Dalton's Revenge

By David Weittenhiller

Sixteen year old Jake Dalton along with his best friend nineteen year old Dewey Bannock are on an early morning hunt when they hear gunfire coming from the direction of their wagon train encampment. Riding like the wind they arrive at the camp to find outlaws shooting down the men, women and children of the wagon train. Taking the murderous bandits by surprise, they open fire while riding through the wild melee killing many and running off the four surviving bloodthirsty butchers. It is only then that a wounded Jake finds his mother, father and little sister shot to death, lying in a heap. He is unable to pick up the chase because of his wound and and that night a thunderstorm wiped out all of the murderers' tracks. An anguished Jake vows that he will avenge the brutal murder of his family but while he is an excellent marksman with a rifle, he is a novice with a handgun and is only sixteen years old. Cooler heads among the wagon train prevail upon him to wait until he is older and better prepared or he'll just get himself killed. Besides, there is no trail to follow. His friend Dewey, three years older and a dangerous man with a six shooter promises to help him become highly skilled with a handgun and then accompany him in the pursuit of those who murdered his family.
A year and a half later, Jake Dalton has grown into a man and his resolve to find those responsible for the killing of everyone that he had loved has also grown. Endless hours of practicing with his handgun has made him just possibly the fastest man in the west and that meant the fastest man in the world. Together, he and Dewey Bannock set out to find and to exact revenge upon the four men who caused Jake's world to crash down around him. Their journey will take them to the worst hell holes in the west and pit them against the most dangerous scum of humanity. To find the four particular scum that they are hunting, they'll have to wade through almost every gunman, thief, rustler, hostile indian and murderer west of the Mississippi. God have mercy on those that oppose them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Weittenhiller
• Release date: Aug 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463468357

Book preview

Chapter One

Jake Dalton and Dewey Bannock were in great spirits. It was Jake’s mother’s birthday and Jake had decided to supplement the usual wagon train fare with fresh venison steaks at tonight’s meal. About three miles before they had made camp last night Jake had noticed a small seep with a lot of deer sign around it. Obviously, it was a popular watering hole for the area wildlife and Jake came up with the idea right then and there to surprise his mother and the entire wagon train with a special birthday feast.

While only 16 years old, Jake was nonetheless a crack shot. His Father James was a colonel in the union army during the Civil War and had taught Jake at an early age how to shoot and care for an assortment of guns. The war had taught James Dalton many lessons, one of which was that in a world where most men carried guns the best way to stay alive was to be better skilled than anyone else in their use. Jake was an eager student and prowled the Ohio countryside growing up perfecting his marksmanship and his woodsman skills. He learned to be not just in the woods, but to be a part of them. He learned which sounds each animal made as it moved from a mouse to a bear. He could tell when a bird flew off because it was startled or was just moving to another place of interest. He could filter out the usual sounds of the forest so that he could detect the unusual, so it was no surprise that he and Dewey were returning to camp with four deer strung over their pack horses, enough to feed the entire camp and still have enough left over to make jerky.

Dewey was almost as good with a rifle as Jake and was infinitely better with a handgun. Jake’s father had just started teaching him the fundamentals of handguns and he was only now becoming big and strong enough to be able to handle his father’s Colt Frontier six shooter.

He and Dewey had left camp at around 4:30 AM to go back to the seep. They had told no one of their plan, wanting to surprise everyone. They left camp quietly and had bagged their quarry and now were within a quarter mile or so of the wagon train when suddenly they heard gunfire erupting ahead in the direction of the camp. Both immediately cut the ropes connecting the pack horses to them and raced toward the camp. It was just after dawn now so they could see well enough that their horses were running flat out.

As the camp came into view, they could see everyone from the wagon train huddled into a group with at least a dozen men encircling them and just shooting them down. Some had guns and strangely some had bows and arrows.

Without thinking Jake and Dewey pulled out their guns and started shooting down the attackers while still moving swiftly around them. Jake was using his Winchester rifle while Dewey was devastating them with his Smith and Wesson .44 Russian handguns. The surprise was total and Jake and Dewey’s accuracy and rate of fire provoked panic among the would-be murderers. Many were down and others were running for their horses. Jake saw Dewey’s horse go down and then he himself was knocked off of his horse by a bullet that hit him in the left leg. He managed to keep hold of his rifle and shot one man as he was running towards the horses. He saw another hop aboard a horse and shot him out of the saddle. He could see four other riders but they were out of range.

Suddenly everything was silent for several moments and then screaming and crying erupted from the surviving people.

Jake’s leg suddenly felt like it was on fire and then a searing pain took over. He unknotted his neckerchief from around his throat and tied it tightly around his wound. Using his rifle as a crutch he tried to get up. Through gritted teeth and with a herculean effort he finally managed on his fifth try to stand up. All around him was chaos. Bodies lay everywhere. Women and children were crying hysterically. Some men were also sobbing, some were trying to help the injured.

Though his leg hurt like hell, Jake hobbled to the center of the mayhem, frantically realizing that he must find his family. His worst fears came true when he finally found them. His mother, father and sister were all dead. His father’s body lay straddled on top of his mother and sister. He had obviously tried to shield them with his body to no avail. A howl of anguish erupted from Jake. As he took a step towards them his leg gave out and he fell on top of them and just lay there with no desire to ever move again.

Jake! Jake are you all right? Yelled Dewey.

Slowly Dewey pulled Jake’s prone body off of his father’s and gently lay him on the ground.

Check them Dewey, rasped Jake. Check them to see if any of them are alive.

Dewey carefully slid Jake’s father from atop Mrs. Dalton and little Annie. He checked to see if any of them were breathing, and they were not. Dewey had seen dead people before and these people were most definitely dead.

I’m sorry Jake, but they’re all gone.

Jake started crying again, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

I’ll be right back Jake. I’m going to get the medical kit from your wagon, said Dewey.

Dewey returned ten minutes later and Jake seemed to have cried himself out. He had rolled onto his side and was just staring at his parents and sister.

OK Jake, we need to take care of that wound, said Dewey. He cut away Jake’s pant leg with his Bowie knife and examined the wound. It looks like it’s a through and through which is good news. We won’t have to dig a bullet out of there. Dewey cleaned the wound with water from his canteen and then some antiseptic from the kit. He wrapped it tight with some bandages and helped Jake to his feet. I found this limb that you can use for a crutch over by the wagons. Now let’s go find out what happened here.

They found Henry Graham about fifty feet away deep in conversation with Charles Sumner. Henry Graham had organized this wagon train. His brother Dave had trekked westward from Eastern Ohio and had settled in Great Bend, Kansas. He had caught the western itch and moved both his wife and his banking business west and ever since had written letter after letter to his brother encouraging him to come out and join him. He described Great Bend as a jewel on the Canadian River and the fastest growing little city in Kansas since the railroad had come through.

Henry had resisted his brother’s overtures for two years but finally after talking it over with his wife had decided to make the move. With the closing of the Piedmont iron ore mine, the last large employer in the area was now gone. There had once been several large mines which was why the town had been founded over forty years ago. But now there were few opportunities here and the town’s population had already shrunk by over thirty percent. By showing them his brother Dave’s optimistic letters and using his own persuasiveness Henry had convinced sixteen other local businessmen to form a wagon train and to head west in the spring. Henry was sure that this would be a great new opportunity for all of them and their families. All in all, it was an incredibly rich wagon train as these businessmen had sold all of their assets and were bringing the cash west with them to finance their new lives.

Right now though, all Henry Graham felt was shock and a deep guilt that he had brought all of these people here and now so many were dead and injured. It took Jake calling his name several times before he even realized someone else was there.

"What was that? He stammered.

What the hell happened here? Why is my whole family dead? Who attacked us? Shouted Jake.

It was the men we hired as guides, responded Henry. When we awoke this morning, they herded us together over there. They had their guns out and had eight other men with them. They said they wouldn’t harm us if we gave them all of our money. We had no choice, but when we finally rounded everyone’s cash up and gave it to them, they said that they couldn’t afford to leave any witnesses behind. They said that they were going to kill us all and blame it on the renegade Indians. We begged them to let the children go, but they just started shooting us. I don’t know what happened after that. All of a sudden the gunfire had stopped and I could hear horses running away.

What happened was me and Jake were just coming back from an early morning hunt and we heard gunfire, said Dewey. We came on the run and when we saw what was happening in camp we unloaded on those sons of bitches. They were so busy shooting and making so much noise I don’t think most of them even knew that we were cutting them down. If my horse hadn’t gone down and Jake hadn’t taken a bullet, we might have got them all.

Well four of them got away said Jake, and if it’s the last thing I ever do, I’m going to hunt them down and kill every last one of them.

Thank God for you two, exclaimed Henry. You saved us! We’d have all been killed.

Jake hung his head. We didn’t save everybody. We didn’t save my family.

By nightfall all of the dead had been buried including eight of the attackers. Piper Dan Williams was one of the dead men who attacked the company. He was also one of the guides that they had hired to lead them to Great Bend. Rad Calhoun, Henry Starr and Clay Adams were also guides and were three of the four men who had escaped with over $50,000. All of the injured had been treated as best they could with the supplies on hand. Fortunately, Doc Bailey was one of the businessmen who had thrown in with them or there would have been even more that didn’t survive. Still, eleven had died and over twenty were wounded. That was over a third of the company. Doc advised that they not start moving again for at least a week so that the most severely wounded could heal a little and regain some strength before being subjected to the rough ride of a wagon.

While the uninjured put the camp back together and cared for the wounded, Dewey went back and rounded up the pack horses that they had cut loose. He eventually found them all and brought the venison to the camp. There would be no birthday feast now, but they would sorely need the extra meat to tide them over while they waited for those who were hurt to heal enough to move on again.

It had been determined that the attackers had gotten away with just over fifty thousand dollars. A huge haul, but in their panic, they had left behind around one hundred and ten thousand dollars more. Rad Calhoun and the rest who got away were just despicable enough to come back and murder the rest of them for that much money. Therefore, half of the men slept 4 hours while the others stood guard and then they rotated.

As if their spirits weren’t low enough, early the next morning it began to rain and continued throughout the day and lasted most of the night. The prairie was as damp as their spirits. This was especially true for Jake. He knew that there was no way now to follow and catch the murderers of his family. The storm would have wiped out any tracks that they had left.

The following day Henry Graham called a meeting of the entire company.

We have some decisions to make before we break camp and we might as well get to it. Each wagon will have one vote and Dewey will have one vote even though he doesn’t have a wagon. Though he didn’t join us until Independence, he’s been an important part of this wagon train and if not for he and Jake all of us would be dead right now.

Dewey had approached the wagon train at Independence, Missouri and asked if he could join the train. He worked for the Bar Seven ranch near Great Bend and was taking four stallions there that the owner had purchased. He explained how Mr. Simmons, the ranch owner had provided him with enough money for pack horses and supplies. Dewey proposed that if he could hook on with the wagon train, he would give the money to them and he would just be a part of the train. He also suggested that he could help keep the train supplied with fresh meat and provide an extra gun in case of Indians or trail thieves. Even though Rad Calhoun, the trail guide they had hired, had vehemently opposed the idea, the company voted to let him join.

It was also at Independence that Jake and his family had joined the train. They had also come from Ohio but had started west the prior year. By the time they had reached Independence, Jake’s mother had become quite ill and they had been forced to spend almost an entire year there while she regained her health. Since they were also from Ohio the train welcomed them, again over the strong objections of Rad Calhoun.

First of all continued Henry, we need to decide if we want to continue on to Great Bend or do we cut our losses and turn back.

Ain’t nothing back there for me, said Charles Sumner. That’s why I decided to come west. I’m for going on

Several others spoke up, agreeing with Charles. After a vote it was unanimous to go on to Great Bend.

Second item, said Henry is dealing with the money that was stolen.

Charles proceeded to open a gunny sack that the thieves had left in their haste to escape.

Here is what is left of all of our money, said Henry. Charles and I have counted it twice and it comes to $110,550. That means that those murdering thieves got away with a little over $52,000, or thirty percent of the total. That leaves us with just seventy percent of what we started with. I suggest that since we don’t know exactly whose money was stolen and whose money is left in this bag that we divide this money up with each man receiving seventy percent of what he started with.

After 40 minutes of arguing and complaining it was finally decided on a close vote to go along with Henry’s solution.

Finally, we must decide how we are to proceed to Great Bend. Our so-called trail guides have robbed us and run for it. Does anyone have any ideas?

After a lengthy silence Dewey spoke up. Mr. Graham, as you know I work for the Bar Seven outside of Great Bend and I can get us back there. If Jake can help, we’ll scout ahead each day and find good stopping spots. Mostly we just stick to the Santa Fe Trail. I’d also suggest that when we reach a decent sized town that we sell all of the horses, saddles and guns of the attackers that we killed. I don’t want any pay for leading you since you were nice enough to let me join your group. But we could put that money towards future supplies.

It was agreed by unanimous vote that Dewey, with Jake’s help would now guide the wagon train.

Chapter Two

Five days later the wagon train started out again. Jake asked Otis Sullivan if his son Billy could drive Jake’s family’s wagon when he was helping Dewey scout ahead. This was agreed to and in return Jake gave all of his mother’s and sister’s clothing to the Sullivan family.

It was 13 days later that they approached the town of Destiny. They camped outside of town and a group consisting of Henry, Dewey, Jake, Charles and Rafe Johnson went into town to sell their attacker’s property and to get supplies. When all of the wheeling and dealing was done, they had an extra nine hundred and sixty dollars and five replacement wagon wheels.

Henry, Rafe and Charles went to fill their lengthy supply order while Jake and Dewey, at Dewey’s urging, went to check out the Owl Saloon. It had a seven-foot owl carved out of a huge log out front and they could hear music coming from inside. The saloon was fairly crowded and Jake and Dewey slowly wormed their way towards the bar. A drunk cowboy suddenly turned as Jake was going by him and as he did so, his mug of beer crashed against Jake and spilled all over him.

What the hell are you doing spilling my beer boy, yelled the cowboy.

You spilled it on me mister! I was just walking by.

Don’t sass me boy. I say you spilled my beer and if you don’t buy me a new one, I’m going to kick the shit out of you!

Take it easy mister, said Dewey. We’ll get you another beer.

The hell we will, complained Jake. Not only did this dumb ass spill it, he spilled it all over me!

That’s it you little shit, I’m going to tear down your meat house, said the cowboy as he started towards Jake.

While Jake was only 16, he favored his father in size and build. He was already 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed a solid 195 pounds. He was broad in the shoulders, slim at the waist and was naturally athletic.

All of the rage that had built up as a result of his family’s murder erupted to the surface and he tore into the cowboy. His fists flew in a flurry as he knocked the cowboy back against a wall. The cowboy came back with a hard over hand right to Jake’s jaw but it was as if Jake never even felt it. He countered with several punches to the cowboy’s head and then ended his barrage with an uppercut that broke both his jaw and his spirit. The cowboy slumped to the floor, raising his arm and was barely able to mumble no more.

Dewey drew his pistol and said, OK everybody, show’s over. With his other hand he flung a $5.00 gold piece to the bartender. Everybody have a drink on me.

He grabbed ahold of Jake and led him back outside and towards the general store. You sure do have a way of making friends Jake, you surely do.

Jeez Dewey, what the heck happened back there?

What happened is that you kicked the hell out of that man and we’d best get you out of town and back to the camp before the sheriff of this town decides that he wants to lock you up.

They stopped at the general store and let Henry and the rest know that they were headed back to the wagon train. On the way back Dewey said Jake, are you any good with that pistol that you’re carrying?

No, not really. It was Pa’s, so I thought I’d wear it. He was just starting to teach me how to use it, but I guess now he won’t get the chance.

Well, my advice is to take it off if you’re going to get into anymore ruckuses like that. Most cowboys don’t like to use their fists. You’re lucky that man didn’t go for his gun because more than likely you would be dead right now. And dead isn’t a broken jaw. Dead is forever.

Can you teach me Dewey? I really need to learn to use a handgun. Once we get to Great Bend, I plan on taking out after the men who killed my family. I know that I have a lot to learn but I’m a really good shot with a rifle. I just know I can be good with a pistol too.

Well, you’re certainly physically big enough to handle one, but are you grown up enough on the inside to wear a gun? That piece of hardware hanging on your side carries a huge responsibility. If you get into a gunfight, someone is going to most likely die. If not you, then someone else. They’re not going to get up the next day with a few bruises and go on about their lives. No, you or they are going to be dead forever. Once you strap a gun on you’ve joined a group of men who feel that they have the right to shoot any other man wearing a gun for any reason that makes sense to them. Any imagined slight or grudge, or maybe because they’re drunk and just feel like it. When you put a gun on, you also put a target on your chest. Now, is that something that you think that you are prepared for and can handle?

"I’m not really sure Dewey, but I have to go after