“How’s your wife holding up, Davis? I hear you took the bull
by the horns and dumped her into the creek.” He smiled tiredly as Davis approached him outside the MacGregor’s wagon with three sick children in it.
“Better, thanks. The cold water brought her fever down, and she drank some water. She’s back asleep now. How’s everyone else doing?”
“Twenty-seven are sick. With one hundred or so people on this trip, it amazes me that only a handful caught this. There haven’t been any new cases in the last day, so I’m hoping this is it. You make sure you wash your hands after dealing with Emma. We’re starting to suspect clean hands help if you’re around sick people.”
Dr. Bennett and Davis continued down the row, checking each wagon. The doctor offered the same advice: to cool the patient off, make sure they drank plenty of water, and washed their own hands. That last bit of advice was scorned by some who thought clean hands had nothing to do with it, but most listened to the doctor, anxious to keep the sickness from spreading.
“I spoke with Ezra, and it seems we’re only several days away from Fort Laramie,” Dr. Bennett said. “There will be another doctor there, but I’m hoping we’ve seen the worst of this outbreak now. As there seems to be no new cases, I’m advising him to start out. I think recuperation will be much easier at the fort.”
Davis stopped and stuck his hands in his back pockets. Nodding at the doctor, he said, “Makes sense. I’m going on back now to check on Emma again. Is there anything I should be giving her besides the water?”
“Try to make a broth out of some beef jerky and see if she’ll hold that down. If not, just keep up with the water. And don’t be disappointed if her fever comes back again. That happens a lot with this, and nighttime seems to make it happen more. Good luck, son.” Dr. Bennett walked off, rubbing the back of his neck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma lay in the wagon as it made its way toward Fort Laramie. Davis had told her the illness count had held steady at twenty-seven, with four more deaths. Ezra and Jeb decided to bury the dead before they left for Fort Laramie, so it was a sad journey from the camp to the fort.
The few trips outside the wagon left Emma feeling weak and breathless. Davis did the best he could with taking care of her and the animals. Several of the women brought over meals to them twice a day.
During the time she had spent recovering, she thought a great deal about her future. This was the first time she had been so sick without her parents close by. Davis had done well, but she still felt homesick. Indiana wasn’t far from her thoughts. She had learned not to speak too much of it to her husband, though, who would grow impatient with her when she did. Thoughts of him seemed to make him appear, and she smiled as he stuck his head in the back of the wagon.
“Hi, darlin’, how ya feeling?” He leaned his forearms on the back of the wagon looking pretty worn out and tired himself. He obviously hadn’t shaved in a few days, and his clothes looked like they hadn’t been changed, either.
“I’m feeling better. I think I would like to get up and walk around for a while today.” She raised herself up on her elbows, and then back down when the wagon started to spin.
“Um, I don’t know, I think you’re still a little weak. We should reach Fort Laramie sometime tomorrow afternoon. I’ll help you out of the wagon once we get there, and maybe have the fort doctor take a look at you.”
“Dr. Bennett looked at me a number of times. There’s no need for another doctor to do the same thing.” She sounded a bit grumpy which brought a chuckle from Davis.
“Okay, darlin’. I don’t want to upset you. We’re starting up again in a little bit. I’ll bring some rice with broth that Abigail sent over. She said it would help strengthen you.”
“Oh, and a cup of water, too.” No matter how much she drank, Emma seemed to always be thirsty.
When he returned with her meal, she asked about the others who were sick. As she ate, he told her of the deaths, and upon hearing about little Stephen, she cried out.
“He was such a little boy,” she moaned, “poor Sarah and Buck, how are they holding up?”
“Sarah was real bad there for a while.” Davis ran his hands through his hair. “But she seemed a little better the last time we spoke. She was asking about you. Strange, but Stephen was the only one in her family who came down with the influenza.”
The sound of the bugle alerted the emigrants the wagons were on the move again. Davis took the empty bowl from Emma.
“I have to get out of the wagon for at least a minute. I, um, I ah, have to go to the bushes.” Heat rose in her face.
“Sweetheart, everyone else is in their wagons, so I’m the only one around to take you this time.” Since her illness had begun, all her other visits were accompanied by one of the women.
Her face growing hotter, Emma grabbed her wrap. There wasn’t any choice at this point. All the water she was continually drinking had to go somewhere. Davis climbed up and helped her into her wrap and slowly lifted her down from the wagon. Still a little lightheaded, she hung onto his waist as he walked her over to an area not in view of the passing wagons. Mortified beyond belief, Emma had to hold onto Davis’s hand while she took care of her business. He pulled her up when she finished, and with one arm around her and the other lifting up her chin, he looked straight into her tearful eyes.
“Honey, I don’t want you feeling bad about this. It can’t be helped, and I’m your husband now.” He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. “Come on, let’s get you back into the wagon.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The government purchased Fort Laramie in eighteen hundred, forty-nine, as an outpost to protect and also supply travelers along the emigrant trails. It’s about seven hundred or so miles from Independence, right there at the joining of the North Platte and Laramie Rivers.” Davis pointed to the area where the outpost sat.
Emma sat alongside him on the wooden wagon seat as he explained a bit of the fort’s history as they grew closer. She’d expected to see walls to fortify the camp. However, as he further explained, Fort Laramie was an open fort, surrounded by teepees set up by the Plains Indians. But the welcoming sight of army uniforms and the American flag comforted her, but also aroused nostalgic emotions, and thoughts of what she’d left behind in Indiana.
She continued to feel weak, but somewhat better and looked forward to stopping for a couple of days and visiting the supply store. Her initial fright at seeing so many Indians walking around quickly left her by the sight of all the soldiers.