The Nicola
written by:
Ole Reb

I have always wanted to write a western story...I guess I kinda got carried away with it. I hope you all enjoy it....Reb

THE NICOLA

A NOVELETTE By: Ole Reb

This essay is dedicated to Curtis, who was born of the great Northwest

1.........LEAVING

Roddy Linebarger had always been a cowboy. There was nothing else he could or wanted to be. Cattle were his life, his passion, ever since his sixth birthday when he had been given a quarter horse mare, a western saddle and a pair of pointy-toed cowboy boots. As he rode through the Clinch Mountains in southwestern Virginia, he thought back to that birthday, and the days that followed.

He had awakened to the sound of an old rooster, standing on a fence post, crowing for all his might. He was letting the world know that the sun was about to creep up over the Blue Ridge Mountains which bordered the eastern side of the Shenandoah Valley. Roddy could hear the noise in the kitchen as Miss Coalie rattled pots and pans, preparing breakfast for the three people who lived in the big house at Fair Oaks Plantation. Roddy, her favorite, his mother and father. Today instead of being with his Regiment, Colonel Jackson Linebarger was at home. He was there to celebrate Roddy's birthday and to prepare for another campaign against the Yankee Army. No one was supposed to know but Miss Coalie knew they were going somewhere up into Pennsylvania. But, Miss Coalie was happy that the Colonel was home for two reasons. One, because it was Roddy's birthday and two, because her husband, Andrew Coalman was home too. She was happy for Sara and Tina because their men were home with the Colonel as well. Nathan and Jesse Coldridge, Andrew Coalman, and that wild, Jefferson Carlyle were members of the Gray Line, a cavalry troop, in the Army of Northern Virginia that had been raised right around Coatsville.

Roddy dressed rapidly and bounded down the stairs. He was always first downstairs every day, because Miss Coalie would give him some treat before his parents came down. the Colonel took eating seriously and didn't allow any foolishness at the table. Today the treat was his favorite. There on the big work table was a bowl. Roddy looked into it and took a deep breath, smelling the cinnamon and brown sugar that was so scarce during the War. Roddy dived at the bowl with relish. That's when he got that danged wooden spoon, which he had carved for her himself, right across the knuckles of his hand. "What you say afore ya'll starts eatin' like an ol' hound dog?" Miss Coalie asked the youngster. The six year old boy stood and replied,

"Good morning Miss Coalie, may I have some of dis heah....er...this cinnibread and milk, Please?" The large black woman smiled, her perfect teeth shining in the early morning light. "Why sho Ya'll can honey chile, don't yo Miss Coalie always fix yo sumthin' special?"

-=*=-

Roddy could taste that Cinnibread now. He'd been eating his own cooking for over a week now and he was getting rather tired of it. But in a few more days he could get some decent food. He was still thinking about that birthday when he topped out on a ridge where he could see for at least thirty miles. About half way across the valley he saw a little town. He patted the Mean Blue Roan on the neck and told him, "We'll get some really good food tomorrow boy."

-=*=-

The Colonel and his mother came downstairs and it was time to eat. Roddy almost choked on the fresh ham, fried eggs, grits, swimming in freshly churned butter, and the flaky biscuits that made Miss Coalie famous, all over Virginia. "Happy birthday son." His father said while his mother smiled at him proudly. "Since you ate all of your breakfast, there's a package for you in the parlor." Miss Amanda told him happily, knowing how hard it had been for the little guy to stuff all that food into his stomach, which she knew was already full.

Roddy, on his P's and Q's, asked politely to be excused, then raced into the parlor to see what he'd gotten for his special day. There on the settee was a rather large box, tied with a paper bow. Roddy saved the bow for his mother, then carefully opened the box. Inside was a shiny new pair of boots, and not just regular boots, Cowboy Boots. The black boots smelled of polish and new leather. They were the most wonderful gift he'd ever had. When he took them out of the box, something fell out of the boots and made a clanking sound. SPURS!!!!!! Seeing them Roddy thought to himself,

"I bet that fat old shetland pony will get out of a slow walk if I touch him up with these." Roddy got the boots on in two seconds flat, but he had to get his father to help him with the spurs. "May I go ride the pony now?" He begged his father. "Yes," said his dad, "be sure to check the stall first, I think the pony was put inside last night."

Roddy went clumping and jingling down to the big white barn. His father's horse, Rosie, had her head over the stall door and kept her eye on the pint sized person who had entered her realm. Roddy kept out of Rosie's reach, 'Cause that bitch would bite!'

He got to the door of his pony's stall and when he opened the door his mouth fell open. There, in the gloom of the stall, stood the most beautiful horse Roddy had ever seen. She was a soft black with four white stockings. She was already saddled with a new 'western' saddle and had a bridle with silver concho's at each ear.

Roddy flew out of the barn, right into his father's arms. His eyes were glistening with tears of joy, as he said to his mom and dad. "She's so beautiful Dad, thank you both so very much." The Colonel led the quarter horse out of the barn. By this time several of the Colonel's troopers had gathered 'round to watch Roddy's first ride on the new mare. Nathan, Jesse, Jefferson and Andrew stood by while Roddy climbed into the saddle. The saddle squeaked, as new leather will. Roddy exclaimed, "Boy, this saddle sure sets up a ruckus, don't it?" The adults gathered around laughed at him.

"I gotta show Miss Coalie!" Roddy said as he tickled the mare's flanks with the spurs. The horse trotted toward the house with Roddy calling loudly for Miss Coalie to come see. The big woman stood in the back door and praised the mare and Roddy for being able to handle her. Then the mare spotted what looked like some tasty grass just outside the back door. She took the bit into her teeth and walked into Miss Coalie's herb garden, and started eating. The mare soon found out what every body else already knew. Nobody.........No- body messes about in Miss Coalie's Yarbs. The horse went back to the barn considerably quicker than she left it, terrified by the huge black specter with a broom that had smacked her upside the head and on her rump as she fled. The mare had never heard such screeching in her life. Roddy patted the trembling mare's neck and told her, amid gales of laughter from all the others, "I should've warned you about Miss Coalie's Yarbs." The mare would never again be forced, cajoled of tricked into going anywhere near Miss Coalies Yarb garden.

2 JACKSON AND AMANDA LINEBARGER

As the Mean Blue Roan cantered down the trail toward the Kentucky border, Roddy' mind kept drifting back to the Plantation called Fair Oaks and the life he led as a child there. He had been having a lot of fun with the black mare, but he was learning at the same time. His father, Colonel Jackson Clinton Linebarger, was busy too. He was leading the Gray Line, a cavalry troop that he had raised to help fight the Civil War. By the time of Roddy's sixth birthday, the Colonel knew the South could not win the war against the industrial strength of the North. Shortly after his seventh birthday, Nathan, Jesse, Andrew and Jefferson brought the Colonel home to Fair Oaks. His right arm was gone and he was a shell of a man. The Colonel continued to decline in both body and mind. Roddy had just turned eleven when the Colonel died. That made Miss Amanda the owner of Fair Oaks. The Formidable Miss Amanda.

-=*=-

Amanda Letticia Broadwater had been ten years old when she first laid eyes on Jackson Linebarger, who was eighteen. She'd heard her mother say Jackson was going to the Military College, there in Lexington, Virginia, and would become an officer in the Army, until his father died, at which time he would take over the plantation in the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, called Fair Oaks. Jackson's father was her mother's distant cousin so when Jackson came Lexington to go to University, he'd stay with them when he had time off. Her mother explained that although Jackson was from the Shenandoah Valley, Fair Oaks was a long way off at the northern end of the valley. Jackson would go home only in the summers. Amanda was with him for four Christmas and Easter seasons and all the other holidays when he came to her house. He always came dressed in his handsome gray uniform, with all the shiny buttons and the cute hat with the little pussy willow pod on the top. Amanda was in love with Jackson Linebarger, but it seemed like he didn't know that she was alive. She was in such a state that she finally went to her mother and asked her what she was going to do. Her mother told her.

"Just be yourself Amanda. He knows you're here and he's already asked if he can take you to the Spring Ball at the Institute." Amanda was beside herself with happiness. At last he had noticed her. She was, after all, thirteen, and growing into a lovely young woman. Her mom had been married by the time she was her age. Amanda was beginning to worry that she would become an old maid.

The Spring Ball at the Institute was the social highlight of the year in Lexington. Amanda's father Judge Broadwater, loaned Jackson his carriage to take Amanda to the Ball. Amanda wore a yellow dress that was cut daringly low, made of watered silk and had matching slippers. Her dark brown mink stole was edged with white stoat fur and it set off the yellow gown beautifully. Jackson didn't exactly know why, but having a slave drive them to the Ball made him uneasy.

The candles and lanterns that lit the great hall were brilliant. Jackson and Amanda danced the night away. They sipped punch at the table, not the hard cider of course, and when Jackson asked her to take a stroll with him, she went. When they returned to the ball room, she'd had her first kiss, and she wore his Institute ring around her neck on a velvet ribbon he happened to have in his pocket. Amanda had a velvet ribbon in her evening bag too, just in case.......

Jackson Linebarger graduated third in his class, in a class of one hundred twenty four, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac. His graduation day was June 12, 1856. On June 14, 1856, Jackson married Miss Amanda Letticia Broadwater. She was fourteen years old. Roderick Jackson Linebarger was born May 17, 1857.

Jackson and Amanda were happy living in Washington with their little son. When they went riding in a carriage to show the baby off, Jackson drove himself. He was uncomfortable with slaves around. He secretly thought of releasing the woman Amanda's father had brought from Virginia for Amanda. But she was Judge Broadwater's property, not Amanda's.

When Roddy was three years old, Jackson's father died, and though he'd been promoted to First Lieutenant, he resigned his commission and returned to Virginia. His father had been buried a week when they arrived at Fair Oaks. Then came the lawyers and all the paperwork that went with transferring the title to Fair Oaks to him. While he had the lawyers attention he did something else which earned him the ire and ridicule of all his friends, neighbors and the farmers and planters in the northern Shenandoah Valley. He freed his slaves, each and every one.

"It must be his association with all them Yankees up in Washington that made him do something like this." was the most common line, or.......... "I guess the younger generation don't know how to handle a farm." They never understood that Jackson Clinton Linebarger hated slavery. They never knew that he had decided years before his fathers death that he would someday make free men and women of the people his father had owned like so many cattle. Jackson told Amanda of his decision to free the people and to his surprise, she agreed with him. He had noticed that she took care of their son herself, and when she had regained her strength after Roddy's birth, she sent her fathers slave home. She had asked for no slave to take care of the child, but one of them, Miss Coalie, had taken the child to heart and was spoiling the boy rotten.

All the paperwork had been filed and the day had come to tell the slaves. Jackson asked Andrew, Miss Coalie's husband, to gather all the people on the front lawn. Slaves were not allowed on the lawn, unless they were there to cut the grass, during the days of Jackson's father. It took several hours to round up all the slaves and gather in front of the long veranda. Rumors raced through the slave population.

"He gonna sell us all." Or, "Oh God, he gonna sell the kids!" Jackson stood with Amanda and little Roddy on the porch and looked at each man and woman who stood before him.

"Today, I have something to tell you all. From this day forward you are free men and women. I have for each of you a document, releasing you from the bonds of slavery." The ten men, their wives and the children that were born to Fair Oaks, held their breath. There was not a sound. Then, from behind him Jackson heard a sob. He turned into the arms of Mary Louanne Coalman. She held Jackson in her arms and cried great tears.

"God bless you Massa Jackson, God bless you." was all Miss Coalie could say. Andrew stood by, tears of joy coursing down his cheeks. At first there was a low murmur from the people standing in the yard. Then it rose to a clamor, a cheer. Jackson, Amanda and even little Roddy were almost smothered by the happy men and women who were free this day.

"Do this mean we has to go away, Massa Jackson?" Asked Nathan Coldridge, his wife, Sara, clinging to his arm. Jackson looked at Nathan, his childhood friend, then began to explain his plan to them all. "No, you do not have to leave, but you are free to leave if you want to go. I want you all to stay and help me run the farm. Nathan, you and I were play- mates when we were children, now we're friends. I want you......I want you all to stay."

Not one person left. The farm prospered over the next few years, the crops seemed to yeild more, cottages were built for each family, and the profits were never better. Jackson was careful to collect all those profits in gold. He never trusted paper money and so when a force of men in South Carolina fired on the Federal Fort in Charleston harbor, Jackson and Fair Oaks had gold, not worth- less paper money, which couldn't be exchanged for gold because the Confederate States of America was born and no one could travel into the northern states to make the exchange.

One day two men rode into the yard at Fair Oaks. Jackson recognized them both. They were General Robert E. Lee and General Pete Longstreet. General Lee had been the Commandant of Cadets at the Military Academy at West Point, New York. Pete Longstreet had been a Lt. Colonel with the U.S. Army, but both were Generals now, in the Confederate Army. Jackson had known both men when he was attached to the Army General Staff in Washington. The fact of his being from Virginia had made him welcome in the company of both men. General Lee said to him.

"Jackson, we want you to raise a troop of cavalry from around here and join the Army of Northern Virginia. I'm offering you the rank of Colonel, you may choose your other officers yourself." "I'll have one hundred twenty men and mounts within thirty days Sir." Colonel Linebarger told the two Confederate Generals. "Thank you Jackson, bring them to Richmond, when they've completed their training. We'll see you there." General Lee told him. Colonel Linebarger spent the next month recruiting, fitting out, and training a troop of cavalry. The uniforms were made to his design. Grey hats, black boots, gray jackets and riding pants. The pants had a red stripe down the leg, and there were red epaulets on the shoulders of the jackets.

There were four men in this Confederate Cavalry troop that were not typical of the rest. They were black men, slaves who had vowed not to leave the Colonel's side as he raised the unit. Corporal Jefferson Carlyle was his bugler, Corporal Jesse Coldridge carried the Stars and Bars, the Confederate Battle Flag, Sergeant Major Nathan Coldridge carried the guidon at the Colonel's side and Sergeant Andrew Coalman was his personal Aide De Camp. At the time of the Civil War, there were very few free black men in the South, and absolutely none in the Confederate Army. But these four were of Fair Oaks and they owed their freedom to Jackson Linebarger and where he went, they went. Nathan, Jesse and Andrew told their wives that if it meant their lives to protect the Colonel then so be it. Jefferson didn't have a wife, but his reasons were the same as the other three.

Before they left for Richmond, they got the word from Miss Coalie. "Ya'll take care of de Colonel or ya'll will have to deal wid me. They believed her. The Gray Line was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They fought in twenty one successful engagements throughout the East. All five of the Fair Oaks men earned decorations for Valor. On July 3, 1863, the Gray Line died. It was destroyed at a dinky little crossroads town in Pennsylvania., GETTYSBURG!!!!!!!!!

Under the command of General George Pickett, they charged the Union center, along with fifteen thousand other Confederate Soldiers, across a mile of open ground. Colonel Linebarger took a cannonball that nearly tore his right arm off. Nathan and Jesse took shrapnel when a cannon was fired at them, almost in their faces. Andrew was badly slashed with a saber across his back by a Yankee officer as he crouched over the wounded Colonel. Jefferson Carlyle emerged from the battle unscathed and it was him that got the other Fair Oaks men to the hospital that had been set up in a barn near the battlefield. The doctors took what was left of Colonel Linebarger's arm, and sewed the fearful wounds of Nathan, Jesse and Andrew. They would all lay in hospital for three months until the day General Lee himself came to see about them. He told Sergeant Major Nathan Coldridge to take Colonel Linebarger home, and to take Jesse, Jefferson and Andrew with him. They had all given all they could. He would ask no more.

3.................. MEETING AMY

At age thirteen, Roddy left Fair Oaks and Virginia, astride the Mean Blue Roan colt which he had named Jackson, after his father. He had traveled down the length of the Blue Ridge Mountains to a town called Marion, where he had Jackson reshod for the trip across the Clinch Mountains, the Alleghenies, through Big Stone Gap into the Cumberlands and the Pine Mountains. The town in the distance was Cumberland, Kentucky. The little town had a fine restaurant. Roddy ate fried chicken and pone, with collard greens, on the side which had been seasoned with bacon drippings, until he thought he would burst. He paid for his meal and asked the proprietor how far it was to some flat land. "I think the whole world is tilted up on edge. Its been one mountain after another for a week." Roddy told the cook.

"You won't hit any real flat land till you get to the Mississippi River, but the land around Lexington is not too hilly, they raise a lot of cattle around there, Some fine horses too."

Cattle country! That's what Roddy wanted. He left Cumberland headed north west. The Pine Mountains gave way to the high country called the Cumberland Plateau and finally he entered the rolling hills of central Kentucky. It was really strange to see grass that was bluish instead of what it really should be.....Green.

He was drifting, looking for some real cows. He had ridden through Lexington without seeing anything that tempted him. He had seen a few scraggedly cows but nothing special. A few miles west of Lexington he spotted the herd he had been looking for. He sat his saddle and gazed at the white faces that stared back at him across the split rail fence. These were the animals he could be happy taking care of.

A rider rode toward him and the cattle on a big red Irish bred stallion that seemed to float across the grass of the paddock. It wasn't until the rider brought the horse to a skidding stop that he realized the rider was a girl. She looked to be about his age, but her attire was more in the line with the Virginia Hunt Clubs than the wild country of central Kentucky. Then she spoke, and it wasn't the Virginia Hunt Clubs but one from the heart of the Hunt Clubs........England! Yep, the girl was pure-dee English.

"Might I enquire as to why you are eyeing my cows, sir?" It was a challenge to his dusty, road stained appearance, but it sang to him of roses, tea, and lilacs. She waited impatiently for his answer. "Ahhhhh....I was just admiring them and wishing I had a job looking after animals as beautiful as these." Roddy finally said. "Oh, if it's a job you'd be seeking, I suggest you speak to the Brigadier. He's at the Manor now so you have my permission to speak to him." was her curt reply. "Whyyy thank you ma'am." Roddy smothered a laugh as he spoke in his best Virginia drawl. The girl whirled the red about and flew across the paddock toward a large house built of stone and wood. Roddy rode into the yard and hitched the Roan. He walked up the steps onto a wide veranda. The goddess from the paddock answered the door. Without her hat, he could see golden hair, piled attractively on her regal head like a crown. She looked at him and said. "We receive tradesmen and hired help at the rear door." With that terse remark she closed the door firmly, right in his face. Roddy stood there a few minutes, he was embarrassed, then mad, as he moved to the Roan and climbed into the saddle. He rode out the gate and down the trail that led by the pastures. He stopped by the white faced Herfords and told them sadly, "Sorry boys, I didn't get the job."

With a heavy heart he rode northwest to Louisville, crossed the Ohio River, then turned west toward the mighty Mississippi. "Who was that at the door Amy?" Brigadier Angus Longstreet asked his daughter. Amelia Louise Victoria Longstreet looked at her father for a long time, then burst into tears. She fled to her room where she berated herself for being so rude to the handsome young man. She finally wiped all her tears away and went downstairs to tell her father about the man she was in love with. "What was his name, my dear?" Her father queried her. "I don't know his name but if he ever comes back here he won't get away again." Amy told the Brigadier with a far away look in her eyes.

Angus Ian Longstreet had retired from the British Army as a Brigadier General. He was a widower with one precocious daughter whom he doted upon. His wife had died in England during an influenza epidemic, so his daughter had gone with him. She had gone to the pine clad hills of Newfoundland when he was an attaché at the embassy in St. John's. She had come to the sunny island of Bermuda with him when he was posted as the Government Agent at Fort Hamilton. There were many women who would have loved to be a mother to the darling little girl, but Angus had loved his wife, Martha, as no man had ever loved a woman. There would be no one to take her place, either in his life or that of his daughter. When his retirement had come through he had already decided to go to America and try his hand there. The Herfords he now ran on the farm in central Kentucky had come from England, were shipped into Charleston and herded here. He had lost fully one third of his herd to the sea and to bandits along the way from Carolina. In the three years he had been in Lexington, his herd had grown and fared well on the blue stemmed grasses that covered the rolling hills. His daughter had bloomed into a beautiful young woman with the creamy complexion of her Irish ancestors, and the hair of a Norse forefather. She had become a real help in taking care of the farm and its herd of cattle. There were no jobs to messy or too hard for her to at least attempt to complete. He did worry about this latest episode though. She had spurned all the advances of the young men, some of whom had come all the way from Louisville to pay court to the daughter of a retired General. Now she comes with a story of love for a man whose name she doesn't even know, where he's from, of what his family is like. Oh well maybe he won't come back at all.

Roddy was riding west, day after day. The sum was warm as he and the Roan cantered down the long dusty trail which ran across southern Indiana. The little towns that came and went were almost all alike, until he came to a town called New Hebron. As he came riding down the main thoroughfare he sensed a hush all around him. A large man with a walrus mustache stepped into the street and held up his hand. The tin star on his chest gave him the authority the youngster from Virginia respected, so Roddy reined the Roan to a stop in the middle of the street.

"Where'd you get that hoss, boy?" came and officious voice from a hairy face. "In Virginia, suh." Roddy answered civilally. "Well you're gonna have to prove that, because Lawyer Calhoun here, claims that hoss was stolen from him six weeks ago. Says that it was his favorite ridin' hoss. So you just get down and prove your ownership with a bill of sale." Roddy had no bill of sale, as he knew where the Roan had been born. On Fair Oaks and was his from birth. He told the Sheriff that he had raised the horse and that no one but him had ever ridden the Roan and he doubted they could. The Sheriff laughed at the youngster and said.

"I can ride anything that has hair on it boy. Now get outa my way." Roddy stood back and watched as the obese man started to climb into the saddle. Jackson turned his head and eyeballed the fat man trying to get onto his back. The first thing he did was get a good mouthful of the sheriffs fat butt and chomped down......Hard! Then with a quick snap of his head sent the fat man sprawling into the dusty street. The fat Sheriff's face got a little redder, if that was possible, as he pulled himself to his feet.

"What the hell kinda hoss is that Calhoun? This big sucker bit the hell outa me." A small crowd had gathered and a few snickers were heard in the group of onlookers. The Sheriff turned on the group and yelled. "Don't any o' youse farmers laugh at me. I'll have your butts for it." Roddy realized that he had run into a bully sheriff and a conniving lawyer in this dinky little burg. He started walking down the street, out of town. The lawyer saw him walking away and said something to the sheriff who yelled at Roddy. "Where you goin Reb?" Roddy replied, "Well Sheriff, I'm just a boy, and you've taken my horse. So if I'm going west, I guess I have to walk."

"Well Calhoun, looks like we got us another hoss." The Sheriff said to the lawyer. The farmers standing around them sensed that something was going to happen, so they kept standing by to observe the events. Lawyer Calhoun told the Sheriff to hold the Roan's head while he mounted the Stallion. The Sheriff had both hands on the Roans bridle as Lawyer Calhoun climbed into the saddle. Roddy figured he was about out of pistol range so he turned and sent a piercing whistle at the Roan. The stallion threw his head up, jerking the bridle from the hands of the fat Sheriff, his bared teeth slashing the fat man's chest and ripping his face open. As the fat lawman hit the ground, flat on his back, the Roan whirled and leaped high into the air. The simpering thief that called himself a lawyer went flying, crashing into the gallery roof of the hardware store. The rusty tin broke and the lawyer slammed into the sidewalk. His neck snapped like a twig. The bleeding Sheriff drew his gun to shoot the Roan, but a dusty boot from one of the farmers kicked his wrist, breaking the delicate bones and sending the pistol flying into the dusty street. The big horse was thundering down the street toward the waiting boy. The Roan skidded to a stop as Roddy vaulted into the saddle and before anybody could whistle Dixie, they were gone. Still heading west, looking for a real cattle ranch for them to get a job

4...THE GREAT MISSOURI CATTLE COMPANY

Roddy crossed the Wabash River into southern Illinois and after another week they got their first look at the Mississippi River. The huge river rolled out of the north and spread out in front of Roddy like an ocean. He had never seen anything so wide. He could not believe that it really was a river. The biggest river he'd ever seen was the Potomac and that had been when he was just a child. Even the Ohio was nothing compared to the awesome Mississippi. Jackson would never swim this one. Roddy rode down to the little town that was built on the flats on the Illinois side of the river across from St. Louis. He wandered down to the dock and found a ferry that would take them across this mighty river.

"See Jackson, if you just look or ask, sometimes you find something you didn't know existed, like a boat to keep you from drowning." Roddy told the Mean Blue Roan. Now the Roan was some embarrassed to have to be floated across a river. He had never done this before. He just jumped in and swam anything. To cover his mortification he took a nip at Roddy's backside, but missed, just barely though.

The river smelled! It had a musty odor. When Roddy asked one of the deckhands what it was that smelled. The deckhand explained that it was the large amount of silt that was carried by the water.

"You're probably smelling Nebraska. The Missouri is as muddy as the devil and it carries a lot of silt. The Mississippi is clear until it is joined by the Missouri. Then they ran side by side for ten miles downstream before all the mud takes over the clear water from Minnesota."

Then Roddy asked of the sailor knew of any cattle operations in the vicinity of St. Louis. The Sailor got a good laugh at the question. "Boy, we got just about the biggest cattle ranch in Missouri about ten mile west o' here. It's the Missouri River Cattle Company, and if you're lookin' for a job, that'll be the place."

Roddy thanked the sailor and when the ferry landed, he led the big Blue Roan down the gangway and into the West. The Roan was feeling real peppery today, so he gave Roddy a wild ride. He bucked and jumped. He sun fished and kicked. It was all a big show. Jackson loved to show off for a crowd of human animals. Every so often he'd catch the boy napping as he felt a 'show off' time come over him and he'd pitch him into the nearest patch of briers. But not this time. The boy stuck to his back like a tick on an old coon dog, and when Jackson knew Roddy wasn't going to come flying off his hurricane deck to land in the edge of the river, he reared, pawed the air with his flashing front hooves, then made a full turn on his hind legs and went tearing off up the road toward town. Jackson liked St. Louis. It was a good sized town with lots of people who had never seen him show off, but when Roddy came out of the stage depot, the Roan watched the youngster and Roddy was eyeing him real hard.

"If you start that ruckus again, I'm going to sell you to the stage company. See how you like pulling a wagon instead of carrying somebody as light as me!" The Roan lowered his head as if to say that he'd be good and not pitch him into the manure pile by the stable. After the discussion, they ambled out of town. The Mean Blue Roan humped his back a couple of times, just to keep the youngster honest.

They passed through some very pretty country that day. The grass was thick and green and the sky was blue and clear. The flowers grew along the trail in abundance. The air smelled clean. but with just a pinch of dust, probably from Jackson's big hoofs. The streams were clear and of course Jackson had to stop and have a drink at each one. It was a pleasant trip and late that afternoon Roddy rode into the yard of the Missouri River Cattle Company, Purvis Hasslebaad, owner and manager.

Purvis was a tall, gangly cowboy who looked like he didn't have a dime to his name, but he was probably one of the wealthiest men in the territory. Purvis had descended from rich people. His father was a Swiss Financier and his grandfather had owned a large share of a bank in Geneva. When his grand- father died in 1855, he had left his only grandson very wealthy. After Purvis had graduated from University, he decided to go to America and become a cowboy. He had spent a lot of time during his university years reading everything he could about the American West. When he arrived in New Orleans aboard a British three master, he knew he had to settle somewhere along this mighty river. Purvis pushed on up the Mississippi aboard one of the white sternwheelers that was so lovely, with its gingerbread moldings and its noisy band. He had a wonderful time until he got into a card game between Natchez and St. Louis. Purvis had learned to play cards from his grandfather, who had established his fortune in one night of cards. Purvis had five hundred dollars in his wallet and one hundred thousand sewn into his clothing. But with the five hundred he got into the game. He played conservatively for a while, then when he was dealt four cards of a Royal Flush, he began to bet a little more. After all the raising and calling he drew one card. The Ace of Clubs filled his Royal Flush, so he stayed in the game. There were six men sitting at the table and each man had at least five thousand in the pot. Purvis barely managed to stay in. He'd started with the five hundred dollars to get into the game and had been winning with some regularity all night. He had also been dipping into the five thousand that he had in his coat pocket and was holding his own.

Finally the last man called. No one had dropped out of the hand. The next best hand was a full house. That was held by the dealer. The Royal Flush dealt to Purvis had been and accident. The dealer almost swallowed his Adams apple. Several of the other men at the table began to laugh. Purvis picked up thirty six thousand dollars and left the game. He went directly to the captain and asked him to put it in his safe.

When the Queen of New Orleans docked at St. Louis, the first mate and three of the crew, at the instructions of Captain Flowers, walked with Purvis to the First Missouri Bank. He thanked the men and gave them fifty dollars each, then he entered the world of Percival McGregor, Scotsman. Mac McGregor liked the young Swiss and right away he agreed to help him find a ranch. Within a week, Mac and Judge Abrams, who was to become a lifelong friend, had found a large tract of land that would suit what Purvis had in mind.

Purvis named his Ranch, the Missouri River Cattle Company because no one had told him that the big river he had come up from New Orleans was called the Mississippi. He thought that since St. Louis was in Missouri the river had to be named that too. "That's alright Purvis." Judge Abrams told him, "Your land borders the Missouri too."

Purvis quietly bought cattle and hired cowboys to herd them, and his ranch made a profit year after year. By the time of the Civil War, Purvis Hasslebaad, Swiss card player, cowboy and businessman had five hundred thousand acres of land, and twenty five thousand head of cattle. He owned a steamboat and a freight company, a hardware store and a haberdashery. Then with the War raging in the east he began to supply beef to the Army, haul freight for the Army and keep things quiet in his part of the country with the thirty cowboys he had working for him. They were mostly Texans and hard as nails, and nobody messed with the Flying H brand.

Now he was looking at another youngster who wanted to be a cowboy. "Can I hep you boy?" Purvis drawled. "I was looking for a job, sir." Roddy answered him. "Are you a cowboy? Know anything about cows?" He grinned as he asked his questions, knowing the boy was really just a drifter.

"No sir I'm not, I'm just a war orphan from Virginia, and no sir, I don't know anything about cows. But that thar blue roan knows ever thang there is to know about cows, and I ride him." Purvis Hasslebaad stood there staring at the youngster for at least thirty seconds. Then he started to laugh. Soon he couldn't stop laughing. Here was one fine boy and he knew that if he could stop laughing long enough that he would hire him. Roddy didn't understand the cattlemans laughter so he started toward the Roan to head on down the road.

"Where the hell you going cowboy?" Purvis finally got the words from his mouth. "I'm hiring the Roan, thirty a month and keep." Roddy grinned and turned back to him. "You won't be sorry sir." He told Purvis, then turned to the Roan and said to the horse. "We got us a job Jackson, now don't you go and mess it up for us, you heah."

Purvis took Roddy to the bunkhouse and fixed him up with a bed. He was immediately pleased with the youngster when Roddy asked where he was going to keep his horse. Purvis loved horses and he knew that if the young lad from Virginia was more worried about his horse than himself, he was a good man. Purvis showed Roddy a small pasture area that had a corral with a snubbing post. The lad from Virginia took off the Roans saddle and placed it on the pole fence that made up the corral, then put his poncho over the saddle and blanket to keep it dry in case it rained. After taking care of his saddle, Roddy pulled a soft cloth from his saddlebag and started rubbing the Roan. To look at the Roan when he was getting a rubdown, you'd think that he was the most gentle horse in the world. Little did Purvis know what a demon he could be or just how good he was when it came time to work cattle.

There was one other horse in the next paddock that was very interesting to Jackson. She had a golden color with a pure white tail and mane. Her small ears were upright and her big brown eyes were observing this stranger as he stood and let his man rub his back with a cloth. Of course she just knew this blue creature was not the kind of horse that she would be attracted to. She knew that he was a big uncouth devil that would bite and paw, so she turned and trotted to the far side of her pasture so she wouldn't be contaminated by such as him. He was kinda cute though.

Roddy met his fellow cowboys that evening and liked them all but one. His name was Derrick Jackson, a surly character from Maine who didn't like his horse's name. Neither did he like the fact that Roddy was a Virginian, and therefore a Rebel. Derrick had been in the Maine Infantry and didn't like Rebels at all. Roddy tried to explain that the horse had been named after his father and that he was only twelve when his father had died from wounds he received at Gettysburg.

"Wait a minute!" Derrick said, "Was your father with General Pickett?" "Yes Sir." Roddy answered the older man. "Well then you must come from good blood boy, because I never saw braver men than those who made the charge that day. Youse and me are gonna be saddlepards from now on." Derrick told him seriously. "But youse gotta get a new name for that blue bag o bones youse're ridin'." "I'll have to take you out to meek Jackson in the morning, 'cause he don't like to be disturbed when he's sleeping and I'm sure he'll want to meet the man who's gonna teach me all about being a cowboy." Roddy said as he shook hands with Derrick.

The next morning came early and before the sun was up, everybody had eaten their breakfast and drank their coffee. All hands went with Purvis, Roddy and Derrick to the corral to meet the famous blue roan that Roddy had told them about the night before in the bunkhouse. The big stallion stood with his head drooping low as Roddy brushed him down and saddled him. The cowboys were snickering at the Roan.

"Real bad, that 'un." one of the hands said to another. "Yup, real bad." came the reply. As Roddy gathered up the reins he told the big stallion. "Now is the time for you to show your stuff." And show off he did. When Roddy hit the saddle the Roan went straight up. A wild scream rent the early morning air as the Mean Blue Roan turned every way there was, trying to unseat the young rider. Roddy knew every twist and kick, every jump and buck, and he knew which antic was coming next. He stuck to the Roan stallion as if her was growed there. Right in the middle of a vicious spin, the roan stopped. He reared and pawed the air, his shoes flashing in the early morning sunlight, made his pirouette on his hind legs and dropped to one knee in a bow. Purvis and the rest of the hands roared with laughter. They whistled and cheered the big blue horse. The young rider leaped to the ground and from his saddle bag, he gave the stallion half an apple. The Palomino mare moved to the near side of her paddock to get a better look at this unusual stranger.

Then it was time to go to work. Derrick and Roddy rode through the pastures towards the herds of cattle. On the way they talked about horses they had known, mean cows and girls. Not always in that order.

The chuck wagon rolled up near the fire where the men were branding cattle. The cook was an old mountain man. A real old he-coon who had been over the mountain a time of two, and he took no sass from the young cowboys, nor the boss either. Roddy had learned his first lesson. In a cow camp, the cook is boss.

Jackson impressed everybody that first day. He could run with the best, cut out the calf Roddy wanted for branding, and hold them perfectly after the calf had been thrown. At lunchtime everybody went over to have a look at the roan stallion. "What a horse!" they exclaimed. "He can put on a show that'd get you eighty points at a rodeo, then cut cattle like your best cuttin' hoss." Half the cowboys and ranchers at the roundup tried to buy Jackson from Roddy, but he always told them the Roan was not for sale. The day was long and by sundown, both Roddy and Jackson were worn to a frazzle. That's when it happened !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roddy had roped a young bull that would weigh a good six hundred pounds of muscle, bone and gristle. When the animal hit the end of the sixty foot rope, Jackson wasn't ready for the jolt. The Roan hit the ground like he'd been pole- axed. Then that danged bull dragged him for at least fifteen feet. Roddy had gone flying in the opposite direction and was piled up on some low brush.

They weren't more than twenty yards from the branding fire when it happened, and everybody saw the amazing horse get thrown on his rump. The hoots and derisive laughter could be heard for miles. Purvis walked out toward the boy and horse.. The Roan was back on his feet now holding the bull. Purvis said to Roddy.

"I thought that horse knew everything there is to know about cows. I guess it was your mistake to rope a bull bigger than Mr. Jackson." He was still laughing as he turned back toward the fire. Jackson let the rope go slack and took off after Purvis. He heard the thundering hoof beats and took off himself. He barely made it in a running dive under the chuck-wagon, the big Roan's teeth only inches from his rear end. Then Jackson hit the end of the rope. The blue roan stallion hit the ground on his other side this time. Jackson scrambled to his feet and stood holding the bull in place and glaring at Purvis, who was peering out from under the chuck-wagon.

"GET ME AN APPLE!'' Purvis roared. The cook handed him and apple. Tears of laughter were rolling down the old mountain man's face. Purvis crawled out from under the chuck wagon and with his knife, sliced the apple in half. He held out half to Jackson. The Roan took his half and with his head held high turned back toward the bull on the end of the rope. Purvis began backing off from the horse toward the fire, shaking his head. Jackson lifted his tail and sent a fart in the boss's direction.

There never was a time after that one day of infamy that the horse would be thrown by some measly steer. But the legend had begun, about a Mean Blue Roan from Virginia and the kid who rode him.

5 .........THE STEAMBOAT CHASE

The days floated by on clouds of dust, branding fires, brush popping for cattle and good times at the big ranch near St. Louis. It seemed to Roddy that he and Jackson had only been in Missouri a few weeks. But the weeks had turned into months, and the months had turned into years. Roddy turned eighteen and was one of Purvis' s top hands. Jackson had kept the crew of the Missouri River Cattle Company laughing most of the time, with his 'showing off' and other antics. The Mean Blue Roan had also fallen in love. Roddy was still the youngest of the crew and they had all made it the goal of their lives to teach the Virginia born youngster what there was to know about the fine art of cowboying. The boss had almost adopted the boy and had plans to keep him on the ranch, come hell or high water.

The Roan had kept himself busy too. The beautiful palomino mare had finally decided that the big blue stallion was not as bad as she first thought. Jackson never nipped her nor would he allow any other horses near the love of his life. Now Jackson considered himself a very selective individual, both in his choice of horses and humans, but the golden mare was what he wanted and in the years since his and Roddy's arrival at the Flying H, two little foals had been born to the mare. One was the spitting image of the mare. She was a dark golden color and had the beautiful tail and mane of her mother. The second foal was a horse of a different color. That had to be the ugliest colt that was ever born, even worse than Jackson had been at birth. He was so gangly that it looked as if he was all legs. His coat was just a tad lighter than the Mean Blue Roan's and he hardly had any tail at all. He was a broomtail if there ever was one. That colt could get into more trouble that Jackson ever dreamed of, the worst concerning Jackson himself. The colt loved apples as much as his father. He would push Jackson's head out of the way and steal the apple half offered by Roddy. He'd steal the apples offered by other hands too. Jackson had to nip the colt several times before the little imp stopped stealing HIS tidbits.

But the most trouble the colt got into was stealing the apple pie the cook had put on the window sill to cool. The pie was hot as blazes so the colt dropped it on the ground and ate the pieces. The cook threatened to shoot the colt, but the crew threatened to get a rope and hang the cook from the tree by the bunkhouse if he harmed the colt. They loved the colt almost as much as they loved the big blue stallion that was the colt's father.

Cattle had been disappearing from the northern end of the flying H, where it bordered the Missouri River. Purvis suspected it was river rats that were stealing his cattle and so he sent Roddy and Derrick to check on the area. They were both furnished with a pair of field glasses and a lot of supplies. They rode out of the ranch headquarters, prepared to spend as long as three months patrolling the banks of the muddy Missouri River.

When the two men reached the Missouri, they set up camp on a high bluff which gave them surveillance of over twelve miles of river. There was another hill about eight miles west of the main camp that would extend their range of surveillance to the western end of the Flying H. Roddy and Jackson would go out each morning to the western hill and spend the day watching the western approaches while Derrick would watch the east and the river banks between him and Roddy. They both had mirrors to signal each other if they saw rustlers.

On the thirteenth day of their vigil, Roddy spotted a rather run down stern- wheeler put into the bank of the big river, near the mouth of a smaller creek. He watched as five men wrestled the gangplank onto the sandy beach and led their bay horses onto the Flying H. He knew these were the rustlers that were stealing Purvis's cattle. What a way to steal cattle. He grabbed his mirror and sent a flash at Derrick, who by chance happened to be looking his way. Derrick sent back a flash of light to Roddy, then saddled his horse and went flying across the ranch to the hill where Roddy was waiting. Derrick reached the hill about an hour later and watched the rustlers with Roddy. The rustlers rounded up about fifty head of the longhorns and herded the down to the shore. There they built a fire and re-branded the cattle. By the time the rustlers had driven the stock to the edge of the little stream, Roddy and Derrick were hidden in the brush, not twenty yards from the boat. They saw them re-brand the cattle with a branding iron that covered the H perfectly. Now the cattle wore a flying B brand. The cattle were herded into pens on the stern wheeler and the horses reloaded. The boat backed into the river and continued down stream.

Derrick and Roddy scrambled back up the hill and recovered their horses. There they decided what they would do. Derrick would shadow the Nebraska Belle down river, while Roddy and Jackson would go like the wind back to the Ranch.

Jackson seemed to know the urgency of the trip home and he really put out the speed. The trip to the Missouri had taken two days, what with pack- horses and other things. Jackson covered the same distance in an afternoon and a night. Lather was flying as the Roan came pounding into the yard of the ranch headquarters at five thirty in the morning. Roddy had fired his pistol three times, signaling the ranch, when he was five miles away. Dirt flew as Roddy pulled the big stallion to a sliding halt in the ranch yard. Purvis and all the hands were there, still rubbing sleep from their eyes. Roddy leaped from his saddle and quickly loosened the girth, so Jackson could blow. The stallion was drawing great gulps of air into his lungs. His muscles were quivering from the hours of the driving run he'd just made and he was wringing wet. Ham O'Bannion ran to his head and pulled off his bridle, then helped Roddy take off the saddle. With sacking and brushes, the cowboys rubbed Jackson down. Then Ham did something that no one else had ever done. He led the stallion around the yard to cool him down, before allowing him water. Jackson knew that Ham was doing what was best for him and he went along with the Irishman. It would be years before any other man except Roddy would be able to touch the blue stallion, but Hamilton O'Bannion would, after that morning.

Roddy explained to Purvis what had happened on his northern frontier. Purvis told everyone to saddle up, and as soon as Jackson had been taken care of, they would ride for St. Louis.

Roddy put his saddle on a big, rawboned, line-back dun for the ride into St. Louis. It was a hard looking bunch that rode into town that day. They rode directly to the U.S. Marshall's office and reported what had been happening and what Roddy and Derrick had seen. The Marshall immediately deputized the whole crew and told them they would constitute his posse. They went down to the docks and waited for the Nebraska Belle to arrive. Roddy spotted the shabby boat at midstream heading down the river. Derrick rode up about the same time. They all watched as the old boat headed south with their cattle. "Well Purvis," said the Marshall. "I guess they're headed for Memphis or Natchez with your cows." Purvis wasted no time.

"Are we still Deputy U.S. Marshall's?" he asked the Marshall. "Yes." the Marshall replied, knowing what Purvis had in mind. He knew that if they had to, U. S. Marshall's could chase them all the way to New Orleans and arrest them.

"Ty, go tell Captain Sheppard to get underway downstream as soon as possible. We'll start south, watching the Nebraska Belle. You tell the Captain to pick us up when we signal him." Purvis told Ty Harding. Then he climbed into the saddle and the posse headed south with Deputy U.S. Marshall Purvis Hasslebaad leading the way.

When Ty got to the wharf where the Pride of Zurich was tied up, he went immediately to see Captain Sheppard. He passed on Purvis's instructions then went back down to the wharf and brought his horse aboard. The 'Pride' was, luckily, getting ready to head upriver to Minneapolis and had only a little freight. She was light in the water and her boilers were already hot. The Pride of Zurich, Purvis Hasslebaad, owner, and Keith Archibald Sheppard, Captain backed into the Mississippi. She turned about and headed downstream. Her paddlewheel spinning, her stacks belching black smoke, as she drove south after the Nebraska Belle, and the posse of Flying H cowboys.

They were only eighteen miles south of St. Louis when a red flare/rocket burst over the river and as Captain Sheppard reversed the paddlewheels he put her hard over toward the bank. Captain Sheppard's skill and judgment was so great that the ship touched the edge of the river as she began backing up. When the paddlewheel had been stilled and the gangplank lowered, the posse swarmed aboard with their horses. The boat backed into the stream and nosed back south again. Purvis climbed to the bridge and got Captain Sheppards keys. He then went below decks with five men. A boom was lowered over the forward hold and six cannon were hoisted onto the deck. They were U.S. Naval cannon which Purvis had bought after the war. They were rolled along the deck and set into gun-mounts that had been designed into the big ship when she was being built. The crew of the Pride of Zurich were not ordinary seaman. They were all ex-gunners mates from the Confederate Raider "Alabama". They got the cannon loaded. Now it was simply a race to catch the Nebraska Belle and her rustler crew.

The Pride of Zurich was eighty-five miles from St. Louis when they came into a stretch of the Mississippi River that was fairly straight for fifteen miles. The lookout spotted the dingy old boat about seven miles ahead of them. The hammering of the boilers were making a lot of noise. The Chief Engineer hung his cap over the pressure gauge and urged the black gang even harder. With every mile they covered, the 'Pride' gained a quarter mile on the older boat. The bunch on the 'Belle' had no idea that the big white sternwheeler pounding down the river was after them. No extra smoke appeared from the stacks of the 'Belle' so the 'Pride' caught her by the time they swept into the first bend after the straight stretch. Captain Sheppard slowed the 'Pride' as they came along- side the tramp boat from Nebraska. With his megaphone he ordered the 'Belle' to put in to the next dock. He was promptly told where he could go, but they changed their minds quickly as the doors in the solid rail of the 'Pride' dropped and the six cannon nosed out on their carriages. The Captain of the Nebraska Belle had seen faces like those gunners before and he turned the 'Belle' toward a plantation wharf less than a mile ahead of them. The pride of Zurich, Captain Sheppard at the wheel, paced them perfectly as they arched toward the wharf. The cannons never lost their target and the gunners never moved away from their deadly weapons.

As both boats moved into the wharf, one on each side, they were met by the people from the plantation. The man who owned the plantation spotted the cannons trained on the 'Belle' and the hard eyed gunners aboard the 'Pride' who manned them. He moved his people away from the wharf as quickly as he could. This operation was none of his business and he wanted no part of it. As soon as both boats were secure, Purvis crossed the wharf and arrested the entire crew. They came aboard the 'Pride' meekly, and for good reason. Not only were the cannons pointed at them, but revolvers and rifles in the hands of U. S. Marshals convinced them they were finished stealing cattle or what ever else they could grab as they plied the rivers. All of the crew of the Nebraska Belle were locked into the hold and the hatch battened down.

There were three Indian girls tied up in one of the cabins aboard the old boat, found there by Sid Cash, Ham O'Bannion and Derrick. The three men covered the young women with their coats, so it was a big rush by the gunners to get them some shirts and deck pants. The owner of the plantation now came aboard and asked if he could help, since he had decided the danger of a gunfight had vanished. Purvis answered. "Yessir you can. If you have any women's clothes for the three girls, and if you can get word to your sheriff of what went on here, I would appreciate it." The owners wife hurried to the house and returned with lovely dresses for the girls. Then she took charge and got the girls a good scrubbing an dressed them in her dresses. Then she brought them on deck. You have never seen such a tongue tied bunch of rowdies in you life as there was aboard the Pride of Zurich. The cowboys stared at the Indian girls as if they'd never seen one before. The young women were truly lovely. The old cook, who had lived in the Rocky Mountains in his youth, talked to the young women, finding out that they were Comanche women, stolen by the Pawnee and sold to the crowd aboard the Nebraska Belle. Purvis offered to take them back to the ranch and then send them home with an escort of cowboys as protection. The women agreed with this arrangement and the two boats backed away from the wharf and headed back up the Mississippi toward St. Louis.

There was quite a crowd at the docks when the two sternwheelers arrived. The U.S. Marshall took charge of the prisoners while Purvis and his cowboy posse started herding the stolen cattle back to the ranch. Purvis declared the cattle would continue to wear the 'B' brand until they could be eaten by the hands. He gave the little group of cattle to the cook and said.

"I want a Texas-styled cookout for all hands." Captain Sheppard and his intrepid gunner crew arrived to take part in the feast.. The freight could get to Minnesota later. The Comanche girls appeared at the cookout dressed in their traditional deerskin dresses. No one could figure out where they got them. But though no one saw him, the old cook and mountain man had given each of the women a paper wrapped package, the night before. The old man had lived with the Comanches, fought with them and against them, so he respected their women as the Comanche did themselves. At the cookout, the women had him ask Purvis if he could take them home.

Five days later, the Comanche women, whose names were now Cathleen, Maureen, and Judy, because none of the cowboys could pronounce their Indian names, began a long trip into the heart of the Comanche country, with only four cowboys and an old mountain man as their guides. Oddly enough Sid, Ham and Derrick would all learn to pronounce their Comanche names very well.

The trip into Comanche country was set up with the girls mounted on pintos. They each had a saddle and bridle, which all the cowboys had made and vied to give the women. Finally they left the ranch headed southwest. The trip to Comanche territory took twenty days, and another thirty days to find the encampment.

The small party came over the top of a ridge and saw spread out before them, the summer encampment of the Comanche Nation. They were having a giant pow wow and all the smaller tribes had gathered. There was an uproar in the camp as the three young women galloped in. The mothers and fathers of the girls swarmed around them. Gathering them into their arms, happy to have them back, believing them lost forever. They didn't know how far away they would be going. When the Chiefs saw Josh McIntosh walking his horse into the camp, there were several different reactions. Some of them wanted to shoot and scalp the old mountain man, but others welcomed him as a friend. Josh presented the other men to the Chiefs, telling a grand tale of their heroics in recapturing the girls from outlaws. Then the girls told their story, of being captured by Pawnee, of being sold to the river pirates and the wild chase down the Mississippi. They told of their being given ceremonial dresses by Josh and the Pintos by Purvis. Then they dropped a bombshell. They said they were going back with Sid, Ham and Derrick to become their wives. Could they be married here among their own people?

Yes, that set off an uproar you wouldn't believe! The mothers cried, the fathers looked stunned and the cowboys were scared to death. The main Chief of the Comanche Nation stood and declared something important. He handed Josh and evil smelling pipe. Josh moved it to the four winds and smoked it. Then he passed it to Derrick, then Sid, then Ham, telling them to do what he had done.

"What did he say?" Ham asked Josh. "What he said was that he approved of your marrying the girls and that he and some of his braves would go back with us to St. Louis for their wedding gifts. I hope you have something to give them when we get back. Now I will take all of you to a tepee and get you ready for a weddin'." Josh said to the pale cowboys.

Each cowboy was bathed in the river, then sat naked in a tepee while Comanche braves built a fire from cedar, wafting the smoke over them in a cleansing ceremony. After the cleansing, they were dressed in almost white deerskin pants, no shirts and moccasins made by the mothers of their wives to be. The ceremony of marriage is important to the Comanche, and it went on for three days, during which the cowboys drank fiery liquids, ate things they had no idea what they were eating, and danced with the braves to the hammering drums of a Comanche dance band. As each man finally collapsed in the dust, they were dragged off by several women, including their wives. They were at last, married.

6............RODEO

Josh, Sid, Derrick and Ham had been gone sixty six days when they led the procession of Comanche Chiefs, Comanche braves, Comanche women and wives into the ranch yard of the Missouri River Cattle Company. Purvis stood on the porch with Roddy and several other hands. "Josh, what the hell is going on?" Purvis asked.

"Mr. Hasslebaad, please allow me to introduce to you the fathers and mothers of the three Comanche girls that you rescued from the river pirates. They came to thank you for returning their girls to them and to get their wedding presents from the boss of the new bridegrooms, Mr. Cash, Mr. O'Bannion, and Mr. Jackson, their new son in laws." Josh said in a voice that wavered somewhat as the desire to laugh at the red faced cowboys became over- powering. Josh expounded further as to what the wedding gifts were to be. "The new brides wish to give the Pintos to their mothers. The bridegrooms have to give their horses to their wives fathers, and since you are about to become all the girls new father, you must give them something too." Purvis stood for a couple of minutes, then smiled and said, "To each family I give ten Flying B cows. To each wife I give a new cottage to be built near the big house, I want to keep and eye on these three, and to you Josh I give a raise for making all this happen.

Josh relayed the information to the Comanches. Then Ham's father in law, War Chief of the Comanche Nation handed Purvis a deerskin which Josh interpreted for him. The scroll said the Comanche would never harm anyone of the Missouri River Cattle Company, would trade with them exclusively, and only visit once a year, or when a baby was born.

Three days later, after eating everything in sight, the Comanche departed, leaving behind three bawling girls and three unhappy young men. The three new bridegrooms were teased unmercifully by the rest of the crew. Finally the news of the yearly St. Louis Rodeo and Stock Exposition brought the teasing to an end and started preparations for the biggest trick the Missouri River Cattle Company ever played on the city of St. Louis.

The trick which they pulled was to enter Roddy, as "The Virginia Kid", and the wildest, meanest, stallion that could be found on the ranch. Jackson, the Mean Blue Roan. It took a lot of preparation to bring the trick off. Purvis knew the stock contractor and he agreed to slip Jackson into Roddy's chute. It only took two days of arguing three bottles of rye whiskey and six grand meals with the Missouri River Cattle Company.

The day of the rodeo dawned clear and cool as it was late September, and the final day of the Exposition. The grandstands were packed with ranchers, their wives, cowboys, their girlfriends, some ladies of the evening, gamblers, and ordinary citizens. The party representing the Missouri River Cattle Company were seated in a special section of box seats. The guards around the box seat section of the grandstand were rather put out when they had to allow Indians into the seats. The three wives of the cowboys who had participated in the great steamboat chase were escorted to their seats by Deputy U.S. Marshall, Ty Harding. When the guard objected strenuously to their presence, he found himself looking down the barrel of a .44 Russian Revolver. Suddenly the guard found no reason whatsoever, why the lovely wives of Flying H cowboys shouldn't be seated in the Missouri River Cattle Company reserved seating.

In the chute area the noise was deafening. The last rider was about to ride. He had to better the seventy point ride of one of the cowboys from the BP Bar ranch. His horse was being loaded into the chute. Jackson shook the chute and the arena with his wild kicks and screams. A lot of people, including some of the Judges thought this outlaw horse was the wildest and meanest that any cow- boy had ever tried to ride. Several of the Judges even tried to get them to give the youngster from Virginia a new horse. They were sure the lad would be killed by the outlaw.

Roddy got his saddle on the rampaging horse and settled into his seat. He leaned over Jackson's neck and told him that now was the time to do it all. Jackson knew it anyway. He had the biggest crowd of humans he had ever played to. Derrick and Purvis were busy slipping apples into Jackson's mouth. The apple juice always caused Jackson to foam at the mouth, making him look even wilder. "OK BOYS.....LEMME' HAVE 'IM!" Roddy yelled.

The gate popped open and it was Jackson's time to show off. The bucking, jumping and kicking which Jackson did that day, along with the wild screams, and the foam flying from his mouth, caused by the apples of course, were talked about by the people who didn't know Mr. Jackson for years.

When the timer fired his pistol to end the battle between the youngster from Virginia and the Mighty Blue Roan Stallion, a roar when up from the crowd, even the ranchers who knew it was show off time for Jackson and Roddy. Jackson gave one last leap that took him high into the air. Roddy finally went flying from the saddle, letting the Roan win this time. Roddy landed on his butt, but leaped to his feet and scrambled for the fence. The Roan, with big teeth bared, ears flat and foam and lather flying, seeming to evade the hazers, Purvis and Derrick again, and went after the young man.

Women were screaming and fainting all over the stands, expecting to see the young cowboy killed before their eyes by the savage stallion. Jackson had to slow up some to let Roddy make it to the fence. Then as Roddy reached the top rail, Jackson got his teeth into his chaps and with a toss of his head, flipped Roddy over the top. Purvis and Derrick finally got Jackson between them and acted as if they were having all kinds of trouble forcing him out of the arena. The boss and Derrick took Jackson on a victory lap around the arena. Jackson kept reaching after Purvis or Derrick with his teeth, at least that's what everybody thought. He was actually reaching for the apples which the two conspirators were feeding him. Now the cheering was wild, for the stallion. Jackson loved every second of it, since it was really him that had put on the 'Show'. When the mighty stallion was finally removed from the arena, Roddy climbed back over the fence and waved his hat to the crowd, then hastily removed himself from the 'field of battle'. When the scores were posted, Roddy was the bronc-rider champion by over ten points.

The Missouri River Cattle Company, The Flying H, rode out of St. Louis with the big silver trophy in the buckboard, the new silver Bronc-rider Champion belt buckle at Roddys waist and the two hundred dollars of prize money in his jeans. After all the skillful preparations, they made one mistake that day. One of the judges sat in his buckboard horrified, as Roddy rode a sedate Blue Roan Stallion out of St. Louis. The Missouri River Cattle Company was barred from entering any more St. Louis Rodeos. But the citizens of St. Louis had added another chapter to the legend of the Mean Blue Roan.

Roddy Linebarger was now a real cowboy. He was eighteen years old, six feet, three inches tall and weighed one hundred ninety pounds. He was all gristle and bone and happy as a lark. He, and the other cowboys, worked cattle every day and would sneak off into St. Louis some Saturday nights to drink a few ryes and chase the girls. Roddy and Jackson had quite a few bouts in the middle of St. Louis streets........for the entertainment of the girls

Then one Sunday morning Roddy brought home a copy of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and gave it to Purvis. While Purvis was reading the paper, he saw a picture of a new kind of cow they were breeding back east. It was called a "Hereford". He showed the picture to Roddy and the crew. He told them he was going to get some of them and crossbreed them with the longhorns and he thought the resulting animals would make fine beef cattle.

Roddy stood there in front of Purvis, but looking off into the distance. He could see the white faces looking at him across a split rail fence.......And the blond hair of the girl on the big, red, Irish stallion. "I saw some of these same cattle on my way west." Roddy told Purvis. "Where?" Asked Purvis. "Near Lexington, Kentucky, at a farm. They were beefy animals and had the same red color and white faces." Roddy replied. "OK Roddy, I want you to go back there and bring me two hundred head of mixed breeding stock. With the crossbreeding we can do we will have some of the finest beef in Missouri, maybe even the West. By the way, you'll be in charge."

Roddy, Derrick, Ty Harding, Hamilton O'Bannion, Sid Cash and Charley Elder, caught the first ferry across the Mississippi and head southeast toward the farm which he remembered, and an English girl he'd rode away from five years ago. He was looking forward to another encounter with the regal beauty. They rode at a leisurely pace, seeing the country and enjoying the spectacle they made for the farmers across southern Illinois and Indiana. They were camped about ten miles west of Evansville, Indiana and were lollygagging about before getting started on toward Louisville, Kentucky, where Roddy had promised them a night on the town. Four men came toward them from the town. They were really fogging it. Their horses were flat out and running. Roddy took his field glasses from his saddle bag and took a closer look at the situation. The Riders were still masked. Roddy looked farther behind them and saw what looked like a posse. The horses had been saddled for a while so when Roddy told them what was happening, they all pinned their Deputy U.S. Marshall badges to their vests and hit the saddle. The bandits never had a chance. Roddy and his crew rode out of the brush onto the trail just as the fleeing outlaws came around the bend, right into six Winchester Rifles, in the hands of six Deputy U. S. Marshals. The bandits pulled their horses to a skidding stop and threw up their hands. Roddy saw that the 'bandits' were mere children and yelled.

"Get them back into the brush before the posse gets here. Let's have a little fun with them." Hidden deep in the brush, Roddy and the others watched the posse go thundering by. Then he turned to the four outlaws. "Get off your horses." Roddy said, and the boys jumped to the ground. Ty pulled the masks from the faces of the bad men and the others were surprised to see that they were only children. Not one of them more than twelve as it turned out. "What did you hold up?" Roddy asked the tallest of the four "The bank sir." The boy told him. "And why did you rob the bank?" Roddy continued. "Well sir, it was like this. Our folks used to farm around here, but they got run off the farms, 'cause they couldn't pay the mortgages. The banker in town says who can sell their vegetables in town and who can't. So since we couldn't sell what we grew, we lost the farm back to the bank. We only took what Pa paid for the farm, sir."

It got awfully quiet among the group of cowboys from Missouri. Finally Ham asked "Did you hurt anybody when you robbed the bank?" "No sir, we just tetched up the banker some. Then made him git nekkid and poured molasses over him. We brought one o' Ma's goose feather pillows with us, so we just slit it and shook the feathers all over him. He liked to died right there." Answered the tallest boy, with a grin.

Nobody said a word for at least thirty seconds. Then Sid started to snicker, Charley laughed out loud and the whole group broke up into gales of laughter. Roddy made a decision.

"Give me the money you took, and swap horses. You get to ride the pack animals. Boys load the packs on the boy's horses. Now you four bad men do what we tell you. We are Deputy U. S. Marshals and we will get you if you don't do what we say. Do you plan of go home?" Roddy asked the boys. "No sir, we can't go home cause Pa told us we had to get out on our own as there was nothing for us at home anymore." The oldest boy answered. Roddy remembered hearing the same from his mother five years ago, so he had some feelings about this situation.

"Now you boys head west until you get to the Wabash River. Cross into Illinois and follow the river north until you see a river crossing that has a big persimmon tree on the Illinois bank. There'll be a brand on that tree just like the one on the horses you'll be riding. Camp there and wait for us to bring a herd across. We'll be about a month, but you wait for us. Then you can help drive the herd to Missouri and become cowboys with the Missouri River Cattle Company." The four youngsters mounted the Flying H horses and leading one of the pack horses, headed west toward the Wabash and their future. After the boys were out of sight, Ham said to Roddy. "That was plumb decent Mr. Linebarger, plumb decent. Roddy climbed into the saddle and headed for Evansville.

"I always wanted to see a feller who had been tarred and feathered, but I guess that molasses would be just as good." Roddy told the laughing cowboys. They rode into Evansville, badges flashing in the sun. Their outfits were amazing all the townspeople "Where's the Sheriff and the Bank?" Roddy asked a man "Right over thar." was his reply The dark strangers who wore badges rode up to the bank. The Sheriff and the Banker were standing on the board sidewalk. The banker, not the Sheriff, asked them what they wanted "Well," Roddy quipped. "We was just riding through heah, and some desperadoes came tearing into our camp. They pulled their irons and we had at it. Then we buried them and rode on in heah to find out where this heah five hundred dollars came from." "Five hundred dollars?" the banker sputtered. "Why they took five thousand." "Well I guess they spent most of it before they got to us." Roddy said to the banker, his eyes hard, and the five Marshals behind him sat their saddles with their rifles across their arms.

"By the way, you've got some feathers in your hair, how did you get that?" The banker took the sack with five hundred dollars and began counting it. "Listen to me you skinflint. We're Deputy U. S. Marshals and we don't hold with being treated as if we were dishonest. You count your money somewhere else".

Twenty miles east of Evansville, the cowboys rode up to a rundown shack. Roddy called out to the man who stood on the ramshackle porch "Are you Mr. Kelly?" "Yes Marshall, I am. What can I do for you? "We met your boys about forty miles west o' here a couple of days ago. They had got into a poker game and won a lot of money. They asked us to drop it off to you on our way to Louisville. Here it is." Roddy said as he handed Sean Kelly the bank sack with the forty five hundred dollars in it. As he took the sack, Kelly saw the name of the bank on the sack. He never said a word about it, but he knew he had gotten back the money which he had paid the theivin' banker in Evansville.

"There ain't much boys, but we'd sure be proud for you to set with us for dinner." Sean Kelly told the Marshals. "Thanks but we just had a noonin' 'bout and hour ago, but if you got some good water, we might water the horses, maybe even swap you a couple. Seems that those four Charley is leadin' ain't too good on the road" Roddy told him. Kelly looked at the four excellent mares on which his boys had ridden away. "You didn't hurt them did you?" Kelly asked fearfully. "No sir, we just gave them their dignity back. They'll be waitin' for us at a river crossing when we bring a herd back through to St. Louis. The boys are going back with us. I can guarantee you that they'll become good men." Roddy explained, "Oh, by the way, if you ever get out to Missouri, stop by the Missouri River Cattle Company and say hello."

Tears rolled down the face of Sean Kelly as he shook the hand of Deputy U.S Marshall Roddy Linebarger. The cowboys of the Missouri River Cattle Company rode off down the trail toward Louisville. No one said a word. They just took off their badges, put them away, and became just cowboys again.....till the next time.

7 ......RODDY RETURNS TO KENTUCKY

They were proud young men who rode into the sleepy little town of Lexington, Kentucky. It had taken them three days to come the hundred miles from Louisville. The first day they were a pretty sick bunch after the party they had in Louisville. Now they were feeling pretty good and they showed it. Roddy got off the Roan and looked around for a hitching rail. There were none. Then he spotted the funny looking hitching post. It was a little iron man who held out a ring to which you could tie your horse. The faces on the little man were painted black and their red jockey outfits were amazing to the

Westerners. Of course THEY were pretty amazing to the citizens of Lexington as well. The girls all thought they were either 'dreamy' or were bad outlaws. Either way, the girls were very curious. The Sheriff thought they were here to rob the bank, but the banker knew why they were here. They were here to buy Herfords.

Still the boys made a spectacle with their wide brimmed hats, colorful neckerchiefs, high heeled boots with jingling spurs, leather vests and the heavy leather chaps they all wore. The chaps had been bought at Purvis's St. Louis store with the prize money from the rodeo, which Roddy had split with them. Ty, Ham, Sid and Charley sat their saddles in front of the bank while Derrick examined the little Jockeys. The youngest of the group went into the bank and talked to the banker, handing him a rather large bank draft from the First Missouri Bank. The banker came out of the bank and got into his buggy to drive out to the farm of Brigadier Longstreet to make the introductions of the man who would like to buy some of the General's handsome Herfords and take them west.

The banker proudly led the small parade out to the farm, pointing out some of the more interesting scenery to the cowboys. As they reached the split rail fence which bordered General Longstreet's property they saw the white faced cattle for the first time. All except Roddy, who said to the Herefords. "Well boys it looks like I got the job after all." Derrick and the others looked at Roddy with questions in their eyes. Roddy laughed and told them. "I'll tell you the story later." When the procession rode into the yard of the General's home, he opened the door and stepped out into the veranda. Beside Angus Longstreet, Brigadier General, British Army, retired, stood a young, flaxen haired woman. She was tall and willowy with her lovely golden hair piled atop her head like a crown. She was Miss Amelia Louise Victoria Longstreet.......Amy. She looked at the group who had stopped at the bottom of the steps, the dark visaged men whom she would later call her 'Brigands' and her eyes went unerringly to the tall young man whom, she knew instinctively, was the leader. She recognized him! But from where? Suddenly she knew........The color rose in her cheeks and she spun on her heel and fled back into the house. She thought to herself as she hid behind the door. "I guess he will come in the front door after all."

General Longstreet welcomed his guests and bade them enter his home after the introductions were made by the banker, though he was a bit perplexed by the actions of his daughter. While he was being introduced to the men on the veranda, Amy was listening behind the door to get the young Virginian's name. "How may I help you gentlemen?" The General inquired. "We have come all the way from St. Louis, Missouri to buy some of your hereford cattle, sir." Roddy said with more authority than he felt. "Fine, then lets get down to business." offered the Brigadier "I think I could sell you up to two hundred head of breeding stock and still retain my main breeding herd." "I think two hundred head was what Mr. Hasslebaad had in mind." Replied Roddy. "Then we'd like a hundred head a year for five years, as we plan to cross breed them with the longhorns we now have on our ranch."

"What is the name and size of your ranch, young man?" The Brigadier asked. "Why it's the Great Missouri River, Land and Cattle Company." Roddy told him proudly. "We have the largest cattle operation in Missouri at this time. We are presently running about twenty five thousand longhorns on over five hundred thousand acres of ranch."

"My that is a large operation, and how do you plan to get the two hundred head which I will sell you, all the way to Missouri?" The General inquired. Roddy explained to the General as if he were a child. "Sir, we plan to drive them up to Louisville, cross the Ohio on their fine bridge, then head west to the Mississippi River, ferry them across and drive them to the ranch. It's only about five hundred miles, sir." He thought anybody should know that. He was unaware of the fact that these Easterners could not fathom the idea of driving stock that far and Angus told Roddy exactly that. "Why General, they're driving thousands of cattle up out of Texas to Colorado, the Wyoming Territory and even up into Montana. Out there they don't think anything about doin' that sorta think. They just up and drive 'em." Roddy told him. The General thought for a few minutes. The silence of the British General was unnerving to Roddy. Then the Englishman responded. "Well Mr. Linebarger, if you're going to drive my cattle five hundred miles, I think I will go with you. Amy can run the farm while I'm gone and I think I would enjoy the experience." Roddy replied to the General with a grin. "General, I don't know about enjoying it, but I can promise you that it will be a experience."

Roddy, Derrick and the General had just about finished sorting out which of the cattle they would buy and take west as it began to get dark. The two hundred cows and seven big Hereford bulls were in a pasture by the large red barn. They were ready to leave for the west next morning. Sid, Charlie, Ham and Ty went back into town for the evening so the General invited the two Westerners to stay for dinner. He told them he would introduce his daughter that evening. Roddy decided he must tell the Brigadier of the events of five years ago in order to save him from any embarrassment that night.

"I wondered why she turned red and fled inside when you arrived." the general laughed. "She is usually quite forward when it comes to receiving company. Not very desirable in a woman, but as you can see, I have no wife and I have spoiled her in every way. But I think I do remember her mentioning you a few years back." The General had a wistful look on his face as he spoke. He looked at the young Virginian in a different way after his disclosure. He remembered the day clearly. Amy had cried for several hours that day five years ago, then told her father.

"If he ever comes back this way, I will marry him. He won't get away again." At age thirteen no less......... There was one other thing, which Roddy didn't tell the girls father. He too, intended to marry the regal beauty, with the creamy skin she had inherited from her Irish ancestors, and the golden hair, which had come from the genes of some Norse rover who had invaded England several centuries back, now the mistress of a Kentucky farm.

The dinner was a real treat for the two cowboys as they ate roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It was the first time Derrick and ever tasted the English specialty. Roddy didn't mention the fact that he had eaten Yorkshire pudding since he was a child in Virginia. They drank the lovely gold Madeira wine, which Amy deftly served. It was at the end of the meal that Angus decided to tell Amy, he had decided to help the cowboys drive their cows to Missouri, and would be gone about four months, maybe more, and would she be able to take care of things here at the farm.

"And what will you doin Missouri, Father?" Amy demanded. "I think I shall see about some land, my dear," her father told her, "These men have over half a million acres of land out there, and if we are to expand our operation, as we hoped to, we will need more land. All other things aside, I want to meet the man all these men work for." Amy stood thinking for a moment, then replied. "I say, if we are to move to Missouri, will I have to wear one of those silly hats?" "I'll let you know when I get back." The General quipped.

8.......... IN LOVE

Early the next morning the six cowboys and the General got the cattle strung out along the road toward Louisville. The cowboys whistled and called to the cattle, slapping their coiled ropes against their chaps. The whole town turned out to see the "Great Cattle Drive" as it began the five hundred miles west. The cowboys were dressed in their big hats, boots with jingling spurs, and chaps, sitting on their Western Saddles with the great horns in front. Angus Longstreet, Brigadier General, British Army, Retired, was dressed in his tweed coat, blue army pants, with the wide General's stripe down the leg, and sat a fine English saddle. It was a spectacle to behold and there were people along the road all the way to Louisville watching the sight go by. Newspaper reporters from Louisville came out to meet them and interview the General and the cowboy about the great event. Amy was not really happy to see her father go off with the drive, but she was there to see the cattle that she loved, start their trek west. She did get a moment alone with Roddy to tell him goodbye. Then she put her plan into operation as she told him. "I'll be waiting for you next year when you come to get the next herd of my cows."

Roddy was in heaven. She had actually said those things to HIM. It was as if she had actually agreed to become his wife, at least at least in his mind. In fact that's where his mind was and not on a Mean Blue Roan. Jackson watched Roddy as he left the girl to climb into his saddle. As the Roan felt his owner hit the saddle seat, he went straight up. Jackson had meant to put on a short show for the girl, but, as he came down from his first jump, Roddy kept going. He landed in the middle of a big patch of blackberry brambles. Face First.

Roddy drew his revolver as he climbed out of the briers and headed for the horse. He stuck the pistol between Jackson's eyes and told him he was going to shoot him one of these days. "If I didn't need a miserable creature like you for the drive, I'd shoot you right now." Roddy told the big horse. Then he turned and looked at General Longstreet and Amy. They were both laughing as hard as the cowboys, who had never seen Roddy thrown. The hadn't seen him in love either. "I'm gonna shoot that mangy nag one of these days." He told them, with a face as red as a fox's tail. The cowboys knew better but Amy, who had promptly fallen in love with the Roan, was very afraid that Roddy meant what he said. "Please don't shoot him Roddy." Amy cried out. "I think he was just upset because I told you goodbye." Then she gave him a kiss on his cheek and whispered. "That will have to hold you until next year." Jackson's antics were almost forgotten......

The road to Louisville was dry. The cattle and the cowboys were covered with a gray film of dust within a few miles. The Brigadier, however, was very miserable without even a bandana to cover his face and the tweed hunting hat gave his face no protection at all. By the time they reached Frankfort on the fourth day of their trip the General had made a decision to beg, borrow or steal, maybe even buy the proper clothing for a cattle drive. When the cattle had bedded down for the evening, the General asked Roddy to ride with him into town and advise him on the proper clothing to purchase. At the General store, the General bought jeans, a leather vest and a gray wool shirt. He purch- ased a gray Stetson and swapped his English saddle for one of the western variety. Then to Roddy's amazement he bought a good colt revolver and a holster.

Upon their arrival back at camp in the dark, Derrick asked Roddy, in an imitation of the Virginian's drawl. "Why'd you go hiring a new hand, and whar's the General?'' General Longstreet was childishly happy with the reception the crew had given him. Now he could look like a cowboy even if he wasn't one. But he would learn a lot in five hundred miles.

The drive arrived at Louisville in fourteen days from Lexington and crossed the big wooden bridge over the Ohio River, then they turned west, passing just north of Evansville, Indiana, to their first major river crossing. The Wabash. They had a large audience as they passed through Louisville and learned a good lesson. Never drive cattle through a large town. There were some very upset people as they were awakened at five A.M. by the bawling cattle and even louder cowboys driving through the tree lined streets that led to the big bridge. But all that mattered little to the cowboys as there were young ladies sitting in their front porch swings, waving to the handsome cowboys as they rode past. Even Jackson got into the mood as he pranced along the boulevard at the head of the little herd. He did some fancy side stepping and kept his tail up to blow in the wind as well as bowing his neck to be as handsome as the human cowboys. Once he was on the big bridge however, that nonsense came to an end and he was once more the lead pony in a trail drive.

They made very good time on the flat land of southern Indiana and reached the banks of the Wabash in only seventeen days after they had crossed the Ohio at Louisville. The cattle were well broken to the trail now and since they learned to cross rivers in some of the smaller streams they had encountered, they had very little trouble. They swam the slow moving Wabash with ease. Roddy had been riding scout as they approached the sluggish river. As he rode up to the crossing he saw a line of smoke lifting toward the sky. Looking across the river he saw four redheaded youngsters waving delightedly to him. The Kelly boys were waiting........In Illinois.

The herd came out of the Wabash into Illinois and lined out with little help from riders, heading for the Mississippi and their new home. On the first day of July, exactly forty three days since they'd left Lexington, the herd started down the long grade that led to the growing little town of East St. Louis. Roddy spotted a group of horsemen coming toward them at a canter. The bunch slowed their horses to a walk, then stopped about a quarter mile from the herd. They waited until Roddy and the General, who were riding point, got to them. Purvis and some more of the cowboys from the ranch had come to help with the river crossing. As Roddy reached Purvis, the cattleman held out his hand to the young cowboy and said. "Well done Roddy, you and all the boys." "Thanks boss, this heah is General Angus Longstreet, British Army, Retired. The man I bought the cattle from. General Longstreet, Purvis Hasslebaad, owner, manager and boss of the Great Missouri River Land and Cattle Company." The two men shook hands and Purvis gave Roddy an inquisitive look, thinking to himself. "Why does he want to impress this man so much? There must be a girl involved in this."

Purvis had not spoken to Jackson, so the Roan gave him a little nip to get his attention. After all he had led the drive the whole way from Kentucky. "Well, and how are you Mr. Jackson?" Purvis exclaimed. The Roan began walking down the road with his head up ignoring the boss altogether. There were a lot of people on hand to meet the flat boats that ferried the cattle across the Mississippi River that hot July day and Jackson would have put on a show for them, but most of them had seen it before so he didn't think he'd waste the effort,

They got the cattle to the ranch and turned them into a large pasture which was fenced and had good grass. Purvis told them. "I think we'll leave them here for a couple of weeks, and get them used to their new home." Then Purvis asked the General, Roddy and Derrick into the ranch house. Purvis gave each of the other four cowboys a bottle of rye and told them to take the rest of the day off. Purvis was smiling a lot, so Roddy knew something was up. It was.

"Boys, I have some news, Jack Tatum, our foreman General, has been offered a grand position with a big new ranch in Colorado and he leaves next week. Mr. Linebarger will become foreman as of today and Mr. Jackson will be the range boss. I couldn't stand in Jack's way to be general manager of that big new spread, so you two are picked to take his place."

The two cowboys were flabbergasted. They stammered out their thanks and Derrick left for his cottage and his wife. Roddy gave Purvis the report on the cattle deal with the General, then told him he might be looking to bring the rest of his Herfords to Missouri if he could find some land.

"That's great sir. I know Bill Perryman is selling out his ranch which lies just to the northwest of our holdings. If you're interested I'll drive you up there next week and introduce you two." The following Monday morning Purvis took his shiny new buggy from the barn and hitched a long legged trotter to it and started the trip to the BP Bar Ranch. The drive across his land was a pleasure and Purvis and the General talked about the way the West was growing and cattle. They also talked about young Roddy.

"I'm afraid Roddy and my daughter are smitten." Angus told the cattleman. "But I don't think he feels he is good enough for her, as he has nothing of his own to give her." The tall ranch owner thought for a minute, then said. "When I die, all this will be Roddy's. I never married nor had a son, and I happen to care for that boy very much. It's in my will that he have the ranch.": Three days later he would be dead.

The call on Bill Perryman went well and the two men came to an agreement. General Longstreet would go back to Kentucky and dispose of the farm, and get Roddy and his cowboys to drive his herd here. The money for the ranch would come with the herd.

Hasslebaad and Longstreet started for home. The two days went by quickly as the mare trotted along toward Purvis's headquarters. Then they stopped and got down from the buggy to have a drink at a little stream about an hours drive from the Ranch House. Angus took his folding Army cup and dipped some water from the stream. Purvis, like most Western men, bent down to the water for a drink. He heard the rattle only a second before the huge diamondback rattlesnake sank his fangs into the cowboy's throat. Purvis leaped to his feet, shot the rattler and collapsed. Moments later he died. His last words to the man who had only recently become his friend was. "Tell Roddy, good luck."

Angus loaded his body into the buggy and drove on into the ranch headquarters. When he arrived in the yard, only Roddy was there to meet him. Longstreet told him how Purvis had died and of his last words to him. The tears in Roddy's eyes were the first since his father had died. His father had died at the end of his child hood, now the man who had made him into the man he was, had died at the beginning of his adult life.

Purvis Hasslebaad, a descendent of Swiss Financiers, a businessman, a cattle- man, a good friend to most he met, an American Citizen, was buried under some oak trees in a little valley just west of the ranch house. His grave was dug by the cowboys who worked for him on the sprawling cattle ranch that was his. The marker was placed by loving hands and then they went away, and left a young Virginian and a Mean Blue Roan to mourn his passing.

9......... AMY IS GOING TO MISSOURI

Ten days after the death of Purvis Hasslebaad, Roddy met with Judge Abrams and Percival McGregor, a banker from the First Missouri Bank in St. Louis. Judge Abrams and Mac were both friends of Purvis as well as his advisors. They had agreed to be executors of the will Purvis had drawn up earlier in the year. They now sat in Judge Abrams office while Mac went over the assets of the Missouri River Cattle Company and Ranch. Roddy was stunned when he heard that the ranch, the cattle and bank accounts in Switzerland and the United States, amounted to over five million dollars. "Why are you telling me all this, Mr. McGregor?" Roddy asked the banker. The Judge answered him. "I'll answer your question by reading this." He waved several papers in front of Roddy's face.

"I, Purvis Hasslebaad, being of sound mind.....and so on, do make this last will and testament of my own free will. I leave all my assets to one Roderick Jackson Linebarger, late of the state of Virginia and now working for me on my ranch. He and that damned horse of his has brought me joy and pleasure. I would consider him to be my own son if only I had the nerve to ask him about adoption. I do not do that out of respect for a Rebel Colonel who was his father, now deceased. I do, however, intend to treat him as my son and in this matter, all that is mine is his to do with as he wishes." Judge Abrams told him The Judge paused for a moment and looked into Roddy's eyes. "Then it's signed by Purvis, Mac and me."

"You mean I own it all?" Roddy asked, limp from the turn of events. "Yes son, you own it all. Purvis loved you like a son and we talked for almost three months about this will." Judge Abrams said. "Mac and I will help you get things straightened out at the bank and here. Then if you like, we will remain your advisors for as long as you wish."

Roddy looked at the banker, who nodded his assent to him then at Judge Abrams. Roddy destroyed the facade of polish in both men as he asked. "I would appreciate it if I could depend on you two gentlemen to advise me on the operation of the ranch, and my first question is this; do you think it would be alright if I married General Long street's daughter, Amy?"

The two frontiersmen, who had years ago gone into the respectable fields of law and banking, stared at Roddy. Then they looked at each other and started to laugh. Tears of joy rolled down their cheeks, their ample bellies shaking. Each of the men tried to say something but could not guffawing and snorting with laughter at the wonderfully naive youngster from Virginia, who was now a rich man. Roddy began to get embarrassed by their laughter. The red crept up his neck and into his face. Judge Abrams finally got control of the gales of laughter and choked out a reply.

"Hell yes boy, marry that girl, bring some class to that dusty old ranch house, and this town.. Have a bunch of babies and for God's sake, be happy."

Roddy rode back to the ranch, his mind racing with thought. When he rode into the ranch yard, he asked Derrick to get all hands to the house so he could tell them what was going on, then went into the house. When the crew was all gathered around the porch, Roddy came out of the house and stood looking at the men he had grown up among and learned from, what he knew about cows. He began by telling them about the first time he met Purvis, how the boss had laughed at him, and how Purvis had really hired the Mean Blue Roan, instead of him. Roddy chronicled his life at the ranch, told of the good things each man had done for him and related the things up to the day they had buried Purvis Hasslebaad in his little valley.

"I don't know how to tell you this, except straight out, the way you've done with me. Purvis left the ranch to me. I don't know what I've done, for him to do what he did, but if I had a chance to have another father, it would have been him. I don't know enough to be the boss, so if you'll keep teaching me what you can, I'd appreciate it."

The men stood looking around for several minutes, then Ham spoke up for all of them. "You know Roddy, Purvis sent you for the Herfords, you brought them back in pretty good shape. He made you foreman after he talked to all of us. Then around Christmas last year he asked each of us if we'd resent it if he left the ranch to you when he died. We all told him we'd all stay and help you over the rough spots. We just didn't think he'd die so soon."

It was probably the longest speech Hamilton O'Bannion had ever made. He wasn't the kind of Irishman who talked a lot, but when he did, you listened "So you all had a hand in this, did you?" Roddy asked as he looked at each cowboy standing or sitting in the yard. "Yeah, I guess we did." Said Derrick "I'm sure glad to hear that, because you, Derrick are the new Foreman, and Ham, you'd better tune up your vocal chords, 'cause you're the new range boss. Further more we need a new name for the Ranch. Purvis always told me he was sorry for naming it the Missouri River Cattle Company."

One of the hands, Dan White, spoke up. "You know boss, Purvis's favorite place on this whole ranch was that little valley over yonder where he's buried. It's got them big old oak trees and the little lake he stocked with them funny fish he got that time he went to New Orleans and come back with them fish in little buckets, that 'n all them fruit trees we planted in the Valley. He called it his knee collar valley, or sumthin like that." O'Bannion spoke up and told them,

The little valley was named after a place Purvis knew of in Switzerland called the Nicola Valley and he thought that it was like the Garden o' Eden, so he called his little valley that. Course everybody knows the Garden O' Eden is in Ireland, but he liked it." "Then the Nicola Valley Ranch it will be, but the brand will remain the Flying H." Roddy said adamantly.

Three months later a telegram arrived from Lexington. Roddy ripped the envelope open and read: SEND ME A CREW X MOVING 1500 HEAD CATTLE X THREE WAGONS X TO MSSOURI X LOVE X AMY. Roddy was ecstatic. One word stood out above all the rest in the first telegram he had ever received. LOVE Roddy rushed into St. Louis and sent the following: CREW COMING X WILL BRING HAT X RODDY

After leaving the telegraph office he spent hours in Peabody's Dry Goods, driving the clerks mad, because he had to look at every hat they had for ladies. Roddy finally selected a soft gray Stetson, with a wrangler crown and a rolled brim. He also bought a lovely solitaire diamond ring he hoped would fit. The jewelry sales-man told him he could fit it later if it was too big or too small. Then Roddy rushed out to go back to the ranch. He was so happy he felt as if he was in another world. He should have had his mind on a Mean Blue Roan. Jackson did not like that hatbox one bit. Roddy hit the saddle and Jackson commenced to crow hop all over the street. Roddy grabbed for the horn and the hatbox went flying. Jackson made a couple of really fancy jumps and landed right in the middle of that hatbox. Jackson was a master at bucking and could do two things at once. He was hell bent on pitching Roddy into the street for doing something so audacious as bringing a hatbox aboard such a magnificent animal as he was, and the second was to destroy the object of his scorn. One, large, round, cardboard, hatbox with the Peabody Dry Goods logo on its side. When Jackson realized that Roddy was going to stay aboard and the hatbox was in pretty sad shape, he was satisfied. He quit bucking and stood quietly as Roddy jumped to the ground and rushed to the trampled hatbox. Roddy was doin' some fine cussin', under his breath though, as there were ladies about, swearing that if the hat was destroyed, he would shoot that blue jackass right here in the middle of the main street of St. Louis, Missouri. The hatbox was a mess, but when he pulled the hat out of the wrecked box, it was not even dusty, and it held it's shape when Roddy smoothed it out. The Blue Roan would live another day. Roddy left the hatbox where it lay and got back on Jackson. Jackson trotted proudly down Main Street, letting every know, by George, he wasn't the sort of horse that would allow a hatbox on his back.

The crew that Roddy rounded up to go get Miss Amy and her cows were four of the Nicola Punchers and five men from Bill Perryman's ranch. He figured if they were going to be taking care of them in the future, they might as well get used to them by driving them from Lexington. After they ferried over the river to East St. Louis, they got a surprise. Roddy had found out the railroad which left the Illinois side of the Mississippi, not only went to Chicago, but to Indianapolis too. There was a spur line, which was called a local, and it ran all the way down to Louisville. They loaded the horses into cattle cars and the cowboys rode in style to Indianapolis and Louisville.

At Louisville they unloaded the horses amid a crowd of gawkers and news reporters. Three days hard ride brought them to Lexington and out to the farm. Roddy ate dinner that night with the Brigadier and Amy in the restaurant in Lexington. He wasn't sure what he had eaten because all he could do was look at the beautiful Amy Longstreet. The General told them he had a few last minute things to look after before they left the next morning and why didn't they have another cup of coffee. They were alone for the first time. Roddy was completely tongue-tied. He tried several times before he got out any intelligible words. At last he got things under control and said to Amy. "I hope you like the hat." "I love it." Amy said "I have one other thing I brought for you from St. Louis, but I'm not sure if I should ask you to take it now or wait until we get back to Missouri." Roddy stammered.

"Roddy Linebarger, if you bought me a ring in your precious St. Louis, you'd better give it to me now. I've known I was going to marry you since that day you rode away from me five years ago. I was only thirteen, but I told my father that day, after I cried for several hours, if you came back I wouldn't let you get away again!" Amy said to Roddy with such conviction, all he could say, as he handed her the solitaire was, "Uh....it might not fit. "Who cares you great big brigand. Now, see, it fits perfectly." She showed him her hand with the diamond sparkling even in the dim light of the coal oil lamps. Her voice softened as she said. "Now Roddy, ask me properly or I shall have to ask you myself."

Roderick Jackson Linebarger, a son of Virginia and the Old South, dropped to one knee and taking the hand of Amelia Louise Victoria Longstreet, a child of the British Empire, proposed marriage and was accepted. He took the ring from her finger and then slipped it back on, just as her father came into the restaurant and said. "Well I guess I was gone long enough." The hint of sarcasm in the General's voice went right over Roddy's head.

By noon the next day Roddy and his cowboys had the herd strung out toward Louisville. Oddly, Roddy was not riding Jackson. All those who came to see the drive get underway would remember what happened for a long time.

Amy came out of the hotel that morning, dressed in jeans, a gray plaid shirt and a leather vest. She wore a soft gray Stetson, which had come all the way from St. Louis, Missouri, and she wore a pair of light blue chaps the General had seen when he was in Indianapolis. She was an apparition and a cowboy's dream. Then she asked if she could ride the Roan. Roddy was petrified. How could he let the woman he loved and would marry, ride a mean Cayuse like Jackson and how could he say no to anything she wanted to do.

Roddy, meekly and with fear changed his saddle for the new western saddle the General had also bought for Amy. It was a beautiful saddle, with a padded seat and silver concho's on it. It had Amy's name inlaid down the tapaderro which covered each stirrup and protecting Amy's new western boots in the same blue leather as her chaps. Jackson thought it was magnificent and only he, deserved to wear such a fine piece of gear.

Amy stood at the Roan's head and stroked his nose and ears while Roddy fussed with the stirrups and made sure the straps were tight. Then with fear in his heart, he stood back to let her climb onto the stallion's back. The Mean Blue Roan stretched out his right front leg and dropped to his left knee. His head was low and his neck was bowed as Amy stepped into the saddle. Jackson stood, his head held high and his tail bowed and flowing. Then he sashayed down the street toward the waiting cattle. Upon reaching the herd, he turned and started leading out. The cattle began to move and follow as if it were the only thing to do.

Next day the Paper read. It was a sight to behold!!!!!!!!!!!

The beautiful Amy Longstreet

leading a herd of fifteen hundred

Herfords out of Lexington,

astride a giant Blue Roan Stallion.

It is Lexington's loss and St. Louis'

gain as the lovely Miss Longstreet

will become the bride of Roddy

Linebarger when they reach the

end of the drive.

10..........JACKSON SAVES AMY

The General's cattle only had to be driven to the rail yards at Louisville, since the rails had been finished all the way to the Mississippi River, they would load the herd and the wagons onto cars at Louisville and ride the rails to Indianapolis where the cars would be changed onto the Main Line. From Indianapolis, they would ride in comfort to East St. Louis Illinois. The cattle would be off loaded from rail cars to flatboats and ferried over the Mississippi. After they were all across the river the only thing left to do was drive the cattle out to the new ranch which the General was buying from Bill Perryman.

Who else, Jackson..., caused the most memorable events of the drive Most of the way to Louisville was dry and dusty. But, the Roan made sure that not much of it got on Miss Amy, or him of course, by keeping them far enough out in front of the herd so the air they had to breathe was nice and clear. Roddy was riding right point and a Texas born cowboy from the BP Bar rode left. Since the wind was usually out of the west and they were headed northwest Roddy got a lot of dust. Roddy was mounted on Amy's big red Irish-bred stallion and by the end of each day both Roddy and the big red were brown.

The herd was halted in a meadow by the trail one evening and most of the cattle were drinking from the brook that ran though the brushy pasture. Amy had gotten down from the Roan's back and was preparing to get a drink from the stream. She was about fifty feet upstream from the herd. As she knelt by the brook she heard a funny noise in the brush and grass growing along the banks of the small stream. It sounded like a long hissssss. The next sound she heard was the scream of a maddened stallion. The iron-shod hooves pounded the ground, inches from where she knelt. Three times the big Roan reared and pounded down into the bushes and clumps of grass. By the time he'd stopped plunging at the bushes and screaming, Roddy and the General were at her side. Jackson had backed off several steps and had his head down glaring at the side of the brook. Roddy looked at Amy and asked her, "Are you alright, what happened to that big devil? I thought he'd gone mad." The General looked into the bushes and pointed out the two cottonmouths which were now in bits and pieces.

"That's what the Roan went after Roddy, Amy could have died just like Purvis if it hadn't been for Jackson." Roddy rushed to the Roan to inspect his legs for any telltale holes, which meant the cottonmouths had gotten him. There were no spots, which would indicate he'd taken a strike from the snakes. He was still trembling and glaring at the bushes in case the snakes came back to life and bothered Amy. Amy moved to the Roan and said to him.

"You saved my life you big wonderful devil. You are mine forever. I'll ride no other horse as long as you live. You can protect me as nobody else can." Amy buried her face into the flowing mane and cried. Roddy had loved the Roan before this day, but now he loved him even more. Jackson was rather embarrassed by it all.

The word got around that Jackson had saved Amy's life and the cowboys stayed at least six feet away from Amy after that. They knew if they got too close they'd have a Mean Blue Roan after them. Most of them could remember the day Jackson had gone after Purvis Hasslebaad and they decided they needed none of that.

Three days later Jackson got into trouble again. Amy thought since Jackson had led the last drive to Louisville, he knew the way. She let him have his head and he led fifteen hundred Herfords through the middle of Mrs. Buford Thimblerod's vegetable garden. Amy and most of the cowboys were in tears, they were laughing so hard, as the General paid the Elk Creek, Kentucky housewife for the damage. After that escapade, the General rode out front with Amy and Jackson. It wouldn't cost him as much that way. Jackson stayed out of Roddy's general vicinity for several days. He was mortified.

Travel through central Kentucky was not without problems though. Small boys would appear from the woods and fire slingshots at the herd causing the cows to bellow and jump which usually caused the nearest horse to go into spasms of bucking, sometimes throwing the rider. The youngsters loved it, the cowboys hated it. One day the scout, it was Ham's day for scouting, rode into the herd and talked to Roddy and the General. There were, it seemed, a half dozen characters about three miles ahead hiding behind a large pile of rocks. It was obvious to Ham they meant to steal the herd.

Roddy left Amy and two cowboys to hold the herd, then drove about a dozen cows ahead of them. As the first animal passed the big rock pile, the desperados came riding out into the open, their guns out and ready to fire. There was only one cowboy driving a few cows. The leader of group turned and saw an Army General sitting his horse twenty feet from the rocks. Arrayed behind him were two hard looking cowboys and four Deputy U.S. Marshall's with rifles aimed at their belt buckles. The outlaws ran. They rode as hard as they could away from the herd and its riders. They wanted nothing else to do with this bunch of cowboys.

The drive on into Louisville ended without any more calamities and the cowboys began loading the critters into the cattle cars which the Wabash Railroad had brought down for the General. As soon as the fifty cattle cars, three flat cars, a coach car and a caboose were loaded, the train pulled out for Indian- apolis. The trainmen knew they had only thirty-six hours to get the train to East St. Louis before the cattle would begin to die of thirst, or they would have to stop the train, and unload the livestock for watering. The special had the green light all the way to the Mississippi River and they rattled along at over thirty miles an hour, pulling into the tail yards at East St. Louis thirty-one hours out of Louisville. The train crews were proud of their accomplishment. They had actually set a speed record for the time and had adhered to the Thirty Six Hour rule. The precedent would be followed by train crews, hauling cattle, into the middle of the Twentieth Century.

Roddy and his cowboys unloaded the cattle as quickly as possible and the white faced cattle waded into the edge of the Mississippi River, drinking their fill. They had not lost one animal on the trip west. Then they started loading them onto the ferry. Luckily the river was at low water and they only had a mile or so to float the herd across. By the time they had all the wagons and cattle across the river and into the pens to hold them overnight, it was almost dark. The cowboys made their camp by the cattle pens while the General and Amy went to a hotel. Roddy introduced the Judge and Mac to the General that evening and remembering their laughter at his asking them if he could marry her, his face flushed red, introduced them to the beautiful Miss Longstreet. Amy was the hit if the evening with both the Judge and Mac McGregor and their wives. The Judge offered to tell Amy all about Roddy because he knew all about him and his nights in St. Louis. Good naturedly, Roddy told him that if he told any of those stories he would take the pistol with which he threatened to shoot the Mean Blue Roan, and shoot the Judge. The Judge roared with delighted laughter.

At daylight the next morning the first of the Herfords moved out toward the ranch where they would begin a new era in the Missouri Cattle business. As they bred with the venerable longhorns from Texas, they produced and animal which would supply the tastes of the eastern United States market for fifty years.

Jackson however, was some chagrinned as he led the white-faced cattle down the main street of St. Louis. He had put on many shows in that street with the young Virginian on his back. But now, he had to walk down that street with a young English woman astride. He did strut some though. With his head up and his tail flowing, he took back the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, as many ranchers and cowboys, as well as Mac McGregor and Judge Abrams, called out to the horse that led the history making parade through the city.

Within a couple of weeks the cattle had been incorporated into the herd which were already grazing on the BP Bar, and plans for the wedding were underway. The cowboys at the Nicola and Loch Longstreet, which was the new name for the old BP Bar, were ready for the wedding of the boss of the Nicola and Miss Amy. The wedding took place in a small valley, just west of the main headquarters of the Nicola. It was a place of tranquil beauty and would always remain almost sacred to the young Virginian and the men who worked the vast cattle ranch they had named the "Nicola."

An altar was constructed between two giant oak trees, a short way down the slope from the grave of Purvis Hasslebaad. It was simple yet elegant at the same time. Judge Abrams, in his finest judicial robes was there to marry the young people and a reception would be celebrated at the glen by the little lake. There was another individual attending the happy occasion. One which neither the bride nor the groom would have left out. A big Blue Roan horse stood just to one side of the altar as their wedding vows were exchanged. He wore neither saddle nor bridle but, to his embarrassment, had flowers woven into his tail and mane by a beautiful English girl who had become his mistress. But, he got into no trouble that day.

There were over two hundred people who attended the wedding of Roddy and Amy. From freshly scrubbed cowboys, to the taciturn war chief of the Comanche Nation. Several photographers were there to record the social event of the year, and one of them, at the urging of Derrick Jackson, the best man, took a couple of pictures of the tombstone of Purvis. Roddy gave one of them to Derrick. The other he had framed, along with the wedding pictures. The wedding pictures hung in the main ranch house, but the picture of Purvis would hang in his office for the rest of his life.

Roddy and Amy caught the ferry across the Mississippi River next morning and caught a train for Chicago and New York to enjoy a honeymoon. Amy also decided for them to visit Virginia and see Roddy's mother.

One day, a week or so after the two newlyweds had departed, a man rode into the ranch asking for the owner. He was told by Derrick that the owner was away for several months and could he help him as he was the foreman. "I represent the United States Army and I have been hearing about your Hereford cattle. We wish to buy some of them for beef for our posts in the area. Mr. Tompkins is my name."

"I represent the Nicola Valley Ranch and we don't have any for sale yet. Mr. Jackson is my name." Derrick said to the stuffy little man. "We just got the Herfords to breed with our stock and we won't be selling any of the new breed of beef cattle for at least three years. However if you would like to see General Longstreet, he has fifteen hundred head and would possibly sell you some of them."

"The United States Army does not do business with Rebels Sir, Generals or not." Was the snippy reply from Tompkins. Derrick grabbed Tompkins by the collar of his coat, dragged him from the buggy, and shoved the sight of a long barreled, forty four caliber pistol up his nostril.

"Our boss and the owner of this half million acre ranch is from Virginia, Sir! The General I refer to is a retired British Brigadier, Sir! I am from Maine and I work for a Rebel, Sir! Derrick stormed.. "Now," Derrick's voice dropped to a low menacing tone, "You'd better get off the Nicola Valley Ranch, and don't even think about going near Longstreet's ranch or this thing might go off the next time I see you and have the urge to stick it up your nose."

The little Army cattle buyer was pale as a ghost as he sent the gelding flying down the lane toward town, away from the ranch. Then he made and even bigger mistake. He drove into St. Louis and entered the offices of Judge Zack Abrams to complain about his treatment at the hands of the ruffian who claimed to be the Foreman of the Nicola Valley Ranch. Judge Abrams had been a frontiersman when St. Louis was a trading post and a Cavalry Officer during the Civil War. The profanity, which followed the little man, as he fled the offices, was colorful, varied and very loud.

Tompkins returned to the office of the Commander, U.S. Army, District of Missouri, and presented the Colonel with his resignation. He then caught the first ferry to East St. Louis and was never seen again in Missouri.

11....... RODDY RETURNS TO VIRGINIA

The two newlyweds were having a wonderful time in New York, City. They went to several plays, many museums and to the new amusement park at Coney Island. Their stay in the city was exciting and they bought gifts for each of the cowboys back on the ranch. Then Amy decided it was time for them to go to Virginia. They rode the steam cars to Washington, D.C. and saw the nations capitol. It was a dirty, dusty little town and they were happy to get out of it. Roddy showed Amy the house where he had been born and the place where his father worked before the Civil War. The train, which took them to Front Royal was an old train which went very slow as well as being sooty and dirty, nothing like the fast streamliner they had ridden into Chicago and on to New York. Finally they arrived in Front Royal and Roddy was happy to see that the city had completely recovered from the destruction of the Civil War. It was a bustling town with many shops and businesses. Amy loved the shady streets and the Victorian homes she saw as they rode out of the city toward Roddy's home which lay in a valley to the west of Front Royal. When the coach topped out on the rise of land, which edged his valley, Roddy asked the coachman if he would stop for a few minutes. He helped Amy from the coach and showed her the valley of the Shenandoah. He pointed to the north and tried to point out the house where he had been raised, but she could not pick it out from so far away. When they arrived in the village, Roddy thought it odd that no one was here to meet them. He had wired his mother from Washington with hopes she would be there when they arrived. Roddy then spied a black man and walked over to him.

"Don't you recognize me Andrew?" He asked the man. "Lawd, Lawd, it can't be. Is you really little Roddy, done come home after all these years?" "It's me Andrew, and this is my wife Amelia." "Now how'd you git such a purty girl to marry up wif you?" Andrew said with obvious enjoyment at being the first to see the new Mistress. "She gonna make a fine new Mistress for Fair Oaks." "What do you mean, Andrew" Why should she be the new Mistress of Fair Oaks?" "Why Massa Roddy, you da owner o' Fair Oaks now, have been since the day yo' momma married day Yankee carpetbagger. It's all in de Cunnel's will. But you wuz already gone afore dem lawyer fellers in Richmond got round to reading what Massa Jackson writ down. He say the land was yo' momma's until she remarried, then de land she go back to you." "Well well, now that's interesting." Said Roddy, how'd Mr. Wilson take that news?" "Oh, he left within a few months, I heered he got shot in a cawd game over to Lynchburg las year." Was Andrew's reply. "Then how did mother take all of that?" Roddy asked Andrew. "Massa Roddy, yo momma been daid these two years! After dat shiftless Yankee leff, she went to nuthin. Me and Reverend Masters, we done buried her next to de Cunnel out yonder at Fair Oaks." Tears sprang into Roddy's eyes as he stared at Andrew, then he said to him. "Thank you for what you have done for me. I think I had better go over to Richmond next week and see the Lawyers." Andrew smiled at Roddy and said. "Yo won't have to go all the way to Richmond, Judge Cassidy done took over de running o' Fair Oaks till yo comes home or we hears yo daid." "Then I'll have to go see him." Roddy replied. "Lemme get yo bags and we'll ride out to Fair Oaks and yo can see all dah things we done done out thar." Said Andrew.

Roddy could see the farm had been taken care of as they neared Fair Oaks. The 'big house' was in good repair and the barns were bright with fresh paint. The rail fences were whitewashed and the fields and pastures looked well taken care of. There were men and women gathered around the yard as the couple were grandly driven onto the plantation by the grinning Andrew. As Roddy stepped down from the buggy and handed Amy down, a very large, very black woman broke from the crowd. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried out. "He home, oh Lawd my baby don' come home." Roddy was enveloped in the arms of the woman that had taken care of him as a child, had sneaked him the best morsels of food from the kitchen and had used a switch on him when he had messed with her herb garden behind the house. He had always loved and respected the woman he had called Miss Coalie.

Mary Louanne Coleman had come to Virginia as a child, part of a coffle of slaves that Colonel Linebarger's father had purchased when the Colonel was a was a young man. She had been torn from the arms of her parents in South Carolina and sold, along with other ten year old children, to Roddy's grandfather. She had been chained together with the others and marched all the way from Charleston to the farm at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She had grown up as a slave, and suffered the indignities of a slave. But Mary Louanne grew to love the Virginia farm and lived for the day she would be free. Colonel Jackson Linebarger had earned the ire of many of his friends and the love of the slaves when, at the death of his father and the ownership of Fair Oaks passed to him, he had freed all the people who lived on and worked the farm. He was considered a fool, and heard many of the sarcastic and caustic remarks that were sent his way. He was told that many of his former slaves would leave but to every ones surprise every one of the slaves who had become free men and women remained on Fair Oaks. The farm had prospered under the Colonel and four of the men had gone to war with him. There were not many free black men in the South in those days before the Civil War, and absolutely none in the Confederate, Army of Northern Virginia. But there were four who rode in the Gray Line regiment of Colonel Jackson Linebarger. They were the same men who brought the Colonel home to Fair Oaks and they stood by his grave as he was laid to rest. Jefferson Carlyle blew taps for him that day. It was the last time he ever blew the bugle which now hung over his fireplace.

Roddy stood on the porch of the main house and introduced the beautiful Amelia to Fair Oaks. Then with Miss Coalie bustling ahead, took her on a tour of the house. Amy was impressed at the size of the home and the furniture which decorated each room.

"I certainly never knew you were "Gentry" when you were looking over my cows that time in Lexington, Massa Roddy." Amy teased. Roddy was happy and sad at his homecoming. He visited all of the people who lived on the farm, he visited his parent's graves beneath the oaks that gave the farm its name and he rode over every acre of the prosperous farm. He adored the land and even thought he was really a Westerner now, this soil was where his roots were planted and where he would always call 'Home'. He discussed his plan with Amy, a plan that was slowly evolving in his mind. With her approval of it, he rode into the village of Coatsville to see Judge Cassidy. He remembered the Judge from his childhood and he laid out his plan for the farm. The Judge smiled at Roddy and said.

"You truly are your father's son." As he nodded approval at the plan to turn the farm into a business. The farm would be run by the four men whom had ridden with his father in the Gray Line, with the Judge as their advisor. All of the people would be paid monthly as draws against the yearly profits and they would all have a say in how the farm was run. Roddy explained about how Judge Abrams and Mac McGregor was helping him run the Nicola and he wanted to run Fair Oaks in the same manner. Judge Cassidy approved of the plan, as it made a lot of sense and agreed to lend his assistance and expertise. Then the Judge took him across the street to the Bank. James Maxwell Hughes was the banker in Coatsville and Judge Cassidy took him over and laid out the plans to him. Roddy and Jimmy had been friends when they were kids and he agreed to work with the Judge in operating the farm as a business. Roddy then floored both men as he told them he would transfer one hundred thousand dollars from the Swiss accounts to the bank in Coatsville as operating capitol. It was then Roddy revealed to the two what had happened to him since he had left Virginia as a teenager.

The Judge and James both wanted Roddy and Amy to come into town for dinner, so a rather large dinner party was planned. Before leaving for Coats- ville that evening, Roddy called all the people together and revealed the plan for Fair Oaks. Andrew and Miss Coalie were beaming as they stood beside Roddy on the porch of the house and listened to Roddy explain the operation to the rest of the black people who stood in the yard.

There were twelve adults who lived on Fair Oaks and twenty-eight children, ranging in age from babies to sixteen year olds. Andrew and Miss Coalie had four children. The other three veterans who had served with the Colonel each had four children and the others had the rest. Roddy told them to talk it over and let him know if the plan suited all of them.

The party in Coatsville was a real gala and the people who attended were very amazed at the young man they had known as a boy and the man who owned one of the largest ranches in Missouri. The lovely English woman who stood proudly beside him was the hit of the party, regaling them with stories about the cattle drives, the Mean Blue Roan, the cowboys at the Ranch and especially how she'd almost lost him by being so rude to the dusty youngster in Lexington. They loved the fact of her father being a General Officer, even if he was retired and English to boot and were even more impressed that her maiden name was Longstreet. She fit into the group very well. She knew instinctively that she must impress these people who would help run the beautiful Fair Oaks.

The next day a small delegation appeared at the door of the house and was received by Roddy. Two of the Veterans told Roddy they didn't want to stay on the farm but, wished to go with Roddy and Amy back to Missouri and become cowboys on his ranch. They figured Jefferson Carlyle could stay and help Andrew run the farm but Colonel Linebarger would want them to go west and help his son. Jesse and Nathan Coldridge, their wives, Tina and Sara and their children would go with them to start new lives with the son of the man they had served in time of war and through the hard times the aftermath of the war had brought.

After two weeks at the farm, Roddy told Amy that he was anxious to start back to Missouri. So they packed, got Jesse and Nathan packed, then drove the wagons to Front Royal then caught the train through Washington and on to Baltimore. There they boarded the westbound train that would take them across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the Mississippi. The kids drove the anxious parents mad as they tried to keep the youngsters quiet but the kids were having the time of their lives and had a grand trip. Roddy and Amy were happy to see the flat boat ferry on which they loaded the wagons for the ride across the Big Muddy and the trip to the ranch. There was quite a stir as the wagons moved through St. Louis following Roddy and Amy with the black families aboard, especially as the two men driving wore Confederate Gray hats and short Jackets they had worn with Colonel Linebarger's Cavalry. Roddy and Amy stopped to see Judge Abrams and Mac McGregor. Roddy told them about what had happened in Virginia and the Judge brought them up to date on the events in Missouri.

Derrick Jackson met them at the gates of the Nicola to welcome them home. Almost the entire contingent of cowboys was there too. They hooted and yelled and waved their big hats in the air. Some made exaggerated bows to the newlyweds at their homecoming. The black families were at first concerned about Roddy and Amy as the cowboys began to fire their long barreled pistols into the air. Jesse unlimbered the big Colt Dragoon he'd carried through the war, then he realized the cowboys were just happy to see the young couple. The kids were impressed with the cowboys and their riding as the little caravan rolled toward their new home.

12.............. ROUNDUP

As the wagons rolled into the yard of the ranch house a familiar whistle came from the corral. The horse stood at the fence, his head up and his tail flowing in the slight breeze. Roddy stood up in the buckboard and called to the Mean Blue Roan. The Roan whirled and ran across the corral, then with thundering hooves, tore across the paddock. He cleared the poles which made up the corral fence by two feet and galloped into the yard, sliding to a stop at the passenger side of the buggy, throwing up a big cloud of dust. His head dropped to the woman who rubbed his ears, then hugged the stallion. She told him how she had missed him, then from her handbag she produced an apple. The Roan gingerly took the apple from her gloved hand and ate it. The cowboys cheered as the Mean Blue Roan strutted around the yard as happy as the men were to have Miss Amy back, yeah that Roddy character too.

Both Jesse and Nathan knew the Roan and renewed his acquaintance. Their families were settled into a couple of cabins around the ranch head quarters with Roddy's promise to build them proper homes as quickly as he could get the carpenters to come out to the ranch. Nathan, became 'Nate' and his brother Jesse, the cowboys had named 'Jess'. Nate turned to Roddy and said. "Shucks Massa Roddy, we's can build our own houses, we's built the ones you see'd at Fair Oaks." "That's wonderful, you can start as soon as you can get the lumber from St. Louis.'' Roddy happily told them. "What other talents do you have?" "Jess heah, he doctors horses and cows, Tina is the bes' cook they is, I does carpenter stuff and Sara is a fine seamstress. She made for instance dis heah uniform I be wearing." Replied Nate.

Derrick Jackson looked rather uncomfortable as he stared at the Grey Cavalry Jacket, which Nate was so proud of. and said to him. "That uniform is not real popular in Missouri Nate. The Confederate Cavalry did a lot of damage here and a lot of things which weren't soldier-like." "Mr. Jackson, I wore this uniform a ridin' with the finest man I ever knowed. Colonel Jackson Linebarger, Massa Roddy's daddy. I fit in twenty-one engage- ments and never lost but one, when we's charged you Yankee boys at Gettysburg with General Pickett. Yessir, you boys whupped us day day but I never been shamed o' this coat nor any of the boys who fell a wearin' it. I never will be." Nate said to Derrick with conviction.

It got very quiet for a few seconds. Then the Veteran from Maine, who'd helped hold the line that day, reached out to the Veteran from Virginia and said. "Sergeant Derrick Jackson, Second Maine Infantry, proud to make you acquaintance." Nate looked at him and understood that the man from Maine, who had fought to free his people, was extending honor to him as one combat veteran to another. Nate grinned as he took Derricks hand. "First Sergeant Nathan Coldridge, First Virginia Cavalry, The Grey Line, and mah brother cawprle Jesse Coldridge at yo' service sah!" Roddy was relieved the men had gotten on so well. They would respect each other because of their trial by fire, and Derrick would see to it that neither of the brothers would have to go through too much of the devilment cowboys put others through when they wish to join their ranks.

Derrick told Roddy that evening about the ruckus with the Army purchasing agent and that the commander of the St. Louis area had ridden out himself and offered a contract to supply two thousand head of cattle to the forts under his command. The forts ranged from Fort Smith in Arkansas to Fort Dodge in Iowa. The contract would bring over forty thousand dollars a year into the Nicola Ranch coffers. Derrick had planned to make the first drive to Fort Kearney within thirty days. Roddy was pleased with the way his friend and foreman had acted during his absence. Derrick was more than pleased when Roddy told him his pay of fifty dollars a month was doubled but he would have to lead the herd to Fort Kearney himself as Roddy would make the drive to Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The activity on the ranch was hectic as the roundup commenced. Roddy brought the General in on the deal with the Army. From Loch Longstreet, the Forts in Iowa and Kansas would be supplied while the Forts in Missouri, The sprawling Nicola Valley would supply Arkansas, and Oklahoma forts. The merging of the two ranches had begun. Roddy knew when the General died, Loch Longstreet would belong to Amy. The General and his crew from the English Ranch just to the north were very pleased with the operation and he threw himself into the roundup with vigor. He rode like a demon to chase the longhorns to the branding fire. The cattle were trail branded with the initials of the fort they were headed for. FD for Fort Dodge, FS for Fort Smith and so on down the line. Jess's boys had been taken under the wings of some of the older cowboys and were quickly becoming good hands themselves. Nate's son was also becoming quite a cowboy. Nate's three daughters were little imps who drove the cowboys mad but they were loved by the cowboys too. At the camp during the roundup, with Tina cooking and spoiling the cowboys with all kinds of treats, the girls teased them with a lot of tales about what they were eating. They heard about rattlesnake stew instead of Chicken and dumplings or dog meat hash when it was really good beef, but the cowboys got their revenge on the girls by bringing into the camp, large rattlers they had killed and presenting them to the screaming girls. The roundup was a success and as they prepared to head out, the daughters of Nate and Sara were sorry to see the drive start for the cattle market and the cowboys go with them. While the cowboys were away for over three months, Jess and Nate would build their homes. The three Coldridge boys were proud as peacock as they were picked to ride on the Fort Smith drive with Roddy, but first they had to suffer some. As Roddy called out the names of the men who would go with him, he left the Coldridge boys till last. Derrick spoke up and told Roddy he had enough cowboys to drive a thou- sand head of cattle to California as he called the last white cowboy's name. Then Roddy and Derrick bent their heads together as if they were discussing something important. They were both trying not to laugh. Then Roddy said. "I think I'll need three more good hands for this trip, so you three Coldridge boys can come with me."

The three boys hooted and jumped about with glee. The other Cowboys laughed at the antics of the first time trail riders. Jess and Nate were proud of them too. Then the cowboys got a good laugh, as the youngest of Nate's girls, Jodie, asked if she could go too and be the cook. "I have a good store of Rattlesnake meat for these cow catchers." she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. The cowboys all chorused..... "NO GIRLS ON A DRIVE."

There was one devil that would go. A Mean Blue Roan. He had not worked too hard during the roundup since he had been taking Miss Amy back and forth to the Ranch House. But everyone knew that only one horse would lead any cattle drive Roddy would make. That would be Jackson. At sunup the day of the departure, Jackson was saddled and when Roddy sat in the saddle, Jackson put on one of his better shows. He leaped and whirled, he made mad dashes and wild sunfishes. His repertoire of bucks were widely varied and executed with a lot of energy, accompanied by wild screams. The Coldridge families were astounded by the demonstration and when Jackson reared one last time, then did his turn on his hind legs and started leading out, the cowboys cheered and the girls shouted with glee. The Roan took it all as his due. The first drive was underway. The cattle began to line out southwest toward the growing city of Springfield. They would have a good trail to follow as far as Springfield, then turn south toward Fort Smith. With only three hundred head to drive, the cowboys could keep them in a compact line. They would have less trouble than if they had more cows to drive. Amy stood with Sara and her girls, along with Jess, Nate and Ham, who would be acting foreman while Roddy and Derrick were away. The little group watched as the last of the cowboys disappeared across the range. Sara turned to Amy and asked her. "Did you tell Massa Roddy about the baby afore he went off down that road?"

13............... THE FIRST DRIVE

The rain obscured the sun as it began rising over the hills behind the herd. The riders were all clad in great coats which would shed most of the water, and cover the saddle as well. The only problem was that they were Confederate Gray in color. The men had the look of ghost riders as most of the men also wore the gray wide brimmed hats now so common in the western territories. Roddy had seen the coats in a store in New York while he was on his honeymoon, and had arranged to have enough shipped out to the Nicola for all his men to have one. The coats had been designed and made in Australia for the riders in the out- back and Roddy thought the coats would be perfect for the Riders of the Nicola Valley Ranch.

The rain was cold and sometimes it would drip down the neck of one of the cowboys, setting off a grand stream of cussing. The three Coldridge boys were having a tough time of it at drag, and by the fourth or fifth day out, they had developed and extraordinary glossary of cuss words. They were also learning that cattle driving was all about. The worst of the cattle usually drifted to the rear of the herd and bedeviled the three youngsters by heading toward the nearest gully, bunch of brush or behind the nearest hill. The boys used three or four horses each, every day. Roddy kept an eye on them and was pleased with the way the boys were developing into very good riders. Within hours after the weather turned sunny, a cloud of dust rose from the hundreds of hooves and most of that dust settled on the Coldridge boys at drag. Each day was a repeat of the one before. The cowboys who drove the Nicola cattle performed magnificently. They had to work hard to keep the cattle in line but the cattle were getting used to the routine and were behaving much better and the cowboys were having a little easier time of it.

Thirty two days after they left the Nicola, Roddy sighted the town of Springfield, Missouri. The herd was in good shape but a couple of days on the good grass surrounding the little town would give the cattle and the cowboys a break. Ty Harding, who was the scout, rode up to Roddy and told him of a small valley about three miles south of Springfield, which would hold the cattle for a few days, if he wanted to stop. Ty needed a break too. The scout was the hardest riding man in the outfit. He ranged anywhere from three to twenty miles out in front of the herd, searching for good grass and water. He also kept a lookout for Indians, bad men, and the depth of rivers and creeks which they had to ford. He averaged sixty or seventy miles each day, riding back and forth to keep his boss informed of what lay ahead.

"OK Ty, let's turn them further south to cross below town and that way we'll be ready to line out for Fort Smith after a few days off. But don't tell the boys we're gonna take two days off." "Right boss!" Ty said as he headed toward the little valley to start setting up camp for the layover. Roddy rode into Springfield and went directly to the office of the town Marshall. After introducing himself as the owner of the Nicola Valley Ranch, he explained to the Marshall that he would only allow six of his hands to come into town at one time. The Marshall was an old timer who knew how to handle rowdy cowboys, but he appreciated that Roddy was going to take some of the responsibility to keep the town quiet. The Marshall told Roddy about the bunch who had ridden into Springfield a couple of days before and were hanging out at the saloon.

"They came up out of the Indian Territory," as Oklahoma was called in those days. "And I think they are a bad bunch. I've had no trouble with them so far, but you'd best keep an eye on them. I hear tell that's a fine bunch of cattle you have." Roddy thought about it for a few minutes and said. "I'll keep a good watch on the herd and my crew too. They surely don't want anything to happen to this herd. It's our first delivery on an Army contract." The little valley was filled with lowing cattle as Roddy rode into camp. He called all the cowboys around the campfire and told them about the outlaws, the Marshall and the town "Nobody gets roaring drunk. Leave the townspeople alone and don't get into any fights with this bunch from the Nation. Have a few drinks, chase a few girls, if any of them will have you, and come back to camp. I don't want anybody left alone in Springfield. We may need all the help we can get to hold the herd if those outlaws strike."

The six men Roddy let go into town first were led by Ty Harding and they rode in warily. They went into the saloon and ordered. As they stood at the bar, one of the outlaws began to laugh at Nicola cowboys. "Did you ever see such a wild lookin' mob? From Missouri no less!" asked the man with a wicked scar on one cheek. "Naw I didn't, they even got their slaves with 'em." said another. The Nicola cowboys hunched their shoulders and took the insults without turning around.

"We're talking to you cowpunchers." Yelled one of the gang. "And since youse ain't real cowboys, I think we'll stroll down and cut yore herd some." The big blond man said. Ty turned and looked him up and down. "Men," he said, "take out yore pistols and keep these other gents off me, while I tear this hombres outhouse down."

Four pistols and a double-barreled shotgun were covering the rest of the bad bunch as the blond swung at Ty. His punch came from the floor but completely missed. Ty stood on his toes and danced around the big blond, throwing sharp jabs at his face. In minutes the big blond man's face was cut to shreds by Ty's hard knuckles. The short jabs kept coming and when he swung at him, Ty just wasn't there. Very few men knew Ty Harding had been the Middleweight boxing champion of the state of New York, and had been well on his way to bigger things, until he killed a man in the ring at Schenectady. He walked away from a promising career and went west, to become one of the best cowboys who rode for the Nicola. Ty sized the big man up and drove a wicked punch into his stomach and as he bent over from the blow Ty slammed a hard right fist under his chin. The blow straightened the man up, and he rose on his toes, then fell face first into the sawdust which covered the floor of the barroom. Not a sound could be heard. Then Ty grinned at the rest of the unbelieving gang of coyotes and said. "I guess I'm probably the weakest man in our outfit and that hombre looked like your best. So if you boys will just take him and leave, the Nicola Ranch is having a drink."

The gang picked up their leader and trooped out of the saloon. The girls who worked the bar crowded around Ty and the rest of the Nicola crew. Nobody got real drunk that night, and a good time was had by all. Ty led his group of sick looking cowboys into camp early next morning. The two Coldridge boys were so sick they were almost pale. Roddy and the rest o the boys laughed at the motley looking crew and immediately put them to work with the cows and around the camp. Roddy sent the Coldridge boys out to ride around the herd.

Ty told Roddy what happened the night before and he advised having somebody keep an eye on that gang of cut throats. Since Nate's son, David, wasn't old enough to get into a bar, he was assigned to watch the outlaws. The crew had a lot of fun that night as the bar girls were waiting for the rest of them to get into town. They didn't get into any trouble that night but as they began to slowly edge the herd out onto the trail toward Fort Smith. They had plenty. The gang had rode out ahead of the herd and were waiting behind some low hills on the west side of the trail. They hit them just before sundown when the sun was low and blinding the cowboys.

The remuda was between the rustlers and the herd as they came from behind the hill, still in a compact group. The big blond man was leading and firing his pistol at the nearest cowboy. His heart stopped as he heard an unearthly scream. He whirled all around to see what had made that sound. He turned back toward the herd just in time to see the big blue roan that charged straight over top of him and his horse. His horse went down and when it hit the ground he felt his leg snap in several places. Jackson went after the next man and with a lightening like whirl, kicked high, knocking the outlaw from his saddle with broken ribs and arm. Before the stunned outlaws could recover and shoot the Roan, they were surrounded by the Riders of the Nicola, and glared at by the big blue horse. So another chapter in the legend of the Mean Blue Roan was written.

"Thar's a tree right over thar that we could hang'em from boss." Ty drawled. "No, I guess we'll let the Marshall in Springfield do that. Ty, you go for the Marshall and we'll hold the herd here." Roddy told the scout. Ty returned about four hours later with the Marshall and a posse in tow. It seemed the gang had hit the till at the store as they were leaving town. You could tell they weren't very smart. As the Marshall and his posse led the outlaws back toward town, Ty headed south to scout in front of the herd and Roddy and the Nicola crew lined the herd out for Fort Smith. They had no more trouble along the trail into Fort Smith and they brought every animal into the town alive and kicking. The Major who commanded the fort and the surrounding area was happy to see the beef starting to graze in the good grass along the Arkansas River.

Roddy, Ty and the rest of the crew rode into the booming town of Fort Smith to clear the trail dust from their throats and get ready to head back up the trail to St. Louis. The Army had bought the extra horses the drive needed and Roddy gave each man fifty dollars in bonus money for the drive. There were some pretty sick looking cowboys who rolled out the next morning. They wandered into the cafe from the various saloons and cat houses where they had spent the night celebrating the end of the drive. Roddy had taken their pistols but Ty had shambled in with a glorious shiner, and one of the Coldridge boys nose would always be flattened. His only remark was. "I don't think any body will call me Nigger again." The older Coldridge brother, Tom, walked into the cafe and asked if he could speak to Roddy. "Massa Roddy, I's got to talkin' with dem soljer boys last night. I's gwinna jine the U.S. Cavalry. You tell my Ma and Pa, and I'll be home one day. Pa'll be proud of me and Ma.....well, she'll cry a lot but I wants to make mah own way out heah and I think dat dem bluebellies has got's what I wants." Roddy said he'd tell Jess and when he got through riding with the cavalry, he had a home to come home to. "You're a Rider of the Nicola now and always will be. Just come home when you can. Good luck to you Tom." Roddy told the tall black cowboy. Tom Coldridge walked out of the Cafe in Fort Smith, Arkansas and in the years to come, rode to glory with another officer who was as good a man as Roddy's father had been to his father. Tom Coldridge would die along a measly little river in Montana called the Little Big Horn.

When all the hands except Tom had wandered in and had breakfast. They trooped out and climbed aboard their horses for the long ride back to Nicola. Surprisingly a large number of people turned out to see them off. The Army was there, as were a number of the ladies of the evening who had soothed the brow of a number of the cowboys the night before. The Sheriff and several deputies came to make sure Ty Harding left with the crew from Missouri. A couple of the deputies looked pretty ragged themselves. But the Sheriff and the Major shook Roddy's hand and wished them a good trip home. "We'll look forward to seeing you next year." Said the Major "You speak for yourself." The Sheriff said with a wry grin.

Nineteen days later they rode into the headquarters of the Nicola Ranch. They were all welcomed home by Amy and the General who had rode in the morning before from Fort Dodge, after a successful drive with his cattle. Nates girls were in fits that all the cowboys had come home. Jess was concerned when he didn't see Tom among the crew. Roddy took Jess and Tina aside and told them of Tom's decision. They took it as Tom had predicted they would. The three Indian brides welcomed the cowboy's home in their ceremonial dresses, they were beautiful. The only thing that was different was the ceremonial dresses didn't fit very well around their waists. The Amy asked Roddy to come into the house.

"Please sit down in your chair my love." Amy told Roddy. "I have something to tell you I think you will like. I'm going to have a baby in about six months." Roddy took her into his arms, kissed her, and then told her how proud of her he was and shouldn't she sit down. "I'm fine darling." she told him. "women have babies every day." Next day Nate told Roddy he thought the Nicola was turning into a baby ranch. Ham's wife had a son, as did Derrick and his wife. The Nicola was growing. and that was a fact!

14......... OF GIRL BABIES AND MISSOURI MULES

There were two more drives to distant Army Posts that year. Derrick led one to Fort Kearney and Ty took a herd out to Fort McRae. It was a small fort, nestled in the western foothills of the Ozarks, and it had only two troops of Cavalry. They patrolled western Missouri and eastern Kansas. The beef Ty took to them was some of their best steers and when they arrived, they were still fat and sassy. The reason Fort McRae got such good beef was because the first letter Jess and Tina got from Tom was from there. It was there he would receive his early training as a trooper in the U.S. Cavalry. Ty had orders to move the cattle slowly to keep them sleek. It was because they moved slowly, nearly every berry bush between the Nicola and Fort McRae was stripped of its fruit by the old cook. Jess was riding with the herd and Tina was in the chuck wagon. Between Tina and Josh McIntosh, the cook, there were berry pies that came from the Dutch oven and sourdough biscuits. When the scout spotted a tree with bees buzzing around, a major operation was undertaken to get the honey. Jess built a small but smoky fire below the hole in the tree and soon the bees found somewhere else to go. The cowboys chopped the tree down and when they split the log, they found over a hundred pounds of honeycomb inside. For the rest of the trip, the cowboys had biscuits drenched in wild honey. Tina made the biscuits, Virginia style, baking as many as fifty at one time. There never was one left.

It should have taken a month to move the small herd to Fort McRae but they arrived in forty-one days. As they wended their way down the hill toward the little fort in the wilderness, they were met by a trooper in Union Blue. He wore shiny boots and a yellow bandana. He was riding a big sorrel horse with one of those McClelland saddles. Jess was scouting the day of their arrival and saw Tom come charging up the hill to meet them. As the chuck wagon rolled to a stop beside the man and his son, who were still happily hugging each other, Tom was totally surprised when his mother, sunbonnet flying, jumped off the wagon and clasped him to her breast. Jesse and Tina walked with Tom down the hill toward the palisade as Nicola cattle streamed past them. Tom waved and shouted to his friends as they rode by him, driving the steers.

The Nicola crew stayed at Fort McRae for five days. The Major who commanded the fort begged Tina to stay and cook for his little command. Tina and Josh gave the troopers many pies, biscuits with honey and even a big cake drenched in sweet icing which Josh had concocted with honey and whipped butter. The Major even offered to write to Washington for permission for Tina to join the U.S, Cavalry, but Tina told them she had to get back to the Nicola as Miss Amy was having a baby and she would be needed there. She was given an honorary membership in the troop and one of the crusty old Irish sergeants presented her with the scroll which had been drawn up as they were leaving for St. Louis. It was the last time Jess and Tina would ever see Tom.

Tom Coldridge was to ride the west with General Crook. Chase Chief Joseph and his tribe up through Idaho and eastern Washington State. They actually went as far as Kamloops in the Canadian Province of British Columbia. Before they returned to American soil he was to see the confluence of the Thompson River, draining the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the savage Fraser River that rolled out of the mountains of central British Columbia. When the Fraser picked up the Thompson it continued down a murderous canyon and on to empty into the Pacific Ocean at Fort Vancouver. Tom also wrote of another Nicola Valley which his cavalry regiment had ridden through on their way back to Fort Okanagan, escorted by a contingent of Northwest Mounted Police, who were not very happy to see a regiment of American Cavalry two hundred miles inside Canada. Tom told of grass that grew belly deep on his horse and of the thousands of buffalo the valley supported. He said in one of his last letters home......If the grass in Missouri ever gives out, this third Nicola Valley was the place to come to.

When Ty Harding brought his crew, with Jess and Tina back to the Nicola Valley Ranch, things were in a uproar. It was time for Amy's baby to come. The Doctor from St. Louis was there. Sara and her girls had boiled pots and pots of hot water. They had torn up half the sheets on the ranch for the doctors use. Now Tina was back to lend a hand. She started to cook. That was her way. Food was everywhere and the cowboys rode in from all the line cabins to eat. Roddy was worried he'd never get them back onto the range after this.

The Roan was visibly upset by all the activity. He stood at the fence all day, sending his soft call to the lovely lady who came each day to bring him apples or carrots. People were everywhere. They were standing or sitting around the barn, under the trees or with Roddy on the long veranda which ran along the south side of the house. Something was happening and Jackson did not know what it was.

Nate laughed and said to Roddy. "It's jess like when you was borned, Roddy, men all over de place, and women folks inside." Roddy was busy pacing up and down the porch, his boots clumping and his spurs jingling with each heavy tread. Finally Amy sent Jodie, Sara's youngest daughter, out. The tiny girl, who was six years old, told the tall Virginian,

"Miss Amy say dat you'd better stop dat stompin round heah! And if'n you don't I's gwine git me one o' dem willer switches to yo pants, Massa Roddy!"

Nate began to snicker, Jess fell off the porch, Derrick, Ham and the rest of the crew were getting hysterical with laughter. Roddy sat down in the big chair and grabbed Jodie into his arms. The laughter and Jodie's squeals could be heard all over the Ranch Headquarters.

A shrill scream stopped the laughter cold. Jodie squirmed out of Roddy's arms and ran back inside. A second scream sent him toward the door, but he was met by Tina who told him to stay outside. The screams reached the erect ears of Jackson in the corral. The Roan went at the fence like a demon. Amy was in trouble. The poles of the corral yielded to his iron shod hooves. Cowboys scattered as the big horse thundered toward the house. His ears were laid back and his big teeth were bared. Roddy leaped from the porch and caught the Roan. Then the two of them stood by the window of the room where Amy was giving birth to Roddy's daughter.

Sara came to the window to shoo away the girls, who had been giving Roddy a running account of the events taking place in the room, which only women like themselves were privy. Sara told Roddy to come inside. The Roan did not move. He stood there like a stone, until Roddy, the doctor and Sara finally moved the bed near the window. The Roan could see his Mistress holding a tiny bundle. Then the big horse snorted and backed away when the little bundle let out a loud cry. Amy said to Jackson "Go on now Jackson, I'm OK." At the sound of her voice Jackson strolled back to the hole in the corral fence and entered. He stood at the fence next to the torn section, and stared at the house.

Mary Victoria Linebarger was a happy little Girl, with Curly blonde hair like her mother. She got attention from everybody at the ranch. She had constant tending from a small, six year old, black girl named Jodie, whose days were consumed with wonder and awe with the beautiful child. Roddy proudly showed Vicky to the men who worked the huge ranch. The hardened, crusty cowboys were turned to jelly by the little bundle, even Ham, who had a son of his own born one week before Vicky. She was the main topic of conversation for weeks and they all agreed the child was very lucky to have taken after her mother and not her father. There was another birth that took place on the Nicola Ranch. One that would have a financial impact for many years. A mare running loose on the western side of the ranch, where it extended into the Ozark Mountains, had been bred by one of the wild Jackasses that wandered about in the Ozarks. The foal, when it arrived was a strange looking creature. It had long ears and a stumpy tail. It had long legs and by the time it was first seen by one of the hands, firmly muscled. Tex Callahan roped the colt and brought him into the ranch headquarters. The mare followed along to make sure that nothing happened to her odd colt. Roddy and Derrick wondered where the little mule had come from. When Tex explained about the area where he had found the mare and her mule colt, about the wild Jacks and horses which roamed the western approaches to the ranch.

"The Army uses a lot of mules, Roddy." Derrick told him. "Yes they do." Roddy replied, "And we're gonna breed us some to sell to them." A mule roundup was started the next week. Riders came in from Loch Longstreet, and with the Nicola cowboys, over fifty men rode into the Ozark Mountains to capture several Jacks and some of the wild mares, which roamed the foothills. Makeshift corrals were built and chutes to would channel the animals into the corral were constructed between trees, rocks and posts which the cowboys set into spaces too wide between natural posts. The stage was set. Twenty men rode into the hills in groups of four. When they found a likely looking stud Jack, they would fire three shots and the others would come a runnin' to help. These wild Jackasses were among some of the meanest animals on earth. They had been known to kill a cougar or a bear with their sharp hooves and flashing teeth. Jackson had been badly put out when he had been left at home, as Roddy wanted no stallions on the drive. He didn't want a fight between any of his stallions and the Jacks.

Tex Calahan spotted the first of their prey. He was a handsome animal, with a light gray coat and the usual stiff black mane. Tex and the three cowboys with him started the small group which belonged to the Stud Jackass, toward the wide vee leading into the corral. Within the group of about thirty mares and colts were ten or fifteen young mules. As the group scampered across the hillsides, three shots rang out. The other groups closed in on the fleeing herd, forcing them into the wide mouth of the chute. As the gray stallion burst through the thin screen of brush covering the gateway into the sturdily built corral, he screamed like a banshee and tried to whirl about and get out of what he now recognized as a trap. Forty cowboys riding large horses rode into his way out. Then Roddy dropped the heavy gate in place and they had their first Jackass stallion, along with a fairly good breeding herd and twelve nearly grown mules. The mares and mules were roped and haltered. They were led out of the corral through a small gate. The last animal in the corral was the Jack stud Roddy and Derrick put their saddles on the two large Percheron mares they had brought with them for this purpose. They rode into the corral with the gray stallion. Their ropes snaked out and they had the Jackass between them. They took up the slack in their ropes which were snubbed around the horns of their saddles, until the poor gray stallion was held tightly between two giant horses. Now the smaller animal was terrified. It was like being squashed between two elephants. His eyes rolled and he brayed loudly. He couldn't get at either on of them with his teeth or hoofs. His head was drawn up high and he couldn't move as his front feet were off the ground. Tex entered the corral and dabbed a loop over his front feet. As Roddy and Derrick eased off their ropes, the little Jack thought he was going to get away. He leaped away from the big horses and was thrown flat on his side, as Tex jerked his rope to one side. Then Jess roped his back feet and the poor Jack was stretched out. Other cowboys scrambled around the stallion and placed hobbles onto his legs, then loosened the other ropes which had tied him. He scrambled to his feet and tried to take off. The hobbles held him fast and he fell once more. The Jackass stallion was left in the corral to learn for himself that he was captured and would not get loose.

Then three shots rang out from the hills as the next bunch headed in. By the time the first of the second bunch got into the mouth of the trap, the little Jack allowed himself to be led from the corral and tied to a tree. Three more times they brought in herds of wild mares and mules with their Jackass Stallions. The Nicola and Loch Longstreet now owned two stud Jacks each and a bunch of wild mares to breed. The cowboys gleaned thirty seven miles out of the four herds and they were put into separate corrals to be pack and saddle broken, then sold to the Army. The Colonel who had given them the beef contracts now negotiated a new one with the two ranches. For each of the mules, delivered saddle or pack broken, the Army would pay thirty dollars. Within a month the first thirty mules were delivered in St. Louis. The two ranches delivered over five hundred mules each year for ten years, bringing in over one hundred fifty thousand dollars. Jackson however, would have nothing to do with the ungainly animals. He either ignored them or picked a fight with any of the Jack stallions he ran into.

15 ...........CAROLINE

Life on the sprawling ranch was good during the late eighteen hundreds and when General Longstreet was laid to rest, on the shores of the oxbow lake which gave Loch Longstreet it's name, the Nicola took over that ranch as well. Amy had given Roddy two more children, a boy, whom they named Angus, and another blonde daughter they called Caroline.

Caroline Amanda Linebarger was a quiet child and everybody who saw her loved her. Caroline loved the horses and cattle on the giant ranch almost as much as her father loved them. She was always at her best when she was riding with her father or some of the cowboys across the far flung reaches of the Nicola ranch. Caroline was thirteen and had turned into a tall, lean girl, who could ride the chaps off some of the cowboys and could out shoot most of them.

Caroline had gone with a crew to work the western edge of the ranch for stray cattle. She was having the time of her life popping brush for the wild devils. The third day out, she had brought forty head into the holding area and had gone out for more. When it got dark, Caroline did not return to camp. Derrick and the rest of the cowboys fanned out across the brushy country to look for the girl. At one in the morning, Joe Kelly found her. Caroline had been shot. She was still alive and told Joe what had happened. She had come up on three rustlers branding Flying H cattle and she had at them. Joe lit another fire after he fired three shots into the air, calling in the other cowboys and Derrick. As he waited for the others to arrive he looked around the area. The running iron was still in the dead fire the rustlers had used. Two of the rustlers were there too. They had died at the hand of a young girl who was defending her ranch. But they killed her too. Caroline Amanda Linebarger died at four thirty that morning, just as the sun was coming up over the foggy land she loved. The Nicola Valley Ranch. Roddy and Amy reached the camp by noon. Amy was wild with grief. Roddy stood looking at his wife holding the body of his lovely daughter, with eyes that were cold. His face like stone, and his body shook with sorrow. Derrick placed his hand on Roddy's arm and in a terrible resolve, swore to find the men who did this.

"You take her home and put her in the little valley. Purvis will take care of her now Roddy, and I will find them. They won't ever do anything like this again. Derrick Jackson, late sergeant of the Maine Infantry rode out of the camp with two packhorses and one other man, Sean Kelly Jr. Sean had turned into the best tracker on the ranch. Derrick also sent word to his father-in-law that he needed his help. Derrick and Sean had been trailing the outlaws for nineteen days. They were camped by a small creek in Kansas. The trail led directly to a small Soddy outfit on the Kansas plains. Sean and Derrick were preparing to attack the rawhide outfit as soon as it got light. Sean was the first to waken and he let out an ungodly yell. Derrick woke with a start and grabbed the hand of the Irish lad. "Don't shoot, for God's sake, that's Maureen's father, my father-in-law and some of his family." "Gawd Derrick, why didn't you let me know that you was kin to these red heathens?" Sean whispered. Thirty Comanches were circled around the two cowboys grinning from ear to ear. They had accomplished what they wanted to do. Scare the be-Jesus out of the Nicola Riders, especially Derrick. White Buffalo told Derrick. "Comanche are sorry to hear of the death of the white haired daughter of Chief Virginia." (the name the Comanche had given Roddy,) and we are here to catch bad men who kill daughter of Amelia."

All of the Comanche's who had seen Amy had loved her and would do anything for the English woman. "I think they are in that Soddy about a mile ahead of us." Derrick told the Comanche. "Do they die here or do we take them back to Nicola Ranch?" White Buffalo asked Derrick. "Take them alive if we can," Said Derrick. "I want to see them swing in St. Louis, with all the Nicola ranch watching." Derrick took his battered U.S. Marshall badge and pinned it onto his vest, then climbed into his saddle. He rode at the head of probably the strangest posse ever assembled in the west. One Marshall, one Irish bank robber/cowboy and thirty of the finest light cavalry in the world.

The posse circled around the Soddy and came up on the blind side of the house built from prairie sod. One of the Comanche braves climbed out onto the roof of the Soddy and stuffed a big clump of sod into the chimney. Within minutes they could hear the swearing and shouting coming from inside the house. Five men ran, pell-mell, out of the door, right into the arms of the Comanche. Not a shot was fired, but one of the men keeled over and died right there on the spot. He probably died of fright. "You men are under arrest for the murder of a Rider of the Nicola Valley Ranch. Two of you did it and we tracked you here. But if you don't tell us who actually shot the rider, you'll all hang or maybe I'll just give you to the Comanche. Now boys, what'll it be? The rider you shot was a girl." The men who had nothing to do with the killing, immediately pointed out the two who did. Derrick had Sean tie the two men to their saddles and was about to let the others go when one of the braves rode up and told Derrick there were some fat steers in a corral over the next rise and the stock was white faced. The Comanche braves were ordered by White Buffalo to tie the others to their saddles too, and the braves did so with much glee and many threats.

Derrick, Sean, and White Buffalo rode into the yard at the Nicola Ranch, with the five men, and thirty-five white faced steers. One steer was shot and skinned. The brand on the inside of the hide was the winged H. Roddy stood looking at the five man for a long time. Amy was staring stonily at them too. Then Roddy stepped down from the veranda and shook Derrick's hand. turned to the War Chief of the Comanche Nation and shook his hand, hold- ing it longer than the others. He had tears in his eyes as he thanked White Buffalo. The Comanche was stone faced as he held Amy's hand and told her how sorry the whole nation was that the little one had died. Then he asked Roddy if he could watch them hang. Roddy assured him that no one in St. Louis would cause any harm to the War Chief of the Comanche's, father of the wife of a Rider of the Nicola.

The two men who had killed Caroline were hanged, and the other three were sentenced to long prison terms. White Buffalo went home, and the big ranch slowly returned to normal. But without the laughter and the beauty of the lovely Caroline.

Angus Linebarger was fourteen when the outlaws killed his younger sister Caroline. He attended the little school where all the other kids attended and he had as much fun as any teenager could have. He was a real devil when it came to pulling pranks on the girls and the teacher, but in the last couple of months, the jokes and tricks seemed to go flat and the girls didn't seem so bad after all, especially Sid Cash's daughter, Mary Jean. He really wished he'd had time to tell Caroline how much he adored her, even if she was younger than him and a girl to boot.

Little Roddy, as everyone called him, went to the hanging of the outlaws who had killed Caroline. He truly hated those men. One day, months after the hanging, he asked his father if he could look at his U.S. Marshall's badge. Roddy took the battered piece of tin from his desk drawer and handed it to his son. Angus Linebarger felt a sensation flow though him like a bolt of lightening. "Dad, I know what I want to spend my life doing." He told his father. "What's that son?" "I want to be a lawyer and a lawman. I want to be able to punish people who do what those men did to our Caroline and I want to be right when they hang for their crimes or are punished in some other way." Roddy looked at Angus for some time, then stood and said. "Lets saddle up and ride into town. I have someone for you to talk to."

Roddy and Angus rode into St. Louis and went to the office of Judge Abrams. They were ushered into the inner office, the Judge's private office. "What can I do for you gents?" The Judge asked. "Angus wants to study law and become a lawyer as well as a lawman." Roddy told his old friend, Judge Abrams. "Ah, now that's a fine thing for you Angus. I want to help you any way I can. I will write my Alma Mater and as soon as you finish high school, we'll get you in there." The Judge said. "Where is your Alma Mater sir?" Angus asked. "I never thought you'd ask, and since your father never has asked, I'll tell you. It's the University of Virginia." Judge Abrams said with a big grin at Roddy. "Do you mean to tell me you were a Virginian all these years and you never told me?" Roddy burst out laughing. "Yes Roddy I am but I fought for the Union during the war and I think my name has been removed from the rolls of those people who they want to invite to their yearly Cotillions. But they did teach me something back there and I think they will teach this hardheaded little Linebarger something too. As soon that is, as he stops playing tricks on the girls and the teachers. Oh yes, I've heard all about you young man, and I think you will make a fine lawyer and lawman. Now since you're already a year ahead in your studies, I think you should go live for a year with White Buffalo and let him teach you how to track men, horses and cattle." It was one of Judge Abrams better speeches. Two weeks later, Roddy, Angus and Josh McIntosh rode into the Comanche camp on the Wachita River. White Buffalo welcomed his friend from St. Louis. Roddy asked White Buffalo, through his interpreter Josh, to take his son and train him as a Comanche tracker. The Chief stood up from the fire where they were all seated. He walked to the edge of the river and stood there for several minutes. When he returned to the fire, his eyes were still moist.

"I have never had such and honor before. I will make the son of Amy, the best tracker in the Comanche Nation and when he returns to you he will be a blood brother of my youngest son, Broken Lance. You may go home now and I will have another son. Roddy rode out of the Comanche camp with a heart full of emotion. On one hand he knew he was doing the best thing for the boy, and on the other hand he was afraid he might lose the boy completely. The freedom of the open plains was a strong magnet to a young man vice the drudgery of working a huge cattle ranch. Josh sensed Roddy's turmoil and said to him. "You won't lose him Roddy but he'll come back a better man." The year slipped by rapidly, with long trips across the plains for the young white boy. He would be taken, blindfolded for two days across the wide expanses and left tied up, just tight enough for the braves to get away. Then he must track them back to a camp. When he attained the camp, he must approach with stealth and 'capture' the braves who were his teachers. Once the old tracker let him get within a mile of the camp, then he leaped from the bushes where he had set up an ambush for him. The master tracker examined the feet of young Angus Linebarger. He told him, "Amy of Nicola has tiny feet, Virginian has regular feet, where you get feet of buffalo? You sound like a stampede. Make quiet!"

Now Angus would be known among the Comanche as White Antelope, because of the fact that the antelope has the best eyesight and is the quietest of the prairie animals. Angus' naming ceremony was to be held at the main camp in northern Texas. Roddy, Amy, and what seemed like half of the Nicola cowboys arrived in camp as Angus was making the final stalk of Standing Buffalo. The old tracker was proud of the youngster. He told Roddy that Angus had the best instincts for tracking and hunting he had ever seen. He related how Angus had beaten him several times and lately had been catching him every time. As Standing Buffalo was telling his story to the Chiefs, Roddy and Amy, a small child came into the circle of firelight. He was leading the pony the tracker had been riding. The beautiful Pinto pony was minus the saddle and bridle Standing Buffalo was so proud of. In sign language, written in clay on the horse's side was a message, telling him he could have his saddle and bridle back if he could find White Antelope. The whole camp was laughing. Standing Buffalo had left his saddle with his wife! Now the young, white, upstart of a tracker had stolen it.

"White Antelope makes a pretty good thief too." The old tracker laughed. It took the whole camp plus Roddy and his crew three days to find Angus. The old tracker had taught him how to hide too. Angus was less than a half mile from the camp, and watched the search with glee. When all the hunters had left on the third day and got out of sight of the camp, Angus strolled into camp with Standing Buffalo's saddle and bridle across his shoulder and when the tired men returned at dark, Angus was sitting at the fire talking to his mother, who was overjoyed at her son's victory. The naming ceremony took place that night before Angus could get away again. The Naming Ceremony was impressive and after it was finished, White Antelope went away from the camp to a copse of trees and returned to the firelight leading a golden mare had a white mane and tail, and a springing walk. Her eyes showed her intelligence and impishness. The second horse was a blue roan colt. He gave the reins of the mare to Standing Buffalo and said, "My first father is Roddy, of the Virginia country. My second father is White Buffalo, War Chief of the Comanche Nation. My third and last father is Standing Buffalo, my teacher. These horses are the son and daughter of the Mean Blue Roan. The colt already has the attitude of the stallion, which was his father. He goes to the War Chief. The mare has the heart of the Mean Blue Roan and I give her to my teacher, and to my teacher I get to give some advice. Watch out when you get near brier patches. She has the same sense of humor her father has."

The trip was long, but everyone enjoyed the stories, which Angus told of his year with the Comanches and the tricks which Standing Buffalo pulled on him. But Roddy sensed a maturity about the boy and so did Amy. They talked about it when they were alone. Several of the riders told Roddy they had noticed a new strength in the boy. There were two very proud parents riding back to the Nicola Valley Ranch.

The cattle were fat and the cross breeding which Purvis Hasslebaad had started worked well. They were now shipping beef to Chicago and New York The cowboys spent almost as much time riding the trains as they spent in the saddle. Times were booming for the big ranch.

Amy told Roddy she would like to take the children to where her mother was buried. To see her roots. The trip would go through Virginia to see Fair Oaks. Tina and Sara would travel there to see their families and friends. Jodie would make the whole trip. She was to see things astounding to a fifteen year old girl. She would be by the side of Vicky when they saw the big clock in London and would cry with her at the grave of her grandmother, in a sleepy church graveyard by the Army Post where Grandpa Angus had served.

Roddy told Amy he would go see the third Nicola Valley which Tom Col- ridge had written about, while she was gone. So after seeing all the women children off on the train, Roddy, Nate, Jess and Ty returned to the ranch and loaded packhorses. Roddy was leaving Derrick and Ham in charge of the ranch while they went exploring. Roddy mounted the Mean Blue Roan, after discussing with him the imminent death he would inflict on him if he put on a 'show'. Roddy picked up the lead rope of a pack animal and headed northwest. It was a strange procession riding out of the valley where they stopped to tell Purvis about another Nicola Valley, far to the northwest of his little Garden of Eden. There were two Confederate Veterans who had once been slaves and had only recently stopped calling the son of the man who had been their owner and military commander, Massa. Then rode a man who had been a great prize fighter but was now the best cowboy of the group. Finally, a tall cowboy who was a Virginian by birth, son of a Confederate Colonel and a man who was now a millionaire. They rode down the trail, which Ty had blazed, to Fort McRae, where they saw some of the cattle they had delivered there each year. Leaving Fort McRae, where they had all been welcomed as friends, they rode out across the plains toward Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory. They rode along streams and through tall grass that once had seen millions of buffalo grazing on the rich prairie grasses, but now held piles of their bones, bleaching in the hot Kansas sun.

They had good laughs as Jackson pitched Roddy into the only bunch of briers within a hundred miles. There were at least five times between Fort McRae and Fort Kearney that Roddy swore to shoot the Mean Blue Roan. They had a couple of fights with outlaws but none with the Indians they saw as they rode through the hunting grounds of several different tribes. The word had gone out among the tribes. The men who rode the Flying H horses were friends of the Comanche Nation and were not to be harmed. No one wanted those swift cavalrymen after them. As they crossed the Platte River, a few miles from the town which had grown up around the Army Post, they talked about the men who had explored this vast land. "But boss, ain't we doing the same thang?" Ty asked. "Yes, but we don't have the Kiowa's, the Cheyenne the Sioux or the Crow Indian tribes to contend with." Roddy explained. "I've heard the only buffalo left are up in Montana, Idaho and the Oregon Territory. But we may see some when we get into Canada." "Are we really going to Canada, Roddy?" Nate asked him. "When I was still a slave, I dreamed of going there. Now I'm a free man and I'm still going." Everyone laughed at Nate's statement, but Roddy knew he meant every word. Slavery, to Roddy, was just as abominable as it was to his father. "You know Nate." Roddy said, "It's odd that you fought the people whose idea it was to free the slaves." "That wasn't the reason I fought with the Colonel, Roddy, it was because I couldn't stand to see Virginia overrun by them bluebellies Pardon me Ty. I's a free man today, not 'cause o' de war. But 'cause yo' daddy gave me that freedom. But if you do what ah thinks you gonna' do, I wants to live in that valley in that country they calls Canada." "That you will Nate, that you will." Roddy told him.

The little group rode through the Wyoming Territory, crossing the Little Big Horn River. It was there, beside the stream, Jesse Coldridge sat his horse for several hours, looking at the little river which ran merrily along. Jess thought of the boy who had died along this river's banks. Then with his eyes filled with tears, in a rich baritone voice he sang "Rock of Ages" to his dead son. Roddy, Nate and Ty stood nearby with their hats in their hands until the last words of the hymn faded from Jess's lips. Then they rode slowly toward the Rocky Mountains, which were hanging in the sky before them. They saw the bubbling ground and the great geysers in what would someday be known as Yellowstone Park. They rode across mountains to find the Snake River. They crossed the Snake near the falls in Idaho and on across the high country to Fort Pendleton on the big Columbia River. They had ridden fifty miles along the awesome gorge the Columbia had gouged along the soft sandstone mountains at the edge of the great highlands of Oregon. The men ferried across the Columbia at Fort Pendleton and struck north toward Fort Okanagan. Ninety six days after they left St. Louis, Roddy, Nate, Jess and Ty looked down on the valley in southern British Columbia called the Nicola. The valley ran north and south for miles and it was a sea of grass. Timbered ridges surrounded the valley and there was water a'plenty, as a large natural lake practically filled one end of the valley. But.......there were no Buffalo.

"This is where I want to finish my life." Said Nate. Then you stay here and build you a house Nate." Said Roddy, "I'll bring you a herd next year and the last part of the Nicola will be here, unless you find another valley in Alaska. From Fair Oaks in Virginia, to Missouri, to British Columbia. Now boys that'll be a fair sized spread!" Roddy told them as they all laughed.

Next day they set their boundaries with Cairns of stone. Inside each cairn they placed a piece of wood, branded with the Winged H. Roddy and Ty rode into the town of Kamloops and filed their claims on two hundred thousand acres of the Nicola Valley. Leaving Kamloops, they rode back with a man who had a waterwheel powered sawmill on two wagons. They would build a waterwheel in the stream, flowing by the hillside where Nate would build a home, and saw the timber for the houses, barns and sheds. After all was going well, Roddy, Jess and Ty headed south and east toward Missouri, leaving Nate to build Sara a home and get ready to receive the herd which Ty would bring back to the Canadian Ranch which would also be called, Nicola

16........ THE MEAN BLUE ROAN IS GONE

The three men rode back across the mountains into Montana and stopped for several days in Butte. Then southeast where they saw the Buffalo. There were several thousand grazing along the river they wanted to see. They stopped on a hilltop overlooking the Little Big Horn and saw the graves which were there and knew that in one of them lay a Rider of the Nicola. "Tina will be happy we stopped here Roddy." Jess told him, "Thank you." The trio traveled on into the Dakotas and skirting the Black Hills rode into Fort Dodge in Iowa. There they saw the familiar Flying H brand on the cattle grazing near the fort and found Ham and ten cowboys who had just delivered five hundred head of Nicola steers to the Army. Stories of the trip to Canada were told that night and the news from St. Louis were caught up on as well. The whole crew headed south toward the home ranch next day and within two weeks, rode into the Nicola Ranch yard...and chaos.

Amy had returned from England several days before their arrival and was happy to see Roddy and the Mean Blue Roan. But they were all dumbstruck when Roddy told them that in the early spring they would take twenty-five hundred head of cattle, five hundred horses, Sara and her household across half a continent to the Nicola Valley in British Columbia. Sara was the first to speak.

"That Nate dreamed about running off to Canada when he was a boy. Now he's old enough to know better, he's done it." Roddy laughed and told Sara. "Well he'll have a house ready when you get there. You know, there's a railroad clear across this country now and the rails are creeping up toward Seattle. In a couple of years there'll be rail all the way up to Vancouver. And when they do, Amy and I'll be coming to see ya'll every year." Judge Abrams came out to the Ranch shortly after they had all returned and handed Angus and Vicky each a letter. It was their acceptance to the University of Virginia. Angus' letter went on to explain that all tuition and fee had been paid by an anonymous donor. Judge Abrams would not admit it but everyone knew he had paid the fees

When the final tally was taken of the cattle that would walk to Canada there were over three thousand. All of them were prime breeding stock. Some o f the best from those Herfords Roddy had brought from Kentucky and which General Longstreet had brought over from England. Now they would cross the plains, rivers and mountains to found a new ranch in the great Northwest. "I wish I was going with you Ty." Roddy said to his ramrod of this epic journey. "Yeah boss, I'm gonna miss watching that Roan pitch you into every bunch of briers between here and Canada." Ty said with a grin.

There were three wagons with the drive. Two held Sara's belongings and the third was a chuck wagon to feed the crew. The crew asked Tina to go as cook, but she said she'd better stay home. Nate's son, David was going on the trail as scout. Sara and the three girls, who were women now, would go by train to San Francisco, then by boat to Vancouver where Nate would fetch them out to the new Ranch.

The herd moved out in late February and would not reach the new ranch until late October or November. Roddy and Amy, with Jess and Tina took Sara and the girls to St. Louis to catch the train. After fond farewells at the new "Central Station", Roddy, Amy and Tina rode home in the buggy while Jess rode his horse back to the Ranch.

When they arrived, there was a lot of commotion at the barn. Roddy and Jess rushed to find out what the trouble was. Cowboys stood around with their hats in their hands as Roddy looked into the stall at the Mean Blue Roan, who lay on his side in the soft hay. His breathing was labored and he rolled his eyes at the Virginian who knelt by his side. Amy hurried into the stall and cradled the horse's head in her lap. The Mean Blue Roan made a low nicker to them both. The light faded from his eyes and the harsh breathing stopped. Roddy placed his hand on the neck of his oldest friend and Amy wept The Mean Blue Roan was buried near Purvis, out there in the little valley. There were almost as many people who came to see the Roan buried as came when Purvis was laid to rest. Cattlemen, Rodeo people, those who had watched the bouts between Roddy and the Mean Blue Roan came too. There was a headstone which read:

JACKSON

A MEAN BLUE ROAN

THE HEART OF THE NICOLA

Angus and Vicky both graduated from High School in June. It was Vicky who came first because she had better grades. Angus was second in his class with Travis O'Bannion, Ham's son, coming third. The three youngsters were so happy they had gotten through the years of school and were ready to go ahead with their lives. Travis was a bit disappointed when he had been required to finish High School instead of going on the cattle drive to British Columbia. Angus and Vicky were going to Virginia and Travis would start work on the ranch full time. At least that's what he thought. Maybe he could talk the boss into letting him catch up with the herd. He knew he was in love with Vicky, but she was the Boss's daughter, so he kept his distance. The Boss, Miss Amy, Ham and his wife, approached the kids. Roddy spoke to the youngsters. "Angus, since you and Vicky are going to the University of Virginia next year, how would you like some company?" "What do you mean Dad?" Angus asked him, a curious look on his face. "Well they have an animal husbandry course there and we thought since you are going into law, and Vicky has her cap set for this Irish Comanche, we all thought Mr. O'Bannion here would need that course if he's going to run the Nicola one day." The three young people gaped at the adults for at least thirty seconds. Then Angus let out a chilling Comanche War Cry and the trio were hugging each other and jumping up and down with happiness. That Travis O'Bannion would one day be the General Manager of the Nicola Holdings, fit perfectly into Miss Victoria Linebarger's plans for him. Not unlike her mother, she knew she would marry Travis. Travis O'Bannion realized his future had just been assured, if he could get through the next four years of University. Then Vicky asked a question which would upset the cowboys of the Nicola for a long time. "Dad, since we have until September to get ready for school, may I go on the drive to Fort McRae this year?" "Yes you may." said Roddy. "No you may not." said Amy. She went on the drive.

The drive to Fort McRae was a grand event that year. The trip out to Fort McRae was a fairly easy drive. Angus rode scout, and Travis was on the point Vicky had to ride drag and since Ham was the ramrod he made sure the three youngsters did their share of work. It was the only drive in the history of the ranch that cowboys vied with each other to ride drag. Normally the riders on the sides (Swing Riders) rotated positions each day. Point and drag stayed the same. Point because of the experience of the hand, and drag because drag was where neophytes started. On this drive, the cowboys insisted they be allowed to rotate through drag too. Riding drag was bad, but with the company of a lovely girl, it wasn't so bad. It soon became obvious to all, Vicky was only interested in Travis, but the cowboys were stuck with drag anyway. Three hundred head of the crossbred steers wound their way through the hill country and the Ozarks to the little fort on the edge of the plains. The trip to Fort McRae had always been a pleasure for the crew from the Nicola, until this time.

The Army had a tangle with the a band of Osage and had lost several troopers in the fight. So, when Travis O'Bannion led the Nicola steers into the fort, some hard words were said to the son of a Comanche woman. Hamilton O'Bannion heard the slurs, and simply turned the herd east. The Commander of the fort rode hard to catch up with the now, eastbound herd. "Where are you going Mr. O'Bannion?" The Major asked him. Ham looked at the Major with steely eyes and said. "I don't care if you've had a bad time with the Osage. They're not Comanche and that boy is half Comanche. He's also half Irish....MY HALF. He is my son. If you want these steers, you'd better get those two second looies out here and apologize before we cross that first set of hills. Because we won't turn around again if we're beyond there." There were a lot of Irish NCOs in the U. S. Army in those days and very few West Point Graduates from Indiana. Major Huddleston knew who ran the Army, at least who got things done, and he knew the esteem in which ex- Sergeant Hamilton O'Bannion was held by the Irishmen at Fort McRae. He asked Ham to hold the herd until he returned with the young officers who made the remarks. No one ever had ever talked to the green officers in the manner the crusty old Major of Cavalry talked to them that day. Needless to say, their apologies were sincere.

As the muggy heat of summer in Missouri began to turn into cooler weather the trio began to prepare for the trip to Virginia. Amy was adamant she would go with the youngsters and see them settled in the home of Harold and Penelope McPherson, a classmate of Judge Abrams. With much noise, hoopla and wailing by the Comanche wives, the Queen of the Nicola departed with her charges in tow. They rode across the river on the ferry and caught the train to Chicago. Amy tearfully realized it was the same train she and Roddy had traveled on to Chicago twenty years before.

Travis was amazed at the size of the buildings in Chicago and all the people. Travis had never seen so many people. Angus and Vicky had been there before so, they were his shepherds as they saw the great city. They spent one night in Chicago, then caught the train to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the train made a short stop at Gettysburg, Vicky told Travis about the battle which had taken place here and how her Grandfather Jackson Linebarger as well as Nate and Jess, had received wounds which would eventually take Jackson Line- barger's life. The three youngsters had such heritage. Their lives came from English, Irish, and Comanche Stock, with a large dose of the Old South thrown in for good measure. It was at that short stopover Amy realized how their lives would be meshed together. Travis and Vicky were very much in love and Angus would surely marry Mary Jean Cash, another child of the Comanche. She realized just how proud she was of these Children of the Nicola and the tears ran down her lovely cheeks. When Vicky asked her mother why she was crying, Amy replied, "I'm just so happy!"

After Amy got the three young people settled and made a visit to Fair Oaks, she returned to Missouri. She told Roddy that her life was now complete and she would be happy forever. Of course Roddy was completely baffled by his lovely wife. All the while, Nicola cattle were headed toward the Great Northwest.....

17.............THE GREAT TRAIL DRIVE......NORTHWEST

The cattle streamed down out of the Ozarks onto the prairie country of western Missouri and Kansas. Ty Harding led the herd toward the great northwestern ranch, which Nate was getting ready. David Coldridge was riding as scout and would do so all the way across the great land they were crossing. He found he had a partner out in front of the herd, searching for water and resting places. Broken Lance was the son of the Comanche War Chief who had sent his son and twelve of his braves to ride trail with the Flying H riders.

White Buffalo was a far seeing man and he could see the days of the open country, which the Comanche needed, was coming to and end. He sent word to Roddy, asking him to train his braves as cattlemen. Roddy had been delighted with his request, but he sent word the herd had left almost a month before, bound for British Columbia, but they could find them somewhere along the route he had planned with Ty and Jess. The thirteen Comanche waited until the cowboys were spread out along the length of the herd and then with a silent, swift approach rode up behind the three riders who were on drag. The cowboys never had a chance to do anything. One moment the trail was just dusty, the next it was filled with the tall silent Comanche. Ty spotted the braves and rode back to see what was going on.

Broken Lance explained to Ty about the deal White Buffalo had made with Roddy and gave him the letter from Roddy authorizing him to take on the braves for the drive. Then Broken Lance asked if he could ride out there with David. Ty gave his approval and the young Comanche went riding off to find the black man who had become his friend. Over the years, when the Comanche visited the Nicola, David always took Broken Lance on every expedition the boys made. Now the Comanche youngster was looking for his friend, David Coldridge. He spotted the scout as he was inbound to the herd. The Warrior hid in some trees and as the black man rode by, the red man came tearing out of the trees, bellowing out the War Cry of the Comanche. David had spotted the Indian and recognized him but waited to let him have his fun. As the Comanche came out of the trees, David drew his pistol and shot up half the valley. Then he threw up his hands in surrender, laughing like a madman. The two friends leaped from their horses and clasped each others arms in friendship. "Scared you almost white, didn't I?" Broken Lance laughed with glee. "You almost got your red hide full of holes!" Retorted David. For the rest of the drive the two men would ride together, never failing to find the best crossings of the rivers, the best water for the herd and gave warnings of any problems which were ahead for the crew from Missouri.

The warm, humid weather of Missouri gave way to the dry, dusty heat of the plains. Even though it was late April, the heat had begun t set in over the dry plains. Water was still not a problem as they followed the meandering course of the Platte River. But the Kiowa Indians were starving and a herd of cattle the size of this one was an open invitation to stealing. Ty asked the Comanche Warriors to talk to the Kiowa and explain they did not want to hurt them but the Nicola would not condone stealing from the herd. The Comanche had little respect for the band that lived most of the year along the Platte. They had gotten guns before the Comanche and had used them against the southern tribe on many occasions. It was the opinion of Broken Lance and other Warriors that the Kiowa should starve and not bother talking to them. If they tried to steal cattle, they would be shot like any other coyote. Ty could not stand to see anyone starve so with the help of several Nicola cowboys he drove ten head down to the river and left them there for the lowly Kiowa.

The drive crossed the South Platte and headed slightly north of west toward the city of Cheyene in the Wyoming Territory. The days went by quickly as the herd of cattle moved into higher land and the heat began to dissipate somewhat. Cheyene was where they planned to lay over for a week in order to reprovision and rest. They had driven pretty hard across the endless plains and were now ready to pick up one of the immigrant trails over the Rocky Mountains. It was already early June and the trail wasn't even half over yet. If they continued at this pace, they would have to lay over somewhere for the winter. Ty wanted to have the cattle into British Columbia before the first of December.

It took the rest of June and most of July to move through the Rockies. The perils came to meet them at every turn. But the Arapaho scout which David and Broken Lance had found in Cheyene knew the best way through the granite peaks and deep valleys. It took the herd twenty-one days of hard work to get from Cheyene to Fort Steel and forty more days before they sighted the stock ade at Fort Bridger. The cattle had leaned down quite a bit as they crossed the Rockies and the Continental Divide. Ty jokingly told the crew the rest of the way would be downhill after the Great Divide. He was right too, until they found themselves climbing toward the next pass. Several of the crew threatened to string Ty up at the next tree if he told any more whoppers like that.

The herd laid over at Fort Bridger for five days while the cowboys repaired the equipment and wagons that had taken such a hard beating while crossing the mountains. Then with good directions from the mountain man who ran the fort, old Jim himself, they strung out the herd toward Fort Walla Walla, crossing northeastern Utah, southern Idaho and the high plateau country of eastern Oregon. Bridger had scouted the route all the way up to Fort Okanagan in north central Washington and claimed the cattle would have better going by staying south of the Snake River. He was right. A lot of the route which Bridger laid out for Josh, was like a wide road to the northwest The rivers they had to cross were swift but the cattle had no problems fording the cold rushing streams. From the time they left Fort Bridger in western Wyoming until they spied Fort Walla Walla seventy-one days had slipped by. When they arrived at Fort Walla Walla they found they had to cross not only the Snake but the Columbia as well. There were ferries across both rivers but the owners both told Ty he would have to pay ten cents a head for cows and horses, one dollar per man, and three dollars for each wagon. With over three thousand head of stock and fifty cowboys and Comanche Braves, here wasn't enough money to buy passage for them all. The ferry owners told Ty he could use five hundred head of cattle for the fees to ferry the rest across. Ty told Josh to hold the herd south of Fort Walla Walla. He promised to come back with good news. Ty, David and Broken Lance rode up the Snake River for fifteen miles and found a crossing which at this time of the year, (Low water) would allow the herd to cross without the aid of their ferries. Ty went back for the herd and sent David and Broken Lance toward the upper Columbia to find a crossing of that stream. As the last of the Nicola cattle came up out of the Snake, they were met by David and Broken Lance. There was a crossing of the Columbia much like this one on the Snake, about two hundred miles up river at Fort Spokane, but was a hundred miles east of their course.

"Lead out David, head for Fort Spokane. I'll beat those ferrymen at their own game or die trying." Ty told the scouts. Twenty-two days later the herd crossed the Columbia River at Fort Spokane and turned more to the west for Fort Okanagan and the Canadian Border.

The trees had turned to gold and the frost was on the herd and the cowboys now. It was November and the race was on to get to the Nicola Valley in British Columbia. Nate heard the cattle were crossing the Columbia and he was riding back and forth like an old mother hen, urging the cowboys to push the herd. Snow would come soon and sure enough as the herd entered the valley of the Okanagan River, snow could be seen frosting the tops of the mountains. From every town or Fort where he could send a telegram, Ty kept Roddy informed as to the progress of the herd toward the Northwest. When he received a wire in November telling him the herd had crossed the Columbia at Fort Spokane and was headed for Canada, Roddy told Amy he must go. She agreed it was time. Since the death of Jackson, Roddy was not himself. Oh, he rode the ranch with the other cowboys and took care of the details that come with running a giant Ranch, but he needed to do something which would give him an emotional outlet. He needed to be with his cowboys and the herd going to Canada. Jess took him to St. Louis, where he boarded a train, which would take him west. From San Francisco Roddy sailed on a lumber schooner to Seattle where he bought a big chestnut gelding and rode into the Cascade Mountains, finally arriving at what was left of Fort Okanagan Three days later he spotted the herd moving up the Okanagan River Valley. He waited by his campfire until Ty rode up. "I figured to see you somewhere along here boss." The cocky New Yorker told him "I had to come Ty, Jackson died and nothing seemed to be right any more." Roddy sadly told him. "I'm sure sorry to hear about that hoss. I don't think there was a better one anywhere." Ty said. "You just missed Nate. I'll bet he's rode a thousand miles back and forth since he got word we crossed the Columbia. I figure ten more days and we'll be there. But Nat will probably be here at least three more times Ty told Roddy as he laughed delightedly. Then Ty said, "One more thing though, I'm gonna stay up here with Nate. I'm gonna marry one of his girls and hep him run this end of the Nicola. "OK, I think that would be great," Roddy said, "Have you told Nate yet? "Nah, I didn't have to. Joanna told him when I got here, she wasn't gonna let me go back or she was going with me. I sure woulda' like to have been there when ol' Nate put that in his pipe."

Roddy roared with laughter, wishing he too, could have seen that confrontation. Five days later Nate rode into the evening camp. Roddy was behind the chuck wagon when the ex-Confederate Cavalry Sergeant rode up and asked, "Can't you damn-yankee boys drive cattle any faster than this? You ain't more than forty miles from where I left you." Roddy called out from behind the chuck wagon, "We're bringing 'em Sergeant Major, we're a bringing 'em." Then Roddy stepped out into the firelight. Nate stared for a second then let out a whoop "Now we'll get some cows, Massa Roddy is a bringing 'um. Nate leaped from his horse and clasped Roddy's shoulder "I s'pose this Yankee don' told you he's a stealing one o' my young heifers and he plans to stay here wif' me." "Yeah," said Roddy. "He did and I'm glad to hear it. "Me too." said Nate, "Me too. They camped the last night on the trail only a few miles from the new Nicola Ranch and about noon the next day, with Nate, Ty, David and Broken Lance on the point, drove the herd into the valley. Sara and her girls, Joanna, Louann, and Jodie, stood on the porch of the house Nate had built and watched the cattle move onto the fine grass. The movement gradually stopped They were home. It was Christmas Day

18..............ANGUS BECOMES A MARSHALL

Angus Linebarger graduated seventh in his class at the University of Virginia. His sister, Victoria and his best friend Travis O'Bannion, graduated the same day he did. Vicky had majored in Education while Travis got his degree in Animal Husbandry. Travis was half Comanche and half Irish the son of a lovely Comanche woman and the Irish Range Boss of the Nicola Ranch. He had the brown complexion of the Comanche and the red hair of the Irish, and he was in love with Vicky. Travis would one day run the huge ranch in Missouri and oversee the other holdings of the Nicola Corporation. Vicky would help him run the ranch and be his wife. Their lives were set. Angus had his Law Degree and was all set to take the bar exam when they got back to Missouri, but first he must travel to Washington, D.C. as his acceptance as a United States Marshall candidate had arrived five days before his graduation.

Angus arrived at the office of Jedadiah Harrison, Chief Marshall. He shook hands with the prominent and famous lawman and handed him a sealed letter from Judge Abrams in St. Louis. Jed sat in his big office chair and read the letter. He looked up at Angus several times, then continued to read the letter. When he finished it, he went back and reread several parts of the letter, then said to Angus.

"I don't think I've ever read a letter like this from a man as respected as Judge Abrams. If you were his son, I'd expect something like this. Just what is your relationship with the Judge?"

"Sir, Judge Abrams is my God-father, he is the legal advisor to the Nicola Valley Ranch, my father's friend and partner in several of the Nicola enter- prises. He is also the man who sentenced to death, the two men who killed my sister. I went to him to get advice as to how I could become one of the lawmen who could hopefully put a stop to killings such as what happened on our ranch. He also recommended I live with the Comanche and learn to track men, and too, I should apply to you for the right to do that." Angus said to the old Marshall.

"Well son, you've come to the right place. We'll put you through our school here and I will personally send you to the District of Missouri, to work for Judge Abrams. He doesn't know it yet but he's about to be named a Federal Judge, to head the Federal District of Missouri. His territory will include Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma. You will be one of the first U. S. Marshals assigned to him. You are also the first man to come to us wit a college degree and a desire to uphold the law. School starts in August. Now get yourself home to Missouri for your sister's wedding, and say hello to the Judge for me. But you keep mum about the upcoming appointment. I think you'll still be home when it comes through. You can laugh at the Judge for me when you tell him you knew about it and he didn't find out." Jed Harrison grinned as he extended his hand to the new recruit.

Angus left Jed Harrison's office and went directly to the train station. He caught the train to Chicago and St. Louis. When he arrived at the Nicola Ranch, the place was in an uproar. There were tepees all over the pasture just below the house. The Comanche were here. Cowboys were dashing to fro to the barking orders of Hamilton O'Bannion, Travis' father. The orders came from Miss Amy, the beautiful English woman who was Angus' mother. His father, Roddy, watched him come riding into the yard with a big grin on his face.

"Welcome home son, how was the trip to Washington?" "Come into your office Dad, I have some wonderful news for you alone." Angus told his father of his conversation with Jed Harrison and what was going to happen for Judge Abrams, and that he couldn't tell the Judge. "You know son, Judge Abrams married me and your mother, and he's going to marry Vicky and Travis over yonder in the little valley. I don't think you could work for a finer man in all the West." Roddy told Angus with a lot of emotion. The wedding of Victoria Amelia Linebarger to Travis Hamilton O'Bannion took place in a little valley, just west of the main ranch buildings. It was a beautiful little valley and it was from this valley the Nicola Valley Ranch derived its name. In the valley there were three graves. The first was the grave of the man who started the ranch. He was a man called Purvis Hasslebaad, who had been born in Switzerland and immigrated to America to become a cowboy. When he died from a rattlesnake bite, he left all of his wealth to Roddy. Roddy had married Amelia Louise Victoria Longstreet in the little valley. The second grave was of Caroline, the younger sister whom Angus had adored and who had been killed in a gunfight with outlaws, while trying to save the cattle they were rustling. The Third grave was of a Mean Blue Roan, the grandfather of the horse which Angus would ride as a U.S. Marshall. The cowboys who had known the stallion revered the horse. Angus' father still had not gotten over the death of the horse. That's why, when he told Roddy what he wanted to do, Roddy gave him the colt and walked away with tears in his eyes.

But today was a day of celebration. Today would see and even stronger bond between the Nicola Valley Ranch and the Comanche Nation. The grandson of the War Chief of the Comanche was about to marry the daughter of the Nicola. Cowboys had built an Altar in the same place where Roddy and Amy had been married, and decorated it the same. When the Comanche came, they made additions to the decorations with Eagle Feathers and furs. The setting was beautiful that June day. The Comanche were in their finest Regalia. The cowboys were in their best boots and hats. Judge Abrams wore his best robe of office. Roddy came dressed in a fine new suit and Amy wore a lovely rose-colored dress, which accented Roddy's suit. The bridegroom had gone through the Comanche purification process and though he was dressed in a gray suit and boots, he was just as scared as his father had been when he'd married the Comanche maiden in the Summer Camp of the Comanche Nation, twenty two years before.

A fine, enclosed phaeton, drawn by matched palominos rolled up to the group. Roddy stepped to the door and took the hand of his daughter. As she stepped down from the carriage, a gasp went up from the assembled wedding party. Vicky's long blonde hair was done up in a single plait, which hung to her waist, down over the pure white elk skin wedding dress of Cathleen O'Bannion. It was decorated with shells and quills. The moccasins were white and had beaded designs on them. Tears flowed that day, and not just from the women. The eyes of a Virginia born cowboy streamed, those of a bandy legged Irishman called Ham dripped tears on the vest his lovely Comanche wife had made him wear. But the stolid face of the War Chief, White Buffalo cracked into a grin of pure happi- ness and he cried tears of joy for the first time in his life, at the dress of the bride, and the significance of this union. Nowhere in the West would an Indian tribe become united with a group of white Ranchers as happened that day.

The reception and the party which followed the wedding of Travis and Vicky was a sight to see. Cowboys were dancing with their wives and girl friends. Indians were dancing in a great circle around the party, the drums beating almost as loud and the fiddles. In the middle of it all, a man arrive on a big roan horse. Angus recognized him right away. It was Jed Harrison come all the way from Washington. He climbed down off the horse and shook hands with Judge Abrams, then Angus and was introduced to Roddy, Am and White Buffalo.

Jed asked Angus, Roddy, Judge Abrams and White Buffalo to walk a ways up the hill with him. He stopped by the three graves and told them he had heard about the Mean Blue Roan and it was there by the stallion's grave, he told Judge Abrams of his new Commission, with Roddy and Angus grinning like demons at the new Federal Jurist. The Judge turned on Angus and Roddy, "You knew about this, and didn't tell me?" "Yes!" exclaimed Roddy, "but Mr. Harrison didn't want you to know. And you didn't find out. Fantastic!" Judge Abrams was beaming was he told Angus. "You had better pass the school this old law dog is sending you to, cause when I get MY hands on you, you'll be sorry you didn't tell your God-father."

19..........ANGUS EARNS A REPUTATION

Angus spent the rest of the summer as a clerk in the office of Judge Abrams. He helped the Judge set up the new court to which he had been appointed. He also listened to the Judge's stories and the lessons the old Jurist tried to pass on to him. Just as he was getting into the swing of the law offices, it was August and time for him to head back to Washington and the U.S. Marshall training program. As he left St. Louis, he was prepared to spend a year applying the law he had learned at the University of Virginia and hopefully some of the things Judge Abrams had passed on to him.

It was hot in Washington. Very Hot! The young men who were training to become lawmen were being put through test after test of strength and endurance. Angus remembered the heat of the Texas and Oklahoma prairies and the tests, which Standing Buffalo had put him through as, he spent his year with the Comanche learning to track men. The tests the other's thought un-endurable were child's play compared to the Comanche lessons. As the water poured off his brow, Angus waited his turn to get back at his instructors. Finally the strength and endurance test came to an end. Thirty seven men had started the class. Eleven remained. The following week it was time to take the field and apply what lessons they had learned about tracking and hiding.

They were taken to a large military reservation in Virginia (today it is called Quantico Marine Station and home to the FBI training school) and the tests started again. This time it was different, Angus had the edge on all the students and instructors. The reservation was hilly, covered with brush, and perfect for the type of training they must go through. Their first problem was to be blindfolded and taken to a different part of the huge reserve. They were tied up loosely, to give the instructors time to get away. Then they must track one of the instructors to a camp and 'capture' him. For five hours, Angus followed the trail of the instructor he was to find. Angus used every trick Standing Buffalo had taught him to locate the animal which Pete Tallman had ridden away from the place they had tied him. He was over a mile away from the camp the instructors had set up, when he spotted the old devil setting up an ambush for him. Angus crawled through the brush to within a hundred yards of the ambush site and when he felt he was hidden well, he went to sleep. When Angus awoke it was dark. He silently went through the stretching exercises he had learned from Standing Buffalo. Then he began his stalk of Pete Tallman. Pete was hunkered down next to the trail which led into the encampment. Pete was a woodsman who had no comparison, but he never heard the youngster who clamped a hand over his mouth and put a ten inch bowie knife at his throat.

"Not a sound Pete. I gotcha." Angus whispered. Angus snaked Pete's six-shooter from its holster and used a piggin' string t tie the hands of the lawman. Pete was solidly trussed and was chewing on hi handkerchief when Angus returned with the horse Pete had ridden. He also ha a second horse. It was the big black stallion Mr. Jedadiah Harrison rode, an was so proud of. Angus told Pete to listen for a while. Shortly there came a lot of cussin' from the instructors camp. Jed Harrison could really swear. His saddle, bridle, blanket and all the food his wife had packed for him was gone. Then he really exploded when he found the stallion gone too. One of the instructors found the note Angus had stuck on a broken branch of a bush. It read: If you want your horse back, you have to find me and Pete. I captured him and I needed another horse. A. Linebarger. At first there was silence, then someone snickered in the dark, then Jed laughed, loud and long. "You men find me that little.....*&#!!!!! And when you do, don't be gentle bringing him in."

Three days later the entire group of teachers. the rest of the students and Mr. Jed Harrison rode wearily into camp. Tied to a tree by his tent, Jed saw the stallion. The saddle and bridle were there but the food was gone and by the cook fire sat Pete and Angus. Pete began to laugh at the blustering boss of the Marshals, "My God boss, we haven't been more than three hundred yards from this camp for the last three days. You should have seen all you hoot owls huntin' this here Comanche. I know it's only been six months since we started this program, but, I think we can safely send White Antelope here to St. Louis to begin his career. This is one good man." Peter explained. "Judge Abrams said he was good." Jed mused. "OK Mr. Linebarger, here's your badge, get your tail out to Missouri!" Jed unfastened Pete Tallman's Badge and pinned it on Angus' chest. Pete grinned and said. "Wear it well Comanche, wear it well." Pete and the other instructors shook his hand then turned on the other students and yelled, "Back at it you characters."

Angus Roderick Linebarger arrived in St. Louis to quite a gala celebration. Roddy, Amy and the Judge met him at the ferry and took him to the fanciest hotel in St. Louis. Most of the crew from the ranch were there to congratulate the new Marshall. Travis and Vicky arrived late and Angus threw his arms around both of them. He was happy to see them and his sister happily told him. "It's good to have you home, Uncle Angus. You're a new Marshall now and in about six months you'll be a new uncle. You're the first to know." Then they told the whole crowd. The cheering was loud and boisterous. Finally at three thirty the next morning the hotel Manager threw them all out. There was a happy crowd that departed St. Louis for the Ranch.

The following Monday morning, Angus reported in at the Federal Court building in St. Louis. He met with Judge Abrams and the man in charge of the U.S. Marshals in the District of St. Louis, Marshall Ezakiah Zachary McEvoy. E.Z. McEvoy was one of the old breed of U.S. Marshals who really believed in what he was doing. Angus had impressed the instructors and Jed Harrison in Washington City, but now he belonged to E.Z.! He would work in St. Louis for at least six months before he would get an assignment. He would live with E.Z. and his wife Martha, until E.Z. felt he was ready to go into the field. It would be the hardest six months in Angus' life. It would also be the period where he would learn more about the job of being a United States Marshall than any other time of his career. Every morning he was rousted out of the blankets in the back yard of the house on Third Street. He ate trail fare, although E.Z. let him use a skillet to heat up what ever he got. Then he had to give E.Z. an hours start and trail him all day. E.Z. McEvoy knew every inch of the country around eastern Missouri. He led the young Marshall on some real merry chases. Angus was learning the country too, and one day toward the end of May, Angus caught him. The youngster stopped his horse just short of the top of a hill and surveyed the country ahead of him. He spotted E.Z. about two miles ahead of him. He had partially hidden his horse in some trees and laid out an ambush about a hundred yards from the horse. E. Z. had the area figured well and the only approach to the horse was by him. Angus cut across the hill and went down around the old Marshall and came out of the brush on the other side of the animal. Angus was getting to be the best horse thief in the U.S. Marshall Service. After stealing E.Z.'s horse he rode about a half mile and set up his own ambush. While he was waiting for E.Z. to get tired of waiting for him, he thought about the number of horses he had stolen from his teachers. First he had stolen the horse of Standing Buffalo, that and Jed Harrison's horse in Washington, now he had stolen the horse of a master of deception, one E.Z. McEvoy.

Presently Angus nodded off for a nap. He woke with a start. Not fifty yards down the trail was E.Z., following the obvious trail he had left for him. E.Z. was so mad he had completely forgotten all he had taught Angus about keeping calm when trailing bad men, and E.Z. was trailing a danged horse. He walked straight into the trap Angus laid out for him. Angus had turned turned the horses around and around to create lots of tracks in one spot. As E.Z. bent over to study the pell-mell tracks, a rope snaked out of the tree and dropped securely over his shoulders, pining his arms to his side. He couldn't get to his six gun or knife. E.Z. was slowly drawn off the ground. He was dangling about six feet in the air and cussin' a blue cloud. Then his horse was right beneath him and he was slowly lowered into the saddle. His feet were tied with piggin' strings into the stirrups. His hands were handcuffed behind him. Try as he might, he couldn't see Angus, as the youngster always stayed out of his sight. Then he was blindfolded and gagged. E.Z.'s horse began to move out. They trotted, then walked for what seemed like hours to E.Z.. He knew it was getting dark because it was getting cooler. All of a sudden his horse stopped. He heard a large door opening, then the horse moved a few steps and the door closed. E.Z. sat there for a long time. E.Z. felt a soft hand as it pulled the gag from his mouth and untied his feet. Finally the soft hands fitted a key into handcuffs and removed them. E.Z. jerked the blindfold from his eyes and looked into the blue eyes of his wife. Tears of laughter were streaming down Martha's cheeks and her bosom was shaking with mirth. "Why are you riding your horse in the Barn E. Z.?" Martha asked him. Then E.Z. began to laugh too. The barn was almost shaking with the laughter of the man and his wife. Finally E.Z. asked her. "Where is the little devil?" "He's sound asleep in his blankets, E.Z., and you leave him alone." she admonished the lawman. "Could I possibly get some supper, my love?" E.Z. asked with a grin. Angus woke with a start. It was already daylight and that old devil hadn't kicked him out of his blankets, but there was a short note beside him. It read: "Breakfast is ready if you'd care to partake. E.Z."

Angus left St. Louis with three other U. S. Marshals, bound for west Texas. The Vasquez gang had been raiding the ranches around Big Springs and they were to join the Texas Rangers in corralling the bandits. Angus, Jake McCormick, and 'Kiwi' Reginald Brown, rode into the Texas town of Big Springs late in the afternoon. They went to the Sheriff's office and met not only the Sheriff but, Captain Jess Jefferies of the Texas Rangers. Kiwi, who was originally from New Zeland had been a constable down under and Big Jake McCormick was from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. He was one of the biggest men Angus had ever seen. He was also one of the gentlest.

Captain Jefferies had ten Rangers with him and they had located the ruthless gang in the rolling hills west of Big Springs. With the U.S. Marshals, Cap Jefferies put together a plan. They would encircle the gang and capture them. Most of the Vasquez would hang when they were captured, so, they had nothing to lose by shooting their way out of a trap. Everybody was warned, and the posse of lawmen made their way west toward the canyon in which the outlaws were holed up. It was almost dark when they got near the canyon and began to spread out around the hole to cover the escape routes. Jake and Angus were assigned to cover a trail which ran out of the canyon to the south. There was a lot of brush along the trail and good hiding places for the Marshals. Then Jake told Angus to do his stuff. The attack would begin at sunup, so Angus had all night to practice his specialty......stealing horses.

Standing Buffalo, E.Z. and Jed Harrison as well as Judge Abrams would have been proud of the young Marshall as he stole fourteen horses from the outlaws over the long dark night. Two of the fine animals had the Flying brand on their hip. The brand of the Nicola. Angus actually stole back his fathers horses. When it began to get gray in the east, the posse came foggin' into the canyon after the outlaw gang. The bad men ran for their horses, but to their dismay, they found two jackasses tied to the picket line and nothing else. Their saddles were gone as well as their mounts. Not a shot was fired as the grim faced Marshals and Texas Rangers captured the hard eyed group of outlaws. Diego Vasquez was not among the bad men who were captured. He was somewhere in the canyon, afoot. Angus and Jake came riding in with the horses. The outlaws stared at the two lawmen who had all their fast horses on a line strung out behind the animals they were riding. Cap'n Jess told Angus the leader was afoot in the canyon somewhere. Angus dropped off the big blue roan stallion he was riding and began to search the outer fringes of the camp. Soon he found the boot prints of a large man who had a long stride.

He removed his boots and spurs, his chaps and pants. Then Angus put a breechclout, moccasins and a headband. He left his pistol with Jake and took off after Vasquez with only his bowie knife for a weapon "Might's well make coffee boys, White Antelope will be a while." Jake told the rest of the lawmen. "Who's White Antelope?" Asked Cap'n Jess. "Why it's that youngster what went after Diego." Laughed Jake and Kiwi at the same time. Then Kiwi explained about the year Angus had spent with the Comanches, Old White Buffalo's bunch. When he came home after a year with them, he could track a fly across a steer's rump. "He's good Cap." He'll probably make Diego come in and surrender himself, or wish he had."

Diego Vasquez was hid. Real good. He could watch the camp from the lair he had found and not be seen. The canyon was beginning to bake and there wasn't a breath of air stirring. Sweat poured off Diego's face as he watched the camp. When were the law dogs going to leave? Then he heard something moving through the leaves. He turned his head and stared right at a huge diamond backed rattler, sliding into the shade of his hidey hole. The outlaw came up out of the brush with a lunge. If there was anything Diego Vasquez hated, it was snakes. Then and arrow flew within inches of his head and on into the brush ahead of him. Diego whirled to see where the Indian was and only saw more brush.

The lawmen in the camp saw Vasquez come boiling out of the brush about halfway up the canyon wall. He was no more than five hundred feet from the camp. As the outlaw looked back at the camp, Cap'n Jess hollered at him "Better give yourself up Diego, there's a white Comanche after you and I wouldn't want you to get hurt. Vasquez dove back into the brush and began crawling along the side of the canyon. As he crawled around a large boulder he felt something snag the but of his pistol. He automatically reached to reseat the six-shooter in its holster It was gone. Now the outlaw was unarmed. He scrambled around the area looking for his pistol and suddenly he saw a footprint in the soft sand. It was a moccasin track and it had three crosses drawn in the bottom of the print. Diego was a superstitious man as his mother had been a Yaqui Indian in Mexico and had passed on the fear of the unknown to him as a boy. Diego stared at the three crosses and let out a scream. Then he ran.....he ran hard, camp and the Lawmen. As he raced into camp with his hands above his head, his face as white as a ghost, he babbled. "Get me out of this canyon. The spirits of the canyon are after me. I saw their marks in a single footprint up there on the side of the canyon. For God's sake Cap'n Jess, get me outa here!"

As the Rangers and the Marshals got the outlaws mounted, a lone figure rose up out of the brush at the edge of the camp. It was a man and he walked toward the group. When he got close he began to laugh at Vasquez. "Boys, you shoulda seen this bad man when he saw those crosses in the foot- print. I could see him perfectly and he turned white, I mean white, and for a man who's crossed between a Mexican and a Yaqui, that's gotta be hard to do."

Angus dressed in his boots pants and chaps. He folded the headband and breechclout carefully and replaced them in his saddlebags. Then placing the moccasins on top of the little bundle of clothing, he looked to the northwest and mumbled, "Thank you Standing Buffalo, my number three father, for teaching me the way of the hunter.." Angus climbed into his saddle and rode out at the back of the column of law- men and outlaws. He also thanked his lucky stars the Blue Roan he was riding had the temperament of it's mother instead of that mean bastard that his father had rode.

Angus Linebarger rode all over the western United States in search of outlaws that needed to be brought to justice. He was considered the finest tracker in the U.S. Marshall Service, and year after year telegrams would arrive at the St. Louis Federal Court requesting the assistance of Angus Linebarger. Sometimes the requests were for White Antelope and the looks on the faces of the local lawmen was really something when a white man showed up. Several wires from Texas Rangers who had been in on the Vasquez Posse, would ask for their great horse thief, much to Angus' chagrin and delight of E. Z. and Judge Abrams.

Angus tracked an outlaw from Cheyene all the way up to Sweetgrass, Montana where he crossed into Alberta Canada. Angus contacted a man who was a friend and a Northwest Mounted Policeman. James Carmody was the man Angus had helped catch a mean trapper from Alberta, who thought he was safe in Montana, but when Jim got to the border Angus was waiting for him and within three days they had nabbed the trapper and by-passing the rules the two countries had set up concerning extradition laws, hustled the trapper back across the International Boundary into Canada. Now Angus wired Jim that he was in Sweetgrass and would he meet him at Fort McCloud to help. The two lawmen shook hands after Angus dropped off the Roan at the general store. The Mountie told Angus he would help him track the fugitive in Canada, so they headed out after him next morning. When they reached the booming town of Calgary they found out the bad man had caught the train to Kamloops, in British Columbia. Angus and Jim put their horses on the next train out of Calgary and rode the rails into British Columbia. The scenery across the Rocky Mountains was spectacular to the Marshall from Missouri. They crossed Kicking Horse Pass and dropped down into the valley of the Columbia River, then through the Monashee Mountains and into the valley of the mighty Thompson River. The rails followed the Thompson for many miles through beautiful farmland, ranches, small towns and finally into Kamloops itself. They led their horses down the ramp and mounted. As the two lawmen rode down the street toward the Mountie Station, they spied Red Johnson coming out of a saloon, drunk as a lord. Red made a terrible mistake. He pulled his Six-shooter and blazed away at the two men. Angus had his Winchester across his saddlebows. He tilted the gun slightly and shot Red through the heart, then turned to see Jim fall from his saddle. Angus leaped to the ground, finding his friend had taken a bullet through the shoulder. The local Mounties arrived post haste and when Angus looked up from tending Jim, he was looking down the barrels of six shotguns. Jim quickly explained and the Canadian Lawmen offered Angus the hospitality of the town. A couple of Northwest Mounted Policemen had heard of the renowned tracker and told everybody to lock up their horses, as the best horse thief in the U.S of A. was in their midst. Angus rode south out of Kamloops toward the ranch which Nate Coldridge and Ty Harding was running. Later in the afternoon he found a stone cairn which marked the boundary of the Nicola Ranch. Carved on a flat stone was the familiar winged H he knew so well. Nates's son David was bringing a bunch of the Flying H steers down toward the corrals at the ranch headquarters when he saw the rider coming down the valley from the north. He thought the rider was familiar, and the gait of the horse reminded him of the Mean Blue Roan back in Missouri. "It can't be Roddy, so it must be Angus!"

David let out the war cry of the Comanche and spurred his horse toward the oncoming rider. Angus gave a yell to David and dropped off the stallion. David pulled his horse to a skidding stop and leaped off to grab Angus. The two men were close in age and had been friends for almost all their lives. After they talked excitedly for a few minutes, they mounted their horses and rode back to the small herd David was hazing toward the ranch barns. Another rider brought a few head of steers from a small canyon and pushed them into the herd. He looked up the valley and spotted the two riders which were cantering toward the herd. Broken Lance was the son of the Comanche War Chief and had helped to drive the cattle that now dotted the great ranch in the Nicola Valley of British Columbia. He knew David of course but not the other rider. But the horse was something else. Broken Lance never forgot a horse. It was the Mean Blue Roan........But it couldn't be. The Roan had died, the Virginian had told them about his death when he met them on the drive from Missouri to Canada. Then he recognized the horse and the rider. It was the grandson of The Mean Blue Roan and Angus, of the Missouri Nicola Valley Ranch, and White Antelope, of the Comanche. A blood-curdling cry went out and Broken Lance raced toward the two men who had been his friends for so many years.

It was a happy reunion for the three boyhood friends and they all talked at once as they pushed the cattle on toward the barn. When they neared the ranch headquarters, Angus kept the barn between him and the houses. He put his horse into a stall and walked with his friends to the house. Sara and Jodie were in the kitchen cooking supper when the tall Marshal walked through the door.

"I'm here to arrest a renegade Comanche named Broken Lance." Angus said in a deep booming voice, his hat low over his face, but his U.S. Marshall Badge gleamed brightly on his chest. Nate walked into the kitchen as Angus spoke. His face lit up like a candle. Sara began to sob and Jodie started to say something sassy to the stranger. Nate said.

"If you think you can disguise your voice, you're wrong Angus Linebarger. I heard you since you was borned." Angus took off his hat and grabbed Jodie in a bear hug, then tenderly kissed Sara, still holding Jodie's hand. "What's this?" He asked as he felt the wedding band on the one woman he had loved since childhood. Nate said with a laugh. "I's got the damndest family you ever seen Angus. Here I am black as spades, one daughter married to a white Yankee, and now another one married to a red Comanche." Angus gave Jodie a kiss and shook Broken Lance's hand. Then Sara shouted it was time to eat and they all gathered round a big table and had a truly family meal.

20..........OIL AND BAD MEN

For five wonderful days Angus enjoyed the company of the family of Nate Coldridge, his old friend Ty Harding and his boisterous boys. He especially loved being with the beautiful Jodie and her Comanche Husband. He told them all about the wedding of Vicky and Travis, and how Broken Lance's father had actually smiled and cried tears of joy at the wedding, and about another baby coming soon. Jodie told him they would have a child in the summer as well. It was almost like a loss of something good as Angus rode southwest across the rugged mountains toward Fort Vancouver where he would catch a boat to San Francisco. When he arrived in Vancouver, he stopped in at the NWMP office and asked if they had heard if his friend Jim was OK in Kamloops. There had been a message sent down the day before telling them Jim was OK and on his way back to Calgary on the train.

Angus rode down to the docks and got passage for him and his horse on a south bound freighter and when the boat docked in San Francisco, after eight days at sea, there was a message waiting for him at the U.S. District Office in the City by the Bay. The message ordered him home to St. Louis as soon as possible. Angus had intended to ride the Blue Roan across the country and see the Rockies before heading home by train from Denver. With the message from Judge Abrams in his hand he ferried across the bay and up the Sacramento River to Sacramento, and caught the eastbound train. He bunked in the car with the stallion he called Comanche, and was asleep by the time the train cleared the yards at Sacramento.

When he rolled out of his blankets next morning they were through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and rolling across Nevada toward Salt Lake City. Angus ate some cold jerky for his breakfast and drank from his canteen to wash it down. There was some difference between this jerky and Sara's . cooking. The sun was sinking behind the speeding train as it rolled across the salt flats and into Salt Lake City. Angus got off the train in Salt Lake and ate a meal at a restaurant on the Train Station. Then climbing back into the car with Comanche, he again rolled up in his blankets and went to sleep. The freight rolled through the night across Utah and Colorado, arriving in Denver at dawn. The train crew told Angus they would be there a couple of hours, so he took the stallion out of the car and gave him a little exercise and then replaced his hay and gave him fresh water. Angus ate with the crew who were taking over the train in Denver for the run to St. Louis.

All day the train sped eastward across the open prairies. Angus saw a herd of cattle coming up from the south to one of the railheads in Kansas. There were a lot of longhorns being shipped east to feed the growing population in the eastern United States. Angus thought about it and decided his father was rather lucky to have a railroad terminus twenty miles from the Nicola Ranch. His beef didn't have to walk nearly as far as the longhorns, what with coming all the way up from San Antonio and even as far away as Galveston and along the Rio Grande. He didn't envy the cowboys who drove the herds north out of Texas. He had heard about some of the troubles they had in Oklahoma and Kansas with herd cutters and rustlers. The Indians were giving them a lot of trouble too, but the Texas Rangers and the Cavalry had just about cleared the renegade bunches out of Texas and sent them north into the Territory north of the Red River.

The train crew stopped at a little whistle stop about ten miles from the Ranch headquarters. Angus unloaded Comanche and saddled up. He rode into the yard of the Ranch house about noon, just in time for a good meal. His mother was happy to see him and he told her all about the visit with Nate and Sara and all the news from British Columbia.

After a wonderful meal and visit with his parents and friends at the Nicola, he headed into St. Louis to see the Judge. Judge Abrams was pacing the floor of his office when Angus was shown into the paneled nest the Judge called his Chambers. The other door in the wall led into the court- room where the Judge had spent several years in his capacity as a Federal Judge.

"Angus, my boy, it's good to see you, how was Nate and Sara?" How the Judge knew he had been to British Columbia was a mystery. But he knew, so Angus told him all the news from the Canadian Nicola Ranch. "I'm sending you to Oklahoma Angus. They've struck oil down there and the Indians who own the land and the mineral rights are getting murdered left and right. The mineral rights usually end up in the hands of several large oil companies. Especially Continental Lubricants. They are a big outfit out of New Jersey and the people out there think they are behind the killings. Find out! You'll be working with a new outfit called the National Bureau of Investigation. For some asinine reason these Federal Officers are not allowed to carry firearms. You are and I expect you to protect not only the Indians but these NBI fellows too. I want you in Tulsa by the first of the month. That gives you a week at home and two weeks to ride out there. I'd also like you to get yourself one of these new Automobiles when you get there." The Judge stopped to take a breath while Angus stared at him "Who am I suppose to meet in Tulsa?" Angus asked. "You'll have to figure that one out by yourself. The man is undercover as an Oil Buyer for National Oil. They have at least twenty buyers in and around Tulsa, so be careful."

Angus left the Judges office and rode out to the Nicola Ranch. He spent two days getting some gear together and visiting with Roddy and Amy. Roddy ha heard about some of the exploits of his lawman son and he counseled him to take extra care in this assignment. He had also heard about some of the bad men who were employed by some of the oil companies to force the Indians off the land the U. S. Government had given them as reservations

Angus sent a rider into north Texas, to the camp of the Comanche. He asked for Standing Buffalo and two other men to meet him at Supalpa, Oklahoma. Five days after Angus reached Supalpa, he spied four of the most ragged looking Indians he had ever seen, riding into town on the worst ponies the Comanche owned. He nodded to Standing Buffalo and climbed into his saddle. He rode out of town toward Tulsa and soon came to a dim trail which led into some rocky hills. His camp was set up by a small creek and it was there Angus greeted his long time companions. He explained why he had come to Oklahoma and why he needed their help. The Comanche would keep and eye on the tribes land and the Oil Company bad men while he searched for the NBI man. They got a few hours of sleep and a dawn they rode out to Tulsa, about fifteen miles from their camp. The Comanche trackers went in different directions and Angus went into Tulsa. His luck was with him. The first saloon he walked into he saw one of his classmates at the U.S. Marshall training school. He saw momentary panic in the eyes of the man and turned away to the bar. He ordered Rye and Water as he scanned the room reflected in the big mirror behind the bar. He made eye contact with the man who was dressed up like a New York Pimp and got a slight nod. After he finished his drink he left the saloon and went out on the board sidewalk. Angus sat down in a chair in front of the store and waited and watched. As he scanned the street he recognized one of the Comanches. The brave was stumbling along the sidewalk like a drunk. As the young man reached Angus, he tottered and fell face first into the street. Angus got to his feet and dragged the 'drunk' Indian into the gutter. As he dropped the man into a shallow ditch, which ran along the street, he heard the man say. "Standing Buffalo needs to see you, at Ten O'clock tonight at the mesa." Angus watched the Indian crawl toward the alley by the saloon. When he had crawled into the semi-darkness of the alley, he rose to his feet and sped away to get his horse.

Jack Morrison walked out of the Bloody Bucket Saloon into the warm Oklahoma evening. He was looking for Angus Linebarger. He knew the Marshall was here to help him in his investigation of the Oil Company practices, but now he didn't know where to find him. He walked down the sidewalk toward his hotel. He heard a soft birdcall from an alley and he ducked into it. It was pitch black in the alley between the two storied buildings and even though he knew Angus was in there somewhere, he was not prepared for the hand which gripped his mouth and arm. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were a New York Pimp in that get up." Angus whispered to the startled lawman. "Come with me I want you to meet somebody."

Angus and Jack had become friends in Washington and after Jack explained about the new Organization called the NBI. He told Angus he had been loaned to them, then transferred as an agent. Angus led him out of Tulsa toward a low, flat mesa. As they came out on the flat top, Angus sent the same birdcall across the bushy landscape. "White Antelope, do we kill this fancy pants here or take him back to camp and let the women have him?" Standing Buffalo asked. "Holy Mary Mother of God, where did they come from?" Jack exclaimed. "Jack meet my number three father, Standing Buffalo, head tracker of the Comanche Nation, sometimes horse thief and always a deputy U.S. Marshall." Angus told the astonished agent. "You can't deputize Indians, Angus." Jack told him. "Well if Judge Abrams doesn't have the authority, I don't know who else does. show him your badge Father." The old Comanche grinned as he dug the gold badge from his ragged coat, and held it up for the NBI man to see. "Why did you need to see me Father?" Angus asked. "Oil Company men plan to kill Johnny Two Cows tomorrow night. They have paper that Johnny can make his mark on before they kill him and his whole family. They will own the ranch, and the oil rights next day. They will swear he sold them the land plus the mineral rights, and they will say some other Indians heard about it and robbed and killed him." "You're sure about this information?" Asked Jack. "Standing Buffalo is never wrong Jack, don't ever disbelieve anything he says." Angus told the NBI agent. "Comanche do not lie, ever. Now lets plan on taking the men who try to do this Make sure we get the paper before they kill Johnny Two Cows and his family."

The next morning before dawn a posse slipped out of Tulsa on some fine horses. As they walked the animals down the trail toward the ranch, which was to be attacked, Angus asked Standing Buffalo where the horses came from "Don't ask little son, or I'll have to tell you what your father told me about some of his cattle. The tooth fairy left them for me." The old scout replied with a chuckle.

By daylight the posse which consisted of one U.S. Marshall, one Deputy U. S. Marshall one NBI agent and three Comanche braves dressed in full regalia and war paint, were situated so they could see all approaches to the ranch house of Johnny Two Cows. It was unlikely looking group, but probably one of the deadliest posse's in the State of Oklahoma. They made a cold camp and lay about sleeping most of the day. As the sun dropped behind the hills of the ranch, they rose, ate some food, and then slipped down to the barn to hide until the criminals came. They didn't have to wait long.. A big, long car drove up to the ranch and three men got out. One man stayed in the car while the other three approached the house. Two of the men were big and strong, but one was small and almost dainty. He held a briefcase in his hand and the other two held sawed off shotguns. As they banged on the door of the ranch house, they heard a strangled cry from the car. They all turned to see a wildly painted Indian dragging the driver into the barn. They rushed to help their pal and when they reached the barn, six rifles were aimed at their bellies. They dropped the shotguns and held their hands in the air. Jack grabbed the briefcase and the three Comanche Braves gleefully tied the thugs together in a pile. The outlaws were terrified as they begged Angus not to let the wild Comanches take their hair, but Angus and Jack walked toward the house with the briefcase, calling out to Johnny Two Cows to let them in. A light shown through the open door as the lawmen approached. Johnny stood in the door with his own shotgun. Then he saw the badges and the old tracker. Jack, Angus and Standing Buffalo entered and shook hands with Johnny. Then Jack opened the briefcase and took out the papers. There were five deeds of trust in the case. Another Indian had already signed one. Another was made out for Johnny Two Cows.

"Bring me in the Lawyer." Said Jack As Standing Buffalo went for the Lawyer, Angus looked over the papers which if completed would have sold over ten thousand acres of ranch land with the attending mineral rights to Continental Lubricants Company. When the lawyer was dragged into the room, Angus yelled for Blue Bear to come in with his knife. When the giant Comanche Brave entered the room, with his bowie knife out, painted in Comanche war paint, the little lawyer fainted dead away.

"Damn Blue Bear, you even scared me." Angus told the now laughing warrior. "Nick him a little so he will bleed some before he comes to." When the lawyer opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was blood. His hand flew to his head, but his hair was still there. "Your hair is next if you don't talk Mr. Blackwood." Angus told the terrified lawyer, and before the evening was over the lawyer had laid out the whole scheme to the three lawmen. His admissions about the two thugs, tied up in the barn, had killed Charley Rivers and his whole family that evening and buried them in a dry well at the company yard.

Angus told Standing Buffalo to take the horses back where he'd found them and meet him and Jack in Tulsa. They would take the car with the killers and the lawyer. Blue Bear then told Angus they would have to ride in the car too as they had stole the horses from Johnny Two Cows. Angus almost became hysterical with laughter. When Jack and Angus could stop laughing Angus loaded his posse into the big touring car and drove into Tulsa. Their arrival was something to behold. The three braves were sitting on top of the three criminals and Standing Buffalo was riding on the front fender. Their The citizens of Tulsa observed parade down the street to the Jail, and they knew that the Law had come to Oklahoma, even if it was Comanche.

Jack sent telegrams to Washington. Many more wires went out to New York as NBI and U. S. Marshals swooped down on the offices of Continental Lubricants. The trial would go on for months, but the citizens of Oklahoma showed the Oil Companies they had to buy the oil rights from the whites and Indians alike. The name of Angus Linebarger, U.S. Marshall and his four Comanche Deputies, Standing Buffalo, his son Red Hawk, Blue Bear, and John O'Bannion, who had taken his brother-in-law's name, and their New York Dandy from the NBI, were praised by the people of Oklahoma and especially by their boss, Judge Abrams in the St. Louis Federal Court. The four Comanche would be the only Indian Deputy U.S. Marshals for thirty years and their deeds would be talked about for the next fifty.

After the conviction of the Oil Company executives, Angus gave a lot of thought to going on into the area of law which would protect the tribes who lived in the Oklahoma Territory. They needed someone who was familiar with the Laws of the White man and Indian alike.

Angus sent a letter to Judge Abrams in St. Louis, resigning his position a United States Marshall, explaining the reasons for his resignation and a desire to help the Tribes. Judge Abrams sat down in his Chambers and wrote the young Marshall a letter. He told him he would accept his decision to put his education into practice, but would not accept his resignation as U.S. Marshall. He explained to Angus how his father had gotten the badge, which Angus held in his hands so many years before. Angus felt the sensation, which flooded his mind and started him on the road to the Law and the U.S. Marshall's Service. Abrams stated to Angus. "I will place you on a leave of absence, but I expect you to be a reserve if I ever need you." Angus agreed to the Judges request and asked if he would send Johnny O'Bannion, Red Hawk and Blue Bear through the U.S. Marshall school in Washington. Angus figured they had enough on the job training. He would write a letter to Jed Harrison in Washington to help the Comanche men become full-fledged Marshals on their own

21............THE MARSHALL TAKES A RIDE

Angus rode into the Nicola Ranch to see his Father and Mother and a young lady named Mary Jean Cash. Roddy told Angus he had made Sid Cash, Mary Jean's father, Manager of the large ranch which General Long- street, Angus's grandfather, who had come west with fifteen hundred head of Herfords to establish a ranch he called Loch Longstreet. Mary Jean was at Loch Longstreet with her parents. After spending a couple of days at the headquarters of the Nicola Valley Ranch, Angus rode out to the little valley where Purvis Hasslebaad and Caroline were buried along with the Mean Blue Roan. He tied Comanche to the oaks that shaded the graves and sat for a while by Caroline's grave. Angus told Caroline about the things he had done since he had last talked to her and that he was finally going to settle down and marry Mary Jean. Tears rolled down his face as he told his little sister he still loved her and missed her. Angus walked to the horse with his head down, climbed aboard the grandson of the Mean Blue Roan called Jackson,. and headed northwest toward Loch Longstreet.

Loch Longstreet was a beautiful ranch. The Oxbow lakes, which were caused by the big Missouri River changing course, dotted the northern edge if the holdings. It was by one of the small lakes where Angus' grandfather, Brigadier General Angus Longstreet lay buried. The ranch house was sited on a low hill which overlooked the lakes and was within sight of the muddy Missouri River. The house was almost a copy of the home General Longstreet had built in Kentucky many years before. It was built of native stone, and oak with large airy rooms with lots of glass to let in the light. The furniture was a real conglomeration of old English and Missouri Ranch. The huge fireplace in the great room was decorated with the antlers of deer elk and a buffalo bull's head that had been shot by the General himself. In the center of the mantel though was a pair of pair of sabers and the shield of the General's regiment. They would remain there always.

Angus had a fair amount of company as he rode across the ranch. Mary Jean's younger brother, Tad, had spotted the big blue horse shortly after Angus crossed into Loch Longstreet from the Nicola Valley Ranch. Tad had with his five Comanche men who had gone to British Columbia on the 'Great Cattle Drive'. Of the thirteen braves who had made the trip to Canada with three thousand head of cattle to stock the Nicola Valley Ranch there, three had stayed in Canada, five had returned to work on the Nicola Valley Ranch and five worked on Loch Longstreet, learning the ways of cowboying and cattle. The wily White Buffalo, had secured, with Roddy Linebarger and Judge Abrams help, one and a half million acres of eastern Oklahoma. Next year the ten braves would leave the Missouri ranches with five thousand head o breeding stock for the ranch on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.

Angus knew each of the men and they all talked about his exploits in Oklahoma. Angus also brought them greetings from Broken Lance, telling them of his marriage to Jodie Coldridge and the happiness he had found in the Northwest. The seven men swept into the yard of the ranch house with much whooping and yelling. The Comanche men rode as if they were part of the horse they rode. Little wonder, as the Comanche, along wit the Cheyene were considered the finest light cavalry in the world.

Sid Cash, his wife Judy and daughter Mary Jean stood on the veranda of the ranch house to greet the crazy bunch. Tad yelled to his sister "Run Mary Jean, this Marshall has come for you. Angus rode to the porch of the big house and spoke to them. "Mr. Sid, Miss Judy, I have come to ask for your daughter's hand, if she'll have me. Mary Jean Cash was half Comanche herself and as the big blue roan stallion sidestepped near the porch, she leaped into the saddle with Angus and throwing her arms around his waist, said to him alone "I'm all yours Marshall." then added quietly, "Finally!"

EPILOGUE

Nate Coldridge and Ty Harding built a fine ranch in British Columbia. Ty married Joanna and they had five boys. Jodie was the first child of Fair Oaks to receive a degree and become a teacher. Nate was eighty four when his horse stepped into a hole and threw him. He died in the Canada he had dreamed about as a slave child. Roddy and Amy ran the St. Louis Nicola until they died along with Jess and Tina in a train wreck after a visit to see Nate and Sara. Little Roddy became Senator Angus Linebarger, commuting between his home on the Nicola Ranch and Washington, after he made a name for himself as a lawman and an Attorney, especially as the lawyer for the Indian Tribes during the Oklahoma and Texas Oil Boom. Angus is married to Mary Jean Cash, Sid and Judy's daughter. They have six children.

Mary Victoria O'Bannion is married to Travis, the son of a Comanche maiden and an old Irishman, who when he's not telling his son how to run the ranch tends the graves of Purvis Hasslebaad, the man who started it all. The graves of Roddy and the lovely Amy, whose blood flows in the veins of his grandchildren, Roddy, Hamilton, and Ruth Victoria. There is the grave of the beautiful young Caroline. And there Ham tends another grave............ Of a Mean Blue Roan.

SEPTEMBER 1990

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