Kettle Creek by jwindwalker Page 3

Kettle Creek
by
© jwindwalker

Page 3

Chapter 9

Ed noticed that the trail was taking a turn toward the hills . It was apparent by
noon that these men knew they were being followed . When they came to Kettle
Creek they followed the course of the creek.

The renegades had run the risk of traveling in the dark. In this part of the country
only a desperate person would risk that. These men were very desperate and very dangerous . Anyone that they may run into would certainly face a grave situation.

About Three O'clock Sgt. Downs who had been scouting ahead came riding back. He said," Cap. it ain't pretty. It looks like they hit Jake Littlehorse about dusk yesterday. There is a fresh grave and lots of blood all over. No sign of Jake." Ed said," Mary told me that Jake got married. Was there any sign of the woman anywhere " ? Downs said, " Just a torn petticoat." It's my guess that they killed Jake and took his missus with them. If they did hurt the girl and didn't kill Jake there will be hell to pay ."

The men rode on to the Littlehorse farm. There was no sign of life. They left and rode over to see Pa Littlehorse. It was a sad meeting. Pa said that the Sheriff had rode in about sunup and told him that the Doc had treated Jake last night. Jake told Doc the story of what happened at Kettle Creek.

Ma Littlehorse and Marie's Ma and Pa were sitting at the kitchen table. Ed expressed his condolences and walked back out to the yard with Pa Littlehorse. Ed said," Don't worry Pa Littlehorse, we'll catch with them within a day or two and we'll help Jake get the scoundrels who did this terrible thing."

Pa looked thoughtfully at Ed for a moment and said," Ed, I gave some thought to
that already. I know my Jake and it might not be the wisest thing to catch up to him right now. He is in a blind rage and may not be feeling like much more than a wounded cougar right now. Besides, a large group of riders would attract more attention than one man. Especially when that one man is one that they think they
killed. I think that we all should be prepared for more of these scoundrels to show up. If we leave all our women folk here unprotected it could be very dangerous."

Ed and Ben talked it over with the other men and it was decided that with Jake Littlehorse on their trail those murderers had enough trouble as it was. It was
agreed that no one in the outfit wanted to ride up on Jake by surprise in the state of mind that he was in right now. It would be best to let things rest in the hands of Jake. Of course they had no way of knowing that there were so many men in the path of Jake Littlehorse , and wouldn't know for a long time to come.

Chapter 10

The man had been cut all to pieces with a knife. On his chest had been cut the word FRED. The man was not dead but would not last long. We got him into the house and the girls did the best they could for him. He came to for a while and told us that Fred had stepped out of a stand of cottonwoods at a waterhole. He pointed a gun at the rider and made him get off his horse. He then gave the rider a message for me. He had gone down to the bunk house to take care of a discipline problem. While he was gone the house went up in an explosion. He then tied the rider up and proceeded to cut him up. And just in case he didn't live, he left his name so that I would know who did it. It was only Fred left now and he would be waiting for me. Well, he wouldn't have to wait long. I went straight to the barn and saddled that big black horse. I led him out to the back of the house and Jan and Cathy came out with Phil. Phil said he was going with me, but I said no. I had to do this one alone. Besides, Fred was likely to try to get to Jan if we both left. Phil agreed and so did Cathy.

Jan walked over to me and put her hand on my arm and told me to be careful and to hurry back. I just stood there looking into those deep brown eyes. I saw it. She was in love with me. The knowledge of that stopped my heart. I had known for days that I loved her. In fact I loved her the first day I saw her, When I rode off down to the creek and she came there to get me. Well all this realization just took me pretty hard, and I just leaned over and put my arms around her and kissed her. She held me like she would never let me go. When she did I told her, If I come back alive, I aim to marry you! She said if I didn't, I would think Fred was like a picnic. I looked at her for just a minute longer then mounted that big black horse and headed out. I never looked back, but I knew that she was watching me.

I rode that big black horse out from the Imperial Ranch and I surely didn't want to go. I didn't want to die, and for the first time since Marie had been murdered, I was now wanting very much to live. The only problem that I saw was that might not be able to get out of it.

I headed for the BOX E. I didn't expect to find Fred there, but that is the last place that I knew for sure he had been. I figured to cold trail him to where ever he might be. Also it wasn't impossible that he might return there. He may not expect me to start there. Or he may have supplies stashed there. If that was the case then there might be some pretty fresh tracks.

I approached slowly and about a quarter of a mile from where the house had been, I started casting for tracks. I worked my way from South around toward the East then around North and then West back to South. I continued to make these circles and they got smaller as I went. I was careful to always keep the sun to my side or back. Never in my face. About the third circle I was sure. Fred had been this way about two hours before. He had rode right back out about thirty minutes later.

I followed him on to the home place and cast around for more tracks. He was alone. He had gone to the barn. I was careful when I checked the barn but it only took me about twenty minutes to find where Fred had stashed a supply of food and ammunition. I took all of the ammunition and what of the rest I could carry. Then I piled the rest on a stack of hay. I burned the barn, the bunkhouse and the privy.

I rode out in the direction that he had gone and took my time. I figured that he was close enough to see the smoke and he would know it was me done it. I weren't taking no more unneedful chances. I aimed to get Fred without getting so much as a scratch. Fred had taken to some cotton woods along a creek. The ground was pretty soft and it was easy to track here. He followed the creek right up to where it went up into the hills. I knew it was going to be rough here. I grew up in the mountains and I knew how easy it was to hide out in high country.

I rode the black around to the west a little ways, and dismounted. I took my rifle this time and hung that Greener on a string around my neck. I took a food pack and two canteen. Next I just tied up the reigns of that big black horse and slapped him on the rump. Weren't nobody gonna get close enough to him to catch him without shooting him now. He'd wait right there for me till he died of old age.

I made my way up through a crevice in some rocks and thought to try to get above Fred. I come out on a ledge that overlooked a little bowl like valley. I never would have thought something that pretty could be inside that pile of rocks. I worked my way around the face of the ledge and kept tight against the wall. Slowly I worked my way down towards the floor of the little valley. I was about thirty feet from the bottom when the first bullet took me in the right calf. It knocked me right down and the second bullet hit where my chest should have been. I just lay real still, but Fred weren't buying no possum tricks. I had seen the smoke from the second shot but I could only guess where Fred would be now. I continued to crawl on toward the bottom and found some boulders for shelter. I took my knife and cut a big hole out of my jeans and used the fabric to plug the hole. I then took my scarf and tied it around the plugged hole. I didn't tie it too tight. It is better to let it bleed a little bit than to stop the blood altogether.

Well sir, I sure knew I was in a fix I had done went and got myself shot and I hadn't even seen Fred Elder yet. It didn't help my leg or my pride none at all. I did know one thing. I wasn't about to die and leave Fred alive to go after Jan. He could just get used to that idea.

About a half hour before sundown, I spotted some movement on the lower end of the pile of boulders where the shots came from. I saw Fred jump his horse out and try to make a run for it to another pile about two hundred yards away. I leveled that single shot rifle at him and aimed about where he met the saddle. When I squeezed the trigger, his horse didn't even stumble. It just fell out from under him. Now I had Fred out in the open. I fired several times at him, but the range was way to far, for a sure shot. He dove behind that dead horse and I just continued to shoot tight into that horse. I could almost hear the plop of the slugs as they hit the horse.

Dark was coming on fast and I knew that I couldn't keep him pinned down much longer. Soon he would be able to head for cover. The question was which way would he go? I figured he would go right back to that pile of boulders where he had come out from. At least it would be the closest place. He was only about fifty yards from it. I figured to maybe slip down around the other side of them boulders and maybe get the drop on him. But I weren't going no where till it got dark.

After I had made up my mind what I was going to do, I just sat back against them rocks and took myself a little rest. My leg was hurting something awful. Every time my heart beat, my leg throbbed with pain. At least the bleeding was about stopped. I took a clean rag out of my pack and tore it into strips. Then I removed the scarf and the plug from the hole. I washed the hole out with water and the blood gushed again. I put the clean plug back in and packed some salve around it. Then I tied it all up with another piece of clean rag. I really hurt now, but that other plug had been dirty. I felt that at least I might have stopped any infection. At least it gave me something to do and kept me awake.

Dark came on kind of suddenly and I got up to make my way around behind where I figured Fred would be. The pain and loss of blood made me real dizzy and everything got black for a minute. After It started to clear I moved on. There was no movement behind the boulders where Fred was and I began to wonder if he was even back there. I guess he must have decided to do the same thing that I was doing. As I stepped around the boulder, there he was facing me. We both fired at the same time. I fired twice more. I knew I was hit again and I was pretty sure that I had hit him too. The problem was I was falling and I couldn't see Fred. In fact I couldn't see any thing at all except the lights that kept going off in my head.

When I finally woke up it was daylight. The sun had been up several hours. It took several minutes to realize what was happening. My head felt like I had been kicked by a horse. I could tell that I had been hit somewhere else but I wasn't sure where. I moved only my eyes at first. I could see Fred lying about five feet from me. His head was blown half off. It made no sense to me at all. I only remembered firing three rounds from my revolver. I decided that I had to move or I would die in a short time. I struggled to get to my feet but the pain shot all through my body. Just as I thought I might make it, I blacked out again.

Phil was at the barn brushing down his horse and Jan and Cathy were in the house when a rider from the CIRCLE J ranch rode in hard and fast. They had seen the fire from the BOX E and had ridden over. Another CIRCLE J rider had been over near the valley where we were at and had heard the shots. He rode over toward the mouth of the creek and saw that big black horse. He tried to catch him up but couldn't get close to him. He rode back to the CIRCLE J and told Burley, the foreman what he had found. Burley put the pieces together and sent Red over to the Imperial to tell Jan what had happened.

Right away Phil and Jan and Cathy saddled up and rode out. Phil tried to get the girls to stay at the ranch but neither of them would. They rode up and found that big black horse, Jan got off and just walked right up to him and got hold of the reins. Why, that horse just followed her like he belonged to her. Phil couldn't believe it. He wouldn't have even wasted his time trying to catch that horse.

They found us real easy. The buzzards showed them where to look. Jan and Cathy stopped. Phil rode on ahead. He got off his horse and walked over to where I was. He thought I was dead but when he checked he found that I still had a pulse. He threw a blanket from his bed roll over Fred and called the girls over. They dressed the wounds as best they could while Phil rigged a travois. They used this to haul me back to the ranch. I would never have survived a horse back ride and that was evident.

Jan and Cathy took turns watching me. I had a fever for almost a week. They even managed to get a doctor to come and do what he could. The doctor said that mostly it would depend on how much I wanted to live. Other than that I wouldn't have much chance. Also, there was the question of if I would even know who I was. One bullet had hit me on the right side of the head just above the ear. There was a bad groove cut there. Doc said it was impossible to tell how bad it was till I woke up. If I woke up. Jan moved a cot into my room and refused to leave me. Cathy brought her food to her there. That girl never left my side. I was out for most of a week. At least I was most of the way out. I remember hearing voices sometimes but I never could make out what they were saying. I wasn't sure if I had died and gone to hell or if I had died and they just hadn't sent me anywhere yet. On the morning of the fifth day I smelled bacon cooking.

I figured if I was in hell it couldn't be too bad if they had bacon. I could almost open my eyes but then everything went black again. I was feeling mighty weak. Almost like I was tied down, and struggling to get up. At some point I felt something cool on my face. It stayed there for a while then left. In a few minutes it was back again. This time when I tried to open my eyes, a little light filtered in. I kept trying to get them open and it seemed that the more I tried the stronger I got. I knew that someone was in the room. I heard Phil ask "how is he doing?" . My heart leaped. I wasn't dead after all. I tried to tell them I was alive but I couldn't move my lips. I tried to get their attention but couldn't think of a way. Suddenly the thought occurred to me that I hadn't tried to move my feet. I tried the right one first but the pain was too bad. I tried the left and found that it worked just fine. I kept moving my foot. Suddenly I heard Jan squeal. She pointed to my foot and I kept on moving as much as I could. I could hear Pretty good but it sounded like I had my head in a sack. Phil took off. Jan told me not to worry that Phil was going to get the doctor and that I would be fine. I tried to tell her that I loved her but I still couldn't move my mouth. Nor could I get
my eyes open enough to see. That sort of worried me. Jan came and sat by the bed and took my hand. I tried to squeeze it but I was very weak.

Those two girls near talked me to death for the next two hours. I couldn't even tell them to shut up or nothin. I wouldn't have told them that if I could. I was just happy to be alive. Doc finally got there and ran everyone but Jan out. She flat refused to go, It came as a great relief to me when Doc said that he was going to remove the head bandage and find out if I could see. My heart began to pound. Doc told me that if I could hear, not to open my eyes until he told me to. He told Jan to close the curtains and turn out the lamp. Doc removed the bandage and it seemed like he took forever. Finally he told me to slowly open my eyes. I did and it seemed really bright and blurry. My eyes started to water but slowly I could see a little better. I looked at Jan and she was smiling at me, but she had big tears in her eyes.

Doc asked me if I knew who I was. I said sure but I didn't know who he was. They both laughed at that. I still couldn't get up for almost two more weeks. Jan kept taking care of me she even bathed me, which always made me turn red. I tried hard not to let on but sometimes I couldn't help it. Jan would giggle and tell me I must be feeling better. Then I turned even redder.

After I could sit up Phil came in one day and asked me how much I remembered. I told him right up to the point where I woke up and saw Fred. Phil explained it from the signs that he could read. Fred and I had fired at the same time. I had shot Fred in the stomach and I had taken his bullet in the chest high up and to the left. It had gone in under the collar bone. We both continued to fire. My second bullet took him in the chest and his grazed my head. Phil said as I was falling I emptied my revolver. Fred had fallen and I was shooting at the ground. Right into Fred's head. What had been three shots to me had actually been six.

Phil also told me about something else that had happened while I was hunting Fred. Three men had rode up to the house. Phil went out to see what they wanted. What they wanted was Phil. They were Slogan kin. Two of them had gotten their guns out, but the third one never even lived long enough to make a good try. Phil had taken a slug in the arm but it hadn't been bad. Those three all took bullets and they had all been bad. As Phil put it, they all died from lead poison.

I could walk a little with a cane now. Jan would walk out to the porch with me and fix me a cot out there in the shade. We would sit there and talk for hours. After a couple of weeks I could get around pretty good and we would sit in the swing out under the big cottonwood in the yard. It was under those trees that we really fell in love. We talked and shared things in our lives that neither one of us had ever shared before. We talked about going back to Kettle Creek. Together!

It was the tradition where I came from that before a man asked a girl to marry him, he first had to ask her father. About a week after I was able to ride again, I went to Jay's study and asked him if he had a few minutes. He invited me in and told me to have a seat.

Well, I was too nervous to sit down so I just kept right on standing. He started talking about all sorts of things. I was really getting put out when all of a sudden he asked me what I wanted. I got this big lump in my throat, my hands started sweating and I just stood and looked at him. He leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. I knew right then that he knew what I wanted. I also knew he wasn't aiming to make this easy for me. I swallowed real hard and asked him did he spose I might be able to marry his daughter.

He laughed and said he figured I ought to ask her too, but if she thought it was alright, then it was ok with him. Well I let out a rebel yell that you could hear in the next county. Jan came running down the hall way and rushed into the study. She looked at me and then at her dad. She looked back at me and all she said was "YES!" She figured as long as it took me to ask her dad, we would both be too old by the time I got around to asking her.

She ran into my arms and I held her close to me. We both turned and looked at Jay and he smiled at us. He told us if we were going to court, that we had better find someplace besides his study, because we were keeping him from his work.
We went to find Phil and Cathy. We looked everywhere. Since we both knew Phil so well we decided the kitchen was the most logical place to look. No luck. I was starting to get concerned when we heard a girl giggling on the outside veranda. We slipped silently to the open door and looked out. Phil had his arms around Cathy and we could tell he was fixin to kiss her. I looked at Jan and she looked at me, I guess we both must have shown a little mischief in our eyes because at the same time we both dashed through the open door and both yelled at the same time , Surprise! They were surprised all right. They both nearly jumped out of their shoes. They both changed colors. Cathy turned real pale and Phil turned real red. Jan and me both laughed. We told them we were getting married. That sure made them start to jump. Phil grabbed my hand and shook it and Cathy grabbed Jan and hugged her. Then gave me a kiss and a hug while Phil hugged Jan. Some how I got the feeling that it might not be too long before we all did this again in reverse.

It was a grand wedding. Jan looked just like an angel. My heart was pounding so
hard I thought it might explode. I was glad all them Slogans were gone. The way my hands were sweating, I couldn't have held a gun if I had to.

Jan walked down the stairs with her Dad. Cathy came ahead of them because she was the Maid of Honor. Phil was my best man and he just stood there beside me and held me up by the belt to keep me from falling down. I just knew they could hear my knees knocking together. Later Phil told me I hadn't ought to have worried. The sound only carried a few feet.

I was in a terrible state. That is until Jan stood beside me and I reached out and took her hand. We were shaking then. Finally the parson got to the part where I kiss the bride and I surely did. In fact I didn't want to let her go. She didn't want me to either. Now we belonged to each other and together. That night as we lay side by side, I looked at her and knew that she would help me to be a human being again. She would help me to put to rest all of the ghosts that haunted me.

We had already decided that we were going back to Kettle Creek and see how the place was holding up. Maybe we would even stay there. We hadn't decided that far ahead yet. We left two weeks after the wedding. There was a whole lot of handshaking, hugging and more than a few tears from the girls.

Back home on Kettle Creek things had not changed much. My three oldest nephews had kept the place up pretty well. They had even planted crops and banked the money from the sales for me. I insisted that we split the money four ways. If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't have had much to come home to. We made a deal to work my farm and their farms together next year. We would hire help too.

Jan was in love again. This time with the farm. As we walked across the yard in the evening of the second day that we were there, we stopped beneath the oak tree where I had buried Marie. As I stood there all the hurt came flooding through me. Grief that I had held in for almost three and a half years came surging to the surface. Tears stung my eyes. Jan squeezed my hand. I looked down at her and she was crying too. I could see in her eyes that she felt my grief. She felt my hurt. I also knew that Marie would rest and would never be a ghost between me and Jan.

As we both cried ourselves out, we stood up from where we knelt there on the ground. Jan came into my arms and I held her close to me. I looked down at her and I knew just like she said it, that she wanted me to kiss her. She needed me to kiss her. As I held her close and our lips met, I knew that this was a love that would endure for ever. We broke the embrace and as we stood there looking into each others eyes, Jan said to me, If our first baby is a boy, do you mind if we name him after you? I just smiled at her and felt her love. As I smiled down into those big brown eyes , I knew that little girl had sure set her mind to do that and I sure weren't aiming to start getting on her bad side this early in our marriage. We walked to the house holding hands and talking.

Jan had gone in to start supper and I was standing there on the porch feeling pretty good. That big black horse had called me twice before I noticed him. He was trotting around the corral all spooked like. I heard the horses coming now. That big black had given me plenty of warning. I stepped into the house and told Jan to keep out of sight. I picked up that Greener and stepped over behind a big tree to wait. I didn't have long to wait. The horses stopped just out of sight of the house and sat there for a couple of minutes. They started up again and this time they rode right into the yard. I stepped out from behind that tree and leveled that Greener. Phil just sat there on his horse and laughed. He said, You won't need that brother-in-law. She said yes. I turned to the house to yell for Jan but her and Cathy were already on the porch hugging. I felt like we were finally all home. Me, I just walked over to Phil reached my hand to him and said welcome home. He took my hand an! d I snatched him right out of the saddle. He didn't even look surprised this time. I guess I was starting to get predictable. We had the wedding down by the creek. It sure was beautiful down there. Phil and Cathy moved onto Phil's place and the next year they had a set of twins. As I sit here on the porch watching Jan holding Little Jake on her lap on the steps, I felt an ebbing flow of love throbbing through my heart. I still can't help keeping that Greener in my hand everywhere I go but Jan understands and I know that in time she will help me to set it aside. But for now I think I will just keep it handy. Especially since those two red headed fellers stopped by yesterday looking for Phil. I sent them on a wild goose chase until I could let Phil know. I knew sooner or later them Clanton's would find him. It would be better for them if they had waited till later. Only problem is that they got more kin than them Slogans did.