The plan had been so simple.
Cuero's only about a five hour ride from Yorktown, across the Guadalupe by horseback. While the young Mr. Lehane, Mr. Adler, and Mr. Ferguson made themselves comfortable in Yorktown, Kate afforded two scouting trips. She only ever took Butch and Ace, her right-hand man and the lookout, leaving the other two to their devices. Folk remembered her — the young Mrs. Prudence Evans, whose husband the preacher was hoping to settle her somewhere kinder to her consumption — and Butch and Ace looked enough the part of two gentleman parishioners that nary an eye lingered in suspicion.
Everything was as it should be.
They were so confident.
It should have been easy.
11:17
on the morning of Saturday
JULY 28th
Kate's fine laced boots touch down in a shallow mud puddle. Beaut's skin twitches, and she sidles closer to Arrow, while Salty comes up on her right side. The mud draggles the blue skirts Kate wears on her way to the boardwalk. She's calm, and prim, hands gloved in brown leather, hair up in curls and bonneted. She enters the bank first, on business with Mr. Buchel.
The other boys will follow.
Cuero's only about a five hour ride from Yorktown, across the Guadalupe by horseback. While the young Mr. Lehane, Mr. Adler, and Mr. Ferguson made themselves comfortable in Yorktown, Kate afforded two scouting trips. She only ever took Butch and Ace, her right-hand man and the lookout, leaving the other two to their devices. Folk remembered her — the young Mrs. Prudence Evans, whose husband the preacher was hoping to settle her somewhere kinder to her consumption — and Butch and Ace looked enough the part of two gentleman parishioners that nary an eye lingered in suspicion.
Everything was as it should be.
They were so confident.
It should have been easy.
11:17
on the morning of Saturday
JULY 28th
Kate's fine laced boots touch down in a shallow mud puddle. Beaut's skin twitches, and she sidles closer to Arrow, while Salty comes up on her right side. The mud draggles the blue skirts Kate wears on her way to the boardwalk. She's calm, and prim, hands gloved in brown leather, hair up in curls and bonneted. She enters the bank first, on business with Mr. Buchel.
The other boys will follow.
The rest of their first night in Cuero went off without incident. After they made their way back to the hotel, Kate told Ben about her conversation with Will, and the outlaw's plan to throw a bonfire in Doc's memory.
'Wouldn't miss it for the world,' Ben had said.
They spent the rest of the night in quiet conversation, some of it about Doc, some of it about the Bar, some of it about the banks just outside their hotel room, and the fine citizens of Cuero.
But when morning rolled around, the door to their room had became a door to Milliways. The two put on their "Sunday's finest," and went through to give Doc one last big send off.
It's seconds later, as far as Texas is concerned, when they re-enter their room. Kate is moving freely, without even the barest hint of a hitch in her step, now. They are both also dressed down from how they were when they left, having spent the night in the Bar after the wake was over.
.
'Wouldn't miss it for the world,' Ben had said.
They spent the rest of the night in quiet conversation, some of it about Doc, some of it about the Bar, some of it about the banks just outside their hotel room, and the fine citizens of Cuero.
But when morning rolled around, the door to their room had became a door to Milliways. The two put on their "Sunday's finest," and went through to give Doc one last big send off.
It's seconds later, as far as Texas is concerned, when they re-enter their room. Kate is moving freely, without even the barest hint of a hitch in her step, now. They are both also dressed down from how they were when they left, having spent the night in the Bar after the wake was over.
.
[following this:]
Once the details are ironed out and their aliases are firmly in place, Reverend and Mrs. Evans ride for Cuero looking as much the part as they could manage. Ben even has himself outfitted with a makeshift clerical collar.
(Kate can't look at him without laughing. 'Perhaps,' she suggested, 'you can use it as a Bible bookmark when we're through, Ben.')
It's a half a day's ride from their campsite to the outskirts of town, so it's already late afternoon, pushing for evening, when they finally arrive. Cuero is right off the river, good dirt roads and two free iron bridges crossing the river a coup for the community. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, connecting Cuero to Houston, is visible from the ride in, and once they make it onto the main drag it's obvious that the trade town is, indeed, prospering (with more than two and a half thousand residents). Otto Buchel's bank is a prominent storefront, near J. R. Nagel's hardware, and H. Runge and Company (a branch of Henry Runge's Indianola-based store and bank). There's an opera house, two large schools, a fire department, and a hotel, as well as at least six different churches (which has Kate smirking, and teasing Ben about him better knowing his stuff before starting any conversations he can't finish). And, farther from the main street, are the factories Kate had heard about: a railroad machine shop, and a $50,000 steam-powered cotton textile factory with sixteen looms.
Suddenly, all of Kate's worries about being recognized while in town fade to background noise. If she can't blend in, in a place like this, then she deserves to be caught.
.
Once the details are ironed out and their aliases are firmly in place, Reverend and Mrs. Evans ride for Cuero looking as much the part as they could manage. Ben even has himself outfitted with a makeshift clerical collar.
(Kate can't look at him without laughing. 'Perhaps,' she suggested, 'you can use it as a Bible bookmark when we're through, Ben.')
It's a half a day's ride from their campsite to the outskirts of town, so it's already late afternoon, pushing for evening, when they finally arrive. Cuero is right off the river, good dirt roads and two free iron bridges crossing the river a coup for the community. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, connecting Cuero to Houston, is visible from the ride in, and once they make it onto the main drag it's obvious that the trade town is, indeed, prospering (with more than two and a half thousand residents). Otto Buchel's bank is a prominent storefront, near J. R. Nagel's hardware, and H. Runge and Company (a branch of Henry Runge's Indianola-based store and bank). There's an opera house, two large schools, a fire department, and a hotel, as well as at least six different churches (which has Kate smirking, and teasing Ben about him better knowing his stuff before starting any conversations he can't finish). And, farther from the main street, are the factories Kate had heard about: a railroad machine shop, and a $50,000 steam-powered cotton textile factory with sixteen looms.
Suddenly, all of Kate's worries about being recognized while in town fade to background noise. If she can't blend in, in a place like this, then she deserves to be caught.
.