The Wide Clear Sky

coincidental.

Chapter 1

Nathan Dale came out of the paymaster’s tent with more money than he had ever received in his young life. The Civil War was over and he was free of the army for the first time in four years.

It had not been easy in the Fighting Sixth and he had made sergeant mainly due to the decimation of their ranks. They had done their best to persuade him to stay on particularly as the Sixth was scheduled to police the plains and he was one of the few that could speak the Shoshone language but he was tired of bloodshed and discipline. He wanted to get as far away from the army as possible.

He walked out into the dusty road carrying his battered backpack and strode into the town to look for work. There was no point in heading home as most of his comrades had done. He did not have a home to go to. His family had been wiped out in a Confederate raid three years back when a cannon ball demolished the shack.

He went into the saloon and paid for a beer. He watched quietly while a rowdy group of ex-soldiers threw dice in a drunken attempt to get rid of their pay in the mistaken belief that they were going to win a lot of money.

Excuse me sir, he turned to the bartender and said. Where am I most likely to find a job in these here parts?

You ain’t gonna find nothin’ around here, sarge. There’s thousands of you men passing through and every one’s looking for anything to earn a buck. The job market done collapsed in on itself. Men are accepting twenty cents a day digging latrines. You’d best get out west. I hear tell that there’s some prime land out there iffen you ain’t scared of no injuns.

Yeah? You happen to know of any wagon trains headed out from hereabouts?

Had one last week but you gonna haveta run to catch up with ‘em.

I’m gonna need a hoss. You gotta livery stable in town?

Now there you might jes’ be in luck, sarge. There’s a dude sittin’ right there in that corner. He done brought in a coupla hunnerd remounts which the army ain’t fixing to buy no more. He’s gonna sell them off to anyone as is willin’ to pay genuine coin for ‘em. You go make him an offer. Tell him I done sent you.

That’s right neighbourly of you, sir, my thanks. Nate drained his beer and walked over to the man.

He was a big man with large horny hands but he was dressed like a drummer from the East with a fancy embroidered vest and black broadcloth tailcoat.

G’day to you, sir, the barkeep sent me over to speak to you. He tells me that you are trying to offload a bunch o’ mustangs and I’m kinda interested.

The drummer looked up at Nate with a bitter smile. Waal you come to the right place, Sarge. My handle is Ben Lassiter. Sit yerself down. How many do you want?

Heck, I jes’ want something to carry me westward, sir. Nate said as he eased into a chair.

Okay, so you gonna need two: one to ride and one to pack yer vittles. I’ll give you the pick of the bunch for twenty bucks each.

Sorry, sir, I ain’t got that kind of cash to throw away on unbroken hosses. Nate stood up and turned to go.

Hold on there, sarge. I see you done been fighting for yer country so I’m prepared to let you make me an offer.

I’ll give you five dollars each, sir. That’s the best I kin do seeing as how my pay is gonna have to last me until I kin find work.

Waal mebbe I kin help you there, Sarge. I’m gonna have to git these critters over to Independence in Missouri where most o’ the wagon trains set up. You round up a few of yer men, say four, and I pay twenty cents a day and all found. When we get there, you keep the hoss and saddle for making like my foreman. That suit you?

It took Nate all of three seconds to accept the offer. He was bound for Independence anyway.

You make sure that those men are good and reliable. I ain’t paying no-account bums to run my hosses ragged.

Yessir, Mister Lassiter, all my men are hoss-wranglers. We kin break ‘em in fer you too. Y’know: add value to ‘em. What happened to yer men as brought the hosses here?

I paid ‘em off. I figgered the army w’d take the hosses offen my hands.

Nate saluted Lassiter from force of habit and turned away smartly. He went outside to find some men from his squadron.

There were a lot of men from the Sixth lounging about. They were probably waiting for someone like him to tell them what to do after years of doing nothing except under orders. Nate did not want any of them. He had some men from his own section that he knew and trusted, all he had to do was find them.

The first man that he found was Billy Perkins. Billy was a farm-boy but he was also the best shot that Nate had ever seen.

Hey Billy, I gotta job for you twenty cents a day and all found.

Twenty cents? Hell, cavalry’s offering fifty cents a day to stay on.

You want to stay on?

Hell no, but there’s gotta be something better out there, Sarge.

Mebbe there is but you ain’t gonna find it in this here town. There’s too many men looking for too little work.

So what’s the job?

We ride herd on a bunch of hosses over to Independence, Missouri where the wagon trains set out. We gotta have a good chance to sign on as Indian fighters for a wagon train and that’ll get us out West, what do you say?

I’m in Sarge. I like hosses and I hear tell that there’s plenty of farmland out West for those as know how to work it.

Good man! You know where I kin find Jed Hawkins and Aaron Simpson?

I done seen Aaron heading for the saloon, Sarge.

I jes’ come from there but I ain’t seen Aaron.

Yeah, that was a while back. I’ll go look for them. Where do I find you when I do?

The boss is a dude called Lassiter, sits in the saloon dressed in tailcoat and fancy vest. Tell him that I sent you iffen you don’t see me there.

Nate walked down the main road to the saloon at the other end and stepped in to see if he could spot his men. The place was packed and most of the crowd was centered around a table in the corner where a high-stake poker game was in progress. Nate could not make out his men from the crowd of identically dressed men viewed from the back so he circled the crowd trying to pick out faces.

To his surprise one of the players seated at the table turned out to be Jed Hawkins. He had a nice stack of chips in front of him and most of the onlookers appeared to be rooting for him seeing as he was the only uniformed man at the table.

Nate knew that Jed would not relish an interruption in the course of the game so he held back and watched the play. The entertainment did not last all that long, Jed had great confidence in the cards he held. He increased the ante and was raised by the frock-coated man with the slender white hands, clearly a professional gambler.

The crowd stirred as the other players threw in one after the other when Jed went ‘all-in’. The corner hushed as Jed saw his opponent’s cards: a straight flush to Jed’s four kings. Jed kicked back his chair in a fury just as Nate pushed his way to Jed’s side. Jed opened his mouth to spit out an accusation at the gambler and that is when Nate hit him hard in the solar plexus.

Jed doubled over and Nate guided him through the crowd and out of the saloon while Jed gasped for breath. Nate sat him down on the boardwalk at the front of the saloon.

What the hell you do that for, sarge? Jed said with tears streaming down his face.

That cardsharp had the drop on you, Jed. You so much as make a move for your pistol he’da shot you dead.

Yeah but he took me for everything I got.

Iffen you’da said what you was gonna, you’d have nothing at all, not even life.

Sarge, it ain’t that I’m not grateful for being bust in the gut by you but we’re outta the cavalry now and I ain’t your responsibility no more.

Yeah? So what are you gonna do now? Go back and sign on again?

Hell no! I’ll find some work and forget all about the army.

Have you asked around about work, Jed?

Sure I have. There ain’t any. That’s why I was trying to build up my stake.

You picked a bad way to do that. Poker in barracks is fine but outside it’s deadly serious and you gotta be better with a gun than you are with the cards.

So what in all tarnation am I gonna do now? I’m dead broke. I’ll have to sign on again.

No, I got one other option for you. I come looking for you ‘cos I gotta herd of hosses to take to Independence in Missouri. It only pays twenty cents a day and all found but it gets us to where the wagon trains gather to head west and I’m planning to sign us on as Indian fighters for a trip out to California. What do you say?

What the hell else kin I say? I got no choice, Sarge, it’s you or back into the cavalry. Let’s go.

I’m also looking for Aaron Simpson, you seen him?

I walked out of the pay office with him but I ain’t seen him since.

Jed, you go back to the other saloon. You should see Billy Perkins there; he’s coming too. Iffen you don’t see him jes’ yet there’s a dude called Lassiter, tailcoat and fancy vest, he’s the boss man. Stay with him until we are all gathered.

Sho’ nuff, Sarge. See you there.

Nate wandered back into the street looking for Aaron. He began to try the side alleys off the main street just in case Aaron had spent too much of his pay on bad whisky.

He saw a bundle of blue cloth lying in the lee of a building and he wandered over to check if it was Aaron.

He turned the man over and found a bloody face covered in welts and bruises. At first he did not recognize the man until he heard him mumble some recognizable words.

Tenawa? He slipped into the Shoshone language. What has happened to you, brother?

The white-eyes: they were drunk. They said that I was a ‘murdering Indian bastard’ and they beat me. There were four of them. I could do nothing.

Nate realized that this could only get worse for Tenawa. It was a long, long way to Shoshone territory and every American on the way would regard Tenawa in much the same light.

Why did you not stay in the army? You were safe there.

Nathan, I miss the wide clear sky of our hunting grounds and you were the only one in the cavalry that was my friend. You speak the tongue of my people but when you resigned from the cavalry there was nothing left for me.

You must come with me, Tenawa. We are going to take a herd of horses to Missouri and then we will ride West toward your hunting ground.

Ah, a herd of horses: I like that Nathan. It is better than walking back home. Let us go now.

You find a water pump and clean up. I will come here to collect you when we are ready to move. Nate was conscious that he could not take Tenawa into the saloon with him else he would end up as badly beaten as the Indian was.

Nathan returned to the first saloon where he found Billy Perkins, Jed Hawkins and Aaron Simpson sitting at table with Lassiter drinking beer.

Hi there Sarge. Lassiter said. Where’s yer fourth man?

He’s waiting outside; can’t bring him into a saloon.

Alcoholic, is he?

No sir, he’s Shoshone.

Lassiter was not upset. Shoshone, eh? I hear tell they’re mighty good with hosses.

This one sure is; knows how to fix ‘em up good for injuries.

Okay, he better be worth the twenty cents a day I’m paying him.

Hell Mister Lassiter sir, said Billy easily, damn near anybody got to be worth twenty cents a day.

Not iffen you seen the clowns that brought my hosses here. Lassiter said without taking offence. I ain’t the one as set twenty cents a day as the going rate hereabouts. I jes’ lost a bundle bringing ‘em all the way here and now I gotta back-trail all the way to Missouri jes’ to recover part o’ my investment.

It’s okay sir, Nate remarked. We ain’t complaining none. We gonna do a good job for you. You got my word on that.

They drained their beers and rose together to follow Lassiter as he led them outside. I’m in the rooms above the saloon. He told them as he led them down a narrow side alley to a well-made corral suitable for maybe fifty horses. One side of the corral had been dismantled and reassembled with raw poles to make the corral large enough to accommodate maybe a hundred horses but there were at least two hundred packed into the ramshackle enclosure.

Hell, how long have they been corralled here, sir? Nate asked in horror.

Two days, Sarge. We jes’ got ‘em here and the army advised us that they ain’t buying any more.

We gotta get these animals outta here where they kin get access to water and grass. Where are the saddles and bridles?

They are army surplus: six sets sitting in my room above the saloon.

You men circulate the hosses so they get access to that water trough. The weaker hosses won’t have had water for those two days. Billy you come with me to get the saddles. Nate then spoke in Shoshone. Tenawa take a horse and find someplace with water and grass. Get back here as quickly as you can.

Lassiter admired Nate’s quick assessment of the situation. I’m sure pleased I got someone as knows what he’s doing. I guess you kinda realized by now that I am a speculator. Trading is my game and I ain’t no hoss-man. I done left it to my last foreman to set up the hosses but as soon as he hit town he collected his pay and dived into a whisky bottle. I done fired him pronto.

Nate did not waste time listening to excuses. He hurried Lassiter up to his room and together with Billy started carrying down the battered old cavalry saddles to the corral. You ain’t got no pots and pans, sir, and where’s the vittles?

Tell me what you need, Sarge. I’ll go get it. Lassiter knew that he would lose even more money if he did not get the horses to Independence as quickly as possible.

Nate gave him a list and left Lassiter to make the purchases.

Two hours later Tenawa returned, riding bare-backed with a bridle constructed Indian-style from a length of raw-hide, having found a suitable spot for their camp. By that time Nate had counted the horses and found that he had two hundred and seven of which twenty showed signs of having been ridden before. Those signs were not good: they showed brutal use of spurs and mouth and tongue sores from badly-fitted bits and rough reining.

Mister Lassiter, we’ll get to the new camp now, sir. You coming with us?

Er, no, I’ll see you in Independence.

In that case, sir, I’m gonna need some cash for emergencies.

Lassiter was not too happy. How much?

A hunnerd dollars, sir. I’ll account for every penny spent and return the balance to you in Independence.

Lassiter ran the numbers through his head: roughly the cost value of less than ten horses to him. Okay. He paid over ten ten-dollar bills. Anything missing comes outa yer pay.

There ain’t gonna be nothing missing, sir. See you in Independence.

Nate was happy to have a free hand in getting the horses to Missouri. He could not see how Lassiter would have helped by being on the drive with them. He watched his boss walk away and thought that at least one horse had been saved the pain and discomfort of carrying that ungainly weight with them.

Chapter 2

They moved the horses that afternoon before dark. The animals were happy to go after two days of standing shoulder to shoulder with only a few bales of hay and virtually no access to water.

The move gave Nate a chance to pick out the likeliest horses in the herd. Most of them had been gelded but there were a few very young stallions and also some mares which Nate assumed were pregnant because running mares with stallions had that effect whether you liked it or not.

While Aaron attended to the supper Nate had the others working on getting the saddlery into usable condition. The dry and brittle leather was heavily coated in grease. The bits were sanded down to remove rust and pitting and weakened spots on the cinches and bridles were reinforced and re-stitched.

All this was done by firelight while Jed Hawkins, who had a fine baritone, sang soothingly to let the horses know that their humans were about.

Following the army custom, Nate put the men on four-hour guard duty to watch over the herd. The horses were hungry and grazed continually so that the night was undisturbed by nervous panics.

On the following morning they set out on the first full day of their drive. The horses responded well after a night of grazing and a good water intake but as they had lost condition from their two days of hell in the corral, Nate did not push them hard.

At night Tenawa sat beside Nate at supper and they spoke in Shoshone about the Shoshone country. Tenawa spoke and understood English but he had been a long time away from home and speaking of it in his home language with someone who shared his love of the Wide Clear Sky country, gave him great comfort.

The others did not understand this. They believed that Indians were savages that could not comprehend such things as love, friendship and nostalgia.

Hey Sarge why do we haveta cart the injun around with us? Ain’t he gonna be better off iffen you jes’ let him wander off back to his own tribe? Aaron asked as they rode together behind the herd.

We’re gonna be very happy that Tenawa is with us once we get on a wagon train, Aaron.

I ain’t sure I wanna go west. I might stay in Independence iffen I like the look of it.

That’s up to you, Aaron, but from what I heard tell too many soldiers are returning to their homes back East. They’re forcing wages down and there ain’t many jobs around. Out west is where the best opportunities are.

There sure enough ain’t no opportunities for the injun. Aaron pointed out.

He is far from home in what he sees as enemy territory. You and me, iffen we broke and hungry, we kin go up to a farmhouse and beg for a bite to eat but he does that and they’ll shoot him dead. He needs to be with us. He fought with us and stood by us now it’s our turn to stand by him.

Aaron smiled and shook his head. He just did not see things the same way as Nate did.

That night Nate ordered that each man should attend to his firearms.

They had all taken weapons off Confederate dead and prisoners. As a sergeant, Nate had been luckier than most. He had obtained a Remington Model 1858 which was a single-action, six-shot, percussion revolver that could be quickly reloaded with a spare cylinder. He had found it on the body of a Confederate colonel. It was his pride and joy even though he was no more than a moderate shot with it.

Billy Perkins on the other hand had taken a customised Springfield rifle with a telescopic sight. He claimed he took it off a Southern general officer’s body but generals do not normally carry rifles and the Springfield was a Union weapon. No one called him a liar because they all knew what confusion occurred on the battlefields when cannon blasted Southern soldiers into Northern lines and vice versa with corpses lying in layers on the field.

Billy was an exceptional shot and with the spyglass sight he could hit targets that no-one could believe. He loved that rifle with a passion that was close to sexual.

The others carried standard cavalry carbines and were competent but not remarkable shots.

In the distance, Nate could hear Jed Hawkins singing to the horses. The horses found the songs very soothing while they cropped the sweet grass around them.

They were idly polishing their weapons when there was a hail from outside of the firelight.

Campfire hello! D’you mind if I approach?

Come ahead. We’re all armed and ready. Nate called back.

A tall man in buckskins stepped into the circle of light. He carried a long rifle slung over his shoulder. Are you cavalry, sergeant? He asked looking at Nate.

No sir, we’ve been disbanded. We’re from the Fighting Sixth.

My name is Cochrane. I’m looking for some dirty cattle rustlers. Folks figure they’re Southerners but could be they ain’t. You ain’t got no cows in that bunch o’ mustangs?

No sir, jes’ hosses heading for Independence, Missouri. Army don’t need ‘em no more.

You selling any of them hosses? We got a shortage here on accounta Confederate raids.

Sure I kin sell you some how many you want? Nate said thinking to do Lassiter a favor.

Depends on the price what’ll you take for four?

"Ain’t my hosses, sir. My boss wants twenty dollars