Thunder at Dawn by Salzer S. K

Author:Salzer, S. K. [Salzer, S.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2015-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

Colonel Smith was more obdurate than Elizabeth anticipated and she did leave for Fort Riley after all. Despite all her charming, pleading, and, eventually, weeping, he would not relent. Even General Sherman weighed in on this matter, advising her in a chilly letter to “remain quietly” at Riley for her husband would be on campaign, scouting in the Division of the Platte, all summer and it was unlikely she would be able to reunite with him before fall. The letter’s tone was so different from the warmth Sherman expressed on the train, she wondered if it was written by the same man. Maybe he regretted his heartfelt confession, she thought. Oh, well, so much for the devotion of—how did he describe himself?—a “shabby old soldier.”

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 16, Smith told Elizabeth and Anna to be ready to move out at nine o’clock that evening. He would escort them personally, along with Captain Weir and ten soldiers. “Every day brings new reports of depredations,” a visibly distraught Smith said, “and each is more violent than the one before. Why, just this morning I learned that a large number of Indians, probably a Cheyenne war party under Lean Bear, passed Fort Larned a day ago and are heading this way. I was also told of an attack on Walker Creek, where women were violated and two men killed. No, I need to get you ladies to safety as soon as possible.”

They spent the afternoon packing their trunks. Their soaked clothing had been dried in the sun, hung over bushes or from tree limbs, and was stiff as board as a result. Elizabeth tried to fold a particular favorite—a Nile-green silk that showed her gray eyes to great advantage—but gave up in disgust and simply stuffed it into the trunk. A skilled laundress might be able to save it, but she thought it was probably ruined. All her clothes were ruined. Only the dress she wore that night, a blue-and-green plaid, was undamaged. If she had known she would have only one dress to carry her through the summer, it was not the one she would have chosen.

“Why are you so upset, Liz?” Anna asked after Elizabeth released an especially heavy sigh. “I don’t understand why you’re so keen to be with Armstrong just now. To tell you the truth, I’ve had the feeling you were quite put out with him.”

Elizabeth stopped packing and walked to the tent door. Because of the heat the flap was tied open, but along with the breeze came biting black flies. One landed on her neck and she killed it with a slap. “Yes, it’s true,” she said, “I have been annoyed with him lately. He seems such a child. Tom is part of the problem. They shouldn’t campaign together. All that skylarking—they simply encourage each other in their immaturity. Even their mother acknowledged this was a problem.”

Anna nodded. Though she had not said anything, something was troubling her. Elizabeth could tell. Anna simply wasn’t the flirtatious woman with the rapacious smile she had been when she first arrived.

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