A Season in Hell by Easy Jackson

Author:Easy Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2019-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

When she found out the amount the livery was going to charge for stabling the Appaloosa, Tennie drew back and gulped, but the boys promised to pay for part of it out of the money they had made running errands in Waco.

Gid apologized multiple times all the way to the train station for not hearing them sneak out to raise havoc the night before, but Tennie assured him it had worked out for the best. She knew very well Hawkshaw understood exactly what they were up to even before they did it, but he said nothing and so did she.

Horses and buggies filled the street. At the train station, people were lining up next to the tracks. Farther down, drovers were herding cattle into livestock cars, their long horns clashing. It was exciting and scary watching the men with their long whips, cracking them above the cattle’s heads, using the noise to jolt the frightened animals into moving in the direction they wanted them to go. One second of getting too close could mean death to man and horse, and many of them looked only a few years older than Rusty.

Tennie found herself suddenly afraid of the iron horse belching fire. She looked at Hawkshaw. At least he had ridden a train before, and Gid knew how to rob them, or not, since he had failed. Hawkshaw had had the café prepare four baskets of food for them, along with canteens of water. He explained that although riding a train was much faster, it lacked certain luxuries a stagecoach provided. They would be stopping to take on firewood and water during the trip, and people were expected to exit the train and make quick use of that time to take care of necessities.

“I want to ride in the caboose,” Lucas said.

“Me too, me too,” Badger repeated.

Hawkshaw ground his teeth in impatience. “You can’t. That’s for the brakemen.”

The conductor began calling for them to board, and Tennie found herself feeling much like a longhorn steer being led to slaughter. She wedged in between Hawkshaw and Gid, with the boys following behind.

As they stepped up into the car, Tennie, remembering Hawkshaw’s idiosyncrasies, murmured, “Where do you want me to sit?”

“Sit with the boys in the middle of the car. I’ll sit on one end, and Coltrane can sit on the other end. If there’s any trouble, we’ll have both ends covered.”

“Trouble?” Tennie said, her lips trembling, but since she had reached the middle and Hawkshaw indicated for her to take a seat, she said no more.

Badger wanted to know why he couldn’t sit with Gid.

“Because he doesn’t want you pestering him to death,” Rusty said.

Tennie looked around uneasily. “Let the car fill up and get going. Then if there’s room, you can sit by Mr. Gid for a while. We have a long way to go.”

Several of the cowboys who had been driving the cattle took seats near her, their spurs jangling on the wooden floor. When the whistle blew, there were only two other women on board, and they were obviously with husbands.

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