Tess's Trials Page 9

  He kept on searching and following the signs he found. Merita continued riding close to him. In a couple of hours, they came upon a small area that had water and a patch of grass. There were indications of the wagons being driven into this area, and it looked like they stayed for a while. Horse droppings piled up at one edge of the trees.

  “Looks like they camped here for a night.” Rafe stopped his horse and sat there, scanning the area closely. Over at one edge of the camp, he saw where the wagons had been parked and the tracks going in and going out. He gazed in the direction they led. “They went this way.”

  Once again they got on the trail, this time with clear tracks to follow, so they made good time. A half hour later, Rafe saw something lying beside the trail. He pulled up.

  “What is it?” Merita asked. She had backed off a little from riding right beside him.

  “Something on the ground up ahead,” he replied as he searched the land around them. He knew there were plenty of places for someone to hide off the trail in ambush. Did the raiders leave one of the women behind to draw him out while they waited off the trail to kill him? Did they even know he was on their trail? Had Tess said something about him, and they figured out he would try to rescue her? Probably not the latter, because she didn’t know he was coming.

  No matter. He had the job to do and would do it. Tess was family.

  He kneed his horse ahead. Keeping an eye on the land, he slipped his pistol out of the holster to have it ready.

  The buckskin snorted when they got close to what Rafe saw. He smelled the stink of death.

  “What is it?” Merita rode a little way behind him.

  “A woman’s body.” Rafe sat his horse for another few minutes, scanning the country around. Nothing moved. Finally, he decided it was safe to dismount and see who it was. He holstered his pistol, dismounted, and turned the body over. It wasn’t Tess. He had no way of knowing who it was.

  Merita dismounted and moved up beside him. “Any idea who she was?”

  “No. Probably one of the women who were taken before Tess.” He looked over the body, moved the clothes to cover her better. “Must’ve fought them when they tried to rape her. She got shot for her trouble.”

  “That was just plain murder!” Merita grabbed his arm. “Why would they do that?”

  Rafe didn’t ordinarily like to be touched, but he found himself enjoying the young woman’s hand on his arm. “One of the benefits of bein’ in this gang is raping the women before they get ‘em to Mexico to sell.”

  “What kind of men would do that?”

  “Men who steal women to sell will do just about anything they want.” Rafe looked around for a place to bury the woman so coyotes wouldn’t get her. “It’s like they figure that’s what the women will have to endure once they’re in Mexico, so why not let ‘em know what’s comin’?” He pointed to an arroyo a short distance away. “We’ll bury her over there. I’ll be able to come back later and get her to take her to her family. Can you get her legs?”

  Together they carried the woman’s body to the arroyo where Rafe caved an overhang onto it. That was the best they could do for her at the moment. In ten minutes, they were back on the trail, Rafe plagued by thoughts of what could be happening to Tess right that minute.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The tiny spot Tess found between two boulders didn’t look big enough for a small girl to hide in, much less a grown woman. But a few feet in, the space widened out so that she could lie down fully or sit up against the rocks. The ground in the space between the boulders was a mixture of dirt blown in by the constant winds and sand. Overall, it was a lot more comfortable than the wagon.

  She heard Snake Eyes and Whitehorse yelling at the men to split up into four groups and head out to find her. She also heard the two shots and figured Snake Eyes had killed the two young guards. Tess couldn’t feel sorry for them.

  She listened very intently for any sounds of the men coming to search the boulders. But they never did. Like she hoped, they didn’t think she would stay so close to camp. The first thing most people would do was to put as much distance between them and the camp as possible.

  After a bit, the camp became quiet. I guess the men all left looking for me. Now’s the time to try to get some food. I have to have something to start with .

  Easing back between the two boulders that formed the entry to her hiding place, Tess peered around one of them. She only let one eye show.

  Nothing moved in the camp. Either all the men except for a couple to guard the other women were gone, or an elaborate trap had been set, waiting for her to show herself. It didn’t matter, she had to get to the chuck wagon and grab some food.

  She sat there another half hour, watching the camp for some sign that someone was lying in wait to grab her. Still nothing moved. The distance from the rocks where she hid to the chuck wagon looked like a mile. No cover of any kind. All she could do was keep the wagon between her and the rest of the camp and hope for the best.

  No need to wait any longer. Waiting just made the whole thing grow bigger and less likely to succeed in her mind.

  She set out.

  Crawling seemed the best way to go. It would give people less to see, and if she kept it slow, the movement wouldn’t draw the eye of anyone who decided to glance her way. For once she was glad her dress was so dirty. It would blend in with the land better.

  Heart thrashing around in her chest, Tess made herself start crawling. She tried to make herself move slower than a desert tortoise. Even moving slowly, she would leave a trail. Going back to the boulders, she had to remember to scatter dirt over the sign she left. It wasn’t much, but it was all she could do. It might fool someone just taking a quick look that way.

  Last night, crawling to the cover of the boulders, the only harmful thing that went with her all the way was the hail that bruised her body. This morning, it was the fear of being caught.

  If she was seen, she determined to herself to fight like she’d never fought before. First, she would run. This might invite a bullet, but that would be better than what happened to Bessie.

  Don’t think about that now. Just focus on moving slow and staying behind that wagon .

  She heard nothing but the blowing wind and a hawk in the distance. About halfway to the wagon, she heard a horse stomp away a fly. So there is at least one man left in camp. Probably more to guard the women.

  The sun on her back warmed her. It felt good after the days of cold and rain. Maybe

  with the wet ground, she wouldn’t leave as much of a trail as she thought before. Her hand came down on the sharp point of a rock that lay almost buried in the dirt.

  This brought a gasp from her mouth before she could stop it. Sinking lower to the ground, she looked under the wagon to see whether anyone might have heard and was coming to investigate the sound.

  Nothing.

  Nearly to the wagon, she heard voices. Low, urgent voices. It sounded like the breed, Whitehorse, saying something to a guard. Probably warning him to be alert.

  Tess froze where she was for a long minute after the voices stopped. She was probably ten feet, no more, from the wagon.

  Any minute, the cook could come to the end of the wagon to get something and see her. Tess stood and covered the ten feet in three long steps.

  Molding herself to the large wheel at the back of the wagon, she listened again. Still nothing.

  She eased to the very back of the wagon and peered around the canvas cover. No one there. The cook was somewhere else.

  Tess knew he could appear at any time.

  She slowly reached around the boxed in area at the rear of the chuck wagon. Feeling her way slowly, careful not to dislodge anything that would make any sound, she felt for the sack of buffalo jerky she knew the cook kept there. She didn’t think it would be missed. It was only a small sack.

  Seconds passed like hours as she continued to listen and feel for the sack. At last she felt

  what she thought was it.
Carefully grasping it in her hand, she began pulling it toward her.

  Then it stuck on something!

  She didn’t know what it might have gotten stuck on. And she didn’t dare move her head out in the open where she could see. All she could do was keep on pulling gently on the sack and hope it would come loose.

  Gentle pulling seemed to do nothing. Then the sack moved, just a fraction of an inch.

  Stuck again, she continued pulling. If the sack was hung up on a stack of plates or something like that, she ran the risk of pulling them down and creating a racket. That would get her caught.

  But she had to have that jerky. It would give her something to keep up her strength for the trials to come.

  She had to take that risk.

  Gently pulling on the sack, she felt it begin to move again. Slowly, slowly it moved. But it did move.

  Then, suddenly, it was free! She pulled the sack to her and held it cradled to her breast with both hands.

  A moment only she stood like that, listening. When she heard nothing, she eased down onto hands and knees again, this time going backward.

  The crawling was slower this time. She could only go a short way, then pause to wipe across the trail she left. There wasn’t much she could do to cover up what she left. Any disturbance would show someone passed that way. At places, she patted down the marks she left, at others sifted dirt or sand over them.

  What she did would fool no good tracker, but hopefully it would make the trail harder to see by the casual observer. In this way, she crawled back to the small space between the boulders.

  Once there, she squirmed through the small opening and made her way back to the larger space. There, she settled down to wait the day away.

  Throughout the day, riders returned to the camp, reported finding nothing, got a bite to eat, then left again. Each time, Snake Eyes berated them for their incompetence. Tess listened to this from her hiding spot.

  About mid-day, she allowed herself a small piece of jerky. She had barely enough moisture in her mouth to soften the meat so she could chew it. There was no water.

  The rest of the day passed slowly. Tess tried to sleep to make the time pass faster until night. She managed only brief naps from which she was awakened by terrible dreams of Snake Eyes catching her and what he would do afterwards.

  The heat built up among the boulders as the sun eased across the sky. Sweat soaked her dress, then cooled her as a breeze sprang up. Not more hail, please not more hail . Rain would be good. It would give me something to drink.

  But neither rain nor hail came. Just the hot sun.

  At least it isn’t the middle of summer. I’d never last if it was .

  This thought set her to thinking more about the sun and water. She knew a strong man could last at least a couple of days without water. But what about a woman? Was there a difference in how long she could last?

  “Makes no difference,” she muttered, keeping her voice very low. “I’ll be as strong as I

  have to be. I’ll get out of here! I’ll be strong!”

  She noticed a tiny strip of shadow growing on the side of the boulder where the sun was beginning its slide toward the west. Scooting over there, she leaned against the rock and felt cooler. Maybe it was just her imagination, but that didn’t matter.

  Tess sat there and dozed as the sun retreated down the western slope of the sky. The shadow grew around her, and the coolness gained reality.

  Thirst threw its stifling mantle around her. Once, she picked up a tiny pebble and stuck it in her mouth to get the saliva flowing some. It helped for a while.

  She knew she should get used to being thirsty. It was far to home. How far? Four days travel, forty miles a day in the wagons over fairly level ground. Close to two hundred miles!

  Would Edward send some of the hands after her? If so, how long after she was taken did they get started?

  No matter. Tess knew she had to depend on no one but herself to get back home. A long way, but she was healthy. Healthy and strong. Finding water would be her greatest problem. With no way of carrying it, she would have to rely on finding it along the way. She couldn’t risk trying to steal a canteen or water bag from the chuck wagon.

  All she could do was get started as soon as it was good and dark. That, and pray.

  She heard the men come back in at dusk. None of them had found any sign of her passage. Because there wasn’t any. Snake Eyes cursed and yelled at them.

  Full dark came with the sounds of supper being cooked, then eaten. No one bothered any of the other women. That was good. Having them focus on her would keep them away from the others.

  Everyone settled down early after riding the countryside all day. Tess waited an hour after the last sounds from the camp to leave her hiding place.

  She skirted the edge of the camp and made her way to the stream that flowed along through the trees. Careful to move slowly and not disturb the horses, she slipped through the trees to a small pool. There she laid down on her belly and drank her fill. She dipped her arms into the cool water, reveling in the way it felt on her blistering skin. Careful not to splash the water, she then bathed her face and neck. She didn’t want to get completely wet because the night would get chilly toward morning.

  Again she drank her fill, ate another small piece of jerky, drank again. Then, determined to face her trials, she set off on her journey home. She went west, thinking Snake Eyes would believe she went back north toward her ranch. He wouldn’t think I’d head off into the badlands. Nobody goes there unless they have to.

  I have to .

  Chapter Eighteen

  Snake Eyes lifted the cover flap of his tent and stood outside before dawn. The beginning of the day found his mood as foul as the day before. Sleep eluded him except for a brief nap in the very early morning. The combination of nightmares and fuming over Tess’s escape blew sleep away.

  The breed, Whitehorse, hurried up to him. Wisely, he said nothing, just stayed very alert.

  “Get them up,” Snake Eyes said in his high, quiet voice. “Everyone.”

  Whitehorse hurried off. In only minutes, all the men were saddled up and ready to ride out again. They took another ten minutes to gulp down coffee and biscuits. No bacon for them that morning.

  “Get them together here,” Snake Eyes directed the breed. He stood, arms crossed over his chest, staring at the men as they gathered. Very few of them even would glance his way.

  Once the men stood in front of him, some holding the reins of their horses as they stood, others sitting on their horses. Snake Eyes stared from one face to the other.

  “I want three groups,” he said. “All of you head back north. Spread out. The first one to cut sign, signal the others with two shots. Then all of you follow the sign.” He paused a moment. “Bring that woman back to me!”

  One of the men made the mistake of muttering loud enough for Snake Eyes to hear. “We done this yesterday.”

  As soon as the man uttered these words, Snake Eyes drew and fired, hitting him square

  in the chest. As the men struggled to control their startled horses, he shouted, “And you’ll do it again today! And every day until you find her! Get that woman! Now get out of here, and not a man returns until dark!”

  Whitehorse waved the men away and watched as they left, splitting up into three groups. After a few moments, he turned to Snake Eyes. “Boss, we’re losing a lot of time staying here.”

  Snake Eyes didn’t respond for a moment. He worked hard at controlling his fury. At first, he wanted to shoot the breed, too. But he realized the man was right. Didn’t matter. “We’ll stay here as long as I want. That woman can’t get away. And I haven’t heard from my contact about another ranch to raid.” He met Whitehorse eye-to-eye. “We stay here. Get that,” he motioned to the man’s body, “out of here.”

  Snake Eyes walked away. They have to find her. Bring her back. And when they do, what I’ll do to her will make what we did to that other girl look like a party. I can’t have
someone getting away from me. It will give the other women hope. That’s one thing I don’t want them to have. It will make the men see me as weak, too. I can’t have that.

  Then he stopped. There is a ranch further south and a little east of here. We could go on another day, scout the ranch, raid it if there are women there, then go on to Mexico . He turned to Whitehorse. “Get ready! We’ll travel one more day. There’s a ranch we might raid.”

  The breed was used to his boss’s sudden changes of mind. He also knew better than to question any of those changes. He quickly got the few men left busy getting the wagons ready. They were on their way a half hour later. The men they sent out would have to follow their tracks and catch up if they could.

  Tess walked the night away. It was hard going, she could hardly see because there was clouds covered the moon. Likely she only made ten or twelve miles while it was dark. As it began getting closer to sun up, she could see better. While it was still cool, she increased her pace.

  Somewhere ahead, not far she thought, there was supposed to be a stream. She heard of it from Edward, so she hoped it was true.

  Just after the sun crept above the horizon to the east, she struggled up a small hill. Her strength was nearly gone after walking without stopping. All she could think about was putting distance between her and Snake Eyes’ camp.

  At the top of the hill, she looked down into the small valley below. A small grove of trees showed water there. Right where Edward said.

  Turning to scan the country behind her, she saw nothing. No dust, no group of riders. By now, Snake Eyes would have men scouring the country for her. Hope began to bloom in her heart. Maybe her plan worked. Maybe they looked for her to the north.

  She walked down the hill to the trees. Once there, she lay down in the water, drinking as much as she could, soaking her dress against the heat that would build up during the day. Again, she allowed herself one small piece of jerky. Then she drank again.

  Finally, she crawled away from the water, found a sheltered place that would provide shade most of the day, and lay down. The small hollow also was shielded from sight. Overall, a good place to sleep the day away. Then, when she woke up, she would start north. North for home.