Refuge Robledo Mountain 2 Chapter 15
- 2 years ago
- 31
- 0
We both woke up in the middle of the night to a crashing, raging, howling storm blowing outside. The rainy season had begun with a vengeance.
We’d fallen asleep without closing the French doors, which were still standing wide open. Gusts of wind came blowing through periodically, causing the curtains to billow up and swirl around the doors. I got up to close the doors and Anna asked me to leave one of them open, so we could hear the rain and watch the lightening.
I returned to bed to find that Anna had gotten up and retrieved the wine and glasses from the fireplace bench. She was sitting on the bed with two glasses of wine, and was holding mine out for me to take. It was a fetching sight.
I took the wine glass from Anna, giving her a deep kiss in return. We sat and sipped our wine as we listened to the sound of the rain falling and watched the lightening bounce from small peak to small peak in the Doña Ana Mountains. One glass of wine relaxed us enough to put us back to sleep, and we slept hard the rest of the night.
We woke up in the morning fully rested and ready for a new day. The storm had blown itself out sometime during the night, but it was still spitting rain, so we did our Tai Chi and practice in the bedroom before taking a shower together.
Anna decided there was at least one more possibility to explore in the shower which I happily went along with. All good things must come to an end, however; and eventually we dried off, dressed, and were on our way down to the dining room for breakfast.
Tom and Yolanda were already sitting at the table drinking coffee when we arrived. “Did you two go out in the rain for Tai Chi?” Yolanda asked as we sat down.
“No, we did it in the bedroom,” Anna replied. Yolanda got a twinkle in her eye and started to say something, but Anna saw the twinkle and realized what she’d just said. “Don’t say it, Yolanda,” quickly shutting her down.
I laughed as Celia brought in coffee for Anna and me telling everyone that breakfast would be ready in ten minutes. Less than five minutes later, Giuseppe, Sofia, their kids, and the Padre came in and sat down. They were soon followed by Raul and Raphael. Breakfast was brought out shortly thereafter and we all ate heartily.
“Tom?” I said to get his attention over coffee. “I want you, me, and Giuseppe to visit the village this morning and see how they’re making out after last night’s rainstorm. From there, I want to check out the dams to see how they’re doing. The last thing I want to check is the macadam road and to have a look at the new quarry, to see if it’s retaining any water.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Tom said laconically after seeing Giuseppe nod. “When do you want to go?”
“Mid-morning will be fine. It looks like it finally stopped raining completely, and that will give the caliche a couple of hours to drain, so the horses as well as the riders won’t be covered in it during our ride.”
“How’s the river looking?” Raul asked.
“We only glanced at it before coming downstairs this morning, but it was flooding, as is to be expected,” I said over the lip of my cup. “We’ll take a longer look at it from the terrace after breakfast.”
After breakfast, we all trooped upstairs to the terrace. One of the ladies had already been up here, and toweled off the tables and chairs. We all went to the railing and stood looking out at the flooded river.
Giuseppe finally broke the silence. “It’s a shame the rain didn’t hold off another couple of days, so we could use the water control castings the masons have been working on.”
“You need to remember the old Hebrew saying, Giuseppe,” I responded.
He gave me a puzzled look.
“Man plans, God laughs.”
That got a chuckle out of everyone and we turned to go sit down to find Celia and Carla bringing out coffee services with another already on one of the tables. Sitting down, we poured our coffees as we listened to the mockingbirds raising a raucous over something on the upper plateau.
The sun was shining bright and it was already quite warm, so I gave voice to the thought that we may not need to wait until mid-morning as hot as it already was.
“Yep, if it doesn’t rain again before tomorrow night, we should still be okay for our Sunday trip to Las Cruces, too,” Tom observed.
The mockingbirds were still making a racket out on the upper plateau, and I finally got up to go see what was going on. Walking through the house and courtyard, I climbed up to the wall walk, looking out over the wall to where most of the noise was coming. I didn’t see much except the mockingbirds diving and swooping towards the ground a little over six hundred yards away from the gate. I pulled out my monocular and looked to see what they were diving at, but with the tall grass I couldn’t see much.
I left the wall walkway and went down and out through the courtyard door, determined to remove whatever was causing them to make all that noise. As I got closer, I started to make out enough details to tell it was the body of someone, and I started running.
It was a young Apache boy, five or six years old. He was alive but shivering badly with a burning fever. There didn’t seem to be any wounds and I had to wonder how he’d managed to get to the upper plateau without anyone knowing. I stood up looking around to see if there were any other bodies, but didn’t find anyone else.
I was growing more and more concerned. A young Apache would never be out on his own as this boy was. Scooping him up into my arms, I carried him into the Hacienda, passing Anna who’d come looking for me. She took one look at the boy in my arms and led me to the empty room next to ours, telling me to lay him down on the bed.
“Anna, he was all alone out there. After I get some medicine into him, I’m going to go looking for the rest of his family. They have to be out there somewhere.”
She nodded and sat next to the boy on the bed. I went into the bedroom and opened the drawer I kept a small quantity of the twentieth century medicine in, and took out four Tylenol capsules and after a second of thought also took out four penicillin pills.
Back in the bedroom with the boy, I placed both a Tylenol and a penicillin pill in the boy’s mouth followed with a glass of water to wash them down. I was wondering where the glass of water came from when Clara came rushing in carrying a bowl of water with a cloth and a pitcher of water.
“Anna said you needed more water for the boy to drink, and something to clean him up with,” she said, setting the pitcher on the table. Sitting down on the bed with the boy, she began to clean him up with the cloth and water from the bowl she was holding.
Anna came back in and I showed her the two kinds of pills. “He needs to take one of each, every six hours. We need to watch him carefully over the next twelve hours or so,” I said giving her a concerned look. “A small number of people have very bad reactions to the small white pill. If his hands, face, or throat start to swell you need to stop giving them to him and let me know immediately.”
She nodded and asked, “Do you recognize the boy?”
“I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“I think he was with one of the families from Alvaro’s group, but I can’t be sure. If they all left, why would he be here?” Anna asked rhetorically.
“I don’t know, Anna, but I’m hoping we can find out,” I said before turning out of the room to the others on the terrace. “Sofia? Yolanda? I found a small Apache boy on the upper plateau. Please go to the bedroom next to mine and tell us if you recognize the boy.” They both got up and rapidly disappeared inside. “Tom, Giuseppe, we need to find the boy’s family. They’re out there somewhere, and are probably worried sick about the boy. Please saddle up our horses for a trip out the back door.” They both nodded and left to get that done.
I let the ladies know the three of us were leaving, got a kiss from Anna, and hurried downstairs to get my large medical kit. Tom handed me my filled camel pack as he passed the study door on his way up the steps. Following him upstairs and out the courtyard, we mounted and rode off towards the boulder trail and the back door into the upper plateau.
Scanning the ground of the upper plateau as we rode through the boulder trail, we again saw neither tracks nor anything unusual. As we came out of the trail onto the backside of the Robledo mountains, we were hailed by the two cousins who were on watch.
We pulled up and waited for them to join us. They came trotting up, and I told them what we’d found on the upper slope. They looked at each other and said they didn’t know of any missing boys, and hadn’t seen anyone coming through the trail. They added that the storm had been so intense last night that they wouldn’t have seen an army if it had marched through!
I nodded and asked one of them to scout around in the boulder field, to see if there was anyone in there. I told the other to come with us to see if the boy’s family was out here somewhere. One immediately turned and ran off for the boulders while the other said he’d look higher up in the hills.
Tom, Giuseppe, and I spread out two hundred yards from each other and started searching the hills down the sides of the mountain. We’d been searching for almost two and a half hours when we heard three shots from much higher up the mountain. The three of us turned our horses in that direction and rode hard up the mountain for ten minutes before hearing another yell. We looked over to the northeast where the yell had come from and saw the cousin standing and waving at us from the top of a large rock a few hundred yards higher up.
We rode over to him and he showed us where a family had camped for the evening. It looked like the rain had loosened enough rocks to start a rockslide above and just to the side of the camp. He’d been looking and, so far, had found an older woman and young girl dead. He was sure from all the debris that there were at least two more out here somewhere, including the man of the family.
There was no hiding the fact that the rockslide had rolled right over most of the camp. The two dead bodies had been clearly crushed in the rockslide but as the cousin had said, there was enough evidence to convince us that that there were at least two more people in the family group. We found the boy’s bedroll off to the side untouched while a second bedroll lying nearby had been partially crushed but there was no body. Climbing a little higher, we spread out in a line ten yards apart before slowly walking down the stone cluttered hill searching for any bodies, living or dead, we could find.
We’d gone about a hundred yards down the slope when Tom stopped us. “I swear I hear moaning coming from our left.”
We all started searching where Tom thought he’d heard the moaning. Ten minutes later, Giuseppe found an older girl - thirteen or fourteen years old - in a small depression just barely big enough for her to lay in, surrounded by mesquite bushes.
It was clear to me that her right arm was broken. Her right leg was a solid mass of bruises from just above her knee all the way up her thigh to her hip. I couldn’t tell if it was broken or not, but it definitely hadn’t been crushed.
“Tom, get my saddlebags please. Make sure you get the metal medical kit as well.” I added as an afterthought, “Giuseppe, you and the cousin start making a travois, so we can get her back to the Hacienda.”
While I was waiting for Tom to get back, I gently probed the girl’s thigh and was relieved to find her femur intact. She might have a hairline fracture and I’d splint it just in case, but it appeared solid. The arm was a different matter altogether.
She had a nasty compound break in the upper part of her right humerus, and heavy bruising around the shoulder. I left the break alone for now, and probed the shoulder to see if I could find anything broken. Again, from what I could tell nothing else was broken. I finally turned my attention to the arm.
There was no fresh blood on the arm although there was quite a lot of dried blood. She had it cradled against her chest, and was holding it in her left hand. As had the young boy, she had a fever. When I tried to move her left hand out of the way, she moaned. Tom came back with my saddlebags and the first aid kit.
I took a Vicodin and a penicillin pill from the first aid kit and put them in her mouth. I added the drinking tube from the camel pack after pulling a little water through it, so the end was wet. Once the tube hit her mouth and she felt the water, she drank heavily.
“Tom, I need you to help me set her arm. We need to be careful while doing it, or we’re just going to make things worse than they already are.”
While we were waiting for the Vicodin to kick in, I took some clean rags out of the kit, soaked them in alcohol, and started cleaning the dried blood off the girl’s arm. I finally moved the left hand out of the way and got the last of the dried blood off.
“Okay, Tom,” I said as I got everything we were going to need laid out, “you hold her shoulders steady as this next part is going to cause some pain, and she’s going to try to fight if she isn’t completely out.”
When he had her well pinned I took the alcohol and poured it over the wound itself being careful to get it over the end of the broken bone as well as the skin. There was little fight from the girl, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she was exhausted, or that the Vicodin had taken full effect.
“That was the easy part,” I said, looking at Tom. “Now comes the hard part. Roll her gently on to her left side and use your arms and legs to hold her in that position.” He did as I’d asked, and I could now work freely on her right arm. “Alright, now take her shoulder in both hands and hold it steady to stop it moving from side to side while also stopping it from giving in to the pull I’m going to put on it. We’ve got to get the bone back under the skin and the ends lined back up.”
Tom was looking quite pale as I finished my description, but nevertheless nodded his understanding. I gave him a few more moments to compose himself, and when I thought he was ready I put my right hand just below her elbow and my left hand up near the wound. Pulling down on her arm with my right hand and trying to guide the bone back into place with my left. It seemed to take forever but eventually I felt the two pieces of bone vibrate against each other and then stop.
The wound had started bleeding again, but it was a small steady stream rather than a pulsing gusher, so I ignored it for the time being. I felt over the humerus to make as sure as I could that the bone was lined up. From what I could tell by touch alone it seemed to be lined up and I told Tom the worst part was over, for now.
I poured more alcohol over and into the wound before making a pad from a folded-up piece of cloth. I put it over the wound, then tied it in place with another strip of clean rag, making a rough compression bandage.
“Okay, Tom, gently roll her on her back but keep her upper shoulder as still as possible.”
When we got her on her back I gently bent her elbow and placed her forearm across her stomach and told Tom to continue holding her shoulder with one hand and use his other hand under her elbow to keep the upper arm from moving. He nodded, and I stood up to find a couple of stout sticks to use as splints. I found what I was looking for without too much effort and was quickly back at Tom’s side. I put the splints along her upper arm as best I could, and then started wrapping strips of cloth around the splints before tightening them. I took the last of the cloth strips I had, and used it to wrap her forearm to her stomach, so she couldn’t move her arm. When I’d tied it off I sat back.
“We’ve done all that we can for now, but we need to get her back to the Hacienda.”
While we waited for Giuseppe and the cousin to get back with a travois, I told Tom I wanted him and Giuseppe to continue looking for the father and any others that may have been with them. I didn’t think they’d find any survivors, but we had to make sure. When they’d searched as best they could, I wanted them to wrap up the two dead in whatever they could find and bring them to the Hacienda so we could bury them tomorrow afternoon. He nodded and told me it would be done.
Giuseppe and the cousin came back a few minutes later, and we gently lifted the girl up and out of the bowl away from all the mesquite before laying her on the travois. Turning to the cousin, I asked him to run to the Hacienda and let Anna know that I was bringing in a young girl with a badly broken arm, and a fever, and ask her to prepare another bedroom. He repeated the message then turned and trotted away at the ground eating pace of a long-distance runner.
We tied the travois to my stirrups straps just above my feet, and then I mounted. I told them to make sure they left themselves enough time to get back to the Hacienda before nightfall as I started the horse towards the boulder trail and the Hacienda at a slow walk.
A little later, I hit the start of the boulder trail. I’d been stopping every so often to check on the girl and give her all the water she would drink. I stopped one last time and gave her more penicillin before remounting and carefully riding through the narrow boulder trail.
I pulled up outside the upper courtyard gate, and the cousin I’d sent to warn Anna appeared out of nowhere. He helped me carry the girl inside, where Anna was waiting to lead us to another bedroom. Celia was inside the bedroom and had the sheets pulled back, so we could put the girl straight into bed. Anna took a quick look at the girls face and told the cousin that they were right, she was another cousin, and had been with one of the families in the group Alvaro led.
Anna and I were both up earlier than normal; either from a good night of rest, excitement over the trip to Taos or, more likely, a combination of both. We did our standard Tai Chi and then an extended session of practice with me teaching Anna the next kata in her progression. At the rate she was going she would soon be ready to start learning Krav Maga. When we were finished I gave Anna a big smile, pulled her into a hug before giving her a big kiss, and telling her she was doing extremely...
The next week seemed to fly by as we instituted the various classes, continued settling into the hacienda, worked to turn the Estancia into a farm, and prepared for new arrivals; all while Anna and I prepared to leave on our honeymoon. The days always started with our early morning Tai Chi and ended with talking and singing in what was becoming known as the music room before Anna and I went off to explore whatever new possibilities she had thought up. As I expected, training the cousins to...
Thursday morning dawned sunny with a crisp chill in the air, as Tom and I carried the last of our things out, and loaded everything in the wagons or coach as appropriate. We joined everyone else in the restaurant, and were surprised to find Lucien sitting at the table. I sat down in the empty chair next to Anna, as she handed me a cup of coffee. Glancing around the table I greeted everyone and suddenly realized that Hiram, Lucien, and the Judge were all sitting together across the table from...
I woke up suddenly, feeling the sun shining on my face through the windows and French doors of my bedroom. One moment I was blissfully asleep and the next I was awake. From the strength of the sunlight playing on my tightly shut eyelids it must have been near noon. I lay there, in absolute silence, trying to figure out why I was still in bed so late in the day. That proved to be too much effort, so I drifted back off to sleep. The next time I woke up, it was from a nightmare. A short...
We left Santa Fe for the Estancia three days later. Anna spent those three days shopping for the kids and rebuilding our supplies. I’d spent my time with the Judge, Lucien, Tom, and Hiram, reviewing information on ‘the Boss’, which remained slim to none. Between the four of them, and Kit’s friends and trusted contacts, there were over forty people reporting anything they heard about the mysterious ‘Boss’. Unfortunately, none of the friends and contacts had heard a word. It was frustrating to...
We skipped our exercises and practice for the second day in a row, in the interest of leaving town early in the morning before anyone else was awake. I’d paid for the room and stables for four weeks the day after we’d checked in. We still had two days of the four weeks left, so there was no issue with just leaving. After one last check of the room, we walked downstairs carrying the saddlebags and scabbards and slipped out the back door to the stables where we saddled the horses, added the...
We rode into my usual camp in the copse of trees just north of Santa Fe two weeks later. Her wounds were healing nicely. She hardly seemed to notice the wound in her arm at all, but was still slightly favoring her side. However, we were both tired. Tired of riding, tired of trail food, tired of sleeping on the ground, tired of being dirty, and just plain tired. I helped Anna off her horse, took her in my arms, and hugged her tight giving her a big kiss in the process. “One more night of...
I left Tomas alone for a few days. He went to the village and rode along the river with Jesus and others he’d picked from the files. He was getting a feel for the land where he was going to be responsible for growing crops. The day before the election, Tomas asked to see me after breakfast. I asked Clara to send a coffee service up to the terrace and Tomas followed me upstairs. We sat down at a table enjoying the early morning sunshine. As I poured our coffees I asked Tomas what was on his...
We all rode out after breakfast the next morning. The half day ride was quick. We all saw the Estancia through George’s eyes, as he talked about what a change there had been since his last trip north along the Camino Real. Crossing the river just before noon, we rode up the slope and I discovered that this was the first time he’d seen the Hacienda in all its glory. We gave the horses over to the cousins, after pulling our weapons and saddle bags off. Anna and I led George through the...
Standing at the terrace railing with a light breeze blowing from the north while sipping a fresh cup of coffee the next morning, I watched the gaggle head down the slope before breaking into their separate groups. Giuseppe and Sofia with their escort of three of the cousins headed off towards the site of yesterday’s ambush. Tom and Yolanda rode out to practice shooting, while Miguel and the cousins led their group of farmers across the river to begin another day of Apache training. My mind...
We slept in a little later than usual the next morning. While late, we could have joined everyone for breakfast, but Anna had other ideas. She remembered my warning that we’d be missing both soft beds and hot water for the next month or longer. Rolling over on top of me, she said she wanted one more memory of a nice soft bed before we showered. Eventually we made it to the shower and enjoyed the hot water. After a good breakfast, we loaded up the horses and mules, and double checked our...
I sat at the picnic table on the patio looking out at the nightly spectacle of glorious colors as the sun set behind Picacho Peak. A song with a snappy beat wafted softly over the outside speakers hidden in rose bushes climbing up both sides of the patio on their trellises reaching for the roof. I couldn’t quite make out the words to the song, but it was very familiar. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe I was actually back in my twenty-first century home. But I did know better. “You’ve...
After breakfast, the next morning, we all went our separate ways. The Padre, Yolanda, and Sofia were taking her kids to school while Alejandro went out to visit his cousins on the upper plateau. He was a little sad to see the others leaving but brightened up when Anna said he would be starting school in a few days and would go with them in the mornings. Tom and Giuseppe went off to check the dams and the quarry. I told Cristina we were going to be using the study most of the day and asked her...
We caught up to the wagons about half a mile out of Las Cruces, and slowed the horses to a walk next to the wagon the padre was riding in. Father O’Shea took in the shotguns and pistols we were all carrying along with the rifle scabbards. “You are all well-armed for such a short trip. Are all those guns really necessary?” he asked wryly. Tom barked out a laugh, and Anna responded with a grim smile of her own. “You just listened to us explain about the attacks in town and the large attack at...
I was surprised the next morning when Miguel, Maco, Jesus, and Lupe joined us for breakfast. It turned out they always joined the Hacienda for breakfast, before leaving for Las Cruces. Alejandro watched with interest as Miguel and Maco greeted Anna. He seemed relieved that we were indeed cousins of all the Garcias. As we were preparing to leave, I told Alejandro to help protect his sister and the Hacienda while we were gone and got a grave nod in return. I gave Anna a big hug and kiss. As I...
We left Las Cruces on our return trip home as scheduled, with a passel of kids dressed for the ride, and a wagon full of clothes for growing kids. Tom, Martin Amador and I rode along behind the wagon, as the ladies rode near the front of the wagon on either side, talking to Celia, Beth, Izabella and the rest of the kids. Celia hadn’t had a chance to see George during the trip, as he was back out on patrol early the next morning after our visit with the Colonel. Martin had reluctantly come...
Leading all five of my horses, I walked into the Las Cruces of 1850 for the first time late that afternoon about four, after nearly a full day of walking. Mr. Mendoza’s Livery Stable and Freight Yard was easily found. The first person I saw directed me to the distinctive building with the wooden second floor at the north end of town. Luckily, Mr. Mendoza was outside talking to a young boy. When he saw me, he looked surprised. He quickly dismissed the boy, telling him to muck out two specific...
The stable boy had my wagon and mules waiting for me, after I checked out the next morning. I made quick work of loading the door and jambs on the wagon, before heading to the bank. Levi had everything ready to go, and in less than three minutes after I entered, I was back in the wagon and started for home. I spent another three butt numbing days getting home! The next morning, I loaded up the empty panniers on the mules, saddled up the horse, closed up the wall and house, and left for Las...
I checked out of the hotel and was at the restaurant a little before eight, getting my Anna fix. Just as Anna was bringing my coffee, Jorge and Giuseppe walked in together. While we were eating, I reminded them I had to get my horse and mules from the stables, and then make a few stops in town for supplies before leaving. I paid for the breakfasts, said my goodbye to Anna, and walked over to the stables. I spent a few minutes talking to Mr. Mendoza, while the stable boy got my horse and...
“I’m sure glad this is all over,” I said to Anna, four days later, as we were leaving our bedroom to get JJ and go downstairs to breakfast. For three of those days, Anna and I babysat the Greenburgs until lunch when we were replaced by Tom and Yolanda. That left my afternoons free to visit the various parts of the Estancia, usually with the older kids, as well as get in some shooting practice. The other day was spent in the Estancia meeting, where we reviewed the progress we’d made against...
I was up at first light, ate another MRE, and was on my way back to the RV shortly after 7AM. Although I was paying attention to possible threats, both animal and human along the way, I was replaying yesterday over and over in my mind. Finally, just before arriving at the little plateau and my RV, I decided that I had more information than my pea brain could handle, and I needed to let my subconscious work on it for a while. For now, I would act as though I was in fact in the Robledo...
“Wake up, Paul! Raiders are attacking the camp!” This was no whisper. Dream Laura was fairly screaming in my ear. It was just after daybreak, and Laura’s voice woke me to the screams, rifle fire, and shotgun blasts coming from the camp. I slipped on my boots, holstered the pistol, and grabbed my rifle. Once outside I ran to the edge of the plateau. With a quick glance I saw ten or eleven bodies around the outside of the mason’s camp, and a handful of men running away from the camp. Tom was...
As I’d warned during the meeting, 1858 and 1859 proved to be busy years for everyone associated with the Estancia and the various business enterprises. The Estancia got back to work after the holidays on January 3rd, the same day our guests left for their return trip home. The normal Estancia wintertime repair work continued on, although at a reduced pace, while ten teams were assigned to Tom and Giuseppe to quarry a hole at the southern end of the Robledo Mountains. That hole, measuring 200...
I was two days out from Trujillo Gulch and had just saddled up for the days ride, when the faint sounds of gun shots came from the east. Without thinking, I mounted up and rode towards the sound of the gunfire. I was two miles west of the Camino Real, and figured that was where the gun fire was coming from. As I rode, I realized what I’d done, and debated with myself whether this was really the smartest course of action. I may be a defender, but was I to be everyone’s defender? The thought...
Taking down the adobe bricks from the cave entrance, I thought about the next step that I dreaded so much. A heavy door of wood and adobe bricks was going to need sturdy support from the wood door jamb it was going to be hung on, which meant burying the jamb a minimum of nine inches. Digging down into nine inches of rock was not going to be easy. I started digging the hole for the left support jamb using the largest cold chisel and the heaviest hammer I had. The floor here didn’t seem to be...
The trip from the Hacienda to the meeting site was thankfully uneventful, although I must admit to having a sense of unease until we’d passed the area of the last mountain lion attack. The weather had moderated and become warmer, but we weren’t fooled. The seasonal spring winds were nearing their end, but we had to expect to have to deal with them, and dust storms, for the next couple of weeks. We arrived in the clearing mid-afternoon of the day before the meeting. Miguel, using hand...
I fell into a deep sleep, while watching a kaleidoscope of shadows dance around the room. Flashes of lightning backlit the curtains on the window. For the third time in as many years, and the second time in as many weeks, Dream Laura visited my dreams that night. She was getting stronger, as tonight’s visit had us sitting across from each other at the picnic table on the covered patio of our old house, the patio we had built together just after we’d bought the house. Everything seemed...
I made my way back through the courtyard and into the house heading for the dining room intent on having another cup of coffee. Before I could sit down, however, Mr. Greenburg saw me. “Paul, if you have time this morning, and you’re feeling up to it, Rachael and I would like to talk with you for a little while regarding our discussions before you were hurt.” A quick glance at Anna and with her small nod of approval, I replied, “Certainly, Sir. I’m at your disposal. How about we get a coffee...
At my insistence, we pushed hard on the way back home, knocking two days off the return trip. The dull ache in my shoulder hadn’t returned at all since we left the Hacienda, so I felt comfortable pushing a little harder. As we dismounted in front of the courtyard gate, I asked the cousin who took my horse to send a message asking Nantan and Miguel to dinner this evening. Saddlebags over our shoulders and carrying our bedrolls, we entered the Hacienda looking forward to seeing our wives and...
After the Monday morning staff meeting, I holed up in the study with Tom and Yolanda. I’d been wrong in El Paso. It didn’t take two days to give them the background and go over the tentative plans Anna and I had been working on. It took all week, and even then I’d just scratched the surface of the background. The major problem, as always, was trying to figure out how to answer their questions in terms they could understand. I tried to stay away from things they didn’t need to know about....
I was sitting in the restaurant the next morning, finishing up breakfast and thinking about how Anna’s smile seemed to make my day. I’d just taken my last bite when Anna came over with fresh coffee and sat down, giving me another one of my Anna smiles, and asking me what I had planned for the day. Swallowing my last bite and taking a sip of coffee I said, “I was hoping to talk my fiancée into spending the morning riding with me, and perhaps start learning to shoot. Do you think she would...
I woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than I had since the mountain lion attack. Stretching my arms out to my side, I looked at my right hand, flexed my fingers, and laughed at the thought that I could play the guitar again. I hadn’t realized until yesterday afternoon how much I missed it. Jumping out of bed, I ran through my tai chi exercises and the katas, before cleaning up with a basin of water, and getting dressed. I was whistling as I walked in the back door of the...
Tom and I were relaxing after breakfast, enjoying our umpteenth cup of fresh hot coffee when the ladies had decided we’d had enough time. “So, Pablo, you’ve had your breakfast and coffee, now tell us about the trip,” she demanded in an almost imperial voice. Looking around the table, I realized for the first time that Tom and I were the only men in the room. “As you command, my Lady,” I replied giving her a sitting bow. “But first, where is everyone?” “Well, it is harvest time, Paul. Tomas...
Early the next morning I awoke and stretched out on the queen size bed, luxuriating in the feel of crisp cool cotton sheets and thinking about how good I felt. All those minor joint aches and pains I’d learned to live with over the years simply weren’t there. And those dreams! I rarely remembered my dreams after waking, but somehow, I knew that I remembered every one of last night’s dreams. The dreams of my past, both good and bad. With a yawn and a final stretch, I got up and started my...
Although they were always on our minds, we put the unsettling spirit visits behind us and got on with our lives. I spent as much time as I could in the RV cave melting gold, but it was only a couple of hours most days, and the small mountain of gold seemed to defy my attempts to reduce its size. Giuseppe returned from his short trip to the base of the Doña Ana Mountains late Wednesday afternoon in a jubilant mood. Over supper he informed us that he’d found the rock we needed to build the...
I was up before first light the next morning. I found two of the ladies already up and quietly preparing to make breakfast for the camp. I walked down to the river and soaked my head in the water to wake me up, as well as help tame my hair. When I lifted my head from the river, I found Giuseppe and Hector had joined me. After relieving ourselves we walked back up to the campfire where the ladies handed us each a cup of coffee. We sat drinking our coffee and enjoying the quiet of the...
Standing at the opening of the cave, they stared inside in stunned disbelief. I cleared my throat, regaining their attention. “No one else besides you three know about this. I expect it to remain that way. The cave and what’s in it are never discussed outside this room, and then only if the door is closed and barred.” Handing Mr. Mendoza the lantern, I watched from the doorway as they wandered around exploring. All I could see was the soft glow of the light when they were in the smaller cave...
Six weeks later I was again lying in Mr. Mendoza’s hayloft. Tom’s even breathing and soft snores provided background accompaniment, as I marveled at everything that had happened in such a short time. With the exception of the six days Tom and I spent on a trip to El Paso, and a two-day trip to the Hacienda, the four of us had spent virtually all of our time together. The first morning of our two-week visit at the Hacienda they’d seen me practicing Tai Chi on the plateau in the early dawn....
“Good morning Maco,” I said, walking into the dining room for breakfast. “We missed you at breakfast yesterday and again at dinner last night.” “Good morning Paul, or rather, good night for me,” Maco answered wearily. “I just stopped by to have breakfast with Beth since I haven’t seen her for a couple of days.” “What have you been doing to be so tired?” “I was the Scout hidden behind you yesterday. All of us were in our hides at three yesterday morning and we stayed in place until three...
I was up early the next morning after a restless night, dreading the conversation Anna wanted to have. Walking into the restaurant I was surprised to get my normal Anna smile, hug, and kiss. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. She pointed me back to my usual table and brought over two cups of coffee. Sitting down, she said that breakfast would be out in a few minutes and asked how I’d slept. “Not well. It was a restless sleep that had me tossing and turning all night,” I...
“¡Juan! ¡El hombre malo!” I yelled as Tom and I walked into his office the next morning. “¡Dios Mio!” he exclaimed. “You startled me,” he said shaking his finger at us before reaching for a towel to clean up the small amount of ink he’d spilled on the countertop. “It’s good to see both of you again. Let me put these books up and we can talk.” Tom and I busied ourselves getting coffee before sitting down at the small table. Juan grabbed his coffee off the counter and joined us. “So, my...
Before going to bed, Tom and I worked on the mortar shells in the den. “Paul are you sure this is going to work?” Tom asked skeptically, as he applied hide glue around the brass sides at the bottom of the 12-gauge shotgun shell. “It should work just fine, at least for the shotgun shells, Tom. The tricky part of all this is the caps in the top of the shells.” Squinting, I focused my mind on dabbing just a little hide glue on the percussion cap before sticking it inside the plunger cap and...
We were up early, and after breakfast, we rounded up the deputy and the stage coach manager before walking over to the bank. The four of us walked into the banker’s office over his objections. I closed the door and told him to shut up and listen, as Anna looked away to hide her smile. I asked the banker if the ‘Mayor’ had been up to date on his rental payments for the stable and house. When he said that he was current, I turned to the Deputy. “I want a complete inventory of the stables to...
The next morning, bright and early, Tom and I loaded up the wagon and drove it over to the back door of the bank, where Levi was waiting for us. I signed the withdrawal receipt and accepted a deposit receipt of $35,000 for the sale of 4,000 head of cattle to Richard King. We loaded the bags of money into the steel wagon box, locked it up, and drove it back over to the hotel. In the hotel restaurant, we found the ladies waiting for us, along with Richard King, a total of twenty vaqueros, and...
“Damn Paul! None of this was here two years ago! How many people live in this village?” The questions were coming rapid fire from Steve, as we sat on our horses looking out over the village from the hills. We’d insisted that Steve spend his first day on the Estancia recovering from his trip. The only thing remotely resembling a discussion of our plans, was getting him to accept that he would need to ride a horse to Austin and back. Well, that and convincing him that his chances of surviving...
Tom, Giuseppe and I were relaxing after lunch while we waited for the ladies to arrive. A little after one o’clock, one of the cousins came into the camp telling us that wagons from Las Cruces were on their way. I thanked him, and the three of us went up to the slope, where we used our monoculars to watch the wagons. There were ten heavily laden wagons about a mile away moving slowly up the road. With a groan I said, “My back is already starting to hurt, just thinking about unloading those...
I shared my dream with Anna the next morning before we got out of bed. She agreed with Dream Laura’s thoughts on both JT and ‘the Boss’, which didn’t really surprise me as I’d noticed before how alike their thought processes were. While Anna showered, dressed, and left to check on JJ, I sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, and tried to meditate, something I’d never really been all that good at. Maybe I was trying too hard or perhaps I was just too rusty, but a half-hour later, I gave...
In one way I was right. It was an interesting few weeks. In another way, I was wrong. It was not just a few weeks; it was fifteen weeks. It started shortly after breakfast that first morning. As soon as Steve, the Judge, and Hiram finished bringing me up to date on their activities, I asked Juan, Jorge, George, Heinrich, and Giuseppe to join us in the den. I had the territorial map spread out on the desk, watching as Steve finished up tracing all the new land purchases he’d made, when the...
“All right, Paul, it’s been two hours since we said goodbye to Frank and Lee and watched them ride southeast towards the Estancia. My curiosity is killing me, now tell me about Cisco and Frank like you said you would.” I had to smile. It had been almost twenty-four hours since I’d told Tom I’d tell him how I knew about Cisco and Frank. I knew his curiosity was about to burst. We’d left Tucson less than twenty minutes later, riding hard with Frank and Lee. With a full moon, we’d hadn’t...
My head was pounding! Somehow, around the pain, I thought, ‘After seventy some years, you’d think I’d remember never to mix distilled and fermented alcohol!’ I may have looked twenty years old, but I was well over seventy. Getting sent back over 160 year’s in time was bad enough. Throw in losing everyone and everything I knew, and it was even tougher. Losing fifty years off my apparent age paled in comparison, but it was rough, too. Well, losing the years, both in time and age, had its good...
Tom and I were becoming bored. The Segundos were all doing their jobs well. Cattle were being delivered on time, and the herd continued to grow. The land along the river was being cleared and prepared for planting, while early harvesting in the greenhouses had already started for some of the crops, like tomatoes. Building activities were continuing at a furious pace, with the fences, roads, water retention buildings, and School/Community Center all in different stages. We spent quite a bit...
I was on the terrace on a fine bright sunny afternoon, staring in horror at the list of things I’d come up with for Steve to do when he got back from Austin. No matter how I looked at it, I just couldn’t see how he would ever get everything on the list done in the time-frame we wanted. I was seriously starting to think that maybe we’d over extended ourselves this time, and we would have to push the time-frame out another year, when something in my brain sparked. I suddenly remembered a...
“What do you mean something funny is going on in the land office, Paul?” Steve asked. Tom, Steve, and I were in the family dining room going over our land plans one last time, after finishing a large breakfast. Anna, Yolanda, and the boys were with Mrs. Mendoza over in the house writing up the invitations after she agreed to host the meeting tomorrow. “I’m not sure what, but something just wasn’t right about the map in the land office when we were there the other day. In all the excitement...
Our final day in Santa Fe was hectic as Tom and I, with the ready assistance of the escort teams, gathered supplies for the trip home in the morning, and picked up the trunks, booze, and books that afternoon. With little fanfare, we departed Santa Fe the next morning after a good breakfast with the Judge, Hiram, Helen, and Steve. We assured all of them but most especially Helen that we’d be back the first week in November with the ladies and babies. Pushing the animals hard we travelled...
The mules didn’t seem to be laboring with the load, so I figured to make good time going back to the cave. By this time, I didn’t feel threatened between Las Cruces and the cave, but I stopped just out of sight of Las Cruces. I pulled my rifle out of the panier and put it in the seat box with me, just in case. I also made sure I could get to the pistol at my waist easily, before driving on. The trip was a little longer with the mule pulling the wagon but not overly so. As I drove and watched...
As I drove along the Camino Real, I sang “Fever” to the mules. They didn’t seem to mind. Then I opened up my mind to them on the various situations I found myself in. I talked about waking up 160 years in the past as a fifteen-year-old who few people took all that seriously, but with the experience and attitude of a sixty-six-year-old. I talked about my unsuccessful efforts to determine if this was all real or if it was just a psychotic episodic loop I was stuck in. I talked about the strange...
My goal was to reach Santa Fe in fifteen days. Unlike the last time I’d made the trip I stayed on the road pushing hard. I knew the route this time and wasn’t quite so concerned over threats. The first six days I averaged almost thirty miles a day, but the mules were starting to get tired, so I backed off to a steady twenty. This gave me enough time in the mornings to do my Tai Chi as well as the Aikido and Krav Maga katas. Except for the mornings I was in town, and the first six days of this...
We’d been sent to Saudi Arabia as part of a special operations unit, formed specifically to find and retrieve downed airmen from all branches of service, and all coalition countries. It was a mix of special operations forces from the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Air Force contingent, except for twelve Combat Controllers and six snipers including JT and me, were all Pararescue, otherwise known in the Air Force as PJs or Rescue Rangers. Pararescue is a unique group of special operators. When...