Chapter 42: The Gunman's Tale
Johnny gently flipped open his somewhat worn black leather wallet, his fingers nimbly tidying the jumbled mess of bills and coins inside.
Although his recent income had been substantial, his expenses were also enormous.
After carefully calculating those trivial outlays, he found that only 2,166 dollars and 6 cents remained in his wallet.
For anyone else in the Gang, this amount of money might have been more than enough to wash their hands of this life and retire from the world of outlaws.
However, for Johnny, this was merely the beginning of his great undertaking.
Over two thousand dollars seemed like a considerable sum, but in reality, it would likely be far from enough to purchase even the smallest Lumber Mill.
At the thought, Johnny couldn't help but shake his head slightly, deeply feeling that the road to making money was still long and fraught with difficulties.
However, he didn't let these troubling thoughts linger in his mind for too long.
Because at this very moment, there were more pressing matters to resolve—rescuing that lovely and brave Irish lad, Sean, from the hands of the Bounty Hunters as soon as possible.
Moreover, he had to wait for Lenny's safe return, and then use the window of time to wipe out the "Legendary Rat" in one fell swoop.
Otherwise, any delay might lead to complications and bring more unexpected trouble.
After the crowd dispersed, Dutch came to Johnny's tent. Seeing the neatly organized interior, he praised him for being a good boy who knew how to manage a household, before getting straight to the point.
"Johnny, we successfully made that maggot Colm take the fall for the robbery, but these bonds can't be sold just yet. Do you have any good ideas?" Dutch's tone carried a hint of expectation.
"Of course, Boss! Once we get through our current predicament, we can send someone to Saint Denis to find Cornwall's competitors. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to buy these bonds.
After all, why wouldn't they want to strike a blow against a rival while making a small profit?"
Johnny answered slowly and methodically.
Dutch's face lit up with joy. He patted Johnny on the shoulder, saying that he could only talk with him in the Gang now, as everyone else's heads were filled with nothing but muscle, and Hosea was getting old, having lost the fighting spirit of his youth.
Johnny quickly reached into his satchel, carefully took out a neatly folded newspaper, and handed it to Dutch without hesitation.
At the same time, his slightly anxious voice rang out, as if fearing Dutch wouldn't understand the deep secrets hidden behind these seemingly ordinary words.
"Boss!" Johnny said, pointing to the dense text on the newspaper, "
Although it looks like just some ordinary news reports on the surface, it actually contains significant information.
Look, it says here that Colm's men haven't disbanded at all just because their leader went missing!
On the contrary, the guys under him have now usurped his original power, and they've even intensified their organization of more robberies against Cornwall's properties!"
Hearing this shocking news, Dutch couldn't help but frown and fall into deep thought.
His deep eyes stared ahead, seemingly calculating the various impacts and potential gains or losses this situation might bring.
After a moment, he raised his head slightly, and an imperceptible smile actually appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he already had an idea in mind.
Seeing Dutch's reaction, Johnny seemed encouraged and immediately became excited.
He eagerly leaned closer to Dutch and continued to pour out his insights:
"Boss, I think we can take this opportunity to do something big! From now on, we can carry out all our robberies under Colm's banner!
Anyway, we hold the information gap between the ODriscoll Gang and the Pinkerton Detectives.
As long as we handle it correctly, we can keep that old man Cornwall thinking it's always Colm robbing his properties, successfully drawing his attention away.
This way, won't we be able to carry out our activities more safely and smoothly?"
Although Dutch had anticipated some of this, he had originally thought Johnny wanted Colm's clothes to deceive others; he hadn't expected they could be used to take the initiative.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! What are the two Mr. Van der Lindes chatting about?"
Before Arthur's figure could even be seen, that familiar mocking voice reached them first.
Hearing that familiar voice, Dutch just shook his head helplessly, not wanting to lower himself to the level of this "King of Trash Talk" at all.
After all, he had already obtained the key information he wanted, and there were more important things waiting for him to do.
Thus, Dutch turned and walked toward his own tent, preparing to return and continue whispering sweet nothings to the beautiful Miss OShea.
On this side, Arthur strode into Johnny's tent.
Upon entering, his gaze was drawn to the tidy display inside. He saw the bed, wardrobe, and workbench in the tent arranged in an orderly fashion.
Then he looked at the simple cots of the others in the camp, which were piled with all sorts of clutter, leaving almost no room to step.
Arthur couldn't help but smack his lips, secretly lamenting:
These guys are truly a bunch of absolute spendthrifts! When they have a little money, they don't know how to buy practical items; they either spend it on getting dead drunk or drink hot coffee as soon as night falls.
Why don't they know how to make good use of this money to improve their living conditions?
But complaints aside, Arthur still carefully sat on the edge of the bed.
Then, with a smile, he looked at Johnny and began to enthusiastically recount his recent experience.
"Hey, Johnny, do you know what strange thing I just ran into?" Arthur said mysteriously, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
Johnny leaned in curiously and urged, "Stop being so mysterious and tell me already!"
Arthur cleared his throat and described it vividly:
"I ran into a novelist, and this guy is too crazy! Just to be able to interview that Gunman named Boy Calloway, he was willing to give me an expensive, high-end camera for nothing.
He even asked me to help find the Four Great Gunmen to collect writing material! My, my, there really are all kinds of weirdos in this world!"
Johnny naturally knew of these people's existence and immediately expressed a strong interest in these four Gunmen, pleading with Arthur to take him along when he "interviewed" them.
Arthur readily accepted this small request from his brother.
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