Chapter 11

Three days after we had our confrontation and hanging we had an incident in camp that lead the council to make their first judgement since we’d been on the trail. Unfortunately for me it was my driver John they sat in judgement of. The closer we got to where we were going the more surly and morose he got. It reinforced my opinion that frontier life would never agree with him. I paid him the first day of every month and he would blow it at the first town or fort we stopped at. A lot of it went to ‘ladies of the evening’, and I tried to talk him into saving enough for a horse, saddle, and outfit when we reached the end of trail. He’d just nod, looking at my string. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings but he couldn’t afford any of them. I’d given him a rifle but the pistols he carried still belonged to me.

I found out John didn’t like black people. He ate with us for two weeks before he started taking meals with the Finns and Germans. He made the weak excuse that he liked their style of food better, and truthfully no one minded. Meals were a lot more relaxed when he was absent.

Then the others told him the free meals were over and he tried to get me to pay them. John was surprised when I said no. “I contracted with Cindy and I always honor any deal I make. She’s still getting the amount we agreed on so I’m actually losing money. Cindy’s one of the best cooks I ever saw and it’s not my fault you don’t like colored. Whether you eat with us or not is up to you, but I won’t finance your meals when I’m already paying someone else for them.”

He ended up paying the Finns and they made sure to have their hand out every time he got paid. He blew his money on whores and whiskey the next month and they refused to feed him until he paid. He tried the Mennonites and they turned him away. Finally hunger drove him back to us, but he was surly, ate as quickly as possible, and left.

“What you think’s gonna happened to him when we get to where we’re going?” Cindy asked it as she watched him scurry away after eating an enormous amount of food.

“No idea. He hasn’t saved any money and he’s not going to live off me. I got the feeling if John tries to spark any of the young ladies, trying to get her family to take care of him, it’ll be a long cold winter for him.”

The Finns charged him six dollars a month, a pretty good chunk of his salary. He paid up for two months the next time. It probably cut deeply into his whorin’ money.

That week he used his last dollar to buy a quart of liquor from Amos, the black man that carried a still in his wagon. He told me once he brought it along after hearing how pure the water was in Colorado. He was going to claim a small spread with a good water source and start a distillery.He gave me half a glass of his product once and he and Jed laughed at how it affected me. It made me wonder what a couple of full glasses could do.

John went down to the river to hide so he wouldn’t have to share, and found a secluded spot on the banks of the creek we had just crossed. We camped one night by a stream without crossing once and it rained hard that night, and we were stuck for two days waiting for the water to go down. After that it didn’t matter how late it was, if we came to water we crossed before we camped.

It was his luck that the hiding spot he found overlooked a deep pool. A pool the women had discovered and used to do laundry. Then at twilight they came back to bathe. They had five shotguns and a few pistols, and took turns standing guard while the others bathed. The men were warned and respected their privacy, as they would do if any of us decided to bathe.

It must have been quite a sight for good ol’ John, thrity seven women from fifty on down plus five young teen girls. One of them was Mary-Beth, who had just had a birthday. Becky made me give her some cloth and she made her a nice dress. Thne she came back for ribbons and saw the box of hair brushes I’d picked up from the milliner for almost nothing. She took the fanciest set, a brush, comb, and mirror with ivory handles and silver inlay, telling me it would be our gift to her. I wasn’t as keen on the idea as she was, but she reminded me a lot of my mother and I had a hard time saying no to anything she wanted.

Mary-Beth had changed a lot and maybe grown up some, because Becky said she cried when she saw the dress and combs. The next day as I was riding by she launched herself off the wagon seat and onto Luc, giving me a big kiss before giggling and sliding off. “That was a thank you, Josh. The best thing that ever happened to me was you giving an arrogant Indian a shotgun, because I got a family in return.”

Becky and her husband had decided to adopt her. Their children were grown and opted not to come to America and she filled a void in their lives. Mary-Beth had never had loving parents and they all were better for her being in their lives.

John drank and gawked and let the liquor think for him. They took turns bathing and when the last were getting dressed they left in twos and threes, always with at least one armed. John took a chance and grabbed the smallest as she walked by, the last in line.

He should have set his sights higher. He got the runt of the litter. It was Mary-Beth and he found out real quick he didn’t grab a kitten but a full grown bobcat, all sharp claws and teeth. She bit the hand that covered her mouth so hard she had to spit a chunk out to scream. The girl could really scream and I bet the dead two states away woke up, wondering what the noise was.

It brought the women charging back, as well as any men in earshot. Me and Jed were just coming in and were on mounts, so we got ther first. Mary-Beth was on the ground, and John was standing over her with a knife, so drunk he was weaving. He looked up just in time to see me come off Luc at a full gallop, slamming into him so hard we rolled off the six foot bank and into the pool. It was about four feet deep and my first inclination was to hold him under until he stopped bubbling but reason prevailed and I dragged him onto the sand.

He lay there gasping and puking. It looked like he had wasted a dollar.