Читать книгу Wed On The Wagon Train - Tracy Blalock - Страница 13
ОглавлениеIt seemed to Mattie that she’d barely slept when the camp was roused early the next morning. Exiting the wagon, she noted there was nothing more than a faint lightening of the sky over the distant horizon to herald the new day. But with animals in need of tending and a wagon to pack up before the call to move out, she dared not delay.
Rebecca arrived at the Prescotts’ campfire as promised to help Adela prepare the morning meal. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone—Josiah had accompanied her.
His presence sounded alarm bells in Mattie’s head. What reason did he have to be here? She could only speculate—and none of the possibilities flooding her mind brought any reassurance.
“I should see to the oxen,” she said to no one in particular.
“Go ahead,” Rebecca replied, waving Mattie on her way. “Adela and I will be fine here while you’re gone. And we’ll have food waiting for your return.”
Mattie had taken only two steps when Josiah appeared at her side and kept pace with her. She opened her mouth, though she wasn’t sure what she intended to say to him.
He spoke before she could form any words. “I’ll walk with you. I need to take care of my own animals.”
Despite his perfectly reasonable explanation, she fretted over his motives for joining her. Was it truly as he’d claimed? Or something else, as yet unrevealed?
He didn’t say anything more before they parted ways to see to their own chores.
When Mattie bent to her task, she felt a curious prickling sensation at the back of her neck, as if she was being watched. Glancing up, she found Josiah looking in her direction. She ducked her head, hiding her face beneath the shadow of her hat.
There was no mistaking the fact that he’d shown a marked interest in her over the past two days. The question was, why? What was his true purpose? It likely didn’t bode well for her, whatever it might be.
Hurrying through the job, she finished up before Josiah and gladly left him behind. Once out from under his worrying silent regard, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She returned to the circle of covered wagons and found Adela alone at the campfire, stirring a skillet of scrambled eggs and bacon, Josiah’s sister-in-law nowhere in sight. “Where’s Rebecca?”
Adela pushed a lock of hair off her forehead as she glanced up. “She went back to her own wagon to cook breakfast for her family. But don’t worry, she showed me what to do and gave me strict instructions to stir the eggs so they wouldn’t burn. I haven’t stopped for even a second.”
While Mattie doubted constant stirring was precisely what the other woman had meant, she didn’t say as much to her sister. She was simply glad to see Adela had been receptive to the cooking lesson. It was clearly helping already.
“It certainly smells good. Let’s find out how it tastes.” Mattie wrapped a towel around the handle of the skillet and lifted it from the fire.
Two tin plates sat waiting on an overturned crate that had been set up to serve as a table of sorts. After spooning out equal portions, she took a bite and hummed in approval. “Do you think you can make this on your own tomorrow?”
The younger girl worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I can try.” But her tone lacked confidence.
That was a worry for another time, however. Mattie had more immediate concerns, such as the myriad obstacles she would face during her first full day on the trail. Not the least of which was maintaining her guise as a male.
The sky grew lighter as they ate, giving Mattie a better view of the activity going on around the wagon circle. Small clusters of men stood at various campfires, nursing mugs of steaming coffee. Women tended to sleepy-eyed children who grumped over being roused at such an early hour. The little ones would undoubtedly be full of boundless energy as soon as the group got under way again, a short time from now.
There was no opportunity to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and Mattie urged her sister to hurry after noticing her taking small, measured nibbles the way their governess had taught them. The younger girl wrinkled her nose and muttered about behaving akin to a heathen, but thankfully did as Mattie requested.
Once the meal was finished, Adela handled the cleanup and packed everything back into the wagon while Mattie retrieved the oxen. Upon her return, she was brought up short by the sight of Josiah, standing with his back to her, just a few feet from her wagon.
On the surface, his presence seemed perfectly innocent. Nothing more than a man pausing for a moment of quiet reflection as he enjoyed a mug of coffee before taking on the day ahead.
But she couldn’t help suspecting him of deliberately loitering nearby.
She quickly pushed the troubling thought aside. She’d drive herself quite mad searching his every action for hidden meaning. And she needed her wits about her.
Josiah glanced over his shoulder and spotted her, then turned and moved closer. Patting the lead oxen, he subtly urged it in the right direction. “I’m happy to help, if you need a hand.”
“Thanks, but I can handle it.” She wanted to prove—no, she needed to prove that she could do it on her own.
Wordlessly accepting her refusal, he stepped back and gave her some space to work. But he didn’t leave.
She preferred to do this without an audience and attempted to prod him on his way. “Shouldn’t you be getting your horses ready?”
“I have plenty of time yet. It won’t take long.” He finished his coffee, then tossed out the dregs.
But still, he remained.
Fortunately, the oxen didn’t give her any difficulty as she worked to hitch them to the wagon.
Josiah crossed his arms over his chest, a slight grin stretching the corners of his mouth. “I see the oxen are behaving for you today.”
“I was worried they might turn stubborn again after stopping for so long overnight, the way they did yesterday before the ferry crossing,” she admitted aloud, now that possibility hadn’t come to pass.
“You’ll be an old hand at this in no time,” he predicted.
That was her hope.
Once the team was in position, it was a simple matter to reverse the process of the previous night.
Now, if only the rest of the day would prove as trouble-free.
* * *
Once out on the trail, Josiah stuck close to the line of covered wagons despite the fact that his horses could travel at a much faster pace than the slow-moving oxen teams.
He kept an unobtrusive eye on the Prescotts. Although Matt had done all right so far, Josiah wasn’t quite ready to leave the kid completely on his own. This was a foreign environment to the boy and his sister. One filled with obstacles that could easily spell injury or worse for the unwary.
Miles from the nearest town or settlement, their group had nobody to depend upon other than one another. It was only right that Josiah should watch out for all his fellow travelers and, even more so, for a pair of siblings without any other family to back them.
His eyes swept along the line of wagons stretched out a goodly distance across the prairie, cutting a swath through the tall grasses. There wasn’t a tree in sight. Or anything else that cast a shadow big enough to offer a moment’s relief from the rays of the sun, climbing steadily higher in the sky. The day had turned warm already, and it would grow even hotter by the time the sun reached its zenith.
Josiah returned his gaze to the Prescotts’ covered wagon, near the end of the line. Doubtless, neither Matt nor his sister were used to spending hours out of doors with little protection from the unrelenting elements. But Matt trekked gamely ahead without complaint.
His sister had again taken up a position atop the wagon seat, parasol in hand. Tugging free the lace-edged handkerchief tucked at her wrist, she placed the material over her nose and mouth and daintily coughed into it. “Isn’t there anything you can do about this dust, Mattie?”
“Nope.” Matt reached under his hat brim and wiped a trickle of moisture from his temple, then adjusted the hat to shield his eyes from the glare of sunlight reflecting off the pale canvas wagon bonnets in front of him. “But if you get down and walk you’ll stay out of the worst of the dust cloud.”
Adela flapped her handkerchief in front of her face, but she wasn’t waving it as a white flag in surrender. “Walking in this heat would be even more miserable.”
“The other women clearly don’t think so,” Matt pointed out.
“All the same, I’ll stay here.”
“Suit yourself.”
Adela lapsed into silence. A few minutes later, her expression suddenly brightened when she sighted a small girl walking alongside their covered wagon. “Hello again,” she greeted the child. “I remember you from yesterday. I’m Adela.”
The little girl trailed her hand through the high grasses as she moved forward. “’ello, Dela.”
Adela’s smile stretched wider at the shortened version of her name. “And this is Mattie.” She indicated her brother with a flutter of her handkerchief.
“Matt,” he interposed, plainly not liking his sister’s nickname. Perhaps he thought it made him sound like a child rather than a man.
“’ello, Matt.” The child’s eyes shifted from the boy back to his sister, her little face tilted upward as she focused on Adela perched high above her on the wagon seat.
But she wasn’t paying proper attention to how close she was getting to the wagon wheels, which were taller than she was. And neither Matt nor Adela seemed to comprehend the deadly hazard the wagon presented to the little girl.
Josiah was all too aware of the danger, however. Moving quickly, he scooped up the child and settled her in front of him on the saddle.
She tipped her head back and looked at him with big, surprised eyes. Though her name escaped him at the moment, he recognized her as one of the Bakers’ brood. She was a miniature copy of her mama, unlike the rest of her siblings who took after their father in coloring. A large heavyset man, George Baker had black hair and a thick beard that reached halfway down his shirtfront.
Urging his horses to a faster pace, Josiah traveled up the line to reach her family’s covered wagon. After depositing her next to her mother, he cautioned Edith Baker to keep a closer watch on her child. The woman expressed effusive gratitude, but he waved it off and led his string of horses back down the line.
As he neared the Prescotts’ wagon, Matt called out to him.
Reining in next to the kid, Josiah matched his horse’s pace to Matt’s on foot. From his greater height atop his mount, he couldn’t see much of the boy’s expression, blocked as it was by the wide brim of his hat.
But Matt’s stiff posture telegraphed his discontent. “Why did you whisk that child away? You acted as if you feared we might taint her somehow.”
“It was nothing against you,” he refuted, stunned at the conclusion the kid had drawn from his actions. “I was simply trying to keep her safe.”
“Safe from what? I don’t understand.” Though Matt tipped his head up toward Josiah, half his face remained in shadow.
“A fully loaded wagon is hard to stop, and if that child had ventured too close to the wheels, she would’ve been run over and crushed.”
Adela gasped, her face contorting into a mask of horror. “Dear God, no.” She leaned to the side in an attempt to see down the line of wagons in front of her, but the canvas cover immediately ahead blocked her view.
“She’s safely back with her mother now,” Josiah reassured her. “But that type of accident’s all too common out here on the trail.”
“How do you know that?” Matt questioned. “Have you completed this trip before?”
“No, but when Rebecca’s family made the journey two years ago, her sister wrote dozens of letters about the experience. Rebecca shared several of them with me.” They had given him a firsthand account of the many perils another group of travelers had encountered along the trail. “Most people have no idea what they’re in for. But they soon learn. Just as you will.”
Matt ducked his head and his face disappeared completely beneath the brim of his hat. “Well, thank you for what you did. I’d never forgive myself if my ignorance was the cause of a child’s death.” Strong emotion roughened his voice.
Josiah shifted in the saddle. “No harm done this time. And now you’ll know to be careful in the future.”
Matt bobbed his head and didn’t say anything more.
With their conversation at an end, Josiah guided his string of horses a ways from the dust kicked up by the oxen teams and covered wagons.
The remainder of the morning passed uneventfully. At midday, Miles called the wagon train to a halt, allowing people the opportunity to eat a cold meal while the animals took a short rest.
And after the noon stop, Adela opted to walk instead of continuing to ride in the wagon. Though her parasol remained very much in evidence, it drew fewer stares and sniggers than it had the day before—most likely because she’d volunteered to help keep an eye on the smaller children now that she knew about the potential dangers.
Several little ones surrounded her as she strolled along at the plodding pace set by the oxen. She led one toddler by the hand, and a handful of other children trailed behind while she regaled the group with tales of daring adventure. Judging by her expression, Adela plainly found as much enjoyment in the pastime as the youngsters did.
Which served as proof that both she and her brother had begun to adjust to trail life. Admittedly, Adela at a significantly slower rate than Matt. But it was progress.
There was hope for the Prescotts yet.
* * *
The fourth night on the trail, Mattie perched on a slight rise overlooking their campsite. She was in the company of Josiah—though not by her choice. Miles Carpenter had put them together for guard duty.
She suspected Josiah might have had something to do with their pairing. But, despite that, there was no denying his presence calmed the worst of her fears about leaving the safety of the wagon circle.
Unfortunately, after settling at their post he’d seemed bent on passing the time in conversation.
The need to watch her every word made silence easier, but imprudent, as Adela had pointed out a few days ago.
Since staying mute wasn’t the wisest course, she might as well make the most of this opportunity to learn all she could, given that Josiah was more knowledgeable about life on the trail. Besides, if she was the one directing the discussion, she could keep the focus away from thorny areas, such as “Matt’s” past.
Her fingers flexed around the barrel of her father’s rifle. “I know we’re guarding the wagons and livestock.” That much was obvious even to her. “But what exactly are we guarding against?” She hoped the darkness hid the flush that heated her cheeks at voicing a question that so starkly revealed her ignorance.
“Coyotes and other critters. They might go after the smaller animals, or search for scraps of food around the campfires. Also, sounds travel far out here, and any sudden noise could spook the livestock and make them bolt. If they do, someone needs to be close by to round up the animals before they get too far.” He tilted his head back and glanced overhead. “The sky looks clear tonight, but a sudden thunderstorm could cause a stampede if we’re caught unawares. Trouble’s more easily averted when you see it coming.”
She fiddled with the bottom button on her father’s coat. “Just out of curiosity, in any of those letters did Rebecca’s sister write about a catastrophe befalling the group because somebody performed poorly during guard duty?”
Josiah turned his head, his gaze coming to rest on her again. “She didn’t mention it. Are you worried something like that might happen?”
Her hand curled into a fist, and the button she’d forgotten she was clenching popped off. She hastily stuffed it into her coat pocket. “Well, it’s possible, isn’t it?”
“I suppose. But don’t brood overmuch about it. As long as we keep our eyes open, it’s a simple enough job. Most nights the most difficult task you’ll face is ensuring you don’t nod off.” Josiah’s teeth flashed white in the darkness. “But talking helps with that. Plus, wild animals are more likely to keep their distance if they hear voices.”
“That’s good to know.”
A few hours later, Mattie turned up her coat collar to ward off the chill in the air and tucked her chin beneath the heavy material. Scanning the darkened landscape, she kept a lookout for any signs of trouble. All was quiet in the camp as the crescent moon tracked across the sky toward midnight.
Once again, she glanced toward the covered wagon where Adela slumbered. At least, Mattie prayed her sister wasn’t lying awake, too scared to sleep. The younger girl had begged not to be left alone. But there wasn’t any other choice. Every able-bodied man was expected to take a turn at guard duty. And that included “Matt.” But Mattie had departed with the promise that she would watch over Adela from her guard post.
Suddenly catching movement at the edge of her field of vision, she shifted her gaze. A shadow detached itself from the others near the livestock enclosures. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She didn’t want to seem an alarmist, spooking at harmless shadows.
But her gut told her she wasn’t wrong. “I think there’s someone down by the horses.”
Josiah focused his attention where she’d indicated. “I see him. No, wait, there are two of them.”
Though her eyes strained for a better view, it was impossible. “I can’t make out who they are. But what reason would anyone have for being near the horses in the middle of the night?”
“No good reason that I can think of. Let’s go check it out.” He pushed to his feet. “We’ll approach them quietly until we get close enough to identify them. Best to be cautious when we don’t know the lay of the land. If they’re strangers up to no good, I can guarantee they’re armed.”
Panic spread through Mattie at his words, but she fought against it. Others were counting on her to do a job. Innocent people, sleeping blissfully unaware of any trouble that might be visited upon them. And if Mattie couldn’t handle it, then Adela was correct that they should never have begun this journey after their father was gone.
Mattie refused to accept her decision was a mistake. It couldn’t be. Not when any other choice would have placed her and her sister in a worse situation.
This moment was one of many tests she would face. But she had faith that the Lord would help her through it. And all the others to come.
With that conviction shoring up her shaky courage, she followed Josiah’s lead and started down the hill.
She cradled her father’s rifle gingerly in her arms, praying she wouldn’t need to use it. She’d never fired any type of gun in her life. She had only brought the rifle with her because showing up for guard duty unarmed would have raised questions. But she was more likely to shoot herself in the foot by accident than anything else.
Best not to think about that—though the thoughts which then rushed in to fill her mind weren’t any more comforting.
There was nowhere to hide on the vast open prairie, no convenient boulders or shrubs to offer concealment, as she and Josiah worked their way toward the livestock enclosure. All it would take was one of the men down below glancing in their direction, and she and Josiah could find themselves in the middle of a gunfight.
Her mouth ran dry and her heart pounded behind her ribs. Please, Lord, let there be a perfectly innocent explanation for those two men. Though their furtive movements unquestionably roused suspicion.
As she drew closer, their purpose became evident. They were tying ropes around the necks of several horses.
And she could now confirm that neither man was a member of their wagon train. “I don’t recognize them.” She kept her voice low, ensuring it carried no farther than Josiah.
“Horse thieves.” Though the words were a bare whisper, his anger clearly bled through.
“What should we do?” she questioned in a quiet murmur.
“We have the element of surprise and can use that to our advantage. We’ll—” The rest of his words were drowned out by a camp dog’s barking.
“What’s that mutt yapping about?” one of the thieves growled as he glanced around. A second later, he spotted Mattie and Josiah. “Someone’s coming!”
His partner fired a shot, the sound cracking through the still night air.
Though conscious of Josiah ducking next to her, Mattie stood frozen in place. But in the next moment, her arm was grabbed as Josiah pulled her down to the ground with him.
“Hold your fire,” he commanded. “I don’t want to risk hitting one of the horses.”
“You half-wit!” the first thief growled. “Now the whole camp knows we’re here! Let’s get out of here.” He tried to grasp the ropes.
But the loud noise of the gunshot had unnerved the horses. They danced out of reach, thwarting his efforts. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the wagon circle, where several men were emerging with lanterns in hand.
Muttering a curse, he abandoned all attempts to regain control of the skittish animals. “Forget the horses. I’m not sticking around to be caught and hanged!”
He beat a hasty retreat, his partner in crime hot on his heels.
Josiah and Mattie climbed to their feet. After quickly assessing that neither of them had been injured, Josiah moved toward his horses.
“Whoa, easy.” His tone soft and gentle, he climbed between the ropes forming the temporary enclosure.
But calming a half dozen horses at once was more than any one man could handle on his own, and Josiah’s animals were in danger of breaking through the flimsy barrier.
Here at last was a way Mattie could be useful. She had plenty of experience with horses—unlike most other aspects of trail life.
Despite her worry for the animals and Josiah, her heart felt lighter as she stepped forward to lend him a hand.
* * *
Josiah cast a sidelong glance at Matt as the boy waded into the mass of milling horseflesh. It took less than a handful of seconds to determine that this was one area where the kid could hold his own. He plainly knew how to navigate around unsettled horses.
While showing proper caution and respect for their size and strength, he displayed no signs of hesitation or unease. Though one wrong move could see him kicked or even trampled.
As Matt advanced toward the head of one horse, he spoke in low, soothing tones. Fuzzy ears cocked in response. Reaching for the rope encircling the horse’s neck, he held the animal in place and stroked her side. The chestnut mare visibly calmed under his gentle ministrations.
The instinctive fear Josiah had felt over Matt’s safety vanished, and he wordlessly accepted the boy’s assistance.
More men started to arrive then, but they were clearly made wary by the other horses’ rolling eyes and stomping hooves, and none braved the space inside the makeshift corral.
“What happened?” the wagon master demanded, breathing heavily after his dash from the wagon circle. “Who fired that shot?”
Matt remained silent, leaving it to Josiah to explain. He did so in a few succinct words and jerked his head toward the two retreating figures, now barely discernible in the darkness.
“Will they come back and try again?” nineteen-year-old Frank Malone asked, as he watched the would-be thieves hightailing it across the prairie.
“It’s unlikely,” Jed Smith volunteered. “They’d be fools to try anything else tonight, with the entire camp on alert.”
Frank’s younger brother, Cody, cleared his throat, his blond peach fuzz gleaming in the lantern light. “Shouldn’t we go after them? Form a posse or something?”
“There’s no need,” Elias countered. “They didn’t take any of the horses. Besides, they have too much of a head start, and tracking is near impossible at night.”
Several men voiced their agreement.
Miles Carpenter moved closer to the rope fence encircling the horses. “Good work running off those thieves, Josiah.”
“I didn’t do it alone. Matt had a hand in it. In fact, he’s the one who first spotted them.” He flicked a quick glance toward Miles.
The news plainly caught the wagon master by surprise, but he quickly recovered. “Job well done, Matt.”
The kid was practically hidden behind the large bulk of one horse. Almost as if he would’ve preferred that no one took any notice of him.
He kept his head down as he replied, “Thanks.”
Miles held his lantern aloft to read the face of his pocket watch. “It’s almost midnight. Since you men assigned to the second watch are already here, we may as well change the guards now.” No one uttered a protest, and he continued, raising his voice to be heard by the small crowd that had gathered. “The rest of you folks head on back to the wagons and get some sleep.”
The group dispersed and soon only Josiah and Matt remained, still tending to the horses.
Josiah removed a hastily tied rope from around one horse’s neck. “I’m grateful to you for spotting the thieves when you did, Matt. If not for your vigilance, they might have succeeded in stealing the horses before we could stop them.” And that would have meant his livelihood. All his plans for starting a ranch in Oregon Country hinged on these horses. He patted the neck of the closest one. “Then you helped keep the animals from bolting. That puts me in your debt twice over.”
The kid’s back remained turned toward Josiah as he answered. “You’ve helped me a time or two. So, why don’t we call it even?”
“Fair enough.” Judging the horses sufficiently calmed, Josiah exited the enclosure, but moved no farther. “You should head back to the wagon circle.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“No. I’m going to bed down here for what’s left of the night.” This patch of dirt was just as comfortable as the spot where he’d intended to sleep near the covered wagons.
“Do you expect more trouble?” Though darkness masked Matt’s expression, a hint of worry sounded in his voice.
Josiah shook his head. “But I’ll rest easier if I stay close.”
“Well, then, good night.”
“See you in the morning,” Josiah returned.
The boy’s nod seemed stiff as he walked away.
Watching his retreating back, Josiah contemplated the puzzle that was Matt Prescott. Just when he thought he had the kid figured out, Matt did something to surprise him.
But perhaps the boy’s expertise with horses wasn’t so unexpected. After all, back in Tennessee Josiah had encountered his fair share of well-to-do gentlemen who were accomplished horsemen, though sadly inept in other respects.
Several of them had been willfully ignorant besides, with no desire to learn. That didn’t appear to be the case with Matt, however. Was it because he had no alternative but to adapt to a different life than the one he’d been raised to lead?
What was his story? The kid was strangely close-mouthed about himself.
Leaving Josiah to draw his own conclusions. How close those were to the actual truth, he could only guess.
