Chapter 16

Our imposing man had an imposing horse as well. It was a huge gelding that Andy said would carry him all day without getting tired. He also had a young, strong pack mule. We made quite a procession as we rode out of New Brunswick.

Andy kept us entertained all day with tales of his experiences while he was trapping. I'm sure some of the stories were even true. Well... At least some of them had parts that were true. Well... Maybe some of them had a small part that was true.

Others, I'm sure, had no element of truth at all. Like the one where he said he had trained a bobcat to skin any animal he had in his traps. He said the cat would take the meat, but would leave a perfectly cleaned skin for him.

I also have serious doubts about the tale he told about the bear who would bring him a freshly killed deer once a week in return for a cup of honey. Or the one... well, you get the idea. They were entertaining though and the kids loved them.

When we camped that night, Andy said we were getting close to Trenton, NJ. Even with the late start, we had made over twenty miles for the day.

We all pitched in and set up camp. We had three tents now. We also had three mules, and none of them were heavily laden. Andy went over how we had the mules packed and showed us some things that would make it easier on the mules when we did have a heavier load.

Andy said that if I didn't mind, he'd take over the hunting duties. Of course I didn't mind. I hunted so we would have something to eat, not because I enjoyed it. We found over the next few days that with him doing the hunting, we had a much more varied diet.

Tonight, the women outdid themselves with a fantastic venison stew. We laid around talking after we ate and Andy managed to draw Tommy out about his life as an indentured servant.

Tommy's earliest memories were of working for an older woman. He couldn't have been more than four or five years old at the time. His duties were mostly household duties like cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes. The lady had taught him to read and write.

When this lady died unexpectedly, his indenture was sold to a man who ran a rope walk, where they made ropes for the shipping in the area. He was probably six years old at the time and his work in the ropewalk was hard and the hours were long. The man was also cruel. He cursed Tommy for no apparent reason and he would beat him with a piece of rope for any excuse.

He had been at the rope walk for about a year when the owner got drunk in the tavern we had found him in. The rope man had started playing cards with a couple of sailors and had lost all of his money. He passed out, drunk, and the sailors left him with the bill for all three of them for the evening.

The rope man didn't have the money to settle the tavern bill, so he offered Tommy's indenture to the innkeeper to settle the bill and for enough money to get him home. The innkeeper had been cruel, but he had never beat him like the rope man had.

He had vague memories of his parents, but he didn't know what happened to them. I expect they were taken by one of the diseases prevalent at the time. He didn't know of any other relative he might have.

Day 74 - Tuesday, July 13, 1847

When Sam, Cassie and I got up this morning, Andy was no where around. His tent and bedroll had been packed up and were lying where they could be easily loaded onto his mule.

The women went ahead and started breakfast. The kids were up and Sam was serving breakfast to everyone when Andy came back into camp. He was carrying two medium sized turkeys.

He laid the turkeys aside and came to breakfast. He really knew how to get to Sam and Cassie by complimenting their cooking. We all enjoyed the meal. I must say the women had been improving as they learned the art of cooking over a campfire.

After breakfast, Andy showed Sam and Cassie how to clean the turkeys. He kept muttering about city girls as he did and he had them laughing while they performed the unpleasant task.

We didn't get that late of a start and Andy said he figured we'd made over twenty miles again when we made camp. Andy never seemed to be rushed in anything he did. He never moved fast, but setting up camp took half the time when he helped.

Sam asked Andy how she should cook the turkeys he had killed this morning and he gave her a lesson in camp cooking. They really turned out well, in far less time than any way I could think of preparing them.

Later on, as I was snuggling with my wives, Cassie said she thought Andy was going to be a real asset for us. Sam and I had to agree.

Day 75 - Wednesday, July 14, 1847

We had leftover turkey and fresh johnnycake for breakfast. I was surprised at how good it was. As we were eating, I said, "You know the thing I miss most is fresh vegetables. I've always been a meat lover and although I ate my vegetables, I didn't really think about them. Being traveling around like this makes me miss having them though."

"That's the way it is when I'm trapping," Andy said. "I tend to make myself a snug little nest I can keep warm in all winter, then I very seldom go out of it except to check my traps and to hunt. I always have plenty of meat, but little else in the way of food."

"I guess you'd get tired of venison awfully fast," Sam said.

"That's why I try for other game as well. Some trappers spend all winter eating venison, then come spring, when they go back to civilization, they go nuts wanting other food."

"Is that why beef cattle are so expensive in Oregon?" I asked.

"Well, that might be a small part of it. For the most part though, people in Oregon don't trust the Mexican longhorns. You can buy a longhorn for around seven to nine dollars. A beef critter brought from back east will cost you a hundred dollars. To me, the damned longhorns taste just as good as the eastern cattle."

"You know, that is strange. The longhorns are usually bigger than the eastern cattle too, aren't they?"

"Yep. Bigger and meaner. I don't care if it's mean if I'm just going to eat it though."

I laughed and said, "It might even make it easier to butcher it if it was mean."

Andy said we were close to Philadelphia and he was right. We came riding into town just after noon. We found an ordinary where we could have some lunch and we tied all of our animals outside.

Since it was the middle of the week, the place wasn't very busy. We had a decent lunch and I told everyone I thought I'd like to sleep in a bed tonight.

"I'll probably just camp south of town," Andy said. "I should save my money."

"Come on, Andy. We know you enjoy sleeping in a bed just as much as we do. Since you're with us, we'll pay for your room and your food," Sam said.

Andy finally let himself be talked into it. We ended up getting two rooms. Andy and Tommy took one and Sam, Cassie, the girls and I took the other.

We spent a lot of time that afternoon just wandering around Philadelphia. It is a wonderful old city and it had been less than eighty years since it was an integral part of the revolutionary war effort.

I think Andy was as much impressed with it as we were. His great-grandfather had actually fought in the revolutionary war and his grandfather had fought in the War of 1812.

We were looking at a plaque that was memorializing the revolutionary dead, when we saw three louts looking at us and whispering to each other. I looked at Andy to see if he noticed them and he nodded.

We were just getting ready to move on when the biggest one of the group stepped forward and said, "Wait a minute there, big boy. It don't seem fair that two ugly bastards like you should have such pretty women with them. Why don't you boys go off somewhere and we'll show the ladies around town."

I looked at Andy and said, "Just back me up."

He nodded and I stepped forward. "The lovely ladies you are referring to are with me," I said. "I don't think they'd like to go anywhere with the likes of you."

"Ed..." Sam started.

"Shhh. Trust me," I said. "Take the kids away somewhere."

Sam didn't look happy, but she did as I asked.

The guy doing the talking had to stand around six foot three inches tall and he weighed around three hundred pounds. He could have probably broken me in two if I hadn't known how to defend myself, but I did. I had taken a martial arts class in college and I had enjoyed it so much, I had taken some courses afterwards when I could fit them in with my traveling.

"Whether they're with you or with him doesn't matter. Now go off somewhere and pick your nose while my friends and I take care of the ladies."

I decided I really didn't like this guy. His two buddies hadn't said anything, but they were smirking at everything the big guy said. I figured it was time to provoke him a little.

"Why don't you just go away and spend the afternoon butt fucking your buddies like you usually do," I said in a quiet voice.

I figured that would get him all riled up and it did. He let out a roar and charged at me. Since he was big and since he was a bully, I knew that's what his reaction would be. I sidestepped him at the last instant and chopped at the back of his left elbow as he went by. I knew the chop had hurt him, but it didn't break his arm as I had hoped it would.

He turned, facing me, and growled as he rubbed his elbow. "You're going to die for that," he said.

"Why don't you just drop it right now, asshole? I really don't want to have to break you up."

He came at me more deliberately this time. His two friends started toward me from the side. Andy had been standing, watching, to this point, but now, he grabbed each of them by the neck and slammed their heads together. They went down like their bones had turned to Jello.

When the big man was about three feet from me he cocked his right hand to knock me into next week. I didn't give him a chance to even start the blow. I made a spear of my right hand and drove the point into his solar plexis. He had a lot of fat around his middle, which protected him somewhat, but the air oofed out of his lungs in a satisfactory manner.

I thought that might have been enough for him but he lunged and tried to grab me again. I was getting a little annoyed at him, so this time when I sidestepped, I kicked him on his right knee as he passed.

His leg bent out at an unusual angle and he hit the ground, screaming and trying to hold his leg. I made a come on gesture to Andy with my head and we walked toward where women and kids were waiting. As we reached them, I took Sam by the arm and kept on walking. Cassie fell in on the other side of me and hugged my arm to her breasts.

"That was the most awesome thing I've ever seen," Cassie said quietly.

"I was scared to death for you, Ed," Sam said.

"Honey, he didn't stand a chance," I told her. "I've had enough self defense classes to be able to handle a bully. I really hated to have to break his leg. I thought the blow to the solar plexis would stop him."