Chapter 12

We had reached our new goals: we had six more dragoons, we had four trained rottweillers with two more being trained, and we had the additions to the fort doors. We were about as well protected as we could be, within our available resources.

The wedding preparations were proceeding apace. The main room of the fort could now be arranged to be a respectable church and contacts had been made for a Catholic priest and a Methodist circuit rider each to visit one Sunday a month to hold services. Since neither would be available until June or later, Rev. O'Riley from Julesburg had agreed to officiate at THE WEDDING. Wedding invitations had been sent out and almost everyone had said to expect them for the wedding and the reception bar-b-que and dance to follow. We were going to be pressed for space, but we could accommodate everybody with only a little crowding.

Of course, all of the ranch employees and their families would be there. Unfortunately, all eighteen of the dragoons would have to be assigned to guard duty—we did not want any untoward interruptions from the Brotherhood! The rottweillers would be particularly useful at this time.

The wedding parties had been sorted out. Jake Jakobs would be my best man. Mother, Sue, Ann, Bobby, and Saul and Hannle Jakobs would be featured in my wedding party.

Sarah would have her friend from the next ranch as her Maid of Honor, Carmelita would serve in the place of Sarah's mother, and Bill would give her away.

Music would be provided by a violinist who worked at the ranch and the stable boys would be the ushers.

Finally, the great day was here. Everybody was seated in place with a minimum of confusion and the violinist began the wedding march. Sarah came down the aisle in a beautiful white dress and veil. She was escorted by a very proud Bill, who looked to be pleased-as-punch. I was standing at the front with Jake and Rev. O'Riley and I was so nervous that I could hardly keep from shaking. It's a good thing that Jake was holding the ring, surely I would have lost it!

Sarah and Bill marched up and we were under way. I remember nothing about the ceremony until Rev. O'Riley told me to kiss the bride. I felt like I came awake at that point and I was in heaven! I took Mrs. Sarah Sullivan's arm and we marched "in a stately manner" down the aisle to the door, both wearing big grins. Once outside, we were pelted with rice and shouts of congratulations.

We moved on to the reception and shook I don't know how many hands. Both Sarah and I were so pumped up that we were not the least bit tired. We were ready to eat and start the dancing. The main dish consisted of what I call "kosher bar-b-que." Carmelita had outdone herself with a bar-b-qued steer that tasted so good that you never wanted to stop eating. There were beans and potato salad and green salad and... I don't know where she found it all! Everybody ate until they were packed full.

Sarah and I led off with the first dance. The guests did not need any encouragement when it was time to join us. The round and square dancing continued far into the night. I don't know when the dancing finally ended because Sarah and I left while we still had a little energy left.

Sarah and I slipped into our room, locked the door, and turned to each other. Many passionate kisses and hugs and caresses followed. When we got into bed, we consummated our love with round after round. I have no idea where I got my stamina, and Sarah easily kept up, and even surpassed me. We finally collapsed in utter exhaustion into the sleep of the blessed. The next morning, Sarah and I woke up in each others arms and we vowed never to separate.

Sarah and I staggered into breakfast and were greeted by a slightly hungover Carmelita who teased us gently on our exhausted appearance.

Most of the guests who had stayed over were up and about and we greeted them and took all of their good-natured gibes about being newly married. Eventually, everybody woke up before lunch, and we spent most of the day in general conversation.

Back to work the next day! We were entering the busiest time of the year, and we had to get started on our many projects: the dam and lake, the pursuit of the Brotherhood, and the general operation of the ranch.

We had brought in a dragline excavating system last Fall and had a crew practice with it before the weather got too cold. The machine was steam powered, so our first chore was to build a service road for coal hauling. We needed a large quantity of coal, since it was of low quality, but it was cheap! We first set up to cut the diversion channel from the river to the parallel valley. We planned to use the dirt from this channel to build the temporary dam above the waterfall.

People were put to constructing this road, and, once it was ready, to start digging the diversion channel.

Meanwhile, we had decided that it was simply too expensive to bring in the quantity of concrete we would need. We must make it ourselves. A small plant was constructed to make portland cement; we planned to sell cement locally after the dam was finished. We managed to find the limestone and other raw materials conveniently located. A suitable crusher was purchased and we were on our way.

After the diversion channel was in operation and the small dam built (that dam was trivial), we could move the dragline and start removing the dirt to get to bedrock for the James York Dam. Since all of this was much more complicated than it sounds, I thought that we would probably spend the whole year with this stage of construction.

By now, our monetary resources were being strained to the limit, so I approached Saul for help. He and I discussed the things we would have to do; yes, he was part of our Organization ever since he had read the infamous journal! We worked out a business plan which could be presented to his bank and to other money sources to get them to buy our bonds. Since Saul was conveniently located in Santa Fe, the economic capitol of NMT, he would oversee that phase of our operation.

Our next major project was our attack on the Brotherhood. We had to strike now, while our information was current enough to be useful. We though that our primary goal at this time should be gathering information. To this end, we asked Sue, who, by this time, wanted to be known as Sue Sullivan, to trail and report on Harvey Johnson, our most likely suspect.

As part of our investigation of the Brotherhood, I suggested that we form an operation called "The New Mexico Territory Historical Preservation Society." We could get a charter as an organization who's aim was to preserve a detailed account of the history of NMT. We would hire people to go to the many communities and interview the residents. This would actually serve the useful purpose of preserving the history of the territory while we were using it to trail and investigate Brotherhood members. Sue would be hired to work at Julesburg as her cover story. Her ability to move quietly and inconspicuously would make her ideal for the job.

Jake Jakobs had become a member of the Organization after he had read the journal, so he could be the titular head of the society, headquartered in Santa Fe. He could set up an office and hire the necessary workers to maintain an air of legitimacy for it. We needed to have a real organizational structure which could withstand close scrutiny, both in the hope of obtaining real donations from the general public and in withstanding inspection by the Brotherhood. The job of setting up the society was left to Jake and the investigation of Harvey Johnson was left to Sue.

Fortunately, only days after her arrival at York Ranch, Sue, Ann, and Bobby, had been taken under Mother's wing and intense tutoring had begun in reading, writing, math, and manners. They all had learned quickly, but Sue had excelled! Her reading comprehension was now limited only by her vocabulary; it seemed that she could learn something by only looking at it once. Sue's memory retention and attention span were phenomenal! Her script was legible and her math was acceptable. She was ready to become a field agent!

I had carefully studied the list of names, occupations, and locations of the seven Brotherhood contacts listed by the lawyer in his journal. I expected eight new people to show up shortly after the deaths of the previous eight trainees. It seemed to me that I could tentatively identify the new trainees by noting who showed up in the old locations shortly after the recently available openings appeared. That's how I picked Harvey Johnson as a likely candidate. I was able to pick six others without much difficulty, but there was still one I was unsure of and I had no idea who the supervisor could be. However, logic did place the supervisor in Alamogordo.

We were aided in our investigation by the general lack of easy communication among individuals. The only two real options were mail and personal contact. Slow mail delivery away from the railroad and the force of habit turned most communication into personal contact. Therefore, if you wanted to tell somebody something and, particularly, if you needed discussion, you either went to that person's location or called him in to yours. This meant that Johnson would eventually encounter the other seven conspirators and his supervisor. We only had to watch them closely; thus we would be able to identify who they were. Any underlings were not important at this time.