Chapter 3

Three weeks later, Two very pampered males were helped onto their horses as the next patrol of Shiply's Troop set out to hunt marauding Indians. This time, it was a very determined Abigail who rode point. She was intent on smelling out any ambush attempts before they could happen. Abe was afraid that she would take foolish chances in trying to protect him and the rest of her friends, so he made a point of sticking to her side almost like a cocklebur.

Abigail knew exactly what he was doing, and she was both pleased by the love that showed and annoyed by the distrust of her judgment that also showed. Abigail finally put her foot down and told Abe that she appreciated his concern, but he was interfering with her doing her job. She promised not to do anything stupid, but he had to get off her back or they could all get killed! Abe understood what she was saying, but his feelings were hurt just a little; however, the hurt feelings didn't last beyond the kiss she gave him with her next breath.

Abe dropped back to ride with the rest of the men, and everything returned to normal. The second day out, they found the remnants of a camp with signs that a steer had been slaughtered. Other than probability, there was no way to know that it was an Indian camp; furthermore, the ranchers didn't mind if a local Indian occasionally took a steer to assuage his families hunger, but they damned well didn't want to feed any raiding parties!

Further investigation showed evidence that this was the camp of Indians, and still further investigation showed that there were no women in the party, Therefore, this was a party of Indians either on a hunting trip or a war party. It was not likely to have been a hunting party; if it were, they would have not have taken a steer. QED: it was a war party! Furthermore, the local Indians profited from the presence of the Anglos and were very friendly, thus, it was almost certain to be a recently abandoned camp of Yaquis out for a raid.

Under those circumstances, the troop started being on the lookout for signs of Indians making trouble. They found trouble later that day! The body of a lone White man was found horribly mutilated beside the trail from San Diego to Yuma. The Indians had taken his horse; it was probably on the evening menu. The Indians had turned north; they had not been completely successful in hiding the horse's trail. Abigail was very watchful as she led the troop after the Indians, since the trail left by the horse could be leading them into an ambush.

Not this time. Abigail spotted a low camp fire where the remains of the horse were being jerked. The Indians were lounging around; they were obviously Yaquis. She assumed that there was at least one Indian on watch, and there may have been more, since she was able to count 14 Indians in the immediate vicinity of the fire.

In a half-hearted effort to hide their camp and their fire, the Indians had chosen a site for their camp which was ideal for being attacked. It was almost as if they wanted to be attacked! The campsite was surrounded by large rocks which could shelter many attackers, though, and this is where the Indians may have blundered, the nature of the attack would be dependent on the weapons the attackers used. If the attackers used bows, as other Indians would have used, the rocks would not have been that much of an advantage. However, attackers with guns would not have to expose themselves so much when they shot, so the Anglos would have a serious advantage over the defending Indians. Abigail guessed that it was a blunder by inexperienced Indians, since most of the men appeared to be barely adolescent. Could this raid be a training exercise for a new crop of warriors?

The troop discussed their options and decided to postpone an attack until after they had done a more thorough bit of scouting. Cassius and Jack were sent out to circle around the camp and see what they could find. They were warned to use only their knives in case of a fight, if possible, so as not to warn the rest of the camp of their presence. Meanwhile, the rest of the troop would standby, with rifles at the ready, in case a rescue was needed.

Cassius and Jack left among jokes that Jack should let Cassius lead since he was naturally camouflaged for night scouting. The two men did find one guard who was hardly more than a boy, and he was taking the opportunity of being alone to masturbate, rather than paying attention to his duties as a guard. Jack slit the boy's throat before he could shout a warning to the camp, and the two Anglos continued their expedition. They did find another guard on the other side of the camp, but he was asleep. Somebody had done a lousy job of training these kids! They dispatched the second guard and returned to the troop.

John spaced the Anglos around the camp in pairs. They hid behind the rocks and readied their repeating rifles. At John's command, 7 rifles spoke as one. They continued to shoot, but not for very long, until all of the Indians were dead. After the shooting was over, Abigail did her usual cropping and stuffing of the corpses.

John suspected that one of the reasons that the local Indians made such an effort to stay on the good side of the Anglos was Cock Cutter's expanding reputation among the local tribes. She had attained a kind of mysterious aura of magical invincibility, and none of the local Indians wanted to antagonize her. Many local Indian mothers controlled their children by threatening them with the bogyman named Cock Cutter. The mere fact that she was a woman only added to her fearsomeness.

They had swung back toward the border with Mexico and were making a pass along a river when they saw two Indian children struggling with some quicksand. The children, naturally, had panicked and were floundering around so much that they were sure to drown soon if nothing were done to help them. The troop rushed to their aid and threw ropes to the children who grabbed on to the ropes and held on for dear life.

The children spoke Spanish and were able to tell the adults that there was another child already beneath the surface of the quicksand. They had been trying to rescue him when they were trapped themselves. Jerome volunteered to go into the quicksand to try for a rescue if they would maintain a rope tied around his chest. Everybody agreed, so Jerome quickly stripped off his clothes and rushed into the quicksand pool with a rope tied to him.

The two children shouted directions, so it took only a few moments for him to stumble over the boy sunk in the quicksand. Jerome grabbed the boy and they were both dragged out of the mess. The boy was not breathing, but appeared not to be dead, yet. The boy was laid on his belly crosswise over a horse and his back was pounded almost, but not quite, hard enough to break some ribs. After a very short time of spewing out water and sand, the boy began to cough and breath on his own. Once the boy was stabilized, the children led them to a campsite of two tipis.

The children explained what had happened and the adults were suitably grateful. Just by being a member of the rescue party, Cock Cutter's reputation grew even further, this time as a protector of Indian children. Abigail was embarrassed that she was getting credit that rightfully belonged to Jerome, but he told her to relax. Any credit that she earned was reflected on to her companions, so that the whole of Shiply's Troop benefited. Jerome maintained that they were all helped by her reputation, so she should just grin and bear it.

It was now well into 1859, and life was perking along at an even keel. They seemed to have suppressed the cavalier attitude the Yaquis had about raiding into California whenever the mood struck them, though there were exceptions who were looking for a little excitement. However, the Yaquis had stepped up their attacks within Mexico to make up for their abandonment of southern California. One day, John was visited by a delegation from some of the wealthier ranchers of northern Mexico wanting John to pacify the Yaquis in their territory.

John pointed out that he had not pacified anybody, they had just made it unpleasant to raid in California, so the Yaquis had turned to greener pastures. The Mexicans said that they didn't care what John called it, they just wanted the same thing for themselves. After some negotiation, they came to an agreement: Shiply's Troop would patrol in northern Mexico to try to reduce the depredations committed by the Yaquis. No guarantees, but they would give it an honest try.