Chapter Forty-Six
There were three constants that Jim Crown was aware of during the two and a half weeks that it took his grandfather's men to escort him safely back to San Antonio: the throbbing--and intense at times--pain in his bleedin' leg; the steady drum of the stallion's sure feet striking the earth beneath them; and, always, Estefan's strong arms--locked onto his semi-conscious self--keeping him upright in his seat.
The appearance of their little party of twenty armed riders--the majority of whom were Mexican--caused quite a stir in the otherwise tranquil streets of San Antonio.
But the sight of the stallion's slumped over passenger created an out-right uproar!
"By gawd!" Sheriff Warren Stokes shouted upon being summoned to the scene, "He is alive!"
"Barely," Estefan stiffly stated as the lawman latched onto their horse's bit shanks and tugged them to a halt.
"Who a-are you fellahs?!" their arrester cautiously inquired, "An' where an' how did you come across HI-IM?!"
The cowboy came around at the familiar sound of the Sheriff's shouted voice, "It's all right Warren..." Jim assured his friend, upon catching the accusational tone of his questions, "These are not the men...who took me away."
"Well then, who are they?!" Warren wanted--needed--to know.
"They...are the men...who...brought me back!" the cowboy happily exclaimed as he groggily took note of his surroundings.
"Perhaps you could be so kind as to tell us where we might find the Doctor?" Estefan impatiently--but politely-- inquired.
"Follow me!" the flabbergasted--and slightly flustered--lawman ordered and released his hold on the horse's head.
The Sheriff then turned and went striding off in the direction of Doc' Lieberg's.
The invading forces obediently fell in line behind the lawman--and Jim obligingly filled him in along the way.
"So then, these men all work for your GRANDFATHER?!" Warren wondered in amazement. Then, upon seeing the cowboy's nod, he dazedly added, "I never even knew you HAD a grandfather..."
"Neither did I-I!" James Crown's grandson dazedly reminded him.
Sheriff Stokes stopped in mid-stride and a strange look came over his face, "So that's why those Pinkerton fellers have been askin' about you!"
"What...Pinkerton fellers?" the barely conscious cowboy queried.
"There's these Pinkerton men who pass through here two or three times a year askin' if anybody knows any 'Jim Crowns'. But they would never say why they were lookin' for you. So nobody would say where you were. I s'pose if those detectives had said why--'cuz a wealthy relative was tryin' ta find yah--there'd a' been 'Jim Crown's' crawlin' out a' the bushes!" the lawman summed up and resumed the lead.
"Yah mean, you actually lied--ta protect me?" the 'genuine article' incredulously inquired.
"It weren't jes' me-e!" the Sheriff defensively declared, "The whole town was in on it! An' we didn' lie-ie...exactly. We jes' didn' tell the truth!"
Jim Crown was deeply touched. "I'm a lucky man...ta have so many friends..." he realized aloud.
"Luck don' have nothin' ta do with it!" the Sheriff shouted back over his shoulder. And the two friends exchanged warm smiles.
Speakin' a friends...
"Does Dave think I'm dead?" the suddenly concerned looking cowpoke suddenly wondered.
"Everybody thinks you're dead!" Warren informed him, "What else were we ta think?! Tom Donnelly's daughter said that four outlaws rode off with you! She told us that they were gonna reunite you with yore family. An'--since everyone in yore family is--was dead--ta reunite you with 'em...those outlaws would a' had ta make you 'dead', too-oo!" the lawman reached Doc' Lieberg's Office and turned to face his resurrected friend. The Sheriff frowned, seeing that--at some point during his explanation--the wounded cowboy had passed out cold.
"It can't be true!" the doctor exclaimed as he came scurrying out into the street--and clear up to where the stallion stood. "How long has he been like this?!" the doctor demanded, noting the extreme absence of any color to the unconscious cowboy's complexion.
"For the past two and a half weeks," Estefan obligingly answered, "and the last five hundred and fifty miles," he solemnly added.
"Are you crazy?! Bringing him here like this?! You could have killed him!"
"Perhaps..." Estefan admitted to the bleeding cowboy's angry physician. "But he would have most definately 'died' if we had not brought him here. It seems that there is a young lady--whose love he values more highly than his life. Would you be so kind as to tell me where I might find this 'Koree'? I promised I would return him to her."
The color had drained from the doctor's face, as well. "Please...bring him inside...and I'll tell you where...to find...the...girl..." the physician finished rather sadly, his choking voice trailing off into a whisper.
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The next time Jim Crown came aroun', he found himself still up on the back of a horse with someone still seated behind him. Only no-ow, Montego didn't seem to be moving. And, when the stallion stayed stationary for well over five full minutes, its young--and incredibly impatient--passenger yanked his head up and had a 'look see' as to what it was that was keeping them so inert. The cowboy's blinking eyes focused upon some terribly familiar terrain. For some reason or other, Estefan had hauled him out ta his place. "Why'd yah bring me out here?" the disappointed cowpoke pondered when his woman failed to appear.
The foreman was s-l-o-w to answer. And, when Estefan finally did speak, his voice sounded hollow and drained, "I brought you here...because I am...a coward, Diego. I brought you here...because I could not bring myself to speak the words I knew would bring you so much...pain. I brought you here...because I promised I would bring you...to...the girl."
Jim glanced around again--this time in confusion--for the girl's familiar form remained absent from his surroundings. And then he saw it--the freshly turned earth on the ground just in front of them. The cowboy recoiled as the sudden realization of what it was that Estefan was getting at hit him in the gutt with all the force of an actual physical blow. James Crown's grandson grimaced and then began shouting, "No-o!" over and over and over again. (As though screaming No! would make it so.) Before Estefan could stop him, Jim slipped out of the saddle and dropped onto the ground. The cowboy stumbled forwards for a few painful steps before falling--and sprawling out--upon the freshly dug...grave. Then he buried his face in his folded arms...and cried his broken heart out.
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Some time later, the semi-conscious cowboy became aware of the light touch of a woman's hands upon his shoulders. "Koree?!" he called out--in the sudden hope that it had all just been some horrible, hideous dream--er, nightmare!
"Its me..." Tom Donnelly's daughter tenderly informed him. "When I heard you'd come back (from the dead), I jes' couldn't believe it! I had ta come an' see for myself..."
"Maria..." the young man--whose hope had jes' been shot down in flames--muttered, failing miserably to hide his extreme disappointment. "Maria!" Jim repeated, failing miserably to hide the tremendous relief--and comfort--he experienced upon his young friend's timely arrival. Then he rolled over onto his back and sat stiffly up.
The girl fell into his arms and began sobbing on his shoulder. "Oh-oh, Jim! I'm so glad you're safe!" she joyously proclaimed. But then her tears of relief turned to tears of grief, "And I'm so-o-o sorry!"
"What...happened?" the still completely stunned--and confused--cowboy suddenly asked, forcibly forming his question.
"Yah mean, you don't kno-ow?!" Maria stammered, sounding somewhat stunned herself. Jim Crown's response to her query was to slowly shake his head. So she pulled herself together--somewhat--and then attempted to explain. "We-ell, after those outlaws rode off with you," the girl began, choking back her sobs, "we couldn't get Dave ta come around! So we put him in the buggy and drove him inta town--ta see the Doc'! An'--while Doc Lieberg was lookin' after Dave--Koree started screamin' that she was goin' inta labor! Koree was in a rea-eal ba-ad way!...The Doctor...cried...when he examined her," Maria stopped. The girl was crying so hard herself, that it was...a while before she could continue. "The...baby was born...dead. The Doc' said it had been 'dead' for quite some time. And Koree was bleedin'! Doctor Lieberg tried everything he could think of! But he just couldn't stop it! Koree...died...shortly after giving bi-irth," Maria had to stop and choke back her sobs again.
"The Doctor called it post partum hemorrhaging," Estefan further explained. "He said it was the direct result of her being...tortured and...mutilated...by those good-for-nothing men!" he added angrily.
"We brought her here...to this hillside...where you were going...to build your house," Maria managed to get out between sobs, "And laid her to rest...in that pretty dress you bought for her...the one she picked out for the wedding..." she somehow got out before lapsing into another bout of bitter sobbing.
"Thank you, Maria..." Jim shakily whispered.
"It was Dave's idea," Maria confessed.
Speakin' a' Da-ave...
"Does he know I'm not 'dead'?" Dave Fisher's worried--and best--friend suddenly wondered.
"No-o. At least, not yet. But his father is sendin' 'im word--"
"Sendin' 'im word?" the cowboy cut in, "Where--exactly--is he?"
"We don't--exactly--know," Marie further confessed, "But we figure he mus' be 'bout half-ways ta Boston...by no-ow."
"Boston, Massechusetts?" Jim Crown incredulously inquired.
Maria sniffled and backed off from their embrace, looking rather incredulous herself, "Yah mean, you don't know about THAT, either?!"
"Your friend left last week," Estefan announced. "It seems it was his parent's wishes that he attend the 'Harvard School of Law'...in Cambridge, Massechusetts," he quietly corrected, "He wanted to wait until after the...wedding...to tell you. He delayed his departure for over a month. The Doctor said that--after he recovered from his concussion--he rode out every day, looking for you. By the fourth week, Judge Compton had convinced him that you were--indeed--'dea-ead'...and that he should give up his search and head back East with him."
Jim Crown turned around and dropped back down onto the ground to once again bury his tear-streaked face in his folded arms. The news of Dave's departure had definately dealt him another lo-ow blo-ow!
Right about then, a hard--cold--rain began falling.
His grandfather's foreman also dropped to the ground. "Here, Diego," he said as he draped a canvas duster over the cowboy's already drenched body, "you'll catch your death!"
But Jim Crown didn't care. He was perfectly prepared to jes' lie there and let his grief consume him--to the point of death! An' why not? He was pert' near dead on the inside, already! It shouldn't--and probably wouldn't--take more than a day or two ta make his outsides match! "Leave me be!" he requested as Estefan attempted to assist him up off the--by now--muddy ground.
"You will die out here!" the foreman informed him.
'That's the general idea!' Jim thought. But sai-aid, "I don't care!" instea-ead. "Go away!" he further suggested as his grandfather's foreman ignored his first request.
"I cannot! I also made a promise to another 'James Crown'. Remember, amigo? It is time to return you to him..."
"What's the rush?!" Jim angrily inquired and shrugged Estefan's hands from off'n him, "He ain't goin' anywhere--" he stopped suddenly and snapped his head up to shoot the foreman a horrified look, "Is he?!" The cowboy grimaced as he saw the answer in Estefan's face.
"It was not just by co-incidence that the Doctor happened to be at the hacienda the night of your arrival, Diego. A few years ago, your grandfather took a very bad fall from his horse. His kidneys were severely damaged at the time of the accident. Now, they have begun to fail him--completely. The Doctor says he could last as long as a year...o-or, it may only be a matter of...months."
There it was! The third and final blow! Nobody could survive having ta lose their 'girl', their 'best friend' a-and their 'grandfather' ALL AT THE SA-AME TI-IME! It wasn't fair! But then, life wasn't fair! A fact James Crown Jr. had already learned--by the ripe old age of fou-our! Jim jes' gave up and allowed Estefan to help him to his feet. As the cowboy stood there, staring blurrily down at the sight where Koree was buried, his thoughts wandered back to one of his earliest recollections--a cool, Spring afternoon when he was barely four years old...
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His uncle had caught up to him just as he was fixin' ta leave the ranch yard.
"Whoa-oah!" Wes' commanded as he collared the walk-away, "Where do yah think you're goin', young man?!"
"Woowie is gone, Uncle Wes'! I got ta find 'im! He's too little ta go off all by himse-elf!"
"So-o are you, J.R.!" his uncle sternly reminded the escapee and scooped the kid completely up off'n the ground.
"Will you help me look for him?" the boy asked as he settled comfortably down into his uncle's saddle.
"I don't need ta look for Woowie, J.R."
"Why-y?"
"'Cuz...I already know where he is. Yore...Ma had me...bury him this morning."
"Why-y?"
"'Cuz...yore bunny died, J.R. I told yah it wou-ould."
"Why-y?" the child wondered as tears began welling up in his sad little eyes.
"'Cuz, baby bunnies can't live without their mamas!"
"Why-y?"
"'Cuz they need the mama rabbit's milk...an' warmth."
"...Kin I hold him?"
"'Fraid not."
"Why-y?"
"'Cuz I put Woowie in the ground, J.R."
"Why-y?!"
"'Cuz that's what 'bury' means! When somethin' die-ies, yah bury it--yah put it in the ground!"
"Why-y?"
"So-o...it kin...turn inta flowers!"
"Why-y?"
"'Cu-uz! That's what things turn inta when they die--flowers!"
"...What do flowers turn inta when they die, Uncle Wes'?"
"I dunno...more flowers, I gue-ess! Now, if yah promise you won't ask me any more questions, I'll show yah where Woowie is buried...Promise?"
"Promise."
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J.R. dragged his Uncle Wes' out to the bunny's grave a few weeks later--to show him that it had really worked! There were wild flowers blooming all over the little hillside behind the barn--where the boy's bunny had been 'buried'. The child stooped down to have a sniff, being extremely careful not to crush any of the beautiful--but delicate--blossoms beneath his feet. Their fragrance was glorious! The boy smiled and looked up. And, this time, there were tears in his uncle's eyes.
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Sometime following the raid in which their parents were killed, the boy and his uncle were again seated on the same horse together. As they were riding along, they happened upon a clearing--filled to overflowing with wild flowers!
"Go back, Uncle Wes'!" J.R. pleaded as the horse's driver rode right on past--and paid no notice whatsoever to the incredible sight.
"Why-y?"
"'Cu-uz...I wanna see 'em!"
"Wanna see who-o?!"
"My ma..an' my pa...an' gran'ma...an' gran'pa."
"They're all...dead, J.R. We cain't see them, anymore."
"Uh-huh-uh! I saw 'em. They're right back there..."
Since he was so insistent, Wes' humored the kid and turned back up the trail.
In no time at all, they reached the clearing. The beauty was breathtaking! Everywhere you looked there were blossoms--so that the entire area was filled with their marvelous fragrance.
J.R. slipped to the ground and crept carefully up to take an even closer whiff. "See-ee?" he said, beaming a broad smile up at his equally affected relative, "I told you, Uncle Wes'!"
"That you di-id, kid!" his deeply touched uncle acknowledged rather shakily, "That you di-id...See if you kin gather us up some firewood, J.R.. We're gonna be here...awhile."
J.R. looked completely overjoyed and eagerly headed off to perform the requested task. The two traveler's remained camped there in that clearing--'til every last one of those blossoms had faded...
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Then he was staring blurrily down at the pile of stones which he had personally heaped upon his dead uncle's body. "I sure wish you hadn't a' gone off an' got yerself kill't like this..." J.R. confessed to his Uncle Wes'--right out loud, "...the world didn't need no more flowers...but I sure needed you..."
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"Too many...flowers!" the cowboy determined bitterly and kept right on staring blurrily down at the site where Koree was buried. The world jes' never seemed ta have enuff flowers! Jim fingered the charm that had been hung about his neck and pondered over Chief Perokamas' promise... 'Keep this with you always--and no harm will ever come to you.' But he'd just been harmed beyond belief! No one could ever harm him more than this!
"Come, Diego," Estefan said as he draped the canvas duster over the cold looking cowboy's competely drenched shoulders. "It is time to leave!"
But the cowboy still didn't care. All Jim Crown really cared about--in the whole wide world--was buried--in a pine box--six feet beneath the soles of his boots! He gazed down at the talons in his hand, looking tremendously disappointed. Come to think of it, their 'powerful medicine' hadn't worked for the eagle, either! Jim lifted the charm from around his neck and placed it on the girl's grave. "Let's go!" he gasped, his voice--and face--still filled with grief. He gave the soggy girl--standing silently at his side--a 'goodbye' hug.
Estefan then guided the cripple over to his horse and assisted him up into his saddle.
Jim aimed his grandfather's stallion in a southerly direction and then rode off--into a driving rain. The cowboy never looked back...he couldn't look back! But, then, he didn't want ta look ahead, neither...
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Another brutal two and a half weeks of those three constants, and Jim was back at the 'Two Crowns', resting safely and securely in his grandfather's hu-uge hacienda.
James Crown, Sr. was constantly at his grandson's side, consoling and cajoling James Crown, Jr. in an attempt to bolster the cowboy's spirits.
However, despite a remarkable recovery to physical health, the sadness remained in the young man's eyes...a-and heart.
"You know, don't you," the old gentleman said one afternoon, "that I'm...dying."
"We're all dyin', Grandfather," the sad young man reminded him, "some a' us jes' a whole lot sooner than others."
The old fellah flashed the young fellah a sort a' sad smile, "Your Uncle did the right thing raising you. He did a damn fine job of it, too! You turned out all right. And I want you to know that I'm proud of you, young man! Yes sir, I'm just as proud as I can be!"
Jim gave the elderly gentleman a grateful smile and then forced himself to lighten up some--for his grandfather's sake.
The two Crown's were inseparable upon the cowboy's complete recovery, as well. Having become fast friends, they spent what little time they did have left riding and fishing--and rambling on about everything under the sun--together!
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Less than two months later, Jim was standing over his grandfather's grave, dropping a handful of dust onto the deceased Crown's coffin...and planting flowers.
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Estefan--and another of the 'Two Crown's' hands--approached their ex-employer's heir--later that same day--as he was saddling his grandfather's gift to him.
"Would you like us to do that for you, senor?" his grandfather's foreman inquired--rather cooly.
"No thanks," Jim told 'im. "I kin manage."
"Ramon says that you have ordered the removal of my things from my quarters," Estefan continued--even more cooly. "Is this true, senor?"
"Eh-yeah," Jim Crown calmly replied and continued to saddle the stallion.
"And does this mean that I am no longer foreman here?" the now frowning foreman fearfully pondered.
"Eh-yeah," the 'Two Crowns' heir nonchalantly answered.
"Have I done something to displease you, Diego?!"
"Eh-nope."
Estefan looked at a total loss and then bitterly demanded of his new boss, "Then...why have I been fi-ired?!"
"You ain't been fi-ired, my friend," the cowboy calmly assured him, "You've been promoted!" Then, seeing as how Estefan couldn't look any more at a loss, their new boss paused in his endeavor and turned to the vaquero who had accompanied the now dazed looking fellow, "Where did I tell you to take Senor an' Senora Jazeres' things?"
"To the main hacienda, mi Patron," Ramon obligingly responded.
"The-ere! Yah see! You ain't movin' ou-out, you're movin' i-in!" their 'patron' calmly explained--and then returned to his task.
The now completely stunned Estefan stared nervously down at the bedroll and supplies in the 'heir's' hands--and nervously inquired as to where he was off to.
"I have no idea!" Jim Crown truthfully told him.
"When will you be ba-ack?!" the promoted--but still completely perplexed--fellow further queried.
"I ain't comin' ba-ack, compadre," the cowboy calmly announced, "I jes' buried the only 'reason' for MY bein' here."
"You cannot do this, Diego!" Estefan insisted, "You cannot turn your back on your inheritance! Your grandfather would roll over in his grave!"
Jim finished strapping his gear onto his saddle and then turned his full attention to his irate ex-foreman, "Which grandfather? I had more than one, remember? Maybe I'm jes' rightin' an old wro-ong! Besides, it was yore 'sweat' an' yore 'blood' that helped build this place, amigo! Not mi--"
"NO!" Estefan interrupted, "You cannot do this!"
"I had a long talk with my gran'father's lawyers," the 'heir' calmly added. "You'll find all the 'paperwork' on...yo-ore desk!" Jim finished with a wry smile--and then turned to leave.
But Estefan pulled the cowboy back around and staunchly repeated, "You cannot do this, Diego!"
"It's already been do-one!" Diego reminded his still irate compadre--with yet another wry smile. And then he shook his somewhat shaken friend's hand. "Relax!" the 'heir' advised as he swung himself up into his father's saddle. "You ran this place for over twenty years without me. I'm sure you kin manage without me for another twenty! Take care...'Don' Estefan!" Jim Crown called down. And with that, and another even wryer--even broader--smile, the cowboy turned his horse around and then high-tailed it on out a' there, leaving his inheritance in 'Don' Estefan's very capable hands...