Elise slapped the wheelers with the lines. “Up! Chick, Bumper, move along!” The mules perked up their ears and stepped a little faster.
A closer voice reached them, from two or three wagon lengths behind.
“Any men who can, ride back to the herd.”
“Should I hop down and run back to ask Dan what’s happening?” Anne asked.
“No! Don’t you dare leave me up here alone.”
After what seemed forever, they heard hoofbeats coming up the line fast.
“Keep going,” Rob’s steady voice shouted. “Keep your teams moving along.”
“Is there trouble back there?” Dan Adams called.
“A bit. Eb and some others went back to help. The best thing we can do is keep everyone moving until we get to a spot where we can circle. We’re vulnerable all strung out like this.”
Elise kept driving, but for the first time she wished she wasn’t leading tonight. Driving in first position in daylight as they rolled across the empty prairie was one thing, but her heart seemed to have climbed into her throat and taken residence there.
“How far?” she asked as Rob cantered up alongside her perch.
“I believe there’s a more level spot up ahead—perhaps a quarter mile. I’ll go on and see, but I won’t go too far.”
He rode forward, and Elise flicked the reins again. “Keep going, boys! It’s not far now.”
“Thank God we’ve got all six of our mules hitched tonight,” Anne said.
“Yes, they can pull harder.”
“And we won’t lose our reserves.”
Minutes later, Rob cantered back down the trail and reined in next to Elise. “It’s not far. Keep going up there about as far as you can see now, and the trail will open out in a grassy area. Pull off to the left and start the circle as best you can. I’ll ride down the line now, but if possible I’ll get back up there to guide you.”
CHAPTER 22
He’s not an Indian.” Eb stared at the prisoner in the moonlight. Will Strother and Josiah Redman stood by, guarding the young man while the rest of the drovers tried to calm the livestock and move them up the trail behind the wagon train.
“Wish we coulda got them all,” Will said. “They shot Nicky.”
“I saw him,” Eb said. “It’s not serious. Nick’s mama will fix him up in no time.” He deliberately made light of Nick’s wound to soothe the boy. Bad enough the Foster boy had been grazed by one of the raiders’ bullets. He didn’t need the rest of the young men getting all hotheaded and eager to retaliate. “What we need to do is get the wagons to where they can circle and run the rest of the stock inside. Then we’ll see how many head are missing and decide what to do about this.”
“We should maybe go after them now,” Josiah said.
Eb shook his head. “We’re in their territory. They have the advantage in the dark. Our top goal is safety. Recovering a few head of livestock isn’t worth losing one of our people.”
“All right, so what do we do with him?” Josiah jerked his head toward the young man who sat on the ground with his wrists and ankles bound. He watched them closely as they talked.
Eb lifted his right foot and nudged the prisoner’s foot with his boot. “Who are you?”
The young man just blinked up at him.
“When he talks, it ain’t English,” Josiah said.
Eb nodded. “Schwartz’s nephew, I’m thinking.” He hunkered down next to the prisoner. “I got a feeling you understand more English than you let on. But that’s all right. I’ve got someone who can speak your lingo.”
He stood and looked at Josiah. “Abe Leonard’s got the last wagon in line tonight. Walk this fella up there and tell Abe I want him tied up in the back of the wagon. Then one of you ride along behind and make sure he stays in it. Once we get the wagons circled again, I’ll deal with him.”
“Yes, sir,” Will said.
Josiah nodded.
Eb mounted Speck and rode to where James Binchley was overseeing the herdsmen.
“How you doing, James?”
“Good, considering. They came out of nowhere, Eb. Guess we’d let the herd lag behind a little too far, and they figured they could run off some stock before the rest of you would get down to help us.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. I guess moving after dark wasn’t such a bright idea.”
“Seemed logical, with it so hot in the daytime.”
Eb nodded, appreciative of the man’s support. “Live and learn.”
“At least we had a double guard on the herd tonight.” Binchley gave a short bark of a laugh. “Some of the boys complained. But you expect that from boys. They won’t question the orders from here on.”
“Not for a while, anyway. I’m sorry Nick Foster got hurt.”
“Yeah, that’s too bad. He’s young and tough though. It hit his arm, but I don’t think it broke the bone.”
“Nope, it didn’t.”
“He’s a lucky young man,” Binchley said. “And so are we all—I don’t think we lost more than six or eight mules. No cattle.”
“We’ll take a count as soon as we get camped.”
“Hey, Eb!” Elijah Woolman, the eighteen-year-old son of a farmer, rode up holding out what looked at first like a stick. “Look at what we found!”
Eb took it from Elijah and studied it. “It’s a Lakota arrow. Where’d you get it?”
“Down in the flat yonder. We think the thieves were hiding there in the brush by the river and rode out as we passed by. Mr. Clark and I went to look around and see if we could learn anything, and we found this lying on the ground.”
Eb stuck the arrow into his scabbard, alongside his rifle. “They planted it to make us think Indians attacked.”
He rode forward, up the gradual slope. When he reached Abe’s wagon, he found Josiah Redman riding behind with his rifle across the pommel of his saddle.
“Prisoner’s quiet so far,” Josiah called with a casual salute.
Eb went on up the line until he found Rob at the small meadow, directing the first wagons into formation. He rode over and halted Speck next to Bailey.
“Everything all right yonder?” Rob asked.
“As well as you could expect, maybe better.”
“Just the one kid hit?”
“Yup. He’ll be fine. Keep him off herd duty for a week or two though. You know they caught one of the raiders?”
“Heard it but didn’t know if it was true.”
“It is. We’ve got him tied in Leonard’s wagon at the end of the line.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“Thought I’d ask Miss Finster to talk to him.”
Rob jerked his head around. “Are you crazy?”
“No. It’s a white man, but he speaks another language. I figure it’s German. Schwartz’s nephew, maybe. I never saw him at the trading post, but…”
“I did. I’ll come with you after we get the circle formed.”
Elise wiped her brow with her sleeve. Uncouth, she thought, but she didn’t bother to look for a handkerchief. She and Anne worked as quickly as they could to take the harness off the six mules. Rob had instructed them to unhitch, as they would wait for daylight to move on. The immediate goal was to pen all the livestock inside the wagon circle and wait for morning, with every able-bodied man armed and on watch.
She finally released the wheelers into the circle as Abe Leonard’s wagon pulled into the spot ahead of hers. To her surprise, two mounted men rode just behind Abe’s wagon. The rearguard of the train, she supposed.
She walked over to them and recognized Josiah Redman, Mrs. Legity’s son-in-law, as the closer rider.
“Shall we tie up our clothesline to the wagon and unpack boxes and such to fill the gap, Mr. Redman?” she asked.
Redman hesitated and measured the distance between her wagon and Leonard’s with his eye. “Tie the clothesline on your end and bring me the other. And you don’t need to pile up your bundles. We’ll keep a coup
le of men here all night.”
“Oh.” That was odd, but Elise did as he’d said. She wasn’t averse to having a couple of armed men close to her station, but she wasn’t sure she and Anne would want to put up the tent and crawl inside. An air of expectancy hovered over the temporary camp.
As she finished tying the end of the rope through the iron ring at the front of the wagon bed, Eb rode up. She could tell it was him, though the moon had gone behind the clouds, because Speck’s white patches stood out clearly.
He dismounted and walked over to her. “Miss Elise, I wondered if you’d do us all a favor.”
“I? What could I possibly do for the company?”
“Come speak to the prisoner and see if he understands German.”
“Prisoner?” She stared at him.
Quickly Eb sketched out for her what had happened on the trail behind them while she drove her team up the slope to the meadow.
“Are you willing?” he asked.
“Yes, I suppose so. Will I have to get into Mr. Leonard’s wagon with him?”
“I’ll have the boys bring him out.”
A few minutes later a young man bound with ropes sat on the tongue of her wagon. Elise and Anne stood together next to the wagon, clutching hands.
“I had no idea,” Anne whispered. “While we were tending to the team, they had him in there, just a few feet away.”
“Yes.” Elise swallowed hard. Why hadn’t she asked Eb to take him somewhere else, where Anne didn’t have to see him? “Stay back, my dear. I’m sure they’ve disarmed him, but it wouldn’t do to draw the attention of an unsavory character to you.”
Eb came over to her. “Are you ready?”
“What shall I say to him?” Elise asked.
“Don’t tell him your name or anything else about you and Miss Anne. I think he speaks English, or at least understands it some, but he doesn’t want us to know that. Just see if you can tell if he understands your lingo. If he does, you can ask him if he’s one of Schwartz’s men and what they were up to.” He extended his hand to her.
Elise tried to quell her trembling as she placed her hand in his. Eb drew her over to where the prisoner sat. The men had brought a lantern, and she could see his face clearly. But if he was bluffing about his linguistic skills, how could she make him betray himself?
“You are right,” she said in clear German, looking toward Eb. “I think your decision to hang him is the correct one.” She turned back to watch the prisoner’s face. “He is definitely one of the thieves and worthy of execution. As soon as possible.”
The young man’s face blanched. He stirred as though he would leap up, but his bonds held him in place.
“Nein, frau! Nein!” In German, he blurted, “What have I done to you? You mustn’t let them kill me!”
She glared at him fiercely. “If you want to be spared, you had better tell these men what you were doing and who was involved. They would just as soon hang you as not. And you can stop pretending that you don’t speak English.”
He shook his head and raised his tied hands. “Please, madam,” he said in German, “my English is not good. If you will tell them—please—I did not want to do anything to them. It was not my fault, but they made me go with them.”
“Who?” she asked. “Who made you do this?”
His whole body wilted and his chin drooped. “Herr Schwartz.”
“Your uncle?”
His head snapped up. “He is not kin to me. He brought a couple of us over to work for him, and he tells people we are his family, but it isn’t true.”
Elise glanced at Eb. He was watching her keenly. “He says Schwartz was behind it all, and he forced his workers to take part in the raid. This man claims he’s not related to Schwartz and didn’t want to do it.”
“How long has he been with Schwartz?”
Elise asked the man.
“A little more than a year. He said he couldn’t trust the Americans he had working for him before. He brought me and Franz over last year. He paid our passage and said we could work it off in six months. But he doesn’t treat us well. I’ve been saving my pay so that I can leave him and strike out on my own, but it’s hard. He pays us next to nothing.”
Elise relayed this information, and Eb directed her to ask what Schwartz would do with the livestock he had stolen.
When she did, the man replied, “He has a place to hide them for a while—a canyon in the rocks. He takes them feed. And after a while he will bring them out a few at a time and sell them.”
“Can you show our men where it is?” Elise asked.
“No! He would certainly kill me.”
Elise laughed and said harshly, “You care now who kills you? All right, it’s your choice. I will tell these men to go ahead and do it.”
“What’s he saying?” Eb asked.
“He will tell you where Schwartz hides livestock he has stolen.”
Eb gazed at Elise with new admiration. “I don’t know what you told him, but thank you.”
“Only that you would hang him at once if he didn’t cooperate.”
Eb suppressed a smile. “At dawn we’ll take the wagons on to the place I originally planned for us to camp. There’s better grazing and access to the river. Then we’ll leave a dozen men with the camp. The rest of us will ride back to the trading post and settle things with Schwartz.”
“What will you do with this man?” Elise asked.
“I don’t know yet. Ask him where the hiding place is, please.”
Elise turned back to the prisoner and spoke to him in German. Eb tried to pick out a word or two, but he couldn’t. The young man seemed to understand perfectly, however. He grimaced and rattled off a lengthy explanation, during which Elise nodded periodically.
“Danke,” she said at last. She turned and took Eb’s arm, leading him a short distance away.
“I’m sure he understands you, so be careful what you say in front of him. Tell your guards as well.”
“All right.”
“He says the animals will be in a canyon—a sort of ravine or steep valley, I take it, up Willow Creek.”
“How far?”
“About two miles. The way is rocky at first, which hides their hoofprints. A large rock juts out over the water. If you go behind this rock, you should be able to locate the trail easily.”
“We’ll find it.” Eb realized she still held on to his arm lightly. He dared to pat her fingers for a moment. “You’ve done well, ma’am. Danke.”
She smiled and squeezed his arm just a little. “You’re welcome. Need I remind you to be careful, whatever you do? Herr Schwartz is a rogue.”
“That and a few other things.” Reluctantly, Eb released her hand and walked over to Josiah. “Put him back in Leonard’s wagon and tie him down. Keep at least two men guarding him all night.”
He walked around the outside of the circle. Rob was helping Orrin Harkness and his boys close the gaps between the wagons in the barricade.
“We’ll only stop here until sunup,” Eb said.
“Yes, but we don’t want to make it easy for them to start a stampede if they come back.” Rob lifted his hat and wiped his brow. “What’s going on in your head, Eb?”
“We take most of the men at daybreak and ride back to Schwartzburg. The prisoner says Schwartz forced his employees to steal for him. Not sure I believe him about the coercion, but we need to meet him with a show of force and be ready for resistance.”
“Spoken like an old soldier.”
“Watch who you’re calling old.”
Rob smiled. “All right, you’ll be in charge.”
“I think you should stay here with the company,” Eb said.
“Why?”
“If things don’t go well, they’ll need you.”
Rob squinted at him in the near darkness. “How many men do you think Schwartz has?”
“Not that many, but he’s foxy.”
Wilbur, his father, and his younger brother Ben came over to sta
nd beside them. “We going down and teach that trader a lesson?”
Wilbur asked.
“Not until we move the wagons to a better place at daylight,” Eb said. “Then we’ll split up the men. Leave a dozen here. The rest will go with me.”
“As near as we can tell, they only got about eight mules at the most,” Orrin said.
“They would have gotten more if our men hadn’t been on the lookout for them,” Wilbur added.
“Well, eight is too many,” Rob said. “But they’re not worth killing over.”
“I don’t intend to kill anyone unless it’s necessary.” Eb gazed levelly into his eyes. “We’ll be fine, Rob. I won’t shame you.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about. Some of these young fellas are mad as sin.”
When Elise awoke, the sun was beating mercilessly on the tent and the interior felt uncomfortably warm. She stirred to lift the tent flap a bit, hoping for a breeze off the river. Drumming hoofbeats grew louder. She listened for a moment. Shouts of exultation greeted the riders.
“Anne! Wake up, dear.”
Anne stirred and blinked at her. Perspiration stood in beads on her forehead.
“The men are back,” Elise said.
“Help me with my corset—quickly!”
A few minutes later, they crawled out of the tent and brushed their skirts down. The travelers had gathered near the Harkness wagons, so Elise and Anne made their way around the circle to stand on the fringe of the crowd. Eb stood on a crate between two of the wagons.
“Mr. Harkness has volunteered his smallest wagon for use as a temporary jail,” Eb was saying to the listeners.
Elise peered around and spotted a group of men standing a ways off, holding four men at gunpoint. Among them was Schwartz.
“We’ll keep the prisoners in there until we get to the next place that has some legal authorities,” Eb said.
“Whyn’t we send them back to Fort Laramie and be rid of them?” asked Mr. Libby.
“I’ll let Mr. Whistler answer that.”
Eb hopped down from the crate, and Rob climbed up to take his place. “If we sent off a detachment of our men to deliver these prisoners, we’d have to send quite a few, just to make sure our men were safe and couldn’t be overpowered. That in turn would weaken our force with the wagons. I don’t know about you, but with the rugged terrain ahead of us, not to mention possible trouble with the Indians north of here along the Snake, I don’t like the idea of having fewer men where the women and children are.”
THE Prairie DREAMS Trilogy Page 25