Desert Hearts (27 page)

It all happened so quickly that afterward Elizabeth could hardly remember the sequence. Cooper and his men had almost disappeared into the stockade when the Navajo men rushed after them, determined to recover their money. When he became aware of the commotion behind him, and without a thought to who was left outside, Cooper ordered the gates shut. As they swung closed, a few Navajo almost squeezed through. A shot rang out, and one of them fell.

The captain pulled Elizabeth and the colonel’s wife down as the gates swung open again and more shots were fired. Elizabeth watched in horror as Navajo men, women, and children scattered, some of them falling as they ran.

“My God, what are they doing,” Mrs. Gray moaned. “Everything Charles worked for is being ruined.”

Cooper had lost his mind, Elizabeth decided. Then she heard someone shouting orders, not to cease firing, but to bring out the howitzers.

* * * *

The sequence of events was just as confusing to Michael. One minute he was watching Manuelito come in with a flapping rein and the next that foolish bastard Cooper was being paraded by his even more foolish men and then all was chaos. He and Private Elwell were ordered into the fort by Captain Taggert, who had left the women and suddenly appeared in front of them.

Christ, they were in danger of being killed by their own men, he thought as they ran. The Navajo had not recovered from their shock at the sudden attack and were still running in all directions. The gates swung open again, and just as he and Elwell got inside the stockade, Cooper spotted them.

“Major Wheeler wants the howitzers brought out, Burke. The sergeant in charge is nowhere to be found so you are to bring them.”

Michael’s mouth fell open. Howitzers? They were turning it into a bloody massacre!

“Don’t just stand there like the dumb Irish ape you are, Burke. Get the goddamned howitzers.”

Elwell pulled at him and Michael followed. Followed his private and followed his orders. He had been following orders all his adult life. This was only another order. A criminal order. But the criminal was Cooper, not Michael Burke, he kept telling himself as he dragged the gun carriage. He was intent on getting them into position, not on anything else and then he heard Cooper’s voice again.

“Aim and fire, Sergeant.”

The gun was pointing out the gate. The Navajo hadn’t a prayer against a howitzer, thought Michael, paralyzed by the sight of two children off to the left whose wounded mother lay over them, too late to save them.

“I gave you an order, Sergeant.
Fire
.”

“I can’t, sir,” Michael stammered.

“Can’t!”

“I can’t fire on innocent women and children, sir. ‘Tis criminal.”

“You know the consequences for disobeying a direct order, Sergeant.”

Michael stood there, silent and unmoving, when Elwell grabbed his arm. “Michael, whether you like it or not, you must obey him. He’s our commanding officer.”

Michael stepped back from the gun.

“Elwell, aim the gun and fire,” shouted Cooper. Elwell gave Michael a pleading, desperate look. He didn’t like the order any more than Burke did, damn it. But an order was an order. He turned back to the gun and fired into the crowd.

“I’ll deal with you later, Sergeant Burke,” Cooper snarled.

It was over very quickly. The Navajo scattered across the valley, attacking the cavalry herd as they ran. The dead were dragged off and dumped unceremoniously into a ditch against the fort.

It seemed a long time before anyone remembered them, but in reality, as soon as the shooting stopped, the women were escorted back into the fort. One of them, Mrs. Taggert, had a slight graze on her arm from an ill-aimed army rifle.

“It is a wonder we’re not all dead, Major Wheeler,” said the indignant Mrs. Gray. “You have succeeded in one quarter hour in destroying the peace my husband spent months tending.”

“I had no choice, Mrs. Gray,” he answered stiffly. “They were charging the fort.”

“Charging the fort! They had just been cheated out of their money by the stupidity of our judges, of whom you were one, I might add.”

“Mr. Cooper won the race fairly, ma’am.”

“Fairly? With Manuelito’s bridle slashed?”

“There was no proof of that, Mrs. Gray.”

“It looked clean-cut to me,” said Captain Taggert, who had come over to be with his wife. “A rematch would have satisfied them.”

“A rematch wouldn’t have satisfied our soldiers, with Mr. Cooper riding a spent horse, Captain,” said the major with a look that would have quelled anyone. “I will take care of the women, Captain. And you will convey Sergeant Burke to the stockade.”

“Sergeant Burke!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“Sergeant Burke disobeyed a direct order from Mr. Cooper.”

Good for you, Michael. Whatever the order was, thought Elizabeth.

“What order was that, Captain?” asked Mrs. Gray.

“I ordered the howitzers brought out and the lieutenant told him to fire into the crowd. Sergeant Burke just stood there.”

“I see,” said Mrs. Gray calmly.

Elizabeth grabbed Mrs. Gray’s arm. “Janet, can’t you do anything? Surely that was a criminal order, to fire on women and children?”

“Captain Taggert, you have a duty to carry out,” the major said harshly.

“Yes, sir. Mrs. Gray, will you take care of my wife?”

“Of course, Captain. Come, Mrs. Taggert, we will have the surgeon look at your arm.”

* * * *

Michael had been tempted to push Elwell away from the gun, but what would that have accomplished? Cooper had orders from the major to use the big guns and use them he would, if he had to pull in a raw recruit or fire them himself. He couldn’t stop the insanity, but at least he wasn’t part of it.

He was unable to watch, and as he turned away in despair, Cooper saw him moving and called over two of his men. “Sit Sergeant Burke down over there,” he said, pointing to the guardroom steps, “and keep your rifles on him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Michael sat, ignoring the two men and their weapons, helplessly watching Cooper direct the attack. He was too far from the gate to see what was happening and could only pray that most of the Navajo had escaped. Please God, Antonio and his wife were safe.

“Sergeant Burke.”

Michael looked up. It was Captain Taggert standing in front of him, looking almost apologetic.

“I have been ordered to escort you to the stockade.”

Michael stood at attention and Taggert motioned his guards to walk ahead of them.

When they reached the stockade, Taggert dismissed the other men. As he opened the door, he rested his hand on Michael’s shoulder for a moment. “I am sorry, Sergeant. It was a stupid order. I would have had a hard time following it myself.”

“It was a sinful order, Captain,” said Michael. “And thank you for sayin’ that.”

There were only two other men in the dark enclosure and they were the post drunks, there to dry out. The smell of stale vomit and unwashed bodies made Michael gag and he sat down on a wooden bench as far from the others as he could.

He was only now realizing the gravity of his situation. Disobeying a direct order in battle could lead to court martial, dishonorable discharge, even death. Except it wasn’t a battle, he thought, dropping his head in his hands. Most of the men who had rushed the gates hadn’t even been armed. And the women and children most certainly weren’t. It was murder they’d been wanting him to commit. If he were back there again, he’d do the same thing, may God help him for it.

* * * *

After taking care of Mrs. Taggert, Elizabeth and the colonel’s wife returned home for an early tea. Elizabeth’s hands had been shaking enough to spill her tea into her saucer. Mrs. Gray took one look at her white face and pulled a crystal decanter of brandy from her sideboard. She poured a generous amount into Elizabeth’s teacup.

“Here, this will make you feel better, Elizabeth. I am going to have mine straight,” she added, pouring a glass for herself.

The brandy and tea warmed Elizabeth and finally stopped her shivering.

“Thank you, Janet. I have always admired you for your calmness, but today even more.”

“I may look calm on the outside, my dear, but inside I am raving. I can only imagine what Charles will feel when he gets back. Everything we have worked for here is gone up in smoke.”

“All I can see is the children,” said Elizabeth with tears in her eyes. “And it was all so stupid and senseless.”

“Such things always are, Elizabeth. It is usually something stupid and small that starts wars. If Charles had been here, this never would have happened.”

“What do you think will become of Sergeant Burke,” Elizabeth asked apprehensively.

“He’d get a medal, if I had anything to say about it!”

Elizabeth smiled.

“Of course, I don’t have any say in the matter. But you can be sure I will tell Charles the whole story and plead extenuating circumstances.”

“He couldn’t be…executed, could he?”

“Not in peacetime. And it is peacetime. Or was,” she added bitterly.

* * * *

When the shooting started, Antonio had stood paralyzed. All the Diné around him stood like statues, unable to believe what had happened. Then the people ran: men to their horses, women to their children. At first the men wheeled their horses around, as if contemplating an attack on the fort, but when the gates opened again, with the soldiers filing indiscriminately into the crowd, men sought out their wives and children and scooped them up. Antonio, his paralysis broken by the sight of one of the murdered women, ran for his bay. How he found Serena in all the chaos, he would never know, but he boosted her up in the saddle and took off across the valley. He saw the small group of men attacking the cavalry herd, but furious as he was, he was much more interested in getting himself and his wife to safety than exacting revenge. There would be time enough for revenge later.

Several miles down the valley, Manuelito caught up with them and gestured his nephew to halt.

“There is no need to wear out our horses. No one is following.”

Antonio was glad to pull the bay back to a walk. They had only recently realized Serena was pregnant and he was concerned for his wife and her unborn child.

They were all silent for a while and then Antonio said bitterly, “You have told us not to trust them, uncle. You were right.”

“I have dealt with them a long time, nephew. Maybe if the agent we called Red Sleeves had lived, the peace would have lasted. He spent time with us and understood our ways better than any other of the
bilagaana
.”

“What happened today?” Serena asked. “Why did you lose control over your horse?”

“The rein snapped right at the beginning. It was cut.”

“That Stringy Ass Cooper,” said Antonio, cursing him thoroughly in Spanish and Navajo.

“Maybe. He denied it. And he may be an asshole, nephew, but I don’t think he is a liar,” said Manuelito with a quick smile.

“Then who?”

“Some stupid
bilagaana
soldier who bet heavily on the lieutenant. It always starts that way, with a stupid, greedy man, white or Diné. But they always expect us to turn in our
ladrones
, our stupid young men. They are never willing to punish their own. Can you imagine if we asked for this soldier to be found?”

“What will happen now?” asked Serena softly.

“They have broken their own treaty,” said Manuelito. “I am no longer going to hold young men back from raiding. It has been a hard winter and we’ve lost some sheep. We need to eat. We’ll take what we need, and the hell with the
bilagaana
!” He was silent for a moment and then turned to Antonio. “Your friend, Sergeant Burke?”

“Yes?”

“He was the soldier who pulled out the big guns.”

Antonio said nothing, merely nodded his head.

“I liked him too, nephew, but a soldier is a soldier. His loyalty will always be to the army.”

Antonio still said nothing, merely nodded his head again.

Later, when they had made camp and Antonio had pulled his wife to him, he buried his face in her hair.

“I could have lost you today,” he groaned.

Serena wrapped one leg around him to pull him even closer. “But you didn’t. I am fine and our child is fine. For now,” she added bleakly. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“Manuelito is right. The young men will go back to raiding. It was a short peace this time.”

“And will you ride with them?”

“I don’t know, wife. Not with the young hotheads, anyway. But with my uncle? I will follow him now, not those who trust too easily. How far west do they have to push us before we turn and face them? We have already lost our sacred mountains and the salt flat at Zuni. Each piece of paper we sign takes more away from us. Maybe our headmen don’t always succeed, but they’ve tried very hard over the past three winters to keep our side of the agreement. And then the
bilagaana
tell us that no one in Washington has agreed to it.”

“I had hoped this time….”

“As did I, wife. In the end, there are too many of them and we have to find a way of dealing with them in order to survive. But there are some things a man cannot take.”

“I will miss Elizabeth,” she murmured.

Antonio sighed.

“And you, husband, what of your friend?”

“He turned on us. He was willing to shoot Diné women and children.”

“Did he have a choice?” Serena queried gently.

“All men have choices,” replied Antonio.

Michael spent a miserable week in the stockade. Cooper had been by twice to torment him with the threat of court martial and hanging. As soon as they sobered up, his two companions were released, leaving him alone to worry about his fate. They had smelled, it was true, but at least they had been some sort of distraction.

He went over and over the events of the race day and each time came to the same conclusion: he could have done nothing differently. It was wrong to fire on women and children even in wartime. And they were not at war. Or had not been then, he thought bitterly. Cooper’s order had been a criminal one and he was right not to have followed it. But, sweet Savior, he didn’t want to hang for his righteousness.