Wagons Ho The Early YearsChapter 16
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March 4, 1845
I woke up the same way I had gone to sleep, with one arm around Millie and the other arm around Tess. When I opened my eyes, there was Sally, standing, looking down at us. "Good morning, Sally," I said.
"Mornin, Jase. You guys must have gotten cold in the night."
"We all thought we were gonna freeze to death. After we put our blankets together and snuggled up, we were fine."
"Well, it's time you give 'em a shake and wake 'em up. They need to help with breakfast."
I told Sally I would and she went over to where Caleb was building a cooking fire. I looked at Millie and her eyes were open. "Mornin, Love," I said.
"Mornin. I think we should start a tradition. I think that any time we sleep snuggled up like this, you should give me a kiss before we get up."
"I like that idea, " said as I pulled her closer and kissed her.
I started to get up, but Tess said, "Hey! What about me? Don't I get a kiss?"
I kissed Tess too, but not nearly as well as I kissed Millie.
"Well, I guess that was sorta like a kiss," Tess grumbled as she got up.
Millie and I both laughed.
Getting all of the animals on the flatboat was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The men who work the boat were used to getting the animals on and off, so they just told us to stand back and let them do it.
There were no accommodations for passengers on the boat. It was really more of a raft than a boat. Timber was cut up river and lashed together to form a large raft. Sometimes, like on the one we were on, planks were laid on top of the logs. When the raft reached it's destination, it would be dismantled and the logs and planks would be sold. The men would then make their way back up river to ride down again on another raft.
Sleeping arrangements were the same as when we were on the trail. We started out fascinated by the shoreline that was moving by us, but we soon became bored. Two whole days of watching trees and hills go by had us wishing to be back in our wagons. At least then there was something to do, even if it was just chasing hogs.
We all did a lot of talking during the ride. That is really different for a bunch of Kentucky hillbillies. Most of us, pap not included, were a quiet lot. Millie and Tess had a way of bringing me out and making me talk.
The three of us talked about how big of a ranch we'd like to have and how big of a house we'd like to build. Millie said she wanted to be sure the ranch had a nice stream with a good swimming hole on it.
"Tess, Millie tells me you stopped swimming with me because pap yelled at you about it. Why didn't you tell me about him yelling at you?" I asked.
"I was too embarrassed about it," she said, looking down at her lap. "He said some things that just weren't nice and I was afraid that if I told you, you'd pop him one."
"I probably still would. Maybe what he said is best left not told."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Pap can be awful stupid at times."
March 6, 1845
Getting off the flatboat was as easy as getting on had been. We got everything lined up and had started to pull out when something hit me. "Caleb, did you bring any oats for the horses?" I asked.
"No, Jase, I couldn't afford any. The horses won't really need them. I'd have liked to have some for the stallion because I'll be riding him every day, but we'll make out without them."
Pap was talking to some man when I rode over. The man was saying, "Just head out to the northwest. You can follow the tracks of the other wagons that have been through here. You'll be crossing the Wabash river at New Harmonie. That's about twenty-five miles from here."
Pap thanked him and I said, "I'll catch up with you on the trail, Pap. There's something I need to pick up in town."
Pap just nodded, so I went over to the farm wagon and pulled out a few pelts. I kissed Millie and told her I'd see her in a few minutes, then I rode off to find some oats.
I ended up getting a hundred pound sack of oats and a pound of stick candy for Millie and Tess. Tess loved the stuff, but it was way too sweet for me. The girls were appreciative when I caught up with them. Millie immediately wanted up behind me, so I put the oats in the farm wagon and let her up. She'd been riding behind Tess until I got there.
It was almost noon so we stopped shortly after we got out of town and had something to eat. It was a cold meal, but we figured we'd make up for it that night.
We were about ten miles out of Evansville when we found a place to camp. From the looks of things we weren't the first to camp there. I'd been a little concerned about finding a place. We were going through some marshy areas and even when we were going through what looked like regular grass, the animals kicked up water.
The place we stopped was on a little hillock. The women got the cook fires started while the men hobbled the horses and unhitched the oxen. By the time we were finished, it was starting to get dark.
Sam and I went off to gather firewood while it was still light enough to see. We managed to find enough to get us through until bedtime and to get the fires started in the morning. We learned quickly on the trail that you go to bed as soon as it's dark and you get up when it's light enough to see.
When I started laying out the tarpaulin for us to bed down on, Millie came over to help me. I started to fold a blanket to lay on, but Millie shook her head. She helped me to stretch all six of our blankets on top of each other, then she folded the top two down. When it was getting too dark for us to see to move around, Tess came over and we all snuggled up under the top two blankets. This became our standard sleeping arrangement until warm weather forced us a little farther apart.
March 7, 1845
Traveling through the marshy ground all of the next day was hard on us and on the animals. The oxen just plodded along as usual, but the hogs had a hard time of it. Their feet just weren't shaped right for walking on the soft ground and they kept sinking in.
We finally made it to the Wabash river about an hour before sunset. Some enterprising fellow had set up a ferry across the river. He told us we'd have to travel about thirty miles up river before we could find a place to ford it. We took him at his word and pap paid him a dollar a wagon and another dollar for the animals. The sun had gone down by the time we got across, but the man said there was a place to camp about a half a mile ahead.
At least on that he wasn't lying to us. I left Millie riding Sin and got off and started throwing any dry wood I could find on the farm wagon as we went. By the time we got to the camping spot, we had enough for the night.
March 8, 1845
We made better time the next day. It was a little hilly when we started out, but soon we were into flatter country. We had also left the marshy areas behind us. The wagons that had gone before us over the last few years had left a trace that was easily followed.
We were having a lot less trouble with the animals now. Even the hogs were doing better. I guess they were all getting used to the traveling. Tess was riding Bell, Caleb's mare, every day now and Millie was riding behind me on Sin. That horse was so big and strong, he didn't seem to mind the extra load.
Most of the time Tess and I rode stirrup to stirrup and Tess and Millie carried on a running conversation. They included me in it more often than I was comfortable with. I was getting used to it though.
We made about fifteen miles that day, before we pulled in beside a little stream and stopped for the day. It was a perfect place to stop. There was plenty of firewood around and the water in the stream was clear.
Caleb came around after I had finished gathering firewood and wanted to talk for a minute. "We're all running a little shy on fresh meat, Jase. The other men and me were talking and we wondered if you'd be willing to hunt for all of us?"
"Sure, I can do that, Caleb. I'll go out in the morning. I'll keep Sin and one of the pack mules and I'll catch up with you on the trail."
"Do you have a mule that ain't skittish of fresh killed meat?"
"Yep. We call him Jughead. I've used him plenty of times."
"Okay, if you'll do this for us, we'll make it worth your while when we get to Oregon."
"You don't have to do that, Caleb. I've gotta eat too."
"Yeah, but a good hunter is worth his wages. There's sixteen of us now and we'll go through a deer pretty quick. You'll have to be hunting ever three or four days. That's a lot more than you'd have to do for just yourself or your family."
"That's fine with me. I like to hunt and I'll swear Tess and Millie could talk your ear right off if you're around them all the time."
Caleb laughed, "It's just the newness of them being together all the time. They'll calm down in a week or two."
"I sure hope so," I laughed. "I don't know where I'd find a new set of ears around here."
I told Millie what I was going to be doing and she seemed like she was gonna bust with pride. She was a little upset when I told her she couldn't come with me, but she calmed down when I said she could come with me in a few days. She decided she'd ride with Tess until I caught up with them. I wondered what the girls were gonna do about riding on a rainy day.
We refilled out water barrels from the stream before we went to bed.
March 9, 1845
I was up before it was even light enough to move around much the next morning. Millie got up with me and she whispered that she'd save me some breakfast. I managed to get the saddle on Sin and the packsaddle on Jughead and I moved out at first light after kissing Millie goodbye.
We'd passed a meadow yesterday a couple of miles back that I just knew had to be a grazing place for deer. The grass had been beaten down in a couple of places and it looked like they might even bed down there. I rode Sin until I figured I was about a quarter of a mile from it, then I tethered him and Jughead and started walking toward the meadow.
I came on it quicker than I thought I would and I was almost surprised to see at least ten deer moving around. None of them were as big as the deer in Kentucky, but I wasn't worried about that. I couldn't get a shot at the buck, but there was a nice looking doe about seventy yards from me.
I carefully took aim and put her down. Of course the rest of the heard were gone in an instant. I reloaded and walked over to where she had fallen. I slit her throat so she'd bleed out, then I gutted her. I left her laying there while I went back for the horses.
Sin didn't like the smell of blood, so I tied him to a bush about fifty yards from the deer. I walked Jughead over and loaded the deer on him. When I had it tied on well, I walked Jughead back over to Sin. I approached him slowly, talking to him as I went.
It took a while, but I finally got up to him, with Jughead trailing behind. I petted Sin and told him what a good boy he was. He finally calmed down and I mounted him. I was afraid he'd start bucking, but my familiar presence on him seemed to calm him even more.
The wagons hadn't been gone from the camp site more than half an hour when I passed it. I caught up with it in another fifteen minutes. When I rode up beside our wagon, mom looked out and smiled at the deer.
I tied Jughead to the back of our wagon and fell in beside Millie and Tess. Millie had a smile as big as Kentucky and Tess' wasn't far behind it. "Are you hungry, Jase?" Millie asked.
"I could eat a horse," I told her.
Millie reached into their saddlebags and pulled out my breakfast. Millie had fried some really thick slices of bacon and had put them between two thin pieces of johnny cake. It tasted so good I wished I'd had more.
When I was finished eating, Millie wanted to ride behind me, so we stopped and let her move over. I turned around far enough I could kiss her when she was behind me and I thanked her for a great breakfast.
Millie blushed and said she'd made it herself. I told her it was the best johnny cake I'd ever tasted. When I saw Tess start to pout, I told Millie her johnny cake was every bit as good as Tess made.
It was another beautiful day for traveling. So far we had been really lucky. We'd been traveling for a week and it hadn't rained once.
We nooned at a nice little stream. The water was as cold as ice, but I took off my shirt and washed up. I got behind some bushes and washed my lower half as well. I remembered how the girls had talked about Bob and I didn't want them thinking the same thing about me.
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