Chapter 2

“Rocky, would you show me more about handling my gun?”

“Yeah, Kid, I was. In a gunfight, you may be up against two men instead of just one. Remember you must thumb back the hammer to rotate the cylinder to get to the next live round. You’ve got yourself firing off the first round fine, pulling the gun from your holster, cocking the weapon, depressing the trigger, and bringing the point of the gun onto the target. I can see that you have done that and have it down pat.

“You have fired and hit your target, and the point of your gun is high and off target from the recoil. Bringing your gun down on another target takes more skill while rotating the cylinder to the next round and pulling the trigger. This revolver I have is a single action, meaning you have to cock the gun by using the thumb with your hammer. Your gun is a single action, too, but it feels different, and I’m not entirely familiar with it.

“I know some changes and adjustments to make it easier and faster to shoot and fire. Let me have your gun, and I’ll shoot two rounds, and then I’ll fire mine so you can tell the difference.”

“Where are the other guys? Won’t they want to see this?”

“They went into town. They shouldn’t know how good I am. That will be a good idea, but when you get to shoot, they won’t know how good you are either. A lot of how good they are is brag, and they don’t know how good I am, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Okay, but why are you teaching me and not them?”

“Kid, I believe you are on a mission to right a wrong for the killing of your parents. I will give you a chance at that and keep you alive.”

“Rocky, you are a real friend.”

“Yes. I have taken a liking to you. If I ever had a son, I would want him like you. Enough of that. Let me have your gun, and we’ll get on with this.” Rocky was fast, and I could see the difference in his shooting off the two guns. There had to be at least two seconds in him firing off his second shot with his and him firing off mine, as good as he was.

“Well, we will work on you and your gun to get you as good as you can be with that. Maybe we will look for another single action for a spare, and I can do what needs doing with that.”

“I haven’t spent much of my money, you know.”

“I know, but I have quite a bit. Someday, I’ll tell you where I got it.”

Rocky found after a while that he could get off the first round as fast with my single-action gun as he could with his single-action. He seemed to worry more about getting off the second round and said we both would have to work on that.

However, he still worked with me on getting my gun out of its holster, lined up, and firing off the first round. He broke it down into sections where my hand started the downward movement, my finger entered the trigger guard, I pulled the gun and started the upward movement, and I touched off the round to fire the weapon.

He explained many other things that entered into aiming and hitting the mark I was aiming at. “Kid. I have never killed a man, as I have stated before. I’ve shot as many as ten men and hit them in the right shoulder. That most often knocks a man down; if not, it throws him off target. So, if he is swift, my bullet immobilizes his arm, and his gun falls from his hand.

“If your opponent is left-handed, which has happened only once for me, you aim for his left shoulder. Gunmen aim at the largest target, which is the other man’s body. Either shoulder you aim to hit is a target about six inches wide. If he stands erect, that’s the distance from the edge of him to his neck. If he goes into a crouch, aim lower before releasing the hammer. Theoretically, you have a target six inches wide by sixteen inches vertically.

“Busting up a man’s shoulder, arm, or ribs, you will sleep much better if you are still alive. That’s the code I have lived by and been around for many years. I’d like you to live by the same code, but I guess I have never got into a situation where killing is the only option.”

Rock stared at me to see if I was going to accept this. “Kid, that’s the lesson for today. Go somewhere alone and think about what we have covered.”

It was a great summer as far as I was concerned. I helped with the cattle and could cast a rope and catch one. I worked on my gun handling. I got so far with it and couldn’t see where I was gaining on the speed at hitting anything. I was hitting the mark I had set up and had no trouble with that. “Keep at it, Kid. You never know when a few minutes more of practice will keep you alive.”

I worked in the garden doing a lot of the hoeing. Itea and Karen kept the weeds down. I hoed dirt around the potatoes so they would have loose dirt to expand as they grew bigger. The squash where I had planted the seeds on the manure pile came up, and I swear we would have a ton by the time the vines died.

We all worked on getting up wood for the winter. The boys had cut several trees just as the leaves came out, and the new leaves drew the sap out so the wood would dry by the time we burned the wood. Rocky had a one-person cross-cut saw.

Itea and I were cutting and loading cart-loads of stove-length chunks a day. Rocky asked the boys to split the blocks. Some were split, but any excuse would bury the axe in the chopping block.

We gathered the heifers, and Rocky and the boys delivered them on the first of September. Rocky was gone a week before he returned. I asked, “Where’re the boys?”

“They took off to spend their money. They will be gone for quite a while. You noticed they have been arguing with me lately, right?”

“Yes, and I wondered about that.”

“They may be gone for good. In the past, I gathered them up the same way I gathered you into the ranch. Mike was the first one that was three years ago last winter. The other two came the next year when I made the first trip to sell the steers. Things have settled down, and they are young, looking for more excitement than there is by staying here.”

“So you’ve been ranching here for five years or so?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Kid, what are your plans for Itea? The sun rises and sets on your butt already, as far as she is concerned. When you get ready to leave, will you walk off and forget her?”

“Rocky, I’ve never had a friend like she is to me. She’s supposedly half-Indian, but I don’t think of her being one. Her hair is dark brown and much finer than her mother’s. Her eyes are blue, not dark brown like an Indian, either. I’m teaching her to speak like me, and I’m progressing. I wish I had some books to go by. She could go to school somewhere, but I don’t see how.”

“She’s too old for first grade, and kids would make fun of her. She probably would want to return to her tepee and hide if we did that to her.”

“I thought of that too, Rocky.”

“Kid, what about you? What do you want out of life?”

“Oh, a life like my Ma and Pa had, but I don’t want mine to end like theirs. I’d be a smith or do like Pa did, making wheels for wagons. I know enough about some of it already to get on as an apprentice to someone. My Pa told me that was how he started his life’s work.

“It sounds like a plan, Son.” I thought as Rocky turned away that I liked him calling me son. Maybe it was because I was interested in Rocky teaching me about cattle and guns— or maybe not.

The next day, Rocky said he was going to the larger town about 25 miles from the ranch and might be gone overnight. I told him what I would do, “I’ll ride around the ranch to see if the cattle are straying while you are gone. I’ll put a belly band on the mare so Itea can accompany me.” Rocky nodded his okay.

The mare was used to having Itea on her back and seemed to enjoy not wearing a saddle. I didn’t have one to fit her, anyway. Karen fed us when we returned later that afternoon. All the while we had been gone, I talked, pointing and naming items in my language. Itea would say what they were in Indian. I hoped she remembered what I said better than what I was hearing when she repeated it to me in Indian.

After a bit of time, when she said something, I looked at her and repeated it as a question. I would say Cow, and she would say Cow, and then in Indian, “Wahoo.” I would say, “Wahoo?” She would nod that I said it correctly. Over a few hours, we made a lot of progress. Maybe the pointing helped as well because this was sign language.

She cracked me up when I pointed at a squirrel and said cow. Not looking at me, she kept saying wahoo when I said squirrel until I was exasperated, then she laughed and said squirrel in Indian, and then I said squirrel. It passed the time, anyway.

Rocky was gone two nights and came home on the third day. He had a pack rack on behind his saddle. The packages were bulging. “I got some books to teach Itea. It’s been so long since I was in school I don’t remember much about learning. I guess it’s up to you, Kid.

“I got the old Indian a knitted wool hat because winter is coming soon. I also bought Itea a grey wool dress. I described how tall she was, so I thought it would fit. I told the woman I asked about sizes to get her some under things and that I didn’t know about such things. But she said she would find what I needed.”

“Nothing for Karen?”

Rocky’s face was red. “I wanted her dress to be yellow, but the woman said they didn’t have yellow, so I got her a grey wool one like Itea’s. Both dresses have been worn some, but only a little. They are serviceable for one winter and maybe more if packed well during hot weather. She told me that if any wear was left in them, I should bring them back. She never has enough used clothing to sell. Used clothing is a sideline for her. I guess a woman has to go in and have new ones made and fitted.”

“Didn’t you get her some underwear too?”

“The woman said she would find something and wrapped it all up in one bundle. We’ll never know what it will look like, will we? Anyway, I got the books you wanted.”

“I’ll pay, Rocky.”

“No, my treat, you stick with Itea teaching the alphabet and the times tables. Maybe someday she can learn to read. How long did you go to school?”

“Ma and Pa left for the West when I was fourteen; I’ve had about eight years of learning. That’s what most people have.”

“I figured so. Anyway, I have a couple of history books for you and one book on maps. Maybe we can figure out where in hell we are in this country.”

“Good, that is a need to know for me. I remember all the towns we went through and know where we started. I remember the town’s name, so I can find my way back there when I get ready without asking someone. I think I can go to Pa’s ranch without anyone knowing me. I don’t know as I can reclaim it, for it may be listed as abandoned by this time.”

The next day, I took some books over to the tepee, and it was a nice warm day for this time of year. I got everyone outside and showed them the books. I started showing them the pictures that were in the books.

These were for real young children just ready to begin school. I picked out the pictures of different things they would be familiar with. The images were of a Cow, Cat, Dog, Friends (two children holding hands), Mother, Father, Grandfather, Sister, Brother, Baby, etc.

These were images of items people owned or lived with that were in their everyday lives. If I could get them to say the word in English, they could relate it to the image on the page. It was the same as I did with Itea when we covered the Squirrel joking incident.

The History book was full of images. Grandfather was very interested when a chapter touched on people moving West, with images of tepees and Indians with headdresses and feathers. I found it particularly difficult when I started teaching Itea the alphabet. I just had to figure out how to get her to understand it.

I showed her an image of an animal, wrote the letter under it, and showed her the written word in a book that referenced that animal. I would then hand her a different book with the word in it somewhere and indicate that I wanted her to find the word. I often had to use sign language, which I was becoming very adept at. She then found out that it was a story about the animal.

As we progressed, and I was getting her to understand what reading and speaking were all about, I was also slowly learning the Indian language and had to use less sign language to get the concept across.

Tell me how proud I was when I realized that I was a kid of sixteen and she was a girl of ten, and we spoke in each other’s language. Six weeks after some of what I struggled to get across the gap between our two languages, I printed a paragraph about a cow on paper, and she understood what it said. (It was a cow searching for her lost calf).

I wanted Itea to go to school someday. I felt I wasn’t intelligent enough to go far with teaching her lessons so she could go to a public school. Also, there was the problem of her being half-Indian. Rocky and I discussed this continually. It wasn’t until he and I, when talking about Christmas that we came up with a fake history for her birth and why she lived with Indians and only knew the Indian Language.

We started with different possibilities, such as her having unknown parents when she was three years old and traveling the Oregon Trail too late in the season. They died during the first snowfall, but Itea survived before she succumbed to the weather. A band of Indian hunters came upon Itea bundled in most of the blankets her dead parents owned wrapped around her.

One of the hunters had a squaw, Karen, who lost her papoose. This hunter had returned to his tepee from hunting with the child. He brought none of their identification with him, so Itea’s origin passed into history, which is not known. Six summers, Karen had Itea in her care and loved the child as her own.

Fine, very dark brown hair and blue eyes meant she was of a different race and not a child of Karen’s. Rocky, living near the Indians, changed all this.

We would tell the world about Itea if it was ever noticed because she had features different from those of her Indian mother. As Karen explained while discussing Itea later, this fabrication was close to the truth. Itea was a full-blooded Caucasian.

Karen was happy when Rocky and his crew decided to take an interest in the pregnant squaw, with one child, about to have a papoose. Rocky had invited the squaw and the old Indian Brave to pitch their tent on the ranch, thinking the old one would soon die. Surprisingly, he didn’t die and soon gained his health back.

I, Matthew Jenkins, was a fifteen-year-old orphan Rocky had gathered in while stopping to camp and given a home with work to pay for his keep.

Over time, everyone could communicate, and Karen said, if possible, that the child she had mothered should someday return to the White world. In the meantime, the two kids, Itea, who is ten now, and I, Matt, who is sixteen, would live as brothers and sisters.

I hadn’t seen the clothes that Rocky had purchased for Karen and Itea. He gave me the books he had bought and told me to begin teaching the child immediately. I knew Rocky had something in mind when he brought the clothes out and gave them to Karen and Itea. September was gone, as was October and November.

“Kid, it is time I told you what my life is. I’m not proud of some of it, but I chose the path I have been on with open eyes. I decided last summer to give up doing what I did for the last dozen years. When I was thirty, I was just a cowpuncher, drifting between jobs. Then, one weekend, I went on a heavy drunk, the usual thing most punchers do.

“I had bedded down in the livery stable Sunday the night before the two men I was drinking with rousted me out with me still hung over as hell.

“Hey you, Rocky, we bought whisky the last three hours of drinking. We need you to do a job for us, and we figure you owe us.”

“Jesus, I’m hurting so bad I can’t do anything for a while. What time is it?”

“Rocky, daylight, and all the stores are open. We want you to saddle our mounts, lead the horses up the street, and ground hitch them in front of the bank, where they will stand. When we come out of the bank, we’ll mount and ride out. There is a hundred dollars in it for you.”

“You know, Kid, I may have been drunk and hungover, but I wasn’t born yesterday. I figured they might just shoot me to slow a posse down, and I’d be in jail or dead and have no chance of collecting the promised hundred dollars. The younger of the two said they wouldn’t go into the bank until I came out of the stable, leading their horses.

“You take at least three minutes to make it up to the bank, and everything will be fine. If you don’t do what we say and don’t see you come out of here with our mounts, we’ll be back and hunt you down.”

“Kid, that was me between a rock and a hard place. Anyway, I saddled the horses, including my own, and I could see them enter the bank. Pulling the horses up to the bank took me just a minute. I dropped the leads and spurred my horse into an ally beside the bank.

“I reached the edge of town before I heard gunfire. Was I in trouble? I didn’t know whether I was or not. Anyway, I went south for an hour and then circled going north.

“Kid, I wanted that promised hundred dollars. As my head cleared, and before I got so drunk last night when they began feeding me whisky, I was listening to them talking at the table in the corner. They were speaking about where they would meet up if they separated. I hadn’t heard them say anything about robbing a bank. I didn’t learn of that until they woke me up.

“I kept off the traveled roads and headed for the place I had recognized them speaking about as their meeting place. I had worked on a ranch near there three years before.

“The older bank robber was there and dying from a gunshot. I nursed him for three days before he passed away. The younger one died while getting on his horse in front of the bank. I probably would have died, too, if I was anywhere around when they came out of the bank.”

“Rocky, you were lucky.”

“Kid, yes, lucky but stupid too. I had been punching cows for twenty dollars a month and found, for most of my working years. I thought robbing a bank could happen if it was planned right. I thought about it and thought about how I would do it.

“I didn’t start for almost five years. I had the money from the robber I buried, almost seventeen thousand dollars. I spent those years going into town and observing banks and how I would rob them if I decided that I was doing the robbing.”

“You mean that robber had the money, and you took it?”

“That’s what I’m saying, Kid. I didn’t stop punching cows, either—the money I put into a bank. I wasn’t going to lose that found money. Banks often replace their investors through insurance if held up, so that is where I’m keeping my money.”

“How about getting away after robbing a bank? How did you do that?”

“Kid, can I trust you?”

“Yes!

“How can I be sure of that?”

“Because I had to get away from where my Pa and died. You’ve treated me as good or better than they did. I was lost when you found me and took me in. You coached me where I couldn’t see where this was the end of my life and encouraged me to become productive with the knowledge of what Pa taught me.

“The biggest reason is that I never intend to rob a bank. I would encourage you not to rob any more banks either. I’d be crushed if you did.”

“Kid, did you know when we picked you up the day we met that we were coming home from robbing one?”

“I surmised that after hearing Rick, Sam, and Mike talking. They are dead, aren’t they? They died robbing a bank, didn’t they?”

“I’m sure of it. At least one of three would have returned by this time if alive.”

“So how did you always get away every time?”

“Kid, think about the time of year when I picked you up at that campground?”

“It was the last of April, and you had just sold and delivered a small herd of steers.”

“How were we dressed? And what were the horses we were riding?”

“Range gear and Mustang cutting horses.”

“Okay. Just think of four men with a herd of cattle they owned. Three men disappeared for a few hours, and one man remained. Those three men, dressed in different clothes, held up a bank when it opened. Say they spent ten minutes in the bank and are riding horses different from those with this herd. They follow a plan that is laid out for them to follow precisely.

“You don’t know it, but I was away for two weeks in February and the first week in March because that was before you lived here. I was sitting in a town with a decent bank all those weeks. As far as anyone knew, I was waiting on a letter, coming general delivery to the post office, and booked into a room at the boarding house.

“I had money to spend in the saloons, and I spent time in the stores and shops. I hung around the livery stable and even put sixty-three dollars in the bank, drawing out a few at a time to replenish what I was spending. I left thirteen dollars there when I was to come back in the fall to get that money. I still wonder if that letter from Texas had shown up when I returned around that way.

“Five times, the boys and I pulled this. I even pulled one of these jobs by agreeing to deliver a herd for a ranch that sold a herd one fall. That was the one we made the biggest haul from the bank in that town. When the boys left town, they would peel off from each other and put distance between them so a posse couldn’t find a bunch of three horses riding together by the tracks.

“Oh, I planned every move. This year, the boys figured I was getting too big a cut of the loot, so they decided to take a bank without investigating or making a plan. I warned them and told them I’d shoot them and not to come back if they did. I wasn’t ever identified with any bank robbers for many years and wouldn’t be identified with any now.”

“How big a cut were you taking?”

“The same as them, we split the loot four ways. The least I ever got was five thousand; that best year, we had forty-two thousand to divide. Well, I expect they got their cut this year. A shovel full of dirt in the face is much less than what they had with me in charge of dividing.”

“Rocky, what is your plan for our future? I’m going to be right here with you forever. The only time I want to get away is to settle a rancher with Pa and Ma’s death.”

“Kid, don’t go off alone with that—Promise?”

“Okay, I’d like it if you would side me. We got Itea so she can talk our language a little, but there is no way she can mix in with white people yet. I don’t want her humiliated or anything like that.”

Rocky came back from town with a question for me, “Kid, there is going to be a Christmas Dance at a church a little over four hours ride from here. How would you like to take Itea to it? You don’t have to dance, but it would give her a chance to get out and see how White People act.

“This is why I bought her a dress suitable for her months ago. You have been here for eight months without any interaction except with us and Indians.”

“Is this for people of all ages?”

“Yes, it’s called a Community Dance.”

“I’ll ask her. Maybe I can find a corner and teach her a few steps.”

“Go for it.”

I headed for the tepee carrying the grey dress. Rocky was with me. We entered, and both Karen and Itea were sitting at a table. Rocky asked Karen why we were there. Karen understood and said Itea could go if she wanted.

I explained, “Itea, I want to escort you to a dance. We will say we are brother and sister, and I promise to protect you and teach you how to dance. There will be lots of music and people laughing and having fun. Will you go with me?”

“I am Indian, and no one will like me. No, I will not go.”

She turned to Karen and asked, “Do I have to?”

“Itea, I think you should. I want more for you than living in a tepee for the rest of your life. I have never told you, but you are White and not Indian. You were given to me when it was three summers, and I have mothered you for many years. I am giving you leave to join the White tribe. Rocky has assured me I will always be with you until you find a White Brave to cherish you. At that time, I will return to my tribe.”

I knew Rocky must have set this up beforehand with Karen. He had only said this a few times to me that Karen wanted Itea to leave the Indians and join the White Tribe.

“But I look like an Indian and not a white person?”

“Rocky and the Kid have White People’s clothes for you. They will make you into a White Person.”

“I don’t believe it can happen. I have always been Indian.” Karen motioned for us to leave.

We returned in an hour. Rocky was carrying his shaving mirror so that Itea would get a good idea of her appearance. The grey dress came down to her ankles. Karen had put a pair of red moccasins on her feet and given her a small matching vest of deer leather to cover her shoulders, dyed red, the same as her footwear.

I had never seen Itea with her hair down. It was down to her shoulder blades in the back. A cloth band with beads gathered the hair so it wouldn’t fly all over.

I had never paid any attention to girls, but I sure paid attention to this pretty one before me. “Itea, you are like a beautiful flower blossom that has just opened up.”

Itea’s face flamed. “I’m looking at that glass, and I don’t know that person. Is it really me?”

“Yes, it is really you.”

We left Karen and Itea with the looking glass and returned to the cabin. Hell, it was me who didn’t have anything fine enough to wear. “No problem, son. I have a pair of trousers you can wear. At least they will come down to your ankles anyway.

“You have grown like a weed in the last few months. You may have to cinch them up a little, but I think the tweed jacket will cover them. You have a decent shirt you haven’t worn. Try that on and see if you can wear it.”

I changed and guessed I looked okay. I had been greasing my moccasins, so they would be fine if I didn’t walk through any puddles. Snow was on the ground but cold enough to give no trouble. “Rocky, is the sled overhead in the stable any good?”

“We will get it out and look it over. I haven’t gotten it out in the last three years. That is what I plan to use the night we go to the dance, and I’ll ride my horse. Kid, can you handle the horse pulling the sled? We’ll stop on the outskirts, and a woman will join you on the sled until we reach the church.

“She knows I have two orphans who live with me. Her name is Mrs. Orkins, and she is widowed. Kid, you said your name was Abbot, but you might tell me if that is correct. I’ll have to introduce you to Mrs. Orkins.”

“It is my name, just not all of it. My full name is Matthew Abbot Jenkins. If you need more of a name for Itea, let her use Jenkins. I consider her my sister, and we are that close. You can still say she was a found child, brought up by Indians, so use your judgment. I’ll tell Itea when we get into the sled. I don’t think she will object.”

“No, I don’t imagine she will.”

Excitement was in the air Saturday morning. Today was the day when we were going to the dance in a town several miles away. I would be seeing people of my kind that I hadn’t seen for many months except those on the ranch and the Indians. The sled was examined and deemed serviceable.

The day was sunny but chilly. We hoped it would stay that way until we returned. Rocky told us we would be staying the night with Mrs. Orkins.

We all took baths. Rocky trimmed and shaped his beard. I had some fuzz on my face, and Rocky used his razor. Itea was taking her bath in the tepee. Rocky furnished some rose water to add to her bath, so she smelled like roses when I handed her into the sleigh. Different anyway, from the smoky smell that permeated our everyday clothes. Karen couldn’t be persuaded to go with us,

I hitched my horse to the sleigh. There were blankets for my horses and Rocky’s horse, and enough hay for the night was bundled and tied to the back. The robe, to keep warm, I had slept under the day I met the Indians. It was wrapped around us in the front seat against the cold.

It must have been an hour and a half when we were down off the mountain and merged into a more traveled road. There was a large stream on our right, and up and down small hills we traveled as the road wound around next to the water.

The water ran fast at intervals, and then it was iced over where it wasn’t as swift. We stopped once to rest the horses, and we got out and stomped around. We were glad to get our blood circulating. I had on sheepskin mittens, but my hands were cold.

Soon, we were traveling again. Most horses traveling the road had caulks on their shoes, so it wasn’t slippery. It was still daylight when I pulled along beside Rocky. He leaned over from his horse and said there was only a mile to go.

I could tell; I could see a haze from wood smoke not far ahead. We met some traffic from the mountain, but the road was wide enough for everyone to meet and pass. We also had gone past some other houses and cabins. Most had barns for a horse, and we could see a family cow out occasionally.