It was only when the two freight wagons passed that they realized that their element of surprise would vanish after they fired. They would have to reload their Springfields and if there were more than two men or one of them missed, they would be at a significant disadvantage. That limited them to a lone traveler, a pair of riders or a single wagon. So, now they were deciding which target each of them would take when a victim arrived even as they were about to become targets themselves.
As he took his winding path to the two ex-soldiers, Jake faced a mild dilemma. What would he do when he had them under his Winchester? They were deserters, so he should return them to Fort Shaw for trial. But he didn’t want to retrace his path. He wasn’t angry, but he was certainly getting annoyed. The lone highwayman and these two deserters seemed to be in league just to delay his search. It only took a few seconds to decide on a solution. The only difficulty would be if those two decided to shoot first, but he wasn’t about to give them that opportunity.
Jake knew he was getting close but hadn’t heard them chatting. He cocked his Winchester’s hammer before he stepped around a jagged rocky outcrop. Just a few steps later he detected the scent of smoke then soon picked up their voices. He slowed his approach even more as he circled around another boulder and then spotted them about sixty feet away. Their Springfields weren’t cocked, so he knew that he’d be able to put a .45 into each of them before they even turned their rifles in his direction.
He leveled his Winchester then stepped out into the small clearing where they were sitting.
As their heads quickly swiveled in his direction, Jake shouted, “Don’t move!”
Izzy and Dan wouldn’t have twitched a muscle after looking down the bore of Jake’s Winchester as each of them was stunned into immobility.
Jake kept his sights on the two deserters as he carefully stepped closer before he stopped twenty feet in front of them.
He asked, “What are you boys doing out here? And don’t even try to lie to me. I just got out of the army earlier this month.”
Izzy didn’t even glance at Dan before he replied, “We…we were headin’ to Helena.”
“In other words, you deserted.”
Izzy was too shaken to do anything more than nod. Dan closed his eyes as he envisioned the noose being lowered over his head.
Jake then said, “Toss those Springfields toward me.”
Izzy grabbed his rifle with both hands and lobbed it more than ten feet away before Dan just used his right hand to latch onto his rifle’s barrel then swing his Springfield and flip it in Jake’s direction. It struck the top of Izzy’s rifle and continued to spin and tumble until it came to rest almost at Jake’s feet.
With the ex-soldiers disarmed and twenty feet away, Jake carefully set his Winchester’s barrel on a stone then picked up Dan’s Springfield. He didn’t even aim it in the deserters’ direction as he took two long strides and snatched the second rifle from the ground.
Dan had opened his eyes, so he and Izzy stared at the stranger wondering what he was going to do to them.
Jake then cocked the hammer on Izzy’s Springfield before laying it on its side with the hammer side up. He clamped his left boot on the rifle’s barrel and swung Dan’s Springfield by the barrel. The stock slammed into the front of the other gun’s hammer and snapped it off. Jake took a few seconds to make sure the screw holding the hammer had been broken, then repeated the destructive procedure for Dan’s Springfield.
After dropping both useless weapons on the ground, Jake picked up his Winchester and looked back at the two men.
“I’ll be riding past in a few minutes, and I don’t want to have to shoot either of you, so just stay put. I’m not being lenient because I feel sorry for you. It’s just that I don’t want to waste the time having to bring you back to Fort Shaw. What you do out here without guns or horses is up to you.”
Jake didn’t wait to hear a reply before he turned and headed for the road. He might get even more annoyed if they started pleading for a ride or food.
It only took a couple of minutes of fast walking before he reached his horses. He soon mounted Mars and set him at a fast trot toward Helena. He kept his eyes trained to his right and as he passed their campsite, he spotted them still sitting on the ground a few feet from their spoiled Springfields.
He kept Mars at the higher pace for another few minutes before he slowed him to a less stressful speed. He had planned to stop well before sunset, but now needed to put more distance between him and the deserters even though they were unarmed and on foot. They were also desperate, and desperate men were capable of anything.
He had just apologized to Mars for his change in plans when the road crossed an almost unnoticeable summit and began to decline. He suspected that the road wouldn’t continue its shallow downward path all the way to Helena but was relieved that his horses wouldn’t have to climb again before he set up camp for the night.
_____
It was almost three hours later when he pulled off the side of the road to give Mars and Vulcan their much-needed rest. He estimated that he’d put a good fifteen to twenty miles between him and the deserters.
He set up his campsite beside a small creek that probably flowed into the Pear River which then dumped its water into
