Saga of Sam Jones

Saga of Sam Jones

happyhugo

Romance, Best Western, History

89,646 words

Copyright (C) 11/10/10 

Readers score  8.34

A Western/History story with Sam Jones as the main character.  Starting out as an outlaw and felon, he becomes a rancher and then sheriff. Along the way he encounters other outlaws, Indians and is involved with several women. He meets Teddy Roosevelt, who later becomes the country's darling in the Spanish American War. This is of course, a Romance.

I want to make this story a tribute to Barbara, my wife of 54 years. She has been the person who has encouraged me to use my imagination and put them into words. Then she took the time to put these stories into some semblance of order so they could be read by others. At first the Dark Angel was satisfied to rip and tear external pieces of her body from her. Now he has advanced inside and I soon will be left with only the remembrance of the love we shared. Thank you Barbara! (The Lord took her 12/03/10)

Part l

The Girl and the Outlaw

Chapter One
I sat back on my haunches from where I had been skinning the beef critter. I stared up at the old man who held a rifle and at the young woman beside him. She was armed with a colt .45 and she was handling it as if she knew how. It was pointed right at my gut.

I had been sliding a knife down the inside legs of the yearling calf and Jimbo, the man with me, was doing the same to the rear legs. We had already gutted the animal, saving the heart, liver and tongue, putting them in a flour sack.

“We call what you are doing ‘slow elking,’ and it is about to get you some time up in territorial prison. Now back away and drop your side arms. You boy, tie the big one’s hands and then stand back.”

“I don’t think so Pop. You put your hands up.”

Ronnie had come in behind the two and had them covered. He had been supposedly scouting east when these two had come in from the west un-observed. “Bub, tie their hands and lead them around to the camp. Tie them to a tree and then we’ll decide what’s to be done. You git back here and finish the skinnin’ while we get a campfire started. Christ, I’m so hungry I could eat that liver raw.”

I was some worried. I had come up on Ronnie and Jimbo early this morning and now if Ronnie hadn’t showed when he did, I might have been on my way to prison. That damned yearling had crossed right in front of us and we had been discussing how hungry we were. Jimbo shot him and we went to work planning on getting some meat into us. Well maybe we still would.

I wasn’t much into knowing about women. Hell, no one would consider me much anyway. I was nineteen, lean as a whip, and trouble had been my companion all of my life. I hadn’t had my hair chopped off for years and my face had never seen a razor. I was about as scrabble looking, no good, out of work cowpoke, as you ever did see. My clothes were patched and my shoes were turned over.

I had one piggin string for her hands and I took one off the old man’s own hoss to tie up his hands. When I got close to the woman, I could see she wasn’t more’n a girl. She had dark hair like me and her skin was a creamy tan from being out in the open. She did have women’s equipment though, and she must have had a bath this morning. Getting beyond the horse smell that was there from riding in, I could smell lavender flowers.

I knew how awkward it would be to walk with your hands behind you over the rough going, so she got hers tied in front. The old man got his’n tied behind. We had about two hundred yards to camp and I hurried them right along. Jimbo and Ronnie had the critter skinned and quartered and tied on my plug when I returned. They gathered up the other weapons and hosses and I followed along behind leading my loaded pony.

Jimbo inspected my work of tying up our captives and said I had done well. They had the camp nestled against a ledge outcropping and must have been camped here a couple of days. Their outfits were much better than mine. The horses had blood and the clothes they wore were finer than most men around here wore. When I had arrived at the camp this morning, they had their saddlebags on the ground and hurriedly closed the flaps when they saw me coming.

So far through all of this, I hadn’t said a word in front of the captives. Jimbo and Ronnie started telling lies about me to the captives. They said I had told them nothing when I had drifted up to their camp fire this morning, and I was just passin’ through. The lies built up to make me out an outlaw who was always robbing people. Why, I might have even robbed a bank. Maybe they were talking about themselves, because I hadn’t broke the law, ever. Well that is until an hour ago.

Ronnie turned out the old man’s saddlebags and discovered a packet of coffee and a small slab of bacon. We ate well. We had bacon grease for the pan and fresh fried liver that had got cool enough to put in it. You can’t eat liver when it is warm out of the critter as it will give you the squirts. Done, full, and satisfied, now it was what to do with the captives?

I didn’t enter into the conversation, but I sure was listening. I knew I wasn’t nothing to that girl/woman, but I didn’t want her harmed, either. “How long has it been since you had a woman, Jimbo?”

“Been a long time. How long before they come looking for her and the old man, you think?”

“Probably riding this far out into the hills, not before tomorrow afternoon. We could use her tonight and be out of the country before then. Kill them both before we leave. What about the kid?” They were talking as if I was no-account. “He can have some after we git done and then we’ll make sure he is the one to shoot them.”

They turned and looked at me. They should have been paying attention to me before they started talking. I was sitting there and I had that old Navy converted .44 pointed right at them. “Nope.” I stood and with my weapon on the two men I took out my knife and slashed the bonds of the woman and was heading for the old man. I stumbled. Christ, I had too many things going on at the same time to pay attention to everything. Jimbo had to try me and Ronnie was getting into the action.

It was a mix-up now. I shot twice and saw one of them bustards go down. Me, I found myself on my butt. Guns were going off, one along side of me and one in front. I slid into darkness.

---

I come to rocking on my bronc. I was tied on and I thought my head was coming off with every step that damned hoss took. I looked around. There were three cowpokes and the old man ahead of me. The woman was leading my mount. I could hear hosses behind me. One man was leading two broncs. Both had bodies tied on them. I wondered if one was my killing. Made no mind, that woman ahead of me was safe. Real safe from them who were tied face down. I passed out again.

Next time I comed to, I was on the ground. My hands were still tied though, so I knew I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I had my back propped up against a tree. I heard the woman being named as Jessie. Well, Jessie came over and fed me some pieces of meat and some kind of biscuit. She also held a cup for me to get a swig of coffee. I mumbled, “Thanks.”

“What’s your name?”

I mumbled, “Bub Jones.”

That was no name and she said so. I admitted to my Mom calling me Sam. About this time a man come along and told Jessie to get away from me. I took it he was her father.

“Jessie, he’s headed for a noose, so don’t you go get friendly with him.”

“He isn’t headed for no noose. All he done was butcher a calf. ’Sides that he saved me from getting pawed and violated and maybe killed. Ask Grampa.”

“Makes no mind, he was with them. I’m taking him into the sheriff. It’s his business now.”

“I’ll testify for him. Gramp will too.”

“Okay, you do that girl. You were there and I guess you got the right. We’ll get it sorted out.” This damned sure didn’t sound too promising for me. I was headed for jail no matter what. It was the late afternoon before we reached town. I was sure glad to get off that cayuse and lay down, hurtin’ as I was. Guess I had picked up some fever from that gunshot in my side.

I was in the cell a week and beginning to feel pretty good, when I was led across the street to the saloon where my trial was being held. Didn’t take long and I was soon in a buckboard headed for the territorial prison. Cattle rustling, charged and found guilty of. Sentence, two years, hard labor.

That there Jessie girl had appeared at the trial and she had stuck up for me. At least she kept me from getting my neck stretched. Well, I was going to be fed and clothed for some time and that wan’t all bad. I already had picked up the name of Silent Sam, because I didn’t say much. Hell, they didn’t even have my name right. They had me down as Sam Jones, when I was born with Samuel Jones. I mumbled a lot, and said I had no kin. Nobody to answer who I really was.

---

Prison might have been hell for some men, but I didn’t particularly find it so. I was eating and I had a bed to lie on at night. Sure I was working hard, bustin’ up rocks, but I just looked on that as a way to pass the time. The county was buying these rocks to build a road and the prison had contracted to provide. We, in the quarry, had to fill so many barrows a day, wheeling them over to a chute and dumping them in. The stone went down to a waiting wagon and was hauled away.

The prisoner I was paired up with was this old man who had been in here seventeen years, having killed his partner over some woman. He was old, more’n fifty-five. At one time he had taught school and had ranched up near some Indian reservation. He did some braggin’ on thet ranch and if half what he said was fact, it must be a good’n. Every morning he dreaded going out to the quarry and the hard work ahead of him for the day. I guess he was everything I wasn’t, him being neat and organized, I soon found out.

We each had us a little cabinet for a few personal items and he would spend time positioning things in it. Me in mine, there wasn’t much to position, but I watched him anyway. “You got to have order in your life, Bub, or it all goes to hell. Look at me. I got out of order and here I am.”

He was a compulsive talker. At first it bothered the hell out of me, but then I started listening. I never considered myself dumb, just ignorant of life (in) the ways of living, that’s all. Maybe I could cut a deal on improving some. “Kenny, I’m in here for two years. When I get out, I don’t want to be the same man I was when I got here. Teach me stuff. You know how to speak, and how to figure and tot up accounts. Tell me how to be a rancher. Make me see how to keep out of trouble. Things like that.

“I almost got my neck stretched because I didn’t know I was in trouble when I first came up on that campfire. Thinking back, I should’a kept on riding.”

“What’s in it for me, Bub?”

“I been thinking on that. The guy who tallies the barrows we bring up to the chute doesn’t care who fills them, me or you. During the day, I’ll fill my barrows and I’ll fill one in four of yours. I’ll have to bust my ass, but I can do it.”

Tickled at it all, “Done. You got yourself a deal.”

I didn’t quite make it the next day, but Kenny saw how hard I was trying and I had filled three barrows for him that he didn’t have to do. That night, tired and aching more than I ever had, he asked for my life’s story.

“Ma and Pa were farmers. I had a sister two years older than me. We raised garden crops for a big ranch that owned the land we farmed. Pa wasn’t too ambitious, he left that to Ma. When I was eight, Sis came home from school with a sickness. A week later, Ma came down with it the same. Both died an’ Pa was wild the day we buried them.”

“What did they catch?”

“Something called diphtheria. It’s a killer.”

“It is that, Bub. Then what happened?”

“Pa took to drinking. The crops went to hell and Pa was fired off the place. We picked up an’ left. I ain’t had no more schooling since then. Pa was no good after that. When I got big enough, I would work out mucking out a stable an’ occasionally git me a riding job moving cattle from here to there. I kept Pa with me an’ that kept me from finding steady work. I guess I done a little bit of every job in the world.”

“Where is he now?”

“Dead, buried, and I hope with Ma and Sis. I do’no, though, as some preacher said if you killed yourself, you’d never get to heaven.”

“That is one of those questions that no one knows now. Maybe someday. Can you read?”

“Some. I tried easing into a school sometimes, but no one would pay for me to be there and I would get asked to leave.”

“Can you do anything well?”

“I’m pretty good at shootin’ an’ can ride up a storm. I was never told if I killed one of those men. I spect that Jessie woman said she did it just to save my neck. She was some grateful, an’ I think it was me that done it.”

“Do you want to claim the killing? I’m asking because I want to know what kind of man you are.”

“No, I didn’t want to kill, but I didn’t want the woman killed either.”

“I guess you’ll do. It’s good to have the ability to shoot well, but that is an awful responsibility knowing you can kill and don’t adhere to using it in the right circumstance. Look at me, I didn’t and here I am locked up and teaching someone who did use it in the right way.”

So started my education. I was learning how to speak in sentences and how not to chop my words off. Kenny was a whole dictionary and if he used a big word, I wanted to know what it meant. I was getting stronger all this time from the extra work I was doing too. I was filling out and adding pounds. We weren’t allowed a razor to shave with, but occasionally we could get a hair cut and close crop our beard.

Three months into my incarceration, I received a letter at mail call. It was from Jessie. Kenny watched me as I turned it over in my hands. There were feelings fluttering through me like I had never had before.

“Bub, you have yourself a girl. Open it and see what it says.”

It was fat and heavy and when I did tear it open, a silver dollar fell into my lap. It was the first present I had ever received since Ma died and that was only one time at Christmas. There was nine sheets of paper and they were covered with writing on both sides.

Mr. Jones, I take my pen in hand to thank you for saving my life one day months ago. Daddy says I was just lucky and you probably would have attacked me after you had killed the other men. I don’t believe that and Grampa agrees with me. You may not know it, but it was you who killed the man called Jimbo. I shot the other one, but it only stopped him until I got Grampa untied. Grampa finished him off. I thought you should know this and how thankful we are.

I laid the first page down after reading it front and back. Kenny wanted to know if the letter was personal. “Not too much. Mostly wanting to thank me for what I did for her that terrible day. You can read it all if you want too.”

The rest of the letter was filled with details of Jessie’s life. About her likes and dislikes, her family and what she hoped for. I got it that she was pretty much under her father’s thumb. But this was counterbalanced by her favor-ite person, her grandfather. Her mother was dead and had been for years. She lived for the dances at the church socials that came along four times a year. This was just ordinary happenings, but so interesting to me. Very interesting to Kenny, because he had been so long away from it.

With the dollar I purchased a stamp, pencil, paper and an envelope to mail a note back thanking her for thinking of me. That was the wrong thing to do. Her father intercepted the letter, but did let her read it before he tore it up in front of her. She was directed to not write me anymore after telling me I shouldn’t be sending letters to a young lady from a prison. I understood and I think Kenny was more disappointed than I was.

Two days later another letter was handed to me at mail call. Mr. Jones, my father was terribly upset with me writing to you. I sent you this letter as soon as I could telling you I will not stop writing just because he says I have to. Please don’t answer, because he will be looking for the prison postmark and will destroy the letter before I can read it.

I would like to continue in telling you about what is happening in my life. If you do not wish to receive my post, have it returned and I will know you don’t want me to write. The postmistress promised to hold a returned letter for me so my father won’t find out.

That settled, I am going to a dance this weekend and I have a new dress to wear. I get so excited thinking about it. Have you ever danced, Mr. Jones? The music and the laughter and the noise and everyone so happy to be having fun, gives me goose bumps. Even my father dances sometimes. He keeps telling me I should start finding someone to marry. But not yet. Not until I’m at least twenty anyway.

I hope I can still write to you. I don’t have many friends. Those who have saved my life anyway. Until I write again, I remain your friend,
      Jessie Comstock.

There was a powerful longing in my breast. I knew it would never be salved. I guess old Kenny felt the same for he had no words when he read the letter and passed it back. Until the next letter came he often asked if he could read it when I did.

“What are you going to do when you get out of here, Bub?”

“I guess go to farming. The government is still opening up land here and there. Some of it they have took from the Indians which is hell for them people. If I could get title to a section somewhere, I know enough about growing crops to make a go of it. I think if the land was good, I’d have a few cattle and have some hogs.”

“You got ambition, Bub. That all takes money. What are you going to do about that?”

“Find me a rich widow and sweet talk her. With what I’m learning from you it could be done.”

“What about Jessie? She sounds just right for you.”

“Maybe she would be, but her papa hates my guts and wouldn’t stand for her taking up with me. There is no money either. I couldn’t go to her empty-handed. No, nothing there for me. What about you? How many more years have you got to do?”

“Three more as of last week. I got a ranch, or did have. Haven’t heard from my cousin who I agreed to have the use of it. Not lately, anyway. If I was to die, it would go to him. It was the only deal I could make when I was sent up. You got about a year and a half left. Maybe you would check it out and see what the situation is when they free you.”

“I can do that. Tell me the lay of your land, so I’ll know it when I get there.”

“So if it were possible, you’d partner up with this old killer?”

“I would and I’d be the winner all the way around.” This was a new chapter for me. I now had a goal in life and I might just have a future that was brighter than any I could dream of.

Letters came once a month from Jessie. I’d guess I had fallen in love with her, but had no way to express myself. That ended in June. I had been in prison for a year and two months.

Mr. Jones, I have had my hand asked for in marriage. My father has agreed that me and Mr. Brad Wilcox are a good match. He is nice enough, although I don’t feel the stirrings I thought I would when I was to be married. Mr. Wilcox owns the ranch south of Papa’s. That is, his parents do and someday the ranch will be his. Papa is looking to the future and I suppose it makes sense, but I wanted more out of life than one big ranch.


Mr. Jones, someday if you would be in town, I would agree to sharing a tea in Miss Sylvia’s tea room. It would be in public and even though I would be married, I could meet and thank you again in that setting. I will not be writing again. I will miss doing so. I have imagined you awaiting my little notes and of you pouring over them in your lonely cell.

      As ever, Miss Jessie.

Kenny and I were both silent that night, and I wondered if far to the south, Miss Jessie was awake thinking of me.

Chapter Two

I was brought before the warden as I was being released. He complimented me on being a model prisoner. He asked what I was going to do.

“Go back to farming or riding, I guess. Stay out of trouble and if I get hungry, I’m going to starve.” I grinned at him as I said this, for I knew he was aware of what brought me here. He shook my hand and told me to go into the supply room and pick out an outfit of clothes. Mine had been so bad they had been thrown away. I got five dollars from the territory and I had the sixty-seven cents that were in my pocket when jailed. My shell belt, holster and pistol were returned as well.

The warden met me again. “Mr. Jones, if there was someone to speak for Kenny Ryeback to the governor, it might be possible to get him a pardon. It would take a lawyer, though, and they cost money. Just a fact to file away in your mind. He is going to have a hard time without you in his cell. He is going to have to go back to pounding his own rocks from now on.” He grinned this time and I laughed because I knew my cellmate’s days in the quarry were over. He had been assigned to the kitchen.

I walked down the street of the town which serviced the prison. I found what I was looking for, stuck in the window of the freight company. “Help Wanted, no escaped prisoners need apply.” That had to be a joke. Well maybe not, some fool must have tried it at some previous time. The prison had been here a long while.

I walked in and to the desk. “What’s the job?”

“Guard for a load of freight. One way south, one hundred thirty-seven miles.”

“What’s the load?” I didn’t want to be guarding anything that would be easily stolen. We would be going through some rough country.

“Load of rifles for the fort. The army already took off with two loads and hired us for the last one. We’re a day late already.”

“What’s the pay?” I was down to horse trading now.

When I heard what the pay was to be, I almost walked. In fact I started for the door. There was a chalk board there saying the company was getting rid of some saddle horses and would dicker. When I climbed aboard that freight wagon, I was cradling a company ten gauge shotgun. There was a company rifle stacked behind me. I had food slips for every stop along the way and one slip that I was to have my choice of a mount in the company corral at the end destination. Not only this, I was only fifteen miles from where I had been found helping butcher the calf.

There was something that had come to mind as I remembered and examined every minute of the day of the mix-up two years before. I had the time. Two years of it. Maybe nothing could clear up my puzzlement but the thought was there. Why would Jimbo and Ronnie be traveling without much camp gear? The other parts of their outfit were well set up and yet they only had one fry pan and one beat up coffee pot. Those appeared to be more of a spare then they might carry regular. Must be they had gotten themselves run out of somewhere, sudden like. Me, I had nothing but a tin cup.

I still felt there was another set of saddlebags that were never mentioned or seen when I took the captives back to camp. I thought I had seen another pair as I pulled in. If I could get me a good traveling horse in this trade, I might investigate around that campsite. I was packing my own eats, though.

It took four days to the fort for the delivery of the rifles. Not one spot of trouble. We unloaded and headed to the company barn ten miles beyond the fort. It was dark and I wasn’t about to go looking at no horses at night, so I crawled up into the top of the hay barn and went to sleep. Morning found me over to the diner for a thirty cent breakfast. The freight boss wanted to hire me as a relay driver. He had asked how I was coming down and the driver had said I pitched right in and helped hitch and unhitch the teams. Good at it too.

I went out and looked at the horses. Some of them appeared to be half broke broncs. There was one---a steeldust that I liked the looks of. He looked familiar, and I knew I had ridden him three years ago when I was working someplace. Yeah, the right brand was there. He had changed some. I don’t imagine he approved of the change either. Now he was cut and wasn’t a stallion no more. That must have pissed him off.

I climbed out of the corral. “I’ll take the steeldust.” The four or five freighters standing around watching me, laughed and the boss said he’d make out the bill of sale. The swamper sidled up to me and said I was going to find myself in the dirt damned sudden. That hoss was a mean one and the company would be glad to get rid of him.

“I’ll bet you four bits I can ride him the length of Main Street and stay on him.” I had just enough money from prison to cover the bets made. All the freighters knew I hadn’t forked a horse for two years and my five dollars was in jeopardy. I walked uptown and bought five cents worth of sugar cubes. My bankroll was down to pennies.

I came back to the corral and asked for a currycomb. I spent thirty-five minutes with the comb. I’d work on his body and then make like I was smoothing the hair on his face. I’d slip a cube into his mouth. Funniest thing, most animals would chew a cube, not this one, he liked to suck on it. You never knew he had it in his mouth. Occasionally he would shake his head and I’d feed him another.

An old saddle with the leather most off, and with the wood showing, was given me to ride. I mounted him in the corral and asked someone to open the gate. I eased out into the street and cantered the length up and back. “I’ll take my money now and I thank you.” Quarters and fifty-cent pieces were handed up.

“Good hoss Jim, you remembered. Bow to the men who just bought you grain for a month.” Jim lowered his front quarters and then came back up shaking his head as if laughing. I tipped my hat and rode away. I had found a friend from my past. Sometimes when you are someplace and the human beings around you ain’t so nice, you can find what you need in the animal kingdom.

---

I stepped down in front of the sheriff’s office and surveyed the town where I had been on trial. I doubted anyone would recognize me. Now I stood tall and looked people in the eye while talking to me. I shaved every day and somehow I was going to have my hair trimmed often and not let it go wild. I was forty pounds heavier and muscled with no fat about me anywhere. I could speak well and on several subjects. I could smile when it was needed. It took some doing for Kenny to teach me to do that, but I did make it.

I pushed open the door and went inside to where the sheriff was seated in the corner. “Howdy Sheriff Colson, I came by to pick up my saddle.”

“And you would be?”

“Sam Jones.” He studied me for a moment.

“Saddle not worth coming after. You in town to make trouble?”

“Nope. I may hang around until I see someone and then I’m leaving.”

He surprised me with, “She is married now you know. She’ll be having his baby in another month. I think you better not see her.”

“Sheriff, understand I’m not chasing her. In fact if she hadn’t written me, I would have forgotten her by now. It was at her request that I come back to this town to see her. It will be the last time. I’m not coming between a man and his wife. How did you know about this anyway?”

“She has been checking in here lately when it was about time for you to be released. If the warden hadn’t wired me that he was some impressed with you while under his charge, you would be back there in a cell right now. Not charged, but to keep you from meeting her. Jessie is like a daughter to me and I don’t want her hurt. I must say you have shaped up and look like a decent man.”

“Thanks Sheriff. You know she saved me back at the time I met her?”

“I know. That was after you got the ball rolling to save her and Gramps. I tell you what, why don’t you lay down on the bunk back there and when she comes into town, I’ll send you a visitor. She is usually in shortly after noon. She sure has acquired a taste for tea. Better she skip it today and come to see me.”

He sounded sincere, so I did as he suggested. He could have come and slammed the cell door on me. He didn’t.

“Mr. Jones. The sheriff said you were here. Why didn’t you meet me in the tea room?”

“Better to meet here out of the public eye. You don’t need a scandal.” I raised off the bunk and faced her. I looked her over. I couldn’t help it, I exclaimed, “You’re more beautiful than I remembered.”

“I’m way pregnant, Mr. Jones. How can you say that?”

“I stand on what I said.”

She was looking me over as well. “You’ve changed. I thought you would be as scruffy looking as ever, but I did want to say thank you and offer to get you back on your feet. I was going to suggest you come by the ranch and ask for a job. I would have made sure you got hired.”

“Mrs. Wilcox, was this really for me or for yourself?”

“Seeing you again, I can’t tell. I don’t love my husband. He treats me just like I was one of his horses. Something to own. He is all feathers and no turkey. I listened to Papa and followed his wishes. Even he knows it was all a mistake. Papa has threatened to horsewhip my husband if he ever abuses me.”

“Mrs. Wilcox, you know I can’t do anything. I can’t come live that close to you. I’d see your husband do or say something to you and I’d be back here in this cell with the door closed on me.”

“I know. I was saved by you once. I should have listened to my heart and waited for you to get out of prison. I didn’t and now I’m paying big time. Do you have a place to live? Where will you go?”

“I’m going up to the northern part of the territory where a friend is hoping we can get into the cattle business. He has some land. He has been away and hasn’t seen it for awhile.”

“He was a prisoner just like you, wasn’t he?”

“He still is, but what you see before you is what he made me.”

“Shake his hand for me. Will I be seeing or hearing from you ever again?”

“I don’t think that would be wise. I’ll let the sheriff know where I’m located, though. I might write to him occasionally.”

“Please do. I guess I should be going. I can’t get over the change in you. Not only how you look, but how you speak and act. We have missed a life together, haven’t we?”

“It looks that way. Trouble has become a way of life for me, but I still wake up in the morning with renewed hope everyday. We are from two different worlds and it was just so improbable for us to have a life together. You are so beautiful.” I wanted to say more, but knew it wasn’t wise. What more I would say, could only bring sadness to this situation.

“Can I do anything for you at all? Except for the husband I have, I can do most everything I want to.”

“No. I couldn’t take anything from you. If you find something I can do for you, please let the sheriff know.”

“I will. Would you kiss me before I go?”

I was longing to, but I felt this was a sure way to lose her respect even when it was she who asked. “No. You are another man’s wife and it wouldn’t be right.”

“Good-bye then. I will still think about you sometimes and will always wish I had waited to marry.” She turned and went down the aisle between the cells and out the door. I watched her cross the street. Just as she stepped up onto the boardwalk, a man came out of the saloon and took her arm.

The sheriff spoke from behind me, “That’s her husband. I bet he is half drunk and probably broke. He gambles all the time. His folks swear they are going to cut him off, but they won’t.

“Funny thing, back a couple of years or more ago, he ran up a hell of a bill with some gamblers that were hanging around. All of a sudden they were paid off and left town. No one could ever figure where he got the money from. Right after that he began sparking Jessie. Everyone figured he had straightened up, but he hasn’t, and Jessie is caught in a terrible fix.”

“Sheriff, I told her that I would help her if I could, but I’m not going to mix into her marriage no way, no how. Tell you why. My cell mate did that and all he got for thanks was twenty years in prison. He is an educated man, too. He owned a going ranch and he doesn’t know for sure, but that may be all gone as well. That’s where I’m going when I leave here.”

“I guess I see your point, but God my heart goes out to that young woman.” I said nothing, because mine did too.

We stood staring out the office window. “Hey Sam, here comes someone you might remember.”

“Sure, that’s Jessie’s grandpa. Chester Comstock is his name.”

“Yep. Helped settle the whole valley, he did. I’ll call him in.” He opened the door, “Hey, Chet, I got that damned cow thief that you and Jessie caught in here that one time.”

“Yes and you railroaded him to prison too. Where is he?”

“Right in here.” He stepped aside and the old man entered.

He looked around and then his eyes centered on me. I knew I looked different. My hair was trimmed and I was shaved. I must have appeared inches taller, for I stood straight. The forty pounds of muscle I had gained filled me out. I looked to be a man to reckon with.

“That prison turn you honest yet?”

“I was almost honest before, and now I am for sure. At that time I was just awful hungry.”

“I know boy, our mistake. What are you up to?”

“Back in town, just for today. I saw Jessie for a minute and thanked her for writing. She thanked me for saving your butt, so you don’t have to.”

“Well I thank you for doing it anyway. Can I buy you a drink over to the saloon?”

“Nope, don’t drink and don’t intend to start.”

“Wise son, real wise. Sam, why in hell didn’t you ask Jessie to wait for you? She would have.”

“I couldn’t Gramps. Even now I have trouble believing she would want to. In one way I’m worse off now with a prison record, but I’m pretty proud of coming out better than I went in.”

“You should be. Are you coming out to the ranch?”

“No. I can’t forget that Jessie’s Dad wanted me strung up. He had right, but still__”

“Understand that.”

“You could do one thing for me. Could you give me the okay to go out to the campfire site where things came to a head for all of us?”

“Tell you what, I can do better than that, and I’ll go with you. Christ, that’s the last time I shot a polecat, although I can think of one I want to awful bad.”

“Me too, Gramps.”

“You two behave yourselves, I don’t want to have to come after you.” Both of us grinned at the sheriff.

Old Chet bought me supper at the eatery. The sheriff, he bought me a sarsaparilla at the saloon and I took a bit of razzing over it. I laid my head down in the same bed with an old man who I had carried up one flight of stairs because he had one too many. Somehow he also had become my grandpa in the course of the evening.

He roused me at daylight, clear-eyed, without hangover. He had camping gear and picked up a few items at the eatery from the cook who was his friend. His horse was one that befitted the title of ranch owner and had the blood of Arabia. That steeldust was keeping up and I told Grampa how I had come by him and how he had earned me half my road stake.

“That all the money you got?”

“Yeah, but that’s more than I have had for a long while.”

“You act as if you had a pocketful.”

“I know.” I went on to tell Grampa about Kenny and what he had done for me. “Act like you are rich and people will think you are.” That was one of his lessons.

We arrived at dark, up against that ledge where Jimbo and Ronnie had built the campfire a little over two years and two months ago. I picked up some sticks and Gramp built a blaze. It took awhile to get the coffee strong enough. The strips of chicken and beef skewered on sticks and held over the fire tasted mighty good.

“Sam, tell me why you came back here to this place?”

“You know with all that happened and me being shot later, I didn’t pay much attention to what went on that day. It was after I laid up in prison that I went over every minute of it. I swear there were a pair of saddlebags that went missing that day. Ronnie was supposed to keep watch that nobody rode up on us, but you and Jessie did, so he had to be doing something else.

“I think Ronnie was hiding the saddlebags at camp. He couldn’t have had much time. I think they had robbed someone and didn’t want me to know about it. Remember how they made out how bad a person I was? That was while we were eating.”

“I do and I thought then you weren’t much more’n a kid and couldn’t have done all that. So where are the saddlebags? If they are buried we’ll never find them.”

The fire was going down, but the ledge was outlined and the moon was soon coming up. “Look at the top of the ledge. It’s flat on top. I think they were thrown up there. A man standing on his horse could reach them.”

“Makes sense. I’ll hold your horse while you look.”

“Nope, I’ve waited two years and I just want to lie here and hope I’m right.”

“Bet you don’t sleep much.”

I looked up at the ledge as we rolled out in the morning. It was just as I remembered. Gramps started getting wood together. I kicked over the fire bed and felt the ashes. They were cold. “I think we better look now. The horse will have to stand in the old campfire. If we start the fire, we will have to wait until the coals go out and it is cool.”

“Good thinking Sam. You got a head on your shoulders. Course you may want to just find out if your thinking is good. Which mount you using?”

“Mine. I got sugar cubes so if he moves around, slip him one.” Positioned just so, I climbed up. My chin was about even with the top of the ledge. I could see the saddlebags way over on the back side of the shelf and out of reach. The leather was black and curled from laying out in the weather for two years. I plumped down into the saddle and dismounted.

“They are there, but how are we going to get them? I can’t get up and there is no way we can get down from the top.”

“How about lassoing them?”

“Can’t. The rope would slide over them.”

“Shit, Sam, there has to be a way. Let’s build a fire and have coffee. We’ll think of something.” We dug a new place for the fire and set up sticks for the coffee pot to hang from. We built the fire small and hot away from the ledge. It was more in the open, and the wind blew the fire around some. We kept carrying stones to shield it. It was awhile before breakfast.

When this was nearly over, I had the solution in mind. “Got it figured Gramps. That sapling over there has some shoots near the bottom. If we can cut it we can use them for hooks. We’ll chop the tree eight feet long. That’ll be just about right.”

We had some luck. I hooked the saddlebags, but the bottom where they laid had rotted. I pulled what I could to me and passed it down to Gramps. The horse was getting uneasy, so I took one last look before getting down. Excited, I could see some rolls of coins stuck to the rotted bottom that had stayed there when I pulled the top off. I didn’t say anything.

Gramp tied Jim and we looked at our find. In what had been a side pocket, there was a flat military dispatch pouch. It was made of metal and water tight. A rusted blanket pin was through the clasp that snapped in two when we tried to open it. The box was full of letters and correspondence. All were addressed to Ronald Monkton.

There was two letters to Ronnie. One asking him if he was interested in going for holding up a drover returning from a cattle sale. The other just informed Ronnie the time and place he would be waiting so the robbery could take place. Both were signed, Brad Wilcox. I wasn’t that good at reading, although given time, I could make out most words and the meaning behind them. The wanted posters for Jimbo and Ronnie were self-explanatory.

“Sam, what I have here tells me that my granddaughter’s husband is a crook and a killer. Brad Wilcox was in on the killing of the drover who was bringing money from the sale of his father’s cattle herd. The killers were never caught and the money was gone, but no one ever suspected young Wilcox of being involved. I think we better take this to the sheriff and let him deal with it.”

“Fine by me. What are we going to do with a whole bunch of money?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are stacks of it up on the ledge. The saddlebags were rotten. This is only the top. The bottom is still up there with coins all over it.”

“Let me think on it. You figure out how to get it. You need a ladder, but getting one here would make a lot of people wonder. You know, maybe I had better read all of these letters to see if they mention any money.”

“Sounds as if you are expecting to keep it.”

“Not me. I haven’t found any money. Have you ever heard about ‘finders keepers’?”

“I’ll figure out how to get it down, you figure out who it belongs to.” I mounted Jim and went looking for a tree or stub that I could drag in and lean it against the ledge. Something light enough to handle, but strong enough for me to climb. I left Gramp reading the letters.

It was a mile away that I found what I needed in a grove of fir trees. It was a spruce tree that had been snapped off recently when a dead tree had blown over onto it. The branches hadn’t dried out and I went about lopping them off with my knife about eight inches from the trunk. The shelf was eleven feet from the ground. Sixteen feet of tree should do it for me. It was pretty skinny near the top, but should hold me. I hitched my rope and started dragging, which Jim didn’t care for at all.

“Two more letters to go. Them two bastards were some bad asses. We done us a deed when we wiped them out. Actually we did young Wilcox a deed at the same time. They were coming to blackmail him and he never knew it. It’s all laid out here, what he did and how bad he is. According to this, he is the actual one to kill the drover that his folks hired for the drive. How you going to get that tree to stand up?”

“Got it figured. We can lift the top up enough to lay it on Jim’s saddle. You take your horse and tie a rope to it. I’ll keep my foot on it to hold it and when it gets upright, I’ll just push it over against the ledge.”

“Pretty good at figuring things out ain’t you?” Fifteen minutes later, I stood looking down at rows of coins. A few had been moved as I pulled the saddlebags away, but hadn’t gone far.

Gramps counted them as I tossed them down. $22,000 in $20 gold pieces. When I couldn’t find anymore I climbed down. “I noticed when you threw down the last bunch, they were all the same date, just as if they were minted at the same time. I don’t think you had better keep those. I’ll hang onto those and we’ll figure out how to spend it some other time. There might be a way they could be traced to some bank heist.”

“I didn’t know I was going to keep any of the money.”

“Think on it, Sam. Who’s to know? You certainly can use it.”

“But what if it belongs to the old man Wilcox?”

“Hell, they lost their chance to it when they let young Wilcox go bad. That herd the drover shunted up north was George Wilcox’s. They might as well pay as anyone else.”

I wasn’t in perfect agreement, but I might get used to it. “Gramps. I need you to do a favor for me with some of this money. There is an old guy up at territorial prison that could get out if some lawyer would go see the governor about it. Would you see to that for me?”

“Sure, can do. This the guy who educated you?”

“Yeah, and he has offered me to partner with him.”

“I’ll do what I can. You can pay me when it’s done. I got a little money I haven’t bellied up to bar with. What we going to do now?”

“Don’t know. You tell me.”

“Sam, I think you should head north. Keep out of this whole mess. I got one question though. What about Jessie? She’s going to be hurtin’ awful about finding out her husband is a crook. She’ll have a reason to dump him. I guess what I’m asking, how do you feel about taking on a woman that has been another man’s wife? One she might have a kid by?”

“I guess if the woman knew what I was and I knew what she was, there wouldn’t be too much of a problem. It is something that could be discussed before any commitment was made. Might even reach some kind of agreement. That woman being Jessie, I would almost guaranty I would take her to me.”

“Couldn’t ask for more. Now Son, you pack up and get to hell out of here. You’ll be hearing from me. You said the sheriff has your destination. I’ll get your address from him.”

I headed out, and it was late in the day. I had been out of prison two weeks. I had met the girl that someday I was going to have for my own. I had met a man, who I felt was family. I had $20,000 in my poke now, and a six-year-old prime piece of horse flesh to straddle. Things were looking up!

Chapter Three
I pulled into Kenny Ryeback’s home town of Button Box. My first stop was the bank. I plunked my bedroll down on the counter. “I’d like to deposit this. Lookin’ for cattle.” I wanted to get rid of that money and get my blankets back. This wasn’t too unusual, for cattle buyers did this often. I went over to the saloon and ordered me a beer. I didn’t care much for it and didn’t intend to drink it, but I wanted to fit in.

I was looking for information. “Where is Kenny Ryeback’s ranch located?”

The bartender said, “Never heard the name.” I looked around and saw an old man slumped in the corner. “He been around here long?”

“Most forever. Buy him whisky if you want to talk to him. He can tell you a few tall tales. Name’s Pat.”

“Give me a bottle.” I took the bottle over and nudged him with my foot. “Hey fella, I feel like getting drunk. You want to get drunk with me?”

Pat’s eyes opened and spotted the bottle. He immediately climbed to his feet. “If’n we’re goin’ to get drunk, we better do it to the livery stable. That way you won’t have to lug me over there later.”

When I got to asking about Kenny Ryeback, a sad look came over Pat’s face. “Knew him well. He got mixed up with a married woman. She was after him terrible. Don’t think he ever intended to get between her and her husband because the husband was his good friend. Anyway he was in the wrong and they had themselves a set-to. The guy hit his head going down and never come to. He thrashed around for a week and finally gave in and died.

“That woman turned on Kenny and said it was all his fault and she talked him right into prison. She took up with another man soon after the funeral and left the area.”

“What happened to his ranch?”

“How you know he had a ranch?”

“Met him in prison. He still has time to do.”

“You his friend?”

“Yeah, you could say so.”

“Well I guess I can tell you about his ranch. He has him a cousin, name of Pete, who he turned the land over to. People has mostly forgot that the ranch is Kenny’s, for that cousin has taken it in his own name for quite a spell. The place is some run-down, but it still is the best land for cattle around. It’s up for sale now. When you going to let me suck on that bottle? I thought you said you was thirsty?”

“The bottle is yours. Tell me more about the ranch?”

“Well, a couple of years ago, some rustlers got to workin’ around here and about cleaned the cattle off the range. They got caught and hung, but not before they pretty much stripped the ranch. Kenny’s cousin wants to bug out before Kenny gets out of prison. He figures if he can sell the place to some sucker and disappear, he’ll take to travelin’, if you gets my meanin.’ Kenny is going to be some pissed, whichever.” Pat took another swig. “What’s your stake in this?”

“I come ahead of Kenny. He has felt something was wrong, because he hasn’t heard anything lately.”

“You got any way to prove up what you’re sayin’?”

“I got a paper saying I’m to manage the ranch in place of Pete. It’s signed by the prison warden as witness.”

“Take it to the sheriff then. He ain’t that fond of Pete and was friend to Kenny.”

“I’ll do it. You too old to ride some?”

“Nope, can still ride. Got no hoss though.”

“We’ll go riding in the morning. I’ll get you a horse. I’m going to sleep. You better save the last drink for when you wake up in the morning.”

“This the last bottle you ever goin’ to buy me? Might make a difference me ridin’ or not.”

“I expect I’ll be buying a bottle time-to-time.” I rolled over. “I don’t drink so someone will have to drink it.”

I had Pat over to the “Cowpoke Diner” for breakfast. He wasn’t much on eating. I had them put up some sandwiches. We’d have to find a spring somewhere to wash them down with. “You goin’ be gone all day? Don’t know as I want to be gone that long.”

“I’ll probably buy me a bottle when we get back. Of course if you ain’t with me, there won’t be any need to.”

“Let’s get goin’ then.” I didn’t figure Pat could handle a horse that had too much spirit, but he fooled me. The one I rented for him did a few crowhops and swapped ends a few times and Pat hung right in there. When he had him straightened out, we padded right along. Three miles from town, Pat said we were coming up on Kenny’s ranch.

It must have been a mile farther, we topped a rise and could look down on the ranch buildings. I stood up in the stirrups looking down on what had been at one time an impressive set of buildings. Now they looked pretty ram-shackled. A couple of corrals had rails and the post broken. The place looked almost abandoned.

“Let’s go get it done.”

“You mean you’re goin' to hit Pete with this now? No siree, I ain’t having any!”

“Pat, suit yourself, but if you don’t back me___”

“I know, you won’t buy me a drink. Is that it, kind sir?” I heard a muttered “Bastard” when I turned and grinned at him.

We loped into the yard. There were two horses at the rail. The rail was held together with some rawhide lacings. Two people were looking at me when I pushed the door open. One looked to be a dance hall girl, and the other was an unkempt man, with an unshaven face. This didn’t bother me much, as I had gone that way most of the time. It was the food stains that spotted his vest that gave me the measure of the man.

I got to it. “Pete Ryeback, you’re Kenny’s cousin. He has hired me to take over the ranch from you.” I let it lie there.

He started sputtering. “He can’t do that. I been on the place almost twenty years. He owes me money---a lot of money.”

“I don’t think so. He said if the place looked as good as it did when he went to prison, I was to give you $5,000. If it didn’t, then to use my own judgment. It doesn’t look like there are any cattle left and the buildings are falling down. Maybe I should bill you for not taking care of the place.”

“You can’t do that. We was rustled right down to a few cows a couple of years ago. Ask the sheriff if you don’t believe me.”

“Heard about that. You know, I think I’ll do what the army does when they discharge a trooper. They give him severance pay. I think you have some severance coming. About $1,000 I’d say. You get to keep your horse and all your personal stuff.”

The woman said, “Take it Pete, then me and you can get hitched.”

“You got the money on you?”

“Nope, meet you at the bank, nine tomorrow morning. I see a buckboard backed onto the barn floor. Use that to move your stuff. Leave the wagon at the livery stable in town.”

“I got no place to go.”

“Move in with the lady, she’ll invite you. I’m out taking a ride around. Be back in two-three hours. It’d be nice if you were gone. Any of Kenny’s stuff, don’t steal it. Kenny has changed some since you knew him. He met a lot of tough guys up there at territory and he’s still alive.”

The lady was brave. “You one of those tough guys?”

“Kenny hired me. I didn’t ask for the job.” Let them think what they wanted.

I put my attention to the range when I went out. Not a cow to be seen and the land hadn’t been grazed. “You know where the boundaries are?”

“Mostly. You ain’t thinking on riding that far are you? I’m getting a mighty thirst.”

“No. No time today. Let’s head across to that point. Kenny told me about a spring over there.”

“Oh God, I can’t drink water. It’d kill me.” I headed out and Pat followed, although not happy about it.

We arrived at the spring. Actually it was a pool, fed by a little waterfall that tinkled into it. I sat down and opened up the packet of sandwiches, handing Pat one. He looked at it with distaste. “Didn’t you bring somthin’ I can get this washed down with?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” I went to my saddlebags and got a flask, tossing it to him. “Nurse it. That’s all there is. Better eat that sandwich, or you’ll be pretty wobbly before we see town again. I’m climbing up to see the pool on top. Take a nap, I’ll be awhile.”

It was a steep climb, up to where the water overflowed from a larger, deeper pool. I topped out just as a body dove from a rock six feet high on the far side. I caught a flash of arms and of satin black hair and she swam toward me. The pool must have shallowed out, for when her feet touched bottom, she stood and advanced on me. Should I run?

“Speak.” It was a command.

“Kenny sent me to find Mary Eustis.”

“That would be me. I had the feeling about him, not two days ago. I’ll put my clothes on and we will talk.” I watched as she went about sliding a dress down over some parts of a person I had never seen before.

I could see this Indian woman was not young. I didn’t have much to compare her naked body to. I had never seen a woman undraped---and I had to admit, I had never had a woman. This one had stood face front and talked to me.

Her body was golden brown, and smooth as silk. Her face and arms were darker from the sun and her hair was almost blue-black. She had other hair same’s most people do, but I tried not to think on that. I guess if anyone ever said Goddess, the vision of Mary Eustis Silvercloud would come to mind the rest of my days.

Harking back to some facts Kenny had told me about this woman, I asked the first question. “Kenny said you were some kind of medicine woman. Did you become shaman?”

“Yes. How else would I have known Kenny was coming?”

“He isn’t here yet. Maybe soon, maybe a year and a half.”

“Two moons, maybe less, we will meet again. Now what can I do for you?”

“I kicked Pete off the place. It is in terrible shape. It needs all kinds of repair. The house is a pigsty and needs cleaning. There must be some cattle left on the ranch. Those need to be found and brought up close to headquarters. Do you have enough braves to do all of this?”

“Yes, we can do. What you pay?”

“Two critters for every ten you bring in. All the staples you need to feed your people until Kenny gets here.”

“Not enough. That and three bottles whisky once a week. Drink Saturday night. No one too drunk to work, promise.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“I dream. A young man come see me. He never have the pleasure of woman. One month I teach, find much pleasure. Same man, someday have boy child, name Samson. Same man, his woman have girl baby.” This woman spoke to me in short sentences as if was a subject that wasn’t to be discussed, but was fact. “Two moons me become Kenny’s woman---again. Deal?” This was twice she mentioned Kenny. I think she was telling me not to become attached to her.

She was scaring me. Maybe I shouldn’t have looked at her and run like hell. Still, maybe I could use some experience with the fair sex. “Deal.”

She was now all business. I was to set up accounts for her to draw on. The general store and the hardware store and the feed store for their horses. I asked about horses they would be needing for the roundup.

“No need. We have Kenny’s horse remuda hidden back in the hills near the reservation. Pete would have sold them. They are all trained as cutting horses, too. Not the same ones when Kenny left, but at the time his blood line was good so we kept doing some breeding for him. Many are unbranded and we’ll take care of that first thing.”

“Mary Eustis, tell me about yourself.”

“My father was a shaman. He knew the old ways were leaving our people. He sent me to mission school to learn the white man’s way. As I grew to womanhood, many men wanted my body. Kenny saved me from a fate worse than death, twice. I hid out in the hills after that and listened to my father. The power came to me, but I didn’t use it wisely. When I was eighteen winters, Kenny made me a woman. He wouldn’t let me into his bed after that for he was shamed.

“A bad woman took his mind away from being good. I went to him again, but he was blind and turned me away. His trouble came down on him and I haven’t seen him long time. He comes to me in my dreams. My father read in the fire that Kenny would end his years making me happy. It is soon to be at hand.”

With no inflection in her voice, Mary went on. “It is said that he who sees me without clothes will know me. You have seen me that way, so you must abide by what has been said. I will come to you in three days when your house is clean. We go now. You have given us much to do.” As she turned to leave, several Indians came from behind the rocks and boulders scattered about. Thank God I had showed no aggression toward this Indian medicine woman.

“Come on Pat, wake up. Let’s head for town.” As we mounted up, I asked, “Do you know an Indian named Mary Eustis Silvercloud?”

“Sure do. She knows you, too. Before I passed out last night, she came up into the loft and looked at you sleeping. It was almost dark, but I could see her smiling. She has to be forty-years-old and everyone that sees her wonders when she is goin’ to start to age. She is as pretty now as she was when Kenny went away.”

“She ever have a man around?”

“Sometimes, not often. The story got around that Kenny made a woman of her, but he put her way from him. I will say that any man she takes to, is always happy after they split up. Always friends with her as well. Why you asking this?”

“She and some other Indians were at the pool. I hired them to shape up the ranch.”

“I do’no. People ain’t goin’ to like it much. Oh, everyone likes Mary Eustis, and they don’t mind her being around and them Indians keep to themselves. Guess it’ll be fine if they stay on the ranch. The reservation backs right up to Kenny’s ranch and that’s why they stick here. They ain’t much on property lines. Come to think back some, Kenny had a bunch working for him years ago. You ain’t got a smidgen more whisky hid out in them saddlebags have you?”

“Nope, drained dry.”

Pat just made it back to town. He was pretty wobbly when I led him into the saloon. After a couple of belts, he came around. I bought another bottle, but didn’t open it. I sat it in the middle of the table I led him to. “How much do you drink everyday if you were to have all you need?”

“I could get by on a bottle if’n I knew it was coming every day. Why, you offering?”

“Might. I’d need some work out of you though.”

“What kind? I ain’t much good after I git down off a hoss.”

“That would work. You know the ranch and you know about Indians. You boss them.”

“Ain’t going to work boy. Mary Eustis ain’t going to ’low that. She’s the only one to boss them.”

“Pat, you come out to the ranch. You move into the bunkhouse. Every morning you get up and decide what needs doing for the day. You come over to the ranch house and tell me and I’ll tell Mary Eustis. She’ll see that the work gets done. I’ll bet you one day’s bottle of booze after a week the Indians will take orders directly from you.”

“If they don’t then I get an extra bottle?”

“That’s the bet. If you lose, you go a whole day without any at all.”

“That’s pretty risky. Make it a two bottle bet.”

“Okay, but I think you’re a damned fool, Pat.”

“You don’t know Mary Eustis, Sam. You’re lucky I’m feeling generous. I could have got three bottles out of you.”

“We’ll see.” It was late and I couldn’t do anything more today. I joined Pat in the haymow again. He was cuddled up to the bottle that had been sitting on the table. I didn’t sleep immediately. Tomorrow I would be setting up accounts for Mary Eustis and Pat to draw on. Oh yes, I had to pay Pete Ryeback his severance pay. I wondered how long it would last. That girl looked mighty enterprising.

I went to sleep remembering how Mary Eustis looked as she came up out of the pool toward me. I kind of had the promise I might see her again just like that. I was certainly looking forward to the days ahead.

Then thoughts of Jessie came charging into my mind. First, I didn’t have none, and now there are two of them females cluttering up my head. Guess it might work out. Mary Eustis said something about a Samson kid. That was my father’s name. I kind of had reserved that name in my mind but I suppose anyone could have the use of it.

I was driving the ranch buckboard with Jim tied behind and Pat beside of me when I topped the hill a mile from the ranch house. I met Mary Eustis astraddle a filly that had an old brand of K-bar-R across its flank. It looked to be about seven years old. Too young for Kenny to have known it, so the Indians had to have taken care of some of his stock as Mary Eustis had said.

She was wearing a store bought dress over what I took to be some leggings made of deer hide. I didn’t comment. We stopped and she informed me she was on her way in to pick up supplies, before I said anything. “Need buckboard. Pat ride my horse.” That was it. We exchanged rides. I mounted my horse and Pat got on hers. He wasn’t happy, for there was no saddle and all he had to sit on was a blanket. I gave him a foot up and he headed for the ranch.

I gave her directions after saying, “Good morning, Mary Eustis. The accounts are all set for you to draw on for whatever you need. Go by the saloon and pick up a case of whisky that has been ordered and paid for. Cover it with a blanket before you get here. I don’t want Pat to know it is on the ranch.”

“Smart man!” She turned the buckboard and with a small salute with her whip she was pointed for town. I stared after her for a minute and turned my attention to the ranch. Pat was almost there, hanging onto the strap that held the blanket on. Oh well, he probably would charge me an extra bottle of booze, but I would have a story to tell in town next time I was in. Worth it!

There were seven teepees set in a circle behind the barn. There had to be nearly twenty Indians moving around. A couple of them naked papooses. The braves were wearing Wranglers and shirts of every description. All of the adults had head bands to keep their braids from flopping. The women wore dresses and the same type of leggings that I had seen on Mary Eustis.

There were cook fires out in front of three teepees with fires blazing. All activities came to a halt as I pulled up and stepped down. Pat was swearing at me. “You son-of-a-bitch. I’d a never got on that goddamned hoss if I had known there was anyone to see me. I’ve a mind to quit.”

“Okay quit, but you ain’t getting no saddle to ride back to town. I’ll plan on going on ahead and have a reception committee waiting on you. Or you could walk. It’s only four miles. But then, just maybe you should tell the Indians to build a branding fire. There is a small herd of cattle coming across the valley right now. The Indians get two out of ten of everyone they bring to the fire. I saw branding irons hanging in the tool shed. Get them out and het ’em up. We might just as well do it now as later. Have the K-bar-R put on ours. Make theirs K-bar-R-I to show their ownership. Their cows will be running with ours.”

“We ain’t got no ‘I’ to brand with.”

“Pat, what the hell is the matter with you? You know what a running iron is don’t you?” A grin appeared. This was the first sign that Pat was going to stick. “Oh, and Pat, come up to the house when lunch time comes. I might be able to find that little flask in my saddlebag. I had him in my pocket. I watched him for a minute.

When he came out with the branding irons, some of the Indians tore down more of the stone wall to enclose the fire. Pat drew a design in the dust of what their brand would look like. Several braves looked to me for confirmation. I nodded and turned to the house.

The door was open and five squaws were going in and out. There was a huge pile of trash in the front yard. Mary Eustis had given orders of what was to be junked before heading to town. I kept out of the way. Nothing for me to do. I sat in the porch rocker and watched what was going on. Five mounted Indians came in herding about thirty head of cattle. They pushed them into a holding corral. When I had looked at this same corral yesterday, it wouldn’t have held calves. It had been repaired sometime this morning with rawhide and it held the cattle.

I had been around cowboys since Pop had done himself in. These Indians were topnotch at this kind of work. When they finished branding the cattle, these were let loose and went out into the valley to graze. There was a good-sized four-year-old steer that was about the last one to be roped in the holding corral.

Soon as it was branded with the K-bar-R, I sauntered over and gestured for two Indians to hold him. I shucked my gun and dropped him, tossing the nearest Indian my knife, indicating it was to be dressed out to eat. Smiles appeared on everyone’s faces. Mary Eustis was just pulling in with a loaded buckboard.

Behind it came a freight wagon loaded with furniture. It took twenty minutes to unload the freight. I had it stacked near the house and it wasn’t going to rain. Mary Eustis wanted to clean tomorrow. The freighter looked glad to get out of here. I imagine he would have a story to tell when he got back to town about the crazy man at Ryeback’s ranch and his tribe of Indians.

Mary Eustis had purchased bedding for the bunkhouse. Pat expected me to take the foreman’s room. “Nope, that’s yours. I’ll be sleeping in the ranch house in a couple of days. Here’s your bottle. Go to bed.”

I had the bunk just outside Pat’s room. I was nearly asleep when I heard Pat say, “Sam, you know you’re treating them Indians just as if they were white men.” It was quiet and I thought that was all. I heard the bottle slosh and gurgle. “Sam, you’re treating me as if I was a white man right along with them. I thank ’ee.” Two minutes later, I heard a snore.

More cattle trickled in the next day and were branded just as swiftly. Then came a bunch of horses, some branded and some not. All were in fine condition and must have been sired by the same stallion back a generation or two, for they were all of a color and markings.

Saturday night the ranch house was clean and spotless. Two rooms had been furnished with beds and bureaus, one on each end of the house. Mary Eustis indicated which one was mine. It was to be a night of revelry for the Indians. I had promised three bottles of whisky for the Indians and it was brought out of the storeroom. Pat thought he would join them and I had handed him his bottle at sundown.

Pat had told me about a little brook that passed back of the house. There was a little pool about twice the size of a water tub. I had been there every night to wash. Tonight I had a little cup of soft soap and scrubbed up real good. I sat and watched the Indians in some traditional dances. How I laughed when the little kids tried to imitate the older ones.

Mary Eustis had indicated when we first talked, she would come to me when the house was cleaned in three days. I was nervous. Maybe it was the fear of the unknown. Woman for me was certainly an unknown. I didn’t see her around the Indian campfire. I kept easing away, until I was in the shadows. Deciding it was late enough to sleep, I went into my room and undressed.

I closed my eyes and was almost asleep. Faintly I heard, “Sam.” My eyes flew open. A faint shadow was all of her I could see. I felt her come into bed throwing the light blanket off that I had over me. She positioned herself on her back and then whispered, “On top, please.”

I was awkward, but she helped me find my way. It was natural instinct, I suppose, or maybe watching the animals I had been around all my life that led me to the natural rhythm. I harked back years to remembering my mother and father loving in the next room. Mom was begging Dad to wait, wait, not yet---for what I didn’t know at the time. I waited as long as I could and then I gave it up. I guess I had waited long enough, for her legs were fastened around me and I couldn’t get away.

Slowly she relaxed. “Mary Eustis?” Nothing. I was concerned! Then her arms went around me and I heard her chuckle.

“This was your first time?”

“Yes.” I lay there waiting. I was a little disappointed. I don’t think five minutes had passed since Mary Eustis had slid into my bed. “Is this all there is?”

“Would you like it to be more?”

“Kinda’. I thought it would take much longer.”

“Sam, I was surprised. You did great. Usually a man’s first time isn’t that good for a woman. Too fast for her, you know, but you waited for me. If you can do that every time, you will be a great lover and your wife will never leave you. That’s the basics. Now I will teach you the finer points.” I don’t know when Mary Eustis went to her own bed, but she was gone in the morning as I awoke and stretched feeling the best I had in a long time.

I came into the kitchen as she was putting a fry pan onto the cook stove. “Good morning Mary Eustis, I have a trinket for you. The man at the general store told me these were way popular back east in the big cities. I’d like you to have it. I don’t remember what he called it.” I had a purple ribbon edged in gold with a woman’s head stuck on a round thing-a-ma-bob at the end of it.

The head was white and the background was black. It was less than an inch around. I walked to Mary Eustis and slid it over her head. I had to lift her heavy braids so the ribbon would pass underneath. When it settled on her chest, she picked it up where she could look at it. “Why did you do this?”

“The first time we talked, you said you would come to me. I wanted to find something to thank you when you did. That’s all.”

“You are a rare gentleman, Sam. Thank you. Now sit, I will serve you breakfast.” Eggs and bacon were soon on the table before me. She sat across from me. “It’s called a cameo, and it is beautiful. I’ll treasure it always.”

Chapter Four
I saddled up Jim and headed for Button Box. Most of the establishments were closed including the sheriff’s office. I could hear a choir singing from somewhere and finally decided it was coming from the saloon. I smiled to myself. Saints and sinners gathered together. I walked past and as I came by an alleyway, a woman accosted me.

“Mr. Jones, may I speak to you?”

“Certainly Ma’am. What can I do for you?” The woman wore a plain brown dress and had her hair tied into a bun.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?”

“No, can’t say that I do.”

“Last week I was Hattie Driscoll. I’m now Mrs. Peter Ryeback. Pete and I were married yesterday. You met me out at the ranch the day you asked him to leave. Mr. Jones, we need a place to live. Pete says there is a line camp not too far from the ranch house.”

“It isn’t my place to say. It is Kenny’s ranch. He may be along in a month or two and you can ask him.”

“Mr. Jones, we really don’t have a place to stay. I made Pete put the money you paid him in the bank. If we had a place, it would be enough to get us through the winter. Come spring, Pete says he will find us someplace to farm. I was a farmer’s daughter until my folks died. Pete was a farmer until Kenny convinced him to take over the ranch, which was something he didn’t know much about.”

“A farmer? Well I know a bit about farming myself. Why don’t you and Pete ride out and look the line shack over this afternoon? Stay for supper. I’ll have Mary Eustis set plates for you.”

“Thank you Mr. Jones, we’ll do that.” I turned away and then a question caught up with me. “Mary Eustis in an Indian witch doctor isn’t she? She’ll never cook a meal for us.”

“Maybe, maybe not, you come anyway and I’ll see that you get fed.” I saw the sheriff going into his office and hurried away to catch up with him.

“Sheriff, my name is Sam Jones. Is there any news from Sheriff Colson, down south?”

“There is and in fact, I got a wire from him yesterday. He wanted me to tell you when I saw you, that some man named Wilcox has been charged with murder and armed robbery. He could hang. What do you know about it?”

“Not much. I know this woman who Wilcox later married. I was able to do her and her grandfather a favor. They kept me from being charged with a more serious crime, although they couldn’t keep me from getting two years for butchering a calf.

“They went to bat for me, knowing I wasn’t guilty of something that we now know Wilcox was involved in. Sheriff Colson is friends of the grandfather and looks on the woman like a daughter. He has kind of taken an interest in me because of that friendship.

“I met Kenny Ryeback up at the territorial prison and we became friends. I helped him and he helped me. That’s why I’m here.”

“Just for your information, Sheriff Colson speaks for you. Glad to have you located here. I hear you have a bunch of Indians out there on the Ryeback ranch.”

“Yeah. Mary Eustis is in charge of them. They are doing some round up of cattle that belongs to the ranch. Already they have pried a bunch out of the brush and brought them in to be branded. I’m pretty impressed with them as cowhands.”

“That’s Mary Eustis’ doing. She is more chief than shaman. This was the first area that settled down after we had some uprisings. She is one smart woman.”

“She is that. Good to be talking to you, Sheriff. I’m planning on staying on with Kenny when he gets here.”

“It’ll be good to have him back here with us as well.”

I announced to Mary Eustis that we would be having guests for supper. “Who?”

“Pete Ryeback and his new wife, the former Hattie Driscoll.”

“She’s a dance hall girl. She sleeps around.”

“Maybe, but she’s married now. She is also looking for a place to live. Another thing, she knows farming. Too late in the season to plant much, but I know of a couple things she could get into the ground. I used to farm some myself. It would be nice if you could make a cake.”

“But__”

“Mary Eustis, just to put things into perspective, where did you sleep last night?”

When Pete and Hattie rode in, I started out the door. “Okay Sam, you’re right, I can’t throw stones. I forgot that for a minute. I have some chocolate and I’ll make a cake.”

It was only a quarter mile to the line camp. It was in a little valley of about twenty acres. I had passed the entrance to it one time not realizing what was there. I just wasn’t familiar with the lay of the land yet. When we went through the gap, I could see a shack up against a grove of trees. The land itself was slightly sloping and protected from the weather. I suspected the cold wouldn’t stay in the valley, but would settle out to the open land beyond.

Hattie’s eyes inspected the land and when we got into the field, she jumped off her horse and kicked the soil to see what it was. The dirt turned up dark and rich. It should be just right for garden vegetables.

We didn’t linger and went on to the cabin. It had been unused for three or four years, according to Pete. The roof was tight, but the one window had sagged and fallen out. Pack rats had a couple of nests under the bunk. There was a sheet metal stove with one rusted off leg and was tipped over. The stovepipe that went out through the wall was down.

Hattie walked around and I could see her imagining what it would be like to be living in such close quarters for days on end through the winter. “Mr. Jones, would you speak for us when Pete’s cousin arrives? We might even get a few things in the ground this year. Not much can grow in the time we have. A few cucumbers and early squashes, maybe. I’ll try for a few potatoes. They won’t get too big, but we could swap them for flour and coffee. There is always beans. They will make it if we can dry them in the barn. ”

“I will.” I was pretty damned excited myself. Pa and Ma had done this and rolling new potatoes out of the hill was something my sister and I looked forward to every year. A bit of sadness washed over me and I shook my head to clear my mind.

Before we reached the ranch, Pete wondered where all the cattle had come from. “The Indians brought them in. I made a deal with them. That ‘I’ tacked onto the end of Kenny’s brand you see now belong to the Indians. They say Kenny will have at least three hundred under his iron by the time he gets here. The Indians will own about sixty. That will feed them for the winter and some besides.”

“Why didn’t you just pay them in coin?”

“Indians don’t know banks. Cattle are better.”

“Guess so. Never thought about it.”

We pulled in front of the ranch house. There was one Indian breaking a horse in the corral. There were Indians all around it watching him. I guess neither Pete nor Hattie had much truck with the natives and didn’t go over to watch. Pete headed into one of the sheds. When he came back, he asked if he could borrow the single bottom plow that was stored there. I didn’t even know there was one on the ranch and said he could.

Pete and Hattie were amazed at the change in the condition of the ranch house. I just said that Mary Eustis had called on some of her people to help change things around. Pete said very little. We paid attention to the beef and beans that Mary Eustis put onto the table. She also had salaterus biscuits. There was no butter to spread on them like you might find in town, but there was a little wild honey.

Hattie helped Mary Eustis pick up the table and then we all sat down for our last cup of coffee. I looked at Mary Eustis and she smiled back at me. She immediately got up and brought back to the table a small chocolate cake. She had crushed a peppermint stick and made a dust to decorate it, spelling out Hattie and Pete with the bigger pieces.

Tears came to Hattie’s eyes. She looked at me. “Not me. Mary Eustis did it all.” It was getting too late for Pete and Hattie to go back to town. “Pete, you and Hattie, use my bed tonight. My blankets are still in the bunkhouse. I’ll sack out there.” I wouldn’t have suggested this, except I could see that Hattie had cleaned Pete up and he looked good. “Call this your wedding night if you wish.”

“Thank you Mr. Jones. Pete, I’ll bet you won’t be cussin’ Mr. Jones any more like you have for the last few days. Mary Eustis, thank you for the wonderful supper and especially for the cake. I always wanted a wedding cake. It is a dream come true.”

“Take your husband to bed then. I’ll do up the dishes.” I went out and sat on the verandah. I knew Mary Eustis would be coming out soon. She was.

“Sam, I want to apologize. I’m seldom wrong in my dealing with people. I was this time. Hattie was so happy. Where did your knowledge come from?”

“From Kenny. I had two years with him to learn the ways of the world. He is a teacher in the finest sense. Well except for one thing, but I won’t mention what.”

“Thank you, please don’t. You’re pretty generous to give up sleeping in your own bed tonight.”

“Maybe I have an ulterior motive. I’m thinking of all of those fresh vegetables I’m going to have to eat next year.”

“Do you think Kenny will let his cousin stay? You put yourself way out on the limb.”

“No I haven’t. Half of this ranch belongs to me when Kenny steps out of prison. That’s his promise anyway. The money I’m using here is mine. The money that is getting Kenny released early is mine as well. I asked a friend to hire the lawyer for me. You told me yourself that Kenny was going to be here soon, so I know it is happening.”

“What about the woman I saw in my dream? Where does she come into this?”

“She’s the woman I should have asked to wait for me until I was released from prison. I didn’t, but it may all work out. I had word today her husband is in jail charged with murder and robbery. He stands a good chance of being hung. She is pregnant and must be due to have the baby any day now.

“Her grandfather knows where I live and I expect someday I will be hearing from him. He was the one to tell me to leave town and not become involved in catching Wilcox. Not any more than I was, that is.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m the one who found the evidence that Wilcox was a killer. You know something else? The closest I have ever been to the man was to see him from across the street. It has been my decision to keep out of her life, but always hoping we will someday have a life together. Mary Eustis, you are the one that has given me the most hope it will come true.”

“You realize what I say is just repeating what I dream. Also I must tell you I am losing the power I once had. I’m not being true to my own father and what he taught me. That is the power of the Gods. Now I have a different power. It is the power to guide my people to survive. I am too much with white people so I am gaining and losing at the same time.”

“Why?”

“If I don’t take up the white man’s ways, my people and their heritage will disappear forever. You haven’t been to the reservation. My people that are camped out behind your barn are so much better off than those that live on the reservation. Together, these are all that are left of my clan. In my father’s time my clan numbered five times what you see. Then the clan was decimated from sickness and the uprising we had decades ago. This brought about my people being herded onto the reservation by your government. Thinking of the future, my father sent me to the mission school.

“The same that took my clan down is happening on the reservation, only more slowly. I think white men such as you are farsighted enough so that some of my clan will always survive. You could have given me one cow in twenty, but you offered two cows in ten. With Indians now, to be able to have full bellies, is to be rich.”

“I can understand that. There is a wise saying. ‘Give a man a fish and he will be full for a day. Give a man a fish pole and he will be full forever.’ The cows you own are your fish pole. Kenny explained it to me.”

“But why? You didn’t have to.”

“No, but remember back to your school days at the mission. This again has come from Kenny. It is something called the golden rule. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ That is why I asked to have Hattie at the supper table tonight.”

“I remembered that in time and didn’t bring shame to myself.”

“Yes, you did remember. I guess I had better head for the bunkhouse. Mary Eustis, I have enjoyed you in so many ways. Tonight was different than last night, but fully as rewarding.”

“For me as well, Sam. Good-night.”

---

“Mrs. Ryeback, would you drive the buckboard into town this morning and purchase what you need to make the line shack livable. It is owned by the ranch, therefore you may draw what you need from the general store. I’ll expect you back around noon and we will see about getting the place set up with what furnishings you buy.”

“Thank you Mr. Jones. I have to admit Pete and I were so very wrong about you just a few days ago. Pete wanted to shoot you and I almost went along with him.  I have changed my mind.” Mary Eustis came out and we watched the two clamber up into the buckboard and wave good-bye.

“Pete doesn’t say much does he?” She was smiling. “Just to let you know, I heard them discussing this morning what to say to you and how to thank you. Hattie said she would thank you and would keep it simple. You satisfied?”

“Yeah. Mary Eustis, would you have one of the braves ride out so I could see the whole ranch? I need to know where the boundaries are.”

“It would be better if I went myself. Tell Pat to help the Ryebacks when they come back from town. We’ll be gone overnight. This is a big ranch you know. Oh, I sent some squaws over to dust out the line shack so all Pat has to do is set up the stove and the chimney. Before winter they will have to have a new window, but that can wait.”

I chased up Pat and gave him orders. “Who’s goin’ to give me my daily ration if you ain’t here?”

“You’ll get it at sundown. That soon enough?”

“I guess. I’d better get it though.” I smiled at the threatening look I received.

Jim was frisky and I topped him with no problem. He did this every morning, knowing it would get him a sugar cube as I spoke, “enough.” Mary Eustis’ mount was the same filly she had ridden the other day.

“We’ll head right for the reservation and I’ll show you where we have our permanent village. My home is a small log cabin. It is smaller than the line shack that Hattie is going to be living in. I live alone so it meets my needs.”

“You never have a companion?”

“A man you mean? Yes, but I never take one to my village. If I have one, it is always at his sleeping place. If my dream about Kenny is correct, I’ll be giving up my home and staying with him as long as he lives. Kenny was my first man and he will be my last. I will be an old woman by that time because Kenny has many years to live.”

“You know all of these things. It must be nice to be able to plan for the future.”

“It doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a stronger force interferes and the dreams are only as things should have been, One has to have faith and a strong belief.”

I inspected the lay of the land as we traveled. Often Mary Eustis led me up a draw so I could see what there was for grazing that was above the valley floor. There were usually trees and shade for the cattle to seek in the heat of the day. In the winter time she told me that these places had deeper snow, but the cattle would find shelter from the wind when not feeding. They would be going out onto the flat range to graze when the wind was down and where the snow could be pawed aside to find grass.

We had traveled several miles, when without turning and speeding up just a little as though anxious, she said over her shoulder, “Reservation land and home.” We were clattering up a draw that was bearing to the north from where we had crossed the range. The trail was packed hard from the horses that passed daily over it. A mile later, we topped out and I looked out onto a small valley. There were several small cabins and three tepees that were spaced haphazardly here and there. There was smoke slowly curling from two of the hide-covered dwellings.

Suddenly Mary Eustis slapped her horse on the rump and went flying down circling the compound with a glad yell. By the time she stepped down, all of the inhabitants had come out into the open. Now it was I who had to meet her family. I had no doubt but what she was related to all in one way or another. One old Indian stepped forward as I grounded my mount.

“Me Chief, welcome.” There were two old crones that came forward next, but didn’t speak.

Mary Eustis did. “The chief is my uncle. The older squaws are his wife and her sister. The two young maids are my cousins. My brothers, one older and one younger are hunting and their squaws are not far from them with pack horses in hope they will find game. The father and mothers of two of the boys are at the ranch. The last boy is an orphan from the reservation. He sticks around hoping he will find favor with one of my cousins.

The chief uttered some commands and soon there was activity around the largest fire pit. The two young maids were looking me over until Mary Eustis said something to them. Then they tittered some phrases back at her and I swear Mary Eustis blushed. This brought more words and soon everyone was laughing at my traveling companion.

I watched as the stew pot was hung over the fire. Into it went what I thought at first were two human babies. I had to ask, as I knew this wasn’t possible. “Gopher, the boys trapped them this morning.” There were some greens and some potatoes. The pot was bubbling and stirred often. As the meat came off the bones, the bones were picked out. When nearly done, there was some corn meal thrown in and five minutes later the pot was taken off the fire. Time to eat.

I hadn’t contributed to the meal yet. I sauntered over to my saddlebags and brought a large pouch of coffee, handing it to Mary Eustis. “They are going to love you forever. I’ll save enough for you and me in the morning. Can I leave the rest with them?”

“Yes. Leave it all if you want.” Mary Eustis went into one of the cabins and came out with a huge agate coffee pot. She measured it out, loading the pot, sending an almost flat pouch back to my saddlebag. The remainder she presented to the chief, who smiled at his good fortune.

The stew looked horrible, but was surprisingly good tasting. Travelers always traveled with their own utensils, so we used our own. The cups we ate out of were rinsed and handed back to each as Mary Eustis came around and poured the coffee. “Mary Eustis, there is a bottle of whisky in my saddlebags. Will that be any trouble if that is offered?”

She got up and brought the saddlebags to me. I opened it and handed the bottle to the chief after removing the stopper. He took a swig and handed it back to me. I pointed to the two old crones and one took a swig and it came back to me again. I didn’t take any each time, just pointing it to each one in turn, even the young ones. When it had made the rounds, there were two more drinks left. Again I presented it to the chief. He took it and I indicated that she and he were to drain it. Mary Eustis had to explain that I never drank as I had promised myself when my father died. It was understood.

It was almost dark. Mary Eustis brought out two torches and we saddled our horses. “Come, we will sleep in the medicine cave tonight.” We went to the far side of the small valley and picketed our mounts in a glade beside the entrance of a cave. Mary Eustis lit the torches and we traveled underground for several yards. The torches were soaked in beef tallow so it was smelly and smoky through the passage. However when we reached a larger room, the smoke traveled up.

There was a small fire pit in the center and I could make out raised sleeping pallets nearby. Mary Eustis went about making the fire. She had brought a bag of charcoal and soon this had some lightwood going and we could see each other plainly again.

A pipe was lit, she first inhaling and then slowly letting the faint smoke escape. As I raised it to my lips, she announced, “Mr. Samuel Jones, you have been asked by the majority of the tribe and the chief to join the clan of the Silverclouds. Do you wish to join this band?”

I nodded saying, “Yes.” Mary Eustis indicated I should inhale. Nothing from this point was said as the substance in the pipe bowl burned down with each inhalation as it was passed between us. It felt as if the last puff I took was pure fire.

“Sleep for a time. You will wake and we will speak in a different way.”

I crawled to one of the sleeping couches. It was well padded and very comfortable. I drifted into a world of unbelievable beauty. It seemed as if I could see for miles, silver clouds dotting the azure blue sky. Every blade of grass on the waving prairie was startling in its clarity. In the distance there was a herd of buffalo. An eagle swooped down nearby squawking loudly and flew away.

I looked at the bright sun and was warmed. I got warmer by the minute and the heat was concentrated in my loins. I looked for relief and there was a younger version of the woman I arrived with. She came toward me, much as Mary Eustis had emerged from the pool just a few days previous. Never stopping, she came to me. The sky and the brightness disappeared and then Mary Eustis was asking me to come join her on her pallet.

Coupling fiercely, once and then again, I fell into a sleep. This time, I found Mary Eustis fully clothed and shaking me. “The day dawns and we must be on our way. You have the right to use the name Silvercloud for any of your offspring, for you are one of us now.” She hurried ahead of me out of the cave, dousing the torch as we emerged. Jim whinnied for his morning sugar cube and I knew I was all right with the world.

We stopped for lunch at a small spring about three miles from the ranch. I knew by this time where all of the land on the ranch lay. Two thirds of it was bounded on the north and west by the Indian reservation. The rest had some easily identifying landmarks. Mary sat relaxed as we finished the last of the beef and bread she had packed for our journey. She stood and said, “Come Sam, I feel all is not right at the ranch headquarters. Let’s head in.”

Tightening the girths on our saddles, we were soon heading for the ranch. At one mile I could faintly hear gunfire. It became sporadic, the closer we were. I was concerned. The Indians were not allowed any firearms and had given up bows except for hunting game. Mary Eustis and I wheeled into the ranch yard, having kept the house between us and the gunfire. Pistol out, I ran for the barn.

I could see Hattie peering out a window opening. I spoke, not knowing if she had heard us arriving. She answered,  “Pete’s in the loft. Three renegades came in after Pat and the braves left this morning and started chasing the squaws. They caught one and started raping her. They didn’t hear Pete and me come from the line shack. Too busy I guess. I came around the corner and shot that one. New gun, Pete bought me. Shoots good too. Pete got another one when they started shooting at us.

“There’s one more behind the stone wall. We been going at this for an hour and a half. Why don’t you circle around and come in behind him. Pete and me will keep him pinned down. He only has him a pistol.”

I’d talk to Hattie and Pete later. God what would I have found if they didn’t arrive and these renegades had raped a bunch of the Indian squaws. My Indian squaws now that I was a part of the tribe. I stopped in the house and got the Spencer rifle and a box of shells, mounted Jim and circled the ranch house.

I got into position and I could see Pete plainly from where I was. I could see the bastard that we had in our pocket. Did I want to kill him? I had killed one man and a woman had shouldered the blame. Well it worked once, maybe something like that again could be arranged.

I shouted, “Hey you, throw down your gun or I will kill you.” Startled, he whirled to face me, seeing in the distance I plainly held a rifle. I fired off one shot, putting it into the wall by his head where it would spray him with rock fragments. Immediately he tossed his pistol over the wall, raising his hands as he did so. “Stand up and face the barn.”

When he had done this, I mounted Jim and cautiously went down to him. “Okay, head for that shed beside the big barn.” I knew them squaws had hidden in there to escape the gun battle. The door opened as he approached. The squaws and the kids stared as I came in behind the one that had been looking for something that wasn’t going to happen, now or ever.

“You squaws send the kids and papooses out. Take this bastard in and hold him. Make sure he doesn’t get away until the sheriff gets here from town which I’m sending for as soon as I can.” Mary Eustis came around the corner and heard me. She spoke rapidly to the squaws. Taking a couple of the youngest in her arms she went back around the building with the rest of the youngsters following. I watched the door close. Two minutes later there were incoherent screams coming from inside of the shed.

Pete had come down from the hayloft and Hattie was standing beside him. “Pete and Hattie, this is your home as long as you choose to live here. I’ll drag the two bodies into the barn. Would one of you head for town to notify the sheriff? Tell him there are two and possibly three dead men out here.” Hattie went flying out of the yard. It was a half hour later when the squaws appeared to collect their kids and start supper.

I listened at the shed door and at infrequent intervals, I could hear a whimper. Things looked normal when Pat and the braves arrived driving another twenty-seven head of cattle. Pat was in talking to Mary Eustis before he realized that something untoward had happened after he and the braves left at daybreak to a far distant graze. One of the braves had come to the door asking for details from Mary Eustis. Pat caught a few words and went charging out to the barn where the two dead men lay.

The sight of them didn’t bother him, but when he went into the shed and saw what was left of that man, he came out tossing his breakfast, the one he had eaten a half-day earlier. “Sam, did you see what them squaws did to that man? Christ he isn’t even a man anymore.”

“Nope, didn’t. Didn’t have the stomach for it. I wonder what the sheriff is going to do with him? Mary Eustis tells me he raped one of the prettiest squaws. He deserved what he got. She also said the three of them were going to cut out a bunch of the steers and drive them off. I got no sympathy at all.”

The sheriff didn’t have any either. He directed us to dig three graves up on the hill. Me, Pat, Pete, and the brave whose squaw had been raped, dug them. One each for the ones Pete and Hattie had shot and one who the sheriff shot while trying to escape custody. That was the shot, him escaping, that we heard as we were starting to dig. The sheriff must have had a premonition.

Later in the house over coffee he said, “I’ve seen some terrible things in my lifetime. I’ve seen a wolf bring down an old cow by cutting the cords in its legs. This outlaw that was trying to escape had every cord cut in his hands and feet. They did it without him bleeding to death. They wanted him to suffer. It was as if someone told them not to kill him.”

Mary Eustis flicked a glance at me. I took another sip of coffee. “Well, I’ll write this up and put it out on the telegraph. Those outlaws must have had a record somewhere. There might even be a reward out for them. I say, can I stay until morning? I hate to go back to town tonight.”

“Sure Sheriff, take my bed. I’ll bunk in with Pat. ’Course, you could bunk in with the squaws.”

“Nope, I’ll take your bed, ’tain’t safe out there. Oh, you guys better keep your mouths shut about this. Mary Eustis, you talk to your people as well. Best all this be forgotten as soon as possible.”

Chapter Five
Things settled down for a couple of weeks. The Indians, grateful for all that Hattie and Pete had done, helped them plow and plant most of the little valley where the line shack was. One morning all of the tepees had disappeared. Most of the Indians had left and gone back to where home and the chief was. Two braves were bunking in with Pat. This was enough to watch the herd of cattle that were getting fat out on the range. The next week there were two different braves. Mary Eustis said they were on rotation.

Mary Eustis came to my bed every night. One night she was very quiet and clung to me while I was coming down. “Sam, tomorrow night will be the last night I come to your bed. Kenny will be here in another week. You must get used to me not being with you. You will not demand me to do otherwise will you?”

“No. That was the deal. I’ll abide by it. I could wish otherwise.”

“I feel the same, but the path I see before us is clearly marked. To change direction would lead to disaster and heartbreak by upsetting the Gods. Take heart, before the nights get cold, your bed will be warm again. This time you will be the teacher instead of the pupil.” The remainder of the night went forward as two lovers said good-bye. I didn’t know it then, but it was the last night, for I had a visitor in the morning.

“Hi Bub. It took me awhile, but I got here. How’re you doing?”

“Gramp, by God, it’s good to see you. Come in. Fill me in on what’s happening.”

“You ain’t got a bit of toddy have you? I could use a drink. Coffee too, if you got the pot on. Christ, I must be getting old. Can’t take it anymore. Oh, I got a lot of news.”

“Kenny?”

“Yes Kenny. He’ll be along next week. I did just as you wanted and got him a lawyer. Worked like a charm, getting the governor to pardon him. Lot of paperwork though, an’ that takes time.” Mary Eustis came out to greet Gramp as he came up onto the veranda.

Gramp looked at her, knew immediately she was an Indian. “Gramp, meet Mary Eustis. She is waiting for Kenny to get home. She has been helping me get the house righted up. Her people came in and found a lot of cows and generally been working the place. Most went back to the reservation a bit ago. You’ll see a couple of braves around. I’ll tell you all about what I found when I first got here. I had a lot of sortin’ and organizing to do, but Kenny has a home to come to now.”

Mary Eustis was there at the table when I asked, “Jessie?”

“Umm. Things been happening. She sends felicitations. She’s a widow now. Dropped Wilcox’s kid two weeks ago. Came same day he got shot trying to escape. He got a holt of a gun and got out. Holed up in the feed store. Swore he wasn’t going to go back to jail or be taken alive. The sheriff obliged. He was under sentence to hang for killing his father’s drover way back, so just a matter of time.”

“What about his father and mother?”

“Funny thing about that. Old lady Wilcox was visiting him every day. The sheriff searched her for awhile for a hidden gun, but didn’t happen to that day. She came around and viewed the body and never shed a tear. The sheriff tried to give her the gun with his effects. She said to bury it with her son. He wanted it and he got it. Pretty plain what went down, you think on it. Best not to. Sad anyway.”

“So what is Jessie going to do now?” Gramp looked across the table and hesitated. I relieved his mind. “You can say anything in front of Mary Eustis. She is a shaman and knows things.”

“Well all right then. Jessie never got on with her in-laws. John’s put in an offer for the ranch, and Jessie ain’t too happy with her father, either, I might add. She feels that was what John wanted and pushed for her to marry young Wilcox, just to get him more land. My son and granddaughter do speak, but just hardly.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Yep, someday John is going to have to apologize. I been on Jessie to make the first move, but it ain’t happened yet. I guess she is as stubborn as he is.” Gramp took a deep breath. “You goin’ to ask me if she thinks about you?”

“Does she?” Gramp broke into smiles, then sobered.

“Yes she does, but maybe I better ask how you feel about her. She’s worried now about having a kid and you might not want her.”

“I’d like to get a chance to know her. Do you think it proper to go visit?”

“Proper be damned, if you want her, go after her. Course it’ll be awhile before the kid can travel.”

“I’ll have to wait until Kenny gets here. How long you stayin’?”

“As long as I want. I got a poke full of money and no cares in the world. I know it’s early but I could still use that whisky you must be keepin’ hidden.”

For a couple of days, Pat and Gramp were a pair. A drunken pair. I worried about it. I shared my concern about them with Mary Eustis. “I’ll serve up the drinks while you men are out on the verandah this evening.”

“Sam, I’m opening a new case of whisky for you guys tonight.” Mary Eustis came out and poured the drinks, taking one herself. They watched her pour out three cups.

“God you do buy good stuff. Smoothest liquor I ever had.” All were in agreement. The second went down as easy. I noticed that Mary Eustis was nursing hers. “Boy that stuff do have a kick to it. Warms a body.”

I noticed that Pat and Gramp were sweating some. Mary Eustis said she had enough and wasn’t feeling that well. “Finish the bottle you men I’m headed for the bed.” Pat poured him a damned small shot. Gramp thought he might skip this one.

“Hey Sam, save that bottle. I reached my limit too sudden tonight. That’s a damned fine drink though.” Both oldsters toddled off to the bunkhouse. I went inside.

Mary was sitting in the common room smiling. “A couple days of that bottle, their limit will really be two drinks. I was getting ready to give Pat the treatment when your Gramp showed up.”

“He ain’t my grandfather, but he kinda’ replaced the one I never knew. He and Pat will be okay, won’t they?”

“Sure, no harm at all. Sam, what are you going to do about your woman?”

I studied Mary Eustis. “She is the one for me then?”

“Yes Sam. You need her and you need her here. I’ve got Kenny. There ain’t that many women around you could take up with. Grab this one or you’ll get restless for wanting and needing. My dream says she’s willing.”

“Thanks Mary Eustis. Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Nope, but I do think you should leave tomorrow. Kenny will understand when he gets here and you ain’t here to meet him. Gramp will back you up. I got your satchel packed. The stage leaves for the south at ten in the morning. You be on it.”

“Okay. Mary Eustis?” I was asking a question.

“No Sam, I’m not yours anymore.” Then she burst into smiles. “What do I have to do? Mix up a potion like I made to prevent Pat from drinking too much?”

“No. I was just remembering for a minute.”

“Good. Sam, I do have something to give your woman if she needs it. In a dream I saw a colicky baby. This will sweeten a mother’s milk. Just a thimble full in water morning and night will do it. Now get some rest. I’ll have breakfast for you.”

Gramp wanted to load up and go with me. He did ride into town with me. His last words as I stepped into the stage was to kiss Jessie for him. He almost cackled when he said this. He had also suggested that when I met John, I was not to back down a bit from him. Tell him it was him that put her into Wilcox’s hands and look how that turned out.

It was a three-day journey, the stage changing drivers and horses every six hours. There would be an hour’s respite at every change. Still I didn’t see how a woman that had birthed her baby just three weeks ago could make the trip. I’d have to lay over. Then I remembered that Kenny was going to arrive at the ranch about the time I reached Jessie. Too, Mary Eustis was there. Nothing could go wrong.

I checked in with Sheriff Colson. “Well Sam, good to see you again. How’s things up north? The sheriff up there has been keeping me posted. I understand you are turning the Ryeback ranch upside down. He tells me you and some Indians have popped a bunch of unclaimed cattle out of the brush.”

“They all belonged under the Ryeback ranch at one time. There were enough branded in every bunch so we could lay claim. The Indians kept track of them. Seems the shaman knew Kenny Ryeback years ago and is waiting for him to come home. She took a shine to me when she found out I was a cellmate of his.”

“The sheriff said the ranch had some outlaw trouble. What was all of that about?”

“Three renegades came in and were going to run off our cattle. They raped one of the squaws. Pete Ryeback and his new wife showed up before they could get to the rest of them. They took care of two of them. I helped corral the last one. He tried to escape and was killed by the sheriff. We buried them.

“Sheriff, what’s happening with Mrs. Wilcox? Chet Comstock showed up a couple of weeks ago and told me some of it.”

“Well, it’ll take a little time to tell it all. Couple of things came out after he died. The old folks had gone partners with young Wilcox. That happened about the time you were down here last. Right after that, charges were brought for him killing his father’s drover. I served the warrant and he has been here in jail. He was found guilty and was due to hang. He died escaping.

“Anyway, that gave Jessie title to half the Wilcox ranch. John Comstock thinks Jessie should turn her share over to him seeing that she’s his daughter. She’s hanging tough and won’t budge. George and Sarah Wilcox think she ought to turn her share back to them. They want to sell out and move off somewhere. Their range is overstocked and the graze is getting worse each day. John Comstock says if he gets the range, he’ll sell off the cattle for hide money and let the land lie fallow until it recovers.”

“What’s a hide bringing?”

“Two silver dollars at best. Slaughter the whole herd, maybe one and a quarter. Why, you buying?”

“Maybe, maybe not. What’s my chance of seeing Jessie?”

“Good, if you want to go out to the Wilcox ranch. She’s living in the cottage you come to first. She never stayed in the big house. You do know she just had a baby. It’s kinda’ sickly. She had to get a wet nurse in to keep it alive this long. You want me to go out there with you?”

“Would you? I’d appreciate it. I got to hire me a horse though. I come in on the stage.”

“Ride one of mine. I’ll lock up here and we’ll be in the saddle.”

I was anxious as we came onto the Wilcox ranch. I was getting nearer Jessie every hoof beat. We were seeing cattle. The graze was down, but the brush and weeds hadn’t got a foothold yet. What John Comstock had planned showed he knew cattle and ranching. The cattle had to have had better bulls than the ones I had popped out at home. It would be a shame for these to go for hide and tallow. I totted up in my head what I had left in the bank. Seventeen thousand was about all I could come up with.

I stepped down in front of the cottage. I could hear a baby crying and a woman crooning to it. The sheriff stayed mounted. I knocked on the door.

“Jessie, it’s me, Sam Jones. May I come in?”

“Oh, Sam, do come in. Is Gramp with you?” She could see he wasn’t so I pushed in alone.

“Gramp sent you a kiss. I’ll collect that sometime.” I watched as Jessie lay the crying infant down and rushed to me.

“I’ll take it right now.” Her arms came around me. Jessie was still heavy, not having regained her figure yet. Her breasts heavy with milk pushed into me. Her lips raised to mine and I gave her a proper kiss. Her face flamed, knowing she had just kissed someone that she maybe shouldn’t have. Must be she had dreams the same as I did of an evening.

“Jessie, I can’t stay but a minute. The sheriff is outside. A quick question. Would you partner with your father if you were up north living with me?”

“I’d give him my share if I was living with you. I’ve dreamed of you and hoped I would see you soon. I sent Gramp north to find you.”

“Good. I’ll see what I can do to make it happen. Are Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox at home?”

“I guess so. I don’t have anything to do with them.” The baby started wailing really loud and Jessie looked so frustrated. “Marie is coming in to feed her. I wish she would hurry. She is the wet nurse.” Just then a big fat woman came through the door. I backed out. No place for me.

I looked up at the sheriff. “Can you introduce me to the Wilcox’s?”

“I can, but they ain’t friendly. I killed their boy, remember?” I did.

The sheriff wasn’t invited to step down and I told him to go along back to town. I’d be in later. I turned to the couple before me. “I hear you got cattle to sell. Market is only buying for hides. What you asking?”

The price was four dollars a head. I shook my head and started to mount up.

“Here, here, don’t you want to dicker just a bit?” I bought the Wilcox herd for three dollars a head. Their crew was to round them up, make sure all were branded and trailed west to the river trail and north for two weeks where I would have my crew meet them and take over. I’d meet Wilcox in the bank in four days as soon as they were rounded up and I would turn over a bank draft to them.

Just as I was getting ready to leave, I was asked if I knew anyone that was interested in buying the ranch. They wanted to travel out to California and see her brother. This might be the only chance to leave with money in their pockets.

“I couldn’t buy it for myself. I might be an agent for a buyer, though. How much are you asking?” Even I knew it was a steal if it had been the whole ranch, but they didn’t. “That woman who lives in the cottage says she owns half.” They looked crestfallen that I knew about them owning only half. I was quoted another figure. I arrived at an asking figure that sounded pretty fair and agreed to sell it for them if I could find a buyer.

I stopped in for a few minutes to see Jessie. The baby was sleeping. Jessie looked tired out. “If only I could feed the baby myself, I could sleep better. I don’t know what I will do if I don’t have a wet nurse handy all of the time.”

I looked down at the sleeping infant. “I heard about your problem from Gramp. I saw a doctor and was given a compound to try. One thimble full night and morning in water will make the baby tolerate what you feed her. Try it. You try it tomorrow morning. I’ve got business in town. I don’t know when I can see you again.”

“Sam, I’m going to leave the barn door open tonight. The hay in the loft is dry and sweet. Use it if you don’t have a place to lay your head.” Jessie was looking intently into my eyes.

“Thank you. About ten tonight, you might hear me stable my horse. Jessie, you know if someone sees me here, your reputation will be shot to hell.”

“I don’t care. Sam, tell me to wait up for you.”

“Wait up then, and we’ll talk.” I headed to town. I went into the telegraph office and sent a wire to my bank, having money sent to this bank here in town care of Samuel Jones. I sent a wire to Gramp and said I needed the funds he promised me.

I guess I had got ahead of myself, for when I stepped out of the telegraph office, Gramp was standing there. “Hey Bub, I caught the next stage out. I was right behind you all the way. What’s happening?”

I explained about needing the money to buy the ranch. I had enough for the cattle. I was just about to ride out to the Comstock ranch to see if John would let me cut a deal with the Wilcox’s. “No need. I got money. John wants the ranch pretty bad. You buy it with my money. Pay me back when he buys from you. You might even make a few bucks on the deal. You seen Jessie?”

“Yeah, me and her had a couple of words.” I let it hang there.

“Well, you going to hook up with her or not?”

“Tell you in the morning. I’m stabling the sheriff’s horse in her barn tonight.”

“Damn Bub, that’s great. Seen the kid?”

“Yes again. Sickly. Mary Eustis gave me something to make the baby feed better. We’ll know by morning if it works.”

“Kenny’s Indian woman scares the hell out of me. I think she’s a witch.”

“She is, but a damned good one. I didn’t tell you she got me indoctrinated into her Indian tribe did I? I just might be using the name of Silvercloud some.”

“You be careful around her that she don’t put a spell on you.”

“Don’t worry, she’s Kenny’s woman. I’ll keep far away from her. Jessie wouldn’t like it anyway.”

“Sensible. When you going to deal with the Wilcox’s?”

“The cattle are being rounded up and tallied. I need four days for my money to get here. A week should do it.”

“You could own their half of the ranch by then. Let’s head over to the bank and get you some money.”

A short time later Gramp and I came out and headed over to the saloon. “One drink, that’s all I’m having. God, the other night I had awful nightmares after I drank that whisky that was so smooth. Pat drank more than I did and he hollered and screamed all night. Bub, you going to be sliding into bed with Jessie tonight?”

“Nope, hadn’t planned on it. Talk is all.”

“Good, I’m going out and bunk down at her place. She’ll be glad to see me. When you get there come right in. I won’t bother you young folks none.”

I went and listened to the sheriff tell stories until he went home. I went by the barber shop and got me a bath and shave. I had a late supper over to the diner. Went back to the sheriff’s office, not in, just tipping a chair back against the wall. Nothing going on this time of day. Then just before dark, the saloon across the way started getting lively. I figured it time I ride out and see my girl. I rolled the phrase around in my head and decided I liked the sound of it.

I rode right up to the barn in back of Jessie’s cottage. I opened the door and struck a Lucifer, holding it high to see where I was to tie my mount. Working in the dark, I grabbed an armful of hay and pushed it into the manger. I heard him blow and knew I had just been thanked. I stepped across to the cottage door, pushing it open quietly.

“Hi Sam, Gramps has gone to bed. I waited up for you. Marie was here and fed Felicity. She’ll be back at dawn to feed her again. I told her about you giving me a potion to take. She doesn’t believe it will help.”

“Can’t tell until then can we? Did Gramp tell you about this afternoon?”

“Yes, he said he lent you some money to buy Ma and Pa Wilcox out. That will make you and me owning the whole ranch. Are we going to run cattle?”

“No, my home is up north. I want you and the baby with me. I been thinking. Your Pa wants this place powerful bad. I think he will buy my half. You should lease him your half. That’ll always give you some money. He is bound to remember that I’m a jailbird. He’ll want to get shut of me as soon as possible. Maybe you could wait to let him know you are going with me.”

“I am going with you. Nobody’s stopping me. Come lie on the bed with me. Do you mind that I can’t fool around very much? Someday, I’m going to fool around a whole lot. Sam, you are so handsome I get shivers just looking at you.”

“Your effect on me is pretty intense too.”

“Sam you speak very well. So much better than when we first met.”

“I don’t remember that I said very much at that time. I wanted to, but knew you’d consider me as uneducated trash.”

“Would not! Not after you saved me from those horrible men. You probably can tell that Gramp feels the same way.”

“I do.”

“Sam, tell me about the doctor that sent the potion to get Felicity regulated? Oh, I hope it works.”

“I believe it will. I have the utmost confidence in her.”

“Is this the same doctor that Gramp calls a witch doctor?”

“The same, but she is more than that. She is a shaman and medicine woman, wise in many things with the power to go with it. She is her clan’s doctor, lawyer and forecaster of things to come. Not only that, she is the keeper of their historical past. Her power also comes from her father who was the chief until he died. The present chief is her uncle. Her father sent her to the mission school to learn the ways of the white man. He knew that the Indian’s dominance in this land was over.

“Previously there was an uprising that decimated the clan which numbered over ninety bodies. There are just under thirty souls left. They are reservation Indians and live there now. However, the main part of the tribes live on the other side of the range of mountains. The Silverclouds live on the edge of the Ryeback ranch and have always been connected with it in one way or another. They have been used as cowhands and they are good at it.

“While Kenny Ryeback was in prison, they watched over the ranch. Kenny left his cousin, Pete, in charge, but it wasn’t very well looked after by him. The Indians took up the slack. Mary Eustis dreamed that Kenny would return and has directed the clan to save it for him.”

“Is she pretty?”

“I don’t think pretty would describe her, but she certainly is attractive.”

“How old is she?”

“Somewhere around forty, I’ve heard. Kenny was her first man and that is another reason she has stayed nearby. I think Kenny has returned by now as he was scheduled to be home this week. Gramps arranged his pardon.”

“Will she like me if I go to live with you?”

“She will. It has been forecast in her dreams. The Indians and you and I will always be connected in one form or another.” It had been a long day and I dozed off. The last thing before sleep took me, I was being asked for a kiss.

I roused at daybreak. I could hear Jessie and the wet nurse, Marie, in the other room. Jessie was explaining, “I nursed Felicity at two this morning. She was so hungry, she about drained me, and burped right away with no trouble, then went back to sleep. I really do think my troubles are over. Would you stay and eat breakfast? Felicity will wake before you finish. If she doesn’t have the colic, I’ll risk that she is over it.”

“Okay, but I never heard of an infant coming out of this as sudden before. Who did you say the doctor was?”

“Someone a friend of mine knows. Gramp has met her and says the woman is a witch doctor, but if she has cured Felicity, I don’t care. Anyway she isn’t from around here.”

“A woman doctor? I never heard of such a thing. Doctoring ain’t women’s work.”

I quietly went in and woke Gramp asking him to cover for me when we went out to the kitchen. I warned him that he might be asked about Mary Eustis. “How’s the baby? Jessie fed her yet?”

“Yes and she took Jessie’s milk okay. At least so far she hasn’t fussed.” As I said this I heard the baby gurgle and coo in the room I had just vacated. I spoke from Gramp’s room. “Jessie, I think I can hear Felicity. She’s awake.”

Gramp and I made the outhouse a visit and washed up on the back porch. When we came in Jessie had just finished nursing Felicity. I don’t know who was happier, she or the mother. Marie held the baby and burped her as Jessie went about putting food on the table, singing a tune all the while. Felicity was waving her hands about and cooing.

Marie was curious as to who I was and I just said a friend of Jessie’s grandfather. I was in town to look at buying the Wilcox’s cattle. Marie wasn’t interested and soon left. The door closed and Jessie was in my arms, embarrassing both me and her grandfather. Didn’t matter. “What now, Gramp, are you going over to the big house with me?”

“God no! Word got around that I was the one that brought in the papers that named young Wilcox a killer. They’d shoot me on sight if they could get away with it. You watch that old lady. Sometimes I’m thinking she’s worse than her boy was. Told you about her furnishing the gun so he could escape didn’t I? I’ll stay here with the little one while you see if you can latch onto the ranch.”

Before I left, both Gramp and Jessie gave me a rundown on the property. Jessie, before she got big with child, rode everyday and was more interested in the ranch than her husband was. Gramp had been here thirty years, settling here about the same time as George and Sarah Wilcox, so he knew much about it as well.

I stepped down in the yard before the big house. Mrs. Wilcox immediately came out and confronted me. “You ain’t backing out on taking them cattle are you?”

“No, I’ll take them just as agreed. Four days to get them ready for the trail. The money will be in the bank. I need a tally figure that’s all. You a mind to sell your half of the ranch? I’ve been talking to the widow. She might move into town. Course if she had owned some of the cattle, we might have struck a deal to ranch. I need the cattle up north. You give me a figure what you’re asking and maybe I’ll speculate on the land. Give the land a chance to come back without’n cattle on it.”

I guess they must have talked all night about moving to California. The figure we settled on would leave me able to return some of the money Gramp had put into my account. Worried I might back out, the Wilcoxs followed me right into town and to the bank. The deed for half the ranch was recent within the last three years, when they split it giving half to their son. When I had the bank put the money before them, they just signed the deed over to me. Two people in the bank witnessed the transaction and the signatures. The banker said that would hold in any court.

We had a few other details to iron out. The fixtures and equipment for running the ranch and the horses. They didn’t have many horses. I settled for buying their horse herd and all would go with the cattle. I agreed that when we changed crews, their cowboys could have one to ride when they broke camp. The remainder, about two thirds of the horses, would continue on north with me and my crew.

Mrs. Wilcox wanted to auction the personal items in the house, but was overruled by Pa Wilcox as taking too long to settle. “Give me a couple hundred dollars and do what you want with it. Give it to Jessie if you want. Maybe she’ll change her mind and move into the big house.” He had some thought for his daughter-in-law.

“Maybe there is something there your granddaughter will cherish some day.”

The Mrs. wasn’t of the same mind as her husband. “Ha, she isn’t any kin to us. Them Comstocks ain’t to be trusted. That Jessie was always going into town and having tea, often staying all day. We surmise she was doing other things. That’s why our son drank and gambled so much.” I dropped the subject. She still stuck up for the killer that was their son, blaming the woman who married him. I felt sorry for this old couple. Instinctively, I knew they hadn’t had happiness and now, never would.

Again I waited in town before going out to Jessie’s cottage. I didn’t even have to strike a match this time. The sheriff’s horse went right into the stall he had been in last night. Jessie had been listening for me and opened the door for me as I approached. As it closed behind me, we were in each others arms.

“I saw you go by this morning. I’ve been waiting all day for you. Felicity sleeps and nurses and then sleeps again. It is so wonderful not to have her crying. Tell me about your day.”

Supper was over and again I laid on Jessie’s bed. This time I had the little infant beside me. I was twenty-two-years-old and had never held one before. Nervous---you bet! Finally Jessie put her in a basket on the other side of the bed and turned to me.

“My turn to be held. I want to see you. Sam would you like to see me? I’ve so been looking forward to this. Careful about squeezing me. Since I have been nursing again, my breasts have filled today and they might leak a little. You don’t mind do you? All your fault anyway.” Laughter tinkled from the beautiful mother lying beside of me. I knew how far we could go before we had to cease. We did see each other without clothes in the dim light of the lamp that was on the bureau at the foot of the bed.

We lay side by side talking. “Mrs. Wilcox, I do believe you are in need of a new husband. May I be the one? Little Felicity also needs a father. I would like to become that as well.” The tears of happiness glinted and rolled down Jessie’s cheeks.

“Yes, yes, and yes again.”

“Good. Do you think it possible before I leave with the herd? That’s three or four days from now.”

“Oh my God, do you mean right away? I only lost my husband a month ago. What will people say?”

“People around here might say a lot, but if you head north yourself, you won’t be here. I was thinking Gramp might drive you and the baby north. Take it in easy stages, stopping when you get tired. Lay over a day when need be. You certainly will get there before I do with the herd.”

“What about the ranch here?”

“Lease your half to your father. Somehow I’m going to convince him to buy my half. I’d like to do it before we marry or before he finds out we are husband and wife.”

“Let’s get married first and then worry about him finding out.”

“Fine by me. Hey, tomorrow may be your wedding day.” I paused just a minute, giving Jessie time to think about the idea. “You know I haven’t really courted you yet and I know we can’t consummate the marriage the way we should, but I promise you that it will happen.”

“It will come later, I know that.” I was up and out of the cottage in the morning right after I watched Felicity get her second meal of the day. I missed the first one at 2 a.m. I slept through it.

---

I went out onto the range and watched the roundup. There were reps and cowboys from the neighboring ranches here to help in the gather. This wasn’t the time of year for the usual roundup so men were available The cattle that weren’t under his brand, were chased back into a small side valley for the different reps to drive to their home ranches after this herd had left.

I was well pleased at what I had purchased. Three dollars paid to Wilcox would bring me sixteen from the Bureau of Indian Affairs after they had fattened up on the home range. Having the reservation next to Ryebacks was a distinct advantage.

The trail north I was going to be driving over was well watered and there was grass here and there along it. The cattle would be ganted some by the time they reached their destination, but would recover and be fat by the time they were sold to the Indians for the winter allotment. The Silvercloud clan would actually be selling themselves their own cattle paid by the government. It was a win-win situation for both Kenny Ryeback and the Indians.

I left the roundup in the early afternoon. I had talked to the man I had hired to head up the drive. He was familiar with the trail and had driven over it previously. He said I might lose as much as five percent of the cattle. He was well pleased when I offered him fifty cents a head if he beat that figure.

Jessie was dressed in a beautiful outfit and hat. The only conveyance was a buckboard, but she didn’t mind. Marie was going to drive while Jessie held the baby all the way into town. If the wedding was to take place today, Marie would stand up with Jessie.

I went on ahead to engage the parson to say the words over us. Needless to say, he was unhappy about several things about the coming nuptials. First there were no banns posted, and second the widow should go through a period of mourning before even considering finding a new husband.

“I have asked the widow Wilcox to be my wife. She is moving to a new location to make her home with me. Won’t it be more appropriate for her to travel as my wife than to travel with an unrelated man? Unusual to state, but under the present circumstances, the marriage will not be consummated for several weeks. This wedding is for proprieties sake more than anything.”

“In that case, I will perform the ceremony. When do you wish it to take place?”

“I think in about twenty minutes. The widow is coming down the street now.”

I had seen Gramp’s horse tied in front of the sheriff’s office, so I headed over to get him. I knew I couldn’t find a better man to stand with me in front of the parson. The sheriff wanted to see this happen so we waited for him to collect his wife.

It was a small ceremony with only the parson’s wife and Sheriff and Mrs. Colson being other than the wedding party.

A half hour later, I had a bride and the widow, Jessie Comstock Wilcox, was now Mrs. Samuel Jones. I thought back to less than three years ago, as we were crossing the street to the tea room. At that time, I was nineteen, uneducated, destitute, in the company of outlaws, bent over a dead calf that I didn’t own, and with a skinning knife in my hand. I was facing an old man and a beautiful young woman about my age, and they both had guns pointing at me.

It took less than three years to sort out if the luck was good or bad. In one way or another, I would have to say it was good.

End of Part 1




Saga of Sam Jones

happyhugo

Part 2

Ranching

Chapter One
John Comstock, forty-three and used to having his own way---always, watched us as his father and I rode into the Comstock ranch yard. He was pointing at me.

“What’s he doing here? The last time he was on the place he rustled one of my yearlings and should have been strung up for it. Dad, I swear, you’re getting senile in your old age hanging out with prison trash.”

“John, he ain’t goin’ to be staying but a few minutes. Hear him out. Talk about gettin’ old, you get more stubborn and hide bound every day.”

John’s attention swung back toward me. “What do you want then?”

“I got me some ranch land up north a ways. I was down here looking for cattle. I bought the Wilcox herd. It’s being tallied right now and I’m trailing north. While I was buying the herd, Wilcox offered to sell me half his holdings. Mrs. Jessie Wilcox holds the other half. I don’t want to locate down here so I’m not interested in having half ownership in the property. I met Chet and he suggested you might be interested. That’s why I forced myself to come onto your land one more time. If I remember, the last time I was here you wanted to string me up.”

“I did and I would again in the same circumstance.” He thought about what I had just told him. “What are you asking? Probably going to hold me up ain’t you?”

“I’d like to, but I’m leaving with the herd, I hope in three days. Ten percent over what I paid and the land is yours. I’ll even show you the deed and what I paid.”

“No way. Two days and you make ten percent. You’re a worse crook than you were when you were rustling cows.”

“May be, but you’re getting ownership in a damned fine ranch at half the cost. Buy out your daughter or you can lease what she owns for a nominal fee. To me, it sounds like a good deal for you.”

“She’d lease her half to me? Dad, you know anything about this?”

“I heard ’em talking. That’s what Jessie was saying.”

“Give me your rock bottom figure and I’ll think it over.” I mentioned the figure, which was really fair and John Comstock knew it.

“I do’no, I’ll have to think it over. When you say you want to leave?”

“Three days. Money for the cattle is coming in by wire from my bank up north. That’s when I pay Wilcox for them. If I don’t sell the holdings by then, I don’t know when I’ll get back this way. Not for a couple of months anyway. I’ll be three-four weeks on the trail and I ain’t wanting to come back. Tell you what, if you lease the half of the Wilcox ranch from your daughter, I’ll cut what I expected to make by half. I can live with five percent, just so I can get on the trail on time.”

“Sounds like a good deal to me, John. You better talk to Jessie about the lease. She’s having tea in Miss Sylvia’s tea room in a couple of hours. You could catch her then.”

“I’d have the whole ranch under my name wouldn’t I? I suppose that’s what I’ve been working for. Too bad young Wilcox turned out bad. I pinned my hopes on him. Well, I just jumped a generation now that he is out of the way. I’ll saddle up and ride in with you.”

I was getting eyed over pretty well and John wanted to ask some questions. Finally, “Where’d you get aholt of land enough to graze Wilcox’s cows?”

“Met someone a couple of years ago. I did him a good deed and he offered me to partner up with him. I went on ahead when I got out of Territory. I found out he had been rustled to the bone, so I did some scratching and figuring and come up with the money. I have to admit I’ve borrowed the money for my half of the Wilcox holdings from a friend of mine. I’ll pay him back as soon as you pay me.”

“What if I don’t buy you out? You’re holding the bag.”

“Okay, but your dream of a huge ranch is long gone. I’ll peddle it to someone, sometime in the future. By that time, your daughter may have other plans that don’t include you. I still think buying from me and leasing from your daughter is the best deal you are ever going to get. What do you think, Chet?”

“Don’t get me involved. I sold out my ranch to John ’cause I got sick of chasing the north end of a critter heading south. John will come to it, same as I did, but he’s got to learn that for himself. What you need, son, is another woman such as you had in Martha.” Gramp turned to me. “That was Jessie’s mother. She was one sweet woman.”

“She was that.” This came from John Comstock. It was the first and only human statement that I had ever heard him utter. Guess there had been some love in his heart at one time. Sadness must have overshadowed it for too long for it to make the light of day recent like.

We dismounted in front of the bank and walked down to the tea room. Jessie and Felicity were the only ones there, besides Miss Sylvia. I was curious to see how John and Jessie reacted to each other, for I had heard they were barely speaking.

Jessie made it easy for her father. “Hi Dad. I do believe this is the first time you have ever been in here. Miss Sylvia serves coffee as well as tea.”

“I guess I can stand tea once. Them Britishers swear by it, so they say. Looks like squirt water to me.”

“Dad, you be good. Miss Sylvia can put a dollop of brandy in yours. Miss Sylvia, you know my father, don’t you?”

“Oh my yes. He was kind enough to ask me to dance a couple of sets at the school house. I’m pleased to meet you again Mr. Comstock.” She was fluttering and John looked slightly embarrassed.

“Miss Sylvia, you know I had fun dancing with you. I don’t suppose I could escort you to the next dance, could I?”

“Oh my. I’m persuaded and would be honored.” Miss Sylvia looked about ready to faint.

We got down to business. It was soon concluded and John agreed to lease the half of the Wilcox ranch Jessie owned. Felicity started fussing. Jessie excused herself and went into Miss Sylvia’s living quarters in the back. We were just waiting on Jessie so we could go over to the bank. Miss Sylvia was hanging on John’s every word and she was getting glances from him as well. He was seeing a spinster woman fifteen years younger than himself.

What she was doing was looking at a successful rancher who had just asked her for a date. Now if that hard-hearted bastard could soften a little, he might find a little happiness. I chuckled, knowing if Miss Sylvia played her cards right, she might even become my mother-in-law. Jessie wouldn’t mind, I’m sure, as she had been friends with Miss Sylvia since the lady had arrived here.

When Jessie returned from nursing Felicity, she announced that Felicity had gone right off to sleep and we should go over to the bank. “We’ll all come back here. Miss Sylvia has made a cake to celebrate some things that are going on in my life. You’ll come back too, won’t you Dad?”

“Guess I got time. Coffee this time, though.”

John Comstock purchased one half of the former George Wilcox undivided property from one Samuel Jones. He also leased the former Bradley Wilcox undivided property from one Jessie Wilcox Jones. When he read the lease agreement and saw his daughter’s name had been added to, he raised up and threw the papers on the desk. “What are you pulling Jessie? You didn’t hitch up with him did you? He’s a damned cow thief.”

“Yes and you pushed me to marry a robber and a killer. Take a good long look at my husband. He is half owner of a ranch, fully as big as yours. Maybe he doesn’t have as much money as you do, but he is twenty years younger than you are. He’ll get there. Besides that, I love him. In fact I have loved him ever since he shot the man who was going to rape me. I just didn’t know it at the time.

“The papers are signed, just as you wanted. Let’s go celebrate Sam’s and my wedding. That’s what the cake is for. Besides that, it will give you a chance to sweet talk Miss Sylvia a little more. If you play your cards right, you might get to see her before the next dance. What’s it to be?”

John sat down. “Okay then, let’s finish up here.” The banker brought out John’s draft and I accepted it. I signed it over to Chester Comstock. John’s lips tightened as if he was going to explode again. Gramp told the banker to deposit it into his account---all except the five percent profit. That was stacked in front of me in gold coins. I asked for a cloth bag to hold it.

I slid it over in front of Jessie. “Here dear, this should be enough to get you up north and home to me. A wedding present, if you want to call it that.”

“That is where the five percent is going? You gave it all to Jessie?” Maybe that damned cow thief was going to treat his daughter better than her first husband. “You know I’m beginning to think you’re not as much of a crook as I thought.” He looked at the banker. “Give me a like sum from my account. Hand it over to Mrs. Jones. That’s my wedding gift to the newlyweds.”

Miss Sylvia was still fluttering when we all trooped back into her tea room. Did John have a chance at love? I looked her over. She was petite, and slightly cross-eyed. Her shape, well, maybe not so much, but you knew she was a woman. I was sure though, if a man got beyond her looks he would find a person who was sweet and possibly desirable. There was a latent something about her, I couldn’t put my finger on. From the conversation that swirled around us, I found out she had had this little establishment for more than five years.

Very seldom did a man enter to partake of the tea treats she had to offer. The ladies of the town often came here to gossip. Living in the rear of the building, she didn’t go out much. Her one sojourn into the public was the quarterly dances. Seldom did a single male ask her to dance. The men that did ask, only did at the urging of some wife that patronized her tea room. Now Sylvia had actually had a man ask her for a date. Maybe, just maybe, something would develop.

Jessie announced that she was leaving shortly for the north after the herd got on the trail. The road north paralleled the river where the herd was being driven. Not that far in distance apart, but rarely in sight of the other. Gramp would escort her and the baby in easy stages.

John, changed man that he was, offered Jessie her dead mother’s surrey to travel in. Chet could drive it back sometime in the future. Jessie immediately got up and gave her father a kiss. Not to be outdone, I shook his hand and thanked him profusely. He did shine in Miss Sylvia’s eyes and I guess that was the whole point.

I was still using the sheriff’s horse and he was stalled in Jessie’s barn the same as usual. Tonight Jessie and I did just a little more to each other as we lay in bed. At the two o’clock feeding, Felicity ended up lying between us. I was beginning to think I was totally domesticated.

In the morning, early, I went across to where the cattle were being gathered and ate with the crew. I owned all of the Wilcox horses and had one cut out for me that I liked the looks of. He was a little bigger than some of the others and I figured had a little more staying power. I knew I wouldn’t be handling much of the cow work on the drive, but would be in the saddle all day. This would save me from changing to a different mount mid-day.

I threw the sheriff’s saddle on him and went up. I hit the saddle and then two hops later I hit the ground. No one laughed, I mean I was the boss and the men were just waiting to see what I would do now. One of the crew caught him and I indicated I wanted to try him again.

I went up again and this time I stuck. I didn’t make a pretty ride, but I didn’t come off either. The cowboys went about the roundup and I watched from the sideline. Occasionally I kicked my horse to chouse a steer back that got away from the gather. The men realized I knew cattle, but needed more practice. This after I announced I had been in prison for two years and hadn’t had many horses to ride. I grinned as I said this. I came away that evening knowing some of the crew’s names and a fact or two about some of them.

I stopped in to see Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox before going on to town to return the horse to the sheriff. George saw me coming so I couldn’t ride on by without stopping. The Mrs. was all over her husband, haranguing him about selling out so cheap. This included the sale of the cattle as well as the ranch. I was right in the middle of a domestic fight and the husband was taking more and getting the worst of it.

There was a freight wagon backed up to the front door and two freighters were loading up the wagon. “I’m leaving in the morning and I ain’t waiting on you. I’m heading out for my brother’s and I don’t care if you follow me or not. You practically gave the cattle away. You stay and collect for them. I’m taking what we got for the ranch with me. It’s a sad ending to the dreams we had twenty-five years ago.”

“Yes, you damned bitch, and you know whose fault it is. You gave our son everything he wanted and stuck up for him when he was wrong. Look what it got us. He turned out a killer and brought shame down on the Wilcox name. You turned our daughter-in-law against us and you haven’t even gone to see our grandchild. I tell you right now, I’m stopping over to see the baby this evening. Going to tell our daughter-in-law also, that I’m sorry her life didn’t turn out what she hoped it would be. Maybe even tell her I hope she finds happiness. She was a good and faithful wife and look what it got her.”

“You do that. Hell, she may take up with you. I tell you what, Wilcox, I don’t think I want you to follow me. I’ll be better off without you.” Mrs. Wilcox slammed the door going into the house.”

He turned around and looked up at me. “That’s it. I’m done with her. I’ve kept hidden what I’ve taken from Sarah all of these years. Hell ain’t got no ice in it and I’ll tell you, I’ve done some sweating. She can go on her own from now on.” He looked at me as I sat my horse. “Sam, isn’t it? You got a spare horse with you. Give me a ride over to my daughter-in-law’s. It’s time I met my granddaughter. Maybe Jessie will feed me. If she won’t, I’ll head over to the roundup and throw my bedroll down there.”

He straddled the sheriff’s horse. It was only a couple of hundred yards. I made the comment, “Jessie will let you have a saddle. She’s got a couple hanging in her tack room.”

“How would you know what she’s got?”

“Mr. Wilcox, you come to the table over there and we’ll fill you in on some things that you don’t know.”

“You’re still buying the cattle aren’t you? That’s all I got to start over with. Everything else is all gone.”

“Money should be here tomorrow. If it isn’t, I won’t move the cattle until it gets here.”

“By God, I believe I’ve met an honest man.” Would he think so when he found out I was a jail bird? How about when he found out I had married his daughter-in-law and was making Felicity my daughter? Well, he’d have to just get over it if it was troublesome to him.

We slowly walked the horses into the yard. Wilcox knocked on the door while I took the horses around to the stable. I heard Jessie, with surprise, say, “Mr. Wilcox,” and invite him inside. She was holding the baby up for him to see when I came in. I hadn’t knocked. Jessie thrust Felicity into her grandfather’s hands and came and kissed me. I took Felicity from his arms.

“Mr. Wilcox, Jessie and I were married two days ago. She is going north by wagon while I’m trailing the herd. That’s why I haven’t had time to court her or wait a respectable amount of time since her husband died.”

“It’s too soon for her to drive or ride the stage.”

“Her father has offered the use of his surrey. Her grandfather is doing the driving.”

“What about her half of the ranch? What about the half you own?”

“I sold my half to John Comstock. He has leased her half.”

“How come you did that Jessie?”

“Mr. Wilcox, I’m a widow woman who owned some land. It didn’t have any cattle on it. How was I going to support myself and your granddaughter? You and Mrs. Wilcox never came to see her. I wasn’t going to move back in with my father for reasons I won’t go into. I met Mr. Jones before your Brad started courting me. He went away. I thought I could have a good life here with you. It hasn’t worked out that way.

“Mr. Jones came back into my life when he came looking for cattle. I promise you I was a good wife while I was married to Brad. I’m twenty-two years old last spring. I’m young and my daughter needs a father. When he proposed, I accepted. I have promised him I will be a good wife to him even with the baggage I have. Please understand that I have to look out for myself as well as my daughter, that’s all I am doing.

“Come sit. I want to tell you what Mr. Jones has done for me. He heard from my grandfather that Felicity was ailing. He contacted a doctor for some potion and gave it to me to take. Felicity has been perfectly well since the first twenty-four hours of me taking the medicine. I don’t know what I would do if I still had a sick baby on my hands all the time.

“Sam, you hold Felicity while I put the kettle on. Mr. Wilcox, how is Sarah?” I knew Jessie was just making talk. She hated the older woman.

He stared at Jessie to see if she was asking because she wanted to know or because she was twisting a knife into him. I could see that he didn’t really care. “Sarah’s packing up and leaving to go visit her brother. She informed me that I could follow if I wanted to. That tells me we are all done. Nothing left that we had together like we did before our son got old enough to listen to her.

“I guess you could say I’m a mite down about now. No ranch, no cattle, damned few friends and a wife that just wants to get away from me. I will have what you pay me for the cattle, Mr. Jones, but that is all. By the way, you know my name is George.”

“Call me Sam, the same as others do. What are you going to do? I’m sure your wife will rethink her decision about not wanting you with her after she gets where she is going.”

“I don’t think I want to be with her. The last few years have been hell for me. We’ve kept our squabbles from becoming public. You saw Sarah today. She didn’t give a fig if you knew about how she felt about me. Nope, I’m not following her to her brother’s a’tall. I’ll think of something to do and forget I ever had a wife.”

“You’ll still be married.”

“Yes on paper Jessie, but I don’t feel as I have been for too many years. Only way to get shut of her permanently is to hope she dies.” He ruminated for a minute. “I guess I don’t hate her that much, but I damned sure ain’t living with her no more.”

Dad Wilcox spent the night in Jessie’s spare room. We could hear him tossing and turning and knew he wasn’t sleeping. This kept us quiet, but we managed to let each other know that we were glad we had become man and wife. I was awake at the two o’clock feeding and burped Felicity. George went out back while this was happening, came back, looked in on us and wasn’t heard from for the rest of the night.

At breakfast he looked at me saying, “You burp the kid, boy, every chance you get. When they gets too old for that and don’t need it, that’s when they start growing away from you. You’ll never be closer as a father than at this time. They may not remember you being there, but hopefully the unconscious will know and create a bond between the two of you. Sarah said I couldn’t do it right, so that bond was taken from me. I swear I believe that!”

George Wilcox had given to Jessie and me a little opening into his mind and the troubles that had been stored there through the years. An unhappy man was here before us. In one way I had contributed to this by finding the papers that brought Brad to the justice he so deserved. George would never know, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t blame me too much if he found out.

“You got any plans at all George?”

“No, but I guess I’ll trail along with the herd for a couple of days. Something will come to me. Most of the hands have been with me for years and I’m going to hate to say so long to them. It’ll give me a last chance to say good-bye.”

“Go the distance if you want. The cowhands I use are mostly Indians and you won’t find a better crew anywhere. Maybe you can find something to do up north with us. Anyway you can bunk in with my segundro, Pat, if you want when we get there.”

“Thanks, I might just do that.”

It took two more days to tally the cattle. Some, the late dropped calves, I knew wouldn’t make the drive. I sold them to the different ranchers for fifty cents apiece. Satisfied, George Wilcox and I went into town and met at the bank. My money was waiting for me and I paid George. I took him over to the saloon to seal the deal. Wouldn’t you know, Gramp Comstock was sitting at a table with a couple of his old cronies.

“Sam, bring your sarsaparilla over and sit with us.” I didn’t answer at first knowing George had issues over Brad with Gramps.

George took it out of my hands. “What are you drinking Chet? I just sold some hides on the hoof and am damned flush right now.” He brought a bottle to the table and the two proceeded to lower the level at a rapid pace.

“Understand you’re escorting my granddaughter north in a surrey. That’s no way to travel. You know there’s a coach out at the ranch that would be better. The rims might be better soaked up some, but the body is in fine shape. I was letting it stay on the place when I left, but if you can use it, you’re welcome.”

Before the evening was over, Jessie had two escorts for her and Felicity. George Wilcox and Chester Comstock. I was well pleased over this development as Gramp was getting pretty old. George was some seventeen years his junior. I told Jessie I had put the men into the same room at the hotel. This, when I slid into bed next to her that evening.

Morning found both at the door waiting for Jessie to provide breakfast. When we pulled into the ranch yard, Gramp stayed mounted as Sarah was getting into a buggy. “Where in hell have you been, George? I’m leaving this morning and I need some money.”

“Get it at the bank. The proceeds from the ranch are in your name---all of it. I’m keeping the cattle money.”

“You going west with me?”

“Nope, I decided not to. I’ll find something else to do.”

“Suit yourself, then. I can’t say I’m surprised. We ain’t hit it off too well lately. You know my address. Write and let me know what you are up to. That is if you want to. I don’t really care.” She wheeled out of the yard, with the two freight wagons following.

“Guess that ends that. Can’t say I’m sorry. Let’s go in and see if she left anything. Them wagons looked well loaded.” Sarah had pretty much stripped the ranch of everything the house held and most of the tools that were around the barns and sheds. George looked at Gramp. “John going to be pissed nothing was left?”

“Don’t think so. Is the coach still here?” It was, and a fine conveyance it turned out to be. The spokes and rims were loose, but they could be soaked. The leather springs would have to be replaced, but new ones could be found at the harness shop in town. At one time it had been a smart looking vehicle and a good scrubbing would return it to its former glory. Gramp was well pleased with it, saying Jessie and the baby would be right comfortable.

Gramp headed back to tell Jessie all about it, while George and I went out to where the herd was being held. The drover who was going to make the drive was ready to start in the morning. The drive would start after the first meal of the day. The chuck wagon was going into town for provisions this afternoon and would head out before the herd, so as to have a meal ready when the crew arrived at the first stop.

The drover hoped for five miles the first day and to get the herd shook down and used to traveling. This particular drover had made a trip up to the reservation twice, so knew what was ahead of him. Not many herds were moving so there would be some graze where the cattle bedded down each evening. No trouble was anticipated as this was a mixed herd and easier to handle than one consisting of just steers.

Word had got out about the trail drive, and it was expected several of the townspeople would be out to see it off. A drive of this magnitude was getting to be more and more unusual. Someone said it was the passing of the old west and seeing the end couldn’t be missed.

It would take Gramp and George a week or more to get Jessie ready to leave. That was fine, as she wanted to say good-bye to all of her friends. She had been born and had grown up in this section of the country, so it was a wrenching move for her. She laughed about it with tears in her eyes. “But you are at the end of my journey, Sam, so I don’t mind a bit.”

We calculated where she would be on the journey and where the herd would be on certain days. Jessie and I figured I would be able to see her twice in the three-week period. The road and the towns paralleled the river where the herd was being driven. Road and trail were sometimes a mile distant and at other times as much as seven and whatever the terrain dictated. There were no towns directly on the river, but were now spotted here and there along the road.

This would change in the next few years and cattle wouldn’t be able to make the drive as the area became more populated. The river wasn’t navigable, but saw mills and other businesses that drew large amounts of water needed to be near the river. The driving of cattle over this trail would be seriously curtailed.

I would leave the herd and meet Jessie in one of the towns as she traveled along the road parallel to us and caught up to the herd. Later on I would travel ahead of the herd and catch up to her in another town nearer our final destination. One last night together, with each of us aching for the other. Our time was coming, but we were denied the actual act because it was too soon after Felicity’s birth.

The point man shouted to head ’em up and move ’em out. A roar went up from all who had come to see us off. I was with the horse herd as a wrangler. Jessie was in a buggy holding up Felicity to see me as I went by. This was gesture only and I loved my wife for it. An hour later the herd was strung out and anyone could see we were officially on the trail.

Chapter Two
The cowhands were busy chasing the cattle back into line. Most of the animals had never been driven before and hated to leave the home range. In the days and weeks ahead they soon would come to expect moving and fall into line quickly. For now though, it was a tussle to keep the herd together and headed north. I waved to my wife and soon was covered with dust as I was across from the windward side of the drag.

The second day we doubled our distance of the first day and this was what we measured our progress by. My thoughts were always with Jessie and I was wishing I was with her. I worried about her getting started okay on the day I expected her to leave town in the coach. Three days from now, though, I would leave the river and meet up with her in the nearest town. The day came as all things do.

I rode into town and the first thing I saw was the coach parked at the livery stable. There was no hotel, but I knew she must have found quarters somewhere. A rooming house, maybe. “Where will I find the travelers who came in the coach?”

I was pointed to a large house and walked in slapping the dust from my hat. Jessie was there across the room. We saw each other at the same time and she flew into my arms. I bussed her soundly even though there were several strangers in the room. Gramp was there and so was George. Both were smiling. George was holding Felicity. Food was to be served in twenty minutes.

Jessie said, “Come with me Sam. I have a room and a change of clothes for you. Oh you look like you did when I first met you. Loved you then and love you now.”

I took time to shave and wash up the best I could before going down to supper. I gave a report on the progress of the herd. All at the table were interested. I informed George that one of his ex-cowhands had lost a finger when a rope had wrapped around it. When the steer he had on the end, took off on him, his finger went as well. Hazard of the work! The cookie had cauterized the stump and disinfected it with some liniment. He should be okay after the wound healed. “I’ll give him an extra month’s pay.” George thought that was more than fair.

Alone in our room, Jessie filled me in on her get-away from home. “I feel like a queen riding in the coach. Some different than a buckboard. George does most of the driving and he is so careful. He thinks Felicity is the best thing going. I think he will find some place to live near us, just so he can be with her. Gramps feels about the same.

“Dad is officially sparking Miss Sylvia. He has changed. He even kissed me when we left and told me to take special care of his granddaughter. Another thing. All of those cattle that were cut out from yours, he told the owners to go ahead and leave them where they were if they wanted to. They could stay as long as the owners didn’t push more cattle onto the range. Do you think Dad is getting soft?”

“I doubt it. Sounds as if he is letting the other ranchers watch his new ranch while his attention is on Miss Sylvia. That will change when the range comes back and will handle more cattle.”

“I think that is true. Oh, George told me he and Sarah had a big row before she left. It was something she said about me and Felicity, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He’ll never go out where she is going now. You know, it is almost dark. Don’t you think we should go to bed?” We slept late and had to go across the street to the diner for breakfast. I swear Felicity was smiling at me. Gramp and George sat in some chairs waiting, just drinking coffee.

I finally had to say good-bye. Jessie was staying here in this town for two days and even then she would be ahead of the herd. I would see her in a week. The day after that, I would be letting George’s old cowhands go---except for the drover. George was planning on coming down to the river to the herd and say good-bye to the men who had worked for him, some for many years. My Indian hands would then take over and trail the herd the rest of the way to their new range.

Every time I had to say good-bye, it hurt more and more. Felicity was getting some personality and I was hoping that soon I would be around her enough so she would recognize me as someone who belonged to her. I had a word with George before leaving. “Bring something to drink and I’ll join you in having a good-bye party before I come up to see Jessie next week.”

“What about the Indians? They’ll get drunk and go on the warpath.”

“These won’t. They are under the control of a very powerful medicine woman. In fact I have been inducted into her clan. When they are with me, I speak for her. There won’t be any problem.”

“You got faith, Sam, but I guess I’ll trust you. See you next week.” The hard part of leaving was waving to Jessie who was standing waving back to me as I started down the three-mile ravine that ended at the river. The herd had moved on when I reached the river and I kicked my horse in the ribs and headed north to catch up.

There is always something you don’t expect when on a trail drive. This day opened hot and oppressive. You could feel trouble in the air. You just didn’t know from what direction it was coming. It was mid-afternoon when the clouds to the west started to get thicker and higher with the bottoms turning black. The drover came back along the river yelling at us to move the cattle faster.

“Kick ’em in the ass and we’ll try to make it to where the canyon widens out. If we make it, hold the cattle against the east wall the best we can. I have a feeling we are in for some high water and this is the worst place to be. There has to have been a cloudburst north of here by the way it is thundering. If that happens, the river will rise in minutes and nothing will survive when the water overtakes us.”

We heard the water coming with a roar before we saw it. Luckily we were on the inside bend of the river and the wall of water hit the far banks with a crash, sending a plume of water thirty feet into the sky. The herd was within sight of where the river canyon widened and the hands in the rear started firing their guns to stampede the cattle. Everyone almost made it.

The water crashed into the far bank and circled the bend coming across and catching the hand who was riding drag and twenty cows in the current. The cows went over like ten pins, one hitting the cowhand’s horse and knocking it off its feet. Those ahead had no idea this was happening. The majority of the herd made the high ground and now heads were being counted.

Two men were missing. One named Johnny Oats was the drag man that day and a kid by the name of, Keith Brannigan who was the horse wrangler. Within minutes the water slacked down and the drover sent hands to look for the missing men. A mile back down the river one horse could be seen with the kid standing over a cowhand lying on the rocky river bank. The body on the ground raised a hand to let those coming know he was alive. A cheer went up.

Johnny Oats had a broken leg and was half drowned. The kid was the hero of the day and maybe would be the one for the whole drive. He had seen Johnny go down into the swift water and had turned and followed along the bank until Johnny got hung up momentarily on a snag. Keith’s rope was at the ready and even though in the water himself, had managed to get a rope over Johnny’s raised arm. Johnny lost his purchase and slid into the swift water again, but Keith managed to drag him to shore.

Johnny’s leg was broken in two places, but he was thankful to be alive. I didn’t know the hands all that well and found out that his wife had been the wet nurse for Felicity. It was decided that the trail drive was over for him and as I was the least needed, I would head up to the road with him. I’d find a place for him in a ranch house or village to wait for Jessie’s coach to come by. If it hadn’t got here yet, I would flag it down as it came along. If it had already passed, I would get George to come back for him when I met him in two more days.

We were easing along the road as Johnny was in bad pain, when we heard the coach coming behind us. Jessie cried when she first talked to Johnny. He gave all credit for being alive to the seventeen-year-old Keith who had rescued him. It was decided that those in the coach would take care of him until my Indians took over in two days. Some of the Wilcox crew would be going back to where the drive started from and take Johnny home to Marie, his year-old son and six-year-old daughter.

I directed Jessie, who was carrying my funds, to pay Johnny six months wages. This should get him well and back into the saddle again. I kissed my wife and would see her in the next village as scheduled. The drover had compiled the damage from the wall of water and I considered myself lucky. I had lost twenty-one head of cattle, three horses and one beat up cowpoke who had survived. No one dead, so all in all we came out of this extremely well.

Two days later at ten in the morning we drove the cattle into a bowl beside the river. The grass was good and the cattle were glad of the short drive for the day. They laid down. I wondered when my Indians would arrive. Camp fires were built and a calf butchered. We would lay over the rest of the day and maybe one more if my crew was late.

“What, no guard out Son? Might be some Indians around.” He was grinning. Kenny Ryeback had come into camp while I was leaned back against a tree dozing. I said nothing as I clasped this man to me, I was that happy to see him again. I looked to where there were fourteen braves sitting their horses. I walked over and gripped forearms with them all. They dismounted, folding their legs near where I had been sitting.

Kenny and I had few words for each other at first, but soon I was telling him about the trail drive. I mentioned the trouble we had had in losing the cattle and how Keith had rescued one of the other cowhands. Kenny rattled off Indian words, telling the Indians about it and pointed out Keith. This was bravery of the finest kind in their book and soon Keith was shaking hands as Indians went to him uttering congratulations. He couldn’t understand any of them, but it didn’t matter.

An hour later George Wilcox came down the trail and joined his former crew, bringing both my pay box and several bottles of whisky. We ate at six that evening and the crews were exchanged, my Indians in full control now of the cattle. The only two white hands that didn’t intend to get drunk, and had come up the trail this far, were me and the drover.

Kenny and I sat down and went over much of what had happened since we had last seen each other. “Sam, Mary Eustis told all about what you found at the ranch when you arrived. God, I’m so glad I partnered up with you back at territory prison. I’d a shot Pete for what he did to my ranch. It’s bad enough now, but she said you just went about getting things organized. She said you can sense the strengths in a person and give them a chance to improve on them to everyone’s advantage.”

“Maybe, but you wouldn’t have had diddley-squat if it wasn’t for her working on your behalf all of the years you were locked up. Kenny, I tell you right now if you don’t treat that woman right, I’ll kill you. She is some kind of wonder. Look what she has done for me and my wife? My kid too, for that matter.”

“What do you mean, wife?”

“Yeah, I got me a wife and she has a baby only a couple of months old. You remember me getting letters from Jessie Comstock who married up with a Brad Wilcox? She is my wife now. See George over there getting drunk with his cowhands? That was her father-in-law. Between him, his wife and the boy, he is the best one of them.

“Tell you all about him and his troubles sometime. He came around being decent to Jessie finally and thinks the world of his granddaughter. I can’t see how he has done me harm so I’m pretty satisfied to have him going north with me. Your sadness is over now you are home, but I’m afraid his will be with him a long time.”

“Well, we’ll have to see that he finds some happiness then, won’t we? What’s your plan now?”

“Kenny, as long as you’re here with the Indians, I think I’ll go up and see my wife. Do you think you’d mind if I traveled the rest of the way with her? I’ve got a cowhand up top that’s got him a busted leg. George is going to arrange to send him back south to his wife when the rest of the hands sober up. There’s no need for me to hang around. The drover has been over this trail before, so that part is no problem. You can talk to the Indians if it is something out of the ordinary.”

“Go for it. I’ll see you in about six days. The trail eases up some from here on in so we’ll make time. It only took the Indians and me one long day to get here coming down.” I shook Kenny’s hand and went around saying so long to the cowhands I had traveled with for the past two weeks. I had got all their names in my memory, but I think it was Keith Brannigan, the kid, who would be the one that would stick there the longest.

It was turning dark when I found my wife and baby in a private home where an old couple had put her up for the night. She was asleep, so I hunkered down in a chair on their verandah. She came outside to nurse the baby a little past one where it was cooler than in the bedroom. I surprised her some as she heard me say her name when she came through the door. Wonder the chair held me, her in my lap and the baby suckling away to beat the band at her breast. Happy---you bet.

Gramp found us there entwined in the morning as he came looking for Jessie. We saw him coming up the path and before he reached us, Jessie whispered in my ear, “Sam, just as soon as we find a room of our own, I’m fixed to consummate our marriage. That is if you want to, that is.” Foolish wife!

Two days later we went through Button Box and an hour before supper I wheeled the coach into the Ryeback ranch yard. Pete was there shoeing a horse and Hattie was with him.

Gramp was handling the reins as the coach pulled to a stop. I jumped down and opened the coach door, taking Felicity into my arms. Jessie stepped down and faced Mary Eustis and Hattie, as they came out onto the verandah. Mary Eustis had the meal all set out and Hattie verified that Mary Eustis had said we would be there to set up to it that evening.

I had been away from Mary Eustis and just this fact alone made me wonder where did her knowledge spring from? Were her Gods different and more powerful than the white man’s? Couldn’t be, for our God seemed to be on the upswing. I could hope there was only one God and Mary Eustis was tapping into a source that the white man wasn’t privy to. The Indians were certainly closer to nature than us and this source was needed for them to survive.

Dammit, here I was thinking back to the months when I was with Kenny Ryeback locked in a small cell. His voice was there when I awoke and was still there as I went to sleep, droning on and on. He certainly made me think about some very odd things.

The first words came from Mary Eustis. “Come, eat, the food is ready. This is your woman, Sam?”

“Not my woman Mary Eustis, Jessie is now my wife. Jessie, Mary Eustis is the doctor who prepared the potion that has made Felicity well. Hattie Ryeback is married to Pete, Kenny’s cousin. Where is Pat?”

“He and two of my braves are rebuilding the fence to the valley where the gardens are planted. A bunch of cows got in there and trampled a lot of foodstuff. They’ll be along. Kenny coming with the herd?”

“Yes, and there may be the former owner of the cattle with him. There is only him, the drover, and Wilcox that have weapons. I’m eating and heading right back down the trail to meet them.”

“Come then, I’ll get acquainted with your wife and baby while you are gone. They’ll need settling in and I need to know what you have been doing for the past several weeks. Sam, I have missed you. Gramp, how about a glass of whisky to celebrate your return?”

“I do’no. I ain’t drinking much now.”

“That’s funny, Pat isn’t either.”

I decided that Kenny and the herd didn’t need me too soon, so I stayed the night cuddled up to my wife. This was almost as if this was our wedding night. It was only Mary Eustis in the far side of the ranch house. Pat and Gramp and the Indians were in the bunkhouse and Pete and Hattie were at home in the line shack.

“Sam, light the lamp. I want to look at you. I have been a married woman, but never have I experienced such joy as I have tonight. I have soared to heights I could never imagine. Do you have to leave in the morning?”

“Yes I do, sweetheart. There will be many nights in our future like this. That is a promise. I have soared with you tonight and I will soon be back with you to find out just how high we can go. Go to sleep now. Felicity will be wanting her feeding soon enough.”

Mary Eustis had coffee made when I rolled out in the morning. I had kissed Jessie and held Felicity for a few minutes leaving them snuggled in the bed.

“Mary Eustis, I want to thank you. You were my teacher and now I am my wife’s teacher. There was never a wiser person than you.”

“Thanks Sam, I had joy and more teaching you. Go along now so Kenny can get home. I dreamed the herd has made good progress so you will be back in your wife’s bed within three nights.”

The herd had made good progress. Feed over the trail had been short, so the drover pushed the cattle right along. On the third day, it was decided that they would come through the last pass late that night. We made the south side of the pass about seven o’clock and let the cattle settle into their rest. They would be up to stretch about ten.

Instead of letting them settle back for the night, we kept them on their feet and started moving them along. The moon was bright, the herd was tired and hungry, and it had been back about noon when they had left the last waterhole in the river.

It was a short jaunt to the north peak and then down the trail onto the home range. They immediately spread out onto the valley floor. It was a mile to the nearest water and they could smell it. Too tired from their journey to stampede, it gave all the cattle a chance to drink without trampling each other. A few started grazing, but most laid down. Did they sense they were home? They acted it. We made the ranch house for breakfast.

“Mary Eustis, I am home.” This was Kenny speaking to his woman. You would not know there was affection between the two, unless you listened closely to the inflection in his voice.

“Welcome home again Kenny. Not gone so long this time.” Her voice held the same quality as she smiled.

Mary Eustis turned to me. “Your wife is nursing the papoose. Join her, if you wish.”

Kenny was making introductions of the drover and George Wilcox. Gramp came forward, saying he was glad George had arrived safely. Jessie came out of our room holding Felicity and was introduced to Kenny. “Miz Jessie, I feel I know you already. I hungered to read your letters as much as Sam did. I think I cried when you said you wouldn’t be writing no more.”

George picked up on this, wondering when Jessie wrote to me and Kenny. “Jessie Comstock stopped writing when she married your son. She did as she should as a faithful wife. Neither of us knew she was with child until Sam was out of prison. Chester told me all about it when he was working to get a pardon for me. Eat up folks, the coffee is getting thicker as we sit.”

Pete and Hattie came in and had coffee, being introduced to George. Three months ago as the snow left the range, this range had been almost bare of cattle. People too as well, except for Pete and sometimes Hattie when she came out from Button Box to be with him.

The ranch house was repaired and it housed two couples and a baby. There was food growing in one side valley and the range was blanketed with cattle, some belonging to the braves and squaws that had had a measure of faith that Kenny Ryeback would someday return. The bunkhouse held hands that would care for both animals and people. Peace was upon us.

---

I was finishing my last coffee one morning in September, when Mary Eustis bent over me and whispered. “Ride out to the waterfall where we met months ago. I have to speak.” I looked up at her, but she had turned back to the stove. It was a couple hours later that I saddled Jim and headed more south than west, knowing I could circle around to the waterfall. I didn’t climb up to the pool where I had seen Mary Eustis dive in and rise up out of the water walking toward me.

I dozed in the sunlight until, “Sam, Sam, come up.” I hurriedly made the climb.

Mary Eustis had found a place to sit and indicated where I should, a few feet away. She didn’t say anything and seemed to be gathering words. “Mary Eustis, just say what you need to.”

She didn’t get to the point directly. “Sam, very rarely I don’t know which path I am to follow. This time I’m asking you to tell me. It involves many people, now and in the future.” Now she paused and then looked into my eyes. “Sam, I taught you how to make love to a woman. Sometimes a man succeeds at it better than expected. What I am saying is that I’m carrying your child.” She was silent while I assimilated this.

“I thought I was beyond my ability to conceive. My body had indicated both yes and no for a few months. Apparently it was yes, I still was able. What do you want me to do? It is a minor problem to terminate my condition. I have the knowledge to do this.”

“What will Kenny say if you carry the baby? Will he know it isn’t his?”

“I will not keep the knowledge from him. At some point I will tell him. You must think of your wife as well. What will she do if she finds out?”

“It might strain our relationship a great deal, but I don’t think she would leave me. Especially after she is reminded that she was another man’s wife when this came about. I think Kenny and his feelings are the biggest problem. Have you ever promised to be his only?”

“Not until he arrived here from prison. He knows I have at times had need. I was where I could fulfill them. He wasn’t, which will color his thinking. He thinks much of your wife and of your daughter. He is a thinking man and would contemplate long before acting to bring hurt to them.”

“What do your dreams tell you? They have never withheld a path to follow about a situation of this magnitude before.”

“This has to be your decision.”

I turned my back on Mary Eustis and let my mind drift. A decision came to me after a few minutes. “I will tell him. He has sworn he will never kill again, so he won’t consider killing me. He loves you so he will not turn you out. He feels almost the same for Jessie for her letters gave him the courage to complete his sentence for he wanted to meet her someday. He will not bring pain to her. Let’s go home now, Mary Eustis.”

“I have to go to Button Box. I will see you this evening. Sam I believe you have made a wise decision.”

Jessie had the noon meal ready when I returned. She told me that Mary Eustis was in town. “Where have you been today?”

“Just riding and thinking about life and how happy I am with you here. I hope it continues. Where’s Kenny?”

“He’s cleaning out a waterhole over west of here.”

I wondered, could Kenny have seen me meet Mary Eustis. He might have. The range was big, but on a day like today, a person could pick up movement miles away. “I’ll mosey over that way and give him a hand.”

I was calm when I came up to the man that had mentored me. “Kenny, we have to talk. Talk about Mary Eustis.”

“This have anything to do with meeting her at the pool. I saw you both head that way earlier.”

“Yeah, in a way.”

“Well spill it, boy. Don’t keep a body waiting. She’s some woman. You aren’t running off with her are you?”

“No Kenny, that’s not the problem. Mary Eustis is two months pregnant and you’ve only been home a month. It’s me that had to tell you, seeing as it is me that made her that way.”

“You force her?”

“No Kenny, you know better than that. She came to me and at the time it seemed like she had a good reason. She said she was a person who dreamed.”

“I know about her dreams. Maybe you better go into a little more detail.”

“I went to the pool the first day I was on the ranch. Pat was with me, but he stayed at the bottom of the falls. I climbed to the top. Mary Eustis dove into the water and swam across the pool to me. When she stepped out unclothed, I thought I was seeing a goddess. She dressed and we talked. She told me she knew I didn’t know women. She said she would teach me so when I had one of my own, I would know how to satisfy her.

“Three days later, she came to my bed. I honestly thought she was beyond child bearing age. Today she said she thought the same. We coupled maybe ten times in the next two weeks, and then I wasn’t welcome anymore. What we did has borne fruit. My decision to tell you. Your decision what you are going to do about it.”

“You’re thinking of Jessie, aren’t you?”

“Some. I’m thinking of you and Mary Eustis as well.”

“You got that flask with you that you carry to keep Pat happy?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, haul it out and we’ll drink it. We’ll decide what we do when we finish it.”

“Kenny, I just can’t do it. I don’t drink, remember?”

“Man of principles, aren’t you? Okay, I’ll drink it while we discuss this.” We sat down and watched the water clear in the mud where Kenny had mucked out the waterhole. “Son, I lived for the day I could come home and make Mary Eustis mine. She told me about times when the urge to have a man overwhelmed her. She named a couple. She also said there was one she couldn’t name. I suspect that was you, so I’m not all that surprised. You going to tell your wife that you got a kid growing in another woman?”

“No. No point really. This happened when Jessie was married to another man. It could cause a lot of unhappiness if she found out though, so no, I’m not going to tell her.”

“That’s wise, Son. I don’t want her hurt either. So you’re planning on me claiming the boy?”

“Boy or girl, I don’t know which.” Kenny didn’t seem too upset. “Will you claim the child?”

“Let me finish this whisky while I think.” The flask was emptied at an amazing rate. Gurgle after gurgle. “I guess I will. I tell you what. When the boy is born, we’ll name it whatever name Mary Eustis chooses. Give the boy the surname of Silvercloud. That’s done when a white man seeds a squaw. No Jones or no Ryeback on record. We own this ranch together. He’ll be called one or the other because he belongs to the ranch until he comes of age and then he can choose his own name.”

“Sounds like a plan. You got one drink left in that flask? This calls for breaking my pledge just a little bit. Seal the deal, or something.” I took a small swig and choked. Kenny went into gales of laughter. We got back into our saddles, still partners, and headed for supper.

Chapter Three 

“Kenny, you’ve been drinking instead of working. Sam, have you broken your pledge? I can smell whisky on you too.”

“Mary Eustis, I just took a swig. Kenny and I came to an agreement and thought more than a handshake was needed.”

“What was the agreement?” I looked at Jessie, who had asked a question I had no answer for.

Thinking fast, and seeing Hattie and Pete coming across the yard, I came up with, “Kenny has agreed to give Pete and Hattie a deed to the little valley where the line shack is. My suggestion.”

Kenny stared at me, not saying anything. Pete came in and put a bucket of potatoes on the sideboard. “Tops are dying. Time to dig these. They are small, but there will be enough to get us all through the winter.”

“Pete, Sam made the suggestion to giving you the deed to the valley where you live. The only restriction is, if you ever pull up stakes, the land comes back to the ranch.” Kenny was pretty damn fast at thinking, himself.

---

Cold weather was coming. I had never considered it, but Kenny said we should cut hay to feed the horses. There were some fields off the road to Button Box that the cattle hadn’t got to. Kenny was in town and hired a crew to come out and cut and build stacks for the winter supply. It would have been nice to do this for the cattle, but with the size of our herd, now it was impossible.

We made our gather of cattle to trail to the Indian Reservation headquarters. The Indian commissioner would parcel out the cattle as rations to those under his supervision. The Silvercloud clan was on this side of the reservation, and we subcontracted to see that they were fed. The commissioner wasn’t aware of how close the clan and the Ryeback ranch were involved. Selling the Indian’s cattle under the Ryeback iron, money came through for them as well. We would have cared for the clan to the last cow if need be.

This was our first sale and the money was welcomed. So far, I was the one who had supplied the funds to keep the ranch going and my pouch was empty. “Guess we better check our reserves, Sam.”

“What do you mean? You got money hidden up somewhere?”

“Yeah. When the woman I was fighting over started talking against me, I sold off some cattle and hid the money. I figured I’d die in prison and no one would get it. Especially her. If I did survive, I’d need it to get the ranch going again. If the ranch was gone, I’d sneak in here and retrieve it.”

“Kenny, you never said a word.”

“I know. Think about it, though. I’m in prison. This young cattle rustler becomes my cellmate and is only in for two years while I’ve got another year and a half after he gets out. Would I tell him about some money I had stashed?”

“No I wouldn’t. Don’t blame you a bit. How come now though?”

“We aren’t going to see any more cash money until greenup in the spring. Even then, if the cattle don’t winter well, it’ll be fall before we do. I guess I’d trust you more than I would my mother, you’ve done that well by me, so let’s go digging. We’ll need a pail.”

We went down into a small cellar that was dug under the north side of the ranch house. There was a door with strap metal hinges that just swung closed. This was where we had stored the vegetables. Sand had been brought in and covered the floor. There was an air vent that went up the outside of the house. The whole area was cool and dry.

Kenny got his bearings and started digging. It wasn’t long before his shovel clinked something and he got down on his knees, pawing the sand aside. The coins had been in a cloth sack which was totally disintegrated. He was picking up handfuls of coins and throwing them into the bucket. There were both gold and silver. The silver coins were black with tarnish. The gold were just a dark bronze color.

“That’s about it.” He kept pawing around and came up with two more, one gold and one silver. He commenced filling in the hole, raking the top smooth. “It’s been a good hiding place. Let’s get up into the kitchen and count it.” We went into the bank the next day and made a deposit.

“What are we having for Harvest Day?” This was George Wilcox asking.

“Beef, I expect.”

“Sam, let’s look for something different. There’s a hog ranch over on the other side of Button Box. I’m going over there and see if they got a pig we can roast. If we can find one that’ll dress out 60-75 pounds, we’ll build us a pit and roast the sucker.”

“Okay by me. I’ll go with you.” We took a pack horse and headed out in the morning. Two miles beyond the town we topped out and looked down into a bowl shaped valley of about forty acres. Hogs all over enclosed by a stockade fence and there had to be between three and four hundred of them. Along one side were a bunch of open-sided sheds made out of slabs for the sows to birth in. Four huge cast iron pots were suspended from some tripods hanging close over the fire pits.

Near each one of these was a raised platform that held wooden scalding tubs. Over each tub there was a raised beam with a rope dangling from it. Each end of the round beam was nestled into a “v” and had four holes bored into it. George was familiar and explained the operation.

“The water is heated in the pot and when hot, pailed into the wooden scalding tub. While the water is heating, the hog is killed and suspended over the tub. Wooden tubs are best for this, as the water doesn’t cool off as quick. When the scalding tub is filled, the pig is lowered into the water. Immediately the pig is raised and rosin is worked into the bristles of the hog to loosen and make them stick together.

“The hog is lowered again and this time it stays in the hot water until the bristles are loosened and can be pulled or scraped off the hog. See that cover for the tub? The pig is raised out of the water and the cover is put over it. That’s now your work area that you stand on as you scrape the bristles off the hog.

“That finished, you open up the hog and take the guts out, saving whatever parts you want to keep, such as the heart and liver. It’s wet, slippery work, but two people can do this surprisingly fast.”

“You mentioned the four holes in the end of the beam. What are those for?”

“The beam is a primitive pulley and it takes two men to lift a big hog. There are two stakes. One man puts his stake into a hole and pulls down. The other man catches the next hole and pulls down. The rope winds around the beam until the pig is in the air to where it can be worked on. The last stake is tied off and there you go. It is almost as hard to get a pig down especially if it weighs three or four hundred pounds. You just reverse the process.”

“We don’t need one that big.”

“No. I imagine we can take our pick.” We rode up to the small house. A large woman came out. She had on bib overalls and a woolen shirt. At forty-five or so, she was no beauty.

“You after buying a hog?”

“Just a small one ma’am. Something we can roast on a day of thanksgiving.”

“Well, ride around out there and find what you want. You want to butcher it here? I got everything. You need to help, ’cause I got nobody else.”

George grinned. “It’s been awhile, but I can manage. How come you got no hand?”

“Husband died couple of months ago. I can’t get no one to help. When I do things, I want them done right. Had one young feller, an’ I guess he thought I was something to mount. I wasn’t. Had another one and he went about chasing the hogs for the fun of it. I run him off might sudden. Thems hogs are animals same as me and I ain’t having them abused even though I’m killing them eventually.”

“You got a sticking knife? Do any harm to kill it in the field and drag it in?”

“Pick one near the fence and pull it around would be fine. Don’t want to upset the others. Here, use this small caliber pistol to shoot it. Hogs are used to the noise and won’t get scared. Take a bait of grain to tease him with.”

George and I eased across the pasture. “That’s the one I want.” It was near the fence and he dabbed his rope on it. It squealed some at being caught. George was off his mount and had the grain under the pig’s nose. He loosened the rope just a little and the pig started snuffling the grain. George had the gun in his hand and the knife in his teeth.

Lining up the gun just above the snout and at the same angle, he fired into the head lower than the eyes. The pig went down and George tossed the gun to me. Quick like, he plunged the knife in just back of the junction of the head and neck on the underside, looking for the jugular. He turned the knife back and forth once and blood came spiriting out. “We’ll wait a few minutes until it bleeds out.”

I had butchered many a beef, but this was entirely different. “How come you shot him like that? Why didn’t you pop him the same’s with a steer?”

“Pigs are different. They have a massive bone in their forehead. Bullet like this would bounce right off. You have to get it in where the bone is thinner. There’s a trick to it.” I agreed there must be when we got the pig to the work area and George was complimented heartily.

“Now that’s what I call a professional job. Never saw it done prettier. You sure do know pigs.”

“Thanks Ma’am. As I say, it has been awhile. I grew up and my pappy did this for a living. I married up with a woman who was into cattle, which turned out to be the worst decision of my life.”

“My name is Bertha, Bertha Bates. Married are you?”

“Yes, but same’s not. Wife left and headed west to her brother’s. I said good riddance when she took off.”

“You living around here?”

“I come up the trail with Sam here. He owns half the Ryeback ranch with Kenny Ryeback. Sam’s married to my former daughter-in-law. My son is dead and I wanted to keep track of my granddaughter. I been living in with him.”

“That’s fine, keeping track of them that belongs to you. Water’s hot, let’s see what you can do at butchering.”

I stood and watched the operation. George anticipated every move that was to be made and he looked as if he enjoyed himself immensely. I wandered around watching the hogs out in the field. There was one sizable area that the pigs used for an outhouse. Not like cattle with their dropping any and everywhere, pigs chose a section and returned to it when they needed to. It was pretty damned rank, but the pigs stayed clean. This was if they had the room to have the chance.

We went away with Bertha watching us leave. She looked sad standing looking after us. George was pretty quiet as well. He was only ten years older than Bertha, but he was married. His only comment was that he had a most fun day. We had more than the pig we came for when we left. Bertha had pressed on us a couple slabs of bacon and some chunks of salt pork fatback. “A full four inches deep. I do have quality hogs.” That was her brag.

On the way back to the ranch, George was telling me about when he was courting Sarah. “Her family was against our marriage from the beginning. They raised cattle down in west Texas. My family raised hogs, which made us lower than sheepherders to them. Why she chose me, I’ll never really know. I suspect now that she might have been with child for she lost a fetus about two months after we were married.

“Her family was down on both of us even more at that time. I finally picked up and we ended all association with them and moved, settling on the land which you bought. Five years later Brad was born, but I was never really a part of him. Brad was Sarah’s kid and I had no say at all. I think she was hoping I would die and then it would be just him and her. He was no good you know. Sarah had me turn the ranch over to him when he started courting Jessie, but that didn’t straighten him out.

“I think Jessie is the winner in all of this. She has you and you are giving Felicity a wonderful home. Even if Sarah showed up now, I wouldn’t let her back into my life. Oh well, I wouldn’t expect she would look to find me. Let’s move it along. Felicity is six months old now and if I’m gone a day, she amazes me how much she has changed when I see her again.”

We had us quite a feast. Mary Eustis had sent word to her tribe that we were having a pow-wow. The Indians showed up with a deer and various items that on the surface looked like hell, but were surprisingly tasty. Over the years they had developed ways to preserve berries and nuts to supplement what they hunted. They had dried plants to add to their stews as some of their meat was dried and or smoked. Mary Eustis, more of the white men now, made pies and one big cake.

I made sure there was some whisky available which Mary Eustis rationed out. In the early evening the Indians performed some tribal dances. One was to honor those women who were pregnant. Mary Eustis was, of course. Hattie, red-faced got up and joined her. There were two squaws, one decidedly so and another that didn’t show yet. Jessie whispered to me, “I was going to tell you later tonight, but I think I had better join the others.”

Mary Eustis looked to see how I was taking this. I grinned and stuck out my chest. I now had two women to carry on the Jones’ bloodline. I figured in my head and decided that a year and one or two months between Felicity and our child coming, would not be too soon. It was a great day and evening.

In some way I believe Mary Eustis was stronger than Kenny. All of us, for that matter. She convinced Kenny to start teaching the younger Indians the white man’s language. They lived too far to make the trip often, so she convinced Hattie and Pete to let the whole tribe pitch their teepees in their valley for the winter. The Indians would return to their own land in the spring. This was great for me, as I went about learning the Indians’ language while they were learning mine. I knew my son by Mary Eustis would be speaking both tongues and I wanted to be able to converse in either language with him.

George was helping out Bertha Bates more and more. Bringing home the bacon was a truism for he always came back with something from the smokehouse. One weekend when he left for the hog ranch, he told me he wouldn’t be home that night. He was staying over at the widow woman’s. “I’m likely going to be moving my things in with her. Before you say anything, yes we are living as man and wife, even though I can’t marry her.

“In the spring, I’m going to be expanding her establishment by putting in a bigger smokehouse and we’ll be keeping twice as many hogs. I’m putting up some of the cattle money I received from you.”

“Sarah?”

“Nope, ain’t having any.” I hoped he was right.

Gramp and Pat were ruling the bunkhouse and the cowhands that slept there. There were only three white men besides themselves. The Indian cowhands were living with their families in the teepees set up in Hattie and Pete’s valley.

Kenny wasn’t out on the range at all. He had set up the school and there were four other students that rode in from another ranch. Pat said it would never work, putting Indian and white children together. Kenny ruled the schoolroom with a firm hand and after the kids saw there was no favoritism inside, it extended to playtime outside as well. It may have helped somewhat to have me there some of the time when I wasn’t busy with ranch work. I had missed schooling when I was younger, and it was like I had a do over.

---

Trouble though, is never far away. Cold was coming on and it was getting ready to storm. Pat and one Indian were out riding around the limits of where we were holding the cattle for the winter. Pat spotted where a few head of cattle had been cut out and herded west toward the mountains. He directed the Indian cowhand to head for the ranch and get me and whoever else was available. Kenny, me and two more Indians hit the saddle and headed for where we expected Pat would be.

We could see him hunkered up on the rim of a brushy draw. “There’s more of them, but they haven’t figured out how to get out from under my gun. They would soon, I expect. Glad you’re here.”

Kenny headed around one side and I went the other side of the draw. I came on some wagon tracks and shouted to Kenny. “They’ve got a wagon.” Just then a man rose from behind a rock with his gun firing. I tipped mine up and shot. My lead found him high in the breastbone and he toppled back down into the ravine. I stood over him and could see the man was in his late thirties or early forties. He wouldn’t get any older.

Then I heard firing from the opposite side of the ravine. From farther down the draw, I saw a horse top out and race away. I looked to where Kenny had shot last, and he waved at me. He did a chopping motion, so I knew he had killed the man he was shooting at. I wondered how many more there were. There had to be some if there was a wagon hidden by the brush.

I eased through the brush and could see two scared youngsters standing by the wagon. “Drop your guns,” I shouted.

“We ain’t got any, Mister.” A thin, high voice came back at me.

“How many in your party? Name them and tell me where they are.” I was keeping under cover, expecting someone would be shooting at me.

The voice came again. “Bob came after you. Burt went up the other side where the last shooting was and Mort lit out. There’s just us twins and my sick Mom here now.”

Pat had come up behind me and said he would cover me if I went in. Slowly I dodged closer. There were two saddled horses ground reined. “Where’s your Mom?”

“She’s sick and laying in the wagon.” Just then a woman looked over the side of the buckboard.

“You kill them?”

“Yeah. One of them your man?”

“No. I was traveling with the one who ran. One of the ones you killed was his brother and I didn’t know the other one. He was just traveling with us. None of them were much. I guess I ain’t either.”

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Consumption. I’m getting weaker everyday.” She started coughing and her head disappeared.

I had some decisions to make and it was getting colder all of the time. “Pat you and Kenny get the horses hitched to the wagon. I’ll have the Indians round up the cattle and push them back to the herd. I guess I had better load those two dead men on their horses and take them to the ranch. It’ll be dark by the time we get there and the sheriff won’t want to be coming all the way back out here.

It took some doing. The cattle had got into the brush and took some chasing. One came through the camp and Pat had to tackle one of the twins out of the way. They fell on the ground back of the wagon. The youngsters appeared to be thirteen or fourteen and this one knew how to swear. “Get off me old man. I’da’ got outa’ the way if you’da’ warned me. Besides that, your breath smells like horse crap.” Pat just muttered something and I smiled.

The wagon, which was a heavy buckboard, went up and out of the ravine. The old plugs were rested and made it without any trouble. The wind was coming onto our backs which helped us move right along, cold up here in the open as it were. We had reached the half-way point when we met up with Pete and two more Indians. The six head of cattle headed out at a run for the regular herd and they were left to find their own way.

Mary Eustis, now heavy with child, was waiting for us, concerned that there would be injuries. Jessie was by her side. We unloaded the wagon and the woman was put onto a day bed. There wasn’t much to her wasted frame and I suspected that Mary Eustis was going to have her hands full if she was to save her.

Jessie went about feeding us. The two youngsters didn’t even take off their outer clothes. They did know how to shovel in the vittles though Jessie said when they had finished, “Gramp and Pat, you give up your bunks in the foreman’s room and sleep in the bunks out with the cowhands. There isn’t room in the house for them. You keep the fire going so’s nobody’s cold. Better for them kids to have a bunk.”

I learned a couple of facts in the morning from Mary Eustis. She had been with the sick patient most of the night. The woman, Rachel Bellows, was very sick and Mary Eustis said her condition was hopeless. She might live a week. The two youngsters were girls, Cynthia and Judith, just turned fourteen.

We had put them in the bunkhouse last night thinking they were boys. They must be scared out of their wits. I headed over. The three Indians and two other hands we had for the winter were just inside the door. Pat and Gramp were by the foreman’s door talking through it to the girls inside. “Come on out, kids. You have to have a bath before breakfast. It is hot out here, so you can come out undressed. There’s just us men here.” Smirks were on both the old men’s faces.

Pat muttered to me, “Tell me I have bad breath.”

“Come on men, leave be. Those two inside are girls.”

“I know that. That’s why we’re funnin’ with ’em.”

“Well, let it go. Their mother is dying and here they are in a bunkhouse full of men.” I looked at Gramp. “How’d you like it if this was happening to Jessie?” The two backed off and I went and knocked. I ducked when a bullet ripped through the top of the door before I could speak. “Judith, Cynthia, this is Sam. Those two buzzards aren’t going to bother you anymore. I’ve come to take you to breakfast. Leave the gun inside.”

The door opened and two beautiful young girls stood there. The clothes they had on were ragged and old but on them they looked fine. I could see their heavy clothes stacked neatly on the end of the bunks that were made up. I turned my attention to the nearest girl as she looked to say something. She had let her hair down, and with no hat on, it flowed long and auburn down her back. “How’s Mama?”

“Not well. Come I’ll take you to her.” Pat and Gramp hadn’t dressed their feet yet. As the girls went by they stomped on the old men’s toes.

One of the almost identical two girls paused and came back and got in Pat’s face. “Know this, old man. Someday when you’re bathing in the creek, you’re going to find your clothes have picked up and flown away. Count on it!”

When we reached the dining room and found we were alone, I asked, “You two got any relatives besides your mother?”

There was a quiet “no” from both.

“Well you just collected yourself two grandpaps. They had some fun and you didn’t back down, so that makes you all right in their book. You got no way to move on and you’re too young to be on your own. We’re kind of a funny bunch around here. We got Indians, old men, women and kids. More on the way. Jessie is pregnant and you saw Mary Eustis. Jessie is my wife and Mary Eustis is Kenny’s squaw. She is also the finest person I have ever met.

“You’ll be meeting Kenny’s cousin and his wife, Hattie, who live not far from here. In the little valley he owns, there are more Indians pitched for the winter. Pat and Gramp are the best of the bunch, so you’re going to have to let them have a little fun at your expense. In return, they’ll love you and protect you with their lives, if need be.”

“What’s the name of the man you call Gramps?”

“It’s Chet Comstock. He really is Jessie’s grandfather. I did him and Jessie a favor one time and they went to bat for me. It couldn’t keep me out of prison, though they tried.”

“You been in prison? What for?”

“Cattle rustling.”

“That’s what you shot Burt and Bob for. Couldn’t you have cut them some slack?”

“Hey, they tried to kill me and they were shooting at Pat. Kenny came awful close to getting killed as well. I wasn’t about to do no talking while that was going on. You two don’t seem too upset about their death.”

“I’m not. Burt was always trying to get a peek at me. Mom was going to get us away from them when we got to the first town.”

“Enough said. Which one of you is Cynthia and which one Judith?”

“I’m Judith.” They spoke in unison and giggled only as young girls could. They repeated a minute later both claiming to be Cynthia. I laughed with them, knowing I could figure it out someday.

Jessie came into the room, asking about the gunshot she heard. “Pat and Gramp were having some fun with Judith and Cynthia. Pat, the damned fool, left his gun under his pillow last night and the girls were getting back at them. No harm done.”

Jessie turned to the girls. “Your mother is awake and wants to see you. I’ll dish up food for the men and then bring you in some plates so you can eat with her. Mary Eustis is with her now and has made her comfortable.”

We had made a cook shack out at the end of the house where we fed the hands. I most usually ate with them at breakfast and nooning, taking my meals at supper with my wife in the main house. Pat preferred this arrangement and as he and Gramp were pards, he ate there as well.

“The woman, Rachel, isn’t going to make it. Mary Eustis and I have promised to look after the twins until they are old enough to go out on their own.”

“Do you really want to take on the chore, Jessie? You have one small child and about to have another in a few months.”

“Don’t matter, they are orphans. You were an orphan and you must know how hard it is to cope. It is doubly hard for girls as young as these twins are. I’m going to be a big sister to them.”

“Okay, okay. I just wondered how you felt. I’m glad. I was afraid I was going to have to convince you.”

Rachel Bellows lasted six days before she coughed her life away. Mary Eustis was feeding her a potion so she passed away without too much pain. The girls knew how much their mother had suffered before coming under her care and were ever grateful. Five days before Christmas, we built a bonfire up on the hill to thaw the ground so we could dig the grave. If this had been the middle of January it would have been impossible.

The day of the burying turned sunny, but cold. The preacher came out from Button Box to say the words over the poor soul who was leaving two young daughters behind her. Mary Eustis and two of the squaws who were living at Hattie and Pete’s prepared the body, dressing her in the dress the twins had indicated from her meager belongings. There was a large crowd of mourners. George Wilcox and Bertha Bates were there. Pete and Hattie of course, and all of us here on the ranch.

The Indians stood off to one side and as the pine box was lowered, a soft chant coming from them to go along with the words the preacher was intoning. I had seen a mouth organ in Gramp’s possible sack, but had never given it any thought to him being musical. As the preacher finished his words, the haunting strains of “Lorena” came floating from where he was standing with the cowhands.

Pat indicated that he and Gramp would close the grave and for us to go down to the ranch house. “Lorena” came to us again as we filed away. Jessie whispered to me that was the only song her grandfather knew how to play well.

Chapter Four

Cindy and Judy were pretty subdued for the next three days. Christmas was almost here and the sadness was on them. I was trying to build the girls a room in the loft so they could be by themselves. I caught them at breakfast. “Tonight you will be sleeping on robes in front of the fireplace. I’ll be lying with you. We have to talk.”

They looked at each other. Judy spoke, but I knew it was really Cindy speaking, “Sam, Jessie ain’t going to like that at all.”

“I told you we were a mixed up bunch. You are going to be living here so you might as well know what is expected of you. You can’t know without some background.”

“Okay, but you watch out for Cindy. She just adores older men.” Then came the giggles. I shook my head.

I came back with, “Cindy, I know it is you who is talking. I know which one of you is Cindy and which one is Judy.” This shocked the two girls. Sure they were identical, except they were mirror images of each other. Cindy was left-handed and Judy was right. Sometimes it took me a minute to figure out which was which, but it never took long.

“Jessie is going to get you under the blankets and I’m going to be lying on top between you covered with a buffalo robe. I’ll have to get up to feed the fireplace during the night and I won’t want to wake you. A lot of what I’m telling you is history. Some about the Indians and a little about the people who live here. Mary Eustis has a chore for you and I’ll see you this evening.”

Mary Eustis sent them over to Pete’s valley to thank the Indians for attending their mother’s funeral, just saying this was highly unusual for Indians to attend a white person’s burying. We figured that the three cowhands who were Indians had told their people about the two girls and their loss.

I came down to find Pat and Gramp standing in the ranch yard laughing. “What’s going on?”

“Them two girls stole your Jim horse. I thought you said no one but you could ride that animal?”

“I didn’t think anyone could.”

“Well them girls saw you slipping him some sugar and they copied you. They been all over him for the last two days. They been tying a blanket on him and getting on and off. This morning they came out, threw a blanket on him and we boosted them on. Jim, he just raised his head and cantered off. I tell you, boy, things are going to be different around here with them females. I don’t know as we will survive or not.”

I was anxious, but not overly concerned. We didn’t see the girls until the middle of the afternoon. Both came happily into the barn and slipped off. They now were both dressed in buckskin dresses and leggings. I laughed for they smelled like the Indians. The dresses were none too clean and had been worn, but all in all it was a nice gift.

“Sam, we have to go shopping if you have any money.” Both girls looked expectantly at me.

“Well what did you have in mind?”

“I thought maybe we could go buy some cloth to give to the Indians. The only Indians that knew what we were saying were the kids that Kenny has been teaching. They said it was a wonderful idea. The Indian teepees and everything in them are so dark and dreary. If we gave the squaws some bright cloth, they would be so happy.”

“Well, I was planning on going into Button Box tomorrow. I have to buy presents myself. Maybe we can find something in the General Store. Go ask Mary Eustis and Jessie if they have a list. Oh, and while I have you right here, you know you should be horsewhipped for stealing Jim.”

“But Sam, Jim said that he needed the exercise and you haven’t ridden him in days. I think you should be paying us to take care of him for you.” Pat and Gramp were correct. These two young females were turning the ranch upside down.

The girls were curled in front of the fire which was blazing away. I lay down between them and they giggled. I ignored this. “First, someday people may ask how Kenny came to have this valley for a ranch. It is almost unheard of for a man to have deeded land especially of this amount that the ranch encompasses.

“It goes back to just after the last Indian uprising. The tribe was totally defeated and the Interior Department set aside the land where the reservation is at present. At that time this valley where our ranch is located, was included. But there are always crooks in the world and the commissioner who managed the reservation was one of the worst.

“He had a friend named Boyle, who was extremely wealthy, so the commissioner sold his friend the land here in the valley and pushed the Indians back into the hills where the Silvercloud clan, now only remnants of a tribe, still live. Boyle wanted a solid deed from the territory and the commissioner arranged that as well. The Interior Department started an investigation a couple of years later and the Commissioner was removed.

“Boyle never gained much either, for within five years he was struck by lightning while riding across the valley and died on the land he so coveted. He had an older aunt and Kenny approached her about buying the holdings. Kenny may have mentioned how powerful the Indian Gods were while talking with her and that it was so unusual to have lightning strike a man on a horse. Was it the Indian Gods? Long story short, this became the Kenny Ryeback ranch.

“Kenny hasn’t had that amount of good luck either. He fell in love with a married woman and her husband was killed in a fight over her. This landed him in Territorial Prison where I met him. There was another force at work before that happened, which is more difficult to explain.

“An Indian maiden was in love with Kenny. She had the presence of mind and a dream of the future to know that the best for her people held with Kenny, who now owned the land that used to belong to the Silvercloud clan. While he was away, she held to that belief. She waited for him, saving some of his cattle and the horse herd for when he returned from prison.”

“That’s Mary Eustis, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Of all the people I know and have ever met, Mary Eustis is the most intelligent.”

“You sound as if you are in love with her.”

“I am, but not for the reason you might think. She has done much for me. I treated her people in a fair manner and she rewarded me by inducting me into the Silvercloud clan. This makes me a brother to all of the Indians and they trust me to speak for them. Someday I may have to defend their interest before the white man.

“And she has done more for me. Look at Felicity. When I first saw her, she was wasting away, being dependent on a wet nurse for survival. Mary Eustis following another of her dreams had given me a potion that corrected the problem immediately. This made it possible for me to marry Jessie and bring her here to live with me.

“Kenny Ryeback, who holds the land here, is interesting in that he is Mary Eustis’s mate. He has been a long time friend of her people by letting them use his land for their hunting ground. They owned it in years past and lost it. Now they have use of it again and actually are better for it in that he allows them to own and run some cattle to feed their people. You will see the Silvercloud clan increase in population now that they all have access to a plentiful food source. Already there are three squaws with child, one of who is Mary Eustis.

“Chet Comstock, who is my grandfather by marriage, has done much for me as well. He and Jessie caught me, along with two other men, killing one of their beef. I could have been hung, but instead they spoke for me and I was only sent to Territorial Prison for two years.”

“We know all about that. Jessie told us how you prevented her and Gramp from being killed. Why wouldn’t they speak up for you?”

“Whatever. Did she tell you about writing to me in prison?”

“Of course. She was in love with you. She admitted to making a mistake and getting married, but it all turned out great when you came after her and you asked her to be your wife. You have taken little Felicity for your own and that means so much to her. Tell us about George Wilcox who was at Mama’s funeral?”

“He is Felicity’s grandfather and came north with us when he sold out and didn’t want to travel west with his wife. He blames her for allowing their son, Brad, to go bad. Not only that, she wouldn’t have anything to do with Jessie, and has never seen, or had the desire to see, her grandchild. He, on the other hand, came north with Jessie and helped her and Felicity while I was with the herd.”

“So he isn’t married to the woman named Bertha?”

“No, but he is happier with her than he ever was with his wife. One other thing you should know. Has Jessie said anything about her father?”

“Not too much. She said she thinks he will be getting married in the spring and is hoping to travel down there to be with the woman as her matron of honor.”

“I didn’t know that. I mean that she wants to go south. She will be big with child by that time.”

“You better plan on it, because she has already said Cindy and I could go and be in the wedding. I bet you didn’t know you were going to be in the wedding too. That was my idea. You’re going to be best man.”

“Judy, why did you do that? Christ, John hates my guts.”

“No he doesn’t. I think he thinks he has a very sharp customer for his son-in-law. Jessie showed me the letter she got from him.”

“Well we will see. I guess we had better go to sleep if we are going into town tomorrow. Girls, you wouldn’t have any idea what I should get Jessie for a Christmas present do you?”

“We do. A cameo just like Mary Eustis has. Jessie said she always admired it and wants one just like it. She just knows she would treasure a cameo as much as Mary Eustis does.”

“And what would you two girls like for a present?”

“Horses to call our own. Big ones just like Jim. We don’t even need saddles and will just ride them like the Indians do.”

“I’ll talk it over with Pat and Gramp. It could happen.”

“Thank you. It’s in the bag. Sam, you didn’t tell us about you and Kenny. Tell us before we snuggle down and sleep.”

“Not much to tell. We have swapped favors back and forth and here I am.”

“What favors?”

“First I let him read the letters Jessie sent me. In return he taught me how to read and write and all about life on a ranch. Then I did some of the hard work for him that we were required to do every day. I got him out of prison early so he could come home and resume where he had left off eighteen years earlier. He sent me up here to get the ranch back in shape and I was able to connect with the Indians, who were his major worry while he was locked up.

“That took some money that I came into and I used the rest of it to buy cattle to stock the place. In return, he has deeded me a half interest in the ranch and has made me his partner. Kenny is more wise in the world then most people I know and he has shared that knowledge with me. You would be wise to listen to him whenever he is speaking.”

“We will. We are missing Mom, but I think we have landed in the best place ever. I hope Mom is where she can see us.”

“I think she is. Now go to sleep.”

---

Christmas Eve was wonderful in its simplicity. Kenny read about Jesus’ birth from the bible. We all related a happy memory of some Christmas in the past, or if there wasn’t one some other happy event. Jessie told one about the mother who she barely remembered. Gramp then told how beautiful she was and how much she was loved and adored. “It has been a long time since I had a mother. In the spring Dad is marrying Miss Sylvia and I’ll have a new mom and I am so thrilled. I know Dad will find happiness with her. Sam, you must remember your Mom?”

“I do and Christmas meant a lot to us. At the time Dad was working and my mother was right beside him. My sister, only a year older than me, was my best friend. She had the fairest of skin and curly brown hair which she kept short and had to just shake it to make it fall into place. Dad was a huge man, standing six feet three, and that is who my sister got her hair color and curls from. Mom always decorated the house with pretty paper and popcorn. She baked pies of pumpkin and from mincemeat that she had dried with meat and berries. It all went to hell shortly after when Sis came home sick.”

Judy was curious. “What happened after that?”

“I’ll tell you girls some other time. It was at this time sadness comes on me and tonight I don’t want to talk about it. Someone else tell a story.” I couldn’t help wiping the tears from my eyes.

It was Pat who took up driving the tears away. “I was married once you know. Back before I came out west with the army. I had me a pretty little woman and I loved her much. She was always pulling pranks on me. You know tying my shoe laces together or sompin’ like that. I guess the worst she did was to give me a hair cut. She was always on me to get it done. Well I fell asleep in my chair one time and she told me in the morning she had cut it while I was asleepin.’

“She had and I didn’t know how bad it was until I went to town. She had cut a strip right up the middle front to back. Then she cut it close halfway in the back on one side and close halfway in front on the other. I was a sight and didn’t know how bad I looked until I went into my favorite bar. That’s what turned me on to drinkin’ and here I am, just an old drunk.” There was a twinkle in his eyes and we guessed it was just a story---and that was the point.

Kenny came on making up a story and sharing some facts about his life. “Once upon a time when I was a lot younger I thought I had the world by the tail. I had money, as well as being educated. I came out here from the east as a young man to teach school. Button Box was a lot smaller than it is now and I had just about every kid for miles around under my tutelage. And I had a lot of help from the young mothers who volunteered their time.

“One woman, striking I might add, had more time than others because she didn’t have any children. She was married to a friend of mine. I should have been warned and known better, but I was the darling of the whole community, as I said. As time went on, I was negotiating for the range land here and as luck would have it I was able to purchase it.

“While this was happening, I met Mary Eustis. She was a very pretty young Indian maiden and I was quite flattered that she would look on me with fond eyes. We eventually made love and foolish me she, which I didn’t recognize at that time, was my intended mate. I turned her away, and went back to flirting with my friend’s wife.” He paused, got up and sat on the floor in front of Mary Eustis, who was sitting on a chair. She started playing with his hair and leaned down kissing the top of his head.

He continued, “Cheating and crookedness will always out. My friend’s wife found time to visit me here on the ranch and of course eventually we were caught. A fight ensued and my friend died. I went from being the county’s darling to just another man who cheated and had killed someone. I had two weeks before I was charged with a capital crime. Stories about the woman and me were blown all out of proportion, mostly by her to save her reputation.

“There was only one person who stood by my side. That was Mary Eustis. She talked constantly with me about what was going to happen to me and the ranch. I got in touch with my cousin and turned the ranch over to him. Mary Eustis said she and the ranch would be here when I returned. She promised she would have her and the clan save as much of the livestock as they could. They did and I’m so grateful.

“I was three more weeks locked up in the back of the saloon in a room used for the jail. I could have got out while I was waiting for the territorial judge to get here, but I didn’t. I just couldn’t see myself on the run for the rest of my life. I was surprised at the length of my sentence. I figured they would either hang me or I would get off with manslaughter. I took it and was sent to territorial prison for twenty years.

“My life was hell until one day they dumped a so-called cow thief into my cell. An honest young man who was in here to do his time and get out. A smart young man who given the chance could go out and join society and be an addition to it. We started swapping favors and I was the winner. I was free a year and a half sooner than expected and I had a woman and a ranch to come home to which he helped put back together. I guess the rest of my story is known. This is the best Christmas I have ever had.”

“The best one for me as well, Kenny.” Me too came from everyone sitting in the room. Jessie and I went out onto the verandah and stood looking up at the stars.

Soon Cindy and Judy came out and stood with us. “Judy, don’t you think that bright star is Mama up there looking down on us. Mama knew she was going to die, but somehow I think her faith brought us here where we can be happy and she could go to heaven and not worry.”

“I believe you are right, Cindy. She took care of us just as she promised.” Faith comes in many forms and these girls had a memory of a loving mother to guide them.

Bertha and George were coming for Christmas dinner. They said they were furnishing the meat. We all supposed it would be pork in some form. We were mighty pleased when they unloaded two big copper boilers that held two large iron roasting pots each. Bertha had packed the boilers with live coals around the cast iron pots. The same pots the fowls were roasted in. The capons were brown and juicy. The aroma that wafted through the ranch house when the lids were removed, made your belly rumble.

There were fifteen of us including Felicity sitting at table. Enough for everyone. Bertha had swapped a good sized hog to a German family that raised the larger birds.

How they did it, I’ll never know, but Pat and Gramp had found two fillies in our horse herd and brought them in. They were as identical in size and same in color as horses, as the twins were to each other as women. The twins had wanted “big” but fell in love with their presents immediately. “I didn’t have time to get saddles made, but I found two that you can use until I do.”

“Great, right after dinner we can ride our own mounts to give the Indians their presents.”

“Well, maybe not. They haven’t been ridden since the start of cold weather and may be half wild. Best to let Pat or one of the cowhands smooth them out for a couple of days.”

“You’re no fun. We get to ride Jim, then.”

“No, because I’m going with you. Ask Gramp and Pat if you can borrow their mounts. We wouldn’t be going at all if the snow was any deeper.”

Kenny mounted up and the four of us headed for Pete’s valley. I had two bottles of whisky and so did Kenny. Each of us were carrying a bolt of cloth, thread and a few packets of needles. We were going to have some mighty brightly adorned Indians before the winter was over.

Chapter Five

Mary Eustis birthed a boy on the fifteenth of February. He was large at 9 pounds, 11 ounces. His hair was black, but not coal black like his mother’s. Looking at the baby, you wouldn’t put him as either Indian or white. Mary Eustis named the boy Samson Silvercloud Jones Ryeback. A minute alone I had with her, brought forth the reason for his name.

“The boy will someday be head of the Silvercloud clan and do great things for my people. He also will be respected among your people. His name should be Jones, but I owe much to Kenny and as he is my mate, so his name should be of prominence. It doesn’t matter, for he may take whichever name he feels most comfortable with as he grows older.”

“I am satisfied. He bears the name of my father and that is enough.”

“You are a generous man, Sam, and you too will do much for both peoples in the future. Someday this territory will become a state and you will become instrumental in making it happen.”

“Come Boy, share a drink with me.” Kenny met me when I came out of Mary Eustis’ room. “I have a bottle of brandy that might please your pallet a bit more than whisky. We must toast our son. He will always be more Silvercloud than Jones or Ryeback, so it doesn’t make a difference between us two. We will bring him up as son of Mary Eustis and both do our best for him.” I got drunk that night, much to Jessie’s disgust. I had to promise it wouldn’t happen again. If Jessie and I had a boy, it might happen again. A man had to celebrate a son somehow. Cross that bridge in the future. I knew from the way I felt in the morning, I might restrict the celebration just a little.

Letters were exchanged often between Miss Sylvia and Jessie. I wasn’t party to all they contained, but a good portion. I had to laugh, for John Comstock was being manipulated and he wasn’t even aware of it happening. John was going to be a papa, for one thing. Miss Sylvia was hoping she could keep it hidden until the night of the wedding.

Another surprise was that Miss Sylvia asked Jessie to have me cast around for a small ranch in our section. One that wasn’t so massive as the one John owned. After marriage, Miss Sylvia didn’t want her new husband out on the range for days on end. She wanted him home where she could show him what a nice warm wife she was.

It was a possibility for this to come about. There was an English concern that was interested in large holdings such as John’s, and had approached him about selling. The country was opening up with the advent of the trains crossing the country now from coast to coast and investors came pouring in from all over the world. It might take quite some time before we had rail service in this part of the territory, but it was coming.

We needed statehood to give us better representation with the Federal Government. Kenny and I discussed this as the states to the east of us were admitted. Many here in the territories were against statehood, as this brought a whole new level of oversight that was unwanted by some. Kenny harked back to just before he arrived.

“What do you think would have happened to you if it was found out you turned that scumbag rapist over to the squaws and let them torture the man? What would have happened to the sheriff if they found out he shot a man for escaping, when the rapist couldn’t even get on his feet or crawl? It was justice, but not condoned by our society anymore. Then again, on the flipside of the coin, if a crook comes in and robs you, there are men more dedicated to bringing the culprits to justice. It should be a balance, but isn’t always.”

---

It was nearing the first of April. All of the trails south were open to horse and sled traffic as we hadn’t had any late winter snow storms for ten days. We would have more snow and that was a given. I was on Jim and had a pack animal in Button Box picking up supplies for the ranch. In truth I was waiting for the mail that was due in today. Jessie was anxious about when she could travel south for her father and Miss Sylvia’s wedding. Mail was of prime importance to Jessie now it seemed.

Sarah Wilcox stepped down from the sled and spotted me waiting for the post driver to take the sacks into the saloon that doubled for a post office. (Many other things as well.) She was on the attack immediately. “You Jones. Tell me where my husband is. Johnny Oats said George came up the trail with the cows.”

I had to think fast as I had come to find George a real friend and I didn’t want this harridan to upset him. “Mrs. Wilcox, I didn’t ever expect to see you. George doesn’t either. He told me he was all through with you and hoped never to set eyes on you again. Will you be staying at the Cowman’s Rest until both of you decide what to do?”

“I was hoping to see him today. I don’t have any money to rent a room.” The woman was crumbling right before my eyes.

I made a quick decision. First I wanted to warn George that his wife was in town, but I couldn’t let her stay on the street. “Mrs. Wilcox, I will rent you a room at the boarding house for a week. I will talk to George to see if he wants to meet with you. Do you have any money at all?”

“I have seven dollars. If I have a place to stay, that will buy my food for the week, I hope. That should give me time enough to either find George or some work to support myself.”

“It is that bad for you then?”

Tears were near falling and I didn’t want the town to see her crying on the street. “Let’s get you the room. We can talk when we get you settled if you want to.” I picked up her two suitcases and she picked up a carpet bag, following close on my heels as we went down three doors to the boarding house. I paused before stepping in. “What is your maiden name? I don’t want either you or George embarrassed while you are here. It would be best if you used a different name.”

Unhappily and reluctantly she said, “It was Seldon. I guess you can use that.” I checked her into the only room that was saved for women guests out of the eight rooms the house supported. It held a bureau and the usual washstand and commode. The bed was a double with a feather mattress. One chair graced the corner. I put the cases down and turned to Sarah, who was sitting on the bed.

“Tell me what happened? You had furniture and money when I last saw you.”

“Oh, I have had the worst luck. One of the freighters lost the load that had my best things on it while crossing a swollen river. I finally reached my brother’s. I hadn’t seen him for years and he was nothing like I remembered. His house was a mess, just a shack really. He put the things that I had left in and threw his out. I immediately was expected to become his servant. I refused and moved into the small village he lived near.

“The little house I rented was only two rooms and I was happy there for a month before I was robbed. The robbers didn’t get it all and I had enough money to come back and look for George. All I have left is a few clothes that you carried in here.”

“Sounds as if you have had it rough. Miz Seldon, do you expect George to take you back? I heard you shouting at him the day you left.”

“I know, but he is my husband. He has to stand by me.”

“I don’t know. He has told me how you treated him. If you did to him what he told me, he might not even speak to you.”

“Oh dear, I was so wrong. I thought my people were so much better than his. What am I going to do? I must talk to him. Where is he?”

“I’ll tell you where he is, but I don’t know as I would go there. He took up with a widow that runs a hog ranch. To be honest he couldn’t be happier. He comes out to my ranch to see his granddaughter at least once a week.”

“His granddaughter. What do you mean?”

“I married Jessie, your daughter-in-law and Felicity is here with her. That is one of the reasons George came with me so he could know her and watch her grow up. Jessie and I had a very quiet wedding so not many people knew about it. I left town immediately afterward with the cattle. George helped bring her here in the coach that was at your ranch.”

Sarah started wailing. “I’m here with no money and no one wants to have anything to do with me. What am I going to do?”

I thought back to earlier in the day. “Can you sling hash? Nothing special, just something to fill people’s bellies.”

“Of course. I fed up to thirty hands at the ranch every day, unless they were on roundup. I can cook fancy if need be. I just never saw the point. Cowhands don’t care what they eat as long as there is beef on the plate.”

“You might be surprised. Town folks may not want beef every meal. They want pork and chicken. There is a man who fishes up at Cold Lake who sells everything he can catch here in town. Look, I was over to the diner waiting for the mail. Gimpy Huston was complaining his cook took off on him and he needs someone desperately. I’d say he does and soon if he tries to feed people for long on what he fed me. Otherwise he will be out of business.”

“He would hire me, you think?”

“Almost certain, I’d say.”

“I guess I’d better go see him. What’s he like?”

“He’s short, balding, walks with a limp from an accident. Comes from West Texas. He likes people and they like him and runs the diner so he can have people around to talk to. He can’t cook either.”

“Will you introduce me?”

Sarah looked over Gimpy’s menu before asking for the job. She ordered beef stew with biscuits. She tried to eat the biscuit and it was so hard she couldn’t even soak it soft in the stew.

Gimpy was looking scared. He didn’t have but few women customers and here was a new one who he knew was lost before she took the first bite. She pushed her bowl forward off the counter and let it smash down on the floor next to Gimpy’s feet. “Clean that up and wash the floor. I’m going into your galley and make you a biscuit. If you like it, you’re going to hire me at a good wage and I’ll be your cook.”

Gimpy was shocked and looked at me and I shrugged. I figured the mail would be sorted and I would pick up what belonged to the ranch before Sarah took the biscuits out of the oven. I got back just in time to see Sarah place a half dozen warm biscuits before the man she was hoping would hire her. She had found wild honey and a jar of blackberry jam. There was a little tub of butter on the counter already.

Before he devoured the second biscuit he was telling Sarah to name her own wage. I snagged the last one and it was heavenly. Somehow I was going to make Jessie learn to make biscuits as good as these were. Returning to the boardinghouse with her, I had one last word with Sarah before I left for the ranch. “I guess you can support yourself. I’ll tell George you are in town so it won’t be a surprise if he runs into you. Maybe you can get together and work something out. Sarah, you are welcome to visit Felicity, that is if you would like to.”

“Does she favor Bradley?”

“George thinks she does a mite, but he says she favors you to some extent. I warn you though, you will not have a hand in the raising of her at all. I want to make that clear.”

“Your name is Sam, isn’t it? I always think of you as Jones. You know you have been awful nice to me. What would have happened today if I didn’t see you when I got down from the post sled? You say George has taken up with another woman? Well, I guess I can’t blame him too much. I don’t know why I was thinking he would take me back after the way I left him.

“I was sick over the loss of Bradley. I’ve had months to think about what went wrong. George kept telling me, but I wouldn’t listen.” Sarah changed the subject. “You know that Mr. Huston keeps his place clean. I think I’m going to like working for him. I’m from the same general area as he is, so we know some of the same people. I have you to thank for introducing me and I do thank you with all of my heart. Go along now. Kiss my granddaughter for me.” There was some moisture in her eyes as I closed the door.

I went back to the ranch. Gramp and Jessie were most interested, both wondering how George would take it having his wife living in the same town. I planned to travel to the hog ranch the next morning to give him a heads up. Jessie was some put out about Sarah showing up, herself. The two women had never got along and when I said Sarah could come visit Felicity she hit the roof.

“Jessie, do you want her living here at the ranch? I don’t, so I put myself out just a little, so she won’t ask us to take her in. She is Felicity’s grandmother and even if we don’t like her, she has some rights and I couldn’t turn her away if she landed on our doorstep.”

“I suppose, but she is a hateful old witch.”

“I’ve already warned her she is to have no say in Felicity’s life. If she comes and is civil and shows some love for the child, I will not separate them fully.” Jessie said no more, but she wasn’t happy with the situation.

I met George on the trail coming to the ranch as I was heading for the hog ranch. “Sam, my wife is in town working at the diner. I delivered some bacon and walked right in on her in Gimpy’s kitchen. She told me you got her a place to stay and the job at the diner. Why didn’t you tell her she wasn’t wanted around here?”

“George, cool down. Sarah’s penniless and homeless. She was going to find out where you lived by asking around. She could have come out to the hog ranch. Did you want that?”

“No. It would upset Bertha. I tell you Sam, I love Bertha and I’m not giving her up.”

“So what did Sarah say to you?”

“It done surprised me to see her. She held out her hand, and told me Gimpy had said I was coming in with a delivery. She told me to address her as Miz Seldon. That is her maiden name. She whispered she understood I was living at a hog ranch and enjoyed myself there. What did you tell her?”

“I explained about you and Bertha and indicated I would be unhappy if she caused trouble. She wants to see Felicity, so I do have some say in how she treats you.”

“God man, I could kiss you. I expect I will have to talk to her sometime. Could you make it happen here at the ranch?”

“I can do that. Come for dinner on Sunday. I’ll get her here so you can talk. Bring Bertha so we can get it all settled. Sarah might even move on if she can make enough money for such a move.”

“You think so? I sure as hell wish she would. Maybe I will have a life after all.”

I was in town later in the week and naturally went over to Gimpy’s Diner to see Sarah. No, she wouldn’t come on Sunday, but could on Monday. Word had spread about Gimpy’s new cook and how the food had improved. She whispered that she had paid her rent for the next week and someday soon she would pay me back. She asked after Felicity, saying she was anxious to see her. Also she said Gimpy would drive her out to the ranch in either a buckboard or the sled if it stormed again.

I had a minute alone with Gimpy. “I swear that woman is going to make me rich. And organized, my God she is a whiz. She don’t say much about her personal life. Just that she is married, but not living with her husband and don’t ever expect to. Too bad. What man would let go as fine a woman as she is? How’d you meet her?”

“I met her down south from here aways. I don’t think I ever spoke a hundred words to her. She is someone who recognized me and I knew she was in trouble when I talked to her. You too, for that matter, without a cook. I put two and two together and here you both are.”

“Couldn’t have done me a better favor. I thank you.”
___________________________________________________________________________________

We did have company for dinner on Sunday. Dad Comstock and Miss Sylvia arrived from town where they had stayed the night. Jessie went flying right by her father to hug Miss Sylvia. John stood grinning at them and then turned to the house. Kenny and I came out onto the porch with Mary Eustis right behind us. She was holding three-month-old Samson and ten-month-old Felicity. Gramp and Pat came out of the bunk house with the three Indian hands and drew up beside John.

John turned and was startled when he realized he had Indians close to him. Jessie had said one time that her father didn’t hold with Indians at all. Gramp turned to Grey Goose. “Nice head of hair on the stranger, isn’t there? He’s off limits, though, this is my son, John.” John peered at his father who was trying to contain his smile. He stepped forward. “Good to see you, Son.”

“You too Dad. Miss Sylvia and I came along figuring to save Jessie from traveling with the baby coming and all. I hope you got a preacher around here we can get to say a few words over us. Miss Sylvia thinks I’m dumb, but when a woman gets to upchucking every morning, she should be getting married or find a new home for herself. Guess I’ll keep her around for a bit. Mighty handy she is.”

“Come in. Mary Eustis will be putting the coffee on.” Just then Judy and Cindy came galloping full tilt into the yard. They were both riding astride and had their Indian leggings on and looked more like Indians then the Indians.

“Who are you?” This was Judy.

Gramp answered. This is my son, John. He and the lady over there are getting married soon.”

“Wow, more family!” She and Cindy walked right up and pulled John’s head down and kissed him. “Gramp, does some braggin’ on you, telling us what a good cattleman you are. You got to go some to beat Sam, so I guess you’ll have to show us. ’Course he has the Indians to help him. You don’t got Indians do you?”

“Nope, no Indians. I don’t hold with redskins.”

“Well you better hold onto your hair around here and change your thinking. You’re going to have an Indian feeding you and she’s a medicine woman with super powers. The rumor is she can turn a white man’s skin blue. I’d check tomorrow morning before you get out of bed if I was you. Come on in. If I know Mary Eustis, coffee must be ready. You like whisky in yours like Gramp does? Sam don’t drink except when he has a kid.” She paused, “Or Kenny does.”

I was taking all of this in. I heard what Cindy said. Was my secret about Samson more known than I thought?

Gramp apologized for the girls. “Them kids could be the death of us with their pranks. It isn’t just us they harass either. They got the whole town stirred up. They go everywhere and everyone knows the girls from Ryeback’s ranch. They lend a hand when someone is in trouble, you know like doing a little housework for a sick mother, or helping someone butcher or even filling in at the General Store.

“They were in town late one night and the saloon was full. When the customers left at closing, the girls had tied all the horses together with their reins as tight as they could. Those men, most of them drunk, woke the whole town up before they got to go home. The girls hid out here at the ranch for a week. Most fun anyone has had all winter. So you watch them.”

The girls had disappeared into the loft while we were entering the house. Introductions were all made and as usual there was corn bread to go with the coffee. This time when the girls appeared, they had on calico dresses with their hair down and tied with a bright ribbon. They wore beaded moccasins on their feet and necklaces of beads around their neck. This was the first time they had dressed up for company. Now they gave Miss Sylvia their undivided attention. Jessie had been talking about how special Miss Sylvia was to her. God they were beautiful. The long dark auburn tresses were gathered by just a simple ribbon.

Beside the two girls, Sylvia was homely as dirt. She was almost thirty and had a crossed eye with no shape to speak of. But, there was something about her that the two budding lassies didn’t have. She had a new presence now that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe she just needed to catch a man. Now that she had, she blossomed. Poised and confident, her first words to me were, “Mr. Jones you have made Jessie a very happy woman. You two are made for each other. That is why I encouraged her on your behalf before she married Wilcox.”

“Both George and Sarah are here in this town now you know.”

“Sarah is here too? I thought it was only George.”

“She arrived last week. You will see both for supper tomorrow night. Not as husband and wife, though. Jessie must have told you about George. I’ve kind of taken Sarah under my wing to keep her from going after George. If there was any love between them, I’d worry, but he doesn’t love her and Sarah just wants to find someplace to call home. In the meantime she wants to see Felicity and I can’t in good conscience not let her.”

Talk moved away from me and the women went into the living room by the fireplace. Coffee was poured again for us men. “It is a surprise seeing you up here, John. What gives?”

“Miss Sylvia and I are getting married first off. Then we are going for a month’s honeymoon in New Orleans. I want to ride them railcars and see some sights.”

“What about your ranch? Who’s taking care of that?”

A grin came over John’s face. “Remember Dad, you said I would get sick of chasing cows someday? Well the day is here. I’ve leased the ranch with an option to buy to an English outfit. They want to see if the range is as good as I say it is when it greens up and if it is, they will buy. Not having cattle on the Wilcox spread will tip the balance for me. The graze there is wonderful.

“Of course Miss Sylvia had something to say about everything. She wants me to move up here next to Jessie and the grandchildren. It took me a long while to get Jessie a sister or brother, but by damn I’ve done it. That’s a secret me knowing about Miss Sylvia’s being pregnant, so don’t squeal on me.”

“You buying range, then?”

“Nope, not at all. Not to feed cattle on anyway. I’ve had another idea and have already acted on it. You know that strip of prairie land between here and town? I got me a binder down on it. The son of the man who owns it, married a woman that raises horses in Kentucky, and he wants the family to pick up and help him on her stud farm.” John was bursting with news he was aching to tell us. “I said I wanted to ride the railcars. Well you all will be riding them in another couple of years. I had me a survey crew camped on my range for a month last winter. Over a poker game and too many drinks one night, they let out there was a spur being planned and headed this way.

“The Indian reservation near Button Box was mentioned and the open range-land north and west of here is where the rails are ultimately going to end up. I’m thinking if I got up here before it was well known, I might make a dollar. Hell, if it don’t work out and I lose it all, I’ll just move in with my daughter and her husband.” His laugh was loud and long and then he sobered.

“Truthfully, it is pretty certain. When the rails come through the valley where the town is, there will be a need for loading pens. A station will be built and there will be need for both house and commercial building lots. I’m just waiting on the lawyer to make sure the title is good. By the time I get Sylvia satisfied from being on her honeymoon and home again, I’ll know if I’ve dumped our money down a rat hole or will need a bigger bank to hold it all.”

“How does Sylvia feel about all this?”

John was silent, contemplating how to answer. “My wife-to-be may not look like much, but I have to tell you, she is the one that has convinced me to speculate. We talk things over every night. It made some hellish late nights for me before I got to ride home after making some of these plans with her. The night I asked her to marry me, I didn’t have to ride home. Pretty scandalous it was when I was seen coming out of her house in the morning and she lost a few tea drinkers.

“Martha, Jessie’s mother, was pretty and made me a wonderful wife, but she had no where near the head on her that Miss Sylvia has. Miss Sylvia is putting her money into this speculation with me. The land office is here in town and that is where I went for information. The manager thinks I’m crazy to buy up land in a place where there isn’t a hint of development. Miss Sylvia and I are in this together and she is putting up half the money that went into buying the open land. Faith, that’s what we have. Faith in each other and the future.”

Kenny, myself, and Gramp stared at him. Then Gramp asked a question. “What happens if the train goes the other side of Button Box?”

“Can’t. Not enough room. The prairie land curls around one end of town anyway and will be open for development wherever the tracks are located.”

Kenny put in a word. “It takes men with vision to make this country grow. In this case, some women as well. Get married as planned and then you can devote all of your time to this project. When you come back from your honeymoon, sit down with Sam and me because we might have a little advice for you. Believe it or not both of us are able to tap into an oracle that can indicate what the future has in store.” I knew he was thinking and speaking about Mary Eustis.

John and I were relegated to the bunkhouse to sleep that night. We found the preacher the next morning and made arrangements for a wedding on Thursday, here at the ranch. The preacher insisted on hand-lettered banns being tacked up in prominent places around town to fulfill his requirements.

It was Monday afternoon when George, Bertha, Sarah and Gimpy arrived. Mary Eustis shunted George and Sarah into her and Kenny’s bedroom with the excuse that they knew each other and might want to reminisce about mutual friends. Bertha was looking concerned for she didn’t want to lose George.

Gimpy was acting proprietary about Sarah even though they had met only ten days ago. An hour later, just as supper was being put on the table, George came out and kissed Bertha in front of all of us. Sarah came out behind him and smiled at Gimpy, sitting down beside him.

To divert everyone’s attention, I asked Cindy and Judy if they had found a boyfriend among the many people they came in contact with gallivanting around the countryside. “Yes we have. The problem is we have fallen in love with the same man.”

“Who is it? Do I know him?”

“Of course. We do have to flip a coin to see who kisses him first, which is a bother. Do you have a coin I can use?”

I tossed them a coin. It was flipped and it was Judy that won the toss. Cindy put the coin in her pocket. Judy went over and sat in Gramp’s lap, grabbing his face and kissing him. His face flamed, but he didn’t try to get away. Judy let Cindy take her place and Gramp got kissed again. I demanded, “Where’s my coin?”

“Cindy lost so she gets to keep the money, right Gramp?” He nodded and grinned from ear to ear. I shook my head, knowing these kids were ahead of me every time.

George addressed Sarah as Miz Seldon throughout the meal. Felicity started fussing and wanted to be nursed. Jessie was surprised that Sarah hadn’t pushed in and demanded the privilege of holding her granddaughter. Maybe the grandmother had changed her ways. “Mary Eustis and I feed our babies at the same time. Come, we will go into the other room. Bertha would you like to join us?”

“No, never had no kids and it is too late for me now. Makes me sad to see a mother nursing, so I stay away. I guess I’ll hang out here with the men where I’m comfortable. ’Sides I want to see what the men are up to. The way they are acting there is something up and I want to know what it is.”

George and Bertha went away that evening, dreaming about cheap corn and oats coming in by railcar to feed their hogs. Gimpy Huston went away with the promise that if the railcars came through Button Box, he would have first choice of a prime lot to build a hotel on.

Me? Well I knew expansion in this part of the territory would be both good and bad. Kenny explained that the area would go through a flux with troublemakers and saints alike being our neighbors. The sheriff was planning on retiring. I decided at that moment, I might dust off my gun and do a little practicing. I might just run for his office after Kenny suggested it. He had sent east for some law books for me to read already.

“How about it Kenny? You should run for office yourself. You know a little about everything and how things should be. You’d make a Governor when the territory becomes a state.”

“No, some people who know me would vote in my favor, but I can’t hide I killed a man and was in prison for eighteen years. Besides, I left Mary Eustis once. I found her and be damned if I’ll do it to her again. Someone has to run the ranch. That would be me. Jessie will get sick of having babies and turn to ranch affairs to keep happy while you are off building the country. Your love for her and her love for you will never waver, but you won’t have to be in the same bed together every night either.”

“You talk as if you know this for fact.”

“I do. Remember to who I’m mated. She hasn’t lost all of her powers yet.”

“She is something, that’s certain. What am I going to do with them two hellions that are living here with us?”

“They may be hellions, but you notice they don’t carry things too far. There isn’t a soul in this whole section that won’t open their doors when they descend on a body. When they get old enough, we’ll send them east to a good finishing school. I’ll have them ready by then so they won’t be too rough for Boston or New York.”

“As long as you are telling the future, what about John and Miss Sylvia Comstock?”

“He is the one moving into politics. Miss Sylvia will be the unseen power behind him. Who knows, they might even end up in Washington someday.” Samson wasn’t touched on. Kenny and I very carefully kept away from the subject of Mary Eustis’s son. Sired by me, but fathered by Kenny, it was something we never talked about.

End of Part 2



Saga of Sam Jones

happyhugo

Part 3

Sheriff

Chapter One
I sat in my office waiting for one of my deputies to return after investigating a complaint about some cattle being rustled. It was getting late and I wanted to get home to the ranch before dark. Jessie never complained about me being away from her and our three kids. Felicity was the oldest and not of my blood, but I was the only dad she had ever known.

It was six years ago---no, seven, that I had come here to take over the Ryeback ranch. Kenny Ryeback was in Territorial Prison and I was working to get him out after being released myself. At the time I was released Jessie was married to Bradley Wilcox and pregnant. That first year was so exciting. I got slightly tangled up with an Indian woman and though unplanned, this squaw, Mary Eustis, became pregnant. I was busy getting my life organized near Button Box and making ready for Kenny’s return.

Learning of Bradley’s death and the birth of Felicity, I went south for cattle and came home with Jessie as my wife and Felicity as my daughter.  Unknown at this time, Mary Eustis was to have a baby, and she came to live with Kenny when he was discharged from prison.

The condition was soon certain and I was made aware of what our union’s results were. I talked with Kenny about what had transpired. He was all right with what went on between us and understood. He claimed the baby as his own, but as time went on, it was clear to me anyway, the child was mine. Jessie, I believe, was unaware about Samson’s parentage. To tell her would have caused her pain and I loved her too deeply to do that to her. The child was born big and continued to outstrip in size other kids of his age.

Pete Ryeback, Kenny’s cousin, was a terrible cattle rancher, but his strength lay in dirt farming and raising crops. He and his wife, Hattie, lived only a short distance to the west where they raised the crops. They kept the ranch and all of its inhabitants supplied with vegetables and were soon planting fruit trees and berry bushes on the hillsides.

The next year, my father-in-law, John Comstock and his wife, Miss Sylvia, followed through on some inside knowledge and bought barren land close to the ranch and near the town of Button Box. This land lay between the ranch and the town and I had to cross it on my way to and from the ranch. Not barren anymore, it had blossomed with buildings and businesses. The far end of it had stock pens, as the cattle drives were becoming less and less as time went on. Cattle were now being moved by railcar.

The ranches were getting smaller as well and the beef breeds were changing. Angus bulls had been imported from Scotland and Herefords from England. These cows didn’t graze like the old breeds of long-legged, slab-sided, big-horned cattle that had been driven up from Texas and the border states to the south. These cattle were coddled like no other. They weren’t used to digging down through the snow for feed either. A whole new business had grown up and haying crews were coming around and contracting to cut hay. The glades and small well-watered valleys away from the general range were reserved for this.

John Comstock was the front that the public saw on his way to getting rich, but it was Miss Sylvia with the vision. Some vision came from operating a new and bigger tea room where the women of the town came to gossip while they shared a biscuit with their tea. She and John had two children, a boy and a girl. Miss Sylvia declared that was enough with John now in sight of being fifty. Jessie related that she and Miss Sylvia both were taking a potion they had from Mary Eustis to prevent pregnancy.

Jessie and I had been married for seven years. Easy to keep track of the anniversaries as Felicity’s age was the same. James was six because he came barely thirteen months after Felicity was born. Martha, named after Jessie’s mother, came two years later. Samson, my son by Mary Eustis, was only six months younger than Felicity. It was a lot of fun having the kids as close in age growing up together.

Jessie and Miss Sylvia were now in Virginia where the twins, Judy and Cindy Bellows, were attending a finishing school. The twins had been there two years and a great ball was planned for their graduation. They needed a sponsor and it was Miss Sylvia who had stepped forward if Jessie would travel with her. It gave Jessie a chance to see more of the country and how people lived differently than we did here in the rural west.

Mary Eustis, in her dreams declared that the two women would have a marvelous time and would return safely with the graduates in tow. She would care for the many small children, just saying she could call on some of the squaws from her clan if need be. There were others I could call in if I felt it was needed.

Hattie and Pete had three kids and Hattie was pregnant again with the fourth. They had two boys to start and the third was a girl. She was the same age as Martha. I thought back sometimes to the day when I had chased Pete off the ranch, but had relented when Hattie found me in town and begged me to let them return to the line shack to live. Such a wise move. I had made other wise moves since the time I had turned on the two men who were about to do Jessie and her grandfather harm. Chet Comstock was nearing seventy now and Pat, the drunk I had picked out of the saloon in Button Box seven years ago, was at least seventy-five.

Whenever the three of us had a moment, the talk always turned to Judy and Cindy. Kenny had promised he would have them polished enough to be accepted into the so-called polite society. Miss Sylvia had done much in this area as well. We missed the girls more than any of us would admit while they were away. The town did too and the small ones who were old enough to realize they had gone, cried each night for the hole they left in our lives these last two years.

Miss Sylvia crossed my mind sometimes as well. She was my wife’s best friend and my mother-in-law. She claimed to be too young to be a grandmother when our children addressed her as such and consented to be called aunt. I asked Jessie one time about what Miss Sylvia’s past was before she came to settle in the town and opened her first tea room. “I have no idea. She never discusses it, but she has polish. I think she must be from a good family somewhere. I’m not going to pry because she is my friend.” That settled that.

Back to the twins. Kenny and Miss Sylvia had given them polish, but one forgotten item, they forgot to take away their guns. I had presented them with matching pistols when they turned sixteen. Not always having a purse to carry them in, I had the saddle shop construct holsters for them to wear under their dresses where they could be reached through their pockets. The pistols were a small-framed .32 caliber, engineered by the manufacturing firm of Harrington & Richardson. It was amazing after practicing, how accurate the twins could be. Fast too. Almost as fast as I was with my new H&R .44.

Judy and Cindy were at the school only two months when I received a telegram asking that I come and get them. It seems as though they had had enough of put downs from the hoity-toity easterners about where they came from. Sick of the harassment, they had shot up the living room. Three young women had fainted and two had to change their underwear.

By return wire, I gave answer, Investigate further. These girls had to have just cause. You might give thought to having the twins teach the other young ladies at your school how to protect themselves by getting used to firearms. They are responsible! I await your determination. Territorial Sheriff, Sam’l Jones.

Two days later, I received another wire from the school. Territorial Sheriff, Sam’l Jones, the holes in the ceiling are being filled and the ceiling restored to its former pristine condition. You owe $67.39 for the repairs. Your suggestion about teaching our young ladies the use of firearms has been taken under advisement. If as you suggested, and the new course is instituted, $100 will be subtracted from your next quarter payment. Was this an apology?

I received other wires over the two years the two girls were absent from Button Box and the Ryeback ranch. Sheriff Sam’l Jones. I must report that Judith and Cynthia Bellows were absent from these premises without excuse for two days. This cannot be tolerated! Ultimately, they were tracked down and returned safely. Please inform these young women that one more absence will cause their dismissal from this house of learning and deportment. Respectfully, Miss Sistine Palmer.

The excuse to us by letter composed by the delinquent twins, was that the boys’ school nearby and the girls’ school had had a dance. Judy was quite enamored with the brother of one of their classmates and had, first gone home with the classmate, and then been enticed to the boys’ school to give a demonstration of her shooting prowess. But in fact, both girls stayed overnight with their classmate, who did have permission to be at home. The rumors in and about their school had them as the playthings across town at the boys’ school.

I sent a wire. Judith and Cynthia Bellows, you have two choices. Finish school with honors or come home and go to work for Bertha Bates and George Wilcox at the hog ranch. I await your decision. Sam. Nothing more was heard from the delinquents and apparently what they were in the east at school for was taking hold.

This was all in the past and by letter, I knew when Miss Sylvia, Jessie and the two girls were boarding the train back to our arms. When they were well on their way, I was startled to receive a wire from Chicago, stating that there would be a guest accompanying the travelers. There may be a wedding in the near future. I’ll explain when we arrive at the end of our destination. Your lov’ng wife, Jessie Jones.

A pang went through me. I knew this was coming. The two girls, young women now and lovely as all get out, were bound to attract many men, young and old. They were old enough to have married and set up homes before this, except we at the ranch wanted them to have every chance to be more than children of a western rancher. This was the reason we had sent them east. I took stock of my feelings.

Judith should have a man and I wanted one for her. Cynthia though, I hated the thought of her being loved by someone. Where did this painful feeling come from? For the moment I just put it down to Cindy being my favorite of the twin girls. It couldn’t be more than that. Didn’t I love Jessie with all of my heart and soul? Of course I did!

Jessie flew into my arms, pushing aside our children to get to me. Five weeks she had been gone. It seemed like an eternity. She turned to our kids and gave them the same affection. Cindy and Judy, now much more beautiful than they were two years ago, stood waiting to greet me. Judy smothered my face with kisses, babbling how much she missed me and also about a young man she wanted me to meet, because he was the one! He was standing slightly behind her. She whispered, “His name is Jonathan.”

The man appeared to be slightly older than Judy. He was well set up and better dressed than any of us now meeting the arrivals. Finally, Cindy had her chance to greet me. Laughing she said, “Judy doesn’t change and I don’t know if I want to kiss you after she has slobbered all over you. Sam, I’ve missed you more than I can say. I hope you have thought about me sometime. I know I have thought of you and often.”

“Cindy, I do think of you.” One kiss was all, on the lips, and that was brief. The hug though, conveyed her true feelings and suddenly I didn’t want this to end. It did, as Felicity was tugging at her arm for attention. Cindy turned away to the child. Briefly she turned back to me and smiled. There were thoughts and feelings fully displayed in that moment. The twins would be twenty-one in the spring and were certainly growing up.

Pat, getting feeble now, had tears in his eyes when we reached the ranch and he received what the rest of us got. Gramp, still spry and loving the twins since he first set eyes on them, basked in the joy of having them home again. The twins had left as girls and now returned as ladies. The fun loving spark that had made them so lovable was still in them. They regaled us with some of their antics at school and it was a wonder they hadn’t been forced to leave.

I questioned Jonathan Turbin, Judith’s choice of a life-long partner, about what his future was. “First I’m going to convince Judy to marry me. I have asked her repeatedly, but she wanted to get home first and talk to someone named Mary Eustis. I guess I’m going to be interviewed. I am puzzled. I was introduced to the woman by that name this afternoon. She is an Indian isn’t she?”

“Yes she is. She is much more than that, though. She is a medicine woman and has dreams about all of us. We follow her dreams as closely as possible. Maybe it is just faith in her and her dreams, or maybe it is something of a higher nature. You’ll find out in a day or so how she feels about the union if Judy and you marry. If it isn’t wise, I’ll warn you, Judy will not go against Mary Eustis’ dream.”

Jonathan replied, “I’m not worried. Judy and I are meant for each other. I will make her as happy as she will make me.” I was old now at twenty-nine, but I did know how he felt.

Jonathan was from the east, but I had to say he soon was comfortable with our western ways. He certainly could ride. The side saddles the twins returned here with were hanging in the tack room and they rode astride as before. Jonathan was disconcerted at first to see them thus, but soon thought nothing of them chasing cattle or racing about the ranch astride and getting from here to there as fast as they could. Sensible too, for some times their mounts would be feeling frisky and the rider had to fight to stay mounted.

I soon learned more about Jonathan Turbin. His father was a powerful man in the railroad kingdom, and was a major investor in the line that went through our valley and beyond. Judy wasn’t the only attraction or reason for him to be in the area. Jonathan was to open an office in Button Box and expand the stations up and down the railroad line. He was a qualified engineer and his father thought it good experience for him to get his feet wet out here before being called back east to work in more settled areas of the country.

I mentioned this to Judy when she talked about marrying Jonathan. “Sam, I’ll carry a railroad pass the rest of my life. I will only be three or four days away from you at the most. The country is getting smaller every year. Jonathan is worth every bit of the time I’m away from you and Jessie. My roots are here with you and I’ll still be home to birth my babies and be here for other extended periods of time. Jessie followed her love and I can do no less.” What could I say?

With Cindy it was a different story. “Sam, I haven’t met anyone yet I would want to marry, but maybe someday, if the stars align right, I will wed. For now, I want to stay here with the people I grew up with. Sarah Seldon has offered me a room in her new hotel if I will do the books for her and Mr. Huston. I do have an affinity for numbers and finance.

“Miss Sylvia is the one who led me to take an interest in these endeavors. In school, Judy was satisfied to be more social than I am. There is a position open in the bank. Would you lend your voice to convincing the bank president to hire me? I know this has never happened before, a woman working in an establishment such as a bank, but it is what I really want to do.”

“Are you sure? It seems a shame for you to bury your beauty behind a desk all of the time.”

“Do you think I’m beautiful?”

“Yes I do. I think you are the most beautiful woman in the whole territory.”

“Even above Jessie?” I paused while I was collecting my thoughts on how to answer. Cindy, almost immediately said, “Sam, that was an unfair question. Of course you think Jessie is beautiful. She is beautiful to me. After all she has been both my mother and sister. She is such a great friend as well.” Cindy changed the subject. “So, will you see what you can do to get me a job at the bank?”

“I will. You can help me keep the books here at the ranch. Not those here in the sheriff’s office, but those that pertain to the ranch.” I was now assured we would see each other on occasion. I could even, in good conscience, manufacture a reason to talk to her---or she with me. Nothing was ever said, and there wouldn’t be, but the attraction was there. I wasn’t taking anything from Jessie. She was my wife. Cindy wasn’t taking anything from Jessie either. As she said, Jessie was her friend and more. No line would ever be crossed!

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Our little town was expanding at a rapid rate. John Comstock had purchased most of the developed land in the Button Box valley. The railroad had come through earlier on schedule, transforming his land into something valuable beyond anyone’s expectations. He was true to his and our friends, new and old. If he thought someone needed a building lot and it would benefit the community, he made sure the bank would finance the new enterprise.

Gimpy Huston was one of the first to take advantage of the liberal financing to build a twenty-one bed hotel. There was a restaurant on one side and over that section, a ballroom on the second floor. Few were aware that George Wilcox had played some part in helping Huston in securing the loan. He did everything he could to see that his wife Sarah was happy and satisfied somewhere other than beside him. This came about through my intervention. George and Bertha’s holdings were not that far from center of the village and although the hog ranch was well managed, it had a certain stigma to it. Several of the businessmen wanted the ranch disposed of.

Objecting strongly they made their case and it was resolved by their hog ranch being purchased by a group. Bertha only agreed to this when she found an adequate replacement site for her pigs farther away. She did finally and the sale was made with all parties satisfied. This left her and George with a fistful of money searching for someplace to invest it.

It was known only to a few that George and Bertha not only owned a hog ranch, but twenty percent of the new hotel as well.

The Seldon House, named after Sarah, came into being. This made strange bedfellows, with George and Sarah being husband and wife, but not living as such. Both by now had other partners, Bertha with George and Gimpy with Sarah and the general public suspecting, but unsure.

The Seldon House was completed shortly before Judy and Jonathan’s marriage. The elder Turbin arrived for the nuptials in his private railroad car and had it parked on a siding where it stayed for three weeks while Jonathan’s mother reviewed the wedding plans.

After the wedding, the newlyweds would travel with them back to the east coast, where they would then have the private car at their own disposal to tour the country for the next month. The honeymoon completed, Jonathan would be in this area for the next year. We were happy, for this would mean that Judy would be here with us awhile longer.

For myself, I was the happiest I had ever been or could ever imagine. Samson was growing into a fine young man. He and Felicity were inseparable. Jessie and I wondered already if this would continue through their childhood, teen years and into adulthood. There was no real reason why it shouldn’t. Samson was sired by me and Felicity was sired by the killer, Bradley Wilcox. I suppose if Samson took the name of Jones it might raise some questions, but that was for the future.

My other children, James and Martha, were cute and lovable and were adored by Indians and whites alike. Pete and Hattie’s kids were always present and John and Miss Sylvia’s children dearly loved getting out to the Ryeback ranch to play. You throw eight or ten Indian kids into the games that were played and it was a great place for them all. As with all kids, a game was a game and played with gusto.

Their favorite game was troopers and Indians. This harked back to the Indian uprising of years ago. We who watched the game, knew that as the kids got older and learned of the reality of what really transpired, their feelings for each other would change. For now though, it didn’t seem to matter who won. One day it would be Indians and the next it might be the army.

I had caught the attention of the territorial governor in my job as sheriff. I had the Indian reservation in and around my county. The Indians were under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, but the Feds didn’t always have a marshal in the area or close enough to investigate a crime or felony. Finally I was asked to carry the dual role of both County Sheriff, who was elected and Federal Marshal, who was appointed.

I could work with and dispense justice on the reservation, because I could speak the Indian tongue. Also the Indians knew I had the right to use the name Silvercloud. I went about setting up an Indian police force patterned after the sheriff’s office and its deputies. This relieved having to send my deputies onto the reservation with the resulting resentments that were sure to arise.

Kenny had declared that the red and white people had about the same percentage of bad men in their midst. Every crime the Indians perpetrated was often overblown by the whites, although it might be no worse than what happened in the same nearby white community. That was nature, he informed me. The Indians were the subjugated people and were now second- or third-class and not often looked on as citizens. He also told me there wouldn’t be much change in my lifetime and maybe never. If only my people could know the Indians as I had come to know them, they would change their minds.

John Comstock was becoming a power in the political community. He soon became head of the business association and was elected mayor the following year. Someone came up with the thought that Button Box was a terrible name for a town. Too sissy and feminine. The town needed to be named something strong and manly. I think my father-in-law thought Comstock would be appropriate. He had some right, no doubt about that. He had put the town on the map with his commercial and residential development, but after giving it some thought, I opposed this.

I wanted the town to be named Ryeback. At first Jessie opposed me and feelings became difficult between us. This was the first time we had looked at things from a different angle. “Jessie, I can remember when you wouldn’t hardly speak to your father. You are opposing me because Miss Sylvia is your friend. Think though, Kenny has been here for forty years and is one of the oldest residents. Your father has been here for five years. He is an opportunist and practically fell into his good luck. He would be still living in the town where you were born if it wasn‘t for Miss Sylvia.

“Go ask her how she feels about the situation. If you would present this argument to her the way I have presented it to you, I will abide by what she says.” I had already talked to Miss Sylvia, so I knew she wasn’t very thrilled with the idea of having the town named Comstock.

The question was on the ballot at the next election. There had been enough people taught by Kenny as a school teacher over the many years to swing the favor to him. The fact that he had been in prison for a killing had surfaced, but the townspeople felt that was something personal and not to be held against him as he had paid a heavy price. John garnered many votes, so he wasn’t shut out and made a respectable showing. He had to be satisfied with that, especially when the newly named town of Ryeback elected him for another year as mayor.

John stayed in politics and was on one commission after another getting the territory ready to become a state and to join the union. As the 1880’s drew to a close, this came about. The territorial governor resigned and put his name on the ballot running for governor of the state. John backed him, expecting that it would be an easy win, but the man ran a poor campaign and lost, dashing John’s hope for the next two years. He didn’t give up and looked about to find another person who he could ride into state politics on his coattails. In this he was successful in the next election.

Chapter Two

This period was a great time for me. I was sleeping next to a woman whom I loved and who loved me just as much. Our family was growing up. They were all being educated by Kenny who was getting older, but was still just as sharp as ever. Samson was the brightest one of the kids who lived on the ranch. He was ten in February, 1890. On his birthday, Kenny, myself, Mary Eustis, and Jessie withdrew to the living room, banishing all others from listening to what Mary Eustis had to say to my wife and later to her son.

Jessie would be told of my liaison with Mary Eustis and Samson would be told I was his biological father. Mary Eustis spoke to Jessie. “Jessie, you have been a daughter to me. Not once have you ever minded that I am of native blood. I have kept something from you as has Sam. It is time you learned what it is.”

“Oh, you mean that Sam is the father of Samson? I’ve known that for years. First, I think it was either on our first Thanksgiving or the first Christmas that Sam told us what his father looked like. In another couple of years Samson will be as big as Sam. The curly brown hair is another giveaway. I found out another way as well. Cynthia overheard you and Kenny discussing it and came and asked me if I knew. I didn’t until that time and I asked her to keep quiet about it. I don’t think she has even told Judy.

“Samson was conceived before Sam knew I was a free woman from my first husband Bradley. I know Sam has been true to me all of these years and I know you have been true to Kenny. I’m fine with this, although I am curious how it came about. I take it this meeting is all about you telling Samson who his father really is. I predict Samson will take it in stride and continue to look on Kenny as his father. I don’t believe he will be disappointed in knowing he was sired by Sam either.”

Jessie turned and smiled my way. I reached for her and hugged her to me. “I knew I was blessed to choose you for a wife.”

“No, I am the one blessed. That brings up something else. What about Felicity and the attraction she and Samson have for each other? Is anyone here going to object? To tell you the truth, I think it is going to continue and eventually they will want to marry.”

We were all in agreement that we wouldn’t throw up any roadblocks. The question how Sarah and George would feel about a union between the two was discussed. They are grandparents to Felicity and well aware that Samson is half Indian. It was decided that George wouldn’t have any objection and even go as far as to promote them coming together in marriage. We had made sure over the years that Felicity spent time with her grandfather. Samson, of course, went with her, so he knew of what was transpiring. Samson, with his inquiring mind, had got hog butchering down pat and often helped George when he visited with Felicity’s grandfather.

The same took place when Felicity went to visit her grandmother, Samson being in attendance there as well. Three years ago we had to explain to both kids the relationship of Sarah and George. We had cautioned them to always show respect and to never ask any questions of their grandparents. If they needed to know anything, they should come ask me, as I was friend to both. They accepted this and as far as I knew there had never been any uncomfortable situations that needed answering.

---

I was away from the ranch most of the time tending to my duties as sheriff. Pat was now living as a pensioner. Gramps didn’t have any duties but was always ready to lend his expert advice on matters relating to managing the ranch. Two years after Jessie and I had settled into married life, the cowhand and hero of the trail drive, Keith Brannigan, arrived looking for a job. At the time, he was looking at being twenty in a few months. Young and ambitious, he was slowly taking over as ranch manager. He saw no difference in having Indians as hands than he did our regular ones. Mary Eustis was the one who suggested he become manager sooner than the thought occurred to Kenny and myself.

Keith made a great companion for Judy and Cindy. Before the two girls left for the east he squired them to dances and the socials that were the frequent events about the area. When they came home, he and Jonathan became friends and it was Keith who continued to be the squire of Cynthia. Keith came to me and informed me that he had plans to ask Cindy to become his wife. Again that pang of jealousy stabbed me.

It would be a good match, I knew that, and told him not to hesitate in his quest to make her his wife. The evening he was to ask her, he set out for town with high hopes. He had purchased a new store-bought suit and had slicked up. He had also been listening to Jonathan on how to go about making the proposal such as they did in the east. Jessie and I were at the same dance and we watched as Keith led Cindy out of the ballroom onto the upstairs verandah to ask her in a more private setting.

They were absent for almost an hour, returning just as the music started up again after the band’s recess. The dance was a quadrille and Jessie and I were in the same set. While he and I were standing side by side waiting for the women to come across, he said, “Cindy turned me down. She said I was too much a brother to her to be more. That was her only answer. I wonder if she will ever marry. I do still have her for a friend, though. Oh well, marriage with her was too much for me to hope for.”

The women came across and swung into our arms. Cindy smiled up at me when we did the right hand left. Around the circle, she swung into Keith’s arms, much like brother and sister as they had been before. Jessie was puzzled by Cindy’s refusal of Keith and I had to say I was as well. “Not our business, Jessie. Cindy is deep and keeps her thoughts to herself. It is unusual for a woman to want to work in a bank and live alone in a hotel. I guess she just wants to be independent. If that is the way she wants to live, so be it.”

The world was open to us now with the railroad our access. There was a downside to the rails being here as well. They moved what the ranchers had to offer. The problem was the railroads could and did dictate what the farmers and ranchers had to pay to move their produce. The rates were many times exorbitant. In the eastern part of the country unions were being formed to combat the excesses of the banks and the manufacturers. Over time, here in the west the farmers and ranchers saw the power the unions had and wanted the same.

The Grange movement sprang up with farmers and ranchers forming to combat the monopolies of the railroads, the banks and factories. The banks set the interest rates on the money the farmers depended on to buy seed, fertilizer and equipment. There were other forces at work. Gold and silver were being mined here in the west and this gave the western states power to hold their own against the eastern interests. The country was in such turmoil, something was bound to happen.

The year of 1893 opened and the country was in panic. The countries of the world made a run on the gold held in our treasury. The Federal Government was basically bankrupt with only $100,000,000 left in its coffers. The country was now in recession. In 1894 the Reading Railroad on the east coast collapsed. The strike at the Pullman factory in Chicago shut the railroads down all over the country. Everywhere the workers struck the factories, the railroads and businesses alike, asking for a fair wage for a day’s work.

Strike-breakers were sent in to force the workers back to work. Clashes occurred and men were dying. It was especially bad around Chicago. It came home to us when Judy wired us. “Sam, I’m coming home as soon as I can find a way. Jonathan has been estranged from his father for months and has been siding with the strikers. He was killed yesterday when he and several others were trapped in the yards and beaten to death.”

A letter followed immediately. “Papa Turbin appeared at my door with condolences, but I wouldn’t give him entrance. He tried to force his way in, saying I must let him have access to his grandson and granddaughter. I know he wasn’t directly involved and must feel bad, but I want nothing to do with the system that allows good people to starve while his cronies get richer and richer. The trains can’t stop for too many months and I will bring what is left of my family and come to you as soon as I can. I need to listen to Kenny and Mary Eustis and their wisdom to understand why this has happened.”

I hoped she could make it very soon, for Kenny was ailing and not long for this world. We all sent condolences, but had no way to reach out to her to give support, while she alone buried her husband. We would miss him, for although an easterner he had become one of us. It was five weeks before a special railcar was shunted onto the siding in Ryeback.

Judy had relented after finding Papa Turbin a broken man over Jonathan’s death. Within days of the death of the younger Turbin, Mama Turbin succumbed from a weakened heart.

We folded Judy back into our family. Two more youngsters to grow up on the ranch. Papa Turbin at first lived out of his rail car, but took his meals at the Seldon House. He became friendly with many that dined there and eventually made the decision to move into the hotel permanently. One day his car was there and the next day it was headed back to Chicago without him.

He came out to the ranch with several trunks, two small ones were very heavy. “Sheriff Jones, could you find someplace to store these where they are safe? My grandchildren’s inheritance is stored in them. I don’t feel as if the local bank is stable or safe enough at the present time.”

“Certainly, sir. We have come to the same conclusion from what Judith’s sister who works at the bank has inferred. We have taken the same precautions.” In fact the bank was nearly insolvent after three years of the country’s deflation and resulting depression.

Those of us on the Ryeback ranch were weathering the downturn quite well. First, our cattle were still going to market paid for by the federal government to feed the Indians on the reservation. Second, I was drawing pay as sheriff and I suppose, double dipping as United States Marshal. I earned my pay though, as there was more crime because people were hungry. I often let perpetrators off if there were no injuries to the victims.

There was a steady stream at the ranch of out of work hands looking for handouts. This swelled and there seemed to be no end of the homeless. Most were willing to do chores or work for their meal. The brush around the edges of the grazing land was pushed back and up the hillsides. Water holes were cleaned and the small streams were dammed to make pools for the cattle to drink. Cutting hay for winter feed was no problem as there were always hands to do the labor.

The meals were nothing fancy, consisting of the basic beef, beans and biscuits. We had hope the country would pull out of this and life would get easier and better. We had faith in our people and our country.

John and Miss Sylvia came home from living at the state capital. His party had been swept from power in the last election. He had made it up the political ladder as far as Lt. Governor and decided the tide was against his party, so he didn’t attempt a run for governor. He came home to find several of these business properties he owned, or had an interest in, closed up and abandoned.

These were taken over by squatters, looking to have a roof over their heads. At first he charged me to remove them. “No John, I won’t. Remove them one day and another person or family will move in the next day. You would be better to make friends of them. Go around and talk to them. Ask them to preserve the buildings while they camp in them. They are mostly good people down on their luck.

“You and Miss Sylvia must have quite a bit of money to buy back those you don’t own at auction. When the economy gets better, you can start charging rent or sell them again. Five years from now you will be back where you were ten years ago, owning the lots, only this time they will have buildings on them. You be fair and pay a decent price though. I’m the one who has to auction these properties and I won’t allow you to low bid them. People know you are my father-in-law and I won’t be accused of favoritism.”

“For a cattle thief, you’re too damned honest. Okay, I’ll go along with the plan. You carry more weight around here as sheriff than I do as part of the last administration.” This was all said with a smile. He still hadn’t forgotten I had butchered one of his calves back eighteen years ago and threw it in my face every time he could. I expected it and would have been disappointed if he didn’t.

---

Samson was growing into a man I could be proud of. His thirst for knowledge was boundless. Kenny had kept him supplied with books and they spent hours talking over what the words in the books revealed. I had done my part as well. He far surpassed me with firearms, both pistol and rifle, and I prided myself on being no slouch. He was winner of many of the shooting contests we held at the ranch from the time he was thirteen.

His prowess was known and talked about and challengers came from afar just to shoot against him. One man named Theodore Roosevelt, came and watched one particular contest. The contest was down to two contestants. Samson at fourteen against another man of thirty-two. Round after round was fired off. This Teddy Roosevelt was urging Samson on, finally tossing his watch onto the bench that held the prizes. It was heavy with gold and worth more than all of the money on the line. Two more rounds each were fired off. Samson lost by a bare quarter inch. He grinned and shook the winner’s hand.

He addressed the winner. “Come, my mother has whisky for you to celebrate.” He turned to Teddy Roosevelt. “You too sir, for putting up such a valuable prize.” Teddy Roosevelt spent a month in and about the ranch and we were all disappointed when he went back east. Samson was now an impressive individual. He stood just under six feet with a broad span to his shoulders. His shock of curly brown hair and ready smile made him friend to everyone. He had three Indian friends who were his companions since he was a child, one a cousin, was named Son of Grey Goose.

During this time, Roosevelt spent almost as much time with the Silverclouds on the reservation and Samson as he did at the ranch house with the rest of us. As Roosevelt was leaving, he said to Samson, “Someday you must come east and see how we live. In fact I’m working in the administration and hope to be Mayor of New York soon. I will find a place for you when you do. It will give you a chance to serve your country in a way you can’t out here in the west. Until I see you again, adios.”

---

“Sam, you know there isn’t really room enough for me and the kids here on the ranch. There is a small horse ranch the other side of town. Papa Turbin scouted it out. It is only a section, but is well watered and has a good set of buildings. I think I should buy it and move out there. Papa Turbin said that if I did buy it, he would like to live there with me where he can see his grandkids grow up. What do you think?”

“Sure, Judy, if that is what you want. What will you be raising?”

“Some blooded stock I think.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think the area is ready for it yet. You’d be better to stick with cow ponies. You know there is a stallion running wild out on the edge of the reservation that would be a good stud if he could be caught and tamed a bit. I know of a wild horse wrangler who would take on the job of trapping him.”

“You mean Buddy Kershaw?”

“Yeah. He gets on good with the Indians and they would help him.”

“He should. He sells them whisky.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Sheriff Sam Jones, I’m disgusted with you. Open your eyes. He’s a crook. He’ll do anything for a silver dollar.” I knew about Kershaw. He did drink with the Indians, but he didn’t sell to them. I used Buddy as an insider sometimes to spy out who did illegal traffic with the tribes. Primarily though, he was a wild horse wrangler and I did know about some of his past. He was from Louisiana and his family was originally from Nova Scotia, they settling there many years previously.

“Maybe, but you have to admit, he is charming. He knows horses better than anyone else around here. You want me to talk to him about catching that stallion?”

“He is charming as you say. No, if I buy the horse ranch I’ll look him up. I have seen the stallion and I would like to have him.”

Buddy was dark with flashing eyes and as mentioned, charming as could be. He was a favorite at social get-togethers and flirted outrageously with the womenfolk. He rode the finest of horse flesh and dressed better than the hands who he worked with. There was a colt pistol fitted with ivory grips tied down on his hip. His Winchester was etched and chased with silver. If he wasn’t so thoroughly liked by both men and women, he would be using one or the other of his arms to defend himself from those who were jealous of him.

I suppose women were attracted to him, but so far it hadn’t caused me any trouble. It was early September when Judy spoke about the stallion to Buddy Kershaw. She made sure she was asked by him to dance at the social that Saturday night. The economy of the country was just recovering and Judy had bought the horse ranch the previous May.

The summer had been hot and dry and the area where that stallion ranged had fewer waterholes for the wild herd to drink from. This made it ideal for Buddy to do his job. Judy knew this and if the horse was going to be caught, this was the time. Buddy put her off when first asked early in the evening, just saying he would give her his answer when the dance was over. He kept returning for another dance and Judy was pressuring for a response.

He was in the forefront requesting most every dance. The last dance of the evening started and she still didn’t know. She was getting exasperated with him for not giving her an answer. “Mr. Kershaw, I will find someone else to trap the horse. You have not told me if you would take on the chore of capturing him for me.”

“Mrs. Turbin, I have enjoyed my dances with you, the most beautiful lady who has graced the ballroom this evening. May I escort you to your surrey when we finish this dance?”

“I suppose, but I’m sick to death of your petty games.” Buddy took her arm and escorted her down the stairs of the Seldon House with myself and Jessie in attendance. Cynthia was with us and we all went out to where her buggy was tied. Both women were staying at the Ryeback ranch overnight and would be there for Sunday dinner on the morrow.

Buddy made a little speech. “Mrs. Turbin, I have enjoyed dancing with you tonight. May I ask for one more thing?”

“Ask dammit and then either answer or get out of my sight.”

“Would you kiss me good evening?”

Judy had been widowed for three years. Her two children were growing up with only Papa Turbin as a close relative. Judy didn’t speak, just coming into his surprised arms. The kiss lingered and all of us could see that promises were being made even though we heard nothing. Judy finally broke it off, turning to me. “Sam, please invite Mr. Kershaw to dinner tomorrow. We will discuss him chasing my stallion in a more appropriate setting. First though, Mr. Kershaw, I think you should reveal your real name. I can’t believe your mother named you Buddy.”

“I will whisper it to you. I have lived with people knowing me as Buddy and I want to continue to do so.” Judy was cracking up as soon as he whispered in her ear. It earned him another kiss and an apology for bursting out laughing on her learning his name. Sunday dinner was a success with Papa Turbin bringing Judy’s two children with him to join us. It was obvious there was an instant attraction between Judy and Buddy. Papa Turbin saw it and he warmed to this colorful man who he thought could replace the son he had lost years before. Buddy was immediately asked to take over and manage the horse ranch.

Buddy said not yet as he was charged with completing a job that he had promised to do. “I have received payment in the form of a kiss and must do this before I do anything else.” The stallion was turned into the corral the second of October and Judith Bellows Turbin became Mrs. Bartholomew Kershaw on the third of December. She was thirty-one-years-old and Buddy was twenty-nine.

Chapter Three

The whole county mourned the passing of Kenny Ryeback. He had instructed a good portion of the residents in the town before he killed his best friend over the man’s wife and was sent to prison. White man and Indian alike loved him when he returned and resumed his position as teacher. Just ask me how effective he was. The town was named for him and well deserved. I had a few words with him when he knew his time was coming. “Sam, look after Mary Eustis for me when I’m gone. You have been a son to me and a man couldn’t have had a better one.

“Samson calls me father, but he is your son in every way. So much of life is about saving face and not once have I ever been shamed since I first met you. I think Samson is the most intelligent person I have ever known or had under my tutelage. I have no idea what the future holds for him. He is man grown at seventeen and has the mind of one twice his age. He may go on to great things or he may be satisfied to just make Felicity happy here at home. I’m glad he has the features of the white man, but I feel he will never forget his Indian blood and heritage.”

He paused and was getting weaker. “Sam, we have made quite a pair and we have shared more than most people, thrown together as we were. Please ask Mary Eustis to come in. I must cling to her as I leave. She truly has held my soul and it is only fitting that she be with me when it leaves this body. Good-bye Sam.”

Three hours later Mary Eustis came out into the living room where Jessie and I were sitting. I looked at this woman. There were tears in her eyes. I had never seen any there before in all of the years I had known her. Addressing me, she said, “Sam, I’m sad and I’m lost. I’m going back to my village for a couple of days. I may even go to the medicine cave and see if my soul will soar with Kenny while he finds his new home. Would you saddle a mount for me?” She turned and went back into her now lonely room.

Jessie knew how this woman was hurting. “Go with her Sam. Come back the day after tomorrow. I will have Kenny prepared for burial. The hands here will dig the grave.”

Mary Eustis smiled when she saw I was mounted and waiting for her to join me. We rode silently toward the west. We stopped in the village and had food. The Indians there were already aware that Kenny had passed on. Two Indian braves were standing on a nearby hill with their hands raised to the sky. Kenny was getting his way to the spirits opened for him. We could hear their chant as we passed by on the way to the cave.

The cave was the same as before, only this time not for me, but for Mary Eustis. A pipe was smoked and again I saw the vistas. I joined Mary Eustis on her pallet when commanded, but only for sleep this time. Waking, I knew it was morning even though I couldn’t tell in the darkness. I soon became aware there was another presence with us and it was my son, Samson. I wasn’t needed longer and I passed from the cave, leaving mother and son alone. I only paused long enough to move the pickets for their horses, not knowing how long before Samson and Mary Eustis would appear to see to them. Mounting up I headed home for the ranch.

It was cold and Kenny was in the casket which was resting on saw horses in the tack room. “People are coming from all over. The Governor is sending a representative. The man who was warden when you were in prison wired your office, saying he was on his way. Most of the town of Ryeback will be here. I have planned the services for tomorrow at two-thirty. This will give the mourners time to get back to town before dark.

“Judy and Cindy knew this was coming soon and have been working with the newspaper preparing his obituary. It was put on the wires last evening. Every room in the Seldon House has been reserved and Sarah is double bunking people who are willing to share their room. Will Mary Eustis and Samson be back for the service?”

“Yes, but they will not be in the forefront. Mary Eustis has asked me to stand at the head of his casket while they stand surrounded by those who belong to the ranch. I’m sure there will be many of the Silvercloud Indians here as well. Kenny was not only Mary Eustis’ mate but their great friend.”

“I know.” Jessie looked at me. “You seem distracted. Are you okay?”

“Sure. It is just that Kenny has been a part of my life for so long. I can’t seem to get my mind around the fact that he is gone. You know I don’t think my life started until I met him.”

“You were close to him. He often spoke about you. He thought of you as his son. He was so proud when you ran for sheriff and won. He almost burst with pride when the government made you a federal marshal. It wasn’t just the office either. It was the way you managed your duties. For me, I will miss him. My writing to you in prison was a high point in his life and he so looked forward to my letters.

“I guess the real tribute is what he has done with his teachings of Samson. He challenged him to learn at every turn. All of those times Samson came and sat in the sheriff’s office was planned by him. That is where the books on law and its applications were located. That shelf in the living room contains books about military strategy. Samson has read and studied those at Kenny’s direction.”

“I know Jessie. Kenny directed me many times as well to teach Samson some of my strengths. The time of the gunfighters will soon be of the past, but I’ll tell you Samson could have been up there with the best and fastest of them. I’m good, but I’m slower than molasses compared to him. With a long weapon, he can’t be beat. Give him twenty rounds to sight a rifle in and there is no one to touch him for accuracy.

“The only thing that will keep Samson from becoming great, is his love of home and his Indian brothers. I’m afraid if Samson has to leave for places other than here, we will have to send someone with him. He just doesn’t know how to get about in more populated settings. This too, Kenny had talked about with me.”

“Sam, I don’t ever expect Samson will have to leave here.” I didn’t say anything, for you never know. I headed up to where the grave was being opened by those of us at the ranch.

Gramp, older than anyone else here now, had ridden up in a pony cart. He was directing the digging. “Kenny is going in between Mrs. Bellows, the twin’s mother. Pat is on the other side of him. That’s the way he wanted it, claiming he was only nothing now. He even mentioned the outlaws buried here and wouldn’t have minded if he was placed next to them either. That flat place over on the right is reserved for you and Jessie. There is room here for Samson, Felicity, James and Martha.”

“What about you, Gramp? Where are you resting?”

“Just below you and Jessie. We’ve been close in life and I don’t want to be too far away in death. I’ll be next anyway, so if you don’t want to be near me that’s up to you. Just make sure the journal that Cindy is writing is up to date. I wouldn’t want to get lost in the shuffle.” He grinned as he said this. Cindy and he had always been close to each other since the girls had stayed in the bunkhouse the first night with us.

“Sam, see if you can talk to Cindy about lying here with us. She hasn’t anyone and she is family as much as the others who live here. I’m still in hopes she will decide to marry up with someone before I die.”

“She will be with us, I can promise you that. This is the home she grew up in. Her place is here.”

The day broke clear and cold. Saddle horses were coming into the ranch yard by nine. Buggies and surreys started arriving at noon. There was no hot meal as such, but gallons of beef stew had been made and bread had been baked the day before. There was cold beef piled high on platters. Coffee pots were full and filled again as needed.

Folks would want to be going home or back to town after the service. Some jugs of whisky were in evidence. Some were brought because any excuse to drink was a good excuse. Others wanted to toast Kenny’s life and cheer him on the way now that he had left it.

Gramp and Jessie wanted me to say a few words after the preacher opened the ceremony. I declined to speak, saying Kenny was my friend and he knew it. That was enough. It took Mary Eustis to convince me I should say something as I had been the closest to him. “You were, Sam. He never would have survived prison if it hadn’t been for you. Do it. If not for him, then for me. You are close to me as well.”

I couldn’t deny what she was saying and finally I agreed. It came time. “I have been asked to say a few words about my friend, Kenny Ryeback. A little bit of history first. Many years ago, I was put into a cell with Kenny up at Territorial Prison. I was in for cattle stealing. Yes, that’s right, your sheriff was in prison for rustling. I had no education at all and was as dumb as a duck. However, luck was riding with me. Kenny was there for killing a former friend. Seventeen years he had served already and had three to go. We made a deal. I would do some of his work so he could survive and he in return would educate me.

“We paid for our crimes and we got on with our lives. I like to think Kenny did more than just get on with his life. How many of you have sat before him while he taught you just as he taught me? Many of you I see before me today. It was also in his heart to treat red men and white men alike. He chose a woman to walk beside him, she of a different race, but a bridge between those two races.

“When times were tough, he provided work so you could feed your families. I could say more and recount other things he did. Why though? He touched you or you wouldn’t be here today. I believe that is enough. He was your friend and mine and we will miss him. Thank you.” I moved from the head of Kenny’s casket to stand among those of us who were here to pay homage.

The wind was coming up and it was getting colder by the minute. I glanced up at the sky and there were clouds rolling in from the north. The local fiddler had brought his instrument to provide a little melody for the song. The preacher raised his hand and the strains of music came forth. Scattered words of “How Great Thou Art” were sung by the congregation. It was faint and it seemed as if the wind was whipping the words away, carrying Kenny’s soul with them.

By the time the preacher said his final words of prayer and benediction, the sky had darkened and there were snowflakes in the air. First a few of the congregation broke away and then there was a rush down the hill. Mary Eustis and I were the only ones left with the pallbearers to lower the casket. My son James and two of Pete Ryeback’s sons and three Indians, nephews of Mary Eustis, lowered it into the ground. Samson and I threw on the first shovelfuls of dirt. Fifteen minutes later only a mound was visible to mark where my friend, Kenny, lay.

The ranch yard was fast emptying and the road to town was streaming with horses and conveyances. Buddy, Judith Kershaw and Papa Turbin were to stay the night. Room was made for Cindy Bellows to bunk in with Jessie. Miss Sylvia and John Comstock went back to town but their two kids and Judith’s two were shunted to the attic. My two children, James and Martha, now seventeen and fifteen, objected to being classed as youngsters, so James went to the bunkhouse with me, while Martha and Felicity paired up together.

Samson and I had the foreman’s room. Gramp had his own bunk in a former pantry behind the kitchen. He needed the heat from the house to ease his aching old bones. “What now Sam? I been hanging on here until my father passed on.”

“Up to you. Why don’t you think about it over the winter? I’m sure something will come to mind on what you want to do the rest of your life. You have to think about Felicity as well and how you feel about her. She’s been in love with you ever since you were born and it’s time she looked for a man, if you aren’t the one. If you do love her, tell her so. Don’t let happen to you what happened to Jessie and me. At the time I was just a year older than you are now. I should have spoken and she should have made her feelings known as I went off to prison.”

“Sam, we’ve talked. We’ll be married someday. I want to be doing something with my life before I bed her.”

“There’s the ranch here. It’s yours if you want it. Kenny fathered you and he’s gone, but you’ve known for years you are of my loins. I’m not ready to give up sheriffing yet. I could move my office here, but it is inconvenient. I think now that Kenny is gone your mother wants to return to her valley and live in her cabin. We don’t have to settle anything tonight and we’ll talk about this again.”

“I’ll think about the ranch. This is the only home Felicity has ever had and she loves the ranch as much as anyone. I’ll know by spring anyway. How disappointed will you be if I don’t take it over and manage it?”

“It’s an option and a good one for you, but I’ve thought all along with your intelligence it might not be enough to hold you. If you don’t take it, there is Jessie. She’s capable. Mary Eustis could do it but she is in her sixties now. Living here for the last eighteen years has been kind of a hiatus for her. She practically gave up as leader of the Silverclouds for awhile. That was her place in life, but she made a different choice because she loved Kenny so much.”

“Lot to think about, Sam. Hell, with a little encouragement, James could step in and take over the ranch. Sometimes I think you don’t give him enough credit. He’s a lot like you. Look closer at him sometime. He’s so quiet you don’t notice how much he does around here. Jessie hasn’t pushed you because she thinks the ranch will automatically be mine.”

“I’ll give it thought. ’Night Samson.”

Things settled down for the winter. Jessie held open house for all of our friends and relatives at Christmas time. Samson turned eighteen in February. My duties were light in the sheriff’s office. We were fast getting beyond the bad times of the early years in the decade and crime such as we had here was down. Money was flowing and people were finding jobs. The country was feeling good about itself again.

---

The only thing that was causing the country concern was happening in Cuba. Spain was the last foreign entity in this hemisphere who had colonies close by. The newspapers were trumpeting the cause of the Cuban rebels and sympathy was building for them. The United States had maintained a strong navy, but there was only a very small standing army.

We had received a card and note from T. Roosevelt at Christmas time. In it he wondered if Samson was still as proficient with his shooting as when he had visited years before. The note on the card was personal, but it was rubber stamped “Assistant Secretary of the Navy,” with his initials scrawled under the stamp.

The newspapers were following the story about how the Cuban rebels were faring in the so-called death camps they were held in when they were caught. The Spanish government in Cuba was being made to look terrible. There were reporters to comment on every little happening. Some were even made up. Joseph Pulitzer was vicious in his comments. Frederick Remington, the artist, didn’t see on the ground what was being written in the papers and asked to be recalled. Hearst, himself, said to keep providing pictures and he would provide the news.

The papers made much of the battleship, the Maine being anchored in Havana harbor the last week of January, 1898. More was made of the Maine when she went down three weeks later with great loss of life. The Spaniards, of course, were to blame, so the newspapers said. The World even went so far as to show how it was possible for saboteurs to do the dastardly deed.

An investigation followed, but a conclusion was never reached as to who was actually to blame for the blowing up and sinking of the battleship. (Not to this day either.) The newspapers were selling copies and they now had a war to report on.

Much was going on in Washington as well. The United States withdrew their ambassador from Spain the third week of April and war was declared immediately following by both countries. What was the United States going to do about an army? They had only 28,000 men in uniform, many of these poorly trained and ill equipped. The decision was made to increase immediately the army to 50,000 men. In one week 200,000 showed up to join. Lack of men was just one of the problems confronting the country being readied for war. There were only thirteen qualified quartermasters to find uniforms, weapons, mounts, and all sorts of equipment needed in waging war.

Theodore Roosevelt had long advocated war with Spain. In May 1898 he resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. With Leonard Wood as Colonel and with him as his Lieutenant, they were charged with raising three regiments of cavalry. They then set about raising a regiment of cavalry from the western states and territories. The two officers worked well together. Wood had been on several campaigns and knew military strategy. Roosevelt knew who and how to get the best equipment to arm the soldiers. He immediately requisitioned the new Krag-Jorgenson rifle with smokeless powder for arms his men would use.

One other thing he did was to dress his troops in the lighter khaki, the standing army having only wool uniforms to wear. None available and using his influence, he had them ordered, made, and shipped to the recruitment and staging area in the west. Recruitment went on in all of the major cities and territories. San Antonio, Texas was where the new troops would train for the coming conflict.

We read the newspapers and the war fever was there for us the same as it was in the rest of the country. War was far away and you have no idea it will touch you. What did we know of war? Recruitment was announced in every newspaper. What criteria for men needed was published at the same time. You had to be able to shoot, be fit, and obey orders. That was basically it. Lawmen, gunfighters, outlaws, Native Americans, shopkeepers, farmers, and former soldiers all would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Samson dithered for one day and then came into the sheriff’s office. “Sam, I’m going. Teddy Roosevelt knows me and I stand a good chance at being recruited. Son of Grey Goose is going with me. I have already talked to Mary Eustis and she says I will return.”

“Okay, I wondered if you would. What about Felicity?”

“She has promised to wait for me and agrees that it is my duty to help out my country. Jessie thinks I should stay home, but I can’t. She is worried about me traveling and is afraid I will get into some kind of trouble.”

I laughed. Here my son stood, six-foot-three with broad shoulders and with a confident way about him. Not only that, I would bet on him to come out of a brawl or of any gunfight standing. “Samson, Buddy Kershaw was just in. He is going too. You two can make a pair. He has traveled and knows his way around things you might not know about. When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow afternoon’s train. Jessie has sent out word for everyone to meet at the ranch tonight. Judith will be coming, of course. John and Aunt Sylvia will be there. I’m telling you just as Jessie has asked me to, so you better show up.” He grinned. The kid did have a sense of humor. “I’m on my way over to the bank to tell Cindy now.”

“Say hi to her. Ask her if she wants to ride out to the ranch with me, will you? I’m driving the buggy today.”

“Okay. See you tonight.”

Just then the door opened and the boy who ran messages for the telegrapher came in. “Wire for Samson Ryeback. Sheriff, will you take it out?”

“He’s standing right behind you. Deliver it yourself.”

“Boy, you must be somebody. This wire is from Lt. Colonel Teddy Roosevelt himself. Sign here.” I tossed him a ten cent piece. This surprised him, for he rarely got more than an Indian cent. He scurried out the door.

Samson unfolded the yellow form. He read it out loud. Samson Ryeback. Have need to train recruits to shoot. Reach San Antonio Recruitment Center in seven days. Confirm. Lt. Col. T. Roosevelt.

Samson passed it to me. There was the address for him to send the confirmation to. I spoke. “I guess you are in the cavalry now. Better go send your answer. I have a list of what you need to take with you. It was published in yesterday’s paper. You can take my horse. He’s even better than the original Jim horse I had when I came onto the ranch. He’s bigger than yours and he knows you. Son, I tell you, I’m damned proud.”

“Sam, it’s too early to show proud if you are. Proud should come when I return. Would you go over to the station and make arrangements to ship our three horses and get the tickets? I’ll go tell Cindy and I’ll see you tonight.” There had never been any show of affection between the two of us. Always respect but that was it. Suddenly this giant had me in his arms and hugged me. He thumped me on the back once and then turned and was out the door. I watched him cross the street to the bank. I blinked a few times and went down to the train station.

Cindy came across from the bank and waited in my office while I finished for the day. I went out behind the office to the shed where I stabled the buggy mare. I threw on the harness and brought the vehicle around. I stepped down and then handed Cindy up. The mare knew she was headed for home and I only chirped once before we were gone. It was cool and I handed the reins to Cindy so I could spread a rug over her legs and lap. She waited for me to finish and handed the lines back to me.

Holding them in one hand I put the other under the rug. Her hand came over and settled on top of mine. “Great doings aren’t there? Things go along and then everything gets all in a tumble. Samson is going away. I know how he feels. I felt the same way when I went east years ago. This time I’m one of the ones left behind. He’ll miss us. I hope he gets through this and comes home okay.”

“He will. He has already talked to Mary Eustis. She is seldom wrong.”

“I know. Sam, thanks for inviting me to ride out to the ranch with you. Sometimes I feel you are avoiding me, but I know it isn’t so.”

“No I don’t avoid you, but I don’t search out chances to be with you either. I can’t, feeling as I do about you.”

“The same with me and how I act toward you. So many times I want to cross the street and speak. You have noticed that my desk is where I can look out now haven’t you?”

“Yes and I’m always aware whether you are at your desk or not.” I turned my hand over and held her hand all the rest of the way to the ranch. It wasn’t much, but in its own way, quite satisfying for both of us. When we reached the ranch Jessie welcomed me home as usual with a hug and a kiss. Cindy watched and then turned away. Well, we had had a moment together anyway.

Jessie informed me that Son of Grey Goose was with Mary Eustis back in a medicine tent halfway to the Silvercloud village. She was performing a purifying ceremony on the brave and Samson should visit his mother as soon as he arrived from town for the same rites. They were headed for war and it was necessary to protect their own spirits from being taken by evil ones if their soul ever left their body.

Samson came riding in on his horse behind Buddy Kershaw, Judy, Papa Turbin and the two young ones in their buggy. He listened to Jessie tell Samson Mary Eustis wanted to see him to make medicine. “I guess I’ll trail along over there with him. Judy, I’ll be back before morning. Maybe Mary Eustis will do the same for me.” Judy clung to her husband of only a few months and told him to go.

We were a subdued group sitting around talking. The young ones went to bed. Jessie and Miss Sylvia broke out with tears every so often. Cindy and Judy drew close to me. I had built the fire in the fireplace and we sat on the settle facing and staring into the fire. Martha came and sat next to me. James sat near rolling and smoking a quirly. He had picked that habit up from some of the cowhands.

I got up occasionally to replenish the fire. It was almost four in the morning before the three who were leaving returned. Mary Eustis was with them. She was smiling and this gave me confidence all would return from battle safely. Felicity, who had spent the evening crying in her room, took Samson by the hand and led him away from the rest of us. Judy did the same with Buddy, using our room.

The Silvercloud clan came riding in with a rush. One squaw, Wee Tuk, broke away and ran to Son of Grey Goose and they walked away from the rest. Cook fires were quickly built in the same rings as always, going back to the outlaws who were raping the squaws. Soon coffee was bubbling.

George and Bertha came wheeling in from the hog ranch, apologizing saying they just got the word. A chant started with the Indians and soon they were circling. I became aware of Mary Eustis standing beside me. “Sam, this isn’t like when our braves went to war years ago. Slowly we are losing the old way and this going to war with only three of our braves is good, but not the same. War was our heritage and this will take us back to when it was a way of life.

“The chant and the circling around the fire is the same, building the courage in the braves who are doing the fighting. I am very proud of my son and his cousin. Yes, and Buddy Kershaw as well. They are all fine young men.” She moved away from me and went to Felicity, giving her words to ease the pain of the one she loved who was leaving and no one knew for how long.

Jessie and Mary Eustis along with Bertha had prepared breakfast. That over, the three men who were leaving shortly, made rounds saying good-bye. The train was leaving the station at one in the afternoon. We all mounted up and headed to town to see them off, knowing there wasn’t much time.

When we reached the edge of Ryeback, we were met by many of the townspeople and escorted to the station. There was a band of sorts led by the music teacher from the school. “Onward Christian Soldiers” was played and the horses were pushed up the ramp and into the waiting stock car. Son of Grey Goose said he was traveling with the horses and threw his gear in with them. The Indians who had ridden in with us squatted down in front of the open door where he was sitting with his feet dangling.

The telegrapher and the station agent were so proud to have informed the whole town about Samson and Buddy leaving to fight with Teddy Roosevelt. It was they who organized the town for the send-off. Buddy and Samson stowed their gear in the waiting Pullman and came back to stand on the platform. The mayor said a few words and looked first at me and then at John Comstock who had just lost that post to the present mayor in March.

I had said all that was needed to be said back at the ranch, and for once John wasn’t in his politician’s clothes. Just as the conductor shouted, all aboard, Judy and her two kids ran up for their last hugs and kisses. Samson stepped down and gathered Felicity into his arms, giving her one last passionate kiss and mounted the steps as the train started to move.

Jessie and I moved in next to Felicity as she stood there with tears coursing down her cheeks. We waved to Son of Grey Goose who still sat in the open door of the stock car as it went by. Everyone stood there watching as the train gathered speed and then was lost from view. Each of us had our own thoughts as we turned to go home.

Chapter Four
Five days later we had a terse wire. Arrived safely. Have new rifle. Shoots good at 500, still good at 700. Possible at 1000. Working on 1200. Busy, Sams’n.

Felicity cried when there was no message for her. She whined to Mary Eustis and got back little sympathy. “He loves you child. Be satisfied. He said he would come back to you and he will. For now though, he is a warrior and must learn to fight if he is to survive.”

This made Felicity cry all the more. She came to me as I was settled on the couch. She actually crawled onto my lap. “Daddy, what am I going to do? I love Samson so much. It is like I don’t even exist.”

“You do exist and I’m sure he knows it. From what we read in the paper, Roosevelt is trying to get his troops in shape and ready for battle. I suspect Samson is doing more than his share or Roosevelt wouldn’t have asked for him to join. Some day he will be home and will tell us everything. Be assured he thinks of you the last thing before he closes his eyes at night.

“That is the way I felt about your mother when I was up in prison and doing more than my share of splitting rocks. Think how I felt when she said she was getting married to your natural father. I felt all hope was lost, but I went on and the Lord smiled on me. The Lord will smile on you too if you will just have faith.”

“But it is all I can think about. Samson being gone and maybe never coming home to me.”

“Mary Eustis said he was coming home. If you can’t have faith in the Lord, you certainly can have faith in her. I’ve always found it so and I have known her for years. You know, maybe you should find something else to do with your life while Samson is away. A different interest. You help us all around the ranch, but maybe you should get away from us a little bit.”

“What could I do and where? I want to be here when Samson comes home.”

“How about going to school and learning to be a teacher? Kenny taught you much and I know you are smart enough. You just have had no formal schooling or training. Why don’t we talk to Grampa John and Aunt Sylvia. All you need is a certificate and he knows everyone. After all he was Lt. Governor.”

Felicity’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I’d be living away from the ranch for a little while wouldn’t I? I never have gone anywhere. I listen to Cindy sometimes when she tells about when she went east and met new people. I think I’ll ride into town right now and see Aunt Sylvia. I might not even have to talk to Grampa John. She knows more than he ever did.” I thought she did too---we all did, but it wasn’t discussed.

Jessie and I talked about this during the evening and night. “Another one of ours will be leaving the nest. I wondered for awhile if she was just going to be Samson’s wife. I think if she becomes a teacher, Samson will love her much more and have more respect for her. She just won’t be a rancher’s wife like I am.”

“Jessie, don’t sell yourself short. This whole ranch revolves around you, especially now that Mary Eustis isn’t here. I come home from town or from somewhere chasing down an outlaw and you are here. Maybe I don’t tell you I love you enough. You have been the light that shines in my heart for twenty years. I would be nothing without you.”

“I love to hear you tell me you love me. What about Mary Eustis? She was before me.”

“Yes she was. Remember though, there was a purpose behind what we did and you benefited. I’ll admit having a child by her was a surprise to both of us, but then that was fine as well. I couldn’t sort the results out at the time Samson came, but maybe he was put on earth just for Felicity.”

“Do you think so?”

“Who knows.”

“Sam, what about you and Cynthia?”

“What about us? What do you mean?”

“I’m not blind, Sam. I know she loves you and the reason she hasn’t married is because of you. You know it too.”

I got up and lit the lamp. I returned to our warm bed and rolled over so we could face and see each other. “Jessie, I have loved you all of these years. My love hasn’t changed since I first saw you. Cindy, yes I do know how she feels about me. And yes there is some attraction we have for each other. You know what I feel mostly?”

“No, Sam, what?”

“I feel sad. Sad that she is caught up in this situation and it will never be able to change.”

“Then you should feel sad for yourself as well. It is your problem and I’ve known all along that I’ll have your love as long as we are alive. I do worry about you being a sheriff, although I never say anything. Being sheriff is what you do and you are good at it. What would I do if anything ever happened to you? I shudder at the thought. Dear, would you turn out the light so I can hold you? I guess I’m jumpy tonight, talking about Felicity and all.”

I knew it was the talk about Cindy that was making my wife uneasy. She had no cause, for Jessie was first in my heart.

Felicity was mounted and rode beside me to town in the morning to talk to Miss Sylvia about becoming a teacher. She came in the door to the sheriff’s office before the noon meal. “Dad, Aunt Sylvia says there is a new class for teachers starting in the state capital the first of June. It is at the girls’ seminary. I will have three weeks to get ready for it. Oh, I’m going to miss you and Mom so much. Everyone else too. I do have to do something or I will go crazy from missing Samson. Will you and Mom go with me to get me settled?”

“Of course. How long is the class for?”

“Three months if I teach the beginners. Aunt Sylvia knows I can pass the test for that already. If I can, I can learn to teach some of the older students in only three months as well. That’s what I’m going to try and do.”

“Okay Sweetheart. Hey, I’m proud of you. Samson will be too when he comes home from the war.” Poor choice of words, for Felicity broke up sobbing and I had to hold her until she calmed down. Not of my blood, she was still my little girl. I took her to lunch where she could tell her grandmother, Sarah, at the Seldon House.

I sat in my chair in the office thinking that afternoon. It seems as though I was losing all those around me I loved. That was life I guess. Me? My home life had ended the year I was eight when I lost my mother and sister. My father certainly hadn’t provided a home. Any home we had was mostly because of my efforts. He was still in my memory and I guessed if he was still alive, I would still love him. He wasn’t, he took the easy way out. Would I do the same if I lost Jessie? Probably not. Killing yourself got you out of your pain, but it certainly made it harder on those who had loved you. Dark thoughts for a May day!

The newspapers were selling papers, even having to make more than one run. We here in the western states were as interested in the progress toward war as those in the east. Why wouldn’t we be? Our boys were the ones who were going to be facing the enemy. The papers were keeping us informed through their daily reports. They even had photos of our men training on the fields in San Antonio. And there were the cartoons drawn by artists in the newspapers’ employ.

It was an exciting day when Samson, Buddy, and Son of Grey Goose were pictured in the paper as a sharp-shooting team. At present this team was teaching others how to fire on and kill the damned Spanish, those monsters they would soon face. For once I had different thoughts and I wasn’t so thrilled about the rhetoric we were reading in the newspapers.

My god, the whole country was caught up in this war and I suspect that there was a lot of fear mongering going on. It was the same as when the dark clouds gathered before the war between the states. Someone was going to be making a lot of money for himself and someone was going to be out there just to be making a name for himself as well. There were going to be a whole lot of innocent people on both sides going into their graves and it was so unnecessary somehow, and should be avoided.

My son was only a few months over eighteen years of age. I didn’t want it to be him who was going to pay the price for someone’s fame or fortune. I would look closely from now on at those leaders who were in charge. I feared that Theodore Roosevelt was one of them and damn it, I personally liked the man. We would see.

One thing that eased my mind, Leonard Wood was proposed and made colonel of the new volunteer regiment, with Lt. Colonel Roosevelt as his second in command. I knew of Wood’s exploits here in the territories against some of the worst of the Indian tribes and he was ultimately successful. Wood certainly had the knowledge, and I suspected Roosevelt had all of the bravery that was needed to get the job done.

I realized that this was going to be played out and my second thoughts on the war were going to mean diddley squat. I did have confidence in my son and his capabilities. Roosevelt must have had them as well or he wouldn’t have made the effort to contact him. I also had confidence in the two men with him.

Buddy Kershaw was ten years older and he had been up and over the mountain a few times. Judith and her love had tamed him somewhat, but he hadn’t been married long. Buddy was handsome and flashy but he was used to the wild ways of the wilderness, wild horse trapper that he was and it would stand him in good stead. Son of Grey Goose was as native as they come and I would pit the two of them against any situation they might run into, be it war or peace.

I couldn’t give all of my attention to where and what Samson was doing. I was still sheriff and there seemed to be a rash of crimes in the area. One of the general stores in Ryeback was robbed, the thieves making off with cash in the till, the store’s strongbox, three pistols, two rifles and one kiss.

No shots were fired, but the preacher’s wife got kissed by one of the bearded robbers when she said she wouldn’t stand for any such goings on while she was shopping. I was out of town when this happened and when I returned Mildred stormed into my office demanding I do something about these criminals who went around subjecting innocent women of the town to being violated.

I knew some things about Mildred that the rest of the town didn’t. Her demands got louder and louder and she started berating me because I didn’t jump on my horse and take after them. Finally I had enough from her. “Mildred, what you are screaming at me is all for show. I’m going to investigate this as soon as I get something to eat. Now I know you are angry, but I suspect you drew attention to yourself somehow and the thief took action.”

She interrupted me. “Sheriff Jones, you must do something and immediately! I demand it!”

“Mildred, don’t worry, we’ll probably catch these men. As far as you getting kissed, did you enjoy it as much as you do when you are kissing Jake Turner?”

A look of shock crossed her face. “Sheriff Jones, I…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell the preacher on you. I don’t think though, that you have the right to come in here demanding anything. Furthermore, I think you should be a little more discreet about who you go to visit when the preacher is out of town. Maybe you’ve forgotten that your husband is a reformed gunfighter and only recently got religion. He might forget that he is a preacher if he caught you with Jake. I like Jake and I’d hate to see him killed over some woman who had too much time on her hands.

“Now if I catch those men, I want you to bake a pie and bring it over here to the jail so I can give it to the man who kissed you. He’ll be in prison for five years, most likely, and he’ll have time to think about that kiss. I’ve been in prison and a man has to have something to think about. In return, I won’t look to catch you coming out of Jake’s back door come midnight some evening.”

Mildred looked at me at first with fear while she thought about this. Then she smiled. “I can do that Sheriff. To tell the truth, Jake ain’t any better a lover than the preacher, but I got to ask you this, what’s all this to you? You got me over the barrel by knowing something about me I thought no one else knew. Don’t answer, you get the pie for the crook if you catch him. Now I’m going out the door enraged at you the same as I came in. I can’t change too much can I?” Boy, I was thankful I wasn’t married to Mildred.

I did catch the thieves. They had headed onto the Indian reservation to hole up. They thought I didn’t have jurisdiction, not aware I was a Federal Marshal. This was a game to the Indians. They helped me and I wasn’t as harsh when they were in trouble. I knew immediately where the crooks were located when I rode onto the Indian grounds. I hadn’t figured out how the Indians seemed to always know who was traveling in their territory, but they did.

On the morning of the third day, the robbers woke up with me and my two deputies sitting there waiting around their cold campfire. We had their guns and the money they stole. It was a pretty meek bunch when I herded them into their cells. Their court date was to be in two weeks.

One afternoon Mildred came in with the pie. “Sit right there, Mildred. I’m going to ask the prisoner if he is ready to apologize for being so disrespectful to you.” I went down to the end cell and talked to the prisoner and then came back and got Mildred. “He’s got fifteen minutes to apologize.” I let Mildred into his cell and went and got the pie.

I walked across to the two cells on the other side of the jail. “Hey you two, one of the town women felt sorry for you and baked a pie. I have to have a taste of it and you can have the rest.” I sat in a chair and we ate the pie. Fifteen minutes later I returned for Mildred. She was demurely sitting on the edge of the bunk.

The robber stood back as I opened the cell door. Mildred scurried down to my office. “Thanks Sheriff for giving me a chance to apologize to the lady. I don’t know what kind of town you are running here, but I like it. I might just come back and settle when I get out of prison.”

“Yes, that’s your choice, but don’t forget we have laws here and everyone has to abide by them. You wouldn’t be on the other side of this door if you had remembered that.”

“What about the lady?”

“If she didn’t tell you, she’s the preacher’s wife. The preacher is very strict and is a reformed gunfighter and he has killed his man. That might be something you want to remember if you decide to come back. Personally I would advise against it, but do what you have to do.”

“I think maybe I’ll change my mind about returning. I don’t want no truck with gunfighters, past or present.” I smiled and walked back to my office. Mildred was still here.

“Why?”

“Why? I’ll tell you the way I see it. The preacher is a good man and regrets having killed someone years ago. I don’t want him to backslide and me have to go against him, because I don’t know if I could take him. You, I know about you. A sheriff at the last convention was asking about you and if you were really married to a preacher. He said you came out of a bawdy house and latched onto the preacher for a meal ticket. You’re pretty and young enough to have a couple of kids.

“You could listen to the words the preacher says. You can continue the way you are and I can clean up after the trouble you bring. Maybe you can change and the problems I see for you in the future will go away. It is your choice.”

“Why did you want me to go into the jail cell with the man?”

“Because I wanted to see if you had any respect for yourself at all. If you didn’t feel just a little bit dirty when you came out, then I would have guessed wrong about you. Whoring yourself to a prisoner or standing beside a man of God should give you enough of a comparison to make a decision.”

“Sheriff, I think you would make a better preacher than my husband. You haven’t guessed wrong about me. I have already made my choice. I didn’t kiss that man in there today. I didn’t let him touch me. We did talk about the town and what kind of town you run. He said he might return. I hope he doesn’t. For your information, I won’t be going down the alley to Jake Turner’s house again either.”

Some days you win one and some days you lose one. I think I won one today.

Grass was greening up and I gave James more and more responsibility on the ranch. He was sparking Pete Ryeback’s oldest daughter, Mindy. She was turning sixteen in a week. She was a cute thing and I had no objection at all in having my son married to her. Jessie was undecided, although she had known the girl all of her life. Mindy had been at the ranch almost as much as she had been over to the Ryeback farm. She was a favorite of her father, and he said she was too young to get married. We had us a meeting at his house. The two lovers were banished to the barn while we decided their fate.

Hattie hadn’t spoken yet, waiting to see what I was going to say. “Pete, is their age your only objection to them being hitched?”

“Yes, she is nothing but a baby.”

“Have you looked at her lately? I mean through eyes other than as her father. Men and boys are drooling over her and have been since she turned fifteen, maybe before. Here at the farm she keeps house and works out in the fields. She can ride and she can shoot right up there with your sons. I think she would be a good match for my James. It isn’t as if you were never going to see her again.”

“Hattie needs her right here to help.”

“Hattie, what do you say?”

“I hate to see her go, but it is either let her marry James or see Mary Eustis for some of that stuff she has to prevent kids. That is if it isn’t too late already.”

“Hattie, she wouldn’t. What does she know about things like that?”

“Pete, she doesn’t have to know. I didn’t at her age and she’s my daughter. James Jones is man-grown and I trust he will do for her better than anyone else we know. We don’t need no woods child running around here without a father and that could happen. ’Sides that she couldn’t ask for better in-laws than Sam and Jessie.”

I smiled inwardly. Hattie could talk the hide right off a skunk and have no odor cling to her. Look how she convinced me to let Pete and her have the line shack. Pete looked at me. “You and Jessie okay with this?”

“I am and I think Jessie will go along, won’t you, Jess?”

“I suppose I’ll have to. Where are they going to live? When will they be getting married?”

“They probably will get married just as soon as we build them a house. How about that level spot near the little brook west of the ranch house? Let’s see, by next year this time you will be a grandmother and have to take care of the little one some of the time. The baby will be right next door to you.”

“I’m way too young to be a grandmother. To prove it I might just decide to have another kid myself. I could squeak one in before I get too old.” Everyone was laughing at her. I hoped no more kids. I’d hate to start over. Christ I was going to be forty years old in another year. “I give, who wants to tell the kids they can get married? Oh hell, Sam, you and Hattie do it. I’ll sit here and hold Pete’s hand.”

Mother of the girl and father of the boy went out to the barn. The two kids were sitting on a bench for repairing saddles. They looked hopefully at Hattie when we returned. It was I who spoke. “Mindy, do you have any idea what you want for a house?”

She took me serious. “Yes I do. I want two bedrooms and a loft you can stand up in. I want a good fireplace to sit in front of, and I want one of them stoves to cook on in a big kitchen. It might be nice if the house was so we could add on another couple of bedrooms if need be.”

“Is that what you want, Son?”

James was quiet and never said too much. “Mindy and me been talking. She just said it all. Can we build it just west of where the ranch house is?” I nodded. He turned to Mindy. “It looks like you and me are going to get married. Just to make it right, Mindy Ryeback, will you be my bride?”

“I will, Mr. James Jones. You may kiss me and then you go hunt up my brothers to help you build our home.” Tears of happiness could be seen.

Hattie had some tears as well. I turned and hugged Mindy and then shook hands with James. Hattie looked at me. “Sam, who knew something like this was going to happen when you kicked Pete off of the ranch so many years ago? I could hug you.”

“Go ahead, Hattie, I don’t mind at all.” Jessie had come in behind us and Pete was with her. Pete didn’t say too much, and I could see he didn’t want Mindy to leave his household. He did know that she would have a better life than he did. At least before he met Hattie anyway.

It was too early for haying and we had just got done roundup. The hands and James’ soon-to-be brothers-in-law hooked up the drag and did some smoothing west of the house. They then started digging for a cellar hole. Mindy was right there directing how things should be done. She might be just sixteen, but she certainly had a head on her shoulders. I said something to her about this. I got my answer.

“I been planning this for two years. I was just waiting on James to get old enough.” She giggled at me. I came to the conclusion she told me true. I think she and I were going to get along all right. My son needed direction in his life and it looked as if he was going to get more and then some from this chit of a girl.

James had never really been paid for the work he did on the ranch, but had never lacked for any money either. The day he was married, he started drawing cowhand wages. He was also to have a percentage of the profits. Came a minute alone with Mindy. “Pop, I worried James wasn’t going to have any cash money and here you came and made it so I wouldn’t have to ask.”

“Would you have asked if I hadn’t started paying him? Not all sons of ranchers get paid, you know.”

“I know that, but I would have asked. This isn’t the only ranch in the state. We’d have made out if you refused. But, Pop, I’m glad you did give him some pay. I like you and I want to stay here.”

“I like you too. Mindy if there is anything you think you or James deserve, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Okay, Pop.” Yes, I do think me and James’ young wife are going to get on just fine.

The first of June was fast approaching and Felicity was ready to go up to the state capital. Jessie and Miss Sylvia made the trip and stayed over while she took an exam to find out how much training she would need to become a teacher. She showed more knowledge than she thought she had and within three months would have her certificate to teach students through the eighth grade.

“Good, I wouldn’t want to teach any of the higher grades. I’m not very big and wouldn’t want to have to discipline the bigger students.”

I laughed and replied, “Just tell them your father is the sheriff. That should keep you out of trouble.”

“No, I want to do this on my own. Samson wouldn’t come running to you and I won’t either.”

My family was getting smaller and fast. One in the cavalry, one away at school, and one married. The only one left was Martha. All of a sudden, I was able to give her my attention. She was a sweet girl and Jessie claimed she not only was named for her own mother, but she could see the same disposition in her as well. Gramp echoed Jessie’s sentiment.

The newspapers were screaming that the troops who were a part of Teddy Roosevelt’s regiment were on their way to Tampa, Florida. They had done their rigorous training and were now ready to fight. They were on the train four days with all of their equipment and horses.

The staging area was not ready to receive them and then it was found that their horses wouldn’t be going to Cuba. It was a matter of lack of supply capabilities and there not being enough ships for transporting the animals. It was immediately decided that the first US Cavalry Volunteer Regiment had to fight dismounted if they were to get to Cuba at all. This was in the paper, the news items being followed by all of us with riveted interest.

After the troops reached Florida there were apparently so many snafu’s reported in the newspaper reports, it was hard to determine what transpired until the troops embarked on June 13. They did take ship under the command of Major General Joseph Wheeler of the Army’s V Corp. Wheeler had been a Confederate General and a good one. Retired now, he was induced to put on a uniform and lead troops again.

---

At home, we carried on as ever. Felicity was homesick at the seminary, never having stayed away from home before. Jessie and I took the train to the state capital to persuade her to finish what she had started and not give up. “Would Samson give up over longing for home?” It gave her pause about leaving. We stayed with her an extra day and returned to the ranch without her being with us. From that point on she settled down with her studies and the letters she wrote most everyday were happier, saying no more than she missed being with us.

We were worried about the horses that had gone to war with our boys, but they finally arrived in Ryeback on the train, escorted by one of the volunteers who was not recruited, but had been paid to travel with the animals. I was thankful to get the horse I had named Jim back. He was the third horse I had so named in memory of Jim the first, twenty years previously. This one was bigger and smarter. The important thing was he would stand under fire without flinching and I still had occasion when that was necessary.

It was the 21st of June and it was already sweltering hot. I debated about going into the office today. An hour’s ride into the town would be hard on the horse. I dawdled over breakfast and Jessie sat down when she poured my second cup of coffee. “I’m coming into town late this morning. It is hot and I’m driving the buggy. Can you leave the office early and drive me home? You can tie Jim on behind the buggy.”

“Sure, don’t see why not. I might even steal a kiss at the top of the hill when we rest the driving horse.”

“You’re not stealing no kiss from me. ’Course that don’t mean you ain’t apt to get one. Maybe we better practice right now.” She came over and I pushed back from the table as she plunked down in my lap. “Sam, don’t you go getting too frisky!” Ten minutes later it was, “Sam, now look what you’ve gone an’ done? You got time to take me in the bedroom?”

“I’ll make time, but it’ll make you late to get your shopping done.”

“I don’t care.” It was later when I was getting dressed for the second time. “Sam, for some reason I needed to get close to you this morning. I don’t ever want it to end. If anything ever happens to me, remember how much I love you.”

I leaned over this woman. “Jessie, nothing is going to happen to either one of us. We’ll go on forever. Just know I have loved you from the moment I first saw you. ’Course I was kind of ’fraid of you, you with that big gun pointing right at me. Not afraid enough not to help you out of a tight spot when I had to. It paid off. Look at us. None better suited to each other than we are. I’ll see you in town later.”

I bent down where she was lying on the bed and she reached up and pulled me down to where we could kiss. Reluctantly we let go and I turned and went out to saddle up. Jessie was standing in the doorway and waved good-bye as I cantered off. My thoughts were on my wife all the way to town.

When I racked my horse at the hitching rail, a man raised up off the chair that was setting in front of the office. “You the sheriff?”

End of Part 3


Saga of Sam Jones

happyhugo

Part 4

Ranching Again

Chapter One
“Yes, I’m the sheriff. Do you need me?”

“I don’t, but maybe someone does. I heard a gun battle going on when I come by the Rivers’ property out east of town. I didn’t stop as t’want any of my business. That was about two hours ago.”

“I’ll check it out. Thanks.” The man turned and climbed into his saddle, going on down the street. I had never seen him before. I was puzzled for the Rivers’ property was just a rundown old shack about five miles from town. Nothing to be fighting over. I guessed I better go out and check. My two deputies came strolling up from breakfast at the diner. “Pete, we got something to check into. Get your horse. Tom, you hang out here. It’s too damned hot for much trouble to be caused, but you never know.”

We put the horses into a fast walk and it was not quite an hour before we reached the Rivers’ place. Pete Branch circled around and come in from behind. I didn’t see where any horse tracks had turned off the trail and I waited until I figured Pete was close in. I walked the mount up to the shack. There was nothing stirring or any tracks to see. I began to get an uneasy feeling.

“Wild goose chase. I think we better get back to town.”

“Let’s go then, Sam. I got a feeling someone’s been robbed and this was just something to get us away.” I didn’t say anything and we mounted up, putting our horses into a run.

There were people standing all around as we came down the street. John came rushing up to me. “Sam, go over to the general store. The bank was robbed and Jessie got run down when the bastards were getting away. Cindy and Miss Sylvia are with her. I want in on the posse when you get ready to go after them. Go to Jessie first. We’ll get the robbers later.”

“Where’s Tom? Help him round up some men while I see to Jessie.”

“Tom’s dead. There is a teller dead too. Cindy also got off a couple of rounds with her pocket pistol and she says she wounded one of them.”

“How many robbers?”

“Three, maybe four. Hard to tell.” I hurried down to the store at the end of the street. The crowd parted and let me through. Jessie was laying in the back room on a pile of blankets that had been put down for her. Cindy and Miss Sylvia were crying and the doctor was standing by her. He stepped toward me.

“Sam, I can’t do anything for her. I gave her some laudanum to ease the pain. She was knocked down by a rider and the next horse trampled her as it came to her. She’s got a broken leg and one hoof landed in her middle. I hate to say this, but she’s all broken up inside. I’m sorry, but I can’t see how she can make it. I don’t think she has very long.”

“Thanks, Doc. I know you done your best.” He let go of my arm and I went to Jessie.

I brushed my hand over her brow and her eyes opened. “Sam, I was in the middle of the street when they came around the corner. They just rode me right down. Now when you get them, don’t do anything to bring trouble down on you. You’re a good sheriff and I expect you to stay that way.” A wan smile fluttered over her features and she stopped talking. I thought I had lost her. I sat there holding her hand.

I looked up when her father came in. He stood there holding Miss Sylvia who was crying. Jessie’s eyes opened again. “Daddy and Miss Sylvia, I’m glad you are here.” Her eyes traveled to Cindy. “Cindy, I give you Sam to take care of. He’s the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” Again her eyes closed, or almost. Once in awhile I could see a twitch of pain. I studied my wife’s features so I would never forget her. Her face hadn’t been damaged and she looked as she always had, except for her color and some dust that hadn’t been brushed off one side of her face.

I got a faint, “Sam,” when she next looked at me. Her fingers gripped me, and then I could tell she was no more. I leaned down and brushed my lips on hers and turned to go outside. James and Martha were coming in and I met them at the door. I shook my head and that’s when I lost it, shuddering with sorrow at my loss. Her father was in worse shape than I was. In his early sixties now, I knew this would hit him very hard. I steadied him outside and got him into a chair on the verandah. He couldn’t speak.

The crowd was silent for a bit. I was sheriff and it was up to me to get beyond my personal loss. I addressed the people standing around. “Someone who actually saw what went down here, come over to the jail and tell me what happened. Just those who can tell me what they saw for certain.”

“When you going after those sons-of-bitches? They got our gold and they killed people.”

“Soon---just as soon as I get the right of it.” I remembered that John had told me Cindy had fired at the polecats. I stepped back inside, finding Cindy with my eyes. I motioned for her to come with me. Two men claimed they were on the street and I took them too. It took twenty minutes to piece together what happened. One man who had been lounging on the street gave me what he had seen.

“You left town with Pete and about fifteen minutes later, four men rode up to the bank hitch rail. Three men went into the bank and the fourth held the horses’ reins. I saw Tom come out of the office here and look over across the street at the bank. Thinking back, he must have had suspicion something was going on. He started to pull his iron when the man shot him from where he was standing behind the horses. About that time the three men who had entered the bank came out shooting all over the place. I dove behind the water trough. I heard them mount up and ride out. I didn’t know they rode your wife down until after I went over and looked at Tom.”

“Thanks Bert. It had to have happened just as you have told it. I think when I find these men, one of them will be the one that told me about some gunfire I went chasing after. Cindy, tell me what went on in the bank.”

“Sure Sam. Sam, I’m awful sorry about Jessie.”

“Yeah.” For a minute I couldn’t say anything. “Cindy we’ve just lost one we both loved. Just tell me what happened in the bank and then we’ll go after them.”

“Okay. These three men came rushing into the bank and immediately drew their guns yelling it was a holdup. Phil Burns started for the gun he had in the till, but one of the men clipped him over the head and he went down. They made old Mr. Cumins empty the two tills into a sack while one held a gun on us. The other robber went into the safe and I could hear him emptying coins into another sack and I guess the paper money as well.

“About that time they heard a shot out in the street and I glanced out the window and saw Tom falling. The three men paused just a second before rushing out. I shot at them and I swear I got lead into the last one out the door. Phil got up and had his gun in his hand. He was standing in the doorway shooting at them when he went down again. He is dead on the floor just inside the bank.

“Ten minutes later someone told me that Jessie had been rode down and wanted to see me. I’m glad she waited to die so you could say good-bye to her. It would have been worse for you if you hadn’t that few minutes with her.”

I didn’t say anything. I was numb about everything at this point. The second man I had asked to come with me looked as if he had information. “I was not more’n twenty feet away from Jessie when them bastards came wheeling round the corner. Jessie never had a chance. The first man clipped her, the second horse was the one that stepped on her and the third man was just hanging on and was way wide. The fourth horse leaped right over her and never touched her at all. God, Sheriff it was awful. We’re going to get them and string ’em up ain’t we?”

“We’ll get them. Did you see what direction they took?”

“They headed right for the reservation. They’ll get away when they get up into them hills.”

“No, I don’t think so, not if they went onto the reservation. Actually if they did, we’ve got them already. Both of you men are deputized for the posse. I may need you to identify one or all of them. Get grub and canteens for five days. We may be out that long before we get back. Depends how much fight they got in them before we can get them corralled. Cindy, you work with the family and see that Jessie is taken care of. Wire Felicity to come home. I’ll break off the hunt and be back the day after tomorrow for her funeral if we haven’t captured them by then. They can’t get away. The Indians will see to that.”

There were ten of us in the posse and we had five hours of daylight left to get on with the hunt. Pete, my deputy, was with me, and James was riding beside me. Never one to say much, he held true by being quiet. It was a comfort to have him at my side and I knew he was hurting as much as I was over the death of his mother.

It was almost an hour before we hit the reservation boundary. Three hours later we were well into the Indian land. We were having a hard time trailing the killers’ hoof prints now because they were being obliterated by more horse tracks. The Indians had picked up the trail and were following the robbers. Just before dark, we came upon a dead man beside the trail laying in a ditch. “That’s not the man who was riding the horse that killed your wife.”

I dismounted and looked him over. I couldn’t see much for marks on him except for some blood that had dribbled down his chest from coughing his life away. We stripped off his shirt and he had three small bullet holes in his back. One had bounced off his right shoulder blade and apparently done no damage. The other two though, had gone in and probably punctured a lung on his right side. “Looks as though Cynthia Bellows killed this one. It took awhile but her shooting is what did him in.”

We rode awhile longer and then settled in for the night. We built a camp fire and made coffee. We had some beef along with several loaves of bread that Sarah Seldon had put into a set of saddlebags. Not much was said. We were after some killers and only about half the posse had ever shot at a man before. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling no matter how much you hated the men you were after. Morning found us saddling up after coffee and a substantial feeding of slab bacon.

We could travel at a gallop now, as the Indians were leaving a clear trail for us to follow. It was one o’clock that afternoon when we knew we had reached our quarry. There was a little box canyon ahead of us. The skyline around the canyon was fringed with thirty or more braves sitting their ponies waiting for us to arrive. One Indian detached himself and rode over to me. This was one I had made captain of the Indian police years before. “Sam, I guess you found one of them back there didn’t you?”

“Yeah. He was not the one that killed Jessie. How are we situated here?”

“Just waiting for you. They pulled in here after dark last night and are holed up. We made sure they could see us when they built up their fire this morning. They been here all day and haven’t made a move. I think they would talk to someone if he was to go in there.”

I turned to my deputy. “Pete, I’m going in. If they should happen to kill me, don’t spare them at all.”

“Sam, let’s just kill them now. No one would blame us or you.”

“Can’t do it. Jessie told me I was to remember I’m the sheriff. I could do as you say, but ten years down the road it might come back to haunt me. No, I’m going in. James, you look after the family if need be.”

I went up to the entrance and shouted. “I’m the sheriff. I want to talk and I’m coming in.”

“Come in then, if you’re brave enough. You’ll be covered.”

“I ’spect so.” I rode maybe two hundred yards into the canyon. The Indians were clearly visible up on the ridges watching me. I looked the three of them over. The one man under thirty, maybe, was the one who had lured me out of town with his tale of the shooting. There was one youngster about twenty. The other one was my age or a little older. The money sacks were bunched on the ground.

The older man spoke. “Where are we on this, Sheriff?”

“Well, I reckon you are all dead. It is just a matter of when you want to die.”

“Figures. When I seen them Indians up there this morning, I figured we was done for. What are you offering up?”

“Drop your weapons and ride out of here with me. You got about three weeks before the law hangs you or stands you up against a wall. That’s your choice of how you want it done. You killed a deputy and you killed a teller. The town won’t stand for nothing otherwise.”

“What about the woman? She went down.”

“My wife? She’s dead. Her funeral is tomorrow. I’ll be there.”

“Sorry to hear that Sheriff. Real sorry. We was just scrambling to get out of town.” I stepped down from my horse.

I wasn’t worried about the two older men now, but that kid was looking mighty brave. He spoke, “What happens if we tell you to ride back out of the canyon? You can’t fight us all.”

“No I can’t, but let me tell you a story. This happened eighteen years ago. Three men rode onto my ranch and were going to rob it. There were some Indian squaws there and them men started into doing some raping. Two of the outlaws were killed when a neighbor showed up. The third one threw down his gun and surrendered. I turned him over to the squaws. An hour later when they got done with him, they had cut the hamstrings in his feet and all the cords in his elbows and wrists.

“He was begging someone to shoot him. The sheriff came along and shot him when he tried to escape. That’s what the sheriff told me, anyway. I couldn’t see where the poor bastard could have crawled two feet, but who was I to dispute the law. There are no squaws here yet, but they are on the way because my wife was favored. Now I’m a sheriff and I would hate to be asked to kill someone in that condition. I hope I don’t have to, but that man was in awful misery. There’s more. Them Indians, some of them are here today, have made me their blood brother. My wife mothered some of them you see on the ridge. I can’t show yellow, so I’m hoping I won’t have to make a decision to finish what the Indians do to you.”

The two older men shucked their guns and stood off to one side. I was watching the kid. He was backed up against it and nowhere to turn. I saw him mentally make a decision and I was ready. His hand started down and I pulled iron and shot him. It knocked him backward and I went and stood over him. “Thanks Sheriff, I could have beat you anywhere but here. My decision.”

That was it. We tied the dead kid on his horse, loaded up the bank loot and rode out of the canyon single file, me leading. James met me when I came out of the canyon. I glanced up on the ridge. No Indians showing now, and we didn’t see any all the way back to town.

We rode into town. Word had gone ahead of us and the streets were lined with townspeople. I didn’t see any of my family. I herded the two prisoners into the jail and Pete led the two broncs that held the dead men over to the undertakers.

The preacher came in. “Sam, your family is all over to the Seldon House. The funeral will be this afternoon upstairs in the ballroom. You go over and get cleaned up. Jessie will rest here tonight and there will be a procession to take her home tomorrow morning. We’ll have the committal service there. This will give the Indians a chance to say good-bye to her before we put her into the ground.”

“Did Felicity get here?”

“Yes, she came in on the train this morning. This is the saddest day for all of us we have ever had. Jessie was so young and so good. Do you have anything special you want me to say about her?”

“No, you knew her. Just say she was a good mother and was everyone’s friend. You won’t need to go on and on. It is odd, but she and I had a few words together the morning before she died. It was as if the Lord gave us a special chance to express our feeling to each other, even though we didn’t know what was to come.”

The Seldon House was at our disposal until the funeral. The preacher and his wife Mildred came in at lunch and said a prayer after we had eaten. The only Indian present was Mary Eustis. She was as much family as the blood relatives. George Wilcox and Bertha Bates sat at the same table as Sarah Seldon and Gimpy Huston. Sarah and George were still married to each other but few knew this. At one time they had been Jessie’s in-laws and had no truck with her, but over time they came to feel as if she was their daughter.

When it was time for the services, stools and benches had been found around town to fill the ballroom for people to sit on. The family flanked the casket while the preacher spoke from the side of the room. All but Felicity had come to grips with what had transpired. Everyone was red eyed, with tears coming from most, but all were quiet. Felicity tried but couldn’t keep tears at bay and sobbed through the service.

The preacher was not of the fire and brimstone crowd. None of us would have put up with this for Jessie. His words were mostly of love and loyalty and they were the right words. Not long, the service soon broke up. Those of the town who didn’t get a seat, were waiting outside to give us words of condolences as we came out.

The family all had beds in the Seldon House for the night. I hadn’t been home to the ranch in three days. At ten, I wanted to leave town. I needed to speak to Jessie if only in my mind. I eased out and went over to the jail where my Jim horse was stabled. The buggy that Jessie had come to town in was parked beside the stable. I thought back to what our plans had been, so I harnessed the driving horse and I tied Jim behind. That had been the plan and I followed it.

No, Jessie wasn’t with me in the buggy. Not physically, but she was there in spirit. I stopped the buggy at the top of the hill where I had told Jessie I was going to steal a kiss just days before. I broke up and it was an hour before I could go down to the ranch. There were Indians preparing beef to feed the crowd at Jessie’s homecoming. I said nothing, just getting out of the buggy and going into the house, leaving the horses to be put up by the Indians.

The house was silent and empty. I went into the bedroom and laid down on top of the covers. Again Jessie came to me in my mind. I knew then how my father felt when my mother and sister had been taken from him. Sometimes in the past Jessie had said for me “not to go there” when I was troubled. She was saying it to me now. I slept.

I awoke at daybreak and seeing things were under control here at the ranch, I mounted Jim and kicked him in the ribs. I made the Seldon House in time for breakfast. By evening I knew this part of my life would be behind me and I would go on. I knew not for how long, but memories of Jessie would always be somewhere in my mind.

Deputy Tom’s funeral was to be this morning, early. He had no relatives and there would be few who would attend, but I would be there and Pete, his partner and fellow deputy would be there. Right after this was Phil’s service. This one was going to be hard for me, for he had a wife and one very young child. His parents would be here as well, having arrived to give support to their son’s wife and their grandchild.

John Comstock, as former mayor, said he would provide lunch in the Seldon House dining room for those mourners who would not be in the procession when we transported Jessie’s remains home to the ranch. “When we reach the ranch, Sam is providing lunch for those who travel with us to the burial of my daughter before the committal service.”

I noticed that Mary Eustis was not among the mourners for the two townspeople. I imagined and correctly, her fine hand at organization would be at the ranch, directing things for the onslaught of Jessie’s mourners. When we formed the procession to escort Jessie, Cindy said, “Judith is at the ranch already and helping Mary Eustis. Hattie and her family are with them. They didn’t feel as if they were involved enough in the town affairs to attend Tom and Phil’s funerals. I did because I worked with Phil and live here in town.”

It was just a little past noon when the burial wagon pulled into the ranch yard. There were more than 130 people in the procession riding just about every conveyance imaginable. Some of Mary Eustis’ Indians saw to watering the animals who had made the trip. Coffee and ginger beer along with water for the mourners. Makeshift tables were set up and heavy-laden with trays of beef and pots of beans. Yeast bread had been baked and there were mounds of slices along with tubs of butter.

Everyone dug in and were fed by two-thirty. The burial wagon with Jessie on it was too massive to make it up the hill so the casket was loaded onto a small buckboard. There was just room enough at the front of the casket to put in Gramp’s chair. He rode up the hill to the open grave, tears streaming down his face.

There were so many people here, several never made it anywhere near the grave. That was alright. I knew the thought was there. It took fifteen minutes after the casket got to the grave for everyone to settle down. Gramp stayed seated in his chair and had placed his hand on the casket, keeping it there all the while the preacher performed his ritual. Again I asked the preacher to be brief.

Twenty minutes later, the casket was removed from the buckboard, and lowered into the ground. This left Gramp sitting all alone more or less outlined in a spotlight. “James, help your sister up to be with her grandfather. He looks so alone and he loved your mother as he did her mother before her. This is almost more than he can stand.” Two minutes later the benediction was said and it was mostly over. I think now everyone filed by, with some offering condolences, and many without word.

Two people I loved buried in the last several months. Would there be more loved ones leaving me soon? I certainly hoped not. Some were certainly in harms way. Samson, I gave thought to him, and Judith’s husband, Buddy Kershaw. God couldn’t be so cruel as to take another husband from Judy. What about Son of Grey Goose? He had the squaw, Wee Tuk. He was related to most of the Silvercloud clan and by proxy, a brother to me. I could only hope we would be spared more heartbreak.

Soon there were just a few of us standing by the closed grave. Mary Eustis near, and for me because of how close we had always been in so many ways. John and Miss Sylvia, father and stepmother with their two children, sister and brother to Jessie. James, and Gramp and Martha in the wagon, no one could be closer. George Wilcox and Sarah, in-laws to Jessie at one time. Cindy, and Judith with her two children, the twins who had come to us and we loved them as family. Those two had made Jessie and my lives so much fuller and happier. The Pete Ryeback family stood with us, yes part of our family now, with Mindy being James’ wife. No one wanted to break away. We must let Jessie go.

“Does anyone want to say anything? There is no way any of us will forget Jessie. Best we get on with our lives. That is what she would want. James, drive Gramp home. I know I will lift my eyes to this spot and remember her as she was.” I took the first step away and everyone followed.

---

I was still sheriff and I had killed a man and another had been killed. Reports had to be written. I had to make arrangements with the attorney who handled the cases that were to be brought to trial. He in turn needed to have a judge on hand to try these cases. In the meantime I had to see to the two prisoners and their needs everyday. The morning following the funerals, I received another apology from the men who were locked up. I looked at them through the bars. What was I going to say? My future had a hole in it and these two prisoners didn’t have any future at all.

I shook my head. “These things happen and I guess we deal with it the best we can. I’m sure you didn’t set out a week ago to be sitting here in a cell awaiting a judge to tell you, you are going to die. Thank you for saying you are sorry. The other is out of my hands, and I suppose I’m sorry for you as well. That is the downside to this job and I have to carry on even when parts of the job are unpleasant. Do you need anything to read or have a special meal you like? I might be able to get it for you.”

“Can we have someone to speak in court for us? I heard that is done sometimes even if we don’t have no money.”

“I’ll talk to the prosecutor. You got any family?”

“Just my old woman. I don’t know what’s to happen to her when I’m gone. The man with me don’t have no one. The youngster you shot was an orphan. He’s the one whose horse stepped on your wife. You know Sheriff, the kid felt bad about what happened to her. He didn’t sleep that last night thinking about what he had done. He could have beat you because he was fast. I’ve seen him practicing and he never drew so slow before. He’d never killed anyone, and here he had gone and killed a woman. It bothered him mightily.”

I had never killed anyone as young as this man before and wanted to get away from the subject. “Your name is Ryan Tyler, right? What were you going to do with the money if you had got away?”

“Me, well I don’t guess we had planned that far ahead. The other guys were cowboying and then laid off after spring roundup. We were sitting in a saloon fifty miles from here and we got to talking how broke we was. My partner in the next cell worked through here ten years ago on the railroad. He convinced us to try for the bank. He said it would be a snap. He stayed with someone named Rivers and that’s how come you got tolled out there.” My prisoner, the oldest of all of them, sat dejected on his bunk. Again I shook my head and went down the hall to the office.

After lunch that day, I read the newspaper and it had the story of the robbery written up in it. The reporter had the go ahead to fill several columns of copy and he used it all. Detailing how the sheriff had caught the robbers. This as his wife lay in state waiting for his return so she could have the funeral due her and be laid to rest. Much of the history of the Ryeback ranch was related and how Jessie Jones had come to live in the area. A full blown history of John Comstock, former mayor of this fair town, who was the dead woman’s father. I skipped most of the flowery rhetoric and read about the war.

Chapter Two
 
I had been too involved to pay much attention to the war news. I saw where the Rough Riders had landed in Cuba on June 22 and had seen some action two days later on June 24, fighting at some place called Las Guasimas. There were no casualty figures yet, but the reporter said there were at least sixteen men dead and a half hundred wounded, some severely. It was reported that about 950 of our troops had met 1200 of the enemy, they waiting and entrenched, with us eventually routing them, sending the enemy back to Santiago.

It was exciting reading until you paused to remember that among those troops were our own native sons. We now had to wait for the casualties to have names.

The prosecutor who was trying my prisoners was hounding me for the reports of what happened the day of the bank robbery. I couldn’t see why he needed such detail, but then he was new and inexperienced. This was the first case he had where there were people who died in the commission of a crime. He didn’t want to foul it up. I went back and rewrote my reports and handed them over to him.

It took an extra day, because one of the eyewitnesses was out of town. Cindy had returned to work at the bank and this time she moved up into the deceased Phil’s position as teller. To get her report I suggested we meet at lunch at the Seldon House. We were out in public and we concentrated on the business at hand. There was an undercurrent of something not defined between us, but we never went there.

I had informed the prisoners that they would have about two weeks to live when they surrendered. By the time the judge was able to set a date, the prisoners actually would have a month if they were sentenced to die. I would be terribly disappointed if they weren’t. In years past, they would have been tried in town and immediately taken out and hung. Now they would be transferred to the state prison for the sentence to be carried out.

When the man named Tyler learned that he wasn’t immediately going to be tried, he asked me to contact his “old woman,” to say good-bye for him. “Just write Daisy a letter, she’ll get someone to read it to her.” I did more than that. I traveled to their home, which consisted of just a shack. She was working in a garden plot and she had a sow and some piglets in a fence around to the back. I had seen poor many times, but not such as this.

“Daisy Tyler, ma’am?” She looked up at me as I rode in by the garden. “I’m the sheriff and I’ve got your man in jail over to Ryeback. He wanted me to come tell you.”

“I heard about that. A neighbor come by and read me what was in the paper. You going to hang him?”

“He hasn’t had a trial yet, but I expect that’s what will happen.”

“He treated me good and wanted to treat me better. Guess this is some my fault. I shouda’ clobbered him with the skillet when he started talking about robbin’ a bank, but didn’t think of it.”

“A man makes his own decisions and is responsible for his actions.”

“I guess.”

“You want to go visit him? I’ll pay your fare there and back.”

“I don’t have nobody to look after the pigs. They’s all I got to keep body and soul from starving.”

“You must have a neighbor. Tell him you’ll give him a shoat if he’ll do it until you get back. You might be gone two-three weeks.”

“Maybe he’d do it for five pounds of sausage. That’s what I make out of them pigs. My sausage is purely famous around here. Can I ride pillion so’s I can go see?”

It wasn’t long before I had the woman up behind me hanging onto my coattails and we went down the road a half mile. She made the deal, but by that time it was late and I’d missed the last train. “Bunk here if you want. You can lay on the bed.” The house was poor, but I could see the woman liked clean. I kicked off my boots and made ready for sleep. She lay down on the other side.

It was quiet and then she spoke, “You the sheriff that had his wife done in? If you be, why you being good to me?”

“I’m the sheriff and I did lose my Jessie. Your man and me talked some. I don’t think your man is minding much he has to die. He did wrong and he knows he has to pay for it, but he was worried about what is going to happen to you. That tells me he isn’t all bad. I did have a few minutes with my wife to say good-bye. It made me think your husband might want a little time to talk to you. He doesn’t even know I came down here to see you.”

“I don’t figure your reasoning, but I thank’ye.”

Troubles come to some people more than they do others. I walked the woman down the hall and opened the cell so she could see her husband. I heard her crying as I closed the door and returned to my office. Now I had the problem of where to put her up here for the time to decide his fate. I couldn’t leave her in the cell with her man. The town would be up in arms if I even thought about doing it. I certainly couldn’t have her at the ranch with me. I’d figure it out before nightfall.

I missed seeing Cindy in the bank window every time I stepped out of the jail. Before, I could wave to her and no one would think anything of it. I went down the street to the general store to thank the owner for being solicitous of Jessie as she lay dying. “Glad I was where I could be of help, Sheriff. Maybe it kept her alive long enough so you could say good-bye to her.”

“Could be. I wanted to thank you anyway.” As I was coming out, I met George and Bertha coming into the store.

George was beginning to show his age and was moving slow. “How’s things out at the ranch?”

“Making do, same’s always. Wish we could find a body to help, but nobody wants to work with pigs no more. When’s the trial for them murderers?”

“A couple more weeks. It’ll be quick when it happens. I’ll be glad when it is over. You know, I’ve been on both sides of the law. I’m thinking on not running for sheriff again. When a sheriff gets to feeling sorry for his prisoners, it is time to hang up the saddle and quit riding.”

“You feeling that way?”

“More and more. I went and got the wife of one of the prisoners because he asked me to. Pitiful case. Dirt poor they are and he saw a way out by robbing a bank or so he thought. Now look at their situation. He’s going to hang and all she’s got left is a garden spot and a sow pig to keep her body together.”

“Happens and I can see your point about quitting. Sam, I was awful close to Jessie and I wake some nights remembering her. Where’s the justice in it all?”

“I don’t know, George. I just don’t know.”

Lunchtime, I went down to the diner and got feed for my prisoners. “Put up another bait. I got Tyler’s wife there with him. I’ll pay for that myself. The county don’t have to.”

When I went down to pick up the leavings of dinner, Ryan had nothing to say. Daisy was all cried out and worried a bit about what her future was going to be without him. “I hope my sow is all right. I had her for three years and she is almost my friend. Pigs is friendly animals. They git a body to feeling they are almost human, you being around them long enough.”

It hit me, why didn’t I think to ask George if Daisy could stay with him and Bertha until her ordeal was over?

I went out to see if he had left town yet and flagged him down just as they were backing away from the feed store with a load of feed. I put it up to them and Bertha came into the jail to see Daisy. Twenty minutes later I handed her up on top of the feed sacks. She had the promise she would have a horse to ride in to see Ryan until he was taken away. George had taken some talking to, but I said Daisy was no way to blame for Jessie’s death and he came around to my thinking.

Tyler was thankful. “Sheriff, you ease my mind. You’re doing things that will buy your way into heaven, I just know it.” I just shook my head and was warmed by Tyler’s words.

They didn’t warm me when I reached the ranch. Gramp was around and Martha was here in the house with him. The bunkhouse was full of cowhands. Keith Brannigan was still manager of the ranch. He had never found a woman, and I don’t know as he looked very hard after Cindy turned him down. I felt alone though, without Jessie. No, not alone, just empty.

---

The newspaper said our troops had gone into battle on July 1. They were overwhelmingly victorious, both on Kettle Hill and then the high one, overlooking Santiago, named San Juan. Several battle pictures were published. One clutched our hearts. Prominently displayed was Buddy Kershaw’s silver, chased rifle on the ground next to a dead trooper. We searched the casualty list and couldn’t find him listed. Neither was his name listed as wounded. We just knew Buddy would not be without his favorite weapon. It held sixteen rounds and the new Krag-Jorgensons, only five.

There was only a seed of hope left for us. Mary Eustis gave us another seed of hope, if you will.

“I would know if one of us should die. Be more worried about the sickness and disease that is running through them in that terrible climate. I did give the three men from here a powder to ward off the sickness. If they followed my directions, they will come home to us whole.”

We could only hope and wait now. On July 3rd the US Army was in Santiago where they could fire on the Spanish fleet in the harbor, which was soon defeated.

Felicity, who had never returned to school after her mother’s death, was living with her grandparents, John and Miss Sylvia Comstock. She spent much time with her other grandmother, Sarah Seldon (Wilcox) as well. Just about devastated over the loss of her mother and paralyzed with worry over Samson being in harm’s way, she made a trip out to see Judith with me as escort.

Cindy was out to the horse ranch already and planned on staying the night with her sister. Felicity whined and cried all through supper until finally Cindy was fed up with her.

“Felicity, shut your mouth. Judy and I lost our mother when we were fifteen. We hardly remember our father. You had Jessie to love for eighteen years. We both loved her as if she was our mother and sometimes as our sister. Judy lost one husband and may have already lost another. There is no report of anything happening to Samson and the war is just about over and he will be coming home soon.

“Think about your father. He lost his parents early and has just lost his wife. This is the way things are. You love someone and if they die you go on and maybe you will find another. That is for us women to bear. Go back to school. That is what your mother would want and if you could speak with Samson, he would tell you the same.

“Sam misses Jessie just as we all do. You know what he has done to get his mind off his misery? He went and found the wife of the prisoner who was instrumental in your mother’s death. He lets her spend time with her husband who is going to be sentenced to death in a couple of weeks. And yes, he is going to hate to transport that prisoner down to the state prison.”

“What about the wife?”

“You’ll meet her if you go out to your grandfather’s. Your dad found her a place to stay and George befriends her, even though it was her husband who killed your mother. Jessie at one time was his daughter-in-law and loved. The woman is around forty and pretty dried out from being poor for so long. But there is hope for her. Women in this day and age are still a commodity out here in the west with a lot more men than women. Some man will come along and see her and just maybe her next husband will be better for her than the last one.

“I’d advise you to get your head together. Life may not be what you dreamed it was going to be, but then again it might turn out to be that your dream will be filled.”

“Did you ever dream, Cindy?”

“Of course I have, and my life isn’t over yet. There is still time for me. In the meantime do what you agreed to do and hope for the best. Sam, I do think it is warm tonight and I think I will go back to town if you will escort me.”

“Dad, I’m staying here with Judy and the kids. I have to think about what Cindy has said. I think maybe I will go back to school. I said I was going to make Samson proud of me and so---I’ll be on the train Monday.”

“Good girl.”

It was a long slow ride back to town. The moon came out before we reached there. We stopped the buggy to let the horse drink. “Sam, we never have spoken about us. I have to know. Is there any hope for you and me?”

“Cindy, I’m going to fill your dream as soon as convention says I can. I just want to be sure that is what you want. I’m eight years older than you and only a year from being forty.”

“Yes, and I’m thirty-one. I’m worried you won’t want to start another family at your age.”

“Children are always a welcome to me. You know you may end up being the one to mother them alone if something should happen to me.”

“Did you listen to me tonight talking to Felicity? I meant every word. If something should take me, then you have to find someone else. If something should happen to you, then I will be looking for a new mate. In the meantime, I will give you all of my love and pray we last into our golden years. I have wanted you to be my first mate before I got out of my teens and that is why I have waited. Three months should be long enough to satisfy convention.”

“In normal circumstances, no, but Jessie said for you to take care of me, and that in front of witnesses. Three months it is. Sometime in late September or maybe October, I figure.”

“You have been thinking of me even through the sorrow of losing Jessie?”

“Yes and you have been thinking about me as well. I know we both loved her.”

“Sam, please kiss me and then drive on. My emotions are all in turmoil and I don’t want them to get out of hand.” Our first kiss was as I expected, sweeter than spiced wine. Then her lips became more demanding. I backed away. “Sam, I don’t know why I did that. I’m a woman of age. I should know better.”

“Cindy, you are a woman of thirty plus and that is precisely the problem. Your kiss tells me what our marriage is going to be like. I’m looking forward with anticipation.” I clucked to the horse. Cindy laid her head against my shoulder and too soon we were in town. I knocked on John’s door, asking if I could crash there for the night. Tonight, just tonight, I wanted to be in town and near Cindy even if I wasn’t with her.

Finally the judge set the date of July 20 for the trial. The papers were still trumpeting the end of the war with Spain. Spain had officially surrendered on the seventeenth of the month. Now if we could only get our troops home. We were the victorious ones, so we just couldn’t up and leave. Reports were coming in every day and the papers were publishing a daily list of sickness casualties.

The county had built a courthouse. The powers that be, thought holding trials as we had in the past in the largest barroom, didn’t show how up and coming the area was. Pete Branch, my deputy, was the one to put shackles on the two prisoners. We then walked them between us up the street to the new building. They had no friends in the crowd that stood on the sidewalks watching. The courthouse was full of onlookers.

A pimply-faced kid by the name of Winston Coolidge, was the only person who was there to represent the two prisoners. He had only been reading law and hadn’t passed his bar exam. I asked Tyler and his partner if they were satisfied with him or they could wait for someone the governor sent. The partner answered, “Let’s get this over. I could get sick and die on this jailhouse food.”

The trial lasted many hours longer than anyone expected it would. The pimply-faced kid questioned every witness as to where they were standing when the robbers came out of the bank. He was making sure the witness was seeing everything they swore to. One of the witnesses was so tied up by questions and so flustered, he stopped and looked at the judge, “Hell, he’s got me so twisted up, I don’t think I was even there.” The whole courtroom burst into laughter, even the judge.

“Just tell it in your own words.” He did turn out to be a believable witness. Cindy testified next and her testimony mirrored the report I had handed to the prosecutor.

The so-called lawyer, Winston Coolidge, asked Cindy, “How old are you Miss Bellows?’’

This was unheard of. I think he thought he could get Cindy flustered as he had the previous witness. “I am thirty-one.”

“You are still addressed as Miss. Is there a reason for that?”

“Of course there is, I have never married.”

“Miss Bellows, would the reason you are not married be because you hate men?”

“Not at all.”

“Then why did you shoot one of the men leaving the bank in the back? You fired three bullets into him while he was turned away from you.”

“Judge, you let Bert tell it in his own words. May I relate my actions and why I acted as I did in my own?”

“Of course, Miss Bellows. Please do.”

“The man I shot came into the bank waving his gun and shouting this was a hold up and he would kill anyone who interfered. He looked right at me when he said this. I took him at his word. Phil was brave and went for his gun and he got belted on the head for it. I sat where I could see out the window and I heard a shot and saw Tom, the sheriff’s deputy, go down. I knew Tom, a man who I often danced with, was dead. All three of the robbers headed for the door so I shot at one of them. I knew I hit him and was very disappointed he didn’t fall.

“Phil had regained his senses and grabbed up his gun and went to the door after them and then he went down. He was dead. I paused to look at him and when I went to where I could look out, the robbers had fled.”

“Miss Bellows, why did you have a weapon with you in the bank that day?”

“I always have a gun with me.”

“I can’t believe that. I suppose you have one with you at this time, here in the courtroom.”

“Is that a question?”

“Yes. If you have a gun on you may we see it?” He turned away, thinking he had called her bluff.

“The one I killed the robber with, or the one that packs more of a punch? Sheriff Sam Jones just got me a .45. He said if I was shooting at people, I must have just cause, and they should die sudden, not two hours or more later out on the trail.” Cindy fished around in the handbag that had been at her feet, pulling out a .32 pistol. When she set the bag down, there was a loud clunk. “I have one more, but you aren’t about to watch me fish it out.”

The kid looked at her. “No further questions, Miss Bellows.”

“Next witness, please.” The judge was afraid due to the defendants’ attorney, his trial might get out of hand. After the statements of what happened when the robbers left the bank and what happened around the corner when Jessie was struck, the questions centered on my hunting down and bringing the bodies and the prisoners back to town.

I put in a plug about how the Indians had helped track and contain the killers until I could reach them. “We live next to this Indian tribe. They are our good neighbors and many times have performed a service to our community. They were there for us again this time. Please remember this.”

It was twenty minutes to three in the afternoon when the six jurors filed out to deliberate. The clock was striking three when they filed back in. An hour later the two prisoners were back in their cells under a sentence of death.

Daisy came into the office. “Can I still see him? How long before he leaves?”

“Daisy, I’m so sorry for you. Yes you can see him, but I can’t let you into his cell. I’m putting him on the train when the ten o’clock gets in. Do you want to go down to state prison with him?”

“No, we’ll say good-bye here. Sheriff, you have been awful good to us. A body does appreciate it. I got some good news to tell him to ease his mind about when he ain’t with me no more. George and Bertha are taking me on. I made them some sausage with my recipe and they want to add it to what they sell. They even think my sow is worth going after. I was hating to let someone else have her. She be missing me and I guess I been missing her. Can I go see my man now?”

Papa Turbin had made arrangements with the railroad to hook on a car and the freight engine was puffing in the yard. Four of us ushered the prisoners to it. Pete Branch, my son James, the oldest Ryeback boy, and I, all with lanterns, hurried them along. Papa Turbin was there and said he guessed he would make the trip with us. It was a five-hour trip. The prison wagon was waiting at the siding when we arrived.

Under the lanterns I turned over the paperwork and the order signed by the judge to the guards. They took charge of my prisoners. Now we had a two-hour wait. I sat by myself on a pile of freight and thought about my life. Taking a man off to be hung, I didn’t want to ever have to do that again. The sky was getting well lit in the east when we boarded the northbound freight for Ryeback.

I spoke as I stepped down from the train, “Come over to the jail, all of you. I got something to say. Pete, would you round up the mayor? He should be over to Kelly’s Bar for his afternoon tipple. I need to talk to him. I’ll wait on you in the jail.”

James was looking at me and I think he knew what this was all about. “Mayor Wells. I’m turning in my badge. I just haven’t got it in me anymore to hunt men and then take them somewhere to be hung. I’d like for you to name Pete Branch as sheriff. He has been a good deputy for me and for the county. Get him to run in the next election.” I laid my badge on the desk. “I’ll pick up my personal stuff next time I’m in town.”

When I went out with James at my side, I looked across the street at the window in the bank. Cindy was standing there and I waved and I think she smiled. “Cindy is the most beautiful woman in town, isn’t she Dad?”

“Yes, she is. Let’s go home Son. I’m going to take over running the ranch again. I expect you to be right there at my side. We’ll see if we can partner up and really make the place something. You got yourself a fine wife and I’ll help finish the building of your home.”

“Dad, about Cindy.”

“Don’t go there yet James. Your mother has only been gone some few weeks. I need time to do some remembering and let the glow that she was, dim. I’ll get there.” Not another word was spoken during our homeward journey.

Chapter Three
 
We received our first letter from Samson. Sam, the Colonel is trying to get us out of this hellhole. Fighting was bad enough, but it seems as if everyone is getting sick. The fighting is over, but we are still dying. So far Buddy and I haven’t been sick, Son of Grey Goose comes by every morning to make sure we take a pinch of that powder Mary Eustis gave us. We are getting low and might have only fifteen pinches apiece left. God has to deliver us.


The sickness doesn’t seem to bother the Darkies as much. They are called immunes and talk is they may stay and we can come home. They fought beside us and are remarkable troopers. Most everything is in the hands of the diplomats now anyway. The Spanish couldn’t mount an engagement if they so desired. We soundly whipped them.


Tell Felicity I long to be home with her. Also tell my mother that Son of Grey Goose is a true Brave and stood well under fire. The clan can be proud. Give my love to James and Martha, and of course, Jessie. Please share this letter with all. I enclose a note to Felicity for her eyes only. Until I return, find me your homesick son, Samson.

The newspapers were filled with reports of the sickness and death of our soldiers. Then came the announcement, the Rough Riders were leaving Cuba and would travel to Montauk, Long Island, where they would be quarantined for a period of time. We cheered!

Came another letter from Samson on the eighteenth of August. Sam, arrived back on US soil on August 14. Poor quarters here. Not enough rations or medicine. The Colonel had malaria, but has recovered. The natives of the island are kind and do much to relieve our misery through their generosity. The Quartermaster Corps has never been able to provide adequately for the needs of the troops throughout this conflict. If Colonel Roosevelt returns to his former post, this will change I do believe. In the meantime, I long for a good meal of beef and beans. Yr’s, Samson.

Felicity came home in early September with her teaching certificate. She was quite disappointed when she applied at the local schools and found no opening. She had to be satisfied to sign as a substitute.

News came next that the troops would be mustered out on September 14. I made a trip to visit Judy after Felicity was on me to go with her to see Samson. Judy was surprised to see me. “Sam, this is unexpected. You hardly ever visit. I laid it to you getting over Jessie.”

“I’ll never get over her all the way. I’m here for another reason. I have been invited to the mustering out ceremony on Long Island at Camp Wikoff. I thought you might like to go with me. I am having Son of Grey Goose’s squaw travel with me and we can bring all of our men home together.”

“What about Felicity? She will be going won’t she?” I grinned and Judy got it immediately that I didn’t have much choice. “When do we leave?”

Again Papa Turbin used his influence with the railroad network to make our traveling easier. We had passes on the train and when we reached New York he gave us explicit directions to his favored hotel. Although he hadn’t stayed there for years, his former wife had a nephew who was part owner of the hotel establishment.

We arrived in New York on September 11 at some place named Fort Lee. We were tired and weary from our trip across the country. Papa Turbin had wired for reservations, and we took possession of a suite of rooms early on that day. We rested most of the day, but did go out to a fabulous restaurant that evening. Our every wish was being catered to. The nephew remembered that Judy had once been married to his cousin and the two boys had grown up together, so she was especially looked after.

He made sure we had front row seats at a musical that was performed in a nearby playhouse. It was a Dixieland band performed by some Darkies. The antics and buffoonery had us laughing as well as enjoying the music immensely.

We crossed a wide river by ferry, the Hudson I think, early the next morning and took the train for New Haven, Connecticut. It was a slow moving train with frequent stops as the little towns were so close together. We all had the feeling that we were closed in upon with hardly a space to breathe. The houses and buildings were so old and so packed tight next to each other. It was green though, not like the browned up cattle land at home this time of year.

Tomorrow’s trip would be one of crossing the Long Island Sound by boat. I engaged a captain to transport us. He was horrified that I had women who wanted to make the trip with me.

“There is nothing there where you are going. There are no facilities and no shelter. I can guarantee there is no food. Hell, the Army hasn’t been giving their men enough to eat. Better to have the women stay right here and you come back with your soldiers.”

It took considerable convincing on my part, but it was finally agreed to by those with me that they would stay in the comfort of a small hotel. I went out just before the shops closed for the evening and bought myself a pair of blankets. It had been awhile since I had slept on the ground and I wanted something to lie on. I went by a tobacco shop and thought cigars would be in order. I hit the jackpot in that there was a box of dusty beef jerky the owner kept for when an occasional Indian came in. I bought what he had in stock and he wrapped it up in brown paper, tying it securely.

In the morning I was at the boat, and I couldn’t see how we could find our way it was so foggy. The captain told me this was usual for this time of year. “It will burn off before ten. We will be well on our way. It will be afternoon before we round the point off Plumb Island. If it is still foggy there, I might be some concerned, but it won’t be.”

It was as he said and we passed Gardner’s Island on our right sometime later. There were three men sailing the boat. I was pretty queasy for awhile, but I was told to keep my eyes on the distance, not close into the boat or the ocean we were plowing through. That would help. It did. One of the sailors rowed me ashore, as we couldn’t get the boat too close in. Not only that there were boats all around us. I suspected there would be many more tomorrow.

The town I was headed for was on the opposite side of the island and I had to take a trail across the width of land. I came to a guard, and he said I could bed down on the parade ground. He even indicated where I might find Samson. “He’ll be easy enough to spot if he is standing. He’s a head taller than most of us. They’ll be a trooper without a regulation hat on with him. That one would wave his hat and when them Spaniards would raise up to shoot, Samson would get them. That hat was just tore all to pieces with bullet holes.” I headed toward the tents.

I knew I was getting close when I passed stacked rifles and saw a Winchester in the stack. I started clucking like a sage hen which was taken up almost immediately in answer. Son of Grey Goose had heard and knew I was here. There were other Indians with the Rough Riders, but none that were from our area. Buddy Kershaw came sauntering across the field. “Samson will be along in a few minutes. He is trying to get some rations to feed you. How are you Sam?”

“I’m here. I hired a boat to get you out of here tomorrow.”

“Good, I’m ready to go home. Don’t say too much, but Samson is pretty gant. He came down with dysentery when we arrived. He’s kind of weak but is over it now. At least it wasn’t like some of the fevers so many of us have died from.”

Just then my son came slowly across with Son of Grey Goose behind him and clasped my arm. “Sam, it’s good to see you.” He towered over me more than I remembered. Maybe it was because he was so thin. In a way he looked younger, but when my eyes found his face, I knew he had aged more than the four months he had been gone. I tossed the package of jerky to our Indian and his eyes lit up.

Another trooper came up to us and Buddy introduced him and he squatted down with us. “Hank this is my father, Sam Jones. He says he’s got a boat to get us out of here. Sam, you got room for him too?”

“Yes, if he wants to go across the Sound with us to New Haven. I got a bunch of home folk with me. Judy’s here, Wee Kuk came to see Son of Grey Goose, and Felicity came for you.”

“Jessie came of course. She never leaves you.”

“No, Samson, she couldn’t make it. I buried her awhile ago.” I don’t know why, but saying this started the tears. It took ten minutes before I could talk again.

“Tell us.”

I gave it to them all in a rush. “Four men held up the bank after I was tolled out of town. Cindy shot one of them, but he got to his horse. The one that was holding the horses shot and killed Tom as he came out of the jail across the street. They mounted up and swung by the general store just as Jessie was heading across the street for it. The one in front clipped her and one of the robbers rode his horse over her. Smashed her up terrible.

“I was back in town soon enough for us to exchange good-byes.”

“You get them, Sam?”

“Yeah. Phil, the teller, was shot and killed as he came out of the bank trying for a shot as they left. We came up on one of the men that evening. Cindy had hit him three times with that pop pistol of hers. It killed him eventually. We got the other three the next day. The Indians helped keep track of them so we knew where they were all the time.”

“You kill them?”

“One of them drew on me. I found out later he was the one who killed Jessie. The other two came back and we had a trial. I took them down to State Prison and they were hung."

“Good. Any other news we should know about?”

“Let’s see. James is married to Mindy Ryeback and they have their house almost built west of the ranch house. They were married before Jessie was killed so James had his mother’s blessing.” I went silent. Then, “You going to tell me about your war?”

“When I get home, maybe. I do know one thing, war isn’t for me. Maybe if it was run right, but there were so many of us dead and it didn’t need to happen.”

“Roosevelt do all right by you?”

“Personally, yes. All three of us, with me as leader. Colonel Wood made us into a team and gave us a job to do and told us how it should be done. He had experience out in the west against the Indians years before. We lost half our officers though, and thirty percent of the regiment. There has to be a better way to fight a war than the way this one was fought. The newspapers made Roosevelt. I just hope he can fill the shoes they made for him.”

Buddy wanted to know more of Judy. “How’s my wife doing on the ranch?”

“Buddy, she’s doing great. She has put twenty of the mares to that stallion and seventeen have been confirmed. Most of those mares you brought in with the stallion are big. They will drop foals first, some this year. I tell you, you got quite a ranch coming along there.  Of course that stallion wasn’t the only stud on the place.” I looked him right in the face. 

“You got to be kidding. Judy?”

“Yeah, she figures she’s four and a half months along.”

“What in hell did she make this trip for? She should have stayed home.”

“You’ll learn Judy doesn’t listen well. She gets right notional.” Buddy had nothing more to say. The perpetual grin on his face was saying it all.

We sat there. Waiting for tomorrow when we all could head home. I broke out the cigars and we smoked. “I hope these smokes aren’t from Cuba?  I’ve had enough of that place.”

“No these come down the river from Massachusetts. Some place they call the Pioneer Valley. The weather is just right for growing tobacco.”

The trooper, Hank, who I was introduced to, stayed around and was included.  He had been a member of another sharp shooting team such as Samson’s. He was the only member left. He held the position in that team just as Buddy had in this one. The shooter was killed and the other member died from disease.

“How did your teams work?”

Samson explained, “I would be out on the flank with Buddy on one side of me and Son of Grey Goose on the other. They would try to get the enemy to expose themselves and when they did, I’d shoot. A lot of the time I had a clear shot anyway, and then these two would cover me when I advanced. I’d find a good spot and then I would cover them as they came up to me.

“When we reached the top of  Kettle Hill, I just hunkered down and did some shooting over to San Juan Hill which was higher than we were. All of this time we were taking fire from the Spanish and they were killing us. I was pretty effective and getting in my licks. Sam, it all came home to me when we reached the ramparts where the Spanish troops had been firing from. Some of their dead troops were laying right where I was shooting. Some of them, in fact several of them, had to be my kills. Most of them were torn up pretty bad.”

Samson got up and walked around, and came back asking, “How did you feel after you killed a man?”

“Probably about the same as you. You have to put it into context though, they were shooting at you. It is the old cliché, kill or be killed. I’m going to tell you now, I have given up being sheriff.”

“Why now?”

“I took one of the men who was instrumental in Jessie’s death over to the courthouse for trial, knowing he would be sentenced to death. It took bravery to face what he was facing without a whimper. He asked one favor of me and I have complied, just as if I was his friend. I would kill again if I had to, to protect a loved one, but catching an outlaw and then leading him off to where he is going to die, well I can’t do that anymore. Getting soft, I guess.”

“I don’t think so, Sam. Sheriffing and soldiering is about the same. You are doing it because you are hired to do it and it is just a job. It just isn’t us. I have just learned quicker than you have.”

Talk returned to items of interest and subjects much less disturbing. Samson and Buddy both wanted to know how the feed and water situation were for the cattle and horses. Then Son of Grey Goose and Samson asked me to tell them all about Mary Eustis and what she was doing and how she was making out. “I think she will go on forever.”

“I hope so. I do believe my mother is the one who has kept us safe from getting really sick these last few months. That powder she gave all of us lasted until we arrived here. The squirts I had could have come from anywhere, and I think was unrelated to what was making us sick in Cuba.”

Hank Green thought he might go home with us. “I need work and there is nothing left for me in Oklahoma. Family is all gone.  Maybe I can get on as a deputy. I’ve had some training under my father who was a sheriff at one time.”

“Sure, there is a chance. When we left Ryeback to come east, no one had stepped forward asking for the job. Pete was deputy under me for several years and is good to get along with. He won’t leave the work up to his deputy either.”

“I’ll give it a shot. Thanks.”

I rolled into my blankets, laying between the two pitched army tents. Samson and Son of Grey Goose in one and Hank and Buddy in the other. 

Excitement was all over the camp in the morning. The soldiers were up and did the most to look their best for the final day in the cavalry. I was amazed at the discipline as the troops fell into formation. These men had only three weeks of training and most of that centered on fighting. There were few dignitaries present to observe, and of course, all of the newspapers were represented. After all, this was their war.

The tents were struck and all equipment that belonged to the service was piled in an orderly fashion where the quartermasters could retrieve it. The units then formed and Colonel Roosevelt came by and thanked each platoon for their service. As each trooper’s name was called out at the roll call, his discharge was presented to him.

I stood where I could observe this with the men’s personal belongings at my feet. Kershaw’s long rifle was laying on the top. Very few of these personal long arms were in evidence, although several men carried side arms.

Samson came up to me where I was waiting. “Well, that’s that. Let’s go home.”

On the way back to New Haven I was interested in watching the boats and ships that were traveling up and down the Sound. My four companions didn’t watch with me until we turned toward shore and made our way to New Haven. I gave Samson, Son of Grey Goose, and Buddy directions to the hotel. 

I stayed behind to pay off our sea transport while they went on ahead. Hank Green stayed with me. No way did I want to see the reunion of the loved ones. They had someone and my Jessie was gone. I felt so alone. I think Hank knew my mood for he didn’t try to interrupt my thoughts. I engaged another room and Hank and I slept there.

Early the next morning we took breakfast in the hotel, I having some quahog stew that the hotel warmed especially for me. I had enjoyed it so much the night before at the evening meal, I requested some be saved. The ex-troopers had beef and beans. It was decided that our group would stay one more day in New Haven. Felicity and Samson, who had spent the previous night in the same room as Buddy and Judy, asked if I wouldn’t secure another room away from the married couple. “The banns will be posted the same day we step off the train.” I smiled at Felicity and Samson, for it was time.

____________________________________________________________________________________


I swear the whole town was at the station when we arrived back in Ryeback. Sarah Seldon had arranged for a lunch at the hotel, but so many townspeople wanted to attend, a vacant lot was hastily cleared and George and Bertha, along with Sarah, set up for a feed. Buddy and Samson told us this was now being called a barbeque in Texas. I didn’t know the right of that, but went along with it. Better than saying let’s have a feed or let’s have a picnic.

Jessie had been in the ground for a little over three months. It seemed as if she had been gone from me forever. With Samson home and Felicity back from the seminary, the ranch wasn’t nearly as empty feeling. Of course I could drift over and see my daughter-in-law, Mindy. There was just no person around who could pull anyone’s mood up if they were down. She bossed James around unmercifully. Their house was nearly finished, for she bossed, begged, or pleaded for something to get done, and wasn’t above coming over and telling me when she needed something.

With Felicity, it was a little more like Samson was in charge all of the time. When she suggested going to San Francisco for their honeymoon, Samson just said no. But he did qualify this. “I’m home now for awhile, but I do want to get married as soon as the banns say we can. I will be traveling some and as my wife you will go with me whenever we leave here.”

This was the first that I knew he had already made plans for his future. When questioned, I found he had everything all mapped out. “Felicity and I will be married next week. No we won’t have a honeymoon, as such, but I’ll be moving to Washington the first of the New Year. Colonel Roosevelt secured me a position in the Interior Department, most certainly the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“I think in a couple of months he will be Governor of New York. He is being put up to run for it, although some of the bosses in the Republican Party dislike him. He is a war hero and as such he probably will make it.

“When I have two years in, he said he would work to make sure I became the Indian agent here on the reservation. These are my people and I want to do what I can for them. In a way I will be doing what Mary Eustis has done on a small scale. Her work is with one clan, but I would have the whole tribe under my care.”

He smiled. “You know I don’t think if I looked like an Indian I could ever be named Indian agent. Hell, Felicity looks more Indian than I do. My name is white and my mother’s name is white. Kenny named me. I wonder if he had this in mind for my future?”

“He may have. He was good at looking at things long-term. That is after he wasted so many years in prison.”

“Sam you don’t mind me not taking your name? I can if you wish.”

“No, you had better stick with Ryeback. Jones is pretty common.”

“Sam, Jones may be common, but there is nothing common about you. Kenny may have been a great man, but it was you who finally gave him direction just by setting an example.”

I could see there was more my son wanted to say. “Is there something else you want to touch on?”

“Yes. When are you and Cindy going to get married?”

“On the twenty-fifth of October. That’s three weeks from now. Cindy doesn’t want any big deal, just an announcement in the paper after the fact.”

“Were you planning on telling the family?”

“Most have been told. Gramp Comstock has been after me to hurry up and wed Cindy. He has always favored her and he said just as soon as we marry, he is going to give up and die. Mindy and James know. Mary Eustis, of course, and she suggested Cindy and I spend our first night in the medicine cave. You and Felicity were going to be told as soon as Buddy and Judy get here today. They’ll be along in an hour or so. Miss Sylvia, John, Sarah and of course, George and Bertha are on the way. That rounds it out.”

“Everyone okay with this?”

“Miss Sylvia isn’t too happy because she was Jessie’s best friend, but understands. Martha has a problem with me having a new wife and has been cool toward Cindy. She was always close to her mother. Up until Jessie lay dying and told Cindy to care for me, she loved Cindy as an older sister. She is of an age when thoughts of getting married excite her, so I don’t expect any trouble.

“I told Keith Brannigan. He wasn’t happy at all either. He will be leaving next week for a new job, so it will be you, James, and me running the ranch.”

“Why is Keith leaving?”

“Because he loves Cindy and can’t abide the thought of her and me together. He asked her once and she turned him down. She told him she loved another, but didn’t think it possible she would ever marry. She talked to him one day last week when she had lunch at the Seldon House and he was in town. He was told then that I was the one she loved, and had loved me from the time she was in her teens. He took it well and wished her the best, but again he was just saying the words.

“When we came back from the east, he had already looked for work on another ranch. I’m sorry he felt he had to leave, but it is best for us all. How about you? You have listened and have asked questions and said little.”

“I understand Jessie asked Cindy to care for you as she lay dying. That would be the ultimate act of love. It must have been like being blessed by her. You couldn’t go against her blessing, even if others didn’t agree. I’m totally with Jessie and her wishes for you and Cindy.”

“Thanks, Samson.”

Cindy and Judy had arranged the announcement when our wedding was to be. Everyone including the kids who were even remotely connected to me were to be here. The excuse for the gathering was for Samson and Buddy to tell us firsthand about their time in the short-lived war, but our wedding plans were the main purpose.

Chapter Four 

Buddy was on his feet. “I’ll start. Remember I hadn’t been married very long and I had a beautiful wife I was leaving behind. There were two young kids who were just getting used to me being a father to them and we were getting along great. But some of the family was worried about Samson and Son of Grey Goose who have never been very far from home. Judy was among those who had concerns. I promised Judy that if I went, I would never leave her side again. Bear witness what I’m saying and shoot me if I ever do leave.”

This brought laughter from the whole family gathered in the ranch yard. “Okay, most of you saw us leave on the train. Samson’s eyes were looking out the window to see everything he could. Well maybe not every minute, for every once in awhile he would close his eyes and I would know his thoughts were with his little dark-haired darling and the distance between them was growing by the hour.” Felicity hunted on the ground and threw a pebble at Buddy. He caught it in mid air.

“So, anyway, as we got nearer and nearer to San Antonio, more and more men were getting on the train with one goal in mind, and that was to fight the Spanish. Seats were at a premium, so me and Samson went back to the stock car where Son of Grey Goose was seeing to our animals. When we arrived and were unloading, some of those gonna’ be soldier boys had been drinking and had already put their brave on.

“We was waiting for the car to move up to the chute to unload our horses. Four or five men come by and started in on Goose, claiming he had no right to be off the reservation. Samson just walked right up to them declaring he was Indian and they was brothers.

“We’ll send you back to the reservation then.” Samson backhanded the mouthy one and clapped two heads together when they came for him. One man run off. About that time a railroad man came rushing up wanting to know what happened.

“Samson was staring at the remaining man standing. He wanted little to do with Samson after he saw what happened to his companions. So he said nothing happened and that Simpson there is pretty drunk and Dobson and Charlie stumbled over him when he fell down.”

“Well, get them boozers out of the way and let these men unload their horses.”

“This all happened before we got to camp. When we got to where we were to sign on at the recruitment desk, Samson’s name was on a list to be signed on. Samson spoke for Son of Grey Goose and me and we were officially in the cavalry. We have been a team ever since.”

Buddy grinned and Samson took over. “Buddy makes me sound like some kind of bad ass, but them men were terribly drunk. We went about getting organized into troops and learning to maneuver under command. Many hours were spent learning to fire from our horses’ backs and dismounted as well. That was good, for later we became dismounted anyway. We were given books to study all about military tactics and stuff like that. I had read much of this before, because Kenny had suggested it when I was only fifteen here on the ranch.

“There was a lot of target practice and that was what I was there for. When I got a hold of that Krag rifle, I knew I had something. The sights were some getting used to, but I got pretty good. Roosevelt came into camp after a few days and he was mighty impressed with what had been accomplished. We were there three weeks when we got orders to go by train to Florida.

“It took us four days of travel to a camp set up about twenty miles from the docks in Tampa Bay. Here we found it wasn’t ready for us and that’s when we really began to see how things could go wrong. I don’t think we were fully supplied all the while we were gone from home. Feed for the horses was terribly short and then we were told there would be no transport to carry them to Cuba. That is when the decision was to make us dismounted cavalry and we had to march and fight on the ground.

“Roosevelt did everything he could for us. Some of the conflict was between the regular army and us who were all volunteers. Finally we got word we would be going to Cuba. The problem was, we had to be on the dock at a certain time. If we were not there, our transport ship would be filled with a different unit. Roosevelt commandeered a train that was heading away from Tampa Bay. The engineer was persuaded to run his train backwards all the way for the eighteen mile distance. This put us within a few miles of the embarkation point. We had to march that remaining distance from the train to the dock with full equipment. We arrived just in time before another unit. Even then we were held up.

“We were finally loaded onto the ship, Florida, but were held up again because there was a rumor the Spanish fleet was waiting for us. We finally left port on June 13 heading for the Island of Cuba. We were part of the V Corps under Gen. Joe Wheeler. You people here at home probably know more about what happened and when. There were newspaper reporters everywhere and were right with us all the time. I would like to see what they wrote. When you are moving around and through jungles, you have no idea what is happening outside of your own misery.”

Cindy answered him, “I have kept all of the papers. Things were happening here at home at the same time and you will be interested to put the two together.”

“We arrived in Cuba on June 22 and were unloaded at Siboney, immediately heading toward Santiago. We came against a Spanish force at some place called Las Guasimas two days later, taking wounded and losing eight men. Our troops were coming down with fevers as we headed for Santiago.

“We reached the base of the hills overlooking Santiago on June 30. Here Colonel Leonard Wood was made a field order general and given command because of the sickness of our commanding officer. Roosevelt was raised to full colonel in Wood’s place. On July 1 we advanced on Kettle Hill and succeeded in taking it.”

“Is that where the picture of Buddy’s Winchester and the dead trooper was taken?” This was Judy asking Samson. “I saw the picture in the paper and thought my husband had been killed, but Mary Eustis said she would know if his spirit had left him. His name didn’t appear in the casualty list, although I searched each day with trepidation.”

“I haven’t seen the picture. That must be something one of the reporters with a camera set up. You know anything about this, Buddy?”

“Not much. When we started up the hill I had a Krag rifle. Remember we were out on the flank and you were doing what you do best. I was getting low on ammunition for the Winchester. When we regrouped, I noticed the rifle had mud all over it. Must be a reporter borrowed it. I thought nothing of it at the time.”

Samson queried, “What was the reporter’s name? You could ask him sometime.”

“It was Richard Harding Davis. I’ll write to the paper. I suppose you can’t blame the reporters. The publishers were demanding copy and didn’t much care if it was true or not.”

Judy stopped this line of talk with, “Why bother? I have you home and that is all that matters.”

Samson had promised to tell us about the war, but we could see he wanted to get over the telling of it. “We made it to the top of Kettle Hill and took a great many casualties. We still had San Juan Hill ahead of us. We were also taking fire from there while the generals were deciding what to do. This is where I came into my own. I hunkered down and had Son of Grey Goose and Buddy spotting for me.

“I was out to the limit in range of my rifle, but it didn’t seem to matter. Those I was shooting at, well we didn’t see them move around after I fired on them. It wasn’t long before the order was given to take the other hill as we were getting pounded severely by some artillery fire. When some of our Hotchkiss guns came up, we gave it back to them.

“Roosevelt ordered a charge and set out leading. Only a few troopers went with him at the first order and he had to return. The order was given again after reforming our troops into an assault line. Most of the regiment was with him this time and we took our objective by three in the afternoon. The next day we were in Santiago and had the ability to command the waterfront and fire on the Spanish fleet in the harbor.

“That’s about it. The Negras with us were some of the best troops and fought with bravery, always. Time and again they were there where we needed them. Some of them are still in Cuba. The disease doesn’t seem to affect them as much and they weren’t mustered out with the rest of us. We three started as a team, and we are certainly glad to be home with this behind us. I have a position starting after the first of the year that Colonel Roosevelt has secured for me. He claimed our sharp shooting team was the most effective of any.

“Roosevelt is running for Governor of New York. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran for President some day. He has the charisma, but he is so bullheaded at times, not all of the politicians like him very much. They have the feeling he is too much against the banks and trusts that have been set up. These are the people that keep the party in power by donations for their reelection. I will be back here though, in a couple of years. Someday I hope to be the Indian agent on this reservation.”

He sat down. Before this he had been walking around talking. Suddenly he jumped up. “Hey, you are all invited to my wedding next week. Felicity says we should be married. Who am I to argue?” This brought laughter to everyone.

I stood. “Most of you know that Jessie, whom I loved dearly, is in my heart and the memory of her will never leave me. Jessie, while she lay dying, asked Cynthia Bellows to take care of me. Cindy can do this best if she becomes my wife. Our wedding will take place on the twenty-fifth of October, here at the ranch among all of you. Our honeymoon will also be nearby, for it is hunting time. We have decided to camp out away from town and yes, the ranch as well, for a week.

“You’re horrible, Daddy! I hate both you and Cindy.” This was Martha screaming at me from where she was sitting between Judith and Miss Sylvia. Cindy was sitting beside Gramp in a chair that had been brought out into the yard. Martha went rushing into the house.

I started after my daughter. Gramp said, “Get me in there with you. Bring in Miss Sylvia as well. I guess I’m as close as anyone to little Martha. Closer than even you are Sam. I think I know how the child feels. She feels she lost her mother. Now she is losing you and Cindy is the one who has stolen you. Oftentimes it was just her and me here at the ranch alone and I know what’s going on in her head.”

Samson picked up Gramp and the chair, taking it into the sitting room before going back outside. Martha was curled up on the couch, sobbing. Miss Sylvia went to her and folded the girl into her arms. Martha clung to her grandmother. She started the conversation. “Martha, why don’t you want your father to marry Cindy?”

“Because Dad is the only person I have left. Mom is gone and now he is leaving me for Cindy, and she isn’t old enough to be my mother. Besides, Mom just died. Felicity told me that the reason Cindy never married is because she loves Dad and was just waiting for Mom to die.”

“That’s not true. Her choosing not to marry was her own decision. Cindy loves you. She has always loved you.”

“Not as a mother, though.”

“No, but she has to get used to the change as well, and remember your mother did tell Cindy to take care of Sam. She knew they had love for each other.”

“You don’t know that and she couldn’t have known if Dad felt something for Cindy.”

“Your mother knew about the attraction between them. We discussed it. Your mother and I had a special relationship before Sam ever came into her life and we often shared our thoughts.”

“What do you mean?”

Gramp spoke up. “You don’t have to explain about that Miss Sylvia.”

“I think I do. Martha look at me. I’m skinny and cross-eyed and no man should want me. I thought that anyway. I came west because of a scandal. I was found in another’s arms. When I was caught out, my family gave me money and told me to leave. That is when I settled in the same town your mother was born in and where I started the tea room. Your mother was terribly attracted to Sam, but he was sent to prison and John pressured her to get married to Wilcox.

“Wilcox was no good and your mother soon knew it. Not only that, she was going to have a baby. I was her friend and she spent much time with me in the tea room. If Sam hadn’t come back into Jessie’s life, things would have turned out much differently for her.”

“How?”

“Because of the way I am and how I feel about certain things. You see, my family sent me away because I was in the arms of a woman, not a man. I felt much the same for your mother as I did for this other person and would have been satisfied to settle down with Jessie and Felicity for the rest of my life. Sam came though, and he made her happy. She did not just dump me then. Jessie thought enough of her father and me to get us together. This has worked out wonderfully for all of us. Over the years I still held your mother in my heart and at times, I wished Sam wasn’t around.

“I do have a husband and children now because of your mother. What I’m trying to say is that you may love someone, but you put it aside and things may be terrible in one way, but they can come together and be wonderful in another. That is what happened with Jessie and Sam and is happening between Sam and Cindy.”

Gramp spoke, “Martha, let me tell you something about your grandfather’s first wife, Martha, the one you were named after. She was so sweet, just like you are. I know what you are feeling. Can you understand what it is like to love someone and it is your son who is married to her? It is hell! That is how much I loved your namesake. John and I were always at cross purposes until she died. And then I saw how foolish I was when neither of us had her.

“But then Miss Sylvia came into his life and John and I got back to where a father and son should be. I don’t know but what Sam is closer to me than John, but that is because I saw Jessie in Martha and I see you in her as well. Cindy has loved Sam from afar and was willing to put her life on hold. That is a measure of her love for him. Your mother knew of that love and when she couldn’t use it anymore she gave it to Cindy who could.”

It was my time to speak. “Martha, your mother knew that she was dying. She wanted to do one thing more to show her love for me before she died. Cindy isn’t taking the love I had for your mother away from you. She couldn’t and she wouldn’t. You wouldn’t throw away a birthday gift given out of love. In essence, this is the same.”

Martha didn’t look at me while I was talking. Finally she asked, “Dad, would you ask Cindy to come in so I can apologize? I have been missing Mom so much and it seemed as if she was being forgotten.”

“She will never be forgotten and the memories of her will only grow stronger and sweeter.”

“Dad, I think I will go out with you instead of having Cindy come in. That will show everyone here I’m sorry for embarrassing her.”

“You are so like your mother and I love you.”

____________________________________________________________________________________

Martha and I were as close as father and daughter should be after this, but still she resented Cindy just a little. She was working on getting used to the idea, though. I was finding time almost everyday to go in and have lunch with my betrothed. Martha often went with me. When we reached the Seldon House, Martha would go talk to her grandmother, Sarah. The fourth time, she came and found me, saying she was staying and helping Sarah with dinner.

“Dad,” this was a week before Cindy’s and my marriage, “I want you to have your wedding here in the Seldon House. Grandma does too. She says out in a tent somewhere is no place for a woman’s first night with a man. Samson was married two weeks ago right here and it is fitten that Cindy have the same privilege as Felicity. You get the wedding suite of rooms for a whole week if you want it. This is something Grandma said she owes you from what you did for her when she first arrived in town.

“You won’t even have to come down for your meals. You can take them right in your rooms. No one would say anything if you left the ballroom early either. ’Course everyone would know where you are and what you are doing.” Martha’s face was bright red as she said this and then she giggled.

“I’ll ask Cindy.”

“Cindy has already said she thought it a great idea, but not to tell you she thinks it is.”

“Okay Martha, would you ask Sarah to reserve the rooms for us and for dinner each night? Somehow I will convince Cindy that we should honeymoon right here in town.”

“Dad, should I call Cindy Mom after you get married?”

“Do you want to?”

“Not really.”

“Don’t then. Martha, thanks for the heads up about what Cindy wanted for our honeymoon. I was so used to knowing the way your mother thought, I can see I’m going to have to learn all over again with someone new.”

“I am going to call Judy aunt, though. That will let everyone know that I like my new step-mom. You know Miss Sylvia is really my grandmother, but all of us kids call her aunt. Why is that?”

“Just what she prefers. She says she won’t be called grandmother until her own children grow up, marry and have kids. Some women are sensitive about things such as that.”

“We have a crazy mixed up family don’t we? Are you and Cindy going to have kids?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Cindy and I haven’t discussed it. We have time to decide. Besides this isn’t any of your business, is it?”

“Mindy asked me if you were. Felicity thinks it will be weird if she has a sister or brother the same time she and Samson have a baby.”

“And what would your thoughts on the subject be?”

“I think Cindy should have babies. She is so beautiful and more and more I can see how much she loves you. How did she ever keep her love for you hidden from everyone for so long?”

“Sometimes sweetheart, a person thinks of others before themselves. Cindy has told me she has loved me from the first. To disclose this would have hurt your mother most of all. Cindy’s love and respect for both me and your mother was such she couldn’t do this. Jessie had a big heart and it equaled Cindy’s as it turned out. I am the beneficiary of the love I have received from both.”

“I think it is you, Dad. I think it is you!”

Samson and Felicity Ryeback were home from their honeymoon in time to see Cindy and I married. Judy Kershaw, Cindy’s twin sister, was the matron of honor. I had debated long and hard who would act as my best man. In the end, I asked James, my son by Jessie, to stand with me. Mindy, James’ new wife, and Martha were attendants. Samson and Felicity were in the party as well.

Cindy had offered the matron of honor position to Felicity, but she had declined, saying although she loved both me and Cindy, she wouldn’t feel comfortable with her mother passing such a short time ago. We were to be married in the court house as this had a sizable gallery and quite a bit of seating. The new larger church wasn’t finished yet. It was a cold clear day, but with the promise of Indian summer in the offing.

Gramp did make it to the wedding. We had found a caned wheel chair for him to sit in so he could be pushed to all of the doings. Samson would be pushing Gramp down the aisle between the seats in the court house as Cindy held onto his hand.

“I been waiting a long time for this day. I loved my granddaughter as no other and I love Cindy as much. This be a perfect union, same’s the last one Sam had.” It was almost certain this old man wouldn’t last the winter, but for now we had him with us. He was to have one thing more to be a part of something that had joy in it.

Samson was strong enough to carry Gramp and the chair up to the ballroom on the second floor over to the Seldon House. The band was all made up of stringed instruments and the music was mostly waltzes. This didn’t come until after the meal was consumed and the tables were pulled apart and taken out. The chairs were pushed back to the sides of the room and I held the new Mrs. Samuel Jones in my arms as the music commenced. It was nearing ten o’clock when Cindy whispered, “We can leave anytime.”

We went down and out the rear entrance. There was a buggy waiting for us with a horse between the shafts. “I thought we would be going upstairs, Cindy. What is going on?”

“Don’t be impatient Sam. You were good about giving me the wedding I wanted. Bear with me. I’ll even drive.” We took the familiar road to the ranch, stopping at the top of the hill to kiss before heading down to the buildings. When we reached the yard, Cindy again gave me direction. “Put up the horse and saddle Jim. Saddle my horse that is in the stall beside him. Come in and change to your riding clothes. We are going to the medicine cave. I have never been there and you will have to show me the way.”

Cindy laughed, sounding embarrassed, and then said, “When we get there, it is you who will have to continue to show me the way. Sam, I have imagined being with you for so long, now I am so uncertain. You will still love me in the morning won’t you?”

“In the morning and always.” Fifteen minutes later we were riding under the harvest moon toward a new beginning for Cindy and for me. It was a long trip. I suppose those back at the Seldon House assumed my wife and I were in our suite making love for the first time. As we rode along, slow sometimes and fast at other times, Cindy told me she knew how important the medicine cave was to me and she wanted it to become important to her as well.

“Sam we have the rest of our life to make love in a bed. Mary Eustis confided in me that she taught you how to make love your first time in the medicine cave. I want you to take me the first time in the same place.” She giggled. “The hunting and the camping you planned, I can do without at this time of year. We will do those things someday in the future, but not now.”

The morning sun was coming up as we turned toward the cave. There were saddlebags and wood for a fire in the cave. Mary Eustis had prepared everything to meet our needs.

Cindy laid out some food as I built a blaze. Utensils were at hand and water was already in the coffee pot. I paused every little while to look at my wife and sometimes I caught her looking at me. Breakfast over, we stripped and went to the pallet. “Sam, I put a powder into our coffee as Mary Eustis directed. What was that for?”

“I don’t know, but let’s lie here close together. You are so beautiful, I want to look at you forever, but I think we may sleep for a bit. I can hardly keep my eyes open. We might even dream a little. We will make love when we wake.” Twice in my life I experienced the dreams and had seen the beautiful vistas and now I did again.

I awoke and found Cindy awake as well. She exclaimed over the beautiful, vivid dream she had just had. We came together and I took what Cindy so gladly gave up. Closely we were entwined and yes, I think we drifted off again. “Did I hurt you?”

“No Sam, it was beautiful. Some of it may have been the potion Mary Eustis gave us. Maybe not, for I find I love you much, much more now than when we came here this morning. I am fully awake now. Would you teach me what the physical is all about?”

“My love, I am here for you.”

Later and near evening, I felt I might explore the limits of the cave. This was something I had never done before. I took a torch and walked to the back of the cave. I saw a narrow opening in the wall and cautiously turned into it. I could hear water bubbling and a few feet farther I came to a small pool that was actively moving. I put my hand into it and found it warm.

“Cindy, come. I have found where we can bathe.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, really. I wish we had soap.”

“There is soap in one of the saddlebags. I saw it and wondered why it was there. It is much too cold outside to wash in a stream.” We washed each other and returned to our pallet. This time Cindy was less uncertain about what was happening to her and let her feelings build until there was that lightning strike we all yearn for. We knew then we had something special. Eventually, “Sam, I think we should go back to the ranch soon.”

“Yes, I know. This has been our time alone. We needed it and now it is time to return to the real world.”

Everyone wondered where we had gone. Martha, who had worked so hard to give Cindy the wedding she thought she longed for, was upset at first. Gramp was back at the ranch as was Samson and Felicity. Gramp lasted one full week after our return from the medicine cave. He had lived long enough to see Cindy married to me and we found him one morning in his bed where he had died in his sleep. We buried him just below Jessie as he had wanted.

Martha was spending much of her time in town with Sarah at the Seldon House and was often over to Miss Sylvia’s tearoom. Cindy and I were in for lunch and found Martha waiting table for Sarah. At four that same afternoon, we stopped in to visit Miss Sylvia, and there was Martha again serving us. When questioned, “I think I want to learn how to do this. Grandma Sarah says she will someday need a partner. After all she is leaning toward seventy. It could be me.”

“Okay Sweetheart. Whatever you want to do.”

“Dad, there is something I want to know. Would it be okay if Mr. Coolidge took me to the dance here in the ballroom sometime? He has asked me, but I thought I had better ask you first.”

“Who is Mr. Coolidge? Do I know him?”

Cindy started laughing and answered, “I know who he is. He was the would-be attorney at the trial of the men who killed your mother and asked me my age.”

“Yes, he defended those men, and they had a right to be defended. He said so.”

I remembered him now. “They did and I agree. In fact I was impressed with the way he handled himself.”

Martha looked at Cindy. “Winston Coolidge knows you are married to my father now. He wondered if you do really carry another gun on you, other than the two he knows about.”

“I do, but only Sam knows where it is located. You can tell Mr. Coolidge I do, but don’t you dare guess where. In fact, I think you should be carrying one as well. Sam, you had better see to this as soon as possible. On the ranch Martha may be safe, but here in town she should be protected.”

“Good idea, Cindy. I’ll buy the pistol and you measure Martha. We had better put in the order for the holster at the saddle shop before we leave today. I know you can shoot, but I forgot how dangerous it is here in town.” Cindy and Martha went into Miss Sylvia’s personal quarters and soon came out with the measurements.

I went across to the leather shop. “Hey Sam, what’s up? Need a new saddle?”

“No, I need a holster and belt made for Martha. I’ll be back with a gun to put in it in a few minutes.”

“I have one already made. I assume you want it to fit a .32 pistol. I’ll just have to adjust the belt.”

“Fine. I’ll be back shortly.” The belt was worn under a woman’s dress or if she was in riding clothes, under a coat. Either way, some minor adjustments were required for whatever the woman was wearing. I felt, as we left town that evening, my wife and I had done a good thing to make Martha safer when she was away from us.

Cindy and I settled into married life and it was a joy for both of us. Did I miss Jessie? Of course I did. Cindy seemed to sense when my thoughts were absent from her sometimes. She would wait and then come and give me a hug or kiss me. I’m sure if Jessie could see Cindy she would see that my new wife was doing just as she was asked.

Thanksgiving was coming up. Martha was home for a few days. She went over to see Mindy as they were of an age. “Dad, me and Mindy are going to ride over and see Mary Eustis. Mindy says James has given her a baby and she wants to know if it is going to be a boy or girl. Just think, I’m going to be an aunt already.”

“Okay. Say hi for me. When will you be home?”

“We’ll be back by two, three at the latest, before it gets dark. James will want his supper. Mindy tries to get it for him at the same time everyday. Oh, Dad, do you think Mary Eustis would have something for Winston’s pimples?”

“She might. You can ask.” The men and boys were beginning to circle around my daughter. Was this Winston the one? I guess my little girl was growing up. Well it had to happen. I suspected as much as Cindy and I were in love, I might just have another child by this time next year. Martha wouldn’t be replaced, just added to.

Two o’clock came and I started watching for Martha and Mindy. At three o’clock, I hadn’t seen them. James was worried as well and he rode over from his new house. I was saddling Jim. We knew it was only an hour until dark, so we took out on a dead run. It didn’t take us long to travel the four miles to where we could see one of our women sitting her horse. We couldn’t see which one of the women it was and didn’t know what the situation was. James circled wide and came in so we had the group in a bracket.

We slid our horses to a stop and could see a man lying on the ground. Another one was sitting down. This one had a terrible cut on the side of his head. I recognized it as a pistol whipping. He sat there looking pretty dazed, but not hurt too bad. Martha, who was the one dismounted, was folding her kerchief as a bandage and the man was looking at her as if she was an angel. James immediately went and hugged Mindy as she came down from her horse.

“Hi Dad. I think that man over there is dead. This is Ted Baxter. He stopped the other guy from raping us. Ted doesn’t even know the man’s name. The guy must be an outlaw or something.”

I gave my attention to the prone man. He was dead all right. Beside him there was a round stone about three inches through. There was an old pistol partially underneath the body. When I turned him over, the head flopped to one side. There wasn’t really much for visible wounds that I could see, but there was a pool of blood where he had bled from the nose. “What happened?”

Mindy answered, “Pop, we were riding along when them two came down that draw over there. That one had a gun on us and rode right in front of us. He seemed tickled to see two women out here. Then he started telling us what he was going to do to us. As he was getting off his horse, Ted hit him with the butt of his quirt. It just made the guy mad, although it knocked him to the ground.

“Ted was hitting him, but the guy dragged him from his horse. Ted wouldn’t give up until he was hit with the pistol. Martha and me were going to make a run for it, but the man reached his horse, rounded us up and made us come back, saying he was going to shoot us. The man turned his back on Ted and Ted threw that stone and it hit him in the back of the neck. We could see you coming and that is where we are right now.”

“You took an awful chance, young man. Weren’t you afraid he would shoot you?”

“Nope, that was my gun and it don’t shoot, but he is an awful lot bigger than me. He come up on my camp and done took the gun from me this morning. He took what food I had, so I strung along with him, waiting for a chance to get my food back. I decided I wasn’t about to let the polecat bother no pretty young women.”

“Well, Baxter, you done a good thing. Martha, what happened to the gun I got for you the other day?”

“I didn’t wear it. That certainly was a mistake, but Ted made sure I didn’t really need it.”

“I guess people should learn from their mistakes. You might not have a Ted around next time to protect you.” I looked closely at Baxter. He looked intelligent and he certainly was brave enough. Ted was also going to have a pocketful of money.

There was a flyer in the sheriff’s office on the dead man lying on the ground. He was one of the worst criminals loose. The law had been looking for him, but apparently he had holed up somewhere until his food ran out. The man had escaped from a jail down in Colorado a month ago and there was a bounty out on him. I think the last I knew, it totaled about $4700. I would make sure it went to Baxter. The money from the bounty was enough to be a good start in life for anyone.

“How old are you Ted?”

“Nineteen.” I looked closely at him. A shiver went through me. This young man could be me twenty-one years ago. And yes, I could see Martha looking at him. She could be her mother, Jessie. That is the way Jessie looked at me at the time.

“Let’s get the dead man on his horse. Ted, you are invited to make your home with us for awhile. Thanksgiving is coming up and it looks as if we all have something to be thankful for.”

The End of the Story