Blood Feather, page 3
Gabe patiently fed on grasses down below. He was ground-reined and would not move very far from where Strongheart had left him.
The half-breed crawled up over the rocks where needed and scrambled up the rest of the time using his hands and knees. So anxious was he now that he was really letting his guard down, while the large brown eyes stared at his movements. The rapidity of movement now away from the predator made him more interested in attacking this seemingly fleeing prey. Joshua stopped looking again for new tracks, and the big boar grizzly now stood on his hind legs testing the wind.
The nose of the bruin was incredible, and his mind automatically catalogued what he smelled on the mountain breeze: a porcupine over the next ridge; a rotting winterkill elk carcass a mile away; the bacon and eggs Joshua had eaten for breakfast, as well as coffee; Joshua’s human smell, and the smell of his horse on Joshua’s legs; pine and cedar; the rotting carcass of Joshua’s friend; and a variety of other smells.
Bears have horrible eyesight, but this bear could tell that this prey was moving rapidly away from him. This excited his pursue-and-attack instinct, and he immediately dropped to all fours and began his uphill charge. Bears cannot run downhill well, but uphill, with their powerful leg muscles, they can move like a runaway freight train. That is exactly how this monster bruin charged for Joshua Strongheart, who now was seeing his friend’s decomposing body for the first time. Strongheart was visibly upset as he got to the body of Blackjack Colvin, now simply decaying meat with some semblance of his handsome features.
Joshua was thinking about his next course of action. First, out of respect, he removed Blackjack’s gunbelt with his giant knife, and stripped off his antelope-skin shirt. After removing the shirt, he placed it over the head and torso of his buzzard-scavanged friend. He would wrap him up in the bedroll from his saddle down below and deliver the body as promised to Lucky.
No sooner had he placed the shirt over the body than he heard the movement behind him and spun around, reaching for his pistol, which was ten paces away. Shocked, he saw before him the blur of the charging grizzly; it was well over seven feet long and over a half a ton in weight. Joshua had no time to do anything or react in any way. A grizzly bear can outrun a thoroughbred race horse for short sprints, and this bear was no exception. The twelve-hundred-pound bruin slammed into Strongheart, sending the big man flying back, breaking Joshua’s left forearm as it slammed into a rock. In an instant the bear was covering Joshua’s body with his massive hulk and trying to bite Joshua’s skull, but Joshua tried to ward it off with his broken left arm and his right. The weight was crushing, and he could barely breathe. He punched the bear in the nose several times with the heel of his hand, as the nose is the most sensitive part of a bear’s body.
Strongheart was pinned to the ground and knew he was in for the fight of his life. The bear, whose breath reeked of a rotten carrion smell, opened its mouth and almost swallowed Joshua’s face. He felt the canine teeth crunch down on his head and felt the warm flush of blood as it rushed over his face. He fought to maintain consciousness and bit down on the bear’s tongue with his own teeth.
The bear let up on the face, not liking getting bitten at all; nor did it like the taste of human flesh, which was quite typical of bears. Now the bear grabbed the broken arm in its jaws and shook Strongheart violently like a ragdoll. The half-breed reached down into his right boot and grabbed the handle of the sharp, short knife sheathed and strapped to his leg. He brought it out and fought to stay awake and alert. He waited, and the enraged monster now tried to close its jaws on Joshua’s throat, but Strongheart plunged the knife deep into the bear’s right eye, and it stood straight up, popping its teeth, and roaring in pain. The knife handle protruded from the eye, and the bear rolled and growled trying to grab the blade with its paws. It pulled the knife out and bit down on Joshua’s right leg, its fangs going deep into the calf and shin. Blood streamed from the bear’s eye, and it seemed even more enraged than before.
It paused and stood on its hind legs, bent forward at the waist and growling, ready to fling all twelve hundred pounds back down on top of Strongheart, who was going in and out of consciousness, but he came wide alert now. He knew the bear was probably about to go for his throat or head again, and he pulled up his left leg, ready to kick-stomp up with his heel.
Suddenly, the bear screamed in pain and wheeled around. Tears literally flooded Strongheart’s eyes, and he weakly smiled ear to ear, as he saw his magnificent red-and-white overo gelding pinto horse, Gabriel, biting the back of the bear’s neck. Gabriel’s legs were oozing blood out of cuts from scrambling full-gallop up the mountain over the many rocks and boulders.
With a faint voice Strongheart tried to yell, “Gabe!”
The horse wheeled and kicked the bear full-power in the chest with both rear hooves, then as the bear meekly lunged again, the horse kicked again, then spun and bit the bear on the front shoulder. The grizzly raked Gabe with a swipe of its mighty paw, and blood appeared in four crimson streaks across the horse’s muscular chest. Gabe bit the bear again, spun, and kicked five times in rapid succession, and the bear backed away.
Joshua saw his chance and pushed his body forward hard with his left foot, grabbed his pistol, just as the bear charged in on Gabe. Strongheart shot quickly and put five Colt .45 rounds into the bear, one low behind the left shoulder and four under the bear’s left ear. It fell on the ground, kicking its legs rapidly, gave out a mighty death roar, and then lay still unmoving. Gabe bit the bear’s rib cage, and the bear did not move. It was dead.
Joshua passed out.
His eyes opened, and he saw millions of stars over his head, smelled the putrid smell of a rotting human body, and fainted again. He heard Gabe whinny softly nearby and smiled in his unconsciousness. He knew the horse was alive, so far.
Strongheart opened his eyes and blinked at the bright sunlight, then realized he could barely see. He reached and felt dried blood all over his face and neck. Something pushed his back and startled him, and he grinned realizing that Gabe had nuzzled him with his nose. He smiled and reached up to pet the wonderful horse’s jaw and neck. Strongheart looked at the horse’s chest and saw dried blood where the bear had raked his chest. It would be too late to do anything, and there would surely be proud flesh later. There was also dried blood that had been obviously running down Gabe’s left foreleg.
The monstrous bruin lay nearby, and only then did Joshua realize the true size, the enormity, of his foe. He also was starting to realize the enormity of his predicament, and then it grew even worse because he saw that Gabe could barely walk. Joshua crawled slowly and grabbed a stirrup with his good hand, and pushing on his good leg, he slowly stood. This took several minutes. Before checking himself out, he checked Gabe’s leg, and saw that the grizzly had smacked the leg and maybe bit it, too. There was dried blood all the way down the leg. Strongheart felt and massaged the muscles and checked the joints. He then collapsed in a faint.
When he opened his eyes, he could tell only a few minutes had passed. He raised himself up again holding the stirrup, and knew he would have to doctor himself first or he could do Gabriel no good. He reached his canteen and swished water around in his mouth, recalling biting the bear’s tongue. His mouth had a putrid taste. He then swallowed water, and it had never tasted so good, and he poured some also on the back and top of his head.
Joshua pulled his shaving mirror and his razor out of his saddlebag. He looked at his face and was shocked. It was completely covered in dried blood, his own. He knew that facial wounds bleed a lot, so he did not get too concerned. Joshua pulled materials out of his saddlebags and grabbed several nearby sticks for splinting his broken forearm. He tried cleaning his leg as best he could and then bandaged it and did the same with his head. After getting his face cleaned off a little, he saw giant bite marks; his nose was broken, and both eyes were swollen almost shut. He had bites and claw rips all over his torso and arms, as well as much biting on the leg.
Fortunately, this ridge ran off Lookout Mountain, which he was intimately familiar with. Strongheart knew that if he could make it along this ridge and down one draw, there was an active spring with plenty of green grass around it for Gabe, as well as some rock overhangs. There, he could try to nurse Gabe and would have plenty of fresh springwater to clean both him and his horse, and he’d also be able to make a sufficient shelter.
Several of the fangs had gone in deep, and the pain in his leg was excruciating, but he was not sure if it was broken or not. He did not find by feel or probing any place where the bone was broken all the way through, so instead of splinting, he tried wrapping it tight with bandages made from the big towel he carried in his bedroll. He then tried putting his weight on it and promptly fell down in excruciating pain. To be safe, he gathered a few more stout sticks and crafted a splint for the leg, too. Although his left arm was broken, he was able to use his hand and fingers since he had set the bone and placed the splint on it. Joshua found a stout green branch, which he chopped up with his razor-sharp knife and made a crutch with.
Leaving his antelope-skin shirt on what was left of Blackjack’s face, he got his spare elk-skin shirt from his bedroll and put it on, then took it off, opting for the sunlight and fresh air to help heal his wounds. He packed his belongings and started leading Gabe slowly, very slowly, along the ridge. He was only able to walk five minutes at a time, then sit down and rest, before several more minutes later, he and Gabe would limp along again.
It took the rest of the day and several naps to travel the one mile to the spring. Joshua, exhausted, fell asleep by the spring while Gabriel grazed on the tall, lush green grass.
When Strongheart awakened, the morning sun was in his eyes, and he looked at the red hue on the snowcapped peaks of the Sangre de Cristos across the valley from him. He understood fully why they had gotten their name from that crimson reflection complemented by the clear blue sky above. He had a pounding headache and realized his whole body felt like a giant toothache. A good sign, though, was that he was starving. The Pinkerton grabbed some beef jerky from his saddlebag and chewed on that, while he pulled out his small coffeepot and made some coffee.
After seeing how badly he needed nutrition, he grilled some biscuits and cut a slab of bacon into the pan from his saddlebags.
Afterward, he spent most of the day cleaning and treating his wounds and Gabe’s. The Lakota would use witch hazel, derived from the witch hazel bush, which Joshua carried in his saddlebags, mixed with smashed acorns to treat poison ivy and poison oak. They also used just straight witch hazel to treat a variety of ills, such as sore muscles, aches, and pains.
Joshua found some acorns, mashed them up, and made poultices by mixing them with the witch hazel, figuring that adding the acorn mash would help the mixture serve as an antiseptic and astringent. He then applied the poultices to Gabe’s wounds and his own. Gabe’s were then covered with more poultices, these ones made of moss, which Joshua easily found on the north side of trees. He bandaged his own wounds with bandaging cloth he also carried for emergencies.
He cleaned his pistol and sharpened his knife, then, grabbing his crutch, he made the relatively long trek back to Blackjack. He was perplexed to find a bloody eagle feather placed atop Blackjack’s face. Next, he went through his friend’s pockets to retrieve what he could. This would all be turned over to his boss, including his fellow agent’s Pinkerton badge. Knowing now that the body was too far gone to return to Lucky, Strongheart then gathered a great deal of firewood and built a giant woodpile around Blackjack’s body, then cleared the perimeter for a good distance and began the cremation process.
With darkness approaching, and while the fire raged, he removed the bear’s claws and cut some meat from the hindquarters to cook later. Joshua did not particularly like bear meat, and the cleaning process was very messy as the meat was very, very greasy to the touch.
Satisfied that the fire would not send showers of sparks or spread any farther, he departed for his own campsite. By the time Joshua made the mile hike back to his camp, his eyesight was blurry and the whole scene spun around. He collapsed to the ground and splashed water on his face. After looking over at Gabe, who was standing in the tall grass, napping, he fell asleep and slept until morning.
Strongheart awakened the following morning very sore and headachy, plus his eyesight was bad, as both eyes were still swollen almost shut and very black and blue. His right leg and left arm both ached horribly. He made it to Gabe, and the big horse was now limping around the small glade. He walked up to Strongheart when he saw him coming. He wanted to have his head rubbed and held. Joshua gave his lifesaver plenty of loving.
Still standing next to Gabe, he turned his head and was amazed to see three mule-deer does standing in the grass, one of them drinking from the spring. He glanced at his fire, and the wind was blowing his smoke away from them to the west. The two lookouts stared at him, and the larger doe lifted her head up in alert. The first two started to bound off, and he drew his Colt and fired from the hip, hitting the water drinker right behind her left shoulder in mid-bound. She hit the ground in a heap, dead from the quick heart shot. As was the habit of the Lakota, Joshua meditated and communicated with the soul of the animal, thanking her for her sacrifice, and then he prayed and thanked the Lord for the bountiful supply of venison.
Three days later, Joshua was much stronger and had a solid camp built for himself and Gabe. Gabe was moving around now without as much difficulty, and Joshua had made himself another crutch identical to the first. Miles to the east, at Fort Lyons, Lucky was very concerned and knew something was wrong. So Annabelle was not shocked when the Western Union man came in to hand her the inquiring telegram from Joshua’s boss.
She sent a reply explaining that she had no idea what the problem might be. Annabelle wanted to cry, so instead she went back to work and kept herself as busy as could be. In 1874, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad had just completed a new line into Cañon City from Pueblo to the east, and Lucky was on that train, having come in from Fort Lyons, farther out east.
Joshua was so glad that Annabelle had packed him a lot of good substantial food. With the deer he’d shot and her food, he had one major thing in his favor. However, he was far from safe, and so was Gabriel. Joshua could tell he had fever now, and some of his fang bites and claw marks from the grizzly were an angry red and obviously infected. Gabriel had blood oozing from several spots in his wounds, and Strongheart tried his best to keep a fresh poultice on those spots. He was getting weaker by the hour and knew he was in for the fight of his life just to survive, let alone have his horse survive. Neither he nor the horse could begin to think about making it down the mountain over the rocks.
Over the fire that night, he took paper and pencil from his saddlebags and wrote two letters. One to Lucky and one to Annabelle:
Lucky,
Blackjack was murdered with a knife by a very large Lakota, 7 feet tall, very powerful. He was carried up the mountain and his heart was cut out. Bloody eagle feather left on his face. I cremated him. If I am dead, give any money owed and belongings to Annabelle.
All respect, Joshua
Annabelle,
If you are reading this, I am probably dead. I have loved you and wanted to marry you from the moment we met. I held off because your husband was not gone that long. I wanted to be sure you felt the same in your heart. Since meeting you, I have grown more deeply in love and worship everything about you. Please smile when you remember me, but you be a survivor and live on with a grin on your face and song in your heart.
Your devoted servant forever,
Joshua
Joshua finished and titled both letters and placed them in his saddlebag. He felt everything whirling around and wondered where he was as he collapsed at Gabe’s feet in a faint.
3
Cañon City
Joshua opened his eyes and blinked against the sunlight. He looked around in a daze. He was in a room with sunlight streaking in the windows, and outside the window in the distance were snowcapped peaks. A nurse walked into the room carrying a basin of water.
“So, I see, Mr. Strongheart,” she said, nonplussed, “I see you have decided to come back to the land of the living and refrain from such shenanigans as ancestral walks.”
He was in a total fog.
Joshua said, “Where am I? What happened?”
The nurse said, “I am not sure except that you were almost killed by an enormous brute of a grizzly bear, which you killed. You were brought here on a train, closer to St. Peter than the gates outside the Union Pacific Hospital.”
Strongheart shook his head and tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Union Pacific Hospital? Where?”
She replied, “Denver, Colorado, sir. Near the corner of York and Fortieth Avenue.”
Smiling, she stepped from the room, and Annabelle Ebert, eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep, stepped in and rushed to Joshua’s bedside. She kissed him deeply and stepped back, her eyes glistening.
“Joshua,” she said happily, “they all said you would surely die, but I knew you would not leave me. I knew you would live!”
“Annabelle! What has happened?”
She sat down, and the nurse who had left unnoticed returned and handed her a cup of hot tea.
Annabelle smiled and nodded.
“Joshua, Lucky came to Cañon City and organized a posse, and the Fremont County sheriff even rode with him. They went up Copper Gulch Road, then Road Gulch Road, then found where you climbed toward Lookout Mountain. They found you, the bear, Gabe, and where you burned your friend. You had a horrible infection, a broken arm, broken leg, had lost a lot of blood, and were very near death.”
