Authors: Nancy Radke
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Trey killed two of them and
the third lit out a-running. They figured he was dead, you see, and when they
heard he was alive, they started running as fast as they could. They were
headed for Omaha but he caught them where the Loup joins the Platte. He's got
his outfit back, but is still after the third one. Shouldn't take him long, now
he's located the varmint."
I untied Comfort and waited for
him to untie his horse and packhorse. There was something I needed to ask.
"Will he kill him, too?"
"Not Trey. At least not if
the man surrenders. He can turn him over to the marshal at Omaha. Or if he
doesn't want to wait for the length of time for a trial, he'll just thrash him
soundly and leave him be."
"Is he much of a fighter,
Gage? I know so little about him."
"He was born fighting, Mally,
as was all us mountain boys. We'd rather fight than work."
"That's for sure."
"He was a major in the war.
Doesn't act like it now. They wanted him to take command of either Fort Bent or
Fort Laramie, but he wouldn't re-enlist. Wanted to be free. And now he's
married." He chuckled to himself. "How did you manage? He was always
tongue-tied around the ladies and so bashful he looked awkward." He
glanced ahead, where we were going. "Where's your wagon?"
It was gone! The mules, the
wagon...I looked about quickly to see if I was mistaken, but no, this was where
I'd left them. There was another wagon not twenty feet from where mine had
stood, with a young boy standing beside it, filling the water barrels.
"It's been took, Gage."
Quickly he called over to the
youth. "Hi there, boy. Did you see a wagon leave here?"
"Sure. A couple of men
hitched up and took off that-a-way about twenty minutes ago. Why?"
"Wagon wasn't theirs. It belongs
to this lady here." Already he was preparing to mount. I tightened the
cinch on Comfort and climbed aboard. "Mally?"
"That was my rig they took,
Gage. I'm going with you."
He shrugged. "Trahern said
you'd tackle anything. I'm only glad I'm here to help. Let's go then."
We stopped by the Platte to fill
our canteens, then made a large circle to see where they'd gone. They had
continued up the trail. I could see the tracks of my mules, freshly made, and
pointed them out to Gage so as he'd know them.
The action felt good to me. Too
long I had sat at that fort waiting for Trahern to come back. I never did like
waiting around. I didn't mind jobs other folks thought of as tedious, it gave
me lots of thinking time. But to just wait and not do anything made me restless.
The thieves were only twenty
minutes ahead; by traveling swiftly we should come upon them before nightfall.
Yet as in the case of things, somewhere they had turned off the trail and we
had to ride back to find it. That meant time gained for them. We could not hope
to catch up today.
There were Sioux about and I
checked my pistol to make certain it was loaded. Gage caught the movement and
nodded. "Best be ready. Don't know what we'll come across."
The wagon tracks were easy to
follow once they'd left the trail and we moved out after checking the mule
tracks. Who could have taken my things? They must have realized I'd come after
them. Yet if Gage hadn't been there, what would I have done?
Of course they would think I'd
have no help. Everyone around the fort knew that Trahern had gone and I was
alone. And being a woman, they might figure I wouldn't follow. But why risk so
much? My outfit couldn't be worth dying for.
Or...if Calvert Smith was in on
this, maybe he figured I'd follow. Maybe that's what he wanted; to get me away
from the fort. The idea made my flesh crawl.
I pulled the rifle out and checked
its load, then eased it back in its scabbard.
Up ahead a herd of antelope
suddenly bounced away and Gage pulled up, then swung his horse down towards a
depression in the ground. I followed, asking no questions.
We sat there, waiting, Gage
watching the land beyond. Seven Indians rode along where the antelope had been.
They stopped, looking at the ground excitedly, then turned and rode away from
us.
"They've spotted the trail.
We'll have to follow slowly, so they don't see us." We dismounted, resting
our horses, giving ourselves and them a little water from our canteens.
I took off my scarf and readjusted
it to better cover my hair. I didn't want those Indians to see it and decide to
take a souvenir home. We waited for a spell to put some distance between us and
them, then mounted up and rode after.
We rode late, stopping when we
could no longer see, and made a dry camp, with no fire. It was warm enough out
to just lay down on the ground and sleep. Next morning we were up and saddled
as soon as it was light enough to see the tracks.
We heard the shots as we drew
close; the Indians must have hit them at daybreak. The sounds of firing
continued for about ten minutes as we ran our horses to get there before it was
all over and the wagon looted and burned. We didn't quite make it; the Indians
had scalped the men and started to toss things out of the wagon. They saw us
and disappeared, but not before Gage and I both shot, killing one and wounding
one.
There were only four Indians when
we got there, and the two left unhurt slipped away in the grass. Gage stood
guard while I cut loose a mule too injured to save and hitched Comfort in its
place. Then we turned around and skedaddled back toward the trail, taking the
Indian horses along with us. The two Indians left would probably come back and
eat the mule.
Calvert hadn't been there. The
thieves were men whom I'd seen hanging around the fort for the last week. They must've
thought me an easy mark, and if it hadn't have been for Gage, I would've been.
At the noon rest, Gage gave me the
money Trahern had sent, a small bag of gold coins, but more'n I'd ever seen all
at once. I tucked it away down in one corner of the wagon under some supplies.
In looking for a place to hide it, I found a small bag of coins Uncle Dem had
stashed. Suddenly my worth doubled.
As we came to the trail, Gage
asked about his mother. He had told his younger brothers to stay behind and of
course they hadn't. He had had no idea she was all alone and when I told him
how hard it was on her—the war and all, I was glad to see him squirm
uncomfortable-like. I bawled him out proper and got him to promise he would get
back there soon, for as I warned him, she might not last.
I liked Gage, he was an easy man
to talk to and right handsome and it would've been nice if he was the one I was
hitched to, for then I wouldn't have felt so awkward, going into marriage. As
it was, Trahern and I had had no chance to get to know one another before our
marriage. There had been none of the usual courtship time when a couple could
talk about things. I didn't even know if he had family, and when I asked Gage
if he knew, he looked at me funny-like.
"Why sure he does, he's got
kin running all over these parts, same as I do. Didn't you know?"
"I don't know anything about
him," I replied and explained the circumstance of our marriage.
"Not to worry," Gage
assured me. "He's a stayer. Trahern will have an outfit, kids and grandkids
while I'm still drifting around." "But you said...he wanted to be
free."
"Free of the army; free of
the burden of command. But his kind always end up in command, that's the price
of being a leader of men. He just don't know it yet."
The fort was ahead, we were
getting back just before sundown. I pulled my weary team to a stop and set the
brake. Gage helped me unhitch them and lead them to water, then he went to see
if there was any word from Trahern while I started supper. There wasn't, so we
ate and I turned in for the night while Gage slept underneath.
I lay there awake for awhile,
remembering our last conversation. Gage had wondered if he should settle down
and build a place for his mother, then go back and bring her out west. I told
him she needed him now, not in a year or two when he finally got a place set
up. Actually, I figured he never would settle unless he had someone he had to
care for; he was as restless as her husband had been.
Maybe it was a good thing I'd
married Trahern and not set my hopes on Gage.
Later on towards morning, I felt
someone lift the covers. With Gage underneath the wagon, I hadn't slept with my
hand on my pistol, but my knife was there, and I was already sliding it
silently out of its sheath. "Trey?"
"Yes." He spoke in a whisper.
"I tried not to wake you."
"You okay?" I replaced
the knife.
He pulled off his boots and slid
under the blanket. "Yes'm. You?"
"Fine."
"Gage get here?"
"Yesterday," I said,
hearing his breathing deepen as he fell asleep immediately. He must have ridden
all night, for it was already growing light out and soon I could see his face,
covered with a week's growth of beard.
I let him sleep, fixing breakfast
while Gage watered the stock. We had just commenced eating when Trahern joined
us, refreshed from his few hours of sleep. The hot coffee seemed to wake
everyone and the flapjacks went down fast. The two men talked for awhile while
I sat and listened. Gage mentioned recovering the wagon, and both Trey and I
thanked him for his help. He figured on leaving today and riding back to check
on his mother, although he didn't know what to do with her while he was getting
himself set up on a place.
"Why don't you bring her out
to where Trey and I are. I'd love to have her." I didn't really think
first, or I might not have spoken, yet the more I thought about it the better
the idea seemed. Abigail Courtney had always been dear to me, like a second
mother, and it had bothered me, leaving her behind.
"Better'n that," Trahern
said with a glance at me, "bring her out and join us permanently. I'll
locate a place where we can both settle and have room. We can help each other
getting started and the two women will be company for each other."
You could see Gage liking the
idea. It gave him a goal if nothing else, something to aim for whereas before
he'd been drifting.
Trahern had brought back a
packhorse plus his riding horse, so we hitched the gray packhorse to the wagon.
We started out up the trail, joining a train that had arrived the day before,
and Gage rode with us, planning to build next to us, then bring out his mother.
Trahern was completely healed of
his wounds by now, even with the long ride to catch the thieves. There had
always been a positiveness in his decisions, now it was accompanied by physical
strength as well.
His body was filling out, the
sunken, hollow places becoming more rounded. He no longer looked like a walking
scarecrow. His size and strength were imposing.
He was a man who got things done,
a builder. Looking around I realized that he was the type of man desperately
needed in this new land.
And what of myself? We had until
the end of the trail to make a decision on our marriage. It is always easiest
to stay in whatever condition one finds themselves. Did I want this marriage to
continue? What would I do if I left him? Or if Trahern decided against our
staying together?
I didn't have any answer ready.
You never really know a person
until you get past the social niceties of manners that society had decreed to
follow to keep one person from trompin’ on the feelings of another. When we
were first married, Trahern had spent most of his time getting well. Then he'd
had to chase those thieves, killing two and seeing the third jailed before he'd
returned.
I still didn't know him, nor he,
me. With neither of us being great talkers, even our shared time on the wagon
seat didn't profit much.
But little things combine to point
up the makings of a man, and so little things came to me as we traveled along.
He always saw to the animals
before himself, being firm yet kind to them. He checked them for lice and sores
and fly-bites, making sure the harnesses fit properly and their shoes snug. And
he talked to them, inconsequential, steadying words that comforted an animal
and let it know that everything was all right. As a result they would pull that
wagon through a prairie fire if he asked them to.
Trey was always polite to me and
it dawned on me one day that it was bred into him to treat women with respect.
I had a hard time to just get him to call me Mally instead of Ma’am.
We crossed the Rockies,
comfortable working together. Gage was a huge help, gettin’ those wagons
lowered down some of the cliff-like road. Then one day we left the train and
angled north to a sweet little bit of ground that Web had told Trey about, in
the Blue Mountains near Walla Walla. They were gentle mountains, unlike the
treacherous Rockies, and they were reminding me of the home I’d left. I knew
I’d be happy there. The town was small, but growing, and Trey homesteaded
10,000 acres of prime farmland, paying for it with the money he had saved from
the cattle drive. We used some of Uncle Dem’s gold to buy supplies and still
had some left.
We were almost into autumn, and as
soon as we arrived, Trey threw up a corral and started building a house to get
us through the winter. It was a small log shanty and he pointed out the spot
where he would build our real house next summer, turning this one into a
storage shed.
There was plenty of timber for
building and game for eating. He figured to leave in the spring, buy a bull and
a few cows and bring them back, then start building our home.
I considered all his plans. He was
settling down for life. If I didn’t stay with him, I wasn’t doing him any
favors. If he wanted to raise a family, he either needed to get shut of me or
else we needed to make this marriage real.
Here was Gage, the man I’d dreamed
of marrying, working alongside my husband—and I wouldn’t take him over
Trey for anything.
Gage was handsome, but that was
all. He was a drifter and you could see the restlessness in him. Trey kept him
busy or he would have been left us like a bear with its tail on fire, headed
for the nearest water. As soon as the shanty was finished, I could see him
start to look down the road.
That evening I spoke up. “Let him
go, Trey. He’s like a cat. He’ll come back now and then, maybe even bring
Abigail out. But he’s not a stayer and I don’t want to have to feed him this
winter.”
Trey looked thoughtful. “I thought
maybe you were sweet on him.”
“When I was sixteen and didn’t
know any better.”
He nodded. “Then he’s gone.” In
the morning he was.
Somehow, love had slipped up on
me, and I was hopin’ it had been the same with him. I kept trying to figure out
what to say to let Trey know. I trusted this man with my life.
It had been over a month since
he’d asked me if I wanted to continue on. At the time, I figured he meant to
continue west, joining a wagon train and finishing the journey. Now I wondered
if that was what he’d meant.
I give it lots of thought, and
finally said, “Trey, we’re married. And I sure would like a passel of kids with
you.”
At that, his face just lit up,
transformed with love. As he reached out to me, I realized something I’d been
too blind to notice.
I’d
married the handsomest man in the country.
THE END