Chapter 4

Missouri, late August, 1866

Chloe and Cletus dragged out of bed a little stiffly the next morning. Chloe was walking a little bowlegged and Cletus ached in muscles he didn't know he had. Chloe grinned and said, "Cletus, I didn't know a man could have so much stamina. I wish I had met you years ago!"

A little embarrassed, Cletus answered, "You showed me things I never even heard of. I never would have wanted to stop, but I just got too tired."

With a mock frown, Chloe said, "Now you stop trying to butter me up! We need to get started on breakfast. I'll fix you something while you do your necessaries."

Chloe was not that good of a cook, but she made up for a lack of skill with her enthusiasm. Cletus gratefully ate everything she fixed and left her to see Hal and Jeff about scouting the route. The next few days should be an easy route and Jeff hoped to make up some of their lost time. When Cletus returned from his scouting, he reported that there should be no problems and they should reach the next town late that afternoon.

A few minutes after they came into sight of the little town, they were met by four men, one of whom was wearing a badge. Apparently he was the town marshal and the spokesman for the group. Without getting off his horse, he said, "We see you got some niggers in your train. We don't want no niggers in our county. You get rid of them right now, or we will!"

Jeff was incensed at his this and replied, "Who the Hell do you think you are giving us orders like that? We don't give a damn what you want or don't want! Those "niggers" are members of our train and we'll protect them if we have to! We're just passing through and we'll be gone tomorrow. You just mind your own business and we'll mind ours!" With that, Jeff spat on the ground in front of the man's horse and stomped away.

The four intruders glowered at Jeff and the rest of the train and left. Jeff called to Cletus and said, "I'm a little worried for you and Chloe. We'll have to mount an extra guard, tonight."

Cletus thanked him and went to talk to Chloe.

"Chloe, there's trouble brewing. These townspeople hate us and the Mormons don't really like us. We may have a fight on our hands, so you stick close to me."

"I'll be all right, Cletus. I know that you will take care of me."

"Chloe, can you use a gun?"

"No, I don't know how."

"We'll fix that right now. Come with me." They went to find Hal and Jeff to tell them that the gun shots they were about to hear were practice and not to worry about them.

Cletus led Chloe away from the camp to a deserted meadow. He handed her one of his Army Brass pistols and told her to hold it in both hands. He showed her how to cock and fire the pistol without jerking the trigger. He had her empty the gun while aiming at a tree about 30 feet away. She actually hit the tree with one of the four shots. He then handed her the Derringer from his boot and had her try that. She did better with the Derringer, she hit the tree with both shots.

Cletus decided that the Army Brass was just too heavy for her to manage, but she seemed to take to the Derringer. He reloaded the Derringer for her and had her shoot a few more times. Cletus thought that she was not going to get much better with the Derringer without a lot more practice, more than they had time for before dark. Besides, the Derringer was really intended to be a very close-range weapon and even 30 feet was pushing it for accurate hits. Cletus told Chloe to keep the Derringer and to wear it whenever she had enough clothes on to have a pocket for it. Otherwise, she should keep it in easy reach.

Hal posted extra guards that night. Since he had become the regular scout, Cletus had been excused from regular guard duty. This night, though, Hal asked Cletus to take a regular turn and Cletus agreed.

Cletus and Chloe went to bed at the normal time, but they were both too wound up to want more than companionship. The lay in each other's arms and exchanged a occasional kiss, but mostly they listened to the noises coming in from the night. Eventually they drifted off to sleep, but that didn't last long. There was a pounding on the side of the wagon and Hal was calling for Cletus to wake up.

Cletus snapped awake instantly and knew something was wrong. He heard loud singing coming from outside the camp and this was the wrong time for his stint at guard duty. He answered Hal that he was coming and quickly dressed. He shook Chloe awake and bid her dress, too.

Hal was waiting for Cletus at the rear of the wagon. He pointed toward a blaze of light in the otherwise dark night; there was no moon tonight. The singing was coming from the region of light. Hal asked Cletus to take a look and report back.

Cletus took off at a run in that direction. When he arrived, he found a large mob dressed in white robes and pointed hoods. One of the hooded people was orating about the heathen Mormons and the niggers that were sheltering in the camp nearby. The speaker went on to shout that all should be killed, for they were an affront to God. The orator went on about how these pagans would corrupt the fair land of Missouri just by standing on it. It was the duty of those gathered here to purify the town by removing this blight.

Cletus decided that he had seen enough and ran back to Hal to report. Hal found Jeff and had Cletus repeat his observations. Jeff ordered an immediate preparation to defend the wagon train.

Hal ordered the wagons to be arranged in a circle with the horses and other stock moved inside. Hal told the guards and Mormon men to get ready to defend themselves against a mob. Hal scattered the defenders around the circled wagons and had the women and children moved to stay with the stock. He ordered Chloe to join them, even though some of the women objected. Hal ordered those women to shut up and to do as they were told.

This defensive arrangement produced a circle about 140 feet in diameter with a defender behind each wagon and a mobile reserve of 10 men to reinforce trouble spots. Unfortunately, the least reliable men had to be put in the reserve, but there was no safe way around that. Hal commanded the defense, with Jeff leading the reserve.

Cletus thought that there were 45 to 50 people in the mob, so the wagon train defenders were outnumbered. Furthermore, the weaker defenders might easily run from a determined attack, so they needed to find some way to distract the mob. Cletus went to find Hal to propose a plan.

Hal agreed to Cletus' plan and sent him off to implement it. Cletus found Chloe and told her that he would be gone for a while and she should look to Hal for guidance if there was trouble. Chloe had her Derringer, so she was not completely helpless.

Cletus sneaked out of the camp and circled around the mob. He approached the town about one-fourth of the way around the town's edge from the mob in order to reduce his chance of being seen. He then worked his way forward so that he could see and hear everything that happened at the wagons. Cletus settled down to wait.

He didn't have to wait long. The mob surged toward the wagons and shots rang out. Cletus couldn't tell who did the shooting, but it made no difference. At the first shot he heard, Cletus ran to a refuse pile and set it on fire. He used this fire to light objects which he threw at haystacks, sheds, and barns. He didn't try to start fires in any of the houses, since he didn't want to hurt innocent children (he figured that the women were just a guilty as the men). Cletus started as many fires as he could in a few minutes, and then ran toward the mob yelling, "Fire! Fire! The town is burning!" Someone in the mob turned to look, and that was all it took to distract the entire mob. They rushed toward the town to extinguish the fires.

There was no more trouble that night, but Hal kept the alert going, anyway. The next morning, they wagon train had breakfast and left as soon as there was enough light.

Cletus left on his usual survey of the proposed route and made it back by noon. He and Chloe retired to their wagon for their afternoon nap. The driver was getting used to them sleeping while he drove. That night, after supper, they made torrid love. This was the pattern for their lives for the next few weeks.

The wagon train had picked up a little speed as the people used up some of their heavier supplies, such as the canned goods. They were getting close to Kansas City and the route got safer and more well traveled. They were beginning to see other travelers and having to share camp sites. This would have made things a bit more difficult for Cletus and Chloe were it not for Jeff's efforts. The nearer they got to Kansas City, the more harassment they got because of their skin color.

Finally, Cletus had a heart-to-heart talk with Jeff and Hal. Cletus complained that, if the harassment got much worse, he was going to shoot somebody! Jeff and Hal admitted that the prospects for improvement were not good. The more people they saw, the more likely they were to run into rabid KKK'ers. Cletus asked if it wasn't best if he and Chloe just left the train before something bad happened. Jeff and Hal both said that they would be sorry to see Cletus leave, but there wasn't anything else they could recommend.

The next morning, Cletus took a horse from the extra stock for Chloe to ride. He exchanged the horse and tack for his pay as a guard. Cletus loaded his pack horse and he and Chloe left the train. Jeff and Hal were the only ones to see them off.

Cletus moved them as fast as he could through the rest of Missouri and into Kansas. They did have an argument with a couple of Jayhawkers which had an interesting result. They got the drop on Cletus by appearing from opposite sides of the road at the same time. He was concerned for Chloe's health if there was any shooting, so he was slow to draw. The two White men ignored Chloe and concentrated on Cletus. They proceeded to demand his money as a "toll" to enter Kansas. Cletus started to reach for his money belt when there were two closely spaced gun shots. Cletus looked up to see two men lying on the ground and a very angry Chloe holding a smoking Derringer. "How dare they try to steal from us!" she snarled. Never again did Cletus worry about Chloe taking care of herself!