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John Wade is unhappy about humiliating Mr Logan. It's storing up trouble for the future. But it's too late to defuse the situation.
"Don't gag him" he says, as he helps to tighten Mr Logan's cords, "it's going too far. And he might choke on the gag."

He accepts the whiskey from the barkeep.
"Do you know Mr Logan?" he asks the barkeep, "Is he a regular here? Known for being a bad loser at cards?"
He wonders if Mr Logan might have genuinely thought he had been cheated.

"Alright, alright..." the barkeep says, backing down from the man's intimidating stare and retrieves Percival's pistol. He hands it back to him, though scowls, none too pleased.

"Ah, yeah, I suppose so," he says to Eddy, about to grab a rag before John puts a stop to it. "Somewhat regular," he says, obviously uncomfortable about talking about Mr. Logan right in front of the man. While Meg, Percival, John, & Eddy have the option to leave town, the portly saloonkeeper might have to deal with the cattle baron again sometime and John can tell he's being purposefully evasive, trying to appease both sides. "Never took note of that before, really," he said, but it'd be a pretty good guess that he's lying to avoid putting himself in the middle of something he wants no part of.

Mr. Logan's lean face is red as he glares, mostly at Eddy as he seems to be the one most intent on keeping him here, bound and gagged. "You've had your fun, Mr. Vermissa, and got what you wanted. 'Less you want your likeness hanging over there," he jutted his chin toward a 'wanted: dead or alive' poster behind the bar, "you'd best remove these ropes in a damn hurry."

Now that the commotion has died down, the piano man picks back up his playing and the two men resume their game of pool.

Meg slowly wanders over to the bar behind the others. She picks up one of the shots with a nod of appreciation to the saloon keep then turns just enough to lean her back on the bar. She swirls the whiskey a bit in the glass as she listens to the guys' conversation. Her eyes meander back up to the upstairs window, and she ever-so-slightly raises the glass to Mr. Grainger before sipping at it slowly.

As the minutes pass since the fight ended, she seems to withdraw back into herself once again, though not yet as much as before. She finishes the whiskey and quietly places the glass back on the bar. Her eyes close for a momentary pause and deep inhale before, without a word, she starts toward the steps.

"Now, now, you've been treated well for a card cheat, Mr Logan" says John Wade.

He sips some of the good whiskey, and looks up to the man in white on the upper storey. He follows Meg up the steps.
"Many thanks, Mr Grainger" he says.

When those that accept the invitation arrive upstairs, they find a finely furnished office. The man in white has moved behind a mahogany desk. He's short, balding, fat, and sweating in the Texas heat. He wipes his brow with a handkerchief and gestures to the chairs in front of the desk, then offers a handshake to each as he chuckles and speaks.

"I never did like that asshole Logan, it’s about time someone put him in his place. I’m Bailey Grainger, owner of this here fine saloon. I was impressed with your handiwork down there and was wondering if you’d be interested in a job? It’s really quite simple, I have a package, a present, which I need delivered to my brother, Wyatt, in a little town south of Odessa."

Eddy patted Logan on the shoulder. "You be good and you'll be happily reunited with your thugs." He then ascended the stairs eyeing the others before they all entered the room. He shook the hand of the man in white heartily, using the overly enthusiastic handshake as an excuse to look him and the office over. Nothing seemed to be amiss so far.

His eyes kept scanning the room as Grainger spoke and he gave Wade a nudge when the job was mentioned. A shit eating grin had come over his face. "And you were worried." He whispered before returning his focus to Grainger. "I might be up for some work. You folks?" He asked the others, his eyes lingering on Meg a moment longer than the others.

"Fantastic!" replied Mr Grainger enthusiastically. "There's a train goes to Odessa from here. I can cover your tickets of course. So really, I just need you to get it from the train station down to Coalriver. It's heavy though... some new and sophisticated mining equipment." He glances at Percival, having little doubt the man could muscle the crate around if and when he needed to.

"If you're up for it, I can pay $80... $30 now and I'll wire ahead to my brother and he'll pay the other fifty when you get there. Train leaves tomorrow and I know he's anxious to get it."

John Wade sighs when he hears the news. He was expecting a small but valuable package. Not a huge crate of mining equipment that would need manhandling.
"Do we need to ride shotgun with it on the train?" he asks, "are you afraid of it falling into the wrong hands?"

"Then we're going to need a wagon to get it from the railhead down to Coalriver, I presume."

Bailey Grainger nodded toward John. "That'd probably be easiest. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to hire a wagon in Odessa."

He wiped his sweating brow again. "It's always a concern, of course. Somebody stealing it... or just tampering with it. And it's too expensive to risk. But no one in particular that I'm worried about."

"So whaddaya say?"

Percy hadn't looked too pleased, though he was, to get his gun from the keeper. The same, morose expression remained, as it always did, like a stain. He holstered it and walked up the stairs with the others, each step creaking under his behemoth weight.

He looked all around much like a child would, taking in what was on the surface and delving no deeper than that. What Mr. Grainger said hadn't interested him until he brought up their payment. Now there was a nice offer.

"I'd say I'm in," Percy nodded to the man's question before his eyes waved over the others. His hands rested on his belt, thumbs casually tucked through.

Pipsqueak seemed to have asked all those necessary things and even if he hadn't, Percival wouldn't turn down the pay. He felt he didn't need to be part of the initial outburst to accept the offer now.

Meg silently mulls over the offer for a minute, finally deciding that leaving town wouldn't be a terrible idea.

She catches Eddy's lingering glance and swallows hard at its possible implications. Her mind searches for any remembrance of his face or description, but she can't find anything significantly familiar.

"Thank you, sir," she replies as she turns to Mr. Grainger, "I'm in."

"Sure, I'll do it" says John Wade, "but, if you don't mind me asking Mr Grainger, how come the mining equipment ended up here, in Texas? Surely you'd either manufacture it up North or in England, and bring it in from New York?"

"Excellent! Excellent!" Grainger exclaims.

He scribbles on a sheet of paper to do the math of 30 divided by 4. Then opens his desk drawer and begins counting out 4 separate piles of $7.50. "Plus your train tickets, of course," he assures. "I'll take care of those first thing in the morning so they're ready for you tomorrow. It'll be the 12:10 to Odessa on the Southern Pacific Line. And I'll telegraph ahead to let Wyatt know you're on the way."

"Oh, ah..." Bailey said to John as he pushed a pile of money toward each of them. "I think it did come from New York. Just couldn't it get shipped straight all the way to Odessa."

"I see" says John Wade. "We'll certainly take the job. Do you have a list of contents, Mr Grainger? We want to be sure nothing goes missing."
He smiles.
"And do you want a bill of receipt?"

Bailey Grainger dabs more sweat from his brow with his white handkerchief, as it is a bit stifling in the office.

For the first time, he looks just slightly annoyed at John's question. "Listen, the surest way to lose some little piece is to go opening the sealed crate. I don't want anyone tampering with it. Is that understood?"

He looks mostly at John, but glances around at the others to get their agreement as well.

"A bill of receipt would be nice, but I'll have Wyatt telegraph me back when he gets it so then you don't have to rush right back here if you've got other business."

Eddy's eyed had shifted from Meg earlier and were now focused on Grainger. He listened to John's words, but did not seem to care much as he took the money. He fanned it out, listening to each note hit the next. "Get it to Odessa and don't open it. Sounds easy enough. You throw in smoothing things over with prick downstairs and you've got yourself deal. You don't smooth things over and you've got a deal honestly." His eyes shifted to the others. "Not sure about you guys but unless Graingers got more work I doubt I'll be back here." He chuckled.

John Wade is suspicious. It seems unlikely that sophisticated mining equipment would be shipped to this place, close to the frontier, and far from any mines. And Grainger doesn't seem to want to list the contents of the crate. So maybe it doesn't contain mining equipment at all. However John Wade is unsure he can distinguish mining machinery from other machinery, and it doesn't really seem to affect them if they are carrying something else.
"Thank you Mr Grainger", he says, "we'll wire you when the goods are safely delivered".

Bailey Grainger chuckled again at Eddy's comment about Mr Logan. "I'll have a little chat with Mr Logan. There ain't too many places 'round here his bunch can get roostered, so I think I can make sure he won't bother you if he wants to be welcomed back here."

And, as promised, neither Mr Logan nor his thugs come calling that night in any attempt to settle the score.

Any HP damage from the fight in the saloon is gone with the night of rest.

---

A small crowd of people are beginning to gather and to board the Southern Pacific Railroad Line train.

"Ah!" Says a man wearing a guard uniform and carrying a rifle says when any of the PCs make it known who they are. "I'm Dan... Mr Grainger was here this morning and the crate has been loaded into the express car already."



1 - Engine
2 - Tender Car
3 - Express Car
4 - Passenger Car
5 & 6 - Freight
7 - Caboose

Eddy approached the train looking groggy. He did not seem to appreciate the loud engine or crowd around him as he pushed his way through, having lost some of his playfulness from the day before. If the others had remained out drinking he would have joined them until the end and retired to his room with a bottle of some type of alcohol, though the cheapness of the bottle was the only thing advertised so it was up to their imagines to determine what he had drunk last night. If the others had retired early he would have left with two bottles.

When he was approached by the guard he put a hand out to lean on the man's shoulder as he spoke. "Express car, eh? Sounds fantastic." There was a hint of alcohol on his breath still as he went to board the train, clutching his head with one hand while adjusting the strap that held his rifle with the other.

John Wade take his place in the express car. He examines the crate at leisure. The suspicion is that it doesn't contain mining equipment at all. Are there any shipping marks on it? How is it sealed?
"Mr Grainger was here himself was he?" he asked Dan, "Did he have anyone with him?"
Why would Mr Grainer not use them to help transport the crate to the station when he had hired them? It could of course simply mean nothing - he gave the job to his permanent employees without really thinking about it - but it's another thing that casts a slight cloud of suspicion over this affair.
John Wade suddenly wonders. Mining equipment often includes explosives. Is that the reason?