Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [2]

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Chapter 2. Louisiana

The riders following their wagon came to the dock and began firing into the sky and shouting for the boat to return to the shore. Thankfully, the boat’s captain chose to continue across the river. James asked a deck hand why the boat didn’t turn around. “You don’t turn around in the middle of the Mississippi River. If the water catches as you slow to turn, you go over and that’s all for you. Those people can wait until tomorrow morning. Or they can swim.”
    That gave James and his family a twelve-hour head start and they couldn’t waste a minute of it. James pulled Sara and Chassy close to him and whispered, “We’ll have to go day and night to stay ahead of those men. If they catch us, we’re dead. We’ll take turns driving the mules. If we can, we’ll trade the mules for fresh ones along the way, but we have to get to Texas before they catch up to us.”
    It was dark when they reached the Louisiana side of the river and most of the passengers stopped over in the campgrounds for the night, but the Jaudon family drove on into the darkness. Chassy relieved James, who had been up all night. He and Sara now slept in the back of the wagon, the baby nestled in Sara’s arms. Around one that afternoon, Chassy reached back and shook the first arm she felt. “There’s a station up ahead. They have horses in their corral.”
    James jumped over the seat and into the front, took the rains, and told Chassy to get in back with Sara and the baby. “Keep the guns at the ready until we know who we’re dealing with.”
    James stopped the team at the front door of the way station. A man with a gray bread and a beat-up cowboy hat walked out. “Howdy! Step down and rest a bit. I got food and drink to sell, and clothing, or you name it – I’ve got a little bit of everything.”
    “How about a trade?”
    “I’ve been known to trade a little here and there. What you got in mind?”

    “These prime mules for some fresh ones.”
    The man walked around the mules, checked their teeth and felt their flanks. “These mules have been run near to death. While they are good stock, it will cost me a lot of money and time to bring them back to their prime.”
    “I have two pistols and a flintlock rifle I can throw into the deal.”
    “Let’s see the guns.”
    James reached back and Chassy handed him two of the pistols they had acquired from the three men they had killed. But she whispered, “We will need the rifle to hunt for food.”
    James replied, “Dead people don’t eat. Hand it to me too.”
    The man knew his guns and checked each one of them with a keen eye before handing the flintlock back. “Nobody fires one of these anymore. Not since the Henry Repeater came out anyway. What else you got?”
    The man walked around to the side of the wagon and looked at Chassy and Sara. “How about the black girl? I’ll give you two fine horses for her.”
    The click of James’ old Colt naval revolver froze him in place. James didn’t point the gun at the man, but he got the idea.
    James said, “I’ve made you a more than generous offer. I will, however, keep the flintlock and give you another pistol. I think that’s a deal you can live with – don’t you?”
    The man backed away with his hands up. “I didn’t mean anything, mister.”
    James uncocked his pistol and stuck it back in his belt. “I know you didn’t. You were just trying to get more than you were willing to give. That’s called horse trading. But now that we have an agreement, let’s see your horses.”
    James walked through the corral, becoming more and more disappointed. “Are these the best you have? My mules are in as good shape as these animals.”
    The man looked around and said, Do you see any others?”
    James picked two of the best he saw and said, “This has to be an even swap. I’ll be taking the guns back.”
    “Wait, wait,” the man protested. “I’ll give you two more horses for the guns. The way you’re running these mules, those two horses will be dead before you get halfway to the Texas border.”
    James reached for his gun. “How do you know we’re heading to Texas?”
    The man laughed. “I’ve been here a long time, and the ones who show up running hard and fast are always heading to Texas. And later, someone always comes along asking about them.”
    James knew the man was right. Someone would be coming behind them. “You have a deal. I’ll take the other two horses.” He paused. “I don’t guess you could tell whoever comes along that you didn’t see us?”
    The man smiled, “I didn’t live this long by being a fool. If I tell them I haven’t seen you and they ride out a bit and find your trail, they’ll come back and kill me. So I will tell them the truth, and my advice to you is: don’t stop until you get to the Sabine River.”

    James led the four horses out and tied the best two to the back of the wagon and harnessed the other two. He waved at the old man and sat a slow trot. He drove a while and then told Sara to take over while he slept. The men riding behind them were faster, but they were playing catch up, and James hoped that if he could go all day and all night, the men would fall back as time wore on them. If the horses held out until Texas, their pursuers would not be able to keep up.

Chassy relieved Sara late that afternoon and drove until dark. After a while, she stopped and reached behind her to shake James. “Get up, I’m not sure where we are. It’s too dark to see the trail.”
    James crawled out of the back and onto the ground. “You should have woken me sooner. Sara, light the lantern and hand it to me.”
    Sara handed him the lantern and he walked in circles until he found the trail. He took the harness of the lead horse and began to walk. With the light of the lantern guiding his footsteps, they moved on into the night.

Two days later, James set the first horses free and hooked the other two in their place. If he was right, they should see the Sabine River in one and a half or two days. They would stop for a short time later today and cook something. The food would have to last until the next day but a fire at night was unthinkable.
    The stress of their situation and the lack of good food had degraded Chassy’s ability to produce milk. The cow wasn’t doing much better with walking all day and night and having only a couple hours, when they stopped, to eat grass. The bad thing was that James didn’t even know if anyone was still chasing them, but he had to assume there was in order to keep everybody alive.

They topped a hill the next day to see the Sabine River below. James said, “There’s Texas, right across that water – we made it.” They all got off the wagon.
    Out of nowhere came the sound of gunfire. Chassy screamed and fell into Sara’s arms. James jumped into the wagon and cocked the flintlock.
    Two riders were riding hard toward them. The one on the right was firing a Henry Repeater, and the other a six-shooter. The bullets were kicking dirt up around the wagon and James could hear Sara screaming something. He took aim at the rider on the right and waited before firing. As the rider fell from his saddle, James jumped to the ground with his navy colt in his hand. By then the other rider was so close he could make out the man’s features. A bullet from the man’s six-shooter tore into James’ arm as he returned fire. His first bullet hit the man in the mid-section, and the second one took off the top of his head.
    James fell against the wheel of the wagon. The man’s last bullet had taken a piece of meat out of his arm, and there was a lot of blood, although it appeared to be no more than a large scratch.
    He looked around and saw where Sara and Chassy were laying on the ground. He made his way to their side and Sara looked up at him. She whispered, “She’s gone, James.”

Copyright © 2019 by Ed Rogers