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All things Dave
Category:
Western
ISBN-10: 1629891541
Pages: 196
Copyright: Oct 1, 2014
ISBN-13: 9781629891552
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
A Quaker farm boy finds his dreams of rawhide glory tested by the harsh realities of guerilla war along the Kansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. Stars Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, Bloody Bill Anderson and William Quantrill.
Excerpt
About noon a farmer came up in a wagon.
"Like a ride, son?" he asked, and I was mighty grateful he did because I'd have had to ask otherwise, and I hate asking favors. My feet were already sore and I wasn't more than ten miles down the road.
"Thanks, mister," I said and climbed on board.
"Name's Wallace," he said.
"Mine's Hollenbeck," I told him, having decided earlier to use phony names like all the major Western outlaws done.
"Coulda swore you was the Deeter boy from over at the Junction," he said.
"Nope, name's Hollenbeck," I replied and wondered where Wallace knew me from.
"Where you headed?" he asked.
"Out west. Kansas, maybe Colorado, maybe even California. Going where a man can breathe clean and spread his arms wide. Goin' where the coyotes inquire of the moon every night when the sun goes down. Goin' where a man can be wolf-wild and free as the wind," I told him. I'd remembered all that from a book.
Wallace looked at me like he hadn't seen me the first time.
"I guess you ain't the Deeter boy after all. You ever met the Deeters?" he asked.
"No, sir," I lied.
"Well, William Deeter's a real terror, but Mrs. Deeter's a good Quaker woman and she wouldn't let any son of hers go west where there's all that fighting and war. A man's got to take up arms himself in wild country like that or die. In Missouri you'll find bushwhackers, and if you live as far as Kansas, you'll see Redlegs—Jayhawkers some call 'em. They fight for the Union side against the Missouri guerillas. I never been there but I hear the fightin's fierce and a man can't trust anybody. I don't see how a Quaker boy could ever last a minute out there."
***
"This is ridiculous!" Bloody Bill repeated and he drew his pistol to reinforce the point. He aimed at Zeke.
"No!" I screamed.
"We ain't takin' anybody don't have all their parts," Bloody Bill stated.
"Now wait a minute," George Shepherd, the one-eyed guerilla leader replied, taking offense, pulling his pistol.
"Aw, Shepherd, I didn't mean you," Bloody Bill said, the closest to an apology anybody ever heard Bloody Bill utter.
"Stop it, all of you!" Quantrill ordered. "Help the boy on his horse."
A couple of guerillas saddled Zeke's horse and pushed him on. He sat there, one foot in the stirrup, ready to ride.
"But if you fall off," Quantrill said to Zeke, "we ain't stopping to put you back on. You understand that?"
"Let's ride to Lawrence," Zeke replied and everyone went "shhh" again.
"Okay, let's ride!" Quantrill ordered.
So we rode out, Quantrill in the lead, me right behind with that guerilla flag like it was a parade. Behind were the other guerilla leaders and their men. Bolten and Frank James flanked Zeke and when he started to slide off his saddle, they pushed him back on without Quantrill seeing it.
The Hansen dogs caught up with us after awhile and to my chagrin, they carried Zeke's leg in their teeth.
"What's that your dogs have got?" Quantrill inquired.
"Looks like a bone," Jesse James said.
"Looks like a leg!" Bloody Bill shouted out. "Hey, Zeke! Ain't that your leg?"
Zeke looked puzzled at the leg. Frank James and Bolten looked puzzled at me.
"You give Zeke's leg to your dogs, Smith?" Frank asked, a little shocked.
"No! I buried it!" I shot back. "And said a little prayer and marked the grave."
"Must of dug it up," Bloody Bill said and started chuckling. In fact, everybody started laughing right then at my expense. I looked at Zeke, knowing he was hurt by his leg showing up like that because I hadn't buried it deep enough. But Zeke was laughing too! Despite the fact he was pale as a sheet and looked ready to die, he thought the whole thing mighty funny. In fact, he laughed so hard, he fell right off his horse.
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