The Horse Keeper Read online

  “Be my guest hog shit, just try.”

  Clayton did not try to push the old timer away this time as he stood between him and Wayne, and a very anxious Luke quickly moved to put himself in their path as well.

  As Clayton walked away, Luke breathed a deep sigh of relief. The old timer adjusted his eye patch and spoke to the still distraught women.

  “Okay ladies, it’s all over now, yah can carry on with yah chores, it’s all okay.”

  He then turned to Wayne and Luke, surveying them with his hawk-like good eye and put his gnarled and work-worn hand out.

  “I’d sure like to thank you fellas, the name’s Jed Wallace. I came in with Clayton and two others from Braxton Bragg’s old army. Clayton is bein’ moved out to join the Petersburg lines soon. I know him well and he ain’t nothing but trouble.”

  Wayne introduced himself and Luke, then calmly said,

  “Well that’s okay Jed, you can rely on me and my buddy Luke if you need any help.”

  Luke’s face lit up and his heart filled with pride as the word, ‘buddy’ entered his ears like a symphony. At last Wayne was beginning to treat him like a man and a buddy. And in the middle of the crew of washerwomen, somebody else’s heart had been touched.

  One of the women had to nudge Belinda, because her eyes were involuntarily fixed on the every move, every gesture and every word of the wild, yet majestic blond man.

  “What’s the matter gal, yah look as if you’re in love.”

  She then nudged Belinda again and winked at her, slyly.

  “Mind you, can’t say as I blame yah gal, he sure is a fine lookin’ dude.”

  “He ain’t no dude Polly, he is, he is, he is.”

  “He’s just a man. All men are the same gal, dude or no dude. Their carnal deeesires drive them all to distraction and I mean deeestraction. All gals are the same to them.”

  Polly nudged Belinda and winked at her again.

  “Now get back to work gal, before you go into a swoon.”

  A week later Wayne picked up two empty buckets and trundled off to fill them up from the well that was on the parameters of dilapidated buildings. He was vaguely aware of the young black woman as he approached who was leaning over the well, hauling out a heavy bucket full of water. He immediately noticed her strong shapely legs, which extended from a short white robe. And then he noticed her shapely but strong arms, which were taut with the weight of the bucket. She had not seen him coming and had gracefully kicked away a stone with the sole of her barefoot, which rolled towards him. Her big breasts were moving about, beneath the robe, clutching and releasing her bosom as she toiled. Only when Wayne came up to the well did she notice him. And when she did she appeared to be slightly alarmed to see him.

  Never before in his life had Wayne seen such a really beautiful woman. He had seen many attractive women and many that he would term as cute and pretty women. Ones that could be charming and sedate in their frocks and frills, but this was the first time he had seen a really graceful and beautiful woman. Belinda was the first to speak.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming.”

  “You got no reason to be sorry, I didn’t mean to creep up on yah like that.”

  “I kicked the stone without looking, thought nobody was about at this time.”

  Wayne was having difficulty absorbing a whole swarm of unusual feelings. She looked like an Egyptian queen that had jumped out of one of Wyatt’s books and come to life. Her high cheekbones and large brown eyes that slanted up slightly highlighted a face, which was breathtakingly beautiful. Her hair was bunched up on top of her head and fastened with a violet band, revealing the full beauty of her face.

  Her skin was slightly darker than the other former slave women and shone like silk.

  “Can I help yah? That’s some heavy bucket you’re liftin’,” said Wayne, trying to appear as casual as he could be.

  “Well that sure is kind of yah, if yah really don’t mind.”

  For some strange reason, Wayne began to feel the awkward pangs of embarrassment and he could feel warm blood creeping up to his ears. He certainly did not want her to think that there was an ulterior motive in his offer and his face was dealt another dose of warm blood as he realised there was. He had never experienced these overpowering feelings of delectation to a woman before and he was having great difficulty negotiating them. As he concentrated his efforts on pulling the full pale of water from the well, he could feel her eyes watching his every move, probing and scrutinising each move with open interest. As he handed her the pale of water, she thanked him and walked away.

  Belinda had to hide her smile as she walked, because she could feel his eyes watching her every move. He had noticed her, he had noticed her and for the first time in her life she had realised that she was a beautiful woman.

  CHAPTER 9

  Wayne sat at the back of the gathering, supping thoughtfully on the cloudy beer. He could see that the boys sitting close to the campfire were listening with interest at Clayton’s stories. Orange flames cast dancing shadows across their puzzled faces as Clayton’s stories began to border on being gross exaggerations, as he seemed to put himself in pivotal roles in each battle. Wayne vaguely listened but his mind was somewhere else. He could not get her out of his head, although he had been trying to.

  “When General Cleburne fell against me with blood pouring from his chest and said, How are we doin’ Jake? I just said, we’ve lost five other Generals Pat and five thousand boys. The Yankees have got too many heavy guns in the second line, don’t think we can break through like we did the first line. Soon afterwards General Hood pulled us out, but we put up one hellova fight.”

  Jed Wallace was visibly cringing with embarrassment, with his face screwed up and his shoulders bunched up close to his ears. His whole manner told the gathering everything – How on earth do you expect these boys to believe that tall story Clayton? You weren’t even in the Franklin battle. You were the first to volunteer for ambulance duty. – But before the story had finished Wayne was already making his way back to the stables. He would try to sleep again, but her face, those eyes, that dark silk-like skin, her magnificent and graceful body and those breasts moving about under that scanty, short white robe would be in his thoughts again and he knew it.

  He had seriously been contemplating planning some kind of meeting with her. But how could he instigate such a meeting, without it looking as though he had a surreptitious motive. He did indeed have a very clear and defined ulterior motive, he wanted her and he wanted her badly. His thoughts had been nothing like hers, and they were not like waves lapping at a distant shore and moving in on his feelings like a probing tidal flow. Her presence and her whole countenance at the well were indelibly stamped on his mind and was driving him to distraction.

  He had gone to the well on several occasions with empty buckets even when the horse troughs were completely full of water. But his bogus reason for doing this had not brought him into contact with her again. And in frustration one day he had kicked a bucket in the air, narrowly missing a somewhat bewildered Luke. Powerful desires were now turning into cruel obsessions.

  Belinda had no reason to go to the well again and it would look extremely suspicious to the other women, if she grabbed an empty bucket and made a bee line for the well when this noticeably handsome man went to collect water. The marked contrast in her two close experiences with him had been playing on her mind. And those red ears of a man who was obviously self conscious in the presence of a woman had amused her, when she remembered that cold, calculating same man concerning the incident down by the river. Her next encounter with him would be an even a bigger shock to her system.

  Luke had been tending the horses that day and she had noticed that Wayne had been giving the boy more responsibility for the horses as Luke’s confidence grew. She had gone to the glade later than usual that particular afternoon, because of the workload that had been growing steadily as the camp had become more transient in recent times. She ha
d noticed that Wayne was not present around the stables that afternoon and vaguely wondered where he was. After reading for a while she had decided to take a walk along the river. As she walked down through the bushes and trees she saw him. He was stark naked, vigorously washing himself in the shallows. She tried to tear herself away, but she couldn’t. He was facing the other way and his white muscular buttocks were bobbing up and down alternately as he scrubbed himself.

  Again she tried to tear herself away, but she could not take her eyes off him and his movements. Her heart began to flutter wildly and she began to feel like a child that was doing something forbidden and very naughty. She quickly made sure that she was well covered by greenery, just in case he turned around and saw her. He then plunged his whole body into the water and stood up again, throwing his wet hair back.

  His white skin was glistening in the late afternoon sunlight, as the sparkling water trickled down his taut, muscular body. Once again she tried to tear herself away, but she couldn’t, because he was magnificent, absolutely magnificent. She did not know what these foreign, peculiar feelings were, but they were far too strong for her. He plunged into the water again and stood up, but this time the cascading water dazzled her vision and she briefly lost sight of him as he splashed about. Pangs of deep desire began to penetrate down through her solar plexus and she could feel and hear her heart beating rapidly. She tried to retreat back through the greenery, but her legs had become weak and she briefly lost her balance. She swallowed and realised that her mouth had become parched and dry. Her hands felt clammy and she could feel sweat tickling her sides as it trickled down from her armpits. She tried to pull herself together and make a concerted effort to escape. What if he saw her? What would he think? What on earth had come over her? Just as she thought she had mustered the strength to pull away he turned around. She instantly became riveted to the spot and her arms and legs felt like lead weights. He rubbed his hair and shook his head about, his shapely pectoral and shoulder muscles stretching and contracting in unison. Her eyes dropped down to his taut, flat stomach muscles, then down to his manhood. Belinda had never seen a naked man before and it was ironic that her first introduction to one was to be of a well-endowed man. And the owner of that manhood was a man she wanted badly.

  All hope of pulling away now had left her as she watched and savoured every inch of his body. He looked as if he had been carved out of white marble, with every line cut with great care by a master sculptor. Suddenly he began to walk towards the shore taking long, lunging steps, with his manhood swinging around like a long, stout pendulum. It dawned on her abruptly that she must withdraw now, before he saw her. Then just as abruptly, as these thoughts crossed her tormented emotions, he turned at a right angle and walked in a straight line, directly towards her hideout. Only then did she notice his clothes piled up, directly beneath her position.

  Fear of being caught finally transcended every other feeling, which had caught her off guard and she rapidly backed off through the shrubbery and trees. Only then did she realise that she was trembling and shaking from head to toe. Cold sweat was creating a moist film over her entire body, with warm sweat dripping from her armpits. Her legs were still like jelly and as her heart beat slowly began to settle back to its normal rate, she became slowly aware that her loins were soaking wet.

  As Wayne grabbed his towel, he thought he heard movement up in the bushes above him. He looked up and saw some branches from an overhanging tree dancing around, indicating that they had been disturbed by somebody or something. He did not give this a second thought as he put his clothes on. Who would be spying on a man taking a bath anyway? The encounter that he had been planning and presiding over had happened and he did not even know it. He would go to his bed again this night and he knew that she would be on his mind again, her and everything about her.

  It was Belinda’s turn to brood and lose sleep this time. As she lay in bed that night, she ran through and savoured the scene by the river, over and over again. Polly had been right; she did not only look like she was in love, she was in love, and she had no control or desire to shake off these alien and powerful feelings.

  CHAPTER 10

  It was about midday on the following day when Jed Wallace sauntered over to Wayne and Luke as they were grooming some horses. Jed nodded anxiously and said,

  “Good day to yah, Wayne, Luke.”

  “Mornin’ Jed, what can we do for yah?” said Wayne.

  “Well, I’ll come right to the point Wayne.”

  “Go on Jed, what’s eatin’ yah?”

  “I’m worried ‘bout Clayton, real worried about Clayton.”

  “Awe don’t worry ‘bout Clayton Jed, I’ve seen the likes of him before.”

  “Oh, I doubt if you’ve met anybody like Clayton Wayne, he’s real trouble.”

  “What harm can he do Jed? Besides, he’s off up to Petersburg soon.”

  “Oh, he’s off up to Petersburg all right, but he won’t be doing any fightin’…Ambulance duty maybe, cookhouse duty maybe, but definitely no fighting, I know him so well.”

  “Well at least we’ll be rid of him Jed, can’t ask more than that.”

  Jed adjusted his eye patch and looked carefully at Wayne through his good eye. He then pointed at his bad eye with a bony finger and said,

  “See that, my eye is bad and it’s getting worse. See the other two boys that come in with Clayton and me, they have both been wounded, one in the chest, one in the leg. Now what do yah notice ‘bout Clayton? There ain’t a mark on him, no sir.”

  “I didn’t notice that Jed, not ‘til you just mentioned it,” said Wayne.

  “Most folks don’t, they’re too busy listenin’ to tall stories ‘bout battles that he was never in. Wanna know the real reason why he’s here?”

  “Why’s that Jed?” asked Luke and Wayne together.

  “Coz it’s his price of freedom for exposin’ six deserters, who were hiding from the militia in a barn after the Nashville battle. He had deserted himself and was with them.

  He got caught raiding a farmhouse by himself. The others may of escaped, but Clayton traded them in for his own freedom. That’s why he was drafted away from all of the boys that knew what he did. He’s always been a straggler and grafter, but he had never quite deserted. The six boys were all shot, everybody knew why Clayton wasn’t.”

  “Wow, so all those stories he comes out with are lies,” said Luke.

  By now Wayne had sensed that Jed had more on his mind than he was letting on and wanted to know what all of this was leading up to. Jed looked worried as he carried on,

  It’s only a question of time now. We’re losing, we’re losing this war and neither Lee, Johnston or anybody else can turn it round now. Clayton has been abusing the Yankee prisoners badly, real badly. We will all be at the mercy of the Yankee soldiers when they arrive, but Clayton will be long gone and we’ll all have to pay, I know it.”

  “Well, what can I do Jed? Can’t the other boys stop him, or inform on him?”

  “Clayton volunteers for duty. The other few that guard the prisoners know what he’s doin’, but seem powerless to stop him. The boys look up to you Wayne they don’t know me. Hell, I never wanted to fight in the first place, god dammit.”

  “Well, thanks for the warnin’ Jed, I’ll think it over. Maybe the Colonel should know about Clayton, or even the General. Have you thought ‘bout that?”

  “If the Colonel or anybody in command is alerted, he will turn it all around in his favour and use it against the informers. I know him so damn well.”

  As Jed sauntered away again Luke asked Wayne, “Do yah think it’s true Wayne?”

  “What? About Clayton abusing the prisoners.”

  “No, ‘bout us losin’ the war.”

  “We’re losin’ alright Luke, just hope it ends soon, that’s all.”

  Wayne did not have to wait long for his next confrontation with Clayton, and his well-tested instincts with men in the same ilk as Clayton would tell him that
it would have to result in a showdown. As Wayne and Luke walked back from the canteen to go back to work Clayton’s voice hailed them from a porch, where he was loitering with a few boys.

  “Well, well it’s the horse boy with his baby horse boy in tow, ‘bout all he’s good for, tendin’ to dumb hosses and feedin’ ‘em. Combat and battle is not for the likes of him.”

  Clayton stepped heavily from the porch steps and sauntered out towards the centre of the dusty square, with his thumbs hooked in his belt, scratching his over-hanging belly. The arrogant sneer warned Wayne that Clayton had found the courage to confront him. The incident by the river must have been playing on his mind.

  “What’s up horse boy? Lost for words. Don’t care for the words of a real veteran.”

  “Can’t say as I do care ‘bout the words of a veteran ambulance volunteer and accomplished straggler. Pity they don’t give medals for those duties Clayton, coz your coat would be weighed down by ‘bout five hundred.”

  Just then Jed Wallace appeared out of the shadows of the porch and snarled at Clayton, “Drop it now Clayton, you forget I know all ‘bout yah, and I’m sure all these boys would wanna know the truth. Now git back to yah…Aaahh.”

  Jed did not get the chance to finish, as Clayton sent him sprawling with a hard punch. He collapsed like a sack of bones down into the dust. By now Wayne was ready for Clayton, as his adrenaline geared him up for a fight. The killer in him had awoken.

  “That’s about your mark Clayton, hittin’ ole men. Or maybe whippin’ poor women.”

  “Or even horse boys, or maybe you’d be better tendin’ chickens, or are yah one?” Clayton then began to chuckle and started making the noise of a clucking chicken. But he stopped abruptly as Wayne’s next remark visibly stung him.

  “Or even hogs, or hog shit like you Clayton.”

  “Why you son of a bitch, I’ll tear your damn head off, horse boy.”

  “Be my guest Clayton, it would be the first time you’d faced a man in battle. I heard your ass in so full of bullets from runnin’ away at Stone’s river, Chattanooga, Franklin and Nashville, yah can’t even sit down.”