Chapter 7

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Murray now had some serious matters to discuss. Now that they were married, were they going to continue their near vendetta against the Comanches? Neither one was ready to settle down, nor were they ready to forgive and forget the reasons they started their crusade. It seemed to both of them that they were never going to be able to recover from their personal losses if they stayed in Texas. They just needed to get away from the Comanche territories before they could even think about relaxing.

It looked like the obvious solution was to move on to new territory. But, where to go? The popular places to go at that time were California and Oregon. They were not too keen on going to Oregon or northern California because of the potential for cold weather. The same could be said for most other places. It appeared that they would be happier if they stayed in the southern parts of California or New Mexico Territory. They decided to head for El Paso and make up their minds from there.

Keith conceded that they would be best served if they traveled by horse power. He didn't dislike horses, it just was easier to maneuver in close quarters if he was on his own two feet. However, the situation would certainly be different where they were headed, so their best bet was to buy the necessary 2 horses and a pack mule.

All day Sunday was taken up with other concerns, so they didn't get around to having this discussion until Monday, and it was Wednesday before they were actually ready to travel. They equipped themselves with shoulder holsters for their heavy .44 caliber pistols, though they planned to carry the pistols in saddle holsters while they were riding. They each had a Mississippi rifle in a scabbard attached to the saddle, but they still carried their crossbows and bolts in a convenient rig on their backs. The could get to the crossbows as quickly as they could reach their rifles, and the crossbows were much more practical to reload for a second shot while still on horseback. In fact, they practiced unlimbering, cocking, and loading the crossbows as they rode toward El Paso.

It was well that they did practice, for they had need of the weapons before they even reached El Paso. They had traveled for approximately half the distance to that city, using one of the major roads through central Texas (it could not rightly be called a highway), when they came upon a small wagon train of settlers headed for California. Keith and Sam were deep in conversation with the wagon master when the wagon train was attacked by about 50 Comanches.

The wagon master was a shrewd man who was not given to wool gathering, so he immediately called to the wagons to form a defensive box. They had practiced this, using the techniques worked by the Army, so they were moving their wagons into the proper fortified formation at the first sign of Indian trouble.

Keith and Sam let old habits take over and joined in the fray. They rode into the middle of the forming fort and unlimbered their crossbows as they dismounted. They also holstered their pistols and prepared to fight. They had less to worry with than the people in the wagons, so they were already shooting at the Comanches before any of the other people could bring their conventional guns to bear. The first bolts from the crossbows cut down two of the Comanche horses and tripped another one. This got the attention of the Indians, and they swerved away from the wagons.

Keith and Sam continued to shoot at the Indians as long as they were within range, but quit when the Indians pulled about 70-80 yards away. This was far enough that the Comanches could see the bolts coming and have a chance to dodge, so it just wasn't an effective use of the crossbows. However, this did give the Comanches the opportunity to see the crossbows aimed at them and to examine the bolts that found targets. This was enough to raise the cry, "DEMONS!" among the Comanches. They turned and fled when they realized who they were facing.

The wagon master, Jed Caruthers, was absolutely amazed when the Comanches fled. "I ain't never seen nothin' like that afore. Why would they run off like that. It jus' ain't the Comanche way of doin' thin's."

Keith laughed and said, "It must be our fault, Jed. Sam an' I have the reputation among the Comanches of bein' demons. An' they're scared as Hell of demons. They most always run from us when they recognize that we're the ones shootin' at them."

Jed joined the laughter with more than a little relief thrown in. "Hell, they wuz a big enough band ta give us a real fit ifen they hadn't run off. I 'spect we owe y'all our lives. Would y'all be willin' ta ride along with us ta El Paso? I'll hire y'all on as guards. We'd all be obliged ifen y'all would agree to that."

Keith looked at Sam and she nodded agreement, so he said, "Shore, Jed, we'll ride along with ya. What wages do ya offer?"

They negotiated for a few minutes, and Keith and Sam became the official guards of the Caruthers wagon train, at least as far as El Paso. There was a lot of laughing and joking among the members of the train as Keith and Sam salvaged what bolts that they could find. It was interesting that the Comanches did not try to recover the bodies of the warriors killed by the bolts; they must have been sure that those corpses were cursed. The children were particularly fascinated by the crossbows, and a couple of the older boys set out right away to try to make their own versions.

Sam had a brainstorm and made a pennant to be flown from the lead wagon. This pennant had a very good representation of a crossbow on it, and it could be seen from several hundred yards away in open country. This may have been enough, because they were not bothered again by Comanches for the rest of the journey to El Paso. On a couple of occasions, Indians were seen to ride within 200 yards of the train, but to ride quickly away when they saw the pennant!

Jed was well pleased with his guards and felt that he had certainly gotten his money's worth. The train was headed to California by the southern route, and Jed asked Keith and Sam to stay on as guards. Keith pointed out that their reputation as demons would only work among the Comanches. They had not established a reputation among the Apaches and other tribes, so the crossbow mystique would not work much beyond Las Cruces. Jed didn't care about that, he was on reasonably good terms with most of the Apaches, it was Comanches that he was worried about. Keith and Sam discussed the idea at length and decided to try the trip to California.

They spent 3 weeks in El Paso getting ready to make the trip to California. Jed hired a scout whom he had worked with before and two more guards. The new guards were skeptical of a woman as a guard, but her demonstration of strength at arm wrestling and marksmanship with the pistol, plus the story of her action during the Indian raid, were enough to convince them that Sam could cut the mustard. They were amazed at what Keith and Sam could do with the crossbows, particularly how fast they could send out repetitive shots. No muzzle loading rifle could compete with the crossbows for repeating shots, no matter how experienced the shooter was.

The guards got together and hired a wagon and a driver to carry their stuff while they were on the trail. The driver planned to go into the freight hauling business once he reached California, so he had a team of 4 mules, with a spare. Nobody was allowed in the Caruthers party with horses pulling his wagon; 4 mules per wagon were required, but 2 oxen were considered an adequate substitute. All of the members of the train were from the South, so they were familiar with the virtues of the mule over the horse and had no argument with the requirement for mules as motive power.

Each of the guards had two horses which were to be ridden on alternate days. This insured that no horse would get too tired. The schedule was for 3 guards to work the day shift and one to sleep while riding in the wagon. The sleeping guard would keep watch during the night and they would swap off each Sunday. The guards drew straws for the rotation order, and Sam "won" the first week of night duty. She never did figure out whether she was swindled or not.