Now that the Wyatt Cooley and his gang have been defeated and the mess cleaned up, the townspeople of Privilegio throw a small party. Copious amounts of whiskey are enjoyed. Everyone celebrates the heroes of the day that rescued them: the Oak Hill Gang.
As the party winds down, Jack Kollrath pages through Wyatt Cooley’s journal and sees two things of importance: a morse code key and a riddle:
– Blue, wet, wild and quenching.
Drink me to stop kvetching.
It does not ring, whisper or stink
It can’t be eaten, nor make one wink.
One must think and sound it out
Find what’s like to lose all doubt.
It creaks, echoes, cools and delights
When one employs just a touch of might
What could it mean?
The Boys – Jack, Ezra, Louis and, now, Royce – ride to Wyatt Cooley’s place. There they see a damned up stream and a two-story ranch on a small plateau. A hired gun sits outside the home, whittling. A whiskey bottle is nearby. Ezra takes position on a low butte. The rest of the men ride up to the ranch. Jack, Shady and Louis man the gatling gun while Royce rides alongside the wagon. The newest member of the gang suggests there shouldn’t be too many men at Wyatt’s home because most of them were with the leader in Privilegio. Ezra shoots the hired gun. The gatling gun blasts away the front side of the home. Royce quickly dismounts and runs up to the side of the place, just ducking under a window.
Part of the gang keeps the men pinned inside the house. Royce hears the men inside and exchanges gunfire through a busted window. Ezra takes shots at the man guarding the makeshift damn.
Eventually, The Boys kill Wyatt’s remaining men. They search the main house and the bunkhouse. They also use some dynamite to destroy the damn, bringing much needed water to Privilegio and the surrounding area.
Ezra figures out the answer to the riddle from Wyatt’s journal… a well. Which happens to be on the property. Louis is lowered down on a rope and narrowly avoids being bitten by a rattlesnake. He climbs up with a scroll tube in his hand. Written on the parchment inside is morse code which reads, “Dry Gulch Graveyard Midnight.”
After leaving the gatling gun with the citizens of Privilegio, the gang returns to Dry Gulch. After enjoying a drink at The Hard Knock, they set up a permiter around the graveyard. At midnight, they see a glow coming from one of the tombstones. The tombstone reads Lucian Cooley. They dig, being illuminated by a full moon, until their shovels hit something. A coffin is revealed. But no body is found.
Instead, they find a map to Beacher’s Mill, located about ten miles up the road…
Dry Gulch Bugle 