I rode into Independence Mo. in the very early Spring of 1868 knowing wagon trains would be forming to make the trip west. I was looking to guide and hunt for one. Cap Watson was making one up as I rode in and he saw me and came right over and shook hands with me. Watson was a man I didn't care for personally. He has some tendencies with women I had seen I didn't care for. I had been over the trail many more times than he had and he knew he wanted me on this trip with him.
Now Captain Watson didn't care much more for me than I did him. But we had been over the trail together twice and I had saved his ass both times. I hate to say it but as always some men should not go west and they usually take wife and or family when they go. On both trips I had been on with him men had died and left a wife. Watson had taken charge of the young wife in both cases. In a few days the young helpless wife felt the obligation to him and he took advantage of them on the trip. I had heard in both cases the young women had ended up in saloons working in the brothels.
Watson was a crass heavy set man broad shouldered and barrel chested. Very important and over baring. I didn't approve of his treatment of either of the women as I felt he had taken advantage of them both. Within a few days of each of their husbands deaths he had moved into each woman's bed. His was the only train forming at this early date so I finally agreed to sign on.
We left out as early that spring as he felt we dared. As I rode the first few weeks with the train I began to learn the people with it. Several young husbands and wives some with children and some not. I tried to introduce myself when I could. I was pleased there were only two single ladies on the train.
Sometimes they could cause many more problems that they were worth. The first was an 18 year old , but with her mother and father and 4 younger siblings. The young lady was estranged from her husband. It was said he was a drinker and was mean to her. The second was a widow woman of maybe thirty. She had her own wagon with a driver and a colored servant.
We were out nearly six weeks when it happened. A couple of the men from the train didn't come back from hunting. I had crossed a trail of a few Indians while I was out and they were in line with the direction of the men hunting. Both were married men with families. I trailed them out and was as careful as a young doe in rut.
They went farther than the should have and were not in the wild long enough to have been alone. I found them staked out on a side hill. They caught them and staked them alive. They were stripped naked and both were castrated. They had died hard. I covered one with my slicer and the other with my bed roll. I went back and we brought a wagon out to fetch the bodies back to camp.
The wives and friends cleaned their bodies up and we serviced them and planted them beside the trail. We moved on the next morning. I saw Watson at both wagons the next night talking to the widows.
The widow Calhoon was maybe 24 with three little kids. A slim blonde woman on the thin side but pretty. She looked scared. The Grady Widow was a beautiful woman. Maybe 27 and with two preteen or early teen daughters. Full red hair and a body. I had tried not to pay much attention to Eileen Grady from the start. She did things to a man.
I was trying to stay very busy the next few days. The fourth night I rode in and put my horse up, It was getting late but I wanted to slip by both of the widows wagons before I turned in. As I rounded the widow Calhoon's wagon I could heard Watson talking to her.
"You are going to need more and more help and I am the one to help you. But you need to help me back."
I could see the young woman in the fire light.
"Mr. Watson do you mean the help I think you mean?"
"Yes, Mrs. Calhoon that is exactly what I mean."
"We need to be quiet if we can."
With that the young woman reached down and took the bottom of her dress and pulled it up over her head. She was completely naked and stood proudly before him. He quickly stripped his clothes off and reached for her. He took her to the grass beside the fire and as she spread herself for him he entered her. I heard her breath intake as he pushed himself deeper. She moaned and her legs came up around him.
I slipped off and left him to his enjoying her and from her actions her of him. The next night about the same time I saw her welcome him to her bed on the grass next to her wagon. She was nude when he got there waiting for him. And the next three nights following he joined her as she waited.
I rode in a bit later the next night and found her standing nude beside her wagon but she turned and pulled her dress back over her head and got into her wagon. I slipped around to the outside of Mrs. Grady's wagon and I could her them talking. I leaned around so I could see them past her wagon. They sat on a log near the fire. Both fully dressed.
"You are going to need my help Mrs. Grady, and as we move farther west you'll need it more and more. I am not asking much from you my Dear. Some simple understanding is all."
"The same understanding that Jenny Calhoon is giving you Mr. Watson is that what you are wanting from me?"
"Yes, my Dear, I think we understand each other."
"So with this simple understanding you'll help me get to where we are going? But Mr. Watson this simple understanding might get me help from any number of men on this train couldn't it?"
"Oh please call me Chester. There are not many unmarried men on the wagon train my Dear and we could not let any married men help you under these conditions. It could cause trouble we can't chance."
"There are a few men who are single men Chester. Who might be of help?"
"I can think of no one who can help you the way I can Eileen."
"You don't think Borden Higher would help me?"
"The man is simply our hunter and scout for this trip Mam."
"So you are saying I could not hire him to take me on from here."
"Nope I won't allow it."
"Do you really think you could prevent it?"
"Just think about doing it my way Eileen it will be much easier."
"Give me a couple days to think it over Chester?"
The next night he was back at Jenny Calhoon's wagon and she was naked for him. I saw young Jim Hall the next morning as I saddled up.
"Mr. Higher could I ride out with you this morning?"
