Markeson Freight Mule Skinners

"Well, now that this boy has talked me out of my profit on that pistol, do you want the Remington?"

When Ezekiel walked out of the store with the Remington stuck in his pants and carrying a cotton sack, the boy was waiting outside the door. He grinned at Ezekiel.

"Did you talk him down any more."

Ezekiel smiled.

"No, but ten for the Remington was a fair price. He did sell me two spare cylinders for another four dollars though. You headed to the mule barn now?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, I'll walk along with you then. What's your name?"

The boy smiled.

"I'm Joseph Wheelwright. Who might you be?"

"Ezekiel Thompson."

"Where you from, Ezekiel Thompson?"

"From Pennsylvania. If I heard right back at the freight office, you're from Virginia. That where you learned to bargain like you did back there?"

Joseph smiled.

"Yeah, I learned that from my daddy. He always told me the first price wasn't the real price and I should try half that much and then bargain up from there. I had nine dollars left from what Mama gave me, but if I'd said five, he might have said yes, so I said three. I didn't figure he'd take three so I said I needed balls, caps, and a power flask with powder so he could raise his price a little and think he'd talked me out of more money."

Ezekiel smiled back. He liked this boy even though they were at least six years different in age. The boy seemed mature beyond his years, but Ezekiel could understand that. The war had aged everyone who had been touched by it, even if they hadn't done any fighting themselves.

His thoughts were interrupted by the boy's voice.

"What did you do in Philadelphia."

Ezekiel hesitated. He hadn't anticipated anyone asking him that question. He'd have to lie, but he thought the boy was young enough he'd believe him.

"I enlisted as soon as the war started, so I didn't do anything except be a soldier."

Joseph frowned.

"Union I suppose."

"Yes, I was in the Union Army."

"What'd you do in the army? Ever shoot anybody?"

"No, I never shot anybody. I drove the wagons that took food and ammunition to the battlefields."

Joseph looked up at Ezekiel.

"It didn't take you long to pick that Remington out of all those other pistols. How'd you know it was the best of the lot, like the storekeeper said?"

"Well, I talked to a lot of men who carried revolvers and they said the Remington was better. They said with the extra cylinders, you can load it faster. I just thought if somebody attacks the wagons, it would be good to be able to shoot fast."

"Think you can shoot a man if you have to?"

Ezekiel thought about that for a few moments. He'd been trained to save life. Could he do the opposite, end a man's life, even if that man was trying to kill him?

"I don't know. I suppose it would depend upon the circumstances. Could you?"

Joseph frowned.

"I don't know either. I guess I'd have to if it was him or me."

When they arrived at the mule barn, Ezekiel asked a man forking straw and manure into a wheelbarrow if Willard was there. The man leaned his fork against the cart.

"I'm Willard. Whatcha want?"

Ezekiel explained he and Joseph had been sent by the freight agent to become drivers. Willard looked them up and down and then frowned.

"Damn Jason's hide anyway. Never sends a man or two to clean the mule shit out of the barn, but he can send me teamsters who don't know nothin' 'bout drivin' mules. Ain't neither of you look like you ever even seen a mule. You don't look mean enough, and the boy here, well he looks like he'd sooner play at rollin' hoops than ride a mule from here to Denver and back.

"I suppose Jason told you I'd show you how. Well come on then. I got a train waitin' to start soon's as they're loaded. You ride with that train on the first trip so's you learn how. You do good, I'll put you in a train by yourselves.

}{

That first trip had been interesting for Ezekiel. From Cheyenne to Denver, he'd ridden the right hand wheeler and watched what Elmer did. From Denver back to Cheyenne, they'd reversed places and when he'd successfully pulled the freight wagon up to the railroad dock, Elmer shook his hand and wished him well. Joseph had also learned quickly, and would be assigned as a driver too.

Tonight, they'd stop at the river like they always did. It was one of several stopping places the freight company had built and supplied for the wagon trains. There would be water and feed for the mules and a fence to keep them at the stopover during the night. That was the end of the comforts though. It would be almost dark by the time he got the harness off the mules, brushed the dirt from their coats and then fed and watered them. He'd eat, maybe spend a little time around the fire, and then spread his bedroll under the wagon.

Dawn would find him harnessing the mules after he'd already had some bacon and corn cakes and a cup of coffee. By the time the sun peeked over the mountains, he'd be on Cyrus' back again and moving down the trail.

Joseph always met him for meals and liked to sit around the fire for a while at night. Ezekiel found that comforting. He couldn't seem to get close to any of the other men. He found it odd that he could enjoy being with a boy so young and that Joseph seemed to like being with him. He could understand why the boy would because he remembered being eighteen and leaving home for the first time. He'd felt lost until he'd made a few friends.

When Ezekiel thought about that, he decided that was why he liked Joseph as well. He hadn't had any real friends during the war. Most of the other doctors were older than he, so they didn't have anything in common except medicine. The other thing was that, just like Ezekiel, they didn't want to talk to anyone lest they show their despair at watching the wounded and sick die. It was easier and better for the mind to just become hardened to the blood and gore and death and keep those feelings inside. The wounded men just became legs and arms and bodies with no faces then. If they'd talked to anyone about them, the faces would have come back.

Joseph was also the only other man on the train he felt comfortable with because of the language the teamsters used. Ezekiel wasn't a very religious person, but he didn't like all the swearing and the talk about which whore in Denver was the best like the other mule skinners did. He'd never heard Joseph swear at a mule that was acting up when he harnessed him, and Joseph had never talked about a woman at all. They'd just talked about what they were going to do when they got to Denver or when they got back to Cheyenne.

After the second trip they made together, it was obvious to Ezekiel that it was difficult for Joseph to harness his mules. The boy was short and the heavy mules were tall. When Joseph held up the start one morning, Ezekiel started helping him. Ezekiel would get his mules harnessed and ready, tie them to the corral fence, and then go help Joseph so he wouldn't hold up the wagon train. By the time they'd made five trips together, Ezekiel looked on Joseph as more brother than friend.

The wagon train could only travel about fifteen miles a day because mules were not like horses. A horse could be forced to pull until it dies, but mules are smarter. When they get too tired to pull, they just stop, so it was important to let them rest before they got to that point. There were places along the way where the wagon train would stop to let the mules rest, and the mule skinners would check their mules for chafing harness, a stone in a hoof, or anything else that might stop a mule from pulling.

}{

Two days away from Cheyenne and loaded down with silver, Ezekiel had checked all his mules and found nothing of concern, and was walking back to Joseph' team when he heard gun shots ring out from the front of the train. A few seconds later there was more gunfire and the shots were getting closer.

He ran behind the mules until he reached his wagon, and then crouched behind the front wheel and drew the Remington from his belt.

Several men rode down the length of the wagon train while firing their pistols at the men crouched behind the wagon wheels or standing behind a mule. All the teamsters were firing back, and with some effect. Three riderless horses went past Ezekiel followed by five more men on horseback. He cocked the hammer on the Remington, aimed it at the closest rider, and pulled the trigger. He missed, but the rider stopped and turned in the direction of the shot. A bullet nicked the wagon spoke above Ezekiel's head as he cocked the hammer, aimed at the now stationary man, and pulled the trigger.

The man dropped the pistol as he fell from the horse. Another outlaw rode up and stopped to look down at the fallen man. He was still looking when Ezekiel's bullet hit him in the chest.

Ezekiel had cocked the hammer on the Remington again when he heard another man on horseback yell, "Thisun's just a boy. He won't be no trouble. Ezekiel looked in that direction and saw three men dismount and start for Joseph' wagon. They took a few steps and then there were three quick shots. Two of the men fell. The third ran back to his horse, holding his shoulder, and once again mounted, fired two shots at Joseph' wagon. Ezekiel heard a cry, and then the man turned his horse and rode off in the direction of the mountains. Ezekiel counted four more men riding behind him. The man in the rear didn't make it. A volley of shots from somewhere up the train of wagons cut him down.

Ezekiel crawled out from the wheel and ran to Joseph' wagon. He found the boy laying on the ground behind the rear wheel, and what he saw made his blood run cold. Joseph was holding his thigh and his trousers were dark with blood. The boy's face was a mask of pain, the same face Ezekiel had seen so often during the war.

"They shot me, Ezekiel. It burns like fire."

Another one of the mule skinners, an older man named Joshua who was in charge of the wagon train, ran up to Joseph' wagon.

"Boy, you all right? Can't find your friend Ezekiel. Is he with ya?"

Ezekiel shouted back, "I'm with him and Joseph is hurt. I don't know how bad yet."

Joshua stopped and looked under the wagon.

"You take care of him as best you can. We've lost two men and six mules. This ain't the best place to stop, but we'll have to stop here and get everything sorted out before we keep goin'."

Joshua went on down the line of wagons then, and Ezekiel straightened out Joesph's injured leg. The boy cried out in agony. Ezekiel quickly unbuttoned the boy's fly and pulled his trousers down to his knees, then sat there in disbelief for a few beats of his heart.

"Joseph, what is this? You're not a boy. You're a woman."

Joseph grimaced in pain, but nodded.

"Yes. My name is Josephine."

Ezekiel sat back in shock.

"But how...why..."

Josephine groaned and then answered.

"I'll tell you after you take care of my leg, but you have to promise not to tell anybody else. If you can't do anything for me, just let me die and bury me without telling any of the men."

Ezekiel frowned at what he was going to say, but he couldn't let Joseph, or Josephine, suffer any longer.

"Joseph, I mean, Josephine, I was a doctor during the war. I know what to do. We'll stay under the wagon, but the rest of the men will be trying to figure out how to get started again so I don't think they'll bother us."

Josephine caught her breath when Ezekiel touched the bloody place on her thigh. Why did this have to happen? It was like life was conspiring against her, putting her in situations that caused her pain and suffering. She'd left Virginia hoping to leave the pain and suffering there behind, but it seemed to have found her again.

Ezekiel forced himself to look away from the dark brown hair between Josephine's thighs and back to her injury. The skills of the doctor he'd trained to be came back to him as began examining the wound.

It looked worse than it was. The bullet was a lot smaller than the minié balls used by both armies during the wall, and had only cut a shallow furrow just under the skin of her inner thigh. The wound was still bleeding a little, but not bad enough she was going to bleed to death.

He thought of the bag of medical instruments he had in his sack in the wagon, but remembered he had no catgut to stitch the wound closed. He'd have to make do without them. What he really needed was a way to clean the wound and something to tie over it. During the war, he'd used alcohol and cotton cloth bandages to do that.

Ezekiel remembered Isaac, the cook, carried two bottles of whiskey "in case somebody gets hisself bit by a rattler", he said, but Ezekiel had seen Samuel pull the cork and take a swig or two before before he went to bed. His spare shirt would have to work for a bandage. He looked at Josephine.

"I'm gonna pull your trousers back up so nobody will see you, and then I have to go get a couple things. If anybody comes by, you tell them I said you're not hurt bad and that I'll be right back."

Ezekiel pulled Josephine' trousers back up to her waist and pulled her shirt down over the open fly, then crawled out from under the wagon and ran to the front of the wagon train where he knew the cook's wagon would be. When he got there, two men were carrying the cook away, and Joshua followed them with a shovel over his shoulder.

Ezekiel didn't waste time looking for somebody to tell him it was all right to take the whiskey. He unlatched the back of the cook's wagon and then searched through the compartments of the chuck box until he found the bottles and took one. He also saw several towels the cook used to clean and dry his pots and other utensils after using them, and grabbed two from the top of the stack.

Half an hour later, Ezekiel had slit the skin that covered the wound, flushed and wiped the wound with the whiskey until it looked clean, and had torn one of the towels into strips. One of the strips he folded to make a pad that he soaked a little with more whiskey. He used two more to tie the pad to Josephine' thigh and over the wound. After he pulled her trousers back up and fastened the buttons, he smiled.

"I got it as clean as I can and it's about stopped bleeding. I'll have to check it a couple times a day, but I think you'll be all right. Let me get you out from under this wagon. After that, I need find Joshua to see what we're going to do now."

Ezekiel left Josephine sitting against the front wheel in the shade of her wagon, and then went to find out what they were going to do to get back to Cheyenne. He found Joshua standing with the remaining two mule skinners. When Ezekiel joined them, he started explaining.

"We've got two teamsters, six mules, and the cook dead and one teamster, the boy, is hurt too bad to drive. It'll take us a little longer, but we can still get to Cheyenne. What we have to do is hitch two wagons together and put the mules from the second wagon into the hitch of the first. The wagons are set up to do that. Jeremy, Michael, and I know how to hitch 'em that way and we can handle the mules it's going to take to pull them so we three will take the wagons. Ezekiel, you don't have much experience, so you'll drive the cook's wagon and take Joseph with you. That way, he can lay down in the back if he needs to.

"It'll take us the rest of the day to get the wagons hitched together, so we'll have to spend the night here. Go un-harness your teams and tie them to the first, third, and fifth wagons. We'll use my team to pull the other wagons up to the rear hitch. Tomorrow morning we'll get started again.

"When we come to a downhill stretch, we'll stop everything and take the wagons down one at a time so one of the drivers can work the brakes on the second wagon. Just keep your eyes peeled for those outlaw bastards. They might decide to come back. We'll leave the ones we shot where they fell to let the rest know if they try again, the same thing will happen to them."

After the two teamsters and the cook were buried next to the trail and their graves marked with stakes, all the men pitched in to rearrange the train. The sun was going down behind the mountains by the time they got the heavy wagons hitched together and it had taken every man to do it. The mules could pull the wagon most of the way, but the last foot had to be done slowly to guide the tongue to the rear hitch on the lead wagon. That meant using prybars on the wheels to roll the heavy wagon forward an inch at a time. Once that was done, Ezekiel helped Josephine limp to the cook's wagon, then went back and brought both their bags and bedrolls. He asked her if she wanted to sleep in the wagon and she laughed.

"Why would you ask that after I've slept on the ground all these nights? My leg hurts, but I'm not some cripple. Just spread my bedroll out under the cook's wagon right beside yours. I'll be fine. I'm hungry though. Who's going to make supper since the cook got killed?"

The problem of supper was solved when Joshua walked up and told Ezekiel since he was driving the cook's wagon, he'd have to serve as the cook.

"We gotta get the harness off the mules now and give 'em a drink and feed 'em. All them mules is gonna take about three hours since there's just the three of us, and it'll be dark by then. You throw some beans and bacon in the pot and heat 'em up so's we'll have something to eat."

When he walked off, Ezekiel turned to Josephine.

"You know how to cook beans? I don't."

She smiled, and Ezekiel thought her smile was different. Then he realized it wasn't her smile that was different. It was the way he saw the smile.

"Just put the beans in the pot and cover them with water while you build the fire. They'll soak up the water and get soft. Then put in the bacon and put the pot over the fire and let them cook. That's all you have to do except stir them once in a while so they don't stick and burn."

}{

The wagon train started for Cheyenne the next morning, and in spite of his urging, Josephine wouldn't lay down in the wagon. She did get inside so Ezekiel could check her wound again. It was oozing a little, so he cleaned it with more whiskey and changed the bandage, then helped her climb back into the wagon seat.

Since the cook's wagon was lighter than the freight wagons and could travel faster, the cook's wagon was always in the front of the wagon train. The nearest wagon would normally be a little over a hundred feet back, but with two short hitches of mules pulling the doubled wagons, that distance stretched to over a hundred and fifty feet.

As a result, for most of the trip back to Cheyenne, Ezekiel and Josephine were essentially alone. The first day, she told him why she'd come west and why she'd dressed like a boy instead of a woman.

"When I told the man at the freight office my daddy was killed in the war, I lied a little. It wasn't my daddy who got killed at Gettysburg. It was my husband, William. The rest was true. William was a sharecropper, like I said, and the Union did take our farm.

"I would have gotten married again if there'd been any men around, but there weren't. A lot of them had been killed in the war, and most of the men who did come back were already married. Mama and Daddy wanted me to keep living with them until I found a husband, but I couldn't do that. They barely had enough for two people to get by.

"I decided if I was going to find a man, I'd have to go where the men were and that meant out here. Now, I don't know about Pennsylvania, but in Virginia, a woman traveling by herself is usually a ...well, she's not a proper lady. I didn't want people to think that about me. People wouldn't think much about a young boy traveling by himself because there were a lot of boys and young men going west after the war.

"Mama cut my hair like a boy and Daddy gave me two sets of his clothes. All the Union money Daddy had was twenty-six gold dollars, and he said I'd need some money. He said he could get more once things settled down, so he gave twenty to me and I bought a train ticket to Omaha. I'd read that there was work there because towns were springing up along the new railroad to the west coast.