The Legend of Eli CrowChapter 47
- 2 years ago
- 22
- 0
They left the courthouse and headed straight home to see the family. Duncan, Moses, and Eli could hardly wait to see their kids. Moses was extremely proud of his and Suh’s boy. They’d named him Pike Longfeather Kidd in honor of Moses’ father.
Duncan and Eli’s young’uns were seven, and the two marshals could hardly wait to get home from a trip. Pike was about six months younger than the other boys, but he felt he could do anything the others could – the other boys expected as much of him.
Sissy was hanging clothes on the line when she heard the horses coming up the gravel road. She looked out between the saddle shop and the leather shop and saw Eli’s black horse, then she saw Duncan and Moses. There was another Paint horse almost like hers, with a tall young man on him, riding next to Eli.
Sissy ran to the back door and yelled in at the others, then ran back out to the barn to meet them when they came in. Adalee and Cadalee ran from the saddle shop where they’d been when Eli and the others rode by. They ran out and hugged Eli, Duncan, and Moses. Suh came out with Pike as she hurried over to Moses, hugging him as he hugged and kissed her and Pike.
“Eli, we’re glad all of you are back, we sure missed you,” Sissy said as she put her arms around his waist, all the while, looking the tall boy over good as he pulled his ragged old saddle off his horse.
“Sissy, I want you to meet Joe Johnson, from over in Texas. He’s gonna be with us for a while, before he heads back over that way.”
“Joe, this is my daughter, Sissy,” Eli said as he looked from Joe to Sissy. He smiled when he saw them grinning at each other.
“Hey, Sissy. Eli never told me he had a daughter as pretty as you. I’m more glad I rode back to Arkansas with him now. He’s been showing me how to be a man and how to shoot a gun. I reckon your daddy is about the best man I ever knowed in all my life,” Joe said in his slow Texas drawl, grinning red faced at Sissy the whole time.
“He’s the best man I’ve ever known too, Joe Johnson. Welcome to the Crow family. The others are in the house if you want to go in and meet the rest of the family.”
“Sissy, I’m a bit ragged and dirty to be going in a house like this. I better try to get cleaned up some first,” he said, his old hat in his hand, not knowing what to say or do, now that he was here at Eli’s house with a houseful of family.
“Sissy, why don’t you take Joe over to Little Duck’s and tell her who Joe is and let her find him some buckskins and moccasins. Just don’t get his as tight as you wear. Then you can take him upstairs and show him the bathing room. Just don’t be giving him a bath,” Eli told her, and she laughed at him.
“Come go with me, Joe Johnson. We’ll get you some new clothes and I’ll show you where you can take a bath. I can’t bathe you though, my daddy told me not to,” Sissy laughed as she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her, not waiting for an answer.
“Eli?” Joe looked back at him with a worried look.
“Joe, you go with Sissy. She’ll help you get some new buckskins like we wear, then she’ll show you where to wash up. I was teasing her about washing you.”
“Come on, Joe. I wasn’t teasing ... I like you and I’m the only girl here that don’t have a man,” Sissy told him, laughing when he looked at her funny.
“Eli, you got that girl talking just like you. She’ll have that boy so messed up he won’t be able to tell you his name by tomorrow this time,” Duncan said.
“I was just thinking about the first time we saw Sissy and all the other girls out there that day. Just look over there at Suh, with Pike and her man Moses. Duncan, I reckon we did good when we brought them girls back here. Lettie’s a nurse now and it didn’t surprise me none when Doc Harrod married her. They spend all their time together at the hospital and at home too, she goes where he goes.”
“I know, Eli. But Sissy being the youngest, had more time for you to rub off on her. She’s a mess.”
“She’s a happy girl now, Duncan. I kinda hope she does give that boy a bath, I really like him.”
“I can tell he’s a good’un, Eli. Hell, he wants to be like you so bad, he runs over his self backwards, just to be next to you,” Duncan said as they rubbed their horses down.
Cadalee and Adalee were helping them rub their horses down, listening to Eli as he and Duncan talked. They smiled as Eli told Duncan he wanted Sissy to like Joe. They looked at Joe’s old ragged saddle hanging on the rail, then looked at each other.
Adalee slipped a halter on Joe’s Paint horse and they led him to the saddle shop, around behind Little Duck’s leather shop, so Joe wouldn’t see.
Eli saw what they were doing and pointed them out to Duncan. He and Duncan were smiling at the way things had come about, as they made their way in the house to see the women and young’uns.
The women were sitting around the kitchen table, and the young’uns were laying in the floor as they laughed and talked.
Moses, Duncan, and Eli hung their gun belts on the wooden pegs on the wall next to the back door, as the boys and girls yelled and laughed and ran to them. The three men sat right down in the floor as the young’uns swarmed them.
Eli lay on his back in the kitchen floor as his two girls leaned down to kiss his face. Eli Jr., Mica, Caleb, Kia, Michi and Ezra were climbing all over him as he lay there and loved on each of them. They were laughing and giggling, playing like they were holding him down as he hugged and kissed and played with his kids.
Moses and Duncan were laying back, their boys all over them too as Kia and Michi would go from one to the other, loving on them, playing and laughing. They laughed and played until the women made them get up and go in the other room so they could cook supper.
The men crawled across the floor, kids hanging on and riding them as they crawled through the doorway into the other room. This is what they came home for. This is what they rode hard and stayed nights on the trails for, to be home with their young’uns and women, to make them happy, to be a family.
Sissy was sitting beside Joe Johnson, with Kia and Michi sitting next to her. Joe looked good cleaned up, dressed in a new buckskin shirt and breeches. Sissy had combed his wild hair for him while it was wet and it was down on his shoulders after she’d slicked it back.
He looked around at the all the family members and felt his throat knot up at what he saw. He knew Eli had a big family, he’d told him he did. He sure didn’t know it would be like this. He’d never had a family of his own and this was more than he’d ever dreamed.
“Eli, Jon David’s and Amanda’s wedding will be on the first of June. They wanted to be sure all of you are here for their wedding,” Mary told him.
“Then we’ll just have to make plans to be here. I wouldn’t miss that boy’s weddin’ for nothing. He’s like my own and I tell everybody he is,” Eli said, smiling proudly.
“Eli, he’s asked me and Mary if he could change his name before he marries Amanda. She wants him to do it, since he thinks so much of you,” Lorene told him.
“Change his name? To what?” Eli looked up at the women. They were all smiling.
“He wants to be known as Jon David Crow, Attorney at Law,” Lorene said, her eyes watering up as she spoke.
“I don’t even know what to say ... I mean, well, what do all of you think?” Eli said, he could’ve hugged that boy right then, if he’d been here.
“Please let him do it, Eli, it means so much to him. He loves and worships you like a daddy and I want it too,” Lorene said. She was crying now.
“Lorene, are you sure? I mean, well if he wants to, I’d love for him to have my name.”
“Thanks, Eli. It’ll mean so much to him and Amanda. They’ve already said they want to name their first little boy Jon David Crow Jr.”
“Eli,” Rose spoke, getting his attention.
“Kia, Michi, and Sissy have something to ask you too. They heard Jon David and Amanda talking about his name change and they wanted to ask you something,” Rose told him, smiling at her brother.
“Sissy?” Eli looked across the table at her. She was smiling, so were Kia and Michi. The twins were almost nine years old and as smart and happy as two little girls can be.
“Eli, we heard Jon David talking to his momma and our momma and we decided we want our names to be Crow too ... Can we? Jon David said he could make it legal, for all of us at the same time, if you’d let him,” Sissy looked at Eli. She knew he would never tell her no. He never had before.
“Sissy, you and Kia and Michi are like my girls anyway. I tell folks all the time that you are. I just never tell them your last names. I’d like to know all three of you took my name. You know I’m as proud of you three as I am Lee Yu and Lilly Beth. You just tell Jon David to make the changes legal and I’ll have one more boy and four more girls.”
“There’s only three of us girls, Eli,” Kia told him.
“There’s Amanda. She’ll be a Crow girl too, when she marries Jon David,” Eli told her.
“Yeah, then there’ll be almost as many girl Crows as there will be boy Crows,” Michi said, as she and Kia laughed and clapped their hands.
Clarissa was smiling to herself as she wrote in her thick tablet while the family was talking. She had already filled eleven of the tablets with stories and memories of their life here in Fort Smith. Jefferson had brought her a dozen more tablets home just the other day, since the kids were getting older. The story Jefferson told her about the woman and man Eli had arrested while they were coupling in the bushes with rattlesnakes crawling all around, was the one she laughed about whenever she read it over. She hated to even think of snakes, but the way Jefferson related the story made her laugh as she wrote it all down.
“Joe, tell us about Texas. None of us have ever been there before,” Clarissa said as she flipped a page in her tablet, ready for his story. She wished she could write his words down just like he talked. He talked so slow and different from them. She just loved to hear him talk.
Joe looked around the two tables at all the family. They were all looking at him, even the younger ones were leaning over to hear him talk about Texas.
“Well, I don’t hardly know what to tell you. It’s real big out there,” he said, his face red as everyone looked at him, smiling, waiting for more.
“Joe, tell us like you were talking to Eli, just you and him. We want to know all about it and where you lived before you came here with Eli,” Sissy said as she turned to look up at him, taking his hand and holding on tight under the table, as she sat next to him
“Well, like I said, it’s a big country out there where I lived,” he said and stopped again as they all looked at him, waiting for more. Sissy slipped her hand loose from his, then hooked it under his arm and reached back down to clasp her hand to his, their fingers laced and squeezed tight, as she looked at him.
“Where I lived was way up in the Panhandle. out in the middle of nowhere, with only the railroad coming through and a few stores and a saloon. There’s only one tree and they said that was why they called it Little Tree. It’s not like it is back here in Arkansas, and over’n the Territory where Eli bought the lands from the Cheyenne and the Chickasaw.
“We had big cattle pens where the trail herds come up from south Texas. Men would come down from Kansas City and Wichita on the trains to buy the cattle when they come in. I worked for an old man who let me live in the barn and help with the cattle herds when they’d come in. I reckon that’s about all there was to it,” he stopped and looked around again.
“Tell us about your folks, Joe. Where were you born? Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Sissy asked, wanting him to talk more. She just loved the way he talked so slow. His voice was that of a man – not a boy.
“Well, I don’t remember ever having a family ... but I do remember a woman and a man when I was little that let me stay at their house. She told me once, that my Ma was her sister and they took me in when she died. They had two girls and a boy, all of them older’n me and they beat and kicked on me all the time, until I got older and beat on them. The man and woman made me leave then and I walked up the road until I come to the town of Little Tree. The old man at the livery stable fed me and let me stay with him for a lot of years. It was there I woke up that day and saw Marshal Eli standing there. I first thought I was dreaming. Then I thought he might be God. I’d heard talk of God being big and Eli looked big and tall standing there. Then I saw his badge and his big gun and knew he was a lawman. Then I finally got my head settled down from being scared awake.
“I reckon I just took a likin’ to him as soon as I saw him, and when he said he was gonna chase down that herd of cattle that was headed south, and buy all of them cows, I knew I had to go with him somehow. I hope I can earn my keep and learn to be a man just like Eli someday. I don’t reckon I ever saw a man like Eli Crow. He just knows everything about everything, and people listen to him and wait for him to tell them what to do. No offense to Duncan and Moses, they’re good men to know too and I sure am proud to be sitting here with all of them now. I got some new buckskins and took my first ever hot bath that Sissy poured for me up there. I was scared to death Eli was gonna come in while she was washing my back and my hair, she even found a tick on the back of my head and picked it out...
“I don’t reckon I know what else to say. I want to laugh and I sit here listening to all of you and my eyes water up and I almost cry. I reckon I’m about as happy as I ever been in my life and don’t know how to handle all of it.”
“Joe, you’re part of us now. I got plans in my head for all of us to own lands over there in the Territory and move over there to live. You’ll have a place with us as long as you want it. We all like you and I think my little girl Sissy may like you best of all. You just rest easy and get to know all of us. You’re part of the Crow family now,” Eli told him and Sissy looked at Joe’s face to see the tears running down his cheeks.
“I don’t reckon I can say anything else right now anyway,” he said, and Sissy felt him stifle a sob as his chest heaved.
“You don’t have to, Joe. Like Eli said, we all like you and he’s right, I do like you a lot. I liked you when I saw you ride up on the tall Paint horse like mine. If you mind your manners, I might even let you like me right back,” Sissy said and they all laughed at her.
Joe looked at her and grinned, he already knew she liked to tease him with her words. He hoped she wasn’t teasin’ him this time.
The marshals were home two days before Jefferson brought new warrants for them. Of course, this made the women and the young’uns all sad to know they’d be leaving back out sooner than they wanted. Eli had told them all about his plans to let Joe go to Tulsa and meet the house builders, then buy the lumber for a big house and two big barns over near Chickasaw lands, where they’d bought two thousand acres with lots and lots of pecan trees on it. The women and girls were all excited and started planning a trip over there themselves next fall to pick up pecans and bring back to sell and to put up for cooking and baking.
When Eli, Duncan, and Moses went to the barn to get their horses saddled and ready for the trip, Joe was right there, saddling his tall Paint with the new saddle Bill and Jack had made special for him. Sissy was there too and she didn’t want to see them leave, especially with Joe leaving this time. She took a deep breath and got her courage up as she walked over to stand close to Eli, making him stop what he was doing and look at her.
“Daddy, I got to talk to you. I hope you’ll listen to what I got in my heart,” she said.
“What’s wrong little girl? You already thinking about Joe leaving?” he asked. He knew what she was feeling, he always felt that way when he left his family to head west into the Territory.
“Yes I am, Daddy. I heard your plans for him to ride up to Tulsa with all of you, then buy the wagon loads of lumber and guide the men back down to Chickasaw lands. Daddy, I want to go with Joe. I can use a gun good – you told me I could. I can ride my horse and take care of her good – you told me I could. I want to be with him, Daddy. I won’t be any good to the family when he leaves, I may as well be gone with him. I could help him, Daddy. I really like him ... I promise I won’t be laying with him on the trail, but I already want to. Please tell me I can go,” she looked up at Eli, her big eyes full of tears.
“Sissy, you need to go get that bedroll I had your Momma fix up for you. She’s in her room waiting for you. She wants to talk to you before we leave. Get your gun out of your room too. I already got you a rifle in your saddle boot. I wasn’t gonna let Joe leave without you,” he told her and she grabbed him in a bear hug.
“I’ll be right back, Joe. Get my horse ready to ride... I’m going with you,” she yelled at him, then whirled and ran toward the house, her long yellow hair blowing out behind her as she ran.
Joe stepped out to look over at Eli, a big smile on his face as he saw Eli grinning at him. Duncan and Moses were grinning too. He knew it was real. Sissy was going with him.
When Sissy ran up the stairs to her Momma’s room she was so excited she was out of breath. She ran in the room and Mary was sitting on the side of the bed, with Little Eli sitting beside her. There was a bedroll, rolled up neat and tight with extra blankets inside the oilskin. Her Momma was smiling as she held her arms out for her.
“Sissy, you sit in the floor with Little Eli and let me braid your hair tight so it’ll be easier to travel with.”
Sissy sat in the floor, between her Momma’s feet, with her back to the bed as she began to talk and braid her hair.
“Sissy, you’ve grown into a beautiful young woman. I knew as soon as I saw you looking at Joe, you were going to fall in love. I just wanted to talk with you before you go. You know you’ll be gone over three weeks – there will be bad weather, and bad people out there. I know you try not to remember what you and your sisters went through before Eli and Duncan found all of you. But I want you to remember that now, and never trust no man out there. Kill them if you have to, just come back to me. I love you too much to make you stay here – and I love you too much to lose you.
“I know you’ll be back before your next monthly, so you won’t have to worry about that on the trail. I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do out there, you’re a woman now and you can decide for yourself. I will ask that you wait to have babies until you’re married. Eli wants you to wait until we move to Tulsa next spring, by then you’ll know if you love Joe enough to marry him. We all like him, Sissy, he’s a good young man. He’ll be just like your daddy when he’s older, you know that or you wouldn’t even like him. You and Joe watch out for each other, don’t let yourself get into something that will get him killed trying to protect you. Eli told me you could use a gun better than most men. Don’t be afraid to use it on a man if he’s about to do harm to you or anyone in our family.
“I love you, Sissy, now you go out there and make your daddy proud and make your man proud too. Have fun but don’t trust no one but Joe and make sure both of you always know who’s around you and that you’re safe.”
“Thanks, Momma. I think I love him already and I’d have slipped off to be with him, if you and Daddy told me I couldn’t go. I promise, I’ll look after me and Joe, I don’t want bad things to happen to me and I don’t want to lose him. Tell everyone where I am. I know they’ll all be happy for me, especially Jessie. I’ll see Suh before I leave.
“Bye Momma, I love you.”
“Bye Sissy, I love you too,” Mary said as they stood and shared a long hug.
“Bye Sissy,” Little Eli said as he stood up to hug her.
“Bye Little Eli, I’ll see you soon,” she said as she hugged him.
Sissy hurried to the toilet and peed forever, it seemed like.
She ran to her room and grabbed her gunbelt off the wooden peg high on the wall and strapped it around her waist, tying it down on her leg. She pulled her Colt and backed the hammer just a bit, spinning the cylinder to make sure it was loaded. She knew it was, but Eli told her to never take for granted it was empty or loaded – always be sure. She grabbed her black hat just like her daddy wears, pulling it down on her head tight, looking in the mirror. She grinned a crooked grin like Joe does, and winked at herself before turning to run out the door and down the stairs.
The whole family was lined up out by the barn. Joe was holding the reins to her horse next to his as she ran out to hug them all. From Little Duck to Cadalee, Adalee, Bill, Jack, Carl, Donald, Jessie, Sundy, Suh, Eva, Catt, Juni, Tin Yu, Clarissa, Rose and all the young’uns, they’d all heard she was going with them and they all lined up with her Momma to hug her. Rose told her not to be too rough on the bad men over there in Indian Territory.
The five riders rode west from the barn, turning one last time before they rode over a hill, to wave back at the family that still stood waving. They rode west on the same trail they always rode on, away from the Arkansas River bottoms and out into the rolling hills. They turned north, with the tree lined Arkansas River on their right, in the distance.
“We’re two and a half days from Tulsa, let’s make some miles and we’ll spend the night where we always camp up this way,” Eli said.
They poked their horses up to a fast gallop and rode five abreast when they could. When the trail narrowed, Sissy and Joe rode behind the other three. They stopped twice to rest and water their horses during the day. Eli knew having Sissy along was gonna change the way they acted and relieved themselves whenever they wanted to. He’d already thought of that and the first time they stopped, he made sure she was private when she peed.
When they stopped to make camp at their usual place by the river, Eli was again thinking of Sissy.
“Sissy, you go over there past that little hill, so you’ll be private. Joe, you go watch out for her. A woman squatting to pee is unprotected. Make sure you never leave her. She trusts you and I do too, or you wouldn’t be here,” Eli said as he, Duncan, and Moses walked through some brush to relieve themselves.
Sissy went straight to where Eli had pointed. As soon as she was private, she skinned her buckskins down over her butt and squatted. She looked up at Joe as he stared wide-eyed at her.
“Joe, you better turn your back and pee, my Daddy will get your ass if he sees you just standing there watchin me,” she said and laughed as he whirled away from her.
She could see him standing with his back to her, wide legged, peeing as she drained her bladder too. She was about to bust wide open, but she would have waited as long as it took, before she told them she had to pee. She already knew that when she and Joe split off from them, that she could tell him and he would be alright with it by then. She felt sure of herself, like she was a grown woman – she felt in control. She was Eli Crow’s daughter, she had to be in control, her daddy expected as much of her.
When they’d peed and laced up, they walked back to where the others were gathering limbs and sticks for a fire. She and Joe bent and started gathering wood too as they piled it all in a pile next to where Duncan had the fire going already.
The terrain was becoming rougher than they’d experienced so far. The fifty miles took them almost two days, as the trail twisted and turned, and back tracked through the jagged rocks of the first foot hills as they came closer to the Southern Rockies. By the mid-afternoon of the second day, they had ridden down into a big grassland that covered most of the valley. The horses were hungry for fresh grass and they stopped to let them graze near a cool, clear river. Juni and Tin Yu were naked...
Sissy and Joe came home while they were still sitting around the table. Joe was wearing a Deputy United States Marshal’s badge, grinning that crooked grin, and Sissy was hanging on him like she was shackled to him as she came in grinning. “We’re married, Daddy. I’m a wife now and I love my husband. Judge Parker married us and he cried, he was so happy that we let him. He told us not to worry about that trouble over in unassigned lands, he would take care of it.” “Momma, I’m taking my man...
Fort Smith, Arkansas October 12, 1883 When Eli, Duncan and Moses rode into Fort Smith, they went straight to the courthouse to tell Judge Parker about the flash flood, and finding no rustlers. Before they even got upstairs to his chambers, they were met by Jefferson, and told of a jailbreak. “Eli, it was that Larry Parkins kid, the one who hit Duncan. He was in the cell with L.W. Ward and Clyde Pickens, the ones you brought in from down toward Fort Towson when we got Kia, Michi, Lorene...
“Sundy, you put this shirt on and slide over here on my horse with me. We’re going up there and scout this trading post,” Eli said as he unlocked her shackles and pulled a buckskin shirt out of his saddlebag. “Marshal, you be watchful of Sundy if there’s shootin. We’ve took a liking to her and want to see her do good, now that her kin have been arrested,” Jessie said. “I’ll be alright, I know Marshal Eli will keep me safe,” she said as she hugged her thin body to his back. “Duncan, I’m...
“This big horse wants to run, Duncan. You want to make some time?” “Let him run, Eli. We have almost 700 miles due west to ride and I’m ready. It’ll take us over 2 days hard riding to get to Tulsey Town, over on the Arkansas River.” The two deputies rode hard for over an hour and then slowed their spirited horses to a long easy lope as they talked and laughed as friends, starting a partnership that would be remembered in Indian Territory and surrounding states for years to come. The...
Fort Smith, Arkansas November 2, 1875 Before Duncan had completely recovered from the injury to his head, he was laid up with pneumonia. He’d gotten caught in a heavy downpour and arrived home wet and chilled. He spent two weeks recovering, with the first week spent in bed the whole time. Eli and Moses were split up again, since they were short-handed. “Eli, which way you headed this time? It looks like I’m headed up toward Kansas where you ‘n Duncan come from when he got whacked on his...
Oklahoma Territory Crow Ridge Cattle Company August 4, 1889 Jon David, Amanda, Sissy, and Analisa told Eli yesterday that they needed to be at the office early this morning. They let Chane and Jon Jr. spend the night with Shawn, Karly Jo, Clara, and Maryanne. Eli stepped out on the front porch earlier than usual that morning since he had all his Little Bucks here for the day. He drank the last of the coffee from his mug and stood looking down at the river before turning to look over toward...
Doctor Harrod came out just a few minutes after Eli and Jefferson walked into the lobby and sat down. They both jumped up as soon as he came through the door, hurrying to meet him. “Doc?” Eli said as he looked at the young doctor. “Duncan is fine. He’s sleeping now and you’ll both be able to see him in a few hours. I drained the wound where the injury had become infected. There was a bone fragment just as I thought. It was wedged in a clump of hair that had pushed into the tiny skull...
Indian Territory June 15, 1884: “Eli, look at all them dark clouds down yonder south of here. I sure hope we don’t run into any bad weather on the way home,” Duncan said as they rode on into the late afternoon after getting Joe patched up. “I’ve been watching them too, Duncan. I hope they’re between us and home, I’d hate to know our place was being hammered by storms.” By nightfall, the dark storm clouds had moved east of where they were heading, but the air was still damp and heavy like...
With the arraignments and hearings coming up for the criminals that Eli, Duncan and Moses had arrested in the past weeks, they were all required to be in the courthouse most of each day for a week. After that, they were told by Judge Parker they needed to be on call for another week as the prosecutors, lawyers, and public defenders obtained information from them. Though this was a rough two weeks for the three of them, who were used to being out in the open. They did enjoy their time at...
The next morning early, the three had ridden no more than half a mile from camp, when Eli pulled his horse back. “We got riders coming in, hold up and get your guns ready,” he told them. They were suddenly surrounded by sixteen members of a cavalry patrol, handguns drawn and hammers backed. “Stand your position men, United States Cavalry here. You’re trespassing on government property,” a big sergeant in front of the troop yelled. “Mister, you best put them pistols away before we shoot...
As the three rode back to the courthouse, they felt good about the girls going to learn about nursing. They felt good about getting to ride out together again too. Jefferson had their warrants, since Judge Parker was already in court for the day. “Eli, this big horse wants to run some, let’s get stretched out and make some miles. It sure does feel good to be out here again,” Duncan said. They poked their horses up to a good hard gallop and let them run for miles before they pulled them...
It took another hour to get from the high knoll over to the far side of Fayetteville, but they were at the old trading post at last. Eli helped both women to the ground. They were about frozen from being on the trail most of five days. He tied their horses to the hitching rail and rapped on the solid wood door. “ELI IS HERE,” he heard a scream and the door swung wide as Tin Yu, Catt and Eva ran out to him, nearly knocking him over backwards as they grabbed him in a hug, jumping up and...
The next morning, when Rose and Mary came down to the kitchen to start breakfast, Jefferson already had a warm fire built in the cookstove. As they filled the big coffee pot with coffee and water, they heard a noise on the back porch. Jefferson stepped to the back door to see the two nannies and the two kids on the porch, with the billy standing in the yard, looking up at them. Corinne and Lorene were next down the stairs, carrying the two babies, since they had taken it upon themselves to...
The three marshals rode for two more days, pushing their horses, keeping them fed and watered, as they made their way toward the Cherokee Outlet, known all over this part of Indian Territory as no man’s land. The third day on the trail after they’d met the cavalry patrol at the mouth of the Chikaskia where it emptied into the Salt Fork of the Arkansas, they met another patrol headed east. Abraham Walker was the scout. “Marshal Moses Kidd, you have made good time. Lieutenant Carpenter is...
The trip back to Fort Smith took three days longer than the trip over to the Panhandle. Twice along the way, Eli killed a small deer late in the day, so they could cook it all night and be gone at daylight, eating the cooked meat along the way. The rest of the time, they only stopped long enough to feed and water the horses and relieve themselves. The prisoners were left to their own devices, as for relieving themselves. While riding on the boards of the rough, bouncing wagon bed, they...
The travelers broke camp at daybreak after an early breakfast. They were still most of a day’s travel from Pecan Ridge and the MacEagle brothers wanted their new friends to visit the Cheyenne Village and meet their grandfather on the way. The Young Bucks and the Crow girls knew White Elk and they were excited about going to the Cheyenne village to meet with him again. They were even more excited to be there when he welcomed his grandsons home after they’d graduated from the private boarding...
Saturday, May 3, 1884 Cherokee Lands Indian Territory Iron Hammer’s Lodge “Eli Crow, I see you have returned and now you bring all the marshals and little Crows to see me. I see my own brothers, the Barkleys, with you. How am I so honored this day?” “Iron Hammer, I came with my friends and young’uns to tell you of a cattle deal we made in Kansas City this week. My little Crows have gifts for your little Hammers and me and my friends are always happy to sit with Iron Hammer and his brothers...
Tulsa, Indian Territory Crow Ridge Cattle Company June 2, 1884 The big house on the hill was full of happy talk as they gathered in the kitchen to talk and catch up on the latest trip into the Territory. Clarissa was typing on her typewriter as fast as she could to keep up with all that was said. She was getting faster at typing and this was the first time she didn’t make notes to type from later. They let the ten youngest travelers talk first, each of them telling their version of the...
A week after the marshals returned from their last trip, Eli rode across the river to Tulsa with Little Eli and the other boys and girls. The young’uns thought they were almost grown now, getting to ride the big high stepping horses all the way across the river with him and going to the post office at Perryman’s. He gave them enough money to buy some candy and even some gum, for the first time in their lives. The boys saw some baseball bats, gloves, and balls and each of them wanted baseball...
December 27, 1884 Tulsa Depot Tulsa, Indian Territory Jon David and Joe were at the train depot when the train pulled in from Kansas City. Jon David had gotten a telegraph message that there would be twenty-one, young Negro women aboard the train arriving on the twenty-seventh. There were only two Pullman cars and a caboose connected to that train. The preacher from the Negro church in Kansas City had made the trip down to Tulsa, escorting the young women personally, since the young women...
Indian Territory October 5, 1884: As the light of dawn began to spread across the plains, they harnessed the mules and hitched the teams to the wagons. They were all ready to meet the others at Pecan Ridge Cattle Company and start the pecan harvest. They saw how the nearby trees were loaded with pecans and knew this pecan crop was going to be a big one. Eli and Moses had been out before dawn, riding the western perimeter. Duncan and Joe had also been riding the eastern perimeter behind...
They did make that trip in September. Eli wanted the family to visit their hotel in Santa Fe then come back through Albuquerque on their week-long trip. They even made it down to Las Cruces to stay two nights at that hotel before heading back home. Eli knew the women would be having babies in the spring and he was already planning trips to Kansas City after the babies were born. In April of 1890, Eli took his Cherokee brothers, Iron Hammer, Iron Hand and Iron Eyes, with their families for a...
Tulsa, Indian Territory Sunday, July 28, 1889 While Moses, Isaac and Little Eli were loading the horses, the engineer yelled and waved to Eli again just as he stepped down from the Pullman carrying Little Eli’s traveling bag. “Marshal, if we’re gonna make a fast run down to Abilene like you want, the fireman will need some help from your bunch to keep up the steam,” he yelled above the noise of the locomotive. “We’ll ride up here with you. I want to keep this this thing red hot and smoking...
Miranda turned and sat sideways on the top rail as she watched Little Eli run over to get on his horse. Lee Yu, Lilly Beth, Kia, and Michi were all waiting for him. They all waved to her when they saw her looking. She felt like getting off the fence right then and grabbing Eli Crow. She was so in love with him and his family. No matter if it was right in the middle of the cattle pens, and right in front of all the men, she could have thrown him to the ground and loved him right here. They...
Across the small hotel dining room, there were three well-dressed men wearing tall white hats, drinking coffee and smoking fat cigars. One of them moved closer to sit at the table nearest the Young Bucks. “Excuse me please, but did I hear you say you have an exceptionally fast horse bred from Cheyenne horse blood?” The man asked from behind Eli. Eli turned to look back at the man, “Yes Sir, we sure do. He’s never been beaten in about thirty races,” he told the man. “We’re here to meet the...
After their meal, they rounded the young’uns up and headed them back upstairs. The elevator had to make two trips to get them all to the top floor. By the time they had the younger ones settled and into bed, it was after ten o’clock and they had a busy day planned for tomorrow. The baseball game started at one o’clock and they were scheduled to play two games before dark. The grownups talked for another hour before heading off to their separate rooms and to bed. They still wanted to spend...
“Trapper, there are at least two dozen turkey-buzzards circling overhead back west of here,” Micah told him as they rode north. Trapper and the others turned their horses to look back to where Micah was pointing. “Looks like we could have a fresh one for you men to check out. Let’s get on over there,” Trapper said and spanked his horse with his reins. They topped a small rise to see at least two dozen more buzzards on the ground tearing into a dead calf. When they rode up, the buzzards...
After their performance on their first assignment in Colorado back in October of 1896, the six Young Bucks’ names became well known at the Western District U.S. Marshal’s Service office in Kansas City. During the next two years they were called upon time and time again to settle disputes. They were sent to the Missouri border town of Fort Scott, Kansas, to help settle a railroad union dispute that had already gotten out of hand with clashes of violence by the time they arrived. With strong...
“We’ve never been up this way before, Daddy. Where are we going?” Little Eli asked. “We’re going up the Arkansas to the rough country where the Pawnee and Osage Tribes join lands. We’ll camp on the Arkansas and we’ll have our own school for you boys out here.” They had crossed the Arkansas River in a northwesterly direction, then followed along the west side of the river until mid-day. The boys were told to bring nothing but jerky in their grub bags, they were going to survive on what the...
Kansas City, Missouri July 21, 1889 Eli and Isaac were up and dressed, after washing up from a wild time the night before when they’d had champagne sprayed all over them and made love on the balcony. They were sitting out on the balcony again, looking down on the sprawling city below as people began to stir and fill the streets. The girls came out laughing and talking about the fun, crazy time they’d had last night. They were bathed, dressed and ready for a day of shopping and sightseeing...
Upon their return to Tulsa from racing Cheyenne at Vinita, Little Eli had met with Bill and Jack Robertson that day, asking them about making a lightweight saddle just for Cheyenne. After measuring and fitting him with the special built saddletree and pad, they made a saddle with no high pommel and no saddle horn. There were no fenders, just leather straps that supported the small brass stirrups. This saddle was half the weight of the working and pleasure saddles they used on the ranch. As...
October 1, 1881 While Eli was getting his latest prisoners turned over to the jailers, Jefferson left the courthouse through the back door and ran out to saddle his horse. He rode hard up the back way, cutting across an open lot and through someones yard as he raced home. He didn’t take time to put his horse in the barn, he knew Eli would see it anyway. He jerked the saddle off and turned his horse in the cow pen. When Eli rode into the yard later, it was almost sundown and there was no one...
When they arrived in Durant, the sun had been up a few hours and Eli herded them to the hotel. The fireman and engineer went with them as the local railroad workers filled the reservoirs with water and oiled the locomotive for them. This was the first chance Eli had for more than a few words with his Bucks since they’d boarded the caboose in Abilene. Eli and Moses sat across the table from them in the dining room and looked at each of them as they talked to their brothers and their...
“Kit, would you and Ruby want to wear buckskins like we do?” Caleb asked as they all talked, ate, and became friends. “We sure do. Marshal Eli told us we could, and said he’d even give us our own horse,” Kit answered. “We’ll have to round up our horses in the morning and see how many we have now. Daddy may have to get more horses from our friend, Iron Hammer. He’s the main man in the Cherokee Tribe that owns all the lands around us,” Little Eli said. “Momma told me we could all go down to...
Crow Ridge Cattle Company Tulsa, Indian Territory Thanksgiving Day November 27,1884: “Here come the Buffalo Soldiers, they’re crossing the river now!” Isaac yelled as he jumped off the back porch, headed toward the barn where the men, the girls, and the rest of the Bucks were gathered. The women had run the men and younger ones from the house so they could finish cooking and get the dinner ready. This was to be the biggest feast and biggest celebration they’d had to date. The men, the...
When they finished unloading the flatcar, they headed back to the house. Smitty, Leon, James, and Albert were on the wagon and Eli drove. “Smitty, I need to have a talk with you. Want to walk down to the river with me?” Eli asked. “Sure Eli, let me get a drink from the pump and I’ll be ready.” “I’ll meet you out front.” Eli went through the house and into the kitchen where the women were fixing supper. “Corinne, come go with me,” Eli said. “Eli, I’m not sure about this now. Can we wait...
After an early start in the cold hours of morning, they rode hard and steady all day, stopping to relieve themselves twice and eat from the grub sack. They made Kansas City, Missouri late in the day as the sun was sinking behind the cold flat horizon, across the river in Kansas. They stopped at a big fancy hotel and registered as Eli and Rose Crow. The desk man was hesitant at first to let the two Half-Breeds stay in his hotel, but saw the Deputy U.S. Marshal badge and the Indian Police...
“ELI! You’re back. Did you get the last one? Dal said you thought there was a woman with them too,” Sam Connor greeted his grandson when he came through the back door, stomping the mud off his feet. Eli was soaked, his buckskins wet and clinging to his body, his moccasins filled with mud and water. He hadn’t even put his long coat on when he left Young’s Store. The back of his coat was shot out anyway. “They’re all taken care of, Grandpa. How’s Grandma? She alright after all this?” He...
When they reached the river’s edge, Kit laid the fuses and caps on a stump. Ruby handed Kit a stick of dynamite and picked up a cap and a short fuse. Eli and the others watched as she inserted the end of a fuse into the open end of the blasting cap, then put her fingers about an inch from the end of the brass. She stuck this short end of the exposed brass into her mouth with the extra fuse trailing down her chin. They could see her straining her jaws as she bit down on the brass, clamping it...
Eli had planned their trip himself and since he wanted them to stay a few days in Boones Crossing without being in a rush, he decided to take his dad’s advice and travel to Kansas City first then come back to Boones Crossing. Though he and Isaac didn’t wear their guns, they did have their knives on their hips, with their guns packed in their traveling bags. Both were dressed in buckskins and their girls dressed in finery like the other women traveling on the train. They ate one meal in the...
Saturday October 3, 1896 Crow Valley, Oklahoma Territory “Let me see that map again, Deuce,” Ezra said. He stood next to Eli and Isaac as they looked at the map. They had just gotten their first orders as Deputy United States Marshals two days ago, and the six of them were excited as they saddled up. They’d packed the night before and already had their two packsaddles loaded with tents, food and supplies for at least a two-week stay once they reached their destination. They were being sent...
Dal Hopkins had been half asleep, half-awake as he worried about his town. He heard a man whisper something behind him in the cell. Was he dreaming? Could it really be? HE KNEW THAT VOICE... He’d know that voice in the middle of a windstorm on the plains or in a howling snowstorm on top of a mountain. No matter where on earth he was, he would know that voice... Eli was here. He knew it was him! How – he didn’t know, but that was Eli Crow behind him, he’d bet his life on it. “Marshal,...
Eli knew he had a battle on his hands convincing the mommas of his sons and daughters that his plan was the best way to keep the Bucks, the Crow girls and the rest of them from having babies and still let them spend time with their friends. He figured the best way to handle this was to get them all at once and get it over with. Miranda, Clarissa, Tin Yu, Catt, Eva, Rose, Sissy, Suh, Juni, and Grandma were gathered together out away from the others. Eli wanted all of them to listen to what he...
Boones Crossing, Kansas July 23, 1889 Little Eli, Kit, Ruby, and Isaac arrived in Boones Crossing early, making the short trip from Kansas City in only a matter of two hours. They had accompanied their friends to the train station the evening before and watched as they boarded the train to Colorado. This was a tearful parting of new friends with all of them vowing to meet again soon. The McInnis sisters especially took it hard, sobbing as they sat on the train and waved out the window to...
Crow Ridge September 1, 1896 “Come on in, Ezra. Your dad and I wanted to talk to you before you head back to Crow Valley,” Rose told her son. Jefferson was sitting up in bed with the covers pulled to his waist. “Dad, are you feeling any better?” Ezra asked as he walked over to sit at his bedside and lay his hand on top Jefferson’s right hand. “I feel better today, Son. This has actually been one of my better days in the past few months. “Dad, I suppose I’ve always taken for granted that...
When the Buffalo Soldiers rolled in from Little Tree with empty wagons, all of them jumped in and loaded them as quickly as possible. There were fifteen more loads to ship after they held back the last three loaded wagons to take to Tulsa. Willis turned fifteen of his men right back around, telling them to get on back so they could all head over to Tulsa and start learning to be oil well drillers. The next morning early, Eli and Jon David were sitting by the fire outside, drinking coffee...
Eli knew he had to get over to the women as soon as he could. He saw them laughing and talking with Analisa, pointing now and then toward where he stood. Even Sissy, Miranda, and Grandmother were huddled with the young Mexican woman, whispering and laughing. When Catt and Eva pulled her aside, they were laughing aloud and Eli knew it was time to go. “I see all of you have met Analisa. I hope you’ll make her welcome. I’ve asked her to work for us when we get back to Tulsa,” Eli told them when...
Two weeks earlier, when Duncan and Eli had split as they arrived in Tulsa, Duncan felt alone as he rode north toward Kansas. Though he’d been a deputy marshal for over two years when he met Eli, he’d grown to like hid friend so well that he missed his company and the friendship they shared together on their trips into the Territory. He rode into southern Kansas two days later, after riding late like he and Eli often did when they first met. He wanted to hurry and do his law business, then...
The men of Crow Ridge Cattle Company loaded the second trainload of cattle bound for Kansas City and knew there wasn’t time to load another fifteen cars before dark. The first trainload would have to make it to the next sidetrack, near the Kansas state line, before the two empty trains could travel on down to Tulsa. They made plans to start loading at daylight the next day. The empty trains would arrive during the night and have to lay over. They gathered around after the first day of...
The Waco Kid never raised his head as he reached out to pick up a stick and thrash it across the bedroll nearest him. “Get your asses up, we got a score to settle this morning and I’m ready to get started!” he said loudly. The other men began to stir in their bedrolls and The Waco Kid rolled over to sit up. He had yet to look up as he pulled his boots on, then picked up his two pistols and shoved them down in his holsters. He stretched his arms over his head, wincing at the pain in his ribs,...
Crow Ridge March 29, 1889 The family was up before dawn to see the Crow girls and the Young Bucks off. Even their younger brothers and sisters were up. Eli cornered Little Eli and Ezra as soon as they came downstairs and pulled them aside. “I need to give you men something. I’ve been wanting to tell you about this, but never felt like it was the right time until now. “Eli, back when you told me that you Bucks wanted to have a place of your own and still wanted it to be near each other, I...
Union Station Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 19, 1885 Eli had been on the train for four days when he arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had an hour layover there, one of many layovers they’d had on his long train ride from Indian Territory. After he’d found the toilets to relieve himself, he sat inside the huge train station and watched the hundreds of people coming and going. He’d never seen this many people in one place ever before, not even in Kansas City at the ballpark. He kept...
“This is absolutely beautiful. I just love the way the houses and barns look with all the pecan trees around,” Miranda said. “It does look good and shady back in them trees. We need to plant some pecan trees over at the other place to shade it a little, I reckon,” Eli agreed. “You boys get you some clean buckskins and go back behind the barn and get a bath,” Eli told the six boys. “Miranda, would you help Sissy get the girls back there and get them bathed?” “I will, but first we’re going...
There were snow flurries blowing in the wind, with a light blanket already covering the ground when the Bucks started out the next morning after saying their goodbyes to the family. They were dressed in their buckskins with their union suits underneath and heavy boiler overalls over their buckskins. Each had a leather fur-lined cap pulled down over their head and ears. They wore wool scarves backed with flannel over their faces, leaving only a slit with their eyes exposed as they rode...
Eli and Duncan headed out of town with their wagon load of prisoners. Bud Parkins drove the wagon, Duncan and Eli rode their horses. “Eli, I already like this horse pretty good. He’s as tall and long legged as that big stud you got.” “Yep, you got a good’un, Duncan.” They turned south at the creek crossing, and rode right by Noonan’s ranch. “You could at least let me see my wife before you take me back,” Noonan said. “I’ll go see if she wants to see you... “Duncan, you keep them headed...
“What can I do for you, Mister? You look to be part Indian. Are you?” The man behind the window at the train station said as Eli walked up to the window to send a telegraph message back to Little Tree. “I need to send a message over to Little Tree, Texas. Can you do that for me?” Eli said, ignoring the man’s remark. “I sure can. Who is it for and what name do you want on it?” “Put my name on it, Marshal Eli Crow. Send it to Hoke at the livery. Tell him I need him to get word to my folks at...
“Son, that was some race. We heard what Parkman’s jockey said. You did the right thing holding Cheyenne back, then letting him run away with the race after they’d tried to run him down like that. You’d think Sam Parkman would know better by now,” Eli said as he and Joe stood beside Little Eli when their picture was made. “Did you win big again, Dad?” Little Eli asked, knowing by his smile that he did. “We all won big on that race. I already have another big bet placed on the last race...