The History of Busted Gulch - Vol. 2

Part 5 Vol. 2

The rescue of CrazyGoose and Alister proved to be a little anticlimactic. 3Gun anticipated having a shootout with Steel and her gang but instead, Galina took it upon herself to tackle Steel as she threatened Alister, and in the ensuing fight, Steel's gun went off, killing her.

Miss Darkly, Rue and Billy burst in to find the situation under control and the action over. Everyone was safe except Steel. The girls were rounded up and deposited in jail again and the era of Cadmus Croc came to a final end.

It had not been noticed but CrazyGoose had been hit on the head when she was kidnapped and began bleeding and feeling dizzy. She passed out just as they were leaving the stables. 3Gun tried to revive her but rather than waste time, he picked her up and hurried through town as fast as he was able.

On the way he was surprised to see Loren Order by the jail but couldn't take the time to stop or acknowledge her. He wondered why she was back, or had she never left? Doc looked surprised when 3Gun burst in and set CrazyGoose on his cot and shook his head sadly. Too many of these blows to the head and she would have muffins for brains, was his remark.

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After seeing the girls locked up and yet another wire sent to the Marshal about his prisoners being ready for transport, Ruechari and Billy bumped into the Virginian and for some reason, Ruechari started baiting him. Billy stepped in and offered to make it man to man, if Billy lost he would give up his horse, No Name.

The Virginian sucker punched Billy, or so he thought, and the deal for Billy's horse was met . . . along with a returned blow to Virginian's stomach that implanted considerable respect for the man he thought he beat.

In the saloon, 3Gun found Raven hiding behind the bar and learned that he had worried about not knowing where everyone was, leading him to grab someone's horse and consider riding out to find them. Fear had changed his mind and he let the horse go, frightened all the more as he watched it run away.

3Gun told him not to worry. They would find the horse and get it back to the stable. Meanwhile, he was still needed to set up the meeting between Alister, Stray Dog and him.

******

Miss Darkly returned to her bakery and was cleaning up at the end of the day, taking out the scraps when she came across a young man hiding by the garbage pile. he had been eating stale muffins and pie.

When Miss Darkly appeared holding her knife he thought it was game over, instead he found himself being fed and offered work and lodging. He pledged his loyalty and introduced himself as Ah Jin Lee but she could call him AJ. He added the fact that he was proficient in Wing Chun, a bit of news that Miss Darkly realized would have placed her in credible danger had there been a confrontation. She made a note to practise throwing her knife a little more.

Morning found the Virginian waking up in the livery, a little stiff and sore. He remembered the reason and saw the horse that he had acquired along with the bruises. They found some apples in the loft and shared a breakfast then he saddled the horse and rode into town to find Kae and Galina.

******

Ruechari was surprised and a little sad to hear that stannbear had left for his home because of a sick mother, and no word of whether or not he might return. Miss Darkly told her that she had been acting as a temporary Deputy but still needed to find Ruby and save her uncle.

Rue offered to go back to Darkly's home and see if she could help him. The offer was generous but she still hadn't recovered from the effort spent saving Lorne Order and Darkly refused on that basis. She figured they could get the job done if they all pulled together. They discussed forming search parties.

3Gun finally got around to officially deputizing Miss Darkly.