Chapter 22

We made good time today and we got in eighteen miles. We had just finished supper and were leaning back letting it digest when Sam Arnold and his son came around. He introduced himself then got right to the point.

"I came here to talk to you about Abby Wilson," he said. Abby wiggled her way in between me and Lettie.

"She's Abby Tackett now," I said. "We've adopted her."

"Well, whatever you're calling her, she needs to be punished. She attacked my boy for no reason. First, she kicked him in the ballocks, then while he was lying on the ground, she hit him in the mouth and in the eye."

"Abby, did you kick him in the ballocks first?"

"No, Papa. I hit him in the mouth first because he said Grandma Tackett is a dirty squaw."

"Mr. Arnold, I think calling my mother a dirty squaw is a pretty good reason to provoke a fight. If your son is going to say things like that, he has to expect he'll need to defend himself."

"Your mother is a dirty squaw and you're a filthy half-breed," Arnold said as he balled up his fists.

"Get your pap," I whispered to Millie just before I started getting up. I got to my feet slowly. I didn't really want to fight this bastard. He was several inches taller than me and probably outweighed me by fifty pounds.

"I'm pretty proud of being a half-breed. I figure I got the best of both races. From my Indian side I got my even temper, my honesty and my integrity. From my white side... Tess, what do you think we got from our white side?"

"Well, I told mom a lie once. I'm bothered by a touch of greed now and then. I also thought about stealing some candy a few years ago," Tess said as she got up too.

"Bitch," Arnold said.

Tess launched herself at Arnold like a puma pouncing on it's prey. She was hitting and scratching and biting like a wild thing. Arnold managed to slap her once before I could get to them. John was on his feet now and was trying, unsuccessfully, to pull Tess off of Arnold.

I managed to get between them just as Arnold unleashed a roundhouse swing that would have taken Tess' head off. It nearly took mine off. He caught me on the left side of my face and I thought for a moment I was going down.

Now, I didn't mind so much that he had hit me. That punch had been aimed at my little sister though. I hit him in the stomach with all of my strength. I'd never hit anyone that hard before and I hope I never do again. He went down like he'd been pole axed. He was lying on the ground, curled up in a ball, retching, when Caleb came up.

"What's going on here," Caleb asked as Millie came up with Ab in tow.

"Well, Mr. Arnold here came over to complain that Abby had beaten up on his son. While he was here, he called mom a dirty squaw. He called me a filthy half-breed, and he called Tess a bitch. Tess took exception to all of this and attacked him."

Caleb was shaking his head, but I went on.

"He managed to slap Tess once, and he threw a haymaker at her that might have killed her if I hadn't got in the way. He hit me instead, so I hit him once in the stomach."

"Is that what happened, Mr. Arnold?" Caleb asked.

Arnold was coming around now. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and said, "These filthy Indians and half-breeds shouldn't be allowed to be on this wagon train. I demand you throw them off immediately."

"Who is or isn't on this wagon train isn't up to you, Mr. Arnold," Ab said. "That's up to me. You're not in any position to demand anything."

"I should have known you'd side with them," Arnold said. "Are you getting some on the side here from the half-breed bitch?"

John looked at Arnold, his eyes filled with hate. "Get on your feet, you bastard," he said. "That's my wife you're talking about."

"Easy, John," Ab said.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Ab asked him. "You don't talk about a man's wife that way."

"He ain't much of a man if he married a half-breed," Arnold said. "I'd just as soon marry a nigger."

Arnold was still sitting on the ground when he said this. Okay, so maybe I could have gotten in between John and Arnold. Maybe I should have. John stepped over and caught Arnold in the face with his knee. Arnold flopped onto his back and was out cold.

At some time during the fight, Timmy ran off. Not long after John put Arnold out, Priscilla Arnold came running up. "What's going on?" she asked. She glanced down at her husband, but didn't check to see if he was okay.

"Well, Mrs. Arnold, It seems that your husband was making remarks about dirty squaws and filthy half-breeds to Jase and his family. He tried to hit Tess and Jase knocked him down. He said John wasn't much of a man because marrying a half-breed was as bad as marrying a nigger. John knocked him out."

"I figured it was something like that," she said. "Excuse my language folks, but Sam is a dumb son-of-a-bitch. He has this thing about Indians. I don't know where it came from, but his pa is the same way. I don't ask for you to forgive him, but I do apologize for his actions."

"It's not your fault, Ma'am. We wouldn't hold you responsible for what your husband said."

"Thank you. You're Jase Tackett aren't you? The wagon train scout?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I know I'm not responsible for what he says, but I feel shamed by it. He's trying to teach our kids to be the same way. I guess Timmy said something to some young woman and she beat him up for it."

I pulled Abby forward. "This is the young woman who beat him up, Ma'am."

Mrs. Arnold burst out laughing. "I'll swear to God he's making Timmy into a mirror image of himself. They told me it was a growed woman. Thank God, I've managed to keep him from ruining the girls too."

"She's got a lot of growing to do before she becomes a woman," I said as I hugged Abby. "She's only nine years old."

"Well, I'd better get this lout back to our wagon. Do you have a bucket of water handy?"

"No, Ma'am, but I'll fetch you one," I said.

I got a bucket and went down to the river and filled it. When I came back, I handed it to Mrs. Arnold. She started slowly pouring water on Mr. Arnold's head and shoulders. When he started sputtering and trying to get up, she dumped the whole thing on him.

Mrs. Arnold was reading him out as she herded him back toward their wagon.

After they were gone, Ab said, "We're going to have a layover day after tomorrow. Until then, I want all of you to try to figure out how we can defuse this. In the mean time, I want all of you to stay away from them."

We all agreed that would be a good idea.

The days were getting longer and it was still quite light when the four of us piled into our wagon. We all snuggled together and Abby said, "Papa, I'm sorry I got all of this started."

"Don't worry about it, little love. It wasn't you that got it started. It was Timmy Arnold."

Abby crawled over on top of me and I hugged her and rubbed her back.

June 12, 1845

I thought it best if the women went with me again. Of course I got no arguments from them. Even with all of the hassle with the Arnolds we had a good time.

We were very particular in picking out a camp site as we knew we were going to be laying over there for another day. The site we picked had plenty of wood and the best grass we'd seen for a while. We even managed to get in a nice bath before the wagons joined us after traveling eighteen miles.

We were now and had been for some time in high desert country. It was still early enough in the year that although grass was sometimes scarce, we always seemed to be able to find enough to feed our animals. Ab said that was not going to be the case for the next few days.

After supper, Millie wanted to inventory Abby's wagon. She got Tess, Lettie, and Abby to go with her. John and I stayed with our wagon. They had only been gone a few minutes when Abby and Tess came running back.

"That damned Timmy Arnold was in Abby's wagon when we got there," Tess said as she was trying to catch her breath. "John, would you go get Caleb and Ab? We'd like for Jase to come back with us."

John took off and we started walking back to Abby's wagon. "What did he do?" I asked.

"He just ran away. We don't know what he'd gotten into though. Millie found a pistol inside the wagon and loaded it before we left. She's standing guard."

Millie was standing guard alright. She was striding back and forth outside the wagon with the single shot pistol in her hand. She looked like the picture of the Warrior Princess we had seen in a book pap had traded for when Tess and I were kids.

As we came up, Millie said, "Well, we know at least part of what he was into. He poured a bucket of water down into one of their flour barrels."

"John went to get Caleb and Ab," I said. "We don't do anything until they get here."

"Papa," Abby whispered to me. "Ma and pa kept their money in a tin box in the other flour barrel. Should I get it out?"

"Please do, Honey. We'll protect it for you."

"Where's Lettie?" I asked.

"She's in the wagon trying to find out what else he might have gotten into. What are we going to do about this, Jase?"

"I don't know, Honey. Let's talk to your pap and Ab first. They are wiser men than I am. Right now, I'd like to go around and shoot the bastards."

Millie held up the pistol and said, "I'll help."

We both started laughing. Before long, Lettie stuck her head out of the wagon and asked what we thought was so funny. When I told her, she started laughing too.

Before long, John came up with Ab and Caleb. Lettie came out of the wagon when she heard them. She had a little book in her hand and when I raised my eyebrows at her, she just said, "Later."

Ab and Caleb wanted to know what had happened. Millie told them, then they wanted to go in and look over the wagon. When they came back out, Caleb asked, "Are you sure it was Timmy Arnold, Millie?"

"All three of us saw him, Pap. We're all sure it was him."

Caleb let out a big sigh. Ab looked at me and said, "You did the right thing calling for us, Jase. It would have been an easy thing to have gone after his pap."

"Yeah, the thought crossed my mind," I said with a smile. "What do we do now?"

"Caleb and I will go and have a talk with his pap. We'll talk to the people in the wagons on either side of this one and see if anyone else saw him. We'll let you know what happens when we've talked to him."

"Ok, Ab, we can do that. I'm gonna move this wagon up next to mine though. That way we can at least keep an eye on it."

"That's not a bad idea, Jase. I wish we'd have thought of it before."

"John, will you go over and ask Fred Wilcox if he'll bring this wagon over and put it between ours? I'll get the womenfolk back to our wagons if you will."

John agreed that he would and Tess decided she was going with him. On the way back to our wagons, Lettie said, "The book is a diary, Jase."

We sent Abby to bed not long after Fred brought the Wilson wagon over. She protested, but finally gave in when she saw it wasn't doing her any good. Caleb and Ab were gone quite a while. When they finally showed up, Millie got them both a cup of coffee.

"There were people on both sides of Abby's wagon that saw the Arnold boy getting out of the wagon when you guys came up," Caleb said.