Chapter 5

Becky and I made love in the morning. I told her, "At the end of the week, I'm going looking for Spring. I have a lot to do to get ready for winter before I leave. I can't sleep thinking that she might be a prisoner in one of those dreadful whorehouses."

Becky said, "Please don't go. We need you here."

"I have to. If I don't, I'll go crazy."

I cut trees and hued logs for a smoke house until ten. Then I went to George's and got vegetables and potatoes from the widows. On the way to George's, I stopped and loaded the rifles and ammunition on the wagon. I made an arms rack and put two rifles in an arms rack in the small house. I made a rack for the upper pasture barn and put all the other rifles in that rack. After lunch, I cut the grass, tied it and loaded it on the wagon. We had plenty of pasture, but I wanted some in case we got snowed in. And I needed to be busy.

Judith came to me that night. I said, "We should wait until I get back?"

She took off her clothes, "I don't want to wait. Listening to you in here has nearly made me crazy."

I touched her and she shook. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright. I can't stand it. I need you."

Her body quivered. I kissed her and ran my hands over her breasts. Her nipples were very hard. Her sex was wet.

"Please, don't make me wait. It's been a long time."

She took my cock and put it against her. She moved hard against me. And she had an orgasm soon after I was in her. "It was torture; especially last night."

I went down on her. She bit her lip and said, "I can't keep quiet."

"Don't try. They know we are making love."

She was very noisy. "Ever done that before?" I came up from licking her.

"Your brother wouldn't ever do it. He thought it was dirty. You were wonderful; even better than I expected."

"I could tell you liked it."

She got on top. I said, "Tell me what you like."

"I like it all. I love it all. I want it more now than ever."

Her internal muscles could milk me without her moving her hips. I didn't think anyone could like sex more than Sally, but Judith does. "How many lovers have you had?"

Judith said, "Howard, damn it. Just because I like it, doesn't mean I'm a tramp. Just you and your brother. Your brother and I started when I was thirteen. I was faithful to him."

We made love twice more and went to sleep.

I went into Staunton and got salt, sugar and flour from the quartermaster. I also got winter coats, gloves, scarves, web gear and boots for four. I found a Henry at the armory. It wasn't standard issue and they didn't have ammunition. I slipped it out and took off in the wagon before it was missed.

The small crib and smokehouse combination building was finished before I left. The gardens weren't all in, but they had a lot in. The widows had a bountiful harvest and I bought vegetables up. We dried a lot of beans and stored them in the crib.

I alternated nights with Judith and Becky. Becky was sweetness and love. Judith was athletic passion. I really loved Becky. The day before I left, I had Judith in the afternoon, but Becky spent the night with me, even though it was Judith's night. Mary and I never have sex.

Becky said, "Promise me you will be careful and come back."

"Promise me you will keep the Henry with you all the time." The women loaded the packhorse with much the same load as when I had come into the valley, except I had winter gear and dried venison.

On the way through Sherando, I waved at the widows. Before I crossed over at Afton, I stopped at the Afton Inn. The new innkeepers told me how to spot regular travelers and suggested I ask them if they had seen Spring in any of the roadhouses. While I was there, a returned Confederate soldier, Dave Wright, came in. He gave a description of his wife, Martha, and asked if anyone had seen her. She had been taken from their home over a year ago.

I went outside with him. He was on foot but he was determined to find his wife. I said, "I am looking for my sister. She was taken in February. Would you want to look together?"

"I don't have a horse or money."

"You can be a volunteer sergeant in my command. I'll get you a horse and uniform. There won't be any pay and you'll have to follow orders, but I think I can help and you'll get out when we find your wife."

"That's mighty kind Major."

I rode back to farm and got the horse the deserter leader had left, a couple of uniforms, and a Springfield. Becky said, "I'm glad you have someone with you. Be careful, please." I stopped at the widows and they sewed on the sergeant's stripes.

Dave already knew how to use the Springfield and the uniform fit well enough. He put on the uniform and we left. We didn't get far. We went though some of the old taverns in Charlottesville and asked about the women. We moved off the road and spent the night near Eastham. We slept on the ground under a shelter half flap.

I didn't have any money, so we had to live off the land. Paying for the roadhouses was a difficult problem. The three dollars I got for a Springfield in Miche Tavern was all the money we had and we had to use it for taverns.

I found an Army unit in Charlottesville that had a full box of Henry ammunition but no Henry rifles. I was very happy to find the ammunition. Maybe it is an omen and we will have some luck. I loaded several bandoliers of the ammunition on my packhorse. I put a bandolier in my saddlebags also.

Dave asked the soldiers in the unit if they had seen Martha or Spring. They hadn't seen either. They gave Dave the names of the places where the soldiers thought the women would most likely be. They warned that Orange was a really, really rough place. Still, Orange was the most likely to have women that had been taken and sold. It was the most dangerous for the women too. If they had been there, they could be scarred for life or dead.

The inn was isolated. Orange was between two heavily traveled roads going south and so the road to Orange didn't get much traffic. The inn was on the Petersburg Road near Madison Mills. But it was on the Orange County side of the Rapidan River that was the county border between Madison and Orange Counties.

We had to walk the horses and rest them frequently. Since we were out of the mountains, the temperature was higher and it was humid. The horses lathered.

"How many are people are there at the inn?"

Dave said, "Three brothers run it. And according to the soldiers, they are all mean as snakes. They have a couple of young slave girls who work there too."

"I think I will go in at dark and ask for a room. It will probably be too expensive, but I will get to see the place. Did the troopers say anything else about the place?"

"They have special rooms where the girls are tied and beaten. And one of the brothers stays in a protected room above the bar all the time."

I said, "I almost hope we don't find them at this place."

The left side of the inn, the one nearest the river, was one story. It held the public room. The right side was two stories with shuttered windows. It held the rooms with beds.

We went across the road and up the Rapidan River until we found a place to camp for the night. We took the packs and saddles off the horses. After they drank, we washed them down. We hobbled them in a shady spot that had grass. Dave and I soaked in a pool until the heat broke.

We unloaded our saddlebags and draped them over our shoulders. We walked to the inn. "If I see two of them together, I'm going to open up on them." We waited outside. A carriage pulled up and three men went in. Two looked like bodyguards. A man stayed with the team and the carriage.

About five minutes after the three went in, I heard a young girl pleading, "Please don't." Then I heard a muffled cry and then a scream. I heard more screams and "I can't take it. Stop." Then I heard the sound of a whip crack and a loud scream.

I garroted the man at the carriage. He had a pocket Colt and three coins. Dave put the body in the back of the carriage. I walked in the inn with my Henry in my right hand and the saddlebags over my left shoulder.

The rough looking man said, "Henry?"

"It goes where I go."

He nodded. Two girls between twelve and fourteen years old walked to us.

"Big place." I said to the innkeeper.

"Damn war," the rough man said.

"A little young. Got anything else?" I asked.

"They will please you." I heard another scream.

"I like a little tit."

He walked up the stairs and three young girls came down.

"The other one is busy."

I pulled out a small silver coin. "I'll take two, the sergeant takes two, for all night."

"Share one girl, all night."

I put my saddlebags over my shoulder. "Let's go."

The man said, "If I need one, I get her."

I said to the girls, "Lift the dresses up to your shoulders."

They were naked under the dresses. "I pick first." I pulled the most developed one to me. Dave touched one. Then I touched the next one. He took the last one.

I gave the man the silver coin. I said to the first girl, "Get us the best room."

On the way back, I said to Dave, "After you finish the first time, knock. We need to take out the two bodyguards on the door. Bring your knife."

I had the girls undress and get on the their hands and knees next to each other on the bed. I stood behind them and alternated between them. One of the girls was a lot tighter and I stayed in her until I spent.

Dave knocked on the door. "Got to go to the outhouse."