Beatrice and the Beast, page 34
‘We shouldn’t be doing this Mister Zelletta,’ she said hoarsely, but made no attempt to release herself from his embrace.
‘I’m sorry Miss Mellowday. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.’
‘You didn’t. I instigated this myself so I take full responsibility. I am extremely attracted to you and under different circumstances, would have wanted you to be mine. That’s always providing you would have wanted me to be yours of course.’
‘I’ve wanted to do this from the first time I set eyes on you. If what I feel is what I’m afraid it is, I must be in love with you Miss Mellowday.’
‘I’m afraid your feelings may be reciprocated Mister Zelletta. I say afraid, because what we both want, we can never have. You and I are worlds apart. I would never be able to roam the country as you do
apprehending or shooting criminals. The journey I have undertaken with you has opened my eyes to the harshness and danger of these lands and I would never be capable of roaming with you from state to state like a vagabond.’
‘I will have my own place one day,’ he said hopefully. ‘I will build a really nice spread and take care of you just the way you deserve.’
‘Oh, Mister Zelletta,’ she whispered. ‘Are you forgetting why I am here and why you are with me? We both must honour our commitment to Jacob. I have promised to marry him and you have promised to escort me safely to his ranch, for payment of course, so that I may honour my pledge.’
‘But you don’t love him - goddamn it you don’t even know him.’
‘I learned a lot about him while we were corresponding and I feel I know him well enough to recognize a kind and caring man who will take care of me in the manner to which I am accustomed.’
He considered telling her what he knew about Jacob Zimmerman, but realised how lame it would sound if he told her about the man’s many shortcomings. She would simply see it as a desperate attempt to turn her against him and the result would be, that his trustworthiness would go down in her estimation and he would rather die than alienate her.’
‘What now then?’ he asked. ‘We are lying here in a loving embrace and yet you just wanna carry on the journey as though nothing happened?’
Tears clouded her pretty eyes and she was unable to prevent a small sob from leaving her lips.
‘I believe what I feel for you is love Mister Zelletta and I want you so badly it hurts. But I must save myself for Jacob. I have been chaste all my life so that I would marry a man who could be sure he was getting someone with their virtue intact and that must be how I present myself to my intended.’
‘Can we at least drop the formalities with our names?’
She detected the bitter disappointment in his tone and it hurt her more than he would ever know.
‘Don’t you see Mister Zelletta?’ she answered. ‘If we dispense with the formalities and address each other too familiarly, Jacob may become suspicious about what may have happened during the journey and I would hate him to think of me as a wanton woman.’
He refused to tell her that when Zimmerman asked him to escort her to Texas, he told him he fully understood that Zelletta may well get urges, being alone in the wilderness with a woman and actually gave him his blessing should he want to molest her, just as long as he brought her to his ranch in one piece and not too badly damaged. That dispensation almost made him refuse to do the job. But he’d been apprehending men who molested women, all his adult life and he figured, if he didn’t do the job, Zimmerman would get somebody with far less morals to do it and he could not allow anything bad to happen to an innocent woman. Zimmerman had omitted to reveal she would be young and beautiful and with her virtue intact, so he became doubly pleased he hadn’t refused the job, for it had spared Beatrice from one hell of a journey in the company of one of Zimmerman’s dubious gunmen.
He suddenly pushed her, not too gently, away and clambered to his feet.
‘We better turn in Miss Mellowday. We got an early start in the morning.’
She naturally, detected anger in his tone and she wanted to curl up and die for the way she’d hurt him. It would have been far less distressing for them both if she’d never touched and kissed his face to show him, she wasn’t repulsed by his scars and she should never have allowed it go as far as it had. That way, although the feelings for each other would never go away, they could have at least, carried on pretending and completed the journey in amicability.
THIRTY-EIGHT
For six days they journeyed in relative silence. There were of course, polite exchanges between them when stopping for a break or making camp and on occasions, Beatrice caught him watching her when she happened to look up or turn when he wasn’t expecting it. In those instances, he looked away quickly, but not quick enough and she felt a great sadness that he needed to resort to surreptitious glances rather than both of them having a conversation face to face. She realised that would never happen now and the past six days had been uncomfortably perturbing for both of them.
The journey hadn’t passed without incident and she considered herself fortunate to have made it thus far, unscathed. Some of the terrain they crossed, would, in her opinion, be unsuitable for mountain goats, let alone horses. On one occasion, when following a narrow trail along the side of a mountain, her horse slipped and began to slide down a steep slope. Luckily, he was a capable animal and managed to stay upright, though he did go down on his haunches in order to do so with Beatrice clinging on for all she was worth. The horse was stopped from sliding too far by a wide ridge and was able to regain his feet. The problem then, was getting him back up the slope.
Zelletta, who had frantically been urging Beatrice to dive free of the horse, knowing if he began to roll, he could easily, crush her, breathed a huge sigh of relief when the ridge halted their progress down the slope.
He tossed her a rope in which he had fashioned a running loop. She had already dismounted and he instructed her to place the loop over the saddle horn and pull it tight. After he’d made sure she did it right, even though he didn’t doubt her ability to follow his instructions, he tethered the other end to the saddle horn of his big bay and told Beatrice to move along the ridge out of the way in-case something happened and the horse fell back down the slope. Then, he took hold of the bridle and urged his horse to walk along the trail. Fortunately, the operation went without a hitch and Beatrice’s horse, aided by Zelletta’s bay keeping the rope taught, was able to make his way back up the slope. Once he was safely, on the trail, Zelletta tossed the rope to Beatrice with the instructions to place the loop around her waist. Then, with him carefully, hauling on the rope, she was able to climb back up the slope to safety. After that, they remained afoot and led the animals along the narrow path for nearly a mile until it widened, which gave them the opportunity to remount and follow the trail until it narrowed again.
On one occasion, Beatrice questioned why they were travelling on such a dangerous path, when there appeared to be a wide and adequate trail that skirted the mountains.
‘That’s part of the Chisholm trail,’ he answered gruffly. ‘It skirts the mountains because they can’t herd thousands of head of cattle along these trails. Going this way saves nearly two days of travel.’
His words gave her cause to believe he wanted to be rid of her as soon as possible. She mistakenly believed, he probably hated her for raising, then dashing his hopes in just a few minutes. She doubted he would risk bringing her this way otherwise.
On another occasion, they found themselves flanked on both sides by a band of Indians, around a dozen or so in all. They followed the two travellers for a couple of hours without giving any indication they were hostile or why they were there. They simply flanked them twenty yards away on either side and kept pace with them as though they were escorting them to their destination.
Zelletta told the frightened woman to stay close to him and show no sign of alarm. He in turn, kept his hands away from his guns but was ready to use them at the first sign of trouble. Their main interest, appeared to be in the pack mule and what it carried and Zelletta figured they were a hunting party looking for game to kill and having found none, were probably thinking about stealing their supplies.
With the buffalo practically wiped out, many Indians found it hard to provide for their starving families and reluctantly complied with the white authorities to be housed on reservations where food would be provided. However, many agents unscrupulously sold off much of the meat and kept the Indians short, leaving them to hunt for what they could get to supplement their meagre supplies.
Zelletta considered stopping and handing out some of what they had in their supplies, partly as an act of kindness, but mainly to keep them from attacking and taking everything. He mentioned to Beatrice what he planned to do to appease the Indians and she nodded her head in compliance. However, at that moment, a lone Indian appeared on the top of a ridge around two hundred yards away and yipped loudly while waving a spear over his head. The ones flanking them suddenly took off and rode their horses in the direction of their compatriot whooping and yelling as they went. Zelletta reined in his horse and watched their retreating backs while Beatrice, feeling a great sense of relief, stopped beside him.
‘Why did they leave so suddenly Mister Zelletta?’
‘I figure they were a hunting party and that lone Indian was a scout. He must have spotted some buffalo or deer the way they took off. They wouldn’t want to give up on something big for the few supplies we’re carrying.
Later that day while looking for somewhere to make camp, they came across around three-thousand or more, head of cattle grazing on the long prairie grass that abounded the wide expanse they travelled. There was a chuck wagon with around a dozen or so, drovers milling around it and as they came closer, saw the cook dishing out food to the men who were all jostling to be served after a long tiring day in the saddle breathing in dust from the cattle they herded. Two more cowboys kept a vigil on horseback as they rode slowly around the huge herd watching for any signs of trouble and making sure they weren’t spooked by anything like wild animals, or wild Indians looking for easy meat.
Zelletta led the way into camp and was greeted by hostile stares which soon changed to ones of admiration when they fell on Beatrice. A man came toward them after they stopped a few yards from the chuck wagon and gave them a friendly greeting.
‘Howdy,’ he said jovially. ‘You’re just in time for dinner if you’ve a mind. Why don’t you light a spell and join us?’
‘Obliged,’ responded Zelletta as both he and Beatrice dismounted. ‘Name’s Frank Zelletta and this here’s Beatrice Mellowday.
They shook hands and the man who was as tall as Frank but wirier with narrow shoulders and a long face, introduced himself as Abel Brolinger, the owner of the ranch from whence the cattle originated.
‘I figure we are one of the few big drives left to come up the Chisholm this season, he announced. There won’t be many more from south Texas before fall, otherwise, they’ll be hitting some pretty bad weather before they reach their destination.’
‘I guess so,’ replied Zelletta. ‘We’re heading down Laredo way and we’d be obliged if you could let us know of any problems you might have come across heading up this way.’
‘The Colorado was pretty high when we got to it. We lost nearly a whole day before we found a suitable crossing place. If it’s still flooded when you get there, that’s if you’re following our trail, I suggest you head upstream for around a mile where you’ll find it fast flowing but shallow and there’s a sandbank in the middle.’
‘Obliged,’ responded Zelletta. ‘It’ll be sundown pretty soon, so if you aint got no objections, we’ll bed down close by.’
‘No objections at all and as I said, grubs up and you’re welcome to join us. Cookie makes a mighty fine beef stew and we got canned milk for the coffee if your lady prefers it that way.’
Beatrice smiled brightly at the thought of coffee with milk and perhaps, sugar, rather than the bitter black liquid, Zelletta dished up
‘You are very kind and most accommodating Mister Brolinger,’ she said. ‘I look forward to sampling your wonderful food and sweet, milky coffee. After the kind of fare Mister Zelletta has been foisting on me, I’m sure it will make a very pleasant change.’
She gave Zelletta an emphatic look causing him to scowl back at her. But he held his peace and took up the reins of the horses.
‘I’ll see to the animals,’ he said just before leading them away. ‘I’d be obliged if you’d escort Miss Mellowday to the chuck wagon Mister Brolinger and see that she gets some food and milky coffee. I’ll be along shortly.’ He emphasised “milky coffee” and it was her turn to scowl.
While Zelletta unsaddled the horses and unburdened the mule before setting them to graze, Brolinger, happily escorted Beatrice to the chuck wagon where almost a dozen cowboys sat around on the ground, many leaning against saddles, eating their grub. She smiled nervously, as every single one of them stopped eating to turn their eyes her way and look her over.
‘Boys,’ announced Brolinger loudly. ‘This here is Miss Beatrice Mellowday and she’ll be joining us for dinner. Her companion is Frank Zelletta, some of you might have heard of him so moderate your language a tad in front of the lady.’
There were calls of howdy ma’am from most of the men while none of them took their eyes off the beautiful young woman. She acknowledged their greeting with an embarrassed smile before Brolinger guided her to where cookie was waiting to serve them.
‘What’ll it be ma’am?’ Asked the cook. ‘You got a choice between beef stew, beef stew and beef stew. Or you could always try the beef stew.’
‘Take no notice of him Miss Mellowday, he says the same thing every day and it’s wearing a bit thin after weeks on the trail. Anyhow, sometimes, we have a change and have beef steaks.’
Beatrice treated the cook to a bright smile which just about enchanted him into cooking up something special just for her. But before he could offer, she responded to his jokey announcement.
‘It is a difficult and extensive choice sir, but I think I’ll try the beef stew.’
Both cookie and Brolinger guffawed loudly.
‘You’ll do to ride the river with Miss Mellowday,’ said Brolinger.
She was given a spoon and a tin plate filled with beef stew and Brolinger had one of his men move so she could sit with her back to a wagon wheel. Then she daintily and self-consciously ate her food chewing for long periods on the tough beef that made up most of it. As she did so, she decided she would never complain about Mister Zelletta’s cooking again, or at least, for the short time they would remain together. However, being there was becoming quite an embarrassing ordeal. As she ate with her face turned down, the talk and banter between the hands, stopped and she instinctively, felt all eyes turned her way watching her intently and it was only when she looked up, that most of them quickly looked away. However, one man who sat apart from the others, openly leered at her and she felt defiled as his staring eyes roamed all over her body as though he were undressing her with them. So, it was with great relief that she silently, welcomed Zelletta as he sat down close by with his plate of stew.
He seemed to detect her consternation when he came close and also the relief she appeared to feel as he sat down beside her.
‘You okay?’ He asked.
She knew without a doubt, if she told him one of the hands was unnerving her, there would be trouble. Zelletta would not let it go and would very likely, confront the man, who, if he didn’t know her companion’s reputation and tried to stand up to him, may well find himself in deep trouble. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for someone getting injured or even killed, so she simply replied in affirmation to his question.
‘Yes, thank you,’ she said softly as she kept her eyes turned down to her food.
Having travelled with her for so long, he knew instinctively, she was not okay and allowed his eyes to roam the men seated around the chuck wagon. They had gone back to talking soon after he sat down, with most of them recognizing she may well be his woman. However, his eyes settled on the man who’d been worrying her and who, even though Zelletta regarded him with interested, continued leering at Beatrice with mirthless grin on his face.
Zelletta picked up a pebble and tossed it in the man’s direction. It landed in his coffee with small splash. The grin left his face and he turned his head to glare at the big man.
‘Is this lady bothering you, friend?’ Growled Zelletta.
The man seemed to see Frank for the first time and any bravado he planned to display, quickly faded when he met Zelletta’s steady and unwavering gaze.
‘I was just admiring your lady,’ he replied sullenly. ‘No harm intended.’
‘I don’t think your brand of admiration goes down too well with her. Maybe she would feel better if you turned your eyes in another direction.’
‘It’s alright Mister Zelletta,’ whispered Beatrice fearfully. ‘Please don’t make trouble on my behalf.’
‘There’ll be no problem as long as he stops leering at you.’
The man clearly, didn’t relish taking on Zelletta and slowly turned to face the other way. A communal sigh of relief appeared to silently, resound around the camp after the tension between the two men as Brolinger sat down beside Frank.
‘I ain’t blaming you for picking on Stevens Mister Zelletta. I seen the way he was leering at Miss Mellowday. But I’d appreciate it if it goes no further. I’m shorthanded as it is, so can ill afford to lose any of my drovers. I also beg your pardon ma’am on behalf of my other men. After weeks of staring at steers’ backsides, it’s hardly surprising they pay you so much attention. You are a rare beauty to behold and I mean that as an innocent compliment. But apart from Stevens, not one of them was looking at you in a lustful way. More the way folks would admire a beautiful oil painting.’
Beatrice blushed while Brolinger lowered his voice and spoke conspiratorially to Zelletta.
