Henry walked to Richard's side and handed the water from another pouch to Madeline.
"Sit down, drink water, wash your hands. We'll eat beef jerky in a moment. We need to leave here as soon as possible."
Henry knew they were mentally disoriented now, so speaking briefly would be easier for them to understand.
He turned back to Edith, took the water pouch, and said: "I'll wash your hands clean. There's beef jerky, take it and eat."
Edith reflexively extended both hands. Henry slowly poured water to wash her hands, then gave her beef jerky to eat, followed by Richard and his wife.
While they were eating, Henry walked over to the young bandit who had been mauled by the mountain lion and found he still had barely perceptible breathing, his face twisted in agony.
Henry sighed deeply and stepped on his throat, putting him out of his misery.
Then he looked at Bick, immediately causing him to step back two paces.
Henry gently pulled the towel from his mouth and extracted it.
Bick immediately began breathing air in large gulps reflexively.
"Everyone in Frank's team from your gang is dead, died on this mountain. I'm giving you one chance now. Tell me what use you have that would make me spare you, otherwise you'll be buried here with them."
Bick's head was smoking with anxiety. In his panic, he momentarily didn't know what to say, his mind going completely blank.
"Can you drive a four-wheel carriage?" Henry asked.
"Yes, yes, yes! I'm from a ranch. I'm particularly good at driving carriages - four-wheel, two-wheel, two-horse or four-horse, no problem." Bick immediately said excitedly.
"You'll drive the carriage for Mr. Mellon and his group in a moment. If your skills are adequate, you can keep your life."
"Yes, I definitely can."
Henry confiscated his pistol, then unlocked his handcuffs and said: "Quickly move your hands and feet around. We're leaving immediately."
"Yes." Bick quickly responded loudly.
"Mr. Mellon, and you two ladies, I still need to go back to the Fresco Town direction entrance to meet my companions and get them through Death Valley. Where are you going?" Henry asked.
"I have an appointment to visit Mayor William in Fresco," Richard said.
"If you want to go to Fresco Town today, I can only escort you past Death Valley. After that, Mr. Bick here will have to take you the 43 miles to Fresco Town, because I must escort my friend to Denver to catch a train," Henry said.
Upon hearing this, Richard and Madeline exchanged glances with Edith, immediately understanding each other's meaning.
Without strong escorts, they absolutely couldn't let the three of them go to Fresco Town again, even if it killed them.
Richard said: "Please allow us to return to Denver with you. We also need to adjust properly and make plans for our next steps."
"That's fine. Will you wait here for me, or come with me to meet my friends?"
"Let's go together. I really don't want to stay longer in this place full of unpleasant memories."
"Then we'll leave now. Follow me - my friends have been waiting for me for a long time."
Everyone immediately followed Henry toward the carriage area.
Due to religious and other multiple reasons, European and American women wearing pants was considered wicked in this era, so they basically all wore skirts.
Edith and Madeline wore bustled skirts popular among upper-class women of this era.
Bustle skirts were worn inside the skirt below the waist, making the rear protrude. The outer skirt also added large amounts of fabric and decorations at the hips, creating an uplifted, prominent visual effect at the entire hip area, like false buttocks.
The skirt spread outward naturally from below the waist.
The bustle frame was often made of metal wire, springs, horsehair padding, and fabric.
Besides the protruding rear, bustled skirts usually had narrower hems, with the skirt edge sometimes hanging by the feet, sometimes spread in a fishtail shape, decorated with layers of lace that were exquisite and elegant.
Such skirts were very suitable for attending balls, but quite inconvenient for ground activities in the wilderness.
However, the path from the cave to where the carriage was parked was relatively easy to walk.
After a few minutes, everyone arrived.
Henry discovered that six horses had been killed and eaten by twenty-two North American gray wolves, leaving only white bones.
Even that pile of bandit corpses had been dragged out and gnawed into a mess.
These North American gray wolves had bite forces of up to 700 pounds, averaging 2 meters in length and weighing around 90 kilograms. When standing on their hind legs, they were taller than ordinary men, each one fat and robust, much heavier than ordinary adult men.
This time it looked like two wolf packs had come together because the food was so abundant.
The wolf packs looked at the newly appeared group of people with eager anticipation, baring their blood-red fangs still carrying meat fibers, bloody saliva continuously dripping.
Ruth, Edith, Madeline, and Richard saw so many giant wolves suddenly appear, as if they would pounce the next second, scaring them until their legs went weak.
"Bang bang bang" - Henry at the front of the group raised his rifle and fired at the gray wolves forty to fifty meters away.
At this distance Henry was accurate with every shot, killing 6 wolves with 6 shots.
The wolf pack began charging toward Henry. In just fifty meters, they could reach him in 3 seconds.
Henry placed his rifle on the ground, activated his Super Reaction talent, instantly drew two double-action revolvers and fired!
In less than one second, Henry emptied 12 bullets from both revolvers, all hitting the wolves' heads, with almost half entering through the wolves' eyes, killing them instantly.
The Super Reaction talent made him even more effortless, precise, and stable.
Immediately after, Henry used one gray pearl to restore his health condition, holstered both guns, suddenly had a single-action revolver appear in his hand, and activated Super Reaction talent again.
"Bang bang bang" - American quick-draw six shots reappeared in the world, emptying 6 bullets in 1 second, precisely hitting the eyes of the last four gray wolves, killing them on the spot. Their bodies slid several meters on the ground from momentum, stopping about 3 meters in front of Henry.
From when Henry acted until the wolf pack began attacking and was annihilated, only six or seven seconds had passed!
Seeing Henry standing like a copper wall and iron rampart with divine majesty, Edith and the other two finally understood why he dared go alone to eliminate about 100 bandits.
This wasn't human!
After seeing this scene, Bick regarded Henry even more as a deity.
How blind was boss "Cross-eyed" Frank to oppose Henry?
Really got us all killed!
Bick cursed bitterly in his heart, his left pinky and ring finger hurting even more.
Henry picked up his rifle and led the way to the carriage.
Fortunately, the carriage Edith and Madeline had arrived in and the luggage carriage behind were both still fine.
Soon, the group slowly walked down the 30-meter mountain path, with Henry driving the hardtop carriage carrying Edith and Madeline, Bick driving the luggage carriage carrying Ruth, and Richard on horseback.
After reaching the valley path below, Henry stopped the carriage and said to Richard: "Watch Bick. I'm going back for a moment - I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Bick, if you want to live, behave yourself and don't try to escape," Henry warned Bick while walking back with large strides.
"Yes, Sheriff Henry, don't worry, I won't," Bick quickly replied.
What a joke - driving a carriage couldn't go fast, and Richard could kill him with just a few shots, not to mention Henry the killing god behind them.
Only an idiot would try to escape now.
Bick thought to himself.
(End of Chapter)
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