Camp Camel: The Heart of Texas

by Eaton, Rosemary

  Gage took the torch and lifted it up to get a better view. He examined the pail as his mouth formed part of a smile, “Yea, I filled that pail for Dad.”

  Jenny smiled, “Yes, until something crawled out of his eyes, and something flew out of that one’s.” Jenny pointed to the two old bones propped up behind the chest.

  Gage took the torch and pushed her behind him as he carefully lit the backside of the chest. One had something that looked like red eyes staring back at him, then it flew into his face as Gage ducked and let out a curse, “Shit bats!” The other one was missing a helmet on his bony head and held a small bag of coins in the remains of his hands. Gage reached down took a few coins. The old bag fell to pieces as if it had been waiting for someone to claim the cursed gold from his boney fingers as his remains fell over as if to finally fall asleep.

  Jenny stooped down by the chest with the stones and jewelry, “I played here. Princess with hair pieces, necklaces, pretty stones. We ate off gold plates, drank water from cups, picnic after I bore you with those rocks.” Jenny grinned, “You come look at rocks if I let us eat here. Mother, father not care if I bring back emeralds, sapphires, turquoise and trinket or two. No coins, we left them for bones.”

  Gage sighed, “Well, we can’t leave them this time, but we don’t have to take many. I think that one’s gone to sleep on the job now anyway Jenny. His guard duty is over.” Gage took the helmet off the other set of bones and gathered an assortment of treasure along with Jenny’s pouch of rocks. Gage said, “That should give them a good idea of what’s down here. Can you get us out? Closest hole to the surface that we can climb out of Jenny.”

  Jenny could see the look in his eyes as the torch was burning down. Jenny took Gage’s hand, “This way. We make it before light is out.”

  After another fifteen minutes and going back a totally different set of paths, Gage found himself at the bottom of the cavern Lacy and Bryan had been trapped in with the walls lined with Conquistadors, bats, and the sound of the occasional hiss of a snake on the floor. After creating a sling to carry the helmet, Gage and Jenny scaled the wall and crawled out into Comanche Sands Ravine.

  Once they were out in the ravine Gage looked back at the small opening, “I still hate bats.”

  Jenny said, “You left coins down there by where bats sleep. You not go back and get? Every one still important?”

  Gage chuckled, “Yes important, but not as important as the ones you got for me. How about we let their cave team clean up the rest. We have the best treasure right here. You got your rocks, and I got my horse.”

  Jenny asked, “You know way now?”

  Gage looked at the tiny lights in the distance, “We marked it to where I think they can follow it back. We’ve got company. But are they friend or foe. No fire tonight Jenny. Lets move a little further away from this cave opening too.”

  Jenny said, “Not him. He would not make fire open for all to see on hill. Only a few Gage. Maybe Bryan come back with babies? What if they could not get through? Should we not try to check?”

  Gage took a breath and then said as clearly as simply as he could, “Jenny. It’s not Bryan and the babies are safe at Camp Verde. I need to tell you something.” Gage started to say Bryan wasn’t coming back and you’ll never be allowed to stay at the fort, then stopped. Her eyes were braced as if she knew what he was about to say.

  Jenny stopped him before he could speak. Jenny said, “Today I looked upon my son as a man. You are going to tell me I can not see them, but I can. I see him in your face, in mine, in Sparrow Hawk’s face, in the water’s reflection. It is a mother’s foolish pride to think she can forever hold them in her arms. No woman can. And yet knowing does not stop my heart from hurting and feeling it would have been easier to have died than face a world without them. Sparrow Hawk knew that. He understood. He tried to give me peace the only way he knew. Comanche do not look at living forever as some blessing from God. It is a curse to live a long life. That is why they are such fierce warriors.”

  Gage commented, “You knew he was going to kill you and you ate it anyway. Red Cedar said the words ‘May you die full of glory and without fear’, the second wife’s last words.”

  Jenny smiled wryly, “Yes. That is why he took me. Why he beat me until I understood what it meant to be his Knife.” Jenny bit her lip, “He blindfolded me and took me back home in the caves. He made me dig out the rocks until there was a hole big enough for me to crawl through into that well using their bones. Then he sat me down under father’s bedroom and waited to see if I would try to run or call out. I kept the promise I gave him for your life. That night he made me his second wife. He owned me. I thought once I might get out before his Knife became to dull, but the gourd dipped and there I was again his Knife, and his heart until I was not. No more Gage. I am white now. There is no going back.”

  Gage’s brow frowned as he considered how to say what she deserved to know, “You did a very good job today. Would you like to go somewhere that people didn’t know about what happened here? About your life with Sparrow Hawk? Texas could give you a new name and help you find a new life somewhere.”

  Jenny clarified, “Only me? Did you not do a very good job too?”

  Gage grinned, “Not as good as you did, but they do move me when they want and tell me what job they want me to do too.”

  Jenny asked, “Your name is not always Gage?”

  Gage said, “Most of the time it is, but it wasn’t for a while, but you know that don’t you? You remember, I can see it in your eyes, you remember the trip West.” Gage quickly moved on, “The same for Bryan and the Major. We work under a special group called the Private Investigation Unit or PIU.”

  Jenny asked, “Why did Bryan not ask me this before he left?”

  Gage replied, “He has orders he must follow. The Major thought it best I explain it to you after you showed me the gold.”

  Jenny frowned, “After I show you gold? You think I not show you what you ask? You think I go back on my word? PEEUUU that good name for your group.”

  Gage corrected her, “No, that’s P I U, not peeuu.”

  Jenny replied, “Others say PEEUU, maybe your group need new name. Sounds like many people think you stink besides me.”

  Gage eyebrow rose, “Well, can’t argue that one Jenny. But that isn’t really the point I’m trying to make.”

  Jenny lips pursed, “Which point? Father thinks I better dead? Mother think grandsons worth saving but too late for daughter? How many white men watched while Bryan was beaten and I was raped by more than one brave last night? Either you late or you watch it happen with other men at fort? Same men feel bad if they see my face now. My cuts and bruises remind them they could do no more than watch? Sparrow Hawk more important than sister. Gold more important than sister. Not eat peyote more important than if I live or can bear pain?” Jenny scooted away from Gage to the other side of a scrub brush.

  Well, she was upset. Maybe that hadn’t gone as well as he hoped. But she definitely had hit the nail on the head. As he tried to approach her, Jenny called out, “Stay on your side or I show you I can find cactus and whack you hard like Bryan.”

  Gage replied as he moved back to the other side, “Very funny. You know I let him win. Sparrow Hawk needed to respect him. You needed to respect him.”

  Jenny said, “It was not his skills with cactus against your back that made me respect him. It was something more in him that made him care if my son lived. He fought hard to save him. He fought hard to save me. Sparrow Hawk saw same thing. Bryan did not judge him because his skin darker than his. Bryan saw his soul. Bryan fought to make Texas say my sons could choose to live with me and learn. They could live in both worlds.”

  Gage could hear Jenny crying. He looked over toward where she lay scrunched up, “Come on, that’s not fair. A man tries to have a serious conversation and the woman just ups and cries making him feel like some smuck.”

  Jenny said, “You are smuck. You are all smuck. Sparrow Hawk
smuck, you smuck, Major smuck, father smuck, even Itsee smuck. Used my love for him and made his brothers choose before they knew what they give up. Not fair.”

  Gage’s brow rose, “I see where this is going, all men are smucks. Is that how it is? Never mind I saved your life and Bryan’s I’m still a smuck.”

  Jenny said, “Good job Bryan, she lead us to it. I lead you to it, but choose big caverns with much space so you not feel like you in well. What make you think I only one who need help. You meet me and want to put hands on my neck first time in ravine. But orders make you stop. Well, you know where it is now. So maybe you still want to put hands on my neck. No need for new name. Not so full of peyote I can not think. Words hurt as bad as beatings I take. Not Comanche, but not white enough for you. Just good job.”

  Gage’s chin rose and his eyelashes batted as a wry grin crossed his face as he realized she had heard their conversation, knew he couldn’t stand being in the cave and tried her best to show him something that would make the tighter caverns less hard to bear, “I see, good-night, Sis. The smuck is tired.” Gage laid down and looked at the stars and thought about that, “Why the hell should I let them take her off to some tiny room and lock her up? She deserves better. She deserves better than Bryan too, but who knows why the heart finds happiness and who was he to judge. After everything she’d been through, maybe someone who wasn’t jumping her bones night and day was exactly what she wanted.” Gage got back up and moved over to where Jenny was curled up into a ball and lay down beside her wrapping his arms around her, “Turn toward me Jenny. You need body warmth.”

  Jenny shivered, “You not afraid if I touch you, it cause you to feel things?”

  Gage smiled, “Well it might, but I’ll try to restrain myself.” Gage unbuttoned his shirt and jacket and gently pulled her toward him to where her body was cradled against him with his jacket covering both of them. She shivered in his arms until eventually they both felt warmer.

  Jenny muttered, “He isn’t coming back is he?”

  Gage kissed her head, “Do you really want him to? You know there is a good chance he might not ever have those feelings again like when you two were under the effects of peyote? Really would it be such as loss?”

  Jenny replied, “Do you think you are a good lover?”

  Gage said, “Some women think so.”

  Jenny asked, “How long you take when you join?”

  Gage frowned, “That’s a little personal.”

  Jenny asked, “You ever make her close in circles around you squeezing out every drop?”

  Gage swallowed, “I’ve heard them scream out.”

  Jenny said, “Some women scream to encourage man to finish. They want your seed and not take chance you think about whether you want to have child in bed and leave or spill seed on back or front or face instead of where nature intended.”

  Jenny said, “Bryan screamed and then he made me feel like I never felt. He took time for me. Most just grunt and do business then roll off. Comanche men quick. Can’t judge you, that would not be fair. I tickled you. We didn’t join, but you seem quick like most young men. Nothing to be ashamed of, it is nature’s way. Younger males must mate quickly or older dominate male will kick his ass. It will get better for both you and her as you grow older. Not so shy. Not in such a rush.”

  Gage confirmed, “So you’re saying you want to keep him, if he comes back?”

  Jenny said, “Yes. If he does not, then I become P I U and I go look for peyote to make powder you slip in Blue Coat water.”

  Gage grinned, “If not I was thinking I could take you further toward Mexico and find a nice mission where they didn’t know you or maybe one that’s not Catholic and doesn’t care about the peyote. You could teach Indian children and white children. You would have made a good teacher Jenny.” Gage tried to grease the way for Lieutenant MacLeod. He had an idea what he intended to do with her once they were sure they didn’t need her any further.

  Jenny said, “Forgot too much to teach white children, but maybe I start my own mission school and trading post. I could do that. I helped with trading pow wows where tribes exchange things each needed. I know what good and what not. How to weave, bead, sew, and tan. Still think white women miss out on buckskin dress. But western tribes have nice jewelry, ponchos, rugs, pottery too.”

  Gage grunted, “There you go. I could set you up and you run it.”

  Jenny nodded, “I would like that. Maybe you not smuck. It is a good dream whether it come true or not.” Jenny shivered as the lack of peyote in her system took it’s toll on her body. Gage held on tight as she dug her head into his chest, but she didn’t scream. She cried tears for her lost sons and her lost life and all the times she would never see as Sparrow Hawk’s tribe continued their journey to Indian Territory without her. Maybe if she was brave enough to go West again and found more black pearls Red Cedar would let her come back. She asked her brother, “Could you sell me back again? If we find pearls would he take me back? Is there no way?”

  Gage squeezed tighter, “No, no way. He’d kill you, then he’d come back and Dallas would have to kill them all. You wouldn’t want that. I wouldn’t want that. There’s always hope Jenny. As long as they’re alive, there is hope.”

  Jenny asked confused, “You kill her if they die? Who’s daughter is Hope?”

  Gage shook his head, “Maybe that wasn’t such a good name. I meant there might be a new treaty some day and maybe that second chance comes then. The future that we don’t know could mean our sons come home to you.” Gage swallowed, “You know you can’t say anything about that don’t you? If you ever meet them again, you can be the Auntie, but never their mother. It’s better they never know for sure that I’m their Dad. For them and for us.”

  Jenny sniffled, “I remember. Maybe now good time to confess. You did not father either. Sparrow Hawk want you to think so, but it is not true. He hides his own family behind rumors of other fathers. You say Peekwi Bo’s if ever he ask. He could be, could he not?”

  Gage chuckled, “Well yes, it is possible, but you’re saying they were all his? And the ones Itsee and Paaka told me about, what about them?”

  Jenny said, “Nope, they lie. Just want to see you go for my throat. They disappointed they miss the first time.”

  Gage considered that. He’d just went from the father of the Comanche nation’s next great War Chief to maybe the father of Hope. He was pretty sure Cole wasn’t his after the excitement of fatherhood dulled to the reality of a colicky baby. Gage confessed, “I’m going to tell Bryan, Jenny. For Cole’s sake, he needs to understand how Sparrow Hawk thinks or he’s going to have a hissy fit when Cole’s real Daddy takes the boy. You know he’s not Chibitty, right? You remember that?”

  Jenny replied, “How you know I not sleep with green eyed man. My eyes have green, and that one killed have green eyes and dark hair. He could be Cole’s father.”

  Gage grinned, “Caught you. You can’t have it both ways Jenny. Either you’re a wanton whore or a good girl. Now which is it?”

  Jenny chuckled as their game of truth or dare to call me a liar ended, “You win this one. But I keep trying Gage. I’m a wanton whore, just ask father. You back to Wasapi’s father and maybe Peekwi, but not Cole. He has no Travis blood. Father have that right and you should tell his father he has son.”

  Gage laughed, “So you believed me? Well, I think Dad’s right and I know who fathered that green eyed bugger. Don’t get upset, but I think it was the boy wonder, but he’s not such a little boy now. Big strapping man and he would have been there right about the same time. I think Bo is Cole’s Daddy. I’m Hope’s. She looks like a Travis.”

  Jenny added, “And she does not have colic.” Jenny became more serious as she considered what lay before her, “You remember your promise. You can not help me Gage. Let them set their own trap.”

  The next morning Bryan woke to the smell of bacon and sausage links cooking on the stove. Lacy called out, “Breakfast in a few minutes Bryan. Do
n’t get up. I’ll bring it. You want chicory coffee?”

  Bryan said as he grimaced and carefully made his way toward the side of the bed, “Yes please. I think I’ll get up. Once he was standing, it wasn’t so bad. It was just the positions in between that hurt the most. There was JC running toward him expecting him to lift him up in his arms. Bryan smiled, “Not today JC. Uncle Bryan hurt his ribs. Can’t bend down too good.” Bryan gingerly moved to the kitchen.

  Lacy looked up, “I would have brought it to you Bryan. You didn’t need to get up.”

  Bryan smiled, “Yes, but it actually hurts less standing. I think that wagon ride jiggled every bone in my back and chest laying in that bed. So how are you feeling today?”

  Lacy said, “Oh, just fine. Did you know Brianna will take a bottle? We finally got Cole and Hope to drink something last night. I put some of my milk in bottles and we got them to drink. Today we’re mixing my milk with goat’s and see if we can get them to take it. We figured I still have enough milk for the three of them until we get them weaned.”

  Bryan asked, “So did you decide what you wanted to do?”

  Lacy dished up the bacon and sausage and cracked a couple eggs in the pan, “Do? Oh that. No need. I got my monthly Bryan. No bun in the oven. Sure surprised Mrs. Tyler but I guess all that stress just brought it on. But it all worked out for the best. You should have seen how Cole got jealous of Brianna taking that bottle. He didn’t even want it until it was in her mouth, then he couldn’t keep his paws off. I feel sorry for Hope.”

  Bryan picked up a plate and started eating a piece of bacon then sat the plate back down in front of JC as he noticed JC was frowning at him for stealing a piece of his bacon. Bryan looked at the herb packet Lacy had sitting on the table. Bryan asked, “This is what you made that Irish Coffee with last night?”