Chapter 6

Naomi drove the Arnold's wagon. Bob plus the evil doer's stock came along behind both wagons.

We drove along together quietly, and easily. That night we camped and ate together. Naomi and Nita were glued together, helping each other with everything.

I cleaned up the appropriated tack and weapons. The evil doer's pistols were run of the mill, two .36's and two .45's. The rifle was a good quality .30 caliber "squirrel rifle", and the shotgun was a double barrel 12 gauge Greener, very good quality.

They only had four things in plenty; whisky, caps, powder and shot.

One of the horses was a very good gelding with a fine quality saddle, bridle and saddlebags. I figured it was stolen.

I helped Nita and George like they belonged to me. I mended their stuff and took care of their stock.

Naomi thought I was a fine man for doing that and rewarded me often in bed. She loved sex. I got to where I could tell when she was getting ready to come and kiss her so her screams were muffled.

The next week we came into a town called Jonesville. It wasn't much of a town, but it had a town Marshall. I told the Marshall about the attack and the deaths of Fred Arnold and the four unknown bad guys. He told me he would write it in his journal, but he didn't think that anything would be done about it.

Naomi and Nita had a list of things they thought we needed in the way of supplies. Nita thought she was nouveau riche with the fifteen dollars from the bad guys. While they were shopping I took the opportunity to tar, and grease the wagons, and perform any other minor maintenance I could see that needed doing. Fred's wagon was not in the best shape, but I did my best and it was much better off when I was done.

During our supper discussions, I had asked Naomi to teach Nita, whose name was Juanita, how to shoot. Nita said her Papa had taught her how to shoot a shotgun before he passed away.

Nita and George didn't have any other family since Fred had been an orphan and her Mom and Papa had died a few years back. At that juncture, Naomi had asked Nita and George to stay on with us and offered for us to make a place together. She didn't even look at me to see if I concurred.

That night, in bed, I told Naomi that I didn't remember a discussion where I had agreed to take Nita and George into my family. She started crying softly, "James, we just can't leave them to fend for themselves. I keep thinking of what would have become of me if you hadn't taken me in. I would have been a slave and a whore instead of a happy wife to a good man."

"Alright, Sugar, they can come with us, if they want to."

After that Naomi was very tender and gentle with me. It was like that night was when she found out that I really loved her and would support her decisions. I guess that everyone has to come to his own conclusions about life.

With two spare teams and a good riding animal we were able to make better time than before. Naomi taught Nita to shoot. Naomi said, "Nita is a good shot with the small rifle, and your shotgun, James."

I fixed up a gun rack behind the seat of Nita's wagon and put the .30 caliber and my 16 gauge in it. I also rigged a holster for one of the .45 pistols in the foot of her wagon. I took over the 12 gauge, and put Fred's 10 gauge and the .50 behind the seat of my wagon.

Naomi took to riding the good gelding scouting, and managed to keep us in small game most days. We were trailing westward near the Arkansas State line (I thought). Before he was killed, Fred had sold me on looking at Colorado as a place to settle and farm. He had mapped out a trail that he thought was a good way to go, so we were going that way.

We turned north, and headed through Arkansas. It was a rugged trip and I was very glad we had spare wheels for the wagons, since we broke a wheel on each one. I fixed the wheel from Nita's wagon, but I had to make a new one for mine.

I made two additional wheels in the town where I made our wheels to pay for the use of the forge and equipment.

We ran into some Indians near what I figured was the Kansas border. We were given permission to cross their property for the trade of Fred's shotgun.

I figured that Naomi would have gotten pregnant by now, but she wasn't. We still enjoyed regular sex. Naomi particularly enjoyed anal sex, but she still should be pregnant from the rest of it.

We had a talk about pregnancy and she said that she had very irregular periods, and hoped that she could get pregnant. I told her that I hoped so too.

While we were crossing Kansas, I noticed that Woof would act funny and then prairie chickens would fly from in front of him. I loaded my shotgun with birdshot, and was able, by watching Woof, to shoot three or four birds in a day if we were so inclined.

This was a game rich area and Naomi could shoot a deer or antelope nearly every day if we needed the meat.

We saw several small herds of buffalo from time to time. We also saw small bands of Indians occasionally. We were friendly and so were they.

One evening, during supper, a young Indian man and three women and two children came up to our camp. We invited them to eat with us and they did. They spoke no English and we didn't speak their language either. We were able to communicate enough for them to have supper with us. The young man was very enamored of Nita's rifle. I liked him and wasn't sure about the protocol for giving a gift, but I gave him the rifle, bullet mold, some shot, powder and caps. The thirty-caliber rifle was very small bore for the game out here, anyway. The forty-grain ball was for small game mostly.

He smiled widely and spoke rapidly to a young woman. She nodded and got two parcels from their things and sat back down.

We visited a while longer and they left, except the young woman who had removed the parcels. "James, what's going on?" Naomi asked.

"I really don't know, but I have the feeling that we now own this girl. If we don't own her, I am married to her," I told Naomi and Nita what I thought.

I thought, 'I am in 'way over my head. I hope Naomi doesn't go through the roof over this.'

Naomi and Nita both started giggling and then just started rolling on the ground laughing. "This isn't that funny," I grumped.

Nita sat up, looked at me and said, "Yes, it is. Your good heart is going to have you covered up with women who love you if you're not careful."