They camped along a river that tasted a little salty, so Luci thought it must be the Saline. Mercy! She wrung her small, reddened hands. Was there any way to warn the innocent settlers? Luci knew she was watched too closely to sneak off and spread the alarm.
Sunday, May 30. Luci remembered the dates to keep herself occupied. When was it the Fifth Cavalry was riding out after the Dog Soldiers? The first or second week in June? Would they change their plans and move faster when reports of the new raids to the south began to filter in?
What a beautiful Sunday afternoon to die, she thought sadly as the Dog Soldiers made their plans, then split up near a farmhouse. Snake took his men to ambush the white people of that farm while she stayed with her uncle. There was nothing she could do to help those settlers or stop the attack, she knew that. Yet she tried desperately to think of some way, even as she heard the shots echoing and the screams.
Luci clasped her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear the shrieks, but was unable to keep them out. Her uncle looked at her and frowned. “I think my sister has given me a niece more white than red.”
“I hate the killing,” she wept. “I don’t want to see anyone die!”
Bear Cub looked at her sympathetically and went on sketching a battle scene in the ledger book.
After a few minutes, there was only silence. Then Snake rode back in with his warriors, all shouting in triumphant. On an extra horse, he led a pregnant white girl who wept hysterically.
Seeing Luci, she cried out, “They’ve killed my children! Help me! Oh, please, for the love of God!”
Snake grinned. “She can’t help you, white girl! You are a prize to be shared among the warriors!”
Luci threw all caution to the winds and galloped over to her uncle. “What cruelty is this? Do our warriors fight children? Let the woman go!”
“They have killed some of our children,” Tall Bull reminded Luci grimly. “Remember Sand Creek? Our babies were massacred there and a dozen other places! Besides, we will be moving fast and can’t be slowed down by children who might give away our position with their crying!”
There was nothing Luci could do as the whole group took off down the creek at a gallop, leading the white girl’s horse. Luci managed to ride close to the sobbing, pretty, girl. “I’ll try to help you,” she whispered in English. “Who are you?”
The woman managed to pull herself together at the sound of the familiar tongue. “Susanna. Susanna Alderdice. My–my husband . . . gone for the day. . . . I–I I walked over to visit the neighbors. . . .” She broke into sobs.
Now some of the warriors dismounted and were searching along the riverbanks. Luci was baffled. She turned to Susanna. “What do they search for?”
The girl shook with sobs. “Mrs. Kine and her baby managed to get away. . . . They’re probably hiding. . . . Oh, dear God! I can’t believe this has happened!” She covered her face with her hands and gave way to hysterics.
Luci wanted to reach out and comfort her, but there was no time for that now. Was there anything she could do to help the missing white woman? Sick at heart, she watched the Cheyenne braves checking along the muddy banks of the river, searching for a footprint or some other clue that the woman might have tried to cross there.
And then Luci saw her. Close to the bank where Luci sat her horse, there was a weedy, overgrown place. Luci saw the trembling white woman hiding in the muddy water up to her neck, her baby’s face just barely out of the water. The woman had her hand clamped tightly over the baby’s mouth to keep it from crying.
Luci’s heart beat faster. Snake would kill that baby if he found it and take the woman captive as he had done poor Susanna. Luci must stop that from happening.
The woman realized that Luci had seen her. With her eyes, she begged for mercy. Luci couldn’t do anything to help Susanna at this moment, but she might be able to save Mrs. Kine and her baby. She rode along the water, then shouted and pointed even farther up the river. “I saw a movement! I think I saw someone running into the brush from the water up ahead!”
Immediately the warriors took off at a gallop farther up the creek and fanned out, searching the brush and farther up along the river. They found nothing.
Snake scowled at Luci. “I thought you said you saw something move.”
“I did! Can I help it if your warriors are so slow, they let her get away?” She defended herself gamely. If they realized what she had done, they might kill her, but it was worth it if she could save the woman and her child. “Why don’t we ride farther up the river and look some more? Maybe she has gotten away. Or maybe the white woman fell in the creek and drowned. You know with all those long skirts they wear, that could happen easily.”
Snake snorted disagreeably. “We’ve wasted too much time already! We can’t spend the whole day looking for one woman when there are other farms to be raid!”
With a sigh of relief, Luci turned back. Now the war party took off across the country with Snake leading Susanna’s horse. Luci tried to stay close and comfort her.
Bear Cub reined his horse alongside Luci. They rode along in silence. Then he said softly. “I know what you did. I, too, saw the woman hiding in the water.”
Luci stiffened and looked at him. “Oh, Bear, don’t tell!”
“I won’t!” The boy shook his head. “I have no stomach for this. I would fight to defend my own people, but killing women and children is wrong, whatever race.”
She gave him a warm smile. At least she had found a true friend, even though the way he looked at her said it was more to him than that. He gave her an encouraging nod and rode back to check on the straggling herd of horses that the Cheyenne had gathered up.
Susanna rode like a lifeless doll, no expression, no movement. The shock had put her almost into a trance, Luci thought sympathetically, wishing she could do something more for the poor woman. She didn’t even want to think about the children.
But when they paused momentarily on the trail, Susanna managed to stir and leaned closer. “I–I saw what you did back there for Mrs. Kine. Who are you and why would you help us?”
“I’m Luci from Fort McPherson. I thought these were my people, but they are only savage strangers after all.” It was true. Up ahead, the braves had paused. She saw a small house and plowed fields in the distance. The Indians were planning strategy and there was nothing she could do.
Susanna said, “What will happen to me?”
“I–I don’t know,” Luci lied, not looking the pitiful girl in the face. She knew full well that any soldier, white or brown, considered a captured woman a prize to be enjoyed.
The prairie would be soaked with blood before this outbreak ended and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The best she could hope for was that she might manage to free Susanna and help her escape later tonight.
Susanna retreated to her mental trance. “My husband was gone for the day. . . . My babies. They killed my babies.” She said it over and over again in a toneless voice as if she could not quite believe everything that had happened, and if she kept talking, sooner or later she would wake up and find it wasn’t true.
The war party hit the farmhouse. The unsuspecting whites never had a chance. All Luci and Susanna could do was sit there under guard by a couple of Dog Soldiers while the rest attacked the farm.
Luci was almost in a daze herself. She sat her horse, hot, sweaty, and thirsty, closing her eyes so she couldn’t see the attack. But she heard it, all the screams and shouts and shots. And finally, the triumphant yells of the warriors and a woman screaming.
They came riding back with a beautiful blond girl slung across a horse. Her clothes were ripped and she was wide-eyed in horror. When she saw the other two women, she wept and screamed at them in a language Luci didn’t understand. Luci looked over at Susanna, who only blinked and shook her head. “German, maybe. There are a lot of immigrants among the farmers.”
Immigrants who only wanted to make a small home for themselves on the plains, Luci thought in
anguish. But at the expense of the Indians. Who was right and who was wrong?
Could she do anything to help these two unfortunate women? At least she had gotten herself into this mess, but these two white girls were innocent. She looked at the German girl, who was not much older than herself. This girl didn’t look like an ordinary farmgirl. Her clothes were better than average and her hands were soft and fine as if she came from a better-educated class of people than the average immigrant.
But now there was no more time to think or talk. The Cheyenne war party took off at a gallop toward the north, yelling to each other that the whole area had probably been alerted by these raids and soldiers might be sent in soon. The Indians wanted to reach a safer place before they stopped to rest and count their loot. Luci heard Snake bragging about all the gold coins he had found on the last man’s body.
Luci looked at the weeping blond girl, wondering if the body had been her husband’s and if she had seen him die. No time to think about that now. If only Johnny Ace and the cavalry would show up. Then she almost laughed. Why had she thought of the enemy coming to rescue her? He was several hundred miles away, making plans to help lead the army to kill her people. Only she wasn’t sure who her people were anymore.
The Cheyenne rode hard until after dark before they finally decided it might be safe enough to camp for the night, rest, and water the lathered horses.
While the braves built a fire, Luci helped the white girls from their horses. Both of them, but especially the pregnant one, were so sore and stiff, they fell when she helped them down and over to a willow tree.
Susanna grabbed her hand. “Can we escape?”
Luci looked around. A pair of Dog Soldiers leaned against a cottonwood in the shadows, watching the trio. “Not tonight, at least. Maybe later when they let down their guard.”
The foreign one jabbered at them in her native tongue and Luci shook her head to show neither of them understood her, but patted her own chest. “Luci,” she said. She pointed at the pregnant girl. “Susanna. Susanna.”
A flash of understanding lit the blond girl’s pretty face. “Maria.” She touched her own chest again. “Maria.” Then she burst into tears.
Luci put her arms around her and hugged her.
Susanna said again without expression, “They killed my children. I saw them kill my children.”
Luci wondered if the woman was going mad. To occupy herself, she patted the sobbing Maria’s back and wondered if Mrs. Kine had made her way out of the creek and to safety.
Susanna said, “My husband . . . where is my husband?”
Luci patted her arm. “He’s probably all right. Try not to think about it. Try to think about escaping and getting back to your husband.”
At that, Susanna stared at her without blinking. “I don’t know if he’s even still alive. He and my younger brother had ridden off to look at land they were thinking about trying to buy if we could get the money.” She studied her calloused, work-worn hands. “Farming is hard work,” she said to no one. “It’s all so ironic. My husband and my little brother were at Beecher’s Island against the Cheyenne last September. Lots of men were killed, but they made it back. Now maybe the Indians have killed them when they least expected it.”
“Maybe not,” Luci said a little too brightly. “Maybe they are just fine and are searching everywhere for you.”
“Do you think so?” Susanna grabbed Luci’s arm like a drowning man grabbing a floating stick. “Do you think so?”
“Of course,” Luci said. “Now let me see if I can get us something to eat.” It took all her strength to pull away from the half-crazed woman and Maria, who clung to her skirt. She made eating motions to the German girl, pointing to the men gathered around the fire.
She passed Bear Cub sitting with his sketch book on a log. He looked up at her. “I hated what happened today.”
“I know.” She looked down at his drawings, wondering if David Van Schuyler would think the boy had talent, if there was anything he could do to help the crippled boy. Certainly there was no future for him here. There was no future for anyone among the Cheyenne, she thought suddenly, certainly not among the Dog Soldiers. Why hadn’t she remembered this warrior society was the suicide group who expected to die in battle?
She went over, gathered up some dried beef and captured hardtack, and looked at her uncle and the others, who sat with bloodstained booty before them. “Is it all right if I feed the prisoners?”
Her uncle nodded, his face showing his good humor. “It was a successful raid, my niece. Perhaps you have brought us good luck.”
The shaman frowned. “Let us hope so. I told you of my vision after Snake spilled blood at the place of the Balanced Rock.”
Snake glared at him with contempt. “Superstition! You have misunderstood the omen, old man.”
While they argued over what the vision meant, Luci slipped back to the two captives with the food. They ate ravenously although Luci herself was too worried to eat much. She had seen the way the men kept glancing at the captured women. Their bellies were full and they felt safe enough to camp here at least for the night.
Snake stood up, looking their way.
Susanna looked at him, then at Luci. “What will happen? What do you think he’ll do now?”
Some of the other men stood up, too, looking toward the captives.
Was there anything she could do to protect these pitiful women? She’d have to try. Maybe if she pleaded with her uncle. . . .
“They’re coming over here,” Susanna said. “What do they want?”
Luci said it before she thought. “As pretty as you are, don’t you know?”
Chapter Twenty-two
The following weeks were a blur of misery to Luci. All through the month of June, she and the two white women captives moved with the Dog Soldiers as the warriors raided across Nebraska, Kansas, and eastern Colorado Territory.
She hadn’t realized she could be so unhappy, exhausted, and dirty, yet still manage to live without losing her mind.
The days were a blur of hard riding, hunger, and hot June weather, the sun beating down on the Cheyenne and their captives as they roamed the desolate and hostile prairie.
Susanna Alderdice and Maria Weichell were in bad condition and having a worse time than she was, Luci thought sympathetically as the group dismounted to camp for the night. She herself was bone tired from the killing pace the warriors had set all day but Maria and Susanna both collapsed in the shade of a tree and didn’t move when they dismounted. She went over to see about them, taking them some water. The pregnant Susanna looked as if the mental strain was almost more than she could bear.
She had to cheer them up. “Sooner or later, the cavalry will find us,” she whispered. “Think about home.”
Immediately, she knew that was the wrong thing to say. It reminded Susanna of her murdered children and she began to weep.
Luci put her arm around her. “Remember what we discussed to keep our minds busy?”
Susanna nodded almost mechanically. Her eyes looked as if she were past thinking. “You said we must teach Maria English. Otherwise, she’ll be helpless when she’s finally rescued, with no one to understand her.”
Maybe it was a ridiculous thing to be doing, Luci thought with a sigh, but it did pass the time and the German girl would need the language eventually–if they were ever rescued.
One of the Cheyenne women called to Luci to help with preparing food, and Luci went. If she didn’t, they would punish her by not feeding the captives, which was more than Luci could bear. She was treated well, of course, since she was Tall Bull’s niece. In reality, many times there wasn’t enough food even for the Cheyenne themselves because of the vanishing buffalo herds and the white hunters.
The pace had been intense, attacking lonely ranches, outrunning cavalry patrols. All the United States army appeared to be combing the plains for the renegade Dog Soldiers and the net seemed to be closing around them.
Later, Luci tr
ied to reason again with her uncle. “If you would surrender and free the captives, the women and children of this band would at least live. No doubt the government would let most of the warriors return to the reservation.”
“Existing is not living.” His calm logic was as tragic as his face. “The time for our people to roam wild and free as they have always done is drawing to a close. I see it, we all see it, none knows what to do, nor can we change.”
“In that case, the army will hunt you down, a few at a time. Would you rather see the people die than return to the Indian Territory?”
He stared into the fire, a sad man who had outlived his time. “Each man must decide for his own family. As for mine, we will take our chances, and if cornered, we will fight. I will not be locked up in a barred cage, which is what they will do to the leaders this time.”
Perhaps in his place, she would not do anything different, she thought, understanding him though she could not condone what he had done. She looked over at the exhausted captives. “If you freed the white women, the bluecoats and their Pawnee scouts might not hunt you so relentlessly.”
Snake walked up just then. “I say no! The women have been providing amusement for some of our warriors.”
Tall Bull shrugged. “What is more important than that is that we have them as hostages to barter if we should be cornered by the soldiers.”
“And if we cannot exchange them,” Snake said, squatting on his haunches by the fire, “we will kill them. Knowing that, the army will be cautious about attacking us!”
She tried to think of another way to reason with them. When she looked up, the ugly warrior stared at her with hunger in his eyes.
“Tall Bull,” he said without taking his eyes off Luci, “when may I marry your niece? I want a son by her crying in a cradleboard next year.”
Luci tried not to register disgust at the image that came to her mind of the big savage driving hard between her thighs. “I–I don’t think I am ready to think of marriage.”
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