Chapter 07

To Santa Barbara

We leave Socorro late but we stop early because of this as the next best camp spot is just too far away. The extra time between camping and the evening meal is useful to unpack and repack some of the gear on the wagons to be either more ready to hand or to better balance the loads when I set them out in a more thought out way.

While this is going on I notice a couple of the families who joined us at Socorro have a few slaves with them. One couple, the Hewitts, have two males: one in his late twenties and one in his early twenties. The older one seems to find a lot of reasons to be near and talking to two of my latest acquisitions. Since the girls don’t seem to mind I don’t mind. My slave Gem, a thirteen year old girl, spends a lot of time helping Mrs Hewitt prepare their dinner. Mrs Hewitt is six months pregnant, but she’s very large, I suspect twins, and she’s having difficulty with many things.

That night I do make a point to make a public announcement that no one is to give orders to another person’s slaves and all requests are to go through their owners. The only exceptions being if José or Jesus need a hand at short notice for something to do with the wagon train as they can call upon anyone to help them, including slaves, and they have priority. I quote the replacement of a broken wheel as an example.

After dinner I sit with the Hewitts to talk with them while trying to get to know them. Their wagon is just behind one of the wagons the black girls live in which is why their man has a lot of opportunities to talk to my girls by offering to help with carrying things. I find out a lot about them, but they’re hesitant to talk about their slaves. I say, “Missus Hewitt, I’m sure you heard my announcement about giving orders to another person’s slaves. That doesn’t affect the situation if a slave offers help and you nicely ask them to do something. Yes, I noticed how much Gem helped you getting the meal ready. As long as it’s the girl offering to help and not you ordering her to help, I’m OK with her helping you since you treat her with respect, unlike some I see.”

We both glance over at Mr Jakes, another Socorro man with slaves who joined the wagon train. He hasn’t yet whipped one of his slaves where I can see him do it, but he’s often made the threat. I’ve already spoken to him about how I don’t approve of harsh treatment of anyone within the wagon train, and he ignored me.

Things move along quite well until the evening of the fourth day when Mr Jakes takes an exception to my allowing all my girls to carry Bowie knives in belt sheaths at all times. He’s very vocal about it.

While he’s doing this Donna comes up to say, “Ed, I think Mister Jakes is upset because he ordered Jewel to help his wife with something and she refused saying he should talk to you first. Jakes then raised his arm with that riding crop of his in it as if to strike her and she pulled out her Bowie knife, holding it ready to stab him if he came closer. He went very red and left. I don’t think he likes blacks who can fight back.”

I turn to him to ask, “Did that happen?”

He glares at me and says, “It’s against the law to arm slaves.”

While smiling I say, “I suggest you check the laws. I asked in Santa Fe, the laws on slavery in this territory are very simple and clear. You can’t arm a slave with a gun on public land or another person’s slave. You can give them a gun on private land to help defend it because there’s no law to cover that and you can give them anything except a gun to defend themselves anywhere. I want all of my people to be able to defend themselves against attacks by Indians or any other animal, be it on four legs or two legs. I’ll thank you not to talk to any of my slaves without speaking to me first.” He leaves, a man very angry at my reaction.

I go to my girls, gather them together, and say, “I just heard about what happened between Jewel and Mister Jakes. I’ve two things to say about it. First, if anything like that happens I want you to tell me about it straight away. Second, good work, Jewel. I gave you those knives to help you do your work and to protect yourselves from any attack. I’m glad to see you have the gumption to protect yourself. Girls, when I said any attack, I meant just that. If someone attacks you and you knife them in self-defence I’ll stand by you. But if you attack someone else you’ll be in such trouble you’ll wish you worked for the Jakes.” They all nod and smile at first, but gulp at my last statement. A moment later I see they all have a full understanding of my words and they know where I stand.

I take Gem aside, “Gem, I saw you help Missus Hewitt with her meals today and the last few days. Are you offering to help all the time, and do you like helping her?”

She nods, “I didn’t think you’d mind, Sir. She’s nice and speaks to me nice. I like helping her and she has such a trouble with her belly so big.” She’s looking at me with a very worried expression.

I give her a very reassuring smile, “I don’t mind. In fact, I told her, on the first day, I didn’t mind you offering to help as long as she treated you nice, which she does. If you wish to you may look at helping her as being your primary duty because she does need a lot of help, due to her condition. You may wish to think about making her a pair of moccasins because they’ll be easier on her feet than those shoes and easier to get on and off.” Gem smiles and nods her thanks at my approving what she’s doing because she likes Mrs Hewitt and likes helping her.

Leaving Gem I go to the Hewitts to say, “Evening, Missus Hewitt, I’m sorry if you think I’m intruding, but I’ve had medical training and I’m almost a doctor, but I’m concerned about your condition. I think you’re carrying twins or triplets and I don’t want you to overexert yourself. So I’ve asked Gem to make helping you and being your maid her primary duty for while we’re together. Just treat her like you’ve been doing and there won’t be any problems. Feel free to call upon her to help out with anything during the day and evening or night if it’s urgent and you need a hand.”

She blushes and nods her thanks. Mr Hewitt says, “Mister Ward, I heard what you said to the girls about their knives and protection. I agree they need protection, especially against Mister Jakes and his two sons. Yes, I saw Jewel and Jakes had a confrontation earlier, but I wasn’t close enough to hear what was said. If you don’t mind, I’ll ask my two men to keep a protective eye on your girls as well. To that end, do you have any more of those excellent Bowie knives for sale so I can also arm them? I do hope they aren’t too expensive because I won’t have much cash until we reach Santa Barbara and I can cash the Promissory Note I have with me at their bank.”

“Mister Hewitt, Missus Hewitt, I trust you both and I already know about your note. I’ve a lot of trade goods along for sale to people we meet. Including more of those knives. I’m quite happy to run up an account for you for the knives and anything else you need. Especially food.” Mrs Hewitt blushes, “Yes, I’ve seen how carefully you measure out what you need. I’d bet you’re worried about having enough to make it there. Well, you don’t have to worry, just see Donna or Mary to get what you need or want. They’ll write it down with the value. You just sign beside what you take and we’ll settle up later. If the Promissory Note becomes an issue because of the present problems with some banks then we can work out some way for you to work off the debt. I’d rather write a debt off than see you not get enough to eat. Don’t think of the money or yourself, think of the nourishment those babies need.” Both blush and nod their agreement.

I go over to talk to both Donna and Mary about my offer of credit to the Hewitts. As a general rule our travelling store is cash or barter only, but I’m making an exception in this case. I also tell them about assigning Gem to help Mrs Hewitt out.

When I go around the camp doing my night circuit to give everyone a chance to talk to me about anything they wish to discuss I find two of my new girls arguing about something in quiet tones. They both look very embarrassed when I ask them what they’re arguing about.

Affections

When they’re both hesitant about telling me I say, “Girls, I’ll never get very angry with anyone unless they do one of the following three things: deliberately hurt another unnecessarily, disobey a direct order by me or someone I place in authority over them, or lie to me. Refusing to tell me something is very close to lying to me, so I’d strongly suggest you answer my question.” As all of the girls are together they all hear me.

After a moment Emmy, one of the two girls, says, “I noticed one of Mister Hewitt’s men, Buck, is quite nice and I was being nice to him when Della here started making eyes at him.”

Della butts in with, “I saw him first. And, anyway, he’s interested in me, not you.”

I look at them both and then around the group, “I don’t want to put a dampener on any of you, but don’t go off with a man unless Alice, Sandra, Donna, or I know about it and approve beforehand. I don’t mind you keeping an eye out for a potential mate. But keep in mind I’m talking about a lifetime commitment not a short fling. If you do see someone you like please talk to me and I’ll see what I can do to help you make it work.” They all smile, “Now, Emmy, Della, you two seem to get on well and both of you are interested in him, is it possible for you to share him?” This causes a few stares and a few giggles amongst the girls. Both girls are from the newer group and they’ve a very different view of life to the younger girls. They both look at each other for a moment, seem to communicate without speaking, and smile at each other before turning and nodding yes to me. “I’m talking about a lifetime commitment, so make sure of this before you ask me to help.” Another non-verbal mini-discussion and two more nods. I nod back and walk away from them.

I walk back to the Hewitts and ask, “Mister Hewitt, can we take a short walk for a private talk, please?” He stares at me for a moment then he gets up. We walk off a little way so as not to be overheard.

I say, “Please correct me if things are different where you come from, but my understanding is if a slave belonging to one man is interested in a slave belonging to another man as a mate he should first speak to his master and then the master of the other slave before speaking to the girl concerned.” He glances at me and nods yes. “Your man, Buck, has shown an interest in two of my girls. I’ve spoken to them and they’re both interested in him. Don’t worry, I’m not really angry, it just would’ve been easier had he done the right thing. Because he hasn’t I’m going to throw him to the wolves.” Mr Hewitt is now gulping. “I intend, with your permission, to ask him what he wants. Then, if you’ll sell him to me I’ll give him to them both. He wants to play with the affections of two women, well let’s see how he deals with winning them both.” Mr Hewitt turns to look at me for a moment with very wide eyes, then he bursts out laughing when he takes in the full import of what I’d said. “I’ve watched you and I gather you’re not used to having slaves working for you. If you wish I’ll buy both Buck and Chase off you for one hundred and twenty-five dollars each.”

He looks at me for a few minutes then says, “Now that’s a good offer, but I’m not sure I can sell them. Let me talk to my wife first and I’ll get back to you after that.” I nod agreement and we go our separate ways. I notice he talks with his wife, and she laughs, then he goes to have a long talk with the two black men.

A short while later he walks up to me with both men and says, “Why do you want to buy my men? You’re right in saying I’m not used to having slaves while Buck and Chase are from an inheritance. However, I won’t put them in any worse conditions than they are with me.”

I smile as I say, “I need to buy Buck because of the other matter we discussed.” Both the black men glance at us at that, so I don’t think that’s been mentioned yet because of the grin on Mr Hewitt’s face. “I don’t approve of slavery but I recognise the laws of this state do. I’ve acquired some slaves and I don’t mind buying more, but I’ll never sell another human being in my life. So you can see I need to buy Buck, then I thought I may as well buy Chase now instead of later when a similar issue arises.” Mr Hewitt nods at my thinking ahead and he laughs at the subject matter while both of the black men are frowning at us as they don’t understand that part of the conversation.

Mr Hewitt looks up at both men and they both give subtle nods. He turns to me, “I accept your offer.”

I nod and turn to the two men. I give them the same instructions and rules I gave the girls over the last few days, and add, “Chase, Buck, a couple of more points for you to know. One, hurt any of my girls and you’ll wish all I did was skin you alive. Two, runaway and I won’t chase you, but I’ll post notices about runaway slaves because I need to do that to protect myself from anything you do. But, by running away you’ll have no protection from me and I won’t accept you back. While you stay and work with me I’ll treat you fine and protect you, but leave me and you’re on your own. If after you get to know me you wish to be free of me just ask and I’ll take you with me when I visit a non-slavery state and I’ll free you; but you don’t get to make anyone go along with you. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Both give me slow nods after they think on my words for a moment.

We all go to my wagon where I get out the two hundred and fifty dollars to give to Mr Hewitt and he signs over the papers for the two men. I issue both of the men with meal kits, blankets, Bowie knives, sheaths, and belts for them. Both are surprised about the equipment. Mr Hewitt smiles and goes over to see Donna, then he’s soon heading back to his wagon with some salt, flour, and other food stuffs.

I take the men over to the three part loaded ex-slave wagons and tell them to rearrange and secure the loads to make clear the front third of two of the wagons with the extra gear loaded in the third one. They get busy doing so. It’s a bit late before they’re finished, but they have the wagons ready so I set them to sleep one in each wagon.

The next day I assign them both to the two wagons they’ve made sleeping quarters in and they spend the morning riding with Mexican drivers until the men are sure Buck and Chase can handle the wagons.

That night, after confirming Buck and Chase know how to care for the mules and the harnessing, the Mexican drivers are reassigned by Jesus. Donna helps me get out the cookware and utensils needed to do one’s own cooking and put them in the wagon Buck is driving, along with some flour, salt, coffee, and other needed food stuffs. He gives me an odd look when I do it. While he’s watching me Alice has Emmy and Della move their gear into the wagon as well, but without Buck knowing it.

The normal organisation for the evening meal is done by each family and we eat in our family or friend groups in a circle of small cooking fires in between the two rings of circled wagons, but all are on one side of the circle in a sort of curved oval. This means we can all sit around to look at each other while we eat, and announcements can be made as a group. After dinner I stand up and move to the centre of the fires while saying, “Attention, please.” Everyone goes quiet and looks at me. “I recently acquired Buck and Chase from Mister Hewitt for a specific reason. Since the Hewitts joined this wagon train Buck’s been trifling with the affections of two of my girls, Emmy and Della. I bought Buck to see he gets the proper punishment such actions deserve.” I can see Mr Jakes is smiling in anticipation while Buck now has the scared look of a rabbit surrounded by wolves. “Buck, as you know I can legally do anything to you I wish.” He gives a slow nod of yes. “Good, I like it when a man knows and accepts his punishment. For trifling with the affections of Emmy and Della without first speaking to me I sentence you to life as husband to both women. Ladies, take him away.” Both girls race to Buck to grab an arm each then they drag him away to his wagon. Buck’s eyes go so wide I think they’re going to pop out of his head, and Chase’s aren’t much smaller. While most of the people are laughing so hard they have trouble remaining on their seats, but Mr Jakes is red faced and he looks like he’s about to have a heart attack, I do so hope he does.

Moving away from the centre I sit beside Chase and say, “I’m a man who thinks the punishment should fit the crime. I have it on good authority both of those ladies are very skilled in the professional arts of the work they were previously forced to do. They’ll make him sorry he tried to mess with them both at once, but he’ll eventually be glad he did, once he gets fit enough.” Chase turns to look at me for a moment, then he starts to laugh. “Chase, if you develop an interest in any of the girls or someone else’s girls speak to me first, be it one, two, or any number. As you can see, I’m not an ogre.” He slowly nods with a huge grin because we both can see a couple of the other girls are giving him an obvious visual check over.

The next morning Della and Emmy get the wagon ready and drive it, Buck doesn’t show until mid-morning and he looks very well worn out. I ride by them soon after he does surface, and I say, “Morning, ladies, take better care in future because he does need to be up and attending to his work duties of a morning. Try not to kill him, please, as I want to get my money’s worth of work out of him each day too.” The girls grin and he gulps. It’s clear to me he’s not sure just what he’s got himself into now, and he isn’t yet sure if he likes it or not.

Things move on at an even pace for some more days with us stopping at farms and small villages to sell goods for cash or barter. Most of the barter being for fresh food for my large family to eat along the way.

Avenging Angel

The wagon train is only a few days short of Santa Barbara when a major problem occurs. The camp is set up for the night near a fair sized stream of clear water. There’s plenty of light still around and many of the people are moving about collecting water from upstream while some are washing clothes or themselves downstream. Most of the women are getting dinner ready while the men are tending to the animals.

A shot rings out from just a little west of camp, a bit further upstream, and amongst some brush. José and the nearest guards head for the location of the shot while I race up beside the stream. We all arrive in the area within seconds of the shot. While I run up I see two young men vanishing into the brush on the other side of the stream, both are part dressed and are carrying more clothes; one drops a sock on the opposite bank. I’ve Loki with me so I say, “Loki, collect the dropped clothing and wait there.” He barks and charges through the water to the sock.

When I near the location of the shot I hear José calling for me from nearer the camp so I turn to go through the brush. A few yards into the brush I find a clearing where Jewel is lying in the clearing with her dress in shreds about her and Donna is on the ground on the edge nearest the camp with a bloody thigh and a tourniquet high on her thigh. She looks at me and nods at Jewel. I go to her as I tell José what to get from camp.

Sitting the sixteen year old girl up I check her out and comfort her while I wait for more help to arrive. A few minutes later José is back with some blankets, my medical bag, Mary, Sue, a three foot by three foot board, clean cloths, and two pots of boiling water. I wrap Jewel up in a blanket and I hand her over to Sue who leads her away to the camp.

Going to Donna I put a blanket on the board and I slide it under her thigh. Using my Bowie knife I cut away a part of the men’s trousers she’s wearing, it’s near impossible to ride a horse well in a dress, and I examine the ball wound. No exit wound and no broken bones, but lots of cloth visible in the wound. Hell, in this time and place this is a sure death wound because the only way to stop gangrene is to cut the leg off, and doing so this high will see the patient dead from loss of blood before you finish cutting. This was a deliberate shot this high and meant to give her a slow and painful death. I can tell this due to the powder burns on the cloth and skin. Whoever shot her was standing very close when they fired, and they were sure to hit what they aimed at, the bastard.

Taking a deep breath I select several instruments and put them in one of the pots of hot water to sterilise while I use clean cloths to clean the whole thigh. Most of the camp are standing around watching, so I tell them to go back to their duties, but I choose two of the older Mexican women plus Mary and an older guard to help hold Donna. I also have a few guards spread around the clearing to keep an eye out for more trouble. I wash my hands with soap and hot water before having Mary pour Iodine over them and around the wound.

Removing a small steel kidney dish from the hot water I place it on the board beside Donna’s leg, then I’m fast to fill it with the instruments from the hot water. I place an enamel kidney tray near it to use as a dirty tray, they’re different so I can tell which it is at a glance. Mary pours Iodine into the kidney tray to sterilise the instruments more.

Taking the hypodermic needle out I draw some local anaesthetic from the bottle Mary is holding ready for me then I infuse the thigh with it. It takes a few minutes for this to relieve the pain a bit, so I use the time to remove some bits of cloth with the tweezers. While taking care I proceed to probe and clean the wound until I’m sure I’ve all of the cloth out that I can find, found the ball, and cleaned out all of the powder burn area. I sterilise the wound again and sew it up before taking my time to release the tourniquet. I sit there looking for more bleeding. There’s none, so I’m happy I got everything sewn up right. I cover the wound with a clean cloth and tight bandages, then I give Donna a high dose antibiotic tablet to take and some pain killers for later, because she’ll need them.

I’m slow and methodical when I pack up everything after cleaning all of the instruments in the remaining hot water. Both Donna and Mary are worried about the lack of expression on my face. Giving the others instructions I pick Donna up in my arms to carry her to the lead wagon. With help I carry her up into the wagon and settle her into the bedding there. I ask the older Mexican women to take turns staying with her to see she gets plenty of fluids from the cool canteens nearby. They both nod yes, and are quick to work out a roster with some other women too.