Chapter 5

Keith tried to save them some work by converting the arrows they had scavenged from the Comanche camp into crossbow bolts. The arrow shafts were slightly smaller in diameter than the bolt points they had were designed for. The size difference was not enough to make the shaft unsuitable for their points, but a slight pull on the shaft would dislodge the head. Keith wondered if this would be a useful characteristic or just an unimportant side issue. Oh, well, they would find out when they shot their first Comanche with one. The main advantage of salvaging the arrow shafts was that they were already fletched, so they didn't have to worry about gluing feathers onto the shafts, themselves.

Keith worked on converting the first arrow to a bolt that evening when they stopped for the night. It went so well that he and Sam had used up all of their spare points in less than 2 hours of work. This gave them nearly 80 usable bolts, but Keith decided to contract with a smith to make some more points for them, using an existing point as a pattern. They did reuse the bolts that they could salvage, but they eventually lost them in the course of everyday use.

Since they were close, they decided to stop off and visit with Reginald for a few days. Keith wanted to tell him how successful they had been with his crossbows. Keith was sure that their qualities as a silent killer were what had kept him alive on several occasions.

Keith and Sam spent a very pleasant 3 days with Reginald. When Keith told him about needing some more points, Reginald directed him to the smith that had been making his replacement units. The man was reliable and reasonably swift in completing an order, and his price was acceptable. When they left, Keith stopped by the smith and ordered 100 points to be picked up in 2 months. Keith and Sam now resumed their Comanche hunt.

Up until now, Keith and Sam had been just reacting to whatever fate had thrown their way. They decided to become more active by latching onto a band of Comanches and sticking with them until the Indians decided to run for Mexico. To do this, they needed to shift their location to one closer to the Rio Grande River, so they headed southwest for about 20 miles. This was the point where they found signs of large scale Comanche activity. They bumped into the trail left by a large band of Indians on the march, though it wasn't a fresh trail. They followed it for 2 days and finally spotted a large Comanche camp set up along the banks of a relatively good sized seasonal stream.

Keith and Sam found a good place for their own camp and started scouting the Comanches to determine their routines. There was nothing unusual about this camp, the women and children did all the things that women and children usually did, and most of the men were engaged in hunting. However, everyday, a few of the younger men painted themselves for war and left the camp to see what devilment they could find. These were the targets that Keith and Sam selected.

The first morning they watched, they say a group of 5 warriors head toward the east where there were several farms scattered about the countryside. These people had never done the Indians any harm, least of all this particular band of Comanches, so Keith and Sam were especially anxious to halt this raiding party. The Comanches were walking their horses, so it was easy for them to keep up until the Indians were out of sight of camp.

This was an area of heavy undergrowth, so the horses were having some trouble getting through, though the humans on foot had no difficulties making progress. The Indians had become separated a little bit, so it was an ideal time and place to hit them. Sam shot first, at fairly close range, so that her bolt caught its target high in the back, just below the left shoulder blade and knocked him from his horse. The only sound he made was a loud grunt as he fell from his horse, and the other Indians laughed at how he couldn't stay on his horse in rough country.

Keith shot a few seconds later and killed another Indian immediately. This man fell face forward on his horse's withers and remained there. Only a small length of the bolt was left to stick out of the man's back, so it was not easily noticed. More catcalls and laughter ensued as the man was accused of sleeping on the job. When there was no reaction from either of the two objects of ridicule, the other three Indians guided their horses toward where their fellows were lying.

They had just realized that the two men were dead when bolts found two more of the warriors. One was killed, outright, and the other was seriously wounded with a belly-shot. The third man screamed, "DEMONS!" and tried to flee. He was cut down with two bolts before he could escape. The attackers could see that the wounded man was going to die from his belly wound, so they let him escape to spread the word at his camp before he died.

Keith and Sam cut their bolts from the dead Indians and took the horses and anything else they thought that they could use before returning to their own camp by a very circuitous route. They gathered their belongings and rode to warn the farmers of the impending attacks by the Comanches. The farmers were happy to buy the horses at bargain prices and put the adventurers up for the night.

The next morning, Keith and Sam went looking for more raiders to kill. This was a fruitless vigil, since the Indians were too frightened by the prospect of demons to consider leaving camp for the whole day. However, the next day, 3 warriors were brave enough to go hunting, since the camp needed the meat. These hunters were ignored by the "demons," since they were only going for food. This amnesty for hunters was misinterpreted by the younger firebrands, who applied war paint and set out as a band of 8.

Eight warriors were really too many for Keith and Sam to face at one time, but they were worried that the Indians would attack one of the farms. Keith and Sam beat down their apprehensions and made ready to attack the war party. They took 20 bolts and their pistols with extra ammunition, so they thought that they probably had enough firepower, if they could catch the Comanches at the right time.

The war party headed east at an easy pace, so Keith and Sam had no trouble getting ahead of it to set up an ambush. They found a good place beside the trail running through the heavy undergrowth. There were enough rocks around to prevent a reckless charge into the brush for fear of breaking a horse's leg. Keith and Sam were counting on the Comanche's refusal to dismount from his horse during a fight, so they were not worried about having to face the Comanches on foot. Sitting on a horse caused the Comanche to be exposed above the brush while providing some protection for his horse. This made the man an inviting target, but somewhat protected the horse during an emergency; Keith and Sam settled for the slight inconvenience.

Keith and Sam had only been in place about 10 minutes when the Comanches showed up. They had decided to make use of the Comanches' fear of demons by attacking the Indians from the front. They hoped that this would break the Indians' morale and keep them from being too much of a threat. Their plan was to shoot the Indians from the front of the column to the back, thereby letting the Indians get a good look at them while they were shooting the crossbows. The Comanches had never before seen a crossbow, so they would have no problem accepting it as a demon's weapon. They were sure that the Comanches would assume that the demons had taken the form of Whites, one of them a woman, just to taunt the Indians. The whole idea was to reinforce the plan of convincing the Comanches that they were threatened by demons, and their only escape was flight across the river; the Indians wouldn't run from humans, but they would run from demons!

Keith had convinced Sam to take her shirt off so that the Comanches could see her breasts. If she shouted before she fired so that they were sure to look at her, she could reinforce the demon conviction even further. Sam had to think about it for a while, but she rationalized that Keith had already seen her breasts when he rescued her from the Comanches that first day they met; therefore, she was not compromising her modesty all that much more—after all, the Comanche men didn't count!