The Legend of Eli CrowChapter 47
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“We’re keeping this money for ourselves! They’d probably never find where it came from and some crooked government official would wind up with it. This money belongs to all of us. I’ve already thought about putting it back for us to buy some land with one day.”
“You mean our own land? Not more land there on Crow Ridge?” Isaac asked.
“Yep, our own land. I hope each of us can own a big spread, like our dads do. I kind of want to own my own ranch one day, separate from Crow Ridge ... Don’t all of you?”
“Hell yeah!” Ezra said and they all agreed.
“Eli, that’s forty thousand each, are you sure you want to split it even-up six ways?” Pike asked.
“We’re brothers, Pike, and what one has, we all share!”
They’d made their way back to the far depths of the cave, where they found two more skulls and lots of scattered bones.
“Hey, look at this!” Micah said as he reached into the pile of bones and pulled out an Army Colt revolver still in fair condition.
“Here’s another one over here and here’s two Springfield rifles under this pile of bones too,” Isaac said as Eli held the torch over his head.
“Eli!” Ezra shouted, pulling his pistol and pointing toward three large rattlesnakes balled up in a shallow hole, in what appeared to be a partially buried wooden box.
“Don’t shoot in this cave! That would break our ear drums. Kill them with a stick! They’re too cold to strike very far, even if they can strike at all,” Eli told Ezra before his brother could fire off a shot at the snakes.
“Here, use this,” Pike said as he grabbed a wooden handle sticking out of the dirt. He pulled it up and it was a long handle shovel.
“Hand me that shovel, I’ll get us some snake meat to go along with that deer meat we have on the fire,” Micah said as he grabbed the shovel and took a whack at one snake’s head. Three quick, strong stabs at the snakes with the blade of the shovel, and he’d chopped off their heads, leaving them in a writhing, bloody ball.
“Take your shovel and move them out of the way. We need to see if this really is a wooden trunk or maybe even a strongbox. There may even be more loot buried here,” Eli told him as they closed in around the boards that lay partially buried in the shallow hole.
Micah stepped on the shovel, pushing the blade deep into the sandy soil. He felt it scrape against something and looked around at the rest of them with a grin.
In a matter of minutes, he’d uncovered the remainder of what had once been a strongbox made of wood and metal. There, where the bottom still remained intact, were six canvas bags with faded writing stamped on the sides.
“Can you make out what it says?” Eli asked as he held his torch closer.
“U.S. Mint - Denver Colorado!” Pike exclaimed as he knelt to look closely.
“Is that bag as heavy as it looks?” Ezra asked, laughing as he too reached for a bag.
They already knew what was inside those six canvas bags!
How much? was the next question.
“Open that one, Ezra. We need to see exactly what we’ve uncovered,” Eli said as they knelt in a circle around the shallow hole where the remains of the box still lay in the dirt.
Ezra slipped the point of his knife under the knot where the heavy lacing was tied. Each of the six bags were tied identically, with rawhide laces pulling the drawstring top closed.
Without making so much as a nick in the faded canvas material, Ezra cut through the leather lacing then pulled the bag open to look inside.
“Damn, Eli. This bag is full of gold coins!” He exclaimed as he held a handful of the heavy coins up to show them.
“Can you see what denomination they are?” Isaac asked.
“Twenty dollar gold coins! There must be at least three or four hundred in this one bag.”
“What will the bag weigh?” Eli asked.
“Heck, as much as thirty pounds, I’d guess – maybe more,” Pike said, hefting his bag in front of him with both hands.
“I agree,” Ezra told him as he looked up to see the others grinning at their good fortune.
“Count the coins in that one, Ezra. All gold coins weigh just a little over an ounce,” Eli told them.
With Eli holding the light over him, Ezra counted the coins out on top of two boards laying side by side.
“Four hundred exactly!” Ezra said as they all knelt close to see the stacks of gold coins.
“That’s eight thousand dollars per bag if they’re all the same and we have six bags of coins. Not a bad find for six Young Bucks out on their first deer hunt alone!” Eli said, and they laughed together.
“Bring the bags up front near the fire. We’ll search this place good before we leave for home. We need to get a hard count on all the money we’ve found too. I think the six of us can buy some pretty damn good cattle grazing land with all this loot!” Eli told them as he reached over to pick up a heavy canvas bag before standing.
“Eli, where do you reckon all this money and gold came from?” Micah asked as they sat around the fire eating the roasted snake meat along with tender morsels of deer meat they’d sliced off.
“I doubt all this money and gold came from one robbery. That would have been one heck of a haul. That is, unless it came from a train robbery that had this much paper money and gold being shipped at once.
“We’ll never know for sure if the gold coins were newly minted and being shipped from the Denver mint. That would be my guess ... that these were new coins being shipped to Kansas City or maybe on back east. The money is another story. Maybe all this was a big payroll being shipped to a bank there in Kansas, or possibly back east.”
“Let’s count all the money and the gold coins too, after we eat, to get a total,” Eli told them as they sat down to eat.
The snowstorm never let up during the day and on into the early part of the night. They had decided to wait it out, then hunt again after the blizzard had worn out its welcome on the plains.
During a trip out to tend their horses and mules, they cut and piled all the small green willow limbs and saplings they could find, carrying them back to the cave through the deep snow as they went.
When they’d warmed and were able to strip off their heavy clothes again, the six of them sat around the fire, cutting the willow limbs, warming them, and bending them into the shape of snowshoes. They had never done this before, but they had seen snowshoes hanging on the walls at Perryman’s Store and wondered at the time, what it would be like to walk in snow so deep that snowshoes were needed.
From the memory of inspecting those snowshoes up close, they made their own. Each of them watching and copying from the others as they found better and stronger ways to cut and lace the stripped hides of the deer they had killed, into a network of laces on the snowshoe frames.
They only ventured out of the cave twice during the rest of the day to tend the needs of their horses and mules, feeding them sparingly, watering them by melting snow in their two coffee pots and two skillets.
Once again, they were up early the next morning, ready to head out for a second day of hunting. They were glad to see the heavy snowfall ending and only a few flurries blowing in the bitter-cold wind.
The drifts were over waist deep in places, with snowfall averaging knee deep anywhere they went. The skies were still gray and dreary at first light, but they had hopes of a good day’s hunt. After tending their horses early, they paired up once more to find their favorite spots.
“Damn, it’s cold out here this morning. We won’t be able to stay out long,” Isaac said as he and Eli hunkered down about thirty yards from the cave entrance while the others slowly made their way through the deep snow. Their snowshoes were barely pressing into the snow as they slowly trudged across the surface.
When light began to show in the sky, the heavy snow clouds gave way to partly cloudy skies, with spots of bright sunlight glaring off the snow.
“Would you just look at all those tracks, Isaac?” Eli said as they looked down on the trail below. The deer had already come out during the night, in search of food.
“There must have been a hundred come right through here, as many tracks as there are down there where the snow is tromped down,” Isaac whispered back.
As they looked down on the well-traveled trail, they heard a rustle in the brush to the side of them.
Eli poked Isaac’s arm and motioned with his hand. There, standing at the edge of the trail was a big doe. She stood with her head high, turning to look behind her, before walking out into the open trail below.
“You take her, Isaac.”
“She sure is a big one, here goes.”
Before he could raise his rifle and sight through his scope, Eli grabbed his arm.
“Look!” he whispered as both spotted the huge buck stepping out into the trail behind the doe, looking in all directions before quickly running to where she stood.
They watched as the doe stood still, flipping her white tail high above her back as the buck sniffed her, then snorted with his head held high.
“He’s about to mount her, you take him. I’ll take her,” Eli whispered as he leaned close to Isaac so he’d not be heard.
“Shit, Eli. I can’t shoot him just as he’s about to mount her. I’ll kill her, you take him!”
“You’re too soft-hearted, Isaac. I want that rack hanging on my wall!” Eli whispered as they sighted through their scopes.
“Do it now, Eli. Don’t wait until he gets it in her!” Isaac told him as the buck mounted the doe.
“Here goes.
“Now,” Eli said and pulled the trigger.
Isaac’s shot came at the same instant, as both deer fell in the deep snow, kicking and pawing briefly, before lying still.
“Where did you hit him, Eli? I shot the doe through in her right ear hole.”
“I shot him in his ear hole too. I didn’t want to mess up that skull cap and break the antlers apart. Come on, let’s get down there and cut their throats so they can bleed. Then we’ll need to gut them and see if we can pull those two up in the tree with the others.”
“Damn, they sure are big. I bet she’d go close to two hundred, don’t you?” Isaac said as they stood over the two dead deer.
“Yep and I’d guess him to be over two fifty, maybe closer to three hundred. He’s sure a big one.”
“How many points does he have?”
“Hold my rifle, I’ll raise his head to get a count on both sides.
“Would you look at this? He has fourteen on the left side alone!”
“He must have been the big, bad, bull of the woods. I doubt there are any more out here as big as he is,” Isaac said as Eli counted the points on the right side of the big, widespread rack.
“This one is larger than the one mounted in Perryman’s. He has fifteen on this side and that’s not counting all the spikes at the base of both his antlers!”
Eli knelt and quickly cut the throats of both deer, letting them bleed in the snow.
“Now the work begins,” he said as he stood and took his rifle from Isaac as they looked down at the two deer.
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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...
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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...
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“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...