EPISODE 26 - MORE COLLECTION
770,000 ducats to go. Bill thought it would be a miracle. He and Bear had already collected 110,000 and killed a criminal boss in the deal. The others would be assuming they are going to have to pay their share of the losses. Most bosses had connections in the police and local government. Bill thought it was strange that no authorities had come to the compound regarding the last episode in Paris.
Aphra had come to Bill and said she was homesick for Philadelphia. She said she was 18, now, and she felt she should be with her mother and preparing to start a family. Bill laughed at the idea of preparing to start a family, but cut it off abruptly with her immediate frown. He asked for time to think about it, it was an understanding that she would stay for three years or four years with the Parisian Jesuits. It had only been 22 months. He asked her about her schooling to which she said that the priests would be happy to see me shorten my stay, that way they could ask more questions and get more answers. He laughed again at the thought of Elizabeth using up the time in class to fill in the blanks that occurred, when something new was said in class.
Bill spent the entire next day thinking about going home. The Mohawk tribe had been committed 5 years worth of support as a minimum. If they left immediately, they would get back in less than three years. Hans would have something to say and other members of the Burer family that had to economize some with the contract the way it was written. Still, it didn’t make sense to stay when she had other things on her mind. Maybe he could talk with Bear and come to some kind of agreement to stop the payments with Bear’s return the tribe.
Bill hadn’t thought about going home much since they left the colonies. Now that Aphra wanted to go home, there would be arrangements to make. He decided that the money he would be carrying would require a war wagon like the Jesuits had.
The first conversation he had, once he had a general plan, was to get an understanding regarding the tribal payments. Bear didn’t have a problem with the discontinuance of Mohawk payments, he had accumulated a fortune of his own while in Europe. Bear thought they would need at least three good men to help with night guard duty and battles they might get into. Bill had a palace guard in mind, Louis Bonaventure, one of the best fighting men Bill had ever seen, to say nothing of introducing Bill to every beautiful woman in the court of Louis XV. He liked Louis and had partied well into the night with him. Bill was ready to go home he had become soft in the French court and he knew Bear was not happy sitting around waiting for things to happen.
Bill and Bear arranged for the competition for the other two spots. Several palace guards showed up after hearing that 20,000 ducats was the payday in Philadelphia. Many wanted to see New Orleans in the south and Montreal in the north. Dozens of men were shooting at small targets and throwing knives at even smaller targets that moved irregularly across the courtyard. At the end of three days of competition, six men stood there champions in every sense. The final test was to stay conscious after Bear hit them with a punch to their head. Bill figured that any man that could fight after Bear hit them would be able to fight after being shot or hit with a club or run over by a loaded carriage or wagon.
The following morning would be the day with Bear. Only five showed up. Bear was, as usual, inpatient to begin and began pacing long before 7:00 am. Instead of starting in a standing position to begin, Bear wanted them to charge one another from the ends of the parade field. This would more closely show an actual battle situation, except for not being armed.
The first man ran towards Bear then just before they collided, the man slid on the ground flat on his back with his feet coming at Bear. Bear jumped up into the air, kicked his legs to the left and brought his right fist to the right just inches above the ground. Before the sliding man could bring his arm up to block the swing, Bear landed a blow to the man’s left jaw that grossly distorted his face before snapping back to a somewhat same look of horror he had just before Bear fist landed. Bear rolled to his feet, spun and turned to the first man. The man didn’t move, he just laid there twisted on the ground, his face in the dirt. Two priests ran out and carried him off the center arena by his arms and legs.
The second man came up to the gate, after having watched the first man’s attempt to avoid Bear’s fist. He decided that a well timed drop-kick would put even a man of Bear’s size on the ground. As the two men closed in on each other, the Guard got ready and went airborne when they were twenty feet apart. Bear saw the leap start and quickly went into the air as well. Being much taller Bear ended up kicking downward when they met. The kick was enough to stop the Guard’s forward movement instantly and at the same begin a backward fall that left the guard skidding along the ground for 10-12 feet. The second man laid there not moving, again two priests ran out and carried the man off the parade grounds.
The third man came running out, but several feet before they would engage, he stopped and waited for bear to come closer. As Bear slowed, he backed off some. Soon, they were standing six feet apart looking at each other waiting for one to make a definite move. Bear got impatient and charged forward, the man drifted backward careful to keep just enough distance between them to look like an engagement is going on, though a cautious one to say the least. Whenever Bear would swing at the man, he would fall backwards or duck to the side. This went on for several minutes, and it became obvious the man wasn’t about to let Bear smash his face in to get the job. Bear quit trying to get to the man and looked over to Bill with a questioning look as if to say, “what do you want me to do with this one, he’s very quick and way too smart to allow me a good shot.” Bill shrugged his shoulders and the man asked his name. “Francis.” “Francis who?” “Just Francis.” Bill asked the man to come over and sit with Louis.
Two men were left to compete for the final spot. Bill decided that they should fight each other to determine the winner. The fight was short and sweet. The larger man took one swing and cold-cocked the other. The man came over and sat down with the others. “What do they call you?” To which the man barked and pointed to his mouth while shaking his head. Bill figured that he was dumb but could hear just fine. At least, there wouldn’t be any annoying questions when the plans change. Bill decided to call him Dogman and there was no frown or any other indication that the name displeased his third fighter.
Bill gathered the men together and told them to have seven days worth of clothes and at least seven weapons with which they were familiar. The departure date would be told them individually, soon, and was to be kept secret at all costs. Payment for their services would not be paid until Philadelphia, but transportation and food would be taken care of by Bill and Bear. The three men seemed happy to be going and began to sing and dance in a circle while they fantasized about the 20,000 at the end of the road. Although, they all seemed glad to be going, each worried that there would be a heavy price to pay to get that kind of money.
Next, Bill went to the Jesuits to negotiate use of the war wagon to Marseille where he would hire a ship to take everyone to the colonies. Bill offered 10,000 for one month of borrowing along with two warriors and a cook to help in battle getting there and to bring the wagon back. There would also be food for two weeks on board to feed 12 people. The agreement was reached quickly and Bill was satisfied that all was in order.
Arrangements were mostly in place when Effa approached Bill to inform him of a recent decision. The compound was all alive with conversations in hallways and dining hall about the Seaworthys finally leaving for their Americas. Two in particular would not be missed, the granddaughter of the Patriarch and that forbidding Mohawk Indian Chief. At first Bill was distracted when Effa started but by the time she said, “so John and I are staying in Paris” it was obvious Effa wasn’t coming back with them. Bill asked if she was sure and she told him John would never be accepted in her old circles of society, not that she was with her peculiar habit of fencing with men and beating them. This was considered most unladylike in Philadelphian society. Bill asked her what they were going to do. She said that the Jesuits in Paris had asked her and John to come live in the compound and teach the martial arts. Bill was pleased that a member of his party was good enough to train some of the most feared knights in the world. He wished her well and spent the rest of the day going over what she wanted him to say to the Burer family. Effa had already sent word for monies to be transferred to the Banke of Paris. Bill suddenly thought about Seafoam and the fact she needed a woman to be with her where Bill couldn’t watch out for her. Effa was such a great person to have along since she could fight off an attack of several men unassisted. Manniakuni was a perfect replacement since she also could fight off multiple attackers. Bill smiled about how well things were working out. Manny and Aphra were inseparable these days. Bill knew Manny wanted to return to her Delaware Turtle clan along the coast, she must be missed as all warrior princesses are. Since the Delaware still pay tribute to the Mohawk, Bill wondered what will happen when Bear returns with a Delaware for his bride, maybe less tribute for starters. Bear when he returns will have even more power in the Mohawk nation than when he left.
Bill and Bear were, now, able to discuss whether they wanted to go back and collect on the original bet before they left France. They decided that they would do so on their way out of town. Word had already got back to them that the remaining bosses had pressured the authorities to agree to arrest Bill and Bear if they showed up again to collect on the outstanding debt. Bill decided to pick Manny and Seafoam up as well as the priests and cook on the way out of the area. It would give their new guards a chance to show their worth before leaving and getting on the road where replacements would be difficult to find.
After two days of searching Paris for the right gunsmith, they found a blacksmith with experience in explosives. He was a small skinny man with hands that shook all the time. He was a Norwegian named Victor Haas and he wouldn’t talk to them at first but repeated visits finally broke down the initial reluctance. Bill asked if Victor could make cannon balls that exploded on contact with a diameter of exactly 2.995”, just enough to allow the ball to travel unimpeded down the barrel. The explosive was from China, a new powder at three times the power of previous gunpowder. The first ball Bear fired at a wall in the industrial part of Paris and it blew a six foot hole in a double brick wall as well as causing crumbling along the wall to a building it was attached to. Bill and Bear both smiled at once when they saw the destructive power of the cannon balls. Bill said they would need 200 balls by a week from the day they agreed to the sale price of 50 ducats each. Victor said three weeks best case. Two weeks was the final agreement.
Bill and Bear rounded up Louis, Francis with no last name, and Dogman. Bill thought it would be best if they tried a run on the bosses to see how much of the 770,000 they could collect. It was decided that Louis and Francis would stay in the war wagon while they went for the money.
Everyone was quiet on the way into Paris. Louis began a pistol by pistol check of every gun in the wagon. Francis, while driving, checked the rifles up front. Dogman was sharpening his throwing knives till he couldn’t see the edge. Bear was checking the hatchet for dents. Bill was lost in thought. He had everyone that was going on the road bring their things to the west gate and wait for the wagon that would be coming in a hurry after the final attempt for collection. Bill figured he would only get one more chance because after this run their would be enough financial loss to justify sending the military after them since local authorities would be no match for an armored war wagon so well equipped as the one the Jesuits had built. He had even given up on the element of surprise, fearing someone would recognize him. And once they go through Paris with abducted crime bosses in toe forcing them to take they to their hidden stashes of treasure, there wouldn’t be a safe place in Europe for Bill and Bear to hide in. Bill even thought the repercussions could follow them all the way back to the colonies, but the bet was a fair one and these men would have to pay up and settle the bet as agreed. Bill knew he was right to force payment since none of the bosses seem to make any effort to pay up that night or later for that matter.
Bear woke him from his thoughts with the question, “Shouldn’t we leave the wagon here and go the rest on foot?” Bear was right the cage was a block away and the hidden door for the walkway under the pier was less than 50 feet away. The plan was a good one and they had gone over it so many times all could say it in their sleep and did.
The four Arabian stallions were restless. They knew they would called upon to pull a heavily armored wagon through the streets of Paris and basically run over anything or anyone that gets in front of them. 18 hands and weighing well over a ton, each horse was covered with a leaded blanket which covered his chest, flanks, and rear. Even the thick, muscled legs were wrapped down to the hooves of steel. Bill had watched the last time this wagon went into action. The men the horses killed were falling to the side so fast they formed a double path of bodies along the street as they went forward.
Bill, Louis, and Dogman would wait outside the door for the bosses to come out fleeing the cage and the destruction Bear was spreading over every inch of the pier, with Francis loading the cannon so Bear could concentrate on firing and aiming the cannon. Francis was also to make sure Bear was aware of every potential threat to the two of them so Bear didn’t get too distracted in blowing up the cage and everything associated with it. Bill was to stay close to the wagon and let Louis and Dogman bring the bosses to be tied up for the money roundup.
Francis followed Bear out the back of the wagon carrying 30 balls in a special sack that spread the weight of the cannon balls over the entire back, some 120 pounds. Bear had a full pack on his back as well. Francis stooped, as the weight hit him upon landing on the ground, he straightened up as best he could after seeing Bear take off with what had to be 400 pounds of powder, grape shot bags, and regular cannon balls neatly packed in Bear’s pack. That didn’t count the double thick armor and sixty pound 3” cannon mounted on his shoulder. Right behind them came Louis and Dogman to get into their position.
Francis struggled to keep up with the Mohawk. Bear had grape-hot loaded for the first shot. He rounded the corner, and there at the end of the pier, was the cage, containing two men inside fighting with knives. The crowd was fairly large, 300 or so, watching and cheering on their bets. Bear stopped took a sight on the tables where the bosses sit or their pit chief taking the money and posting the current odds on each fight.
The first firing of the cannon changed the action in the cage area. Bear had told to make the first four reloads grape-shot, so without looking at what the first firing had done to the large crowd, Francis busied himself with making no errors while reloading. He concentrated on opening the breech, swinging the assembly to one side, pushing the grape-shot down the barrel of the cannon, then quickly following that with a load of powder, that looked like a small sock, packed tight. Francis couldn’t see anything happening around the cage, Bear took up all the viewing area. He could hear the cursing, screaming, and sporadic return gunfire.
The first round of grape-shot thudded into the solid mass of bodies with no warning. Twenty men died out right with hits to the heart and some into brains. Another ten were seriously hurt and each wounded man required at least two men to carry them out of harm’s way. Many more were wounded but could move on their own. The initial reaction was one of confusion, no one seemed to know where the shot came from, much less why. Everyone was down on the decking on their bellies trying to see where the shot had come from, even the caliber sound it made was confusing, too big for a rifle, too small for a cannon. The second round took out almost everyone around the betting tables. The third was for the small group of men ducking around the steel wall heading for the hidden walkway under the docks. Once everyone saw that a giant man at curbside with some shoulder held cannon is systematically killing everyone on the pier, men were jumping off the pier into the cold water 30’ below.
There was return-fire by those who were carrying guns, but even when they hit Bear, it didn’t seem to stop him at all. Francis felt as safe as a baby in its mother’s arms. Bear stood there, tall as the clouds that hung over the pier, the pier was quiet as Bear looked at the remaining pack of 100 or so. The crouching huddle of men began to grumble and curse the giant Indian. Then the silence was broken as 112 men charged Bear from 100 feet away. When the fourth and fifth rounds stopped echoing in the streets, less than a dozen men were still charging, the rest were dead or wounded to the point they couldn’t get up. Not wanting to waste a whole round of grape-shot Bear lifted his cannon off the mounting hole, set it on the ground and picked up his hatchet and charged the men, now only 30 feet away. Bear picked the point where four men were closely packed and went air born after a couple speed steps. The Mohawk war cry froze every single man on the pier in fright, including Francis. When Bear landed the hatchet had already started the arc that would carry the blade through all four men from the waist up. The gun fire from the other men came right after as each man tried to hit Bear in the heart or his head, not worrying about hitting one of their men on the opposite side of Bear. As the smoke slowly billowed away, there was Bear bending over man after man as he slid his scalping knife under the slab of skin with the man’s hair on it. Francis sat on the ground staring at the sight of the Mohawk taking scalps and quickly stringing them on a line hooked to his belt.
Neither Bill, Bear, or anyone else had noticed the ship in the harbor just off the end of the pier behind the cage. A French Man-of-War sitting still in the water off the pier. The first volley of cannon fire from the gunship turned the sidewalk into a storm of blowing rocks and dirt. Francis with no last name yelled at Bear in the middle of the bombardment, “No one said anything about fighting the French Navy.” Bear said, “go back to the wagon, now.” Francis needed no further instructions, he ran for the wagon like life depended on getting there, which it did. It was at least 200 yards back to the wagon so he was glad to see Bear running for the end of the dock, away from his route to the wagon. The second round of fire hit all around Bear, as he continued to ran towards the ship just beyond the cage. Some pieces of shrapnel would occasional hit Bear but the armor absorbed the stray pieces of metal with a tinging sound. By the time Bear reached the end of the pier, mere feet from the side of the ship he had loaded a “chinaball”. The first shot he took was the captain’s deck, he could clearly see it jammed with officers of every rank, admiring the accuracy of the deck cannon crews.
Bill had his hands full as well. With all the cannon fire, the bosses had ducked into the hidden walkway with some of their most trusted men. Three bosses and nine of their men ended up running along the walkway towards the secret door on the street behind some small trees against a building front. Bill had gone over the plan two more times as they waited for the action to start. Louis and Dogman would follow the small groups as they split up by boss until they were sure who the boss was, then kill his men quickly while at the same time securing the boss, then drag the boss back to the wagon as quickly as possible. Bill suggested shooting the men in the head and the boss in the legs to stop him from running too far away. The first group out the door didn’t stop to even look around as they burst through the door and headed for their house they meet at before and after an outing on the town. There were four of them and Louis picked out the boss immediately. Three doors down Louis had the two trailing guards throats cut and closing in on the boss in the next two steps. He grabbed the boss and pulled him to the ground just as he cried out for help. Then shot the third guard in the middle of the back of the head before he couldn’t turn his head to see why his boss was crying out. The boss was cracked over the top of his head by Louis’ pistol, rendering him unconscious instantly and Louis began to drag the boss back to the wagon some 40 feet away.
The second group was three men. Dogman waited a bit longer because the three were walking shoulder to shoulder and talking like they were all friends, he paused a second thinking maybe they are all friends and he should stop and help with some other group. At one block Dogman shouted out, “Boss, wait for me.” Without thinking the man in the middle said to hurry up and something about him being an idiot. Suddenly Dogman didn’t care if the guy in the middle was a boss or not he was going back to the wagon. Dogman had, as a boy been taunted by other kids because he didn’t learn so fast, they had called him idiot over and over. He was going to enjoy torturing this man into confessing to being a boss and finishing him off after the money is secured.
The last group was the easiest, as far as figuring out who the boss was. Bill saw four men come out of the doorway with a shrived-up old man in the center of them. They looked in every direction and then proceeded to head for the center of the city. Bill picked off each guard from his perch in a tree directly above the men. Three pistols, three dead men on the street. Bill jumped down to the sidewalk and started to chase the two remaining men, which wasn’t that difficult since one was limping from old age. As he ran along he thought about what if there had been four or five bosses and even more men, there would have been bosses that would have gotten away since this was the last collection night. The last guard did get a good shot off but Bill’s armor expertly took care of it without a sound. Bill brought out a throwing knife and the next thing the guard knew he had a piece if blade sticking out of his spinal cord and his legs went out from under him. It wasn’t hard to catch up to the old man and knock him out with a single swing of his fist. Even though it was only a block the old man seemed awful heavy for such an old man. Just before he heaved the old guy into the wagon, he slipped the big bag off the old man’s shoulders, it was what was so heavy. The bag was stuffed with coin and ducats. Louis followed closely with his boss and they could see Dogman in the distance with a man on his back.
The men were securing the three bosses and watching for any more trouble when Francis burst through the back door all winded and trying to tell them something through the gasping. Bill looked behind him but Bear was not in view. Finally Francis told them there was a French gunship just behind the cage and Bear was in the middle of engaging the Man-of-War right now. Bill’s heart stopped, as he thought of Bear all alone facing the best gunship France has to talk about with 200 soldiers to assault him. The night went white over the entire sky as the first “chinaball” impacted the deck of the ship. Bill was a little surprised with how bright the flash was, they hadn’t fired it at night yet. Bill was torn between running to catch up to Bear and be part of the battle with the French Navy, and staying put so if Bear gets to the wagon Bill wouldn’t be trying to find him in the billowing clouds of smoke, now dense along the waterway. Bill decided to stay where he was and hope Bear arrived soon, there was still the matter of collecting money from these bosses of the underworld.
Bear could see the “chinaball” land in the stomach of the captain as it exploded, and the captain along with all the bodies in a ten foot circle blew outward into the night with the largest piece in flight only four inches across. One of these larger pieces hit Bear in the helmet, and the blood splattered making it hard to see out of his left eye visor. His second “chinaball” was for the gunnery sergeant in the middle of the ship, who was barking orders to adjust cannon for point blank range since bear was under 20 feet away. Bear looked him in the eye just before firing and the man just stood there unflinching, a true military man to the end which was quite spectacular. The explosion took the officer, two of his second in command, and at least four cannon with their powder mounds next to them. The white light nearly blinded all in the area and the main mast was heard cracking from the force. Soon men were scrambling to get away from the falling mast. Chaos was everywhere as other gun crews came running to help the dying.
The third was aimed at the waterline and water shot into the air drenching everything in a 100 foot radius. The hole was twenty feet across and the water rushed into the hold of the ship. The men on board knew that the Seine River along the docks was a deep and swift river with currents that could drown a good swimmer in a minute or less. The ship listed to port and the sides of the side leaned against the dock as hundreds of men scrambled to get off the ship for fear of drowning in the river currents. Unfortunately for them, standing alone on the dock was a giant Mohawk War Chief that could reload a cannon faster than they could get to him after a firing. Wave after wave of sailors jumped over the side unto the dock and charged the lone man standing there. Each wave was slaughtered and blown to bits by hundreds of grape-shot fired into their faces. There was three large fires going at each of the three strike points, including the water line. The screams of dying men filled the air. The panic in the voices of the remaining officers made the sailors even more nervous as to whether any would survive this slaughter. Soon the dock was crowded with heaps of dead and dying men moaning in the fire lit sky. After a few moments passed, Bear decided the attacks had come to an end and figured it was time to go onto the ship and finish off any survivors to avoid them popping up later that night to revenge their friends. He slid the cannon under a over turned boat in the back of the cage and grabbed his hatchet once again. After jumping onto a burning deck, he systematically went through the ship chopping every man he ran across in half. Once, deep in the hold of the ship, where there was no place left to run, he faced 40-50 cornered men. Their eyes wide with fear as what looked like the revenge of the colonial Indian stood in front of them at least 12 feet tall with the “Axe of Hell” in his hand. In less than three seconds almost every man there was on a pile with Bear at the bottom. Normally, a man under a pile of 40 men would die from being crushed and running out of oxygen because they couldn’t expand their lungs with that much weight on top of them, but Bear wasn’t a normal man. Many men in the pile tried to shoot or stab Bear but the armor made it impossible to penetrate any of the vital organs with the double layer of metal. That extra weight was paying for itself now when he couldn’t possibly defend from every attempt that was tried. Bear just kept driving his hatchet head into flesh over and over, each time a new scream of pain was heard. The other hand was used to stab men with one of his throwing knives. Over and over, for several minutes Bear tore at the bodies that were now trying to get away from him instead of staying on top of him. Then just a couple of men were still engaged in the fight, which he finished off quickly. By the time he stood up again, the piles of men were as high as his waist and he went around slitting the throats of any that looked like they were still alive. Then, when he was sure there were no further attacks possible, he started to add to the string of 14 scalps he already had on his line from the dock. Working his way back through the ship getting back to the deck he stopped to add to the scalps, now, a large bundle of dripping flesh the size of a full grown beaver.
Back on the dock, Bear watched, as the burning ship slid into the dark, cold waters of the river. The steam causing the air to fill with smoke and steam to a point that you couldn’t see your hand in front of you, even with the fire as a light. The night was finally quiet, and dark again with the burning ship tucked into the currents. The smell of fresh blood filled Bear’s nose as the dock glistened from all the blood rolling around.
The silence was deafening, as Bill waited to see if Bear had survived. He sat in the wagon looking at all these men, friends and foe alike staring into space not wanting to talk or bespoken to just then. Then suddenly the door to the front seat on the right opened up and Bear jumped up onto the bench. He was covered in blood, and the smell of the string of scalps was overwhelming. Bill figured that was what was taking Bear so long to get to the wagon, he pulled his right arm up a ways to avoid having the scalp bundle touching his arm while he drove. A slap of the reins and they were off down the street.
Bear leaned over and stuck the bag of money down the shoot to empty below in the lock box that needed to be opened by a blacksmith, since there was no lock to open. Bill said to pick any of the bosses and ask where his personal bank is so we may withdraw the winnings of the bet. The first man Bear chose was the old man who was anxious to keep living and said right off he would pay 500,000 but only if he gets to live after. Bill asked him what he proposes to have that happen. The old man said that he would throw the money down from his bedroom but he must be allowed to go up alone to do it, he didn’t want his men to find out where the opening to the safe was. Bill thought about the idea but said no, too many chances for the man to disappear in the night while alerting the authorities. Bill said he would go with the old man, but no one else. Before they got out of the wagon the old man was tethered to Bill’s left arm. Bill leaned over to Bear and said if I’m not back in 10 minutes I want you to blow up this entire block of buildings. The old man said that they should hurry if he was to get back by 10 minutes. So off they went with the old man hurrying along in front. They went past several guards, most of them were sleeping, as they wound their way up the three flights of stairs. On the top floor they rushed down the hall to find two guards waiting outside the boss’s bedroom. They asked who Bill was but were brushed off on their way in. Bill closed and bolted the door behind him. The old man went immediately to his closet and pushed a panel to the side and there stood a huge iron door. With some difficulty the man opened the door and began to pull out bundles of currency, all neatly wrapped and marked in wraps that said 10,000 ducats. Bill was relieved when he saw he could carry the total 500,000 in a sheet off the bed and still had enough material left over to tie a solid knot. It had taken over five minutes to get to the room and pull out fifty bundles. The sheet after the knot was tied was heavier than Bill had anticipated, now he wished Bear was along but getting up the stairs would have been a lot harder. The old man was getting very nervous about how long it was taking. Bill slit the tether and opened the door with the bundle on his back like ‘ol Saint Nick. The guards at the door had a funny look on their faces as Bill pushed by. The old man gritted his teeth as Bill disappeared from sight down the dim hallway. The old man ran to his window and yelled down to Bear that the money was on its way down. Bear tried to determine from the man’s voice if Bill was actually coming down or tied up in the house somewhere while the household readied for a battle out front. On the main floor in sight of the front door, a guard called out to Bill to stop. Bill did, but turned with a gun in his free hand. The man charged towards Bill and Bill dropped him with a single shot to the head. Three more came out of the kitchen still eating the chicken and Bill turned and headed for the door. He could feel the bullets hit the huge sack on his back and he smiled thinking how the money was absorbing the force of the shots. Before he could open the door he heard the cannon go off and somewhere up on the third floor there was an explosion. The single shot had told Bear there was trouble, so he was preceding to destroy the upper floors first, to give Bill time to clear the building before finishing it off. Bear was using regular cannon balls so he had to use more than he would have if he had used “chinaballs”. Bill came flying out the door and jumped into the back of the wagon with his bundled sheet in tow. Louis slapped the reins lightly and the wagon started rolling down the alleyway. Everyone looked back at the buildings on the block, the fires were spreading wildly. No one spoke for the next couple of minutes. Bill wrestled the bundle up to the front and with his back to the others began stuffing bundles of currency into the shoot.
Louis was next with his boss, a man in his 40s in good shape. The boss asked how he could avoid having his home burned to the ground. Bill looked at him as if to say, “got any ideas?” With 500,000 in the wagon, Bill felt much better about going back home. He wanted the other 270,00 but could live without it, all of a sudden he felt tired and wanted to go back to the compound. Bear saw his slumping friend and said he would take over the rest of the collection. Bill was relieved, he retired to thinking about when they would pick up the others and head off to Marseille.
Bear grabbed the man and asked where his business or home was. The man gave the directions, but added that he had only 100,000 or 120,000 in his safe at home. Bear, immediately, looked at the third man who said he had about the same. The wagon pulled up to the second house, all the windows were dark. Bear rigged a choke stick for the occasion. A thin wire formed a loop at the end of a long pole and a man could tighten up the wire without cutting his fingers, and if he pulled hard enough it would behead the restrained man. Bear shoved the man onto the street and followed behind up to the door. The man banged on the doorknocker until a sleepy looking old man opened the door, while cursing about the middle of the night. All three were shoved into the foyer and Bear knocked the old man out with a back hand. Bear then aimed the man down the hall and asked where the room with the money was. A choking man pointed upstairs and they began to slowly go up some creaking stairs. No signs that there were other guards in the house. Bear became uneasy as the stairs trumpeted their approach. Still no attacks as they went to the third floor. Down the hall to the door at the end they went. Then the man opened the door and the two of them stepped inside. Bear was surprised at the luxury inside given the austere house. There were red velvet drapes, gold-leafed chest-of-drawers, fine glass crystal on round ornate tables, and a bed with four posters to the ceiling. Bear looked at the opulence and sneered. The man opened a panel in the wall and there sat an alcove with money from bottom to the top, about four feet off the floor. Bear stared at the piles of bills. The man began to count out the money to get Bear out of his house. Bear estimated there was a lot more than the man had said there was and ste enter of them. They looked in every direction and then proceeded to head for the center of the city. Bill picked off each guard and started to chase the two remaining men, which wasn’t that difficult since one was limping from old age. As he ran along he th the hall and started down the stairs. Other men came out of their rooms with blood shot eyes and rubbing their aching heads. One look at Bear and most ran back inside their rooms, the ones that didn’t fired at Bear but were shocked to see him continue down the stairs unaffected. Bill was getting ready to pull away as soon as Bear showed up. A couple of men tried to physically block Bear from getting by but he knocked both aside as if they were feathers. He came through the front door with one man still holding on but he fell on the ground when Bear jumped up into the wagon and Dogman shot him in the right eye for some reason.
The third boss was nervous he wasn’t sure what had actually happened to the first two bosses. Bill noticed that there was more like 200,000 ducats in Bear’s sheet as he stuffed the money down the shoot. That means they have been successful in collecting all but a few thousand of the debt. Bill wondered if this was the time to stop and go get the others to get on the road early. There was a nagging feeling that he should stop now, throw the last boss off the wagon and get back to the compound. Before he could verbalize his thoughts the third boss gave his address and it was only three blocks away. What was causing Bill to feel uneasy was that the first boss had escaped the burning building and had gone to the authorities to tell them two other bosses were being held so the huge crowd of deputies and constables were divided in two to cover both houses, with more than enough men running to the rooftops along the two streets to fire down from.
As Bill turned the corner, he sensed something was wrong. It wasn’t that the street was empty after all it was after midnight. It was something else, the horses could feel it too, they were jumpy which is quite unusual for war horses. Bill leaned over to Bear and said to get to the back door with “chinaballs” ready for some action. The boss said it was at the end of the block, corner house, on the right. His voice was excited with anticipation, he too knew the authorities were there. Bill decided they had almost all of the bet money and it was time to round up the rest of their party and head south. Bill jerked the reins to the left after a series of moving closer to the right curb. The wagon tipped to the right as the war horses sprang forward while turning around at full effort. The wagon was now facing due north and Bill slapped the reins and cried out to run. War horses usually have tight reins all the time so when they get a chance to run they do so with the pent up energy of young colts. Everyone inside the wagon was surprised when their heads snapped backward as the horses took off. At that moment when the inertia was established there were hundreds of bullets landing on the wagon. The sounds were muffled to the men inside from layers of leather and metal in the sides of the wagon. Bear looked through the narrow slit in the back door. There behind the wagon were at least four carriages chasing the war wagon and men on each firing their rifles and pistols. Normally Bear would have used grape shot on carriages but a “chinaball” was loaded already. He reached over swung the door open and fired into the street about 100 feet behind them, it was hard to set the elevation because the wagon was bouncing around a lot. The ball hit closer to 70 feet behind the explosion shock wave soon hit the wagon and everyone was pushed forward by the shock wave. Bear, Louis, and Dogman watched as the flash of light lit up the air. The buildings on both sides of the street flew in different directions as bricks became deadly bullets. Walls collapsed into the street burying the front two carriages and making it impossible for the last two to get by the road block. More carriages came from the next block as constables closed in from both sides. Ahead, Bill could see that the street was barricaded and men were already shooting at the wagon.
Bill yelled back to Bear to blow everything behind them up. Rounds of regular cannon balls and “chinaballs” left block after block of fires and blown out walls. There was a certain satisfaction in lighting up Paris while defending themselves. Bill even saw elements of the Palace Guard in the fringes of the pursuing mobs of men with orders to shoot on sight.
Bill looked back at Bear and saw an excitement he hadn’t seen before. It was as if Bear thought it was over as well and he would finally “meet his match” and die in a blaze of legend and mystery that his people would sing about for generations to come. Bear started to scream his war cry and making hand gestures that could only be interpreted as, “Come on, I am here, Big Bear, War Chief of the Mohawk!”
At the corner of each block, Bill would choose the least resistance, provided it never went south, and as little east as possible. Bill knew his pursuers could follow all the way to the compound so he had to lead them away from a direct route so as to tire the pursuit. By the tenth block the options were getting fewer as the entire military and local governmental power of the country of France was closing in on Bill and his little group of debt collectors. Louis had joined Bill up front and sparingly used a rifle from the “rifle bank” of 144 rifles. Dogman and Francis had both pulled back from Bear as Bear woke up every man, woman, and child in north Paris. Bill had no choice but run the horses over the top of men and barricades, even other horses. The steel hooves along with training to decapitate a man with one kick, every time, came into play over and over. The horses didn’t seem to tire, by now they were covered in blood, the armored blankets absorbing until they were saturated then glistened in the light of torches and buildings on fire. Bill needed Bear to the front one time when the corner was blocked quickly after he had turned down the street with the way behind closed as well. Trapped on a street with three story apartments on either side and barricades over 16 feet high at each corner. Bear loaded a “chinaball” aimed for what would be the center of the intersection, some 15 feet past the wall of wagons and boards. As usual the explosion lit the entire sky and for a moment it was noon in the middle of summer, even the heat blast from the explosion seemed like dead of summer. Other than the big hole in the street that required Bill be careful until they were past so as not to fall in, no element of the barricade was left. No man, no wagon, no board, not even a nail. As Bear turned to go back to the rear of the wagon he smiled, he liked this new cannon ball that makes things disappear.
Street after street, Bear would change from grape-shot to regular cannon to the rare use of the “chinaball”, after which the other men would clap and cheer. They had given up early trying to help defend the war wagon, it was just a matter of watching Bear slaughter dozens of men every few seconds. It seemed the entire city was in flames. The night sky turned red, bright red from hundreds of fires. Whistles blowing, men yelling, bells ringing, gunshots echoing, all the sounds of war without a war. Small detachments of Palace Guard were seen but usually in the distance, it was not the function of the Guard to apprehend law-breakers. Their job was to protect the King or the country from invasion. Besides they knew three of the men in the war wagon and were in no hurry to interfere. The devastation the wagon left went on for miles and Bill still had 100 or so men still following when he left the city boundaries, so he curved to the right until he pulled into Reims. Bill thought it was possible that the pursuit would go on through the night and well into the next day so he thought it would be better to charge at this point rather than to continue running away.
He yelled to get ready to kill every man, so no one would know where they went to pick up the rest of the party. The wagon turned around without much sway, Bill had gotten a lot better handling the massive weight. Then he slowed to a slow walk towards the men pursuing them. At first the crowd chasing them cheered when the wagon turned around, but as the men inside, behind metal walls began to use the hundreds of loaded pistols lining the entire inside of the wagon, it became clear that no man was surviving the non-stop firing. As they turned to run, Bill speeded up the wagon to match the pace of their running, making the shooting of each man a relatively simple matter of point and shoot. In the end Bill couldn’t see any one in any direction. He pulled the wagon into a driveway and came to a stop. He told all the men that they would be staying there for an hour or so to make sure no one is following. Bear jumped out of the wagon and headed back to where the last pursuer had fallen. Bear scalped the man without even bending over. He proceeded to scalp every fallen man, soldier, sailor, policeman, deputy, all ended up next to the scalps from earlier in the evening.
TO BE CONTINUED