Chapter 2

The train was shaking down very well, and Oscar White, the wagon master, was beginning to worry. He was a bit of a pessimist, a good thing in his job, so he was looking for ways for the wagon train to get into trouble. So far, the only thing he could see that could happen on the bad side was for there to be a major Comanche attack. He just hoped that the train would be ready when that happened. Two days later, he had a chance to find out.

They were about to ford a river when Abigail came storming up to John. "John, ya better git the train into its defensive box, cuz we're 'bout to be hit by a passel of Comanches. This is the most I've see since y'all rescued me months ago. They're just across that there river, an' they're gittin' theirselves cranked up fer an attack. I couldn't tell how many fer shore, but I guess that there must be near 200 braves an' a dozen war chiefs."

"Thanks, Abigail, fer the timely warning. At least there ain't no trees over there fer them ta hide behind while they shoot at us. You go alert the rest of our people while I talk ta Oscar.

John found Oscar talking to Josephus Williams, the wagon train captain, so he didn't have to hunt him down, too. "I hate ta break up y'all's conversation, but Abigail jus' reported a big bunch of Comanches is 'bout ta attack us from across the river. I want to form our defensive boxes and set up the cannon ta face the river. We need ta put the wagons right up against the water, soz the Comanches can't get out of the water afore they hit our wagons. Kin y'all please come he'p me git them in position?"

The three leaders rode to their tasks and had the three defensive boxes arranged in time. The women and children were in the innermost box, and the stock was behind the second box, so they were as ready as they could hope to be. The cannon was in position facing the river and loaded with cannister, making it one hell of a shotgun. Josephus was commanding the cannon, so John knew that it was in good hands.

John had Abigail and two of his men on the line facing the river, and a man on each of the other three sides of the outermost box. Now, if the men of the wagon train would just follow orders, they should get through this attack with few injuries.

The river was about 30 feet wide and a foot deep, so the Indians were at a disadvantage fighting out of the water. They would be much better off if they were to attack on the other sides where they could attack from dry land. John hoped that it would take them a long time to realize that.

The Comanches rode up to the far river bank and stopped to chant and whoop for a while before attacking. John decided to take advantage of the stationary enemy and shoot before the Indians were expecting it. He ordered, "VOLLEY FIRE! READY... AIM... FIRE! READY... AIM... FIRE! READY... AIM... FIRE! READY... AIM... FIRE! CEASE FIRE! RELOAD!" John's three people were using their repeating rifles, but everybody else was using pistols. This meant that most of the shooting was not all that accurate, but enough lead was thrown at the Indians that a significant number of men and horses were killed or wounded.

Nearly 40 men or horses were put out of the battle in that one little shooting spree. The people of the wagon train were much heartened by this and were ready to take on the whole Comanche nation about this time. Of course, there was a big difference between a skirmish and a full battle, but the morale of the Whites was boosted and the morale of the Indians took a real drop, especially when Jerome waved their battle flag at the Indians. Cries of "Cock Cutter" flew up and down the ranks of the Comanches, and a lot of their enthusiasm for the battle evaporated.

The war chiefs whipped the warriors back into a fighting attitude and they prepared to attack. The charge came with over a hundred Indians whooping as they raced toward the wall of wagons. This time, John held his fire until the first of the Indians had nearly reached the middle of the river. At this point, Josephus fired the cannon with its load of cannister. This was the optimum range for cannister from the little cannon and it did its duty! Thirty Indians and horses were hit with that one blast.

John immediately ordered, "FIRE AT WILL!" The Indians were so close by this time that it would have taken a real effort not to hit a horse or a man with every shot. Everybody was shooting as fast as he could cock and pull the trigger; there was very little aiming, but it was not needed. John estimated that they had downed 50-60 horses and men, this time. The Indians could not sustain losses at this rate and turned to flee. By this time, most of the shooters had emptied their weapons, so the fleeing Indians were able to escape.

Over half the Indians had been killed or wounded, and the wounded were doomed to die, since they had no inkling of the proper way to care for bullet wounds. Many horses had also been lost, so this battle was an economic as well as military disaster for the Comanches. It would probably take the Comanches years to recover from the losses sustained in this battle.

They were caught by surprise by the cannon, and that went a long way toward winning this battle. The monster explosion belched out by the cannon and all of the shot spewed at the Indians was simply out of their range of experience, and they had no way to deal with it. Once the word of this battle spread, which wouldn't take long, it would probably result in the Comanches making an effort to avoid conflict with the Williams wagon train.

The remarkable thing about this battle was that it was over so quickly that none of the members of the wagon train was injured. This helped to build a feeling of invincibility within the wagon train, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, either. Time would tell.

They cleaned the bodies from the river; no point in leaving them in and contaminating the drinking water of the people downstream. Besides, it was kind of fun to watch Cock Cutter at work! Some of the women pretended to be shocked, but they all secretly sympathized with Abigail and knew that this was her way of working out her demons. The children laughed at the plight of the dead Comanches, but really didn't understand the significance of what Abigail was doing.

They put on a few more miles before they stopped for supper, but they didn't make much headway that day. Oscar was a little concerned; he didn't want to waste time, since he hoped to be through the worst of the desert before the monsoon came. Those winds could bring brutal sandstorms which could be killers.

Abigail continued to ride point for the wagon train and functioned as the scout. A scout was not really needed along this part of the trail, since it was a fairly well known part of Texas. Water was not a problem, except for the rivers they had to cross, and game was plentiful, so food was no problem. They were able to buy the flour, coffee, and sugar they needed as they came to towns. Except for Indians and outlaws, there wasn't much to worry about.

One day, about 3 weeks into the trip, Abigail was surprised to come upon a Negro woman hiding in the bushes. The woman said that she was a runaway sex slave and begged for help in escaping from her owner. Abigail wanted to help, for she well knew the pains of being a sex slave, but didn't know what she could do. In desperation, Abigail told the woman to stay hidden while she went to her brother for advice.

"John, I need your advice. I have come across an escaped nigger woman slave what I want to help. She claims ta be a sex slave, and I believe her. What kin I do?"

"Abigail, you know the law 'bout runaway slaves. I understand yer problem, but ya know we have ta return any slaves we happens ta cotch."

"Well, I ain't gonna return this one. I'll fight any bastard what tries ta make me do it, too!"

"Maybe, ya could buy her and keep her as your own slave. Then you could free her when we git ta a free territory, like New Mexico."

"Yeah, that would work. I'll talk ta her 'bout that." Abigail rode off and came back about an hour later with a Negro woman riding the horse behind her. "John, this is Cissiee. She says her owner lives 'bout 8 miles over thataway. Will ya go with me ta talk ta him?"

"Shore will, Abigail. Howdy, Cissiee, pleased ta meet ya. I'll be with y'all soon as I tell Oscar where I'll be fer a while."

They got Cissiee a horse to ride and rode to the ranch belonging to Amos Goodall. When they got there, Goodall was happy to see his slave returned, but not happy when he found out why they had brought the woman back. John had asked Abigail to let him do the negotiating, since Goodall was less likely to take a woman seriously when it came to buying a female slave.