“But what if he leaves again,” Jenny said. That was her greatest fear.
Mac embraced her, and she rested her head on his chest as he rubbed her neck. “He’s going to leave sometime, Jenny,” Mac murmured against her hair.
“I suppose,” she whispered. “But I missed him so. And worried so.”
“But now you want to send Maria away?” he asked.
She sighed. “No. I want to keep them all close. But I can’t, can I?”
Chapter 61: Some Things Never Change
Will’s days continued to pass monotonously. Saturday, November 12, was a mild day, and in the afternoon, he took Cal and Nate down to the Willamette to fish. The fish were active in the cooler waters of late autumn.
They found a spot away from the steamship docks where the water was relatively still. The younger boys cast their hooks in the river, but Will decided to read instead. “I’ll help you if you land a big one,” he said to Nate, ruffling the little boy’s hair. Then he settled himself on the riverbank and opened Great Expectations. Will had read a few serialized chapters of the story, but never the whole book. Mama and Mac had purchased the three-volume novel while he was away.
“Will?” Cal asked after they’d been fishing about half an hour.
“Hmm?” he said, not even taking his eyes off the page.
“Did you kill any Indians while you were in the Army?”
At that, Will looked up. “Kill Indians? No.”
“But you saw them,” Cal said, turning to Will.
“I saw some,” Will said, thinking of Humboldt Jim and the Snakes whose horses were stolen with Shanty. “Watch your pole.”
Cal faced the water, then said, “Did you carry a gun?”
“Yes,” Will said. “We were all issued rifles.”
“Did you shoot it?” Nate asked.
“Yes. We hunted.” Will closed his book. “But mostly the rifle was for protection.”
“Protection from Indians?” Cal asked.
“Yes,” Will said. “Or from bears and the like.”
“Did you like the Army?” Cal asked.
Will shrugged. “It was hard work. I loaded and unloaded mules over and over again. Can’t say I liked that. But I enjoyed scribing for Colonel Drew. And I liked seeing the country, barren though it was.”
“I want to join the Army,” Cal said. “And fight Indians.”
“Why do you want to fight them?” Will asked. “Have you talked to your father about fighting Indians?”
“Pa? What does Pa know about Indians?”
“Ask him,” Will said. “He told me about being in the militia after the Whitman Massacre. And about being on posses through the years. He didn’t like fighting.”
“If Pa didn’t like the militia, why’d you join up?” Cal wanted to know.
“I didn’t have much choice,” Will said. “Joel Pershing had signed on, and Jonah and I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“If I can’t shoot Indians, I can shoot Johnny Reb.” Cal held his fishing pole like a rifle and made shooting sounds.
Will decided he’d better try to dissuade Cal’s interest in the Army, or Mama would cry again. “The Army’s no place for boys, Cal. You wait until you’re of age before you decide whether to enlist. There’s no call to shoot a man unless he needs shooting. Most Indians don’t do us any harm. And the War will be over long before you’re old enough to join.”
“There’ll be another war,” Cal said, casting his line back into the water.
When they returned, Will helped the younger boys clean their fish in the yard. They threw the innards to Rufus, then Cal and Nate took their fish inside to show off to Mama and Mrs. O’Malley.
Maria came outside as Will washed his hands at the pump. “Cal and Nate are so proud of their catch,” she said, smiling. “Thank you for helping them.”
Will shrugged. “It was better than moping about here.”
“Are you still sad, Will?” she asked, handing him a towel.
“Just lost, I guess,” he said. “Nowhere to go. Nothing to do.” He frowned at her. “Would you like to take a ride on Shanty tomorrow? We could visit the Abercrombies.”
She blushed. “We’d better not.”
Will saw her pink cheeks. “I’m sorry I kissed you, Maria.”
