Chapter 3

One day while Sam was working in the field a bedraggled group of Indians came wandering up to him. At first he was worried and picked up his rifle. When they didn't make any threatening moves he relaxed. Between his poor Caddo and their poor English he discovered they were basically escaping or running away from the reservation they had been on. Their family originally came from this area and they wanted to return to it. They begged for food. If he would not feed them all they begged for food for the three children at least.

Sam asked them to follow him back to his cabin. When they wandered into the yard Dove saw them and came toward them. Part way there she shrieked and ran to the oldest man. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. The old woman with the group rushed to Dove and wrapped her in her arms as well.

Jane heard the commotion and came out of the laboratory to see what was going on. Sam stood and watched the proceedings. When Jane came to him with her eyebrows arched in inquiry he shrugged his shoulders. Sam and Jane stood watching the obvious reunion for a few minutes. Finally Dove turned and pulled the woman toward Sam. The older man followed. As he walked up to Sam he stared him in the eye carefully.

Dove stood before Sam and Jane and said, "Sam, Jane these are my parents Coyote Fighter and Beautiful Dawn. They have come back to our traditional home. They believed I was dead when I did not come back with my man. I have explained how we came to be together. Sam they ask if they may camp here for a while and visit with me before they move on."

"Hell yes Dove Honey. And unless they really want to go somewhere else your family is welcome to live over there by the stream as long as they want. We can build them a cabin and they can just stay if they want. I've been thinking about finding some part time help for the farm anyway. Maybe they can help you some with the vegetables and chickens too."

After some discussion it was agreed that Dove's family would stay. They and Sam worked for several days building them a cabin to live in. They wanted to build a traditional lodge originally but Sam would not hear of it. In the end he thought they were secretly pleased he insisted on the cabin. Sam was pleased with how hard they all worked both on the cabin and on the other work around the farm. Their help gave Sam and Jane more time to work on the modern items they were trying to rediscover. Sam almost had his first engine design ready. He knew it would be low power and probably wouldn't last long even if it worked at all but he had to start somewhere. He was afraid the steel in this time period was of much too low a quality to withstand the stresses the engine produced for any length of time.

Jane was busy working on the oil Sam had hauled in. She was trying to develop some good fuel for Sam's engine as well as some of the simpler chemicals and other oil derivatives that were not currently being made. Both felt as if they were having some success. Sam was a lot of help with developing fuels because of his prior work in the refinery. He knew some of the procedures and designs necessary to process crude into the various products that could be made from it.

Sam was having a difficult time getting much work done on his designs because of the necessity of taking produce and meat to town and because he found himself helping Jane with some of her work also. One evening after they stopped work for the day Sam and Jane were sitting beside the stream relaxing after their bath. He said, "Jane I have too many irons in the fire. Dove's family has helped a lot with the farm but they can't help with many of the things that are taking my time now. I need someone to drive our wagon to haul things for us and sell or deliver them into town. No one will do business with an Indian in these times. If they do they rob them blind or just take what they have to sell. I need to find someone reliable to hire to help us. I also think we need to find someone who is educated enough to help you here in the lab. I know a little chemistry as it applies to engineering but that is damn little. I know a bit about designing and building a refinery too. One of these down timers who work in the field knows more practical petroleum chemistry than I do by a long shot. Besides the right hire might really help you better than you can imagine."

Jane sighed and said, "I had almost come to that conclusion myself. I have watched you travel back and forth more than you get to work on your projects. I can also really use some knowledgeable help in the lab too. I know you try but you have no training in chemistry so about all you do is fetch and carry or help record things for me. How are we going to go about finding the help we need?"

I don't think it would be too hard to find someone to help with the wagons and selling the farm produce. Your assistant will be more difficult though. Why don't we find someone to help with the farm first then maybe advertise in some of the larger cities in the east for the petro chemist? I know from history that Standard Oil was going strong in Cleveland Ohio. I think good ole John D. Rockefeller bought out a lot of refineries a couple of years ago. We might be able to either find some of those men who are out of work or who want to get away from one of the original Robber Barons to work down here with us."

"That might work. Why don't you find out how we can send those advertisements next time you are in Nacogdoches? I would really like to have a couple of those men working down here with me. Something we need almost as much as the men though is money. Some of the research I have to do will cost a lot even considering how cheaply we can buy items here. The relative cost will still be high as it would back in our time."

The next time Sam was in Nacogdoches he put the word out he needed to hire a good man. Everyplace he delivered his produce and meat he mentioned needing someone to do that for him as well as work on the farm. At one of the stores he delivered to Sam overheard one of the local ladies talking to a crying young woman. She slapped her and said, "I don't know why Silas lets people like you in his store. The people of this town ought to run you three completely out of the country. You're a disgrace to all God fearing people. Now get out of here before I have Silas throw you out."

The woman left crying. She hadn't been gone long when Sam finished his business. Sam was almost to his wagon when he saw the women crying and talking to two strong looking young men. The men looked almost exactly alike. They were both holding her and rubbing her back while they tried to calm her. She allowed one of them to wrap her in his arms. The other turned and started toward the store. He said, "I've had it with that sanctimonious old Bitch. I'm going to tell her husband to either control her damn mouth or I'll give HIM a beating. There's no reason for her to treat you like that Honey."

Sam agreed with the man. He didn't know what the problem was but there was no reason for the woman to have talked to the crying lady like she had. Just as he started to get into his wagon he heard a shot come from within the store. He dropped to the sidewalk once again and drew his pistol. He and a couple of other men moved carefully toward the store. When Sam got to the door he saw the young man who had gone storming inside laying on the floor bleeding. The storekeeper was standing over him with his pistol hanging by his side.

The sheriff pushed Sam aside and walked into the building. He demanded to know what had happened. The storekeeper said, "Jed there came in here raising hell again. I told him the last time he was in here I'd shoot his ass if he came in here again. He did so I did. This is my business and I don't need trash like him or that floozie he and his brother shack up with coming in here expecting to be treated like God fearing folks.

The sheriff turned to a man wearing a deputy's badge standing beside Sam. He said, "Go find Doc Adams and have him come over here and look at Jed before I lock him up. If you find the other two and lock them up too."

The sheriff began asking some of the other people around if they had seen the incident. He found out that Jed came into the store yelling at the storekeeper about the mistreatment of his wife. He demanded the storekeeper's wife apologize to his wife for the way she treated the other woman. The storekeeper had picked up the gun he kept behind the counter and shot Jed with no warning.

When the Sheriff questioned Sam he told him what he had seen then asked about the three. The Sheriff grimaced and said, "Don't know much about them. They was passin through, the three of them when their wagon broke down. At first things was ok, folks felt sorry for them and gave them work along to help out. Jed there works still out of town at one of the wells but the other two can't find work. The town is trying to get rid of them. My God, that floozie is actually sleeping with both them boys! She even calls em her husbands! Good God fearing folks just can't allow things like that to go on. It's a sin and we don't want our children around such as that. Guess I'll just arrest them and let the Judge sort it out."