Chapter 14

With the arraignments and hearings coming up for the criminals that Eli, Duncan and Moses had arrested in the past weeks, they were all required to be in the courthouse most of each day for a week. After that, they were told by Judge Parker they needed to be on call for another week as the prosecutors, lawyers, and public defenders obtained information from them.

Though this was a rough two weeks for the three of them, who were used to being out in the open. They did enjoy their time at home. The family was growing and there were plans to be made. Mary, Rose, Eva, Catt, Tin Yu, Juni, and Clarissa were all close to eight months pregnant. Each knew they could deliver any day.

Corrine and Lorene had helped them prepare for the births. They had one room downstairs set up as a delivery room, with sheets, cloths, buckets, and pans ready.

Lorene remembered the bible they’d found at the home of the babies family. She found the twin’s names written in there, as well as their parents and grandparents.

The two girls had been named Kia and Michi Robard. They didn’t know which was which, but soon the little girls were looking up when the names were called. They were walking now. Staggering, stumbling steps, but roaming all over the yard when let down to play with the two kid goats as the others watched and laughed.

When Corinne and Lorene told the women the meaning of their names, they all thought their names were even more appropriate, since they were born, kidnapped, then rescued in the Kiamichi Mountains, in southeast Indian Territory.

Lettie, Jessie, Sundy, and Sissy were inseparable. They slept together and ate beside one another. Sundy Salter was coming out of her shyness, finally getting over the abuse she had suffered from her mother and sisters.

Mary and Rose watched her constantly, without her knowing. They soon noticed that she would always be out near the barn when Mr. Franklin, the carpenter, would come with his grandsons to repair, build, or cut the grass.

The oldest grandson was named Carl. He was about Sundy’s age and the only person other than the family that Sundy would talk to. Mary was the first to see her as Sundy took Carl a drink of water or helped him as he planted flowers or late seeds in the summer garden.

Rose saw Carl out by the barn even on the days his grandfather wasn’t there and Sundy would be near, her head down as they talked.

Rose wanted to help them. She knew Sundy was ready to have friends and everyone in the family liked Mr. Franklin and his two grandsons.

Today, Rose called Sundy as she stood only a foot from Carl by the barn. They both jumped apart and looked back at the house as if being caught doing something wrong. Sundy ran to Rose, crying as she hugged her and sobbed.

“Sundy, you did nothing wrong. I was just calling you to tell you and Carl to come to dinner, we’re about to eat. Now you go get that young man and insist he come eat with us. All of us women like him and we know you do too.”

Sundy looked at Rose, her eyes full of tears and red.

“Really?” she asked and smiled through her tears.

“Yes, now run tell him to come on before he leaves. We love you, Sundy, and we want you to have friends. I know you and Suh talk and she tells you how happy she is with Moses. We want you to be happy too. Go get that young man and bring him in to wash up for dinner. We have a place already set for him beside your plate.”

“I love you, Rose,” Sundy sobbed and hugged her again around her big belly.

She turned and ran back to Carl, grabbing his hand. Rose could see them talking as they both looked back at her. She smiled and waved them to come on to the house as she turned to go inside.

Sundy came in with Carl, holding his hand as they went to the wash basin to wash up for dinner. Carl was shy around the others, but as soon as the two sat down beside each other at the table, the family made him get over his shyness.

Eli, Duncan and Moses smiled and welcomed him to the table. Sundy never stopped smiling as she ate her meal then dipped herself and Carl a big spoonful of peach cobbler onto their plates.

After the meal, Eli, Duncan, and Moses walked out back while the girls and women cleared the table and washed the dishes.

Carl walked out and started toward the barn with his head down, as if he had a chore to do.

“Moses, go talk to him. You know how he feels, he’ll talk to you,” Eli said.

Moses nodded, never saying a word. He walked over to Carl and spoke, then both of them went into the barn.

Eli looked at Duncan and he was squinting into the sun, grinning.

“Eli, I hope that little girl grows up to be the happiest woman ever. She sure has been stepped on.”

“Me too, Duncan. I know with Rose and Mary and Clarissa helping these girls, they’ll all make some fine women in a few years. I even saw the four sisters out with Little Duck, cutting patterns out of buckskin and sewing up shirts and dresses. You would think Eva and Catt was their blood sisters, the way they’re always together.”

“I don’t hardly see how a man and woman can sell off their young girls like that, Eli. If there’s ever a one of these young girls that grows up to have a better life, I’d like to see them Indian girls make it. Not that the others don’t deserve a better way, but those four girls and Suh was needin help as bad as anybody we ever run upon.”

Moses came back with Carl Franklin. Both men were grinning.

“Eli, Carl is seventeen and him and his younger brother are about to take over their grandpa’s business. Mr. Franklin is gonna help them for a while more, but he’s not able to work much.

“Anyway, Carl likes Sundy more than a little bit and he’s got something to ask you.”

“Carl, you and your brother just listen to the old folks, work even harder than you do now, and you’ll both make it. He’s taught you both a good trade and the way Fort Smith is growing, you both will do good...

“Now, what’s on your mind?” Eli looked at him.

“Marshal Eli, Sundy and me has been talking and I wanted to ask you and the others if you’d let me come court her. I feel like I can’t be away from her without wanting to see her. She told me she felt the same way. Grandpa taught me and Donald to read and write and we’re both good with numbers and at figuring boards and measuring corners, angles, and roof tops. I’m pretty sure I could give Sundy a good life, that is if you and the womenfolk thought I was good enough for her.”

“Carl, you got my blessing. You come here when you’re not working, and you and Sundy get my sister Rose and my wife Mary and Miss Clarissa to help you plan and talk about the things you’ll both need to know to be man and wife. You’ll make it. She’s a special young woman to me and my family, we know she’ll be special to you too.”

“Thanks, Marshal Eli. Can I go tell her what you said?”

“Go tell her. I know she’s peeping around that door anyway, worried to death.”

“Thanks again, Marshal. Moses, thank you too for seeing what Sundy and me were feeling about each other,” he said and left before Moses could say anything.

“Eli, he thought it was me that saw them, when it was you and Rose.”

“Moses, you were the one he needed to be his friend, just keep on being his friend.”

“I will. He’s a good young man and he’s getting a good woman too, just like I did.”

“Eli, you and Moses need to talk up. I can’t even hear half of what you’re saying,” Duncan said as he stepped closer.

“We were just talking about Carl and Sundy getting together, Duncan. I reckon we was talking low.”

“Well, that’s better, I can hear you now.”

Moses looked at Eli and they never said a word.

That night, Eli and Jefferson sat with Rose, Mary, and Clarissa at the table after most of the others had gone upstairs.

“Did any of you see Duncan being different tonight?” Eli asked.

“I didn’t see him being different, but he was squinting with one eye a lot,” Clarissa said.

“I saw that too, Clarissa. I thought he may just be having a headache, and we got to talking about something and I never asked him,” Jefferson said.

“Eli?” Rose said as she looked at him, worried.

“Rose, I saw him squinting out in the yard today and he fussed at me and Moses for not talking loud enough for him to hear.”

“Eli, we may need to have a doctor look at Duncan. I’ve heard of people having memory problems and problems with their senses after suffering head injuries,” Jefferson said.

“I’ve not noticed any problem with his memory, just his one eye and his hearing.”

“Jefferson, where would he have to go, to see a doctor that would know about head injuries?” Mary asked.

“Possibly to St. Louis.”

“He’ll never go,” Eli said, matter of factly.

“Eli, he’d go if you told him he needed to, and went with him,” Rose said.

“I wasn’t trying to make him look sick. I was just wondering if any of you had seen his eye.”

“Eli, we’ll all watch him closer. We need to be careful and not let on to him that we’re paying special attention. But if we see more of this, we need to talk to Judge Parker and see if he can get us some help,” Jefferson said.

“Then that’s what we will do. If anything happens to Duncan, I’ll go in that jail and kill every last one of them sons-a-bitches,” Eli said and got up and walked upstairs.

The next morning when they all came down early, as the girls and women started breakfast, Eli poured him and Jefferson a big mug of coffee from the gallon percolator on the stove just as Duncan came in.

“Want a cup, Duncan?”

“Yeah Eli, gimme one. I didn’t sleep hardly none a’tall last night, I don’t think.”

Eli took another mug off the shelf over the stove and poured it full. As he set it in front of Duncan, he noticed Duncan’s fingers on his right hand. They were curled inward as he tried to pick his cup up. He had to use his left hand to pick up the cup.

Eli looked at Duncan, then over to Jefferson. Jefferson looked at Eli as he sat at the table next to Duncan, not on the end of the table in his usual place.

“Duncan, did you have a headache again last night?”

“Some Eli, but not bad, it was like I was dizzy headed or something and the bed was moving.”

“Duncan, we’ll fix you up some sleep medicine tonight. You just need some rest after all you went through ... you’ll be alright,” Rose said as she patted his shoulder and put a plate of eggs and ham in front of him.

“Thanks, Rose. I sure need something. I think I kept Juni awake all night, the way I was rolling and trying to stop the bed from spinning.

“Now my fingers are all knotted up. I reckon I slept with them bent over wrong,” he said as he looked at his right hand, squinting, with his right eye almost closed.

They ate their breakfast, watching Duncan as he ate his, though he had problems with his curled and crooked fingers on his right hand.

Eli pulled Jefferson aside after breakfast and they talked for a few minutes about Duncan and his problems.

“Jefferson, can you meet with Judge Parker before he has court today? If he can get us some help with Duncan, I’ll take him myself to wherever the doctor is that can help.”

“I’ll leave now, Eli. Judge Parker comes to the courthouse early to look over the cases for the day. I’ll ask him for a few minutes of his time. Eli, I’ll go with you, if Judge Parker will let me. I’m familiar with St. Louis and maybe the two of us can get Duncan some help.”

“See what you can do, Jefferson. It hurts me to see my friend like this. It makes me mad because he was hurt and I wasn’t there to watch his back.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Eli, it just happened. We’ll get him some help and he’ll be right back in the saddle, working his part of the territory just like you and Moses.”

“Tell Judge Parker to find us the best doctor there is for our friend. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I will, Eli. He’ll do all he can, I know he will.”

Jefferson saddled his horse Eli had gotten him and led it to the back porch. He never left the house without speaking to Rose.

“You’re leaving early today?” she asked as he stepped upon the back porch to give her a hug and a kiss.

“Yes, Eli and I talked and I’m going early to talk to Judge Parker about Duncan.”

“I hope he can get Duncan the medical help he needs.”

“If there’s a man this side of the Mississippi River that can make it happen, it’s Judge Isaac Parker,” Jefferson told her and left right away.

Eli and Moses took Duncan to the barn with them. They sat talking and spending time together, which the three had come to enjoy.

Other than Duncan having trouble with his eye and his right hand, he was the same old Duncan, laughing and talking about the times they’ve had in the Territory.

Now and then he would lean closer to ask one of them what they said.

Moses could see the pain in Eli’s face, as they both watched their friend struggle to open his right eye and his right fist.

“Eli, all at once, I can’t see from my right eye anymore, you reckon it’s from me getting hit on the head?” Duncan asked as Moses and Eli looked at him, then at each other, shocked by his statement.

“Duncan, it could be. The doctor up there in Parkinsville told you it would take you a few weeks to get all the way healthy again. Maybe it’s just healing up in there and you need to rest more.”

“Eli, I got to tell you and Moses ... I’m afraid. I never even been sick more’n a day in my life and I always felt good. Now I can’t see good with my right eye and my right hand’s all crooked and I can’t open my fingers. Sometimes I can’t even hear what you and Moses say.

“Eli, you don’t think I’ll go blind and lose my hearing, do you?”

“Duncan, I’ve seen you struggle with your eye, I’ve seen you struggling to open your right hand. I have seen you ask us to talk louder and it hurts me to see my friend like this. Jefferson is meeting with Judge Parker this morning to get the judge to find us a better doctor that knows all about people who get hit on their heads. When he finds us one, you and I will go see him, no matter where he is or how long it takes to get there.

“I want you to come in the house and let Rose and Little Duck make you one of them sleep medicine potions and rest some. I want you to put my medicine chain back on and wear it. I want my partner to see and hear and use a gun like he did when I met him.

“I’ll help you, Duncan.”

“Thanks, Eli. I knew I was hurt more than I let on, but I thought it would go away. I don’t want to be a burden to you, with all you got going on and all the plans you’re making. I’ll be alright and if I don’t get to marshal anymore, I’ll find something else to do.”

“You’ll be a United States Marshal, Duncan. I need you and Moses watchin my back. I’m not going to let you just quit, we’re gonna fight this just like we fight our way through whatever we come across. I’ll not hear no more of that talk from you. You’re my friend and we’ll do this together. You and Moses are my partners. Jefferson’s done wrote up the partnering agreement making it all legal,” Eli said, his eyes watering as Moses looked at him.

“Thanks, Eli. I know if there’s a way, you and Judge Parker will make it happen. Will you and Moses go in and sit with me? I want one of them potions to make me rest. I’m still worried and I don’t want to be alone.”

“You’ll never be alone as long as I live, Duncan, now let’s go inside. Me and Moses will stay with you until you go to sleep, then we’ll have Juni or one of the others stay with you while you rest. Jefferson and Judge Parker are more’n likely sending telegrams out right now to find you the best doctor there is.”

With Juni following closely behind, crying out of control, Eli and Moses helped Duncan up the stairs and into bed. Juni was on the bed beside him as soon as he lay back. Rose, Mary, Clarissa, and all the other women and girls were gathered into the room.

“He’s gonna be alright, he was just needing to rest,” Eli said firmly, looking around the room as they looked at Duncan.

“Juni, give Duncan this potion, make him drink it all and he’ll sleep. Like Eli said, he needs to rest and not be way out at the barn until he gets better,” Rose said as she handed Juni Moon the cup of thick, honey smelling mixture.

“Ummm, this is good, are you sure it’s medicine?” Duncan said, he laughed as he handed the cup back to Juni.

She leaned down and kissed him and handed the cup to Rose.

“Let’s go girls, Duncan needs his sleep and he’ll be out soon like a candle in the wind,” Rose said as she and Mary shooed the others out.

Eli and Moses stayed in the room with Juni and Duncan until he went to sleep. They looked at Juni and she too was asleep, cuddled up to him, clasping his hand that was curled and twisted.

When they came down the stairs, Jefferson was just coming in the back door.

He was smiling.

“Jefferson?”

“Eli, I have great news. Come sit down, I’m too excited to even talk.”

“I have a fresh pot of coffee, if either of you want a cup?” Mary asked as she came over to them.

“Yes, I do Mary, thanks,” Jefferson said.

“Me too, Mary, I need to settle my own self down some,” Eli told her.

When Mary brought both mugs of coffee over to the table, she turned and picked up her mug to sit beside Eli.

“Eli, Judge Parker sent his good friend in St. Louis a telegram and had them put urgent on it three times. I was still at the telegraph office when the reply came, I didn’t want to miss it. I was trying to read the message myself and ride my horse back to the courthouse.

“Judge Parker’s friend is leaving today on a steamboat down the Mississippi and will come up the Arkansas to Little Rock. We need to be in Little Rock next Monday when the doctor gets there. We’ll have to take the steamboat out on Thursday, because it’s the last one that will get there by Monday,” Jefferson was talking so fast, he knew he was leaving parts out but he had to tell Eli the good news.

“Is this doctor the best?” Eli asked. He wanted to hear that he was. He wanted to get the best help for Duncan that could be had.

“Judge Parker said he was. Said he grew up with this doctor’s father and the boy was the best doctor he knew of. Judge Parker sent me back to the steamboat lines and even paid for three roundtrip passages on the Ella Hughes, out of his own pocket.”

“We need to be packing some bags then, that’s just two days from tomorrow. How long will it take the steamboat to get to Little Rock, Jefferson?” Mary said as she stood, ready to run upstairs at that moment to start packing.

“It will take us part of three days, they told me at the steamboat dock. They said it would take the doctor seven days from St. Louis.”

“That’s not a lot quicker than a fast horse, but we won’t have to worry as much about Duncan getting hurt some more on the boat, and we couldn’t make it that fast in a wagon either,” Eli said.

“That’s what Judge Parker said too. He said for you and me to go with him, Eli. I told him we would. I hope that was alright.”

“Yes, and I thank you, Jefferson. I’ll be proud to have you along. I’ll be in worse shape than Duncan by the time we get there.”

Mary ran up the stairs to tell Rose, Clarissa, and the others. Juni came down the stairs. She was smiling at the news, but she was worried too.

“Jefferson, what did the doctor tell Judge Parker? Was he worried or does he think Duncan will be alright?” she asked, needing some kind of hope.

“Juni, they didn’t talk about all that on the telegram, they just sent short messages back and forth, telling who it was and why we needed the doctor in a hurry,” Jefferson told her.

“Jefferson, I guess I already knew that. I was just hoping for some good news. I know if Judge Parker said this young doctor was the best and would come help Duncan, then we just need to put our trust in the Judge and the doctor.”

“Yes and we need to get Rose and Mary to lead all of us in prayer, since they’ve been to church before. We need all the help we can get for Duncan to be well again,” Jefferson said.

“If God will see fit to help Duncan through this and help him still be a good marshal, I’ll do my best to stop cussin’ and doing wrong so much,” Eli said firmly.

“If we can get Duncan through this we all need to go to church and give thanks,” Jefferson said.

“I haven’t been to church since before Ma died. I reckon it wouldn’t hurt me to go and pay my respects again,” Eli said. He felt better, just talking about Duncan getting some help.

That night at the supper table, when all the boarders and the family were seated, Rose stood and held onto Eli’s and Jefferson’s hands as she bowed her head and gave thanks for their friends, their good fortune, their big family, and asked for God’s blessings to be sent down to Duncan.

Some of the boarders and most of the family had never heard anyone pray before and they looked at Rose as she stood and bowed her head, talking to God as if he were here in the house.

When she was through, she sat down and told them all that she was going to church on Sunday and that she wanted any of them who wanted to go ask God to help Duncan, could go with her.

By the time they were through eating and the table was cleared, the women and six of the boarders had told Rose they wanted to go too. Sundy asked if she could bring Carl with her, and Rose hugged her and told her that she would really like for her and Carl to be there too.

“Rose, me and Moses were wondering if the others at the church would let us go with you, we want to go and Moses asked if you thought we could,” Suh said as they stood by the square dish-washing tub.

“Yes, you and Moses can go. God don’t see no colors. He only sees what’s in a person’s heart.”

“Then Moses said he will drive the wagon.”

“I want to go too, Miss Rose. I hope they’ll sing while we’re there, we passed a church one time and they were singing and it sounded so good,” Jon David said.

“We’ll all go, your Momma and your Aunt Corrine have already told me they were going and taking Kia and Michi too.”

“We’ll have to sneak them off from the two little kid goats, or they’ll want to go,” he laughed.

Three days later, they left the house early, two wagons loaded with the family and the two kid goats, after they ran and jumped into the last wagon. Moses drove one wagon and Lorene drove the other, as they carried Eli, Jefferson and Duncan to the steamboat docks, to see them off.

This was a first for all but Jefferson and Clarissa, and they lined the dock, looking up at the steamboat with the black smoke puffing out of the two tall, black smokestacks. When Jefferson had gotten them checked in at the ticket office, they walked with Duncan up the boarding ramp onto the bottom deck, carrying their three sacks of clothes. They were met by a black man who looked at their tickets and showed them where their cabin was.

The family stood waiting, wanting the boat to hurry and leave so they could see the paddle wheel spinning in the water.

“There they are,” Juni yelled as she stood next to Tin Yu, hugging her, crying and smiling at the same time. They looked up to see Eli, Duncan, and Jefferson step out next to the rail on the second deck and wave.

As soon as all the passengers were loaded, the long wooden gangplank swung back and upwards where it was tied off. The smoke billowed out the tops of the smokestacks and blackened the sky overhead.

When the steam whistle blew, they had to catch the horses. The two kid goats, that had been playing and romping up and down the wooden dock, ran and jumped in the back of a wagon and hid under the seat.

The paddle wheel started spinning slowly in the water at first, churning and stirring the muddy water as the mooring line was cast off the post in front, then the paddle wheel stopped and started spinning backwards as the rope was cast off at the back.

The steamboat drifted away from the wooden dock as the paddle wheel began spinning again, churning and splashing water as the boat moved away from them, out into the slow moving current of the Arkansas, headed downriver. The steam whistle was still blowing and they held their hands over their ears, while trying to wave at Duncan, Eli, and Jefferson between blasts of the steam whistle.

The family stood waving until the boat was out of sight around a bend in the river, hidden by the tree covered hills on either side, the black smoke still rising above the treeline.

As they loaded back in the wagons they were smiling, though they each had tears in their eyes.

Eli, Duncan, and Jefferson wanted to see the river as they rode southeast on the slow moving boat. They found a bench and sat down to watch the hills and trees and the big rocks slide quietly by.

The thumping and throbbing of the steam engine down below, seemed to pass right up through the bench itself as they sat and smiled at each other.

The three of them were constantly pointing, laughing and talking. Eli was wishing it was a pleasure trip so it would have been more fun. He thought of what a fun time it would be to one day bring all the family on a trip downriver for a few days and then back.

They walked back inside their cabin and as Duncan sat on the side of the bunk, he looked at Eli.

“Eli, can you swim?” he asked.

“Yes. Why Duncan?”

“Well, I just wanted to know, cause I never learned how and I want to be close to you if we hit a big rock or something and knock a hole in the bottom of this boat.”

“I’m sure the captain of the boat knows this river as good as you and me know the trail up to Tulsey Town. Besides that, the river is up with the last rains we had. I bet this water is thirty foot deep here.”

“Well, it sure ain’t that deep back up near Tulsey Town, we crossed it with the wagon that day we met Iron Hammer. Then on up close to Kansas, you can near bout jump a horse across it at times.”

“It’s deeper and wider down here, Duncan, there’s a lot more water comes in it here too and keeps it fuller. We’ll be alright, Judge Parker wouldn’t have sent us if there was a danger of the boat sinking.”

“I reckon you’re right, but don’t get too far from me just in case.

“Jefferson, did you ever learn to swim?”

“Never tried, Duncan. But if I had to, I think I could stir this river up like that paddle wheel back there, trying to learn,” he said and they laughed.

The first day and night was all new and exciting to them, though they all knew what they were going to Little Rock for. It was ever on the minds of each of them.

By the second day and night, even going to the main room down on the first deck to eat and watch the other people eat, laugh, and play roulette or cards, became boring to them.

By the third morning, it was like being in jail and they wanted to get out and walk around on the ground. They stopped at a few towns along the way, but never for more than a few minutes as people either got on or got off, then they were moving downriver again.

Late that day, the whistle started blowing hard and fast and Eli jumped up and looked out. It was raining and they were coming into a bigger boat dock.

“We’re here, we’re about to get up to the Little Rock boat dock now.”

They stepped out under the cover of the upper deck and looked out at the river, the long steel and concrete bridge in the distance, and the tall buildings back to the west on the south side of the river.

“Eli, I never knew they made towns this big, did you?”

“I knew they were some big ones. I was in Kansas City twice and it was really big too.”

“Did you ever cross the river on a long bridge like that one over there? Don’t know if I’d trust that thing. What if that thing would fall and a team of horses was on it?”

“They’re really built strong, Duncan. I crossed them all the time in St. Louis and they were even taller than that one is above the water,” Jefferson told him.

“Well, if we have to cross that one to get to where the doctor is, he can just come see me on this side or I’ll go back home. I ain’t about to cross that long bridge. Shoot, that thing must be two hundred feet above the water, don’t you think, Eli?” Duncan said, squinting his bad eye to look.

“I’d guess it was closer to a hundred, Duncan, but that’s still a long ways to the water from the road on it.”

“It sure is and I can see horses and people and wagons and buggies crossing on it from here, just like they’re out there on a dirt road.”

Eli and Jefferson gathered up their three sacks of clothes and made their way down the steps to the lower deck.

When they came to the black man at the ramp, Duncan stopped and looked at him.

“Y’all gonna be here when we get back, ain’t you?”

“Well Sir, we headed on down to New Aw-leans from here. We’ll be back two weeks from today, I reckon.”

“You mean we’ll have to wait two weeks to go back home?”

“No Sir, they’ll be some more steamboats headed up this way. Y’all can catch one of them if you get ready to go before we get back.”