“Don’t touch him or my gear. He’ll bite you”
“Yes ma’am.”
Fritz smiled, setting the pencil down. He’d been thinking of her as he wrote the last line. He could see with greater perspective what her presence was like to an outsider. A woman of exceptional beauty, who carried herself and fought better than most men he knew. She entered your mind like a tornado. No force other than nature herself could push Scarlet out.
What a sight she must’ve been to the young trooper outside his tent. Twin Walkers strapped to her hips only drew your eyes to her curves. The large bore hunting rifle slung from the scabbard of the coal-black stallion told you she meant business. Although Fritz couldn’t see her, he was sure she was smirking, one eyebrow raised as if in question.
Fritz rose from his campstool. “Let her in son, and go get yourself some coffee.”
The tent flap lifted, and Scarlet entered. “Permission to enter, sir?” she said, smiling.
He took her into his arms. They embraced fiercely. Lips, eyes, hands and hearts met as one.
“It’s good to see you too,” Fritz replied, as he came up for air.
Fritz offered her the bed, while he took the campstool. “So, how are things?”
“This column makes more noise than a Chinese funeral procession,” she replied. “I’m used to traveling quicker and quieter than this.”
Fritz nodded. “Agreed. I’ve spent more time in your company recently than in this Company.” Fritz reached for the cigar on the edge of his desk. It was out. He grabbed it anyway. “Have you noticed anything else?”
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “The smell.” She said it with a straight face. Fritz laughed despite himself.
“It can get kind of ripe among the unwashed masses…”
“No,” Scarlet interrupted. “That’s not what I meant. “I smell fear. I felt it from Teddy over in the Scout’s Camp. I smelled it here from the trooper at your tent flap. Many of these men are untried. Their fear of the unknown can cripple them at an inopportune moment.”
“I wish I could give a straight answer to that,” Fritz mused. “The only way to gain experience in this job is to do it. You can only pray that all the training we gave them will prove useful. If done right, their response will be automatic. They will fight. What is it you always say? ‘Courage is being afraid, but saddling up anyway?”
“We shall see,” she said. “So far, we’ve had no sign that the column has been spotted. There’s been no sign whatsoever. Have you seen or heard anything?”
Fritz rolled the unlit cigar in his fingers. “General Crook has dispatched two Companies to search for our Indian Scouts. So far, we’ve not heard from them.”
“Do you suspect collusion of some kind?”
“If so, it’s from those bastards that run the reservations,” he replied. “If they’d give the people the supplies they need, instead of trying to feed them rancid beef, we wouldn’t have this problem.”
Scarlet looked at her husband. “Have you ever considered becoming an Indian Agent yourself?”
Fritz stopped rolling the cigar. Could that be what Grey Eagle had meant? Was that the vision he spoke of? He wished he could talk to him now, but in present company, Fritz knew the warrior wouldn’t be welcome.
“Something to think about…if we all live through this, that is.” Fritz took his wife’s hand.
He asked, “Can you stay?”