Chapter 6

Carmelita was in her element! She took to managing the house and, particularly, the kitchen as if she had been doing it for years. Juanita had, indeed, done a magnificent job of training her. We were lucky to have her!

Diego was a little reluctant to tell me when I made a wrong decision, but I could tell when he disagreed with me, so I was able to work through those situations. We were able to work out a fine relationship, once I was able to break through his awe of me.

Sam was training his son, Bill, to take over when he finally stepped down. I hoped he had done as good a job.

"We now have the connections we need to get a Gatling gun. An Army officer sympathetic to our cause, will make one available to us when we are ready for it. Our task is finding a crew to man it. Fortunately, such men are available."

"Yes, sir. I will inform you when James York starts shipping again."

"Sarah, Fr. Murphy has recommended a new tutor for you. This time it is a man. Is that acceptable to you. You got along so well with Mrs. Anderson that I was not sure that you could adjust to a man teacher."

"Daddy, I don't see that as a problem. I am sure that I could work as well with a man tutor as I could with a woman."

"Wonderful! Then I will contact Mr. Woodruff immediately about visiting us here at the ranch."

Adolph Woodruff showed up at the ranch, on schedule, a few days later and we discussed his employment as a tutor for Sarah, first in the usual general subjects, and later in accounting and business management. He and Sarah hit it off well, so there was no conflict there. He had a lively sense of humor which captivated Sarah. Her warm and friendly nature spoke to him. I hoped for a long and successful relationship.

He agreed to start in three weeks. He had nothing to move that would not fit into one large chest, so he could travel easily by train. We would meet him at the station when he came back.

I am looking forward to studying with Mr. Woodruff. He seems like such a nice man. Mrs. Anderson was a lovely person, but she was a little stuffy and formal. Mr. Woodruff is much more relaxed and easier to be around. Besides, he likes jokes.

We met Adolph Woodruff at the train when he arrived and we loaded his chest in the buckboard. We climbed into the carriage and started back to the ranch. We laughed and talked all the way home. He was going to be a real asset around our home. He laughed at Sarah's jokes and witty sayings and generally treated her as an adult; Sarah and I were both delighted!

Carmelita got him moved into the room formerly occupied by Mrs. Anderson and had a maid unpack his clothes from the chest while Sarah showed him around the ranch. She had him on a horse before the poor man quite knew what hit him. They went riding, escorted by two guards, to the valley where Sarah explained about the hoped-for irrigation project. He was suitably impressed, both with the project, itself, and Sarah's grasp of it and its importance. While they were looking around the ranch, Sarah made a point of introducing Mr. Woodruff to all of the people they met; he knew he would be weeks learning all of the names.

Having gotten off to such a good start, they both were looking forward to a rewarding learning experience. Mr. Woodruff was eager to teach and Sarah was eager to learn!

Diego informed me that he would be ready to begin the second harvest in two days, so we had to prepare to haul the produce to Julesburg. I contacted the neighbors about joining in a convoy, but they all said that they would not be ready for at least another week. Even without anybody else's participation, there would be at least four wagons in the first produce run. The railroad was contacted and arrangements were made for boxcars to be ready.

On Friday, the convoy started out, guarded by the latest plan. Arturo was commanding the sweeping troop on the eastern side and Julio was commanding on the western side of the road. There were two point riders ahead of the first wagon and two riflemen in each wagon of the train. There were the two scouts on each side and the remaining 22 guards were split equally between Arturo and Julio. The trip was almost anticlimactic. They were not attacked on this run, but they did find a couple of small problems they needed to work out. Therefore, this served as a good training exercise and everybody was happy with the result.

"Sir, York has started his deliveries to Julesburg, again. It appears that they are using the same schedule of Friday trips as they used last time. Can we be ready for his next trip?"

"No, we will have to wait. We will need two weeks to get everything organized. Plan on that."

The next produce run was equally uneventful and some were beginning to wonder if the guards were really necessary. They found out the next week.

This time there were seven wagons in the convoy and a total of 58 guards. This left 19 riders in each of the two trailing troops. With the convoy stretched out nearly 300 yards, Arturo hoped he could manage a defense, if needed.

Everything was going along as routine as the last two trips, when a scout suddenly appeared to announce an ambush had been discovered. There appeared to be about 20 to 25 men setting the ambush, and, as usual, they were all on the eastern side of the road. Arturo thought of a slight change in plans. He sent a rider to fetch Julio to discuss the change; meanwhile, he stopped the point riders and the wagons.

This time, they had so much warning that Arturo saw no reason to risk the wagons. Instead, he wanted to bring all of the troops together to enclose the two flanks and the rear of the ambush. He proposed to spread his men out to as uniform a spacing as could be managed and have them charge the ambushers using only their pistols. It had worked so well before, he thought it worth trying again. Julio agreed, so that is what they ordered their men to do. Everyone was excited and eager to go. It had been great fun the last time and should be so, again.

Arturo had everyone hurry into position while being careful not to alarm the ambushers. When everyone was in place, Arturo ordered the charge. The cavalry charged into the surprised ambushers with resounding success. This charge was even more productive than the last time. Not only did they kill all of the ambushers this time, they found a Gatling gun! Arturo didn't know what to do about that, so he left 10 men to collect the valuables from the corpses and guard the Gatling gun while the rest of the convoy continued into Julesburg.

The wagons were unloaded and the convoy started back toward home. The stopped at the ambush location and loaded the bodies into two wagons for delivery to the marshal in Julesburg. Draft horses were found among the ambushers' horses with the US Army brand. These draft horses were hitched to the Gatling gun to take it to the ranch for Señor James to deal with. Julio was detailed to take the Gatling gun, the extra horses, and the empty wagons to the York ranch while Arturo took the bodies to Julesburg and talked to the marshal.