Chapter 86

Not only did Jere Joe and Jonny Bill ride to the Cheyenne village to get extra horses from their grandfather. They requested their grandfather send thirteen of his finest fillies.

The two brothers met Eli and the men out on the trail with the horses so they wouldn’t lose time on their way to Little Tree.

When Eli saw the Cheyenne brothers already on the trail ahead with the thirteen horses, he waved to the Mexican vaqueros and pointed to the horses. The four young Mexicans raced ahead to take the leads of the horses from Jere Joe and Jonny Bill.

Eli and the other men waved to Jere Joe and Jonny Bill in passing, as they rode hard to catch the vaqueros and the spirited young Cheyenne Paints.

They rode their horses at a fast lope, stopping to water them at a water hole once before entering Texas. They changed mounts at the water hole, saddling fresh horses for another hard ride toward Little Tree. They rode on into the night at a fast gallop until they came to the creek where they’d always stopped on their way to and from Little Tree. There they rested their horses, letting them drink, and graze on the nearby grass.

They drank coffee and ate jerky as they talked over the few plans they had.

“Martinez, tell us what to expect when we get down to then border. Will there be guards? Will there be a wall? Will there be soldiers there too?” Eli asked.

“They take Rosa to a place near the capitol city where the Minister lives. Maybe two mile from the city and yes, there will be walls. But only three walls. One side, the one looking at the river will be open. The river is not deep and we will cross in the night with no shooting. No sentries along the open side, but yes, on the ends and on top of the walls there will be.”

“Martinez, Ana Maria told me that she went there with you to see about Rosa. She said y’all saw her and she was walking in the garden alone dressed only in a sleep dress,” Jubal said as they sat and talked.

“Si, we did see her. She was like, how you say? In a dream. She never look up, she walk with her head down.”

“Ana told me that a woman came out and made her take a bath in a big pool,” Jubal added.

“Si, that was hard to watch. Rosa so shy. She never undress like that at home.”

“Martinez, do you think they may have given her something to make her like that?” Albert asked.

“Si. Ana Maria and I think the same on that. They give her the pêyotê, to make her not have cares.”

“Pêyotê?” Albert said, having never heard of it.

“Si, a cactus. Chewing the bloom button will make ones spirit rise.”

“Moses, have you ever seen a pêyotê cactus?” Eli asked.

“I have, Eli. I have even chewed the button. It does things to a man’s head that makes him see and do things he never thought of before. The Indians of the deserts have used it as medicine and in spiritual ceremonies for years.”

“How long does it make a girl stay like that?” Jubal asked.

“For a day,” Martinez answered.

“Did you and Ana go back to see her again?” Albert asked.

“Si. We did.”

“Was she like that the next day?” Eli asked.

“Si, we hide and watch. Come back to see again and again each morning for a week. Always a guard with guns. There was no way for just us to rescatar Rosa.”

“Martinez, what is the best time to try and take her?” Willis asked.

“Early at daylight. We go many times early, see Rosa walk the garden path. Guards will be sleepy early.”

“We need to get a couple of hours sleep ourselves, we’ve got a fast ride to Little Tree coming up, then we’ll have to decide where we’ll get off that train and head south,” Eli told them.

“Si, Cuidad Juarez long miles from here,” Martinez told them.

“Maybe we can get a better railroad map when we get to the station in Little Tree,” Eli told them as they settled into their bedrolls to rest.

Little Tree, Texas
April 27, 1889

“Yes Sir, we got a new railroad map over here. Here’s one that shows the railroad all the way to Albuquerque, then on south, down to El Paso, before it cuts back into west Texas. That would be the fastest way for you to get there. Of course you could get off the train before you get to Albuquerque and ride your horses the rest of the way, but you know that would take longer, even if it was shorter miles,” the man said as he and Eli looked the map over.

“We’ll need thirteen passages all the way to El Paso and we’ll need a cattle car for our twenty six horses all the way,” Eli told the man as he held his roll of money below the window and peeled off a hundred dollar bill.

“What time did you say the next train comes through? We’ll need to get us some hay and feed over here from Hoke’s livery.”

“Around 3:00 in the morning is when it’s due to come through here. I’ll have to go back up the line a ways and fire up the red lantern-light or he’ll never even slow down when he comes through.”

“Then you best get that done, I don’t want to miss that train,” Eli told him before turning to the others.

“Lets all go see Hoke and get him to bring us some hay and oats up here in a wagon. Then we’ll head to the hotel for a good meal before we come back and wait on that train.”

“Marshal Crow, it sure is good to see you again. Is that bunch of Young Bucks here with you? I reckon they told you, we had us a hell-of-a horse race here a few weeks ago,” Hoke greeted Eli when he stepped into the livery barn

“They’re not with me this time, Hoke. They told me about that race. I reckon ya’ll got a good payday from that one, the way the Bucks told it,” Eli said and grinned.

“I made a hell-of-a haul, Marshal. Them fools just thought they knew a thing or two about racing horses. That young stud of Little Eli’s they call, Cheyenne, dusted them Kentucky race horses’ asses good, I’m here to tell you! When that man left here, Little Eli had done charged him a thousand dollars to stick a couple of mares of his that was horsin’ and made arrangements for him to come back down to Tulsa in the coming years to breed some more of his young mares.”

“He didn’t tell me about that. I reckon Cheyenne ought to get a stud fee that high, he’s the fastest damned horse I ever saw,” Eli told him with pride showing all over his face.

“Hoke we’re gonna need about twenty bales of your good alfalfa hay over there and around a dozen sacks of crushed oats you got stacked up. Can you get your man to deliver it to the railroad station in about an hour? We’re headed over to the hotel to get a bite to eat right now.”

“We’ll take the hay and feed on over now, Marshal. No need in you bein’ there.”

“We’ll have to put it in a cattle car, Hoke. We’re headed down to El Paso on some official business and we’ll need our horses when we get there.”

“Then we’ll be awaitin’ on you at the depot when you get back. Y’all headed on down into Old Mexico too, I reckon?”

“We may make it over there before we leave from down there, if we have time that is,” Eli told him and turned to see Willis and Moses grinning.

“Jubal, they serve one helluva steak over at the hotel. You and Roy go tell the man in the kitchen to slice off thirteen big ones and get them on the fire. Tell him we’ll be there when we use the facilities and wash up,” Eli said, handing Roy a hundred dollar bill.

“Yes Sir Marshal, we’ll get ‘em ordered then get ourselves washed up too. I hope his steaks are as good as the ones we cook up at your place on Sundays and the first ones we ate on the train coming down to Tulsa that time,” Jubal said with a grin as he and Roy turned to go order their supper.

After they’d eaten, they met Hoke and his hired hand at the depot and loaded the hay and grain in the cattle car spotted by the loading chute. Just before dark, they watered their horses and loaded them in the car with the hay and feed. They tied their twenty six horses to the sides of the cattle car, some facing opposite sides and close together so they couldn’t get to the hay and feed stacked at the other end as they traveled.

They had a long wait ahead of them, and waiting was the one thing none of them were good at.

They sat outside and talked to Martinez again with him drawing the compound in the dirt with a stick. They asked questions and talked until they had a good idea of how the compound by the Rio Grande was laid out where Rosa was held captive.

The few wooden benches proved be very uncomfortable when they went inside, so they stretched out on the floor in the depot with their heads on their saddles, trying to get some sleep.

“Marshal, do you mind if I blow my French Harp while we unlax a bit?” Jubal asked.

“Go ahead and play it, Jubal. I heard you playing the other day for Martinez’ sisters, you’re getting pretty dang good with it.”

“Thanks Marshal. Jarrell never let me blow it while he had it, but I always wanted to learn how. Now that I got it, I kinda like makin it whine and cry a little bit.”

“Play one of them slow soundin’ ones you always play Jubal. Kinda soft and low so we’ll fall asleep to it,” Roy Curtis told him.

“Yeah, play that one you made up the other day for the señoritas, that’n sounded good,” Jeno told his brother.

The thirteen men lay sprawled out on the floor of the train depot in Little Tree, Texas as Jubal Hooker breathed softly into his hand-me-down harmonica, sending a soulful whine drifting throughout the old clapboard building. Each of them listened to Jubal’s harmonica sounds, letting their minds and tired bodies relax, thinking of hard times past and a promise of better times to come.

Little Tree, Texas
April 28, 1889

“Your train is pulling in!” The depot agent said loudly as he bent down and shook Eli.

“I’ll go out and tell them they’ll have to switch that cattle car onto the track. They’ll bitch and gripe about it, but hell they get mad every time they have to stop here anyway,” the agent told them as Eli and the others began to gather their saddles and bedrolls together.

“I need to talk to the engineer too, I’ll be right out,” Eli said as the agent started toward the door.

“Who in the hell is it this time that’s just got to catch a damn train in the middle of the night anyhow? Hell Man, I was making good time out here on this long straight run ‘til I saw that damn red lantern. Now we’ll not only lose time here, when we hit them damn mountains, that’ll slow us down too.” The engineer was standing on the wooden loading platform, bitching at the depot agent as El walked up.

The depot agent never said a word as he hooked his thumb toward Eli standing near the engineer, then grinned when the short fat railroad man turned to see the tall Indian standing near him with his saddle thrown over his shoulder.

“I just wanted to tell you that we have twenty six horses in that cattle car over there that will need to be watered once between here and Albuquerque, and again between there and El Paso,” Eli told the man.

“We’ll be stopping for water about every fifty miles or so, anyway. I reckon I can spot your car next to a ramp so’s you can water them. No offense meant by my words earlier. We’ll make up some time when we get’er rolling again.”

“No offense taken, we’ll board the passenger car now so you can pull out as soon as you get the cars switched,” Eli told the man and waved to the others to board the one Standard Pullman passenger car.

Turning back to the engineer, Eli asked how long it would take to get to El Paso, “With all the water and coal stops, how long will it take us to go all the way down to the border?”

“It’ll be nigh-on to daylight day after tomorrow. We’ll have a one hour layover in Albuquerque and another one down in Socorro. You’ll have time to grab some grub at both of them stops and get any personal business done.”

As soon as they had boarded the train, they were nearly thrown off their feet with a hard lurch of the passenger car. Grabbing the seat backs as they walked, they made their way to the other end where there were no passengers.

There were only four men and a black Porter already in the Pullman. They had been curled up asleep on a seat, or had their feet propped up in the next seat, asleep until now. Even the lone Porter had been asleep in a seat at the other end, until the train jarred them awake.