There were five riders that first time. He was only five in 1885 on the Tuttle place. In early twilight, after a hot day�s ride, five riders approached the cabin. All wore long rawhide dusters and two were out front.
�Hello�the house,� their leader shouted out. At that, the young farmer came out, armed with a 12 gauge over an under. All five stayed mounted, three held back. Two rode slowly in closer but only the self-assured leader spoke, after studying the farmer closely.
�Two are hungry. We expect to pay. The others will stay mounted in plain sight and off a ways.� That was the most he had spoken all day, and the most he would promise.
�Come on then...and you don�t have to pay.�
The cabin was one big room; temporary quarters while a new two-story farmhouse was going up next door.
A small boy and his little sister took turns peeking from behind their mother�s long skirts as the two men came in. Each set a Remington long shooter beside his plate and began eating swiftly. The farm family had finished eating, so, as the strangers finished, Mary Catherine served each a piece of cherry cobbler. All this time, five-year-old Buck had studied, wide-eyed noticing the older one had been talking throughout their meal but hardly moving his lips, speaking quietly. Only once did the leader answer. �No, Frank,� was all he responded to the last question. All during the meal each kept his eyes on the door as though they might be followed. As they stood to leave, both were polite to the farmer and grateful to his wife. The hurried meal took less than thirty minutes.
Mary Catherine, clearing the table, noticed a twenty dollar gold piece slipped under each plate.
She immediately sent her eager little boy, Buck, to run after them to return the money. But the
two strangers, who were inside, had already mounted and started slowly down the road, ahead of a pair of riders, leaving a lone teen-age rider in drag.
It was almost full dark now. What happened next took only an instant but it changed the little
boy�s life forever and the scene replayed endlessly in the old man�s memory. If only the five
year old had yelled out or said something�anything, to the men.
|
