The next seven days were relatively, and blissfully, uneventful.

After the concerns that had prompted Jim and Arte's late night disappearance had been satisfactorily glossed over, the ladies settled back into some semblance of their previous routines.

Katherine and Gerte were kept busy worrying over Arte's cold and the ever improving knee injury. After about a day of their hovering, sick and tired of being the focus of their attention Arte ratted out Jim, bringing his head and back injuries to light. Both men were soon ordered into the wagons. After half a day of bickering the two found a way to use the rest of their recuperation to their benefit.

By the end of two days Jim owed Arte two bottles of champagne, one steak dinner and $63.89.

Because of space limitations and her boundless energy, Squirt wasn't permitted to ride with the two men in the wagon.

In their place the ladies of the train did their best to occupy her.

The only two "pledged brides" who were also sisters, took a special interest in Squirt.

Lillith and Melanie Speece, who called themselves Lilly and Milly, were not only sisters, but twins. While they were not perfectly identical in appearance, it was easier to tell which was which when they were together, verses apart. Both had been school teachers in the east before they had decided they much preferred the adventurous attractions of the west.

They had traveled with cousins as far as Missouri before they learned of the 'mail-order bride' solution, and signed themselves up. Far more learned than they had at first appeared both girls showed a keen interest in linguistics, and had made multiple overtures toward the young Ute girl in the first week of their travels together. They were almost always rebuffed. But as Squirt was forced to spend less time with Jim and Arte while they recovered, she began to venture into the feminine world surrounding her.

The object that clinched the deal was a drawing pad that one of the twins presented. The day she received it Squirt spent the entire lunch period delightedly scrawling on the pad with charcoal from the fire. Milly sat beside her, occasionally drawing objects or letters, waiting to see if Squirt responded to any of the symbols. A few days later they showed her one of the primer readers they had brought from their school in the East.

In it were short stories with simple words, a section on forming the various letters of the alphabet, and at the end, pages upon pages of color illustrations of various objects along with their English name.

After making certain that there wasn't a single piece of charcoal in sight Lilly sat with Squirt on the tail gate of one of the wagons one morning pointing to each of the pictures, waiting for Squirt to recognize an object. She would then prompt the girl to give her the Ute name, writing her best phonetic translation of it in the book, before saying the English name and encouraging Squirt to repeat it.

By the end of the week Squirt had a new vocabulary of about 30 English words, mostly nouns, and Lillith and Melanie a list of 40 phonetically transcribed Ute words. Both women glowed happily with their newest endeavor, but were careful not to overtax Squirt, who by the end of each day spent the whole of her evenings with West and Gordon.

When she wasn't learning English or teaching Ute, Squirt became the special project of each of the other women. Together they devised a schedule that would allow Squirt to spend several hours with each one of them over the remaining days on the trail.

During the conference that decided this, Iola had declared that Squirt's behavior and apparel were atrocious, 'and not at all becoming of a young woman.'

Winifred had defended the child, declaring that she had been an orphan until James West had 'adopted' her and how else would she be expected to act or dress, but in a way that allowed primarily for her survival in a wild country.

While some of the women tried to insist that Squirt be taught the white way of living and no other, Wini, and surprisingly, Joanna, managed to convince them otherwise; that allowing Squirt to choose what she wanted to learn, instead of forcing her to learn, might encourage her eventually to make major changes on her own.

"Otherwise.." Joanna said, clearly speaking from experience. "She won't learn anything at all."

Thus, when Squirt rode one morning with Gerte in her wagon the two, using the list of Ute-English words that Lilly and Milly had compiled, managed to have a discussion about healing. Gerte was surprised at what Squirt knew about the basics, and even had someone else drive her wagon so that she and Squirt could collect various healing plants and herbs.

Katherine spent the following afternoon teaching Squirt some of the English lyrics to the hymn that had saved her life, learning a Ute lullaby that Squirt remembered the melody to, but not the words, and showing the young girl the art of embroidery.

After stabbing herself three or four times with the needle Squirt showed little interest in the needlework but delighted in running her fingertips over the delicate textures in works Katherine had already completed.


Naomi, a bright girl with a long, swan like neck and small face, who always kept her hair in a tight bun that did nothing to flatter her appearance, was the second youngest of the group, at age 19.

She had grown up in New York City with her mother and older sisters. Her mother, a retired ballet dancer, taught lessons to upper class clients, and Naomi learned the art form with her sisters at their mother's side.

She had hopes of joining a ballet or opera company, her talent natural and graceful, but her unfortunate proportions did nothing to bring her to the attention of the ballet madams.

The arthritis that had ended her mother's dancing career, ended her teaching career as well, forcing Naomi to go to work at the age of 16. As her penmanship and attention to detail were as graceful as her dancing, she quickly attained employment in the home of an elderly man of wealth, who had become ill. During the morning and evening hours, when the gentleman was awake and in good spirits, Naomi would take dictation, escort the gentleman to various business meetings and act as his surrogate in limited situations.

As a result she learned a great deal about business and money-making. The rest of her days were spent keeping the gentleman's house in good order. When the old man passed away a day after Naomi's 19th birthday she found herself suddenly without a home, prospects, or the small amount of decision-making power that she had possessed while working for the rich man.

She had, however, secretly inherited a good deal of money.

Her mother's only help came in the form of strong admonitions that Naomi should forget the past two years and try to find a good husband to marry.

To her mother's surprise, Naomi did just that...by putting her name on the roster as a mail-order bride.

She would never admit to the other women on the train that she had no intention of staying in Utah, or meeting with the man she was supposed to marry, and was content to hide her burgeoning intellect on the dreary trip west.

However the temptation was too great to ignore when it came time to spend a few hours with the willful, bright Ute child.

Naomi spent her four hours teaching the child about numbers, counting and basic arithmetic. With so great a language barrier the process was slow and frustrating for both. For that reason, Naomi was very surprised when Squirt returned to her more than once, with her drawing pad in hand, wanting to learn more.


Opal and Hazel were the two cooks of the train. While all of the women were comfortable enough around the fire pit, and capable of re-heating meals, kneading biscuits, or making coffee, Opal and Hazel showed particular aptitude and flair.

While Hazel preferred baking, Opal exceeded at cooking. Once they had stressed, and even practiced, the importance of washing one's hands before preparing food, Squirt was permitted to assist.

When Jim, on an excursion, shot three rabbits for the night's meal, Opal was quick to skin and gut the game before preparing it in a stew. By her side through the whole process was Squirt, showing no compunction when it came to preparing the animals, but a little too much exuberance with the knife, wherein she accidentally punctured the stomach of one of the rabbits, ruining the meat.

Joanna, whose primary interest was fashion, also showed an aptitude for horticulture and often provided herbs and spices for the meals. These she grew herself in small pots in the driver's box of the wagon she shared.

As the days continued and Squirt's horizons broadened, the list of notes written into the spaces in the back of Lilly's primer grew exponentially.


Paula and Rose had distinguished themselves amongst the group as being the only two to bring with them more books, than clothing or other belongings.

Paula, whose father was an anthropologist and Egyptologist, and Rose, who had been a librarian in Chicago, prior to the great conflagration, had carefully packaged and protected several crates of books from Shakespeare to poetry, history to the sciences, religion to languages and so on. Both, having grown up in Chicago, and signing up together for the trip west, had found little use for family furniture, heirlooms, or dowries, and had agreed together to share the space allotted them in the wagons for that which they valued most.

When they had been warned of the dangers of the trip, and further, of what they might expect to find in Utah Territory, they were more insistent than ever in bringing their treasures with them. Bringing enlightenment to the West, as they put it.

Neither had found the time or the inclination to unearth the books from their places tucked away in the wagons until the great effort to educate Squirt further united their group. Together Paula and Rose exposed the boxes one evening, presenting each one to Squirt and allowing her to pick four of the books that she most wanted to see.

At first their reverence for the tomes, and their persnickety nature ended Squirt's curiosity prematurely.

A few days later Winifred encouraged them to try again suggesting that the women narrow down the options a little.

The first book that Squirt borrowed from the "Mail-Order Bride Wagontrain Community Library" brought restrained smiles from Rosa and Paula, and after they approved of Squirt's choice they quietly marched the girl over to where Artemus Gordon was preparing her bedroll for the night.

Assuming at first that Squirt was in trouble, Arte was instead informed that she had made her first selection of a book, and after Arte gestured her over, Squirt was encouraged to display the title.

Arte read the book cover then laughed, throwing his head back. "A girl after my own heart!" He proclaimed, pulling Squirt tightly into a hug.

Her cheeks glowing bright red, Squirt grinned from ear to ear, and said, "Good, A'art'e?"

"Very good, my dear."

That night he read to her the first chapter of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. His oration was dramatic and exuberant, an effort he made knowing that Squirt would only understand a small portion of the language. Arte easily had an audience of most of the camp by the time he finished. Each night that followed he read more of the book to Squirt's, and everyone else's, delight.


When Sarah, the youngest of the twelve at 18, shared a handful of new games with Squirt, the young girl developed an idea and went to Jim and Arte for help with her plan.

With their urging she took her list of words to Katherine and Joanna along with the tanned pelts of the two rabbits she had helped prepare and managed to convey what she wanted them to do using the materials she had gathered.

Of another evening she worked with Arte to find and design the materials for another aspect of what she hoped to share, spending the following two afternoons constantly hunting down sticks.

With Gerte's help she made paints out of berries, roots and clay, and made her entire crew of cohorts swear to secrecy until her surprise was revealed.

Their final Sunday together they camped near the Duchesne River in Utah Territory. That morning's service was again led by Iola and Wini, however Katherine was invited, then begged,to sing a special song for the group. Her performance received overwhelming praise.

The afternoon meal was lavish, the area around the river rich with native foods and game. With the knowledge that they would be reaching civilization in less than three days their day of rest became a day of celebration.

After the noon meal had been finished and put away Squirt started pulling from the various wagons the equipment that she had been preparing.

With Jim pacing out the field under Squirt's watchful eye Arte set up two 'goals' on either end of a large grassy expanse near the river. Each goal consisted of three sticks bound together at the corners to form a 'U' that was inverted. The sticks were painted with rough symbols and decorated with feathers at each corner.

There were a dozen sticks, some painted with deep blue stripes and symbols, and the others painted with bright red. Each was about 31" long with one end curving in an 'L' shape at a 45 degree angle. The rabbit pelts had each been made into tough, rope filled balls, three and 1/4 inches in diameter with a single seam running down one side of each.

All of the women were encouraged to play but Iola, Wini and Gerte declined. Arte, Jim and Walter agreed to take their places but were told, "Kakawaasethi bak-ern-nahp maw-match" That the game, called Shinny, was a game for women and children. To Squirt's delight Arte immediately curtsied, linked arms with Joanna, and the two pranced around the field tittering.

Once Squirt was able to stop giggling she, through Milly and Lilly, explained the basic rules of the game. The object of Shinny was to use the sticks to get the ball to either team's goal. Each point earned was called a 'game' and the aim was to win as many 'games' as possible before the set time period was ended.

As each game was played Squirt would correct misunderstandings of the rules or display her own clumsy prowess with the stick.

The reason for the name Shinny became quickly apparent. By the end of the first hour set aside for play, only one team had scored, both sides smarting from many wicked but unintentional blows to the shins. It was agreed, however, that both teams still enjoyed the game and another hour was played, finally ending when the losing team managed to score.

The wagon train party spent the next hour to themselves, many of the women hiking their skirts and treating their bruised shins to the cold current of the river.

Arte, still fighting what remained of his cold, took a nap under the breeze blown branches of a line of fir trees. After handing off the guard duties to Walter, Jim found Squirt leaning against Arte's rising and falling chest, staring at the women reclining by the river's edge. As Jim sat down near her, Squirt's tired voice murmured, "Mu.." And she leaned against him, closing her eyes.

When people spoke of Jim West they didn't think of a man of divine fathering skills. They didn't associate a brown-eyed, black-haired six-year-old clinging to his pant leg everywhere he went. No one watched Jim West ride by, straight-backed atop his horse and said, "There goes a fine family man, if ever I've seen one."

Squirt didn't fit into his life. On the contrary, she had uprooted it.

As the little girl settled uninvited into his lap, squirming until she was comfortable before she propped her cheek on his forearm and went to sleep, Jim thought, 'This is exactly how it all began. She grabbed my arm once and it was all over.'

In three or four days it would truly be over.

They hadn't been able to check in with Washington or Colonel Richmond. The men to whom they had to answer would be clamoring for answers; as to their whereabouts, the condition of their property, what their agents had been doing in the middle of nowhere without contact for more than a week and a half.

Jim had no doubt that the explanation he would make Arte come up with would satisfy the curiosity and ire of their superiors. Getting The Wanderer back whole might be a different matter, but that too he could easily forsee ending happily.

But Squirt, Wainanika, the Little Orphan. She was an entirely different matter.


Three days later the wagon train finally rolled into Salt Lake City. After so many days on the deserted trails, weeks and, or months for the 12 brides, spent seeing nothing and no one, the sprawling population of the growing city was breathtaking. Arriving from the southeast the women could easily see the construction being finished on a looming and gothic style cathedral, the flurry of horse-drawn street cars trundling through the streets on gleaming rails. The newly finished rail road leading into Salt Lake City still boasted tent towns full of Chinese workers, and glaring red lamps lit an entire street of the town devoted to the oldest of all professions.

For Arte the town was a breath of fresh air, an invigorating light brightening the very depths of his soul. He had always been, and would always be a city boy. After the ladies were settled in the flats around the train yard, the designated spot where they had been told to rendezvous with their future husbands, Arte headed into the city, promising to return in a few hours.

The agency handling the girl's affairs had given them until the end of August to report that they had reached their destination. With Arte as their representative, carrying the contracts that each had signed, the brusque and un-neighborly agent mumbled his way through the list of names, checking each one off while he grumbled to his secretary around a thick, pungent cigar.

Knowing the women now, far more intimately than before, Arte found the whole process demeaning. But the girls had assured him that from the start they had been fully informed of what they were doing, the risk it posed, and the complete truth behind the matter.

Each one had openly admitted, the night before, that the reason they had signed up in the first place was because they had found no good prospects in their home towns. Whatever they had once found their failings to be didn't matter as much, each proclaimed, but they had signed a contract and at least some of them were still excited about fulfilling it.

"Their husbands will come to get them over the next two days. Depends on how quick we can contact 'em."

"And in the meantime, how do you propose to house these young ladies?" Arte asked.

"Howze? Mister, they got wagons don't they?"

"You intend keeping them in wagons, at the rail yards for another two days!? Do you know what they've gone through to get here? They should be staying in the best hotel in Salt Lake City on your dime, sir!"

The yellow toothed man stared at Arte, squinting against the cigar smoke before he laughed long and hard.

Arte left, wishing he had clarified the housing situation first, before he presented the contracts to the man.

His second stop was to send messages to Washington and Col. Richmond, who had promised to remain in Denver for another month on other matters.

The message to Washington went through and was answered quickly, the president expressing his profound relief that West and Gordon were alive and well. Even more peculiar was the first response from Denver.

"The Wanderer In Your Possession?"

The telegrapher operating the key handed Arte the message and waited, chewing away at a chaw of tobacco. Arte read the message twice before he reached for a pencil and crafted the reply.

"Wanderer left in pieces in Denver 2 wks ago."

The message was sent and Arte waited under the constant gaze of the telegrapher until he stepped away from the box to look at his reflection in a nearby plaque, wondering what made him so peculiar to see.

By the time he stepped back the key was rattling again.

The reply had the telegrapher choking with barely contained laughter, spitting tobacco juice as he handed the message to Arte. "You shore won it, Mister." The man said, giggling away.

Arte sneered, ripped the message from the man's hand and read, "Wanderer Missing, Italians and Chinese seek retribution, look out!"