The Argo Goes West

9, Giant boar hunting in Calydon, part 6

A double-barreled shotgun sounded on a moonlit night. Furthermore, a groan with a curse saying, "Die. Die. Die."

Lionel Daybright mechanically loaded and fired bullets repeatedly.

The target's movement was slow, so he never missed a shot. The reason the shot target doesn't scream is because they don't have a mouth. Since there is no flesh and blood, no blood flows. Bones, like dried branches, shattered, and only splinters were scattered on the ground. The opponents were skeletons. Skeleton human. They grow out of the ground like mushrooms one after another. Lionel continued to exterminate the skeletons even though he was fed up. He lost track of how many he had killed. But in four or five minutes, today's work will be over. But tomorrow it will be the same again. He was tired. He knew what the skeleton that haunted him was. Jacqueline says otherwise, but they must be the remains of the cowboys Lionel once lynched.

Before the railroad network was developed, cattle were transported alive in herds across the West. It is a so-called cattle drive. The distance was long, and it sometimes took half a year to move.Lionel's ranch in Thebes, Oklahoma, was halfway between Texas and Kansas, and herds of cattle often crossed Lionel's ranch. Cows are hungry because they are alive. So are the cowboys' horses. They devoured the grass on Lionel's ranch. It happened so often that Lionel, in self-defense, hired bouncers to drive the cowboys out with their bulls and horses. But some cowboys didn't follow the advice. Such guys were mercilessly tortured and, in some cases, hanged. When the gunmen counterattacked, he killed them all after a firefight. Some cowboys took legal action. As a countermeasure, Lionel and the other ranchers have appointed their favorite to be the sheriff of the town. In this way, the Lionels eventually became the ruling class of the town.

However, the development of the railroad network made it easier to transport cattle, resulting in the obsolescence of cowboys and cattle drives. The bloody conflict was over, and it was supposed to be a peaceful era...

White bones were scattered all around. When Lionel walked on it, it made a crackling sound like stepping on a dead branch. He used to trample it with both feet until it shattered, but lately he's tired of doing that. This act is repeated night after night. It's like Sisyphus' eternal punishment.

It was his wife, Jacqueline, who first saw the skeleton. It was about two weeks ago. Lionel was woken up by Jacqueline while he was sleeping. Jacqueline said with a pale face that there were many people hanging around the house. Lionel thought she was half asleep. Or the usual emotional instability. Jacqueline's symptoms were caused by Eddie's disappearance. Cute boy, cute Eddie. The first and only child for the couple. Nearly twenty years ago, Eddie suddenly disappeared from the children's room. A baby boy can't go anywhere by himself. someone took him away. Lionel gathers not only the bouncers but also the townspeople to form a search party and search for Eddie. But the baby was never found. Jacqueline, a well-educated eastern-born woman, has turned to fortune-telling and prophecy since the incident. When the carnival came to town, she visited an old gypsy woman who asked her to tell with a crystal whether Eddie was safe or not. Lionel let his wife do her thing. He couldn't do anything else.

After calming Jacqueline down, Lionel looked out of the second-floor window in his pajamas. Night fell and the world was silent. The blue moonlight was faintly illuminating the ground through the clouds. As Jacqueline said, He saw a figure moving. Not one person, quite a few people. It didn't knock on the door or raise its voice, it just walked slowly around the mansion. Robbery, thought Lionel. Once upon a time there were many bouncers, but now there were only a few ranch hands and servants such as a maid, a groom and a cook. Lionel wanted to wake Doug, the foreman, to make sure he was on the safe side and locked the door, but he didn't. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he knew who they were. Those who marched slowly, like a Halloween parade, were silent skeletons. Lionel held his breath and kept watch all night. And when the sky turned white, the skeletons all pulled up across the forest like the tide. Skeletons came every night. Lionel kept this secret from his hirelings because they might quit the ranch out of fear of the skeletons. Lionel and his wife could not sleep in peace. So he decides to kill the skeletons before they reach his house.

In the bushes near the ranch, Lionel hid and ambushed the skeletons. He feared that the skeletons would resist, but they marched on like Line Infantry in Napoleon's era, unmoved by the death of their comrades. Lionel easily annihilated his enemies. But it wasn't the end. The next night the skeletons came again. Lionel thought to get ahead of the skeletons. Little by little he advanced in the direction the skeletons were coming from, and finally found the place where they were born. It was six miles south of his ranch, where he had hanged cowboys. From the root of the Hanging Tree, skeletons sprouted out of the ground.

From then on, it became a routine for Lionel to leave the house before dark and dispose of the skeletons there.

Lionel finished his work and started walking towards home. he thought: Even so, how long will it last?" How many have I already killed? How many cowboys have I killed? I wonder how many cowboys I've killed...

"This is my plan," Slim explained his plan around the bonfire. "Lure the boar to a valley somewhere. Mad Bomber sets dynamite in that valley in advance. When the boar arrives, it is blown up. When the boar is stuck under the collapsed rock and cannot move, Everyone shoots, shoots, shoots." Slim looked The Mad Bomber in the eye and asked. "Can you do it?"

"Huh?"

"The success of this plan depends on your skill. Where to place the dynamite, and when to light the fuse. If you don't have confidence, give up on this plan."

"You don't know who I am. Ask any coal miner west of Chicago. Everyone knows me. Anyone who doesn't knows me is an amateur."

"Can I rely on you?"

"It depends on the place, but well, I'll do something about it."

"The next problem is who will lure the monster," said Lou the gambler, stroking his chin. "So he's going to be a decoy?"

"Yes" Slim agreed.

Lou looked around at everyone and then said. "OK, i'll do it."

"Wait," said Bonnie. "I will do it."

"No," Lou countered immediately.

"Why?"

"It's my credo not to put a lady in danger."

"I can see your confidence," said Bonnie. "But I've never lost a horse race since I was a kid. Against a man, of course. I wanted to be a Kentucky Derby jockey if there were no rules against women. I couldn't do that, so I entered the western show. My partner at that time was this horse, Gwendolen. She runs fast. If you like, I can race your horse."

Lou glanced at Bonnie's horse and said, "A mare?"

"So what if?" Bonnie glared at Lou defiantly.

Lou shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm sorry. I was just asking. It's certainly a fast horse. OK. Well then, let me hand over this task to you. By the way, can you find it by yourself?"

"I will accompany her," Orpheus raised his hand. "I'm accustomed to hunting with my father."

"Well, everyone is a professional, and it seems that there is no chance for me to show up."

"No, you have a job too," Slim said.

Lou looked surprised and asked, "What kind of work?"

"I want you to tell me where to set the trap."

"Hey, I'm a drifter and don't know much about the geography of this area. Why did you tell me-"

"You have a card. Can you tell me if it's west or east with the card?"

Lou smiled wryly. "Interesting. Interesting man, you. Okay. Let's try. Ha ha ha."