William Blake sat on his horse and hummed a tune and rode through the desert. In the far distance he saw the with snow covered tops of the Rocky Mountains lying. He had worked as a cowboy in the wild west. His last job wasn’t very excited so a week ago he grabbed his stuff together and he went on his way to Deadwood City. Finally he had reached his destination.
It was already late in the afternoon. It was a warm, dry day and when he rode into town a fresh breeze waved a cloud of lost dust up. The streets were deserted for the most and the few people he saw made a scary and pressure impression. He was wondering what he had to do.
Going to the saloon to find out what was going on. William knew that a saloon of a small prairie town was the best place to find news. But he also could go to the hotel.
The man at the desk probably could tell him what was going on in Deadwood City. Besides he needed a place to spend the night too. Another idea was going to the office of the sheriff. If there was a problem in Deadwood City the sheriff had to be the first one to be heard about it.
He walked the dusty road out until he came to a wooden shed. Above the door was a sign nailed which said: William went inside and got greeted by a tall slim man with a tin star on his shirt. William said who he was and the lawman asked him to sit down.
“Have you heard it already? Kurt Malloy is on his way. If he takes over here the town can burn down as well. That would be preferable if you ask me. Watch your steps. That’s all that I can advise you”, said the sheriff.
‘Not the most ideal town to hang around’, William thought by himself. But he was nearly broke so he better could hang around until he had earned something.
“Do you have any idea where I can find work here?”, he asked.
“I wouldn’t know. But you could go and talk to Mrs Megan. She lives across the street and knows everything that goes on in this town I think”, answered the sheriff.
He knocked at the door of Mrs Megan. A moment later it got answered by an old lady. She had clear blue eyes and a friendly smile. When William explained that he was sent by the sheriff and was looking for work he was allowed to come in for a cup of tea.
“You could get a job as cowboy or you can rent yourself as a armed hand. If you like that sort of work. Just look at the posters at Tylers Bazaar. But have you thought about the possibility to start a newspaper? I have walked around with such plans. I even had come over a press, all the way from Philadelphia. But at the moment my health isn’t that good so now I can’t handle it actually. But if you are interested I will help you to set it up”, said Mrs Megan.
William decided to go to Tylers Bazaar to look for work.
William walked in an easy pace to Tylers Bazaar where several posters hung at the wall. Two of them offered jobs. One said:
Wanted: Armed guidance, Deadwood Stagecoach company. Good wages and each month 10 days off.
That sounded good. That way he could earn something, see something of the country and meet a lot of people. But the job could also mean a single trip to his grave.
On the roster stood: Cowboy wanted at the Red Creek Ranch.
William decided to take the job of the guidance. He got red as an armed co-rider at the stagecoach company. His chore was to ride along with the stagecoach and to protect it against every attack.
The chef said, “You can choose for your first assignment between two rides. The first one is a gold transport to San Francisco. This one is dangerous but you get an extra bonus with it. The second one is bringing mail to Santa Fe. This one is much safer but the pay is less.”
William rode along with the gold transport to San Francisco. On the first day they had to go through a pace which was between high rock walls. When they had got out William saw that the road was almost flooded over by a sudden flow It was already late in the afternoon.
Scotty MacLeod, the driver of the stagecoach, asked, “Does it make sense to pull the stagecoach through this because it can get stuck?”
“I go inspect the road”, said William.
While he did that William found tracks of a fresh camp fire. That could mean that bandits were in the area – this was an ideal spot for robberies.
The stagecoach made progress but the road was very rocky and difficult to be ridden. At a certain moment they came across a part of the road with deep grooves. Riding through this could cause quite a damage to the wagon. But what laid behind them was just as bad. William was thinking while Scotty was running up the horses to pull harder. The stagecoach hardly had started again or he fell over whereby a back as broke. While they were busy repairing the damage a man came riding towards them. He had a rifle with him which was pointed at William. He realized that this had to be the scout of the bandits. He shot at once and the bandit fled. But he knew very well that he would return with enforcement.
William en Scotty decided that the best thing was to hide the gold and after that go to town to get help. They hid the gold in a cave behind close bushes, unleashed the horses and rode to Deadwood City. There William asked the sheriff to get some more men to go back again. A posse was very quickly formed. Arrived there they saw that the bandits had made a mess of the stagecoach. Luckily they hadn’t discovered the gold, that was hidden well. William en Scotty got an extra bonus because they had handled the case so well.
Not much later William rode along again as co-driver with the stagecoach. He enjoyed the adventurous work and the high pay.