Tess's Trials

by C Wayne Winkle

  But I have to get up. I can’t stay here. That boy’s friends will miss him soon and come looking for him. They’ll trail him back here. I know .

  She stirred, lifted her head and looked around. After a moment, her gaze fastened on the Indian boy. She had to get him out of sight.

  Those other Indians could be here at any time. I’ve got to get up .

  With a struggle, she got her knees under her and raised up on them. For a moment, her head swam with the effort. A couple of deep breaths, and her head cleared.

  She slowly gained her feet with no further problem. Again, she glanced at the boy. What could she do with his body? Looking around, the best place to put him was the place among the boulders where she had slept.

  I won’t need the space again, so why not? I just hope I have the strength to move him .

  Tess pushed herself, dug deep inside to find something, anything she could use to move the boy’s body. Somehow, she found a reserve of energy and strength to pull from.

  Stooping down, Tess rubbed her hands in a sandy spot. That would give her a better grip on the body. With another deep breath, she grasped one of the Indian boy’s arms.

  As she tried to move him, she was amazed at how heavy he felt. She had no idea how much of a literal dead weight the boy became. After two failed attempts at moving him, she set her feet and tried again. She didn’t know whether she had the strength to try a fourth time.

  Thankfully, the body moved a few inches. Another pull, and it moved a foot. She continued tugging and straining, the body continued to move.

  Every time she hit a grassy spot, the body moved more easily. After what felt like hours to Tess, she had the body among the boulders. Getting him far enough into the nest of boulders to be out of sight proved much more difficult.

  Finally, with much pushing and shoving, she maneuvered the body in between two large boulders. Once she got him behind the boulders, she took the knife she saw off his belt. It would give her some protection and might come in handy later. She walked away toward the water and looked back. No sign of the body.

  Good. But there are lots of drag marks. Anyone with only one eye and that half-blind could see where I dragged the boy .

  The Indians could read that sign at a gallop.

  Tess felt the pressure of time. The other Indians could ride up in the next five minutes. She hurried back to the place she hid the body and scooped up handfuls of dry dirt. This she piled in the front of the loose skirt she wore.

  Then she walked backwards over the drag trail, letting the dirt dribble out over the trail.

  “Not perfect, but it’ll have to do,” she muttered when she reached the edge of the stream. Just enough dirt remained to spread loosely over the area where she struggled with the Indian boy.

  Thunder rumbled again in the west, sounding close. “Maybe it’ll rain. That means I get wet and cold, but it’ll also wash out the sign.” She continued muttering to herself in a low voice as people alone in the wilderness often do. “I’ll walk in the stream for a ways. It goes generally in the direction I need to go.” A pause, thinking. “First I need to drink all I can, then I’ll soak my dress.” More thunder from the west. “The sun’s hot, so I’ll stay cool walking until it dries out my dress.”

  Tess seldom waited to get into action once she made up her mind. No matter how tired she was. This time was no exception. She tied the Indian boy’s knife around her waist with the rawhide he had used. Then she stepped into the water. It came up to middle of her calf.

  As she walked, Tess splashed as much water as she could on her dress front. After about fifty yards, the stream curved sharply to the east, so she decided that was a good place to get out.

  The ground was harder there with a lot of rocks. Careful to step only on the rocks, she

  stopped long enough to drink as much water as she could again. Then, stepping out briskly or as briskly as she could with her muscles feeling squishy, she walked away from the stream.

  In a short distance, she rounded the shoulder of a small hill that boasted a grove of willows at its base. When she neared the willows, she heard the nicker of a horse.

  Her first thought, Indians! , drove her to the ground. If it was the boy’s friends, she had nowhere to go. All she could do was lie perfectly still and hope they wouldn’t see her.

  Tess tried not to even breathe.

  Several minutes crawled by with no one showing. Were they waiting for her to move? Did they somehow know she was there, but not exactly where?

  She waited.

  Sweat stung her eyes, rolled down her face from her hair. An ant bit her arm. The smell of heated dust and growing grass sifted into her nostrils. She heard a far-off hawk call out as it rode the evening thermals hunting supper. Thunder grumbled its way across the plains.

  But no Indians appeared.

  The nicker of a horse came to her ears again, along with the stamp of a hoof. Indians wouldn’t let their horses make that much noise if they were waiting for her to move. Besides, the sounds came from inside the trees.

  Tess raised her head, searched the area as much as she could from the ground. Nothing in sight.

  Then it came to her. That Indian boy had a horse. That’s his horse I heard!

  After another look around, she got to her feet and started into the trees. If I can get that boy’s horse, it won’t take any time to get back home.

  She walked slowly through the trees, not wanting to make a lot of noise and run the chance of scaring the horse. When she stopped to listen, she heard the stomp of a hoof trying to get rid of a horse fly.

  Orienting on the sound, Tess made her way between the trees in that direction. In a few moments, she caught a glimpse of movement ahead.

  She pushed through the last of the trees and caught sight of the Indian’s horse. It was tied to a long lead rope in reach of water and a little grass.

  As she came into the open, the horse’s head popped up, and it stared at her. She watched it take in a deep breath, trying to catch her scent.

  “Easy, boy, easy,” she crooned softly as she eased toward the horse. If she could get hold of that lead rope …

  She moved slowly, crooning softly the entire time. In a few seconds, she reached out, untied the rope from a tree, and began walking toward the horse.

  For a second, she thought she had the horse. The horse let her get within only a few feet before snorting loudly and wheeling away. She had to let go of the rope as it slid through her hand so it wouldn’t burn her. The horse didn’t slow, but kept going away from Tess at a fast trot.

  The weight of disappointment so burdened her, she almost collapsed to the branch-strewn ground. Watching the horse trot away, she swiped at a stray tear and took a deep breath. The leaden feeling of exhaustion in her legs grew so that she didn’t know if she could move.

  After a moment, she turned back north and started for home. Thunder bounced around her as she walked. Thoughts and images of the Indian pony were pushed from her mind again and again. She determined to keep her face pointed north, no matter what it took.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The thunder that had been threatening to carry rain with it fulfilled its promise only a short time after Tess started north again. In that time, she had walked far enough to be in the middle of open prairie.

  With the first huge drops just past the time of sunset, she started looking around for cover. There was none. Of course, she couldn’t tell the sun set because of the clouds covering it, but she guessed it was that time.

  Lightning flashed from cloud to cloud overhead. “That’s too close,” she muttered as she glanced at the clouds she thought she could reach up and touch. “If it stays up there, it should be no problem. But if it starts striking down here, I could be in trouble.”

  She continued walking, but kept her eyes out for an arroyo or a low spot. Either of those might provide some safety if the lightning got too bad. She’d have to be careful in an arroyo, however. A flash flood catching her un
aware could carry her away.

  At first, the scattered drops struck the earth with such force, they actually bounced back up, raising little puffs of dust. The wind pushed ahead of the storm raised goosebumps on her body.

  Shouldn’t have soaked my dress like I did , she scolded herself. Gonna be cold .

  She trudged on.

  Before long, the solitary drops came faster and faster. In a few minutes, she felt like she walked under a waterfall.

  The wind, which before had been a light breeze with stronger bursts, now lashed at her mercilessly, driving rain into her face like ice pellets. What had brought goosebumps before now felt like it froze to her exposed skin. This wind seemed to shift directions often, too. First from the west, hitting the left side of her body. Then from the south, pushing against her back with enough force to cause her to stumble. Another time, it shifted to the north, driving stinging rain directly into her face.

  When the rain slashed at her face, she lowered her head and turned away from the wind. As the wind shifted, she turned again. This happened several times. Each time she turned, Tess got farther away from the direction she wanted to go.

  After a while, she was so confused about directions, she just sat down to wait out the storm. She hoped she’d be able to see the north star or some landmark to guide her back to the right direction.

  Somewhere around midnight, or as near as she could guess, the rain slacked off, then stopped. A mild wind from the west pushed the clouds by where Tess sat.

  She shivered, for even that little breeze blew cold through her thoroughly soaked dress. Gathering her dripping hair in both hands, she wrung as much of the water out of it as she could. Pushing the still-wet strands back off her face, she turned her gaze to the sky.

  A few second’s search found the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. Following the two stars that formed the bowl of the Big Dipper, she found the North Star in the handle of the Little Dipper. Grunting to her feet, she started walking again.

  A quarter-moon provided a minimum of light, just enough to keep her from falling into an arroyo. Not enough for her to avoid rocks that seemed to fly up from the dirt and grass to hit her toes as she walked.

  All the rest of the night, Tess plodded on north. Where she found the strength, she

  wasn’t sure. First, the fight with the Indian boy took nearly everything she had. Then, sitting through the storm early in the night almost washed away the little energy she had left.

  But knowing what Snake Eyes would do to her if he caught her kept one foot going in front of the other. Tess decided if Snake Eyes’ men caught up with her, she would use the Indian boy’s knife on herself.

  By the time the sky in the east promised another day, she was stumbling more than walking. Got to find some place to hole up for the day. I’ve got to get some rest. Water would be good, too.

  Ahead of her and east a little way, she saw a deeper blackness against the still black of the lingering night. A hill, rocks, or trees would be all right. Any place that would give her some cover and concealment from anyone riding by.

  Whether Snake Eyes had his men out looking for her or not, those Indians could still be in the area. There was no way she could walk as far as she did last night and not leave tracks. At least after the storm. That rain would have washed away any tracks from the stream to where it hit her. Maybe that would be enough to keep anyone from finding her.

  No matter. I need rest and hopefully water. I’ll go see what that is up ahead and try to make a place to hide today .

  A few more minutes walking, and she came up to a grove of trees growing around a seep fed by a trickle of water from what must have been an underground stream. For a couple of minutes, she studied the area to make sure no one was camped there. When she was sure the place was empty, she walked on to the seep.

  A tiny rock basin held about two gallons of water from runoff from the rain and the

  trickle that oozed up from whatever its source underground. She lay on the rocky ground beside the basin and drank as much as she could. Then she allowed herself a piece of the jerky left in the bag. After she pulled one out, there were three pieces left.

  “Not much,” she muttered. “I’ll have to make it last or come up on something else to eat. I can go for a week or so without food, but water is another story. And without food, I’ll get weaker and weaker, not able to walk as far or as fast.”

  Once again, she faced the trials of making her way back to the ranch and not getting caught by Snake Eyes’ men or the Indians. Ducking her head, she let slip a couple of tears. How easy it would be to give up, to simply sit there until she died or someone found her.

  She sat that way for several minutes, not thinking, just almost giving in to the feeling of hopelessness that drifted down over her like a blanket.

  “No!” she said aloud. “I won’t give up! I’ve got to get back and get men on the trail of that bunch of raiders. The other women need me to do that for them.”

  Speaking this out loud seemed to give her a bit more strength. She drank again from the seep, then looked around the little grove for a place to hide. At the back of the grove, she found it.

  Sometime in the not-too-distant past, two of the trees had been blown over by a storm. They lay nearly parallel to one another, but one slightly on top of the other. In among the branches was a space large enough for her to crawl into and be hidden from sight. There would also be some shade from the heat of the direct sun. Tired as she was, that would be sufficient.

  Tess drank one more time, then crawled under the trees and fell asleep in less than a minute.

  What seemed like a minute later, voices invaded her deep sleep. Voices that almost sounded familiar. Tess struggled upward out of that deep sleep like climbing through sand. She managed to get one eye partially open, saw the sun had passed the middle of the sky. She’d slept for several hours.

  That eye slipped closed again. Once more she slept.

  Once more, the voices woke her with a burst of laughter. Who would be out in that part of the prairie? They weren’t Indians; they spoke English. None of their hands would be out this way this time of the year.

  That only left Snake Eyes’ men!

  Don’t move! Don’t move! she told herself.

  Both eyes opened this time and stayed open. She eased up on one elbow, moving slowly. In a few seconds, she raised up high enough to see through the branches.

  There, standing around the small basin were four men. Men she had seen before when she was captive in Snake Eyes’ camp. They had found her!

  No. No, they haven’t found me. If they knew I was here, they’d have me tied up and on a horse . She heaved a huge sigh, a silent one. They’re only looking for me. And they found this seep. Now, they’re watering themselves and their horses. I just have to stay hidden and quiet. They’ll leave as soon as they’re done watering.

  Tess eased back down to the ground. She couldn’t go back to sleep while those men were there. She could move in her sleep and make some noise that would alert them to her being there. She couldn’t make out anything the men were saying, but she figured they were talking about her as they laughed.

  As she lay there, another thought came to her. Did I leave tracks?

  Once more, she eased up on her elbow. None of the men appeared to be looking around at the ground. Even better, none of them looked toward the trees where she lay. Tess eased back to the ground, breathing a little easier.

  She lay in the shade among the branches and listened for the men to leave. It seemed to take hours, but eventually the men mounted their horses and rode away with shouts to each other.

  Tess lay still for another half hour before venturing out of her hiding place. She needed another drink. Then she could rest another few hours.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Sundown on the afternoon Tess hid from his men, Snake Eyes watched as they, and the others, straggled into camp. He could easily see none of them had the woman with them. And none of them would m
eet his eye. Several cast sidelong glances at him to measure the level of his anger.

  Whitehorse, the breed, stood next to Snake Eyes and saw the muscles at the hinges of his jaws working like he chewed marbles. That, and the narrowed eyes gave some indication that his boss was furious.

  Whitehorse eased aside about half a step.

  “Get all of them over here,” Snake Eyes muttered.

  “Right, Boss.” Glad of a reason to leave his boss’s side, Whitehorse strode over to the men gathered around the chuckwagon. “Everybody over in front of the boss. Right now!”

  “How mad is he, Breed?” One of the men summoned up the courage to ask what all of them wanted to know.

  Whitehorse glared at him for a moment. “You don’t want to know.” He turned and stalked off to stand by Snake Eyes.

  When the men had all gathered in a loose semi-circle in front of him, Snake Eyes simply stood and glared at them. None of them were closer than about twenty feet from him. Still, none of them would look him in the eye. Nevertheless, he stared at each face in turn.

  In a few moments, he stopped looking from face to face and ducked his head. Another few seconds passed, then he raised his head. This time, he didn’t look at any one of them in particular.

  “Well?” That was all he said.

  There came a noticeable shifting among the men. Each one of them fidgeted in some way. Some looked from one to the other, willing someone else to speak. Several shifted their weight from one foot to the other. Others directed their gaze anywhere except at Snake Eyes.

  “WHERE IS THE WOMAN?” Snake Eyes yelled.

  Several of the men started noticeably. They glanced at him, at each other, at Whitehorse. But no one spoke.

  Snake Eyes drew his .45 and fired one round in the air. “The next one goes in somebody’s belly! I want to know where the woman is!”

  “Boss,” one of the older men spoke up. “All that rain last night wiped out any sign she might’ve left. We found nothin’ over east.”

  “Nothin’ south either, boss.” A younger man in the back spoke up.