Escape
Along the Oregon Trail
by
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Hank was frantic. He thought that Anna was sleeping near the young dog, Bear. When the sun came up he discovered she was nowhere to be found. He went running towards the wagon that young Samuel Taylor belonged to. "Sam! Sam! Have you seen Anna?" Sam’s father was stirring up the fire and young Sam was just waking up, "No. I wondered where she went. I was fishing and didn’t catch any fish so she didn’t have to help me clean them. I looked around and figured she had walked back to the wagon. The sun was going down and it was pretty much dusk when I got back to the wagon." Hank run to the front of the train and told Captain Terry, "My little Anna, she is gone." He told the Captain all that he knew. A few outriders and guards were brought together and they had young Samuel take them to where he had last seen Anna. They followed her footprints for about thirty minutes when one of the guards found where the Indian pony had been tied. The pony’s un-shod hoof prints headed off to the north. He turned and spoke, "The tracks are headed north and a bit west. They are unshod, so I’m sure it’s an Indian. There seems to be only one Indian and one pony. Look here how the hoof prints are deeper. There are two people on the pony now. One is surely Anna. There are no more of her tracks to be found." They followed for a few hundred yards more. The pony’s trail didn’t veer from its northerly direction. It seemed to be heading for some low hills away in the distance. One of the other outriders said, "I reckon we better get back to camp. The Indian that stole Anna is going to ride all night. No tellin’ how fer away he is and he is riding straight. See there ain’t no attempt to hide his direction. It’ll be dark soon." The men headed back and broke the news to Hank Delf and to Captain Terry. The Captain doubled the outriders and gave orders to double the night guard. Every man in the wagon would have a turn at being a night guard from now on until they reached their Oregon valley. The Captain talked with the outriders and they all agreed that it was a lone incident. They didn’t think it was Pawnee – probably Cheyenne. Captain Terry ordered, "From now on none of the children will be allowed to leave the camp without one of their parents and that parent has to be armed." Hank slapped the reins at the horses. He couldn’t stop crying and shaking. His crying was silent, but his body jerked and tears flowed. His poor little Anna. What was he going to do? He had lost his wife when Anna was born and now he had lost his Anna. Samuel’s mother came over to the wagon and handed him up some cold biscuits and warmed over coffee. Hank nodded thanks and ate and drank without even noticing what he was eating. The next morning he dug the gold coins out of the secret place in the old trunk and went to one of the outriders. "I’ll pay yu all the money I have if yu will go look fer Anna." The man thought for a minute and said, "I hired in to Captain Terry. I cain’t rightly go trapsin’ off when he has paid me. An I done spent the money he give me. Besides the Indian has likely got so far away thet I cain’t rightly ketch him. I would be a wastin’ yore money." Hank hung his head and walked back to his wagon and Bear. He had to agree with the outrider. He started crying again to himself. The train kept on going west.
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About the Book
It traces the adventures of a young emigrant girl that was captured by a Cheyenne along the Platt River in the Great American Desert — her life amongst them for ten years and her escape back to the white world she was deprived of.
The dates are real as are some of the more famous military Generals of the day and the names of some of the major Indian Chiefs mentioned in the story.
The landscape, plant life, and weather patterns of the various western areas were well researched.
This is a must read for those readers of fictional history
about the old west.
About the Author
He served in the Air Force during the Korean War and upon discharge worked in the California Aerospace industry for most of his career. He spent many weekends traipsing around the California Deserts with his wife, two daughters, and the family dog.
Mr. Barber has traveled extensively all over the world, including South Africa and the Outback in Australia, and when in a conversation, he tends to compare his own ancestor’s struggles in settling the West with their struggles to explore and populate those two faraway countries. His knowledge of early emigrant movements from the more settled parts of the United States to the Great American Desert and to the Oregon country far beyond the Shining Mountains, has been accumulated over a period of forty years.
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“I will make war no more forever”
In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat
Joseph – Chief of the Nez Perce