Chapter 11

Wyoming Territory, April, 1875

Cletus was suitably chastised for not telling Ellie that he would be out the extra night. Logic had nothing to do with it! Ellie was getting more and more possessive of Celtus' time, so that he was starting to find it difficult to make his rounds. Cletus felt that Ellie was acting less like the wife of an Indian warrior and more like the wife of a White shop keeper. Ellie would often cry as Cletus began his scouting sweep and nearly collapse with relief when Cletus returned. The tension was beginning to wear on Cletus' nerves to the point that Red Cloud wondered how much longer Cletus could take the strain.

The whole problem came to a head one day when Cletus was out with a routine Army patrol. They were about half a day's ride from the fort when they were hit by a large group of Arapaho. There were only 10 men in the patrol, counting Cletus, and there must have been 30 Arapaho. The Army detail was able to reach a water hole where they stood off repeated attacks by the Indians. The Army was armed with the Trapdoor Springfield which had been issued to them only days before (they were way down in the supply chain). They were able to fight very well with this rifle, even though they were not really familiar with it. It had a much longer effective range than the Henrys used by the Indians, so they were effective in standing off the superior numbers of the Arapaho.

Cletus' Winchester also had a longer effective range than the Henry, so he, too, was in fairly good shape. Their indecisive fight lasted for three days before Red Cloud and a relief column found them. The Arapaho left when the Army reinforcements showed up. Neither side had any dead, and only two of the troopers had a wound. This was because the battle had always been fought at such long range.

Ellie was near total collapse when Cletus returned. She was sick in bed and was actually neglecting Roland as a result. Cletus was able to nurse her back to health in only two days; it was obvious that her illness was solely caused by her worry for Cletus. With this, Cletus realized that he would simply have to sever his 2-year relationship with the Army if he were to stay married to Ellie. Fortunately, they had been able to save some money.

Cletus visited Major Roberts and explained the situation; Cletus was afraid that his marriage would not survive another scouting trip. He apologized to Major Roberts and resigned on the spot. Major Roberts was not surprised; he had seen this coming. However, Major Roberts was very sorry to lose Cletus and told him so. Cletus was told that he did not have to be in a hurry to vacate his housing, since there were no other immediate candidates for it. Cletus thanked him and said that they would probably be gone within the week.

Cletus and Ellie discussed where they would go and finally decided to head south. They had heard of job opportunities in New Mexico Territory, so they would head there. They planned to take Cletus' three horses. Roland was old enough to ride in the saddle in front of Ellie, so they could use the other horse as a pack horse.

Before they left, Cletus insisted that Ellie practice with her rifle and Cletus' old pistol. He was afraid that she might need to use one or the other, the way the Indians had been acting the last few years. She agreed and used up a fair amount of ammunition reestablishing her proficiency with both weapons. Finally, Cletus was satisfied and they were ready to go. The night before they left, many people came by to bid them farewell, from Major Roberts to the lowliest trooper. All had come to like and admire Cletus and Ellie. Cletus couldn't help contrasting this with their exit from the Cheyenne camp.

Wyoming Territory, June, 1875

Cletus could hardly keep from crying as they left; the whole fort had turned out on parade to watch them leave. The bugler even played Taps as they rode out of the fort! Cletus held his smartest salute as he rode past the colors.

They shifted their horses into a lope as they left; both Cletus and Ellie fought an urge to look back. They headed due south and soon crossed the railroad. They had only one more night in Wyoming and then crossed over into Colorado.

New Mexico Territory, August, 1875

After eight weeks of hard traveling, they reached Santa Fe. Cletus was concerned about meeting Indians; any Indian had to be considered hostile, so they didn't make as good a speed as he had hoped. When that was combined with him having to hunt while they were traveling, they could only move slowly much of the time.

Cletus had to find work if they were to stay in Santa Fe, but he had a hard time. There were a few jobs, but nobody wanted to hire a Negro. It only took Cletus three days to see the futility of staying in Santa Fe; they had to move farther south.

Eventually, they reached Lincoln, the seat of Lincoln County. There were a lot of rich English "emigrants" in Lincoln, and Cletus hoped to find work on one of the ranches. He went to the courthouse and asked if there were any jobs open to Negroes in the area. He was told that a Mr. John Tunstall was hiring and that would be a good place to look.

They rode out to the Tunstall ranch that day and Cletus was hired as a ranch hand. Fortunately, Ellie was hired as a maid and cook's assistant. Housing was made available on the ranch, so they were able to settle in right away. The women in the kitchen made a first-class baby sitting crew for Roland. It wasn't long before he was spoiled even more than before they had arrived at the ranch.

Cletus was assigned to guarding some of Tunstall's prised breeding stock. These cattle had been brought in from England in the expectation of eventually raising the value of the whole herd. As a result, these cattle were considered very valuable and warranting special care. Naturally, thieves were attracted to these cattle like the proverbial flies to honey. But the thieves' intent was not to sell the cattle for slaughter, but to hold them for ransom.

Cletus' first experience with cattlenappers was about five weeks after he had been hired. He was on night duty with one other guard and the sky was clear with a bright moon. He could see nearly as well as he could during the day, the moon was so bright. He and his partner were slowly riding around the herd in opposite directions, pausing occasionally to exchange a word as they passed each other on their rounds.

The other guard had just struck a match to light a cigar when a shot rang out and he fell from the saddle. Cletus had caught the muzzle flash out of the corner of his eye, so he knew approximately where the shooter was hiding. His first thought was to ride to the aid of the fallen man, but, then, he realized that the murderer was expecting that, so would be waiting for Cletus to ride into range.

Instead, Cletus drew his Winchester and rode in a looping arc toward the source of the muzzle flash. When he got close enough, Cletus saw five men on horseback clustered in a shallow arroyo. Cletus carefully chose his spot and began firing at the men. His attack was so sudden and so unexpected, that he hit two, fatally, and seriously wounded another before the men realized that they were under attack. The two unwounded men did the only thing they could do; they rode away as fast as their horses could carry them.

The wounded man was shot in the chest and Cletus was sure that he would fall from his horse in a minute of so. Since the wounded man was no longer a threat, Cletus rushed to the wounded guard to see if there was anything thing he could do. Unfortunately, the man was dead; he probably died before he even hit the ground.

The shooting was over so quickly that the cattle had not reacted, except for a few who lifted their heads. There was no stampede or even much movement among the cattle, so Cletus was free to look after his friend. By this time, the remaining rustler had fallen to the ground, so Cletus was no longer encumbered by thoughts of him. Cletus lifted the deceased guard back across his saddle and led his horse back to the ranch house complex.

The foreman lived in a small house between the main house and the bunkhouse, so Cletus rode there with his dead companion. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to respond. Cletus only had to wait a moment before a naked man with a drawn pistol opened the door and demanded to know why some fool had awakened him. Cletus quickly filled in the foreman on the night's activities. Cletus was sent back to keep an eye on the cattle; the foreman said that he would be out there as soon as he was dressed and could get something done about the dead guard.

Cletus returned to his guard duties and only had a short wait before the foreman and three other men arrived; one was John Tunstall, himself. Cletus gave a detailed description of the night's events and showed them the dead rustlers. None of the cattle were injured, so Tunstall was satisfied and returned to his bed. The foreman said that the two men with him were Cletus' relief; he had done enough for that night and should go to bed.