Westering Women

by Sandra Dallas

  “You would not dare,” one of the women said.

  “I will not allow such behavior! If you would act like animals, then I shall cast you out to live like them.”

  Maggie looked at William in astonishment. Would he really banish the women?

  “We will pray for them,” Joseph said.

  “Pray?” William thundered. “Discipline is more important than prayer.” He shook his head and walked a little away from the camp.

  The two women, chastised, did not look at each other, but the one who had scorched the quilt picked it up and folded it, handing it to its owner. “I am ashamed,” she whispered.

  “We must all do better or we will never make it to California,” Mary told Maggie. Mary looked at the women around them. “We had forged a closeness, and now it is being sundered with pettiness. We must try harder to work together.”

  Sadie went to Dora then and said, “You are tired. I will clean the pots and plates for you.”

  As the women went back to their wagons, William asked Caroline, “What have I done to these women? What have I done to you?”

  “You have given them a future. They complain, but I believe not one in ten would want to go back to their lives in Chicago.”

  “Some have died, the little girl Clara among them.”

  “Might she not have died at home?”

  Maggie, overhearing the remark, pondered it.

  * * *

  THEY HAD ALL heard of City of Rocks. It was near where the trail split, one part going to California, the other to Oregon. It was out of the way. Indeed, the stone city was difficult to access from their route, but the women begged to see it, and William, perhaps believing they needed some relief from their frightening experience in Great Salt Lake City, agreed to the delay. “We will consider it an excursion,” he told Maggie.

  She had expected a settlement of some size. Instead, she found herself in an encirclement of granite rocks in freakish shapes and of all textures and colors. Someone had used axle grease to write “Hotel” on one and “Our House” on another. Bessie declared it was the most wondrous site on the entire journey.

  Evaline clapped her hands when she saw the rocks. “It is like a castle,” she told Maggie, who knew how much Clara—and Dick, too—would have liked to play among the monoliths.

  “To think we ever questioned whether Evaline should come on this trip,” Caroline said. “She is one of the best of us.” She told Bessie, “I believe her mother is smiling down on her—and on you. Not many women would undertake the responsibility of raising a Negro orphan.”

  “She brings me much joy. She is an intelligent girl, and she takes care of me.”

  “Indeed. She could not be more solicitous of you if she were your own flesh and blood.” Maggie said, putting her hand to her mouth, embarrassed, hoping that Bessie was not angered by such an outrageous remark.

  Bessie only laughed. “You do not offend. If she were white, I would indeed claim her as my own.”

  * * *

  EVALINE FOUND BESSIE sitting on a rock formation with Maggie. “Come, ma’am, you must see the rocks. Why, one of them is hollow. We must remember it in case of an Indian attack.” She smiled at Maggie. “Clara would have played hide-and-seek in it.” Many of the women were careful about mentioning the little girl, but Evaline had no such trepidation, and that pleased Maggie. She did not want Clara to be forgotten. Evaline held out her hands to the two women, who let themselves be led among the formations. She exclaimed over every monolith and column, every terrace and dome, each one more fanciful than the last. The excitement was contagious, and the two women were caught up in the girl’s good spirits.

  “We could live here,” Evaline told Bessie, rushing from one rock to another. “We could plant your apple trees here and let them grow into an orchard.” She stopped beside a boulder that was striated in purple and orange and gold. “Does it not look like a home from a storybook? I should have brought my sketchbook.”

  As the three walked back to camp, Evaline said it was her turn to prepare supper. “Beans! How would you like beans for your supper, ladies? And a surprise. I found a cluster of lamb’s-quarters, enough for all of us.”

  When they reached the wagon, Evaline looked at the rock formations. “I should like to draw them at night. Do you think there will be a moon?”

  Bessie turned stern. “Stay close to the wagons, Evaline. Who know what roams out there after dark?”

  * * *

  THE SUN HAD barely set when Maggie spread her tarp on the ground. The evening was pleasant, so the women had not erected tents. They wrapped themselves in quilts and blankets, and within minutes, the sounds of sleep were mixed with the lowing of the oxen and the stamping of the horses. There was no mooing of cows, however; the last one had died before they reached Great Salt Lake City, and there had not been time to replace it.

  Despite the pleasant evening, Maggie could not sleep. She stared up at the stars, then watched as the moon rose, a half-moon the shape of a worn-out coin. The day had been a good one. She had loved the weird rock shapes and thought of City of Rocks as a fairyland, one that would indeed have enchanted Clara. The idea of Clara romping in the moonlight made Maggie smile. She was glad for the picture of her daughter that Evaline had drawn in her mind.

  The night was peaceful, but still, sleep did not come. Maggie was not worried. After all, one of the teamsters was guarding them. They had been remiss in not finding more men, but the women themselves had proven capable of taking on many of the responsibilities of those who had left them in Great Salt Lake City. Maybe it was the fantasy of Clara that kept her awake, or her longing for both her children. Daytimes were crowded with activity, but the nights were lonely, and that was when thoughts of Dick and Clara swirled most in her mind.

  After a time, she heard someone rise and walk quietly toward the rocks. Maggie sat up and spotted Evaline. The girl was in her nightdress, and she carried her sketchbook under her arm. She was going to draw the rocks in the moonlight after all.

  Maggie turned over and closed her eyes, but again, she did not sleep. She began to think about Evaline out there alone. She might fall and break an arm or hit her head. There could be rattlesnakes or wolves prowling through the rocks. Maggie thought of waking Bessie, but she knew Bessie would be angry at the girl for disobeying her, and Maggie did not want to cause trouble for Evaline. Instead, she rose and quietly made her way to City of Rocks.

  She crept among the monoliths, intending at first to call Evaline’s name, but she did not want the girl to think she was spying on her. Then she saw her, perched on a rock. The moonlight on Evaline’s white nightdress made her seem ethereal.

  The girl was sharpening her pencil with a penknife. When she was satisfied with the lead, she put aside the knife and opened the sketchbook and began to draw, shifting a little so that her shadow did not fall on the paper. She drew quickly, glancing up at the sky from time to time as if wondering whether clouds would cover the moon and make it too dark to draw.

  Evaline was such a pretty picture that Maggie lingered for a few moments to watch her. Then she turned back toward the wagons before Evaline could spot her and realize that she had been spied upon. That would spoil something pure and innocent. Maggie was almost sorry she had come, and she started back toward the camp. She was halfway there when she heard a cry, a cry so low that it did not carry to the sleeping women.

  For a moment, she hesitated. The sound was probably nothing, but she couldn’t be sure. Then Maggie heard a man’s voice saying, “Little colored girl thinks she’s too fine for me. Don’t know her place.”

  Evaline murmured something that sounded like a plea, and then Maggie heard the man’s voice again. “You make any noise, I’ll kill you.” There was the sound of cloth ripping—Evaline’s nightdress, Maggie thought. She started for the camp to rouse the guard, then realized there was not time. She crept forward and saw Evaline lying on the ground. A man stood above her, and Maggie thought at first that he was one of
the ministers. She saw him reach for Evaline’s breast.

  “Let’s have a look at the little darkie,” the man said. Evaline cried out, and the man slapped her.

  The slap startled Maggie, and she took a step forward. She had hesitated when the soldier attacked her, but she would not do so now. “Stop it,” she said. She could not control her voice, and instead of being commanding, it sounded weak and ineffectual. The man turned to her, and she recognized him as one of the teamsters, Green Holt. He was on guard duty that night.

  “Get away,” the man growled. “This is ’tween me and her. Little whore asked for it. She been teasing me for a long time. She ain’t never had a white man before. You go on back and keep your mouth shut or you’ll get the same.”

  “How dare you threaten her! Stop it, or I will call the ministers,” Maggie said.

  “They can’t hear you way over here.” Evaline struggled, and he said, “You hold still, you black cat.”

  “Help me. Please,” Evaline whimpered. She flailed around, and Maggie saw that several of the sketches had been torn out of the sketchbook and were crumpled on the ground. How could he spoil the precious drawings and the innocent girl who had made them! Maggie’s anger gave her strength. “Stop it!” she yelled as loudly as she could. She grabbed a stick and hit Green Holt with it.

  He wrestled the stick from her and flung it aside. Then he struck Maggie. She fell backward, and Green told her he’d take her after Evaline. He reached back again with his fist, but instead of striking her a second time, he screamed and pitched forward over Evaline. Maggie remembered the penknife Evaline had used to sharpen her pencil and thought at first that the girl had stabbed him. Then she looked up and saw a man standing over them with a whip.

  The whip snaked through the air, and Green screamed again. He was lying on the ground, his hands over his head, when the lash hit him a third time. “Stop!” he begged. “I ain’t done nothing.”

  “Scum!” the man with the whip said. “You will not have carnal knowledge of this girl! Stand up, you filth!”

  The second man’s back was to her, and Maggie could not see his face, but she recognized the voice of Reverend Parnell. She crawled over to the girl and covered her with the torn nightdress.

  “Get up,” William ordered, and Green slowly rose to his feet, his hands in front of him to ward off any more lashings.

  “What you done that for?” Green asked. “She ain’t nothing but a darkie whore. You can have at her when I’m done. You can even go first. Or I’ll take the other one, even though she ain’t fresh.”

  William hit Green across the face with the whip handle, striking him back and forth, breaking his nose. “You will not speak in such a manner about these women!”

  Green put his hand over his nose, which was bleeding. “You ought to whip her. She asked me to meet her here. Begged me.”

  Evaline was so stunned she couldn’t speak. Maggie thought of the dragoon who had attacked her, and she put her arms around the girl, both of them shivering.

  She turned to see Joseph running toward them. Green’s screams had awakened the camp. Several women held fagots, and Maggie could see their white faces. She tightened her arms around Evaline, knowing the girl wanted to creep away and hide. Maggie did, too. Her own nightdress was torn and stained, and she clutched it to her.

  “I guess we got one or two more wants to try the whore,” Green said. William stared at the man for a moment, then raised his whip handle and struck him again and again. Green screamed in pain, but William would not stop.

  Joseph reached them and grabbed the whip. “For God’s sake, Willie, it is enough.”

  “He accosted the girl,” William explained. “I should kill him.”

  “You stopped him.”

  “We never should have come to this place. It is my fault. I should have insisted we stay on the trail.” William shook his head back and forth. “I could not sleep, so I thought I would pray out here among the rocks. I brought the whip in case of snakes. I heard Mrs. Hale cry out. She got here first. Then I saw him—”

  William reached for the whip, but Joseph refused to give it up. “You have punished him enough.”

  “No, Joe. Not by half.”

  “You are banished from our train,” Joseph told Green.

  The other men reached them, and one asked, “What did he do?”

  “He attacked a member of our company.”

  The teamster looked around and spotted Evaline, sobbing in Maggie’s arms. “It’s only the colored girl. It ain’t like he done it to a white woman.”

  William turned to him in fury. “I will not allow anyone to speak thus. Green Holt will leave our company. If you or any of the others say another word against this young woman, you will be asked to join him. I will whip any man who dares to touch her—or any of the other women.”

  The men muttered, stealing glances at Evaline. Maggie looked up to see several women halfway between the wagons and the rocks. Bessie was among them, and when she saw Evaline, she ran to the girl. She didn’t say a word, only grabbed Evaline and held her.

  Maggie put her arms around herself to stop her shaking, then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Mary, who picked her up and carried her back to the wagon. “You protected her. Now it is our turn to protect you,” Mary said.

  As they left the rocks, Maggie heard William order Green to collect his things and leave immediately.

  * * *

  IN THE MORNING, all the men except for William and Joseph were gone.

  Seventeen

  “All of them?” Maggie asked when Reverend Swain told her. She was incredulous. “All of the men have deserted us?”

  “It appears that way,” Joseph said.

  Mary, standing nearby, gasped, and the others stared open-mouthed.

  “Joe and I searched the camp, but there is no trace of them,” William continued. “Their belongings are gone, and they took several horses, along with as many of our supplies as they could carry. They probably would have taken Miss Madrid’s horse, but he was tied close to where she slept. Besides, I believe they feared her wrath,” William said.

  “It is your wrath that frightens them,” Joseph told him.

  “Perhaps, but I could not stop myself. He called the girl a darkie whore.” William’s face was twisted.

  “I understand. We are both charged with protecting the women.”

  William looked off into the distance for a moment, oblivious to the others. “I should not have been so rash. I offended the Lord. At times it seems as if I am not myself.”

  Joseph put his hand on his brother-in-law’s shoulder. “Do not trouble yourself over it. The man committed a sin against the girl and against God. You did what was right. I hope, if called upon, I would have the courage to do that same thing.”

  Penn put her arm around Maggie and held her close. “You will be all right,” she said, and Maggie understood all too well what Penn had gone through with Asa and his brothers. She was grateful for Penn, who had moved her quilt to Maggie’s side and stayed with her through the night.

  “We are in a precarious situation,” William said. “We cannot proceed without the men.”

  The rest of the women were gathered around the ministers now. The entire camp was aware of what had happened to Evaline, and it sickened them. They were shocked that such a man as Green Holt had traveled with them for months, and Maggie believed that each must wonder what would have happened if she had been alone with the teamster.

  Evaline blamed herself. When Maggie went to see her after sunrise, she had said over and over again, “I am sorry, Mrs. Hale. I did wrong, and you were hurt, too.”

  “You did no wrong,” Maggie said, taking the girl’s hand. “He is an evil man.”

  “If you had not come…” Evaline whispered. She plucked at a thread on her fresh nightdress. Maggie had seen the remains of the torn gown in the campfire. Evaline’s face was bruised and scratched, and it appeared she had rubbed it raw. “He spit on m
e. It felt like a burn on my face,” she said.

  Maggie nodded. Evaline clutched her arm. “Stay,” she begged. So Maggie remained beside Evaline that morning until the girl went to sleep, then slipped outside.

  Now she stood with the other women as William declared, “We cannot go on alone.”

  “We will have to go back to Great Salt Lake City and find other men who want to travel with us to California,” Joseph said. “We will ask for Mormon men. I believe they are more trustworthy.”

  “How could you find them now when you did not before?” Mary asked. “Besides, backtracking would cost us weeks, and Reverend Parnell complains we are already late.”

  “Why don’t we join another train?” Penn asked.

  “Would they take us?” Sadie wondered. “Who wants thirty-seven extra women?”

  “Surely there are men traveling in twos and threes who would join us,” Caroline said.

  William shook his head. “Have you studied those men? Several have asked to accompany us already because they are sick or out of supplies. I fear they would be little help, and even if they were healthy enough to do the work, we could not trust them not to rob us and be on their way, just like Green Holt and the others.”

  “Then we cannot go forward,” Joseph said.

  “I am afraid that is so. We must return to the Salt Lake and wait there. We will start out again in the spring.”

  Maggie glanced at Penn, whose face was twisted. She knew the girl was thinking of Asa’s brother. Neither Penn nor Maggie was convinced that Reed Harvey would die or be hanged. What if he got away and found Penn in Great Salt Lake City? He would kill her. If the company went back, she might never leave the Mormon settlement alive. Returning could consign Penn to death.