Chapter 8

Dianne and I were just staring off into the distance, still trying to come to grips with what our reality was. We knew we would have to look out for ourselves, and any serious accident could be fatal. Yet with us seeing what no other living person from our timeline had seen we just felt grateful, not scared. We took the horses and headed back to the van to get the things we wanted. After packing what we wanted we headed back to the cabin, getting everything we needed for our upcoming trip organized. We would learn on the way how to do everything we needed to do to travel, make a camp, and sit a horse for hours on end. We had the knowledge just not all the practical. Our butts were already sore from just the small amount of riding we had done. We knew the first few days would be painful as well as slow. Once we got in better shape things would be easier.

Waking up the next morning, it took us a while to get everything ready hoping to get twenty miles in today whether walking or riding. It looked like high plains for as far as the eyes could see towards the N.W. the direction we were going. Scattered aspens, grass here and there, and rocks. Mountain tops and valleys, places you could hide from wind and rain, and places where you would get the full force of mother nature. Knowing this would make good Spring-early summer graze for cattle. How we knew many things couldn’t be explained we just did. We knew about where we were going and hoped to make it in fifteen to twenty days, bad weather would slow us down, so we were praying for good blue skies.

The first three days were uneventful, that was needed as we were learning and toughening up. Making camps at night and having each other to share this experience with was about the best thing in the world. Every day I had with Dianne was the best day so far in my life and I couldn’t see that changing. We had just barely broken camp on the fourth day when the horses started acting up, I told Dianne to be careful I thought it was a wild animal. Then a scream came out of the trees, and we looked that way not seeing anything. I told Dianne to hold the horses while I went to see what was up, she told me I was crazy and wasn’t going to leave her by herself. So, we took the time to tie off the horses. I had a rifle and my handgun and Dianne had her handgun and shotgun. We were looking around the best we could, the trees and boulders were close together casting shadows and making it hard to see. We heard the scream again just off to our left and we could hear voices, but not words. Creeping slowly around one last boulder we saw three men with what looked like a couple of young Indians one boy and one girl about twelve to fourteen, both looked beat-up. Then we saw an older guy maybe forties, he looked really bad held up by one of the three by his hair. You could clearly see blood running down his face and more blood from his side. Then the other two went towards the girl, one holding her as another tore at her shirt and the boy ran towards her only to be knocked down, then kicked. I whispered to Dianne we had to help, she shook her head yes and then I told her to use her shotgun and shoot at the one who kicked the boy. I would shoot the one with the girl then try and get the other one. Both of the ones I would try for were too close to the Indians to use a shotgun on.

1,2,3, and we both fired I had plenty of time to swing toward the last guy and fire before he had a chance to figure out what was going on. I had Dianne cover me till I checked the guys and yes, they were dead. I had her go check the girl and I went to the older Indian as he looked the worse for wear. He had several head cuts and a nasty knife wound on his side, I left him lying and went over to Dianne and asked her to go back and get the horses as we needed the first aid kit and water.

I got the young boy up and carried him over close to the older man and then went back to the girl and when she saw me kneel down by her, she screamed and passed out. While she was out, I carried her over next to the others. I could hear Dianne and the horses coming, just couldn’t see them yet. I wanted her with me when they woke up. I had to get the bleeding stopped on the older one or he wouldn’t be with us much longer. I used my hand to put pressure on the wound and try to staunch the flow. It seemed to be slowing and when I saw Dianne I yelled to get the first aid kit out of the saddlebags. As I turned back to the man, I heard a rattling exhale and then there was nothing. I knew he was gone, so I moved over to the boy as he seemed to have the most damage. I asked Dianne to get us some rags and a canteen, which she did, and then went back to tie up the horses. I was wiping down the boy and he seemed to be cleaning up fairly well, just small cuts on his face. I started to pull his shirt up to see if I had any cut to clean and he opened his eyes, and a hurt sound came out of his mouth as he passed out again. I started feeling around his belly and ribs, not feeling anything and as I moved his arm I saw the problem. His forearm was broken, you could feel the break and I hoped it was a simple break. Dianne was with the young girl and said she looked like she was going to be ok, just scuffed up but no sign of serious injuries. I told her about the broken arm, and I knew we had the Ace bandages in one of the packs and I would cut a few small limbs for a splint. Hoping I could pull his arm into place while Dianne held him, after getting everything ready and him still being passed out I figured this would be the best time to do it. I got his arm placed where I could use my foot under his armpit and Dianne could sort of lay across his upper body to keep him in place. It went good, one loud oooff from him and it just sort of clicked into place. I used one of the ace bandages to wrap his arm to not only help keep it in place but also to keep the sticks from digging into his skin. I used my hatchet and knife to get them as smooth as possible, with Dianne’s help we got the splints held in place and wrapped.