Morning in Nicodemus by Ellen Gray Massey Read Free Book Online Page B

grass and fence it for the cattle he hoped to get. That plan suited Virgil. He liked working with cattle much better than plowing. As with raising crops, ranching needed horses. He walked faster following his horses’ trail which led straight to his ford on the Solomon River.
    Â Â  On the river at the spot where there was a natural slope down to the water, he found where the horses had stopped to drink. That was logical. Everywhere else along the river steep mud banks lined the stream on both sides, making access difficult. He had forded the river there on Lady many times. From the many hoofmarks along the water’s edge, he knew that the horses had milled around that spot for some time. He must be very close to them.
    Â Â  He saw that the river hadn’t risen at all from yesterday’s storm as the funnel cloud dropped down only at his place.
    Â Â  Again he wondered why Bruce was so interested in his ford. No matter. He had horses to find.
    Â Â  He wasted many minutes searching for the spot where the horses left the river. Did they cross it? He didn’t think so, though the water at the ford ran over a rocky formation. It was shallow enough they could have waded over as he had done many times, but there were no tracks leading out of the river on the other side. Not knowing which direction the horses would have taken, he guessed the horses would go west away from the settled homesteads surrounding Nicodemus. He soon covered the half mile southern border of his farm onto the next unclaimed land.
    Â Â  Nothing. No horses and no tracks. He turned back to his ford and searched east from there. Until the tracks reached the river the trail had been so plain he didn’t doubt that he would soon come upon them and take them safely back to their paddock. Now he was not so sure. Walking slowly along the river bank he brought in all the training his Osage friend had taught him to spot animal tracks. He wished for Likes-to-Hunt. They’d spent many pleasant days last year hunting, fishing, and talking. When Virgil reached the major traveled ford across the Solomon River without seeing anything, and the farmer he met on the road hadn’t seen any horses, he doubled back west. He decided that they must have gone west and he missed the signs.
    Â Â  He paused only long enough to eat the cornbread sandwich Liberty had prepared for him, washing it down with river water he cupped in his hands. As he ate, he wondered again why Bruce wanted the Lander farm so much. 
    Â Â  True, it was on the river with all the assets the river offered, but so were quite a few other farms in the Nicodemus settlement. 
    Â Â  Bruce came late after the best river farms were claimed, but he didn’t harass any of the others along the river. 
    Â Â  Virgil’s homestead was two miles off the main road on a barely discernable trail. There were still some unclaimed lands on the well-traveled road into Nicodemus. What did the Lander farm have that Bruce wanted so badly? 
    Â Â  He couldn’t understand it. Bethel’s father’s hostility was explainable. As he pictured Bethel’s beautiful laughing eyes and remembered his feelings when he kissed her, he deduced that Gene Martin probably just wanted to keep Virgil away from his daughter. But Bruce? Did he think he could scare him off because he was younger than the other landowners along the river? He couldn’t make sense of it all. 
    Â Â  All his other neighbors, including the Osages who often hunted through the area, were helpful and encouraging. There were already many natural enemies in this semi-arid land—the cruel weather, the stubborn sod, and dangerous wildlife. Why would former slaves coming to this haven in the West cause another former slave so much misery. His White neighbors at Hill City and Ellis were helpful in many ways, like loaning them tools and animals to help break the ground for crops. Some even