Henry looked and indeed found it full of American bills. He immediately collected everything from the money pouch into his space, then took out some chocolate and candy from his space to put in the pouch, pulling the drawstring closed.
Then he removed the bandit's custom single-action revolver, picked up the Winchester 1873 rifle the bandit had dropped on the ground, and continued forward.
With his back to the crowd, he stored the Colt revolver in his space and continued using the bandit chief's rifle to pick off targets along the way.
After emptying the 12 bullets from the rifle chamber, he walked while loading the rifle, and within ten-plus seconds the rifle began thundering again.
Henry had one principle—every fallen mounted bandit must receive a finishing shot to the neck or chest.
The thundering of gunfire, the neighing of warhorses, the smell of gunpowder in the air, and the heavy metallic scent of blood made Henry's blood boil throughout his body. He smelled the taste of freedom and felt he was truly, genuinely alive.
His emotions remained very stable as he steadily delivered finishing shots to the bandits' necks, like a tree planter giving the fresh yellow earth around tree roots a final firm pat to ensure completion.
When he finished his finishing shot duties along the 400-plus meter stretch of road, nearly ten minutes had passed.
The crowd at the town entrance watched Henry—godlike and heroic in front, but as methodical as an old farmer harvesting wheat in the fields behind—and were speechless to the extreme.
Mayor William had also arrived at the town entrance.
Everyone felt that Henry, with his gentle expression, was truly ruthless and merciless.
After all, fighting during battle and cleaning up the battlefield afterward were two different things. Some places even emphasized not killing or even not mistreating prisoners.
Where were Henry's prisoners?
How many people could maintain their composure while firing dozens or hundreds of shots at human bodies or corpses?
This scene made the originally noisy crowd at the town entrance quickly fall silent, silently watching that lonely, cold, and powerful figure.
The shrewd James, recalling his suicidal behavior of volunteering to accept Henry's duel challenge more than ten minutes ago, broke out in sweat and felt deeply grateful to the mayor and these mounted bandits.
Finally, Henry, having finished his harvesting, returned to the town entrance, took the rifle Pete handed him, and said: "Mayor, there are over twenty police officers' bodies and fifty-plus horses at Coyote Hill, 5 miles away."
William nodded and immediately arranged for one cowboy to drive a wagon and twelve cowboys on horseback to go there.
Henry turned his horse around and began gathering the seventy-plus horses scattered along the road.
This time he had killed 78 bandits in total, with three not killed by Henry.
Although he had delivered finishing shots immediately, those three unlucky ones were directly focused fired upon by the crowd and killed instantly—he simply couldn't make it in time.
This made Henry feel like he had missed a hundred million!
Additionally, three horses had fallen and injured their legs.
The remaining crowd all came over to help.
When everyone had finally roughly counted and gathered all the items, over an hour had passed.
Those who went to Coyote Hill had also all returned.
The entire town fell into a strange atmosphere mixing sorrow and excitement.
The families of the deceased officers were shrouded in grief and weeping, while other personnel were extremely excited by the glorious victory over the mounted bandits.
By around 6 PM, four bars were packed with people.
Besides some cowboys bragging about themselves, most people were heatedly discussing how fast and accurate Henry's gun was.
This was temporarily unrelated to Henry, because he was called by Mayor William to a meeting at the town government office.
Mayor William was simultaneously the town's judge, wielding both administrative and judicial power, making him the local emperor of this town.
Previously, Sheriff Bryan was supposedly elected by the town committee, but in reality was recommended by Mayor William—similar to being appointed.
However, over the past twenty-two years, the town's residents had grown accustomed to Mayor William's management.
Moreover, William handled matters fairly and justly, so everyone had no major complaints.
Although the entry of the McKinley family and Palermo family ten and seven years ago had somewhat impacted William's authority, it was still basically within controllable limits.
Meeting attendees besides Henry, Ronald, and William included six town committee members—four of whom were William's people.
These committee members were mine owners, large ranch owners, financiers, and other wealthy people with lofty status in the town.
The first topic of the meeting was why these bandit gangs had openly attacked the town.
But after several minutes of discussion, no one had any leads.
After all, although 122 bandits had been killed in total with only 8 escaping, there wasn't a single living witness.
Henry's hand was simply too ruthless!
Except for Ronald who had only arrived five years ago, these people could be said to have watched Henry grow up. They truly hadn't expected this quiet, taciturn 20-year-old boy to be so fierce!
Truly killing like cutting grass!
Criticism was impossible—all the dead were mounted bandits.
Moreover, victors not being blamed was a consistent tradition in white elite circles.
Furthermore, they would rely on Henry's protection in the future.
Finally William said: "Besides our own police station continuing the investigation, I'll contact the Pinkerton Detective Agency to also look into the ins and outs of this matter."
Next was the second major topic—distribution of this battle's spoils.
The spoils were divided twice.
The first time, the warhorses, saddles, and weapons recovered at Coyote Hill were worth about $6,000.
The bounties on the bandits at various police stations were worth about $7,000.
Combined, that was about $13,000.
Henry voluntarily proposed that he wouldn't take a penny of this portion of the spoils, with everything distributed to the deceased's families as compensation.
This was mainly because almost all the guns, ammunition, and cash had gone into Henry's space.
After committee discussion, William finalized the compensation standards: each of the 19 ordinary officers would receive $500 compensation, each of the four deputy sheriffs would receive $1,500 compensation, and Bryan would receive $3,000 compensation.
The second time, the various tools, warhorses, guns, and cash recovered at the town entrance were worth about $30,000.
The bandits' bounties were about $10,000.
Combined, that was $40,000.
Over 70% of the enemies were killed by Henry, but considering the aftermath and the large number of participants.
After Henry's agreement, 60% or $24,000 would go to Henry, 30% or $12,000 would go to everyone who participated in combat, and 10% or $4,000 would go to the town government, so the town government only needed to subsidize $1,500.
Of course, these valuations were preliminary, and the specific amounts would depend on the actual handling results over the next few days.
The last topic was electing a new sheriff.
Although the McKinley family committee member strongly pushed Ronald, the other 6 committee members including the mayor all chose Henry.
There was no choice—in the savage western world, force represented too much, especially exceptional force.
Henry's battle record was simply too stunning, and it was achieved under everyone's watchful eyes, indisputable.
Additionally, the committee members all worried that if they didn't choose Henry, he would decisively leave the town.