Chapter 4: The Trip Home

They were up early and the landlady prepared them a big breakfast. Grandfather walked to the stable and brought back the two mules. After saddling the mules, he loaded the canvas bags onto the pack saddles. They said their goodbyes to the landlady and walked back to the stable. There they were met by two large, mean looking dogs. Grandfather told her to be careful with them, but Dove sat on the steps and started to talk to them. He went into the stable and saw the owner working on a stable gate. He told him he was there to collect his horses and saddles that they were leaving this morning. The owner took him to where he had stored their tack and went to get the horses. When he came back leading the two horses John asked him about the two dogs.

“Be careful around those dogs. They just showed up one day and have been harassing people ever since.”

He commented that he was going to have to shoot them because they were starting to bother his clients. Grandfather asked if he was talking about the two large gray dogs out front. He said he was and grandfather asked him to come look out the door. When he did, he saw Dove playing with the dogs. She was rubbing the belly of one and scratching the other’s head.

The stable owner said, “When you leave why not see if they will go with you. That will save me the problem of shooting them.” They finished saddling the horses and as they mounted Grandfather said to Dove, “Call your dogs, he gave them to you.” As they rode out of Columbus for the last time the dogs trotted along with them.

They went back to where they had buried the money and he stayed back holding the dogs while Dove removed the snake. The dogs had chased and killed a rabbit along the road and Dove had taken it away from them to feed the snake. She disappeared with the snake and the rabbit. In a few minutes she was back and said that nobody had disturbed the money and that the snake was thankful for the rabbit. “He was starting to get hungry,” she said. Grandfather just agreed with her and retrieved the money. He packed it in the bottom of one of the canvas bags and stored the pistols and long-guns in another. They mounted up and headed towards the Rio Grande. They would follow the river north to Albuquerque. There they would hopefully catch a train to Memphis.

He and Dove made good time as they followed the river north. They felt safe traveling with the dogs, who proved to be good guard dogs. They would bark if they heard any strange noises.

At the Albuquerque train station, they ran into a problem.

As Dove guarded the mules and horses with the dogs, Grandfather went in to see when the next passenger train left for Memphis. He wanted to ship his horses and mules at the same time. He was told it was just passengers only, no stock not even the dogs. As he was talking to the ticket agent trying to explain his situation a wealthy gentleman walked over and asked to talk to him in private. He asked Grandfather to explain what he needed. Grandfather explained that he had just gotten out of the cavalry and he was trying to get home to north Mississippi. The man asked about his time in the cavalry and what unit he was with. When Grandfather told him he was in the 13^th Horse the man asked if he was on the Mexican Expedition, Granwdfather replied, “All the way to Parral and back.”

The man asked, “What do you think about the Buffalo soldiers?” Grandfather told him they were damn fine cavalry troopers and that they had saved his and about 100 other troopers’ lives at Parral. The man said, “My son is one of the white officers attached to the 10^th and he thinks the same as you do about the black troopers. He was also at Parral. My company builds box cars and stock cars for the railroad. I have 25 new stock cars leaving for Memphis in the morning. They are being delivered to the stockyards there to be loaded with cattle going to the feed lots in Iowa. I would be willing to let you ride along in one of the cars if you promise not to damage the car in any way. Also, you cannot light a fire in the car. You would have to carry all the food and water you, your wife, and animals will need for the two-day trip. You can cover the floor in hay for their feed and to make you a bed. The train will only stop for water a couple of times, but you cannot get off until you get to Memphis. I can get you loaded this afternoon with a ramp up to the car but when you get to Memphis, I do not know how you will get your horses and mules offloaded.”

Grandfather said for him not to worry about offloading them, he would jump them off if needed. That same afternoon he loaded the mules and horses into the stock car. He bought hay and stacked it in for them to stand on and for he and Dove to sleep on. He went to a general store and bought two tanks that he filled with water for the horses and another one for Dove and him. He also went to a café there and had them prepare a dozen boiled eggs and two fried chickens. At the store he bought tins of beef and three loaves of bread. He figured that should be enough food for them for the trip.

They spent the night in the stock car with the animals. About dawn they felt the car start to move and the horses got nervous. He had each tied to the side of the car. Dove went and calmed them down. They ate some chicken and a little of the bread. The dogs got the chicken bones and a few pieces of bread. They settled in for the trip to Memphis.

Not much happened on the trip. The train stopped to fill the water tanks and just seemed to fly across the country. On the morning of the second day they crossed the Mississippi River Bridge into Memphis. They watched out the slats in the side of the car as the train moved through the yard un-coupling cars. Another engine moved the stock cars over to the stockyard. Their car stopped at the side of a warehouse. Grandfather asked one of the workers when the train would pull forward to the stockyards so they could get off. He was told they would have to wait until the next day. As the cattle were loaded into the stockcars, the train would move forward. But if he wanted, he could open the door and take the horses through the warehouse. He opened the door and saw it was about a two-foot jump into the warehouse. On the street side of the warehouse, there was a wide concrete ramp down to the street. He came back to the car and told Dove to get everything packed up and ready to go. He explained that the horses and mules would have to make a small jump but did not think that would be much of a problem. Dove got busy packing everything and getting herself ready. He noticed she had put on her Indian clothes, that’s what he called them. Her hair was braided into two long braids hanging down her back. She had tied a red bandana around her forehead and as he was ready to mount, he saw that she was painting her face with red stripes!!