Shameless

by Rosanne Bittner

  Nina covered her mouth, unable to hide her own amusement at the sight. The lieutenant was shouting both at the strange men in robes and turbans and at his own men, trying to calm things, while still more camels were led out of the ship.

  Corporal Mills got up to dust himself off, his face as red as a tomato.

  “What do you mean, you don’t know anything about camels?” she heard the lieutenant saying to one of the robed men. “What the hell are you doing here if you can’t handle camels?” His eyes darted to the other strange-looking foreigner. “Tell them to hold up back there! Don’t bring them all out yet!”

  The man just nodded and smiled with a friendly look, obviously having no idea what the lieutenant had just told him.

  “I do not know why they sent me,” the man standing closest to the lieutenant said. “They say come to America, they will pay me. They say I take care of the camels, I say okay, if I can come to America. They did not tell me exactly what I must do. I know some little bit, though.”

  “Well, even a little bit is a hell of a lot more than I know!” Clay answered.

  “Sir, I’m sorry,” the corporal said, brushing himself off. “It’s the camel, sir. It scared my horse.”

  “Go and find it!” Clay barked. The crowd was growing bigger. Even black slaves put down their loads to stare, even though they knew they might be punished for being lazy. Dogs began barking, some running up to the camels and snarling at them, upsetting the horses at the same time. The entire scene was soon chaos, and Nina realized that poor Lieutenant Youngblood was caught in the middle. The corporal ran after his horse, while the owner of the chickens began trying to round them up.

  “Somebody went and paid city Arabs to help with the camels,” the lieutenant was telling another of his men. “They apparently know little more about these beasts than we do! Get the men together, Schmidt, and see if you can keep some order here. And get these camels to the holding pen! I can just imagine how Johnson’s mules are going to react to these creatures.”

  “Yes, sir!” The one called Schmidt and the rest of the men managed to keep their horses reasonably calm while they each rode along beside two or three camels. Nina watched them ride by, her eyes wide with wonder, laughter boiling up in her soul. She had not been this amused or felt this light-hearted in months. It was obvious from the lieutenant’s red face that he was not happy with this duty, that he was probably very embarrassed. He looked like a rugged, hard-fighting man. What was he doing here in charge of these silly-looking animals? She enjoyed watching him and the other uniformed gringos being humiliated in front of the amused crowd. A person couldn’t ask for better entertainment if he paid for it.

  “It is crazy, some of the things the gringos think of to do,” an old Mexican man standing nearby said.

  “Sí,” replied another. “Who but the stupid gringos would think to try to use such big, ugly, clumsy animals? Do you think they intend to use them instead of horses?”

  “Can you see one loping across the desert after the Apache?” the first man said, and both of them broke into ribald laughter.

  “If they had used these camels in the war with Mexico,” the second man said when he caught his breath, “we would have beaten them easily, no?”

  The two men followed along beside the camels, enjoying the ruckus that rose all along the route to the holding pens. Nina was all but mesmerized by the sight. She found herself also following, partly because of the camels and partly because she was not about to give up on the lieutenant. Perhaps amid all this confusion, she could badger him enough to get him to look at the horses just to get rid of her. She was so lost in her surroundings that she did not notice that she was herself being watched, by Jess Humes.

  Youngblood came near, arguing with yet a third man wearing a robe and turban. She wondered what land these dark-skinned, bearded men and the strange beasts they had brought with them were from. She realized that there was a whole big world out there beyond the Gulf that she knew nothing about, and she felt both ignorant and insignificant, her young mind whirling with questions.

  She watched the lieutenant pointing at something on some forms he was showing the man in the turban. He seemed very upset. She followed along as the lieutenant’s men managed to help herd the camels into a pen with very high walls. Someone in the crowd claimed the men in turbans were called Arabs. Horses, mules, and cattle continued to whinny and bray and kick and bellow at the sight of the camels, and Nina thought it one of the most exciting days she had ever experienced. One man’s horse reared, stepping back on its hind legs right into a little ditch in the street. It stumbled, its front legs coming down on a wagon tongue, landing awkwardly. The horse whinnied with pain and went down.

  Various people in the crowd shouted obscenities at the lieutenant for causing such commotion and damage, the owner of the downed horse inspecting the animal. “His leg’s broke!” the man exclaimed. Lieutenant Youngblood left the Arab with whom he had been arguing and hurried over to where the horse lay, helping its owner inspect the animal, which was lathered and breathing heavily. He agreed with the owner that the animal’s leg was broken and stood up, removing his hat to reveal thick, sandy, sun-streaked hair. He ran a hand through it as though exasperated.

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to shoot it, mister. I’m sorry,” he told the horse’s owner.

  “Sorry! By God, the Army will pay for this!” the man fumed. “This is one of my best horses!”

  “You’re right. You will be reimbursed,” the lieutenant assured him.

  “When? Six months from now? I can’t go that long without a horse, and I don’t have the money right now to buy another.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. My men and I are camped just outside of town. We’ll be here until morning, then we’ll be heading for Camp Verde with the camels. Check with me later this evening and we’ll see if we can come up with something.”

  “You’ll come up with something, all right, or you won’t be leaving here at all,” the man threatened.

  Nina watched the lieutenant put his hat back on as he eyed the man closely. It was obvious the threat meant nothing to him. “Look, mister, I have orders. I leave tomorrow morning, and nothing is going to stop me. I have a lot more to worry about than one dead horse. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. I can’t do anything without authorization.”

  He turned away, but the man grabbed his arm, cursing him as he took a swing at him. The lieutenant blocked the punch, landing a crisp blow square against the side of the man’s head and sending him sprawling. A few people laughed; others held up their fists. “I said to come to my camp tonight and we’ll settle up,” the lieutenant told the man. He walked back to the Arab, and they, both closed and locked the gate to the camel pen.

  “I want this gate guarded well all night, Schmidt,” Lieutenant Youngblood commanded. “Take turns with the other men and make sure no one falls asleep at his post. I wouldn’t put it past some of these people to try to come and let the camels out just to cause another circus.”

  “Ya, sir. I vill see to it,” the soldier answered with an accent Nina had never heard before.

  The lieutenant turned away, flexing the fingers of the fist he had used to punch the civilian. Nina found herself feeling sorry for him. He looked suddenly despondent and very tired. Now, she thought, was a good time to approach him, catch him off guard and take advantage of the confusion. He raised his eyes, catching her staring at him, and she felt suddenly flushed and nervous.

  “You still here?” he asked.

  She suddenly felt too hot for the temperate day. “Sí. You…you will come and look at the horses?”

  He let out a little sigh of exasperation. “Can’t you see how busy I am? I told you before that I can’t look at any horses.” Clay scowled at her, then felt instantly sorry when he saw the hurt look in her eyes. He knew how some of these Mexicans could use those dark eyes, especially the young ones. Was she putting on an act, or was she truly hurt and embarrassed? She ste
pped closer, then jumped slightly when a shot was fired signaling that the injured horse had been put out of its misery.

  For a moment Nina’s and Clay’s eyes held, both of them experiencing sensations they could not name, feeling the eerie premonition that there was something more to what was happening today than the arrival of the strange camels.

  “You might need the horses, señor,” she said. She held her chin proudly then, obviously trying to hide the hurt, replacing it with a cocky boldness. “Already your mission has caused the death of one man’s horse. He is very angry, and you will have to do something to make up for what has happened. Come and see our horses. If you agree they are fine animals, you could offer to let the man take any one of his choosing, for free. My brother and I, we will not charge you for it, if you agree to buy the rest of them. Is that not a good deal? And you would be showing the others how generous and fair the Army can be.”

  A slight grin spread across his lips, and she thought him even more handsome when he smiled. “You think so, do you?”

  “Sí, Señor Lieutenant.”

  He shook his head. “All right. I’ll come and look at them, but only because I think you might be right. We want to keep civilians happy. Besides, you have such a pretty smile I can’t resist your pleadings.”

  Nina grinned at the words, her emotions mixed. Ordinarily she used her beauty only to help her and Emilio get what they wanted but had never felt pleasure at having a man notice her. For the first time she enjoyed a man’s attention, and it both frightened and surprised her. “Follow me,” she told him, turning away and losing her smile, angry with herself.

  The lieutenant told one of his men he would be right back, and Nina felt him behind her then as she led him several yards away. She told herself the gringo was probably watching her the way all men watched her, with the same ugly hunger in their eyes that she had seen in the men who had attacked her mother. She was relieved to spot Emilio and hurried to his side.

  “Emilio!” She put on a smile again before turning to the lieutenant. “This is Lieutenant Youngblood. This is my brother, Señor Lieutenant, Emilio Juarez.” She looked at Emilio. “I have agreed to let the lieutenant have one of the horses for free if he buys the rest of them.”

  Emilio frowned. “Why?”

  “I will explain after he examines them, and then you must come with me to see something very odd.”

  “What was all the screaming and shooting about over there?”

  Nina laughed. “Wait until I tell you! I have had such a good time. The gringos do such strange things.” They both climbed up on the fence, and Nina told Emilio about the camels while Clay inspected the horses, his embarrassment and anger again rising at Nina’s laughter. He rubbed at his sore hand as he moved among the horses. He noticed several different brands on some of the herd, mixed in with unbranded mustangs.

  “How many are here?” he called out to Emilio, interrupting Nina’s story.

  “Veinte, señor,” Emilio answered.

  “Twenty,” Clay muttered. He watched Emilio, who looked a little nervous. He looked the horses over more closely. They all appeared to be healthy and well tended. “The mustangs are worth less than the saddle horses,” he said in a louder voice. “They’ll have to be broken.”

  “Sí, señor. I can break them for you if you wish. I am very good with horses.”

  Clay studied the pair. They seemed very young to be in the business of ranching and horse trading, and they seemed awfully anxious to get rid of the animals. “You got ownership papers?” he asked.

  He caught a sudden worried look in the young woman’s eyes, realizing he didn’t even know her first name. “No, señor,” Emilio answered. “My sister and I, we are on our own. We have just a small ranch, and we do not know about reading and writing and such things. We just raise horses, round up mustangs and strays. But I will be glad to sign papers for you once you buy them if you wish, saying that you are the owner. I can write my name.”

  Clay adjusted his hat. “How do I know they aren’t stolen?”

  Emilio’s smile faded. “I…I cannot prove it, señor. You will have to take my word that they are not. Do we look like horse thieves?”

  Clay studied them closely. No, they certainly didn’t look like thieves, but he had seen innocent-looking Indian children as young as ten steal horses. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t buy horses for the Army without papers proving they’re yours free and clear. I could make an exception, though. Why don’t you let me check out some of these brands with the local sheriff, find out if there have been any reportings of stolen horses that might match the brand. I’m not accusing you of anything. It’s just a precaution—an Army regulation.”

  Emilio swallowed. “Sí, señor.”

  Clay looked at the young man’s sister, hardly able to get enough of the sight of her beauty. “I never caught your name, señorita.”

  She glanced at Emilio, looking shaken, then moved her dark eyes back to Clay, putting on that look of confidence again. “Nina,” she answered.

  “Nina. That’s a pretty name. You two wait right here, and I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Can you wait that long?”

  Emilio took a deep breath. “Sí, señor, we will wait.”

  Clay tipped his hat and left the corral. Nina looked at Emilio. “Now what do we do?” she asked him. “In some places the law has heard of us. Perhaps the sheriff here has heard of two Mexican horse thieves who are brother and sister. We could be caught, Emilio!”

  Emilio jumped down from the fence. “We will take our chances. He is thinking of taking them, and we need the money.”

  “It is not worth getting caught!”

  “The sheriff here will not know about us. We cannot afford to lose two times in a row, Nina.”

  “In Texas they hang horse thieves!”

  “Then why did you bring an Army man!”

  “You are the one who told me we could sell to the Army. And I did not think he would go and check with a sheriff first! He was so busy with those stupid camels and he needed to give a horse to that man who lost his. I thought it would be easy.”

  She noticed Emilio’s eyes widen. He suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a small hay shed at the corner of the corral. “Emilio, what is wrong?” she gasped. He turned her so that both of them were looking through a crack at five men who were riding slowly along the docks, one of them wearing a bloody bandage on his left thigh, another with a bandana tied around his arm. Their leader wore a patch over his right eye. Nina drew in her breath. “Jess Humes!” she groaned.

  “I know I saw her,” Humes was saying. “Keep searching. They’re here somewhere. Look for that black gelding the girl rides.” They rode past, looking straight ahead, not noticing their own horses in the corral with the mustangs. Nina’s gelding stood saddled just behind the shed where they were hiding, out of sight of the riders.

  “We have to get out of here, Emilio!” Nina gasped. “Right now!”

  “But…the horses…”

  “You know what will happen to me if they find us! We cannot sit here like deer in an open field! This is not such a big town. They will keep riding past here until they spot us. You heard Humes. He has already seen me!”

  “How did they manage to follow us and get here so quickly?”

  “It does not matter. We have to go, Emilio!”

  He gritted his teeth in anger and disgust. “Damn them!” he muttered. “Perhaps we should face them down right here. They cannot do anything to us in public.”

  “They would just wait until they can catch us alone. Even so, if we face them down in public, everyone will know that we are horse thieves, too! We are in a lot of trouble either way.”

  Emilio slammed a fist into the side of the shed. “Why isn’t anything going right anymore?” He caught the hurt and fear in her eyes and softened, giving her a quick hug. “Come on. Our gear is still on our horses. We will leave right away—ride in the opposite direction they have gone. Perhaps they will spend th
e rest of the day searching here for us. It will give us a good head start.”

  “Maybe they will find their horses and be satisfied,” she told him. “Let’s go back to Mexico, Emilio. I feel safer there.”

  He sighed deeply, moving carefully out of the shed and looking around. “Ándale!” They both hurriedly mounted up, guiding their horses through the others in the corral and letting themselves out of the gate. They moved through the crowd and into the street, where they whipped their horses into a hard run, heading out of town in the opposite direction of Humes and his men. Nina’s horse nearly ran down a young child who darted into the street. She managed to veer away from the child, but its mother screamed, drawing attention to her and Emilio.

  Farther up the street Humes turned at the cry, catching sight of a black gelding heading at a hard gallop in the opposite direction. “It’s them!” he shouted to the others. “Let’s go!”

  At the sheriff’s office Clay also heard the scream. He turned to see Nina and Emilio riding hard, Nina’s long dark hair flying out behind her, her hat hanging around her neck. “What the—” He stepped into the street. “Hey!” he called after them. “Where the hell are you going?” They didn’t slow down. He scowled, totally bewildered. “How do you like that?” he grumbled, wondering if they had indeed stolen the horses after all. He didn’t want to believe that, especially not of the beautiful young woman who still had the look of an innocent girl to her.