by Tell Cotten
Lee sighed as he lowered his hand. He took a swig of coffee, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and glanced back at her.
“I’m not even sure I’m doing it right. Tell you the truth; I ain’t had much experience around Injun folks. I’ve killed a few - no offense meant, ma’am -, but that’s about it.”
It fell silent.
Lee drank three cups of coffee while the young woman only took small sips.
Lee looked her over as they sat there.
She was pretty. She had a sharp, young looking face and long, tangled brown hair. Lee figured that she was around twenty, but it was hard to tell.
And of course, there were those big, blue eyes.
Suddenly, he noticed the blood. It was running down her leg at an alarming rate.
“Say, your hurt!” Lee said as he stood. “That looks serious. You’d best let me have a look.”
He placed his cup next to the fire and started toward her, and she watched him attentively as he knelt beside her.
“Take it easy now,” Lee said softly. “I’m going to help. Understand?”
She did not understand. As soon as Lee reached for her leg, she cried out and swished what was left of her coffee into Lee’s face. Then, she jumped to her feet and broke into a scrambling run.
Lee was stunned, and he yelled as the coffee burned his face. He fell over backwards, and then he rolled to his feet and trotted after her.
In her haste the young woman tripped and fell. She bounced back on her feet, stumbled, and fell again. After that she just crawled.
Lee caught up with her. He reached down, grabbed her shoulder, and flipped her over.
She started clawing him in the face while he grabbed at her hands.
Even with her hands tied she still managed to swing her fist, and she connected hard with Lee’s jaw. It was a stunning blow, and Lee lost his grip. She hit him again, and this time he tasted blood.
“Stop it!” Lee yelled harshly. “You just sit there and be still!”
He grabbed her wrists and held on firmly.
She fought hard, and all Lee could do was just hold on. But then her strength started to fade, and in her last attempt she kicked out at him.
“No!” She suddenly screamed, loud and clear.
Lee was shocked, and he almost lost his grip. Meanwhile, the young woman moaned, and her body went limp as she passed out.
Lee stared at her numbly. He caught his breath, and then he stood, grabbed her wrists, and dragged her back to the fire.
There he examined the wound.
As he suspected, it was a bullet wound below her knee. She was lucky, for the bullet had only nicked the flesh.
Lee figured the fall from Oscar’s horse had made it start bleeding again. He needed to stop the bleeding, and the best way to do that was to apply pressure with a bandage.
He went over to his saddlebags and rummaged through them. The first thing he found was his only extra shirt, and he frowned thoughtfully.
“Shirt cost me two bucks,” Lee grumbled, and then he dug deeper.
Finally, near the bottom, he pulled out his only pair of long johns. He stared at them thoughtfully and nodded.
“It’s a good thing winter is over,” he told her as he cut off the leg of his long johns with his knife.
Lee tied it around her leg, right above the wound. This slowed the bleeding some, and then Lee applied pressure with the rest of his long johns.
It took several minutes to stop the bleeding, and the young woman never stirred.
Lee bandaged the wound with the other leg of his long johns, and she woke up right as Lee was tying a knot in the bandage.
“Take it easy now,” he told her. “I’m almost done.”
She stayed still while Lee tightened the knot, and with a great curiosity she examined the odd-looking cloth that was tied around her leg. Meanwhile, Lee wiped the blood off his hands as best as he could.
“Leave it alone now, or else it’ll just start bleeding again,” Lee told her as he picked up her coffee cup.
He filled her cup and set it next to her. Then, he refilled his own cup and sat back down across the fire.
His face was starting to hurt, and Lee gingerly reached up and felt it. His lips were busted, and already he could feel a lump forming on his jaw.
Lee muttered to himself and shook his head.
“Ma’am, I hope you understand by now that I’m trying to help you. Hopefully this-,” he pointed to his face and made a circular motion, “-won’t happen again.”
The young woman grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip as she watched Lee warily.
“Works better when you drink it, don’t it,” Lee said sourly, and added, “Your wound ain’t all that bad. Be even better if I could stitch it up, but under our current situation I don’t think I should be attempting that. It should heal up in a few days anyways, unless you try to whup me again.”
Lee frowned as he studied her.
“I’m gonna guess one of them Oltman brothers shot you,” he said, and added, “Just so you know, I ain’t like those Oltmans.”
Lee took a swig of coffee and leaned back. He pulled out a cigar and bit off the end, and as he lit up he looked back at her.
“We’ve got to figure out what to do. Got any ideas?”
The young woman was silent.
“Thought so.”
Lee took a deep drag on his cigar as he sat there in deep thought.
Suddenly, she spoke. Her voice was soft and very quick.
“Coffee,” she said, except it sounded more like ‘cuffe’.
“What’d you say?” Lee asked, startled.
“Coffee,” she said again, and this time it sounded more accurate.
“That’s right! You remember coffee?”
She looked up at him, and her face went blank again.
Lee tried to get her to say something else, but she was done talking.
“Well, that’s just fine,” Lee said as he leaned back. “Conversation is overrated. But, anytime you feel like saying something you just go ahead and spit it out.”
Lee took a swig of coffee.
“I figured out what we’ll do. The nearest town is a place called Landry over in Texas ’bout a day’s ride from here. Ain’t much of a town, but hopefully there’s some law there. Mebbe they can figure out what’s best for you. How does that sound?”
Lee received no objections.
Chapter thirty
Two hours after Lee and the young woman left their camp, thirteen fierce looking Indians rode up. They dismounted and gathered curiously around the remains of the campfire.
No Worries, a young Apache war chief, squatted on his heels. He felt the coals and grunted in satisfaction when he felt the warmness.
No Worries stood and folded his arms across his chest as he studied the campfire.
White men, he thought. Only they would be fool enough to camp in such an open place as this.
It didn’t take long to confirm No Worries’ suspicions. The boot tracks, coffee grounds, and shod horses all proved this.
There was also a lot to be confused by. There was a woman’s tracks scattered around, and No Worries could tell where somebody had been dragged over to the fire. There was also some blood.
One horse, carrying two riders, had gone towards Texas. However, four horses had gone west towards the mountains.
No Worries knew better than to try and figure out the white man’s ways. They were a strange people that he could not understand.
He hated all whites. His one desire was to kill any white men that dared to cross any Apache land.
Not all Apaches felt this way. Some felt that it was better to try and make peace with the white man, but No Worries despised this way of thinking.
No Worries was wildly passionate in battle, and he led his growing band with a ruthless recklessness. He believed that he, not Geronimo, would soon be war chief of all the Apaches.
It didn’t take No Worries long to figure out whic
h tracks to follow. He was very curious about the woman, but the four horsemen offered greater reward.
That was the direction they were traveling anyway.
No Worries was on his way to meet up with a large gathering of warriors north of Valverde’s Pass. There was a little Mexican trading post at the base of the mountains there, and No Worries planned on attacking it.
It had been tried before with no luck, for the trading post was well defended. But No Worries was determined to burn it to the ground, and in doing so he would prove to everybody that his medicine was stronger than everybody else’s.
No Worries walked over to his horse and leaped onto the horse’s back. The horse snorted a bit, but No Worries ran a hand up the rein and jerked back roughly. The horse boogered sideways but then calmed down.
The other warriors mounted up, and they took out, following the tracks.
Chapter thirty-one
Trent was irritable.
When they found Oscar he had indeed fallen asleep, and he had also let the horses wander off.
It took them over an hour to catch the horses. By then it was late in the day, and by dark they still hadn’t made it to the underground spring.
Instead, they had to camp in a buffalo wallow that was not sheltered and had no water. They also had very little water in their canteens, so that meant no coffee.
Trent was furious at Oscar, and he made him sleep away from the others. They woke early, and everybody but Oscar was somber as they packed up camp.
Before they left, Trent walked up the bank of the buffalo wallow and looked around. It was still, and very quiet.
Too quiet, Trent thought.
Oscar was singing a song about a saloon girl as he saddled his horse, and Trent glared at him.
“Shut up!” He hissed.
Oscar quit singing and gave Trent a hurt look, but Trent paid him no mind. Instead, he narrowed his eyes as he studied the surrounding area.
“Something wrong, Trent?” Tyson asked.
Trent didn’t reply. Instead, he made a motion to be quiet.
There were no birds chirping, no nothing. There was only an eerie silence, and Trent felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand.
Trent jumped back into the buffalo wallow.
“There’s Injuns out there,” he said as he pulled his rifle out of its scabbard. “I can feel it.”
Everybody else pulled their rifles out too.
“Oscar, keep a-hold of the horses,” Trent said, and everyone else found cover at the base of the wallow.
It was silent as they all looked out. Finally, Reed glanced at Trent.
“Are you sure they’re out there?” He asked.
Soon as he said it, a cluster of Indians sprang up from the ground. They let out a piercing war cry as they charged straight at them.
Trent was shocked that they were so close, but he kept calm as he fired steadily. Tyson and Reed did the same thing, and at least two Apaches went down. The rest disappeared just as fast as they had appeared.
“Where’d they go?” Reed asked as he rose up a bit.
“Get down!” Trent growled.
A rifle fired, and dirt blew up beside Reed. A surprised grimace came from Reed as he fell flat on the ground.
“See?” Trent said. “Stay watchful now; they could attack anytime.”
They waited anxiously.
Every few minutes they changed positions so that they could see all sides. This went on for a couple hours.
“What are they waiting for?” Tyson asked irritably.
“Look!” Reed pointed.
Smoke rose about a half mile away.
“Is that a smoke signal?” Reed asked.
“No, more’n likely they’re cooking breakfast,” Trent replied sourly. “One thing ’bout Injuns is that they don’t like to lose any more men than they have to. They’ve got us pinned down without any water. I’m figuring they ain’t in any hurry. Course-,” Trent raised his voice so that Oscar could hear, “-we wouldn’t be in this fix if we had made it to that underground spring.”
“What are we gonna do?” Reed asked worriedly.
Trent pinched his face in thought.
“I don’t know yet,” he said.
Chapter thirty-two
“Ma’am, I ain’t sure, but I think we’re in Texas now,” Lee said.
They had traveled all day without any trouble. Occasionally Lee had tried to make conversation, but the young woman wouldn’t answer.
About an hour before dark, Lee pulled up in a sheltered, little draw and looked around.
“This here’s a likely spot to camp,” he commented.
Lee dismounted and helped the young woman down, and then he eyed her thoughtfully.
“Ma’am, I ain’t an expert on women, but I do know that women folk need a little privacy every now and then. So, while I’m setting up camp why don’t you go out into the bushes and take care of any business or whatnot that you might need to.”
Lee untied her hands and gave her a little push.
The young women looked confused, so Lee pointed out into the bushes and beckoned for her to go.
She looked out into the bushes and glanced back at Lee.
“Go ahead,” Lee encouraged.
She suddenly grasped the idea and hurried off.
“Don’t run off on me now,” he called out after her.
Lee set up camp and got a fire going. He put the coffee on and started cooking supper.
Soon it was ready. However, the young woman still hadn’t returned.
“I bet she ran off,” Lee grumbled. “I shouldn’t have trusted her this soon.”
Lee grabbed his rifle and turned around abruptly.
There, right beside him, stood the young woman.
Lee was startled, and with a strained yell he fell over backwards. He dropped his rifle as he landed in the fire, and he also knocked over the coffee pot.
“Woman!” He shrieked as he rolled out of the fire.
He started to say something, but suddenly he felt a fierce burning in his midsection.
Lee brushed himself impulsively as he knocked away the hot coals that were nestled in his pants. After that he just sat there and looked up wildly at the young woman.
She stared back with an expressionless face, but then a small smile appeared. It disappeared just as fast.
“Funny,” she said in that same soft and clear voice.
Again, Lee was startled. He smiled, and then laughed.
“Funny, huh? So, what’s your name?”
She didn’t reply as the blank look returned, and Lee sighed as he stood and dusted himself off.
“Ma’am, I know you don’t like to talk much, but next time I would sure appreciate it if’n you’d make a little noise.”
She didn’t reply. Instead, she held her hands out to him.
Lee thought about leaving her untied, but he just couldn’t trust her yet.
“It ain’t nothing personal, ma’am,” he said as he tied her hands together as gently as possible. “But I once knew a feller named Ben that had a scalped head, and I sure don’t want my scalp looking like his did.”
Chapter thirty-three
“We can’t stay here,” Trent announced.
It was almost midday.
Twice the Apaches had poured a concentrated fire upon their position. Between that there had been a few sporadic shots. That they knew of, there had been no more casualties.
“Why ain’t they attacking?” Tyson asked irritably.
“Waiting ’til dark,” Trent replied. “Come nighttime we won’t be able to hold this position. We won’t see them until they’re right on top of us.”
“I thought Injuns didn’t like fighting at night,” Reed retorted.
“I don’t like fighting at night neither,” Trent replied gruffly. “Don’t mean I won’t do it though.”
“What do we do?” Tyson wanted to know.
“We’ll wait ’til dusk,” Trent declared. “The
n, we’ll make a run for it. If I remember right, that underground spring is only a few miles away. Place is built like a fort. If we can make it, I think we could hold ’em off.”
“For how long?” Tyson asked.
“Long as we need to. We’ve got plenty of food, and there’s water there. Surely they’d give up eventually.”
“Won’t those Injuns know that we’ll be heading for water?” Reed asked.
“That place is pretty well hidden. They probably think we don’t know about it, especially since we camped here. Anyway, it’s a risk we’ll have to take.”
“I reckon that’s our only option,” Tyson said.
“Yes,” Trent replied sourly. “It is.”
Chapter thirty-four
Lee and the young woman rode into Landry midday.
He walked his horse down the main street. As expected, they received a lot of stares.
Lee spotted an old-timer sitting on a bench in front of a livery stable. He was chewing tobacco, and between spits he was whittling on a stick.
The old-timer had on a sweat stained shirt. Lee could see white long johns underneath, but the sleeves and collar had a salty brown look. Lee figured that the old-timer probably hadn’t taken them off since the start of winter.
He also had a stringy, white moustache that was stained by tobacco juice.
The old-timer looked up and saw them. He stared at the young woman, and then he looked at Lee.
“Howdy,” the old-timer said.
Lee nodded.
“You two look worn out,” he observed.
“We’ve ridden a far piece,” Lee agreed as he took off his hat and knocked off the dust.
The old-timer nodded as he continued to study them.
“Is there any law here?” Lee asked.
“We had a sheriff, but not anymore.”
“What happened?”
The old-timer spit out a long, brown stream of tobacco juice.
“Well, if you’d come into town from the other direction you would’ve seen our little cemetery. There’s a fresh grave there, and the sheriff’s in it.”
Lee scratched his jaw as he pondered that.