1
Till
the end of the dadburn War of Northern Aggression in the spring of 1865, German
Jack Fordern wore the Cinco Peso all his adult life. Joining up at barely 16 years of age, he was
a Captain and company commander at 18.
He was commander of all them Texas Rangers by the age of 20. By 1867, the dadburn policy of Reconstruction
proclaimed by the government of these United States had been taken over by
Radical Republicans. The conditions of
allowing the states of the defeated Confederacy once again to participate in
the bureaucracy of the new government of these United States following the dadburn
War of Northern Aggression come with many disagreeable terms.
Strict
demands were placed on former Confederate states in order for them to regain
U.S. statehood. For Texas, this meant
that the honorable line of work twas the duty and way of life all them years for
Jack, Sage, Crick, Boudreaux and the rest of his men was no longer possible for
the former Ranger captain known variously throughout Texas as The Big German or
El Diablo Rubio. According to the dadburn Military
Reconstruction Act issued by the dadburn Radical Reconstruction government of
them United States in March 1867, German Jack Fordern and them that rode with him
were outlaws now.
By
then Jack was nigh unto 38 years of age.
He and them others that rode with and for him most all that time had
waged war against all them Mexican, Comanche, and other dadburn outlaws stirring up trouble in the No Man’s Land for
over 20 years in one way another. This included the time in which they and
other Confederates took on them dadburn centralized government bureaucrats in
Washington DC under the Stars & Bars Battle Flag. If that don’t beat all, Cap’m Fordern and his
Texas Rangers had even been attached to the Army of these United States when
his career had commenced. Their most
famous action against them Mexicans had them that wore the Cinco Peso make Fordern
sure Sam Houston’s temperance and broken ankle were not in vain. They secured Texas her rightful place as the
28th of them United States.
Now
Jack and his most trusted men had to consider other possibilities as
opportunities. This meant taking on
assumed names. Jack was first amongst
his team to journey to Gumption Junction. He had his cabin built all by hisself afore
the others even come up. Jack hisself had
come by invite of his beloved Bessie’s Papa. Juan Padilla de León was a curandero from Saltillo known variously
as Doc or Rojo de León. Not long after, his
trusted lieutenant Sage Jackson got there.
The both of them was soon followed out to Gumption Junction by the likes
of Lance Corporal Bear Boudreaux and Gunny Crick Youngblood. All of them shared bonds that no other men
could understand. They all had
personalities no others could tolerate neither.
The
man that O.R. “Jack” Fordern called Sage Jackson had always been his very closest
friend. In fact, he was the only other
man Jack really ever listened to besides his father. Friends since Jack was born, he and Sage had rode
together for the Cinco Peso all of their adult lives. After years of blowing up and shooting down ever
dadburn person and thing that you can imagine towards that end of protecting
the people of Texas, Sage just wanted to live out quietly the retirement that
had been forced upon him by the dadburn policy of Reconstruction created by the
centralized government of them United States.
In order to make ready for this new life that he, Bessie, Sage, and them
others wanted to live, Jack was the one that split all them rails that become
the fence ‘roun’ the property where Sage come to live outside of Gumption
Junction.
Jack
even built the double log cabin on Sage’s land, as well as the smokehouse in
back it. A little of the wood used to
build Sage’s cabin was cut from trees on Jack’s land, then brung through town
by Jack for use on the land now occupied by Sage Jackson and Heather Parker. Jack and Sage built the fence and the hog
pens together. For this, they used wood
from trees that were already on Sage’s land.
When Prairie Creek Youngblood come up from the Piney Woods of East Texas
to join them there in Gumption Junction, Bear Boudreaux and the three of them
cut wood on Crick Youngblood’s land for the home he would make with Rebecca St.
Patrick.
Coming
rount the bend in Cripple Creek and on to the two sections of Jackson land
about a half a mile west of town, Jack Fordern read them rough edged letters him
and Sage had burnt into the sign placed above the simple wooden gate. He had Fordern sure arrived at Heather’s Hog Heaven. Heather Parker heard the big black horse that
Jack give the name Raven canter up to the hitching post at the time that had become
Jack’s habit. As she had already done so
many times in just a few months, Heather stepped out onto the porch of the
cabin she shared with the pig farmer to greet German Jack. Having spent her childhood in refinements and
her early adult years in the outfit of what could only in polite company be
referred to now as the provocative clothing of a “saloon girl”, Heather now come
to find herself dressed and working like a man.
Knowing
full well her afternoon would pass by feeding them scrawny piglets in the pens
out back, Heather had spent the better part of the morning fixin’ up coffee and
breakfast for her, Jack, Sage, and the large Lance Corporal Bobby “Bear”
Boudreaux. As the familiar figure of
German Jack carefully dismounted his oversized frame from Raven [his oversized
horse of only the last year or two], Heather struck up a conversation with him
not unlike the one they had the very first time they ever met just a few months
prior [though it already seemt liked years ago] when she first served drinks to
him and the pig farmer at Katie Casey’s Saloon in Abilene, KS.
“Howdy
gunslinger…see anything you like?”
“I’ll
have some of that there cowboy coffee, ma’am!”
Twas
the same response German Jack Fordern had give Miss Parker at the end of the trail
in Abilene, KS. Setting him up with a warm
cup, she stepped outside to go and find the pig farmer. This exchange was similar to one the two of
them had repeated many times afore in the months since Jack Fordern and the pig
farmer brought Heather Parker down to Texas from the aforementiont life of a “saloon girl.” Other former saloon girls had come back from
Abilene with Jack and Sage as well. All
of them had worked with Heather. Nearly
all of them girls had stayed there in Gumption Junction. None remaint in the life they had lived in
Abilene though. The new life Heather
Parker made with the pig farmer out west of town was even better than she had
ever hoped.
Cap’m
O.R. “German Jack” Fordern was “the gunslinger”. He had come to look the part after a lifetime
in that line of work. He wore a
Confederate cavalry hat with captain bars above the crossed rifles. His cowboy duster was the same as the one
provided for Sage at the start of the very first cattle drive the both of them
had been on earlier that year. Acrost
his back and over the duster was slung a short and double barreled shotgun Jack
had received from the Confederate Cavalry during the War of Northern Aggression. Affixed to his belt beneath the duster,
Heather didn’t know it but Jack wore a pair of pearl handle .44-calibre Walker
Colt wheel guns, a Bowie Knife, and a pouch of chewing tobacco.
The
Walker Colts had been presented to Jack by their innovator not too long after
Jack joint the Texas Rangers on 2 January 1846.
He had won the Bowie Knife in a shooting match with Sage on the last day
of 1845. Jack had only got hisself
hooked on chewing tobacco in the last year or so. The experiences Jack accumulated during the period
of time through the years 1845 and 1846 had done more to shape young Fordern than
just any two other years could have ever made their mark on the life of any
young man. Twas Fordern sure.
Them
boots Jack wore were nearly new Frye Boots issued to him by the Confederate
Cavalry. The bandana ‘roun’ his sun
brown neck was long ago a tourniquet, still bearing the blood stains of a leg
wound Jack endured during the siege of Chapultepec whilst them Texas Rangers
was fighting in the dadburn Mexican War.
He and Bessie both had tried ever possible thing the both of them knew of
to get them awful blood stains out. For all
their efforts, they had not a single thing to show for it neither. Jack’s long blond hair covered the knot of
his bandana and the collar of his shirt.
Jack’s trousers and shirt had been the clothes his oldest brother Hank
wore when he was massacred with the rest of Fannin’s surrendered and disarmed men
at Goliad in 1836. Of course, Heather
did not know the origin of Jack’s clothing.
She may have found this to be a might too macabre—even for Cap’m Jack
Fordern.
When
Jack finished up his coffee, he caught up with Heather Parker down at the hog
pens. Despite having a poorly healt
broke ankle to compliment the prickly Chapultepec ball still in his thigh, Jack
got ‘roun’ better than you might expect.
He would tell hisself that at least
his ankle didn’t hurt like the prickly rifle ball still stuck in the thick
hard muscle of his left leg. Taint
nothing could hurt worst than his mangled jackleg ribs. Jack got ‘roun’ well because he stood nigh
unto six foot and two inch tall and carried pert near 225 lbs. on his suntan
frame. That give him the advantage of four
inch of height and 30 lbs. of weight on his friend the pig farmer. The blond in Jack’s long beard was starting
to gray like the salt and pepper sprinkled into his eggs. Because of it, Heather didn’t know about the
childhood knife fight with Paco Gilipollas that left a scar across the right
side of Jack’s face.
Unlike
the pig farmer, Heather had no more seen Jack clean shaved of his long blond goatee
or the sideburns on his chin than she was likely to see him without the scabbards
of his so-called “hand warmers” that were his weapons of choice and the tools
of the only trade he had ever known. Owing
to the duster he wore, she was likewise unaware Jack normally [as that day]
wore two bandoliers across his chest—one with shells for his shotgun, the other
to reload them Colts. Neither had she
seen the noose scars from the time when Jack was very nearly dragged to death by
Pancho Gilipollas as a young man. Sand,
wind, snow, heat or no, this awful hideous gash from his childhood was as much the
reason Jack always wore that bandana ‘roun’ his neck as the extra growth of his
chin whiskers.
After
a hitch more or less of a year in the Office of the U.S. Deputy Marshal afore
the cattle drive that took him and Sage out of Gumption Junction, Jack figured
he very well ought to start off and try to grow a few little pigs into hogs for
Bessie and hisself. All Texas Rangers had
been replaced with the new “state police” as part of the dadburn centralized
federal government policy of Reconstruction.
Men like Jack, Sage, Bear, and Crick had spent their entire adult lives
enforcing the law in some form or another.
Now they were not left with much else they could do. Jack found hisself with more than enough time
to think about that lately. He was
Fordern sure never far from being angry or feeling low when the sensitive subject
matter was breeched.
Owing
to a great mutual dislike of his former reluctant employer Deputy U.S. Marshal
Milo Cobb Mays, Jack even ruminated on running hisself for sheriff if the Panhandle
District of Texas ever got divvied up into counties. Bessie discouraged any such notions just as quick
as Jack breeched the subject though. After
biding her time 20 years waiting for the life she by all rights deserved to get
to live with Jack, Bessie did not want to see her life with Jack disrupted yet
again. She laid down her own brand of
law to him—that his duty could now be to his family, rather than the State of
Texas. Of course, Jack went along with
that in order to have peace with Bessie.
For whatever reason, though, he still had a bad taste in his mouth from
the whole thing.
The
pig farmer had been born at San Felipe de Austin not too long afore Jack was. At his
birth, the name bestowed upon Sage was that of Seymour Arnold Jackson. He rode
with Jack through all them many battles against the Mexican, Comanche, and
other outlaws they had known during their Texas Ranger days. For his worldly wisdom as much as his
initials, 1st Lt. S.A. Jackson was known as “Sage”. Since Jack knew Sage to prefer playing at the
lap Dobro or cards to making any sort of business deals as well, he also
realized that any nudging towards his purchase of them scrawny piglets come at
the less-than-subtle urging of Heather Parker.
At
birth, Jack had been given the name Obed
Rex Fordern. The name that he would
attach to any sort of legal document
now though would be Leon Johansen. He had used that name to travel whilst his
parents were still living, and now Jack had to use that name to live his daily
life. Along with Sage, Bear, Crick and
others that he rode with over all them years, Jack really believed the career
he enjoyed with the Texas Rangers was his calling to the Lord’s Work. He Fordern sure felt thataway from the days
of the dadburn Mexican War through the dadburn War of Northern Aggression.
Now
twas this new feeling of being considered some sort of a dadburn outlaw by them
that did away with states rights in the change towards the new centralized government
of Reconstruction. This left Jack and
his men with the awfulest taste in the mouth for any sort of paperwork under
any name. He wisht to God twas Fordern
sure some way he could just disappear forever into his new life with Bessie. All she ever wanted was for him to stay at home
in his own house. The promise of having
a stable home life was the only way for Doc and Jack to persuade Bessie to
leave Bexar and join them all the way up yonder to Gumption Junction.
When
Jack caught up with Heather, she was waiting for him with all the patience she
could muster at the side of her partner, Sage Jackson. Sage wore the sombrero that had been his
regular head covering throughout his Texas Ranger career. To cover the rest of his body, he wore a old
serape and a new pair of overalls. Sage’s
hair was thicker, shorter, and darker than Jack’s, and he wore spectacles. His upper lip was almost covered up by his
handlebar mustache. Sage wore them same Frye
Boots of the sort that had also been issued to him by the Confederate Cavalry during
the war. He had no use for any sort of
shirt whilst working with them filthy hogs.
Heather always kept one ready for him to wear into town when he had a
hankering for an evening at the poker or faro tables in the Good Knight
Hotel. She allowt this now and then—so long
as he stayed away from any more troublesome alcohol. Heather had a notion such a night was in the
making, seeing as how there really was so much work he ought to get done afore
dark.
Jack
knew Sage had a Bowie Knife and a Walker Colt .44 secreted in his overalls
beneath the serape. The knife had been a
gift from Jack when Sage turnt 21 in 1850.
Sage had served at the right hand of Jack Fordern throughout their time with
the Texas Rangers. This amounted to the
greater part of 20 years, when you consider their proud service [both in combat
and prison] to the Confederate Army during the War of Northern Aggression. This second war together found Sage in the
official service of what amounted to the Confederate Army’s Corps of Engineers. He was more experienced in demolition than
construction though. Sage learnt that
trade from two of the very best. His
mentors were two of the most famous men in the history of these parts—Cap’m
Erastus “Deaf” Smith [amongst the many heroes of San Jacinto] and then-Cap’m
Robert E. Lee [later commander of the Confederate Army].
“Hello
Cap’m! Is you ready t’ buy some o’ them hungry
hogs?” was Sage’s greeting.
“Let
me joos git ‘nother look-see at ‘em, Looftenant,” was the usual response Jack
give.
German
Jack Fordern had built hisself a little cabin outside of town when he come to Gumption
Junction a couple years prior to this.
He hoped to God to finally get to have the chance to make the life with Bessie
that she had always hoped and prayed to God the both of them would get to share. Soon after his arrival in the town, the Mexican
woman with the given name of Abyssinia Goldia de León moved up from San Antonio
de Bexar and into that cabin with Jack.
Of course, this fancy name meant nothing to Heather and them other girls
that come down from Abilene. Them girls
just knowed her as Bessie. Them girls knowed
who Jack really was too, but they Fordern sure kept it to themselves.
Them
ladies that Jack and Sage brought back with them when they come back from down
from driving them cattle up yonder to Abilene did know that Sage, Jack, and Bessie
had been in school together as children.
All three of them went to Independence Academy whist Baylor University
was still located at Independence, TX. Jack
and Sage were friends since Jack’s birth in San Felipe. The both of them come to know Bessie in the
one room school at Independence. When
the crops weren’t being put in or harvested, there were so many other students
that Bessie had to help the teacher with some of them. Jack wasn’t very good with math, and Sage was
too much of a natural with numbers to explain them to him a’tall. Jack was very good with learning and
understanding more than just math when it come to Bessie though. Jack’s mother was the school marm, and she
didn’t see no harm in it a’tall.
During
the course of Jack’s conversation with Heather turning into greeting Sage and
discussing the business of them piglets, the butcher slowly made his way up
from the barn as well. Bobby was mindful
of the personal nature of the visit from his Ranger Captain. He left all his gloves, bloodstaint apron,
and knives at his work station in back of the hog pens to join the others for
breakfast and conversation. Bobby “Bear”
Boudreaux was known as The Butcher of Bienville. He was raised in New Orleans, LA. His father had been a pirate and slave trader
there with the Brothers Lafitte and Brothers Bowie afore the Texas
Revolution. His mother gave him the name
Rêne-Robert La Salle Boudreaux.
Bobby
learnt to fend for hisself as a child.
He commenced using a knife by throwing them for fun just playing
mumbltey-peg with other children living on the street with him. He wound up finding work preparing animals for
sacrifice by all them voodoo practitioners ‘roun’ town. Bobby tired of this life after a while though. He had left town with a coon root mojo bone
and a nickname twas as seemingly ominous as it was actually humorous. Bobby was able to make his way up to kin folk
in Acadia, Québec. There Bobby found
work for several years as a hunter, skinner, trapper, and trader.
Bobby
started out hunting small game and fishing with his uncles and cousins. In the course of this time he also figured
out how to use firearms for hunting even larger animals. He was one of them twas happy for the Pope to
let them eat otter meat on Friday during Lint.
Bobby come by the nickname of “the Bear” on a hunting trip in the spring
of 1848 when his weapon jammed on a hunt.
He was forced to bring the bear down with his father’s Bowie Knife [a
gift from Rezin Bowie Jr. hisself]. What
was left of Bobby’s face as a result of that encounter was henceforth covered
with a long, dark beard. The beard grew
longer as the hair atop his head thinned out.
After
several months of recovery at Detroit following his unfortunate encounter with
the bear, Boudreaux reckon he ought to make his way down to the reasonably new
state of Texas. After losing some excess
weight during his recovery, the formidable 6’3”, 250 lbs. frame Bobby was left
with still suited him for any sort of work on the frontier of the time. Wanting the best adventure he could find, Bobby
set out to find work with the Texas Rangers. He practically rode right into the
company of Cap’m Jack Fordern. Bobby
arrived in Texas after the dadburn Mexican War had already been fought. A lot work still had to be done with keeping
the peace and divvying up the land won from México. Bobby was Jack’s quartermaster in about a
year after he come down to Texas.
Boudreaux
also served as a scout and medic with the Rangers. He was equally valued for his work butchering
the Ranger horses for meat they ate on the trail when they literally rode them horses
to death. Faithful and honorable in his
efforts, Boudreaux achieved the rank of Lance Corporal in the Confederate Army afore
the Texas Rangers were disbanded after the War of Northern Aggression. He then spent some time back in New Orleans,
courting a young lady twas performing in a dance hall there. Ellie Marie Sawyer was so smitten as to come
back to Texas with him when Bobby decided to follow his old company leaders to
the peaceable little town of Gumption Junction.
Whilst tending to the early education of their baby girl Sally Renée, Ellie
Marie managed to keep up a nice home for the three of them south of town.
Just
as ever Bobby carried a fiddle with him when he come up to join his
friends. He was always ready to play if
the chance allowed itself. But he reckoned
that Heather and Sage were still about talking business with Jack. They all figured that Jack was trying to
cipher out what he had to try to do to make a better life for Bessie. Heather waited as he continued to consider whether
this ought to include a few of them hogs.
He always left open the
possibility that he might return for them later with his wagon by making the
observation that Heather and Sage had already come to expect. With varying words, the idea was the same.
Jack
let Sage know, “Even the scrawniest one o’ them little piglets Fordern sure
make th’ porcine commitment to a feed, Sage.
My chickens don’t have t’ give all they got t’ put their contribution t’
breakfast on our table. But then my beloved
Maestra Dulce hadn’t even felt up t’ wringin’ out one measly little chicken
neck in weeks. Ya know, she used t’
wring one o’ them out pert near ever day t’ cut up fir supper till th’ pregnancy
brang her down t’ th’ sickbed t’ other day.
Taint had much chicken a’tall for nigh on a month now, Heather! And what I’ve had, I’s had t’ cook my own dadburn
self! Thank God for all them fish in
Cripple Creek!”
As
she had nearly ever day for several weeks, Heather Parker chuckled at this
revelation. She oft times [as then] muttered
mostly to herself, “You’d pluck out th’ dadburn gizzard from th’ throat of any o’
them dadburn Mexicans loyal to Santa Anna, or even some dadburn Comanche shaman
just for the pleasure of watchin’ ‘em bleed out—but lift nary a fanger t’ feed
your own dadburn self? Why, you lazy no
account....” The smile on her face let
Jack know that Heather knew better than to be serious about what she was teasing
for. Heather invited Jack to join them
at the house for what she had finally learnt folks in Texas refer to as
“dinner” [the meal she knew as “lunch” growing up in Kansas]. With that, Sage finally tried to approach an
increasingly more prickly subject with his captain.
“That
dadburn Mr. Samuels from The Gazette come
by agin yest’d’y a lookin’ for ya Jack.
He keeps a pesterin’ on ‘bout th’ notion o’ you runnin’ agin Marshal
Mays fir sheriff come votin’ time in the spring, if’n the Texas districts git
divvied up into counties o’ course. He
knows yore a hard man t’ track down, but I don’t reckon he has any notion jus’ how
prickly a time he’s fixin’ t’ have a changin’ yore mind! But then agin, I don’t reckon I know which
side of th’ fence Mr. Samuels is on with th’ matter o’ that there dadburn
Marshal Mays neither. He also come along
with th’ awfulest news ‘at our own elected Gov’ner Throckmorton done been run
out o’ Austin for standin’ in support o’ th’ 10th Amendment t’ th’
U.S. Constitution. Seems them dadburn Washington
radicals have Fordern shore took over all o’ Reconstruction.”
“Now
Looftenant, ya’ll know as well as me that Clem Samuels an’ Milo Cobb Mays is Fordern
shore a couple o’ them no goot dadburn scalawags! Twas men like them what took away our ‘bility
t’ help all them good people o’ this here great state. I tell ya’ll what, I Fordern shore spent most
o’ th’ time on his dep’ty job with a shovel an’ broom out yonder in th’ dadburn
livery stable o’ th’ U.S. Marshal’s Office .
Very little dadburn time was I in my ‘Phesians 6 saddle with this
shotgun durin’ th’ prickly year that I wore that tin star wi’ th’ Marshal’s
Office. Twas a tough’n when we first
come up here after th’ dadburn War o’ Northern ’Gression.”
Jack
went on to say, “I kin tell all ya’ll Fordern shore that all his shortcomin’s
as U.S. Deputy Marshal for th’ Texas Panhandle cause Milo Mays t’ cast em-bare-ass-mint
upon ever single one o’ us that ever fought t’ keep peace an’ do right by any
badge! Did ya’ll even know that dadburn Marshal
Mays very nearly tried t’ get me t’ surrender Cap’m Walker’s Colts when I resignt
an’ left his office fir th’ very last time?
Ya’ll know these here hand warmers ain’t been out o’ my considerable arms’
reach since Cap’m Jack an’ Cap’m Walker had us strap ‘em on th’ very first dadburn
time…”
Bobby
added, “I tell you what Heather, that dadburn marshal tried t’ take my knives
when Ellie an’ me first come t’ Gumption Junction. I had t’ show ‘im all th’ dadburn meat we had
salted down in th’ wagon from our trip afore he’d let us be. I very nearly left one o’ them knives in his bloated
yeller belly. Ellie didn’t want little
Sally Renée t’ see such a sight as that fir her first memory at our new home
though. That would not have bothered me
a’tall though Cap’m. I’s ready t’ gut th’
sombitch then an’ there.”
Jack
chuckled, “I wisht I’d a seen that Bob!
You ought t’ have done it, Corporal, just t’ save whatever awful trouble
I’m sure that dadburn Marshal Mays is fixin’ t’ conjure up fir us. Could have made good supper fir them turkey
buzzards anyways eh? Heather, I might just
yet stretch that dadburn marshal’s chicken neck myself, given half th’
chance. How ‘bout that?” Most folk might be mortified by the making of
such comments at the meal table in their home.
Heather Parker had Fordern sure learnt to expect the unexpected from
Sage, Jack, Bobby, and Crick though.
After all, twas how she wound up living with the Ranger turnt pig farmer
in the Texas Panhandle.
In
a effort to try and keep the peace with the woman from Abilene now living as
his wife, Sage give a word of caution to his Cap’m, “Don’t go givin’ nobody any
ideas now, Rex. You know Fordern shore
that Bobby th’ Butcher don’t like ‘at no good dadburn scalawag no more’n th’
rest o’ us do. Anyways, you know pert near
as well as him that knives don’t make as much mess or noise amongst th’ cover o’
darkness neither. Bobby is liable t’
take that order t’ th’ bank, ol’ friend!
I have ruminated on that very dadburn thang myself more’n once!”
Heather
Parker considered the topic of discussion along with the character, skill, and
preparedness of the men gathered for breakfast ‘roun’ her table. Sage tolt her that the only times in the last
25 years that he ever seen German Jack Fordern without that shotgun slung over
his shoulder was when they were in the classroom at school as kids—or, in later
years, when the leader of the Texas Rangers was taking a nap on a manhunt. Them wheel guns was made by Texas Ranger
Cap’m Samuel H. Walker for manufacture by Sam Colt. Cap’m John C. “Devil Jack” Hays presented them
to O. R. “Jack” Fordern and the other Texas Rangers. The only time that there scabbard belt wasn’t
‘roun’ Jack’s waist was when Bessie’s arms were! On the trail, Jack was known to take his
short, infrequent naps with them “hand warmers” strapped on tight. Sage had also let Heather know Fordern sure
that Jack was the one that went to Paterson, NJ and tested them new Walker
Colts afore the Rangers used them in the dadburn Mexican War.
Heather
Parker recollected the very first time she had ever laid eyes on Jack and Sage. The both of them were about to engage the
locals in the makings of a gunfight on the streets of Abilene. The topic of debate was the merits of
Reconstruction as a national political policy.
The local authorities had interfered when the matter come to blows that
day. Jack had to give up his weapons for
the night. Sage looked after them as
Jack spent the night in jail. On that day just a few months earlier in
Abilene, neither Sage nor Jack reckoned it was necessary to kill anybody. We know this because none of their opponents
died on the streets of Abilene that day.
Heather didn’t want to have to be the one to stave off the shooting of
Marshal Mays on that October day in Gumption Junction. She reckoned she ought to try and divert the
conversation in a slightly different direction though. She knew this rarely worked, but she always
tried.
Finally,
Heather suggested to Jack, “Fordern shore goodness sake Cap’m, why don’cha git
on t’ ridin’ shotgun with Wells-Fargo like Crick Youngblood? Rebecca come over t’ th’ house t’other
day. She’s positively regalin’ me an’
Sage with how th’ stage keeps Crick from bein’ under foot all th’ dadburn time. She has made a nice home fir all them boys north
o’ town. The money seems t’ be mighty
good, an’ Creek is always eager t’ make Rebecca feel mighty special whilst he
is at home. I think they’s gonna have a lovely
baby. I know she’d like t’ have a girl,
but I think they’ll be happy with a third boy too.”
Gunnery
Sergeant Grover McCormack “Prairie Creek” Youngblood was a sharpshooter with
the Texas Rangers for the better part of 20 years as well. For more than 16 of them years, Crick was the
sharpshooter for the company that Jack Fordern rode herd on whilst also serving
as the leader of all them Texas Rangers.
Creek come down to Bexar from East Texas with the outbreak of the dadburn
Mexican War. Gunny Youngblood actually
joint the Rangers at Waco on Annexation Day, 29 December 1845. Twas only a few days afore Jack and Sage saddled
up. He was the sharpshooter for another
company for much of the Mexican War.
Jack
made Captain and become the commander of his company with the retirement of
Devil Jack Hays after the Mexican War.
As the result of this, Jack needed another man in the company to replace
him as sharpshooter. Still a couple
years from becoming supreme commander of all them Texas Rangers, Jack requested
to have Gunny Crick Youngblood transferred to his company. Even after Jack took command of all them Texas
Rangers, they rode together for the rest of their careers. Youngblood had only been in Gumption Junction
a few weeks by the time of this October day that Jack was thinking about buying
them hogs Heather and Sage was raising. Crick
had spent the larger part of his early retirement attending seminary at Sherman
whilst wooing Rebecca St. Patrick back in East Texas. He was riding shotgun with Wells-Fargo then,
but got a transfer to the new office at Gumption Junction.
Jack
took more coffee with the German mustard and sauerkraut Heather put on his ham
sandwich. For his own delight, he begun
his reply, “What’s th’ secr’t ingredient fir makin’ this coffee so special
Heather? Is it whale oil or wagon tongue
oil? Ya’ll Fordern shore might be on t’ som’pin
concernin’ Wells-Fargo. I caint consider
any other dadburn thang such as that till th’ baby come though. I know yore just barely showin’ Heather, but Bessie
could give birth in a couple weeks. She
had t’ stay home sick from school t’day, an’ I really ought t’ be headin’ back
t’ her Fordern shore quick. She’ll be as
mystified as all ya’ll that I have made no deal yet fir them pigs too. Now stash yore Dobro, Sage. Taint got no time
t’ pluck even one song on my banjo. As
much as I’d Fordern shore love t’ hear you saw on that thar fiddle, Bobby, Bessie
don’t feel well a’tall. I won’t neither
if’n darkness beats me back t’ Fordern Shore Home!”
With
that, Jack tipped his hat to the hostess, shook the hand of his oldest friend
and lieutenant, and patted The Bear on the back. Then, just as he had so many times afore that,
Jack quietly rode on through and out of Gumption Junction towards the house he
built for hisself and the woman he called his Maestra Dulce, Bessie. This seemed
to be an afternoon like any other. The
West Texas air was cool and crisp. The
wind could seem to cut a man half in two, blowing down off the Caprock. Coyotes howled a lonesome song. Twas a song Jack knew well from all them years
spent patrolling the No Man’s Land for enemies of Texas. The endless snow of the past few days had
finally seemed to quit pounding the Earth.
The Llano Estacado was still covered in a soft white blanket as far as
Jack’s traint eyes could see in any direction.
Normally,
Jack would Fordern sure stop in town for anything that he thought might bring a
smile to the mother of his coming child.
On this evening, Jack’s intention was to make his way as quick possible without
drawing the attention he never liked much anyway. The brief visit with The Gumption Gazette publisher/editor, Clem Samuels, caused Jack to spur Raven on. He cinched his duster taut ‘roun’ him and drew
his Confederate Cavalry hat down close to his eyes. Jack wisht he had worn his sombrero from his
days as a Texas Ranger. The way the
sunlight reflected off the snow, Jack could hardly see a thing. Mindful of all this, he once more gently
urged his faithful horse Raven towards Cripple Creek and the bend in the road that
would reveal the final quarter mile jaunt east of town and towards the house he
hoped to make a Fordern Sure Home for Bessie and the baby they had coming.
Jack’s
mind had Fordern sure been fairly well occupied with just reckoning out the
nasty business of the day in order to make room for the hope of seeing Bessie and
tending to the needs she had whilst preparing for their coming child. He had been trying to figure how to fashion a
place for the baby to sleep in the small home he made for Bessie. Jack tried not to speak of any unhappiness
since Bessie come to join him in Gumption Junction. As much as Jack liked leading the Texas
Rangers, there had Fordern sure been enough of that talk during all them years
at Bexar. Now Jack just hoped to find the
mother of his coming child alive and well.
Jack
had taken on all of the responsibility for tending to the two sections of land give
to him by the state. Twas the reward for
his years of Texas Ranger service. That
responsibility was all his since the bed rest of her pregnancy kept Bessie from
doing any work after each day of teaching in town. Fishing Cripple Creek and raising chickens
left Jack with little time to prepare a proper Fordern Sure Home for his lady afore
learning that their family was fixin’ to grow.
He had moved Bessie from Bexar so they could be nearer her father and
get away from the old life that had Fordern sure been snatched from Jack and
his men as the result of Reconstruction.
Till that meeting with the newspaper man that left him spurring Raven
home to check on Bessie, Jack had not regretted any of it. Now Jack was not so Fordern sure he ever
should have left Bexar, much less left Bessie alone at home.
