Chapter 11
June 14 - Enroute to Cascadia
"These posts are your goal when you're running the round. After you hit the ball you start for this post, then the second, third and so on." Tom called, running the lopsided diamond of posts with a loping gate and tapping each one with the end of the bat.
"Now suppose that you hit the ball…" Tom tossed the ball in his other hand gently into the air, swung the bat, and like he was born to it, the ball coasted out into the air, headed directly for Joe Cartwright standing out in the field beyond the posts.
"And Joe Cartwright catches it." Joe got under the ball and caught it.
"It's Joe's job to use the rest of the members of his team to get that ball back to the posts."
Joe tossed the ball to Hoss who lobbed it to Bucky standing next to the third post. Bucky caught the ball, touched it to the pine bough sticking up out of the ground, then tossed it back to Tom.
"That third post has now been stumped. That means that if you're a runner, you want to stop at this second or first post. That third one was no good. If Bucky had stumped the second post and you were already past it, keep on a'runnin'. You're good. Runners have to stay on that line dug into the dirt, and touch each one of them posts or they're out."
Tom slung the bat over his shoulder and scanned the group. "That's the basics. The rest we'll teach as we go along. The honored Adam Cartwright will serve as our Batter's Umpire and he knows his job, so respect his decisions…" Tom called, pointing to Adam who stood 20 feet away from the batting box on a straight line with it.
"And the venerable Daniel Good will be serving as the Bowler's Umpire." Tom swung the bat out toward the outfield to where Dan Good stood by the second post. "Likewise, respect his decisions. Batter up!"
The game began, rocky at first. Handling the bat was a new experience for most of the children old enough to play, and throwing and catching with any kind of finesse was a struggle for others. Yet with Tom bowling for both teams, Joe fielding for both teams and Bucky batting for both teams, they managed to make a competition out of it. Jane, Philippa and Martha proved to be skilled at batting after a while, and when Tom tired of bowling, Miles stepped in, picking up the underarm motion quickly.
Sewell, Hamish and even Harry were excellent batters and could usually judge the time they had to get to a post before it was stumped, well enough to earn at least ½ rounders for their teams.
After Adam had heard one too many comments about old men he stepped up to the batting box and sent the ball straight into the branches of a tree. He jogged happily around the rounders pitch, and went back to umpiring, having proved himself worthy.
They got the ball back only to have Hoss bust the seams with his second try. The girls had made more than one ball, and they produced the spares only after Hoss promised to hit gently or not hit at all.
When the cooks for the evening left the game to start dinner, the remaining adults helped the youngest of the train play a short version of the game. It started with one kid hitting, or trying to hit, the ball, and three children charging happily around the pitch. Hoss, Joe, Adam and Bucky played at bowling and batting for a while, getting used to the new motions.
Dinner was eaten and the young boys, with Bucky, Tom and Dan, all went back to the posts to play another game. Joe was certain he'd saved his eye, and Bucky's wallet and was even more delighted when the regular poker game went straight to bed that night without a mention of the cards.
June 15 - En Route to Cascadia
The posts, bats and balls went with the wagon train and were set up at their next camp. Most of the girls bowed out of the game, but Martha and Jane maintained an interest in playing and they were welcomed onto the teams as desirable players.
Joe joined the game this time with Bucky as Batter's Umpire and Tom as Bowler's Umpire. Adam fielded for both teams and Hoss tried his hand as bowler for both teams. They had an even game going, each team not making more than a half point per inning when Joe heard Bucky try to make a bet on the next runner.
"Oh no no...hold the ball, Hoss." Joe charged across the field. "I said...hold...hold the ball."
"Joe?"
"Bucky...I've had it...up to here I've had it with you and the betting. When are you gonna get it through your head that you're a bad gambler. You're bad at poker, you're worse at 21. If I handed you a pair a dice they'd come up snake eyes...every time. If you tried roulette, the wheel would explode. Luck is not your friend...will never be your friend. You're a great guy. You're a fair ranch hand...the mules love you...the kids love you….the cards and the dice...they don't love you." By the time he stopped Joe had Bucky's lapels up to his ears, and Joe's nose was practically on Bucky's forehead.
Joe rattled Bucky a little. "Understand...because you owe everybody on this wagon train now, Bucky. You owe it to us...to not owe it to us anymore. Don't...no don't shake your head. Just nod. That's it. You understand, now. No more!" Joe slowly let loose of Bucky's shirt and patted out the wrinkles. "Now...now let's just play..this game of rounders. And we'll have dinner...and we won't gamble…"
Bucky shook his head violently.
"Ever again." Joe said, his eyes nearly popping out of his head, his teeth bared like a skull. "Ok...Bucky?"
"Ok, Joe." Bucky said softly.
"Good." Joe straightened Bucky's hat on his head, then patted him on the back. "You're a good fella, Bucky."
"Thanks, Joe."
Joe turned and walked back to his spot.
"Play ball!"
June 20 - Camped at Cascadia
"We're going swimming." The girls announced the morning after they had camped at Cascadia.
"Really?" Adam said, crossing his arms.
"We have a waterfall, a beautiful calm pool, we haven't had a bath amongst us in over a week. We're going swimming."
"And who will be chaperoning?" Adam asked.
"I will." Wendy said, joining the crowd of girls who had towels, soap and spare clothes in hand.
"Will you be taking the little ones with you?" Joe asked, mimicking his brother's school-marmish tone.
"We will bathe them and dress them. One of you may come to escort them back when we've finished." Catherine said, her nose tilted in the air before she whirled on her boot and marched off down the well cut trail that lead to the waterfall.
"Well!" Adam huffed, turning his own nose up and going in the opposite direction.
Hoss and Joe were eventually elected to follow the girls. They put a blanket up over the path close to the shallow entrance of the pool and stood on the other side of the blanket, catching the youngest of the female varmints and drying and dressing them.
They were then passed off to Adam, Harry and Bucky who were charged with brushing and braiding hair.
When Joe and Hoss returned, sans the blanket, Adam gave them a questioning look.
"They're alright. Laughin', and splashin' and talkin' girl things." Hoss said, shaking his head as if the conversations had been spoken entirely in Greek.
"Did they say how long they would be?" Adam asked.
"There's…" Hoss took a moment to count on his fingers, "Nine young ladies on the other side of that blanket, all bathin'. A typical lady takes..maybe an hour to bathe on average. Now you times that hour by nine, then you divide by the number of hands they got-"
Before Hoss could finish each of the men who had been curious before had walked away.
Hoss smirked to himself and went off to tell the mules about his mathematical theories of women.
"You notice how the girls changed when Wendy joined us?" Joe asked, squatting by the fire to fill up his coffee cup.
Adam looked up from the dish he was scrubbing. "Oh, you mean like leaving us to cook and do the dishes while they go off to bathe for hours on end?"
"No...that's normal. I mean..more confident. More...bossy."
Adam let out a laugh, dumped the sand out of the dish then rinsed it and started on another. "I guess Wendy being the oldest gave them a little more confidence. And the females are getting closer to being a majority."
"I don't know...just the way they come up and declared they were going for a bath. They aren't...I guess they aren't scared anymore."
Adam nodded. "The closer we get to Portland, and the more cities and towns we see, the less there will be to frighten them."
"But...the more there will be to be afraid of."
"What do you mean?"
"People...you know..I mean..imagine taking these kids to San Francisco and just turning them loose. That town would eat them up in a minute."
"All of these kids lived in New York for a year, Joe."
Joe shrugged. "Still…"
"Experience is a good teacher. If they get too cocky they'll learn one way or the other. Just like I did. Just like Hoss did. Just like you did."
"I'm worried about 'em." Joe said, eyes watching the head of the path.
"And now you know how Pa feels." Adam said, standing with the cleaned dishes stacked in his hands and walking to the wagon and the crate the dishes traveled in.
He faintly heard Joe mumble, "I'm never havin' kids."
A second later nine girls came screaming down the path, wrapped in blankets and towels, barefoot. Directly behind them were half the boys, soaking wet in their underdrawers, carrying the corpses of snakes. The girls scattered when they reached the wagons, some of them jumping to the wagon beds themselves, while others tried hiding under them. The boys found them out, ruthless in their pursuits.
Hoss watched the melee until he saw two of the youngest nearly get knocked into the fire. He drew in a deep breath and went down the line. "Sewell, Harley, Hamish, Harry, Gaston and Miles! Get over here, right now."
Once the boys were distracted the girls scampered back up the path leaving the boys panting, dripping and just a little bit afraid.
"Drop the snakes." Hoss barked.
Four dead snakes hit the ground.
"Now...you've had your fun. You've had your swim. The stock is spooked out of its mind, and the girls are, too. How do you plan to solve that problem?"
"I'm sorry, sir." Sewell began, jumping when Hoss cut him off.
"I don't want sorries, I want action. Clean up, get dressed and get the stock hitched to the wagons." Hoss barked before he marched past the boys to start putting out the camp fire.
Joe was kneeling beside him a second later, his voice dropping down low. "Hoss, you know who you sounded like just now?"
"I hope I sounded like Pa." Hoss whispered back.
"Enough to scare goose pimples out onto my flesh, look at my arms."
"Never mind that, are they doing what I said?"
"Yeah." Joe said, swallowing. "Wouldn't dare do otherwise."
Hoss sighed and gave his brother the slightest of grins. "I didn't have a prayer that that would work but it sure felt good." When he stood back up again the grin on Hoss' face was gone and the boys scrambled to dress even faster.
"All hail the bull of the wagon train." Joe said quietly, slapping Hoss on the back as he walked away.
June 21 - En Route to Mossville
"Have you thought about what you might do if your Ma isn't there?" Hoss asked, leaning back with a soft groan. He never would have thought that he would find a wagon seat comfortable, but after three days in the saddle, and a bad night sleeping on a root, he was ready for a change.
Wendy had asked if she could ride his horse, and though she was far too skinny for the saddle, she had found a way to ride sideways. Hoss could tell already that she was a talented horsewoman, if a little rusty.
"Find a job. Earn some money. I don't know what we're going to do with the ranch. It's just land right now."
"Adam said you had some wild stock out in the pastures. Get a good hand or two, you could have a herd going in a couple of years."
"But Jamie and I need food and shelter now." She said.
Hoss sat up and gave her a sheepish look. "I know that...that's not...what I mean is...takin' care of your needs right now is a lot easier than you think. Especially when you have a goal in mind."
They were quiet for a few minutes before Hoss said, "If you could have anything in the world...any possible outcome. What would you want?"
"For Jamie to get well. To be whole again. To have Ma back. To have her forgive herself. Have Jamie forgive her. We could live anywhere. Go back to the ranch, go to Portland. I don't really care...just so long as I'm not alone…" Wendy cut herself off and Hoss looked down to see a tear roll across her nose.
"Sorry."
"It's ok...I got so used to surviving...barely keeping the place together, and with Jamie...you don't know what this train has meant for me. You and your brothers and those soldiers. But most of all the kids. Martha and Jane and Catherine." Wendy was still crying but she smiled at Hoss, taking the kerchief that he handed down to her. "I've never had sisters before. For the longest time it was just Jamie and Pa and I. It's like I have a whole town of people now. I don't think I could ever give that up."
"Well...iffen you decide that you and Jamie want to sell the ranch...you'll get plenty of money for it. I'm sure Pa and Adam could help you with the details...or at least hep you find a lawyer."
Wendy smiled up at him, tried to give the kerchief back, then tucked it into the pocket of her skirt when Hoss told her to keep it.
"Hoss...what's going to happen to these kids..when they get to Portland?"
"Ain't they told you that?" He asked, certain he'd seen or heard bits and pieces of their stories in passed conversations.
"Yes, but...what do you know about it?"
"Oh...uh. Well..not much, I'm afraid. I know the company that owns the ship that went down, paid for them kids to come all the way out here. And I know that the parents of them kids secured passage as a kind of indentured servant agreement. And the letter said that we should get the kids to some nunnery in Portland, and then they would go off to meet their new folks."
"Do you know the names of any of these folks?"
"No."
"Are you...going to meet them? See that they're good people, before you turn the kids over?"
"That wasn't part of the plan. Hey...where is all this coming from?" Hoss asked.
Wendy squirmed a little in the saddle, her horse drifting away from the wagon for a hundred feet before she took in a breath and said, "Well I know that I'm at least traveling to someone I know...or knew. She's my ma, I mean. Not a total stranger. I just...can't imagine going all this way only to have to give up all my friends, and live with somebody that a shipping company picked out for me."
"Yeah...I suppose it...would be hard at that." Hoss trailed off. "Any of the...girls..or boys say something to you about all this?"
Wendy flashed him a surprised look that she tried to pass off as pinching her fingers in the reins then quickly said, "No."
"Wendy."
The young girl suddenly found something incredibly interesting in the mane of Hoss's horse and he sighed. "If any of them kids were to mention something to you about being scared of what will happen when we get to Portland...or not bein' sure about the people they're gonna meet, I would want you to tell them to talk to us. That's all. No point in tryin' to figure it out on their own...cause they ain't alone. They got us."
Wendy fell quiet and Hoss let her, thinking about the new conversation that had be had with the other adults in the train.
When they reached Mossville they camped just outside the town and Joe and Hoss rode in to see if there was a working telegraph. There was a general store and a post office, a small livery and a barbershop. At the end of the tiny main street there was a sign pointing west. The sign said Buckhead .5 miles.
Joe and Hoss stepped into the general store, scanning the wares. The proprietor stepped out of the store room in the back already calling a greeting to a Mr. Snake with Two Tails, but he froze when he saw Joe and Hoss.
"Huh...you must be with the wagon train."
Joe and Hoss exchanged glances before Joe said, "How'd you know that?"
"Two Tails' son Jimmy Red Hawk come in and told me his aunt Silver Head saw your wagons headed this way."
"Two Tail's son Jimmy Red Hawk's aunt saw us...why didn't you just say it was Two Tail's sister?" Hoss asked.
"Silver Head ain't Two Tail's sister." The man said.
"Oh."
"Hey...that sign out there. Buckhead, half a mile. Is that a different town or something?"
"Sure 'nuff."
"Wha- but you're hardly a hair's breadth apart, why?"
"You see Mossville is a dry town. Teetotal. Buckhead has a saloon."
"Buckhead has...has a saloon and Mossville..so you're separated." Joe said pointing west, then pointing east, then drawing out the distance in the middle with his hands.
"Sure." The man said. "Wanna buy something?"
"Uh...not at the moment. We come in to see if there was any mail for the train. We gotta go back out and tell them that there isn't and then maybe we'll...come back." Joe said, growing uncomfortable under the man's constant stare and half smile.
"Is the post office in Mossville the only post office in these parts?" Hoss asked.
"Yes sir."
"Ok. Thank you."
"But we got a branch office in Buckhead."
"Wa-um. You say you have a post office here...in Mossville. But a branch office...just down the road in Buckhead."
"Yep."
"And no telegraph in town?"
"No, the telegraph office is over in Buckhead."
"But no branch office here in Mossville?" Joe asked.
"That'd be silly. We can just walk over and use the one in Buckhead."
"Wait a minute-"
"Come on, Joe, we best be gettin' back. Nice to meet you, Mister."
Before they left town Joe wrote a letter. On the envelope he made sure he got a stamp from Mossville, then he mailed it from Buckhead. The end of the letter read,
"If you're confused about where this letter came from you're going to have to talk to Silver Head's nephew's father's friend the general store manager of Mossville.
Signed
Ben's son's brother's brother, Joe."