Chapter 5 : Gold

The day of the Robbery had arrived and the men were preparing themselves and their horses, the snow was starting to melt a little even though this area will remain snowy all year round.

Those who'll stay to watch over the camp were Hosea, Reverend Swanson and Uncle, not to mention John who was not yet fully recovered from his wounds.

 Hosea was complaining about how dangerous this mission was to Dutch while Harper and Tilly were in the corner.

 Tilly: You'll take care of yourself, right?

 Harper : I'll be back with the others very soon. Everything will be alright…

 Tilly: This idea of ​​Dutch is too dangerous, we could just go to the East together and try our luck.

 "You know you're cute when you're worried like that miss Jackson ?!" He said caressing her cheek and she just gave him a smile lowering her head. (Tilly in this reality is simply the image of Meeya Davis, the actress who served as her model! Damn, stop imagining them in CGI.)

 Tilly: Come back in full and maybe I can give you a chance.

 "Keep your word Miss Jackson…" He said as he left as the other girls came to tease Tilly.

Bill had already been sent much earlier to place the explosives on the tracks where the train crossed.

Dutch gave the signal and they rode towards the place of the operation, it was quite a long way through which they saw the snow becoming less and less, it was warmer lands.

 They arrived at the train crossing point on a hill above the tunnel the train will pass through and at the bottom they saw Bill who was setting up the explosives, Dutch sent Arthur to help him and he went help Bill connect the detonator.

He came back to say that Bill had everything under control and Dutch asked his men to wear their scarves to hide the lower part of their faces because it would soon be time for the train to arrive.

 14 minutes later the locomotive arrived and Dutch asked the men to be ready before giving Bill his signal to blow up the tracks but after several attempts to detonate the detonator it turned out to be faulty.

As the gang began to make out, Harper drew his revolver to shoot the dynamite from over 50m away with a target under the tracks.

 *BOOOOOOOOOOM*

 There was a big explosion which derailed the train and shook Bill who fortunately was behind the rocks. They looked at Harper in astonishment, he had acted quickly and efficiently.

 Dutch: Well done, son. You are by far the most useful of our band of scoundrels.

 Harper: There's no time to lose, the men must be stunned inside if this train has overturned. Let's neutralize them quickly without killing them if possible, they are men who are just doing their job.

 "DAMN RIGHT!" Dutch said and they rode towards the overturned train.

 "Tch, this new slave is starting to annoy me…" Micah muttered to himself but it didn't escape Harper's superhuman hearing who just ignored him.

 The train was a small personal locomotive and as Harper had predicted, the guards inside were still very stunned or killed so they quickly overpowered them and took several of them hostage while asking the others to put down their weapons to kneel with hands on their heads.

Along with the driver, there were 20 men, many of whom were injured by the extremely violent shock.

 The last car of the train was armored and had men inside, Dutch asked them to get out but they refused so they blew up the metal door with dynamite and took the 4 men inside out by force .

Harper assured them that no harm would come to them if he kept quiet and Dutch sent Arthur, Micah and Lenny to search the wagon.

After minutes of searching, they came out as Arthur handed Dutch bond papers worth $1,000.

 $1000 was a nice little sum but we still had to figure out where to sell it Harper couldn't help but find it ridiculous, the nest egg was too small for all this security.

 "I'm going to search the wagon, don't forget their weapons, reselling them will make us money…" He said to Dutch as he left and Dutch looked at him smiling.

 Dutch: Do as you wish, Mr. Franklin. Arthur will stay here to clean up the place and we'll wait for you at camp. Arthur, we'll leave when you return.

 Harper didn't say anything while walking, he couldn't help but find it stupid that for $1000 Dutch was so enthusiastic as to forget that their names shouldn't be mentioned in front of witnesses.

He went in and started searching while Arthur threatened the men outside. He searched the luxurious carriage for a while to Arthur's impatience outside until he found something in the rather thick office table that had a large hollow inside and he opened it without much efforts to find 8 gold bars of one kg each inside.

 He went straight out to go to the saddle of his horse where there was his leather bag under Arthur's gaze.

 Arthur: You finally found something ? 

 "Yep…" Harper replied as he returned to the wagon to load the gold into the bag and came out with his revolver to head towards the panicking guards.

 Harper: Leviticus Cornwall is a powerful and ruthless man and we stole him without you being able to do anything about it and he'll kill you for your incompetence especially if you return without wounds from the fight. I'm sorry but I'm going to shoot you, the arm, the leg or the shoulder it's your choice but an injury is better than death. Choose two of you to go to the nearest telegraph to call for help. Tell your boss there were many, many of us and that he has greetings from Colm O'Driscoll. Having an idea of ​​who the culprit is will ease his anger on you.

 Arthur:…

 Harper: (Throws three gold bars) Bring this back to him and tell him this is all you were able to save, so he knows you fought for his property. We're sorry, good luck to you.

 They left there after wounding most of them with bullets and after shooting the three dead guards inside the train in the head or chest who had been killed by the sudden overturn of the train.

 On the way, Arthur looked at Harper curiously.

 Arthur: You were very kind to those bastards there.

 Harper: Mr Morgan, these men are honest workers certainly with families to support. It's easy to kill a man but it's hard to look his widow and orphans in the eye afterwards.

 Arthur: Hmm Hosea will really enjoy having you in the gang.

 Harper: You should think about it too, a man without principle is a shadow Mr. Morgan. We are bandits but not cruel men.

 "Maybe, i'll think about it..." Arthur replied as they continued on their way back to camp.

 When they arrived, they saw the others preparing to leave and Tilly approached Harper, smiling, she had been very stressed to see them return without him but fortunately everything was fine.

 Dutch: Mr. Franklin, did you find anything after your additional digging?

 Harper opened the bag before turning it over while shaking it and the five gold bars fell into the snow, much to the astonishment of the others and Dutch's incredulous look.

 "AHAHAHAHAHAHAH (looks at the gold) AHAHAHAHAH" Dutch couldn't hold back his laughter as he lunged at the bars with the agility of a cheetah on an antelope.

 "Damn it, Dutch! Gold !! "Hosea was shocked.

 The others exclaimed and rushed to see the gold too as Harper went to prepare his covered wagon with Tilly following him, he was finally going to leave this place and have company.

 Tilly: They came back without you, I was very scared...

 Harper: I told you everything would be fine Miss Jackson.

 Tilly: Lucky for you.

 Harper: Do you want to travel together?

 Tilly: Both on your wagon?

 Harper: Of course, I would understand if you refuse and find it inappropriate. After all, we are just two "witches" .

 Tilly: You're stupid (laughs) Of course I want to.

 "Here I am happy, Tilly Jackson…" He said smiling and she gave him a kiss on the cheek as she left like a happy little girl. Harper put his things away and the others came to thank or congratulate him for his discovery. 

 The plan had not changed, they were going to leave for the East and try to be forgotten, this gold was not going to be used for the moment because it would be really suspicious, they needed an honest activity to justify this gold without awakening Leviticus's curiosity, men like him had eyes and ears everywhere. They were still going to sell one for travel expenses to Tennessee.