<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Amienne;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 20pt;">Day 1, April<br/><br/>We have made camp at last after a horrid day spent sweltering in the wagon. Tomorrow I shall insist on a turn riding up front. It is stifling back under the canvas, The only advantage is that there is some protection from the dust, but even that gets in and gets everywhere I suppose if it rains I should be glad to be under the canvas, but it is hot this April, and muggy, and there is no air inside. Everything is in it's place and I have aranged the bedding in the wagon. It is only four foot wide in here and I fear that the three of us sleeping side by side will have little room. <br/><br/>I have given thought to where on the small mattress we should sleep. Bethie and Jess are supposed to be husband and wife and I their sister-in-law, so I should sleep to one side and not between them. Equally, if any were to look in and see us it would be unseemly fot the husband to be between us. I have therefore decided that I should sleep by one wall and Jess by the other and Bethie in between.<br/><br/>If the seseshers do not like it, they can go back South. I have seen one of the scouts eyeing me. He may be a savage, but he is more civilised that the men in the town we have left behind us. If necessary, may god forgive me, I should become his woman, for the space of the journey. But that will be my call of last resort, when all other havens are lost to me, I think.<br/><br/>I need to attend the meal with Beth, for I fear the woman cannot cook to save her life, and certainly not to save mine.</span></span><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Penelope stepped down from the wagon to see that someone had a cooking fire lit and a pot set over it. She suspected Jess of lighjting it, but could not be certain. She looked around but did not see ther Sesesher lady. She mmust think of her as a man, she told herself. That way there would be less likely a slip of the tongue. "Where is your husband?" she asked.<br/><br/>Told he was watering the oxen, Penny nodded. "Good. Let me help you." She pulled the knife from her belt that she wore now habitually, along with her husband's army colt, and began cutting up the vegetables for the stew. The gun was loaded, but she had tried pulling it from the holster and it had taken her near ten seconds to draw and aim. She had seen Jess practice with his pistol and draw in a little over tenth of that. She considered the Sesesher to be fast, although others told that there were some who could draw and fire in a tenth of that time again. She didn't believe the stories.<br/><br/>"Ah tell ya, that's th' whore I saw!"<br/><br/>Penny looked up, to see a man, bearded and tanned, with leather face and a Colt Dragoon at his left hip and a bullwhip at his right. He was talking to another man, leering and pointing at Beth.<br/><br/><em>Sweet Mother Of God!</em>Penny thought, eyes going wide. She turned to see how the whore was reacting to the words.<em>No, she is no whore, she is my late husband's sister!</em>That thought firmly embedded in her mind, Penny stood. She could not care less if they took the woman and tarred and feathered her, but if she were exposed as a fraud, then Jess would be exposed as a fraud too, and her own roll in the subterfuge would certainly be revealed.<br/><br/>"How dare yo make such accusations! You are a rogue and a scoundrel and if my husband were alive he would demand satisfaction from you!"<br/><br/>"Be that as it may, lady, I know what I seen and I seen her!"<br/><br/>"She is my late husbands sister..."<br/><br/>"Then your<em>late husband</em>has a whore for a sister!" Beth was getting close to panic now. A crowd was gathering, and the man was becoming louder and more confident. He stepped forward and dragged Bethie from behind the fire, thrust her towards the crowd.<br/><br/>Penny leapt at him, pummelling him ineffectually with her fists. "Unhand my sister-in-law, you rogue!"<br/><br/>The man shoved her aside so she staggered back against the wagon. "She aren't no lady I tells ya", he yelled at the frowd, the turned to Bethie, waggling a grubby finger in her face. "I know who I saw, and I say yer the same whore what was at Barber's place a' kissin' on those two other men last week."<br/><br/>And at that moment like an avenging angel Jess returned and smacked the man in the head with a pale full of water. It was a testament to the thickness of his scull that he was not killed outright. The man scrabbled for the heavy dragoon colt, but even as he got his hand to it there was a soft click as Jess' Remington came to full cock. "Jess, no...!" she breathed. And at that moment the wagonmaster strode up, demanding to know what was going on.<br/><br/>The crowd dispersed, honour was satisfied, and  Penny breathed a sigh of relief. It was, perhaps, a little unjust that Jessie should be punished with night guard duty, but at least she had not killed a man.<br/><br/>"I'm okay, How about you Bethie?" She too turned with concern to the other woman. "My god, but that was close! We need to keep away from that one. I have a feeling he won't forget..."<br/><br/>Penny took a deep breath and settled back down, to finish making the stew. "Better fetch more water, Brother-in-law, as you used most of what you fetched defending the honour of your wife!"