Chapter 10

"Did you talk to Stuart last night?" I asked Ab.

"Yeah, your mom went over and looked at them this morning. She says the kids just have colds, but that she thinks Mrs. Stuart might have pneumonia. She's worried about her."

"That's too bad. There was a man I knew down in Louisa. He got that pneumonia stuff last year and he died."

"Unfortunately, that happens a lot. It's one of those diseases that they don't know what causes it and they don't know how to cure it. Sometimes the person gets better and other times they die."

When we got back to the girls, Millie asked, "Well, who won?"

"It wasn't even close," Ab said. "He was at least a hundred feet ahead of me at the end. I think he'd have beaten me if you'd have been on that horse with him."

Millie and Tess were grinning as big as I was.

Even though we had a river crossing we made good time that day. We had gone around sixteen miles when we pulled up into a circle for the day. The weather was clear, but it was still chilly, so I huddled around the campfire while Millie and Tess fixed our supper.

We went to bed right after supper. None of us were all that sleepy, but the cold drove us undercover. We did not have a repeat of last night, although I think the thought was in all of our minds.

Millie fondled my member for a while as I kissed her and rubbed her butt. We didn't make use of the erection I sprouted.

April 6, 1845

When we awoke, I kissed both of the girls and we got up to start our day. It wasn't nearly as cold this morning and we didn't even mind to get out of bed.

I saw mom coming back from the direction of the Stuarts wagon, so I went over and asked if she'd been to see them.

"Yes," she said.

"Are they doing any better?"

"Children getting well. Mother not getting well."

"Is there anything you can do for her?"

"Her chest sounds bad. I made a poultice, but I don't think it will help."

"Why?"

"She's too far gone."

I slowly shook my head as I looked into mom's eyes. I could see the pain there. I knew how badly it hurt her when someone she was caring for died. I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She nodded once and went to make their own breakfast.

I went back over to our fire and told Millie and Tess what mom had said.

"Maybe we should tell Ab that this morning," Tess said. "Mom won't tell anyone anything unless you pry it out of her."

I had to smile. I loved mom and respected her, but the little nod she gave me after I'd kissed her cheek was about the height of her showing her emotions.

The sky was overcast and a little threatening, but I didn't think it was going to rain. After breakfast we went up and talked to Ab. We told him what mom had said about Mrs. Stuart.

"That's a real shame," he said. "She seemed like a very nice lady. It's gonna be hard on Sam, what with them three kids to raise."

"How old are the kids?" Tess asked.

"The oldest one is a girl. I think she's around twelve or thirteen. She has two brothers one of them about a year younger and the other about two years younger."

"The girl should be a big help," Tess said. "Jase was doing all the hunting for the family when he was twelve and I was doing a lot of the cooking when I was that age."

We talked for a while longer then we went back to help with the herd. We were in rough country so we didn't make good time that day. In fact, we only made about twelve miles. We actually went by two towns during the day. Richmond and Elkhorn. It's odd to see two towns in one day this far west. We didn't stop at either of them.

We had supper and went to bed early again. We weren't really sleepy, so we just laid there and talked while the light outside the wagon got dimmer and dimmer. It was such a nice feeling lying there between Millie and Tess that I was totally relaxed. In fact, I might have been dozing a little when we heard some yelling and then a shot.

"That had to be close," I told the girls as I jumped up and started putting on my clothes. "You girls stay here."

I said it, but they were getting dressed as I climbed out of the wagon. I buckled on my revolver and headed toward the Kent wagon. Mrs. Wilkes was looking out of their wagon as I went by, but I didn't see any sign of Abe. Ben Jacobs was climbing out of his wagon as I got there.

"Did you hear where the shot came from?" I asked.

"I think it was at the Kent wagon," he said. "It sounded like it was right next door."

I kept on going and he fell in beside me. When we got to the Kent wagon, I could see where the shot came from. George Kent was standing there with his single shot pistol in his hand. It was pointed down at the ground. Kent looked like he'd been hit with a sledge hammer.

Abe Wilkes was lying on the ground in front of George. There was a double bitted axe laying under his right hand. Wilkes was as dead as yesterday's campfire.

"What happened, George?" I asked as Ab came running up.

"I was nearly asleep when my horses started cutting a ruckus. I thought maybe there was some animal attacking them, so I grabbed my pistol and went out to see what was going on."

He stopped for a minute then shook his head like a dog shakes off water. "As I was climbing out of the wagon I heard Wilkes yelling something about devil horses. When I saw him, he had that axe drawn back and was getting ready to chop Jud's head off."

Again, he shook himself. "I yelled at him and when he turned to look at me, he had the wildest look in his eye that I'd ever seen a man have. He yelled something about killing me and then he ran at me waving that axe around over his head. I thought for sure he was going to kill me, so I shot him."

"Someone has to tell his wife," Ab said.

"We'll do it," Millie said, reluctantly.

Millie and Tess slowly walked off to tell Mrs. Wilkes what had happened. "Did anyone else see it happen?" Ab asked.

"I heard Wilkes yelling," Cliff Hamilton said. "He was yelling that he was going to kill those devil horses. Then I heard George yell for Wilkes to stop. Wilkes then yelled, 'I'll kill you for bringing those devil horses to plague me.' Then he let out a scream that would have waked the dead just before I heard the shot."

"Well, that about ties it up," Ab said. "I don't see how you could have done anything else, George."

"That's the first time I ever had to kill a man, Ab. I feel all empty inside."

"It's not easy to take a man's life, George, but Abe was crazy. He thought everyone on the wagon train was out to get him. He even accused Jase of trying to scare him off the train."

"It's his wife and kids I'm worried about," I said.

"Yeah, I'll get one of the Lewis boys to drive for her for a few days until she decides what she wants to do. She may want to drop out at the next town we pass. That would be Plattsburg. We'll be going through there in a couple of days."

"What if she wants to go ahead with the train?" I asked.

"Then we'll find someone who'll drive for her permanently. She's one of us and we'll take care of her."

Millie and Tess told me later that Becky Wilkes and cried at first, then she had calmed down and had talked rationally.

"I always suspected something like this would happen. Abe wasn't just right in the head," Becky told them.

"Didn't you know that before you married him?" Tess asked her.

"I did, but he gave pa a hundred dollars for me so I had to do it."

"You mean your pa sold you to Wilkes?" Millie asked.

"Yeah, didn't your pa sell you to your husband?"

"No, Jase and I are in love. We have been for years. I'd never even heard of anyone selling their daughter."

"That's the way it's done where I come from in Virginia."

"Becky, are you going to be okay by yourself tonight?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine. Do I have to do anything like with the body or anything? Back home, if a man died, his wife had to clean up his body and dress him in his good clothes so they could bury him. She had to sit up with him all night before the funeral."

"No, Becky, someone else will take care of that. You just take care of yourself and your kids. Tess and I are going to go back and make sure my husband is okay."

They said their goodbyes and Tess and Millie headed for our wagon. They got there just before I did. We got naked and got into bed. They told me about their conversation with Becky, then we drifted off to sleep.

April 7, 1845

We kissed and cuddled for a bit before we got up and got ready for another day. I saw mom coming back from the Stuarts so I went over to ask how they were.

"The kids are getting better. Mrs. Stuart died," she said.

"Awh shit," I said.

Mom shook her finger at me, letting me know she wasn't pleased with my language.

"Does Ab know?" I asked.

Mom nodded.

I went back to our fire and told Millie and Tess about Mrs. Stuart. We were a quiet bunch as we had our breakfast. Afterwards I went over to talk to Ab while Millie and Tess went to see if they could help Becky.

Sam Stuart was there when I got to Ab's tent. "Sam, I just wanted to tell you how sorry we are about Martha," I said.

Sam and I shook hands and he turned back to Ab. "I just don't want Martha to share a funeral with that crazy Wilkes person," Sam said.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I just don't see hauling her body for a day before we bury her. I don't feel like it's showing her the proper respect. I already talked to Mrs. Wilkes and she doesn't want to haul her husband's body either."

"Sam, how would it be if we had two separate funerals?" I asked.

Sam thought for a minute then said, "I suppose that would be okay."

"Could we do that, Ab? Have one funeral right after the other?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think we could do that. I'll try to tone the Reverend Green down a little on the length of his sermons."

If Ab managed to tone the Reverend Nathaniel Green down any, I couldn't see it. Somehow we all managed to stand through two funerals. We didn't get on the trail until almost noon. Everyone grabbed a quick lunch before we left, so we traveled right on until time to stop for the night. We still made twelve miles that day.

After supper, Millie and Tess visited with Becky for a while, then they went over and checked on Ellen Stuart, Sam's daughter. They told me later that Ellen seemed to be taking things well and that Sam had been bragging on the great meal she had fixed for them.

April 8, 1845

Millie and Tess were in a fine mood this morning. They wanted to tickle and play. If we had been staying in camp today, I might have never gotten up. As it was, we finally roused ourselves and prepared for our day.