Chapter 41

When the Buffalo Soldiers rolled in from Little Tree with empty wagons, all of them jumped in and loaded them as quickly as possible. There were fifteen more loads to ship after they held back the last three loaded wagons to take to Tulsa.

Willis turned fifteen of his men right back around, telling them to get on back so they could all head over to Tulsa and start learning to be oil well drillers.

The next morning early, Eli and Jon David were sitting by the fire outside, drinking coffee and talking some more about their future in the oil business.

“Jon David, you and I need to have a meeting with all the men about the oil well drilling as soon as we can. I got a feeling we’re about to bust wide open out here and we need to start making plans now on how to handle all of this.”

“Let’s do that before we start drilling next week, Dad. We’ll call the drillers, the Buffalo Soldiers, and all our family and partners in for a big meeting. I have the same feeling you do about this oil venture. I’ve been studying all I can on the future of oil and coal used in generating electricity. We have the opportunity to really make a lot of money in the coming years. I can see us becoming big enough within five years to go public, with other investors investing in our operations.”

“Jon David, you always did think even bigger than I do, I like the sound of that. We’ll all eat Thanksgiving dinner at the big house and us men can meet out in the barn afterward. I got an even better feeling about us being in this oil and coal business now.”

“You’ll have to give up your service as a marshal soon, Dad. You’re going to be too busy to do justice to the badge in the coming years, you know that don’t you?”

“I know. I’ve already thought of that too. I sure hate to turn this thing in though, it’s become a part of me,” Eli said, running his fingers over his smooth silver star. “You know I’ll be leaning on you more and more when all this starts happening so fast we can’t keep up. You’ll be the one who’ll have to help me make the right decisions for the companies and all the families.

“I’ll be there, just like you’ve always been there for me. With the help of all those involved, we’ll make Crow Ridge Cattle Company, Crow Ridge Oil, and Coal Company and Crow Ridge Drilling known all over America...

...”Dad, about your badge, maybe we can talk Judge Parker into giving you a position as a special service marshal.”

They both stood and poured out the remaining coffee from their tin cups when they heard wagons coming into the ranch yard.

“Would you just look at this bunch of dust covered, crusty looking young’uns comin’ here. I wonder if they’ve even stopped grinning for the past month. Just look at them, Jon David ... I got to go over there and hug all of them,” Eli said as he put his cup on a rock by the fire and strode over to greet his kids.

Lilly Beth and Lee Yu both leaped from the wagon seat into his upraised arms as he reached out for them. They were laughing, hugging his neck and kissing his face as he lowered them to the ground.

“Daddy, we’re so glad to see you. We’ve had the best time in our whole lives picking up pecans and delivering them to Little Tree for shipment,” Lee Yu told him.

“We sure have, Daddy, and thank you for letting us girls make the last trip with the Bucks. We made sure our brothers behaved themselves too,” Lilly Beth said as she laughed.

Eli reached up to grab Kia and lift her to the ground as she hugged and kissed him with her dust covered, parched lips.

“Daddy, I just love you so much. We had so much fun delivering the pecans. You’d be proud of the Bucks too, Daddy. They bought our supper at the hotel the night we got there, and our breakfast the next morning,” Kia was telling him as she hugged and kissed him.

He reached for Michi and she leaped at him like Lilly Beth and Lee Yu had. She was laughing and kissing his face just like the other girls, as she told him how much fun they had.

Eli looked up to see Kit sitting next to Little Eli; he grinned at their dust covered faces. Kit leaped from the seat like a cat as he held his arms out for her.

“Daddy ... I mean Eli, this is the most fun we ever had. I just love you so much for letting Ruby and me live with your family. We’ve laughed and sung songs and we even got to eat at a hotel with just us kids. It was like we were grown up and we all acted like our aunts and mommas taught us,” Kit told him as she hugged his neck and kissed his face like his own daughters.

Eli looked up to see Ruby sitting beside Isaac, with a big grin on her face, her teeth shining white through her dry, cracked and dusty lips. When he held his arms out, she leaped into them, knowing he would catch her.

“Eli, I love you like you are my own daddy. I never knew me and Kit would ever be this happy in our lives. I reckon you know me and Kit love Little Eli and Isaac already, but we all talked about it and we’re going to act like grown boys and girls until you tell us we can really love each other. I feel like I’m almost grown now, the way you let us be by ourselves, knowing we won’t mess up,” Ruby told him as he put her on the ground. He looked at her and her sister as they stood smiling up at him; he wondered how in the world them two boys ever made it there and back in one piece, with these two little hot-blooded, red-headed sisters next to them.

Eli shook his head and grinned as he turned to look at all six of the Bucks lined up.

“I’m proud of you Bucks. I reckon you get a grownup hand shake for all you’ve done this past month or so. You’ve stepped up and stood against the cavalry and you’ve stepped in and drove wagons like men. I’m proud of you more than ever for the way you’ve come to be young men. I don’t see boys anymore when I look at you, I see young men that makes me and your mommas and daddies proud all over again.” He told them as they each shook with him and smiled through the dust on their faces.

“You girls get your bedrolls out and get some clean buckskins. Go back there and take a bath in that big watering trough, we’ll leave for home by first light in the morning. You Bucks, get you some clean buckskins out, you’re next.”

Eli turned to see Jefferson and Howard, both dust covered and smiling as they walked over to him and Jon David.

“Eli, we met the last fifteen wagons on the way back. Did you hold back enough pecans for the Bucks and the girls to take back to Tulsa and sell?” Howard asked as they shook.

“Yup, we sent some back with the women and we have three more loads here to take when we go.”

“How’d we do, Jefferson? I reckon you’n Howard are about ready to get back home too. I know the rest of us are.”

“Eli, this has been as much of an adventure for Howard and me as it was for the Bucks and the girls. I’ll tell you right here in front of everyone, you would have been proud of them, the way they conducted themselves,” Jefferson said as they shook.

“Eli, those boys aren’t boys anymore. They can do the work of men and they can drive a team of mules as good as any man you’ve got too. I’m like Jefferson, I know you’re proud of them, and I am too. Eli, with those last fifteen wagons we met, we have shipped four hundred and thirty-five wagon loads at a heavy, forty six hundred pounds each,” Howard told him.

“Jefferson, I know you’ve put your figures on that, how much did you get?”

“Four hundred and thirty thousand, two hundred and fifteen dollars, Eli. If they average forty six hundred pounds each, and Howard and I both know they will, plus some.”

“That is a whoooole lot of pecans,” Eli said and they all laughed.

After the girls and boys were through bathing, and dressed, Jefferson and Howard took clean clothes and walked back behind the barn to wash some dirt and grit off themselves.

Cookie had coffee made for the girls and the Bucks and plenty of his pecan pies, made with maple syrup and pecans. When they saw him with their plates already fixed, all twelve sat down and started eating. They were hungry and they were tired, but they were still full of excitement at what all they had done and seen in the past month and a half.

Eli and Jon David put their money together and paid Spotted Owl for his pecans and for helping with the pecan harvest. He protested like Eli knew he would, but in the end he relented and took the money with a big smile and a handshake for both of them.

They did some quick figuring and came up with what they wanted to pay Don, Clara, Martha and their men. They paid Don for his, Clara’s and Martha’s. He gave them enough to pay Nate and Newt Whelan, Cookie, and his other three cowhands. Eli told Don to buy more cattle and they’d pay their part when they came this way again.

“Eli, this is way too much for no more than we did,” Don said as he looked at all the money they had given him.

“Don, that’s enough to pay you, Clara, Martha and your men, half of what you got coming. Jon David and I held back the other half of yours and your men’s pay so he could invest it. Each of them will want a house on their hundred and sixty acres when the unassigned lands are opened. You might want to remind them of that too. We’re planning on being here and having our parcels picked out and marked before time for the land run to start.

“I’ve invited Lieutenant Jud McClanahan to join us down here. He may come by and see you soon. If he does you need to make him acquainted with Martha. She’s a right handsome young woman and he’s a tall handsome young man. He’ll be out of the cavalry in a year or so and he’ll want a good wife.”

Clara heard what Eli said and walked over.

“Eli, tell me what the lieutenant looks like. I’ll make sure Martha is climbing a tree to get a look at him. She’s young and full of fire, and she wants a man and a family really bad,” Clara said.

“Clara, he’s as tall as me, rangy like he may need some home cooking, he’s educated and easy to talk business with. He’s not married either, I asked him. Clara, I hope you can get Martha to hook up with him. I like the man and I figure he’d make a good business man with his education. I’d like him to be neighbors down here when we start drilling for oil too.”

“Eli, when do you reckon you’ll start drilling up there at Tulsa and how long will it be before you get down here? You’ve got me excited about this oil business,” Don said.

“It’ll be a few years before we make it down here, Don. I figure we’ll be here in four to five years though, about the time Jon David told me the unassigned lands would come open to the public. You need to keep all this hushed for now though.”

“Clara’s the only one who knows about it. We’ll keep it quiet.”

“Clara, I bragged on your cooking. I hope you and Martha have plenty of grub to cook if a tall man wearing blues comes ridin in to inspect the cattle we’re gonna sell the cavalry.”

“Don has taught us how to cook a fine cut of beef, Eli. Cookie has taught us how to make the best tasting pies. I had never eaten pecan pie until he made one. They are delicious. We’ll make sure he gets his fill and hopefully he’ll like this place enough to come again,” Clara said and looked at Don with a smile.

Before dark, they lined all the wagons up, with the three loaded wagons in the lead. They were planning to tie a team of mules and an empty wagon behind the wagons with drivers, taking all the wagons with them, except for the fifteen wagons headed to Little Tree with the last loads.

The next morning, they were up early once more. They were all eager and excited about heading back toward Tulsa after almost seven weeks away from home. Don’s men, the Bucks, and Eli brought the mule teams out and had them hitched to the wagons.

“Don, I reckon we’re gonna head on out of here at first light. Looks like all the young muleskinners have knocked the trail dust off last night and got a bite to eat this morning. I want you to load this place up with cattle like we talked about. You’ve got enough dry grass down here for them to eat on all winter and maybe we can get that herd built up for another big cattle drive,” Eli said as he saw the girls, the Bucks, Howard, and Jefferson coming back from the house where they had eaten breakfast.

“Eli, I know all of you want to get an early start back home, but it’s sure gonna be lonesome for us after having you and the family down here for over a month. I hope we can build that herd back up and have another big pecan harvest next year too. We like spending time with you and the family. Maybe one day, Clara and me can come over to Tulsa and see the new oil wells you’re talking about drilling. I never even heard of that until you told me about it.”

“Get yourself caught up down here and make the trip next spring after calving time. We’ll be knee deep in the oil business by then, if my oil experts are right.”

“We may have to wait a little longer than that, Eli. Clara will be calving herself, by early next spring. We’ll make it over there one of these days though. I know y’all will be back by next fall anyway.”

“Don, it has been my pleasure once again to spend time with you. I hope you do get the herd built back up. I looking forward to coming back and helping with another of the Little Tree roundups,” Howard said as he and Don shook hands.

“Howard, I’ve enjoyed the time spent with you this time as well, though you and Jefferson were in charge of the shipping at Little Tree most of the time.”

“Jefferson, it was good to meet you. I hope you and Howard will make it back down here when this land is opened up to the public like Eli and Jon David says. You’ll sure have a lot of land to buy and sell and you’ll have lots of mineral rights to purchase as well,” Don said as he and Jefferson shook hands.

“It was the experience of a lifetime for me, Don. I had never been exposed to the likes of harvesting pecans, driving wagons, and loading rail cars until now. I am positively thrilled by the land, the people, the Indian friends I’ve made, and the Buffalo Soldiers I’ve met. I am truly thankful to you and Clara for being Eli’s partners and for being so accommodating to all of us,” Jefferson said as he just kept on shaking Don’s hand as he talked.

“Jefferson, we’ll be expecting you back this way soon. I have enjoyed talking with you, Howard, and Jon David, too. Through the eyes of you men, a man like me can see this country growing into a place populated with neighbors closer than a day and a half away. I’m proud to know all of you and welcome you back any time.”

“Don, if you happen to need more money to purchase cattle, send a rider to Little Tree and send me a telegraph, we’ll make sure we don’t miss any good deals in the coming year,” Jon David said as he said his goodbyes to Don and Clara.

Howard, Jefferson, Carl, Donald, Jack and Bill volunteered to drive the wagons so the girls and Bucks could ride their horses. This was something the men were glad to do, since they had recently learned to drive a team of mules pulling a wagon.

“Willis, we’ll be seeing you in a week or so. You ‘n your men get on over to Tulsa and have turkey dinner with us. We’ll have a big feast before we start working for real,” Eli said as he turned to Willis one more time.

“Marshal, we’ll be headin’ your way with your wagons as soon as my men get back from Little Tree. How do we find you when we get there?”

“When you get over to where the Frisco starts, on the east end of unassigned lands, just follow the rails all the way to Tulsa. You won’t get lost, there’s nothing between here and there but what you see right here...

“When you get to Tulsa, all you’ll see is a crossroad right before you cross the Arkansas. Go right off into the river and you’ll see our spread on the ridge just ahead of you. The main house looks just like the one Don lives in. Carl and Donald over there are carpenters and they’ve built you and your men bunkhouses to live in until you can get on your feet and build yourselves some houses of your own.”

“You already got us a place to live?”

“Yup, each of you will have your own room as soon as they get them all finished. There’s two long buildings with all the doors opening on the front porch, and they’re built strong and warm. When you sit on the porch, if you ever get a chance to that is, you’ll be looking down the hill at the Arkansas as she runs to the south and east.”

“Eli, I can see it in my head now. I feel like I’m coming home already ... just listenin’ to you.”

“You get yourself and them men on over to home then, Willis. We’ll be ready to start punching holes in the ground as soon as you get there.”

“Eli, I told my men about Jon David fixin’ to write letters to some churches asking for us some wives. They’re ready to get on over there and start a new life already. I reckon I’m itchin’ just as bad to start a new life with a new job and have a family of my own.”

“It’ll happen, Willis. We’ll see to it.”

The three wagons loaded with pecans were already rolling as the men talked. The girls and the Bucks were riding lead and drag with the wagons when Eli mounted and rode after them. With the wagons loaded heavy, they would be over four days on the trail home. They were all anxious to get there now that they were through with the Little Tree Pecan Round-up and headed home.