Posted by AlOmega on June 12, 1999 at 20:04:41:
CHISHOLM TRAIL
by AlOmega
Chapter 1
On the Trail
I never shoulda come to Abilene. Martha said that nothin’ good ever came from Kansas and nothin’ good
could come of going there.
Martha was right.
We had talked about it deep in that moonfilled night we knew to be our last for a while. Come sunup
we’d start the cattle drive; and, I wouldn’t be home for several months. But I had to go. We had to have
hard cash what with the baby coming and all. We knew she’d have it while I was gone but that couldn’t be
helped. The Tatums were nearby. Pa Tatum (who we also called “Cap’n” cause he was in charge of a
bunch of us Texacans during the War) was heading the drive but Ma and Sara, her oldest were midwives and
would have to do since the nearest Doc was some thirty miles away - close some say cause we’re Texans but
far when you’re having a baby.
In my mind’s eye, I still stroke her long red hair. She always let it down when we slept. I loved the
sweet smell of it just after she washed in rainwater; and, the scent of her after a hard day of cookin’, would
give me goosebumps. Her green eyes would melt my heart. They always could. And the fact was, she had
more common sense than I did.
Sorta wish she was here with me. Just not now.
Cap’n Tatum was a hard taskmaster when the job needed doin’ but he was fair as most cattlemen go.
Rode with him a couple of years when we was with the Rangers. I was seventeen at the time. Only quit
because I met Martha. Most of us rode with the Cap’n at one time or t’other. And he had rode with Scott
when both of them were younger during the War under the command of Col. Wheeler. Anyways, we
numbered about a dozen not including Maguel Vargus, our cook. It wasn’t that big of a herd but seven of
us were all small ranchers and needed to make the drive; or, none of us would have done it. Cap’n Tatum
was willing to help us. We each had our own reasons. Rod was courtin’ Mary Nell up in the valley and
needed a grubstake to build on his shack and make it into a decent ranch house. Scott was gettin’ on in
years and what with Cathy gone eighteen years ago and the kids God alone knew where, he had nobody and
needed the cash to live on. Jesse wanted to sell out but needed the additional cash to set himself up a saloon
in Odessa. Maguel and Marie needed money to start a cantina on the Boarder. I figured what with the kids
and both Maguel and Marie being such good cooks, the place would pay for itself in a little over a year.
Captain Tatum knew about how many head we’d probably lose but figured we could all share the loss.
But I suspected he’d take a bigger loss just to help the rest of us out. Like I said, he was a hard man but
that would be his way.
The stars were burnin’ daylight when we left. Cap’n figured if we started out early enough, we’d make
about eleven miles easily. Also Maguel was ahead of us and would set up camp near a stream both knew of
and would be waiting at dusk. Cap’n just figured some days we’d make twenty or more miles while others
we’d make five. Sometimes happens when its hot and dusty or when the rains soak the dirt deep in your
clothes.
Fact was nothin’ much happened for the first three days. Hot was as hot always is. Lucky that no rains
fell. The arroyos could fill up quickly enough and cattle sometimes die in floods. Men do, too. But the
cattle were more important. You can’t sell men - well not since the War. Besides half of us were darkies or
Mexicans. You’d think that the West would be full of white guys but since the War we got all sorts. Hell,
I’d rather work with the darkies that the Irish anyhow. They got more manners and common sense.
Cap’n figured to catch the Shawnee Trail near Austin and then the Cattle Trail north to Abilene. OK
some called it the Texas Trail or even the Kansas Trail. But since Jesse Chisholm drove some wagons to
stock his trading posts, the old ruts have been called the Chisholm Trail. Fact was if McCoy hadn’t set up
his shipping yard in Abilene, we wouldn’t have been going at all. And even then we were sorta sidesteppin’
the law regarding Longhorn Fever.
We had been on the trail almost a week when I noticed one of my Longhorns was missing. Steers are
always comin’ up missing every once in a while. Wouldn’t have noticed it but the cow was a mite skittish..
Also she had broken the tip of one of her horns. That was what I remembered. Started trackin’ her early
that day. Trail was easy enough to follow and after a piece it led into a small canyon. Found the cow except
that the cow was sorta dead. Couple of Comanches were butcherin’ her when I came on ‘em. Started to
pull my rifle when another one jumped me. Rapped me with a club, I guess. When I woke, I realized why.
Broken Nose was still as ugly as when we met. I had been in the Rangers just over a year when the
Comanch struck a small ranch near Cap’n Tatum’s. It hadn’t taken long to organize us. Hell, most of us
worked for the Cap’n at one time or t’other. Still the Jenson’s were rather lucky. Only lost a few horses
and the house. Nobody was killed. We trailed ‘em to the Stellers.
They weren’t so lucky. Having been attacked a few times, I could read the trail and see what had
happened. Carl had probably just been to the outhouse doin’ his business when the Comanch struck. His
eyes were still starin’ at the ground soaked with the blood from his sliced neck. One of the Comanch had
crept behind him while he was buttoning up and slit his throat to keep him from shouting any warning. I saw
his wife with bread dough sticking to her fingers screaming at the children and getting a bullet in her
stomach, then her neck, and finally in the nose. She was dead before hitting the porch. Kathy, her oldest
wasn’t so lucky. She was still screaming when we got there. The Indians had raped her a few times for
sport. And then applied the torch to her private parts while her husband, Frank watched. She didn’t even
know when they tortured him, cutting off his privates while he was still alive, and leaving him to bleed while
tied to the fence. That didn’t bother me as much as seein’ the baby. I puked for five minutes. Will
remember that ‘til I die. I was the first to see that Therese and Vicky weren’t there. Comanch must have
taken them, I told Cap’n Tatum. From the trail, they weren’t an hour away . Out in front, I sorta went
Comanch and suggested we go North rather than West. Always had a sense of where someone would be.
Dusk was creeping over the sky when I spotted the fire. Seventeen Comanche. We only had seven.
But Rangers never had the odds in their favor. Besides I saw the two girls trusted up like a calf for branding
and knew if I didn’t do something, they’d be killed before we could rescue ‘em. Wasn’t that far to the Unit
and didn’t take long to guide them to the Comanche campsite. Cap’n Tatum figured we might lose one of
the girls but we’d capture and kill the lot if we acted in early morn. Jake and Dan were to take out the two
lookouts while Mike and I were to rescue the girls. Crawlin’ on our bellies, we got behind Therese and was
cutting the ropes when a cry from one of the lookouts alerted the others. I grabbed Therese and dragged
her under me while Mike ran to Vicky. Was a good thing as I heard the whistle of a bullet just miss my thick
skull. I couldn’t take the time to enjoy my face between her breasts but jumped up as an Injun crashed into
me. I pulled my 44 and blasted him chest receiving a blood bath as his chest exploded. Glancing back, I
saw some of his blood had landed on Therese who even though the danger was smiling at me.
One of the redskins got off a shot at Vicky while another shot Mike in the leg. He didn’t slow down.
Just before he got there, one of the Comanch threw a knife at Vicky burying it up to the hilt in her breast.
Mike knocked her down as two more shots missed where they had stood. Jake screaming like a Comanch
himself firing both 44’s at anything that looked like an Injun. I ran out of bullets pretty quick and after
throwing both my knives, used my 44 like a club. I just hadn’t had time to get to my belly gun. A blow to
my head stunned me for a moment. I couldn’t let that bother me or I’d have died right then. Pulling my last
44, I turned to fire but stumbled over a body. Looking down I found the ‘body’ was actually an Injun girl.
Managed to notice she was Arapaho and very much alive just before I shot another Comanch. By this time
most of the Comanch were dead. One had been captured. We later found out it was Broken Nose’s son.
The Comanch who I’d killed first was his brother. But Broken Nose had escaped. From the top of a rise, I
heard his challenge and was ready to track him down when Cap’n Tatum grabbed my arm. We had the girls
to take care of. Seems that Mike had managed to staunch Vicky’s wound. But the knife hadn’t missed her
heart by much. If it had been bigger or her breast smaller, we woulda had a dead Vicky on our hands. She
kissed Mike before she passed out.
I took Therese aside so she didn’t see the scalpin’ that a couple of the boys did. Both Jake and Dan
had had relatives killed by Comanch and hated all Injuns. ‘Twas the reason I took the Arapaho girl aside,
also. I spoke a bit of Arapaho and managed to find out that she was a daughter of Chief Long Bow from up
Colorado way. She had been captured by some Kiowas and traded to Broken Nose the day before the raid.
She felt that “playing dead” was the best thing to do in a battle which was why I’d tripped over her.
Probably saved her life. Her name meant Warm Summer Rain but she reminded me so much of my little
sister, I called her Vicki.
Therese was grateful because if she hadn’t quieted her and Vicky down, they would have been burned
and worse like her brother’s wife, Kathy. Therese asked about Kathy and the baby but when she saw my
face turn ashen, she knew the worst. She kissed me long and hard - so hard I almost couldn’t get my breath.
I was in love at that moment but she let me know real quick that she would be marryin’ someone in a few
days. It was at her wedding that I met Martha. Though cousins, they looked almost alike.
Anyway Broken Nose had me. Figured now that after he was done butcherin’ my cow, he soon be
butcherin’ me. I never claimed to be brave but being skinned is not somethin’ I was lookin’ forward to. He
had started a fire and I figured when he got it good and hot, I’d probably have my balls burned just like he’d
done to Frank years before.
To be continued in
Chapter 2
Red River Station