#51
Chuck got dragged through the tall grass. over hidden rocks and stones. Refusing to let go of the halter rope, he flailed and tried to stand and dig his heels in, to stop the panicked horse.
Yelling at the top of his lungs, he demanded the mare stop, and every time he was drug over whatever was battering him, he hollered a few choice cuss words.
Andy tried to stay aboard his plunging gelding, spurring the animal to circle around so he could spot the tiger, before it pounced.
It seemed like the commotion went on for long, long minutes. There were no more sounds from the tiger, and eventually the horses tired and slowed down. Sides heaving, head down, Moss stood breathing heavily. While she was still, the colt danced in for a quick meal. That motherly duty calmed Moss more than anything, and she stood still as Chuck tried to figure a way to get back on top of the large economy sized Moss, with his hurt leg.
"Hey, wait a minute. I'll get off and boost you up," Andy offered. "You got stepped on?" he questioned.
"Yeah," Chuck panted, " the colt, he didn't mean too, but he's no light weight." he stood beside Moss as Andy bent to cup his hands for Chuck to step in.
"You're no light weight either," Andy grunted as he strained to lift Chuck high enough for the older man to scramble across the broad backed Moss.
"Boy, that took away any dignity I ever thought I had," Chuck strained to smile down at Andy, "thanks, I'd never had made that by myself. What do ya think we should do, keep on keeping on."
"Yeah, I want to pick a more favorable place to spend the night. Like a place that doesn't have tall grass for a half mile around it. That blasted cat has been following us and how he gets so close without us catching sight of him, I don't know." Andy swung up on his horse, whirled the animal in a circle as he checked the surrounding area.
"I believe we have about a short couple of hours until dark, so lets get going," Chuck said between gritted teeth, "I'll try to keep up, but if I can't, I want you to go on without me. No sense in both of us becoming tiger bait."
"We'll cross that problem when we get to it," Andy said, with absolutely no intention of leaving Chuck to the mercy of the stalking tiger.
Trotting against the remnants of the unusual wind, the duo went hard across the prairie.
A full hour's worth of the jarring movement took them Northeast, and the wind kept blowing.
"I smell smoke," Andy stood as tall as he could, scanning the horizon. "There's a fire ahead, and it looks like trees, I think we might have found people and a camp. Keep on Chuck, it looks like less than a mile away."
Mark sighed hard, that man and his blasted bagpipe. Seamus was a good man, had connections with God that he Mark, didn't have. But Seamus's penchant for shrilling that terrible noise had to stop.
Getting the animals under control, and digging out the wagons took hours. Tedious work, backbreaking at best for already tired men. Phoebe rushed around bring drinking water, checking on her 'children' as Calvin babysat with Suisan. Punky and Max kept up a running commentary between them, concerning the progress.
"I'm guessing that supper will be late," Punky was saddened by his discovery.
"They's doin a powerful bunch of work, I wouldn't be mouthing off about eatin." Calvin advised. "There's a time to be whining about things, and this ain't it."
"How come you got to be so smart, you ain't that much older than me," Punky challenged his friend.
"I'm smarter cause I keep my mouth shut soes my ears can hear better. All you think about is yerself, and it ain't always about you. Sometimes it's about others, an ya just got to keep yer mouth shut and go with the flow."
Max was nodding his head up and down, without saying a word. He looked over at the baby and smiled. Suisan babbled back, her baby voice strong and deep like Seamus's. "She's gonna be a biggun," Punky said to Calvin; "she looks heavy to carry."
"Yes Sir, she shore is. I ain't supposed to lift her, she wiggles hard. Miss Phoebe Ma says to just play with her gently. No sticks or such like that, it's gonna be a couple of years before she can play with us." the boys laughed when Suisan blew bubbles with her spit.
"I think she's gonna be Ok, for a girl that is." Calvin opinioned. The other two boys agreed.
There was a cheer outside, the last wagon was pulled out of it's muddy prison, and Mark was yelling for drivers to grab the reins. "We've got a couple of hours of daylight, let's head north."