After some confusion the posse (minus Robert, and with Tobey unconscious) retreats to their hillside camp and beds down for the night. The next morning, as they consider what to do, the banditos who the Legion were imprisoning show up at the camp, led by their leader: El Escorpion. He's very grateful for the rescue, and impressed by the amazing power of the Black River Gang. He suggests they team up and hit the pay wagons for Santa Ana's elite troops. He also tells them that the Legion is unlikely to leave them alone. They are sore losers.

"The line between senseless death and martyrdom is very slim." - Tobey

They say they need to think about it, and get El Escorpion to promise to leave this village alone in the future and to help rebuild the church. Then they settle in to rest and debate what to do. They find out that the villagers are also grateful - they send up food for the posse.

Robert being away, and Joseph still somewhat stunned, Tobey, Vorpwhistle, and Cady decide that now is the time to talk to the Flayed Dog. Cady does so, attempting to figure out Grimme's weakness, though she demands that the spirit tell her the price up front. He just wants to let a little truth out into the world, and how bad can that be? The other two can't see him, but can see his footprints in the dirt, and his dripping blood. Vorpwhistle saves some, of course.

The Dog tells Cady that Grimme has been gathering a lot of power, but since they know it's there they might be able to channel it in a different direction. It's like an avalanche... perhaps if they usurp the Christ position in this ritual from Grimme and forgive him and talk about God and love and all that. Then he tells Cady that Mr. Johnson in Denver, who works for the Pinkertons, is really the assassinated President Lincoln. And he tells her to stop hiding her light under a bushel. Cady is mystified by that, but when she comes out of it, the first thing she does is to tell the others about Lincoln.

By evening El Escorpion turns up and is also told about Lincoln, though it doesn't much impress him. They trade stories with him, and learn that he's a pretty bad man, although there are certainly worse - he has some scruples about mistreating women, though his men don't and he doesn't really ask. That appears to be the limit of his scruples. They also learn a little more about the elite troops - they're called the Army of Night because that's when they attack. It sounds more interesting than before.

After a consultation the next morning, they learn that God as interpreted by Tobey wants them to take El Escorpion with them when they go (though where to they do not learn) so they decide to go along with the pay wagon attack.

A few days later finds them at the ambush site picked out by El Escorpion. The posse decides that they will scout and if the wagons contain only cash - if they're really paywagons - they will claim that things are too risky and abort the ambush. If they contain something else, they will attack. This plan is not shared with the banditos in full, for some reason. Cady uses her penetrating gaze spell and determines that the wagons are filled with barrels of pickles, and that one of the officers on board has a feather vest on, which is decidedly non-standard.

Tobey starts the ambush by splattering feather-vest-guy's brains out, and after that it's pretty standard. With the superior positioning of El Escorpion's banditos and the posse's firepower, the soldiers are cut down like wheat.

The banditos are annoyed when the barrels turn out to contain what look like purplish aloe leaves in brine rather than cash, and they end up looting the soldiers (except for feather-vest-guy, who the posse loots to take his vest and obsidian knife) and departing in disgust. El Escorpion, convinced that the Black River Gang has more to teach him, stays on.

Vorpwhistle discovers that the leaves make him feel peaceful and satisfied, lending credence to the idea that the Army of Night isn't really normal. Then he decides to try to talk to the spirit of the dead feather-vest-guy. This doesn't go well - a loud voice says from the body's mouth: "This one belongs to Mictlantecuhtli!" The voice has a frightening under-tone, and Cady is literally scared out of her body, finding herself running away while her body slumps to the ground without her. Though she is able to go back, everyone considers this somewhat disturbing.

MM - El Escorpion was unflapped by the spirit of the dead feather-vest guy.

MCS -I seem to remember El Escorpion saying something after seeing us deal with dead-feather-vest guy (can't we come up with a more convenient name for him?) along the lines of, "Now I understand how the Black River Gang was able to fight off the legionnaires" in a bad Spanish accent.
Except he phrased it in a more amusing fashion.