Outlawed

The Gang sets off for Fiddleback Ranch. They stop for the night to camp and have one final party, a desperate celebration of life with the underlying acknowledgement that this night might be their last. Ada worries that if the Kid doesn’t recover, she will not receive any help in getting to Mrs. Schaeffer’s.

They set fire to a butcher’s shop to set up a distraction. Next, some of the Gang dressed as women enters the bank to create a long line and burden the clerks with frustrating questions. Lark and Cassie slip past unnoticed to the back and wait for the sound of the bomb. Just before the bomb goes off, Ada’s clerk tells her that there are three clerks working that day—a problem because the group only planned for two. The bomb goes off, but Ada is sure she heard gunshots. Ada points her gun at the clerk and demands the money in his till. He refuses, telling her that this is the citizens’ hard-earned savings. Ada can’t shoot him, so Elzy does it for her. Cassie comes out covered with blood. The Gang loads up a wagon. Ada finds Lark shot to death next to the vault: The third clerk shot Lark before Cassie had the chance to shoot the clerk. Ada refuses to leave Lark’s body behind and drags him to the wagon. On the way back to Hole in the Wall, Ada holds Lark’s dead body while Cassie apologizes. Cassie and Ada join hands. Back at Hole in the Wall, Ada lovingly prepares Lark’s body, and the Gang buries him without a coffin in the orchard.

The Gang must wait a week for the town to get desperate enough to welcome their next step: Posing as a wealthy benefactor willing to buy the town. Cassie asks Ada to check up on the Kid. When Ada visits, she remembers her mother’s depression many years ago. The Kid tells her about the past: The Kid was married and gave birth to a daughter. But when the Kid’s first bout of mania developed, the doctor told the husband that the best remedy was to get the Kid pregnant again. However, the doctor warned that the illness was contagious, so the Kid was not allowed to see their daughter. After a few months, the Kid couldn’t take the imprisonment anymore. The Kid ran away to the Convent, but never forgot about the daughter left behind. The Kid believes that if they can just protect Cassie, everything will be okay. But now, the Kid feels useless and unable to protect Cassie.

One night, Ada gets up to leave the bunks to visit the Kid. She hears rustling in the darkness. Believing it’s an animal, she sings to scare it away. But then a bullet barely misses her. She rouses the alarm, and the women rapidly saddle up the horses and run. Behind them, Ada sees at least two dozen armed men, including Sheriff Branch. The women head for the Wall where they can better defend themselves. They split up in the chase to make a more difficult target.

After some galloping in the darkness, Ada believes she has outrun the sheriffs. But then, a shot scares Amity, who bucks Ada off and runs away. The sheriff of Casper captures Ada. He wants to put her in the stocks in the town square for three days, and then hang her if she’s still alive. Ada realizes that the men must have learned about Hole in the Wall from the old woman who heard the conversation between Lark and Ada in the jail cell.

Ada head butts the sheriff in the darkness, hits him with the butt of her gun, and runs, not knowing if he is dead or alive. Eventually, Ada stops to rest. She wakes up the next day and spots a coyote nearby. She tries to scare it off, but the coyote calls its pack and soon they surround her. Amity gallops to Ada and saves her. Ada she finds herself near Hole in the Wall. The other women are safe and together, on guard for the sheriffs who have set up camp.

When the sheriffs move, the group decides to split up. Texas and Ada team up and run together. As Ada scales a wall, she comes face to face with Sheriff Branch. He tells her that she should turn herself in—he’ll keep her in jail and not let harm come to her and her family can visit her on Sundays. He knows she did nothing wrong in Fairchild, but the simple reality is that in times of high stress and unhappiness, a scapegoat serves the greater good. Ada is tempted to take him up on his offer. She believes him when he says he won’t hurt her, but she also knows that a life in jail is no life at all. Suddenly, there’s a gunshot. The Kid stands over Sheriff Branch’s dead body.

The Gang knows that more people will come after them now, but they also know that their exploits will be legend, making people fear them more too. Before long, women start showing up at Hole in the Wall. They each carry with them the Wanted poster with the faces of all the original Gang members. The women are refugees from their communities, fleeing due to barrenness or their sexuality. The Gang welcomes them, treats their travel wounds, and trains them. Ada still wants to meet Mrs. Schaeffer, so she brings News and Texas to Pagosa Springs, the town where Mrs. Schaeffer practices.

The journey takes several days. In town, most people don’t know who Mrs. Schaeffer is. One woman tells them that three years ago, there was a surgery center, but the town grew suspicious of the woman who ran it. The woman welcomed in barren women, so when illness spread in the town, the blame landed on her. Although the stranger can’t confirm that this woman was Mrs. Schaeffer, she tells Ada to head to the east of town.

There, Ada finds the former clinic abandoned, but all of Mrs. Schaeffer’s notes and tools left behind. After the group camps for the night, Ada treats a young woman who is looking for Mrs. Schaeffer. Ada decides to revive the center and become the next Mrs. Schaeffer. Although she knows the risks involved, she says goodbye to News and Texas. Ada will end up treating many women and become a prolific midwife, writing many books for the greater good.