by Al Lacy
“Good mornin’, ladies,” Ezra said. “I think I know why you’re here.”
“I’m sure you do, Mr. Comstock,” Mary Beth said with a smile. “Mama’s fixing breakfast. She said it would be best if I bring Patty Ruth over here now.”
Ezra bent down and winked at the little redhead. “You want to see your furry little friend, don’t you, honey?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. I already fed him some grass for breakfast.” The wagon master leaned over the tailgate and brought out a wooden box with its lid off. Lowering it so the little redhead could see the jackrabbit, he said, “See there? He’s doin’ just fine.”
Patty Ruth reached in and stroked its long ears. “Good mornin’, Mr. Rabbit. Do you feel better today?”
“I’m sure he does, honey,” Ezra said. “Mr. Rabbit is going to get well, I’ll guarantee you.”
She smiled up at the old man. “That’s good. Thank you for takin’ care of him, Mr. Comstock.”
“You’re welcome. You can see him anytime we’re stopped for camp.”
Patty Ruth petted the rabbit again. “’Bye, Mr. Rabbit. See you tonight.”
Lafe Tolliver lay aside the top layer of kindling and dug deeper into the box to find dry wood. Vanessa stood over him, wanting to tell him about Dwight Cuzak, but she held her tongue. Dwight was the kind of man who would kill if he got angry enough, she thought, and he’d probably do it by stealth.
“I’m sure sorry you had trouble with the canvas last night, Vanessa,” Lafe said. “I still don’t know how you managed to tie that knot so tight in the corner. It’ll hold now, for sure.”
“You just don’t know how strong your wife really is,” she said with a hollow laugh.
Moments later, Lafe was building a fire near the wagon while Vanessa put grounds in the coffeepot and filled it with water. The tailgate was suspended horizontally with short lengths of chain, and she was using its flat surface to prepare breakfast.
Lafe was bent over the fire, fanning the flames, when Dwight Cuzak passed by slowly. He stopped just as Vanessa turned to say something to Lafe. Instantly, her body stiffened.
Lafe felt the tension in his wife and turned to see what she was looking at. He caught the licentious look in Dwight’s eyes and leaped in front of Dwight, blocking his path. “I saw that, mister!”
“Saw what?”
“The way you looked at my wife!”
“And how was that?”
“The wrong way, that’s how!”
“Aw, it’s just your imagination.”
“Don’t stand there acting innocent, you vulgar piece of scum!”
Dwight bristled and doubled up his fists.
“Good!” Lafe said. “You swing first, then I’ll finish it!”
“Hold it!” came Ezra Comstock’s shout. “What’s goin’ on here?”
“He was eyeing Vanessa again!” Lafe said, as the wagon master drew up with Micah and Tony at his side.
“That’s a lie!” Dwight said.
Ezra held up his hands. “Now, both of you cool down. I’m not gonna tolerate this arguin’, nor the fightin’ you were about to do!”
“Then you tell this lecher to stay away from Vanessa, Ezra! I know what I saw, and so does Vanessa!” Lafe wheeled around and looked at his wife. “Tell him, Vanessa!”
Vanessa avoided Dwight’s eyes and said, “This is the second time Dwight Cuzak has been a source of trouble over me, Mr. Comstock. My husband is right. He was leering at me.”
Solomon and Hannah Cooper stood in the half-circle of onlookers beside Deborah and Curtis.
Ezra turned to Dwight, who was standing beside his father and brothers, and said, “You promised me after the other incident that you wouldn’t cause any more trouble in this train. I warned you and your father that there would be no second chance.”
“Now, look Ezra,” Dwight said, “it’s their word against mine. Okay, when Curtis Holden and me had trouble, I was talkin’ to Van—Mrs. Tolliver, though I meant nothin’ bad about it. All I was doin’ this time was walkin’ past their wagon. Nothin’ else. Lafe’s imagination is keyed up because of the other thing. I’m tellin’ you, Ezra, I didn’t do nothin’ wrong.”
Ezra studied Dwight’s face and came to a decision. “I believe the Tollivers. But since it’s your word against theirs, I’m givin’ you one more chance to stay out of trouble.”
Then Ezra moved up close to Dwight, who dwarfed him in size, and said evenly, “I’m gonna say this just once. Are you listenin? You keep your distance from Mrs. Tolliver. If there’s anything… anything like what happened the other time, or this time, you and your family are out of the train and on your own. Understood?”
Dwight looked at his grim-faced father. Then to Ezra, he said, “Understood.”
Ezra turned to Walt Cuzak. “Understood?”
“Understood,” Walt said.
“All right, then. You’d better make sure your son stays as far away from Mrs. Tolliver as possible. Court is adjourned.”
During breakfast at the Cooper wagon, Solomon noticed that Hannah wasn’t her usual cheerful self. “Sweetheart, you look awfully tired. Didn’t you get to sleep after the storm let up last night?”
The entire family had bedded down inside the wagon, and though it was crowded and uncomfortable, Solomon had thought everyone slept well.
Hannah rubbed weary eyes. “No, I didn’t. It was the wee hours before I fell asleep.”
“But the storm was over.”
“The one outside…it’s the one inside that kept me from sleeping.”
“Your parents?”
“I can’t get them out of my mind… the look on their faces when they knew for sure we were moving to Wyoming.”
Mary Beth took her mother’s hand. The small loving gesture brought tears to Hannah’s eyes. “Sol, I may never see them again on this earth. It’s tearing me up to know how they feel toward you, and toward me. They’re still blaming you the most, you know, and it bothers me deeply”
Solomon pushed his plate away and reached to enfold her in his arms. “Sweetheart, it bothered me, too, to see the hurt and the anger in their eyes. But we didn’t leave Independence on a whim.”
“I know.”
“Remember the peace we both had when Colonel Bateman explained the need for the store at Fort Bridger… and how sure we were it was God’s will for us to pack up and move?”
“Yes.”
“And how the Lord had the Wilsons ready to buy the store, and the Donaldsons ready to buy the farm—both at very good prices?”
“Yes.”
“And we looked into the church situation by talking to Reverend Kelly?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’re doing God’s will in making this move, aren’t we?”
“Yes, darling. Yes, we are. If it weren’t for Mother and Daddy, I wouldn’t be having such a hard time.”
Solomon kissed her soft cheek. “The Lord knows all about this. And in time, maybe Ben and Esther will miss you and their grandchildren so much that Ben will swallow his pride and make the move to Fort Bridger.”
“Oh, boy!” Patty Ruth said. “Maybe Grandma and Grandpa will come to Fort Bridger, too!”
Hannah managed a smile and caressed the little redhead’s cheek as she said, “Once we get to Fort Bridger, I’ll keep letters going to Grandma and Grandpa, telling them how much we love them and miss them. Maybe the Lord will work in their hearts, and they’ll come to live near us, in spite of Grandpa’s stubbornness. We’ll pray for that very thing.”
The sky remained clear all morning as Solomon and Mary Beth walked beside the Cooper wagon. Solomon was used to looking at the lead wagon and seeing either Chris riding beside it or Buster tied to the rear of it. Today neither Chris nor Buster were at the lead wagon.
Solomon turned around and looked along the line of wagons. There was Chris, riding beside the Chuck Lander wagon.
Thinking aloud he said, “I wonder what Chris is doing a
t the Lander wagon.”
Mary Beth giggled. “He discovered Joy Lynn Lander a couple of days ago, Papa. You haven’t noticed it, but he’s been back there quite often the last two days. It’s just that he’s stayed there all morning today”
Solomon grinned. “Joy Lynn, eh? I’ve noticed that both of the Lander girls are pretty. What’s her sister’s name?”
“Trina Lee. She’s sixteen. From what I could tell, Chris was attracted to Trina Lee first, but lost interest when he found out she was an older woman.”
Solomon laughed. “That boy. It sure didn’t take him long to forget Lula Mae Springer.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. I heard Chris telling Micah that Joy Lynn likes the way he rides Buster.”
“Oh-oh. Don’t let your little sister hear about that. She’ll be teasing him about Joy Lynn till we get to Fort Bridger.”
Mary Beth giggled again. “Well, I won’t be the one to tell her, you can count on that!”
It was almost noon when the wagon train reached the stream Ezra had promised would be there. The heavy rain of the night before had muddied it some, but they were able to get some clean water by using heavy towels to strain it. As the train moved on, the water barrels were blessedly full once more.
Later in the afternoon there was a short rainstorm, but nothing like what they had experienced the night before.
The next morning, the sky was clear again. Everyone had slept well, and the train pulled out less than an hour after sunrise.
By early afternoon, what was a clear sky began to take on a cloud cover. Soon the wind was growing strong, and overhead the sky became dark with swirling black clouds. Lightning flashed to the north and the west, and everyone who was walking began climbing into the wagons.
At the Lander wagon, Chris Cooper trailed at the rear, talking to Joy Lynn and her sister. Both sisters had jet-black hair and creamy complexions. Every time Joy Lynn set her eyes on Chris, his heart felt like it was going to leap through his chest.
As the storm took on a fierce look, Chuck Lander leaned from the seat and called back, “Chris!”
“Yes, sir?”
“It’s going to rain pretty soon, son. Why don’t you tie Buster on the back and climb inside?”
“Yes, sir!”
Chris was about to swing his leg over the saddle when Ezra Comstock came trotting along and shouted, “We’re makin’ a circle, Chuck! Storm’s gonna be a bad one! Form a circle!” With that, the wagon master was gone.
The wagons ahead were already beginning to form a curve.
When Comstock pulled up to the Walt Cuzak wagon and repeated the message, Walt frowned. “Whatta you talkin’ about, Ezra? That storm ain’t gonna hurt us none. We gotta keep goin’.”
“No we don’t!” Ezra said. “I know about storms on these plains… I’m callin’ for a circle because it’s the safe thing to do.”
Cuzak hawked and spat. “Look Ezra, if we stop now, we’re losin’ valuable time…”
“We could lose a lot more than time! We’ve got a dozen saddle horses in this train, plus yours. I’m tellin’ you, we gotta secure ’em before that storm reaches us!”
Cuzak ejected a string of profanity, eyes blazing. “Look, man, every day me and my sons ain’t in California is a day we won’t be diggin’ for gold! Delay will cost us money! We’ll lose time if we stop. I say we keep goin’!”
“Your say don’t count! Make the circle!”
“I ain’t gonna do it, and neither are my boys!”
“Make the circle, and don’t argue!”
“I ain’t doin’ it!”
Ezra shouted above the wind, trying to control his mount, who was dancing nervously. “You’re free to go ahead on your own, if you please, but keep in mind that there are lots of hostile Indians between here and where you’re goin’! Only four wagons in a train would be real temptin’ for ’em!”
Walt cursed and shook his head. “Okay, okay, okay! We’ll get in the circle.”
Ezra guided his wagon train to a spot where several tall cottonwoods stood in a row and heavy bushes grew between them. The trees and bushes would serve as a windbreak.
When the animals were secured and the cords that held the wagon covers had been checked, everyone climbed inside their wagons to wait out the storm.
Solomon paused for a moment to look at the black, rolling clouds, and then climbed inside. When he had secured the canvas covers at both ends and eased onto one of the benches, he said, “This one’s going to be bad. Let’s ask the Lord to keep us safe.”
When the “Amen” came, great streaks of lightning ripped across the black sky, lighting the inside of the wagon. Thunder came rumbling almost immediately like the chest-deep growl of a monstrous, attacking beast.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The rain came in torrents, driven by the violent, howling wind. The lightning struck more frequently now, sometimes hitting the ground. The horses neighed in terror, pacing in half-circles on their hind legs, pulling at the ropes that held them.
In the Lander wagon, Elsie and her husband were sitting near the front of the wagon, and sisters Trina Lee and Joy Lynn were side by side at the rear.
Trina Lee wrapped her arms around her knees and put her head down as lightning illuminated the interior of the wagon. “I wish Bob was with us,” she said.
Elsie smiled. “Funny how you and your brother pick on each other and act like you’re enemies, but at a time like this, you want him with you.”
Trina Lee grinned. “It’s an act, all right. Bob is the greatest brother any sister ever had.”
“That’s for sure,” Joy Lynn said. “Right now I wish he was riding our wagon instead of driving Mr. Cooper’s.”
Trina Lee giggled and elbowed her sister. “I have an idea, little sis, that if you could choose between having Bob sitting here with you or Chris Cooper, you’d choose Chris.”
Joy Lynn blushed. “Well …”
Suddenly they jerked in surprise as a giant bolt of lightning struck a cottonwood tree next to the wagon, splitting off a huge section of the tree. With a powerful jolt, the limb crashed through the wooden ribs and canvas covering, landing in the rear of the wagon.
Chuck and Elsie sprang from their seats as Trina Lee’s screams filled the air. Chuck strained to lift the tree but couldn’t budge it.
“I’ll get help!” he said, and leaped from the wagon.
Elsie peered through the leaves and clawed at the smaller limbs as rain poured through the torn canvas. “Hold on, Trina!” she cried. “Daddy’s gone for help! We’ll get you out in a few minutes! Is Joy Lynn all right?”
“I don’t know, Mother!” Trina Lee wailed. “She’s behind me, and I can’t move! I can’t turn to look at her!”
“Joy Lynn, honey… are you all right?”
When no answer came, Elsie cried, “Joy Lynn! Talk to me, honey! Are you all right?”
Elsie could hear voices above the sound of the storm. She wheeled around and looked past the ripped canvas to see her husband and son, along with Solomon Cooper, Curtis Holden, Tony Cuzak, and others.
Elsie fought to keep her fear at bay as she shouted, “Chuck, I can’t get a sound out of Joy Lynn! And Trina Lee can’t move!”
Chuck lifted Elsie out of the wagon and then went to help the other men. While the tree was slowly raised, Elsie looked up to see Hannah Cooper. Conversation was a lost effort against the noise of the storm, so Hannah just threw her arms around the worried mother and held her tight.
Finally the massive section of cottonwood dropped to the ground with a thud, and father and brother climbed inside the wagon.
Trina Lee moaned as Bob lifted her carefully into his arms. “Here, Bob. I’ll take her,” Solomon said.
Bob eased his sister into Solomon’s arms and turned back to see about Joy Lynn, just as his father ejected a loud cry and wailed, “She’s dead! Elsie, our baby is dead!”
Elsie tried to climb into the wagon. “No-o-o!”
“You don’t
want to see her, Elsie!” Chuck shouted, preventing his wife from coming over the tailgate.
“She’s my baby! I want to see my baby!”
Hannah and the men stood by, their wet faces solemn, as Elsie pressed herself against the wagon and released a wild, almost demented scream. Chuck jumped down and folded her into his embrace, and together they wept for their inconsolable loss.
The violent storm raged on. Chris Cooper had been left to watch over his brother and sisters in the family wagon. Outside, Nipper and Buster were wild-eyed, pulling at their tethers. All the children pressed together closely, and Mary Beth held a terrified Biggie on her lap.
When B. J. began to tremble uncontrollably, Chris put an arm around him and said, “It’s going to be all right, B. J. The storm will be over in a while.”
“Why are Mama and Papa stayin’ gone so long?” Patty Ruth asked, clutching Ulysses.
“It must be taking a while for the men to lift the tree off the Lander wagon, honey,” Mary Beth said. “They’ll be back soon.”
Chris felt antsy at mention of the Landers and stuck his head out the back of the wagon to check on the horses.
Chris cared about Nipper, of course, but he had a special love for the horse that belonged to him. Three years ago he had watched Buster’s birth and had raised him from a colt. The two of them were special buddies.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck nearby and Buster pulled hard at his rope, loosening it. Chris gasped as his horse gave a shrill scream and bolted.
“No, Buster! Come back!”
In a flash, Chris leaped out of the wagon, running after Buster, who galloped across the open circle. The horse dashed about, pivoting and wheeling in fear. There was an opening in the circle where an equally frightened team of horses were giving Gordon Cuzak a real battle as he held tightly to the reins.
In his terror, Buster headed straight for the opening and plunged past the rearing, pawing horses. Chris was right behind him, yelling at the top of his voice.
Mary Beth leaned outside the wagon and shouted as loud as she could for Chris to come back, but the wind carried her voice into the rumbling thunder.