"Nothin' we don't know already, and the option of us bein' drygulched is always a possibility out here." MacIntoh was honest about it. "Not mt business, nor responsibility, but was it up to me, I'd take the risk and send that buckboard back to the camp. They should be far safer than we'll be."
Ke-Ni-Tay had his doubts about which way the Kiowa went after the ambush. He also knew that the chances of them being watched were high. If their leader wanted to attack the company, it would be from a strong position that they could defend, but offered little cover for the soldiers.
It was not his place, but he spoke up anyway, "Not send wagon back, eyes on us, not safe. Wagon leave, Keeowha's attack it, no one survive."
"He's right, if they are watching, and he ain't ever been wrong about that, then it's certain death for 'em. That buckboard'll surely make a lot of noise no matter which way it goes. So yeah, I was wrong about that, thought the passel of 'em would rush off to set the next ambush!" MacIntosh admitted. "So the trail leads us that way, so I think we need to get started at least Ki-Na-Tay and me. We got to try and sniff out what they are up to."
Well, the Indian agreed with his own opinion, that was a pleasant surprise. The Apache had the right of it though, Benjamin nodded.MacIntosh conceded the point.
He's right, if they are watching, and he ain't ever been wrong about that, then it's certain death for 'em. That buckboard'll surely make a lot of noise no matter which way it goes. So yeah, I was wrong about that, thought the passel of 'em would rush off to set the next ambush!" MacIntosh admitted.
"Yes for now the wagon stays with the column," Benjamin affirmed.
"So the trail leads us that way, so I think we need to get started at least Ki-Na-Tay and me. We got to try and sniff out what they are up to," the veteran scout now moved onto the next important matter.
"Here's the way I look at it, gentlemen. They have been watching us, they're most likely still got eyes on us now. They'll see you two leave the safety of the column. No, I have an idea," the captain started.
"It's getting late in the day, we will be bedding down soon. I suggest you stay with us. Then once we camp, you get at least some sleep but early in the morning, while still very dark though - you two sneak out of our camp, head for some covered spot. Indians are notorious for not beeing alert at night, likely as not they won't be watching at all but...if they are, they still can't see anything in the distance for shit," he now explained.
"You two then can at least begin to track them without them knowing it. Well, unless you run straight into them. But if anyone can do this, it'll be you two. I'll also give you use of my binoculars. Should help those old eyes, Mac, no offense," he smiled.
"What do you say, gentlemen?" Benjamin would still leave it up to them. They took army pay but they were still civilians. He was not going to simply order them about like some buck privates.
Ke-Ni-Tay nodded and grunted in true Apache style. MacIntosh also nodded,
"Makes sense, and we can get a good jump on the watchers, or eliminate them. The scout said, forcing a smile from his Indian partner. The thing that bothered him was, how far away were the others? Those watching the troop would need to report to the larger party. "Not sure how close the war party is, I mean, them that's watching us would need to high-tail it to them if we made any moves at all, at least I'm thinking that the main party is closer than we might think they are."
"They not far, find good spot for ambush us." The Apache said. "Warriors watching us may be on foot. Run to others, no noise from horses. Quiet. Not more than two, and not good at what they do." That was as if he had seen or heard them.
"We'll bed down with the patrol for the night, a bit away from you, but we'll make a show of it for 'em. They would expect that, and they know who Ke-Ni-Tay is since they hit us earlier. That would tell them that there is an Indian tracking them, so they might be a bit more cautious, or they might not care at all. Depends on the leader, if I've read this right.
"They not care. Send inexperienced to watch. They young, maybe first raid. Maybe no pay much attention once it look like we sleep."
"Hope ta hell yer right on that!" MacIntosh said, "I do believe him, though. It would be like the war chief, or whatever they're calling him, all full of himself with these easy victories, to begin to think themselves what? Invincible? Seen that one before, Captain." Ke-Ni-Tay nodded and grunted again.
"While I have no reason to doubt what Ke Ni-Tay is saying, I do believe if I were you two, once you sneak out of camp, just try to get away from us and get out there looking for their main body. Nevermind that they might...OK, probably have a few young bucks watching us. You'd have a devil of a time finding them. Think about it, which way do you begin your search? North of our camp? South? East? West? That's a one in four chance you'd find them early. And it'll be dark, their lookouts won't be using a fire, we can sure of that. Why you could go right past them within thirty yards and never even spot them," Barlow gave his view on this matter.
"I'm not interested in picking off a couple of them, I want you to locate their war party. Your best chance to find them is while you are likely not to be seen, in the dark. You see what I'm getting at?"
Benjamin now handed off his officer's binoculars still in it's black leather case, there were good optics.
"I fully realize this mission is still very high risk, and if their main war party finds you first, you will be in deep trouble. But as you yourself said earlier, this job involves high risk. And I know you two are as brave as any military officer I have ever met. Best advice I can give is if you are spotted and they make a go for you, find a good defensive position and shoot a lot of shots. We hear shooting, I promise you we will come a running in that direction as fast as we can."
It was the thing Benjamin hated most about this job, sometimes it was his responsibility to send men into great danger and even to their deaths.
"Um, be easy to slip away. Maybe not be seen, maybe the watchers not best men for job. But like Mac say, he all full of false pride, ready make mistake. We will find out where they are, and maybe what plan is, that will tell sure if he is make mistake." Ke-Ni-Tay offered.
"What he says is true. We'll slip on outta camp late, when the fires die down, keep them sentries alert, they do like to slip up and slit their throat, take their guns and ammunition. Maybe these won't, but hell, ya never know with the differ'nt tribes." McIntosh explained, "We'll get what you need. Chances are, they might'a been told to stay awake for just what we're gonna do, they know about Ke-Ni-tay, so maybe they'll be alert. They can be allies with the Apaches at times, and with folks like the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Osage. Doubt they've made any alliances out this way yet, but again, ya never know, they're notional people."
Ke-Ni-Tay grunted, "Maybe we lay out bed rolls away from patrol let watcher see we make camp. Maybe so'jurs do same, set cook fires like we not know they watch, or not care."
McIntosh nodded, "Good idea. Maybe fool 'em some. Make our escape easier if we do, or complicate matters if we don't."
Darkness fell on the cavalry camp site, the patrol was settling down for the night, One could see the sentries at walking their posts. The scouts had bivouacked a ways from the rest of the soldiers, as was their custom. There was a nic sized boulder that obsured where they camped, and the horses were all but out of sight.
Darkness all but engulfed the main camp, but their fires were burning down. The same could be said of the scouts camp fire and once down it would not be visible from anywhere within the perimeter, much less from where the watgchers were concealed. But both Mac and Ke-Ni-Tay were not there, and hadn’t been for nearly half an hour.
They had slipped out quietly and quickly, leading their horses off a bit to the north of their camp, giving the area where the Apache believed the Kiowas to be a wide berth. They walked their horses for a good half a mile north of where the other players were. Then they mounted up, each with a Winchester across their saddle brows, just in case, then they struck out a bit to the northwest. The crescent moon gave off little light, but the stars that blanketed the heavens supplied a good deal of light for the pair.
It was the faint smell of a campfire that caused them to pull up. It would be the watchers' camp, and something experienced warriors would never have done, always on the alert for exactly what the cavalry scouts were doing. The smell of smoke was carried on the night breeze, so that placed them against the wind, which was somewhat light and would send their scent behind them, so they pulled up. Both dismounted and the Apache moved soundlessly forward, even through the trees and brush.
As much as he wanted to kill those that watched, he did what he was supposed to do, see how many, and whether it was an ambush. The last ten yards, Ke-Ni-Tay crawled until he could see the camp and still be unseen. There were two young bucks, one asleep, the other nodding off repeatedly. It would be so easy, but he slipped backwards slowly, carefully, quietly.
When he got back to Mac and the horses, he signed two, and young, they mounted and pushed on slowly, quietly watching the horizon for a sign. In a matter of minutes, they found the churned-up soil from the main body was not trying to hide their trail, so they were close.
The camp of the main body was three miles away from their watchers' camp, so four to five miles from the patrols' camp. As they had before, but from a farther distance, they looked over the camp with Mac’s field glasses. Whether or not this was where the ambush would be, there was no way of knowing, but it was not a bad spot for it. But, something was off, the number they expected to see there was less, by at least seven, counting the two watching the patrol
Mac signed for them to get away, and that meant as quietly as they could, as the camp sentries would not be nodding off, so they mounted up and moved off from the hostiles' main camp. They needed to get back to the patrol, and Captain Barlow with this intelligence.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
With fires burning, horse lines secured, and sentries posted Barlow wanted the camp to look as obvious as possible. Draw the attention of anyone watching them, there probably was at a minimum at least one Kiowa out there, maybe more. His two scouts waited til what they judged to be the best opportunity to slip on out and then proceeded to do so. It was a risk of course, they might be seen but everything was a risk out on campaign. They were paid to do a job and that involved taking risks. The scouts no less than the troops.
***
Unbeknownst to the scouts or cavalry, the Kiowas had huddled before their war chief and talked plans earlier. The soldiers were dogging them and opinion was divided. Some braves wanted to fight, challenge the white eyes in open battle. Most of the war band were young, long wars and diseases had diminished the Kiowa, too many surviving veteran warriors no longer wanted to fight what was seen as a hopeless struggle. The whites were too many, they would never be able to stop the flood of these invaders.
Their leader though, his name was known throughout the people - Guipagosi - was a veteran esteemed warrior. He had always been known since his youth as being as stubborn as a bull buffalo. He had recruited those who now were on this raid that they were the true bearers of the Kiowa reputation, they who would fight on, no matter what. It was the young bucks who longed for the adventure, the glory, the same chance their fathers and forefathers had to prove themselves in war. So with the exception of a few older men, this is what Guipagosi had to lead. He accepted the challenge with both determination and confidence.
He had listened to the eager voices, their boasting of how they would kill the white eye soldiers but he did not share their enthusiasm. Oh perhaps they might well defeat these enemies but at what cost. The white eyes were endless, they however could ill afford many losses. And for all their high spirits, they were not experienced fighters. No they must outsmart their foes, make fools of them, and keep raiding.
With that mind he sent away a small party of their band to split off and double back the way they had come. As the white eye soldiers chased he and the main war band, the smaller group would hit elsewhere. Once the soldiers found out about this, now they would have two groups to chase and no real knowledge of where that smaller party even was.
With the sun rise now, he would look for a chance to ambush the white eyes again and if nothing could be found, keep leading them on. One of his few veterans was leading the smaller party, a man he trusted.
The white eyes liked their big battles, well he would not play their game.
Now it was time to mount up.
Once they had seen the hostiles' camp, and the fact that there seemed to be fewer Kiowas than expected, they drew off quietly, perhaps a quarter mile before putting the spurs to their mounts. Both men, hoping they would not run into those Indians who seemed to be missing. They needed to reach the bivouac before they started out after the hostiles to let the Captain know that there was a smaller band not with the main body, if it could be called that, which he should be aware of.
Where that band might have gone they did not know, nor in which direction. Were they doubling back to harass the soldiers chasing after the main body? The chances of a double ambush were highly possible, and not knowing the exact plan the Kiowas had in store complicated matters more than either Mac or Ke-Ni-Tay looked. But it was the situation, and they needed to be on the alert for anything now. The sun was rising in the east, and the patrol would likely be ready to move, or close to it, as the pair raced back toward the Army's position.
Was it a desperate run to warn them off? It was hard to say, but the two were galloping headlong toward the troop just in case there was good reason to do so.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
The sun was rising in the east, and the patrol would likely be ready to move, or close to it, as the pair raced back toward the Army's position. MacIntosh worried about a double ambush in the offing what with the new intelligence they observed. Well, it turned out it was an ambush of sorts which suddenly engulfed them but not a planned one. The two sides blundered right into each other.
As the scouts reached the crest of yet another rounded hilltop, there below, ahead of them were two horses drinking from a shallow creek, one of the many little water courses which abounded in this territory. But their real focus changed to the pair of figures standing by the horses. Two Indians! And the Kiowas looked up, they saw the scouts back.
One of them bent down and grabbed a rifle, the other was so startled he fell into the creek when he stepped back, his horse becoming spooked also.
Maybe fifty or so yards separated the two parties.
Riders slid to a stop at the sight of the two warriors, Ke-Ni-Tay off his pony before it stopped, as Mac had to dismount in a more normal manner. They stood facing one another as the one reached for his rifle. The other leaped out of the creek to his feet, searching for his weapon.
"Boys!" Ke-Ni-Tay spat, "They set boys to watch our camp!" The two Kiowa were far from being boys, but they were young and likely inexperienced on top of it. SDo other than Mac stepping up, but spread some distance from the Apache. That way, they were not close together and were easier targets for the one with the rifle.
The distance and the Kiowa warrior's stance made it difficult to tell if his rifle was a repeater or not, a chance neither was willing to take. One thing was certain, Ke-Ni-Tay wanted to kill them both, and lift their hair in the bargain.
"Easy," Mac said, "Let them make the first move." Which was almost fair, as both men had their Winchesters cockedf and ready to fire, of course, that was no guarantee that they would score two hits.