Michael Dun - 20. Chapter 20

The coaches were well equipped with blankets and mackintosh sheets, a cooker, drinking and eating utensils, coffee and bread. There was space inside to carry twelve passengers, and this morning there were a lot more passengers than usual. Another six passengers rode on top of the carriage. The driver checked his ammunition box and bugle that he carried for night driving, then wiped his shiny black rifle free of dust. After checking each of the fourteen horses for injuries, the journey began. The carriages were built to withstand the rough surface of the veldt and the hills were steep as they bypassed the farm Orange Grove, where the rooftop passengers disembarked.

Five miles later, in dense bush country, the horses came to a stop against the wild sound of gunfire.

No one in the carriage dared breathe too loudly. Then a voice broke the silence. “Charles Manning! Mr. Charles Manning!”

Charlie held onto the Colonel’s arm. “Me?”

“Mr. Charles Manning, or you all die!” The voice boomed.

“Who do you think it is?” Charlie’s voice trembled.

“I do not know? He wants you.” The Colonel replied.

Charlie disembarked cautiously and walked to the back of the carriage. The man wore a black handkerchief about his face and a Stetson hat that shadowed his eyes.

As Charlie rounded the carriage, the man lifted his gun, took aim and pressed the trigger.

The shot rang out loud over his head and hit the driver of the coach in the side as he reached for his rifle, then he turned the weapon toward Charlie and shot him twice in the chest and the Colonel and driver and the rest of the passengers watched helplessly as he rode away.