Beyond the Dream Catcher

by Rita Hestand

"This won't take too long, then we'll feel better and we can make it to the station by tomorrow. We'll push on through the day so we can get there. Although, we will need a plan, to outfox Hawks. He isn't the smartest, but he's clever. Captain, whether you believe all I've said, you have to understand that Hawks is a dangerous man and he'd as soon kill us as look at us. Although he is only one man, he is dangerous, as Katherine said. I've come to respect how dangerous since I counted the bodies at the shack. So if you have any ideas on how to capture him, I'd appreciate you sharing them."

  "What do you think he'll do, once he finds out we are alive?" The Captain speculated.

  "He'll try to kill us. We know he killed those boys. He'll have to kill us, if he wants to survive."

  "So we will come up with some kind of plan before we get there."

  "Yes, before we get there," Chase answered. "In fact, as soon as we are close, we can try to watch him and see what he is doing."

  "You are certain he is there. I don't know how you could know that."

  Chase couldn't explain it for the Captain, so he shrugged. "He's been stalking Katherine and her brother there. There is something at the station that he wants. Until he gets it, he won't leave. Unless of course we kill him."

  "If necessary…"

  Chase cooked the meat and took some to Lee then gave him the canteen so he could drink.

  Lee felt a little better after he ate. They all did.

  "Hawks has the girl?" Lee asked Chase after a long silence.

  "Yeah, he has her." Chase replied.

  "You still don't know what he wants with her?" Lee watched him move about the small encampment.

  "No, but I aim to find out. He's been stalking her and Josh since her folks died, and Katherine is scared of him. She didn't say so, but I could tell by the way she acted around him." Chase worried about her, his frown growing as he thought of her. "But it is not that he wants her for himself. It's something else."

  "Yeah, he's not exactly your everyday neighbor, is he? And those Tyler boys rode with him. You'd have thought he'd have a little feeling for them. But to shoot them down like that… They were all just kids." Lee grimaced.

  "Only desperate men do such things. But Katherine knows something, or he thinks she does. He's after her for a different reason. She's alive because he thinks she knows something." Chase decided. "Hawks was her father's friend or business partner or something, and whatever they shared together, he thinks Katherine is in on too. Otherwise he would have killed her. It's the only edge she has."

  "Then you think it's something against the law?" The Captain neared them now, his interest piqued.

  "Stands to reason. But Captain, Katherine knows nothing of it. She's frightened of Hawks."

  "Is Hawks his real name?" The Captain seemed interested in the puzzle. He took his bandana off his neck and dried his face.

  "Don't know, everyone knows him as such, but I never met the man until he showed up at the shack. We— me, Lee, and the girl knew he was following us. We just didn't know why," Chase answered.

  "Is he from around here?" The Captain asked, emptying the sand from his boots.

  Chase thought about what Katherine had said about him, "I don't think so. He's been out here a while, but I don't think he's from here. Katherine and her family moved here from Missouri a few years back. This man, Hawks seems to have known her father back then too. She said he often came to the station to speak with her father, but always in private, and he was never offered to come inside by her mother."

  The Captain turned his head in question.

  Chase smirked, "He had an Indian wife…"

  "So you think Katherine's father and this man Hawks were involved in something?" The Captain sat in front of Lee, resting against a rock.

  "It's the only thing that figures, Captain," Lee remarked resting on the travois but taking the canteen and drinking.

  "If he doesn't want the girl for himself, then greed is the only other answer."

  "Money?" Both men asked at the same time.

  "I don't know what money. I only know there are few reasons strong enough to kill anyone for, and with the white man, that is money, or a woman. Since he's had a chance to take Katherine as his woman, he could have done that after her folks died. So it's gotta be money."

  The Captain nodded. "Did anyone else know about this?"

  "Not that I know of…no," Chase answered, surprised the Captain was acting concerned.

  "Did the girl confide all this in you?" The Captain raised a brow for his answer.

  "Yes…she did. Only she knows nothing of the money." Chase nodded, stretching himself on the ground for much needed rest. "I'm sure of that."

  "Why did she confide in you?"

  Chase looked at the Captain with surprise, "I guess she trusted me. Captain, as much as she hurt your ego or I did with those soldiers, the girl has been in danger ever since I met her. First with those soldiers, then with Indians, then Hawks. She hasn't known a peaceful moment since her folks died. She tried to nurse her folks back to life, she tried very hard, but she had nothing to cure them with. She knew not how to help them. And the fever was too strong and she had no way to save them. Her and her brother took care of them until they died. She's been through hell and is still going through it. I know she is from Missouri, has four more brothers she sent back East. Her and Josh were close to dying themselves, they had been through so much by the time I met her. Hawks has been stalking her since before I came along. And those soldiers wanted to rape her. They didn't make a secret of it, Captain. Men cooped up on a post too long, fighting Indians every day, and women being so scarce in this part of the country. Anyway, I aim to help her Captain, and I don't intend to see her hang or harmed in any way."

  "Do you know the names of the soldiers?" The Captain asked.

  "Yeah, I do. One was called Denver and the other Hogg. And I'll give all that information to you too, if you'll just listen to me. The fort disbanded, Captain, not long after I left. The army had been there a long while and nearly every day attacked by either Renegade Apache or Comanche. The soldiers were all tired and bone weary with not much food rations. They were threadbare and mean. Most of them held a grudge, a rightful grudge against the Indians. I was there, Captain, I saw what happened. The prisoners they took, they abused, though. I guess that was their revenge. The women and children did not deserve what they got. Perhaps the warriors did. They arrested me for killing the Sergeant of Arms. A mean man who deserved to die, Captain. I did kill him. I'd do it again if I had to, because he was beating a very old Indian woman. He beat her to death, and I killed him for it. Had it been a man he beat, maybe I wouldn't. But this was an old woman who wanted nothing more than to go home. And couldn't. That's all. She hadn't murdered anyone, hadn't hurt a soul. And he beat her, every day because she wouldn't keep quiet. One day, he beat her and he wouldn't quit. And finally, she didn't get up any more. I watched till I could watch no longer. I took a gun and shot him dead where he stood. His body fell over the woman he killed. Now an Indian doesn't have much right in this country, even though it was their country first. But that was wrong, Captain. So I killed him. For that they want to hang me."

  The Captain seemed to listen, and consider his words. "Did anyone see it happen?"

  "A few, but they wouldn't side with a half breed."

  "And the soldiers at the station, who killed them?"

  Chase sighed heavily then explained. "The one called Denver shot Mr. Bowlins the stage driver because he was defending Katherine. He tried at least. She picked up his gun and shot one of them dead. The other man approached her and I broke his neck before he could touch her. I put the ropes that bound me around his neck and twisted until he fell dead. They were making crude remarks about taking her, how much fun they would have with her, Captain. It was obvious what they wanted. I couldn't let them do that. She had done nothing to provoke them Captain, she was merely feeding them as any stationmaster would. They also had plans to blame it on me, when they were
done," Chase said as though he were remembering the happening with sick regret.

  The Captain eyed him for a long moment. "There was one with a broke neck, and the other had been shot, that much I know for a fact. I never saw Mr. Bowlins."

  "They buried him next to their folks, out of respect for him." Chase nodded. "Katherine cried when he was dying, saying, 'Please don't die, Mr. Bowlins, please don't leave me.' I could not stand another woman being hurt not after seeing Walking Woman beat to death. It was too much. Men see war and death a lot. It's part of our life. We live with it, sometimes everyday, but women…shouldn't have to. Women are the reason we fight, to keep them safe and away from all the bad things in life. They are our life, Captain, they sustain us. It is our duty to protect them, even if it means dying ourselves."

  Again the Captain stared almost in disbelief. "If what you say is true, I owe you an apology. And I will find out, myself. When we get to the station, we will dig Bowlins up, if he has a soldier's bullet in him, then I will drop the charges on the girl. But I'm afraid I can do little about you."

  Chase eyed him again, this time with more tolerance. "Thank you, Captain."

  "The only charge will be for the Sergeant's death. And…because you risk your life to save this soldier…I will speak up at your trial."

  Chase wrinkled his brow. "That is more than fair, Captain."

  The Captain nodded. "Don't thank me yet, Hawks may kill us all."

  "Katherine told me once not to underestimate him. She was right. He might not have any formal education, but he's clever. I hadn't given a thought to him doing something like this. Have there been any shipments of gold from the forts lately?" Chase asked.

  "Gold?" The Captain speculated. "Why do you ask?"

  "Because money is the root of all evil, and the money has to be what Hawks is after. Either Katherine's father had money, or the two men had gotten money from somewhere."

  Lee nodded. "He's right about that. There have been some movements of gold from the south, but they were by ship."

  "For the south?" Chase questioned.

  "Looks like, headed for Georgia." Lee remarked. "I happened to see a communication on the Colonel's desk a few weeks ago."

  "So they are expecting war…" Chase muttered.

  "I don't think it can be stopped. There's too much dispute over slavery and too much miscommunication between the north and the south," The Captain said, as he drew out a pipe and fingering his own tobacco lit it. "Here in Texas it will be more difficult as we are not in the middle of this fight. Although Jefferson Davis is. That alone could put us in the middle. But this is one state that would be split, I'm sure of that."

  "And will the soldiers leave and take up that fight?" Chas asked.

  "I'm afraid so…a lot of them may end up fighting their own kinfolk in this war. The country is very divided. Even families…"

  "Then that will leave this territory wide open for the Comanche…" Chase stood up and paced as though the thought made him uneasy. "The settlers will have no chance against them. The south will have no chance against the north either."

  "Why do you say that?" Lee asked his allegiance to the south still weighing on his mind obviously. Chase looked at him and smiled.

  "Because it's the truth, the north has a trained army. Texas has no quarrel with the north, only that is it the north and they do not understand them. Likewise, the settlers will have no defense against the Comanche." Chase frowned.

  "There's a lot of good turkey shooters from the south, Chase," Lee offered.

  "It's true Texas has good marksmen. They proved that at the Alamo. I don't doubt anyone from Texas handling themselves correctly. They might not have won that battle, but they gave them what for," Chase agreed.

  In that moment, a truth hit Chase, and he smiled. Despite all the problems ahead of them, despite their heritage, they were all Texans. True Texans. It didn't matter that one was a breed. They stood together on that much.

  "Hey, this snake isn't bad," Lee waved his stick with meat on it at them.

  Everyone laughed breaking the heavy thoughts of war and what lay ahead.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As they pushed on, the weather remained hot and dry. The sky held few clouds, the sparse trees only lined the creek beds. Crickets and frogs warred to make noise. The night sky was like a black blanket with tiny twinkles peeping out. They stopped often to drink. The full moon lit a grayish pathway for them against the hot desert floor. Chase was thankful for the light. He found peace knowing that God still protected the earth.

  The grasshoppers buzzed occasionally, jumping in all directions. Geckos scrambled for the cracks in the rocks. After several hours, Chase began to slow his pace.

  He glanced at the Captain who showed signs of exhaustion.

  "I've been thinking, Captain. When we get close we need to watch Hawks for a while, see what he is up to then figure out how to move in without him seeing us."

  "Do you think he might have help?" The Captain asked.

  "No…he's a loner. He only had those Tyler boys along to disguise his intentions. This man is looking for something," Chase reasoned. "And I have an idea that he's been looking for some time. This could be the only distraction we will have."

  "Maybe he'll be too busy to notice we've arrived," The Captain offered.

  "Maybe, but Lee's not going to be any help, so it's up to you and me, and even though we have better odds, we think twice about killing, he doesn't. So we've got to distract him and then catch him," Chase decided. "But for now, get some rest. With any luck, we'll be there by noon."

  As he closed his eyes, he wondered if he could talk to Katherine without benefit of touching her. Not that he minded touching her, but it was too distracting. He could not help her unless he knew something. Burning Tree surely meant for them to communicate in other ways than what they had. How else could he learn of what was happening?

  He let his mind wander to hers. Yes, this was much better. At least for the present.

  "Katherine, can we talk…" Chase asked in his dream state. As though calling her name would help.

  She came to him though, to his own surprise, her face a mask, almost unreal to him. She said nothing yet. Her silence worried him. Her expression was grim and unwavering.

  "Katherine, I want to help you, but I must know first what Hawks wants…"

  She stood silent, her face not smiling, her hair a tangled mess, her face gaunt. Her hands were blistered and raw. The smell of the burned out station was upon her, she reeked of smoke. Smudges of ash covered her face. He took her hands in his. It seemed impossible to be with her and not touch her. The abuse she had suffered was as internal as out. He could see it, and sense it. Her spirit was touched. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed them then he looked into her eyes. From her eyes he saw many things going on at the station. He saw her constant digging, her crying. How the sun had nearly done her in.

  "Katherine you have suffered much. Let me help you now. Tell me what Hawks wants."

  "You must go away…he will kill you," she whispered as she backed away from him. "You were right. The station is a dead place, and only the dead live there. Go away, hurry…you must go."

  "No, he will not hurt you any longer, Katherine. Hold on, please. Please, concentrate and tell me what he wants!" Chase asked softly trying to entice her to stay in his dream.

  "You are dead…" she said gruffly and began to turn away from him, as a tear slid down her face.

  "No…no, Katherine, I'm alive and I want to help you." Chase pleaded. "I am near now, it won't be long."

  "Then stay alive, do not come here…it's death's door. And…always remember…what we have shared, from what power I know not. You have given me a peace within and something I will carry to the unknown…" There was a sad smile on her lips as she spoke.

  "Katherine…" Chase frowned feeling her sense of depression. "Wait…"

  "You cannot help me any longer, and I thank you for what you have done," she whispe
red and did not turn around again as she walked into what looked like a vision of smoke and clouds.

  Chase opened his eyes. The dream was over and he realized she was in greater danger than ever. His need to get to her was bearing down on him.

  Shadows seemed to yawn against the blood red of sun peeking over the horizon, promising another scorching day, Chase stopped. An owl gave off a last hoot announcing daybreak.

  The dust did not stir today, Chase noticed, yet the air was thick. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and he batted it away like a pesky fly.

  He glanced at the Captain who was catnapping. Chase had to give the man credit, not once had he complained about anything, but kept trudging forward. He checked Lee, he was asleep. He found the Captain's binoculars and checked the horizon. They were still hours from the station. But their energy was lagging and in the shape they were in, they wouldn't be much help at the station.

  Chase felt frantic. He needed to get to the station now.

  He woke the Captain…"Sorry, but Katherine is in immediate danger now, I must go on ahead to help her."

  "How do you know that?" the Captain wailed, his own lack of energy making him grumpy.

  "It is enough that I know. And too complicated to explain. Can you stay here with Lee, take care of him?" Chase asked.

  "You're going to tackle him alone?" The Captain frowned. "Are you crazy, he'll kill you on sight."

  "I don't plan to be a target, Captain. But as I know how to sneak up on people, I can surprise him. Now…will you be alright with Lee?" Chase looked him in the eye.

  "You really think she's in danger?" The Captain watched Chase react.

  "I know she is…and if I don't get to her quickly, it will be too late." Chase gathered together what he thought he might need. "Whatever he's looking for, she doesn't know where it is, and he's getting impatient to find it. Something else is wrong, but I don't know what for sure."

  "We'll be okay, you go on then. If you don't succeed it will be up to me," the Captain nodded with a passionless grin, and saluted him. "Give me a time frame to go by, so I'll know I must try to finish it."