Chapter 17

The next day we did practically nothing but hang around and let the stock graze. The day after that we were gone less than an hour before sunrise.

We were well done with plains now and if you looked forward it was easy to see we had climbing in our future, and climb we did. The way was well known by now but that didn't mean it was easy. Of course it was easier than it had been, but that could change at any moment because of the Sioux, Cheyenne, or Arapahos. We weren't particularly worried about it because we'd had no warning about what it would be like this year, and besides, worrying didn't help a thing. Keeping your eyes open was the best help you could get.

Though the terrain was leading us to the continental divide it wasn't overly steep. It was more of a climb, descend, climb a little higher, and repeat thing. It wore on the mules and on us too and by the time we made Independence Rock we were sick of it. We weren't even nearly finished, but we were sick of it. At least we made it on the last day of June, which was safely ahead of schedule. It was said if you made Independence Rock before Independence Day you were doing well, and we did.

The trip here had been mostly boring, and the same old same old every day. Occasionally we'd kill a buffalo or two and take a break to cut and divvy it up. Other hunting came in handy too but mostly we depleted our store bought food. I was glad we'd bought plenty.

Still, bored or not we were glad to be here and even though it came early we had our Independence day celebration, but on July first instead of the forth. We slept late that morning, cooked and ate almost all day, and tried to find something that was fun and entertaining during the daylight.

The most fun I got was stealing Clarice and playing with her. By now she knew I was good for a giggle anytime I came around, and if she spied me heading her way she'd spread her arms wide, smile wide, and make little noises to let me know she was ready to be picked up and paid attention to.

The best part of the celebration was the rest. We needed it, the stock needed it, and so on. I enjoyed the day doing nothing, but was ready to move out the next morning. This was the big climb coming up, or the last of it anyway.

After crossing the Sweetwater for the last time we took the Lander cutoff, or road as some people called it. The government had actually spent some money on it in 1859, clearing trees and moving dirt. We followed the Sweetwater on up toward it source and crossed the divide north of South Pass. Not only did we bypass a lot of rugged travel, we were in mostly forested territory and had wood, grass, and plentiful water and we eventually came back to the main trail near Idaho and we easily cut seven days off the time the old route would have taken.

The route wasn't totally trouble free, but it could have been much worse if not for our excellent scout, Cal. We hadn't been moving for over an hour the third day on the cutoff when Cal came galloping back to talk to Jack. We happened to be in a good spot and Jack signaled for us to circle the wagons.

Cal had happened to spot a group of about fifty or so Indians, mostly Sioux, and they seemed to be getting ready to hit us from both sides in a narrow spot about two hours farther on. Fifty of the fuckers would be a big bother even with us already circled and ready for action - they would have been hell on wheels if we'd blundered into their trap.

Apparently they had some scouts of their own out. Somehow they learned we were already circled and waiting for them, but I guess they figured their medicine was strong. Of all things they came galloping down the trail about an hour later and mostly all from the same direction. We were basically ready anyway, but when they showed themselves some of us were able to move toward places where we could do early damage.

Jack asked me to move up under the wagons he thought would be the hardest hit at first. Charlie, Jr, Jimmy, and me did it. Charlie brought a Spencer and his new Greener and Jr did to. Nadine, Jasper, and Blossum came along too. Blossum and Jasper had Henrys while Nadine and Jimmy were using Spencers like I was. Our best advantage was we had more than one weapon each and Honey, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Helga, and Anita stayed right on our asses nearly, to load one while we were shooting the other.

Jack kept the rest of the men spread out in case of diversions but let us do things the way we thought best. Of course we didn't have any idea who was leading this scroungy looking party, but I at least was glad he seemed to be a glory hound and a dumbass along with it. About a hundred and fifty yards out the kicked their ponies into a lope and headed our way, yelling and screaming and shooting too, but they were too far off to do any good yet and they seemed to have muzzle loaders.

We held our rifle fire until they came within forty yards or so and then let them have it. Even though they dropped like flies from the first volley they kept coming and I guess they thought we would have to stop and reload. Now there was a fatal mistake. Only about ten of them made it even a close thing, but when they were about fifteen yards away Jr and Charley showed them the beauty of the breach loading Greener ten-gauge. It was a pony clearing show for a minute there.

Not a damned Indian got any closer to us and for a while I thought we'd made a bad mistake. A leader as dumb as theirs had been needed to survive to guide other fuckups.

All the Indians were down but not all of them were dead. Some had been knocked out when they fell of their running horses as the horses took fire and died or rebelled to throw their riders. Charlie, Jr, Jimmy, Jasper and I headed out to finish off any that were still kicking. Blossum and Nadine got up in the wagons intending to keep and eye out and take care of any they thought were trying to pull something.

Charlie and Jr carried their Greeners along but most of us intended to do any finishing with a Paterson or Remington that had to be hand loaded. I wasn't wasting any of the ammunition the conversions used and I knew Charlie and Jr wouldn't spend one of the Greener shells unless they just had to.

When we got among 'em we found more wounded than dead. One of them raised up and took a shot, but he snapped it off too quick to aim and if you don't point it in the right direction, a rifle is nothing more than a loud club. Charlie nearly cut him in half by letting him have both barrels of his ten gauge.

Most of the rest of them were wounded or injured too badly to cause trouble. Mainly they scowled and tried to look mean when we walked up and blew their brains out. Two of them were off to one side and trying to reload without being seen but Nadine and Blossum cashed their chips in.

After we'd done for all the braves we gathered the horses that could still walk. There were twenty-one that could still move under their own power, but one had a hole through his lungs and we killed him right away. That left twenty either in good shape or with just minor wounds. Jack said I could have all of them I wanted since we'd done the most of the work, but I told the rest if they wanted one, come get it. Two or three men came up to take a look, but the horses had missed a lot of meals and they didn't look like much right now. Nobody wanted any of them.