Dutch walked out his tent, and closed the flap. Casie was still sleeping, and the last thing he needed was her being disturbed. Lately it had been like one step forward, and two steps back for her. Every time they got over one thing, something else would come along to remind her of her past.
He couldn't protect her from everything, but when she came home like this, it broke his heart.
Arthur saw Dutch emerging from his tent, and wandered over.
"How is she?" he asked.
"Sleeping." He replied, with a sigh.
"I'm so sorry," Arthur said, shaking his head, "I had no idea, what exactly happened with her mother?" He asked.
Dutch sighed, "Stabbed to death by her father, whilst Casie watched. She was five. He said, if she ever told anyone, she would get the same."
"Jesus!" Arthur exclaimed. "Poor kid."
"It seems, her father would regularly beat her, and starve her. Then the sheriff made her watch her father hang." Dutch sighed again. "Most adults would struggle with that sort of trauma, but she's a kid, and she's been keepin' it all locked up inside. Finding us and bein' shown a bit of kindness, well, the locks are off, and all that emotion has just come floodin' out." He warned.
"Maybe Dutch, you should let folks know. Just so if we see her startin' to fall, we can try and catch her." Arthur suggested.
Dutch nodded, I'll speak with Hosea and Miss Grimshaw. Can you talk to anyone else you think she might spend time with. Micah, Sean, maybe Charles."
Arthur nodded and walked away. He decided at that point that Micah didn't need to know. He also thought it a bit strange, that he hadn't mentioned John at all. He was worried that maybe Dutch and John were growing apart. Not much he could do about that, and John didn't seem to like Casie overly much anyway.
Arthur spoke to Charles first. He said nothing, but just nodded. It was sometimes difficult to gauge what Charles was thinking. He was quiet, and sometimes not very talkative. But as Arthur had said to Casie the other night, he was a good man.
Casie walked out of Dutch's tent. She'd slept so long, how was it that she still felt tired. Probably because of the nightmares. The nightmares which wouldn't go away. The same one night after night. She never told anyone. Not even Dutch. She'd told him about everything else, well he'd sort of made her tell him. But not the nightmares. She shook her head. Forget about them, find something to do.
"Hey." The voice brought her out of her daydream.
"Charles" she looked surprised. She hadn't really spoken to him much, only really met him when they went out hunting yesterday. She tried to put that memory to the back of her mind.
"Will you ride out with me?" he asked.
Casie looked around. She didn't want Dutch or Arthur to think she was sneaking off.
"Its OK, I told Arthur I would take you out, if you wanted to go." He said.
Casie was surprised, it was as though Charles knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Yes." She said smiling. "I would like that."
Charles and Casie rode for a while. Charles would change direction every so often. Casie thought he might be tracking something, but she wasn't sure what, so she just followed his lead. After a while they rode up onto a ridge. Below the ridge there were herds of bison grazing.
Charles looked at Casie. "Would you like to hunt a bison with me Casie?
"Bison!" She exclaimed, and then nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Very well, but first I want you to have this." Charles reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a sheath, containing a knife. He handed it to Casie.
"Open it." He said.
She swallowed hard. Its just a knife. It will be fine. She removed the knife from its sheath. It was very ornate. The handle wasn't like a normal knife. It had a ridged texture to it.
Charles spoke "The handle is made from the antler of the deer, that you shot yesterday."
Casie looked at the knife then she looked at Charles. "You made this, for me?" She gushed.
Charles nodded. "Now look at the blade".
Casie had been so amazed by the workmanship of the handle, she hadn't noticed the blade. Etched into the blade was an inscription 'The soul would have no rainbow, if the eyes had no tears'.
Tears welled up in Casie's eyes, but she didn't cry.
"Thank you, Charles." She whispered. Charles just nodded his head.
"We'll leave the horses here, bring you bow."
The unlikely pair followed the bison tracks on foot. They weren't very far from where they left the horses.
Charles pointed to a bison "This one. It will feed the camp for many days, and we can use the pelt."
Casie drew her bow and let fly an arrow. The bison fell, tried to getup, and fell again.
The two of them ran over to the felled bison. Still breathing, but with no strength to move.
Charles looked at Casie. "Take out your knife" He pointed at the bison's chest. "Here." He said. "One strike. Be strong Casie."
Casey pulled out her knife, and took a deep breath, and plunged the knife into the beasts heart. The bison stopped moving, and was silent. She slowly pulled out the knife, as she did Charles gripped her shoulder, and nodded to her. She took another deep breath, as she watch the blood seep out through the wound, on the bison's chest. it made a pool on the ground. She felt a bit queasy, but convinced herself, it was bison blood afterall.
"Now we must skin it. Do you want me to show you, or would you prefer for me to do it?" he asked.
"Please will you show me Charles...so if I go hunting on my own, I'll know what to do."
Charles showed Casie where to make the cut, and then how to remove the skin with the knife. Casie did everything apart from rolling the bison over so she could skin the other side, as the beast was far to heavy for her to move.
Once the skinning was done, Charles handed her a piece of cloth. "Wipe the blade, you must always make sure you knife is clean." He said, matter of factly.
They whistled for their horses, who came trotting down from the ridge where they had left them.
Charles loaded the bison skin on the back of Casie's horse.
"I think if you go hunting on your own, you should probably hunt something a bit smaller, otherwise you wont be able to take it home." He smiled. It was the first time Casie had seen him smile.
"We should head back" He added, "otherwise Arthur and Dutch, will start to worry."
Casie nodded, and the pair headed back to camp.
As they rode in, she could see that Dutch and Arthur's eyes, were glued to the path.
After they dismounted, Charles unloaded the Bison pelt, and Casie carried the saddlebag full of meat. As she reached Dutch and Arthur she smiled. "Did you miss me?" She asked, with a glint in her eye.
Dutch laughed, "of course we did. But it looks like we've got food for a few days, you better give that to Pearson."
After the pelt, and the meat had been delivered, she came running over to Dutch, and Arthur.
"Look what Charles made me." She gushed, as she pulled out the knife. "And I finished the Bison off with it, then Charles showed me how to skin it." She said, proudly.
Dutch looked at the knife. "Casey, that is a fine knife, and you're OK with it?" he asked.
Casey nodded. "I think I am." She thought for a moment.
"Dutch, could we go out for a ride tomorrow. Just you and me?"
"Of course we can, where would you like to go?" he asked.
"Can we go to the falls again?"
"Of Course we can." he said, smiling.
But deep down, he was a little concerned. Did she have something else that she needed to confide in him. He guessed that tomorrow he would find out.
Dutch and Casie left camp fairly early the following morning. The ride to the falls would take slightly longer, since they had move camp. But, It was a pleasant morning, so they took their time.
Dutch glanced at Casie's horse, as they were riding along.
"You know, Casie." He said. "I think it might be time for you to get a better horse."
Casie patted Maggie's neck, "Do you really think so? I like Maggie, but she can be a bit slow sometimes."
Dutch looked at the horse, and laughed. "She's done you well, for a thirty five dollar horse."
"It was the best one they had in the Valentine stable, I dont think I'll find a better one in there." She shrugged.
"No, Casie. I think we're going to have to catch you a wild one, do you think you can tame a wild one?"
Casie smiled, "I think so, I used to catch wild mustangs, and sell them."
"The horse I'm thinking of will be a bit more of a challenge." He added, "when we get back from the falls, we'll plan a trip." He said, with a smile.
"Plan?" Casie frowned. "Where on earth is this horse?"
Dutch patted The Count on the neck. "Its in the mountains. Its the only place you can find a white Arabian."
By the time they arrived at the falls it was around lunchtime. Dutch had stowed a couple of fishing poles on his saddle. So after they had hitched the horses, he pulled them out.
"We might as well catch ourselves some lunch, and if we're lucky we can take the rest back to camp when we go home."
He handed one of the fishing poles to Casie and they headed down the path to the waters edge. As they sat their fishing, Dutch looked at Casie, she hadn't mentioned why she had wanted to come back to the falls today.
"Casie, is something troubling you? Is that why you wanted to come here today?"
Casie sighed "I don't know if talking about stuff helps, with the other stuff it kinda helped." She looked at Dutch, and smiled "But mostly it only helps when I talk to you." She admitted.
Dutch put his fishing pole down, and motioned for Casie to do the same.
He put his arm around her shoulders.
"Ya know, you don't have to have us make a special trip, every time you wanna talk things through." He gave her a hug.
"I know, but sometimes I just want to be with just you. I wish you were my real daddy. You always make me feel safe, and you always make bad things, seem not so bad." she said smiling. But then her face turned to a frown.
"I've been having really bad dreams, Dutch." She looked Dutch in the eye. "I mean nightmares."
"Honey." he said. "we all have bad dreams, from time to time"
"I know." She said. "But this one is the same one over and over again. Every night I have the same dream, and I'm scared."
Dutch looked at Casie's face, and saw fear in her eyes. He touched her cheek.
"Its just a bad dream, honey. That's all."
Casie stared at him "But its about you. Some men have me, and they say that you'll come for me, and when you do, they're gonna hang you. So I try and shoot them, but then I see a knife, flying through the air at me. Then I wake up." She took a deep breath, "I'm scared, I love you Dutch, I dont want no one to hang you." She cried.
Dutch cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her forehead.
"Ain't no one is gonna hang me, not when I've got the likes of Arthur, Hosea, Charles and Micah watching my back." He reassured her, "and not when I've got you looking out for me. Its just a bad dream, a lot has happened to you in the past few weeks. These dreams will pass."
Casie looked at Dutch, and nodded. She wished she could believe him, but she wasn't convinced.
Casie put the bad dreams, to the back of her mind. For the rest of the day, she tried to enjoy herself, with the man she liked to think of as her father.