The Tool Box

John Marston visits Albert Cakes at Cakes Hardwood & Timber in Blackwater and chooses a pre-cut house for Beecher's Hope. After signing the purchase, he finds the lumber loaded onto wagons. Charles Smith joins him, worried by reports that the Skinner Brothers are moving through the area. He has hired Mr. Wayne and Mr. Devon to guard the shipment as they collect the tools needed to build the house.

John rides with Charles and the hired men to Manzanita Post. Wayne believes their escort will discourage trouble, but John warns that armed guards can also advertise a valuable cargo. At the post, the Norwegian toolmaker Nils supplies the equipment. The group sets out through Tall Trees toward Beecher's Hope, with the lumber wagons and Nils's tools behind them.

The Skinner Brothers ambush the convoy with arrows, wounding Wayne in the shoulder. John, Charles and Devon take cover and drive off the attackers, but the Skinners escape with Wayne and the toolbox. John follows Charles into the woods, fighting through more Skinners, including men concealed in the trees. They reach Wayne too late and find him tied to a tree, dead with a blade driven through his face, while the toolbox lies below him.

Charles cuts Wayne's body free as John retrieves the tools. They return to Devon and the wagons, then continue to Beecher's Hope. On the road, Charles describes the Skinners as killers who keep moving rather than claiming a territory. Uncle is asleep when they arrive. John and Uncle begin unloading the lumber, while Charles takes Wayne's body home for burial.