Zack considers things carefully, but there's really only one conclusion to draw. "Time would seem to be a crucial factor, here. I for one think we should push as hard as we can to civilisation."
When Luke asks about the crooked sheriff, he does his best to bring the man up to speed with the situation. "Of course, that is second-hand information rather than from the horse's mouth, you might say. But I hope it gives an accurate picture of where we stand right now."
"I agree, speed is of the essence. Shall we ride?"
Rufus grabs a bag of oats, and is feeding Devil when Flying Eagle shows up.
Give me 5 to grab a bite. Then i will be ready
He shovels breakfast in and washes up then saddles devil back up for the ride
The survivors follow you as you set out for Exposition. You push the horses hard, some of the survivors fall behind but others fall back to keep them company, allowing your group to push hard for the town. Four hours later, you ride into town in a cloud of dust.
Exposition is a decent sized town at the end of of a rail spur. You can see both the telegraph polls and the rail spur running around the north end of town. Town folks seem to flee inside as you ride in, others looking out windows. As you make your way down the street a group of armed town folk emerge pointing guns in your direction.
A cold eyed woman yells to you "That's far enough! Drop your weapons and get those hands up!"
Zack easily keeps pace with the others during the ride to Exposition, his many years in the saddle giving him assurance as they push forward.
Their arrival - naturally - seems to coincide with trouble. There's a saying about things never going smooth, but Zack has long since stopped asking himself why things never go smooth. It's just the way. Besides, it keeps life interesting.
He doesn't drop his gun or raise his hands. He pulls on the reins of his horse to bring her to a dead halt, before giving the cold-eyed woman a friendly nod and a crinkly-eyed smile. "Good afternoon, ma'am. What seems to be the trouble here?"
Still looking somewhat fresh from the ride, he holds his hands over the saddlehorn as he looks at the townfolk.
What brings such hostility to weary travelers.
The Women seems to be in charge, and says "Been word of raiders and we aim to keep the rail workers safe. You folks seem like you have been in some hard riding." They still eye you with suspicion but its clear she is willing to hear you out.
"We have been attacked by those very same raiders while driving cattle, they killed some of our men and took the rest . We rode here hard because we would like to hire every gunslinger around and take them with us to the raiders' camp to wipe them out. How can we get word out fast around here, but only to the locals, not to any strangers?"
The woman waves to the armed people Put em down She says then turns back to Flying Eagle "Gault's people? She asks "Names Constance Merit, me and my boys her work for Blackriver. Gault and his group do not! Say, I might be able to cut lose some gunmen to help ya. Assuming you get your cattle back, lets say you trade about humm 50 heard for a few of my experienced gunmen. I think I can spear around ten or so.
"We've heard from one of our own that survived the attack that Gault has at least 30 men, do you know of any local farmers who happen to be very good with a gun?"
Rufus just remains seated on Devil as he listens to what is going on.
"You might be able to find some town folks, but you best be good talkers. They don't seem so inclined to me" She says with a Shrug
The towns marshal will tell you he has no jurisdiction outside the town and its clear he has no interest either. No one has seen the Colfox country sheriff in days, there is no US Marshal in at lest a hundred miles you are told. Most of the townfolk seem pretty indiffent to the whole thing, raiders being a part of life out here after all.
Rufus dismounts and rubs down the horses while the others look for recruits
With some wrangling and fast talking Winona is able to wrangle up five more gunmen. They may not be as professional as the Black River ladies, but they seem to know their way around a rifle. All told that gives you 15 gunmen.
"Anyone know where Gault's camp is? Or even heard any rumors?"
Well, we could always track the herd, they won't be moving fast. Try to get one or two alive, and then ask them politely
He says with an evil grin.
Exactly where their camp is.
One of the Black River shooters speaks up ""You said they took your cattle. I many not be the best scout, but I reckon we can track a few thousand cattle" She says, the others nod and agree. You folks look trail worn, why don't we head out in the morning and allow you to get a good sleep?
Flying Eagle will walk far enough out of town to be sure he isn't seen, and perform his nightly ritual to the ancestors. Then he comes back into town, and goes straight to his hotel room, after taking a hot bath (one of the white man's technological achievements he has grown to appreciate).
The Next day the posse headed out with ten professional gunwomen recruited from Black River and five decent gunmen picked up from the townfolk. You pick up the the trail pretty easy and follow the trail. Gault and his men did not wander too far from the ambush site. You spend a night on the trail, folks are a bit uneasy as it feels like something watches you in the dark, but nothing is seen.
The next day you cover a lot a ground and late in the day you follow the cattle trail into a canyon. Its a narrow but tall canyon, roughly fifty to sixty yards wide and about thirty feet tall. Dusk is coming soon, maybe an hour or so. But you hear the cattle, before you see them. You have the option of sending some scouts forward or just riding forward until you see the cattle and likely Gault's men.
"I'd suggest that we backtrack a far piece and off the trail to camp for the night, then in the morning go to where we can get to the ground that turns into the hills that form the canyon, then advance cautiously and quietly along the tops of the hills until we can see what's down below. We can scope out Gault's camp, and it would be a very good place to stage an ambush."
Zack isn't thrilled about allying with the Black River group - he's heard some unsavoury things about them from his time at the Agency - but there are times when you get to pick what allies you can take, and times where you don't. This here seems to be one of the second type. Besides, he can't figure out a way to share his uneasiness without giving away more than he should.
He does his best to be his habitual carefree self, but there's a faint crease of worry in his brow and he rides with one hand on the butt of his LeMat handgun, doing his best to keep everyone in plain view.
Flying Eagle's suggestion gets a nod of approval. "Seems sound to me. I'd rather have surprise and numbers on our side, but one out of two ain't the worst situation I've landed myself in."
Agreed. Not ideal, but moving across the hilltops gives the best chance
The Gunmen follow your lead, they don't like the idea of going in unprepared either. You back out of the canyon and move a pass away, maybe a quarter miles or so and fine a good , rocky area to hunker down for the night. Its a good defendable place that allows you to hide your own camp fires with the rocky walls. The sense of unease is with you again tonight, but nothing happens as dawn finds you.
Zack doesn't have to be asked twice to do the reconnaissance - putting himself in harm's way is just another hazard of the job.
Ol' Zack may be all smiles and good humour, but he can be amazingly stealthy when he needs to be. So much so that an enquiring mind might wonder where he learned to do that.
Moving ahead of the others, Zach is not only able to approach the camp, but outright skirt the camp. The cattle are in the canyon, a long pace inside lays the camp. You make out a makeshift rope "fence", two gunmen stand guard atop the bluffs forming canyon walls, one on each side. Inside the camp you see some activity. The camp coming awake in the morning sun.
Zach is able to lay low and count the men. He makes 30 to 40 raiders in the camp. Your crew lays near the heart of the camp, exposed to the elements but seeming to be alive. The raiders do not seem to be in much hurry as they eat breakfast and get about the other businesses of starting the day.
Once there, we have the high ground and rifles will make it a field day for the ones in the valley