A Path Worth Taking

by Mariella Starr

  Beth and Lettie had been growing the chick flock and then a critter had gotten inside the enclosure killing two of Beth’s best-laying hens. The next project would be to enlarge and secure the chicken coop. Then they planned to build a fence around the garden to discourage wild animals from eating the plants before they had time to mature.

  ***

  Abram Parker did more than come for a visit. When his enlistment with the Army was over, he came looking for a job.

  He stayed on the ranch for a few days, and the general consensus of everyone was he was a likable, and handy man, so Garret offered him a job working on the ranch. Abram had no ranching skills, but he was willing to learn. He did have building skills in both structures and furniture. Garret set him to work finishing the inside of the bunkhouse.

  Jeb was a bit skeptical of the ex-soldier, but Abram’s skill with an ax, saw, and hammer proved he was useful, especially when he completed the work on the chicken coop. It was a fortress of chicken wire complete with an overhead roof of wire. Abram said he suspected hawks or owls were the culprits for the missing chickens. His next project of stringing chicken wire fencing around the garden put him in good stead with the women.

  Lettie and Beth continued gathering and scrubbing rocks for the large fireplace Garret wanted to put in the new room of the cabin. According to her husband’s long-term plans, the bedroom would eventually become a central living room.

  One evening everyone had to stop work when a stranger came calling. The rider identified himself as Sheriff Russ Wilson. He had a telegram for Garret from Captain James Sumners from Fort Laramie. The telegram informed Garret of the escape of the three deserters Beth and Jasper had apprehended. Several other military criminals had also escaped, some of whom had already been caught.

  “Are you going to hunt them down?” Garret asked.

  “Until they commit a civilian crime, they’re not my problem,” Sheriff Wilson claimed. “They’re the Army’s problem and responsibility. I came to deliver the telegram, and to give you fair warning those men are loose again.”

  “Well, I thank you for the warning.”

  “I also came because I heard you were selling off scavenged goods to Mr. Tolliver. He said John Ames had stored the goods in your barn.”

  “He did,” Garret admitted.

  “Well, John Ames was a friend of mine,” Sheriff Wilson drawled. “We were partners on his side business. I thought I would come by and get my share of the profits.”

  Garret snorted. “Those goods were stored on my property without my permission. They were in my way, so I cleared them out. John Ames is dead, Sheriff. If you wanted to stake a claim to those salvaged goods, you should have done it well over a year ago. However, if you want to pay rent money to me for the illegal use of my barns, we might come to an agreement.”

  Sheriff Wilson seemed none too pleased with Garret’s counterproposal. “I thought you would want to be a fair man.”

  “I am a fair man,” Garret said firmly. “I’m not a fool.”

  “Right,” the sheriff agreed. “Scavenging can be a lucrative business, Mr. Wakefield. By the time the settlers get this far, sometimes they are a bit loco. You didn’t happen to come across anything of real value out there on the trails, did you?”

  “I thought we’d already established I didn’t do the scavenging,” Garret replied tersely. “I cleared out my barn. We didn’t find any gold bullion or bags of stolen bank loot if that’s what you’re asking. If you haven’t noticed, we work hard. We don’t ask for hand-outs, and we don’t give them.”

  “Hey, no harm in asking,” the sheriff replied as he glanced at Abram and Lettie, and the baby in her arms. “Are you collecting slaves, Mr. Wakefield?”

  “There ain’t no slavery anymore,” Abram answered. “Neither of us was slaves ‘afore. I was a soldier until a few weeks ago.”

  The sheriff shrugged. “Some people get a bit tetchy about the subject. I’ve done my job, so I’ll be moving on. Keep your eyes peeled for those escaped men and Indians. Either one wouldn't mind getting ahold of your women.”

  Sheriff Wilson mounted his horse but not before raking lewd eyes over Beth and Lettie.

  “There’s another man wearing a badge like yours claiming to be the sheriff of Denver,” Garret added. “He’s probably a carpetbagger trying to fleece people out of their land and using the authority of your office to do it. You might want to look into it.”

  “I will,” the sheriff said as he rode off.

  “He was never John’s partner,” Jasper hissed to Garret. “I’m pretty sure it was the sheriff who killed him, although he did it before he took the badge.”

  “He didn’t seem surprised to find out someone else was using his badge to steal land,” Jeb observed. “He’s probably in cahoots with that other fellow.”

  Garret turned to Abram. “How good are you with a gun?”

  “I can shoot a knot hole out of a tree at a hundred and fifty yards.”

  “I’ll test your word in the morning. If you’re as good as you say, you’ll be sticking around the homestead to protect Beth and Lettie. You can work around here, but your main job will be to keep the women safe.” Garret turned to the women. “If Abram so much as goes to the outhouse, I want you two locked inside the cabin.”

  Beth and Lettie glanced at each other, both nodding in agreement.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Abram Parker took his new assignment seriously. He carried Garret’s sidearm Colt in a gun holster and tied it to his thigh as gunslingers did to facilitate a fast draw. He was also keeping a rifle close. Every evening, the men would either fell trees or drag ones already felled to the building site. When Abram was not guarding the women, he was swinging an ax and trimming logs.

  Garret did not mind Lettie living with them. She was a huge help to Beth, and he knew his wife needed the companionship. Even so, he was unwilling to surrender the idea of maintaining their privacy in his home. He wanted and figured he and Beth needed, the privacy of a not so newly married couple. He sketched the plans for a small cabin for Lettie and crossed his fingers his wife would not get angry with him for wanting to put a little distance between his wife and her best friend.

  Beth knew Lettie was not comfortable living off them and having no means of support. Still, she had assured her friend a thousand times she was more than earning her keep. She was a great help to them, but Lettie was a proud woman. It also had not escaped Beth’s attention that Abram had renewed his interest in her best friend. She decided a little encouragement would hurt no one.

  “Lettie, why don’t you take a glass of rose hip tea to Abram?” Beth suggested one day. She had deliberately waited until her hands were covered with flour as she kneaded bread dough.

  “Don’t you think for a minute I don’t know what you’re doing,” Lettie exclaimed sourly. “I’m not interested in having another man.”

  “I didn’t think you were,” Beth replied, pretending to be shocked. “Goodness, a proper grieving period hasn’t been observed. Although, I don’t believe women observe a full year of mourning in the west. Mostly, they have their pick of suitors and find a husband quickly.”

  “I’m not interested in replacing my Virgil,” Lettie snapped.

  “Of course not,” Beth agreed. “Poor Abram will have to wait until I finish this kneading. He has been outside in the sun for a long time, though. Flat edging those logs is hard, hot work.”

  Lettie rolled her eyes and poured a glass of the tea. “He’s a grown man with two legs and a mouth. If he wanted a drink, he could come ask for it!”

  Beth smiled as her friend stomped out of the cabin with a glass of tea in one hand and the pewter pitcher in the other. She quickly went into the bedroom to peek out the window. Lettie was as prickly as a porcupine around Abram, but she wasn’t fooling Beth. Abram had been interested in Lettie before he left the farm and when he was around her, he smiled a lot. Lettie, on the other hand, frowned and growled a lot.

  Abram s
aw Lettie coming and embedded his ax into the log before wiping his forehead and neck with his kerchief.

  “I thank you, Lettie,” he said when she handed him the glass of tea.

  “Don’t. It weren’t my idea, it was Miss Beth’s,” Lettie snarled.

  “A body would think you’re a might unsociable,” Abram responded. “I had a mind to steal a kiss from you, but I’ve changed my mind. You’ve become a surly woman, Lettie Mason.”

  Lettie snatched the glass from him. “It ain’t Mason no more, it’s Stokeman. I never wanted a kiss from you, Abram Parker! You’re a womanizer! Virgil told me what you Army men are like.

  “Virgil was an Army man, too” Abram protested. “Ain’t no sense in you getting all high and mighty on me. There was a time when you were right fond of me. We’re the only colored folk out here except for those in Denver. You’ll get awful lonesome after a while.”

  “I’ll manage just fine,” Lettie snapped, and she whirled around and stomped back into the house.

  ***

  At dawn, Garret awoke to what he thought was a nightmare, yet he soon realized it was real. It was the sound of a cavalry troop moving closer.

  “Beth!”

  Her eyes popped open at the urgency in his voice. “What?”

  “Soldiers,” Garret snapped. He dressed quickly making it to the kitchen and his rifle before the troop pulled rein outside their cabin.

  “Stay inside,” Garret ordered.

  Beth obeyed, crouching under a window as her husband went outside to meet the men.

  Captain James Sumners dismounted and shook hands with Garret, Jeb, Abram, and Jasper all of whom had joined Garret. Whatever they were discussing, Garret appeared displeased. As soon as the captain mounted, his troop moved on.

  “Is he searching for the escaped men?” Beth asked, joining her husband at the front door.

  Garret shook his head no. “He’s hunting for Black Crow. Several wagons have been attacked and three settlers murdered.”

  “Black Crow said he was joining Red Cloud. You said Red Cloud was in the Powder River area hundreds of miles from here.”

  “The Army places the blame squarely on Black Crow and his renegades,” Garret sighed. “The captain knows what the War Lance means, so he wanted to know if we had seen him.”

  “They waste all their time hunting down Indians who for the most part want to be left alone. He’s probably another cowardly military man like Colonel Chivington, ready to slaughter innocent and helpless women and children in the hopes of gaining another blood encrusted on his chest,” Beth complained bitterly. “Colonel Chivington should have been hanged for what he did at Sand Creek. It was cold-blooded murder!”

  “Hush, Army, and war talk isn’t for women to understand,” Garret said, although he agreed with her assessment of the crime.

  “The Army should concern themselves with escaped prisoners and crooked sheriffs,” she added angrily.

  “Enough. The Army is out here to keep the Indians under control,” Garret said. “They don’t have anything to do with the goings on in Denver. It has nothing to do with us, either.

  “Don’t worry if you hear shots. Jasper, Jeb and I will be branding calves today, but if we spot any rabbits, I’ll try to bring them home. We’re getting mighty low on meat. Abram will be around if you need him.”

  To augment the rabbits, Garret and Jasper left at dawn the next day hoping to bag a deer or possibly an elk. They were traveling light, but were hopeful of a kill and had taken along a packhorse.

  Garret left Jeb and Abram on guard duty telling them to stay close to the ranch buildings and the women. Jeb would handle the early morning chores with the herd while Abram would handle whatever was necessary around the ranch buildings. Together they would begin to raise the walls for the new add-on room to the house.

  “Be careful and cautious,” Garret warned Beth as he kissed her goodbye. “We shouldn’t be gone more than a day, two at the most.”

  Beth and Lettie stayed busy. There was plenty of women’s work to be done. They tried to straddle the fine line of when to help the men and when to stay out of their way. If they offered help too quickly, they were told to get out of the way. If they waited until it was obvious, Jeb and Abram needed help, the men were grumpy because the women had not offered sooner.

  “I’m about to hit both of them over the head!” Beth snapped, storming into the kitchen after Jeb had told her twice to get out of the way. The second time he had been quite rude about it. “I’m sitting in this chair and working on my puzzle.”

  Lettie took the path of least resistance and stayed in the cabin out of the way. She and Abram Parker had a private war going on. She knew Abram was interested in her, but she still wasn’t sure if she wanted anything to do with him. She had been sweet on him before, and he was right that they were the only two colored folks around. He was a tall, good-looking man, but he had left her behind once before. Rather than sticking around and helping Beth after her father died, he had gone north, and when the Union Army started accepting Negro men into their army, he had volunteered.

  There was a loud thump against the wall and a muffled cry of pain.

  “Oh, God, one of them has been hurt,” Beth exclaimed. She ran around the side of the house where a hand wrapped around her mouth suddenly. She was hauled off her feet and thrown across a saddle horn. The impact knocked the air out of her. She raised her head to see a mounted man kick Lettie in the back of her neck. She crumbled to the ground. Beth kicked and screamed at her assailant, lost her balance, and fell off the horse. She landed on her head and everything went black.

  When Beth dragged herself out of a painful abyss, she found her arms tied behind her back. Her head hurt so badly, she could barely open her eyes. When she did force them apart, everything was topsy-turvy as she was sprawled across a saddle. She quickly shut her eyes again. The horse was being ridden at a full-out run and watching the ground speed past beneath her made her sick to her stomach. She struggled to move, and someone hit her in the back of the head knocking her out again.

  ***

  Garret and Jasper were pleased with the results of their hunting expedition. They had managed to bag a deer the first day and another the second day. As soon as they returned, they would spend the better part of a day butchering. They would not be able to store this meat in the cache since the wooden structure could only be used in the cold of winter. They could smoke it and keep it in the cool of the underground cellar. Meat was meat whether it was smoked or salted. Beth had plenty of empty crocks leftover from what they had eaten of their stored food throughout the winter.

  Jasper had hoped to bag a full antler rack, but the rutting season was already over, and both the deer they shot had shed their antlers. Garret promised him another hunt come late fall or winter when they would need meat again, and he would have a better chance of getting a good-sized set of antlers.

  “What’s that noise?” Jasper asked as they neared the ranch.

  “It sounds like Virgie is screaming his head off,” Garret said with a smile. “He’s not happy about something.” The closer they got to the cabin, though, the more frantic the baby’s cry sounded.

  Garret handed the reins of the packhorse to Jasper and spurred his horse into a run. As the scene unfolded before him, he jumped off his horse and ran inside the cabin. There was no sign of Beth, and he went running outside shouting for her.

  “Beth! Beth!”

  “They took her,” Lettie moaned from where she was still lying on the ground. She had a bloodied gash on her head and was trying to crawl, but she seemed to only have the use of one arm.

  Garret tried to help Lettie, and she screamed. He lifted her anyway, and took her inside and laid her on her bed.

  “Give me Virgie,” Lettie demanded, fighting to sit up in the bed. She unbuttoned her blouse and put her son to her breast before covering herself.

  “What happened?”

  “Two men came by and they must have knocked out Jeb
and Abram. I don’t know, I couldn’t get to them,” Lettie explained. “One of them kicked me, and now I can’t get my legs to move.”

  “I’ll be back,” Garret said.

  Jasper was already at the side of the house. “Jeb’s been shot real bad,” he told Garret. “I can’t get Abram awake, and it looks as if his leg’s broken. It’s all twisted the wrong way.”

  “Help me get them inside!”

  They dragged the men inside and put them in Garret and Beth’s bed. Garret went back to Lettie.

  “Tell me what happened?”

  “I already did,” replied Lettie, who was trying to change her baby out of wet clothes and into dry ones with only one working arm and hand. “How are Jeb and Abram?”

  “Jeb’s still out cold and bleeding bad. Abram has a broken leg, and he’s out cold too.”

  Lettie grasped Garret’s arm. “You have to go after Beth before they hurt her.”

  “I will. First, I have to deal with you three.”

  “No!” Lettie objected. “Leave Jasper here. He can help me while I will deal with the others.”

  “You can’t even walk, and one of your arms is broken!”

  “I’m alive,” snapped Lettie, her eyes furious with pain and temper. She turned and looked at the small clock on her nightstand. “They took her close to four hours ago. Jasper can do what I tell him. Jeb and Abram will die or not. If you don’t get to Miss Beth fast, God knows what they’ll do to her!”

  Garret turned to find Jasper standing behind him. The boy looked green sick, but he nodded his head in agreement. “Go. I’ll do whatever Lettie needs me to do.”

  Garret had no good choices. “I’ll find her,” he promised. He went into his bedroom, removed his gun and holster from Abram, and strapped it on. He shoved two boxes of ammunition in his pockets as he left.

  He was not past his property when he picked up the trail leading north. Two horses, two men, one of the horses carrying heavier than the other. Whoever had taken Beth was riding double with her.