suggestion, and he had grumbled again this morning, just as they started out.
They had been underway for nearly an hour, when Matthew rode over to plead his case once more.
“Look here, Cason, keepin’ Revelation back here with us ain’t no good,” he complained. “I mean, hell, drivin’ cows is hard work. Whenever a man works that hard, he has a right to have him a hot meal ready and waitin’ for him by the time he makes camp. And if’n Revelation don’t go on ahead of us, why, it’ll like as not be an hour, maybe two or three, before we get fed. They ain’t nothin’ right about that.”
“Damn, Matthew, I would think you would have a little more consideration for the danger here,” James said, shocked at Matthew’s total lack of concern about Revelation’s safety. “After all, it’s your own sister we’re talking about.”
“Yeah, well, there’s danger and then there’s danger,” Matthew said. “I’ve know’d Revelation a lot longer than you have, and believe me, I know she can take care of herself. Besides which, how do we know there are a lot of Indians out there. Far as we know, them people you found with arrows stickin’ out of ’em, could’ve been killed by no more’n three or four Indians, out to rob ’em, or something.”
“You could be right,” James said. “Then again, you could be wrong. Take a look up there.”
James pointed to a low-lying ridge of hills about three miles in front of them. Two twisted-rope columns of smoke climbed into the sky.
“What’s that?” Matthew asked.
“Smoke signals,” James replied.
Bob was riding about fifty yards away from where James and Matthew were having their conversation. When he also saw the smoke, he turned and rode back.
“You see the smoke?” he asked.
“I see it,” James said.
“What do you think it means?” Bob asked.
“I figure these folks over here”—James pointed to the smoke on the right—“are inviting the folks over there”—he pointed to the smoke column on the left—“to dinner tonight. And they are plannin’ on serving beef.”
“Our beef?” Bob asked.
James shook his head. “Uh-huh, it looks that way.”
“Well, hell, if that’s all it is, maybe we ought to just give them some cows,” Matthew suggested.
James shook his head. “No, we don’t want to do that.”
“Why not? You was awful damn quick to give them Indians down in the territories some of our cows. And that saloon keeper back at Fort Larned.”
“That was different. We gave the saloon keeper a few cows to pay for the damage we did to his saloon. And down in the territories, you and your brothers violated their law, so we gave them cows in payment of a fine. It was a fair and equitable arrangement. If we were to give these Indians anything now, we would be surrendering to them. They understand weakness, so a few cows wouldn’t be enough. They would want more and more until eventually they would want the entire herd.”
“James’s right,” Bob said. “We can’t give in to them.”
“So, what are we going to do, fight the whole Indian nation?” Matthew asked. “There ain’t but seven of us.”
“There’s eight of us,” James said. “Don’t forget Revelation. You just made a big point of telling me how she could defend herself, and I’ve seen enough of her to believe it.”
“All right, eight of us. But that’s against how many Indians? A thousand?”
“Could be a thousand, I suppose,” James agreed. “Which means we’d better get ready for them.” James put his fingers to his mouth, then gave a loud, piercing whistle. When the whistle got everyone’s attention he made a circular motion over the top of his head, indicating that they should all gather around him.
Leaving the herd temporarily unwatched, everyone rode over to hear what James had to say.
“Bob, you are the best rider and you are well mounted,” James said. “I want you to ride drag. Like as not the Indians will try and hit us from the rear.”
“All right,” Bob answered.
James held up his finger, then wagged it back and forth in admonishment. “But if you see them, don’t try and fight them from back there. What I want you to do, is hightail it on back up here and give us the warning.”
“Right,” Bob said.
“Billy, you’ll be an outrider over on the left. Duke, you take the right. I’ll take point.”
“What about me ’n my brothers?” Matthew asked. “Where do you want us?”
“I want you boys to ride as close to the wagon as you can.”
“I told you, Revelation can look out for herself,” Luke said.
“It’s not just Revelation I’m worried about. All our food is in that wagon. If we lose it, it’s going be a long and hungry trip.”
Matthew stroked his chin for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
“Let’s get moving,” James ordered.
The Indians hit in the middle of the afternoon on the next day. True to James’s prediction, they tried to attack the herd from the rear.
Although Bob had been keeping his eyes open, it was difficult to maintain a constant vigil. As a result his first indication of the presence of Indians, was when an arrow whistled by him, then stuck in the ground a few yards ahead. Twisting in his saddle, he saw a large group of Indians, perhaps as many as twenty, riding toward him.
The Indians released a volley of arrows and Bob watched in morbid fascination as a cloud of missiles climbed high into the sky, then whizzed down toward him. None of the arrows hit him, but some of the cattle bellowed in pain as the arrows stuck themselves in their flanks.
Remembering James’s admonition not to try and fight the Indians but to bring warning, Bob slapped his legs against the sides of his horse, spurring it into a gallop. The horse took off like a cannonball, its hooves drumming into the dirt. James leaned forward, not only to urge greater speed from his horse, but also to present a smaller target to the Indians.
He could hear the animal breathing, feel the horse’s muscles working as he galloped away from the Indians. He saw two more arrows fly by him.
“Indians! Indians!” he shouted.
Ahead of Bob, Duke Faglier was sitting calmly in his saddle, aiming his rifle back toward the Indians who were chasing Bob. Bob saw a flash of light, a puff of smoke, then the rifle’s recoil before he heard the heavy roar of the discharge. He heard the ball whizzing past him and, curious, he turned to look over his shoulder. The head of one of the Indians seemed to burst open like a watermelon as the heavy ball crashed into it. A spray of red made a brief halo about the Indian’s head, then he fell from his horse.
Other rifles roared as well, and Bob saw that the Scattergoods were also firing. From ahead of him, James was riding hard to get back to join the fight.
Bob pulled up when he came alongside James, then he drew his own rifle from its saddle sheath and turned to face the Indians. He fired and had the satisfaction of seeing the Indian he aimed at go down.
James got another one, then Duke, his rifle reloaded, got his second.
The Indians were armed only with bows, and though they had the advantage of shooting arrows more rapidly than the muzzle-loading rifles could be fired, they didn’t have the range.
Although the cattle didn’t stampede, they did break into a run. That had its advantage and disadvantage. The advantage was that it forced the Indians to come to them, and it tended to keep them out of bow and arrow range while keeping them in rifle range. The disadvantage was that the wagon and the Scattergoods were very close to the edge of the herd, and should the herd stampede, the wagon might easily be overturned. That could be disastrous for Revelation. Concerned for her safety, James found himself looking toward the wagon as often as he was looking back at the Indians.
Some of the Indians pulled back from the pursuit and when he looked, James saw that they were gathering around a couple of cows that had been killed. That gave him an idea.
“Bob, Billy, shoot a cow!” James shouted.
“What?”
“Each of you shoot a cow! Duke, you keep doing what you are doing.”
Bob, Billy, and James picked out a target on the outside of the running herd. All three fired at approximately
