Free Woman of Three Worlds by Jeanne Williams

himself that very afternoon, accepted lemonade, and complimented Regina on her having so quickly made the new quarters attractive.
    â€œIt’s a gift you have, ma’am, the more astonishing in one so pretty.” The gold cord frogs and sleeve loops on his coat were the color of his tousled hair and fluffy sideburns, while the blue of his coat matched his sparkling eyes. He grinned infectiously at Brittany. “May I say, Mrs. Graves, that your cousin lives up to the family standard of beauty?”
    â€œWhat a flatterer you are, Lieutenant!” Regina tittered. “Beware of him, Brittany dear! He’s not to be trusted.”
    â€œMrs. Graves, I beg you! If you speak so, how can I persuade Miss Brittany to let me show her some of our points of interest?”
    â€œYou might just ask,” said Brittany, irritated at Regina’s proprietary attitude and false show of affection.
    O’Shea stared, then burst into laughter. “Right, then, Miss Brittany! Shall we go riding?”
    â€œYes, if you’re prepared to show me how to mount and control the horse.”
    His eyes danced. “Ma’am,” he said, rising to his height of six feet, “that will be my pure pleasure!”
    An hour later, Brittany, knee hooked rather stiffly over the horn of Mrs. Tattersall’s discarded old sidesaddle and trying to hold the reins off the sorrel mare’s neck without tugging at the bit, was following the stage road along what O’Shea told her was Siphon Canyon.
    They had already passed the stage station and the cemetery, with its new graves. “Those whiskey sellers Pionsenay killed before he went on that rampage are buried here,” the lieutenant said. “This is the way Tyrell brought you in. Remember it?”
    â€œI was too frightened to pay much mind to scenery.”
    â€œSmall wonder.”
    They rode on for a time, going down a wash. The lieutenant reined in his horse. Careful of the mare’s mouth, Brittany did the same. “This is where Lieutenant George Bascom camped in early February of 1861, when he came after cattle and a boy Cochise’s band was accused of stealing. Cochise came to visit. Had his half-brother, two nephews, two women, and a lad along, so it seems pretty clear he wasn’t expecting trouble. Bascom demanded the cattle and kidnapped boy. Cochise denied having anything to do with it, but he offered to try to find out what band had raided and buy back the captive and cattle. Bascom didn’t believe him, though it later turned out that it was Coyoteros, not Chiricahuas, who were guilty. It ended with Bascom taking Cochise and his party prisoners.”
    â€œThat sounds a bit rash.”
    â€œIt was tragic,” O’Shea said simply, staring at the tree-shaped spot as if seeing what had happened there. “Cochise got away. Bascom marched the other prisoners back to the stage station and sent one of the women to tell Cochise the hostages would be released only when the cattle and boy were returned.”
    â€œWhich Cochise didn’t have!”
    The lieutenant nodded. “He approached the station with a few warriors. Cochise had agreed to let the Butterfield stage run through his territory and sold wood to the station, so he was friendly with the stationkeeper, who now came out with his two helpers to talk with Cochise. One of the stage employees, James Wallace, spoke Apache, so they talked for a while in that language. Cochise suddenly gave a signal for the whites to be seized. The stationkeeper escaped and was shot by an Apache at the door of the station. One of his companions was shot by mistake by a soldier as he tried to scale the high stone corral. Wallace was captured, but Bascom refused to exchange his prisoners for him or three other captives, who later were taken by Cochise. Stages were attacked and a wagon train bringing supplies to the station was burned with eight drivers chained to the