“I want to talk to you about that,” Maggie spoke up. “Your notion of putting all the women in the saloon to hide under their skirts doesn’t sit too well with us. Most of us can shoot. Maybe not as good as your Rangers, but we’re frontier folk, and we can all handle a gun. We can fight.” All around her, women nodded and murmured their agreement.

“What do you suggest?” Franchard said.

“Put all the children, the elderly, and those who can’t fight in the preserve cellar under the general store,” Maggie said. “Have a few armed women with ’em, in case it goes to a last stand. The rest of us can be out with your men, fightin’.”

“What if my men are overwhelmed?” Franchard said.

“If that happens, we’ll all likely be dead anyway,” Maggie said. “There ain’t gonna be no surrender. Not this time. We all agreed; we’ll not be raped again. It’s them or us, Tom. Ain’t no other way. And speakin’ for myself, if we’re gonna lose, I’d rather go down fightin’, takin’ as many of them as I can with me.”

All the women moved to encircle Maggie, their hands on their guns. Their support of her position was unanimous.

“Very well,” Franchard said, looking at Maggie with pride. “Any objections if the womenfolk fight alongside you, boys?”

“Hell, no!” the Rangers shouted.

“It’s just as well,” Pritchard said. “Stiles and his men won’t be able to shoot as accurately from horseback; that’s a fact. But when they’re unhorsed and on the ground, it’s a different story. Once afoot, they’ll make for the cover of the buildings. Then it won’t be one big battle, it’ll become dozens of smaller skirmishes, all about town. The barbed wire we strung between the buildings should keep ’em in the open longer than they’d like. When they’re out in the open, we’ve got the advantage. We can’t let Stiles’s boys get into a place and dug in. Having more guns on the ground, which means a higher volume of fire, would be mighty welcome.”

“Then it’s agreed,” Franchard said. “Sergeant Finley, assign the women to posts and ensure they have weapons and ammunition.”

“Yes, sir!”

After supper, having been forbidden to consume alcohol, the Rangers again paired up with their local paramours and drifted off to repose within private residences. Captain Franchard bid his men good night, ensured Sergeant Finley had the watch schedule in place, and then allowed Maggie to lead him away by the hand. The weight of what was to come the following morning was on the faces of every couple.