Chapter 15

Doctor Harrod came out just a few minutes after Eli and Jefferson walked into the lobby and sat down.

They both jumped up as soon as he came through the door, hurrying to meet him.

“Doc?” Eli said as he looked at the young doctor.

“Duncan is fine. He’s sleeping now and you’ll both be able to see him in a few hours. I drained the wound where the injury had become infected. There was a bone fragment just as I thought. It was wedged in a clump of hair that had pushed into the tiny skull fracture, causing pressure on his brain. The fracture is very small and he’s very lucky he wasn’t hit harder or he’d be either dead or paralyzed by now.”

“Doctor, we thank you so much. You mean Duncan will be back like he was, or will he always have a messed up eye and hand?”

“By the time you and Jefferson go in to see him, his face and hand will be close to normal. It will take him another week or so of healing, but after a few weeks of rest he’ll be able to return to riding his horse and doing whatever it is he does as a U.S. Marshal.”

“Doctor, what do we owe you for this? Whatever it is, I’ll be glad to pay you.”

“Marshal Crow, Judge Parker told me he would settle with me later. I owe that man for everything I have and for everything I am. He’ll not get a bill on this and neither will you or Duncan.”

“What about the Sisters here at the hospital, will they need to be paid?”

“Marshal, I’m going to suggest you give them a donation. They will appreciate that and put the money to good use.”

“Thank you, Doctor, we’ll do that. When will Duncan be able to get up and walk out of here?”

“He could leave as soon as he wakes up, but I’d rather let him stay the night, just to be sure. When does the next riverboat leave for Fort Smith?”

“They said at ten tomorrow morning, will we need to catch a later one?”

“You, Jefferson, and Duncan will be there earlier than that, Marshal, you’ll see.”

Eli shook hands with Doctor Harrod and hugged him with his free arm. He could have kissed the man, he was so happy.

When they were alone in the lobby once more, Eli turned to Jefferson.

“Jefferson, I’m going back down to the leather shop and tell the Robertsons to get packed. We’re all going to Fort Smith tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you back here, Eli. I know you can’t wait to see Duncan too.”

“I’ll be back shortly. If they let you in before I get back, tell him about our deal on the leather shop. Duncan will like that as much as me.”

Eli was as happy as he’d been the day he and Rose stopped at Boones Crossing, Kansas, to see Mary and ask her to be his wife.

He saw the heavy wagon sitting right in front of the small leather shop and was almost in a run down the long slope by the time he got there.

He walked in the front door and saw the two brothers struggling with the heavy sewing machines. There were two that both men together could barely lift above knee high.

“Let me help, we’ll get these machines loaded. We’ll leave at ten tomorrow morning as planned,” Eli said as he grabbed hold of the heavy cast iron sewing machine.

They loaded that one and slid it over to the side then went back to get the other one.

“Marshal, we’ll be at the docks early tomorrow to load these machines on the boat. Do you think there will be men there to help?” Mr. Robertson asked.

“I saw some men there the other day, loading and unloading goods and wooden barrels that took two men to lift. You hire them, I’ll pay them when I get to the docks.”

“Marshal, you got us feeling good about going upriver to start a new business there in Fort Smith. We talked about it some more and even Gramps is having fun talking about us being up there now,” Jack told him.

“It’ll be good, if I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t tell you that. We bought that land up in Tulsey Town that will soon be called Tulsa. We come right to the river too and we can open another leather shop up there as soon as you’re ready.”

“We’ll have to make some money first, to be able to buy the new machines we’d need up there,” Bill Robertson told him.

“How much money are we talking about?”

“These two cost over two hundred apiece and we’ll need all new cutters and tables too.”

“Two hundred for the both of them?”

“Each, that’s a lot, but they last forever if they’re kept oiled and tightened.”

“Where do you get them?”

“From a place in St. Louis, Gramps has the address.”

“Good, we’ll need to make plans to buy them. We’ll need a leather shop in Tulsa.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning at the docks, Marshal Crow,” Jack told him.

Eli walked into the lobby and didn’t see Jefferson at first. He was about to walk through the door the doctor had used, when Jefferson came from the hallway.

“I was about to go look for you.”

“I was using the toilet facilities, you should see what they have. You can use the facility inside and water takes it outdoors into a tank.”

“What if a man has to shit?”

“That goes out also, Eli. We need to look into this; this would eliminate all of us going to the toilet outdoors.”

“Jefferson, I like that idea, find out who we can get the plans from and how to install such an indoor toilet.”

“I will, Eli, we can install them in all our rent houses too.”

“I told you I wanted to be on the front end of the new changes. If we have indoor toilets, we can have indoor water also. See what we can find out about this, Jefferson, and get us some plans. I want us to always try new things and new ways.”

“Marshal Crow?” the Sister called to him as he and Jefferson talked.

“Yes Ma’am, is Duncan awake?”

“Yes, he has already asked for you and Mr. Jefferson, please follow me.”

The Sister took them down the hallway, turned a corner, and there were doors on both sides all the way to the other end of another long white hallway.

Eli looked into one room and saw six beds with people lying in most of them.

The Sister stopped at another door and motioned them inside. There were six beds in this room, and Duncan was sitting on the side of the first bed on the left.

“Duncan, you got your head shaved and wrapped again I see,” Eli said as he walked to his friend and shook his hand.

“Eli, I may just get Juni to keep it shaved, I’m beginning to like it now.”

“Duncan, it’s good to see you sitting up and smiling. The doctor told us you would wake up and be better soon. How do you feel?” Jefferson asked as he shook with him.

“Jefferson, if my horse was outside, I’d get on him and ride back to Fort Smith. My head don’t even hurt. They showed me a mirror and my eye is alright. I can hear good and look at my hand,” Duncan smiled and showed them he was almost well already, flexing his fingers then making a fist.

“We’ll be at the steamboat docks early, Duncan, it leaves at ten tomorrow. We’ll have some friends going back with us too,” Eli told him and grinned at Jefferson. They knew Duncan was going to be surprised by this story too.

“Who, Eli? You ain’t done got some more women have you?”

“No, we have three men with a leather shop that makes saddles and harnesses.”

“Eli, do we really?

“Jefferson, is he telling me another tale?”

“He’s telling the truth, Duncan. We made the deal this morning and they’ve already loaded their sewing machines, tools and leather on the wagon to take to the docks,” Jefferson said.

“I need to stop sleeping so much while all this new stuff is going on. Eli, where do you come up with all these things at?” Duncan laughed and looked at his two friends.

“Tell him about the indoor toilet you used, Jefferson, he’ll never believe that.”

“Indoor toilet? Now I know you both are pulling a good one. Never heard of such a thing.”

“They have them right here in the hospital and all the waste goes right out in an underground tank to be pumped out later.”

“What in the world will people think of next? Who ever heard of using the toilet in a house? Other than a slop jar, that is.” Duncan was feeling good and it showed.

“Eli has already said that if we put them in our houses, we’ll bring the water inside our houses too so we don’t have to carry it in from the pump.”

“Would you just look at what all has come from me getting a bump knocked on my head? If this don’t beat all.”

They were laughing and talking so loud a woman in a white dress, white hat, and white apron came in and told them they’d have to be quiet or leave, they were disturbing the other patients.

“Can we take Duncan outside?” Eli asked.

“No, he can’t leave his room this soon after surgery. Just visit and keep it quieter.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Eli said.

She did relent, and give permission to let them walk Duncan up and down the hallway. He was ready to run, he felt so good. Doctor Harrod came back to see him while they were walking. He was even more pleased by Duncan’s progress. They walked down to the office where Eli asked to speak to the Sister in charge.

Eli had already counted five thousand dollars out of the money in his clothes sack. He handed the Sister the money and thanked her for what they’d done for his friend.

“Ma’am, I just wanted you to know how much this means to us. Duncan is my friend and we have many friends back in Fort Smith that thank you too. Doctor Harrod told me you would take a gift, but wouldn’t let me pay you for your services. We thank you.”

“Marshal Eli Crow, we here at Charity Hospital thank you and we thank Doctor Harrod for coming all this way to visit us and help your friend, Mr J.P. Duncan,” she said and smiled, raking the money off her desk into a big drawer.

“Sister, if you and the others of your Catholic Church ever see fit to build another hospital, we’d like you to come take a look at Fort Smith. There’s talk of Indian Territory being changed to Oklahoma Territory soon and then becoming a new state later. We’re growing fast up there on the border and we’ll need a good hospital.”

“Marshal Crow, you’re a remarkable young man. We have enjoyed your presence here and your totally different way of seeing things. I’ll talk to the superiors in our Diocese and pass this along to them. Don’t be surprised if you see one of the Catholic Bishops walking up the road to your house one day,” she said and smiled at him.

“I reckon he’d be welcome, we never turn anyone away that comes to see us with a smile on his face.”

“Then I’ll make a personal recommendation that he come see you.”

“Thank you again, Ma’am. We’ll be taking Duncan out of here early in the morning, we got a boat to catch back up to Fort Smith.”

“May God bless each of you and watch over your journeys, your lives, and your families,” She said.

“Ma’am, I take that as special to all of us. I hope if your boss comes over there, you get to come too.”

“Thank you again, Marshal Crow, thank all of you for making us see that we do make a difference. If my ‘boss’ does come your way, I’ll ask permission to accompany him,” she had to laugh at Marshal Eli Crow, as tough as he was, he was sincere to the core.

“Then we’ll see you when you get there,” Eli said as they laughed.

“Doctor Harrod, if the Catholics build a hospital over in Fort Smith, you ought to come over and be our doctor. We’re in need of a good young doctor that will help us and help Fort Smith grow like we all know it’s about to.”

“Eli, you’d make a great ambassador. I have no doubt that you’ll get your hospital if the Bishop comes calling. Send me a telegram when he tells you yes, I’ll be on the next boat that way.”

“Then we’ll get Judge Parker to use the power of his position and help us all get it started. With the town of Fort Smith being a big border town and the main gate to Oklahoma when it becomes a state, we’ll need good doctors.”

“Eli Crow, you and Duncan and the others get that wild place cleaned up over there. You’ll soon be overrun with people wanting to live there and pass through there on their way to the new state.”

“We’re making good headway now, Doctor. Judge Parker’s only been there a few months and we’re bringing them in by the dozens to his court.”

Eli and Jefferson slept in the lobby again that night. They saw Doctor Harrod early the next morning as he checked Duncan’s reflexes and eyesight.

Duncan was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn on the trip to Little Rock as they left the Charity Hospital. The Sister had already made arrangements for a buggy to arrive early.

They met the Robertsons on the dock before they’d even unloaded their heavy sewing machines. Just a few minutes before ten, the lines were cast off and the Aunt Sally was under way.

She was eighty five feet long and eighteen feet wide at midship. She drew only twenty inches of water, fired by the twin boilers of the two steam engines and driven by twin paddle wheels.

Her paddle wheels were churning the water as she clawed and scratched to start her journey upriver.

With the water level up on the Arkansas from the late summer rains, the Aunt Sally plied her way right up that river as fast as the Ella Hughes had made her way down. She was loaded with two hundred barrels of flour and a hundred barrels of corn meal. She was carrying twenty two hundred board feet of lumber and fifty replacement troops, all headed up to Fort Gibson, between Fort Smith and Tulsey.

Fort Smith, Arkansas September 21, 1875

Just before noon, they were within a mile of Fort Smith docks. The three friends stood on the bow of the steamboat, looking to see the first glimpses of the docks as they rounded the last bend.

Mr. Robertson and his two grandsons stood with them, waiting to see the first glimpse of Fort Smith, where their future was about to begin.

Jefferson climbed onto a wooden keg, by grasping onto a rope connected to the boom poles used for loading and unloading cargo.

He stood with one foot resting higher, his knee bent as he flung back his open coat and pointed toward the docks as they came into view and spoke loudly.

All in the golden afternoon,
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretense,
Our wanderings to guide.

“Jefferson, I never knew you were a poet like that,” Eli said looking at him.

“That was from Alice in Wonderland, “ Bill Robertson said.

“Yes, have you read the works of Lewis Carroll?” Jefferson asked.

“We’ve read Alice, is all. Our mother bought a copy of the book a few years ago when Jack and I were in school. We still have it.”

“If you would let me, I’d like to borrow it and read to the girls and boys we have at our house. They love to hear such stories and they love new songs to sing.”

“Then Bill and I will be happy to let you borrow the book. We each play musical instruments too. Jack plays the fiddle and banjo, and I play the guitar and mandolin.”

“I can see now, once the others learn of your talents other than your leather trade, you will have the whole family around you, asking for more and even asking for lessons in the art of playing musical instruments,” Jefferson said as they watched the pilot maneuver the steamboat closer to the docks.

“Then we’ll all have fun, these boys love to play and sing the songs their mother taught them as little ones,” Mr. Robertson said.

When the steamboat was tied off fore and aft, the long, wide boarding plank was swung down into place on the docks. The dock workers were busy with the unloading of goods that were to be delivered here, as the passengers disembarked and more came aboard to travel on to Fort Gibson.

The sewing machines, tools and many bundles of tanned hides were unloaded with the long boom poles, swinging out and brought to rest on the heavy freight wagon Eli had hired to carry them to their house.

Though everyone was excited to be in Fort Smith, Duncan was the most excited. Other than the white bandage that wrapped his bald head like a turban, he was as good, if not better than new.

Carl was busy with his brother and their workers, building the new shop for Little Duck where she would make her buckskin clothes, bags, and moccasins. He looked up when he heard the heavy wagon lumbering up the gravel road along the river bluff.

He stood and waved his arm back toward the house when he saw Sundy hanging clothes on the line.

Sundy screamed and yelled as she ran to the backdoor of the house, calling the others.

Family members ran from the boardinghouse like it was afire, as the news of their return was the best they’d had in a week.

Juni saw Duncan waving from the wagon as he stood next to Eli. She fell to her knees crying. Lettie grabbed her up and they held each other as the wagon rolled to a stop near the barn.

By the time the wagon wheels had stopped rolling, Juni was behind the wagon, her arms wrapped around Duncan’s waist, as he sat on the back of the wagon bed. She was still crying and sobbing as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

“Little Girl, you stop that crying. I’m gonna be as good as new in a week or two, the doctor said I was,” he said as he held her and she looked up at him.

“Duncan?”

“Yes, Juni.”

“I think we better hurry in the house, our baby boy is about to be born,” she said as she put her hands to her belly and smiled through her tears.

“Lettie, you girls come get Juni. She’s about to have a baby over here!

“Oh Lordy, I just thought I was about to get well. Now I feel like I’m about to get weak in my knees again,” Duncan said as he walked with Juni, Lettie, and the other girls gathering around to make sure she made it back to the house.

“Where’s Mary, Rose, and Clarissa?” Eli asked.

“They are all in bed, Eli. They’re all about to have babies, you got back just in time,” Adalee told him.

“Adalee, I want you and your sisters to meet Mr. Robertson and his two grandsons. They’re here to open a new saddle and harness shop. Make them feel welcome, we gotta go,” Eli said as he and Jefferson took off running toward the house.

The three Robertson men laughed as they saw Jefferson outrun Eli to the back porch, where Eli grabbed him under his arms and lifted him to the porch. Adalee and her three sisters helped the men unload the bundles of leather and their tools, then stood back to watch as they and the man on the wagon unloaded the heavy sewing machines in the barn.

The four sisters wore new buckskin dresses Little Duck had shown them how to cut out and sew. They had their hair braided in two braids down their back and their skin was as clear and smooth as a baby’s.

Their faces were young, smooth and beautiful. Cadalee and Adalee had been using some of Little Duck’s potion on their young bodies. They were filling the dresses out on top as well as Tin Yu and Juni had before Christmas.

Jack and Bill saw the four sisters as the most beautiful they’d ever seen in their lives. The two youngest were just about their age and they couldn’t help but stare at the way their tight, smooth leather dresses fit them from their neck to their waists. They had sewn leather fringe on the sleeves and shoulders and around the hem.

As they walked and moved, the rawhide fringe seemed alive with fluttering, shimmering motions.

When the others walked away, Bill and Jack each reached out to touch their sleeves.

Adalee and Cadalee turned to smile at them.

“Did you make your dresses?” Bill asked.

“Yes, we made them. Little Duck showed us how to cut and sew the deerskin and how to make it even softer so it fits our bodies,” Adalee said as she smiled at Bill.

“You’re Adalee, right? I’m Bill Robertson,” he said, as if they hadn’t already met.

“Yes, I am Adalee. I am the youngest. I’m sixteen. How old are you, Bill?”

“I’m eighteen, uh, did Eli say all of you lived here too?” he asked, already knowing this new life and new business was going to be even better than they had let themselves dream as they waited to board the steamboat in Little Rock.

“Yes, we live here. Has Eli told you of our story by now?”

“No, just that there was four beautiful Cherokee sisters living here, learning the trade of making leather goods and clothing from Little Duck. Maybe you could show me the place where all the houses and buildings are being built and maybe walk down to the river and wave to the steamboat when it passes on its way upriver?”

“The steamboat will pass here?”

“Yes, have you not seen one?”

“Not here, we saw the one Eli and Jefferson took Duncan down to the doctor on. We have heard the steam whistle in the distance, but none of us have seen them pass by since we came here. Eli told us the river had been too low for so long.”

“Then will you walk with me and have a look?”

“Bill Robertson, will you walk slowly with me? I’ve never done this before. I need to tell you about my sisters and me, we have a bad story of our past.”

“I could care less, Adalee. Walk with me and when you feel the need to talk, just tell me what it is you think I should know.”

“Bill Robertson, I knew when Eli said you were here to be with us, you would be a good man. Eli knows how to see the good in men and women alike.”

“He sure does. I want to hear more from you, about Eli and all the others. This is all new to me and I promise to walk slowly. Whatever bad there was in your past, leave it there.”

“Then come with me, I like my new friend,” she smiled and took his hand.

They walked a few steps and looked back to see Cadalee and Jack walking behind them, hand in hand.

William Robertson watched his grandsons fall flat on their faces in front of these two beautiful young Cherokee women. He was happy for them and he was happy they had come to Fort Smith to start a new life and a new business. He sat on a bundle of tanned leather in the barn and gave thanks to the Lord above, for watching over them and for delivering them here to start over.

Inside the house, the girls helped Juni to a bed in the room where the other women either slept or sat up in bed.

Rose and Mary were asleep, their bellies about to pop they were so big.

Duncan stood beside Juni as she looked up at him and smiled.

“Duncan, you’re about to be a daddy, you know that don’t you?”

“I do and I’m proud, and scared too, Juni. I don’t know how to be a daddy, but I want a little one of our own too.”

“You’ll be a good daddy, Duncan, you’re so gentle and good to be around.”

“Do you really think so, Juni? I want to be a good one, I never knew my daddy. Do you really think we’ll have a boy?”

“Little Duck and Rose said our first one is going to be a boy. Is that alright, Duncan?”

“It sure is, I want a boy and a girl. I already learned how to help care for them, at least we won’t have to let them suck from a goat’s teat like Kia and Michi did,” he said and they laughed quietly as the others slept.

“Where’s Tin Yu, Eva, Catt, and Clarissa?” Eli asked, realizing they were missing.

“Come with me, Eli,” Lettie said, taking his hand.

Eli was afraid something was wrong, until he saw Lorene standing in another doorway, smiling at him as he walked toward them. They pointed to the bed where Tin Yu lay with her baby girl nursing from her swollen breast. Michi and Kia were sitting on the bed next to them, cooing and talking to the tiny, little black haired baby girl.

Tin Yu looked up to see Eli and tears came to her eyes as she saw him looking down at her and their baby.

“Eli, see what we have. Tin Yu love you more than ever now.”

“I love you more, Tin Yu. I love our little girl too. She’s just as pretty as her momma.”

“Yes, she’s a pretty baby, Eli, and so tiny, but she’s already looking around when she sees movement,” Lorene told him.

Eli walked around the bed and leaned over to hug Tin Yu and kiss her cheek.

“I love you, Tin Yu, you done good.”

“I love you, Eli Crow. From first time I see you, I love you. Now I see our tiny baby girl and I love you more. I’m glad now I have big titty, baby can eat and grow big like me,” she said, smiling up at him.

“Have you named her?”

“I wanted to call her Lee Yu Crow, will you let that be her name, Eli?”

“Yes, I like that. After your ma.”

“Yes, Eli. Little Duck tell Mary, she have a boy. Mary want to name him Eli Crow Junior. I like that name for him too.”

“Tin Yu, I never knew it would be like this when we were all talking about having babies. I never knew it would make me feel like I do.”

“Eli proud?”

“Eli is very proud, Tin Yu.”

“Little Duck say Rose have baby boy too, Eli.”

“I’m even more proud that my sister is having a baby, after all she’s been through. We’ve come a long way haven’t we, Tin Yu?”

“We have, Eli. Long way from day mother and father were kill and you take me and Juni Moon with you and Duncan.

“Is Duncan here, is he alright now?” she asked, thinking about him and his trip to see the doctor.

“He’s in there with Juni, the doctor said he’d be fine. When Juni came out to see him back, she grabbed her belly and told him he was about to be a daddy and he got weak kneed and almost fell on the ground.”

“Eli, baby is through eating from titty, you want to hold our little girl?”

“Hand her to me, Tin Yu. I hope she don’t pee on me like Kia and Michi did me and Duncan.”

He took the small, dark haired little girl in his hands and smiled down at her as she smacked her lips and wrinkled up her face. She scrubbed her little fists across her eyes and looked up into Eli’s eyes. Her arms and legs were swinging and kicking and she was squirming in his arms.

As she lay back against his arm, her little butt resting in the palm of his big rough hand, she wet her diaper and filled his hand with pee.

“I knew it would happen when I held her, I reckon I better get used to it though,” he said and laughed as Corinne took her and laid her on the bed.

“Eli, Rose and Mary are awake and they want to see you,” Lettie said as she stepped into the room behind him.

“Eli, you go see Rose and Mary, we see you soon,” Tin Yu told him and he leaned down to kiss her lips, then kiss the baby on her cheek as she grabbed his braid that fell across her hand, and held on.

“I’ll be glad when her hair is long enough to braid, Tin Yu,” he told her as they looked down at the tiny little girl and smiled.

“We all have braids then, Eli. You go see Rose and Mary, soon we all be up and nursing babies together, Lorene say.”

Eli walked backwards to the door, looking down at his beautiful young Chinese woman and their tiny little baby girl.

When Eli walked into the room where the other women were expecting babies any moment, he saw Mary and Rose as they lay in their beds next to each other, raised up on pillows and talking. Jefferson was sitting on the bedside, next to Rose. Eli walked between the beds to hug his wife, then his sister.

“Did you see your little girl, Eli? She’s just like a little doll, isn’t she?” Rose said as he held her hand.

“Yes she is, she peed on me as I held her too, reckon there’s something about me that makes ‘em want to pee,” he laughed and reached for Mary again.

He leaned over and kissed her lips as she raised her head. She was wet with sweat and her legs were raised as Corinne and Little Duck worked with her.

“Mary have baby soon, Eli. She have boy, then Rose have baby boy. Catt and Eva have baby boys tomorrow. Clarissa will have baby girl next day,” Little Duck told him, as if she had planned and scheduled the whole thing.

“Where are they? I didn’t see the others when I went to see Tin Yu.”

“They’re all down the hall, Eli. We put them in rooms downstairs until the babies are born. They’re asleep now, I just left there,” Lettie told him.

“Lettie, you’re becoming just like the nurses at the hospital where we took Duncan. You need to learn about that, you’d be a good one.”

“I wish I could be a nurse, Eli. Where could I go to learn how to be one?” she asked, her face lighting up.

“You just watch Little Duck and Corinne, they know all about birthin’ babies, then we’ll find out where you can learn about being a nurse. As many babies as we have, we’ll need a nurse and a doctor,” Eli told her, thinking of the young doctor Harrod that had fixed Duncan up. He wondered if he could help Lettie be a nurse. He wondered if the young doctor had a wife.

“Eli, our baby is going to be here soon. Please step outside, I don’t want you to see me like this. I hurt but I’m happy at the same time,” Mary said as her pains were coming faster.

“I kinda wanted to see my boy come into this world, Mary. I’ve seen horses have babies before and we had a cow that I helped have a calf one time.”

“Eli, are you sure? I mean it don’t look good when a woman has a baby.”

“Mary, you’re my wife, we made this baby boy on our way down here from Boones Crossing. I want to be here waiting for him when he gets here. I want to hold him and hand him to you when Little Duck hands him to me.”