wide. Joseph was content to bide his time, hoping that eventually Charlotte would come to realize Anton wasn’t the right man for her.
Since the party led by Lundy and Palmer had already halted, they waited where they were and let Mirabeau and the others come to them. Joseph counted the riders and realized with a shock that one man was missing. Joseph hoped the man was just out scouting and that nothing had happened to him.
Mirabeau and the others reined in when they were about twenty yards away. The big, black-bearded man raised a hand in greeting and smiled.
“Joseph! Charlotte! It is good to see you again. You are all right?”
Joseph nodded. “We’re fine, Anton. You heard our signal?”
“Yes. We heard what sounded like a little war, too. What happened?”
Lundy said, “We were just demonstrating the Gatling guns for your friends.”
“Burning up ammunition that we will be paying for,” Mirabeau said with a frown.
“You’re still getting a damned good deal,” Lundy snapped.
“Perhaps in light of these developments, the deal should be changed,” Mirabeau suggested.
Joseph stiffened with worry. This was just like Anton, he thought, going off on some wild tangent that would just wind up causing trouble.
Lundy didn’t like it, either. Joseph could tell that from the way the outlaw straightened in the saddle and moved his hand slightly toward the butt of the gun on his hip.
The Metis outnumbered the Americans, six to five. Eight to five if he and Charlotte were counted, Joseph thought.
But Lundy, Palmer, and the other men were all hardened criminals, well-versed in the art of killing. Mirabeau might succeed in refusing to hand over the gold and take the Gatling guns anyway, but it would be at a high cost in human life. In fact, they might all die, which would do nothing to help the cause.
“Anton,” Joseph said sharply. “There will be no change in our arrangements with these men. Mr. Lundy has kept his part of the bargain, and we will keep ours.”
Mirabeau frowned at him. He didn’t like being spoken to that way, and Joseph knew it. Joseph felt that he had no choice but to put a stop to this trouble before it blew up into violence.
After a moment, Mirabeau shrugged brawny shoulders and said sullenly, “Fine. If you want to pay for bullets that have already been fired, it’s your decision, Joseph. You’re our leader, after all. You’re the
The scorn in Mirabeau’s voice was plain for all of them to hear, including Charlotte. Anger and resentment burned inside Joseph, but he forced it down. More important things than his pride were at stake here.
“If your men will open the other crates, Mr. Lundy,” he said, “we will unload the gold.”
“You don’t trust us that those other crates have Gatling guns in them?” Lundy asked with a tight, humorless smile.
“As much as you trust us that we brought the right amount of gold,” Joseph said.
Lundy grunted. “Fair enough.” He gestured toward the pack mules. “Break ‘em out, boys.”
During the next ten minutes, Lundy’s men took down the crates from the pack mules, pried off the lids, and unwrapped the other Gatling guns. They opened the crates that contained thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition, as well.
“Well?” Lundy asked when they were finished. “Are you satisfied?”
Mirabeau had dismounted. So had Joseph. Together they examined the guns.
“You know more about these things than I do,” Mirabeau admitted grudgingly. “Does everything look as it should to you, Joseph?”
He nodded. “Yes. We have what we need here to assemble four Gatling guns, as agreed.”
“Then let’s see that gold,” Lundy rasped. “We’ve been patient long enough.”
Joseph didn’t think Lundy had been all that patient, but he kept that opinion to himself. He and Mirabeau went over to the pack horse the other Metis had brought with them and lifted down the chests, using the leather straps
