Against All Odds

by Marian L. Jasper

  “I’ve come to take you to your husband, Liza,” he said. “We’ve got him back safely. I’ve got a buckboard outside so come on.”

  Liza got up, grabbed her cloak and was out of the door and into the buckboard before Ben could even attempt to help her.

  On the way, Liza asked if Patrick was all right. “He’s a bit battered and bruised and the doctor is checking him out at the moment so I’ll take you directly to the hospital, but I don’t think there’s any major damage.”

  Liza jumped down from the buckboard as it arrived outside the hospital and almost fell into the room to find Patrick sitting on a bed, stripped to the waist with great swathes of bandages around his chest and Dr Steele now cleaning up wounds on his face and telling him how lucky he’d been. Patrick had his back to the door but he sensed that she was there and he turned his head with difficulty and gave her a lopsided smile out of very bruised and swollen lips.

  “I’ll leave you two for now. I’ve got to go and see your Private Wilson; he received a few punches also, but not as many as you did, Patrick. They obviously didn’t like officers,” said Dr Steele.

  She went over to him and didn’t know where to put her arms to cuddle him; he seemed so bruised and uncomfortable; so she just knelt down, put her head on his lap and her arms around his lower back and gently squeezed him. He carefully leant forward and put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. They didn’t say anything because, as always, with them there was no need.

  Finally Patrick said, “I thought a lot about you Liza; all the nice things we had done together and whenever I thought of you, I saw you in your beautiful red dress and sometimes not in any dress at all. I thought about the boys and little Meg, but most of all, it was you that kept me going because I desperately wanted to see you again.”

  Still Liza said nothing; she was just so happy that he was back with her. She didn’t ask what had happened to him; she didn’t ask if the ransom money had been paid, she didn’t ask where he had been taken or what they had done to him. He was back and that was all that mattered.

  “I am so annoyed at myself, Liza. I don’t know how I could have let this happen to me and my men. I feel I have a great deal to answer for,” said Patrick.

  “I don’t think anyone sees it that way, Patrick. You didn’t expect two of your men to desert and also you didn’t expect to come across a renegade group. It was all a set of circumstances beyond your control,” said Liza. “Please don’t dwell on it today; no doubt you’ll have to go through it all tomorrow.”

  Dr Steele returned. “I’m not letting him home tonight, Liza. His ribs have taken quite a beating and several are cracked. I’d just like to keep an eye on him tonight, but you can have him all to yourself tomorrow. He’ll be cleaned up and fresh then for you.”

  “You really don’t think that worries me, do you Doctor?” said Liza.

  “No, I don’t but he needs to keep relatively still tonight, and for a few nights, to make sure his ribs heal up well,” said Dr Steele pointedly.

  Both Liza and Patrick were disappointed that he wasn’t going home to his family then, but they had to accept that it was for the best.

  Two privates came in carrying a bath and dumped it in front of Patrick; another couple came in carrying hot water and poured it into it; followed by the first two also carrying hot water which was also poured into the bath. Liza looked at it and then at Patrick and smiled.

  “I’ll help you bathe, Patrick,” she said with a wicked look in her eyes.

  “No you won’t, Liza,” came the voice of Dr Steele. “Patrick has to be handled gently, and a good soak in a hot bath will do him the world of good.”

  “I can handle him gently,” mumbled Liza and Patrick tried grinning at her through his swollen mouth.

  “With the best will in the world, Liza, no matter how gently you say you are going to handle him, it would create problems in another area and his ribs really do need to mend. I doubt very much that you would help that process today. Say your goodbyes now and I’ll be able to send him home to you tomorrow, but remember he has to be treated very gently,” smiled Dr Steele.

  “Just another day Liza,” said Patrick.

  Liza nodded and said, “I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning and I do have to go to the boys now. I had hoped that I would be bringing Patrick home, but they won’t be at school tomorrow and they’ll be overjoyed to see him then. Goodbye, my Patrick. I’ll see you tomorrow, sleep well. Have a nice bath,” she laughed at him, kissed him and left.

  Ben was waiting for her. “The colonel would like to see you Liza. He has a package for you. I’ll take you home when you’ve seen him.”

  The captain and Sean were in with the colonel when Liza arrived and they pulled out a chair for her. “How is he?” asked the colonel.

  “Somewhat battered, bruised and his dignity is not intact,” said Liza.

  They all smiled. “This is yours I believe Liza.” The colonel indicated what was on his desk which appeared to be the $10,000 that Liza had given them for Patrick’s ransom.

  “You didn’t have to use it then. Patrick didn’t say. Well, I didn’t actually ask him,” said Liza.

  “You didn’t ask him?” exclaimed the colonel.

  “No, it wasn’t important. He’s back whatever way it was achieved. I suppose I had better take it back to the bank rather than leave it lying around,” said Liza.

  “Has he not told you anything about what happened to him?” asked the captain.

  “No, we haven’t had much time to talk. No doubt he’ll tell me about it when he gets home. Did I catch sight of a few people going into the prison?” asked Liza.

  “Yes, we got all the deserters but had to bring them back here as they are from many army units. Apart from our own, of course,” said the captain. “We’ve had to put some in the town prison. Patrick will probably tell you, but our half-breed scout got help from some of his Indian friends. He tried at the local army post, but they didn’t really want to get involved.”

  Liza left and Ben drove her directly to the bank and Mr Pembroke was relieved to see her with her packages of cash. “We were lucky that nobody wanted any large sums of money in the last few days,” said Mr Pembroke.

  “You’ll be receiving another large sum as I organised its replacement as soon as I ‘robbed’ the bank,” smiled Liza.

  Ben then took Liza to her home, where Gabriel, Kathy, Zelma and the boys were waiting anxiously for her. They were disappointed that Patrick wasn’t with her but she reassured them that he was fine and they would see him the next day. The mood in the house had lifted.

  Back at the fort Patrick lowered his sore and tired body gently into the hot water of the bath. He lay back and began going over the events that led to where he was today.

  ***

  When Paul Southern and his private had left the deserters, Patrick had his jacket taken by the so called corporal who donned it saying, “I make a good lieutenant, don’t I.”

  “It takes more than a jacket to make an officer,” said Patrick who got another kicking for opening his mouth.

  The weather was now very cold and Patrick had to endure not only riding with broken ribs but just in his shirtsleeves. His greatcoat had also been taken and the ‘corporal’ said that he wasn’t going to waste what little food there was on what he termed a dead man.

  A small and rather disorganised group of men appeared from Fort Walker. Patrick and Private Wilson had guns held to their backs out of sight of the group and Patrick saw the men from the fort looking at them and heard the ‘corporal’ saying that they were deserters who they were taking back to their base. He thanked them for offering their help but as they could see, no help was needed and whoever the scout was who had approached them, his information was incorrect.

  The corporal of the group from Fort Walker saluted and left. It pleased Patrick to learn that their scout had got to the fort; it meant that there was hope for him and Private Wilson. The ride was extremely un
comfortable for Patrick and there followed a very cold and hungry night for both he and the private.

  Although the group seemed to be very low on food, their supply of alcohol seemed never ending and most of them were in a state of oblivion by midnight. The only ones awake were Patrick and Private Wilson who were diligently working on attempting to undo their bonds.

  Suddenly Patrick felt someone cutting the rope which bound his hands and when he was free, whoever it was moved onto the private and did the same thing. They were handed a knife and they cut the ropes around their ankles and Private Wilson helped Patrick to his feet.

  By the light of the fire and the moon, Patrick could see Indians moving in and silently removing the guns from the sleeping soldiers. Private Wilson was a little shaken by the sight of so many Indians at close quarters but Patrick put a hand on his shoulder and nodded towards their army scout who was amongst them. He also recognised Zelma’s brother and one or two others.

  When all the weapons had been removed, the Indians surrounded the men and just sat quietly waiting for morning. Their scout came over to them and told them that they were going to escort these men back towards Fort Benson but would leave as soon as soldiers from the fort arrived, as they undoubtedly would, as Lieutenant Southern would be arriving there shortly, if, indeed, he hadn’t already.

  The soldiers were vastly outnumbered by the Indians and the scout told them that they would not harm the men as they had no quarrel with them, but they would have to answer to the white man for a white man’s crime. The chief was arriving later as he wanted to make sure that the husband of i-tse di-ka-ta had not been harmed as he was now considered part of their tribe.

  A blanket was placed around Patrick’s shoulders and for the first time in nearly two days, he felt warm. He couldn’t wait to get his jacket back from the ‘corporal’. He leaned back and rested his eyes and once again he could see Liza in her red dress. He couldn’t understand why that dress had made such an impression on him. She had so many beautiful clothes, but that one mesmerised him.

  He was well aware of what was going on around him, even though he was taking advantage of the fact that he was able to rest, but he wouldn’t truly sleep until these men were under lock and key. They were survivors who had been on the run for a long time and had managed to evade capture presumably on many occasions. He noted how skilfully the ‘corporal’ had dealt with the men from Fort Walker and Patrick thought that it was a shame that he had taken the wrong road as he would have been a great asset to the army.

  Dawn was breaking and the Indians started moving and as they did, one or two of the soldiers started waking and when they saw the Indians amongst them they reached for their guns only to realise that once again they no longer had them. Those who were awake began trying to rouse those who were still asleep and gradually all the men were awake and looking rather fearfully at their captors.

  Zelma’s brother approached with strips of skin and signalled Patrick to take off his shirt and he began wrapping Patrick’s ribcage tightly after which he felt a great deal more comfortable. He retrieved his jacket and greatcoat from the ‘corporal’.

  “I suppose you are going to keep me shivering now,” said the ‘corporal’, “and hungry.”

  “What you have to appreciate, Corporal, is that unlike yourself, I am a professional. These friends of mine want to know who did this to me because they would want to put that wrong right. I presume that you would prefer that I didn’t tell them. In a little while you will see the very important person of this tribe and he is going to ask me the same question. It would be in your best interests to go along with whatever they tell you to do and I will keep my mouth shut. I want no further trouble from you or any of your men and that is what I would tell those who will be dealing with your court martial. I would suggest that you have a word with your men and tell them to co-operate. I will say the same to the two idiots of mine who joined you,” said Patrick.

  The scout brought food for Patrick and Private Wilson first before he gave a large flat bowl of porridge-like mixture for the other soldiers to share. None of them complained. Whilst they were eating, there was a slight commotion and out of the trees came Running Bear and the medicine man which considerably unnerved the deserters and especially the corporal, who witnessed the chief looking closely at Patrick and through the scout he seemed to be asking who had inflicted the damage to ga-no-du.

  Patrick conveyed to him, also through the scout, that, with respect, it was something that the army court had to deal with, but he was so very pleased to see them all and he knew that ‘green eyes’ will be delighted to know that Running Bear and the medicine man are showing such concern for her family.

  Running Bear said something and patted Patrick on the shoulder showing signs of sympathy and when translated, it was the chief and medicine man saying how sorry they were for the loss of his daughter, but it would have been worse if it had been a boy, which Patrick had to take as the way the Cherokees valued girls. There was only one female that they seemed to value and that was Liza.

  Everyone mounted up and headed towards Benson, but it would take some days to reach there. The chief and the medicine man stayed with them for the rest of the day and that night. In the morning they made their farewells to Patrick and Private Wilson, leaving eleven men to accompany the party until a patrol from the fort was located. Patrick did his best to show his gratitude to the chief and medicine man, and he hoped that he had done it correctly and not upset them in any way. He did, however, know that they would understand that he may not be aware of the correct protocol and would forgive him any oversights, although the scout seemed to infer that everything was perfectly all right.

  They travelled for another day, resting that night and then the following day two scouts from Fort Benson and Corporal Shaw appeared. The three of them were unconcerned to find eleven Cherokees guarding the deserters and after making sure that Patrick and Private Wilson were in one piece, they proceeded to talk to the scout and more surprisingly, Corporal Shaw seemed to be in deep conversation with Zelma’s brother. Patrick knew that her brother didn’t speak English, therefore the corporal must speak Cherokee.

  That’s a surprise, thought Patrick. He doesn’t appear Indian; perhaps he just speaks the language. No, those three are too friendly. They’ve known one another a long time, I’m sure of it.

  A thought was germinating about how Mark Kendal had broken out of prison but he pushed it to the back of his mind as Sean, Captain Graves and a substantial patrol appeared on the scene and when Patrick looked around, every Cherokee had disappeared and he’d had no chance to thank them.

  Patrick breathed a sigh of relief and the way he felt, he would have liked to fall into a soft warm bed, but that would be a few days away. Sean and Captain Graves welcomed Patrick saying how pleased they were that he was still alive. Patrick thanked them and said how surprised he was that they had reached him so soon.

  “Lieutenant Southern must have ridden at breakneck speed to get to you, and you must have ridden at the same speed to get here now,” said Patrick.

  “Well, Lieutenant Byrne and I would have taken a little longer if your wife hadn’t worked miracles and raised $10,000 in just over an hour,” said the captain.

  “I wondered whether she would pay the ransom,” said Patrick.

  Both Sean and the captain laughed and Sean said, “Did you really ever have any doubt, Patrick?”

  “I thought she might realise that, whether she paid the money or not, I wasn’t going to be allowed to survive. The ‘corporal’ stopped feeding me as he said there was no point in wasting food on a dead man,” said Patrick.

  “That was pointed out to her both by me and the colonel but her attitude was that she had to take the risk and off she went to town and back she came saying that she hoped that nobody wanted to draw out large sums from the bank before she could replace what she had taken,” said Captain Graves.

  “I suppose that’s the advantage of owning the bank,”
said Patrick almost to himself.

  The captain raised his eyebrows as he had no idea that M & F Bank was part of Liza’s company but when he thought about it, with a name like M & F, it had to be Marchant & Fuller. “You’re a very lucky man, Patrick. You have a wife who would give everything she has for you and you have the whole of the Cherokee nation rushing to your defence, without even mentioning the American Army riding to save your neck.”

  Patrick tried to smile, but his mouth was swollen and sore and all he could manage was a rather ugly grimace. “How’s Lieutenant Southern?” asked Patrick.

  “He’s not too bad. The doctor cleaned him up and the bullet went right through the thick part of the top of his arm. Unfortunately, he’s Corporal Southern now. He was demoted two places when he admitted to sleeping on duty and causing all the problems that you and Private Wilson have had,” said the captain.

  “I told him not to say anything about that. He nodded off for just a few minutes; anyone could have done that considering the amount of time we had all been in the saddle. I think that it’s rather harsh on him. I know he worked so hard to become a lieutenant and was so pleased and proud to get assigned to Benson. Well, it’s not my decision to make but if I had been there, I would have made my recommendations,” said Patrick.

  The journey back to Benson was long and tiring and finally, when Patrick saw the fort come into view, all he wanted to do was get back home to Liza and the boys but he was ordered to see the doctor first. As he went into the hospital Ben appeared and said that he going to get Liza straight away and Patrick had the overwhelming urge to go with him but that was impossible as he had to stay to be thoroughly checked.

  Dr Steele appeared and looked closely at Patrick. “I think you’ve been very lucky, Patrick.” He seemed impressed with the way Zelma’s brother had bandaged his ribs.

  There was much movement within the fort but Patrick knew immediately that Liza had arrived and he turned and there she was standing and smiling at him. Everything was now as it should be.