Chapter 85

When the small caravan had started east once more, Eli rode alongside the young Mexican who spoke in broken English. They kept up a conversation as best they could as he walked beside Eli’s horse.

Motioning toward the four young women with the flock of sheep, Eli asked, “your sisters?”

“Si. She is, Silvia, Luisa, Marita, and Ana Maria.”

“How old are they?”

“Silvia, she is, how you say? sixteen?

“She looks much younger.”

“No, no. Ana Maria, she younger. She, how you say? Fifteen?”

“Luisa, she is, how you say? Seventeen?”

“Marita, she is now, how you say? Eighteen?”

“What will happen to your older sister who was taken by the Federal Police?”

“She was to marry, how you say? Minister?”

“She was to marry a preacher?

“No Señor, a Minister to Governor of the State.”

“Did she want to marry him?”

“No Señor Eli, she never wanted to marry him. Papâ say no to Federâles, they take her anyway.

“Will she be in prison?”

“No, she in his hacienda until she will marry.”

“So they’ll hold her hostage until she agrees to marry?”

“Si. You are the lawman. You could go rescatar our sister in Mexico?”

“Rescue?”

“Si.”

“I can’t go to Mexico and rescue your sister. I have no authority over there.”

“But you really could go any way, yes?”

“No.”

“My sister would be happy to see you.”

“She doesn’t know me, and the answer is still no. I could lose my badge!”

“You could get a woman. A very, how you say? Pretty woman?”

“I have more women now than I can handle,” Eli said.

“Then she would be, amante. How you say? Mistress?”

“I sure as hell don’t need another mistress! The answer is still no. I’ll lose my badge and I’ve worked too hard for too many years to give up this badge for raiding Mexico to rescue a citizen of that country that I’ve never even met anyway.”

“But you could think about it some more, yes?” the young man looked up at Eli and smiled as he spoke.

Eli had to smile at him. He was persistent as hell.

Eli liked that in a man.

“What’s your name? You picked mine up easy enough.”

“Martinez Alejandro Delgado.”

“What is your father’s name?”

“Manuel Diego Alejandro Delgado.”

“And your sister who was kidnapped, what’s her name and how old is she?”

“Rosa Maria, she is, how you say? Twenty one?”

“Oh Hell!”

“What now, Señor Eli?”

“My sister’s name is Rose.”

“See, you get my sister, you now have two with same name.”

“I told you that I can’t go down there and kidnap a woman who’s already been kidnapped by the Federâles.”

“I know. But you really could.”

“Are none of your sisters married?”

“No. Papâ tell them not to marry Mexican. Wait and come here to marry American. Be American citizen. Live happily in America.”

“Do any of your sisters speak American?”

“Si, all of them do. We learned in the university.”

“All of you went to a university?”

“Si, Papâ once was the, how you say? Rich Ass Mexican?”

“The other four young men back there with the sheep, are they your brothers?”

“No. They are vaqueros before the cattle were rustling.”

“They know how to handle cattle?” Eli asked. He was already getting a plan in his head before Martinez answered.

“Si, they are the best. Does Lawman Eli have cattle?”

“Si. I mean yes, I have some.”

“Could they work for you to help pay for us to eat?”

“You don’t have to pay, I told you that all of you are my guests.”

“Could we stay and work for you? I can work cattle also.”

“So there’s your Papâ, you, your four sisters, and four vaqueros. How many women and who are they?”

“They are how you say? Wife of the vaqueros. They are six, but one is Papâ’s amante one is my amante.”

“How many cattle did you have?”

“How you say? Ten thousand?”

“TEN THOUSAND HEAD?”

“Si. Is that too many to bring back?”

“We’re not bringing them back ... I mean, I’m not going over there!”

“But you really could.”

“Martinez, I like you. I like you a hell of a lot. If you, your Papâ, your sisters and all your women and vaqueros want to stay and work for me, I’ll put you to work for good wages. I wish I could go over there and bring your sister and your cattle back. But I can’t.”

“But you really could,” Martinez said and grinned when Eli smiled at him, shaking his head.

“Would you just look at what’s coming here?” Don Cowden said as he, Moses, Duncan, Jud, Doc, Willis, Albert, Smitty, Leon, James, and the Blasingame men were sitting in the shade of a pecan tree when they saw Eli riding in with a Mexican caravan.

“Eli, what have you run upon now?” Don asked as he walked out to meet him.

“Don, we need to feed these people, tend to the women and babies, and put them up for a few days until I can figure out what we’re going to do with them.”

“Do they speak English?” he asked.

“Yep, the younger ones do.”

Eli looked up to see Jubal, Jeno, Amos and Roy standing up, looking over his way. He waved to them and called them over.

“You men help those vaqueros put the sheep in that back corral with the tight fencing on it. Put some feed and water in for them too,” Eli told them and watched as the four of them scrambled to help herd the sheep.

Eli laughed aloud when he saw the four young men run out to help. When they realized that there were four young women with the vaqueros, they all stood back in shock, looking toward Eli. He was still laughing when he stepped from his horse.

Before Eli could start telling the men about the Mexicans and why they were here, Miranda, Grandmother, Rose, and Sissy walked out to see what was happening. When they saw the women and babies, they gathered them up and took them back to feed them and help with the babies.

Martinez had already met Doc, Don, and the Blasingame men. He was telling them of their plight. Moses had brought Manuel a chair to sit on. Howard and Jefferson joined them as Martinez Delgado told of how their hacienda and rancho had been raided, his oldest sister taken away and all their cattle driven off.

Eli stood and listened to the young man describe all that had happened. He felt his hair bristle when Martinez told about his younger sisters being stripped naked and made to walk back and forth in front of all the mounted Federâles while he and his father were tied hand foot and made to watch.

When Jubal, Jeno, Amos, and Roy had fastened the sheep in the pen, they helped the vaqueros take the five burros loose from the carts and put them in the corrals to feed and water them. When they were through, Jubal was the first to speak directly to one of the younger women.

“Would all of you like to get a plate and eat? There’s plenty of food over there and the women are already eating.”

“Yes, thank you. Are you one of Marshal Eli’s sons?” she asked in perfect English, with barely an accent.

“Oh, no Ma’am. I’m one of his hired hands. That’s my brother Jeno over there, and this here is Amos, and that’s Roy. We all came down here from Kansas with Marshal Crow a few years back to work for him.”

“How long have you worked for Marshal Crow,” she asked. She smiled when she saw Jeno nudge Jubal with his elbow, and the two brothers grin at each other as they nodded.

“We’ve been with him about four years now. I reckon he’s about the best man me and my brother ever met.”

“He is a kind man. He asked us to come here to eat and stay until we rest.”

“How long will you be here, you reckon?” Jubal asked. He had a knot in his throat the size of his fist, but he loved talking to this pretty Mexican girl.

“Until our brother, Martinez, and our Papâ tell us we need to leave.”

“I hope you and your sisters stay a long time then ... I mean, well, I meant you and your family too.”

“I knew what you meant. Are you and your brother married?” she asked and Jubal nearly choked, his throat was so tight.

“Uh, no. Are you and your sisters married?”

“No. We want to stay here in America and make a new life. Papâ tell us to find American men to love us, and marry them,” she said, looking directly into his eyes for the first time as he looked at her.

Both of them smiled at each other, then looked away.

“My name is Ana Maria, I am fifteen. How old are you, Jubâl?” she asked and his heart was pounding at the way she spoke his name.

“I’m almost twenty. Jeno is almost twenty one. Roy and Amos are both twenty one already.”

Roy and Amos Curtis were looking at each other and smiling as they listened to Jubal make everyday talk with the beautiful young señorita.

Her sisters were quiet the whole time Ana Maria spoke to the young gringo who worked for Marshal Eli. They would look at each other and smile as they watched and listened. They knew the young men were watching them closely. They had never known young men their age, and had never even met young gringos before today.

Jeno was even more proud Jubal was his brother at this moment. Jubal had always been able to talk to anyone, and now he’s making time with this beautiful young Mexican señorita. He’d even pulled his harmonica out and played it for the Mexican sisters as they smiled.

Eli walked past them, grinning down at Jubal when he looked up. He saw the youngest of the Mexican girls look up and smile at him too. He nodded to her and smiled. Eli kept right on walking. Those boys were doing good, making friends with those young girls like that.

Eli heard Jubal playing his harmonica again and looked back to see Ana Maria sitting next to him, smiling as he played for her.

His plan began to grow in his head, though he still had the nagging thoughts about the sister the Mexican family had left behind in Mexico.

“Eli, are you going to let these people stay and work for us?” Miranda asked as they settled in around the campfire.

“I’ve been thinking of how I could help them. We’ll have more drilling rigs starting up in a week or so. I could let some of the younger men help with that. I’ve thought about letting a couple of the vaqueros and their wives move up to the valley where the Bucks and our girls will have houses built. We could even start building herds up there and let these men tend the cattle.

“Have you and Rose asked the women and girls what their plans are? Do they even want to stay now that they know they won’t have any new land?”

“They want to stay, Dad. We want them to stay too,” Sissy told him.

“Eli, did they tell you they still have a sister back in Mexico who was kidnapped?” Rose asked.

“They did and I wish there was something I could do, but I have no authority down there. I could lose my badge and even go to prison down there if I tried to rescue her and got caught across the border in Mexico.”

“Eli, you and Moses and Joe could go back there with those young men and rescue that girl. Just imagine what she must be going through. I remember when I was kidnapped and how I felt. I remember wishing that you would come rescue me from those vile, nasty men, and then you did,” Rose said as she lay her hand on his.

He looked from Rose to Miranda to Sissy. He could see in each of their eyes that they expected him to at least try and help the Mexicans rescue their sister.

“I’ll talk to Moses and some of the other men. I wouldn’t want Joe to go with us if we went, Sissy. He’s not able to handle a gun as good as before he was shot. I know he’ll kick up a fuss, but he needs to stay here and watch over things with Duncan.”

“Then you’ll go back with them?” Miranda asked. She was smiling and the younger Mexican sisters were all smiling as they looked at Eli hopefully.

“Let me think on it. I’ll have to plan this out or we’ll get caught down there. I don’t want to have to fight my way out of Mexico!”

Indian Territory
Unassigned Lands
April 21, 1889:

The Unassigned Lands

When the unassigned lands were opened on April 21, 1889, the entire Crow family, along with their friends, their hired hands, their partners, and drilling crews were at the Pecan Ridge Cattle Ranch as the Land Run officially started.