Chapter 59: Trouble at Fort Boise

 

Saturday, August 28th—I have been distressed since the Indians invaded our camp three nights ago. Truth be told, I have felt this way since Mrs. Pershing died. My fate feels so uncertain.

 

Jenny sat in camp outside Fort Boise. A breeze wafted a strand of hair across her face. The air held a hint of autumn. She needed to do laundry, but she relished the moment of stillness. She had so little time to herself, and she was exhausted. Even first thing in the morning her bones ached, and it took effort to lift her swollen body, let alone an armload of wet clothes.

Jenny sighed, picked up a bucket, and headed to the nearby stream. As she filled the bucket, Doc walked by.

“What are you doing, girl?” he asked.

“Getting water.”

“Where’s McDougall?”

“At the fort.”

“Let me get that.” The doctor took the bucket. “What’s the water for, anyway?”

“Washing.”

“Were you planning to fill a whole tub?”

Jenny nodded.

“Didn’t I tell you to take it easy?”

“The clothes won’t wash themselves.” He was no better than Mac. She had chores to do. It didn’t matter how she felt.

Doc sighed. “I’ll fill your tub. And I’ll send Mrs. Tuller over. She can help you.”

Jenny gathered soiled shirts and socks while the doctor filled her washtub. Mrs. Tuller carried over a pile of clothes and knelt beside Jenny. “You sit, child,” the older woman said. “I’ll scrub, and you wring.”

While they worked. Esther and Mrs. Abercrombie lugged over a tub, filled it, and washed as well. Rachel sat with Jonah on a blanket nearby, while Ruth ran errands for the women.

“Where are the boys?” Mrs. Tuller asked Esther.

“Playing in the fields. The twins are minding Noah, though I can’t rightly see them keeping him out of trouble.” Esther sighed. “Rachel and Ruth, can you go look after them?”

After the girls left, Mrs. Abercrombie whispered to Esther, “Do they know your news?”

Esther’s face reddened. “Jenny does.” She turned to Mrs. Tuller. “I’m expecting.”

“I wondered,” Mrs. Tuller said. “My, you are blessed.”

“Seems like just yesterday I was praying Daniel would look at me.” Esther sighed. “Now Ma’s gone, and I got Jonah and the other young’uns to mind, and my own on the way.”

Mrs. Tuller patted Esther’s wet hand with her own soapy one. “The good Lord will provide.”

“I surely hope so, ma’am.”

“You and Mr. Abercrombie must be pleased,” Mrs. Tuller said to Mrs. Abercrombie.

“Oh, yes. Mr. Abercrombie thinks it’ll be a boy.”

After hanging the wet clothes on ropes strung between wagons, Jenny started dinner. She hoped Mac would bring back provisions from the fort. They only had a little meat and flour left. She made a stew from the meat and camas roots, seasoning it with the ever-present sage and a few wild onions.

“Will you and the doctor eat with us?” she asked Mrs. Tuller. “I want to thank him for hauling my water this morning.”

“That’d be right nice, Jenny,” Mrs. Tuller said. “Let me find him.”

Mac returned from the fort about noon. He brought sacks of sugar and cornmeal, and some Indian foods. “Wasn’t much to be found,” he told her.

“Sugar’s nice,” she said. “But we’re low on flour again. And the meat’s gone.”

“Have to make do with camas and cornmeal instead,” he said. “Indians only had fish to sell. I’ll hunt this afternoon.”

“May I visit the fort?” Jenny asked.

“If I’m hunting, I can’t take you. Go with Mrs. Tuller. Or Esther. It should be safe enough, if you’re together.” Mac reached in his pocket and gave her a silver coin. “Here’s a dollar, if you see something you want.”

After Jenny had washed the dishes, she found Esther at the Abercrombie wagons. “Would you like to go to the fort?”

Esther asked Mrs. Abercrombie, “May I go? Or would you like to go with us?”

Mrs. Abercrombie nodded. “Let’s all go. I’ll get Louisa and her daughters, and you can bring your brothers and sisters.”

“Is that all right?” Esther asked Jenny.

Jenny smiled. “We’ll make it a party. I’ll find Mrs. Tuller, too.”

The women and children walked to the fort. It was smaller than Fort Hall, but seemed cleaner to Jenny. The group roamed the store, the Pershing twins and Abercrombie granddaughters giggling at Indian toddlers who peeked from behind their mothers’ buckskin skirts.

Jenny filled a sack with fifty cents worth of flour and put salt in another bag, saving a few pennies out of Mac’s dollar for the children to spend on candy.

When the women finished shopping, they started back toward camp. A man staggered out of a building.

“Pa!” Esther shouted and rushed over to her father.

Captain Pershing fell to his knees and vomited in the dirt.

“Oh, Pa,” Esther said.

Mrs. Tuller turned to Jenny. “Take the children back to camp. I’ll help Esther.” She pushed Jenny gently, and Jenny hurried off with the other women and children.

Jenny kept the younger Pershings at her wagon until Esther came to see her an hour later.

“He drank most of a bottle,” Esther said. “Mrs. Tuller and I barely got him back to camp. Doc’s there now.” Esther wiped her face with her apron. “It’ll be all around camp tonight. Mr. Abercrombie won’t let it go.”

“It’s not your fault, Esther,” Jenny said. “He’s just grieving the loss of your mama.”

“Well, I’m grieving, too, but I ain’t drinking.” Esther’s voice was bitter. “I’m raising Jonah and the others and dealing with the Abercrombies, too. ’Cause that’s what Ma would want me to do. I wish we’d never taken this journey.”

“I sometimes wish the same thing,” Jenny said. “Then I remember what it was like back home.”

Esther sighed. “Zeke and Joel don’t help. Not with the children. They’re always out scouting or hunting. Like now.”

“They’re doing men’s work. That’s important, too.”

Esther sniffed and smoothed out her apron. “I got to start supper. The young’uns won’t wait for me to finish crying.” She called, “Let’s go, children,” then left, followed by her younger brothers and sisters. Rachel cast a backward glance at Jenny.

Jenny ate supper alone and pulled out her journal.

 

Saturday, August 28th—Our pleasant afternoon at Fort Boise was spoiled by Captain Pershing. Why do men drink when troubled? Esther manages the best she can.

Mac returned as the shadows from the mountains lengthened across the Boise valley. He slid off Valiente, then lifted a gutted deer off his saddle.

“Venison!” Jenny exclaimed. She handed him a plate. “I saved you salmon and camas cakes. But tomorrow we’ll have meat.”

Mac smiled as he took his supper. “Thank you.”

“You’re late getting back.”

“Didn’t see any game until sunset,” he said, his mouth full.

“We’ll eat well for a few days, anyway,” Jenny said. “I’ll get to butchering it.”

“You can hardly get down on the ground now,” Mac said. “I’ll do it after I eat.”

“Did you hear about the captain?” Jenny asked.

Mac nodded. “The Pershing twins ran out to greet us. Told us their pa had been drunk.”

“It was awful. The Tullers had to help Esther handle him.”

“Abercrombie’s all swaggers. He’s calling for a vote on who’ll captain us the rest of the way.”

“What’ll happen?”

“Don’t know. Expect we’ll vote tomorrow.” Mac handed her his plate and found his knife to butcher the deer.

The next morning Jenny awoke to shouts. “We’ll vote, God damn it,” Abercrombie bellowed. “You’re a scandal, Pershing. I won’t stand by and let you kill us all.”

“I’m twice the man you are, Abercrombie. Even drunk. Shall we settle this for good?” The captain’s voice wasn’t loud, but menacing nonetheless.

Men, women, and children thronged toward the fight. Jenny saw Mac and pushed her way through the crowd to stand beside him. Pershing and Abercrombie both had their fists raised, circling each other.

People opened space around the two men. Esther sobbed into her brother Zeke’s chest. Joel had his hands balled into fists. Daniel stood staring at his father and father-in-law, hands hanging limply.

“Now, hold on,” Mac said, stepping into the circle.

“Ain’t your fight, McDougall,” Abercrombie said. “Stand back.”

Doc moved beside Mac, between Pershing and Abercrombie. “Brawling won’t help. This argument concerns all of us.”

“That’s right,” Dempsey said. “We signed on for Pershing as captain. You made a play before, Abercrombie. It didn’t take.”

“I ain’t following no drunk,” Hewitt said. “Time for someone new.”

“We’ll do this proper,” Doc said. “Take a vote.”

Mac raised his hand. “Tempers are short. Breakfast first. We’ll vote after we eat, before we break camp. Come back in an hour.”