The Travelers 1

by Lee Hunnicutt

  He then climbed into the wagon and started rummaging around for his pack.

  Beth gave a little laugh and said, “A watch! We haven’t used a watch in three years and you know, I haven’t missed it at all.”

  Jack smiled and said, “Me neither, how about you Sonny?”

  “At first I did but not now.

  Ah, here it is.”

  He came up with his watch.

  Sonny jumped down from the wagon and holding up the watch said, “Once again Frank was right.”

  Frank had always insisted that they wear mechanical watches, no electrical watches. “Batteries go out.” was all that he would say.

  They drew straws for shifts. Sonny got the first shift, Jack the second and Beth the last.

  The night went without incident. Beth woke the boys just before sunup.

  She then climbed into the wagon to check on her patient. She found that she was awake.

  “How long have you been up?” Beth asked.

  “Just now when you woke the others.”

  “How do you feel?” Beth asked as she placed her palm on Anne’s forehead.

  “Sore and whenever I try to lift up, very dizzy.”

  “Well that’s to be expected. You’ve been shot. You’ve lost a lot of blood and you have a nasty cut on your head.

  As soon as the sun’s up, I want to change your bandages and look at your wounds.”

  Anne looked embarrassed and said, “I have to uh I uh….”

  Beth patted her on her good arm, smiled with understanding and said, “I understand but I’m going to have to get the boys to lift you out of the wagon.

  Jack, Sonny, come give me a hand. Anne’s awake. I need you to lift her out of the wagon.” Beth grabbed a handful of scrape from the tablecloth that they had cut up for diapers. She stuffed them into her shirt.

  Anne saw what she had done and gave a grateful smile.

  Jack climbed into the wagon and picked Anne up and handed her to Sonny.

  Beth jumped down from the wagon and said, “Take her down to the river.

  Jack, why don’t you start breakfast?”

  Sonny took Anne to the river. He asked Beth, “Where do you want her?”

  “Set her down next to that rock.”

  He propped her up against the rock and then just stood there.

  Beth looked at Sonny like he had a learning disability and said, “Don’t you have something to do, like harness the horses or something.”

  Sonny gave her a blank look and then realization swept over his face. He stammered “Oh yeah sure, ah, ah. Yeah!” He took off at a trot.

  As miserable as she was feeling even Anne had to smile at that.

  In about twenty minutes Beth called for Sonny to come carry Anne back to the campsite.

  When Sonny had picked her up, Beth ran ahead to make a comfortable place for Anne near the fire. She arranged a pillow and some blankets so that Anne could be propped up on a log facing the fire.

  Jack had cooked up a mess of bacon, eggs, potatoes, onions and fried bread. It smelled great.

  Beth helped Anne eat and they all gorged themselves on Jack’s cuisine. They sat around drinking coffee.

  Jack said, “I’ll be glad when they invent the percolator. I’m tired of drinking coffee grounds.”

  “How do you feel?” Beth asked Anne.

  “Better. That was a great breakfast, thank you.”

  Jack flashed her a smile and said, “You’re welcomed and thank you.

  You had us worried. I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better.”

  Beth got a worried look and said, “You’ve had too much excitement this morning. It’s back to bed for you.”

  “I am a little tired.”

  Beth, Jack and Sonny exchanged looks. They were all thinking the same thing. Anne hadn’t said a word about her family and they certainly didn’t want to bring it up or have it brought up.

  It couldn’t be avoided long but they wanted to hold off for as long as they could.

  Beth wanted Anne to be stronger before she faced the reality of the death of her family.

  Jack climbed into the wagon. Sonny passed Anne up to him. He put in her bedding and covered her up.

  Beth handed her a canteen and said, “If you need anything let us know. Now get some sleep.”

  Beth climbed down and went with the boys to round up the horses.

  “She hasn’t said a word about her family,” said Jack. Even though they were out of ear shot Jack spoke in a whisper.

  Beth said, “I hope we can avoid it for a day or so. I want her to be stronger. She’s doing great but I don’t want her under any more stress than she is already under.”

  Sonny said, “She is probably in denial or maybe the whole thing was too much of a trauma and she is blocking it all out.

  Poor kid.”

  “Yeah,” said Jack, “we were dumped here and it was like being orphaned but we’re not orphans. We didn’t lose all of our family in a few minutes of slaughter.

  This has to be terrible on her.”

  Beth said, “We do what we can for her. When she finally crashes, we give her all the support that we can.”

  They split up and began collecting the horses.

  Twenty minutes later they were back on the trail, Jack on point and Sonny as the outrider.

  Just as Jack predicted, at about noon they came to where a stream ran into the river that they had been following.

  Jack and Sonny crossed the river and spread out. Both were looking at the ground, looking for sign. Jack dismounted and looked on foot. At times he would knell down on one knee. After a few minutes they came back to the wagon.

  “It looks OK. We couldn’t find anything fresh and what we did find were all leading away, downstream.

  Jack and I think we ought to stay to the trail for about a half mile and then put the wagon in the river and come back to the stream and stay in the stream as long as possible. It won’t cover our tracks completely but it’s better than nothing,” said Sonny.

  They could only go about a quarter mile before the river went over a little waterfall so they entered the river just above the falls and headed up stream. They turned left where the two rivers joined.

  They were able to go about two miles in the water before the river bottom became too rough and uneven for the wagon.

  Beth pulled the wagon onto the bank and hauled the horses to a stop. The boys dismounted and walked over to the wagon.

  She climbed over the seat and sat down next to Anne. She had looked over her shoulder at Anne throughout the day. Sometimes she saw that Anne was awake but most of the time she was asleep. Beth had refrained from talking to her during her waking moments. She just didn’t know what to say to her so she had said nothing.

  When Jack had prepared breakfast, he had fried up four large pieces of bread. Beth pulled them out of the cloth sack where she had stored them and she pulled out a large link of summer sausage. She began cutting up the sausage and passing the bread and pieces of sausage to the boys.

  Anne was awake and watched in silence.

  Beth propped her up and tore Anne’s bread into pieces and placed the bread and pieces of sausage in Anne’s lap. She offered her the canteen for a drink.

  Anne took a long pull off the canteen and handed it back to Beth.

  “How are you feeling?” asked Beth.

  “Sore but better.”

  Anne then began attacking her food.

  They were all munching away in silence when Anne asked “Where are we going?”

  Beth said, “We are going to follow this river upstream for about another two days and then, hopefully we will find a way through the mountains to where this stream runs through a high valley.

  It’s that valley we want to find.”

  Anne nodded her head like this made sense to her. She didn’t ask why they were going to this valley or what was so important about this valley. She just accepted what Beth said. She was too physically and emotionally p
layed out for much small talk.

  After an awkward silence, Beth handed her the canteen again.

  When they finished lunch, Beth said to Sonny and Jack “I want you two to check the horses. See if the harnesses are all right.”

  Jack looked puzzled. Sonny grabbed him by the arm and jerked him toward the front of the wagon.

  Sonny said to a confused Jack, “Beth is going to ask her if she wants to take a leak.”

  Jack looked at Sonny like “So?”

  “This is the nineteenth century you moron. Women don’t say in front of men ‘Hey I gotta take a whiz.’. They hafta wait until they get liberated to do that and that won’t happen until the late twentieth century.”

  Jack said, “You really think that is what’s happening?”

  “Wait a few seconds. Beth will be calling us to help Anne outta the wagon. We’ll carry her to a place where they can have some privacy and then Beth will tell us to leave. You watch and see.”

  Sure enough, the words were no sooner out of Sonny’s mouth when Beth called them to help Anne out of the wagon.

  After Sonny had set Anne down by the stream and Beth had told them to leave, Jack said in amazement “You’re a fuckin’ genius Sonny.”

  Sonny just blew air through his teeth and said, “And you’re a nitwit.”

  Jack shook his head and chuckled.

  In a few minutes, they were heading up stream.

  This valley was much narrower than the one they had just exited. Sometimes the rocks and the mountains rose sharply on both sides of them.

  For the next three hours they traveled through a narrow canyon. Sometimes there was barely enough room between the river and the canyon walls for the wagon. The river was now rushing by them. In the narrow canyon the noise of rushing water was such that they had to shout to be heard.

  Finally, the canyon widened. They decided to stop and camp. Darkness was just an hour away.

  They moved up as high as they could and made camp. Beth and Sonny took care of the horses while Jack made a fire.

  After Beth had Sonny carry Anne for a privacy break, a euphemism Beth had just developed, she had Sonny put Anne by the fire. Beth started the coffee and Jack and Sonny started the stew.

  Jack said to Anne, “When we think it’s safe, we’ll hunt deer and elk. When that happens we’ll have more variety in our meals.”

  For the first time Anne smiled. She said, “I think your cooking is wonderful. It’s better than what we ha…” She stopped and like a flood the tears came.

  “I couldn’t do anything” she sobbed, “and now they’re all dead.” Beth ran to her and sat down next to her. She put her arm around her. Anne turned her head into Beth’s chest and sobbed and sobbed.

  The boys stood there looking and feeling awkward.

  The sobbing went on for what seemed forever. Anne pulled away from Beth’s chest and put her face in her hands. She was making those short jerky sobbing breaths. Her grief was so great that she couldn’t stop.

  Beth pulled her close and said in a soothing voice, “There was nothing you could have done. It wasn’t you fault.”

  Anne looked at her and said, “I know but it hurts so much.” She put her face back on Beth’s chest and cried until her tear ducts ran dry but she continued to sob.

  Beth was in tears and Sonny and Jack were sniffing loudly. The whole situation was so sad and it was hard to see her in this state. They felt impotent. There was nothing they could do to ease her pain.

  Finally, she stopped. She was all cried out.

  After a while she said, “I don’t think I could eat anything but I don’t want to be put back into the wagon. I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Sure,” said Beth, “you stay here. We won’t leave you alone. I’ll sleep in the wagon with you tonight.

  You’re safe with us. we won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  No one was up to eating.

  Jack took the stew off the fire and said, “We’ll have this for breakfast tomorrow.”

  “They rode towards us slowly. We could see them a long way off. There was no place for us to run. Besides they weren’t Indians. They were white men.

  As soon as they were on us, we all could feel that something was wrong. There were twelve of them. One rode up the wagon where I was seated with my mother. My father, two sisters and brother were walking.”

  Anne’s face was expressionless. Her voice was a flat, monotone.

  “The one next to the wagon was a small evil looking man. He smiled at me and called me ‘Pretty little thing.’. It made my skin crawl.

  I was terrified. I’ve never been so scared.

  I could tell that my mother was frightened and that terrified me even more.

  One of them slowly rode out of the bunch to the front of the horses where my father was standing. He was wearing a long black duster, large brimmed black hat and dark glasses. He took the glasses off, folded them very deliberately and reached inside the duster to place the glasses in his shirt pocket.

  He then slowly took his hat off and bowed his head to my mother, like a proper gentleman.

  He was beautiful. He had fine, shoulder length white hair and white eyebrows. His eyes were the pale blue of ice water.

  He was so beautiful. At first, I thought that he was an angel.

  His teeth were a brilliant white, perfect and his smile was sweet and said ‘Be at ease. All is well.’

  And then as slowly and deliberately as he had put his glasses away, he drew his pistol and shot my father in the chest.

  I don’t know if it was me, my mother or my sisters who screamed and the screaming didn’t stop.

  At first I sat rooted to my seat. Then I stood up in the box and reached behind me for the shotgun that was there. As I swung the shotgun around, I saw the evil looking little man. He had the same smile on his face and he had his gun in his hand. I could see a bullet come out of his gun.

  That is the last thing that I remember.”

  Silence, nobody moved or said a word.

  Not knowing what to do, Jack stepped over to the coffee pot and filled his cup.

  Beth rubbed and patted Anne’s back and said, “You poor thing. How horrible for you.

  What you say explains your wounds. The bullet angled up, hit you just beneath the collarbone and exited up and behind the collarbone. You must have fallen out of the wagon and hit your head on the side of the wagon or the wagon’s wheel.

  The horses must have bolted because you were found about fifty yards from the wagon.

  Fortunately, your wounds weren’t serious but they bled a lot and that’s what saved your life. You looked dead. When we found you, you were a mess.”

  Anne knew the answer and was afraid to ask but she had to ask, “Are they… Are they… Are?”

  She couldn’t finish and once again broke down.

  Beth pulled Anne’s head on to her shoulder. She gently patted Anne’s head.

  The boys, not knowing what to do, shifted around from one foot to the other.

  Beth softly answered Anne’s question “Yes, we gave them a proper burial.”

  Anne said, “Why them and not me? Why did this happen to us? Why? I want to be with them. I don’t want to live.”

  “There are no answers” said Beth “and you stop that foolishness. No more talk of dying.

  This is a horrible, horrible business but we are here to help you. We’re your family now.”

  Beth could feel the strength slip out of Anne. This had taken a terrible toll on her.

  Beth said, “You need to rest now.”

  Sonny carried Anne back to the wagon and handed her up to Jack.

  Beth, true to her word, climbed into the wagon and lay down next to Anne.

  The boys went back and sat down by the fire. They could hear the muffled voices of Anne and Beth talking.

  Jack had a handful of pebbles and was throwing them one by one into the fire. His face was grim.

  Sonny was the first to speak. “Do you think w
e will ever find out who did this?”

  Jack thought for a while. “Probably not. We’re headed where no one is.

  If we find gold, we’ll be there until mid-fall. The trail’ll be too cold. Hell for all we know those scum suckers are headed for Texas.”

  Sonny said, “’Small evil looking little man.’ Who does that sound like to you?”

  Jack looked up and paused before he answered. “Curly Bob Randle.”

  “Let’s wait a while and then, when she’s stronger, show her the wanted poster. Who knows? We might get lucky,” said Sonny.

  They stayed up a little longer, killed the fire and then both turned in for the night.

  Jack was convinced that no one was following them. From one vantage point, he could see for miles behind them and through his binoculars saw nobody.

  Nevertheless, neither boy slept well that night.

  Because of the wagon, it took them longer to reach the place where Frank had shown them the entrance to the hidden valley. It was late in the day so they decided to camp where they had stopped. They would go look for the entrance the next day.

  Each day Anne had grown stronger. She was now able to ride on the wagon seat with Beth for short periods of time.

  Being so close to their destination was very exciting. They had told Anne a hokey story of how they had befriended a dying prospector and the dying man had given them a map to a fabulous gold field.

  When she had asked to see the map they had said that they had memorized the map lest it fall into the wrong hands. Anne bought the story hook, line and sinker.

  When they had discussed just how easy it was to fool Anne, the only thing they could figure out was that the people in the nineteenth century were pretty gullible.

  As weak as she was, Anne was as excited as any of them. It gave her something to think about other than the loss of her family.

  They were up before daybreak. They breakfasted and had the horses harnessed just as the sun broke over the mountains.

  They left the river behind them and rode parallel to the mountains on their right. They rode around the bulge in the cliff facing. To their disappointment there was no opening. They were stunned. Frank was always right.

  Beth said, “How could Frank have been so wrong about this?”

  Jack said, “Maybe he wasn’t. Wait here.”