Chapter 59

Little Eli half turned in his seat, cutting his eyes back to see the young woman he’d seen hurrying to the passenger car. Sammy took her bag and held the door as she shook her skirts, looking all around the car before walking between the empty seats to sit just ahead of, and across from where he sat.

She made a big show of shaking her skirts once more, then dusting her arms before she sat in the seat. Just as she turned to sit down, she looked back at Little Eli. She smiled a tight smile, then looked him up and down as he sat with his long legs straight, his arms folded across his chest and his hat pulled low on his forehead.

As she continued to stare at him, Little Eli cut his eyes over to meet hers. Without even a hint of a smile, he reached up with his right hand and touched the brim of his hat with two fingers, giving her a slight nod – just as he’d seen his dad do a hundred times.

Facing the front once more, he pulled his eyelids down to tight slits as if he intended to sleep. She kept looking at him until the train was moving and Vinita was no longer in sight.

The young woman was a few years older than him, though not quite Sissy’s age. She was attractive, but not pretty like his sisters and Kit. Her hair was plain brown with sun streaks and straight. She constantly flipped it back over her shoulder, glancing around toward him again and again as she did.

He watched her with his hat still low, his eyes nearly closed. He saw her turn quickly toward the front of the car.

Little Eli looked that way. The young man seated up front, was turned toward the back, looking directly at her.

Little Eli watched each of them closely, his eyes flicking back and forth. There was something about them that wasn’t quite right in his mind.

Eli appeared to be asleep but he saw the young man up front jerk his head quickly to the side twice, nodding right toward where he sat. As soon as the young man nodded to her, the young woman turned to look back where Eli sat, behind and across from her.

He wished now that he’d put his gun on ... He felt uneasy. Maybe it was because he was alone, but he felt jumpy. He’d always had his brothers with him as they’d watched out for one another. Now it was just him and he knew he had to be extra careful, even if all this turned out to be nothing to worry about.

He briefly touched his medicine chain again, before pulling his leather traveling bag up in the seat next to his leg. He opened the small buckles on the side pocket where his gunbelt was packed away. Slipping his hand inside, he felt the smooth, walnut handgrips and the blue steel of his Colt. The feel of warm gun metal was enough to make him relax just a bit.

Still slouched down in his seat, his hat pulled low, he saw the young man up front turn once more to look back at the girl with a scowl. Again she turned her head to face him.

When both of them had exchanged nods and finally turned to the front once more, he slid his gunbelt out of his traveling bag and loosened the belt buckle. Raising his back slightly, he slid the buckle underneath his body, then pulled it out on his left side to buckle it around his waist. With his thumb, he flipped the loop off the hammer. He didn’t need to spin the cylinder, he knew it was loaded to the last hole.

He laid his hand on his chest, his finger tips on his gold chain. He relaxed, letting his eyes close. He thought of his brothers and sisters, wondering what they were doing. He sure wished Ezra was here. He wasn’t sure how long his eyes had been closed when he heard a voice close to him.

“Excuse me.” The soft voice said, even closer now.

“Excuse me, but aren’t you Indian?” A woman’s voice...

Little Eli slowly opened his eyes, cutting them to his left without moving his head. The young woman had moved back one seat and now sat across from him. She was turned to face him with her hands on her dress at her knees when he glanced up.

Without raising in his seat, he tipped his hat brim up just enough to see. “Yep,” he answered in his soft, natural drawl. To him, he sounded just like his dad. That gave him confidence, just to think that.

“Where are you from? I hope you don’t mind me asking.” She asked in a flat, dry voice, as if she really didn’t care but asked anyway.

“Tulsa,” he stated softly, barely audible to her.

“Where are you going? To Kansas City?” She asked, still trying to get him to talk.

“Nope,” he answered, determined not to tell her anything. He still didn’t trust her for some reason. Her face was strained when she tried to smile. She just didn’t have an easy smile like his sisters.

“I hope you’re not offended by me asking questions like this. You have no reason to be afraid of me. I was just trying to make conversation. I’m not from around here, you see.” She spoke and tried to smile. Her smile faded and there was a look of fear come over her face.

She gasped at the sight of his cold hard eyes when he cut them around to stare at her. She wasn’t sure what that look was, but she knew in an instant, there was no fear in the boy’s eyes. They were pale gray, cold and unblinking. His face showed no emotion. He was a boy, but he had the hard look of a grown man. She noticed the cartridge belt around his waist. Was it there earlier? She hadn’t seen it until now.

“I’m not the least bit afraid of you!” he told her in a soft, yet firm voice that made her cringe as she evaded his eyes.

With a rustle of her long heavy skirts, she quickly moved back to the seat where she’d left her red leather bag, not daring another look back.

Little Eli followed her movement with his eyes. She looked scared as she sat straight, and unmoving. She clutched her leather bag tightly in her lap as she looked ahead. He noticed all the shiny silver buckles on the sides and saw a bulge in the soft leather that he knew had to be a small caliber gun barrel. He could see the outline, from the grips to the front sight. She carried a small pistol in that bag.

There were only a few passengers in the car for the trip between Vinita, Indian Territory and Parsons, Kansas. No one was talking, no one was moving about as the train roared along the tracks. Only the rapid clickety-clack of the wheels rolling over the joints on the rails, filled the passenger car.

Little Eli saw Sammy coming through the door at the front of the car. Sammy made his way to the back, stopping beside each passenger to speak briefly.

When he stopped beside the young woman, Little Eli heard him say they would be in Parsons soon and would have a thirty minute delay as they took on more water before heading to Kansas City.

When Sammy turned to Little Eli, the black porter’s eyes suddenly widened. He saw a different person sitting here than the young boy who came aboard in Tulsa earlier in the day.

Little Eli sat up straight, grabbed his bag and stepped out, motioning for Sammy to follow him. He turned and walked to the rear door, followed closely by the black porter.

The Little Marshal now wore a big gun on his hip.

“Little Marshal Eli, what has happened?” Sammy asked as he saw the hard look on his face, his lips pulled tightly closed.

“Sammy, do you know where that young woman across from my seat and the young man up front are going?” He asked, not answering Sammy’s question.

“Their passage says Parsons. Have they caused you trouble?”

“No, but I have a feeling of distrust about them.”

“Want me to get a conductor to come in here and have a talk with them before we stop? What did they say to you?”

“Nothing, Sammy ... It may be nothing at all. I may just be overly cautious, traveling alone for the first time. I’ll be alright. If I don’t see you again, you take care of yourself. Thank you for making my trip to Kansas a safe one.”

“You really are a Little Marshal, Eli Crow Junior. Right before my very eyes, I saw a boy become a man. I never saw the likes.”

“I reckon I take after my dad even more than I ever realized, Sammy.”

“I reckon you do. I shore reckon you do, Little Marshal.” Sammy told him as he took Little Eli’s proffered hand and shook, feeling the folded bill he’d left in his hand.

Little Eli touched his hat with two fingers, nodding at the black porter, and without another word turned yo step down to the platform as soon as the train stopped at the station. He walked directly to the nearest ticket window and showed his passage to Boones Crossing.

The ticket manager looked at the tall, slender young man standing before him. His face told him he was a boy. His stature and manners told him he was a man.

“That’s your train over there on the sidetrack taking on water and coal. You can wait until they’re finished and they’ll switch back to this northbound mainline to load passengers.” The man told him as Little Eli cut his eyes toward the locomotive on the sidetrack, then back to look at him.

“Thank you, Sir. I think I’ll head on over early and find a good seat,” he said, abruptly turning to walk away.

The ticket manager watched the young man walk away, the strap of his traveling bag slung over his left shoulder as he strode toward the waiting train in long easy strides. He saw the Colt revolver strapped low across his slim hips, his holster tied just above his knee. He turned to the man beside him at the next ticket window. They looked at each other, then without a word, both men turned back to watch the tall young Indian in buckskins walking toward the waiting train.

“What do you make of that?”

“My friend, there’s a man inside that boy’s body...” He answered and both men chuckled as more passengers stepped up to purchase tickets.

As soon as Little Eli boarded the train, he took a seat with a view of the train station and the small, surrounding rail yard. He wanted to see if any of the people he had suspicions about, walked over to this train.

There was only one time when he couldn’t be sure none of them had boarded the train bound for Boones Crossing. That was when the train was switching back and forth until they were on the mainline headed northwest, toward Boones Crossing and points beyond.

There were two short blasts from the steam whistle just before the train lurched into motion. Slowly the northbound locomotive pulling two passenger cars, six boxcars, five loaded cattle cars, and a caboose, gained speed across the flat plains of southern Kansas.

The deeper the train took them into Kansas, the easier Little Eli felt and the more relaxed he became.

Only once did his apprehension return.

He glanced up to see a man looking through the glass on the front door, his hands were cupped beside his face as he peered into the passenger car. Why wouldn’t he just open the door and step inside?

Just as fast as it had appeared, the face was gone.

The black porter on the train to Boones Crossing was friendly and smiled a lot, but they never spoke on the two hour trip.

Boones Crossing, Kansas July 5, 1885

Little Eli was standing on the wooden loading dock before the wheels stopped rolling. His gunbelt was still strapped around his waist and he stopped to place his traveling bag on the loading platform. Loosening his gun belt, he slipped it off, then buckled it again before looping it over his right shoulder. His knife was still fastened to his waist, just as it always is when he was dressed.

He stood looking at his surroundings to see if anyone else had gotten off the train. Seeing no one, he waited until the train had pulled out, headed toward Topeka, before he left the depot, looking all around once more.

He’d asked his dad not to send a message to his Grandma and Grandpa Connor that he was coming. He wanted to surprise them without the town having a big hoopla like before, when he arrived.

Before he reached Connors Store, Little Eli saw Marshal Dal Hopkins walking toward him on his right. The marshal was on the boardwalk, walking along, looking into doorways, stopping to speak as he slowly made his way south, toward the railroad tracks.

Marshal Hopkins had stopped at the last store building on this side of the street. He was greeting the newcomers who’d come to Boones Crossing to open a store. He was proud to see them cleaning and readying the vacant store building for business. It had stood empty for a few years and the small town needed more businesses.

When he stepped back out on the boardwalk, intending to walk over to the depot, he looked up to see Marshal Eli Crow standing in front of him...

Dal Hopkins rubbed his eyes and looked again as Eli smiled at him. He looked just like he did the day he rode in with his sister Rose, to marry Mary Connor.

Marshal Hopkins fell back against the doorway and shook his head. His mind was playing tricks on him in his old age.

“Hello, Marshal.” The voice came to him in a soft whisper, like a soft warm breeze on a hot day.

“Eli?” was all he could muster as he stared at the man before him.

“Marshal, it’s me. Eli Junior, Little Eli!”

“MY LORD GOD IN HEAVEN ... Eli Crow, you look just like your daddy did the day he came back here to marry your mother. My God, Son. You have grown into a man in just a little over a year!”

“I reckon I have had a good growth spurt. How are you, Marshal?”

“Hell Fire, Eli! I’m fine now that my heart has settled down some. Did the Connors know you were coming here?”

“No, Sir. I wanted to surprise them.”

“You’re sure as hell gonna do that, Son. I reckon you are!

“Come on, I want to be there to pick them both up off the floor when you walk in. They’ve talked about you coming back ever since the day your daddy told them you’d be up here soon to see them...

“Hot Damn, Eli. I can’t get over how much you’ve changed and how much you look like your daddy did when he came here that second time. Hell Fire, Son. You’re a MAN!”