Quietly the men opened the stable doors and brought the eight-horse team forward. The sun would not rise for another hour and yet the men worked steady all night long. The second War Wagon appeared in the shadows in the barn and soon the horse team pulled it out. Mounted on a turret was a unique unit that Dr Gatling and his workers had built in a few days. The metal lathe used to mill the Gatling gun’s eight barrels also built the mechanics to operate the weapon.

The War Wagon, a horse-drawn wagon fitted with a Gatling gun was now ready to be tested for battle. Armed and loaded, the war wagon was driven out into an old quarry where an old mine shaft and buildings stood. Inbetween the buildings, were haystacks shaped to look like bandits and injuns. As the wagon flew by, Dr Gatling rotated the turret and rotated the hand crank on the gun. Firing the first rounds ever shot out of the weapon, the rapid fire bullets heated the barrels quickly and tore pieces of straw to shreds.

TW ran for the back door grabbing the young man by the britches and hauling him outta thar. All hell was breakin loose and the half breed didn’t quite understand wat was goin on. He screamed and kicked like a five year old as TW tossed him into the saddle. “Hey wat about Maddie…we can’t just go n leave ‘er with McInTire…

“Now boy I ain’t one fer takin no shame in doin this to ya and I thought I told ya to stay wit the horses. TW hoisted Chase into the saddle, and wrapped the reins firmly around his wrists so he wouldn’t be able to untie them until he was way out into the desert night air. TW grasped a splintered board from the broken saloon door and slapped the horse’s rump hard. The horse let out a sheik and jumped like a wild bronco before taking off like a bat out of hell. The horse trailed little dust and stormed across the open desert chasing the other two men and the saloon woman. TW would catch up to them soon enough, but now he was indebt fer bein rescued and TW wasn’t about to go back empty-handed, knowing how ruthless Sheriff McIntire, Barr and his deputy was. He also had an advantage as Barr’s men would no doubt form a posse and no one would ever expect, for one minute that Tumbleweed was crazy enough to stay in town to see about this young woman that the half breed worried so much for.

Grabbing a rifle from one of the fallen deputies, TW snuck around the back of the wooden structures getting further and further away from the saloon crime scene. Ethan saw the little jail and moved towards it until he heard voices. He saw Deputy Mitch Murdock talking to another man and dropped on all fours, crawling up the back steps of a building. Ethan pushed open the door and crouched in a kneeling position looking out the back door and listening for noises inside the building. He would have to stay here until the coast was clear and then decide what to do.

If there was one thing Murdock was known for it was keen senses. The man had an uncanny way about him and was always aware of his surroundings. When he had caught a glimpse of Dawson, scurrying back around the building he made sure not to alert Buck Daniels of his presence. Even though Barr swore that he was trustworthy Deputy Murdock had a bad feeling when he was around the man.

Mitch knew that their plan could go to hell in a hand basket if McIntire caught Dawson and right now the less people that knew he was still in town the better. If McIntire found out what Barr was up to, Mitch would be strung right up along side the Marshall. The risk had been an acceptable one considering, Murdock wanted nothing more than to get rid of McIntire, but now that Tumbleweed was still in town he feared that he might expose them all.

"Why in the hell didn't leave with the others?" Pondered Murdock, then it became plainly obvious as he looked up Main street and spied he jail house. It was that Keegan girl! He told Barr to put a bullet in her but the Marshal wouldn't listen. The man was good at what he did, far better than Murdock he admitted but when it came to women he was as soft as they came.

As Dawson kneeled behind the door he heard a whispering voice call out to him from outside.

"Hey, Dawson. What the hell are you still doing in town. Get yer ass down to the hide-out!"

Dawson wasn't exactly who it was that was talking to him since, Murdock hardly ever spoke but when the shadowy figure appeared round the corner and casually leaned against the wall so as not to attract any attention he recognized Murdock.

"It's the Keegan girl isn't it? Shoot! Yer goin' ta get every last one of us killed for that little shake." Murdock spoke lowly with his head down so no one looking on would suspect he was talking to anyone, "You gotta get outta town but if'n I can't convince ya, then I'm going to help ya. McIntire's goin' to want to show off his prize around town so you best wait until then. I overheard something about the Desert Rose, so I'm expecting he'll be taken her there for some lunch, then I imagine he'll taken her up to one of the rooms."

TW wasn't to confident in the Law in these parts, knowing Marshal Barr from the old days, but he already comprised his position. Damn...how in the hell did someone see him already...

Quietly, he listened to what was being said and figured it had to be the Barr's right hand man, Murdock speakin to him. Yeah...he knew he should of gone outta town with the others...but that damn kid would of got'n hisself killed tryin' to rescue this Keegan girl, hisself. He listened to what Murdock knew and decided he couldn't really pull this off without trustin another soul now.

Damn it. Thinkin to hisself...if only his partner , hadn't takin the short straw, it would of been me goin fer the supplies in Shady Gulch and perhaps things would of been different. If n how he'd had it his way, he would of been already riding toward the sunset with $2000 in his pocket from the cattle..but things just don't work the way one plans it and TW wasn't one to turn his back on the injun kid after being rescued. That son of bitch, McIntire and in the Desert Rose Saloon and Inn.

Without opening the door and in a hushed voiced, Ethan spoke...Murdock...don't double-cross me cuz I'd sure hate to have to put a bullet in ya. I'm gonna need a diversion...just tell me where they kept dynamite in this town and when the time is right...you're gonna have to watch the front entrance of the Desert Rose and make sure noone enters it. By the time, they figure on what's happenin' we should be long gone.


TW waited to hear Murdock. The man bitched and groan 'bout using dynamite in this town...but finally gave in. "Ok ok ok..Dawson..but if you get caught...you're dead, I'll pull the trigger myself. Barr keeps the dynamite locked up inside the back storage room of the church on the hill. I'll be waiting to hear from you."

TW crawled through the building and peeked out the windows in front and looked around for a target...he laffed when he saw the sonofbitch who dragged him through the desert and had his hawkin rifle in his left hand. Wells Fargo was the title of the building...Hmmm. wonder whats insdie that building. Looking the other way, he spotted the church on the hillside. Ethan crawled to the back door and opened it to peek outside. It seem the coast was clear and so he slipped outside. Murdock stepped out from the shadows...

Well lil princess...ain't you lookin' sweet as mommas puddin pie...I bet you taste just as sweet too. That dress fits snug...just like I like seein it fit on ya...Now Maddie...just so you know that injun stays alive as long as you corporate with me. We're goin down the street to the Desert Rose for some lunch and then you are gonna put on a lil show for me afterwards. If you want to see that half breed live then you're gonna do wat I say,,, understand...

McIntire didn't wait as he grabbed the keegan girl and held her lower jaw in his rough hands and looked directly at her. If I can't have ya...aint noone else gonna. He pushed his gun into her belly...now this dress does make you look lady like dont it.

Now I know that as soon as you get a chance to kick and swing, you are gonna try and git away...I aint lookin ta put a bullet in ya...sweet cheeks...so I know you're gonna really like me after this...Mcintire pulled a thick buffalo skined collar and pushed the rough collar onto her neck and buckled it from behind. Next he put a leash attached to the collar and pushed Maddie out of the cell.

Yes indeed sheriff Mcintire, you sure got yourself a nice trophy...the boys laughed at her perdictament and opened the door for the both of them. McIntire pulled the reins and unfortunately the Keegan girl had no choice but to follow him out the door of the jailhouse.

TW looked at Murdock..well just dont stand there, what the fastest way up to that church without gettin caught?

TW followed Murdock along his route and as they crossed the town at its narrowest point east of the jailhouse, TW got a glimpse of the lil shake that the injun wanted to save...Yeah she was a looker...TW said to hisself but he realized she was probably high maintenance and he didnt have time to spend courtin a woman like that. Not now and not ever...

Murdock keep an eye on McIntire, you'll git my signal

Taking the dynamite and putting it to good use, TW slide the crate of TNT under the boardwalk. He crawled around under their noses making sure there was enough explosions around town to have people running every which way. TW ran the fuse to go off one right after the other. He laffed to himself the thought of meeting up with Barr and the expression on his face...shaking his head he heard the lil woman fuss and kick and literally pick up dirt and throw it a McIntire. McIntire feeling the dirt , turned around and slap her, then drew his weaponand placed the barrel on her forehead...Don't DO THAT AGAIN.

He smiled as two ladies twirling their umbrellas walked cross their pathes. Evening ladies, Sheriff McIntire tipped hishat and reholstered his gun. Pulling her the leash, he dragged the keegan girl into the Desert Rose behind him.

TW managed to find his rifle leaning against the barn door while the idiot who orginally placed the rifle down was taking a piss. TW snuck two sticks of dynamite inside the wells fargo office and then untied the bank assessor. Mister, ain't you afraid of McIntire. TW looked at him and laffed. You're their banker...? You need to get yourself out of town and let me have that check you wrote out to McIntire, Im gonna personnally hand it to him. With that done, TW crawled out back and half ran and half sprinted to the Desert Rose

Maddie couldn't believe he'd put a collar on her and was livid. Her head was still reeling from the hard slap McIntire had delivered and she could feel he bruise forming. But, she couldn't stop a smile as she heard him spitting out the dirt she'd thrown in his face. Even the barrel of the gun at her forehead couldn't stop the smile or the hatred burning in her blue eyes. Nor did it stop her from struggling once he'd reholstered his gun.

"You're a snake, McIntire!!! Nothing more than a pathetic bully!!"

Her voice hissed at him as she pulled back on the leash, making him stumble. She decided to take a chance and call his bluff about Chase. She knew Chase well enough to know that he could take care of himself and there was something about the way McIntire spoke about him that made her wonder if he really had Chase or not.

"Chase would rather you kill him then me have to suffer being around your stench!! If you think I"m going to make this easy for you, then you have another thing coming!"

She dug her heels in then and wrapping her hands around the leash she gave a hard tug, pullling him back and making him stumble.

Pulling the leash backed just about caused mcIntire to stumble and fall. I'd had enough of that lil Spinx. Taking the handcuffs out of his holster, he grabbed her left wrist and twisted her around and held her arm up the middle of her back. He locked the handcuff into place and grabbed the right wrist. Again, he twisted her arm back and locked the handcuffs into place, behind her back. I thought for sure you wouldn't give me a problem dear, but this is better, cuz now I can feed you myself and force you to drink with me.

Pulling her forward, he stepped up on the boardwalk in front of the Desert Rose Saloon. "Howdy, Mitch...you got light?" McIntire stood there and waited for Marshal Barr's deputy to light this skinny cigar cigarette that McIntire was going to smoke.

Maddie frustrated by being handcuffed, dropped down and sat on the edge of the boardwalk...refusing to move. Sheriff McIntire half smiled at Maddie, then viciously tugged on the leash to let her know who was in charge of her destiny. She fell off the boardwalk and stared under the boardwalk. Neither McIntire or Murdock noticed TW as he quietly laid under boardwalk, with a stick of dynamite in one hand and his other hand running across his lips indicating to Maddie to be quiet and not give away his position. Whispering was out of the question...but TW managed to smile at her and tipped his hat to you...yeah TW said to hisself she certainly was a Looker, but that dress did nothing for her...I wander if she could handle a rope and gun.

Com'n Maddie...McIntire pulled on the leash and half dragged her...You look like you've seen a drunk or a ghost, what's under the boardwalk?

Maddie had never been so humiliated in all of her life and it did nothing except make her even angrier, and after seeing the man under the boardwalk and his signal for her to keep quiet, she decided to use that anger to hide him. Getting to her feet was no easy feat with her hands handcuffed behind her back, but she managed and glared at McIntire for choking her with the damned collar as he pulled on it.

"I was imagining what you would look like under there. Underneath everyone's feet, where you belong right in the dirt, where all of the garbage should be. After all, it's clear that you can't handle one small woman like me when you have to handcuff me and slap a collar and leash on me. Like I said before....you're pathetic."

She gave him a saucy little smile, which quickly disappeared with the sharp slap he delivered.

TW crawled to the end of the broadwalk and when the coast was cleared, pulled hisself clear and stood up. He watched at McIntire abused the young woman. Damn ...where in the hell was Barr while all this was ongoing. Just like him to be more interested in robbing McIntire of his gold then to be worried about one lil woman being slapped 'round like a rag doll. TW peeked over the window's edge and saw no sign of Murdock either.

What the hell? Fine...if thats how its gonna be...then its gonna be a fine evening with lots of firworks. TW walked toward the back of the 2 story saloon and Inn and climbed a rose tressel up onto the small roof. TW tried each window until he found one window unlocked, slid through the window and into a bedroom.

Creeping to the door, he peeked and looked down into the saloon at McIntire and the woman on her knees, on the floor near his chair. He had the leash drawn back wrapped around the chair and his right hand groping her breast. When she screamed and tried to bite his hand, he slapped her, and snapped her head back...blood seeped from her nose and lip. It was all TW could stand to watch this young woman, man handled by this brute.

Creeping down the hall, TW opened another hotel door that opened to the front of the building and took aim at the lit lantern across the street on the porch.

"Easy...TW" TW whispered. His steady fingers cocked back the hammer of the old Hawken and took aim. In his back pocket, a check for $5000 written out to McIntire from Wells Fargo was wrapped around a stick of dynamite and tied off withthe fuse.

Somehow he needed to tell the Keegan girl when he yelled "Get down"...it would mean ...get down on all fours and crawl this way to the staircase while he tossed McIntire's check to him with the fuse lit to the stick of dynamite.

The lantern rocked back and forth as a light breeze blew in from the west...the fuses tied together under the lantern went in nine different directions was gonna make the town look like blue coats arrived into town with their cannons blazing.

Steady....steady...TW squeezed the trigger and fired the shot. The gunfire woke up the lawmen in town as well as Murdock and McIntire downstairs. The lantern dropped and the lantern oil spread across the porch. A small blue flame took off and lit all the fuses......one one-thousand...two one-thousand...three one-thousand...as he pronounced four one thousand. He felt the gun in his back and knew he had been caught momentarily. At five, the first of nine explosions took off...exploding and blowing up the Wells Fargo stables, the bank, the jailhouse, the chapel, and several other important buildings including Barr's home and the courthouse. The lawman loss concentration with each explosion and moved toward the window to watch...TW slid down the handrail and stood twenty feet from McIntire...

McIntire...you and I do not have anything in common, except for that girl...and I aim to trade ya for her...you see, I have a check here for $5000 that is from Wells Fargo assessors office, and By the way, I sent him home before I blew up the stables...Now hand over the girl and i'll toss you the check.

Groping a small handful...McIntire fed her scraps off the table. Now you wanna be treated like an animal...so be it. When the hawken sounded off upstairs, McIntire reached for his gun looking at his deputies. "well just don't stand there..git up them stairs and find out what the hell that was..." Mcintire already knew who it was,but didnt realize what TW was doin' in town. That crazy bastard...is goin to fall right into my hands...he thought as the first explosion rocked the Deesert Rose Saloon.

SON oF BITCHhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Someone screamed as the second and third explosion shook the town. He just BLEW UP THE JAIL and BARR's house. Splinters of wood and glass shapnel flew everywhere and all hit the deck except for McIntire and TW, who were facing each other...guns aimed on each other from across the bar.

Boom...Kaboom... Boom ...explosions rattled the town.

TW raised his voice over the explosions...I sent the Wells Fargo man on his way...and showed McIntire his check for $5000.

McIntire laffed at TW when he saw the check for $5 G's. You think she's worth it TW..

She's a pain in the ass....just like her old man...they don't know what what their sitting on top of. I'd rather have my $5000..give it to me.

...TW raised his voice over the explosions...let's trade and get this done already.

YOU'RE GONNA HANG FOR THIS TW...YOU and THIS GIRL...McIntire pulled on the leash and half dragged the young woman across the floor...then he swing his gun toward TW and fired his weapon...emptying the chamber toward TW as TW jumped him.


******************************************





You're a lazy shot...Marshal...you missed. TW slammed into the lawman and knocked him over.

TW lit the the stick of dynamite and tossed the stick up on the second floor. TW stuffed the Wells Fargo Cashiers check into his pocket. Lifting the Kenngan girl, he sweep her off her feet and over his shoulder. TW looked at the front entrance and saw deputy Murdock shooting his gun at the ceiling as other deputies realized McIntire was inside with the gunman.

"SHIT!!!!" deputy Murdock screamed , when he saw the stick of dynamite and hollared to McIntire to duck under the table.

Murdock looked at TW and shook his head...and the Keengan girl as TW kicked the door open and lifted the woman on his horse.

McIntire hollared at Murdock SHOOT HIM SHOOT HIM ...he's getting away..the dynamite exploded. Glass , bottles of whiskey broke, wood, the second floor landing collasped and fell on top of Murdock and McIntire.

TW swung hisself on the horse and grasped the reins and the keengan girl,.he kicked the horse and galloped out of town toward the meeting place. He didn't realze he was hit until he looked down and saw blood on his hands and shirt.