Chapter 5

John need not have worried about getting Cissiee and Cassius together. Cissiee had already taken charge of Jacob and Aaron before the troop returned to the train. Cissiee was a sight! Her belly was so big that she had to lean well back in order to walk, but she still had enough mobility to maintain complete control over the two young boys, even though Jacob was 3 and Aaron was 2. The boys were riding on the buckboard's seat with Cissiee as she drove the team. John was delighted to see what looked like a happy family, already.

This was the first time Cassius had seen Cissiee, and it was easy to see that he was attracted to her, that is, up until he saw the advanced state of her pregnancy. Cassius asked, "Has she already got a man? I don't see no other nigger in the train."

John explained, "Cissiee ain't married. My sister rescued her from sex slavery back in Texas. She was already pregnant when we bought her. We freed Cissiee as soon as it was safe after we crossed inta New Mexico Territory. The baby is half White, but Cissiee wanted to keep it, anyway. Ifen ya're interested in her, go ahead. She's a fine woman, an' any man should be proud to have her fer his wife."

"I thanks ya kindly, Mista John. My boys is in bad need of a mother, an' I shore could use another wife. I'll see ifen she's interested in me, now that I gots a good job."

John thought to himself, "Well, it shore looks like we're gonna need another wagon pretty damn soon!" as Cassius rode over to introduce himself to Cissiee. John had already reported in and sent his guards back out to protect the train, so he turned his horse to lookup Mrs. Sawbuck to see how she was faring.

Mrs. Sawbuck was a good looking woman, at least, from what one could see from her somewhat baggy clothes. At least, her face was a pleasure to look at, and she appeared to have an adequate bosom and hips. Actually, she was quite buxom and her hips, and everything else, were a pleasure to see, if a man ever got that chance. She was driving Cassius' wagon at the tail end of the train; she would be assigned a regular place by Josephus or Oscar when they stopped that night.

John rode up and tipped his hat. "Howdy, Miz. Sawbuck. Are ya gittin' by alright? Do ya need anythin'?"

"Howdy, Mista Shiply. I'm doin' right well, I s'pose. Though I am gittin' a might thirsty. I ain't got no water on this here wagon. Do ya reckon I could have a swig from yer canteen? I'd be much obliged."

"Shore thing, Miz. Sawbuck, here ya go. An' please call me John. All my friends do. That canteen's nearly full. Ya keep it, an' I'll git me another one. Won't be no problem—there's several empties in my wagon."

"Why, thank ya, kindly, John. I do appreciate the kindness. An' ya kin call me Mary. I'd like that." They talked for a few more minutes before John had to leave to return to duty. Mary spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of how nice a man John had seemed to be. Truthfully, Mary was already hunting a new husband. For the last year, her husband had been so sick with consumption that he had not been able to service her sexual needs, and she was beginning to hurt for release. John sure looked like a good prospect, if he would just get interested in her. She already knew that he was not married.

John rode away thinking of how attractive Mary Sawbuck was. If she hadn't been so recently bereaved, he could easily become interested in her. He knew it was past time that he took a wife, he just hadn't seen a woman that was attractive enough. Now, Mary was the exception.

A few nights later, Cissiee began to have cramps in her belly. Abigail recognized the signs, immediately. By 3:00 AM, her water had broken, and Cissiee delivered her daughter while the train was on the move that morning. Abigail had some experience assisting a midwife while she had been a slave of the Comanches, so she was able to bring Cissiee through the ordeal with a minimum of pain and trouble. Cissiee named her daughter Elizabeth. Cassius held Cissiee's hand through the whole thing. They had become closely attached to each other, and, as soon as she recovered enough, Cissiee planned to make Cassius her husband—they'd find a preacher when they could.

Abe and Abigail had been spending as much time with each other as they could. They had progressed from gentle pecks to full blown lover's kisses, there had actually been some groping by Abe. Abe asked and Abigail accepted; they would be married as soon as they could find a preacher. John was almost as happy as the loving couple. Then, a stroke of luck! Somebody remembered about common law marriages. You were married if you said you were before witnesses! The next night, there were two wedding ceremonies: Abigail and Abe, and Cissiee and Cassius. There was a real whing-ding of a celebration that night. Abigail and Abe moved into an emptied supply wagon, and Cissiee and Cassius moved into his wagon which had been used by Mary Sawbuck. Mary moved into the buckboard and John slept with the other guards.

Abigail, Cissiee, and Mary became the matriarchs of an extended family consisting of the male members of the guards and the various children. The men loved this because they could always be assured of a hot, filling meal and good company. The children loved all of the attention they got: 3 mothers and 8 fathers; what more could a child want? The women loved this because they loved the people involved.

Mary and John began to spend more and more time together. Everybody else on the train knew that they were made for each other long before they did. The next four weeks were going to be tough as they started their trek through some real desert leading up to the Colorado river. The struggle and stress left everybody worn out at the end of the day, but John and Mary still found a little time to be with each other, though, mostly, all they did was talk.

They had not seen any Indians since the fight with the Navajoes, but that didn't mean that Indians had not seen them. The Chiricahua Apaches had not attacked so far for a reason that was more White than Indian. There was political turmoil among the very loose confederation of Chiricahua chiefs. Some wanted to fight the Anglos and some wanted to fight the Mexicans, while the rest wanted to fight everybody. Nobody could order anything among the Apaches, everything was decided based on persuasion.

The upshot of this indecision was that nobody was attacked, except for the actions of a few hotheads who were more interested in personal gratification and glory than they were in following their leaders. The situation changed when the last conference of chiefs broke up with the agreement to disagree. Those Apaches in Anglo territory went on to fight Anglos, those Apaches in Mexican territory went on the fight the Mexicans, and those Apaches on the border went on to fight everybody. Therefore, John and his friends were subject to attack by all of the Apaches within reach.

The first sign of Apache trouble came when the scout, Jim Baker, came riding up to John with the news that about 40 Apaches were headed their way. John asked Oscar to form the defensive boxes and prepare for an attack. Fortunately for the wagon train, they were in a relatively open, relatively flat locale. This meant that there was little opportunity for the Indians to slip up on the wagons, except for the south side, where there was a low ridge that the Indians could hide behind. The outer defensive box was large enough that the defenders would be spread pretty thinly, so a lot depended on how the Apaches chose to attack.

If they attacked all four sides of the box at the same time, it was going to be a contest of marksmanship, with the advantage going to the Apaches, provided that they had enough arrows. On the other hand, a concerted rush at one side of the defensive box would be a contest of sheer firepower, with the advantage going heavily in favor of the defenders with their 5 and 6-shot revolvers. John decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach. He spaced the defenders out and put one guard along each side of the box, the remaining 2 guards, Abigail and Cassius, along with himself, he kept as a mobile reserve.

The Indians opened the attack with a shower of arrows aimed at the inner defensive boxes. The women and children were well protected by the wagons they crawled under, but the livestock was not so lucky. Several animals were wounded severely enough that they would have to be put down after the battle, but, fortunately, the Indians realized that they didn't have enough arrows to continue with this very inaccurate expenditure of arrows. The wagon train lost only 4 mules in this phase of the battle, a number they could easily make up from spares.