Chapter 4

We found Sheriff Jones, just ready to eat. “Hi Steven, what’s up?”

“Sheriff, this is the Jenkins son, Matt. He came into my office after coming in on the stage. The man with him has the name of Sedgewick. Jenkins has lived and worked for him for the last five years.”

“This is a surprise. Jenkins, how come you skedaddled out of here when you did?”

“I heard the shot that killed my Pa. Ma was in the house and saw it happen. She had a bad heart, and the shock of it killed her. I had about two hours holding her in my arms before she died. I figured those that shot my Pa would come looking for me. I buried my parents and left in the morning. Rocky picked me up almost a hundred miles from here when they stopped where I was camping. I’ve been with him ever since.”

“How come you decided to return?”

“I got to wondering if I could get Pa’s land back. I have a girl and plan to marry just as soon as I get settled and can make a living to support her.”

“Are you handy with that gun you have in that holster?”

“Handy enough! If I find the killer and have to face him, I’ll give a good account of my ability.”

The Sheriff’s face clouded up. “You’re talking, mighty belligerent. Are you out to kill him if you find him?”

“It would be just, wouldn’t it?”

“And I suppose you have an idea who the killer is?”

“It is a rancher named Weatherly. I saw him riding away on his horse, and I was close enough to recognize the horse the day Pa died. Weatherly was pissed at Pa for taking up the land we bought and paid for. They had words.”

“Weatherly? Are you sure it was a man about fifty-five who shot your father?”

I paused, thinking back five years. “I didn’t see Weatherly’s face, but someone was riding his horse. It was a light-colored one, and a few days before, I looked at the horse all over when Weatherly was at the house auguring with Pa.”

The Sheriff looked at me, and I thought he would tell me I was wrong. Instead, he said, “Young man, let’s go eat, and then we’ll take a ride. Maybe we can get this settled without any gunfire. It isn’t far, only a mile outside of town, actually not even that. The town has been expanding in that direction.”

Nickerson ordered a big dinner, and Rocky and I did, too. I mentioned we would be renting horses if we rode. The livery stable had a good selection, and we were soon mounted.

When we were a half mile from the cabin Pa, and I built, the Sheriff said, “There is a squatter living in your cabin. He is a man who is alone and sixty-two years old and lost his buildings in a fire some years back. I’ve let him stay there.” I shrugged and wondered why the remark about a fire.

We walked the horses into the yard and tied them to a hitching post that Pa and I had built. I looked around and saw that someone had done at least some minimum care of the place.

The Sheriff knocked on the door. A man inside hollered to come in. The Sheriff opened the door, and I saw the interior of my home from a long time ago. I recognized some of the furniture that was still there. Rocky came in behind me, and I was pleased he was behind me to support me.

“Burt, do you know this young man?”

Weatherly examined me intently. “I can’t say as I do. Nice looking feller. Why, Sheriff, should I know him?”

“Well, he said he knows you. He claims you shot and killed his father. Steve said he is carrying a deed on this property. I want to make damned sure he is Jenkins’ son.”

Weatherly was facing the sheriff. “Christ, here we go again. Dammit, it was you who pulled the lever that killed my son. You had witnesses that it was he who shot Jenkins.”

I broke in, “Mr. Weatherly, were you riding your horse the day someone was riding it and killed Pa?”

“No, I wasn’t riding my horse that day; it was Junior, my son. I didn’t ride the horse until the day after. That was the day my life as I knew it ended.”

“Sir, I’d like to talk to you alone, if possible?”

“Yes, I’ll listen.”

The Sheriff spoke, “Jenkins, take off your gun belt. You may think you have reason to take up what happened to your Pa, but I say let it be.”

“I won’t harm him. I’m not blaming him for killing my father now that I know he didn’t. Before you leave, I want to retrieve some personal items I left here.”

I went around beside the fireplace, reached up, and fumbled until I got what I wanted. It was a worn-out 10-inch flat file. I took it and pried the dust from a crack between the stones that made up the hearth. I got the crack clean and one end of the file down a couple of inches. I pried, and finally, the end of the stone raised enough to let me lift it out with my fingers. The metal box was still there below.

“This, I believe, will have enough identification to satisfy that I am Matt Jenkins.” There were two pictures of my father and mother and one of me as a baby. My parent’s marriage license was there. The original deed and water rights to this property were, too. There were some other papers Pa and Ma had saved. I’ll look at these later.

“I guess this is it. Now, I’d like to talk to Mr. Weatherly.”

Rocky and the sheriff went out. “Mr. Weatherly, how come you are living here?”

“The Sheriff permitted me to stay. It still belongs to you, I guess. I haven’t looked into it. About the day your Pa died, understand those two cow-hands that were with my son the day Junior shot your father got to telling the other hands about it as soon as they got back to the ranch. After dark that night, one of them told me about it. I headed out with all the men early next morning to try cleaning up Junior’s mess. I supposed your mother had to have known what happened, and I thought I would have to face her.

“I didn’t know what I would do or say to her. Truth, I’ve forgotten all about you. When we arrived, your father’s body wasn’t in the field, just the dead horses. Then we couldn’t find your mother either. The two saddle horses I knew your Pa had were missing. The shovel in the barn had fresh dirt on it, which was a mystery. We dragged the horse carcasses into the woods, put the harness into the barn, and headed home.

“When I reached where we could see my ranch, every one of the buildings was burnt and gutted. The horses were all loose. The only thing I was glad to see was my old dog was still alive. I found the dog, and the old cuss was glad to see me.”

“So you lost everything?”

“Yeah, mostly. I did have my cattle, and I had some excellent years of ranching, so I had a healthy bank account. We had to live somewhere, so we rented rooms in town at the hotel that night. I paid off some punchers, but the Sheriff picked up about the fire at the ranch. Then, as always, Junior and the two punchers that were with him got drunk and spilled about Junior killing your father.

“Junior tried to alibi what he had done by saying your father burnt our ranch and that he did kill Jenkins to get even. The Sheriff is an intelligent man, and when he arrested the three of them, he kept them apart, and finally, the whole story came out. My bank account went fast, and I eventually sold the entire herd of cattle. I got Junior an attorney, but he couldn’t save him.

“The puncher, who caved to what happened, told the story before the Judge and Jury. The other puncher claimed your father was a farmer and claimed if Junior hadn’t shot your father, he would have done it. He got five years in Territorial Prison and served four and a half years. He came by looking me up when he got out. I didn’t talk to him, and the Sheriff ran him out of town.

“What now for me?”

“Mr. Weatherly, I burnt your ranch, so what’s for me?”

“Well, son, I don’t think you have to admit that to anyone. We both lost someone we loved, and I started it. I was responsible for Junior and didn’t live up to teaching him right from wrong. If it hadn’t been for your father, Junior most likely would have killed some other person. Tell me, what happened to your mother?”

“She had a weak heart. She was watching out the window, the one over there by the sink. I found her on the floor, and I held her in my arms for two hours before she passed. I left her and went and dug their graves. I said a prayer and covered them up. At the time, my heart was hard and consumed with hate.

“I’m quite a bit softer now. I killed a man a short while ago, and it bothers me at night. A gang of outlaws was rustling our cattle, and they attacked us. Thank God there aren’t so many people wearing guns now.”

“The bad ones always will.”

“I guess you are right in that. Where are you sleeping?”

“I think it must be in your old bed. Your parents’ bed is made up if you don’t mind sharing. It’s big enough for you and that other feller.”

“Good, why don’t you slick up, ride into town, and have supper with us? I’ll saddle your horse.”

“I would like supper that I don’t have to cook. I haven’t been out for a while. I’m not a cook, so that will be a treat.” Rocky, Steve, and the Sheriff were telling tales when I came out.

“Mr. Weatherly will be riding in with us. I’m taking him to supper. I’ll saddle his horse. Rocky, you and I will share a bed here tonight.”

“Fine with me.”

I could tell the sheriff and the lawyer were mystified why Weatherly and I were at such ease with each other. I had begun to call Weatherly “Burt.” He was addressing me as “Kid,” the same as Rocky did.

When we left the cabin, the sheriff and the attorney returned to town with us and went about business. “Burt, do you know where the property line for this property ends on the road into town?”

“I’ll show you.” We were riding through a patch of woods. On the right, three hundred yards from the cabin, two big shade trees were back from the road. Rocky stated, “That’s where you should build a home for Itea. It will be cool in the summer and cut down on the wind in the winter.”

We stopped and looked as Burt pointed, saying, “Your corner is a hundred yards nearer town beyond the trees. At least you won’t be infringed on.”

“It is nice, that’s for sure. It would be a great place for Mable, too. Think about that, Rocky. If you sell, I hope you and Mable will move here close to Itea and me.”

“Don’t go giving it away. I am going to miss the hell of you two.”

“I doubt we will build a home there. I want to build Itea a home where she can have a workshop under the same roof.”

“Kid, you do have the cabin to live in.”

“No, that’s Burt’s home. It is now his cabin and the lot it is on. I’m giving him its title before we return to the ranch.”

Rocky stared at me as if I was crazy. “Rocky, when I tell you why, you will agree it is right for me to do. Let’s get to town, I’m hungry.”

“Where will you be building, then?”

“I think across the yard from the cabin for our home and beyond that far enough away to build my wheelwright operation. That’s all in the future, except the cabin goes to Burt and is my first solid rock bottom decision.”

“Okay then, it’s your land, and I have to sell my ranch before we move. We will talk about it more after I talk to Mable.”

We stayed in town just long enough to eat. It had been a long day with many things coming out about the day Pa died. Several of these things required a decision and action. I immediately found out that Weatherly Senior hadn’t killed my Pa, and to make it right, the best I could was to allow Burt to have a home to live in to pay for my mistake in burning him out of his ranch.

In this happening at the young age that I did this deed, I could play up the fact I was hurt over my parent’s death and too young to understand why I shouldn’t fully.

I felt Weatherly had acted acceptably, and by actually occupying the property, it was saved for me. On my return to claim the property, it was there for me.

In bed that night, I explained my thinking to Rocky, and he said, “There is nothing unreasonable about your thinking. I declare you have reached the adult and correct way of resolving a bad situation you made years ago.”

After breakfast, the three of us mounted our horses and took a range tour; Burt first showed us six small pens that held bull dairy calves. These pens were only big enough to feed and water but not to let the calf get any exercise. He had planted a few acres of alfalfa for the exclusive feed for these animals. I was mystified. “Those are a dairy breed; what are you doing raising them?”

“Farmers bring them to me, and I give them fifty cents apiece. No one wants to raise a dairy breed for beef, but they are suitable for veal. The town is big enough, so two places serve veal, and I am their only supplier.

“I grow then until they weigh from 300 to 375 pounds, in12 to14 weeks. The meat is rose-colored and too mild for beef. It’s very tender. You make a stew of it and might think it was chicken. It is just a hobby, and I get as much for each carcass at three months as you do for a two-year-old feeder beef.

“No large market exists, so I just fool around with it for a little income. I tend the calves daily, but it takes only a few minutes each.” Burt took care of the animals while Rocky and I watched him.

I wanted to see where I buried my parents again and headed there when Burt finished the calf chores. “I enlarged the clearing a might for better care, thinking someday you might return if you weren’t there with them. You can get a marker for them now that you have returned.”

“That was on my to-do list. Thank you for caring for the location; it’s not lost under the brush.”

We rode back onto the range. Burt did have some cattle grazing, but not nearly enough, and the range was seriously under-grazed. Burt said that sometimes when he sold a few heads of cattle, he borrowed some help to get it to the railway from a farmer or two who had taken over his former ranch. That he still claimed after he sold his herd. “I still own the house lot, but I’m not selling it. The ashes there remind me of how I didn’t teach Junior right.

“Guess you wouldn’t know it, but a rail spur is here now. It missed the town by a few miles; the rail station is off to the south. I believe your land abuts the railway land. Farmers and I use a trail, and there is agreement in perpetuity that it is open to moving animals. There are cattle pens that the railway built.

“The town is much bigger because of the railway and many new amenities in the last five years. There is a community center where they have shows and dances almost every week. The new unwanted stores and trades on Main Street in town will soon be taxed out of that section. The town fathers think it is terrible that the blacksmith is still on Main Street. Too damned citified if you ask me. I imagine the livery will get pushed out, too.”

“Are there any wagon wheel repair places? I know there wasn’t any when Pa was alive. That was what Pa would open up when he finished building the cabin.”

“Nope, no new ones that I know of; you break a wheel and have to order one from back east somewhere. Of course, with the railroad coming in, you don’t have to wait as long as before.”

“I guess I’ll go into town and talk to the blacksmith. I never got as far as Pa teaching me to weld iron, a part of wagon wheel making. With the number of farmers coming in, they’ll always need wheels and repairs. I’ll see if I can make a living at it.”

“You had better catch him soon, or you’ll have to go down to that new section by the railway to get your work done.”

I rode alone into town the following day. The Blacksmith, Sam Buckland, was shoeing a pair of workhorses. “Hi, I’m Matt Jenkins, the nickname of Kid. Can I watch you awhile?” Sam nodded; I could watch him work.

I watched him remove the old, worn shoes and clean and shape the hooves for a team. He removed eight shoe blanks from a barrel and started the fitting. He had a good eye for this and certainly knew his trade. He then put the eight blanks in the forge to heat.

The Blacksmith, Sam, talked all the while he was working and ended up offering me a job as a helper. “This isn’t my line of work. My Pa was a wheelwright and good at it. He died a while ago, and I haven’t done much except keep my hand in a little. Where I was, there was little call for it. I want to get back into it.”

“It’s a good line of work. I get calls all the time. I have a tire bender and can weld up a storm. That line of work is much easier than it used to be. I deal with a factory that makes blank wheel parts. I telegraph the dimensions, and they rough out the shapes and sizes I order. The parts come as a kit. The hub, the spokes, and the fellos are packed in a box.

“The tire comes in flat metal, and I bend it into shape. The hub is already bored with the axle size. I have trouble mounting the tire after I get the wood parts shaped and together. I seem to screw up a lot.”

He paused and continued, “When you have four wheels to assemble, which don’t always match, I’ve wasted my time. Besides that, I will have to move to the outskirts of town in another couple of months. I haven’t even looked for a location to move to yet.”

“Sam, maybe I can help you with that. Do you know Burt Weatherly?”

“I know of him. I went to the hanging of his son. “I’ll tell you I’ll never go to another hanging. It made me sick when it occurred. Junior wanted it to happen quickly, and the Sheriff promised it would be. It was.

“The sheriff brought him out of the jail and walked him down to that empty lot this side of the livery. He led Junior up the stairs to the platform with a trap door under the beam above, put the rope around his neck, and asked him if he wanted to say anything. He shook his head no, then said two words. We couldn’t hear the two words to the Sheriff. We found out later that he had said to the Sheriff, “Trip it!”

“The preacher didn’t even get a chance to pray for him. Junior knew the preacher was long-winded, and he wasn’t having any. I turned away and walked back up here to my business.

“You know, Kid, people were upset that it didn’t take longer and complained about it. I guess they wanted more of a show or something. Now, what did you start to say about a location?”

“Sam, I own the ranch where Weatherly is living. I haven’t been here for a few years, but I rode around the property to the road many farmers use to get to the railway station.

“I’ll give you a lot next to the road to set up your business if you set up your forge and buildings. I need a forge for some of the business I’m going into. If you want to build a home, I can look at it and decide where it would be suitable. Why don’t you ride out tonight and look it over? Weatherly and another man, Rocky, will be at the Jenkins cabin.”

“Did you say—give me the property? I don’t believe it.”

“Sam, that’s what I said. I’ll be building a home in the same area and a woodworking shop specializing in building and repairing wheels. I hope I’ll be newly married. Maybe we can settle this tonight because I must return up country in a few days. This Rocky I was telling you about wants to move here, but he has a small ranch to sell before we return,”

“I’ll be out about six tonight. I’ll have my wife with me. I sure hope we can make a deal.”

I saw Steven Nickerson, the Lawyer, cross the street and go up the stairs to his office. I headed that way.”

“Hey there, young fellow, what are you up to this morning?”

“Steven, I’m rushing around getting things organized so Rocky and I can return home. I’ve decided to give Burt Weatherly the cabin to live in. I’ll build my own home when I get here after I’m married. I’m talking to Sam, the Blacksmith, about moving out next to that road down from the north that the farmers use. He will look over what I’m offering this evening.”

“That would be great for him and the town. The town is urging him to move. Lately, it has been more than just an urge. So, Kid, what is he building?

“A shop, as he has here, and a barn to shoe horses in. I said he could pick out a home lot, too. How big is his family?”

“He has a wife and three girls. The girls are big enough, so boys are starting to sniff around. Sam hopes one girl will find a boy interested in his work.”

“Yeah, that would be good for him. I know some of what he does, and I may help him for a while until I get a business of my own started,”

“Kid, what is it you do again?”

“Wagon wheels of all kinds, new and repair. Sam has already helped me by telling me about an Ohio factory where the new parts to construct wheels are shaped and only need fitting together. The factory will sell, box, and deliver by railway.

“That should get me established sooner. Rocky has already chosen a home lot, and I hope he and his wife will come with me. It would be just over the line on my property coming in from town. He plans to marry, but his wife must see the lot before deciding to build here.”

“Where are you and your new bride living?”

“I’ll be building a new home to the right of Weatherly’s cabin. It may change until I look the property over and let the woman I’m marrying decide.”

“That’s going to take time and much money.”

“Yes, but until we have time, I’ll bring a tepee to live in. I can have Mr. Weatherly cut fresh poles here before we arrive rather than transport them a hundred miles.”

“That seems like a poor dwelling to take your bride to live in.”

“She’ll accept it and enjoy living in one. She lived in one for eleven or twelve years in her childhood. Her surrogate Indian Mother cared for her from the time she was three up until a couple of years ago. That is when she moved to town and lived with the woman who is to be Rocky’s bride.”

“Why did she move out and in with the woman then?”

“I had reached my limit on what I could teach her about how to speak our language. I looked around, and in one way and another, Mable, Rocky’s new friend, offered to teach her. That is when she moved to town. Itea missed the ranch and me terribly. She missed her Indian mother and brother as well. Itea is to be my bride, and I have missed her as much as she misses me when we cannot be together.

“We were like sister and brother all these years. Our feelings have intensified, so I’ve asked her to be my wife.”

“Kid, I shouldn’t wonder. You confuse me with all these things about your life you are relating to.”

“Steven, I don’t doubt it. You will understand at some point later as you get to know more about me. Would you let me have a piece of paper and a pencil to draw where all these lots are and where the buildings will concern the cabin Weatherly is living in? That will make it clearly understood. I can measure the lot sizes and note them as they are constructed.

“You can help with this if you would. I haven’t seen where the railway is in the town yet. I want to sketch that in. I’ll put Jenkins’ Street down where the buildings we construct will be and draw the road where the farmers travel to the railway. I understand that the creek beside Farmers Road crosses onto a different property west of my land, nearer the hills. It has a ford without a bridge where the creek crosses the road.

“Sam Buckland is coming out after work tonight, and I want to show him this sketch. I will only be here for a few more days, so you can see why I’m trying to resolve this as soon as possible. If any legal problems need taking care of, I’ll have you take care of them. That will include Sam’s problems in moving out of town to his new location. I’ll need an estimate of your charges to pay that forward until I return.”

Nickerson sat there thinking, picked up the sketches, and said, “The town fathers want Sam off Main Street badly. I’ll see if they will pay my legal charge for making it happen. I have the feeling you don’t have much for funds?”

“I don’t, and I depend on Rocky Sedgewich to pay some of it. I saved him and his almost wife from trouble a while back, so don’t be surprised that he is backing me.”

“Kid, I don’t suppose you will tell me about it?”

“No, not at this time; he taught me to protect myself so I could care for the problem, so it is his story.”

“Fair enough. What is your next move?”

“Steven, I’m going to ride down Railroad Street to look at the railroad station and up the Farmers Road to my property and go back that way. If possible, please ride out about six this evening.”

“Kid, you can expect me.”

I left Steven’s office and walked around town. I went by a Milliner’s Boutique with a few beautiful dresses in the window. The lettering on the window said, “Complete outfits for women.” There was a pair of women’s shoes underneath one of the dresses. They were gorgeous, but I knew they must be uncomfortable as all get out, at least not as comfortable as the Moccasins Itea made.

I walked toward the outskirts on the far side of town. The street to my right was narrower than Main Street. There was a grocery on a corner to my right, another building next to that, and then I could see this was just a cross street to one parallel to Main Street. Curious, I went the length of the cross street and looked both ways. To the right, a service ally was behind the buildings on Main Street and the parallel street.

Looking west, a livery stable, barns, and small dwellings were going up the left side to the parallel street. I faced across this street, seeing Saloons, Bars, a few Rooming houses, and more Saloons. The area then was the rougher and poorer section of town.

I could hear a train with a bell dinging and a screech of brakes at the back of another livery stable and other dwellings.

I stepped through the batwings into the first saloon at the end of the row of saloons. I never drank beer as a habit, but the weather was warm. It was dark inside, and the smell hit me in the face as I entered. I went to the bar, “A glass of beer would go down good.”

The bartender didn’t say anything. I put a dime on the bar, picked up the beer, and looked around. An older man sidled up to me. “I could use a beer.”

I put a dime on the bar in front of him. He said, “Thanks.” I ignored him. I could see a large Mural painted on the far wall of horses racing. There was a table near the wall with two men sitting there talking with their heads together. I wanted to look closely at the picture. With beer in my hand, I walked up as close as possible to look at it. The two men paid me no attention. I couldn’t hear what they said except for a few words, but I knew the voice.

It was Mike’s voice. I recognized it when Rocky asked me to join him and his crew at the ranch. Almost five years ago, that was. I heard the word “bank” several times and the phrase “rear exit where the horses will be.” I drifted away before the two could notice me.

I returned to the bar and told the bartender he served good beer. I flipped another dime to the old man. He said I was his friend for life. I was out the door, up Cross Street, and slowly walking up Main Street, thinking all the way. I should tell the Sheriff of possible plans I had overheard of a bank robbery. How do I alert the Sheriff without telling him myself, which would generate questions I didn’t want to answer? I went up the stairs to Steven Nickerson’s office.

“Hi Steven, I’m back. If I tell you something, can you keep it confidential? I have heard that Lawyers have to?”

“I do. It must be important because you are looking excited.”

I began speaking immediately. “I was just in a saloon down the street for a beer. I heard two men talking about robbing the bank here in town. I recognized the man speaking from almost six years ago who tried to get me to go in with him and two other men. If I use this bank when I get here to live, I certainly don’t want it robbed before or after.”

“Tell me what you heard.”

“I didn’t hear much, except the word bank several times, and the horses to get away on would be in the bank’s rear. It is exactly how the man in my past explained that robbing a bank was a safe way. That, and the voice I had heard before years ago, speaking.”

“What about the other person?”

“I didn’t pay him much attention, but I took it he was being recruited.”

“All this isn’t much to hang a projected bank robbery on.”

“I know that, and I agree. Rocky and I will be leaving here tomorrow or the next day, and I would hate to find the bank robbed when I return, but I could have prevented it.”

“Do you know whether this robber ever actually robbed a bank?”

“I can honestly say I don’t. The thing is, the man fed me a couple of good meals. It was when I was first on my own, fifteen years old, and lonely as hell. I got up and rode off that night because I wanted no part of what he was trying to get me to do.”

“Kid, I think you are dammed smart from all I have seen of you. I’ll tell the Sheriff I picked up a rumor from a man who wanted me to buy him a whiskey. Would that satisfy you?”

“That’s a great idea. So, I’ll see you tonight when Sam the Smith is there to see where I want him to locate?”

“I’ll be there. I’ll have the agreement about living in the cabin for Burt Weatherly with me. How much are you charging Sam to lease your property for his blacksmith shop location?”