The expression on Dobbins’s face turned from anger to one of apprehension. He had just given Butler his best blow and Butler was able to shake it off as if it were no more than a mosquito bite.
“What the hell is going on over there?” Major Waldron asked.
Bellowing like a bull, Butler charged Dobbins. Dobbins turned and ran, chased not only by Butler, but by the laughter of the other men. That was when James saw Revelation Scattergood standing near the wagon.
He wasn’t that surprised to see her, but he was surprised to see what she was wearing. So far on this drive she had worn nothing but men’s trousers and shirts. In addition, she had kept her hair pinned up under her hat.
Now, Revelation was wearing a dress, and not just any dress. She was wearing a dress that flowed with her lithe body, displaying a womanly form that the trousers had managed to hide. In addition, her hair, which James now saw was the color of ripe wheat, fell across her shoulders in soft waves. This was the first time he had ever seen her like this and he had to admit, begrudgingly, that she was an attractive woman.
“I think I see the problem,” James said quietly, his voice reflecting the sense of guilt he felt over being the indirect cause.
Major Waldron also saw Revelation. “What the hell?” he asked in surprise. “Is that a camp follower? Where the hell did she come from? As far as I know there’s not a town within fifty miles of here.”
“She’s with us,” James said. “She’s driving the chuck wagon.”
“Hell’s bells, man, don’t you know better than to bring a good-looking woman like that into a camp full of soldiers?”
“I didn’t realize I was,” James replied.
“What do you mean? Didn’t you just tell me she was driving your chuck wagon?”
“I mean I didn’t know she was good-looking,” James said, looking at Revelation as if he had never seen her before.
In order to prevent any further outbreaks, Major Waldron ordered his men to break camp and prepare to leave. There was a lot of grumbling from the men, and some voiced protests from the Scattergoods, who had intended to turn a fair profit on the whiskey they had remaining.
“I’m sorry if our arrival caused you any trouble,” James apologized.
“It wasn’t that much trouble,” Major Waldron said. “Hell, men been fighting over good-looking women from the beginning of time. You can’t change nature.”
“No, I suppose not. Why don’t you take the other half of the beef we slaughtered?”
“That’s mighty big of you,” Waldron said.
“We can’t keep that much beef without it going bad on us,” James said.
“All right, thanks, I’ll get my quartermaster on it,” Waldron said. He called over a big, red haired captain, gave him the order to see to the half of beef, then came back to talk to James.
“You say you are going up to Dakota?”
“Yes.”
“How are you going?”
“Just head north, I reckon.”
“There’s a trail I’ve heard about, a new trail laid out by a fella named John Bozeman. The Bozeman Trail. You ever heard of it?”
James shook his head. “Can’t say as I have.”
“It’s a shortcut that will save you a lot of time. You might want to try it.”
“I will try it. Thanks for the information,” James said.
Major Waldron stroked his chin for a moment before speaking again. “I ought to warn you, though, the Bozeman Trail goes right through the middle of Sioux Indian territory. And the Sioux aren’t known for their hospitality toward whites, if you get my meanin’.”
“I understand,” James said. “We’ll be careful.”
When the Confederate cavalry pulled out half an hour later, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ran alongside the departing column, holding up whiskey jugs, selling “one last drink” for a dollar, and finding takers. Major Waldron saw what was going on and ordered his men to proceed at the gallop, thus leaving temptation behind.
“You fellas come on back!” Matthew called to the departing soldiers. He held the jug up. “You goin’ to have a long dry spell!” he shouted.
When none of the soldiers answered his call, Matthew took one final drink himself, then corked the jug.
“Well, that was twenty dollars, just as slick as a whistle,” Mark said.
“Wisht we could run into some more soldier-boys,” Luke said.
“We keep on goin’ north, the next soldier-boys we run in to is liable to be Yankees,” John suggested.
“Don’t make no never mind to us,” Matthew said. “They all drink whiskey.”
The others laughed.
James shook his head in disgust. They were driving thousands of dollars’ worth of cows to market, and the Scattergoods were concerned about twenty dollars’ worth of whiskey.
“If Revelation hadn’t got them two boys to fightin’ over her, we could’a made us a lot more,” Mark said.
Mark’s comment about his sister reminded James that he wanted to speak to her, to caution her against any future incidents of the kind she caused with her careless flirtation with the soldiers. He walked back to her wagon.
“Revelation, just what did you mean by causing all that commotion before?” James asked, even before he peeked into the wagon. “Don’t you know that—?” James’s question died on his lips when he looked in, because he caught her changing clothes. The dress she had been wearing was now lying across a sack of flour. She was wearing nothing but a camisole and underdrawers. Her long shapely legs were bare.
“Oh, excuse me!” James said, turning away from the wagon in embarrassment.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” Revelation said, obviously unperturbed by the interruption.
“I’m sorry, Miss Scattergood,” James said. “I didn’t men to intrude like that.”
“Miss Scattergood, is it?” Revelation asked, a moment later. “When did you start calling me Miss Scattergood? You’ve been calling me Revelation for the entire drive.”
“I guess I just never thought of you as a woman before,” James said.
“And now?” Revelation asked, obviously flirting with him. “How do you think of me now?”
James cleared his throat. “I think you could be a troublemaker,” he said. “I would appreciate it if, in the future you, uh . . .” He turned back toward her.
“Yes, Mr. Cason?” Revelation asked. Bending over to pick up her trousers, she presented a generous spill of breasts above her camisole. “If I would what?”
Closing his eyes, James turned away again. “If you would make a less obvious display of your, uh, gender.”
Revelation chuckled, amused by James’s discomfort. “I will do what I can, Mr. Cason,” she said.
Chapter Eleven
The herd crossed into Indian Territory going as far as the Canadian River without encountering any difficulty with the Indians. They saw them often enough, but they were never in groups of more than three or four and they gave no sign of hostility.
But when they made camp on the Canadian, Luke and John sneaked out after everyone else was in bed. The next morning the two Scattergood brothers were brought into camp, in irons, escorted by Indian Police who had arrested them for attempting to sell whiskey.
