The stampeding beeves begin to cause problems for all the riders, as longhorns are moving every which way into Indian Territory. True, most of them continue north behind General Washington, but plenty are straying and even those staying on the path move faster than usual, long horns posing a threat to anyone in their path.
Indeed, one of the Indians wades into the swath of longhorns, taking aim with his rifle. Despite being jostled by the running beeves, the rider discharges the weapon and his aim seems accurate--at least enough to draw Major Gray's attention. The trail boss, who had maneuvered Virginia slightly north, trains his Spencer on the shooter and pulls the trigger.
One of the two Indians exchanging fire with Quirley lets loose a piercing shrill war-cry. The sound travels on the wind with the fury of a woman scorned. At the same time, she spurs her horse and charges directly at Quirley, who has been dividing his focus between two riders. Making her pass, she closes in and slashes the cowboy's mid-section with a bowie knife. Quirley's oath almost matches the female warrior's, but he keeps his wits and squeezes off another round from his trusty Webley. The bullet enters her back and exits cleanly through the other side. While her cry before the charge was shrill, the cry after Quirley's gunplay holds nothing but agony.
Meanwhile, the other Indian manuevered to Quirley's flank, knocking another arrow and letting it loose. It misses it's mark, but strikes Clementine, causing the steed to buck. Moments later, Cole--having seen the warrior he just shot with the spencer fall of his horse--spurs Buck away from the beeves and toward Quirley. Seeing the female warrior charging and the other flanking his pard, Cole realizes his best shot is at the one on the flank. Raising the spencer to his shoulder, Cole fires and plugs the Indian. A deep growl from the warrior seems to indicate that the cowboy's aim proved true.
JEB, realizing the nature of his adversary, calls out to Travis and readies his lariat, while the man from the 6th Michigan spurs Horse and attempts to attain a position on the flank. Before either of the cowboys gain much ground, the Indian lets loose another arrow. It sails over JEB's head. She immediately turns her horse and moves east, with the two men from the No Buffalo Outfit in pursuit.
The men on the south side of the river continue to control the beeves, but they recognize the sounds of the stampede on the other side and know something needs to be done. Miles Thomas starts to ride north along the right flank, pulling away from his brother. Nearby, Rojas has stopped the chuck wagon and Randy has stopped the remuda.
On the left flank, Pierre begins to move forward, leaving Joe to handle the drags. Just then, Joe starts waving his hat. Within seconds, everyone at the drags--including the chuck wagon and the remuda--sees why. Two riders are closing in rapidy from the west, so quickly that they pass about 60 feet south of Joe and seem to be making a direct line for the remuda.
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OOC: Next actions, please.
http://www.doghouserules.net/d.../goin/red_river6.pdf
EDITED to clean up a bad copy/paste which combined an early message. No intended content was changed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Sat 06 Feb 2010.
