to the gold fields without permission or mind to seek it from the Government. What a sham all of it.
But nothing of this did we know then & thought it all a grand fine carnival with squaws in all their coloured beads with black braids thick as hemp ropes & skin as brown & clear as campfire coffee with fine fat babbies bound to their backs. Sure the squaws around Ft. Laramie them few days in their 100s were a different breed altogether from the ones we did be walking down to see in the Sutler’s 2nd wagon.
Well I am wandering in my words here & in time we did reach the wagon set a fair piece away from the all the others to the rear of the Ft. in a clearing of cutdown Cottonwoods by a brackish stream.
We would not be the first men there though it was quiet enough & peaceable with the sun still high in the afternoon sky. There was a kind of sail or tent cover strung from the wagon & propped up by 2 lodge poles offering shade to the whores dozing on thick heaps of buffalo hide rugs & the Bills waiting their go up in the bed of the wagon. The whores did flick out at flies now & again with buffalo tail fans while 2 boys from I Company who we did know by sight sat supping whiskey on stumps that served as stools. The mule driver was there as well & this time he did not warn us off for what whoremaster runs off his custom when they have coins in the purse?
“2 bucks,” says he as we walked into the shade. Nary a “Fine Day” from him he was as rude as a land agent come for rent.
To spite his rudeness I did say, “2$? Fair steep for what is on offer.”
“Well 2 sheets or you can f___ a gopher hole,” says he not looking at me but at the brother as if he did fancy his chances.
I made to reply but Tom put his hand on my chest for to stop me. “2$ will do grand,” says he.
Says the skinner still looking at Tom but pointing at me, “2$ each if he wants his own poke. He ain’t to share yours.”
I did consider it a moment for standing there with money in my pocket nature’s hunger came upon me & I took a long look at the whores lounging there about the buffalo rugs. They are fat I will give them that which is the best thing about them with eyes puffed & at 1/2 mast with liquor & they were damp of brow in the dust & heat. One puffed a long stem pipe & another wore a forage cap no doubt forgotten by some drunken Bill. The 3rd whore took note of my looking & she lifted her skirts & tossed open her hams for to show me the thick black thatch about her privates. The two I Company boys on their stumps stared over at her c____ for a moment before turning back to their whiskey as if they had their fill of such a sight altogether & could not stomach another portion. The hunger I can tell you Sir went off me lickety quick with me thinking terrible thoughts of mercury cures & broke glass piss as sure to come with a visit to these whores as the sun is sure to rise in the morning. My prick did droop to think on it.
Says I, “No you may keep your wares. I will just set with these boys to wait.”
The muleskinner said nothing in return & instead turned to the back of the wagon & ordered them inside to put an end to their business. Tom did doff his kepi & made to fix up his hair with a whale ivory comb he won in a card game causing me to smile for it was like tying down lines on a sinking ship my brother trying to put his head right for to spark his whore.
“I will not tell you again,” says the muleskinner into the back of the wagon as I took a free stump nearby the I Company boys. Says he, “You button up & get your ass out the wagon.”
From inside the wagon came the voice of a man telling the skinner where to take himself & that he did not yet have his shot away & would G___ D____ have