Jacob awoke to a bright sunny, but hot day, Jacob looked around and spotted his horse Apache dining on some shrubs nearby and chuckled. Jacob stood up and dusted himself off, he put his jacket across Apache's saddle and placed his hat on his head and walked to the local stream and got some water and washed his face. He stood up and noticed a dust cloud nearby, he immediatly whistled and Apache was right there ready to ride off.
One hour later, Jacob was on a hill peering into the distance, he can see 3 different dust clouds, 1 was the larger of the two and seems to be heading, from what Jacob could tell by the sun's location, East. The other dust cloud seems to be heading for the other dust cloud, none of them the larger one, Jacob pondered his position, he could go after the larger dust cloud and hope that it is his scouting party, but then again the two clouds racing towards each other may be his cavalry as well. Jacob sat there for awhile before he realized, "Wait I know where the fort is. The sun rises in the east, it is dawn, I just have to follow the sun."
But before Jacob steered Apache towards the east, he heard gunshots, very distance but he knew the sound.... they were henry repeating rifles. His men were under attack, but where? Jacob quickly scanned the horizon, and noticed that the 2 smaller clouds had subsided, he figured the action was there, he still didn't know who the other cloud was, but he was sure one was his scouting party. So he gave Apache the spurs and Apache raced off with quick speed that put the jackrabbit to shame.
Fifteen minutes later, Jacob can now clearly hear the sounds of battle, his officers issuing commands and the shouts of the attackers, which Jacob by now assumes to be Banditos, but he also heard something he was not expecting, several squeals from women. Jacob was now confused, what would women be doing with Banditos or the Cavalry? Jacob rounded the hill and spotted the battlefield and gasped.
What he saw was the bandits shooting their pistols towards the US cavalry troopers, who are in turn guarding the Stagecoach from the West. Jacob sighed, he grabbed his Henry rifle and pet Apache who shook, Apache was ready to fight and Jacob knew it. So with a loud rallying cry Jacob entered the fight surprising the Bandits.
OOC: I leave the results of this battle to bestshot.
EDIT: To clarify, the stagecoach under attack is not carrying the gold, it is coming from the West. The stagecoach with the gold is coming from the east, and will reach the fort first and meet the cavalry guard which has yet to arrive.