Chapter 24

Day 107 - Sunday, August 15, 1847

The next three days were more of the same. The mules toiled pulling the wagon and we helped as much as possible. We were all getting very tired, so we decided to take a day off.

We picked a great day for it. I awoke to birds singing and sun brightening the canvass of our wagon. The four of us were naked and we had kicked the covers off during the night. I was between Sam and Cassie, and when my eyes started to focus, I saw Delia watching me across Sam.

"Good morning, love," I said softly trying to not wake Sam or Cassie.

Delia smiled and pursed her lips as if she were kissing me. After a while, I had to answer a call of nature, so I got up and started to get dressed. Delia got up as well and came into my arms. We kissed, then I rubbed her back and butt as we gazed into each other's eyes.

Finally we pulled apart and I finished dressing. When I came back from the bushes, Delia had a cup of coffee poured for me. I sat and leaned back against a wagon wheel and took it from her. My newest wife immediately claimed my lap.

Mina came over and joined me with some coffee of her own. She smiled at us and said, "You have made my daughter very happy, Ed."

"She's made me just as happy," I said. "I truly love her, Mina."

"I know you do, Ed. None of us can believe what's happened to us during the last few weeks. We were to be sold and we knew we wouldn't be sold to the same person. Then you bought all of us, not to use us, but to make us part of your family."

"You are part of our family now," I said. "You're my mother-in-law. That's almost the same as being my mother. The only problem with that is, you're only four or five years older than me."

We had camped in a little glade not more than a hundred yards off the road and we hadn't made any effort to try to conceal where we were camped. We didn't expect any company, but we weren't hiding from anyone either.

Now that we knew the disappearance of the fop hadn't been connected to the auction, our minds were relieved on that account. My wives and our friends had proven they were more than capable of protecting us, so that was another worry off our minds. We still had a lot of money on us, but no one knew of that. We had actually recouped most of the money we had spent for Jud's family from the fop.

We had a nice bath in the creek flowing by our camp and after we had gotten dressed we were just kind of lazing around. Jud and Mina had wandered off into the woods. Mina was looking for some herbs she could use to enhance her cooking.

M & M and Tommy were playing some kind of game that included a lot of yelling and running. My wives, Andy, Sarah Beth, and I were talking about ranching. "How many cattle do you think we should try to take with us?" I asked Andy.

"Well, a lot depends on whether we want to hire people to drive them for us. None of us really have any experience with herding cattle. I think we need to talk with someone who has and see what they think would be a good number."

"I wouldn't be against hiring people," I said. "Maybe we could hire someone who could teach us how to handle them as well."

"That makes sense," Andy said.

"Just how hard is it going to be to drive cattle?" Cassie asked. "I thought all you had to do was get behind them and start smacking them on the butt."

We all got a laugh out of that, then Andy said, "From what I hear, Cassie, the horse does most of the work. My gelding has never worked cattle, so I know he'd be about worthless as far as droving is concerned, at least until we could train him. Do any of you know if any of your horses have been trained to work cattle?"

Of course, none of us did, although I'd bet my last dollar that Hawk would do a good job of it. Come to think of it, I'll bet Mandy's roan and Mindy's pinto would too, if the girls were riding them.

Conversation kind of lulled as we succumbed to the mid-afternoon lethargy. I know I was about half asleep when a young man, about Andy's age, came riding into camp.

"Howdy, folks," he said. "Could you spare a meal for someone who's been on the road a long time?"

"Howdy, yourself," I said with a smile. "I'm Ed Hill. This here's Andy Finke. The ladies are Sam, Cassie, Delia, Dalia, and Sara Beth. Get down. I'm sure we can find you something to eat."

He got down off of his horse as Andy and I got reluctantly to our feet. "I'm Stu Wiseman," he said as he extended his hand, first to me then to Andy. "I've been riding hard for quite a spell now. I don't usually go asking for a handout, but I'm just about tuckered out and my belly feels like it's growed to my backbone."

"We've got a nice stew that all we'll have to do is heat it up for you," Sam said. "Have a seat and we'll fix you up."

Delia started to get up and help, but Sam told her to relax, that she'd take care of it.

"Let me get my horse unsaddled and rubbed down while you're doing that," Stu said. "This old girl and I have seen a lot of country together and I like to take care of her first."

Andy walked over with him as he unsaddled his horse and started rubbing her down. "Where are you from, Stu?" Andy asked.

"Well, now. Originally, I'm from a little town not too far from Richmond. The last four years I've been working on a cattle ranch in Texas."

"Did you just come home on a visit, or are you moving back to Virginia permanently?" I asked.

"Just a visit," he said as Sam called him to eat.

Sam had fixed him up a plate of stew and had reheated some johnny cake for him. The young man attacked the stew like he hadn't eaten in a week. "Ma'am, this has to be the best stew I've ever eaten," he said between bites.

"I wish I could take credit for it," Sam said. "Mina made this stew. You haven't met her yet."

"Well, whoever made it, it is delicious. Where are you all from?"

"Sam and I are from Michigan. Cassie is from Vermont. Mindy and Mandy are from Boston. Tommy and Andy are from New Jersey. Sarah Beth is from Maryland, and the rest are from Virginia. It seems like Sam and I have been picking up people as we go along."

"Where are you all headed?"

"We're going to spend the winter in Ohio, then next spring, we're going to be heading to Oregon. We're going to start a ranch out there."

"I've been giving Oregon some thought myself. From what I hear, it's some really nice country out there."

Stu finished his first plate of stew and Sam dished him out another one. He gave her a big smile and dug into it.

"That's what we hear too. Plus, there's all the problems going on now about the slavery and all. I'm afraid there's going to be a war between the slave states and the free states in a few years."

"Do you think it's the Abolitionist Movement that's pushing us toward that?" Stu asked.

"Them and the Free Soilers. The southern states are beginning to think that the northern states are banded together, against them. It's just a matter of time, but it'll happen within the next fifteen to twenty years."

"Do you think it'll be that long? There are cases of violence between Abolitionists and slave holders right now."

"Yeah, I do, Stu. The main reason is that we don't have a president or a congress that is ready to push for abolishing slavery."

Stu had finished his second plate of stew and had politely refused a third when Sam offered it. He sighed and said, "I guess I should tell you folks that I'm a wanted man. I killed two men just over a week ago just outside of Richmond."

"Why did you feel you had to kill two men?" Andy asked. His voice was calm, but I could see the tension in his body.

"Well, as I told you, I had been working in Texas. Actually, I had gone there because me and my pa had a falling out. Pa was a minister and he was so strict about everything that I just couldn't take it any more. We had words and I left home when I was sixteen."

Sam handed him a cup of coffee and he smiled his thanks before sipping it. "Pa was also an abolitionist. I got a letter from ma a couple of months ago. She said there was a lot of trouble brewing because pa had started preaching abolition in his sermons. She said she was afraid something bad was going to happen and she asked if I'd come home and help out."

He paused while he took another sip of his coffee, then went on. "I lit a shuck for home, but I was too late. When I got there, our house had been burned. I found ma and pa's graves out back of the house."

He sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. I was wondering if he was going to go on, when he started up again. "I started going around and talking to some of his parishioners. Most of them expressed their sympathy, but wouldn't tell me anything. Finally, one old man told me it was the Coffee brothers who had done it."

He took another sip of coffee and looked at all of us. He definitely had our attention. "The Coffee brothers had a large plantation not far from pa's church. People said they had over a hundred slaves. I rode over there to see what I could find out. They didn't even deny it. They said that people like pa had to be wiped out before they tore the country apart. I killed them both and shot at least two of their hands as I was getting out of there. I've been riding hard ever since."

"Can't say as I blame you," Andy said and held his hand out to be shaken again. I did the same, then each member of our group who was in camp followed suit.

"How do you feel about the slavery issue?" I asked as he was shaking Dalia's hand.

He held on to her hand and said, "I just can't imagine how anyone could make someone as lovely as this into a slave. Actually, I can't imagine making anyone into a slave."

Andy, Dalia and Sarah Beth told him of how we had bought them at auction, but then freed them. We didn't tell him about any of the killing we had had to do.

"So, what are your plans?" I asked him after they had finished telling him of our slave dealing.

"Well, I don't rightly know," he said as he looked around at each of us. "They'll be looking for me in Texas. That's why I kind of headed north. I might try out Oregon myself, but it's a little late to do that this year. I guess I'll have to find somewhere to hole up for the winter."

"Why don't you ride along with us?" Andy asked. "They're looking for a man alone. If you're with us, people won't notice you as much."

Andy looked at me and I nodded. I was going to suggest the same thing myself. "Well, I don't know about that," Stu said. "I wouldn't want to put you folks in danger."

"Bull shit!" Cassie said emphatically. Stu looked at her with a shocked expression as she went on, "We're not lily white either, Stu. We had to kill the dandy who tried to buy Delia and Dalia at the slave auction. He had three buddies with him and we killed them too. They were going to try to take Delia and Dalia away from us."

Stu thought for a minute then asked, "That wouldn't have been Bobby Wadsworth would it?"

"That was the bastard," I said.

"Well, that explains a lot. His disappearance was the talk of Richmond when I got back there. His pa is offering a big reward for anyone who can tell him anything about what happened to Bobby."