Well the next day was the 1st of November & I will never forget it. Our heads were like they had mules kicking inside them & the boys who passed their revels at Kinney’s Hog Ranch the night before did be feeling already the sting of whore’s vengeance in their waters. I tell you Sir it was a sluggish muster for parade & the forming of work details. You have seen the like of it before I am sure with the desperate din of coughing & retching ringing from one end of the Ft. to the other & more than one Bill swaying in formation that morning with a face as green as marsh grass.
That morning my brother stood behind me at muster & because 1st Sgt. Nevin was speaking to Lt. Grummond (who looked not sick like the rest of us but was surely still drunk as always) I turned to look at Tom & though his face was set as haunted & pale he did not appear the worse for drink like the rest of us but was the worse for something else by far for as I told you Sir he was sick with love for a woman he could not have but all others could for a price. Seeing me looking at him Tom did say to me, “Will we up for the Pinery today Michael? I cannot bear to be around this place.”
I tell you my head was a muddle & my guts like eels were swimming in them. Truly I did not care where we passed our day’s work for I would feel as poorly here as there.
“Tell Nevin so,” says I to him & he did. In return Nevin ordered the pair of us to make sure the horses were saddled & watered for we would be riding guard on the woodtrain & standing picket rather than cutting today.
“The best mounts,” says Nevin to us as we turned to the stables. “We will take 8 men on horseback & the rest of the boys will be a foot & will double as timbermen. With the civilians we will have 35 men all told.”
“8 of the best Sgt.,” says I though it hurt my head to say it.
Well that woodtrain did take some time for to get moving each morning & this morning of All Soul’s was no different for there was always some loose yoked oxen or objecting mules or a cracked wagon axle & since the train set off all together or not at all it was proper morning before we made for the trail a top of Sullivant Hill. This was the same hill where Red Cloud’s boys lit their fires by night to terrify us & there was fresh sign of them there as we climbed to the summit trail overlooking the Valley. There was sooty ashes in a ring & moccasin & hoof prints in the dirt & flattened down grass.
Nevin pulled his horse up beside me & together we did gaze over the Valley seeing from that hilltop what the Indians spied when they looked down upon us.
Says he, “The whole place looks awful small from here.”
I gave a shrug & said nothing. Truth be told my mouth was dry & I did not feel up to talking much. I felt I might spew up my coffee.
Says Nevin then, “Keep your eyes open today. Them red f_____ just wanted a looksee yesterday. They are still around & we need to be sharp to them.”
“Sharp as an Arkansaw toothpick,” says I & watched Nevin trot off to the fore of the woodtrain where he led the wagons from the front for he did be that sort of soldier.
I rode up beside one of the wagons on the West side of the trail & kept pace with it relaxing some while we rolled over the summit trail for I did not think Mr. Lo would harass us on high ground. I would be sharp I told myself when the time came to start down from the hilltop trail into the meadows that bordered the Pine forest but until then I would let the gentle stepping of my mount ease my head & stomach & just as I was thinking this the 1st arrow sang over my head. For a moment I did not know what it was I took it for a bird or a bug or some other whistling thing I do not know