Catalina smiled at the recollection. She was certain that the B. stood for blowhard. The man just couldn’t stop talking about how great his company was.
He had gone on for twenty minutes on how the company got its name, specializing in the sturdiest axles by using only the strongest of wood in the making of said axles.
“It ensures that they will not break during the rigorous tasks they were called on to perform in the harsh life of the west,” the man had beamed proudly.
He had been particularly proud of the Conestoga being as hardy as they were for the wagon trains that traveled up the west coast from California to Oregon or to the south and Mexico’s Verde Abundante Valley, a place that attracted many from the southwest due to its lushness.
“The Conestoga will always get you there!” he had said repeatedly.
Catalina saw no reason why he needed to advertise his products to her since she was already in his company. Many times, she had tried to steer the conversation away from wagon axles, such as mentioning that her late mother’s family operated a vineyard in the Verde Abundante.
It hadn’t worked and he somehow got the conversation back to the timber used to build their wagons, all of which was imported from Canada. Catalina bristled a little bit at that. Even though her family’s ranch, was mostly known for its cattle, its secondary income came from the lucrative timber operation that her brother, Blue River had recently been placed in charge of. She was sure that their timber from the high country of Cedar Ledge was better than any produced all the way up in Canada.
She had thought briefly of telling Blue River to contact Bryce regarding a possible contract for their lumber and then shook her head. She adored her oldest sister but Cassie was always being accused of trying to boss everyone around. She did not want to fall into the same category. Catalina did not want to appear to try and manage Blue River when it was her job to deal with the cattle. The timber production was his to manage as he saw fit.
Despite the bluster of Bryce, she was glad she had gone there. The wagons were truly of the best quality, and they did need a new one after she sent the last one down the hill. When she finally picked the one she wanted and signed the papers with Bryce, she could tell the man was overjoyed at being showered with more income. Catalina shuddered lightly, thinking of Lijuan’s face when she got the bill for the new wagon
Blue River and Catalina ran the timber and cattle aspects of the family business respectively, but Lijuan ran the overall operations and hers was the last word when it had to do with expenditures. But for her absence, they would have gone to the wagon makers together, but Lijuan was still away with the other sisters. So, it was up to her to take care of replacing the wagon she had wrecked. Bryce had promised to have the wagon at Cedar Ledge the following day. Catalina had to admit that Lijuan probably would have bought the wagon at a lower price; her sister was shrewd with money and negotiation. Catalina shrugged. What was done was done already.
As Pretty Feet broke into a trot, Catalina thought about Jackson and Ruth Anne. The wagon excursion had afforded her a temporary distraction, but she had to get right on track now. Back in Alamieda, she knew that Kincaid and Drummond were working overtime to get Jackson’s trial sped up and it would likely commence within the next couple of days.
Ruth was now a constant presence at Cedar Ledge since Jackson’s arrest. Catalina had done her best to console her friend, but the poor woman was still beside herself at the possibility of her man being sent to prison for a lengthy stay. Today, Ruth, Catalina knew, was spending the day at Nellie Beck’s house, a mutual friend from their days at the school. So, she was glad she didn’t have to worry about her while she rode up to Sundown for the wagon. The ride also gave her time to think away from her friend’s constant worry.
She was bothered that she hadn’t come up with a way to help her friends who desperately needed her. Catalina, along with her three sisters had helped so many strangers, who were in desperate straits in the last four years, ever since they all honed their skills per Cassandra’s direction. Together or apart, they had the skills to help people. Now, her friends were in trouble and she desperately needed a plan.
Catalina had taken a shortcut through the mountains and was still in the high country when she turned on to the trail that ran along the rim of the San De Cristo Valley and she looked down pensively, distractedly. The San De Cristo Valley was the home of two disparate groups of people. On one side was a settlement known as Halmstad, populated mainly by a group of immigrants from Sweden. Decades earlier, they had left the cold climate of their northern home to start a new life in the arid southwest of North America. Catalina wondered how the Europeans had come up with the plan, but however, it happened, they had done so and today, it was a thriving little community.
The other group at the opposite end of the valley was of the Yavapai people. It was not the band that Blue River and his older sister, Bright Feather hailed from. The peaceful little tribe was one led by Chief Bold Eagle who Catalina knew well, having met him on several occasions.
For many years, before returning to Alamieda, Blue River's sister from his other family, Bright Feather, had traveled the south-west, learning all the languages she could from different tribes. Being so skilled at many languages, Bright Feather had proved useful as she aided her lover, Dutch, Catalina's brother and a cavalry captain on missions too many times to count. At times when Bright Feather couldn't go with Dutch, she helped the sisters out on their own adventures, serving as liaison with the native people.
One of the many people that Bright Feather had befriended in her travels had been the tribe of Bold Eagle. Bright Feather enjoyed visiting with the tribe and Catalina liked to accompany her on those trips. It was how she met Bold Eagle, too.
Catalina really looked forward to the day when her best friend would become her sister by marriage, she thought with a fond smile, momentarily forgetting her worries. Everyone in the family loved Bright Feather and she believed the day would be a joyous one for all the Wildes.
Well, everyone except Lijuan, she adjusted her thoughts. Her sister had taken a dislike to Bright Feather that Catalina had never understood. Her thoughts were on Lijuan’s bias against Bright Feather when she was distracted by smoke billowing from near the side of the valley.
“That looks like one hell of a fire, Pretty Feet! Let’s go check it out!” she cried to her horse. The smell of the smoke now replacing the pure alpine air she had been enjoying on the ride.
It may be nothing, but then again … she thought, already on the move.
She took a nearby path that would lead down to the valley floor. When she got to the bottom, she put her heels in Pretty Feet’s flank and picked up the pace. As she rode up, she reined in and coughed, covering her mouth and nose with a red silk handkerchief. A farmhouse and accompanying barn were engulfed in flames. It did not look like any of it was going to remain standing. She caught a whiff of death and grimaced behind the hanky. She was afraid that she might be a tad too late to help, though the thought did not stop her from galloping towards the farmhouse.
There were bodies all around the yard area with arrows embedded deep in them. One man had a tomahawk stuck in his head and a huge pool of blood around him. Catalina raged inside as she thought of who could have perpetrated such evil in the peaceful valley. The smoke stung her eyes and she could smell burning flesh.
“Hell’s Bells, the whole thing burned to ashes and the people … they’ve all been massacred,” she said as she put Pretty Feet to a stop.
“Wait, Pretty Feet. What’s that?” she said, suddenly at the sound of a tortured cry.
She leaped down from her horse and charged towards the burning house. A man came bolting out of the fire, a human torch. Without hesitation, Catalina took off her jacket and beat the flames engulfing him until she had smothered them all. Only then did she see the broken part of an arrow sticking out from his back. He was trying to speak and she saw a tomahawk cut below his throat. He had been torn up
badly.
“I tried to go … back inside, my Melissa; my … she was hiding in there when they came.” He started coughing then, while she supported him as he did. “She is only twelve, please help her.”
He was gasping for breath and she could see blood around his lips as he coughed more. She looked up just as the house collapsed and she dragged him away from the heat in the nick of time. The flames roared loudly, eating up the building quickly. There was nothing she could do and her rage overwhelmed her like the flames had engulfed the building.
“God damn it! God damn it all!” she swore furiously, shaking her head. There was no saving the girl now. “I’m sorry, mister. I truly am, but we gotta get you to town. There must be a doctor in Halmstad that can try and save you. Don’t try and talk, just nod if you think you can get up on my horse,” Catalina told him despairingly.
She beckoned Pretty Feet over and removed the blanket she always carried behind her saddle to wrap the man in it. The man stared at the house with tears in his eyes, but he nodded at her, strongly accepting his lot. Quickly but careful of his wounds, she helped him up onto Pretty Feet. Then she turned and looked around the yard and on the ground. She saw tracks of other horses and looked at them very closely.
Four horses were at the farmhouse and they were gone not too long ago, she was sure. The tracks and evidence around the burning home were interesting. She shook off the information, for the time being, she had to get the injured man to a doctor, pronto.
She mounted up Pretty Feet behind him and rode in the direction of Halmstad.
Catalina rode as fast as she could while keeping the man from falling off the horse. She had her arms around him, holding the saddle horn, cradling him, all the way. Sometimes, he would almost take a tumble and groan in pain when Pretty Feet vaulted over a rut. Catalina shushed him comfortingly and patted Pretty Feet to keep her going as well. The man was near delirious now and he seemed to be repeating a name. It sounded like Signe but she was not sure.
Though the journey was slow because Pretty Feet was used to her own weight only, Catalina managed to keep a good pace and rode into town with a huge sigh of relief. A group of men was surrounded by a man wearing a purple coat, and she rode towards them.
“This poor fellow is badly hacked up. You got a doctor in town?” she yelled from her horse. Although she didn’t know if anyone could help the man at this point, she had to try.
She slipped off her horse and helped the man down. Several men came over and helped lay him down on his side.
“Get the doctor!” someone yelled.
In another minute, a doctor came over huffing and puffing and Catalina got out of the way so he could get to work on the injured settler. The doctor was a large man and immediately began looking over the injured farmer, removing instruments from his satchel.
“Say, that’s Nels Torvold!” the man in purple exclaimed. “What’s up, ma’am, an ambush out along the wall?” he turned to Catalina.
He was a fine specimen of a man with good height, his blue eyes, and a well-trimmed beard, Catalina couldn't help noticing. He appeared to be someone of impact in the community.
Nels groaned and came awake, groaning and breathing heavily. The man in the purple coat knelt next to the doctor and Catalina moved aside, watching closely.
“What happened, Nels?” The man in the purple coat asked the injured man.
“Help me roll him over, Bergendahl!” The doctor commanded the man in purple. Once that was done, the doctor began checking the wound around the arrow.
“Who did this to you?” Bergendahl asked Nels again. There was fire in his eyes.
Nels fumbled to talk, but he couldn’t. Shaking with pain, he used his fingers to spell out the letters Y and A in the dirt before he lapsed into unconsciousness again.
“Y and A … but that should spell Yavapai, Bold Eagle’s people,” Bergendahl said in surprise. “We have always lived peacefully with them.”
“There is nothing peaceful about these wounds!” the doctor said.
Another man emerged from the crowd that clustered around them and knelt beside the doctor. He seemed a little flashy, Catalina thought. He was dressed as fine as a dandy with a yellow coat and orange trim. His face, however, was hard, with a downturned mouth that looked permanently annoyed. He had a blue scarf around his neck and a small pouch hanging like a charm to his chest.
“The first thing you want to do is get that arrow out. It’s probably killing him!” the new man said and yanked the arrow out viciously. Nels stiffened and came conscious for a few seconds, crying out in agony before passing out again. Blood gushed up like a fountain, bubbling from the wounds. Several women screamed and one man had to clutch his wife as she fainted.
Catalina wanted to remember this man as someone to avoid if she was ever injured.
“Hell’s Bells Mister! Catalina hollered with shock and anger at his reckless action.
She hauled ass getting the man to town in hopes of saving him and this dandy spoiled everything before the doctor could even do his work?
“What did you goddamned do, Tomas?” the doctor swore. “Either you nicked one of his arteries or that arrow was plugging a tear in one. Either way, he is going to bleed to death, and now there is nothing I can do about it!” The flustered physician told the dandy.
“I am sorry, it just looked to me that the arrow needed to come out,” the dandy said.
His apology didn't sound sincere to Catalina. Again, she was prevented from saying a word by the man in the purple coat.
“You’re sorry, Yarlsson? Really!” Bergendahl said in anger.
“You might be the unofficial mayor around town here, but who is the damn doctor?” the rotund physician rounded on him angrily.
“Again, yes, I am sorry, Doc Carstanjen. But as the lady said, he was as good as dead,” Yarlsson said.
The doctor sighed noisily and stood glaring at the Yarlsson.
“He’s certainly dead now and it is your fault that he stood no chance!” he said with finality.
“We’re missing the main point here! He got here in time to tell us who did it. The dirty Indians! They butchered the whole Torvold family! Am I right? They’re just as dead as Nels right?” Yarlsson said firmly looking at Catalina who nodded quietly as the crowd gasped at the news.
Yarlsson continued. "Are we gonna stand here and let them lousy redskins kill our neighbors? Maybe you men are too lily-livered to protect yourselves, but I will protect the women and children in Halmstad if you won't. If there is anyone of you with gravel in your guts, I say we raid the Yavapai, drive 'em out of the valley! Who's with me?" The man said loudly and fiercely.
“I’ll go with you! We gotta teach them redskins a lesson. A man’s kinfolk ain’t safe with them burnin’ and killin’,” a man said from the crowd.
Catalina had heard enough and decided this was the time to speak up.
“Hold on, boys. It’s not right to go riding off to Bold Eagle’s village and start shooting before we know for sure who did the murders,” she said.
“You suggesting we just sit around and wait for the injuns to massacre all of us?!” Yarlsson questioned as a man with a Walrus style mustache stepped up and slapped Yarlsson on the back.
“You’re damn right my friend! I won’t be losing my scalp to a pack of savages!”
Ignoring the other man, Catalina set her jaw and gave Yarlsson a hard look. “Not at all, Yarlsson. But the ones you are interested in getting’ are the killers, right?” She asked a little sarcastically. Gut instinct was telling her not to like this man and his attitude had done nothing to dissuade the feeling. “I know these people, the Yavapai. Somethin’ doesn’t add up. Give me a chance to bring the killers to justice by sunup tomorrow. Are there two men willin’ to ride with me to the Yavapai village?” she finished asking.
“Now just hold up a minute, woman. I know you helped Nels here and all that, but just who in the blazes are you?” he asked her.
“Catalina Wilde
of Cedar Ledge, over Alamieda way,” Catalina answered with a nod.
“That supposed to mean something?” the belligerent man asked.
“It sure does. It’s that place they call Half Breed Haven. No offense, ma’am,” Bergendahl said, removing his hat in a sign of respect.
Catalina smiled.
“None taken,” Catalina said. “Hell, we put the initials up in big metal letters as an emblem at the entrance to the ranch. People thought they might try and hurt us callin’ us that, but we done embraced it!” she answered proudly.
"You is a half-breed? You sure look all pure Mexican to me," Yarlsson spat as if the word Mexican was an offense to him. Catalina nodded without batting an eyelash.
“It’s the look nature gave me,” she said. “You should see my brother. He looks all Indian, exceptin’ when you get to his eyes, the deepest blue you ever did see. Anyway, I ain’t questioning how I came out lookin’, and neither should you,” she told him. She also had heard the same thing said about Lijuan’s predominantly Asian look, and didn’t understand why people always felt a need to point it out.
“You are correct, that was rude of me. Apologies, but owning a ranch, that qualifies you to handle our situation … how?” he asked.
She could still hear the slight sarcasm in his voice, but she didn’t mind. Soon enough, he would be put in his place if she felt it necessary, but again she was saved by Bergendahl.
“Trust me! She is more than qualified. I’ve heard the tales about her and her sisters and they are more than capable of handling trouble in whatever shape and form it comes in. Count me in, Miss Wilde. I’ll ride with you!” Bergendahl said. Catalina was starting to like the man. He had a reasonable head on his broad shoulders.
“Aye, I will as well. I’m Johansen, Nels was my cousin,” another burly looking man said as he stepped forward.
“Glad to have you men on board,” Catalina answered, ignoring the dandy. “Let’s mount up. The Yavapai village is on the other side of the valley, so we got a bit of a ride ahead of us. Somewhere along the way, we’ll take a break, set up camp and get some rest for a couple of hours, then finish the journey. We are going to want to be rested and with our wits about us when we encounter Bold Eagle and his people,” she instructed them purposely raising her voice so it came across loud and clear.
Silver, Gold And Deception: Catalina Wilde Western Adventure (Half Breed Haven Book 4) Page 8