Wilderness Redemption Tour

"Arthur, I saw that you are covered in dirt just now. I suggest you go to the nearby river to take a bath while it is still light, and wash your dirty clothes at the same time. Tilly has to work and won't have time to wash your clothes. Also, I want to remind you not to forget to bring a change of clothes. I don't want to find out that you are not here when we hold the party and then send people to look for you everywhere." Mrs. Grimshaw, who had arranged everyone's work, said casually when she saw Arthur finished dinner.

"As you wish, ma'am." Arthur put the plate and spoon in the wooden basin beside him, and said to Lin Yan who stood up with him: "You don't have to go with me now, just walk around the camp by yourself, chat with those idle men, play cards, or look at the scenery around. I can also wash your bloody shirt for you. If you think the hole is too big, you can also ask Tilly to mend it for you." After Arthur finished speaking, he patted Lin Yan on the back and walked alone to where he slept. This is the side of one of the camp carriages. The tarpaulin of the carriage is used as a temporary roof to build a small space. A simple wooden bed is placed next to the wheel, with a wooden box under the bed and two crates at the head of the bed as temporary tables.

Arthur walked to the bed, pulled out the wooden box under the bed, opened the lid and selected a set of clothes. Then he looked at the cowboy boots on his feet, shook his head, and took out another pair from under the bed. After taking these things, he walked to his Tennessee horse and put the things in the saddle bag. Then he jumped on the horse, pulled the reins hard, and squeezed the horse's belly with his spurred boots. The horse felt the pain and immediately ran away.

After watching Arthur go away, Lin Yan first found Ms. Grimshaw who was making apple pie and asked her where she would sleep that night. After Ms. Grimshaw patrolled the camp, she looked at a young black man: "Lenny!" The other party did not hear her first call, so she raised her voice and shouted in a shrill voice: "Hey! Lenny! Are you deaf!"

The young black man, wearing a black and white checkered cotton canvas vest and a gray suit, looked towards Lin Yan. Seeing Ms. Grimshaw waving at him, he quickly walked over and asked, "What's the matter, Ms. Grimshaw?"

Susan Grimshaw's expression remained unchanged as she said, "Jamie has just arrived and has no place to sleep yet, nor any corresponding mats or blankets. It just so happens that Mike and David's things are empty. You can help Jamie get his things out of the car and spread them out next to Arthur. I don't think he will mind. The things should be in the car next to Arthur."

"This... is not good. We just lost Mike and David, and now we are taking their things..." Lenny said with difficulty, but before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the extremely fierce Aunt Susan: "Who is in charge of the camp? You or me? Since the things are not useful, why should we take the trouble to bring their things with us? Do we have to keep them for their memorial day? We are a group of desperadoes. Pinkerton detectives may find you at any time and shoot your stupid head. Who do you want to use your used things to commemorate you? Hosea?"

The young black man was speechless for a while, and even Lin Yan next to him felt a little embarrassed, thinking that I wouldn't start a quarrel because of me just after I arrived.

"Ms. Grimshaw, who has offended you again? I heard your voice at the fork in the road outside the camp." Someone shouted at the entrance of Horseshoe Watchtower Camp.

The man tied the horse to the hitching post nearby and walked over with a smile on his face: "Lenny, how did you offend Ms. Grimshaw? Oh, Jamie, you are here, welcome, welcome, what do you think of our camp?"

The person who spoke was Dutch van der Linde, whom Lin Yan had met before in Valentine, and who was also the leader of the entire Van der Linde gang.

"I feel fine, thank you, Mr. van der Linde." Lin Yan said a little stiffly.

"No need to call me so politely, they all call me Dutch, and everyone in the camp is a family, just call me by my name." Dutch van der Linde corrected with a smile. Then he looked at Susan Grimshaw who was still chattering.

He gestured to the other party to stop, and then said: "Madam, this is a civilized society. If someone doesn't obey you, you can talk to them...uh...reason."

Aunt Susan put her hands on her hips, and her chest kept rising and falling, indicating that she was a little emotional. She glanced at Lenny, who was a little scared, and said, "Jamie just came here and has no place to sleep or anything to cover himself. I asked him to give Jamie the remaining things from Mike and David, but he refused."

"I just think this isn't a good idea." Although Lenny was a little afraid of Aunt Susan, he still corrected her in front of the leader.

"Okay, okay. Lenny, there's nothing wrong with it. We just need to remember those family members who sacrificed their lives for the gang in our hearts, but this does not prevent us from using the things they left behind, such as my two Scofield revolvers. This is also a tradition of our gang." Dutch van der Linde persuaded the black man.

"Okay, I'll get it." Lenny nodded, ignoring Aunt Susan standing beside him, and turned to walk towards the carriage next to Arthur's bed. "I'll help you too." Lin Yan felt that it was not good to stand here in a daze, so he offered to help Lenny.

Dutch van der Linde nodded, then pulled out a cigar from his bosom, lit it, and asked Aunt Susan, "Ms. Grimshaw, I see the camp is a bit lively today. Are there any activities tonight?"

"Tonight we will have a bonfire party to celebrate our finding a new campsite and the new people joining us. Have you eaten? There is some Pearson's special stew in the pot."

"Oh, Josiah and I have already eaten in Valentine, but it's a pity that he said he wanted to have some fun in the hotel tonight and didn't come with me. Otherwise, he could have joined our party. But it seems that he doesn't like the crowds very much, just like Leopold. So it seems that he hasn't lost anything." Dutch van der Linde laughed dryly after saying this, because he could see that the other party was not very interested in these things.

"Okay, go ahead and do your work. I should go back to the tent and rest for a while." Dutch van der Linde said this, and after watching Ms. Grimshaw turn around and leave, he also returned to the leader's tent in the center of the camp.

After Lin Yan and Lenny arrived at the carriage next to Arthur's bed, the young man with short curly hair, brown eyes and a slight beard, which was unique to black people, extended his right hand to Lin Yan in a friendly manner and said, "Lenny Summers. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to target you just now, I just think we should leave some memories after losing our family members."

Lin Yan also stretched out his right hand and shook hands with the other party: "It's okay, I understand. But has Ms. Grimshaw always been so... fierce to you?" Lin Yan thought of many adjectives to describe Aunt Susan's behavior he had just seen, and finally used the word "fierce".

When Lenny heard Lin Yan's description of the other party, he chuckled. After laughing for a while, he said in a cheerful tone: "She is like this, not only to me, but also to everyone in the camp. You haven't seen her scolding the uncle, that's ten thousand times worse than this, but the uncle just ignored her, hahaha." Lenny laughed twice more when he said this, as if he thought of the scene he saw before. "But don't look at her like this, she is one of the most reliable backers in the gang, second only to Dutch, Arthur and Hosea, I think. Come on, give her a hand."

Lin Yan went forward to help Lanny take down a heavy wooden bed from the carriage and put it at the end of Arthur's bed. "There are no legs left, so just put it on the ground for a few days." Lanny said as he returned to the carriage and handed a few blankets to Lin Yan who was standing guard below.

Lin Yan touched the wool blankets of different colors that Lanny handed over. Although they were a little thin, they felt very dry. They must have been specially cleaned. "It's okay. It's already very good. Thank you." Lin Yan thanked the other party.

"I'll make the bed with you, and then I'll show you around." Lenny jumped off the car, carrying a smaller crate in his hands. "Just use this as a simple storage cabinet. This should be what Arthur uses to store his sundries."

Lenny placed the small crate on one end of the bed and made his bed with Lin Yan. After making it, Lenny sat on it and tried it out. He said to Lin Yan, "Although it looks inferior to Arthur's bed, it's not that bad. And the blanket is very thick, so it should be very comfortable to sleep on. You can sit here too. Let's sit here and recognize the people in the camp."

"Okay." Lin Yan nodded and sat on his bed.

"I won't talk about Dutch, you've seen him just now. Look over there, the four guys at the card table." Lenny pointed to the card table on the right in front of them and said, "The one with his back to you wearing a plaid shirt is Bill, Bill Williamson. It is said that he was in the army before, but was expelled for some reason. The one on Bill's right is Uncle. No one in the camp seems to know his real name. He asked us to call him Uncle. I have never seen him work in the camp, but every time we chat, he always makes up a story that sounds like he has experienced it himself, but no one believes it. The one on Bill's right is Javier, Javier Esquilla. He is the musician of our camp and also a fishing expert. I think you will be able to see his piano playing skills and charming singing tonight. The last one is Micah, Micah Bell. He joined the gang recently and caused a big mess when he came. In short, I don't like him."

Lin Yan looked at each of them according to Lanny's introduction. Except for Bill and Javier, who he already knew, the uncle looked obviously older, bald, but with a Mediterranean hairstyle, a red rosacea, and a slightly gray beard. Micah looked about the same age as Dutch, with blond hair, blue eyes, a big golden mustache, and a white cowboy hat, which was undoubtedly an outlier in an era when people preferred dark hats. But he seemed to have some problems with his throat or lungs. Lin Yan saw him clearing his throat from time to time while playing cards.

"The one sitting over there next to the carriage is Leopold Strauss. He's the accountant for the gang and also lends money at high interest rates to the locals near the camp."

The "accountant" introduced by Lenny is now reading a book. He is wearing a black and white linen coat and a pair of small round gold-rimmed glasses on the tip of his nose. With his silver hair, he looks very shrewd.

"The one taking care of the horses in the distance is Charles, Charles Smith. His father is black and his mother is a local nomad. He joined the gang almost at the same time as me. He is the best hunter in the gang."

Charles Lin Yan had seen this before, but he was not impressed by this taciturn strong black man. He was still wearing the blue shirt with white polka dots and brown canvas pants he wore in the afternoon, and was combing the horse's mane.

"The man busy next to the dining car is the camp's cook and butcher, Simon Pearson, but no one calls him Simon. Instead, they all call him Pearson. He often says that he once joined the navy, but later for some unknown reason was trapped at sea for 50 days, and he was the only one on the ship who survived. I think he is making up stories just like the uncle. It's possible that only one cook on the ship survived." Lenny sneered.

The camp cook was busy preparing food for the evening bonfire party with a group of women. The pot-bellied camp cook was wearing a top hat with red velvet, which matched his yellow shirt with a black ripped sweater, making him look very funny.

"I won't introduce those women in detail. It's okay for gentlemen to discuss men behind their backs, but it's somewhat impolite to discuss ladies. From left to right, they are Molly, Marybeth, Abigail, Tilly and Ms. Grimshaw. Okay, stand up, and we'll see who else hasn't been mentioned." Lenny stood up and walked to the edge of the camp.

Lin Yan also stood up and followed. It was already a little dark, and the bird calls were much less frequent than before.

Lanny walked clockwise around the outside of the camp. After taking two steps, he said to Lin Yan beside him, "The person sitting on the stone over there is Mrs. Adler, Sadie Adler. We found her in Plowshare Village. Her husband was killed by the O'Driscoll gang, and her house was burned down. It was Dutch who took her in. He may not have gotten over his grief yet, poor guy."

Lin Yan looked sideways. Mrs. Adler was wearing a black dress and a yellow straw hat. She lowered her head and could not see her specific appearance. Is this the true portrayal of people in the last century? Even if you don't provoke anyone, you may still encounter unexpected disasters. It is better to have a society ruled by law. Lin Yan sighed in his heart.

Lenny walked a little further and came to an open triangular tent and said, "This is the Marston family. The one lying there is John Marston. His face was scratched by a wolf on the snowy mountain of Ambarino and it hasn't recovered yet. His wife is Abigail. The one who was helping Pearson just now, and the one playing ball nearby is their child, Jack."

Lin Yan looked at John Marston, who had a bloody bandage on his right cheek, and then looked at little Jack who was playing with a ball nearby. Then his eyes were attracted by the man tied to the tree not far behind Jack.