Chapter 09

To Doña Anna

The main trail out of Santa Barbara heads south then south-west before it joins another trail that runs almost east for Doña Anna, this is the main trail and how most people go because it’s an easier trail for wagons. There’s another trail that’s usually used by people on horseback only that goes south a bit and then east to cross the Rio Grande to join the other main trail between Santa Fe and Doña Anna above San Diego. Few wagons take this trail because the Rio Grande crossing is very tricky for wagons. We’ve enough spare horses to help pull any wagons out of soft sand so we take it as it’s much shorter and it saves a few days travel once we get across the wide riverbed. It’s slow going across the river but well worth the effort on reaching the other trail.

The wagon train is about a day or so north of San Diego when we hear some shooting to the east of us. This is a very open area so Jesus is fast in forming the defensive circle, thus we’re almost set when I mount up on Breeze to lead Steve, Tom, and the dogs out to investigate as all but the dog with the southern scout are on hand because I call them back with a specific howl when I hear the shooting. High Eagle insists on joining us. This worries me a bit because the three of us Anglos are in chain mail and helmets but he doesn’t even have a shirt on. Shrugging, Alice hands him one of our shotguns and a rifle.

We’re almost to the ridge about two miles to the east when the scout from that side, Rafael, rides over it. He stops to say he saw, from the next ridge, an Army unit in a running fight with a large Comanche war party. The outnumbered soldiers are heading this way at a gallop. He waited to get their attention then waved them toward us so they’re now heading this way instead of due south the way they were. I send him on to report to Jesus, José, and Alice with orders to prepare for battle and to keep a wagon out to allow the Army to ride in before closing the circle. Alice is to watch for me to ‘Cry havoc’ should the situation need it. He rides off.

We’re very fast covering the distance to the second ridge to see the running fight. It’s also clear the Army will be hard pressed very soon because their horses are tiring faster due to the heavier loads on them. I issue quick orders to my men and we all take up positions a bit turned to allow us to have accurate fire of our rifles from horse-back. The Army officer sees us on the ridge ready to help them, so he adjusts the angle of travel of his troop toward us.

Knowing how almost impossible it is to hit a man on a fast moving horse under these conditions we aren’t even going to try to. We target the horses of the lead attackers and open fire. A moment for the balls to travel to them and three horses drop dead as their riders are thrown face first into the ground, it looks like they break their necks when they hit. The fourth horse staggers before it falls so the rider is able to get clear, but it’s clear he’s unhappy with the situation. The rest of the war party diverts a bit to ride around the fallen horses, so this slows them as it opens the gap to the soldiers by an extra second or so. In this situation each second will mean lives. We fire three volleys to drop twelve horses for ten dead Comanche before we need to turn when the soldiers are almost to us. As per my earlier orders Steve drops his spare rifle into the boot on High Eagle’s horse and grabs his almost empty rifle when he turns to lead the Army to our camp. High Eagle turns to leave the ridge before heading off to some rocks and high scrub to the side as his orders are to hide there for the moment, and he takes the dogs with him. Tom and I swap our rifles for our shotguns.

As arranged we wait until the last of the soldiers are almost upon us before we charge forward to race across the face of the Comanche war party at a full gallop while both of us are emptying our shotguns into them as we cross their front. We kill or wound several in the process and cause confusion when the rest of the war party swerves to avoid the dead or injured Comanche and horses at the front of their charge. We’re able to wheel and follow the soldiers over the ridge before the Comanche can react to our charge because they never expected the two of us to charge the two hundred or so of them.

We’re able to join High Eagle in hiding before the Comanche top the ridge. It must surprise them to top the ridge to see Tom and I have vanished while the soldiers are still visible near the next ridge. The gap has opened quite a bit due to our actions. The Comanche head off after the soldiers while we watch them through the scrub.

A few minutes later we hear gunfire at the camp at the same time as four Indians on foot come trotting over the ridge. Tom and I get out our crossbows while High Eagle reaches for his bow. We all prepare to fire with bolts and arrows. We charge out when the Comanche are nearest to us. High Eagle is faster with the reloading so he gets two while Tom and I get one each. We leave them for the moment and head after the main war party.

In The Camp

According to the plans made at the start of the journey Alice takes over command of the wagon train as a whole when Ed rides off to see what the trouble is. Rafael rides in to deliver his report and the orders. Alice is very quick to issue orders. All of the women, children, and slaves are shifted to be in Ed’s wagons in the inner circle with Donna, Sue, and Mary in their mail and helmets spread around the inner circle with rifles, shotguns, and pistols ready. The men break up into two groups.

The civilians and most of the drivers employed by Ed have shotguns and rifles. Most of these men settle down in the front of the wagon seats for the wagons they drive because they’re part of the outer circle they’re under the command of Jesus and are to stay at their spot until ordered away. The guards and the rest of Ed’s wagon drivers are the designated mobile combat force carrying shotguns and rifles when they move about as required under the direction of José. Alice takes general charge of the whole combat force. Once the shooting starts Alice will be controlling the side where the main combat is with José taking his force where she tells him to, and Jesus will command the other side of the circle. This frees Alice up to watch the overall situation as it also puts a commander on each side of the defensive circle while leaving José free to concentrate on controlling his men knowing his flanks are covered.

The circle is formed with the last wagon almost in position but with a gap for the soldiers to ride into before some of the men push the wagon into its proper place to make the circle complete. José has his men spread along the section of the circle just before the gap. The way Alice has set this up the soldiers will ride past the men and into the gap at her right hand while leaving José and his men free to fire behind them at the Comanche braves, this will enable them to keep the Indians back from the men putting the wagon in place. Once that’s in place his men will move back under the wagons. Alice stands on a wagon seat where she can see it all and control the action on this side.

The soldiers top the ridge and see the wagon train with the wagon just a bit out of place. Since it’s obvious why it’s not in place they ride for the gap at the best speed their tired horses can manage and they don’t slow down until they’re inside the circle. The way the wagon is set they ride straight into the gap at an angle to the curve of the wagons then they curve a touch to ride around the inside of the circle between the two rows of wagons while they slow their horses down after they get well inside the protection of the wagons.

When the last soldier passes them the men waiting with the wagon push it into place while the mobile force kneeling along the outside of the wagon circle opens in controlled volley fire at the Comanche war party to kill many, wound some, and turn the rest of the force aside. The war party charges down this side of the now complete circle of wagons and it continues to ride around the circle. When they pass the men in the wagons the men open fire with their shotguns. They know they’ll have more chance of a hit with the shotguns than their rifles, and a dozen or so braves are killed.

Alice orders the mobile force inside the wagon line and they fall back in good order. Having circled the wagon train the five Comanche War Chiefs move off to a low hillock a bit to the north-east to study the situation before they talk over tactics while the main war party continues to ride around the wagon train to harass the defenders. A few of the attackers are killed on each circuit so they move a bit further out.

Seeing some of the soldiers are wounded Mary climbs down from her position and has them moved to inside the inner circle to where her girls can tend their wounds. Most are simple wounds which are quick to treat. A couple are more serious but still within her skills and are soon treated. While three are beyond her skills so she does what she can to stabilise them and prepare them for proper treatment by Ed after the fight.

The Captain in charge of the soldiers is surprised to find the defence of the wagon train is controlled by a woman so he starts to take over. He’s very surprised when she points a pistol at him, saying, “Captain, this is my wagon train and my people are defending it. We’ve got pre-set plans in place and prepared manoeuvres to match the needs of our forces out there waiting to attack our enemies. You have a choice to make. One, you can persist in being stupid by trying to take control, at which point I’ll shoot you. Two, you can be almost as stupid and just sit down against the inner wagons while you stay out of our way. Or three, you can be smart and place you men under my control with orders to obey my commands so we can go about killing the Comanche attacking us all.”

He gulps before he turns to his men to order them to do as told. He has no doubt these other men will do as she says and he knows the last thing they need right now is a divided command.

Time to Attack

Having killed the Comanche on foot I go and check the other side of the ridge while High Eagle collects his trophies. Only loose horses and dead men. Collecting Tom, High Eagle, and my canine cavalry I move to the ridge near the camp. As I expect, the Comanche War Chiefs have set up on the only high ground near the camp. Circling around behind the ridge we cross it well behind them to come up on the War Chiefs from behind. For once everything goes according to plan.

We make a quiet approach on the war chiefs while they talk, I lead by a few yards. On my signal Tom and I fire our crossbows to kill the first and third from the left while High Eagle kills the fourth in line. When the second from the left starts to turn my horse crosses the last couple of yards and I slide my Bowie knife under his ribs into his heart while High Eagle takes the one on the right with an arrow to the lungs.

Tom and I are visible to all those below us, but the Comanche are watching the wagon train. I wave at Alice when Tom and I get ready to attack while High Eagle sets about securing the horses of the dead and collecting his trophies, that gives him a count of three Comanche war chiefs plus a few braves when he stands before the tribal council to be declared a man, so they won’t be able to refuse him with such trophies.

The situation is almost perfect for us, low scrub over most of the open plain before us with the camp on a large flat area. The wagons are in a good circle with the Comanche circling in a clock-wise direction so they come from my right to go to my left and all their attention is on the men in the camp. Tom and I take time to reload our shotguns and rifles before setting a shield in place on each arm. We check all our weapons are ready and our helmets are firmly seated. I issue orders to the Great Danes to sneak down near to the Comanche and to hide for now.

We start down the small rise at a fast walk, speeding up as we go, and the dogs vanish in the brush. We’re almost to a gallop when we come up to the side of the Comanche. I give an attack howl, and I’m rewarded by the sound of Alice yelling, “Red One, cease fire.”

The Comanche look up in surprise when the men at the wagons stop firing, then pandemonium breaks out amongst them when Tom and I race down their line firing our shotguns into them from the blind side. Tom soon empties one shotgun and switches to his other one when I finish emptying both of mine. He can only use one gun at a time while I can use both and I’ve been firing alternative shotguns from both hands. Both of mine are soon empty so I switch to two pistols while we go down this side of the camp firing into the long line of Comanche curving around the wagons. We leave a trail of confusion and death.

Reaching the end of this line I give another howl and Alice yells, “Fire.” The whole side opens up in one huge volley killing many of the Comanche still milling around while they try to get themselves sorted out again. By now many of the braves from the other side have come around the circle and they swing wider to avoid the mass of stopped horses and dead warriors down this side of the camp.

Tom and I move out wider and take out our rifles. Sitting there we take aimed shots at the Comanche milling about in a slow walk just north of the camp. Once we empty our rifles in long range shots I decide it’s time to send the rest on their way home, or to Hell.

The Comanche are milling about a bit north of the wagons and have picked a new leader who’s trying to work out what to do, with Tom and I just south of the wagons we’re about half a mile apart. Standing up high in the stirrups I draw the two pistols from my hips to raise them above my head while I give out with a long howl. Even from here I can see Alice’s face go white because she now knows my plan for this next part of the combat with this Comanche war party.

In the Camp

Hearing Ed’s howl Alice goes white, and she orders, “Cease fire and stand ready for volley fire with rifles. All men to cease fire and stand by for volley fire with rifles.” José looks at her and she nods, “Prepare for the Havoc. You’ll fire on my command and only on my command, one round in each volley as ordered. Aim at their chests, and may the Lord bless us all.” She stands there waiting until all of the men signal they’ve finished reloading. She almost whispers, “Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war,” before giving a howl. The Captain hears her comment and turns to look at her, “Know your Shakespeare, do you Captain?” He nods yes, “Then stand by and watch it happen.” Which confuses him.

Havoc

Hearing Alice’s howl lets me know she’s ready. I howl as I sign for Tom to start forward with me. We both have pistols in our hands.

Seeing us two move toward them the Comanche start to head toward us. We soon speed up through a trot to a gallop and they do the same. I give another long howl, and I’m rewarded by Alice’s, “Fire.” One volley rips into the Comanche and it upsets their momentum. I howl again for another volley, but they’re not so affected this time. Tom and I open up with our pistols in rapid fire. I’ve hardly time to empty both pistols and grab another with my left hand while I grab my sword with my right hand and I give out with a different very long howl when we meet the lead Comanche warriors.

I’m rewarded by the sound of Alice’s shout of, “Don’t shoot until I say to.” There’s a movement of canine blurs from just behind the Indians. Again I timed it well as the attackers are just my side of where the Great Danes have been waiting their chance. They burst out of the brush to jump up and attack the twelve rearmost Comanche while I shoot one on my left and slice my sword down to take off the hand reaching toward me with a short lance and Tom uses his left shield to block a lance while shooting a Comanche to his right. Both sides are moving so fast I only have time to fire four shots before I’m through the pack. I give another howl to call the dogs to me. When they stop and turn I hear Alice shout, “Fire,” and the wagon train seems to be alive with fire when this side flashes with the men’s gunfire. Again, “Fire.” Many Comanche fall with each volley. They reach the other end of the wagon train and stop.

The lead Comanche turn around, and are very shocked to see so many of their war party dead, killed in the last charge. They also see me standing tall in my saddle with Tom just behind me while he reloads his shotgun and twelve large dogs are arrayed out in a ‘V’ line behind me, six on each side. I don’t know which shocks them the most, the sudden appearance of the huge dogs or their losses. I almost jump when I hear High Eagle shouting to the Comanche and some turn toward him sitting on his horse with the horses of their war chiefs behind him. A few hear what he has to say and turn toward the ridge. Soon the remaining thirty or so of the Comanche are riding away.

Seeing them leaving I move over to a dead horse and I get off Breeze. Kneeling beside the horse I start cutting chunks off and offering them to the dogs, each comes up in order and I give them the meat. Plus a good petting and checking for injuries while I tell them what a good job they did. After I’ve given them each a good slice of horse meat I remove the blanket and reins before telling them to finish the carcass, then Diana takes over to control the order of who eats where while I move off.

Arriving at the camp I find the Army Captain staring at me while he leads some men out to do a quick patrol to make sure the Comanche keep going. He tells me he has no intention of continuing the hostilities as he just doesn’t want them to stop within the first few miles. I nod and I slowly walk into camp. Pedro comes up and takes Breeze away to feed and clean him while I walk to Alice. She gives me a hug and hands me a tablet to take with some water. I look at the tablet and raise an eyebrow, she says, “Three of the wounded soldiers need your help if they’re to live.” I slowly nod and down the tablet to wake me up and give me energy before I move toward the inner circle where we have the medical gear set up for treating people during a fight.

After examining the three men I explain what their situation is and I make sure they understand they’ll survive their injuries but won’t be as fit as they were. They all nod their agreement and I set about operating on the two simple ones first. One has a wound high in the thigh with the ball still in it. After cutting it out I clean the wound, sew him up, and give him a high dose antibiotic tablet. The second has a wound through his left side. I have to cut him up some more to sew up the damaged internal parts before sewing him back together and issue another antibiotic tablet. The last is the hard one. I’m just starting when the Captain returns and stands there watching me while I amputate the man’s leg: the shin was demolished by a ball and I elect to remove his leg at the joint. This way I can use most of the remaining muscle and skin to make a good pad for the stump. It’s a long and painstaking process as I operate for nearly two hours before I finish and pass him over into the care of Mary’s nursing staff: she’s trained several of my slaves in basic nursing skills.

When I stand to stretch my back I look about and see most of the dead Comanche have been dragged off while one of the wagons has its back open, this one had been almost empty and it’s now almost full with guns, blankets, etc. from the dead Comanche. Alice walks over with a hot cup of coffee for me to which I smile my thanks while I walk to a stool and sit down. The Captain follows and thanks me for the help.

We sit and talk for a while and I mention the other Comanche war parties we’d run into so far on this trip. He’s surprised about the number of parties and their sizes. It seems the Comanche are getting stirred up. He explains his force was on its way to Doña Anna from Fort Conrad in response to a request for help from some prominent citizens when they got jumped by the Comanche earlier. Being well out numbered he elected to make a run for it. As it is he lost ten men and now he has three more men unfit for duty out of his original troop of sixty-five men, and that doesn’t count the other seven Mary has put on light duties for the next few days to recover from minor wounds. He’s very worried since his men aren’t supposed to be this far south. But the request went direct to the fort’s commander from an old and trusted friend with a warning of corruption in the governor’s office so his trip is without higher level orders or coverage.

I smile while saying, “Captain, I think we’re hunting the same animal. I’m after a bunch of murdering bigots who’re out to take over control of the territory to make it their own kingdom. So you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone you’re out of your patrol zone. But I’d suggest when you write up your report you mention running into a war party and pursuing it south then getting jumped by an even larger war party when you started back so you tried to avoid contact by heading further south but they pursued you, eventually catching up with you near where we met up. That should help give you the justification for more troops and a wider patrol area in future, something you clearly need if the Comanche are getting restless again.” He smiles at the thought, “As for continuing into Doña Anna, why that’s just the luck of the draw. Your men are very worn out and need to rest, you have seriously injured who won’t survive the ride back to Fort Conrad, and I’m an important local citizen making a request for Army help to provide extra security for my wagon train going to Doña Anna. You’re only doing your duty to the people and looking after the welfare of your men by staying with your injured while you’re with the only doctor in the area as you accompany us to Doña Anna.” This gets a bigger smile, “See to feeding your men, Captain, we’ve plenty of good food and lots of horse meat for tonight’s stew. Bed them down and I’ll write a formal request for your help in the morning, along with a formal report on the health of your men.” He nods his agreement and heads off to order his junior officer and sergeants to have the men organised and bedded down for the night.

A little later Jesus stops by to tell me none of our people suffered anything more than a few scratches and they’ve removed one hundred and sixty-three dead Comanche to an arroyo about half a mile away. I thank him and ask him to pass on my thanks to the men and to say they did a good job. He smiles and nods before he moves away to let High Eagle talk to me. It seems I’ve a line-up of people waiting to see me.

High Eagle explains he told the Comanche my Mescalero name and said I’m a great spirit warrior so no ordinary warrior can kill me. He also passed on my warning about staying away from my lands. I thank him and remind him to check he has all of his own horses individually marked so they can be easily cut out when he later needs to do so. After him are some people with rather mundane wagon train problems which I’m happy to hear about for once. I don’t like having to resolve these petty issues, but after today’s major ones they’re a nice reminder of daily life and it continuing.

The next morning we break camp early and get going. We make good time and arrive at the small town of San Diego just before dusk, so we’re fast to make camp on the north edge of town. This town is about halfway between Santa Barbara and Doña Anna.

San Diego

The next morning I’m up early and heading into town on foot with Tom, Steve, Paz, Martez, and Loki. There’s one known The Cause person in the town and I’d like to deal with him before he knows I’m about.

We’re heading for a combination hotel / saloon / restaurant that’s said to be the fanciest place in town. Turning off the main street we enter the street with the target to find a fancy coach pulled up outside the hotel. Two men are dragging a Mexican girl in her late teens toward the building. I may have ignored it if she hadn’t been bound and gagged.