Frontier America

by William W. Johnstone

  “Save it for later,” Jamie told him. “Right now, you’d better get under this wagon until the storm passes.”

  “You can’t give me orders—”

  That was all Davidson got out before the rain hit. It was like someone had upended a giant bucket over their heads. The rain poured down, hitting them with staggering force and instantly drenching all the men to the skin. Jamie dropped to his knees and crawled underneath the wagon. Tyler followed him. Jamie didn’t know what happened to Davidson, and at that moment, he didn’t really care.

  Lightning slashed down, thunder shook the earth, and rain mercilessly lashed everything in sight.

  It was like the end of the world.

  CHAPTER 13

  Before morning, the storm moved off, grumbling, to the southeast. Stars appeared again overhead. A three-quarter moon even sailed into view, lighting up the prairie and revealing the men who staggered around looking like half-drowned rats.

  Despite the troopers’ efforts, some of the horses had broken loose during the deluge and vanished. When a soldier reported this to Lieutenant Davidson, who slumped on a wagon tailgate, he wailed, “We’ll have to go back to the fort! We can’t possibly continue without enough horses.”

  Jamie was standing nearby, looking around at the huge pools of shallow, standing water that covered much of the landscape and glimmered in the moonlight. The storm had dumped an incredible amount of rain on the prairie, and in this flat terrain, there was no place for it to run off. It would have to soak in.

  Luckily, it had been a fairly dry season until now, so that might not take a very long time.

  “Those horses won’t have gone far, Lieutenant,” he said. “They probably scattered hell-west and crosswise, as panicky as they were, and that’ll be the hardest part of rounding them up. But we still have plenty of mounts to do that while we’re waiting for the ground to dry up enough for the wagons to move.”

  “I told you, we can’t afford to wait—”

  “Try to drive the wagons in this mess, even if you’re turning around and going back to Fort Kearny, and you won’t make it a hundred yards.”

  Lieutenant Tyler asked, “What’s your suggestion, Mr. MacCallister?”

  That drew a glare from Davidson, but Tyler ignored it. So did Jamie, who said, “The sun will come up in a couple of hours and start drying the mud. While it’s doing that, I’ll take a few men with me and we’ll start looking for the horses that ran off. I don’t know if we’ll find all of them, but we brought extra mounts with us from the fort. My hunch is that we’ll be able to round up enough to keep going.”

  “You can’t just ride off on your own,” snapped Davidson. “I’m in command of this mission.”

  “And I’m telling you what I believe is our best course of action,” Jamie said. “I reckon it’s up to you to decide if you agree, Lieutenant.”

  Davidson frowned and gnawed at his lower lip. Jamie’s plan was sensible, and Davidson had to be smart enough to realize that. The question was whether his pride would allow him to go along with it.

  Finally, Davidson nodded and said, “All right, MacCallister. How many men do you need?”

  “Oh, four ought to do it, I’d say. Lieutenant Tyler and three troopers.”

  “Me?” Tyler said.

  “That’s right. I’ve seen you ride, Lieutenant. I reckon you can handle the job. And you know the men, so you pick the three to come with us.”

  “Well . . .” Tyler looked at Davidson, who wearily flipped a hand in a gesture for him to go ahead. “All right. When do you want to leave?”

  “As soon as it’s light enough for us to see what we’re looking for.”

  With that settled, Jamie was about to go check on his horse, but then Davidson straightened from his beaten-down stance and said, “There’s another matter that needs to be settled.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Once again, you’ve attacked a man under my command, MacCallister.”

  Jamie stared at Davidson for a long couple of seconds, then said, “Who told you that?”

  “It doesn’t matter who. Do you deny it?”

  “I damn sure do!” Jamie burst out. “I was on my way back to camp just before the storm hit when O’Connor jumped me! He tried to bust my head open with an ax handle.”

  “Then you admit that the two of you fought?”

  Jamie waved a hand toward the area of the prairie where the battle had taken place and said, “Hell, the whole camp saw us whaling away at each other. But it was O’Connor who started it.”

  “Sergeant O’Connor has informed me that his encounter with you took him by surprise and that you attacked him.”

  “Well, that’s a lie, and I’ll tell him as much to his face.” Jamie looked around. “Where is he?”

  “Resting in the other wagon, trying to recover from the beating you gave him.” Davidson was much more animated now. He pointed a finger at Jamie as he went on, “You seem to be under the mistaken impression that you are indispensable to this mission, MacCallister! Nothing could be further from the truth. I studied the map in Captain Croxton’s office and even drew a map of my own to bring with us. I can lead us to our destination every bit as well as you can. If you continue fomenting trouble and attacking my men, I’ll have no choice but to remove you from your position as scout and press on without you!”

  Tyler cleared his throat and said, “Lieutenant, I, uh, I’m not so sure—”

  Davidson whirled on him and demanded, “What are you trying to say, Second Lieutenant Tyler? That you disagree with the stance I’ve taken? That you believe it’s your place to give advice to an officer who outranks you?”

  “No, sir,” Tyler responded stiffly.

  Jamie couldn’t contain a snort of disgust. As far as he was concerned, the difference between a first lieutenant and a second lieutenant didn’t amount to a gobbet of spit. But the army put stock in such things, and he couldn’t blame Tyler for answering the way he had.

  Jamie, however, was bound by no such formality. He said, “Any time you want me to leave, Davidson, you just say the word. But whatever happens after that will be completely on your head. You just remember that. As for O’Connor, he started it, and that lightning bolt ended it . . . for now. Tell him he’d better steer clear of me, though. Next time he comes at me, I’m liable to put a stop to it permanently.”

  “How dare you!” Davidson flared. “If you think you can threaten a noncommissioned officer of the United States Army and get away with it—”

  “I’m done here. You go on blustering as long as you want to.” Jamie turned away, adding over his shoulder, “Pick those three troopers and be ready to ride when the sun comes up, Lieutenant Tyler. With any luck, this expedition won’t be stuck here for too long.”

  * * *

  Lieutenant Davidson didn’t continue the argument, but he stood so stiffly as he watched Jamie and the others get ready to leave camp that the fury he felt was visible in every line of his body.

  Jamie saw that but ignored it. He had things to do that were actually important and worthwhile, rather than worrying about what some annoying, stiff-necked little martinet thought of him.

  The clouds were gone and the sky was completely clear as dawn approached. A curtain of golden light formed an arch in the east as Lieutenant Tyler and three troopers approached Jamie, leading their horses.

  Jamie’s mount, steady and cool-headed as always, hadn’t bolted during the storm. Jamie had saddled the big stallion and now snugged the Sharps rifle down in its leather sheath.

  “Are you ready, Mr. MacCallister?” Tyler asked.

  Jamie nodded and said, “I reckon it’s light enough. Did anybody happen to see which way those horses went when they stampeded last night?”

  “From what the men told me, they all took off in different directions.”

  “We’ll make a big circle, then. Might as well head north to start.”

  “I need to tell Lieutenant Davidson that we’re leaving, and t
hen we can go.”

  Jamie nodded toward the wagon where Davidson was standing and said, “I expect he can see that.”

  “I’m going to tell him anyway.”

  “Do what you need to do, son,” Jamie said with a wave of his hand.

  He swung up into the saddle while Tyler went over to speak to Davidson. Davidson spoke sharply to him. Jamie could tell from the way Tyler stiffened that he didn’t like what the other officer was saying to him. But after a moment, Tyler jerked his head in a nod and saluted.

  Arrogantly, Davidson took his time about returning the salute. When he finally did, Tyler turned and came back over to rejoin the detail. He mounted his horse and said to Jamie, “The lieutenant has given me until ten o’clock this morning to return with these troopers. He says that he’s leaving then, and if we’re not back, we’ll be considered deserters.”

  The eyes of all three soldiers widened when they heard that. One of them asked nervously, “He can’t do that, can he, Lieutenant?”

  “Lieutenant Davidson is in command of this expedition, private. He can do whatever he wants.”

  Jamie scratched his jaw and asked, “What did he say about me?”

  Tyler hesitated before answering, “He said you can come back by then or go to hell, whatever you want. He doesn’t care.”

  “Sounds like he and I feel the same way about each other,” Jamie said with a chuckle. He grew more serious as he lifted his reins. “He can give the order to pull out at ten o’clock if he wants to, but it won’t do him any good. The ground won’t be dry enough by then. Those wagons will get stuck as soon they try to move. Then it’ll be even longer before they can get started again.” Jamie shrugged. “We’ll try to be back. If we’re not, don’t worry too much, boys. Davidson can accuse you of desertion, but Captain Croxton isn’t going to believe him. You’ll just have to tell him what really happened.”

  “No offense, sir, but you won’t be facing a court-martial if you’re wrong,” Tyler pointed out.

  Jamie grunted in acknowledgment of that point and turned his horse. He rode north with Tyler beside him and the three dragoons following. The thick mud sucked at their horses’ hooves, so they couldn’t move very fast.

  For the next few hours, as the sun peeked above the horizon and then climbed into the sky, Jamie and his companions rode in large circles around the camp, moving farther out each time. They began spotting the strayed horses fairly early in the search. The animals had gotten over the fright that caused them to bolt and had stopped to graze, as horses will do. The four soldiers were all good riders. They were able to gather up the horses and drive them along in a steadily growing group.

  After a while, Jamie asked Lieutenant Tyler, “Do you know how many of those varmints got away last night?”

  “Fourteen, according to the count we made this morning.”

  “We’ve rounded up eleven of them so far. If we don’t come across the others pretty soon, we’ll head back.”

  Tyler pulled a turnip watch from his pocket and opened it. He sighed and said, “That’s good, because we’re almost out of the time Lieutenant Davidson allotted to us.”

  A few minutes later, one of the dragoons spotted another of the army mounts off to their right. Jamie told him to go get it and bring it back. The trooper did so, and when he had returned, Jamie said, “That’s an even dozen. That’s enough.” He turned his horse back toward the camp. “Come on.”

  The terrain was flat enough that even though they were pretty far out, it didn’t take long for the wagons to come into sight. Jamie saw the men of B Troop moving around. His eyes narrowed as he realized that the mule teams had been hitched to the wagons.

  “Looks like Davidson’s getting ready to leave,” he said.

  “But he can’t be,” Lieutenant Tyler objected. “It’s still at least a quarter-hour until ten o’clock. He told me we had until then. And surely the sentries will spot us pretty soon and let him know we’re on our way in.”

  “Could be he decided he didn’t want to wait that long. I’ve got a hunch he can be a mite impulsive sometimes.”

  Tyler swallowed hard, and that was enough to tell Jamie that his hunch was correct.

  “He’d better not try to say that we deserted,” the young lieutenant muttered.

  “Don’t worry. He’s not going anywhere.”

  The horses’ hooves still frequently sloshed through standing water as the detail rode toward the camp. Jamie knew the ground was too soft and muddy for the wagon wheels. So when he heard whips cracking and the drivers shouting at their teams, he wasn’t surprised to see the vehicles lurch forward for a few yards and then come to abrupt halts.

  Lieutenant Tyler saw the same thing and asked, “Are they stuck?”

  “That’d be my guess,” said Jamie.

  As they came closer, he saw that was exactly what had happened. Both wagons sat there with their wheels sunk deeply in the mud. The sticky stuff wasn’t quite up to the wheel hubs, but it was close.

  Sergeant O’Connor stood next to the lead wagon, which was being driven by Corporal Mackey. O’Connor lashed the teamster with blistering curses. Mackey sat on the driver’s box and took the abuse stolidly, as if he knew what had happened was not his fault but also knew there was nothing he could do to turn aside O’Connor’s wrath.

  O’Connor broke off his tirade as Jamie and his companions approached with the horses they had recovered. The sergeant’s face was purple with rage, and also from the bruises that mottled his features.

  “Look what this damn numbskull of a corporal did, Lieutenant,” O’Connor said as he waved a hand at Mackey’s wagon.

  Tyler didn’t respond to O’Connor’s blaming of Mackey. Instead, with a puzzled frown on his face, he said, “I don’t see Lieutenant Davidson, Sergeant. Where is he?”

  “He took two men and rode on ahead a ways. To scout, he said.” O’Connor sneered at Jamie as he answered Tyler’s question.

  “Then who gave the order to move these wagons?”

  “I did.” O’Connor’s slab-like jaw jutted forward defiantly. “He told me to bring ’em on when they were ready to roll.”

  Tyler glanced over at Jamie and said, “He ignored everything you told him.”

  Jamie shrugged, as if to ask Tyler if he had expected anything different from Davidson.

  “Well, they’re stuck now,” Tyler went on. “You might as well have the teams unhitched again, Sergeant.”

  “I’ll bet we can get ’em loose, sir. If Mackey’ll just whip those damn jugheads, instead of babyin’ ’em—”

  “By God, a twenty-mule team couldn’t pull this wagon loose!” Mackey interrupted, unable to contain his anger and frustration any longer. “Even after the ground dries out some more, we’re gonna have to hitch both teams to one wagon and take off some sideboards to use as leverage to pry ’em out of that mud.”

  “Watch your tongue, trooper!” O’Connor roared. “I’ll have you in the guardhouse when we get back to the fort!”

  The sergeant was about to unleash more curses when Jamie suddenly held up a hand and said, “Be quiet!”

  Something about the big frontiersman’s attitude alarmed Lieutenant Tyler. He said, “What is it, Mr. MacCallister?”

  “Listen,” Jamie said.

  There wasn’t much wind, but there was enough to carry some faint popping sounds to their ears.

  “Is that—” Tyler began as his eyes got big.

  “Gunshots!” Jamie said. He pulled his horse around and sent it galloping to the west, mud flying from the animal’s hooves as it pounded across the wet ground.

  CHAPTER 14

  Jamie had heard the shots well enough to know the direction they came from, so he rode that way as fast as he could, without looking back to see if Tyler or any of the other soldiers were following him. After a few minutes, he began seeing puffs of powdersmoke in the air ahead of him and knew he was headed the right way.

  Spotting movement from the corner of his eye, he glanced over
and saw Lieutenant Hayden Tyler drawing even with him. Tyler leaned far forward in the saddle as he coaxed all the speed he could get out of his mount. Jamie had been right: Tyler was an excellent rider.

  Jamie turned his attention back to the scene in front of him. Lithe, coppery figures on speedy ponies dashed around a small, grassy hummock. The gunshots and powdersmoke came from that little mound. The mounted Indians raced in to fire arrows at the defenders, then pulled back quickly because those forays brought them within rifle range.

  Jamie didn’t see any army horses, but he supposed they had run off after Lieutenant Davidson and the dragoons with him took cover behind the hummock. Either that, or the horses were down, killed by Pawnee arrows.

  That the attackers were Pawnee, Jamie didn’t doubt. They roamed this part of the country more than any other tribe. And as he and Tyler came closer, he was able to make out the distinctive roached headdresses Pawnee warriors usually wore.

  There hadn’t been any Indian trouble in these parts recently, at least as far as Jamie knew, but it wasn’t unusual for young bucks to go out looking for trouble even when most of the tribe was peaceful. The sight of white soldiers riding along had been too much temptation to resist.

  Jamie hauled back on his reins and motioned for Tyler to do likewise. As Jamie’s mount skidded to a halt, he swung a leg over the saddle and dropped to the ground. He pulled the Sharps from its scabbard and turned his horse so he could rest the barrel across the saddle.

  They were still several hundred yards away, and the Pawnee didn’t appear to have noticed them. The warriors realized they were under attack from another direction a moment later, though, when the big Sharps boomed and one of them flung out his arms and toppled off his pony. The heavy-caliber round had blown a fist-sized hole clean through his torso.

  “Good Lord!” exclaimed Tyler. “What a shot!”

  “Better get ready,” Jamie advised as he started reloading the Sharps. “They know we’re here now, and they’ll be coming our way.”

  Tyler hastily dismounted and readied his rifle. The warriors had broken off their attack on the hummock and were already galloping toward Jamie and the lieutenant. Shrill cries of rage came from their throats.