noveltune Chapter 58: The Returning Convoy Faces New Trouble
Chapter 58: The Returning Convoy Faces New Trouble
"Denamaite explosives!"
Denamath, also known as "Denamet" or "diatomaceous earth explosive," is a mixed explosive invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel in 1866.
By combining highly sensitive nitroglycerin with adsorbent materials, the explosive power is significantly higher than that of traditional black powder. It requires detonators for detonation, but the detonation wave propagation is stable.
Tom spotted the detonator and fuse on the car again.
He was speechless; these robbers were truly desperate criminals.
If the carriage jolted violently, the detonator would fall and detonate accidentally, igniting the nearby denamite explosives and triggering a chain reaction of explosions throughout the carriage.
The explosion was extremely powerful, and no one survived within a 150-meter radius.
Tom took all the guns, bullets, and water bags from the car.
As for those bombs, they're not for Tom!
On his way back, Tom found the Snow Woman.
The convoy traversed the desolate wastelands of western Texas and finally arrived at the legendary Dorn Ferry.
This strategic location, straddling the Red River and guarding the border between Texas and Oklahoma, was a prominent crossing point during the westward expansion and an important supply and trading post.
Right now, the most urgent thing for the caravan is to replenish its food supplies. When crossing the Brazos River, the immigrants were afraid that they would be robbed by the bullies in the caravan, so they concentrated almost all of their food on one cart.
As a result, the vehicle, along with the entire team's rations, sank to the bottom of the icy river.
"The food, and the cook—we must get those sorted out here!"
"Food is easy to find; you can always buy it with money. The key is a cook..."
On this long journey westward, the "cook's" responsibilities went far beyond simply cooking.
They had to be living maps, familiar with the dangers and water sources ahead; and even more importantly, they had to be shrewd strategists, knowing how to allocate their meager rations to feed dozens of mouths and ensure they could survive until the next supply point.
"Let's see how it goes!" Shay, the leader, looked back irritably.
Behind the column, the wilderness was vast and empty, and there was still no sign of the bandits.
This eerie calm only made one's heart sink deeper.
"Huh? What's that?" someone suddenly pointed into the distance.
"It looks like... a herd of horses?"
"Wild horses? They don't look like them! They have saddles!"
As the dust rose, the herd of horses drew closer, and the entire Dorn Ferry was instantly thrown into turmoil.
To everyone's astonishment, the one driving these dozens of tall horses was a boy of about fifteen or sixteen!
Even more remarkably, on the periphery of the herd, two exceptionally swift wild horses galloped about with remarkable agility, as if helping to maintain the formation.
"Hey kid! Where did these horses come from? Stolen, right?" Seeing that the leader was a young punk, several self-proclaimed shrewd men immediately surrounded him, their tone unfriendly.
"My name is Tom! Tom Dutton!" the boy's voice was clear and bright, showing no fear.
He raised his hand and pointed to the flank of the horse herd.
Everyone's eyes followed his finger and they noticed that dozens of spears were hanging next to the saddlebags of several packhorses!
There were also dozens of gleaming revolvers!
Those saddlebags were bulging and their shapes were suggestive, certainly not empty.
Upon seeing the terrifying weaponry and then looking at the frail boy before them, the people at the ferry all gasped in shock, with only one thought in their minds: This godforsaken place is definitely no place for the faint of heart!
The bearded man who had been aggressively questioning them just moments before twitched his facial muscles twice, gave a dry laugh, and silently took a few steps back.
Along the way, there were many "smart" people like him who wanted to take advantage of others, but the outcome... well, everyone knows what happened.
"It's Tom! Tom's back!" Just then, a joyful shout came from the direction of the convoy.
The tall, thin Zack had already mounted his horse, spurred it on, and charged toward Tom like a gust of wind.
Immediately afterwards, Simone appeared beside the car.
Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that with such a large herd of horses, their speed would be limited and finding the caravan would be quite a challenge. If it weren't for his two intelligent wild horse companions, "Mudfish" and "Snow Maiden," helping to drive them, he would have loved to throw away this burden.
Of course, James must never know this thought; that guy is a ruthless character who would risk his life against an enemy many times his size for a few horses.
"Zack! Is everything alright?" Tom called out.
"Everything's fine! Everything's alright without you here!" Zack rode closer, his voice filled with relief.
Tom understood; it seemed that no bandits had tried to harass the caravan while he was away.
"Move those guns and packages to my car first," Tom said deftly, pointing to the horses carrying the weapons beside him.
As for those three heavy packages containing money bags?
He won't let them out of his sight!
"These horses..." Tom surveyed the restless herd, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Let's pick a few with good stamina to take over first, and the rest... we'll see!"
Tom Dutton was also quite perplexed about how to deal with these dozens of hot potatoes.
clap clap clap!
A sound of horses' hooves rang out.
Tom looked up and finally saw who it was.
Father James, mother, aunts Claire and Mary, and behind them are captain Shay and Thomas.
And there's Wade, Ennis, Elsa, and Cooper herding cattle!
The convoy finally crossed the Red River.
We arrived in the territory of the Native American people.
The Comanche Reservation in Oklahoma.
The Comanche Reservation is a U.S. government-designated exclusive settlement for the Comanche Indians.
The Comanche are a well-known indigenous tribe in the Great Plains region of North America.
They possess superb horsemanship, and the Comanche people are all brave and skilled warriors.
They have always fought bravely against colonial expansion.
They originally belonged to a branch of the Shosoni tribe.
They migrated south from the Wyoming region to the Great Plains around the 17th century.
They controlled large swathes of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the 1860s, with the start of the westward expansion of the United States, the Comanche people began to resist.
They eventually surrendered in the Red River War of 1875.
So the Comanche people had already surrendered by 1883.
As long as you pay taxes, or tolls, as required by them when passing through their territory.
They won't cause trouble!
Captain Shay and they were old acquaintances.
During our reminiscing, I also learned some particularly important news.
The next two states we passed through, northern Kansas and Wyoming, were still at war.
Many immigrants no longer travel by horse-drawn carriage, but instead take the train to Oregon.
Based on their experience, the Comanche people sensed that a drastic change in the weather was about to occur.
He advised Captain Shay to set off immediately to avoid the storm!
I also suggested that they go to Colorado first!
Colorado is located in northwestern Oklahoma and west of Kansas.
If they settled there, they could avoid attacks from bandits and Native American tribes along the way.
Captain Shay, the first thing to consider is the current severe storm weather!
Meanwhile, Tom is also dealing with the current trouble. For some reason, the mudfish and the snow woman have started to go crazy and are desperately trying to drag Tom away with them!