Woman of Courage (Four Full length Historical Christian Romances in One Volume): Woman of Courage Series

by Cynthia Hickey

  Since she hadn’t spoken to Zeke all day, the opportunity to inform him about Luke hadn’t presented itself. The knowledge ate at her. She was fairly certain he’d feel as she did about the situation, but if he didn’t, and he sent Luke away, Sadie’s heart would break.

  “I don’t know why I have to do this way out here,” Dorcas whined. “There’s no school for thousands of miles.”

  Delly threaded a needle. “You don’t want to grow up stupid, do you?”

  “No, but why can’t I wait until we get to our new place and then study? I don’t need all this to be a cowboy. And that’s what I’m going to do when I grow up.”

  “Really? Cowboys are dirty all the time. Especially on cattle drives. You hate being dirty.”

  “I don’t care. So, do I still have to practice?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” Her shoulders slumped.

  “Because it’s raining and there’s nothing else for you to do. It’s either that, or help Sadie mend.”

  Dorcas pouted. “I hate rain.”

  “What are y’all doing?” Junior poked his head through the canvas opening.

  Delly smiled and motioned for him to come in. She handed him their Bible. “Here. Read.”

  “What?” He glanced at her in astonishment.

  “Read. We can’t let your schooling stop completely until we reach Oregon, now can we?” She patted his shoulder, handed him a towel, and then moved over so he could squeeze in.

  “Where’s Luke?” Sadie asked.

  “I left him to watch the animals,” Junior muttered. “I should’ve stayed with him.” He set the Bible on his legs. “If you want me to read, why can’t I read the guidebook? That’s what we need out here.”

  “The Bible will help you anywhere.”

  “I know, but can’t I please read the guidebook?”

  She smiled and pulled it from a pocket sewn into the canvas. “Read about this river we’re following. Then you can read a passage from the Bible.”

  He scanned the pages. “Well…the Platte River runs all the way into Wyoming Territory. In some places you can’t hardly see across it ‘cause it’s so wide. There’s lots of little streams and waterways that run into it.”

  “You aren’t reading.” Delly stitched one quilt piece onto another. “Stop skipping around.”

  He scanned some more pages. “Fort Laramie’s less than two weeks travel from where we are now.”

  “I sure hope we stop for a few days.” Her needle poked through the fabric, in and out, leaving behind a sense of accomplishment as a vision of her completed quilt filled her mind.

  “What for?” Junior glanced up. “The more we travel, the quicker we get to Oregon.”

  “I want to take a hot bath.”

  “A bath! Women want the silliest things.” He lowered his head back over the pages. “I’m going to climb Chimney Rock and carve my name in it. We’ll get there before Laramie. Who cares about a bath?”

  “I do,” Dorcas spoke up. “It’s hard staying clean on the trail.”

  “Well then, you’re as silly as Ma. You’re just going to get dirty the next day.”

  “And you’re beginning to get a little sassy for your britches, aren’t you? Your uncle doesn’t go around dirty all the time,” Delly pointed out, remembering the scent of the pine soap he used. “Besides, Dorcas wants to be a cowboy when she grows up. I guess she’ll be the cleanest one there ever was.”

  “I’m sorry for sassing, Ma. But I’m becoming a man out here. I don’t need to be treated like a child.”

  “Not too old for me to swat.” Delly sent him a stern look. “If you want to be treated like a man, then act like one.”

  “Aw shucks. You ain’t never hit me. And Dorcas can’t be a cowboy. She’s a girl!” He crawled toward the canvas opening. “I never would’ve come to visit if I’d known I was going to have to read and get a lecture on cleanliness. Or hear some fool story about a little girl wanting to be a cowboy. I’m going to look for Uncle Zeke.”

  Delly laughed and reached for the Bible. Maybe Junior’s hunt for his uncle would lead them both back here.

  12

  The clouds disappeared by morning, revealing blue skies and little wind. Landmarks Court House Rock and Chimney Rock towered over the plains of Nebraska Territory. Flat, with scattered brush, and a horizon that stretched forever.

  Delly lifted her skirt and grimaced at the sight of her feet. In order to save her shoes, and her pretty new moccasins, she’d taken to going barefoot most of the time now. Her feet were as ugly and calloused as a cow’s hooves in spite of the salve Zeke had given her. She’d need a chisel to get rid of the roughness.

  Good thing she wasn’t looking for a new husband. She swore she got uglier and more weather-worn with every day, despite the admiring glances Zeke and the Oglesby boys shot her way.

  “Hey, Ma!” Dorcas ran alongside her. “Look over there.” She pointed to the east. A massive herd of animals grazed. “What are they?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Junior trotted past on Old Blue, his rifle slung across his lap. “It’s buffalo. I’m gonna shoot one. Get the fire ready. We’ll feast tonight.” He grinned and hurried to catch up with the older men who’d galloped past.

  The train rolled forward while guns blasted in the distance. Delly’s skin crawled as the herd moved en mass, a black cloud that ate up the ground between them. “Dorcas, get the children in the wagon. Hurry, now.” Her mouth turned as dry as the desert.

  With trembling legs, she climbed on the wagon seat beside Sadie. It seemed she was always telling her children to seek the safety of their home on wheels.

  A subtle vibration shook the seat beneath her, steadily increasing in intensity. She glanced behind them and clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. God, help them. They were going to die.

  The horizon rose and fell like a mighty moving wave as thundering animals barreled straight toward them. Dust hung heavy in the air, blocking out the sun and thrusting them into the dimness of dusk. “Make it quick, Dorcas!”

  After she helped the younger ones climb to safety, the little girl hurled herself inside. The noise deafened, and threatened to drown out thought as well as spoken words. Delly grabbed the reins and hollered for the oxen to move. They balked, fighting against their restraints. The dark cloud grew larger and rolled toward them with the speed of a freight train. The ground rumbled. Tears poured down Delly’s cheeks, while Sadie chanted over and over for God to save them.

  Delly whipped the reins harder. “Ya! Ya!” The animals refused to budge, straining against their harness. They shrieked and rolled back their eyes.

  Sadie’s mouth opened in a silent scream. She clutched Delly’s arm. Her fingernails pierced the skin. Delly whipped her gaze back toward the approaching herd. They’d be trampled. Dead on the prairie. Left for the animals. A sob caught in her throat.

  She leaped to the ground and dashed to grab the harness. “Come on, you beasts!” She tugged, urging them forward. She glanced to where the other wagons moved forward, widening the gap. How could they leave them to fend for themselves? Delly yanked harder. “For once in your miserable lives, do what I say.”

  Luke darted to the wagon and jumped up beside Sadie. “Hold ‘em still! You don’t want them to bolt with the herd.”

  “I’m trying to make them move forward!” Delly’s arms pulled. Her muscles ached with the strain. “They don’t want to go anywhere.” They were as frightened as she was. Given the chance, she might’ve cried and run in circles too.

  The other wagons were far enough ahead to be safe from the approaching wave of death. They were alone. The others should’ve waited! Where was Zeke? He was supposed to protect them. There were times when Delly thought twice about managing on her own. This was such a time.

  Didn’t anyone take bother to glance back? She cried in earnest now. Rocks danced at her feet. The children screamed from inside the wagon. Luke darted inside, emerged with a pot and t
in ladle, then jumped from the wagon.

  “Luke, get back inside!” Sadie shrieked. “Oh, Lordy.”

  “It’s a stampede.” He planted his feet, legs apart, and stood his ground. “Don’t seem like we’re going anywhere anytime soon. Can’t stand still and let death take us. You climb back up, Miss Delly. I’ll handle this.”

  “What are you doing?” Sadie’s screams pierced Delly’s ears. “Are you crazy? You’re going to head them off with dishes?”

  Luke raised the pot above his head.

  He intended to divert the stampeding herd. Delly scrambled back onto the seat and crawled through the back of the wagon, squeezing past children and tossing things aside, while frantically searching for the pistol Zeke had given her after her run-in with Bodine. Why hadn’t she listened and kept it closer at hand? Her own stupidity would get them killed.

  Weapon in hand, she climbed out and stood with her back against the wagon’s bonnet, and braced herself. Her heart pounded with each thundering hoof. The dust thickened air made it difficult to breathe, even through the rag she wore over her nose and mouth. She closed her eyes and prayed before raising the gun above her head. Her eyes shot open, and she squeezed the pistol’s trigger. Luke banged on the pot with the force of a marching band.

  Zeke galloped up, rifle blazing. “Get that wagon out of here!”

  “They won’t move.” Delly’s shoulders sagged.

  The herd stampeded closer. Feet away from the wagon and firing guns, they split, thundering past the wagon in two seemingly unending lines.

  Delly coughed against the dust. Her heart pounded with each thundering hoof. It seemed an eternity before the animals were past. Their path marked by trampled grass and brush. Dust hovered in the air, falling like dried rain upon their shoulders.

  Her legs refused to hold her, and she sagged against the canvas and let the sobs overtake her.

  ###

  Zeke replaced the rifle into its sling. “Fools. Every one of them. Riding off like they were on a picnic. Firing their weapons as if they had no sense.” He hated this part of the job. Watching out for grown men who had no more sense than a child.

  Delly plopped to the ground. Tears left tracks on her face.

  Lifting her to her feet, Zeke pulled her close. Why did it seem this woman was in the middle of danger every time it came upon them? He was the one who most likely wouldn’t survive the trip. Not with Delly around.

  . “Junior rode out with them.” Despair outlined her body. Her eyes stood out among the layer of dirt on her skin.

  “I’ll find him.” Zeke cupped her face then released her. After launching into his saddle, he spurred Cyclone toward the group of returning men. His heart had almost failed him at the sight of Delly standing on the wagon seat firing a hand gun in the air. He shook his head. The woman needed to develop a healthy fear. She should’ve grabbed the children and ran at first sound of the stamped. A wagon wasn’t worth her life.

  He squinted against the afternoon glare of the sun. One man lay slung across a horse’s back. Not the boy, Lord! He sent his horse into a gallop. What would he tell Delly? How would he survive the death of yet another family member?

  He reined Cyclone to a halt and willed his racing heart to return to normal. It wasn’t Junior. The body was too large. “What happened?”

  “It’s Oglesby,” Melvin explained. “Buffalo hunters shot to head the herd in our direction when they saw us coming. Guess they figured it’d scare us away from what they thought was theirs.” The man shook his head. “Ogleby’s horse spooked and reared. He fell, and the beasts trampled him. There’s not much left.”

  Zeke lifted the blanket covering the body and grimaced. There was nothing left to distinguish this man from any other, besides his clothes. The buffalo’s hooves had caved in his skull and all but obliterated his features. He sighed and let the blanket fall back. No way to clean him up before his family saw. The blood had dried quickly in the heat, blackening the blue shirt the man wore. Flecks of brain matter clung to the lifted blanket and peppered the man’s hair. Zeke’s heart went out to his family, and he swallowed against the bile rising into his throat.

  He scanned the group. “Where’s my nephew?”

  “I’m here.” Junior trotted up on the mule.

  “Your ma’s looking for you. Get back to the wagon.” Zeke pulled his hat firmer on his head, regretting his stern tone of voice when Junior’s smile turned to a frown. What had the boy been thinking, taking off after the others? It could’ve been him lying mangled beneath the Indian blanket. How would he have told Delly her stepson was dead? He made a vow to keep a better eye on the boy until he grew to have more sense. Keep a better eye on all of them. Somehow, despite needing to check on all the others, he’d make Delly and the children more of a priority. Maybe put Melvin and Hiram to work seeing to the other emigrant’s needs.

  Junior nodded, before kicking the mule into action.

  Zeke glanced over his shoulder at the line of waiting wagons then reached for the reins to Oglebys’s horse. “I’ll take him to his family. We’ll be stopping here to bury him and allow the family time to grieve.”

  Mrs. Miller wailed before Zeke reached her. The sound resonated off his ear drums and wrung at his heart. She grabbed her two-year-old son close to her. “I told him not to go. I told him.”

  “And got smacked for your trouble,” a man, a brother Zeke thought, stated. He stepped forward and relieved Zeke of his father’s body. He lifted his chin. “Thank you, Sir.”

  Zeke nodded and waited for one of them to ask what happened. They didn’t. Instead three pairs of shimmering eyes stared at him. He cleared his throat and removed his hat. “We’ll stop here today to give you time to bury him.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Miller. Sophia. You let me know if I can help with anything. I’ll get someone to dig the grave, drive your wagon…”

  “We’ll be all right. Thanks. We take care of our own.” Her brother turned, put his free arm around his sister, and they shuffled away leading a gray horse that carried a heavy burden.

  Zeke allowed his gaze to follow them before he turned toward Delly’s fire. She glanced up from where she added beans to the pot.

  “Are you all right?” She wiped her hands on her apron and stood before him. “Junior told me what happened. Should I see to Sophia?”

  He dismounted. “I’m fine. Mrs. Miller has her brother and son. Seems that’s all they want.” He dropped onto a stool. “I hate when we lose someone. Especially when it’s to foolhardiness.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.” Delly handed him a cup of coffee which he accepted gratefully. “Even though her father may have been heavy handed on occasion, it’s all she knows. There was nothing you could do to stop it. The men took off as soon as the buffalo were spotted. Whooping and hollering. Did they get any?” She sat cross legged beside him.

  “What?” He stared into the dark brew.

  “Buffalo.”

  “A couple. Before the hunters stampeded the herd.” He glanced around trying to locate Junior and spotted him heading off with Ben. “Looks like Junior went to get your share. There’ll be meat to go with the beans tonight.” He smiled at the sight of the gun tucked in the waistband of her skirt. “Glad you put the gun to good use.”

  “Yes, thank you.” She nodded to where Sadie stood with a big man, he hadn’t met. “Luke would’ve tried running them off with a spoon and a pot.” Her giggle sounded like music to him. Zeke pushed to his feet. “He started beating on pots and pans to beat the band. Yelled louder than any Indian I’ve ever heard.”

  Zeke brushed a stray strand of hair off her face. “Please, don’t put yourself and the children in harm’s way again. You scared ten years off me.”

  She nodded. For a second, he thought she’d lean into his hand. Instead she stiffened.

  “I guess I’d better meet this foolhardy hero.”

  Delly matched steps with him, laying a hand on his arm. “Sadie’s taken up with him. I think they were t
rying to meet up when he ran across our train. He must’ve been delayed.” She turned her face away.

  “What are you hiding?”

  She sighed. “I think he’s a runaway. Sadie says he’s a good blacksmith.” She added as if to take away the severity of the problem. “We could use him, couldn’t we?”

  Zeke rubbed the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb. The challenges never seemed to end. “I don’t cotton with slavery myself. I won’t turn him in, but I won’t stop his owners from taking him back, if they find him before we reach Oregon.”

  “Zeke.” Her eyes pleaded.

  “Don’t scold.” He grinned down at her stern face. “You’re doing real good on the trail. I’m proud of you. But there are things in life that even a tough spine can’t get rid of. Or fix.”

  The look she gave him said she wasn’t partial to his explanation. “Some nights I’m so tired, I can’t get comfortable. And Junior’s doing the work of a man. Dorcas doesn’t complain either, except for the dirt, and Sadie’s a god send. She’ll come in handy when Alice’s baby comes in August. Luke could be a gift…”

  “Don’t talk to me about babies.” Zeke stopped. God, preserve them. “A baby is not a good idea on a trip like this. Sadie’s a midwife?”

  Delly nodded. “Said she’s done some birthing.”

  He ran his hand along the bristly growth on his chin. “I need to meet this Luke.” He again asked the Lord what he’d gotten himself into.

  When they reached the man, Sadie stepped in front of him, folded her arms, and set her chin. She reminded him of a little bulldog ready to protect her young. “Mr. Williams. This is Luke. My intended.”

  Zeke smiled at her feistiness and extended his hand. “Heard you’re a blacksmith.”

  “Yes, sir.” Luke hesitated before stepping around Sadie and accepting the handshake. “A good one.”

  “Well, you aren’t lacking in bravery, if not in smarts. Trying to divert a stampeding herd with a pot and spoon. I’ve never seen that before.” He shook his head. “It’ll be nice having another man to help look over these women. They have a talent for finding trouble.”