The Gaol Cart - Breakout

PIC01

“Be quiet or I’ll shoot you where you stand, and don’t think for one moment that because you are women it will influence my decision in the slightest”. When Auld Wat of Arden made threats like that only a foolish person with a death wish would seek to antagonise him.

Auld Wat or Walter Scott as his father named him was nervous. He wasn’t normally nervous before a fight, usually he’d calculated the odds in advance and expected to win but this time he wasn’t so sure. Especially when he saw the lead men come around the curve in the track, they looked tough, competent and there seemed to be quite a lot of them.

PIC02

He wasn’t sure about Ill Will Armstrong either, he wasn’t called Ill Will without there being a good reason. However it was a bold man who refused to ride with the Armstrong’s when they called for you to ride so here he was.

He looked at the matriarch of the family and said “Skunner likes to eat babies and he’s not particular if he eats them raw or well cooked. Skunner turned a little pale at the thought, he had a loving wife and five children and he’d never thought about eating them, raw or otherwise but he scowled to give the impression he had, leering at the woman carrying the young baby.

Maybe they are tasty was the thought that went through his mind before being quickly dismissed.

The women were being threatened and held hostage so that the men of the croft would behave and not give the game away to the troops heading down the road.

PIC03

The Armstrong’s hiding behind the wall watched the Gaol cart pass down the road. They were intent on capturing the cart and releasing the prisoners.

The prisoners you already know, if you read the previous post, but just in case you didn’t, they are Mad Wullie Snapcase, The Vagabond and Dashing Dougie Douglas. If you did read the previous post you will be wondering why the Armstrong’s would want to release this trio, but the obvious answer would be to hang them from the nearest tree, and that may be the case.

PIC04

The convoy moves on and in the far field three men rise from their hiding place. Wee Jock McClew, Slasher McBraine and Migsett Kerr, true Snapcase men and brigands to the core. What are they doing with the Armstrong’s, their arch enemies, or is this two rescues taking place at the same time, a bit too much of a coincidence even for one of my games.

PIC05

Screaming their own special battle cries the ambushers charge forwards into the convoy, one or two of them were a little slow off the mark, over to the right Slasher McBraine is having a little trouble getting over the low wall. “I slipped” he explained later but there were a couple of jeering catcalls that sounded like chickens clucking to this lamentable excuse, even though it was true.

The guards who were well ….guarding the gaol wagon were taken completely by surprise and this did nothing for their morale.

PIC06

Some ran, and as it turned out it was the leaders who ran as fast as the men. This was to prove decisive in the end.

PIC07

At the rear of the wagon the fight was oscillating back and forth. The Armstrong’s had been caught a bit left footed. They had to run further to contact the guards and it was imperative that they did this quickly because some of them had harquebusiers, fortunately without the match burning, but even so, it wouldn’t take them long to be able to bring fire on the attackers.

PIC08

The ferocious attack caused the last man with any authority to run and the remaining troops were considering their options very carefully.

PIC09

Auld Wat had slipped on a muddy patch and was a little late in the attack but he was able to fire his pistol at the back of one of the guards. This bounced off his helmet and in the excitement he probably didn’t feel a thing, especially when Slasher McBraine was slashing at his face.

PIC10

All the guards had either run or were wounded and so when Ill Will shouted “ drop your weapons and we’ll spare your lives” it seemed like a good offer in the circumstances. Of course if they had though more carefully who was offering the terms they might not have accepted them with such alacrity.

PIC11

The local crofters had already considered their options and did a runner, a Black House could be rebuilt in a couple of days but their health would take far longer to recover, if at all!

PIC12

The wagon doors were opened and Mad Wullie, Dashing Dougie and The Vagabond stepped out to an uncertain future.

“Well Lads” Ill Will said, “I expect you’re surprised to see me”. This was met with a stony silence broken eventually by Mad Wullie. “If it’s about the sheep, I can explain that” This comment was met with a further stony silence. “Aye lad I know about the sheep and we recovered 27 of them, one fell over a cliff and we ate her on the spot” The Vagabond looked appalled until Ill Will continued “we grilled her first”.

So it’s just about 1 sheep Wullie stuttered, he wasn’t given to stuttering but when betrayed by three of his own men and surrounded by Armstrong’s carrying weapons you could understand he might be a little stuttery. Ill Will continued as if he’d not spoken “We’ll consider it as an initial payment, a gesture of good will if you like” All three of them looked confused and The Vagabond asked belligerently “payment for what”. “Payment for the job you’re going to do for me” Ill Will answered rather too smoothly for The Vagabond’s peace of mind. “I’ve an interest in bringing a few Highland cattle down to Liddesdale to breed with my cows and I need three men with a good cattle dog to do the job”.

PIC13

Just then Reba ‘the good cattle dog’ bounded through the circle of men threatening her master, trailing a chewed rope tether she jumped up, licking Dougie’s face in evident enjoyment. Will looked at Wee Jock, “I told you to tie her securely”. “I did Jock replied but she’s uncontrollable unless it’s Dougie doing the controlling, I told you that” he finished lamely.

Well to cut a long story short, word had got out about the cattle raid that netted us 1 sheep and the Armstrong’s had heard about Reba’s role in driving the sheep across the ford and giving the rustlers the edge in the following fight. They had arrived in Lost Dale to take the dog and send her with three Armstrong’s to the Highlands to get the cattle but Wee Jock had convinced them that the no one else could control her except Dashing Dougie.

After some discussion Ill Will had decided he could turn the situation to his advantage by rescuing Mad Wullie and associates, sending them to the Highlands for his cattle and solve another problem that had been exercising his mind for the past week or two. This one was more personal, his youngest daughter had fallen in love with one of the dashing Grahams and Will was having none of it. She would head north with Wullie Snapcase to forget the Graham and gelding would be the punishment for our three hero’s if she didn’t come home “intact” so to speak.

Next I’m off to the Isle of Skye to drive some cattle down to Liddesdale and I think Ill Will’s daughter will prove a source of inspiration for a game or two.

Cheers