#7: “You tend to your Rat killing and I’ll tend to mine”

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Just because they’d crossed the river didn’t mean they were safe. Never can tell about Indians. Lamar pressed on.

“How you doing back there ma’am’
he yelled back to the woman.

“Just never you mind young man”
the feisty old gal called back.
“You tend to your Rat killing and I’ll tend to mine”

Women! You never knew about Women!

Did her voice waver and crack there for a minute? Lamar couldn’t tell. He didn’t get along all that great with people, much less women. That gal was a feisty one though, even if she was old enough to be his mother. She reminded him a lot of his mother...actually.

Lamar pushed on.

The wagon was nothing to Jeb. Lamar wanted speed and Jeb gave him speed. The wagon had very seldom moved as fast as that big Bull was pulling it. Lamar pressed on through the night and into the next day. He really, really, didn’t want to see those Indians again.

A little after noon they approached a wagon train.

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Lamar found that it suited him better to ride Jeb than it did to ride the wagon seat. That was a mean woman back there. She didn’t like black men either. She also had that pepperbox pistol. He figured ‘out of sight, out of mind’

Thus it was that he rode Jeb, pulling the wagon into the vicinity of the wagon train.

“Hellooooooo the train”
Lamar shouted. He did NOT want to startle anyone. Startled people in these parts tended to shoot first then check to see what it was they’d shot later. He’d had enough of that lately. Just a little bit of that kind of thing went a long ways.

“What the hell?”
said Sgt. Hobbs and First Sgt.Halsey almost in unison.
”who the hell are you?”

Two officers, a Captain and a Lieutenant both turned to look.

“ Captain Lamar Pedernales late of the 10th Cavalry, at your service”
Said the large, grey bearded black man riding the monster buffalo

After everyone calmed down Lamar said to the officer in charge.

“Captain, there’s two women and a baby in that wagon. If you have a doctor they could likely use some help. I rescued them from Indians but they’re scared of me and don’t want me near them.”

“What?...what did you……?.”
huffed the Yankee Captain…

“Can’t you understand plain english?”
said a woman’s voice. They turned to see an older lady carrying a baby approach.
“He is telling you the Gospel truth, I’m ashamed to say. He saved us from being murdered ,and lord knows what else, by bloody savages. I repaid his gallantry with scorn.”

“He’s wrong about one thing though”
“It’s just us two now. The poor baby’s mother died giving birth.”
she sniffed. She looked horribly tired.…. she started to collapse.

Next Episode
#8: The Earth Opened Before Them…
Previous Episode
#6: Jed, the giant buffalo, was in a bad mood…
First Episode
# 1 : In the beginning…

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