Chapter 14

Tom left the church after the preacher told the story about the miracle in the plains. He knew the man had to be there that day to describe it so well. Almost exactly as his mom and dad had told him the story when he was just a kid. Tom loved to hear the story over and over and it made him proud to hear it this way.

When he would play in the post yard as a little boy, he ran with his wings spread, imagining he was flying as the eagles do. He would sit for hours on a hill behind the barn searching the sky for eagles. When he spotted one he would become excited and run again with arms spread.

The young boy of Sioux and white man blood would run and screech so loud it could be heard across the plains as the sounds of the eagles in the sky.

Today’s experience made Tom wonder if he should identify himself to others. He just wasn’t sure if now was the time.

He rode on out to the Croom place. Millie and Danny heard the sound of his horse and came running to meet him.

“Tom, we’re so glad that you came to see us. We really like Junior and Ma does too.

“He works hard and we’re getting ready to plow some of the bottom ground and plant some crops.” Danny was the first to run up to Tom and he was full of news about the place.

“Tom, let’s go in the house and tell Ma you’re here, Junior is way out in the field over yonder, but he’ll be here shortly.

“He’s trying out that old plow he found back there, it had some broken plow handles on it and he whittled out some new ones.” Millie was just as happy to see Tom and both were excited about working the place now.

Tom followed the kids in the house and Missus Croom smiled when she saw Tom standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Tom it sure is good to see you again, come set down and let me get you something to eat.”

“Well, I didn’t really come for a meal but I know I can’t turn down a meal from the best cook in the county.”

“Aw hush your mouth, I know I ain’t that good a cook.”

“How’s Junior working out Missus Croom, I hope I didn’t make a mistake sending him here, Millie and Danny said he was a hard worker.”

“Tom I tell you, I have to make the boy quit work to come eat, and I don’t know what you told him but he won’t even look Millie in the eye.”

“Well, that’s good. Just leave it like that for a while longer Missus Croom until you know he’s worthy of lookin’ at Millie.”

“Tom are you telling ma that one day it might be alright for Junior to talk with me some? Me and Danny really like him. He works so hard and he treats us like grown up folks too,” Millie was full of being a girl again.

“I was just tellin’ your ma that if she ever thought he was a good enough man for you, she might give her blessing for you to maybe go to church on Sunday with Junior. Then if you both act like grownups, she may even smile on you a little more. Don’t go getting big eyed on us.”

“Aww Tom, it ain’t like I love the boy, but he sure is a nice one to be around and Danny and Ma really like him too.”

“Then give it time, you and Junior got some growing up to come yet. I reckon that by harvest this fall, your ma and Danny will know how Jr. fits in here, don’t you?”

“Yes Tom and thank you too,” Millie said as she hugged Tom.

Junior came up to the barn with the team of horses and put them in the corral. He was washing up when Millie ran out to tell him Tom was here. Jr. had seen Tom’s horse and knew he was here. He was afraid to come in the house at first, then Millie told him all the things Tom had said and Junior broke out in a smile and had tears in his eyes.

“You mean he said that one day it would be alright for us to go to church together Millie? I ain’t ever been to church, but I’d go with you.”

Junior walked in the house behind Millie and jerked his dirty old hat off as he walked into the room with Missus Croom. Junior turned to Tom and stuck out his hand, “Deputy good to see you again.”

“I been hearing some good reports about you Junior seems like you’ve found a home, what do you think?” Tom smiled.

“Deputy I can’t ever thank you enough for sending me out here to work for Missus Croom and her young’uns. They’re just the best people I ever knowed.”

“Good Junior, you keep up the good work and take care of these good folks the best you know how.”

Missus Croom cooked up a big Sunday meal and Tom sat down with them to enjoy the home cooking.

When Tom left the Croom place he had a real big hankerin’ to ride out to the Canady spread, but decided to ride out tomorrow and not mess up their Sunday.

Tom rode back into Newton and got his horse settled in the livery stable.

He walked down to the sheriff’s office, but the sheriff wasn’t there. Sam and Bo were both asleep and Tom left the front door open to air the place out a bit as he walked over to the saloon.

The Sheriff and the Mayor were sitting at their favorite table having a drink of whiskey when Tom walked in. The door was open and he just stood there for a minute before he said anything.

Sheriff Keyes looked up and nearly jumped out of his seat, “Dammit Tom you scared the shit out of me, you need to get some boots so you’ll make some noise when you walk,” he laughed and the mayor thought it was funny that the sheriff had jumped like that.

“It ain’t funny, Hell I just looked up at that door and no one was there, then I looked back and there he stood.”

“Come over here Tom and have a shot with us,” Mayor Dean said.

“No offense mayor, but I don’t drink.”

“Good, keep it that way and you’ll live longer.”

“You ride out to Widder Croom’s place today Tom?” the sheriff asked.

“Yes Sir, wanted to check up on them and see how Junior was coming along. He’s only been there a little over a day and has them all excited about plowing and planting spring crops and putting in a garden.”

“Well that’s good for all concerned Tom, you made a man of that boy and I’m sure they’ll be alright out there,” the sheriff said.

“I’ll look in on them once in a while when you leave Tom.”

“Thanks sheriff, and it might do you good to drop in there around eatin’ time too, Missus Croom is a really good cook.”

Tom went to the livery stable and got some clean clothes out of his bedroll and walked over to the hotel and bought himself a hot bath. He went to the boarding house and took all his dirty clothes and picked up his clean ones. A few more days and he’d ride south again and he wanted to have a clean change of clothes when he left.

Tom went back to the stable and played his flute for a while. The sounds making the lonely streets of Newton seem even more lonely and alone as the music drifted lazily through the still air on a Sunday evening about sundown. Tom went to bed and slept peaceful until morning.

He saddled up and rode out to the Canady spread early on Monday, he was sure they’d heard about Mr. Roller by now, but he felt obligated to tell them what happened. He let his horse pick his own gait, and smiled when his horse cut off to the right toward the Canady spread without being told. Tom rode into the yard and over to the barn. When he slid off his horse, he saw Runt working on some harness by the tack room.

“Tom I see you come back, I was wondering if you would after I heard about what went on in town.”

“Well Runt, I’m not sure what all you heard but I just wanted to come out and set things straight with Mr. Canady after Roller drew down on me and the sheriff like that.”

“Tom, Roller’s been loadin’ that wagon for a long time and he thought he was about as bad as they come. Guess you proved him wrong.”

“I was hoping he’d hold off a few more days, I’d be gone by then, he’d still be alive if he had.”

“Tom, his kind are gonna get it sooner or later. He had that itchin’ feelin’ to prove how bad he really was. He thought you bein’ an Injun, he could put you down.”

“You may be right Runt, you knew him better than I did. Did you ever see anyone being strange after I left the other day?”

“No Tom and I was watchin’ this bunch like a hawk too, ev’body was just being who they was.”

“Where can I find Mr. Canady this morning?”

“He took a bunch of the wranglers and a couple of wagons over to the west line to string some more fences. If you ride out past the corrals and head due west, you’ll come upon’em.”

“Thanks Runt, for being a friend.”

“Injun you make it easy for me to call you friend.”

Tom rode west from the ranch headquarters to find Mr. Canady. He wasn’t sure what kind of welcome he would get but it had to be done. He rode for what must have been over five miles before he saw two wagons in the distance. This was some really good grazing land here and Mr. Canady had it split up in short pastures so they could control the grazing.

Tom saw the fencing crew look over toward him as they saw him ride in.

“Morning men, where might I find Mr. Canady?”

One of the men looked at Tom and spit his tobacco juice then wiped his lips on his sleeve before he spoke.

“He rode down toward the south corner of the ranch with his youngest girl about an hour ago.”

“Thanks.”

“Yup.”

Tom rode south from where the men were, riding at an easy lope. He wanted to get this over with, but was in no hurry to get there.

He saw the two riders by a big marker pole and rode over to them.

“Morning Mr. Canady, morning Paleface”

“Morning Tom, I kinda figured you’d be out today after what happened in town,” Mr. Canady said as Tom rode up next to them.

“Morning Injun,” Beth said with a straight face.

“Well, Mr. Canady I just wanted to tell you in person that I didn’t want this to happen. I told Sheriff Keyes I wanted to steer clear of Roller until he cooled off, just to try and keep it from boilin’ over.”

“I know Tom, and I sure hate that Roller couldn’t let it lie either, he was a good ranch hand and he knew horses. He just couldn’t help but be a bully to everyone that would take it. It was sure to happen sooner or later, I hate that you had to be involved.”

“Thanks Mr. Canady I reckon what you just said is what I rode out here for, I wasn’t sure how you would look at me after I’d just killed your ramrod.”

“Tom you’re a Canady friend and you’re welcome here any time you ride this way. You’re a lawman now and you did what you had to do when a man pulls a gun on your back, we’re all thankful that you didn’t get hurt in all the shooting.”

Tom’s horse was between Beth and Mr. Canady’s horse as they sat talking. Beth kept looking at Tom, and it was all she could do to keep from climbing over on his horse and giving him a big hug as he sat there with his head down trying to explain how he felt.

“Tom since you rode all the way out here, I’d like to know what really happened that night, so I can put it to rest,” Mr. Canady said.

“Well Mr. Canady, the sheriff and I were making our rounds and had just left the livery stable and was walking back toward the middle of town.

“We’d already had some trouble with a gun hand as he was about to draw down on a farmer without a gun. The sheriff told the man not to draw and he got smart with the sheriff. I got around where I could face him and asked him to come on down to the office so we could settle all this. He got ugly with his words and faced me. I asked him one more time not to die this way. He drew anyway and I killed him.”

“The sheriff and I were both still jumpy when we left the stable and I had just told him that I had this feeling there was more to come. About that time, somebody called out for the sheriff to watch out behind him. I shoved the sheriff to the ground and turned as I went to my knees. It was barely light to see, but I saw the man as he fired his handgun, the bullet went right by my head and I shot him in the shoulder. He kept coming and I killed him. I didn’t know who it was, but I had a sick feeling even before I turned him over.”

“I knew you never meant to kill him Tom, I just wanted you to tell me in your words. I talked to the men that were with him and they all told me that Roller was itching for a fight and that he kept bad mouthing you. The last man with him said Roller told him he was gonna go out in the alley and he’d be right back. He said the next thing he knew there was gunfire and when he went out you had killed Roller. He said there were witnesses that Roller had drawn his gun at the back of you and the sheriff. My hired hand told me you had no choice.

“Tom, I want to tell you with Beth as my witness, you’re my friend and you’re a friend of my family, you’re welcome to come here anytime you want. We all think you’re a fine young man. I want us to put all of this behind us now and think of better things. My friends will be getting the letters I sent, and they’ll be here by the middle of the week to accept my challenge. They’ll bring the fastest horses this side of St. Louis, I hope you and I can have some fun with them.”

“Thank you Sir, and thank you Paleface. A man needs to know he has friends like you folks. I’m ready when you are Mr. Canady and my horse needs some exercise too,” Tom looked from one to the other and smiled.

“Ride with us back up to where my men are fencing Tom, then Beth can ride back to the headquarters with you if you like.”

“Yes Sir,” Tom smiled and looked at Beth.

The three rode along at a slow walk of their horses talking about how they would handle the races when Canady’s friends came here.

Three coyote’s ran across in front of them about thirty yards out, Beth grabbed her rifle and stopped her horse to take a shot. The three coyote’s were loping along until the .44 slug kicked up dirt right behind them.

“You want me to get them for you?” Tom asked.

“Just how would you do that Injun?”

Tom swung his Henry out of his scabbard and up to his shoulder, the coyote’s were running all out and moving away at an angle from left to right. He took aim and led the first one, then fired. He jacked another cartridge and fired again. The second time he fired, the first coyote fell in a tumbling tangle of legs and tail. Tom fired again and the second one fell, then after a few more steps, the third one fell.

“Damn,” Beth said, then looked at her daddy. “Uh, sorry daddy that just slipped.”

“I was thinking the same thing, that was some shooting Tom. You shoot as well as you ride young man, you’ve been taught well.”

Tom and Beth were riding side by side in a slow walk back to the headquarters, they were laughing and going over again, the day at the creek when they met.

“Injun tell me how you hit those three coyote’s back there, I never can hit them when they get that far out.”

“Well Paleface, first of all you got to hold your spit for a few minutes before you shoot, you can’t just spit then shoot right away,” Tom grinned.

“Now who’s puttin’ on a show?”

“I’ll tell you but don’t go givin’ my secret away. It’s an old Sioux trick and it works every time.”

“Is it for real or are you just makin’ up more of your palaver?”

“Paleface, you have to draw a bead where the coyote will be when the bullet gets there, not where he is when you shoot.”

“Injun that sounds like some more of your mouthin’ off to me.”

“Just think for a minute Paleface, if you shoot where he is now, you’ll hit where he is now, only he won’t be there when the bullet gets there.”

“Now I see what you’re saying, shoot in front of him so he will get there when the bullet does”

“Yep now you got it, line up and give him a little lead with your rifle, the farther away he is the more you have to lead.

“You gotta remember too that your rifle is only gonna shoot so far. If he’s way out from you, you’ll have to raise your barrel up so you don’t hit the ground short of where you are shooting.”

“I think I’ll need to practice this new shooting you’re telling me about.”

“Try it a few times, after you get the hang of it you’ll be thinning out the coyote population on the ranch without gettin’ all muddy.”

When Dale Canady rode back to where his fencing crew was working, his top hand walked out a ways and met him.

“Mr. Canady I need to ride over there and talk with the deputy for a bit if it’s alright with you, its about the other night in town.”

“All of that’s been squared between Tom and me. No need in stirring it again Ernie,”

“Mr. Canady I really need to talk with him, I know some stuff that might set him more at ease about the things that led up to the shootin’.”

“Ride on out and catch them Ernie, and get on back soon.”

“Yes Sir Mr. Canady and I sure do thank you.”

Ernie jumped his horse and took off after Beth and Tom, he could still see them so he knew he wouldn’t be long in overtaking them.

Tom and his horse heard the rider coming hard before Beth did and he turned to see who was riding so fast at them.

Ernie rode right to Tom and asked to speak to him alone.

“You can talk in front of Miss Beth wrangler, what’s this about.”

“Deputy, I need to tell you some things that happened before you shot Roller, I need to get it off my chest if you’ll hear me out.”

“I’m listening.”

“My name is Ernie and I been with Mr. Canady for over a year now and I sure like it here. Roller has been ridin’ all of us hard, and me special hard now for about a month or more. I took it cause I need this job and I like it here on the Canady spread. Well when you came here the other day to breed your stud to Mr. Canady’s mares, Roller really got riled about it and started takin’ it out on me and the other wranglers. I thought up a way to get back at Roller without me being involved. Now I feel bad that it happened the way it did cause he got killed.

“What I did, didn’t get him killed but it may have saved your life now that I think back on it. You see, it was me that stuck the hay fork in your bedroll and spit my ‘backer juice on it. I knew you wasn’t in it, I checked. I did that to set him up with you, thinking you’d just dust his hide for him and settle him down a bit. When you left that day and no one knew about it, I was wondering what was gonna happen now. Then Roller caused a ruckus when Mr. Canady was payin’ us off, just like he did the day you took your bath in the tank.

“On the way to town that night, Roller was madder’n a hornet. He was talking about pistol whipping you and taking you down a notch since you were just a uppity injun. Me and the other boys tried to settle him down some, but when he started getting’ a belly full of whiskey, he got more riled up than ever.”

“We all just shy’d away from’im thinking he would cool off. I was sitting there when Roller said he was gonna go piss, sorry Miss Elizabeth, when he said he was gonna go out in the alley. I sat there for a bit then I walked out, I knew he didn’t sound right when he left the table, it was me that hollered at the sheriff to look out behind him. Roller already had his gun in his hand when I hollered, and if you hadn’t been as fast as you was, he would’ve killed you both. I rode out that night and before I got back to the spread, I knew I couldn’t live with what I did without tellin’ you.”

“You spit tobacco juice on him when you rode by didn’t you Ernie?”

“Yup, I did deputy, I almost let that man kill two people and when I rode by him laying there in the street it just come natural to spit on him.”

“Ernie, I want to thank you for setting the story straight, you’re a good man and I hope you make a go of it here with Mr. Canady. I’ll tell the sheriff but I don’t see that you did anything that caused Roller to hate anymore than he already did, he didn’t know you had baited my bedroll against him. You ride on back, I’m sure that Miss Beth will talk in your favor to her dad. He’s a fair man and I’m sure you’ll have a job.”

“Thanks deputy for hearing me out and for not holding a grudge.”

“Just mind what you do from now on, you never know what may come back to slap your face.”

“Thanks again deputy. Ma’am,” Ernie said as he turned to ride back to the fencing crew.

“That sure was a strange end to an already strange story wasn’t it?” Beth said.

“Sure was Paleface, I think you ought to put in some good words for Ernie, since you heard all he said. He was just trying to get a man to let up on ridin’ down so hard on the crew and it got all tangled up on him.”

“I will Injun. If you think good of him, then I know he’s a good man. Now, we don’t have much time before we get to the ranch headquarters and I know you’ll be leaving here soon. I just want to know if I’ll see you again before you leave and will I ever see you after you go away?” Beth said, after she screwed up the courage to ask.