Chapter Nineteen—A Very Unpleasant Surprise

     Julie and I left early the next morning for the camp in the mountains. We took enough provisions to stay for about two weeks, which hopefully would be sufficient to end that part of my assignment. From what I had seen before, it didn’t really appear that the Indians would make whatever attack they were going to make within that time frame, but I couldn’t be sure. We needed to keep an eye on them, obviously, so that appropriate defensive—or offensive—measures could be taken.
     Julie asked me on the way, “Do you like either of those plans, Operation Bottle Neck or Operation Spit on Them from the Canyon Ridge?”
     I chuckled at her colorful names of the plans suggested last night. “I don’t like any plan that will get a lot of people killed, not if there is a plan that won’t. It would be nice if we would respect other people’s cultures a little more, especially if they were here first. It’s not like there aren’t any other places in this country to mine. But, in the eyes of the government, army, and mining people, we stole the Indians land fair and square and so now we feel we’re entitled to kill to keep it. It’s understandable that the natives would want to protect something sacred to them.”
     “Couldn’t they just go to the government and tell them the situation?”
     “And what do you think the answer would be?”
     Julie made a face. “Yeah, the answer would be decided by whoever greased the most palms. Namely, the mining company.”
     “That’s the way it works.”
     The man who had relieved us a couple days before, Francisco, was at the camp when we arrived. “Not much change,” he said, concerning the Indians. I questioned him some, but his answers were so vague and nebulous that I concluded he had probably never even gone to the mesa. He would leave the next morning and Julie and I would get on with the scouting.
     We had arrived back at the camp on Thursday, and went back to the mesa the next day. It was hard to tell how much, if any, the Indian numbers had grown, but they were booming the drums again, apparently providing an audible homing pigeon for any others who might want to show up. I scanned the camp with the field glasses.
     “Are the women still there?” Julie asked.
     “Yeah, they are, and there are more of them, too, perhaps 20 or so. Of course, they may have been here earlier in the week and been inside a teepee or something. Which means there might be more than 20 there now. Hard to tell.”
     And then I saw something totally shocking…

     My eyes became transfixed. That looks like…no, it can’t be, she’s wearing Indian garb…but then I got a full frontal view of her face…Robin…oh, no, no, that’s Robin…My heart fell into my stomach. I thought I’d never see her again, but there she was—in the Indian camp, one of the white women who had obviously been stolen away from their home. But why is she dressed like that? None of the others are. Maybe that’s not really her, just a squaw who looks like her…But just then, I saw her go into a nearby teepee. I put the glasses aside and rubbed my eyes.
     Julie sensed a change in me and asked me what was wrong. I just shook my head, and replied, “A sense of frustration. There’s just no way to get those women out, that I can see.” I tried to think about some kind of diversion, just as Robin had, but even if I could create one, how would I get 20+ women out of that canyon? Frankly, it didn’t look good for any of those ladies, and Robin was down there among them. I was in such angst I thought I would scream. Julie had helped provide a little balm to cover the pain of my Julie, and then Robin, and I thought maybe I was on the way to at least being able to live with it. But now, to see Robin again…and in a dangerous situation…and I had no way to help her…I recklessly thought about charging headlong into the Indian camp and trying to rescue her, but that was ridiculous, of course. I wouldn’t get anywhere near her. There had to be some other way.
     Of course, I had no way of knowing that the Nipita had promised to let all the women go eventually, nor did I know that Robin was working on an escape scheme of her own. I wouldn’t have believed the first, but wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised by the second.
     About forty five minutes later, I saw her emerging from the teepee. Just to confirm, I thought I’d get Julie’s opinion on the race of that new woman. I handed her the binoculars. “Julie, take a look at that woman down there.” I pointed. “The one in the Indian dress. Is that a white woman or not?”
     Julie took the glasses. “Hmm,” she murmured. “She looks like one, but in that getup, she could be a very light-skinned Indian.” She glanced at me. “Maybe a squaw of one of the braves?” She looked again through the glasses.
     “Yes, that’s possible, but she sure looks white to me.”
     “Yeah, she does, but none of the other women are dressed like that. She could be a white woman married to one of the Indians. That’s not unheard of, is it?”
     “No, it isn’t,” and the thought pained me a bit, but then I dismissed it. That would have been an awfully quick engagement if Robin was now married to an Indian. Of course, she might have been engaged to him before and not told me. But, then, she had just come from back east, so how could she be engaged to an Indian? My brain was going in circles….
     Julie handed the glasses back to me. “If it wasn’t for her dress, I’d say she was definitely white. With the dress, I’m about 95% sure. Maybe she’s just washing her clothes and that was all she could find to wear.”
     I chuckled. “Well, those ladies are doing a lot of clothes washing, that’s for sure,” I said studying the lady in question again—if there was any question. I was just hoping it wasn’t her. But then she lifted her head and it appeared as if she were looking right at me. There was no way she could see me, of course, but for a few seconds, it certainly seemed she was staring at me. And then I had no doubt. It was Robin. Nobody else could be that beautiful. Not even my Julie…or this Julie…and I winced at that thought. Has Robin really replaced…? No, she will never do that completely…but still, my heart was racing…just to see her again…Then I mentally sighed. Probably be the last time I ever see her…and I guess I should consider myself lucky to have seen her this second time…but I wish I could talk to her…and what are they doing to her? What WILL they do to her?…Angst, angst, and more angst filled my soul. How can I get her out of there?…
     I put it aside as best I could, and Julie and I continued to survey the Indian stronghold. Frankly, it could get a little boring, lying there all day, watching the camp, because nothing really changed much. But I needed to be there, just in case. And occasionally, there were different things to report, like the appearance of the women and the delivery of rifles by that big, bearded fellow, Josie Dexter. All the same, it was nice to have Julie along to talk to and be a second pair of eyes.
    We headed back to our camp in the late afternoon. But my mind was on the Indian camp…

     Julie knew that something wasn’t quite right. Ever since Rob had seen that new woman this morning, he seemed a little more tense, a little quieter, a little more distant. She wanted to know, so as they were lying near the fire in the dark, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
     He didn’t reply immediately, he continued to gaze up at the stars. “Oh, it’s nothing important.”
     But Julie wasn’t going to be put off that easily. “It was that new woman we saw at the Indian camp today, isn’t it.”
     Rob looked at her. Julie was afraid he might be mad. But he wasn’t. “Yeah. I know her.”
     “Oh. A…good friend of yours.”
     Rob looked back at the sky. He shrugged. “No, I wouldn’t say that. That doesn’t really matter. I know her. It’s different when you know somebody, I guess. The other women, I mean, that’s a tragedy, an aggravation, a frustration. But in one sense they are just faces without names. But when it’s somebody you know…” He turned his gaze back to Julie. “Does that make any sense?”
     Julie smiled at him. “Yes, of course it does. When somebody you don’t know dies, you don’t really think about it unless it’s brought directly to your attention. But if somebody you know dies, well, that’s different.”
     “Yeah. I guess that’s it.”
     Julie was silent for a moment. Then softly, she said, “Those women are going to die, aren’t they.”
     “Not if I can do anything about it. But I’m not sure, at the moment, what I can do. I’m not a gambler, but, at the moment, I wouldn’t bet in their favor if I was.”
     She cuddled up next to him and shuddered. “It isn’t going to be pretty, is it.” Everybody in the west had heard the horrid tales of how Indians treated captives—female and male. As Rob had indicate to Julie earlier, death was a much, much better fate.
     “No. Especially if the Indians lose.”
     “Isn’t there something we can do?" 
     "Not that I know of at the moment. I’m trying to think of something. We can pray. And we can hope the army can do something. Other than that, I don’t know what.”
     “Maybe they can escape somehow.”
    “Maybe.”
     But how?

     At Fort Tyler, on Thursday, two days after the meeting described above, Colonel Ratliff and his officers were finalizing their plans. “Ok, we’ll put 100 men on top of each canyon wall. They can start firing. This should force the Indians to flee out of the mouth of the canyon, where we will have the rest of the men stationed. About 900, maybe some more if Veal can get some help in Whitewater. When’s he supposed to be back anyway?” he asked Major Underwood.
     “Tomorrow, sir.”
     Ratliff nodded. “100 troops will remain here to guard the fort. We will leave next Wednesday, get into position on Thursday, and start the attack on Friday morning. We’ll send out a small advance party under Wigwam to search for Indian sentries and eliminate them. Major, please tell the next runner that I demand that my daughter return to the fort by no later than Tuesday. I want to know she is here, and safe, before I leave on Wednesday. Mr. Constance is to stay there, and head this way on Wednesday. We will meet him on the way, and he can give us his report.”
     “Yes, sir.”
     He looked around the room. “Any questions?”
     There were none.
    “Gentlemen,” Ratliff concluded, “I don’t need to tell you the importance of this mission. Many, many lives are at stake, and we will be facing perhaps the largest Indian force ever assembled, more than at Little Big Horn. I will expect all of you to behave as true soldiers and do your duty. Pass that along to your men as well. With good timing and God’s help, we will be victorious. That is all.”
     The men filed out of the room, some of them talking together. Colonel Benjamin Ratliff frowned. We may need even more than God’s help on this one…

     Saturday morning Julie and I went back to the mesa to resume our scouting of the Indian encampment. Things didn’t look much different than they had the day before, but we kept an eye on the place anyway. I scanned the area where I’d seen Robin the day before and, there she is. Still wearing that Indian outfit…
     “Is your friend still there?” Julie asked me.
     “Yeah. And all the other women, too, as far as I can tell.” I put the glasses aside, thinking. What can I do, what can I do, what can I do?…
     Julie must have been reading my thoughts. “What are you going to do?”
     I glanced at her and gave her a wry grin. “You’re reading my mind. And I don’t know the answer to your question yet. But I’m going to have to do something. I’m not going to let her, and those other women, be killed.” Then I sighed and shook my head. “But I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I’ll stay here tonight, reconnoiter, see how the night watch is. Maybe I can find a way to sneak into camp late at night. I don’t know. But I need to get as much information as I can before I do anything.”
     Julie touched my arm, and I looked at her. “Rob, going down there would be suicide and you know it.”
     “Maybe, maybe not. Again, I won’t know that for sure until I see how things are set up at night. But I’m sure you’re right in that it wouldn’t be easy.”
     She was silent for a few moments, troubled. “Can I stay here with you tonight?”
     I smiled at her. “I’m counting on it. We’ll go back to camp and meet the runner and then get up here again about sunset. I want to see what happens at night, how well the women’s teepees are guarded, number and location of sentries, that sort of thing. We’ll do that for three or four nights, see if I can detect some kind of pattern that I can use as an advantage.”
     I continued to scan the camp periodically, but didn’t really see anything new. A few times I didn’t see Robin, but that didn’t mean anything. The women moved around a lot doing their duties.
     As planned, Julie and I arrived back at the mesa around sunset. There were a lot of fires going now as meals were being prepared. I saw Robin stirring a pot of something. My heart ached every time I saw her. Julie—this Julie—had been wonderful, and like some of the men Robin had been with, she had been able, at times, to divert my mind. But now, to see her again…well, objectively, I couldn’t change my resolve. Finish this assignment for the army, help stop the Indian attack, rescue Robin and the other women if at all possible, and, if I survived all of that, head north as I had planned on doing.
     Yeah. Just like pigs can fly to the moon….