Chapter 12

I helped my family as much as I could. After a few weeks, Star got able to get around pretty well. Another week and she was fairly pain free. Then she came up to me and told me she wanted to spend some time with me, inside. "Are you up to it Sweetheart?" I asked her.

"Husband, if I don't spend some time touching you and loving you I am going to go crazy," she said.

"I am glad, because I feel the same way," I told her with a hug.

I picked her up and carried her inside. Swan and Sunshine giggled as they got the little ones and took them on a walk.

Star and I made sweet love until she sprayed milk on me twice. She was happier and I was too. I took a short nap, and was awakened by Star wiping the milk off me.

I kissed her and got dressed and went outside to check on the stock and my family. I didn't have to worry much since Swan and Sunshine both had their pistols. I had asked them if they wanted new pistols, but they were perfectly happy with their cap and ball pistols. Swan had said they were too big for her anyway. That gave me an idea to discuss with Mr. Weiss.

The next week, Running Wolf and his family came by on their way home from Smith's. Hawk had gone to work at the factory, and they had been to visit him. They brought me a letter from the marshal at Fort Smith. I thanked them for bringing it by.

They stayed and had supper with us. They told us that Hawk was happy with his job at the factory, and had been saving his money to set up his own family. "I hope he finds as good a woman as I did," I said.

My brides all blushed, and smiled.

It seems the marshal knew who those men were. Edgar Lee, Willis Reeves and James Thorne were wanted for a payroll robbery in Ohio. There was a $100.00 reward for their capture, and a 10% reward for the return of the money.

I talked to Sunshine about the men and which direction they came from. I asked Swan, my sneaky little tracker, if she was up to helping me try to find the robbery money.

She said that she was fine and if she could take Florence that she was fine with helping.

I asked Star and Sunshine to be extra careful while we were gone. They both kissed me and said they would wear their pistols the whole time. I set an MP-5 inside the door of the house. They all said they would rather have their rifles than the submachine gun. I asked them to leave it there anyway.

Swan fixed up a rig to carry Florence suspended in front of her as she rode. I carried her about half the time anyhow. I talked to her and pointed things out to her. I know she was too little to understand, but I wanted her to know I loved her and I wanted her to hear English.

Jack came along too. I didn't mind since I thought he might find us a rabbit or two for fresh meat.

We found their last camp, but saw no signs of any activity that would indicate hiding something. We were not really tracking them, because of the time that had elapsed, but we were searching for signs that they had been in the area, particularly campsites.

About three days out we found the remains of a horse. They didn't have any digging tools with them so I figured that they had hidden the proceeds, to come back and pick up later.

I talked this idea over with Swan, and we dismounted and began looking for sign of things that were moved or dragged. I held Florence while Jack and Swan searched. Swan was very meticulous. She eventually found where something had been moved, and some stones that were turned the wrong way.

We found some saddlebags and a strongbox. The saddlebags had canvas bank bags stenciled with Owensboro Banking Company. They held several hundred dollars in paper money, I didn't count it then. The strongbox was labeled Walls Freight Company. It contained gold and silver coins and a large amount of paper money.

I hugged Swan, saying, "The reward from this should give us enough money to buy a bull and a new stallion. Maybe even a new mare or two."

I tied the strongbox on Joe, and put the saddlebags on behind Swan. I walked home.

Swan took care of Florence and me. Jack pointed a gobbler and Swan efficiently shot him with her shotgun. Jack got the legs, and we had the rest.

Aside: For those of you who have never had wild turkey, these active birds have very tough legs with abundant tendons. Otherwise, they are very tasty.

When we returned home, everything was fine. I wrote a letter to the marshal at Fort Smith. I told him we had back tracked the men and found the purloined money. It seemed that they had money from two robberies, Owensboro Banking Company and Walls Freight Company. I told him I would bring the money into town on our next trip, which should be in a couple of months.

Walter Gray, who worked at the factory, came by the house the next week and took the letter to Smith's to be put on the next freight wagon.

I was steadily working with the young horses. They had been petted up most of their lives, so they were quite calm and easy to train. Sunshine knew the most about horse training, and coached me through most of the details.

Sunshine and I talked about whether to geld the two colts. Sunshine thought that neither was as good a horse as their father, so we decided to fix them. It would also keep fights down next year. So we decided to wait until they were two years old and geld them.

They were leading well, and carrying the saddles by the time I decided we wanted to go to Fort Smith.

It was summer time now and we could leave the stock. We took Belle and Barney to pull the wagon and Joe and the outlaws horses and tack. We went by the factory on the way and asked Mr. Weiss if there was anything he needed from Fort Smith. He didn't.

While I was there I discussed the possibility of a smaller pistol we might call a police model, and maybe a five shot model we could call a pocket model. He said he would look into it.

We went on our way to Fort Smith and had a nice leisurely trip. We camped early each day. We took time to hunt and play with the children. Sunshine and Swan both enjoyed hunting with Jack. We were kept in fresh meat from small game, birds and waterfowl when we neared the river.

I had to chuckle every time I saw Swan. She had her bow and arrows, her pistol, her rifle in one scabbard and her shotgun in the other one. She looked like a miniature warrior. Sunshine just carried her shotgun with both barrels loaded with birdshot.

I was amazed that our tent was still holding up well. It had been used more in the last three years than it would have been used in 30 years before. The camp stove and lantern were both working really well. It seemed that if you used them every day that they were better than if you used them only once a month.

We crossed on the ferry and got into Fort Smith in the early afternoon of the next day. We camped in our usual place outside of town.

I went and found Marshall Turner. He had gotten in touch with the Walls Freight Company. They had lost a strongbox in a robbery and had no idea about who did it or where it was. They authorized a 15 percent reward for the recovery.

We counted out the money. The Owensboro Banking Company bags held $1200 in paper money. The marshal counted out $120 to Swan. She signed the receipt. The Walls Freight Company box held $850 in gold and silver and $3200 in paper money. So the marshal counted out $607.50 in coins to Swan and she signed the receipt.