Chapter 6

The next morning, Sally fixed me a wonderful breakfast. I thanked her, Shook hands with Caleb, and took my leave. It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling great. It's days like this that sometimes make me wonder why I'm in the bounty hunter business. Then something usually happens that answers my question.

I had been riding for about an hour when I came to my answer. She was lying beside the road, completely naked! Her skin was as beautiful a shade of chocolate as I could imagine. I immediately pulled out my carbine and scanned the neighborhood to be sure that this was not a trap. I could not see any one else around nor any place close by for someone to hide. Having checked out the neighborhood, I felt it was safe for me to ride up to the woman.

She must have heard me coming since she moved a little bit, but made no effort to cover herself nor took any other notice of me. My curiosity was aroused by this strange behavior. I rode up slowly, tipped my hat, and asked if I could be of service. She looked at me as if I were a simpleton.

"Of course, I need help! Here I sit, naked and defenseless; how can I survive without help?"

"Well, ma'am, I can see that, but I thought that it would be polite for me to ask, rather than command."

"I do apologize for my rudeness, sir. I would be deeply grateful for any help you might render."

"The first thing we need to do is get you some protection from the sun. Even with your dark skin, I'm sure that you would burn painfully if we don't we get you covered. I realize that it is probably a stupid question, but do you have any belongings around here?"

"Oh, yes, I do have a full suite of clothes hidden over there about ten steps in that direction."

My jaw dropped open and I could only stare at her in disbelief. "Why are you naked, if you have clothes?"

"I knew that I had to have aid if I were to survive. What better way to attract attention than to remove my clothes?"

I had to admit that she had a point, but I was stunned that she would have the guts to do it.

I suggested that she get dressed and then we would resume our discussion. She left to dress and I dismounted and loosened the cinch to give my horse a breather.

When she returned, I asked if she would like to proceed to the next town. She agreed that would be a good idea, so I retightened my cinch and mounted. I helped her up behind me and we rode down the trail at a slow walk to preserve my horse.

I asked her why she was out here alone and she told the following story:

"To give you the full picture, I must start my tale way back to years ago. I was born in Oklahoma, in one of the counties which was practically all Negro. I attended school and received an excellent education. That is the reason for my type of speaking.

"We had a prosperous farm in a prosperous community. I fully expected to marry some local boy and live to a happy old age on his farm with a full family and all of the associated joys and tribulations.

"Then it happened! I was fifteen years old and was considered very beautiful by the locals. I was walking along the road one day when I was kidnapped by three white men. The tied me up and bundled me into the back of a wagon. There were three other Negro girls already in the wagon. I heard one of the men say that they had enough merchandise for now and they should leave before they were discovered. The other two agreed, so we left the area. That evening, we stopped in a wooded area and the men stripped us and checked to see if we were virgins. Two other girls and I were obviously virgins, but the fourth girl did not have an intact hymen, even though she insisted that she was also virgin. We three were chained by our ankles to the wagon while they raped the fourth girl. She was in pretty bad shape at the end, but the three men did not let it affect their attitude. After that, each night all three men used that girl to relieve themselves.

"We were not allowed to dress while we were with those men and, other than having to prepare the meals, we had no duties. Beyond the regular rape of the fourth girl, we were not mistreated, and she seemed to become accustomed to it. We were given a bar of soap and required to bathe every day, if it was practical. They never told us what they planned for us, but we deduced from listening to their conversation that they planned to sell us to a particular slave dealer when we reached Oklahoma City. The reason we three were not raped was that virgins would bring considerably more money.

"When we reached Oklahoma City, we were taken to a large warehouse and led inside where we were put into what I assume was a holding cell. We spent several days in that cell and we never again saw our original captors. Eventually, we were put into another wagon and driven away. The routine was pretty much the same as before, except none of us were raped.

"After a few days in the wagon, we were put into a boxcar and the door was sealed. We were given food and water and cautioned not to use it up too fast; it had to last for five days. Eventually, we were taken out of the boxcar in a new city. We were taken to a house which I now know to be a brothel. We were trained in the various ways to please a man, beyond the simple sex used on the fourth girl in our initial captivity.

"Eventually, we were given clothes and told to make ourselves as pretty as we could. We were then taken individually up to a kind of stage and we were auctioned off to a crowd of men. I was taken into a bedroom and a man came in. He said that he had purchased my services for the night. He knew that I was inexperienced; he had, in fact, paid extra for that benefit. He had me engage in various sex acts with him for the rest of that night.

"He left the next morning and I was told to bathe and eat breakfast. For the rest of the day, I performed various domestic duties while naked. That evening, I was told to dress in the clothes provided and I was led to the auction block, again. I then was used by a man that night. I went through this daily routine for almost every night for about two years, except at those times when I was having my monthlies.

"For some reason I was never told, I was put in a wagon with several other girls and taken out on what I thought of as a mobile brothel. We moved from town to town, servicing customers in hotel rooms, and moving on to a new town the next day. This went on for about a year, until this morning. Somehow, the door sealing me into the wagon came open. As soon as I thought that I could safely escape, I jumped out of the wagon. I did not know where I was, but, at last, I was free of my slavery. Then you found me!"

That was quite a story and I was amazed that this woman could relate it so calmly. I asked why she could so casually remove her clothes. She said she had spent so much time around other people while she was naked that she no longer gave much thought to the difference in being clothed and naked.

I asked if she had given any thought to what her future might bring and she said that she would just find a job in a high class bordello, since she could never be accepted back in Oklahoma, now. I immediately thought of Madam Helen's establishment in Santa Fe. We discussed that sort of employment for the next hour or so.

We finally came to a town and started down the street. Suddenly, Ruby (she said that was her professional name) stiffened and looked very frightened. I asked her what was the matter and she said that she had just seen her current master walking into a saloon. My blood boiled at this, so I asked her to come along and point him out to me. She was reluctant, as she didn't want me harmed, but I assured her that I would be in no danger.

I directed the horse to the hitching rail and we dismounted. We went up to the saloon door and I had Ruby point out the man in question. I then sent her to sit on a bench in front of the hotel a few doors down the street and told her to wait there for me. I then went into the saloon.

The very dandified man Ruby had pointed out to me was just sitting in on a poker game. Lately, I had made a point of learning the fine points of winning at poker, so that I had now become an excellent player. Therefore, I thought I might take some money from Ruby's nemesis and provoke him into drawing on me. I went over and sat in on the game almost directly opposite my intended victim.

The dandy was not the poker player he thought he was, and I was able to take quite a bit of money from him. I had made a point of not winning too much from anyone else, as I was not out to make a lot of enemies. Finally, I was able to strip his last coin from him in a particularly flashy fashion (I had a royal flush!). He got very irate and accused me of cheating. I told him how stupid he was and what he could do with his accusations. This was the last straw; he jumped up and pulled a .45 Derringer from his sleeve. I drew as soon as I saw him move and I fired several times before he could react. I simply blew him away!

Fortunately, the marshal was just down the street and he came running into the saloon (not a good way to drop in on a gun battle, but I didn't point this out). He was informed of the situation by several witnesses, so he was satisfied and went to find the local undertaker; the dandy's watch would pay for the funeral. I picked up my winnings and dropped a coin on the table to pay for drinks for the house.

I walked out of the saloon and went to fetch Ruby. She was relieved to see me and asked what happened. I told her and suggested we find the other girls of the dandy's troop. She said that they were probably still in the wagon parked at some livery stable. We quickly found the wagon and looked inside. Three other women, two white and one Chinese, were sitting there looking scared to see a strange man staring at them. Ruby pushed me aside and explained what had happened.