Tess's Trials

by C Wayne Winkle

  When Snake Eyes was satisfied she was dead, he lifted his eyes to Whitehorse. “Put her in the wagon with the other women.”

  Two of the men picked up Bessie’s body and carried it to the wagon. While Whitehorse held the door open, they roughly tossed the body inside.

  While Whitehorse re-locked the door, Snake Eyes stood at one side of the wagon and said, “That should help you women remember this: No one runs away from Snake Eyes! No one!” Then he walked off.

  Tess and the other women cringed away from Bessie’s body. Never had she seen anything so brutal in her entire life. What kind of man was this who would have all of his men rape a girl because she wanted to run away from him?

  Snake Eyes motioned Whitehorse to join him. “Now we’ve lost two women. The rest won’t be enough for what I want to do. We’ll have to stop here until we can raid another ranch and get at least one more woman. I should hear from my contact soon; I’ll know then where another ranch is we can raid. Until then, we stay here.”

  Whitehorse knew better than to argue with Snake Eyes. But in his heart, he felt this was a mistake.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning dawned cloudy, the air filled with an expectation of storms. None of the women slept well, if at all, remembering what happened to Bessie. Having her body in the wagon with them helped none at all.

  Breakfast was a hurried affair with biscuits and bacon, a little coffee. The air felt cool, the wind obviously blowing through rain. Thunder started shortly after the plates were taken by the cook.

  The women weren’t allowed out of their wagon. Even as they ate, they had to stare at Bessie’s body. Two of the women couldn’t eat, they only cried.

  It seemed the rain waited on the thunder before it began to fall. Wind pushed it hard. At times, the rain looked like it fell sideways. In a matter of minutes, the women were soaked. All they had were the blankets they slept beneath. These were little protection from the rain.

  Fortunately, there was only rain and wind with very little lightning. When it was over, Whitehorse and two other men approached the back of the wagon. Whitehorse unlocked the door and motioned the other two men forward. They lifted Bessie’s body out of the wagon and carried it over to a small depression at the base of a pile of sand. They lowered the body none too gently into the depression, then shoveled the sand over it.

  Tess and the other women sat spellbound as they watched the men. She tore her eyes away from the scene and glanced around to find Snake Eyes staring at her. In another couple of moments, he looked away, then strode back to his tent.

  The rest of that day, they did nothing but sit in the wagon. They were allowed out a few times to relieve themselves and to help the cook with lunch. Otherwise, they just sat and shivered in the cold drizzle that fell nearly all day. Late in the afternoon, the drizzle stopped and some of the clouds blew away.

  Snake Eyes never came out of his tent. Whitehorse took his food to him at mealtime, otherwise, no one saw him the entire day.

  Close to the time the sun touched the hills in the west, Tess and Sarah were again chosen to help the cook with supper. As she walked toward the chuck wagon, Tess heard thunder in the near distance.

  When they got to the wagon, the cook said, “You women hurry up with supper. We got a storm comin’. I can feel it in my bones. Wanta be finished with this before it hits.”

  They worked hard and fast getting the men some supper. By the time they finished and washed up the dishes and pots and pans, thunder rolled across them steadily. Wind blew in gusts, cold from blowing through rain in the west.

  This storm sounded like it would be a bad one.

  A rain squall came across the camp then, bringing hail the size of robins’ eggs. The trees around them helped shield them from the worst of the ice nuggets.

  Two men escorted Tess and Sarah back to their wagon. There was no way the women could stay dry or warm with their soaked blankets. Rain slanted in on them from the west, the side where the storm came from.

  More hail pounded down on the camp along with great streaks of lightning and the heavy artillery of thunder. All of the women huddled together in the middle of the wagon to escape the worst of the hail.

  Across the camp, a tent blew down, its occupants cursing and yelling for help. Hail fell

  steadily with roaring rain.

  During a break in the worst of the storm, Whitehorse and two young men came to the wagon. “You women get out here and under this wagon,” he yelled over the wind and thunder. “We’re likely to get bigger hail, an’ the boss don’t want his merchandise damaged.”

  None of the women complained about being called ‘merchandise’ if it meant getting under shelter from the hail. They hurried out and crawled under the wagon. Tess waited until the others were under shelter before crawling under herself.

  She had a plan. A foolish one, but the best she could come up with. Even if it ended in death, it would be better than what Snake Eyes had planned for them.

  Whitehorse talked urgently to the two young men, hardly more than boys, then left them to guard the women and rushed to his own tent. The boys stood in the rain, wrapped in thick ponchos, eager to show their boss they were men enough to do the job.

  Tess heard the hail coming before it hit. When it got to the camp, it pounded down in lumps the size of hen’s eggs. Two more tents fell under the onslaught, more men cursing and yelling. Horses were neighing, pulling at the ropes tying them to the picket line. Some men walked among them trying to calm them down but not succeeding.

  The hail intensified, becoming as large as goose eggs. Both of the boys guarding them stood it as long as they could, then dove under the chuck wagon to get away from the beating.

  Tess glanced around quickly. She saw no one near their wagon. The men all seemed to be distracted with one thing or another.

  Sarah caught her eye. The other woman seemed to understand what Tess was going to do. She nodded once, then held her blanket up between Tess and the main body of men.

  Hesitating only a moment, Tess crawled out from under the wagon holding her blanket over her head with one hand for some protection from the hail that pounded everything. She planned to ignore the stones that hit her body as much as she could. Once out in the open, she wasn’t so sure she could do that.

  The hail thumped into her body, bringing grunts of pain that she hoped couldn’t be heard over the sound of the hail. Her body felt like someone beat it with a walnut limb. She couldn’t stand up and run; that would draw someone’s eye in the lightning flashes. She had to crawl on one hand and her knees. Slow going.

  She had crawled about halfway to a nest of boulders close to the place where Bessie was buried when the hail seemed to increase in intensity. For a moment, she thought the pounding would be too much for her. Her back and legs would be bruised for sure. Hopefully, not so bruised as to keep her from moving, but certainly badly bruised.

  Just when Tess didn’t know if she could keep going, the hail began letting up. This was her signal to go faster. Once the hail stopped, the men would not be so concerned about horses and tents and might see her.

  She rounded one of the larger boulders when the hail stopped. Now, there was only rain falling. The wind continued, as did the thunder and lightning. But she’d been wet and cold before. That she could endure.

  Squirming further into the boulder field, she found a spot between two of them that didn’t appear large enough for anyone to get into. There she waited.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tess passed an anxious night, waiting for the sounds that would indicate Snake Eyes knew she’d escaped. The alarm never sounded. Rain, wind, and lightning continued all night. Toward dawn, she managed to close her eyes for an hour or so.

  Dawn came, and Snake Eyes pushed aside the entrance flaps to his tent. His and one more had not been blown or knocked down during the storm. Even so, he got little rest because of the storm and the sounds of his men gathering up the gear that had been scattered.
r />   He glanced over at the wagon where the women were beginning to stir. They still lay under the wagon, the two young men standing guard around them.

  Good. None of my merchandise got damaged in the storm. I’ll have the one called Tess help the cook again with breakfast, then have her rest during the rest of the day. Tonight, I’ll have her again.

  These thoughts gave him a feeling of pleasure. He decided to tell Tess himself what he planned for her. The day would warm today, so he might even take her to a stream he knew of near the camp and let her have a bath. Better yet, he might give her a bath.

  He continued thinking about this as he strolled to the wagon. Once there, he began looking for Tess. But he couldn’t find her. All of the women wrapped their soggy blankets around their bodies and over their heads for the minimal warmth they would supply, so he couldn’t really see their faces well.

  Snake Eyes counted the bodies moving around beside the wagon. Twice he came up with the same number: Six. Six? There should be seven. He started this trip with nine women, two had been killed. There should be seven. But six was all he counted.

  “Breed!” he yelled. As soon as Whitehorse stood beside him, Snake Eyes said, “Get the women lined up without the blankets. I think one is missing.”

  Whitehorse personally pushed the women into line, jerking off their blankets. Then Snake Eyes looked at each one.

  The woman, Tess, was gone!

  He walked over to the line of women, stopping in front of the one called Sarah. She was closest to Tess, so she might know something. He stared hard at her, saw fear in her eyes. But something else, too. Was that defiance?

  “Where is the woman called Tess?” he asked, making his voice as rough as he could.

  “I don’t know,” the woman replied.

  “Did she run away in the night?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know,” the woman repeated.

  Snake Eyes cursed her, then slapped her hard enough to knock her down. To Whitehorse he said, “Bring the two boys who guarded the women to me.”

  He walked a little way away from the women who remained standing in line. He waited there.

  But he didn’t have to wait long. Whitehorse brought the two boys to stand in front of Snake Eyes. One of the boys trembled noticeably.

  For several long seconds, Snake Eyes engaged in his favorite method of intimidation: he

  stared. Usually, this worked to get whatever he wanted from people.

  “Tell me what happened last night,” he said in that soft, terrible voice.

  “Boss, what do you want to know?” one of the boys said. “You told us to guard the women, and that’s what we did.”

  “All night? Which one of you slept?”

  “Neither one of us slept, Boss. We knew not to do that.” This came from the boy who trembled.

  “Then you watched the women all night? Both of you?”

  Both of the boys answered in the affirmative.

  “Then how do you explain the fact that one of the women is missing?” The last words were shouted.

  Both boys jumped and cringed at Snake Eyes’ outburst. They looked near tears.

  Finally, one of the boys said in a weak voice, “Wh, when that hail was comin’ down so bad, we, we got under th’ wagon over there.”

  Snake Eyes glanced over at the wagons. “Th’ supply wagon or th’ other one?”

  “Th’ other one,” the boys said.

  “So, you didn’t guard the women all night.” A statement from Snake Eyes, not a question.

  “We, we could see ‘em all night,” one boy said.

  “But you didn’t guard them all night.” Snake Eyes said this in a flat voice. Neither boy said anything or even look at him. “So, you lied to me.”

  With this, he drew his pistol and shot both boys in the middle of their chests from only a few feet away. Both boys were blown back and onto the ground.

  Turning away from the bodies, he said to Whitehorse, “Send out four teams of men. Find that woman!”

  Three hours later, the teams returned. None of them saw any tracks.

  Whitehorse related this to Snake Eyes. “So, Jefe, maybe the rain wiped out any tracks. It rained hard last night.”

  “I don’t care! Send them back out. Send them further out!”

  “Jefe, if the rain washed out the tracks, it won’t do any good to go further out.” Whitehorse spoke tentatively, knowing how mad his boss was at the time.

  “Send them out!” Snake Eyes waved an arm in the general direction outward from camp.

  There was no arguing with Snake Eyes when he got in this kind of mood. The breed turned and told the men to go out again, further.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rafe never was comfortable around women. Even his two sisters back home were strange creatures to him. Nothing like the three brothers younger than him. He didn’t really know the one brother older than him. With the brothers, they would simply go out behind the barn and settle any disagreements. Usually, since he was next to the oldest, Rafe would win those.

  But the girls were different. They could create moods out of thin air and cut him to shreds with their tongues. He had no defense against them. His Ma and Pa always told him to treat women with respect, but the same didn’t seem to apply to his sisters.

  When he finally got up the nerve to say something to his Pa about this, he was told, “Just get used to it, Son. Women are strange critters.” No more was said.

  Nothing had changed since then as far he could tell. Up to this point in his life, he shied away from any close relationships with women. His only contact had been with some of the soiled doves in a few of the towns he passed through or women in the stores he happened to stop by when he needed something. The former knew what he wanted, gave it, and took his money. The latter he usually said little or nothing to, bought the supplies he needed, and left.

  Now, he was saddled with a woman for a partner and didn’t fully understand how that happened. He pondered that as he fried some bacon that morning after Merita moved into camp with him when the man tried to rape her.

  Through the night, Rafe woke up more than normal. Each time, he glanced across the fire at blanket-covered body, apparently sleeping peacefully. He never rode with a partner, so he didn’t know if the fact of having somebody else in camp with him caused his interrupted sleep, or if it was that she was a woman. Certainly, the storm with rain and hail didn’t help. They’d found enough of hollow in the side of a hill to be protected from the hail. It had been large enough for the horses, also.

  He did have to say this for her: She got right up just before daylight along with him. And went out to gather some wood for the fire without being asked. She’d gone out behind some boulders and taken care of her needs, then saddled up both horses. Now, she was rolling up her bedding and getting it tied behind her saddle.

  Maybe she won’t get in the way too much after all , he thought. A glance at the young woman. And she’s not hard to look at .

  Merita joined him at the fire, sitting on a bit of log Rafe drug up to the fire the night before. “Smells good,” the young woman said. “But isn’t this supposed to go the other way around? The woman serving the man?”

  Rafe grinned, handed her a plate with bacon and fried bread. “I been doin’ for myself so long, I wouldn’t know what to do if somebody waited on me.”

  She bit into the food. “Tastes good, too. I’m surprised a man on the trail can cook like this.”

  Rafe didn’t know what to say, so he just ducked his head and grinned. He dished up his own breakfast and dug in. Wonder how this’s gonna go with a partner? I never had one before, so I don’t know what to expect. But I do have to say, this woman’s pretty handy around camp. That’s a good sign, at least. I don’t know what she’ll be like if we get in a fight .

  A glance over at her showed her using the last of her bread to soak up more bacon grease. He smiled, went back to his own meal.

  Once they finished and cleaned up the dish
es, Rafe packed everything up in his saddle bags and a sack he tied behind his saddle along with his bedroll. They started off again.

  The wagon tracks had been almost washed out by the rain and wind and hail from the storm. They rode in the same direction they’d been going the night before.

  “Are you sure this is the right way?” Merita asked as she studied the ground on both sides of her horse. “I can’t see any tracks.”

  “Don’t have to see the tracks to know they’re there,” Rafe replied. He looked ahead of them a little way. “See the ruts ahead, the way th’ sun’s shinin’ across them?”

  She squinted ahead beneath the brim of her hat. “Yes, I can see them!” She turned to him, a grin across her face.

  That grin set Rafe’s heart beating faster. When he became aware of this, he pushed it aside. Need to focus on followin’ this trail , he told himself.

  “How did you know that?” Merita let her horse ease closer to his.

  “Some things you pick up out on the trail,” he replied. “Helps you stay alive.”

  “I’m glad you let me team up with you,” she said. “I don’t think I could have gotten this far by myself.”

  Rafe kept his eyes locked on the ground which was now rocky. He had to concentrate so he could pick up any small traces that had been left by the wagons. “You did all right when that man came to your camp,” he said almost offhandedly.

  “Are you seeing something that makes you think they came this way?” Her horse walked

  so close to Rafe’s that their stirrups touched.

  He tried to push that away. “Yeah. Ever’ once in a while, there’s a scar on a rock where a hoof or a wagon wheel scraped it.” He stopped, pointed to a patch of dirt between the rocks. “See there where a horse or a mule slipped off that rock? Scarred the rock an’ left a partial print in th’ dirt.”

  “I see it now. Most people would’ve missed it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Lots of folks could see it.” Rafe knew his face would be red if he raised it to face her now.