Kettle Creek by jwindwalker Page 2

Kettle Creek
by
© jwindwalker

Page 2

Chapter 6

Memphis was two days behind them now. It was true. The war was over. The South had lost the war. It would be a long time before it would seem like the same place again. If it ever did.

There was smoke in the distance. Ed sent Ben Downs ahead to scout it out. Ben rode back up to the small group again in about a half-hour. There is a farm ahead. The folks said that we could camp there for the night. Ed nodded in acknowledge-ment of the report. There were only five of them now. The other men had off in their own directions. Some to find their families. Others just rode off. With no homes or families to go home to. It had been a very bad war. But then all wars were bad. If they weren't then people wouldn't be so hesitant to start them.

Ed knew that something was very wrong when they got to the Roundtree's farm. The house and barn had been burned to the ground. There were no signs that any one was around. They rode slowly through the gate towards where the house had been. There was signs that someone had began to clean up the mess to start rebuilding. Teddy Roundtree came out of the dugout storm shelter with a shotgun in his hands. He might be seventy years old but that shotgun wasn't shaking at all.

If you fellers figure to do some plundering you're a might late. Ed said, Teddy, what happened here? Teddy lowered the barrel of the shotgun just a little. Ed is that you? His hands started to tremble for the first time. Tears fell from his eyes and he tried to wipe them away. Ed slid down from his horse and walked over to Teddy. It's me Teddy, tell me what has been happening here . Teddy looked long at Ed as though trying to remember what he had looked like in earlier years. He said, it was the scoundrels Ed. They burned everything and they killed my Emily and took my girl Martha with them. My son Joe and my son-in-law Pat rode in a couple weeks back. They rode out to try to find Martha. But I don't ever expect to see them again. Things ain't so good for you either Ed. They hit your place after they hit mine. I was off in the field. I saw the smoke but by the time I got here there was nothing I could do but cry and hurt.

They burned your place and took everything. Mary said they had Martha with them when they rode in. She tried to help but they beat her unconscious. She is staying with her Mama and Papa at the big Logan house. I know she will be glad to see you and the boy. It has been real hard on her since they burned the house. I guess you haven't heard the other news yet either. You've got a baby girl Ed. She was born about eight months after you left. Mary wouldn't tell you at the time because she was afraid that you would worry too much, but that is one fine little lady. Looks just like Mary but she got them cold blue eyes of yours. She's sure gonna be rough on the boys one of these days.

The Logan farm was about seven miles South East of the Eldridge farm. That made about twelve miles altogether. Ed told Jess, we've come this far boy. We ain't going to quit now until I see your Ma. Jess just smiled. I sure was hoping you would say that. As they rode off Ed noticed that Ben was being very quiet. After a couple of miles he asked, what's eating you Ben? Ben looked over at Ed for a moment, then leaned out and spat a very large stream of tobacco juice at a clump of grass. Cap, I purely got no place to go. I worked for your folks and you all of my life. I'm too derned old to start doing something new. It'll take two years to get that place of yours back in operation if you decide to do it. I just don't know what to do or where to go to do it. They all laughed at Ben. Ed said, Ben whatever we do or wherever we go, we'll all stick together. We've been a family too long to bust up now. It was clear by the twinkle in Ben’s eye that he had gotten the answer that he had been hoping for.

The other two riders were Bill Clayton and David Travis. They had rode off with Ed when he and Ben had left. The Claytons had owned the farm next to Ed and Mary. Bills Ma and Pa had died when Bill was twelve years old. That had been fourteen years ago. Ed had bought the property from Bill and He and Mary had brought Bill home to live with them. He had been like one of their own since that time.

David Travis lived about fifteen miles South of the Logan Plantation. He was itching to get home and see about his wife and the son , which he hadn't seen since he was six weeks old. David said, Cap. I reckon I'll stay over with you tonight and ride for home at first light. If I still have a home to go home to. Ed said, That'll be fine son. And don't you worry! Everything is gonna turn out O.K. As the house began to loom in the distance, a deep excitement began to stir in Ed's stomach. Until now it had seemed like a dream . Now there was a certain feeling of reality that had not dawned on any of them. It was a bit like waking from a nightmare to find that it had only been a dream.

The smoke was drifting lazily from the chimney . Curling upward toward the clouds stirred only slightly by a gentle breeze . The smell brought back memories of years of love and happiness that Ed and Mary had shared together. Bacon and eggs cooking on that big old wood stove in the kitchen. Mary would bustle around getting breakfast and Ed having completed the morning chores would sit with his legs stretched across the wood box , sat at the table watching her affectionately .

Jess had some good memories too . He could remember his mother as a young woman. It was here at this house that they had all gotten together ever so often to for the family meetings . His Grandfather Logan had sat by the fireplace and told him of the Indians he had known before white men had driven them out. Some still lived in the area back in the hills .

Ed had been named after his Grandpa Eldridge but had never known him . Both his grandfathers had been very good friends and had been together for long time. His Grandpa Logan had tried to make sure that Jess would know his Papa Logan if only by the stories the he told the lad .

As they came through the gate they saw Pop Logan standing on the porch with a
shotgun . He looked for a brief moment and then leaned the shotgun against the rail. He stepped down to the veranda and walked over toward them . He was smiling but there were deep lines in his face that Ed did not remember ever seeing before.

Pop Logan didn't show much emotion . He just reached up and shook Ed's hand and said, "It's good to have you home Son . We sure have missed you ." Ed said, "It's good to be home . Even under these circumstances ."

They were starting up the steps when Mary came out the door . She stopped cold in her tracks . The words which she had been about to speak freezing on the tip of her tongue . Tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks . Ed didn't give her time to recover . He bolted up the steps and grabbed her in his arms and kissed her . She threw her arms around him and sobbed uncontrollably . "I knew you'd come Ed. I always knew that you would come home." Ed chuckled and said , "look who I brought with me Mother." She looked past Ed and saw Jess . Her tears fell again full force . She grabbed Jess and said, " My baby ." Jess blushed and everyone laughed. Mary demanded that they all come into the house and get some supper.

Not one of them objected . It had been a long time since any of them had sat down to a home cooked meal . Especially one as good as Mary could cook up. It was a real treat . For a few moments it seemed as though there had never even been a war. There was a stirring sound at the dining room door and the men all instinctively turned in that direction . Standing in the doorway was a beautiful little girl who looked just like Mary must have looked at her age. It was obvious that she had been asleep . She just stood there rubbing her eyes. Then she stared at each of the men . She did not appear to be frightened in the least. Ed looked at Mary. She smiled at him and nodded . Mary said," Lucy. I want you t o come meet your Papa. It was Ed's turn to have his eyes fill with tears now. And as he stood and walked over to Lucy and lifted her in his arms, they did just that. He held her and felt his heart swell with love for the daughter that he hoped to have for so many years. Even the war did not seem so bad all of a sudden. Things would definitely be different from now on. Jimmy had been asleep too but the noise had awaken him as well . He didn't need anyone to tell him that his Pa was
home. He came charging in to the dining room and grabbed his Pa and gave him a big hug. Ed and Jess both surprised at how big he had gotten . The homecoming was ever bit as good as either Ed or Jess had hoped that it would be.

Chapter 7

It had been three weeks and many other men had returned home since the Eldridges had returned . There would be many who would never come home. Some were dead . Some for whatever reasons would just never come home . Ed had taken Jess and Ben, and rode over to the home place . There was nothing left.

First there was just a lot of hurt , that followed by anger . There was no reason why those men should have destroyed their farm . It was inhuman for anyone to do something like this.

It would take at least a year or two to get the house and the buildings built back. There were no tools left to farm with . It would be next year before the crops could be replaced. There was no livestock left of any kind.

They only had the three horses and none of them had ever been before a plow before. It was going to be a hard job . Jess would make it but it was the younger children that Ed was worried about . Jimmy was sixteen and Lucy was only four.

They needed a home and they needed it now . Well , They would just have to work twice as hard to get the farm back into shape .

Sometimes hard times just made a family stronger. This was the case with the Eldridges. Each day just seemed to pull them closer to each other. It didn't matter that the house was gone and the crops were all destroyed. That all somehow seemed to lose its importance in the love that the family shared. Before it was all over they would need this love and much more too.

Work was going very well on the house. They had built a log cabin for Mary and the baby to live in until they could get the house restored . The framework had been completed ant the outside walls were going up now . It was going to be a grand house. Marie could just see the party that they would have when it was finished. It was hard work but it was better than war. The effects of the war were very near and probably always would live all of them for the rest of their lives. Ed was walking over to the wagon to unload some lumber when he noticed the riders coming down the road. There were five men . All had that military look about them.

Ed recognized David Travis at once . He called out to Mary to bring something cool to drink . He called to Jess and the others to come over. Ed could tell that something bad was in the air because of the expression on the young man's face. As the riders got closer he also recognized Joe Roundtree. He could now guess what the problem was and it could not be good. When the riders rode into the yard Ed said,"Light and come in" The men dismounted and tied their horses . Dave walked over to Ed and said hello Cap . It looks like you're getting things put back together. Amenities were passed and introductions made where they were needed. Ed shook hands with Joe and Joe introduced a very large young man as Lars Swenson . This young man was at least six feet and eight inches and weighed close to three hundred pounds. He was Joe said, Martha's husband. The two other men were Cranston Golden and Mabry Hill.

As it turned out all of these men were homeless. Dave explained that he had gotten home to find that his wife and son had been killed by the same bunch of cutthroats that had cut such a wide swath through here . Joe said that they had gotten within two days of catching up with them. But when they discovered that were being followed that they had left Martha almost dead . They had done all they could do for her but that she had died after three days. One of them had slipped back to see if they were still following and the Swede had caught him. He had tied a rope around his ankles and lifted him into a tree and built a fire under him. The fellow begged to be let down so he could tell us what we wanted to know. When he had told all he could or would the Swede went over and picked him up in a bear hug and crushed the life out of him . He said that there had been thirty of them and that they had split up a day before and half were headed back this way the half that we were following were headed west. Joe explained that they had been headed home to tell his Pa what had happened when they ran into Cranston Golden and Mabry Hill. It seemed that this gang had been to their farms too. They had been trailing this bunch for a week when they found the remains of their families just left to rot. They were following them when they came upon the camp where Joe and the big Swede were camped with Martha. They all decided to ride together back to the Roundtree farm then they would try to pick up their trail again and keep looking. Ed said, " don't you fellers think the trail will be too cold to catch up ?" Swede said,"It vill nevehr get dis cold for me not to find dem and vill kill all vid my bear hands." Ed looked very solemn and thought for a few minutes in silence. Mary knew that look. It was the same look that she had seen when he rode of to war. She looked at the men who had lost their families and made the decision for Ed. You men will stay over with us here tonight. Tomorrow you ride over and bring Pa Roundtree over here. Ed, Jess, Ben, and Bill will ride out with you. Nine men will stand a much better chance than four would.

Ed looked at her for a moment and she held up her hand to stop him. She said, "Ed, you have to go and we will be fine. We will go back to Papa's until you get back. I won't have it any other way. Someone has to stop those animals and you all are the only law that we have right now. Ed smiled and said," Well boys you heard them orders. I suggest that you get some rest. We'll ride out as soon as you get back here with Teddy."

It just wasn't meant to be this way though. Just about sun up, there was the sound of horses riding down the lane . There were four of them . They rode up to the cabin and sat there on there horses. Ed and Ben were already on the porch when they got there. The rest of the men had gotten out of sight except for Jess. Who was at the corner of the cabin with a shotgun. The men looked around and one of them said, " You folks don't seem very friendly." Ed said, "Sometimes we ain't !" It was plain to tell by looking at these fellers that they were trouble all the way . Mary said from inside the cabin, Ed, They're some of the ones that burned the house. ED drew and fired with no further need for discussion . The first man died without any more chance than he had given his victims. The shotgun went of just a split second after Ed had fired and Ben Downs shots were in the echoes of the shotgun blast. Suddenly more shots rang out from the edge of the yard. Ben looked up and there was a large group of riders charging down on the cabin. Just as suddenly they stopped charging. The other men began to fire from cover.
It only lasted for a few seconds and then it was all over.

When the smoke cleared there were seven men dead and five were wounded. Three of the wounded were Joe, Swede, and Jess. The other two men were from the cutthroats. The rest had ridden off . Six of them had gotten away. The two that had been wounded didn't live more than ten minutes.

Mary came out and looked after the wounds of the boys. None were hurt badly. She dressed their wounds and they all took the bodies piled into a wagon away to bury them, while Mary fixed breakfast. After they finished breakfast they decided to ride over to the Roundtree farm together. Except for Jess and David Travis. Ed had asked them to stay at the cabin in case some of them decided to double back. He didn't want Mary there without help if that should happen. As they were riding, Mabry Hill said, "Cap, I recognized one of those fellers. His name is Rollie Slogan . He was with my outfit up at Chickamauga . When the fighting started, him and four other fellers deserted. He never did seem to be much good."

They rode on to the Roundtree farm and told Teddy what had happened. Teddy
promised to go and help keep an eye on Mary and the kids. He might be old but you could see that his hands were still steady enough to use a shotgun.

They set out on the trail . About a half hour before sunset they made camp. Leaving at sunrise the next morning they began tracking again. It was going to be a long hard ride Ed could feel it in his bones.

Chapter 8

I had been on the trail for almost two weeks when I came upon a wagon train. My first instinct was to go around them, but then I figured that maybe an outfit like that would be a good place for a man to hide.

I rode towards the wagon train and caught up with them just as they were pulling up for their noon stop. I was slow to approach. I didn't just want to ride right in and get shot right down for my troubles. I didn't really expect to find Fred Elder with a wagon train but I aimed to take a look anyway. As I was approaching I suddenly snatched back on the reins so hard that big black nearly scraped all the hide off his rear end. I was sure surprised to see that other big black horse standing tied to a wagon wheel. I would recognize that horse anywhere. I had given that horse to Marie's brother Phillip when we had ridden off to war together. Phil was five years older than me and had become an officer early on. Me I just wanted to do my fighting and go home. I had no desire to tell other fellers how to fight. But I wound up an officer in spite of my efforts not to. Me and Phil got separated at the battle of Chickamauga. I had not seen him or
the big half brother to my own black horse since.

I rode down as I came up I saw Phil standing there waiting. He never let on that he even recognized me but I knew that he did. He put the thong back on his revolver. I stepped down and just stood there not saying a word, just looking at him. Finally he said, "Been lookin for you Brother-in-law. You take the long way around no matter where you go. Don't you? I guess for the first time in a long time, we both laughed at his joke.

It really felt good seeing Phil again. It had been a long time since I had talked to anyone that was close to me.

Phil caught me up on everything and I did likewise. He had rode out to our place the day after I had buried Marie. He found all the blood and thought that I was dead too. He rode into Ashland to get the Sheriff and Doc told him what had happened. Phil, just rode back to their home place and told his Ma and Pa what had happened. He hadn't even been home. He was riding in from Atlanta and met my Nephew Tim. Tim told him that me and Marie had just got married and Phil just snatched off his hat, sailed it in the air and took off with a rebel yell. What started out as a happy ride turned into tragedy.

Phil put together his outfit and set out to find me. He said it weren't hard he just looked for buzzards. He had run across this wagon train a day back and figured that I might pick up it's trail and investigate. As it turned out I'm glad I did. Me and Phil left the wagon train the next morning heading almost due North. We had been told that about a hundred miles North the Elders had another place. It seems that they had taken over the whole town. It also seemed that I was going to have to worry about more than one Elder. According to the old timer there were forty gun hands that worked for the BOX E, and there were four more brothers and they were all poison.

We talked a lot the first day on the trail about everything but Marie. It seemed like we both hurt too much to talk about her. Anyway, we decided that it would be dumb to rush into this situation without a plan.

We decided not to ride straight into Montana. We rode about seventy miles and decided that we would just put up for about a week and think this thing out. That is what brought me to this little town of Butte Montana. When I woke up in the cramped little hotel room, Phil was already sitting at a table making war on a pile of hotcakes and a half dozen fried eggs. It looked pretty good so I ordered the same with a pound of bacon.

I told Phil that I had decided that we might need some dynamite so I planned to buy a case in this little town. We decided to spend about a week here and see if any news might drift our way. I also bought a bow and two dozen arrows from an old trapper who came through.

They were right nice, made he said by a Lakota Indian. Now I had heard about the Lakota's from my Ma and they were right good in their trade. I figured they just might come in handy, that bow and them arrows.

I weren't much on book learning. Pa insisted that I learn to read and write but that was about it for me. Other than that I hadn't much education. Phil on the other hand, well he had been off to some college in Atlanta before the war. He knew about places in England, France, Ireland and lots of other palaces. I really liked the stories he used to tell me about the wars in Ireland.

Seems my Irish ancestors were as great warriors as my Indian ancestors. Any way Phil talked like a gentleman and mostly acted like one. 'Cept when he lost his temper, then he was kind of wild like me. Sometimes though you would think we was brothers instead of brother-in-laws.

While we were at Butte we heard about a ranch that the Elder bunch was trying to run out. We decided that maybe if we got to them in time we might be able to help them keep their ranch.

We decided after our fifth day at Butte that we would ride to this unusual ranch and offer our assistance. We put by plenty of ammunition and got my case of dynamite. We took extra grub with us. Mostly canned goods and flour, sugar, salt and such as that. We didn't need to be hauling stuff around that would spoil, of course the way Phil could put food away, there weren't much chance of any spoiling around him. In fact he probably wouldn't have noticed if it had. Once we was camped by a water hole, we cooked supper and were leaning back against some rocks eating. Well this great big bull frog leaped out of that pond and landed right in Phil's plate, Phil eat that frog and never even knowed it till I started laughing. That was the funniest thing that I ever saw. And he really did that thing. For a long time I had to turn my back when he would start to eat, else I would just start laughing and would have water running from my eyes. It sort of got away with Phil but I couldn't help laughing. He always swore there never was no frog in that plate.

We had about sixty miles to travel to get to the Imperial Ranch. You see the Imperial was owned by a Japanese family, or at least half Japanese. Seems that the feller who originally owned the ranch had two daughters and no sons. He had traveled to the Orient and had brought back a friend that he had made in Japan. They became like brothers and the Japanese feller had a fine young son who was raised up on the ranch.

The two sisters were as different as night and day. The older daughter wanted the city life while the younger loved the ranch. The older sister went away to San Francisco and married an attorney feller. But Nancy, the youngest daughter stayed at the ranch. I guess it was only natural when Nancy and Jay who was the son of her fathers Japanese friend, fell in love. They were married with the blessings of both families. Nancy and Jay had only one child. A daughter named Jan. She was now grown and did most of the running of the Imperial Ranch.

Dianne and her husband Bill had a daughter named Cathy. While Bill did real well in his law practice and provided everything that his family could want, there was just something missing in Cathy's life. That loneliness is what brought her to live with her Aunt and Uncle at the Imperial.

Jay had been injured very badly by a horse that he had been breaking and was not in the best of health so he was teaching Jan to take over the running of the ranch. Me and Phil arrived at the Imperial Ranch just about supper time on the third day. It really was different. Even the gate was different, Phil said it was called a Torii Gate. Me, I thought it was just about the most curious thing I ever saw.

We only saw about a dozen riders and they all looked like they had rifles growing from their arms. We both just sat right there and didn't move at all. Then this old man came out on the porch and talked to one of the riders.

The rider came out to us and told us to ride out ahead and he rode behind us right up to where that old man was. A flurry of action caught my attention and this beautiful young woman came out of the house. I was dumb struck right there. This was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. The old man asked what we wanted. We had already agreed to let Phil do the talking and that suited me fine. I was more prone to shooting than I was to conversing anyway. Phil explained why we had ridden to their ranch and how we hoped we might could help. Well sir, that raven haired little gal, she just went nuts. She made it plain that they could fight their own battles and didn't need no help from us or nobody else. Me, I just swung that big black horse around and rode him right back through that gate where I came in at. I was so hot I could of eat lead and passed bullets. That girl didn't have any idea of why we cared or of the kind of things that the Elder gang were capable of. I didn't feel like telling her
and besides she didn't seem to me to be in much of a listening mood.

It sure must have shocked them when I just wheeled my hoss around and rode out because that gal just stopped right in the middle of her tirade and starred a hole in my back.

Phil, he just sat there on his hoss and never said nothing for a few minutes. Then the old man invited Phil to get down and come inside. He wanted to hear why we were interested in their problems and why we knew so much about the Elders. He told them the whole story from start to finish. I had tied my horse up to a tree down by the creek and was making myself some bacon and beans when one of the cowboys rode down and asked me to come on up to the house and have some supper. I told him thanks but I already had some. He rode back up to the house and went inside. About fifteen minutes later the beautiful girl came out and got on the cowboys horse and rode down to the creek. She dismounted and walked over to where I sat on a dead log.

She said, " I am sorry for the way that I acted. I had no idea that you had gone
through so much because of those men. You must be very angry. “ I said , "No ma'am. I stopped being angry a good while back. Now there is just a constant pain and a sense of loss. I guess it will be that way. That at least keeps me on the job." I wanted to say something that would make her go back to that house and leave me alone. She was making me feel very lonely. But when I looked into her big brown eyes, I saw that she was sincere and also frightened even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. Jan asked me to go back to the house and have supper with them. I said I would go if she promised a piece of apple pie for dessert. She laughed and said that she hadn't made any pie but she did have this big chocolate cake. I told her to consider me bribed. We both laughed and mounted our horses. As we rode up to the house, Jan kept looking at my big black horse. I could tell that she had fallen in love. With the horse anyway.

We walked into the house and Phil was sitting in the parlor with the rest of Jan's family. He looked up at me and grinned. I could have just clobbered him right in that silly grin of his. It was then that the second woman came into the room. I knew this must be the cousin that Phil and me had been told of. Jan introduced her to me and sure enough this was Cathy. I got to turn the tables on Phil then, so I just looked at Phil and grinned real big, and to Cathy I bowed and said glad to meet you ma'am. Phil never said nuthin. He just turned real red. Me and Jan both burst out laughing and about that time Cathy caught on and started laughing too. Phil didn't say anything, he just turned redder than ever. Jay Lee, told us about the problem with the BOX E. The Elders took over that ranch about three years ago. They had taken over several other smaller places since then. Fred had saw Jan riding the Imperial with Jay and the straw boss and had come courting. Jan had told him in short order to leave her alone and that she was not interested. I said bitterly that I didn't know that courting was Fred's style.

Fred probably would have just rode down and shot up the place but he wanted to win Jan's heart. Now that me and Phil were there he could forget both. He had no chance of ever winning that girls heart and he was sure gonna run into a peck of trouble if he came riding in to shoot the place up. Me and Phil had been at the Imperial for three whole days when I started getting restless. I was getting so itchy that I could hardly sit down.

It was on the third day that one of the Imperial riders rode in with the word that
BOX E had decided to move on the whole valley. They had burned out four homesteads yesterday and gave the warning to be out by tonight. That was like a shot to my anger. It all rekindled just like the day they killed Marie.

I talked it over with Phil and convinced him that he should stay at Imperial. One of us needed to be here in case Fred decided to come here. I made Phil promise not to kill him. He was only allowed to wound him. Fred Elder was Mine. I took that big black horse and an Imperial rider to show me where the small homesteads were. I had decided against guns and had taken the Lakota archery set I carried the 10 gauge and a pocket full of shells just in case.

By dusk we were at the closest homestead to the BOX E. We settled in and waited. Hoping this would be the first place they hit. We didn't have too long to wait. About fifteen BOX E. riders came to surround the homestead. They all had torches and were very well silhouetted against them.

Me, I didn't even wait for them to start talking. I just pointed that bow at the man farthest away from me and let go an arrow. It was made true to the Lakota's way and buried deep in the mans back. For a moment he just sat there. As he dropped his torch and fell off his horse. I released another arrow into the man next to him.

By now they had discovered that something was wrong. We moved to circle around to our right and I sent an arrow into the last rider on that end. Panic set in. They started yelling "Indians"! Me, it was all I could do to keep from laughing. Them boys just wheeled their ponies and headed away from there as fast as they could. I took a long shot and hit the rear rider just above the belt. That broad head just cut his spine right in half, and he fell off his horse.

Me and Joe, the rider for the Imperial we loaded up them bushwhackers and put them across their horses. I wondered how many of them cusses was Slogans. Them blamed Slogans were starting to get under my skin.

When we got to that last feller I had shot , he was a wake but he couldn't move.
He said, that wasn't an Indian attack, who are you?

Without answering we just threw him across his horse and tied him down. I said if you live long enough to get back to the BOX E, you can just tell Fred Elder that "I'm the man from Kettle Creek". You can also tell him that two of his brothers won't ever be coming home. Then I slapped his cowpony on the rump and sent him on his way. We went by the other homestead just in case there had been two groups of night riders. The second homestead was quiet. We rode on to the Imperial and when we got there we found out why the second homestead had been quiet. Five Box E riders had rode in to the Imperial and demanded to talk to Jan. Instead they got to talk to Phil. The Imperial riders had gotten the drop on the riders and Phil he just walked right out and goaded their big mouth leader into a gun fight, Phil let him get his gun out then drew and shot him twice in the chest. He told the rest to shuck their guns and sent them back to the BOX E with the message that any other BOX E riders found on Imperial would be
treated just like the dead man. The dead man was Benny Slogan. I started laughing when Phil told me this. He wanted to know what was so funny. So I told him. "Now those blamed Slogans won't all be hunting me. Half of them will be hunting you from now on.

We went into the house and Jay told us to come into the study. Jan and Cathy brought us coffee and each of us a big piece of apple pie. A blind man could have seen that Phil and Cathy were starting to get sweet on each other. I don't think they either one realized it, but I could sure tell.

It had been a rough night for the BOX E. They had lost five men and had run home in a hurry. We were cutting the odds pretty fast. Me and Phil figured that they would be pretty angry, and not very apt to get any sleep. They certainly would not be expecting any more trouble tonight.

That is why we decided to do just that. We decided to go right in to their nest and kill as many of them as we could before they found out that we were there.

Me I carried my bow and knife which was a real good Arkansas tooth pick. Phil had that army saber that he had used so well at Horseshoe Bend. We rode our horses to within about a quarter mile of the BOX E. We tied those two big black horses up in a stand of cottonwoods and replaced our riding boots with moccasins. We made our way slowly and without a sound. We went first to the back side of the bunk-house. There was a candle burning on a table and several men were sitting there cleaning their rifles. Several men were in their bunks but they were talking and no one was asleep. We decided to pass up the bunk-house for now. There were about ten riders in there and I was getting an idea as to how to handle that problem. Phil went to the barn and I went to check the big house. The most of the men were sitting or standing in the front room of the big house. I slipped around to the barn and as I came around the corner I was just in time. Phil was sneaking up behind the hostler and Phil hit him with that saber. That gent just stood there for a second and then his head went one way and his body
went the other way. Phil had killed two more. One was coming out of the privy pulling his pants up and the other was sitting behind the barn smoking a pipe.

We got a long lead rope and put halters on all those horses. We led the horses one at a time while the other stood watch, down to a gulch behind the barn. There we strung them all together once the last horse was out. We took the horses back to the stand of cottonwood where the blacks were tied. Phil led that string of horses back toward the Imperial. Me, I got three sticks of that dynamite out and made them into a bundle with about a three minutes of fuse. I rode that black horse around to the back side of the big house and ground hitched him. I made my way up to the back of the house and went underneath. This isn't exactly how I wanted to kill Fred Elder, but dead was dead. I fixed that bundle to the floor timber and lit the fuse. I slipped out from under the house and took off on a dead run for my horse.

I mounted up and wheeled him for that gulch behind the barn. I had just entered the gulch when the whole earth shook and trembled and the sky lit up so much that I could see where I was going. I put that big black into a run and ran him to catch up with Phil.

It seemed like that blast of dynamite had blown a whole load off of my shoulders. I had finished what I had to do.

When we got back to the Imperial with all those horses, it was just getting day light. Jan and Cathy met us in front of the house. We turned the horses over to the riders that had come out to meet us and walked up to the house with the girls. We were escorted to the kitchen and promptly served a big breakfast. I was in a real good mood. In fact the first one I had been in a long time. After we had all finished breakfast I leaned back in my chair and looked at Phil, right then I busted out laughing. I must have laughed for five minutes. They were all trying to find out what was so funny. Phil said it was because the explosion had affected my mind. Right then I told Jan and Cathy the story about Phil eating the frog. This time the room was filled with laughter. Except for Phil. He just sat there all crimson-red and glared at me. I sure was glad we was inside, else he might of started shooting. It sure made me feel good to laugh and when I looked at Jan she had a bright mist in her eyes. She also had this little gleam and that made me turn red. Everybody noticed and I got real red. They read the sign
fast enough and then the laughs were on me, Jan blushed over that then we all had another laugh and Phil decided he was even.

We were all tired and turned in for some sleep. We slept till noon and the girls woke us up for lunch. Everyone was kind of quiet over dinner. We were all wondering what would happen now. Would me and Phil go back to Alabama or what? The decision was made for us before we were finished with the meal. Two of the Imperial riders came in with a third man in a buckboard. We came out into the yard to see what was wrong.