No Less Than the Journey Read Online Free PDF Page B

– and we’ll need to get there long before dawn breaks. One of Ira’s men will come there for sure to make certain the pilot doesn’t try to pull the boat back from the bank when he realizes what’s going on. They’ll also have another couple of men down on the boiler deck to keep the engineer in line, but we’ll leave Schuster to deal with them. The main thing is not to scare off Ira’s friends who’ll be waiting onshore. We don’t want to openfire until they’re all at least halfway up the gang-plank.’ Aaron spoke without the slightest hint of excitement or apprehension in his voice.
    Wes wondered how he could remain so calm when discussing something that would result in the deaths of many men – the outcome of which was by no means certain. Then he remembered what Aaron had said to Schuster when they were all taking passage on the Northern Star from New York. He had mentioned his involvement in almost every major battle that had taken place in the recent Civil War. He would regard a gun battle involving probably no more than fifty men as little more than a skirmish.
    ‘How will we spend today?’ Wes asked him.
    ‘Once you’ve spoken to Schuster you can spend it how you like,’ Aaron replied. ‘I intend sleeping for much of the day. I suggest you do the same. We’ll be up long before dawn so that we’re wide-awake when things start happening. Now, let’s go and see what’s on offer for breakfast. Right now I could eat half a horse….’

CHAPTER 5
    Wes took to his bunk for a couple of hours that afternoon but slept fitfully. He fared no better when he returned that night. Aaron’s relaxed snores did nothing to help.
    When he did eventually fall into a disturbed sleep it seemed to him he was shaken only minutes later by Aaron. The US Marshal did nothing to make him feel any less aggrieved when he said, ‘I’m proud of you, boy. Anyone who can sleep that well before a battle is a man I want with me when the action begins.’
    ‘What time is it?’ Wes asked, not yet fully in possession of his senses.
    ‘We have about an hour to dawn,’ was Aaron’s reply. ‘Check your guns and we’ll make our way to the pilot house. Pilot Stavros is working the night shift. He tells me he’ll have a Colt tucked in his belt, just in case we can’t cope.’
    ‘Do you think we’ll need to use our guns?’ Wes asked anxiously, trying hard to keep a tremor from his voice.
    ‘Perhaps not in the pilot house, but we’ll certainly use ’em when Ira’s friends try to come onboard. Does that worry you?’
    ‘I’ll manage.’ Wes replied, hoping he sounded convincing.
    ‘I’ve never doubted it,’ Aaron said, confidently. ‘Ira and his friends are in for a big surprise. If everything goes according to plan, they’ll be out of business once and for all by the time the rest of our fellow passengers are fully awake.’
    Wes wished he was experienced enough to share Aaron’s confidence. He hoped, too, that when the occasion arose, he would be able to steel himself to use the guns that had been bought in New Orleans.
     
    River Pilot Stavros was nervous. When Wes and Aaron entered the pilot-house he was struggling to draw his revolver from its place in his waistband.
    ‘I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show. We’re almost at the landing. In fact, I’ve had to slow down the boat or we’d have been there before it was light.’
    ‘That wouldn’t have done at all,’ Aaron said, ‘If we’re too early they won’t be ready for us. I want to account for every man of the gang who shows himself and I don’t care whether we take him alive – or dead. One thing we can be certain of is that the first action is going to take place right here, in the pilot-house. They’ll want to be sure it’s them who are in command of the boat on the approach to the landing.’
    ‘But you’ve said that any shooting up here is likely to alert the other members of the gang who are on board,’ Wes pointed