The Last Mission Of The Seventh Cavalry. Charley Brindley
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yeah?” Lojab said. “How about the way you girls go ga-ga over that tall, pig-ugly officer in the Little Red Riding Hood cape?”
“Oooo, Rocrainium,” the four women said together, then giggled.
“Rocrainium?” Kawalski said. “How do you know his name?”
“Oh, we have ways of finding out.” Autumn made some wavy hand signs, then the other three did the same thing, followed by more giggles.
“Hey,” Lojab said, “here she comes.”
Liada came toward them on the side of the trail, passing a herd of cattle. She was followed by a wagon pulled by a yoke of oxen. Soon, they stopped in front of the weapons crate and Liada dismounted.
Alexander went to look in the wagon; it was empty. He glanced at the woman in the wagon. She stood with her arms folded, glaring down at him. He then saw the gel bandage on her arm and remembered the deep gash they’d treated.
“The sword wound,” he whispered.
Kawalski came to the side of the wagon. “Hello.”
The woman looked at Kawalski, and her face brightened. She knelt in the bed of the wagon and held out her arm for him to see. She said something, but he didn’t understand.
“Yes, it looks good.” He ran his fingers over the bandage.
She spoke again.
“Hey, Apache,” Kawalski said, “come tell me what she’s saying.”
Autumn and Liada came to stand beside Kawalski. The woman said something to Liada, who motioned to her, then to Kawalski. Liada touched two fingers to her lips, then her breast, and pointed to him.
“She wants to thank you for fixing her arm,” Autumn said.
“How do you say, ‘You’re welcome?’”
“Touch your heart, then hold your hand out flat, palm up.”
Kawalski made the sign to her. She smiled and said something else. Kawalski looked at Autumn, who then looked at Liada.
Liada said to the woman, “Kawalski.”
“Kalski,” she said. Then without looking at Sarge, she pointed at him and asked Liada a question.
“Sarge,” Liada said.
The woman spoke to Liada, who laughed. The woman said the same thing again, along with the word “Sarge” two more times.
Liada shrugged and spoke to Autumn. “Cateri talk Sarge, um…” She made some signs.
Autumn smiled. “Cateri, I like that name. Sarge, Kawalski, meet Cateri.”
“What did Cateri have to say about me?” Alexander asked.
“Well,” Autumn said, “she said you can load your box in her wagon, then walk behind.”
“Wonderful. Just tell her the box belongs to Kawalski. Then she’ll jump down, help load it, then probably let him drive.”
“Okay,” Autumn said to Cateri. “Sarge said that will be wonderful.”
“Oh, whatever,” Alexander said.
“Okay,” Liada said, then she spoke to Cateri.
“Okay,” Cateri said. She motioned to Alexander, then pointed to the weapons crate.
“All right,” Sarge said, “you heard the boss lady, let’s load up.”
As they loaded the crate, Liada swung onto her horse.
“I think Cateri likes you, Sarge,” Kawalski said as they slid the container into the wagon.
“Really? If this is how she behaves when she likes me, how would she treat me if she hated me?”
Lojab walked over and took hold of the bridle on Liada’s horse. “How you doing, Sweet Thing?”
Liada smiled down at him, then looked at Autumn.
Autumn, standing behind Lojab, stuck out her tongue and made a yuck face. She then brought up her foot as if to kick Lojab in the butt.
Liada laughed.
Lojab sneered at Autumn’s smile. “Ask her where people go to have a few drinks,” he said.
“Okay,” Autumn said. “Watch her to see what she thinks.”
Lojab looked up at Liada. Autumn pointed her right index finger at Liada, then her left one at Lojab. She then placed her two fingers together, laying one on top of the other and wiggling them up and down. Finally, she made a motion of rocking a baby in her arms.
Liada wrinkled her brow for a moment, but then her face brightened and she laughed.
The others, who had watched the pantomime, struggled to keep from laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Lojab looked at Autumn, then at the others as they tried to control themselves. Even Cateri recognized the humor.
“Autumn,” Liada said and motioned for her to come to her.
She leaned down to ask her something, then Autumn whispered to her.
Liada smiled. “Kawalski,” she said and patted the horse’s back, behind her. “Ride?”
Kawalski looked up at her, pointed to his chest, then at her.
She nodded.
“Here.” Kawalski handed his rifle to Autumn. “Hold this.”
He tried to throw his leg up over the horse’s back but couldn’t do it. Liada offered her hand. He took it and pulled himself up behind her.
“Catch,” Autumn said, tossing the rifle to him.
Liada looked back at him as he swung the rifle over his shoulder.
“Okay,” Kawalski said.
She kicked her heels in the horse’s sides. When the horse sprang forward, Kawalski almost rolled off backwards, but he grabbed Liada around the waist to hold on.
“That skinny son-of-a-bitch,” Lojab said. “What does she see in him?”
Autumn shrugged, then flipped the switch on her comm. “Hey, Kawalski.”
“W-w-w-what?”
“You’re bouncing.”
“No s-s-s-s-shit.”
The others laughed.
Alexander watched Liada and Kawalski ride out of sight, around a bend in the trail. “Cateri,” he said.
She looked down at him.
“I think this belongs to you.”
He pulled her whip from his hip pocket and tossed it to her. She caught the whip and unrolled it from the handle while keeping her eyes on him. Alexander then stepped back, and she grinned and popped the whip over the heads of the two oxen. When they didn’t move, she slapped the reins against their butts. The oxen lowed in protest but then plodded forward. The platoon fell in behind the wagon.
Liada slowed her horse as they came to the wagons loaded with supplies.
“What’s in those chests?” Kawalski said, pointing to five heavy wooden boxes in one of the wagons.
Liada looked at the boxes and said something to him.
“Hey, Apache,” he said on the comm. “How do you say, ‘What’s in those boxes?’ in sign language?”
“Sorry, White Man, you’re on your own.”
“Gee, thanks. Whatever it is, it must be valuable. They’ve got six soldiers behind it, and six in front.”
Liada continued to talk and point out things as they rode past a wagon filled with sides of meat, jars of date wine, and bales of hides. When they came to the wagons loaded with earthen jars of grain, they heard three short blasts from a trumpet. Liada kicked her horse into a