We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run

by Jim Kjelgaard

  Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  WE WERE THERE AT THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUN

  BY JIM KJELGAARD

  _Historical Consultant_: SAVOIE LOTTINVILLE

  _Illustrated by_ CHRIS A. KENYON, JR.

  [Transcriber Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence thatthe U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

  GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_, New York

  Copyright JIM KJELGAARD 1957

  _For_ ROSALYN LOUISE ALBERS

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 57-5035 _We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run_

  Thousands of land-hungry people edged the Oklahoma border that April dayin 1889, awaiting the signal that would send them across! What was instore for them? Wild riding! Possibly danger. Certainly adventure. Andyoung Alec Simpson with his twin sisters, Cindy and Mindy, was to be apart of it.

  It had been a long, hard journey for Jed Simpson and his family up theCherokee Trail from Missouri. But the promised prize of a homestead inthe rich, fertile land of Oklahoma was worth it.

  Then came the long-awaited starting shot! And men on horseback, on foot,in buckboards and covered wagons careened across the border to staketheir claims. Jed Simpson, riding alongside his partner, Pete Brent,leapt out in front. And just as fast, tomboy Cindy raced after them togive her father his forgotten gun. So it was three, rather than two, whostaked claim to the sweetest land in all of Oklahoma.

  Their joy was short-lived, however, with the sudden disappearance ofgentle Mindy and the arrival of a short, swarthy man with cat's eyes. Ittook all of Alec and Cindy's own special brand of magic to spirit Mindyback.

  The Simpsons had indeed earned the proud name of homesteaders. And forAlec, Cindy and Mindy it was a new life just begun in a golden land.

  WE-WERE-THERE BOOKS are easy to read and provide exciting, entertainingstories, based upon true historic events. Each story is checked forfactual accuracy by an outstanding authority on this particular phase ofour history. Though written for young readers, they make interestingreading for boys and girls well into their teens.

  Contents

  I Witch Girl

  II Pete's Story

  III The Sooners

  IV Ready for the Run

  V April 22, 1889

  VI Mindy

  VII Wild Ride

  VIII Alec

  IX The Claims

  X Hungry

  XI Alec Comes

  XII Plains City

  XIII The Man with Cat's Eyes

  XIV Spirits Walk

  Illustrations

  Pete gave one of the flags to Jed Simpson

  Mindy vaulted to his back

  "Go back or I shoot!" he said

  "You dug that big a hole since noon?" asked the man on the horse

  "Nothin' like a little fight to clear the air, Jud boy!"

  Mr. Simpson added a big boulder to the cairn

  When everything was ready, she called her father and Pete

  "Need any law work done?" he asked

  Alec went into the oak grove

  He liked the rough and broken land

  "Unless they turn their claims over to us, they'll never see the girlagain"

  WE WERE THERE AT THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUN

  CHAPTER ONE

  _Witch Girl_

  In a few minutes, Cindy thought excitedly, she would "kill" herself. Hereyes strayed from the tailboard of the wagon on which she stood, overthe scene around her. By day, with wagons and tents stretching as far asone could see in either direction along the Oklahoma border, all wasbustle and excitement.

  Now, with twilight just shading into darkness, it was delightfullydifferent. She could see only the nearest camps, and though most of thewagon covers and tents too were stained with use, the night took awayevery sign of ugliness, and everything was again beautiful. Here andthere, both near and far, the embers of cooking fires glowed like brightred eyes.

  The kerosene lantern hanging over the tailboard cast its glow for nogreat distance. She could see clearly only the nearest rows of peoplewho had come to watch this amateur show, the talent for which had beenrecruited from the campers themselves. Everything else was in shadow.Cindy took a deep breath and announced:

  "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I, the Great Cindy Simpson, will thrillyou with feats of magic and leaderdemain! I will prove to you that thehand is quicker than the eye! Watch closely!"

  She saw her brother grinning up at her and winked at him. Alec was twoand a half years older than she. But, she thought proudly, even thoughhe was only fourteen, still he was taller than some of the grown menpresent. Of course, in this crowd of people, all waiting to join the runinto Oklahoma to claim land, there were short men as well as tall.

  Cindy tried and failed to find her mother in the crowd. Thinking of hermother, she also thought of Mindy and was suddenly and terriblylonesome. Mindy, Cindy's identical twin sister, had suffered a winterfever. It was thought that she could not stand the long wagon trip fromMissouri into Kansas, and down through the Cherokee Outlet, or Strip, asit was often called, on the north to the border of the lands that werebeing opened for settlement. So Mindy had been left in Missouri withGrandpa and Grandma Simpson. But she was coming by train, and Cindyhoped it would be soon. This very afternoon her father had gone to thenearest railroad station, which was two miles away, to see if there wasa message.

  Giving herself back to the spirit of her act, Cindy took one of hermother's silk handkerchiefs from the little table of articles beside herand waved it gracefully. She continued:

  "Now, ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes on the handkerchief! You cansee for yourselves that there is nothing unusual about it! It is just anordinary handkerchief, until I fold it in my hand!"

  Cindy folded it carefully in her hand, clamped her small fist about it,and waved her arm aloft. When she opened her fist the handkerchief wasgone. A small wire hook on the end of an elastic band attached to thearmhole of her camisole had drawn the handkerchief only part way up hersleeve. Still, it was out of the crowd's sight. Cindy tossed the longblack braids that hung over her shoulders and pretended shockedsurprise.

  "Oh! It's gone!" she exclaimed. "One of my mother's best, too! Now whatshall I do?"

  She waved her arm again, bending it as she did so, to let the stretchedelastic go slack. At the same time she pulled a silk thread, one end ofwhich had been tied to the handkerchief before she picked it up. Theother end was looped, and she'd slipped the loop over her finger. Asmagically as it had disappeared, the handkerchief was there again. Cindycried happily, "Ah! It's back! See what magic can do?"

  She returned the handkerchief to the table, picked up a short wand, andshowed it to her audience. "The witches' wand!" she said darkly. "Butit has no power over the Great Cindy! Listen!"

  She tapped the wand on the table, and the sound of the thumping reachedthe farthest edges of the crowd.

  "As you can see," she announced, "it's very solid! Now I'll roll it inthis magic paper!"

  She rolled it in a piece of ordinary paper and held it up in full viewof the crowd. Then she tore wand and paper into tiny bits, threw theminto the air, and let them float down among her audience. Nobody exceptCindy and Alec knew that the wand itself was paper, with a small chunkof lead, to make the thumping sound, in one end.

  Cindy did half a dozen more tricks and then picked up the only realmagic prop she had. It was a wicked-looking knife given to her by afarmhand whom she had known on the Missouri farm wher
e her father hadworked before coming to seek his own land in Oklahoma. The same farmhandhad also taught her the rest of her magic.

  "Before I perform this last and greatest feat," she said, "I wish toprove to all of you that this is a real knife. One of you must examineit. You!"

  Her eyes fell on a short, swarthy man who wore a red handkerchiefaround his neck and another bound over his hair. Cindy hesitated. Didthe man have eyes like a cat? Or did she only think so? She was notsure, and she stepped forward to press the knife into his hand.

  "Take it!" she urged.

  He took it, but he seemed to do so unwillingly, and his eyes remained onCindy.

  "Cut something, please," she requested.

  He slid the knife along the wagon's tailboard, and a long sliver of woodcurled up. Cindy smiled sweetly.

  "Do you want to try it on something else?" she asked.

  The man merely stared at her. When Cindy stretched out her hand, he putthe knife in it and backed hastily away. Cindy thanked him and went onwith her show.

  "You have seen for yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, that this knife israzor-sharp! Watch closely!"

  Before the crowd could guess what was going to happen, they saw Cindyseemingly plunge the cruel blade into her heart. Blood spurted, and justbefore she fell Cindy heard a woman scream. A moment later Cindy got up,bowed, and to the mad applause of everyone except the man with cat'seyes, leaped lightly from the tailboard.

  Still grinning, Alec joined her. "Gee! You were great, sis!" heexclaimed.

  "Was I really?"

  "Best ever. And you sure bowled over one member of your audience."

  "The woman who screamed?"

  "No, the man who tested your knife, the one with a bandana over his hairand another around his neck. I was standing right next to him, and hesaid, 'Weetch girl! Weetch girl!' Did you know you're a witch girl?"

  "Oh, no!" Cindy groaned.

  "Oh, yes," Alec teased. "Wonder what he'd say if he knew that when youpress the handle of that knife just right, the blade slides back intoit and a squirt of catsup jumps out?"

  "Alec," Cindy was thoughtful, "did you notice anything strange aboutthat man?"

  "He looked like an Indian."

  "Do you remember what old Mrs. Bevers said when we left Missouri?"

  "Sure. She said, 'Luck will follow you if you beware a man with cat'seyes.'"

  "Alec, that man had cat's eyes!"

  "Aw now, Cindy!"

  "He did," Cindy said firmly.

  "Now, sis, don't go believing your own magic!"

  "Have it your own way, but he still had cat's eyes."

  "Then I'll sic a dog onto him," Alec laughed. "Come on, sis. There'ssomebody I want you to meet."

  He led her away from the lighted tailboard back into the shadows. Cindysaw her father, mother, and Pete Brent, the man with whom her fatherwould make the ride into Oklahoma as soon as the border was opened. Butthere was also someone else.

  Too surprised to move for a second, Cindy stopped in her tracks. Thenshe raced forward to fling herself into the arms of a slender, lovelygirl whose soft, dark eyes reflected only delight and who, like Cindy,wore a gingham dress that covered her from her neck to the tops of hershoes.

  "Mindy!"

  They hugged each other, and still holding hands, stepped apart. "Whendid you come?" Cindy asked happily.

  "Daddy met the train to see if there was a message from me. He found meinstead."

  "Oh! It's so nice to have you back!"

  "Sit down, children," Mrs. Simpson said quietly. "If you become tooexcited neither one of you will sleep tonight. Oh dear, Cindamine!Catsup all over your dress again!"

  "I'll wash it, Mother," Cindy said cheerfully.

  "I know, dear," her mother said, "but you're eleven now, going ontwelve. Isn't it time you were becoming a lady, like Miranda?"

  "Sure, Mom," Cindy said agreeably.

  She sat in the trampled grass beside her sister, and their arms stoleabout each other. Pete Brent, a tall, lean, dark-haired man withfriendly eyes and a ready smile, chuckled.

  "I declare! If 'twasn't for that catsup, I couldn't tell 'em apart!"

  "Neither can anyone else," their father said.

  "Not unless they watched them," Mrs. Simpson spoke up. "Miranda's alwaysthe lady, and Cindamine always the tomboy. She's forever in somescrape."

  "Cindy will be a lady some day," Mindy defended her twin.

  "Sure I will, Mom," Cindy agreed. "How did I do?"

  "Except that you said 'leaderdemain' rather than 'legerdemain,' you didvery well," Mrs. Simpson said.

  "I'll remember next time," Cindy promised.

  Alec chuckled. "Cindy's a 'witch girl' now," he remarked.

  "Merciful heavens!" their mother gasped.

  "Oh, it isn't that bad. Her magic just scared the daylights out of someman. I stood right next to him, and he was shaking in his boots."

  "Who was it?" Pete Brent asked curiously.

  Alec searched the crowd, which was now watching a juggler who had takenCindy's place on the tailboard. He saw the short, swarthy man andpointed him out. Pete Brent shook his head soberly.

  "No wonder he was scared."

  "Who is he?" Mr. Simpson asked.

  "Tom LaMott. He's part Indian, part Spanish, and part nobody knows what.He believes in devils, and it's easy to understand why Cindy's magictricks seemed like deviltry to him."

  "Is he bad?" Mindy asked.

  "I myself know of nothing very bad he's ever done, but according to thestories going around, he isn't good," Pete replied.

  Mrs. Simpson said doubtfully, "Sometimes I wish we'd stayed inMissouri."

  "This is no better and no worse than Missouri, Mrs. Simpson," Pete saidrespectfully.

  "You said yourself that that man's a heathen."

  "You will," Pete pointed out, "find them in Missouri, New York, or anyother place you go."

  "Say what you please, Pete, this is different from Missouri."

  "Only because of the crowd gathered here. But ninety-five per cent ofthem are honest, hard-working, God-fearing people. They don't want athing except a chance at some of the last good free land left in thecountry under control of the United States."

  "How about the other five per cent?" Mrs. Simpson asked.

  "Well," Pete said reluctantly, "I wouldn't want to cross that borderwithout a gun."

  "If you know you'll need a gun, then you must know of dangers," saidMrs. Simpson.

  "Now, Ann," big Jed Simpson said easily, "there isn't a thing to worryabout."

  "I hope not."

  "We have good stock, good equipment, and, thank God, we're all healthyand together again. There is no reason why we don't have a good chance,"Mr. Simpson told her. "Looks as though the show's over," he added.

  They drifted back toward their wagons, which were side by side. Pete'sbig draft horses and his four trim, fast ponies, tied to a picket line,shuffled about and munched fodder. A little distance away, the Simpsons'four wagon mules were in a rope corral. But Sunshine, the swiftpalomino mare with the white mane and tail, the horse Mr. Simpson wouldride in the Land Run, was staked on her own picket rope away from themules, and she was eating oats. Sunshine would have to travel very fastand far.

  "Coming, twins?" their mother called.

  "Can't we stay and talk with Mr. Brent for a little while?" Cindy asked.

  "Don't get in the way."

  "In the way!" Pete snorted. "My two sweet-hearts in the way! Why, Mrs.Simpson!"

  "I'd like to stay too," Alec said.

  "Good!" said Pete.