Henry had also been on the lookout for Dutch, Arthur, and the Van der Linde gang from the game, or similar characters in this timeline, but had found nothing.
Either they hadn't debuted yet—after all, the setting of Wild West Hickok 2 is 1899, still 19 years away—or Fresco Town's information channels were too restricted, or they simply didn't exist.
Henry wasn't too concerned about this for now; as long as he kept moving forward, he would naturally encounter what he was meant to.
If there were any bandits worth saving, he could step in, such as the early Hosea, Arthur, Charles, Lenny, Sadie, Javier, Mary-Beth, and even the con man Trelawny could be considered.
After all, Lord Mengchang, one of the four famous princes of the Warring States period, was rescued by those who excelled at crowing like cocks and stealing like dogs.
From this perspective, the members of the Van der Linde gang would all be considered talented individuals in later generations.
In fact, the American West of this era had countless people similar to these game characters.
It's entirely possible that many future great outlaws and bandits had already been released and reincarnated by Henry in the past few days, just in time for 1899.
Henry reined in his wandering thoughts and refocused on today's action plan.
The original Henry had never been to Dwyer Manor or the McKinley family's silver and copper mines; instead, he had visited Mayor William's gold mine.
So, it was still necessary to conduct a reconnaissance of the terrain in advance.
As the ancestors said—know thyself, know thy enemy, and you will win a hundred battles.
After finishing lunch, Henry returned to the police station to work.
As soon as he entered the police station, he noticed most of the officers looking at him with envy and admiration. It was likely that Thor and Hank had boasted quite a bit, and the 5,000 us dollar bounty on Billy the Kid was indeed top-tier.
Moreover, in the past few days, Fresco Town's police station had indeed gained considerable prestige because of Henry.
Henry spent the afternoon in his office checking the firearms he planned to use and oiling them for maintenance.
Around 4 PM, Henry got into a carriage driven by Thor and left the town. After traveling about 4 miles along the main road towards Dwyer Manor, they reached the fork in the road leading to Dwyer Manor.
Henry told Thor to stop the carriage.
"Go back. Don't tell anyone about me," Henry instructed after getting out of the carriage.
Thor looked as if he wanted to say more, but Henry clearly didn't want to elaborate, so he turned the carriage around and returned to the town's police station.
From this fork in the road, which could accommodate two cavalrymen abreast, it was about a mile uphill to reach Dwyer Manor.
This mountain wasn't high, only about six or seven hundred meters, and the manor was located halfway up.
Henry surveyed himself from head to toe: leather chaps, long-sleeved canvas shirt, black vest, wide-brimmed hat, and high-top leather boots. He was basically not afraid of any Xiao Chong.
Moreover, he also had a release bead that could dispel negative physical states.
So, he walked into the fir and conical fir forest, keeping about twenty meters parallel to the uphill road, and incidentally took out the assassin Louis's cane to push aside some debris and branches.
After walking for a while, Henry's keen hearing picked up voices from the side ahead, along with a dog suddenly barking loudly.
He quickly moved deeper away from the road.
The three twenty-something manor guards talking on the road immediately became alert, stopped talking, and gripped their rifles tightly.
Sometimes, fierce beasts like Black Bear, gray wolves, or Cougar would be in the forest.
"Who's there?" one guard asked loudly.
After a while, the German Shepherd finally stopped barking at the fir forest.
The three guards breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that the beast or beasts had left.
They were the manor's first line of defense; any outsider riding uphill would certainly be stopped here.
Henry ignored them and continued to move quietly through the forest, gradually re-approaching the road to avoid going the wrong way.
During this time, he occasionally startled a few grouse and a badger, but the commotion was minimal.
After another ten minutes or so, Henry saw the distant gate of Dwyer Manor—a double-leaf iron gate over ten meters wide, featuring silhouettes of cowboys riding horses.
At sunset, the metal Hollow patterns of this gate would project onto the ground, appearing remarkably lifelike, making one truly believe that a group of cowboys was approaching on horseback from afar.
There was also a circle of Irish dry stone walls, about 3 meters high.
Dry stone walling is an ancient Irish masonry technique, where dry stone walls are meticulously stacked without the need for cement or other binding agents.
The longer it's used, the more easily the stone wall integrates with nature, becoming more solid and appearing natural.
This manor villa was built using Colorado granite, gneiss, and quartz sandstone.
The road ended abruptly at the manor gate; the uphill drive was no more.
Henry estimated that he was still about four or five hundred meters in a straight line from the manor.
He put on his gloves, found a fir tree about 1.5 meters in diameter and over forty meters tall, and began to climb.
When he reached a height of over thirty meters, Henry could basically see the entire manor.
The intelligence stated that the manor covered 60 acres, and Henry now saw that it was roughly accurate.
The manor was essentially an irregular rectangle, over two hundred meters long and over one hundred meters deep, with gardens, lawns, vegetable patches, orchards, stables, and barns, all present. In the central, rear part, a gray-brown Gothic Irish-style manor house was situated.
There should be a mountain spring within the manor.
In Ireland's metaphysical culture, there is a special numerology known as Anglo-Saxon numerology.
Anglo-Saxon numerology dictates that the height, length, and width of a building must satisfy the following proportions: length:height = height:width = 1.618:1.
Repeatedly adhering to this proportion in architecture results in buildings with better visual effects and balance, while also helping people achieve better energy flow within the house. This numerology is widely used in Ireland, making buildings visually more aesthetic and harmonious.
It sounds a bit like Chinese Feng Shui.
Zhang Tianyuan, who studied architecture in a previous timeline, was quite knowledgeable about these architectural styles and cultures.
Anyway, Henry now felt that this manor was good and could be considered one of his future villas.
In Henry's space, there was a 4x40 Galileo binocular telescope—obtained from Oliver, the McKinley cavalry commander who was ambushed.
However, he found that he could see very clearly without the need for a telescope.
At the front two corners of the manor, there were two four-story stone watchtowers, about ten meters high. Each watchtower had 5 guards, with two Gatling Machine Guns mounted on top.
There were 4 guards at the main gate.
There were also over forty guards on the lawn within the manor.
Some were practicing shooting, while others were smoking and chatting.
Most importantly, there were five German Shepherds—judging by their size, they must have weighed several tens of pounds.
Fortunately, Henry was downwind, otherwise, they might have discovered him.
Henry quietly observed and pondered his course of action.
--+--
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