Chapter 6

Jake started looking for somewhere to camp overnight fairly early in the afternoon. He wanted somewhere particular, and he knew that sites like that were quite scarce.

They would need water, with five horses they drank quite a lot. He also wanted somewhere set back from the trail. It wasn't a well travelled one, in fact they hadn't seen anyone all day, but he didn't want any passer-by to come across their campsite. He hadn't slept last night, so he knew he would have to tonight.

Midway through the afternoon, he saw a row of small trees and green bushes, taller than the scrub they were riding past, about a hundred yards or so off to his right. There was also a small rise behind the trees.

He veered off the path over towards it and pushed his way through some of the undergrowth, his two other horses following him with Sue behind them.

When they broke through the bushes they found themselves on the bank of a small stream that came down from the higher ground beyond. There was an open area with a sparse covering of grass on the far bank. So Jake pushed on, down the low bank, across the stream, and up the other side. Reaching the far side of the open area, he swung gratefully off the back of his horse and turned back to watch Sue coming across the stream. She soon joined him and they looked at their surroundings.

"Looks like a good place for a camp, lass," Jake commented, and he went to look after the horses. He removed the saddles, saddle bags and packs from all of them, putting them carefully onto short but tough bushes alongside. Then, taking all three sets of reins, he led them to the bank of the stream to drink. Sue took her two horses slightly upstream of Jake.

Once all of the horses had drunk enough, Jake led them to the grassy area and just let them go. They would be tired after the day and would want to eat. Jake knew that Blaze wouldn't wander, and with the bushes on all sides apart from the running water of the stream, he didn't think the others would go anywhere.

Jake started to gather a few sticks to make a small fire, but Sue came and took them out of his hand, making a "Tsk" noise as she did so. He left her to it, and went to fill all the canteens from the stream. Returning, he took the coffee pot from his pack.

He looked over to where she was arranging some small sticks and pieces of wood to make the fire. Taking out a small tin, he produced a match and went over to light it.

He found her making a small pile of very fine kindling so it would catch a spark. She had two distinctive-looking stones, and was obviously going to make a spark using those.

"Let me do it," he said, talking to her normally as he had been all day, even though he knew she didn't understand. He struck the match on a handy piece of rock, and lit the fire.

Her eyes went wide - that was far easier than any way she had ever lit a fire before. Using the sparking stones was tricky, and using a rubbing stick was just hard work. This looked so simple. She looked up at him.

"It's a match," he said, taking another out of the tin. "Match," as he showed her.

"Matzh," she copied. He struck the new one on the stone and showed it her burning. She looked impressed.

She soon had a proper fire going, and he filled the coffee pot and put it on to boil. They still had nothing but dried meat to eat, but he saw Sue taking some cords from one of her packs. She waved them at him and said a word he didn't understand, but it looked like they were for snares. Turning, she pushed her way off into the bushes.

While she was doing that, Jake recovered a brush from his gear and went to brush down Blaze. He always carried a brush as he believed that a well cared-for horse would look after him in return. Now he had five horses to look after!

He was onto the second when Sue returned, looking a bit dishevelled after being in the undergrowth but without the snares. She saw him tending to the horses so she went to look at the stream. She walked upstream for a short way and found where the water had formed a pool, a bit wider and deeper than the main stream where the water also naturally flowed more slowly.

She went back to the camp and pulled out the dirty blankets that had covered the dead rapists the day before. Was it only one day before? It seemed so long ago now.

Taking them up she approached Jake and said "I need to wash these." Jake looked at her blankly so she made washing gestures and pointed at the stream. He understood her at last, and went and retrieved his bar of soap for her. Taking it from him, she went back to the stream.

Jake continued with the horses, and was halfway through the third one when Sue returned, without the blankets and soap, and rather damp around the edges. She had also lost her pants and was barefoot, though her dress still covered everything. She went to her packs and started pulling other small items out, and then went to the other packs and started doing the same.

"Hey," Jake exclaimed. "What are you doing?" She turned round and waved some dirty underwear at him, then went back up the stream bank with her arms full of clothing.

By the time the fifth horse was finished, Sue still hadn't reappeared. Jake went to look for her. He found her standing in the middle of the pool in the stream, completely naked, washing his spare shirt. Blankets and various items of clothing were laid out on top of the bushes all around to dry.

"Having fun, lass?" he queried. She just grinned at him and then made gestures for him to come in too. The water did look inviting after a hot day on the trail and, to be honest, she looked inviting too. So Jake took off his boots and his pants, his vest, shirt and undershirt, and then waded out into the stream.

Sue shouted at him, and waved her arms, and pointed. Jake looked down at the underwear he still had on. He hadn't felt comfortable undressing totally in front of Sue but it seemed that she didn't mind. As she carried on, he awkwardly stood on one foot in the stream and started to pull them off. He then hopped to the other leg and took them off completely, and threw them on the bank.

For the first time, Sue saw him naked. He was very pale, she thought, no wonder her people called them paleskins. His body was white, though his neck and face and hands were brown and his forearms were also tanned where he sometimes rolled up his shirt sleeves. He had some brown hair on his chest, but not a lot, and a bit more hair at the bottom of his stomach where she could see his penis hanging. Apart for the colour, and his body hair, he didn't look much different from other men she had seen while bathing with her own people.

He walked towards her, and she handed him the soap. Jake wondered whether to touch her, but she moved back from him. No doubt she was still affected by her experiences of yesterday. Was it only yesterday? No wonder she had wanted to bathe after that. He looked at her again. He had seen her naked before, but he took a close look at the various scratches and marks that covered her body. He motioned for her to turn round, and he looked at those on her back as well. None of them appeared to be serious, and she was obviously intending to keep them clean so they should heal nicely.

As Jake concentrated on washing himself, Sue walked off toward the bank. Before he knew it, all of his clothes were in the stream, and Sue was holding out her hand to have the soap back. "What... ?" he shouted, and made to snatch at his clothes. But it was too late - they were all wet now. So he handed over the soap, and made sure he splashed her in the process. She just grinned, splashed him back, and then began washing his clothes.

He watched her for a while. Her hair was long and dark, held back into a pony tail with a couple of thin pieces of hide. Her body was slim and the colour of a good tan, though her arms and face were a shade darker. Her breasts were small and firm, they didn't move much as she was vigorously washing his shirt. Her nipples were a darker brown, and quite small but in keeping with the size of her breasts. She seemed to have no hair on her body apart from a small sparse triangle that almost covered her sex. But as that was at about the level of the water he couldn't see easily, and didn't want to be caught staring. She seemed relaxed enough, but she must still be mentally feeling the effects of the day before.

Jake looked at her as she worked. She washed his clothes, wrung them out, and then took them over to the bank to hang them on the bushes. He didn't know what to do - all his clothes were wet and he had nothing to wear. He decided to go back to the horses and make sure they were still alright.

Climbing up onto the bank he took his gunbelt and boots, put his hat on his head, and walked barefoot back down the bank. Arriving naked at the campsite he felt a bit exposed, but there was no-one to see - just the horses and they didn't seem to mind much. He pulled out a blanket, at least she hadn't washed all of those - just the two from yesterday, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

While he sat there, he checked his gun, which seemed fine and hadn't got at all wet from the stream. The caps were all in place and it looked ready to fire. Returning it to its holster, he pulled out the knife from its sheath.

The late afternoon sun glinted off the nine inch long blade. The point was offset as one edge of the knife curved to meet it. The other edge angled back for about half of its length, and then finished off parallel to the handle. There was a brass guard between the blade and the handle with its ends curved forward, and the handle itself was covered in buckskin to absorb moisture and give a good grip. His gun-cleaning kit also included a small stone, and taking that out he gave the edge a few strokes to make sure it was as sharp as possible. He hadn't used the knife since he last sharpened it - it was a fighting knife and not something for eating or doing jobs around the camp, he had another knife in his pack for that

He was just sharpening the angled back edge of the knife when Sue reappeared from the stream. She was naked, and her wet hair hung down around her as she had obviously washed it. In her hands were Jake's soap and her hair ties, and the gunbelt she had been wearing.