A fictional account.
*
Sarah watched nervously as her father walked gun in hand out to greet the Indians that were riding up to him. Her Mom told her to take her little sister inside the small two room house and hide in the loft where they slept. Sarah grabbed the hand of her ten year old sister Sally and headed for the door. They had all been working outside the house when the Indians appeared. They had only moved here from Ohio a year earlier in 1869.
The west offered the promise of free land and her father had found this wonderful homestead like many other people that had traveled the long trail with the wagon train over the Rockies and settled here. They had met many nice people on the trail and several had staked out parcels of land nearby. There was even a family two farms over where a boy she fancied lived. She had met Tad on the third day out on the trail and they had hit it off.
At eighteen, Sarah was the oldest of her parents' three kids. Her brother Seth was fourteen and as she looked over her shoulder she saw him grab his hunting rifle from the side of the house. Her mother too grabbed for her husband's rifle.
Sarah pushed Sally through the door and toward the loft steps. Sally complained she wanted to see the colorful Indians. They were wearing make up she said. Sarah had heard enough stories of Indians to know there was danger and hustled Sally up the steps. Before she went up herself she grabbed a knife from the kitchen table.
As she went to the stairs she stole a glance out the front window. Her father was talking to a big Indian that was obviously the leader. There were ten or more Indians total she guessed. Several of them were fanning outward about thirty yards in front of the house. As she watched in horror, the leader raised and threw his tomahawk before her father could react. The tomahawk struck him in the chest and he stumbled backward. In seconds, he was struck by two arrows. One arrow hit him in the left shoulder and the other went through his neck. She gasped loudly as she watched her father drop to his knees and then fall over to his side. She heard two shots being fired as the other Indians charged the house on their ponies. One Indian reeled and then fell from his horse.
Sarah knew she needed to get aloft so she scrambled up the stairs with tears already welling in her eyes. She could hear the Indians whooping and hollering as they advanced on the house.
Sarah got up the stairs and kicked the ladder away to the floor below. She realized too late it would have been better to pull it up but there was also not enough time. She hurried to Sally and they huddled in one corner behind a small bed. They could already hear Indians entering the small house.
Sarah hoped her mother and brother were okay but the reality was quite different. Both had taken several arrows and two Indians were already scalping both of them. It only took the Indians moments to realize where they were hiding and reposition the ladder.
Sarah could barely see through her tears and Sally sensing something was terribly wrong was whimpering too loudly for them not to be heard. Sarah tried to shush her but it was already too late. Sarah could hear the ladder creaking under the weight of a full grown Indian. She decided she needed to defend Sally, so she stood holding the knife.
Two Indians had already made the climb and were standing just five feet away on the other side of the bed. The leader was the second up the ladder but the one in the front gave way as she heard him speak. The leader looked at her and smiled. He said something to her but of course she had no idea what he said. He slowly advanced towards her around the bed. Sarah knew she had little chance against this much larger man but she was determined to save her sister. As the leader approached, she lunged forward with the knife slashing the air before her. The Indian Leader skillfully sidestepped her advance and out of what seemed nowhere cracked her on the side of her head with the handle of his tomahawk. The same weapon that had killed her father only moments earlier now knocked her unconscious across the bed.
Sarah groaned awake with a splitting headache and soon gathered her thoughts enough to realize she was draped over the front of an Indian's horse. She tried to move but the Indian knew she was awake and held her down. The horse was walking through a forest. All Sarah could see were the legs of many horses and a few of the Indian riders.
Sarah did not see Sally anywhere. She feared for her sister's safety but the pain in her head was unbearable. Her stomach also hurt from being draped over the walking horse. Sarah felt like she might be sick but with all the blood rushing to her brain she passed out again.
The next time Sarah woke, she was on the ground. As she looked about, she saw several Indians making a fire. She also noticed a stream nearby. Instantly, she thought of Sally and sat up to look around. The Indians noticed her movement but did nothing. Sarah moved into a sitting position and looked around. She finally spotted Sally in the distance by the horses with two Indians. As Sarah watched it seemed to her they were instructing her on how to tend the horses.
Sarah's head throbbed and she rubbed the spot where the tomahawk had struck her. She could feel a bump that had formed on the top left side of her head. Sarah thought about standing but her head ached to bad. She even thought about trying to run to Sally but knew any attempt at escape would quickly be thwarted. These Indians were all grown men and twice as fast as she. In her dress, running would be difficult as well.
Sarah watched intently as the Indians showed Sally what they wanted her to do. Sally's blond hair shown brightly even in the fading sunlight. Her dress was already getting dirty from the work they were having her do. Sarah looked down at her own dress which was soiled as well. Her long blond hair was undone from the bun it had been in when she was working at home. It hung down across her chest on either side covering her breasts. Tad had told her she had pretty hair and more than once she had caught him glancing at her swelling breasts.