The Far Side of Lonesome

The Far Side of Lonesome

By Rita Hestand

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2009 Rita Hestand

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter One

Summer 1870

Indian Territory

Jeb saw her out of the corner of his
eyes, but the Chief was sitting just across from him, and he
couldn't just gawk at her, a white woman in an Indian camp didn't
surprise him, it just caught him off guard. He'd learned long ago a
lot of things just weren't his business. The woman glanced his way,
but she was shaking her head and arguing about something. The woman
was with a group of squaws and there was much commotion among them.
He got a brief glimpse of light brown hair, flowing over long
limbs, buckskin and a conversation that stirred.

Chief Long Feather had listened to
their woeful tale this morning of needing to trade horses as theirs
were in such bad shape. A horse was a prize to an Indian and to
trade for one was unheard of. However, Jeb and Hoot had been
dealing with this Chief for several years now and never had a bit
of trouble. Most of the time things went smoothly.

Jeb thought about the woman for a
minute. Dressed like an Indian she must have been here a while, and
yet this was the first visit he'd seen her. He wondered at that.
Shawnee rarely raided any longer, so what was she doing here in
this camp. He needed to trade for horses, and not put his nose
where it didn't belong, he told himself silently. But his curiosity
kept him eyeing the squaws.

"We better get our tradin' done and get
out of here, Jeb," Hoot glanced at him, with a sobering
expression.

Jeb saw the haunting in Hoot's eyes and
knew he was spooked about something. They'd been partners before
they even grew up. Hoot usually had a feeling about things like
that too, Jeb conceded but they needed new horses, theirs had
traveled over a long trip and were road weary. They couldn't go on
with them and they darn sure didn't want to sit in the middle of an
Indian village for the winter. He supposed they could walk the
horses but that would mean new boots and no one to trade with for
that.

The old chief smiled at him and Hoot
jumped. Jeb knew that Hoot was spooked but what he didn't
understand was why?

It was a hot day, the wind barely
moved, the camp sat among a few scattered pines along the trail and
shaded most of the morning.

Jeb crossed his legs and sat like the
old chief, staring him down for long moments. "We gonna do our
tradin' then we'll get. Our horses won't hold up to get us back to
Texas…you know it as well as I do. There's bound to be somethin' we
can do for them or give them that would be a good trade. Our
blankets, our knives, something."

"I jest have this feelin', Jeb." Hoot
explained trying to calm his nerves down but unable to.

Suddenly the chief looked at Jeb, his
wrinkled old face turning into a smile."We trade, we give horses,
but you must take ich-que back with you."

Jeb had no idea what the old man was
talking about but as long as he got the horses, he saw no reason
not to trade. "Sure we take ich-que back…"

"What's a ich-que?" Hoot
asked.

"Don't matter, we'll take it, so's we
can get out of here and have fresh horses." Jeb smiled at the old
chief. "No use arguing."

"Jeb…maybe you better find out what it
is, first…" Hoot frowned at his long time friend.

"It don't matter I told you, we got to
have fresh horses." Jeb said firmly.

After smoking the pipe with the chief
Jeb started to get up. That's when it happened.

The squaws brought her out and
practically shoved her in his face, the white woman he'd seen in
their camp.

Jeb staggered, holding the woman up and
then looking into her face. She was lean, and long limbed, and her
hair was braided like theirs now, but her hair was such a light
color of brown, and her eyes blue, like the sky. She looked into
Jeb's face and frowned.

Depending on how long she'd been here
how white she was, Jeb quickly realized.

Not understanding what the commotion
was about he turned to the chief in question.

"ich-que…" the chief
repeated.

Jeb's eyes grew big and rounded on the
woman like daggers. "Oh…naw…now we cain't be takin' no white woman
with us…."

Chief walked away, as though he didn't
hear him.

"But…we cain't." Jeb hollered. The
chief kept on walking and soon entered his tent, as though the
matter were closed. "You don't understand…."

Hoot looked from the woman to Jeb as
though Jeb had lost his mind. "He wants to give us the
woman?"

"Well…we cain't take her…." Jeb shook
his head. Then realizing she spoke English he turned on the white
lady. "Beggin' your pardon ma'am, but we cain't be takin' you
nowhere….You see how it is. You got to see. It would just be
tradin' one problem for another…that's all. It's not that I don't
want to help, but…."

The woman said nothing, just stared at
him, then hung her head.

Jeb saw the look of defeat in her eyes
and hated himself for turning her down, but he had to make someone
understand….a Negro man couldn't take a white woman back to her
family. It was unheard of. Didn't the old Indian understand the
danger?

"I told you somethin' was gonna
happen….I told you!" Hoot shouted.

Jeb stood there, and suddenly
realized….they'd just given him a white woman!

Just a little past Doan
Crossing, Texas

“Jeb, I didn’t want to bring this up,
but you know we got a problem.” Hoot said in a low voice so as not
to be overheard. "And somethin's got to be done…before we get to a
town…"

“I know….I just ain’t sure what we
should do about it…” Jeb replied, trying his best not to look over
his shoulder at the woman and baby behind them. The baby was
another surprise. He cringed at the thought that he'd let this
happen. He couldn't blame Hoot. Hoot tried to warn him, why hadn't
he listened?

He shot her a look, sweat trickled down
the side of her face, but she didn’t acknowledge it, and she hadn’t
once complained of riding all day. He reckoned she'd suffered much
worse with the Indians.

“We best be figurin’ something’ out,
don’t you think?” Hoot frowned at his friend.

“I’m workin’ on it. We’ll talk to her
about it when we camp tonight. It’s a couple days ride ‘till we get
to a decent size town anyway. We can’t just dump her in the middle
of nowhere…” Jeb rasped.

“Agreed, that’s for shore and certain.
So…you gonna talk to her?” Hoot's voice held more understanding
now.

Jeb glanced over at his friend; Hoot
sat the saddle almost as though glued there. Jeb eyed him up and
down strangely until Hoot almost glared at him.

“In all my born days I’ve never seen
you eye me like a side of beef before, what are you lookin’
at?”

Jeb shook his head and spit to the hot
ground, “Nothin’ Hoot, not lookin’ at nothin’, I’m thinkin’, but
I’ll take it up with you later, when I've thought it through. Ain't
no use tallkin' it over until I think on it a while.”

Hoot frowned, “Never liked it when you
did too much thinkin’. Down right spooky…that’s what it is.” Hoot
shook his head and scurried on in front of him as though ignoring
him a while. Jeb didn't mind, he needed to figure things out in his
head.

Jeb knew Hoot was plumb put out about
this situation and he didn't blame him, but what on earth could he
do about it? The woman had come with them, and brought her baby
with her. Short of tying her up, he didn't know how he could escape
the fate. Saddled with her, he had to come up with something pretty
quick an he knew it.

It gave Jeb a break. He eased back on
the reins and let his horse canter while the lady with the baby
caught up to him. He wondered how he should talk to her. She hadn’t
said anything since the Indians brought her to him. They'd brought
out the baby later and placed the cradle on her back. The chief had
stood at his lodge, looking, as though he'd lost something
precious. Why had he given her to them if he wanted her? It made no
sense. Obviously her or the baby was important to him, as Jeb saw
the look in the old Chief's eye.

She had stood there, resigned, not
saying anything, not crying, just standing there as though doom had
done settled on her thin shoulders. The other squaws seemed sad to
see her go, and she didn't look none too happy. What was he
supposed to do, march her back to them? The chief would take the
horses back and then what? It was obvious she didn’t want to go
with them and Jeb wished that she had objected.

He glanced over at her now. She wasn’t
looking at him, but straight ahead and by her expression Jeb wasn’t
sure what might be on her mind. His eyes slid to her Indian
deerskin dress, and how it rode up on her thigh. She seemed totally
unaware of herself. He turned his head away. He didn’t like the
feeling stirring inside him and he fought it down. He had no right
to look at her like that. But for the life of him he couldn’t stop
the feeling. He hadn't been awakened by a woman in
years.

The woman was in her thirties he’d
guess, she was no child that was for sure. She had light brown hair
that blew like wisps in the wind around her face as her braid began
to loosen. Her eyes were like a summer sky, compelling. She was
thin and long boned. But one look into her face and Jeb knew this
woman had known hard times, lots of hurts and a vague loneliness
that stirred him, as though he recognized that same loneliness. It
gripped him, tore at him, as though her pain had become his. He
shook his head, that was foolish thinking.

He glimpsed stubborn pride, and a
unspeakable sadness within her. It was the sadness that pulled him
mostly.

He scratched his chin, and eyed her,
“Ma’am, you do understand us, don’t you?”

She shot him a sideways glance and her
glorious head of light brown hair swayed to the soft breezes over
her shoulders, “Of course I understand you, I’m white…why wouldn’t
I?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I realize that. But are
you scared of us? I mean you don't know us, and was forced on us
and well, I reckon I could understand it if you was.”

“Should I be?” she asked, giving him a
sardonic look. He could tell she wasn’t afraid of anything. Fear
didn’t seem a part of her.

Maybe he should thank his God for not
having some wailing, or whinny lady on his hands.

“No ma’am, I don’t think you should be,
but I’d understand if you was. I mean you were forced on us and I
figure you are as shocked as we are.”