Under the Distant Sky (14 page)

P
recisely on schedule, Ezra Comstock trotted his horse past the line of wagons. When he reached the lead wagon, he stood up in the stirrups and thrust his arm forward. “Wagons, ho-o-o!”

As Hannah held up the reins, eagerly awaiting her wagon’s turn to move, she glanced down at Patty Ruth. The little girl’s eyes glinted with excitement, and she squeezed her best friend “Hang on, Ulysses. Here we go!”

Mary Beth held on to Biggie, who was yapping as if he understood that he and his family were starting the biggest adventure of their lives.

When the wagon in front of Hannah lurched forward, she snapped the reins and mimicked the other drivers, shouting, “Yee-haw! Yee-haw!”

It was a beautiful sight—the long line of white-covered wagons stretching westward, men walking beside their wagons, and riders sitting tall and straight on their mounts. The happy laughter of children rode the air, along with the barking chorus of dogs.

Chris rode beside his father, who limped along with a smile on his face.

Hannah twisted around on the seat to look at Independence one last time. The lump in her throat came back as she thought of her parents.

Suddenly a tidal wave of doubt washed over Hannah, filling her mind with questions. Were her parents right? Were the Coopers making a big mistake? Would they be miserable and unhappy at Fort Bridger?

She steeled herself and looked down at Solomon as he walked beside the wagon, remembering his words of a few moments ago: “Out there, Hannah, under the distant sky, is our new home and our new life.”

Hannah shook her head as if to clear it, and squared her shoulders. Her parents were wrong. They weren’t making a mistake. They were doing God’s will. Out there under that distant sky lay the fulfillment of their dreams. They would be superbly happy at Fort Bridger, Wyoming.

Soon the rising dust from the hooves of oxen, mules, and horses took over Hannah’s nose, and she decided a good rain would be a blessing.

Half an hour after the wagon train had pulled out of Independence, B. J. asked if he could walk beside his father. He dropped to the ground at the rear of the vehicle and waved at Tony Cuzak, whose wagon followed thirty feet away.

Hannah glanced back to look at B. J., then her eyes settled back on Solomon. His limp looked more pronounced. “Sol, don’t overdo it, now.”

“I won’t.”

“So how does the leg feel by now?”

“Not too bad.”

Biggie was still on Mary Beth’s lap, but when he saw B. J. on the ground, he barked and wagged his tail. “Papa,” Mary Beth said, “Biggie wants to come down and walk with you and B. J. Is it all right?”

“Sure. Go get him, B. J.”

Chris, who was riding Buster, said, “Mama, what’s for supper tonight?”

Hannah laughed. “I’m not sure whether it will be beans
and hardtack, or hardtack and beans.”

“Really? I thought you’d cook on the trail like you do at home.”

“I’ll do better as we go along, son, but I’ll need a day or two to get used to this traveling all day and cooking a big meal at night.”

“That’s okay,” Chris said with a grin. “If you fix it, it’ll be good, no matter what it is.”

“Why, thank you, son.”

The dust billowed as the wagon train moved slowly westward. When they had been on the trail for nearly three hours, the lead wagon began to veer in a northerly direction. Solomon looked up at Hannah, who was talking to her girls, and said, “Sweetheart, I think maybe I’d better ride for a while. This leg is starting to hurt.”

“I’m glad you’re going to give it a rest,” she said, a note of relief in her voice. “You want to ride in the seat or in the back?”

“I figure maybe you’d like some relief from holding the reins. I’ll come up there and drive.”

The girls moved to the wagon bed and Hannah scooted over as Solomon climbed up. He gave her a quick kiss and took the reins.

Hannah moved close and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. “I love you, Mr. Cooper.”

“And I love you, Mrs. Cooper.”

“And I love
you,
Mr. and Mrs. Cooper,” Patty Ruth said with a giggle.

The other children joined in with “I love yous,” and Solomon laughed heartily.

“Well, Mrs. Cooper and I love all four of you, too!” he said. “Right, Mama?”

“More than they’ll ever know!” Hannah said, brushing a loose lock of hair from her forehead.

Biggie yapped and looked up at the wagon.

“Biggie loves you, too!” Mary Beth said.

Patty Ruth held up her bear. “So does Ulysses!”

Hannah squeezed her husband’s arm. “Darling, we’re going to be so happy at Fort Bridger!”

Ezra Comstock was pushing to reach the Blue River by the end of the day. His goal was fifteen miles a day, or as close to it as possible while they were on level ground. Once the train reached the Sierra Nevada Range, they would be down to only six or seven miles a day.

The fifteen-mile goal would be out of reach if they stopped for a noon meal, so the people snacked on whatever provisions they had brought and kept moving.

Soon B. J. and Biggie were back in the wagon as the long train rolled northwest.

All afternoon, Ezra rode up and down beside the wagons, talking with people. The only exceptions were Walt Cuzak and his four oldest sons, who had no interest in getting better acquainted.

Toward sunset, the Blue River came into view. Ezra trotted along the line, letting everyone know they had reached their goal and would make camp on the bank of the Blue. Three miles on the other side of the Blue was the Kansas border.

Soon, fires were winking around the inside of the wagon circle. The Coopers shared their fire with the people in the wagon just ahead of theirs, an elderly couple named Maudie and Elmer Holden, and their twenty-one-year-old grandson, Curtis. The Cooper children gravitated to the elderly Holdens, finding in them a resemblance to their own grandparents. The Holdens responded, especially to Patty Ruth, who charmed them with her sweet smile and winsome ways.

When the meal was over and the women were washing dishes with river water, one man started to play a fiddle. Within minutes a banjo player joined him, and Tony Cuzak brought out his harmonica.

Off to one side of the circle, children were chasing fireflies as the little insects flitted about, lighting in their hair and on their clothing. Several family dogs yapped and barked excitedly, trying to catch the fireflies in their mouths.

While the music and fun was going on, a little girl sidled up to Patty Ruth and smiled. She was exactly Patty Ruth’s size and had bright blue eyes and blond hair.

“Hi. My name’s Polly Winters,” she said. “I’m five. What’s your name?”

The little redhead smiled warmly and said, “Patty Ruth Cooper.”

Polly set her gaze on Ulysses. “What’s your bear’s name?”

The smile left Patty Ruth’s face as quickly as it had come. She shifted Ulysses to her other arm and said, with a cool note in her voice, “Ulysses Cooper.”

“He’s a nice bear. Where’d you get him?”

“My grandma who went to heaven gave him to me before she went.”

At that instant, Biggie loped up to Patty Ruth and raised up on his hind legs, wagging his tail. She bent over to pat his head, and Polly said, “Is that your dog?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What’s his name?”

“Biggie Cooper.”

“Could I pet him?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Biggie enjoyed the attention and wiggled all over and licked Polly’s hand. Patty Ruth steeled herself for what she figured would come next. But it never did.

After a few minutes, Polly said, “My mommy said I could
come and talk to you, but I have to go back to her and Daddy now. See you later.”

“Okay. See you later.”

Patty Ruth decided she liked Polly Winters very much.

At the Cooper wagon, Hannah and Solomon sat on a small bench and held hands as they listened to the music and watched the children play.

Solomon squeezed Hannah’s hand and looked into her chocolate-brown eyes. “You all right, sweetheart?”

Her lips parted in a soft smile. “Yes. I’ll have Mother and Daddy on my mind quite often, and I’m sure my heart will feel some pain because of their attitude, but the Lord will give me the grace to handle it. As for Independence and everything we left there, I’m sure time will get me over it. When we get to our new home in Wyoming, I’ll be so happy, it won’t bother me anymore.”

Soon it was bedtime for the youngest members of the train, and they reluctantly scattered to their wagons. The Cooper children chattered about their new friends and how much fun it was to be traveling like this.

Hannah put an arm around her youngest. “Honey, who was that little girl I saw you talking to?”

“Her name is Polly Winters, Mama… an’ I like her.”

“She’s about your age, isn’t she?”

“Uh-huh. She’s five.”

“Well, it’s wonderful that you’ve found a playmate so soon.”

“Yeah! An’ I really like her! She likes Biggie, too. She petted him.”

“That’s nice. Did she like Ulysses?”

Patty Ruth stiffened slightly and said, “Mm-hmm.”

“Did you let her hold Ulysses?”

“Huh-uh. She didn’t want to. I really like her.”

Solomon and Hannah exchanged glances.

Before leaving home, the Coopers had discussed with the children the sleeping arrangements. Everyone had bedrolls, so they would rotate who slept in the wagon and who slept underneath the wagon. On the first night out, Solomon decided they would all sleep under the wagon.

While Mary Beth and her little sister were inside the wagon getting into their nightgowns, B. J. was feeding Biggie and Chris fed oats to Buster and Nipper.

When the boys had gotten into their nightshirts, Solomon tossed more wood on the fire and called the family together for Scripture reading and prayer. Biggie snuggled between Mary Beth and Chris, and Ulysses lay safely in Patty Ruth’s arms.

Solomon was heating coffee over the fire and was about to say something to Hannah when a young couple walked up. They were accompanied by a girl of about eighteen or nineteen, who was carrying a baby.

“Good evening,” the young man said. “My name is Lloyd Marlin. This is my wife, Suzanne, and Suzanne’s sister, Deborah Smith. Aunt Deborah has our little son, James, here. He’s ten months old.”

The Coopers introduced themselves, explaining that they were from Independence. Then Solomon asked, “Where are you folks from?”

“Virginia,” Lloyd said. “Near Roanoke. We’re going all the way to Sacramento.”

“We’re only going as far as Fort Bridger,” Solomon said.”

Hannah smiled at the baby. “Would you mind if I hold him, Deborah?”

“Of course not,” she said, handing James to her.

Hannah held the baby close and kissed his fat little cheek. “We don’t have any babies in our family any more. Our youngest is five.”

“We saw the children with you a little while ago,” Suzanne said.

“So many names being reeled off last night,” Lloyd said. “Too hard to remember them all.”

“That’s for sure,” Solomon said with a chuckle. “You folks like some coffee?” He went to the wagon and brought out some extra tin cups. Hannah declined a cup, saying she was having too much fun getting to know little James.

“Maybe you should have another baby, Mrs. Cooper,” Suzanne said. “You sure have a way with them. That’s the first time James has smiled all day.”

Hannah glanced at her husband.

“I’d love to have another baby in the family,” Solomon said, “but I guess you have to stop sometime. Won’t be too many more years till Chris gets married. Guess we’ll have to wait for babies till then.”

Hannah smiled, but didn’t comment.

“The… ah… reason we’re here, Mr. Cooper,” Lloyd said, “is that when we passed by a little while ago, we noticed you were reading the Bible to your family. We decided you must be Christians.”

“You’ve got that right—the born-again, blood-washed kind,” Solomon said.

“Well, amen. Us, too.”

There was an immediate bond between the families as they talked about how wonderful it was to know the Lord. Then Suzanne explained that Deborah was going with them to California because their parents had died within a month of each other about two years ago. Deborah had moved in with her sister and brother-in-law, and since she had no other family, she was going to make her new life in California, too. Lloyd was going to homestead land in the valley just east of Sacramento.

Solomon told them of their general store in Independence and explained that they would open up a new one in Fort Bridger. After chatting for a few more minutes, Hannah reluctantly gave the baby back to his aunt, and they said goodnight.

It was a good ending to the first day out, and when Solomon and Hannah finally got into their bedrolls, they fell asleep peacefully.

At sunrise the next morning, Ezra Comstock gathered the people around and explained that even though the Blue was little more than four feet deep where they would cross, they would do it at an upstream slant to lessen the current against the wagons.

He noted the Colt .45 revolver on Solomon Cooper’s hip and said, “Now, folks… just three more miles after we cross the river, we’ll be in Kansas. Beyond law and order. Its up to us to protect ourselves. We’re also movin’ into Indian territory. It’s the Comanches we have to worry about. The other three tribes who inhabit this area are the Kaw, the Potawatomi, and the Pawnee. For the most part, they’re friendly toward whites. The few times I have known them to attack whites is when the whites have done something to rile them.