Two for Home by Tinnean

Author:Tinnean [Tinnean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2019-02-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Trust the cap to pick the perfect spot to make a stand. Sharps worked quickly to unharness the mules, then helped arrange the two wagons at an angle against a hillside. With that done, he watered the mules and their horses, and got them all within the space they’d created.

“How much time do you reckon we have?” he asked Thompson.

The man pulled out his pocket watch. “Not as much as I’d like.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Half an hour, if we’re lucky.”

Sharps nodded and went to the Fox wagon. “Bert, you take care of your ma and your sisters.”

“Yes, sir, Sharps.”

“Good man.” He smiled as the boy’s chest puffed with pride. “Where’s your pa’s rifle?”

Bert took it from its place in the wagon and handed it to Sharps. Sharps examined it, then shook his head. How could anyone coming west allow their weapon to be in such poor shape? There wasn’t time enough to clean it, but he handed it back to Bert.

“You know how to use this?”

“No.” He glanced toward his mother, who held her two daughters in her arms, rocking them, and lowered his voice. “Mama wouldn’t have it.”

“Okay, once we take care of these yahoos, I’ll teach you.”

“You will? Thank you!”

“The thing is, anything can be used as a weapon.” Sharps looked around the interior of the wagon, but there wasn’t anything he thought the boy could use. However, he had seen something in the jockey box when he’d placed the banjo in there. He opened it, retrieved the banjo case and slung it across his back, then took out a frying pan and a cast iron pot. He handed Bert the frying pan. “You can’t use a rifle up close to defend yourself and your family.”

“I can’t?”

“Not up close, unless you use it as a club, but that’s plain awkward. Now this…”

The boy studied the frying pan, then hit his palm gently with it and looked up at Sharps to see if he’d got it right.

Sharps nodded. “You swing it with enough force, and someone’s gonna have a might powerful headache.”

The boy grinned, swatted the air with it a few times, and seemed satisfied. “And the pot?”

“Come with me.”

Bert hopped down from the wagon and trotted after Sharps.

“You know how to build a fire?”

“Yes. Papa…Papa taught me just before…”

“He sounds like he was a good man.”

“He was.”

“All righty. Get a fire started while I fill this pot with water.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to get this to boiling. If those varmints manage to get close to the wagon, I want you to douse them with the water.”

“That’s gonna hurt, Sharps.”

“It surely will. Let me tell you something, Bert. These men are about to find out they’ve bitten off a lot more than they can chew.” He went to fill the pot, and by the time he returned, the fire had caught nicely. It would take a while for the fire to burn as hot as he’d like, but he placed the pot on the fire anyway.

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