Beatrice and the Beast, page 20
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Charlie and Rappo raced far enough ahead to give them time to dismount and prepare for the impending rescue. Both men dismounted before their horses even came to a stop and ran with ropes in hand to the edge of the river. It was very wide at that point and they feared they wouldn’t be accurate enough with their ropes.
Charlie ran downstream for around twenty yards ahead of Rappo. They figured if the Indian missed or Zelletta failed to grab the rope, Charlie would be a back-up and a second chance to save them. But they hardly had time to prepare before Zelletta and the girl were almost level with Rappo’s position and Frank looked to be in trouble. He struggled to keep his head above the surface while holding the child up and he disappeared below the water more frequently yet gamely held the girl aloft each time he did.
Time was running out for the Indian to make the throw and he yelled out to Zelletta while at the same time hurling the coils of rope in the big man’s direction. The loop landed just short and though Zelletta tried to reach out and grasp it, he was unable to reach the rope before he and the girl were swept away. Within seconds they were level with Charlie who yelled out Frank’s name and hurled the coils of rope as hard as he could. But too late, Zelletta had weakened considerably and as the rope snaked toward him, he disappeared below the surface again but with super-human effort managed to keep the girl aloft while he kicked his legs weakly to hold her there.
He recognized any chance they had to survive their ordeal, had finally disappeared. He was weakening fast and once his limbs failed him, which they inevitably would, both he and the girl would drown. He regretted being unable to save her, she didn’t deserve to die at such a young age. She was sassy and downright ornery, but she was just a kid and kids shouldn’t die; not this way.
His lungs were almost bursting but he was unable to break the surface and take a breath, not unless he were to cast the child adrift and he knew he could not do that. He would hold her up as long as he was able, if it meant she would have, even the faintest chance to survive.
He couldn’t hold his breath much longer and knew it was a matter of seconds before he sank too far down to hold the child aloft and soon, they would both die and suddenly and inexplicitly, his thoughts turned to Beatrice and the strange affect she’d had on him and regretted deeply, that a man like him would never be linked romantically, with a woman like her.
As he was about to give up, he felt the girl struggling in the arm that held her, then abruptly ceased her struggle before tightening her grip around his neck and wrapping her legs tightly round his waist. He figured she had realised there was no longer any hope for them and was preparing herself to go down with him and he felt extreme regret that he’d failed in his bid to save her. Unable to hold his breath any longer, it suddenly exploded from his tortured lungs and out of his mouth in a rush of bubbles. Just before he passed out, he saw a vision of loveliness before his eyes and recognized, even while he was dying, he could not get Beatrice Mellowday out of his mind.
TWENTY-FOUR
Charlie sat on the big man’s back pumping his fists furiously above Zelletta’s lungs as he had for the past two or three minutes.
‘Come on you ornery bastard,’ he yelled. ‘Cough it up. I’ll damned well kill you if you die on me.’
Rappo, standing close by, smiled but without humour. He doubted there was much chance of Zelletta recovering but held his peace knowing that pretty soon, Charlie would become too exhausted to carry on and would finally give up on his friend. Incredibly, just as Charlie was about to give up, Zelletta coughed and a stream of water flowed from his mouth.
‘Goddamn it,’ yelled Charlie. ‘We did it. We pulled him through.’
Zelletta opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He’d always thought, when he died, he would end up in hell if such a place existed. But his vision of hell had been far removed from what he was viewing now. He struggled to sit up and saw Charlie squatting before him with a huge grin on his face and standing behind him was Rappo.
‘I figure this ain’t hell,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Unless you two died as well.’
Surprisingly and unexpectedly, he was attacked from behind and his shock was complete when the girl, Grace, enfolded her arms around his neck and began kissing him all over his face.
‘What the hell?’ he said.
Charlie laughed.
‘She’s showing her gratitude to you for rescuing her,’ he said. ‘But I think you should be thanking her as well.’
‘What do you mean and how the hell did you get us out of there?’
Grace still had her arms enfolded tightly round his neck as Charlie was about to reply. But before he was able to, Rappo spoke up.
‘Rider coming.’
They turned toward the sound of a horse and soon, Beatrice appeared riding hard. She halted the horse and quickly dismounted before hurrying to where Zelletta sat on the ground with Grace clinging onto him. It didn’t escape the notice of the men, how easily she dismounted and probably mounted the animal just as easily. However, nobody questioned her obvious ability.
‘Thank goodness you’re safe,’ she cried. ‘Thank you Mister Zelletta for saving her life.’
Charlie chuckled.
‘I don’t know about that,’ he said. ‘It seems to me, she saved Frank’s life.’
‘No, he saved me,’ cried Grace. ‘If he hadn’t dived in the water and held me up, I wouldn’t even be here now.’
She still had her arms tightly enfolded around Zelletta’s neck, while the big man sat with a bewildered look on his face.
‘Will somebody tell me how I got outa that damned river?’ He growled. ‘And for Chrise-sake, get this kid offa me.’
Beatrice draped an arm around the girl’s shoulder and tried to ease the bedraggled child away from Zelletta. But she refused to release her hold on him and whimpered like a frightened puppy when the woman tried to break her hold. It was as though she feared, if she was parted from the man, something bad would happen to her.
‘You can’t hang on to me for ever kid,’ he said. ‘I know you’re scared, but you’re safe now and on dry land. Beside you’re wet and shivering. We gotta build a fire and dry you out.’
‘You’re wet too,’ she mumbled.
‘But I got plenty of meat to keep me warm. You’re just a skinny kid with no damned meat on your bones.’
‘Leave her be Frank,’ interjected Charlie. ‘If it hadn’t been for her, you’d be still floating down the goddamned river.’
Beatrice stared at the slightly built girl and wondered how on earth someone so small managed to save the life of a giant of a man like Frank Zelletta.
‘Perhaps you should tell us what happened Charlie,’ she said. ‘Instead of keeping us guessing.’
‘Well first I gotta say, Frank was about to sacrifice himself to keep that little gal from drowning, even though she would have likely perished anyhow, if he’d a gone down. Just as I tossed the rope, he went under but still held her up so her head was clear of the water and lucky for ‘em both, she had the presence of mind to grab the rope and place the loop over her shoulders.’
‘So, you pulled her out of the river,’ said Beatrice. ‘But how did you save Mister Zelletta?’
‘That’s the damndest part about it. She could have set herself free of Frank and let us haul her out. But she didn’t. I’m damned if she didn’t wrap her skinny arms and legs around him and cling on to him while we hauled ‘em both out. That’s no mean feat with a guy the size and weight of Frank. But she wouldn’t let him go until we had em both outa the river and even after we got ‘em up onto the bank, we had to prise her arms and legs from him.
‘I always knew she was a good kid,’ Quipped Zelletta. He clearly said it to hide his embarrassment at gravely misjudging the girl and to further spare his blushes, he regained his command of the situation.
‘We’d better get the girl back to where the mules are and build a fire otherwise, she’s gonna come down with something.’
‘I figure she’s stronger than she looks,’ said Charlie. ‘The way she held on to pull you outa the river took a lot of strength and grit for one so small.’
‘Alright Charlie,’ Growled the big man. ‘I get your point. She saved my life, don’t keep reminding me.’
He forcefully removed the girl’s arms from around his neck and stood up. However, she moved close enough to his side to still be touching him.
‘Miss Mellowday,’ said Zelletta. ‘Would you mind riding double with Charlie? I’ll take the kid and ride double on your horse. That way, because you and the kid are so light the hosses won’t feel over- burdened.
Beatrice felt a pang of disappointment the she wouldn’t be riding with Zelletta but understood his reasoning and so complied with his wishes. After Charlie had lifted her to sit behind him, Zelletta did the same with Grace who immediately, encircled as much of his waist as she could with her short arms and they all headed back to the river crossing.
TWENTY-FIVE
When they arrived at where they had crossed the river, they were surprised to see the two horses belonging to Grace and Zelletta, happily grazing alongside the mules.
‘How the hell did they get from the other side?’ Questioned Zelletta to nobody in-particular.
‘They followed me when I mounted my horse and rode him across to this bank from the sand-bar. Your horse went into the water and swam to the Sand-bar Mister Zelletta and soon after, Grace’s horse followed him. I didn’t wait to see them come the rest of the way across because I wanted to ride down river and see if I could help in any way.’
‘How’d you manage to get on your hoss without help?’
She looked down coyly.
‘I suppose if one is desperate enough, one may achieve almost impossible aims.’
Zelletta gave her a wry look.
‘You must have been pretty desperate when you dismounted as well. You made it look dead easy, the way you got off that hoss.’
Beatrice squirmed a little with embarrassment.
‘Shouldn’t we be making a fire instead of standing here talking?’ She responded. ‘We need to get Grace out of those wet clothes before she catches a chill.’
Zelletta let her off the hook by dismounting, before reaching up for the child and setting her down on the ground while Beatrice, greatly relieved that she wouldn’t have to further explain how she had managed to mount and dismount so easily on this occasion, when she had appeared to find it so difficult before, quickly moved away to seek kindling for a fire.
They built a fire and made coffee while Beatrice took Grace away from the camp to help her out of her wet dress and drape her in a blanket. After which she hung the dress close to the fire to dry for a second time. Then they all sat around and sipped hot coffee while Zelletta who had elected to remain dressed and allow his clothing to dry on his huge frame, grumbled, that had he been travelling alone, he would likely have made the Texan border by now.
By the time they were travelling again, it was early afternoon and Zelletta had given up on any hope of reaching the Canadian River before sundown but his intention was to push them hard enough to make up as much lost ground as they could and hopefully, cross the Canadian the following day.
They travelled for eight hours before finally making camp by a small creek. The journey from the Cimarron had been hard with Zelletta pushing them all the way and the only respite was a couple of short breaks which were made out of necessity. Also, on occasions, they dismounted and walked for a mile or so to stretch their limbs and give some respite to the animals.
Everyone in the group helped to set up camp even though they were exhausted, especially Grace whose frail body had taken a battering from the river and then the tortuous journey, but to her credit, she never complained and rode her horse as close as she dared to Frank Zelletta who she seemed to regard as her hero, or some kind of father figure. He, on the other hand, ignored her completely and led the small party while doggedly concentrating on the terrain ahead and keeping fully focused on the direction they needed to go.
As soon as they dismounted from their horses - in truth, Beatrice dismounted while to her chagrin, Grace was lifted down by Zelletta, the two girls set about collecting kindling for the fire which gave the older girl a chance to talk to Grace.
‘What made you think you were with child Grace?’
‘Do you mean having a baby?’
‘Yes.’
‘Because Reef did it with me.’
‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re with child. Sometimes it can take a long time for even a husband and wife to make their first baby.’
‘Oh!’
‘What about the girls you lived with? The soiled doves? No-doubt they slept with many men, yet they didn’t have babies, did they?’
‘A couple of them did. But the others knew ways to do it without having babies. But I don’t know what they did and that’s why I think I might be having a baby.’
Beatrice fought to keep her tears in check as she remembered her own childhood. When she was Grace’s age, she was still playing with dolls, yet this child had already slept with a man and may even be having his child, though she hoped, it was just conjecture on Grace’s part.
‘Do you hope you are having a baby, Grace?’
‘No, I don’t know how to look after one.’
‘Then why did you do it?’
‘I had to do what Reef wanted me to, he bought me. I didn’t like it though, it was damned painful.’
Beatrice pulled her close and embraced her tenderly.
‘Oh, you poor girl,’ she said softly. ‘You’ve had such a harsh life and cruel upbringing. I really cannot understand how a mother could sell her child simply to be able to buy whiskey.
‘Well, she weren’t much of a mother anyhow. Some of the other whores were more of a mother to me than she was.’
Beatrice found it hard, not to compare her own privileged upbringing and the safe environment she had enjoyed without knowing anything of the realities of life outside her own comfortable world. She suspected there were girls like Grace all over the west who were suffering the hardships of life in this unforgiving land. Girls who accepted their lot without complaint having never known a more desirable way of life and who simply reconciled themselves to making the most of their sad existence because they knew of nothing better.
By the time they had piled up enough deadfall logs to keep the fire going, Charlie was already building on the twigs he had used to start the flames and was ready to consolidate the fire with logs. Zelletta was tending the animals and Rappo had gone off to try and catch or kill something they could use to supplement their meal with fresh meat.
‘Would you like to come with me to wash in the creek Grace?’ Asked Beatrice. ‘I think we would both feel better if we removed the trail dust from our faces and clothes.’
‘I guess,’ replied the younger girl unconvincingly.
Beatrice retrieved some soap from her saddle bags and led the younger girl to the shallow creek. Zelletta watched them go as did Charlie and both men shared a silent understanding that they would afford the girls all the privacy they needed.
Beatrice removed her boots and paddled into the calf high water and when Grace saw how shallow it was, she followed the older girl’s lead. The water was very cold but extremely invigorating and after the hard journey, had the power to relax tired minds and muscles.
Beatrice washed as much of herself as modesty would allow and grace, after tentatively washing her hands and face, began to warm to the task and bathed herself more thoroughly. While they washed, Beatrice became curious to know more about Grace.
‘What happened to your father Grace?’
The girl looked up from her ablutions and shrugged.
‘I don’t know I never met him.’
‘Didn’t your mother tell you about him?’
‘She don’t know who he was. I expect she only met him once.’ Grace paused a for a moment. ‘She told me he might be a soldier ‘cos I was made when the war was on and she used to whore at Fort Scott. So, I guess my daddy is one of the soldiers from there but it ain’t likely he’d know me any more than I’d know him.’
‘I hope we can find you somewhere safe when we get to a town,’ said Beatrice without much conviction. ‘Maybe we can find someone who will adopt you into their family and give you some kind of work.’
‘That ain’t very likely. Ain’t nobody gonna want to take care of a gal like me. It’s okay though, I’ll get a job in a whorehouse and take care of myself.’
