Chapter 3

The whole county mourned the passing of Kenny Ryeback. He had instructed a good portion of the residents in the town before he killed his best friend over the man's wife and was sent to prison. White man and Indian alike loved him when he returned and resumed his position as teacher. Just ask me how effective he was. The town was named for him and well deserved. I had a few words with him when he knew his time was coming. "Sam, look after Mary Eustis for me when I'm gone. You have been a son to me and a man couldn't have had a better one.

"Samson calls me father, but he is your son in every way. So much of life is about saving face and not once have I ever been shamed since I first met you. I think Samson is the most intelligent person I have ever known or had under my tutelage. I have no idea what the future holds for him. He is man grown at seventeen and has the mind of one twice his age. He may go on to great things or he may be satisfied to just make Felicity happy here at home. I'm glad he has the features of the white man, but I feel he will never forget his Indian blood and heritage."

He paused and was getting weaker. "Sam, we have made quite a pair and we have shared more than most people, thrown together as we were. Please ask Mary Eustis to come in. I must cling to her as I leave. She truly has held my soul and it is only fitting that she be with me when it leaves this body. Good-bye Sam."

Three hours later Mary Eustis came out into the living room where Jessie and I were sitting. I looked at this woman. There were tears in her eyes. I had never seen any there before in all of the years I had known her. Addressing me, she said, "Sam, I'm sad and I'm lost. I'm going back to my village for a couple of days. I may even go to the medicine cave and see if my soul will soar with Kenny while he finds his new home. Would you saddle a mount for me?" She turned and went back into her now lonely room.

Jessie knew how this woman was hurting. "Go with her Sam. Come back the day after tomorrow. I will have Kenny prepared for burial. The hands here will dig the grave."

Mary Eustis smiled when she saw I was mounted and waiting for her to join me. We rode silently toward the west. We stopped in the village and had food. The Indians there were already aware that Kenny had passed on. Two Indian braves were standing on a nearby hill with their hands raised to the sky. Kenny was getting his way to the spirits opened for him. We could hear their chant as we passed by on the way to the cave.

The cave was the same as before, only this time not for me, but for Mary Eustis. A pipe was smoked and again I saw the vistas. I joined Mary Eustis on her pallet when commanded, but only for sleep this time. Waking, I knew it was morning even though I couldn't tell in the darkness. I soon became aware there was another presence with us and it was my son, Samson. I wasn't needed longer and I passed from the cave, leaving mother and son alone. I only paused long enough to move the pickets for their horses, not knowing how long before Samson and Mary Eustis would appear to see to them. Mounting up I headed home for the ranch.

It was cold and Kenny was in the casket which was resting on saw horses in the tack room. "People are coming from all over. The Governor is sending a representative. The man who was warden when you were in prison wired your office, saying he was on his way. Most of the town of Ryeback will be here. I have planned the services for tomorrow at two-thirty. This will give the mourners time to get back to town before dark.

"Judy and Cindy knew this was coming soon and have been working with the newspaper preparing his obituary. It was put on the wires last evening. Every room in the Seldon House has been reserved and Sarah is double bunking people who are willing to share their room. Will Mary Eustis and Samson be back for the service?"

"Yes, but they will not be in the forefront. Mary Eustis has asked me to stand at the head of his casket while they stand surrounded by those who belong to the ranch. I'm sure there will be many of the Silvercloud Indians here as well. Kenny was not only Mary Eustis' mate but their great friend."

"I know." Jessie looked at me. "You seem distracted. Are you okay?"

"Sure. It is just that Kenny has been a part of my life for so long. I can't seem to get my mind around the fact that he is gone. You know I don't think my life started until I met him."

"You were close to him. He often spoke about you. He thought of you as his son. He was so proud when you ran for sheriff and won. He almost burst with pride when the government made you a federal marshal. It wasn't just the office either. It was the way you managed your duties. For me, I will miss him. My writing to you in prison was a highpoint in his life and he so looked forward to my letters.

"I guess the real tribute is what he has done with his teachings of Samson. He challenged him to learn at every turn. All of those times Samson came and sat in the sheriff's office was planned by him. That is where the books on law and its applications were located. That shelf in the living room contains books about military strategy. Samson has read and studied those at Kenny's direction."

"I know Jessie. Kenny directed me many times as well to teach Samson some of my strengths. The time of the gunfighters will soon be of the past, but I'll tell you Samson could have been up there with the best and fastest of them. I'm good, but I'm slower than molasses compared to him. With a long weapon, he can't be beat. Give him twenty rounds to sight a rifle in and there is no one to touch him for accuracy.

"The only thing that will keep Samson from becoming great, is his love of home and his Indian brothers. I'm afraid if Samson has to leave for places other than here, we will have to send someone with him. He just doesn't know how to get about in more populated settings. This too, Kenny had talked about with me."

"Sam, I don't ever expect Samson will have to leave here." I didn't say anything, for you never know. I headed up to where the grave was being opened by those of us at the ranch.

Gramp, older than anyone else here now, had ridden up in a pony cart. He was directing the digging. "Kenny is going in between Mrs. Bellows, the twin's mother. Pat is on the other side of him. That's the way he wanted it, claiming he was only nothing now. He even mentioned the outlaws buried here and wouldn't have minded if he was placed next to them either. That flat place over on the right is reserved for you and Jessie. There is room here for Samson, Felicity, James and Martha."

"What about you, Gramp? Where are you resting?"

"Just below you and Jessie. We've been close in life and I don't want to be too far away in death. I'll be next anyway, so if you don't want to be near me that's up to you. Just make sure the journal that Cindy is writing is up to date. I wouldn't want to get lost in the shuffle." He grinned as he said this. Cindy and he had always been close to each other since the girls had stayed in the bunkhouse the first night with us.

"Sam, see if you can talk to Cindy about lying here with us. She hasn't anyone and she is family as much as the others who live here. I'm still in hopes she will decide to marry up with someone before I die."

"She will be with us, I can promise you that. This is the home she grew up in. Her place is here."

The day broke clear and cold. Saddle horses were coming into the ranch yard by nine. Buggies and surreys started arriving at noon. There was no hot meal as such, but gallons of beef stew had been made and bread had been baked the day before. There was cold beef piled high on platters. Coffee pots were full and filled again as needed.

Folks would want to be going home or back to town after the service. Some jugs of whisky were in evidence. Some were brought because any excuse to drink was a good excuse. Others wanted to toast Kenny's life and cheer him on the way now that he had left it.

Gramp and Jessie wanted me to say a few words after the preacher opened the ceremony. I declined to speak, saying Kenny was my friend and he knew it. That was enough. It took Mary Eustis to convince me I should say something as I had been the closest to him. "You were, Sam. He never would have survived prison if it hadn't been for you. Do it. If not for him, then for me. You are close to me as well."

I couldn't deny what she was saying and finally I agreed. It came time. "I have been asked to say a few words about my friend, Kenny Ryeback. A little bit of history first. Many years ago, I was put into a cell with Kenny up at Territorial Prison. I was in for cattle stealing. Yes, that's right, your sheriff was in prison for rustling. I had no education at all and was as dumb as a duck. However, luck was riding with me. Kenny was there for killing a former friend. Seventeen years he had served already and had three to go. We made a deal. I would do some of his work so he could survive and he in return would educate me.

"We paid for our crimes and we got on with our lives. I like to think Kenny did more than just get on with his life. How many of you have sat before him while he taught you just as he taught me? Many of you I see before me today. It was also in his heart to treat red men and white men alike. He chose a woman to walk beside him, she of a different race, but a bridge between those two races.

"When times were tough, he provided work so you could feed your families. I could say more and recount other things he did. Why though? He touched you or you wouldn't be here today. I believe that is enough. He was your friend and mine and we will miss him. Thank you." I moved from the head of Kenny's casket to stand among those of us who were here to pay homage.

The wind was coming up and it was getting colder by the minute. I glanced up at the sky and there were clouds rolling in from the north. The local fiddler had brought his instrument to provide a little melody for the song. The preacher raised his hand and the strains of music came forth. Scattered words of "How Great Thou Art" were sung by the congregation. It was faint and it seemed as if the wind was whipping the words away, carrying Kenny's soul with them.

By the time the preacher said his final words of prayer and benediction, the sky had darkened and there were snowflakes in the air. First a few of the congregation broke away and then there was a rush down the hill. Mary Eustis and I were the only ones left with the pallbearers to lower the casket. My son James and two of Pete Ryeback's sons and three Indians, nephews of Mary Eustis, lowered it into the ground. Samson and I threw on the first shovelfuls of dirt. Fifteen minutes later only a mound was visible to mark where my friend, Kenny, lay.

The ranch yard was fast emptying and the road to town was streaming with horses and conveyances. Buddy, Judith Kershaw and Papa Turbin were to stay the night. Room was made for Cindy Bellows to bunk in with Jessie. Miss Sylvia and John Comstock went back to town but their two kids and Judith's two were shunted to the attic. My two children, James and Martha, now seventeen and fifteen, objected to being classed as youngsters, so James went to the bunkhouse with me, while Martha and Felicity paired up together.

Samson and I had the foreman's room. Gramp had his own bunk in a former pantry behind the kitchen. He needed the heat from the house to ease his aching old bones. "What now Sam? I been hanging on here until my father passed on."

"Up to you. Why don't you think about it over the winter? I'm sure something will come to mind on what you want to do the rest of your life. You have to think about Felicity as well and how you feel about her. She's been in love with you ever since you were born and it's time she looked for a man, if you aren't the one. If you do love her, tell her so. Don't let happen to you what happened to Jessie and me. At the time I was just a year older than you are now. I should have spoken and she should have made her feelings known as I went off to prison."

"Sam, we've talked. We'll be married someday. I want to be doing something with my life before I bed her."

"There's the ranch here. It's yours if you want it. Kenny fathered you and he's gone, but you've known for years you are of my loins. I'm not ready to give up sheriffing yet. I could move my office here, but it is inconvenient. I think now that Kenny is gone your mother wants to return to her valley and live in her cabin. We don't have to settle anything tonight and we'll talk about this again."

"I'll think about the ranch. This is the only home Felicity has ever had and she loves the ranch as much as anyone. I'll know by spring anyway. How disappointed will you be if I don't take it over and manage it?"

"It's an option and a good one for you, but I've thought all along with your intelligence it might not be enough to hold you. If you don't take it, there is Jessie. She's capable. Mary Eustis could do it but she is in her sixties now. Living here for the last eighteen years has been kind of a hiatus for her. She practically gave up as leader of the Silverclouds for awhile. That was her place in life, but she made a different choice because she loved Kenny so much."

"Lot to think about, Sam. Hell, with a little encouragement, James could step in and take over the ranch. Sometimes I think you don't give him enough credit. He's a lot like you. Look closer at him sometime. He's so quiet you don't notice how much he does around here. Jessie hasn't pushed you because she thinks the ranch will automatically be mine."

"I'll give it thought. 'Night Samson."

Things settled down for the winter. Jessie held open house for all of our friends and relatives at Christmas time. Samson turned eighteen in February. My duties were light in the sheriff's office. We were fast getting beyond the bad times of the early years in the decade and crime such as we had here was down. Money was flowing and people were finding jobs. The country was feeling good about itself again.