The Diary of Jerrod Bently - J.W. Osborn (mobi ebook reader TXT) 📗

we are going to run into back in Grant’s Creek. I won’t risk it, you have to stay here and run the shop.”
Though her temper was beginning to boil, Victoria Stevens chose to remain calm and reasonable. “Is it because I am a woman, that you think I will slow you and Jerrod down?” Doc turned from the window and looked at her. “It’s too dangerous, Victoria,” he said flatly “You are not going with me.”
“J.W. has always taken over the shop for me when I have been out of town,” she said “My mare is in fine shape. Fancy is good for a long ride. Besides, Sam may need me.” That got his attention and Doc yielded his stubborn resolve. “Sam is a wrangler, Honey,” he said “She grew up among the Blackfoot. She knows how to take care of herself.”
“And you think I don’t?”, Victoria replied.
“I didn’t say that, Victoria.,” Doc argued “I ...”
“Doc,” his wife interjected, cutting him off. “I have taken care of myself too for a long time. I just want to be with you and Sam and Jerrod. We have become a family and....”
“All right,” Doc said throwing up his hands as though surrendering to her, “But the first sign of trouble and you and Sam go back. Understand?”
Victoria got up from her chair and went to him, putting her arms around him. “There won’t be any trouble,” she said “we have you, Jerrod and Scrub Pot to protect us.”
Doc smiled down at her “You can count on that,” he said .
“I know,” she whispered back.

Sam and I sat on the front porch of the cottage, waiting for the fire works we expected, yet nothing happened. We’d hardly heard them as no one seemed to have raised his or her voice. “What do you think?”, I asked in a whisper “I figured they’d been fighting by now.”
“She probably won,” Sam replied “There is no way Aunt Victoria was not going to be riding with us when we leave.”
“Good,” I replied “I don’t think I could take another long ride with your grandfather cooking again.” She elbowed me in the ribs and just about knocked me off the step. “His cooking wasn’t that bad,” she said.
“Well, Sam honey, it wasn’t that good either.” I defended.

Those weeks I’d spent in Portersville were the best of my life. I was with Sam and she had made a complete recovery. We courted under her uncle’s watchful eye and Victoria’s gentle encouragement. I asked her to marry me several times, yet she had said nothing. I had to be patient, and pray that one day she would say yes. She leaned close to me and I slid my arm around her back. She lay her head on my shoulder. “I am so glad that you are here, Jerrod,” she said quietly “When I got on Trouble the other day, I have to admit I was a little nervous, but having you there encouraged me.” I drew her closer and kissed her on the cheek. “You had to do it in your own time,” I said “ Those horses are your life and always have been. You could not survive without them or them without you.”
“I know,” Sam replied “And I love you for understanding that.”
“Remember when you taught me how to ride?”
“Yes.”, she giggled “and you thought I was a boy.”
“I had my suspicions,” I confessed “and really, you were not all that convincing.”
“I kept my hat on.”
“What gave you away was that you never took it off and you never shaved.” She burst out laughing “Did you ever see my grandfather with a razor and mirror?”
“No,” I answered “And may be the idea of Scrub Pot with a straight razor would not be a good one at all.”
“Jerrod,” she laughed “Blackfoot men do not have beards to shave. As far as I know none of our men do.”
“So you think you had me fooled then?”
“At the time, I hoped I had,” she answered.
“You know, Sam,” I said as I smoothed her dark hair away from her cheek. “When I got to Grants Creek and signed on with the drive, I met your grandfather and Doc both in the same day and they each told me to “Stick with Sam Dodge,”
“And you did,” she said quietly “and when I needed you the most, you were there.”
“Sam,” I said “I fell in love with you the day the mules ran away with the chuck wagon and your hat fell off. I will never forget that beautiful long braid falling down you back like it did.”
“You never gave me up to the boys before it was time for me to do it myself either,” she said “I knew I could trust you.”
“But do you trust me, Sam?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then marry me.” She looked up at me with those brown eyes that could melt me down to a mere puddle and smiled that beautiful smile of hers and for a second I thought she might say yes. Instead she got up from our place on the steps “One day I will marry you, Jerrod Bently,” she said and then went into the house. Well that was almost the answer I wanted and it was going to be a long ride to Waco.

With Jake Titus taking over Doc’s duties as sherrif and his wife and daughter handling Victoria’s Bake Shop, we left Portersville. We were a likely looking lot with Doc and me leading the way, Scrub Pot, his mules , his wagon with Wakeeze following behind us and the womenfolk behind him. Sam’s dog Goldy danced along, sometimes next to Mud and me and other times hanging back with Sam and Victoria. He sometimes was joined by Scrub Pot’s dog, Diamond and the two would race off into the woods and come out a mile or so ahead of us. Doc had trussed Ned Travis up like a prize hog, and thrown him into the back of Scrub Pot’s wagon. He was not going to escape but his constant complaining was starting to get on everyone’s nerves.. I thought cold cocking Ned would be a good idea, but kept such thoughts to myself. Scrub Pot drove the mules along, his usual sour look on his face, and soon enough, he would have enough of it and put the fear of God into our prisoner. Then Ned might shut his pie hole and we would be able to ride on in peace. I turned in my saddle and looked back, to check on the women.
Victoria, mounted on her paint mare, rode next to Sam. That horse of her’s moved like none I had ever seen before. At a trot, if Victoria had been carrying a glass of water in her hand, none would have spilled. Sam said that little paint was a gaited horse. Of course at the time that meant little of nothing to me. I had mastered riding a cutting horse over the months we were on the trail and Mud and I understood one another right well. We were on our way home and somewhere between the border and Waco, I hoped that Sam to answer my proposal. She rode passed me and winked. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met but she was far more than just that.


THE Uprising Of 1875

Bear Claw , Grant County Texas


Doc seemed relieved to be leaving Waco. He had turned Ned Travis over to the authorities there and spent some time with a few of his old friends from his days with the Texas Rangers. I’d met them, heard their stories and saw how they all tried to convince Doc to return to their company. Doc never said yes, but he didn’t say no either. He told his former captain, a man called Jim Cransford, that he was happy with his job in the Oklahoma Territory. His fellow rangers wanted to know what had happened to Joe Dodge and talked in hushed tones about someone called Emilo Caldero. I went about my business then, as this seemed to be something private between the rangers and Doc Stevens. Who this Caldero fellow might have been, I had no idea, but from the look on Doc’s face when the name was mentioned, I sensed he was someone Doc might like to put in the ground if he had the chance.
The ride up from Waco ended at a small Indian settlement a few miles outside of Grant’s Creek. It was not