Chapter 161: Blooded

It was a different group of men on the road with me the next day, they had all been blooded and suddenly understood the reasoning behind all the things we had drilled into them. We were four days from home and only had two minor rivers to ford before we got there.

Most of these guys didn’t see it as home, it was still just the ‘Promised Land’ to them; but it would be home quickly enough, it was plain to see they intended to make that happen. Nothing could make me happier, I’ve always believed in changing the world one life at a time and here I was give forty people a new, fresh and free start.

The Kansa had shown us a good fording spot just a few miles up river and we managed the crossing without notable incident and we were on our way again. These men had all matured during this trip and the final few days passed without notable incident. The crew managed the herds and themselves as if they were old hands and been doing this for years.

We actually had a few budding ‘cowboys’ in the bunch; there were a couple of fellas who just seemed naturally attuned to the herds and loved being horseback. You could see it in the steeds they chose and the manner in which they rode; a few seemed to be actually able to talk to the herd and get them to follow. One of the young Jewish guys definitely wasn’t following in his fathers banking footsteps, that lad was rider and a fighter from the word ‘Go’. He started to gravitate towards my little group day by day, I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

His name was ‘Abraham’ and he went by ‘Abe’, he was a good sized lad probably about seventeen but I never asked. He was also devout and spent a portion of every evening in his books, the rest of the time he was simply full of questions, energy and youthful appetite. I couldn’t wait to see the girl this one took up with.

The summer heat was stifling and come mid-day everyone was drowsing in the saddle or on the hoof, even the most rambunctious young heifer or colt settled into that dull-eyed walk. We spent a lot of time at streams and had to fight to keep the herd out of the trees, they were gravitating to cool shady areas.

We made earlier starts each morning and pushed on into the cooling evening dusk to make up for our lost time. Regardless we ended up falling behind schedule a little as every afternoon found us in a cool shady area to escape the heat wave.

Rain finally came at the end of the third day, it was muggy and steamy but no person or animal attempted to escape the cooling downfall. The temperature dropped and we finally got a good night’s sleep, it was very welcome. That rain continued on and off for the next two days but never got heavy enough to turn the trail into muck, we crossed the Nemaha in that gentle summer rain.