Robbery Scene

It took forty-five minutes for Seth and Jonathan to get close to the scene. They see buzzards circling.  Seth says, “Shit, I knew we would find a mess.”

They ride closer and see the horses tangled together lying on their sides, two trying desperately to get upright, the stagecoach overturned, and four bodies nearby.

Jonathan is the first one to dismount.  He checks three of the bodies while Seth checks the fourth.  All four of the men are dead from gunshot wounds.

Jonathan turns to the horses.  “Seth, help me, we definitely have two dead horses and the middle two might have to be put down.  I think we can save the third pair.”

Stagecoach Ambush

Herman lifts his telescope when he sees a cloud of dust coming around the bend created by the team of running horses.  To his surprise, and pleasure, there are two men sitting up on top of the coach.  One is the driver and the other is holding a shotgun.

Herman sends Clyde to tell their brothers the gold is on this wagon and to make sure they follow the plan.

Clyde gets back into position up on the ridge and they wait patiently for the stage to come near their ambush.

As the coach approaches Clyde takes a shot at the lead horse in front of the driver.  Immediately the right front horse is shot from the gulley by Ernie.  Both horses fall and momentum causes the remaining four horses to topple over the two fallen animals.  The coach is lifted upwards by the momentum and rises on top of the horses.  There is nothing the driver can do; the stage topples on its side.  Two horses are probably dead and the other four might be injured.

The driver and the man riding shotgun have been thrown to the ground and two men riding inside of the coach are desperately trying to get outside. 

Checking the sites for a holdup

While Herman rode along with his brothers to get an idea of how to set up the ambush he felt pleased with their three choices.  Each one had its advantages and disadvantages.  After reviewing the three sites he made a decision.  It was the last of the three sites they looked at.  Herman saw the third site gave them a good field of vision towards the route the stage would be coming to Silver Lake.  It had a rise off to one side which gave him the height to keep a keen lookout and crops of boulders to set up behind to fire down at the coach.  The opposite side of the route had a gulley about ten yards from the road.  It would be perfect to hit the stage from both sides of the road without being seen.  It also had some trees at the other side of the rise they could picket the horses and the mules.  The only issue they had was there was no water and they would have to carry in their own each day.