Chapter 3

Ben sat upon the rise and waited, watching in the growing light of the new day for his prey to step out into the open, and into his line of fire. He didn’t have long to wait.

Ben had gone hunting just as Blossom had ordered him the night before. Much to his chagrin the old woman had roused him from his slumber well before sunrise, insisting he should get up. Ben had grumbled about it, not wanting to crawl out from under the warmth of his blankets, but the old woman had been very persistent. She even chided him for being such a heavy sleeper. Ben had accepted that with a grumble, particularly since Blossom had thrust a cup of black coffee into his hands the moment Ben had clambered out of his bedroll and pulled on this clothing. The coffee had helped mollify his grumpy disposition.

“You should follow the trail west up out of the valley,” Blossom suggested to Ben as he sipped his coffee and got ready to go. “Then at the top, turn southward and continue on, keeping the stream on your left. There is a place not far from here where the bank has been trampled down making access to the stream easy for game to reach the flowing water. At this hour, game will head there for a morning drink. There are only a few trees there and most of them are on the far side of the stream, so the spot is not obscured. There are berry bushes there as well, and at this time of year the berries will be plump and sweet. These will entice game to come and nibble on them. You should get lucky as there are plenty of deer in the area.”

Ben had done just that. Once he’d finished dressing and strapping on his gun belt, Ben had saddled up the packhorse so he could use the animal to haul back anything he killed. Then he’d headed out, following the trail as Blossom had suggested. As he left the camp he noticed that the others had been awakened as well.

It didn’t take Ben long to find the spot that Blossom had told him about. In fact, it only took him about thirty minutes of slow walking to reach it. He spotted it well before getting close and immediately looked about to see if there was any game there at the moment. When he realized there wasn’t, Ben had hobbled his packhorse, leaving it to graze upon the prairie grass, and found himself a spot, well within range of where Blossom had said the deer frequented, and settled down to wait. Ten minutes later Ben got lucky.

By then, the false dawn had been washed away by the rising sun, and the new day’s light illuminated what had previously been hidden. To Ben’s pleasant surprise he spotted a pair of deer slowly stepping out of the tall grass of the prairie, no more than five hundred feet from where he was sitting and waiting. The animals, two females, slowly wandered out off the tall grass and over to where the bank of the stream had been trampled down. As they went, the deer paused to sniff the air and listen for any unexpected sound. It took another five minutes for the two animals to reach the stream.

Ben stood up the moment the two deer started drinking from the stream. As he rose, Ben took the big rifle that he’d been cradling in the crook of his left arm while he’d sat and waited, and brought it up to his right shoulder. As he did, Ben cocked the heavy hammer of the weapon.

That sound carried. It was picked up by the breeze and travelled to the two animals. Instantly the pair of deer reacted. Their heads popped up and both animals froze in one spot, while they sniffed the breeze, and their ears twitched in an attempt to figure out where the sound had come from. Then they bolted. Luckily for Ben, they bolted back towards the prairie grass.

Ben was ready for them. He had the big rifle up and was aiming down the length of the weapon, even as the deer started bounding way. Instinctively he followed the deer closest to him, and when he felt ready, Ben squeezed the trigger.

The rifle roared and kicked like a mule. Ben hadn’t noticed that yesterday as he’d been too busy to notice it. He also noticed the big cloud of gun smoke that filled the air between him and his target, and silently Ben had cursed. Even so, instinct and training kicked in, and Ben quickly recharged his rifle and primed it, just in case he needed to take another shot. He didn’t. Ben had easily dropped his target.

Ben returned to the camp thirty minutes later to be greeted by smiling faces. He’d dressed out the kill where he’d dropped it, but he hadn’t skinned the animal. Instead, he’d loaded it up on the back of the packhorse, to bring it back to camp and hand that job over to Blossom. He had a gut feeling that she’d want to do the job. It turned out that he was right.

“Good,” Blossom declared enthusiastically upon spotting Ben and what he’d brought back. “You’ve done well. Now take it over to that tree and hang it up. I will skin it and then butcher it so we can have venison strips for breakfast.”

Ben did as Blossom commanded. He led the packhorse over to the tree that Blossom had indicated. Amos joined him there toting a rope.

“Let me help you out, Marshal, sir,” Amos volunteered in an amiable manner, hefting the rope he was carrying so Ben could see what he had. “I’ll get this up over that low bough and then you can tie that doe off by the hind legs. Then the two of us can haul it up and get it tied off in no time.”

“Are you up to this?” Ben enquired, looking at the man with some concern. “I mean, how do you feel this morning? How’s your head?”

Amos hesitated for a moment or two, somewhat startled by the marshal’s concern for him. He blinked a couple of times trying to think of an answer and licked his lips. Finally Amos cleared his throat and replied

“I’m fine, Marshal, sir,” Amos reassured Ben, speaking a bit nervously. “I’m fit and I can do this job for you without a problem. Please let me help.”

Ben accepted Amos’s offer of help. He held the lead rope of the packhorse while Amos played out enough rope to toss it over the low hanging limb. It took him only a second or two to accomplish this and then when he was ready, Amos heaved the running end of the rope up and over the limb, getting it over the low hanging bough in one try. Once the rope had dropped sufficiently for Ben to take hold of it, Ben fashioned a loop on of the end of it, so he could slip it around the hind legs of the doe. When the loop was in place, Ben tightened it until the rope was secure and there was very little chance that the legs would slip out while Blossom worked on the animal. Satisfied with the job that he had done, Ben told Amos to start pulling the doe up and off the packhorse while Ben guided and controlled the shifting of the carcase. It didn’t take long and once Ben had led the packhorse off to one side, Amos tied off the rope to the tree that they were using, leaving the doe suspended at a height that Blossom could work with. Once that was done, Ben went off to wash up while Amos volunteered to take charge of the packhorse.

“Come and get some breakfast, Marshal, sir,” Cecily called out to Ben as he strode back through the camp on his way to the stream.

“I’ll do that,” Ben promised in reply, “but I need to wash my hands first.”

It didn’t take Ben long to clean up. Even so, by the time he had and strode back into camp, Blossom had skinned the doe and turned some of the meat into thin strips of venison, which she’d then given to Cecily to fry up in the skillet. The aroma of the cooking meat made Ben’s stomach rumble.

“It sounds like you’re hungry, Marshal, sir,” Cecily declared with a big smile on hearing the sound. “Why not pull up a log and sit, while I serve up some breakfast to you? It’ll only take me a minute.”

Ben did as Cecily told him. As he sat, he noted that the others had gathered for breakfast as well. Seeing everyone in one spot, Ben decided to broach the topic that had been raised the night before.

“I want to say something,” Ben stated plainly in an attempt to get everyone’s attention. “I did some thinking while I was out hunting this morning, about that topic we spoke about last night, and I just wanted to let you know that I’ve come to a decision.”

“You have, Marshal, sir?” Cecily enquired nervously, lowering her plate of food to her lap as she spoke.

“Yes I have,” Ben answered her promptly and with a smile on his face. “You needn’t be afraid of what I’ve got to say. I know what the law says about runaway slaves and what my duty is in this situation, and I know what might happen if I don’t do my duty, but to be honest with you, I don’t particularly abide by laws that make people into slaves.”

“You don’t?” Cecily gasped excitedly. “Does that mean you’re going to let us go?”

“It does and it doesn’t,” Ben informed Cecily and her family. “Now hush for a moment and I’ll tell you everything.”

Ben took the next ten minutes to explain to Cecily and her family what he intended to do. He wasn’t going to take them back to the farm they’d fled, but he wasn’t going to simply let them go. As Ben pointed out to them, they were obviously poorly equipped to survive away from a farm. They needed to learn a few things, and just as importantly, they needed supplies.

“But where can we get supplies?” Cecily enquired pointedly. “We just can’t walk into a general store and buy it. One, we have no money, and two, most white folk don’t like Negros. They wouldn’t do business with us.”

“That’s one of the reasons why I’m going to stick with you for a while,” Ben admitted promptly. “I’ll do the buying for you.”

“But we still don’t have any money, Marshal, sir,” Amos interjected with a worried look upon his face. “We didn’t take any when we fled the farm. We didn’t want to get caught and hung as thieves.”

Ben chuckled at the earnestness in Amos’s voice. He had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep himself from pointing out that technically, he and his sister and her boys were thieves, according to the law. They’d taken their master’s mules and wagon, and more importantly, they’d run away, which in the eyes of the law was stealing as well. Instead he took a bite of food from his plate and a sip of his coffee before offering the man a reply.

“You needn’t worry about money,” Ben finally told the man. “When I searched the dead men yesterday I found a little on them. It wasn’t a fortune, but it’ll be enough for me to acquire you food and gear that should tide you over for a couple of months, and in addition to that, you’ve got the dead men’s horses and gear that you could trade. I think if we can find the right person to deal with, I can get you provisioned for the next four months.”

“You could, Marshal, sir?” Cecily enquired anxiously. “Why that would be great.”

“It would be,” Ben admitted readily. “We just need to find the right place to shop.”

At that the discussion petered out and people fell silent. The fact was that no one knew where they were exactly. Cecily’s family hadn’t ever travelled more than a mile or two from the farm before fleeing it, so they definitely were lost and of no help in suggesting where Ben could go and buy what they needed, and Ben was technically lost as well. He knew that he was somewhere in western Missouri and south of Kansas, close to Indian Territory, but that was it. In the end, it was Blossom who came up with a suggestion.

“You could trade at Big Ed’s place,” Blossom muttered a few seconds later, breaking the silence that had fallen on the group. “Big Ed is a good man. He will trade with you.”

“Who is this Big Ed?” Ben asked without hesitation.

“He is trader,” Blossom stated in a matter of fact manner, before going back to eating her meal.

“Okay,” Ben murmured in response, eyeing the old woman with a fixed gaze. ““I’m getting an impression here that you know Big Ed, and you probably know him fairly well, so perhaps you could tell us a little more about the man, without me having to ask you twenty questions? Okay?”

Blossom simply grunted her comprehension of what Ben had just said and asked her, but instead of answering him, she continued eating her meal. Only when she was done, did Blossom give up her secrets.

It turned out that Blossom was on her way to visit Big Ed. The man ran a trading post to the northwest of their current position, right on the Arkansas River. It wasn’t a huge place, but Big Ed did enough business to keep himself and his woman happy. His woman, Half Moon, was Blossom’s granddaughter and Blossom was on her way to visit with her.

“Will he trade with black people?” Ben asked Blossom pointedly, once she’d told him all about the man and his trading post.

“Big Ed will trade, but it will be better if you trade instead,” Blossom informed him. “You are lawman. Big Ed likes lawmen. He will make special deal with you.”

Ben imagined he would make a special deal, although he wasn’t overly certain that the deal would be good for the family or not. He’d have to see about it when he spoke to the man.

“All right then,” Ben declared after giving the matter a quick thought. “I think that’s a plan. We can travel to this Big Ed’s place and trade with him, and in the course of our travels, I can teach you a few things you need to know, if you’re going to survive out here in the west.”

“What kind of things?” Cecily enquired out of curiosity.

“Well, how to shoot a rifle for one thing,” Ben pointed out. “You’re definitely going to need to learn how to do that.”

That declaration brought silence to the gathered group once more. That silence lasted only a second. Once that second had passed, all hell broke loose, and Ben was left sitting wondering what he’d said.

Ben sat upon his horse, lost in thought as he led the way along the trail that they needed to follow to get to Big Ed’s trading post. Beside him on her pony sat Blossom. She wasn’t saying anything either. Ben was grateful for that.

Ben’s off hand suggestion that he’d teach Amos how to use a rifle hadn’t gone over very well. In fact, Ben’s suggestion had filled the man with fear, and it had taken several minutes to calm the man down. Ben should have known better than to have just blurted the idea out, given what the consequences were for a black man to be found with a weapon in this time and place. But he had said it, and even though Amos had freaked out, it was a topic that needed discussing.

That discussion hadn’t happened. Amos didn’t want to even think about using a weapon, and in response, the man had simply gotten up and walked away from the campfire and the rest of the gathered group. That had left only one thing to do; that was to pack up and to hit the trail. And that was exactly what they’d done. Amos and the two boys had done most of that work. Ben had gone off to clean his weapons, the weapons of the dead men, and to reload them just in case they were needed on the trip to the trading post. Once he’d finished doing that he’d found the camp broken and the rest of the group waiting on him.

“I’ve got a big problem,” Ben muttered softly, his voice heavy and filled with concern.

“I know you do, lawman,” Blossom replied without even looking over at him. “Do you have a solution?”

“Not yet,” Ben admitted with a sigh.

“Then let it be for now,” Blossom recommended. “A solution will come eventually.”

“I don’t have time for ‘eventually’,” Ben pointed out. “Sooner or later I’m going to have to set these people on the road by themselves. I just can’t stay with them forever.”

“Then you do have a problem,” Blossom murmured back at Ben. “Perhaps you should speak to the woman. She might convince her brother that he must learn to use the rifle. If not, they will all die.”

Ben grunted in response to that suggestion. Then he went back to thinking. He had wondered if he could convince Cecily to intercede with her brother. She’d promised to do anything to help. He’d speak to her, once they stopped for lunch.

For the next couple of hours Ben and Blossom rode on in silence. Ben at times would range ahead of the wagon by a few hundred yards, and then he’d swing back, looping about the trailing wagon first, just to make certain that there wasn’t anyone following the family. For the most part all Ben saw was wide open space and a lot of prairie grass. However, near mid-morning, both Ben and Blossom spotted something of interest.

“Smoke,” Ben declared out of the blue, catching Blossom’s immediate attention. “What do you think it means?”

Blossom halted her pony and then she glanced in the direction of the smoke. Her brow knitted as she took in the sight.

“Trouble,” Blossom declared coldly, first looking at Ben and then glancing back down the trail towards the wagon. “You should check it out.”

“Yeah, I got that impression myself,” Ben admitted with a heavy sigh. “Are you going to be okay here with these people?”

Blossom paused for a moment and looked at Ben, and then she smiled.

“I will be okay, lawman,” Blossom affirmed. “You need not worry about me. They will be okay as well. You, I don’t know about. Be careful. Black smoke is bad sign.”

Ben really didn’t need to be told that fact. He’d gotten the impression that something was wrong the moment he’d seen the smoke and that impression had been confirmed by Blossom’s expression upon seeing it. Still he told the old woman that he would indeed be careful.

Ben rode back to the wagon before heading off to investigate what was making the smoke. He paused there long enough to explain to Cecily and her family what was going on and what he wanted them to do while he was gone. Both Amos and Cecily got nervous the second Ben told them what he was about to do, but neither of them openly protested his plans. Ben did reassure them that he’d play it safe. He also assured them that Blossom would be with them. Once he’d explained this, Ben edged his mount over to the box on the wagon. From it Ben retrieved a gun belt.