Chapter 13

New Mexico Territory, September, 1894

September is a very pleasant time of the year to be traveling through the high desert of New Mexico Territory. The monsoon is over, so there is little chance of sand storm problems, and the extreme heat has moderated, so that it is not so unpleasant to be out in the midday sun. Yes, it was good to be alive!

Ouch! Then it happened! At first, I thought that I had been shot, there was such a sharp pain in my back; then I realized that I had not heard a shot and a bullet right there would probably have killed me. Nevertheless, I grabbed my carbine and bailed out of the saddle. I dropped to a kneeling position with my carbine at the ready. I looked around for an assailant, but was slow to find anybody.

Then I saw him standing to one side of the road. He looked to be about 60 years old, and he was of medium height, weight, etc. "Well, son, your recover fast, but you would have been dead if I was Apache. You must have been asleep, you were paying so little attention to what was going on. I yelled and waved at you, but you ignored me. That's when I threw the rock."

"Obviously, I was asleep without knowing it! What can I do for you, sir? Oh, and thanks for not killing me!"

"Well, son, I have a problem. I was off in the brush hunting strays when my horse stepped into a hole and broke his leg. Of course, I shot him, but that left me out here without a ride. I was hoping that you could give me a lift to the ranch where I could pick up another horse and come back for my gear. The ranch house is about four miles that way."

"Sure, come on and we'll get you a new mount."

"Four miles that way" meant in a straight line. By the time we had weaved and turned past heavy brush, arroyos, and other such, it took us nearly three hours, riding double, to get to the ranch house. The elderly man, Bob Samuels, told me to wait a minute while he went into the house.

He came out with a woman his age and introduced her as his wife, Alice. We talked for a few minutes and they asked me to stay for supper. Ah, a offer of a home-cooked meal! There was no way I was going to refuse this! With grateful thanks, I slid from my horse and hitched her to the rail; I loosened her girth and was turning away as Bob said, "Put your horse in the barn out of the sun and join us here on the porch." I thanked him and did that.

We sat in the shade and talked for a while; then Alice said she had to get busy if supper was going to be on time. Bob and I continued to talk about this and that, during which time he commented that he would wait until tomorrow to get his gear from his horse. Right now, he was just too comfortable to worry with it. I told him of my profession and he commented that I had better not be so careless on the trail as I had been today. He said that out here in the wild things were a lot calmer than they used to be, since they were far enough from the border to miss most of the Mexican bandits and the Indians were not raiding like they did when he and Alice first came out from Georgia.

Things had been a little chancy with the Apache and Comanche back in 1869, but had really quieted down, by comparison. There had been a lot more water, then, and this area had been covered with grass, instead of the scrub that you see, now. Back then, he had run enough cattle so that he had to hire a number of cowboys, both to manage the cattle and fight off rustlers. Now, the ranch was so dry that he worked it by himself and never had to worry with major rustling since he had so few cattle. Both their sons had moved on to California and reported that they were doing well; they wanted Bob and Alice to come live with them, but Bob and Alice preferred to stay where they had spent so many happy years. He admitted that they would have to move somewhere else pretty soon, because the water situation had become critical, but they wanted to stick it out as long as they could.

Alice called us to supper, so we washed up a bit and went in. She had gone "whole hog," as they used to say back in Georgia. She had a diner guest for the first time in several years, so she had got out the best plates, etc., and fixed a sumptuous repast. It was truly a meal to remember! Both the food and the conversation were a delight!

After a lot of arm-twisting, Alice let me help wash the dishes. I was invited to spend the night in an unused bedroom, so I couldn't ask these nice people for more. The next morning after breakfast (I had grits!), I rode with Bob to pick up his gear from his dead horse, and then rode away, happy to have had such a joyous interlude.

The next three weeks were just the next three weeks. Nothing worthy of note happened, just like to most other people. In fact, things were so quiet that I thought, playfully, maybe I should hand out some of those Tolliferro hand bills, just to get some action. Of course, even I would not do something that stupid!

Along toward 8:30 the next morning, I was in a general store picking up some supplies when I heard a fusillade coming from down the street. Now, I have as much curiosity as the next man, but I know better that to stick my head in the way of a bullet, so I looked carefully around the door to try to see what was causing the noise. In the process, I was nearly knocked down by two customers and the proprietor rushing outside to check up. One of them screamed as he was hit by a stray bullet. God, how dumb some people can be!

There was chaos down there in front of the bank. Four men, in the traditional dusters and masks, were blazing away at some townspeople who were shooting back. One of the robbers (who else would be wearing a duster and a mask?) was holding a saddle bag that looked like it was very heavy. With all of this shooting, nobody was hurt, except for the idiot who had bumped into me. The robbers ran to their horses and dashed out of town. At this, the marshal ran up and called for volunteers for a posse. Several men mounted up and dashed after the fleeing bandits.

I was interested in helping, but I doubted that the posse would accomplish anything, so I walked down to the bank to get some information. I questioned the teller and the bank owner/manager about what happened. The consensus was that the four bandits had walked in while there were no customers and stolen about $4500. The robbers had been wearing masks, so there was no description. I asked if there would be a reward for capture of the robbers and return of the money. The owner thought for a moment and offered $500 for the package. I agreed that was fair so I joined the hunt.

I followed the posse's trail, but not close enough to be involved. For one thing, they were racing after the robbers at full speed, so I knew that all of those horses would tire before too long. I figured that once the posse's horses got tired, the fun would go out of the chase and they would drop out, one-by-one, but pretty quickly. It turned out that I was right and I met several men walking their horses back to town.

Eventually, I caught up to the marshal, who was walking his horse, but sticking to the bandits' trail. I greeted him and told him I, too, was following the bandits, but on a fairly fresh horse. He said that his horse was about gone, and he waved me on. I wondered how the bandits could keep going while the posse couldn't. I found out as soon as I got away from the trail left by the posse?the bandits had stashed remounts somewhere along their route and were riding much fresher horses. Once they had discovered they no longer had a posse chasing them, they had slowed down to a more reasonable pace and abandoned the extra horses.

It wasn't long before I caught sight of a dust cloud in the near distance. With my binoculars, I was able to pick out four riders just before they disappeared behind a range of large hills or small mountains. I sped up to a gallop to close in for a better look. I had just reached the hills when I felt a sharp pain in my right leg; I had been shot! The pain was excruciating, but there was little blood. The bullet might still be in the wound; if so, I was really in trouble. Anyway, I immediately rode off the trail, grabbed my rifle, extra ammunition, and a canteen, and dismounted. I fell down as soon as I tried to put weight on my right leg, but I had to move! I crawled to the nearest rocks and hunkered down.

The bandits must have spotted me and circled back to take care of their lone pursuer. I was in a very difficult, but not impossible position. The worst problem was that I had no idea where the bandits were; that I was forced to move slowly because of the pain, was my second big problem. I still had my binoculars hanging by the strap around my neck, so I might find a small advantage in that.