A Cry in the Wilderness
Copyright© 2025 by Megumi Kashuahara
Chapter 14
December 14, 1860
The day that Will and Angus had envisioned in their minds when they pulled out under the arch of the Lazy Susan Ranch was here. Will had ordered the furniture and furnishings from a catalog at Sutler’s Store the day they broke ground on the house. It arrived two days earlier and was stored in the main barn awaiting the finish painting to dry on the fresh plaster walls. That afternoon and evening, they would officially move in and sleep in their own beds. The day before, Sarah was barking orders at the finish carpenters to get the curtain rods level. That morning, she and Cassie were helping them by sorting which curtains went in what room.
White Horse’s men, who had muscles in their muscles from felling trees and hauling lumber, would now become furniture movers. They would start by setting up the beds in the five bedrooms upstairs. The house was built according plans that Angus had drawn up back in Butler, Ohio. There was a master bedroom for Ma and Pa, one each for Tessa and Will, one was Ma’s sewing room and a guest bedroom. Now, it would need to await the pitter-patter of little feet to fill the rooms.
On the first floor was a full-sized country kitchen with a cast iron stove, a summer kitchen attached adjacent to the kitchen, a formal dining room, living room with parlor, and the office that would now belong to Will.
By the end of a long day, the house was furnished. Will gave the men a five-dollar bonus for only having four spots that required touch-up from furniture scrapes. Slim and Tommy were working the spit, roasting a dressed-out mule deer. Cassie clanged the triangle, calling everyone to the feast.
The next day was cleanup day. The men had no problem finishing off that mule deer either. Next, the commissioning of the bunkhouse came two days later.
The following morning after breakfast, Sarah pulled Slim aside and asked him, “Does Will look a little down to you?”
“You noticed it too? He be strong, he be fine after he gets into the day.”
Will snickered when Sarah handed him what she called a list for a “few things.” Will gave a snort and coughed out, “A ‘few things?’ This looks like one of Ma’s lists for a monthly haul!”
“‘Taint my fault you big galutes eat like a pack of starved wolves,” she replied, wagging her head with her hands on her hips. Cassie followed up like her echo, “You tell ‘em, Ma!”
Jokingly, Will muttered under his breath, “I’m glad you’re Slim’s woman.”
“Did you just say somethin’, Boss man?”
“No ma’am, I shut my mouth.”
Sarah gave him a slap on the arm, smiled and quipped, “Good boy.”
Will just grinned and tipped his hat. He called Slim over and said, “Get Johnny Little Bear and hitch up the wagon. Your ‘intended’ gave us some orders. We’re going to Sutler’s for a few things.”
Slim shook his head with a grin and replied, “Yes, Boss.” They both chuckled.
Entering town, they noticed there was a large, loud crowd gathered around the auction block. As they pulled up in front of Sutler’s, they saw a scraggly fur trader headed toward a tied mule, leading a young Indian girl with her hands tied in front of her on a rawhide tether. Slim said, “Every time I sees this, I shudder.”
Will handed the list to Johnny, saying, “Ask Mr. Sutler to have this list loaded on the wagon for me. Put it on my account.”
Johnny tied his horse, took the list saying, “You betcha, Mr. Will,” and he was up the steps and into the store.
Will tapped Slim on the arm, looking in the direction of the action, saying, “Let’s go have a look.”
A large majority of the people there either knew who Will was or had heard of him. They slowly parted, opened up for him and Slim. Will stood about ten feet in front of the dais. The crowd murmured as two young Indian girls were brought up for sale, but this time it was different. They carried the smaller one up and set her next to the block. She looked young—fourteen or fifteen maybe—and she didn’t move, just sat with her hands in her lap, head down with her hair covering her face. The second one was hoisted up onto the block, standing unstable, balancing on her left foot, with just the ball of her right foot on the block. Her right arm hung limp—probably a broken arm. She was small, maybe five-foot-one at most and could not have weighed more than one hundred pounds soaking wet.
She made two tiny hops to get her balance, and Will could see her buckskin dress was torn from hip to hem, exposing her right buttock and leg. That’s when he took a sharp intake of breath when he looked at her face. Even with a bruised left cheek and swollen eye, she was the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. She looked proud, fierce, and fiery defiant. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and when she locked eyes with him, it was surreal. Will could actually feel her intense pain, her fear, her cry for help, yet ... there was also anger, hatred, and the spirit of a true warrior.
Will’s breathing increased. He thought, I feel her hatred, her fierce warrior heart craving for revenge, and yet ... I feel her pain ... every hurt, every blow she has suffered. I know not how, but I hear her cry for help.
Póéso felt the connection as soon as their eyes met. He sees my pain, he feels my wounds, and yet ... his heart sees my hatred of the white man, my desire for blood, for revenge ... for justice for me and my sister.
All in a fleeting moment, the time it takes for a simple glance. Marcus Riker, the slaver barked, “Well, folks, what a treat we have for you today! Two Cheyenne sisters, young, ripe and full of passion!”
Right then, Johnny appeared at Will’s side. Will caught the boy in his peripheral vision, but didn’t look at him or say anything. The man continued, “The price of these two specimens of savage beauty is usually above market. But as you can see, we’ll need to discount their price. Unfortunately, they were damaged in transport because they are wild, untamed and in need of training. But then, for the man of discriminating taste, this can be seen as a challenge. Having said that, let me give you a sample of what your hard-earned dollar is buying.”
He bent and started to grab the hem of Póéso’s torn dress to expose her groin. She hopped on one leg and swung her left fist in a round-house punch that landed on his right temple, knocking him to the ground.
Johnny Little Bear gasped, “She dog, Mr. Will!”
Will wheeled around fast. “Johnny! She’s Indian just like you! How can you say such a thing?!”
“No Boss, she dog. She Cheyenne dog soldier! They be brutal, fierce warriors. They fight to the death! They no fear!”
Just then, the handler standing behind her hit her exposed right rib cage with a club. The terrible crunching of bone and sinew brought disgust from the crowd. Póéso exhaled a sickening guttural cry and she was knocked off the block into the mud in front of the dais.
The man leapt over the stage and started to grab the small, injured girl by the hair. That is when Will pulled his pistol and cocked the hammer. “That’s enough. Now, help her up.”
The battered girl was now incapable of standing. The man leaned her up against the stage as the slaver, Riker, stood. Trying to regain control of the situation, he shook his head saying, “I told ya, she needs to be tamed. Now, let’s get down to business. Opening bid is twenty dollars for the pair.”
One young trapper with tobacco-stained teeth spit and yelled, “Hell, I like ‘em when they fight. I’ll give ya thirty dollars for the two of them.”
Will stepped up and said, “Fifty. I’ll give you fifty dollars for the two sisters.”
Riker lifted an eyebrow. “Well now, Mr. McLaughlin, never figured you to be buying Indian flesh, but your bid is good. The bid is fifty dollars. Is there a bid higher? Going once, twice ... Sold to the rich rancher!”
Riker stuck out his hand for the money. Will said, “First, I want a bill of sale, make it free and clear, they have no other charges against them, and signed by Sheriff Jud Colson standing right over there.”
Riker’s eyes glared but he gave a curled, crooked smile, and said, “Sure thing, Mr. McLaughlin.”
He wrote out the receipt as instructed and Sheriff Colson nodded his head as if to say, “You did right.”
Will told Slim, “You get the sister, I’ll get this little soldier here. Johnny, go back to Sutler’s, buy two sets of girls’ buckskin tunics and skirts and moccasins. Just judge their sizes. Also get two pairs of boots, socks, girls’ undergarments about Cassie’s size. Four dresses and get six large bed sheets. Get! Quick.”
Will and Slim gently carried the girls down the street to Dr. Hardin’s office. When he saw Póéso’s condition, he asked what was wrong with the other girl. Slim said, “She breathin’ in short breaths and holdin’ her left hip.”
Doc replied, “Try to keep her still. I gotta look at this girl here, she’s in really bad shape. Bring her in here.”
Will set Póéso on the examination table. After checking her thoroughly, he said, “It’s amazing she’s still alive. Her right humerus [upper arm bone], four fractured ribs on the left side, she has a severely bruised left cheek, but it ain’t broken. She’ll probably have that eye swollen shut for a week or so. Last thing is a broken right ankle.
“I’ll set her ankle and wrap it. I’ll splint her broken arm. We can’t wrap her ribs and plaster her ankle until she’s had a bath. She’s completely covered in mud. My suggestion is to dunk her in the creek a few times. When she’s clean, carefully re-wrap the ankle with a long strip of sheet, then mix up the plaster into a wet paste, then smear it all around, covering the cloth. Let it set and harden. It’ll feel hard in about an hour, but could take a couple of days to harden completely. Then, cut a sheet the width from her waist to armpit. Wrap about three times. But be careful. Not too tight, she needs to breathe without having to push against the wrap. Just firm. Got it?”
“Yes Doc, I understand.”
“Alright then, gently take her out and bring the other girl in.”
After Slim laid the smaller girl on the table, and after examining her, Doc said, “She’s got what feels like a chipped left hip and two cracked ribs on the left side. Wrap her like the other girl. For the hip, she’ll need complete bed rest for a month or so. There’s no real treatment for it except bed rest and the good Lord healing her. I gave them both some laudanum for the pain. Here, take this, but use it sparingly as needed.”
Will gave Doc Hardin a twenty-dollar double eagle. They gently laid the girls on the sacks of flour, beans and coffee. Johnny was waiting with the wagon. Will asked him if he got what he wanted. Johnny said, “Mrs. Sutler did the pickin’ out. She says if they don’t fit, we can bring ‘em back.”
Will slapped him on the back saying, “Good man! Now, high-tail it back to the ranch, have someone meet us at the bridge with a two-by-twelve, six feet long. Got it?”
“Got it, Mr. Will!” Then, the young man was off.
It took Will and company an hour to make the three-mile trek back to the ranch. Johnny was on the bridge waiting. He saw the wagon off in the distance and rode back to get the others. When Will pulled the wagon to a stop at the bridge, Slim, Sarah and Cassie were waiting. They left the smaller, younger sister in the wagon, then gently placed the older girl on the board. Will asked her, “Do you speak English?”
She still had her stone face on, but with the pain, her jaw was clenched. She gave a sharp nod and grunted, “Uh-Uh-hmm. Ya gots a name?”
“Póéso.”
Will positioned her with her head hanging over the board’s edge, placed her hands at her sides and said, “Hold the edges of your dress so the current doesn’t open it up.”
She nodded and grabbed the sides of her buckskin dress. Will and Slim walked her down into the stream. Sarah hiked her dress up to her knees and followed them into the water. Will looked at her surprised. She had a bar of Tessa’s scented soap and said, “I’m gonna wash her hair and the parts I can get to proper.”
Will smiled and answered, “Yes, ma’am.”
They waded in the fast-moving stream. They dipped her head in the water, except her face. Sarah gently washed her face, then scrubbed her hair. After giving Póéso a good rinse, they stepped out of the water. Johnny Little Bear yelled, “Hey Mr. Will, wait!”
Johnny pulled up with another flat wagon that he had loaded two straw mattresses from the bunkhouse on with a stack of wool blankets. Will saw what he’d done and said, “Johnny, you just got yourself a month’s pay as bonus!” The boy just beamed an ear-to-ear smile!
Next, they bathed Póéso’s sister the same way, wrapping each girl in wool blankets for the short ride to the house.
Once the wagon holding the girls was at the front steps to the house, Will asked Sarah and Cassie to cover the beds in Tessa’s room and the guest room with a waterproof poncho then a blanket, then a clean sheet. When the beds were ready, they moved each girl upstairs using the plank as a stretcher. Once both girls were situated in bed, the men sat in the kitchen, each having two fingers of the good stuff to settle their nerves.
Meanwhile upstairs. Cassie helped her mom cut away their clothes, first the smaller girl’s then Póéso’s and got them ready to have their chests wrapped to help their fractured ribs to heal. When Sarah saw the cruel, violent injuries the two young girls endured she started to cry. The smaller girl had some purple bruising on her left rib cage, and her left hip had turned almost black. Sarah asked her, her name. In a gentle. Low voice she said “Ma’ hoena.”
“Sweetie, do you speak English?” She nodded.
“Ma’ hoena, I’m gonna gently wash yur privates down here, an getcha dressed.
Póéso on the other hand, looked like she had been tortured. Her right upper arm was purple, and her entire right side was a mottled blackish purple and getting darker by the minute. Her ankle was wrapped, so Sarah really could not see much except that it was swollen.
“Yur chest will needs ta be wrapped ‘cause a yur broken ribs. Unner stand?”
She silently nodded. Cassie asked, “How old us ya?:
Ma’ hoena replied. “Fifteen winters.”
After carefully washing her, Sarah said, “Let’s put these here pantalettes on ya.” Sarah held up a white cotton garment with an elastic waistband with legs that were almost ankle long.
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