Camp Camel: The Heart of Texas

by Eaton, Rosemary

  Lizard laughed in her face as the bravado overtook his reason, “Then you won’t miss your scalp. I take it while you live.” He came up wet and dripping with a slice of her hair in his hand letting out a blood curdling scream. Another pawed her and sucked hard at her breasts as he did his business. A large buck pulled his slow companion off as he made himself ready then he turned considering his options. Why take this old bag of bones when there was the girl. He looked at Pihi like she was his desert. Bryan had killed two more and was working his way through the braves between him and Jenny as the blood rage took hold of his mind.

  Pihi spit out at big buck cursing his name. She would not go down without a fight. Sparrow Hawk nodded to Eagle Feather, “You were right, she has great spirit and love for Itsee. It would be a shamed to loose such would it not?” As the man took his first step toward Pihi, Jenny managed to grab his tomahawk and flung it into his back.

  Eagle Feather replied, “Yes, and your Knife’s edge has found the devil’s back. We end this now I think before she kills them all and makes us look weak. Sparrow Hawk drew his bow and let his arrow fly at one of the braves behind Itsee as Eagle Feather took the man holding Pihi. Wolf, Snake, and Turtle let their arrows fly as one after another struck down the braves around Itsee, Pihi, Jenny and Bryan. Itsee screamed out his own war cry and knocked the knife out of the hand of the brave beside him. Pihi picked up the club and hit another brave in the back giving Itsee time to slash him across his belly. The two tribes came at each other as Bryan made his way to Jenny’s side and they fought side by side until Lizard’s men were no more.

  Bryan bent over grabbing his knees trying to get a breath. Jenny clutched at Bryan’s pants trying to pull her self up as she saw that Itsee was in Sparrow Hawk’s hands trying to reach the knife in his hand. Bryan bent down, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Her hand trembled as the wokwave tore threw her brain and body with the adrenaline rush that followed a hard fight. Jenny turned to the side spiting the blood from her mouth and the stone in her cheek meant for the next man who tried to take her. Bryan’s eyebrow rose, “I hope that wasn’t for me.” He tore off part of his shirt to make a bandage for Jenny’s leg. He tried not to look, but he knew what was there.”

  Sparrow Hawk addressed Bryan as if nothing had happened, “Foolish but brave. There is no need to stop the bleeding. It will stop soon enough when her cursed spirit is free. She has shamed you and betrayed me. It is well their stench reeks in my nose. She will die with it own her.”

  Bryan moved closer, “Over my dead body she will. She is my wife.”

  Sparrow Hawk smiled, “You think you can, you can try, but she will be just as dead I think. You have lost. You ran your mouth while the arrow burned. Still your mouth or she dies first while you watch how I remove their stench from her skin.”

  Jenny could feel Bryan tense up about to charge into Sparrow Hawk with the rock clinched in his hand. She groaned as she tried to rise and lifted her arm up toward the stars like she saw someone familiar calling out the name of her dead son, “Chibitty.” Jenny swallowed and her breath came in short sharp jerks as she took Bryan’s hand and whispered, “Be still and hold me tight if you love me. Gage will come. He said he would come. Let his anger pass.”

  Sparrow Hawk lowered his knife and looked Itsee in the eye addressing the loser, “You either are or you are not. Choose my son, but there will be no being Comanche today and white tomorrow. Eagle Feather was promised a son. Pihi has no choice in this. My oldest son must honor the promise.”

  Itsee stared at Bryan and the woman who was his mother and back to Pihi. He stood up proud, “I am Comanche. I see the curse on her face.”

  Bryan said, “You used her children to set us up for that scum bag and now your blackmailing him?”

  Sparrow Hawk said, “Treaty say I not attack without cause. He gave me cause taking what should have been my right for revenge against those who challenged me. If you be still, you can go as in treaty. You keep jabbering, I think you casualty of this fight.”

  Gage called out from the shadows, “Treaty also said she was to be treated as a guest and protected against harm. Do you go back on your word? Are you without honor like the scum you killed?”

  Sparrow Hawk said, “No, I do not go back on my word. You were late. You were to keep them safe. Not guest when left.”

  Gage cocked his pistol and pointed it at Sparrow Hawk, “No not late. I am where I wish, when I wished to protect your son and his mother like I promised. You try to kill her and you will die first.”

  Sparrow Hawk grinned, “There is just one of you, I think you be dead too.”

  Dallas spoke up, “You would be wrong. If the boy and the girl want to go with their mother, he still can.”

  Itsee spoke, “No, this will stop here. I have chosen. I am Comanche. If you kill them, you kill me too.”

  Bryan rose wincing as the cracked ribs sent sharp pains into his chest, “Enough. I didn’t come back just so we had to fight him too. I have what I came for, let him take his prize and leave Texas as he promised.” Bryan turned to Sparrow Hawk, “I think I kill you another day. Today I have more important things to do.”

  Sparrow Hawk agreed, “As you say. It would have been a good fight, but I have promises to keep as well. Let us go. My son becomes a man tonight and Eagle Feather becomes honored family.”

  Sparrow Hawk, his restored son Itsee, Pihi, and his braves disappeared as quickly as they showed up.

  Bryan grimaced as he felt another cracked rib stick him in the side, “I think I cracked some ribs and she can’t ride.”

  Jenny asked, “Gage?”

  Bryan replied, “Yes, as he promised. He brought help.”

  Jenny said, “I have shamed you greatly. End this for me.”

  Bryan looked into her eyes and held her hand, “No, you have made me very proud. Now don’t talk.”

  Sorry

  Gage knocked on his father’s door called out, “Dad, it’s Gage. Can I come in?”

  Gage’s father yelled out, “You were in and you left. What, you don’t want to crawl back in the hole you crawled out from?”

  Dallas knocked, “Mr. Travis, this is Major Sanders. I have wounded out here. For pity sake let us in.” There was the sound of another baby squalling as Captain Bowman held the cradle board out to Bryan.

  Mr. Travis asked, “You didn’t bring her did you Major? I told you I’d shoot her the next time she walked up to my door step!” Mr. Travis rose and handed the squalling mess back to Sonya and told her to take him out on the back porch while he explained something to the Major. He couldn’t hear his own voice for all the squalling.

  Anna screamed out “Run Miss Jenny, he’s getting his gun.”

  Dallas knocked again, “Sir, open this door so we can talk. I have wounded and you will quarter them.”

  Mr. Travis asked, “Fine, pitch your tents, you can put your wounded in my barn and I’ll send someone to help tend them, but you’re still not bringing her into my home. I mean to draw the line somewhere. I’m not inviting that thieving Indian to come into my home to get back his bate. I have other women to consider Major.”

  Dallas said, “We have a child. A white child.”

  Mr. Travis said with conviction, “Not letting her children in here either. You had her and her boys with your camels, well that’s good enough for me too. I don’t claim any of her kids or any of Gage’s half-breeds, or Bo Callahan’s spawn either.”

  Dallas took a breath, “It’s a girl. About four months old. Most likely a captive. They left it to die and it looks as white as you and me.” Dallas pleaded, “She needs something to eat. She’s pretty weak Sir. You want the little girl’s death on your hands?” Dallas added for good measure, “You can’t tell me you think that child is brain washed already.”

  Mr. Travis asked, “Why can’t she feed it. You’re just using the baby to get inside.”

  Captain Bowman frowned as Bryan finished changing the little girl’s covers and was trying to get
her to drink the goat’s milk without much more success than the other men had managed, “So it wasn’t just that she was wet. She thinks the stuff is nasty. Do you think your squaw could feed her?” Jenny held her hands out automatically reaching for the little girl.

  Bryan said, “She understands English. She was a teenager when they took her Captain.”

  Captain Bowman said, “She might not realize we’re the good guys yet. She’s not going kill the child is she? After all we found the little girl in Red Eagle’s village.”

  Bryan sighed, “No. She’s not going to kill her, but she’s in no condition to be taking care of the child yet. She’s still having visions. Mr. Travis has help that can tend her. She gets hungry, she’ll eat.”

  Bryan whispered to Captain Bowman, “Does she remind you of anyone?”

  Jenny turned her back to Bryan and curled into a ball as the colors took her back to the cave, but this time it was Sparrow Hawk drowning and she let go of the bone and watched him sink and she ran from the cave back into the village and quickly took her sons and left and went home. Her father welcomed her home and her mother hugged her. Then it changed to Christmas. There was a real live Christmas tree and her boys were dressed as white boys. Cole and Hope were there playing with Wasapi and Peekwi while Bryan helped her cook a scalped pig and tubers. The Major was bouncing JC on his knee as he rode his father’s knee like a horse. His wife was nursing a new baby while her little girl was pulling a cat’s tail causing it to let out a screech that set the dogs barking. Then there was the boy soldier laughing and running the shell game. He bet Gage he couldn’t guess which shell the pea was under. Cole and Hope were being wagered, double or nothing. Gage lifted the shell and she woke up. Jenny realized she didn’t know who won. Were they still Gage’s or had the boy won both? Then as quickly as one dream ended another began. There was Red Cedar laughing playing with his grandsons and showing her father the black pearls around his neck. Then Sparrow Hawk’s hands were rubbing hers softly looking into her eyes and telling her tonight you die. They are my sons and the Knife has grown dull. Jenny screamed out as she was the one drowning as Sparrow Hawk let go of the bone in the hot water pool. Jenny gasped for air waking with her arms flinging back and forth as she tried to keep from drowning.

  Captain Bowman quickly took the girl from Bryan’s hands as he grabbed Jenny’s arms and waited for her to wake and realize where she was. Captain Bowman swallowed as he said a prayer for protection as he put the girl back in her cradle board.

  Bryan commented, “You’re safe unless you drop her. Now bounce so she doesn’t cry out.”

  Dallas replied back to Mr. Travis, “You know he’s coming whether we’re here or not. If you ask me, this is a pissing war between the two of you and he wants you to suffer.”

  Mr. Travis said, “Yes, I’m sure he does. I killed his mother. Shot her in the head right in front of him. She was my first wife and I put her out of her misery when I found her.”

  There was curse that flew from Gage’s mouth, “Son of a bitch, you didn’t think that was important for any of us to know? No wonder you boarded up my room. You had a blood war going with the man. You made me think it was me, but it was you wasn’t it old man.”

  Mr. Travis answered Gage, “I lost one child, I wasn’t letting him sneak in and get you too!”

  Dallas saw his opening and addressed the man, “I’m not asking you to take her in. I just want her to show us where some of the openings are in that cave. You ever wonder how they got back and forth between here and that ravine? I think those caverns cover a lot of this valley. Give us a week, Sir, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  Mr. Travis opened the door, “Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra guns tonight. Sonya and Anna will give you what you require for your men and the wounded. But my boy, he’s crazy you know. They gave him his walking papers because he came back crazy. If you don’t believe me, I have the letter to prove it.”

  Dallas couldn’t disagree with the old man about Gage being a little more crazy than he remembered, but when push came to shove, he was still Gage and had come through with shining colors tonight. He’d gotten the long over due dispatch confirming Gage was on a PIU mission with cover under Albert Pike’s department of Indian Affairs. Dallas swallowed, “He wasn’t so crazy he couldn’t handle Sparrow Hawk at his own game tonight. And if you ask me, no crazier than you Sir. You put two tombstones up, cuss me for not bringing him back, then turn them out like you don’t care. I think you care, you’re just too stubborn to admit it.”

  Mr. Travis looked at the men on his porch half expecting Jenny to be standing there with one of her sons at her side. The Captain took off the cradle board, “Thank you Sir. You don’t know how good that feels to be shed of this. I don’t see how they do it.” He handed the cradle board to Anna and smiled, “Blistered my back side good it did. We decided to call her Hope.”

  Mr. Travis told Anna, “Tend to their needs. Try not to let anyone die tonight. It’s bad luck for a guest to die in your care. As for the girl, maybe she’d like what that boy is too good to eat. I’m going back to bed. Good night Major Sanders and good luck. You’re going to need it.”

  The Sergeant Major spoke up, “We brought a goat, if that helps.”

  Anna looked at the men, “You could not milk it into your metal cups?”

  Captain Bowman said, “Yes we milked it. But the girl was on her high horse and didn’t think our cups were clean enough and turned up her noise at our milk soaked shirt tails. None of my boys were too good to take food any way it came. Give me a boy any day.”

  Sonya decided Cole wasn’t getting any better and Mr. Travis was done talking. She walked around to the front and looked at the Captain and pushed out Cole, “It is bargain. You take Cole. We’ll take Hope. She probably just not like blood with her milk.”

  Sonya took the bottle of cow’s milk and the little girl pushed the bottle away. Captain Bowman smirked, “See told you.”

  Cole let out a squall that could spit your ear drums as the Captain held him out at arms’ length, “What you gave him to me wet or soiled?”

  Sonya shook her head, “Colic, this one has colic and will not sleep or eat.”

  Gage walked up behind the Captain, “Here, let me. I know what he wants. Gage bounced him in his arms and took him over to Jenny, “Sorry, would you mind?”

  Bryan looked at Gage, “Let me guess. He’s not sleeping and you want her to nurse him? Doesn’t she deserve to get some sleep?”

  Gage said, “So, never stopped me. He’ll latch on. Women sleep with children all the time.” Gage looked around, “Sonya, do you think you could find some extra quilts? We can fix you up Bryan, put some hay in the bed and cover it. Plenty of room for both of them.” Before Bryan could object Jenny had the boy at her breast and smiled up at him, “Cole need man’s chest. Gage help? Yours hurt.”

  Bryan chuckled, “Yes plenty of room Gage. You’re his bed warmer tonight. When he pees, it’s your shirt, not mine.” Both Gage and Bryan were watching the boy quickly draining her milk. Bryan looked at Gage, “You think one of us should maybe drink a little to see if it’s safe yet? She was screaming like she’s still seeing colors Gage.”

  Jenny smiled at Gage, “Sarrie. He sleep now.”

  Gage asked, “Did she mean sorry or dog?”

  Jenny said, “Dog. All men dogs but Bryan. You late. Your Major using me like worm for fish, Father want me dead, Sparrow Hawk prick, even son grow into dog and bite the breast that fed him. This baby too. When man, he will be a dog. I think maybe you two share wagon. Barn too easy to burn or raid.”

  Bryan asked, “What? Where did that come from? I’m pretty sure you’re got two children you need to feed. I’m hurt. Aren’t you going to nurse me? For Pete’s sake Jenny, think of Gage. What’s he going to say when you father asks where you went?”

  Jenny said, “Tell him I go to find bones to fill my grave. Time for dead to rise up and fight back. I buy all of Texas, then he sl
eep in barn.”

  Gage and Bryan watched her limp out toward an old abandoned well house that looked like it was about to fall down. Jenny wiped away the spider webs then threw the rope and bucket down and disappear. Bryan called out, “But you can’t honey. You’re married. It would belong to me.”

  Gage said, “Damned, right in plain sight too. Good job Travers. She’s going to lead us right to it.”

  Bryan thought about the bag Itsee gave to Red Cedar, “Itsee gave Red Cedar a bag full of melted gold. Want to bet he didn’t leave any for us?”

  Gage replied, “I’m sure he gave them what Red Cedar had. He just paid off Sparrow Hawk’s pledge for support in a way that didn’t make them look like they were selling out.”

  Bryan asked, “You’re not going to follow her?”

  Gage grinned, “I’m not that crazy, there’s probably snakes down there. Besides she can’t go far in the dark. She didn’t take anything to make a torch.”

  Jenny in fact hadn’t gone far. She sat with her legs in the water bucket digging out the headless skeleton at the bottom of the dried out well. She knew where her father had gotten his famed Conquistador’s helmet and it wasn’t from the bones in the cave. Bones were bones and maybe the sight of them would be enough to convince Sparrow Hawk or who ever he sent that the Prick Whacker was in the spirit world. And if not, maybe she could dig out the dirt that filled in the small tunnel and they could hide in the caves. Jenny poked her head into the opening and pushed with her hands. The dirt was soft. She pulled her body out and felt the floor for the rails and followed them back until she found herself back under where the wagon sat. She could hear Bryan, Gage, and the Major talking.

  Bryan said, “Didn’t stop her last time. She took JC somewhere completely in the dark.”

  Dallas shook his head, “Don’t you two look at me that way. I’m not the cave expert here.”

  Gage said, “Well, don’t look at me. Dad never let me go back and I’m not to fond of wells, especially that one. There are dead men down there with creepy crawlers in their eyes. I’m pretty sure my Dad’s prize helmet came out of that hole.”