Chapter 5

I spent the night in the cabin, but on a bedroll on the floor. I was very careful not to intrude upon Sally in her grief. The next morning, the sergeant and I had breakfast with Sally before we all left for Fort Hayes. She had very little of any real value to salvage from those years homesteading, but we packed what she wanted to keep into a farm wagon which she drove. The most valuable items that she took with her were a Henry rifle and the two mules pulling the wagon.

It took two days to reach Fort Hayes, and I spent a lot of that time sitting with Sally in the wagon. I did quite a lot of the driving; I discovered that I already knew all that I needed to know about driving a team of mules—just another one of those mysterious bits of knowledge and skill that I was supplied when I landed in 1877. We got to know each other very well as people, though, naturally, I made up a youth of my own based on a transliteration of my experiences back in my original time. It turned out that Sally was 17 years old, and unmarried. This remarkable and rare feat was accomplished by living so far out in the boondocks that she had never had the chance to meet many males of the proper age group whom her mother considered suitable prospects as husbands. The more I heard of her, the more I disliked Sally's mother.

At the fort, Sally was lodged in one of the empty guest quarters and I was assigned to another. Fort Hayes was not a large fort, and we took the last of the empty apartments.

Shortly after we arrived, I was ushered in to meet Maj. Oswald Kreiker. The major was pleasant enough to me, but I could tell that he easily grew impatient with incompetence. There were now only two lieutenants at the post, what with the demise of the lieutenant who was leading the patrol that rescued Sally and me. Sgt. Haskall was temporarily assigned to the job formerly occupied by the deceased officer until a new man could be assigned to the fort.

In conversations with various NCOs (Non-commissioned Officers), I pieced together a history for Sgt. Haskall. For one thing, Elija Haskall was not his real name, but I never found out what it was. He had been in the Confederate Army as a captain of cavalry, but he was destined never to rise so high in the US Army. He was here simply because he considered himself a soldier, and did not want another job. Sgt. Haskall was universally respected by the men stationed at Ft. Hayes, including Maj. Kreiker. I guessed that Sgt. Haskall had found a niche that fit him well enough to give him a happy life, and I wished him well.

I found myself constantly in contact with Sally Bradford. The contact was very pleasant, especially after I had relieved some of the pressure on me with a visit to the unofficial fort bordello. This was run by the female head of the laundry and her crew of Negro women provided the stable for the brothel.

Sally practically dogged my footsteps around the fort, and we often went riding together, but were careful to stay close to the fort. Maj. Kreiker was delighted that I was hanging around because of the glowing endorsement he had been given of me by Sgt. Haskall. He said, in a moment of candor, that every gun was welcome at the present state of his command. He had not received any replacements in some time, and he didn't expect any, the way that Congress was cutting the budget for the Army.

I had not originally planned on staying long at Fort Hayes, but Sally's presence was all that was necessary to keep me on. At the end of six weeks, we had reached the point of talking of marriage! This was not something that I had planned, but I had married in most of my former lifetimes, and it had worked out well. I never abandoned my wife except on my deathbed, or its equivalent, so she was never left in the lurch, as it were.

Maj. Kreiker performed the wedding ceremony, and Sgt. Haskall was my Best Man. The fort's sutler (civilian storekeeper) had a ring which I purchased as a wedding ring. It was nothing special, but it was prized by Sally, so I was happy with it. I moved in with Sally, thus freeing up one of the apartments. There was a grand reception after the wedding that was attended by the entire fort's personnel, including the laundry workers. Two of them cried at the wedding.

Our wedding night was typical of those I'd had in my former lives, but I did everything I could to make it special for Sally. I had found out her monthly cycle, so I was pretty sure that she had a chance of being fertile on our wedding night. I hoped so, because Sally certainly did. Well, we would know shortly, but life went on apace while we waited for the results of our coupling.

Maj. Kreiker asked me to take on the job of civilian scout for the fort. His previous scout had retired about a month before I showed up, and the major was worried that he had not been able to obtain any fresh information about the local Indians. This was such a small fort that he did not have enough money to hire an assistant for me, so I was on my own when I took the job. I confess that I was happy with that because I did work better alone, or, at least, I thought I did.

Sally was a bit concerned when I told her that I had taken the job of scout, but she calmed down when I promised to be careful and not to take any unnecessary chances. I did purchase a strongbox and store all of my gold reserves in it. I gave Sally the key and told her to open the box if anything ever happened to me. I knew that there was enough gold in there to keep her well and comfortable for many years if I ever did get killed while on one of my scouting trips. Eventually, I was going to tell her of my true history, something I always did for my wives, but I didn't think that the proper time had come, yet.

The next day, I left on my first scouting trip. This was really nothing more than a familiarization trip. I wanted to get to know the layout of the territory around the fort before I had to do some serious fighting or serious running. I had a pack horse with me, as I expected to be out for several days.

The first day was quiet. I headed south for no particular reason, it just was convenient to do so. This day, I did see one Indian family. As usual, the man was riding and the woman and children were walking. The woman was also leading a horse with a travois attached. All of their worldly goods appeared to be on the travois. I rode close to them in as nonthreatening manner as I could manage. I gave a peace sign and the man responded. We held a short conversation, and I was amazed to find that I could speak the Comanche's language. That must be more of the magic associated with my strange life.

He was simply moving his family from one village to another to be closer to his wife's relatives. I was surprised at that, but I didn't comment on it. To each his own, I guess.

That was my only contact that day, but I did learn the important fact that I could handle the Comanche language. That was going to be invaluable if I stayed with this job.

The second day, I swung around to the west, and that's when things got a lot more interesting. I spotted a small war party about the same time they spotted me. There were seven men in the group, counting the war chief, and they all did not hesitate to head toward me at full speed. I did hear a few war cries, but, more importantly, I heard the sound of gunfire. As usual, the Indians were using only one hand to hold the rifle, so I was in little danger, except for an unfortunate accident.

Being dumb, but not stupid, I headed in the general direction of Fort Hayes while looking for a place to hole up if I was forced into a fighting defense. I really didn't want to fight this many Indians, but I was ready if the situation demanded it. The topography did not lend itself to finding a solid defensive position. There were no trees or even much brush nearby. I was riding across a rolling plain covered with grass, and the Indians were gaining on me because of the pack horse that I was leading.