He was so serious that she took her time in answering. She doubted that he really questioned her contentment and deep satisfaction with their lives, but men seemed to need special reassurances. She buried her hand within his big fist and enjoyed the opportunity to tell him just how things seemed to her.
"Rob, almost any woman would trade her lot for mine. I, too, look with wonder on all the good things around us. From this mountain we can see swift streams and rich fields. The meadows are thick with cattle and the woods have game for everyone. We live within a rich and peaceful Eden with mountains and rivers to protect us from intrusion,
"We built our home to live the way we wished. It fits us like our daily clothes. Why would we wish another? Our gardens give us more than we can use. Our sheds and barns hold more than we need. We want for nothing.
"Just as importantly, our friends are true and think and act much as we do. We live as we wish, without need to impress or struggle for acceptance.
"Rob, we share all things in our lives. We are friends as well as lovers. My life is full and complete with my family, my home, and my friends. I feel loved by my husband and I have him to cherish in return. How could I wish for more?
"All those women who would willingly trade their places for mine will have to look elsewhere."
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Chapter 31: 1850
Rob and Ted were training a pair of geldings to stand to gunshots. They had ridden the horses hard to wear off undesired high spirits and ended up over in Buckwheat Valley.
They let the geldings think they were ground hitched, but the hanging reins were tied to a long rope that was in turn lashed to a tree. Although neither horse was new to the gun shooting game, Rob did not relish the task of walking down spooked horses.
Rob loaded and Ted did the shooting. Ted walked around at various distances firing shots at random. Rob watched the horse's ears and eyes for signs of nervousness. Ears pricked at the sudden explosions, but eyes stayed droopy with unflared nostrils.
Ted Let off a few heavy loads close behind the horses without more than a little weight shifting. Finally, he stepped right between them and fired so close to their heads that the explosion hit hard on their ears. Both animals shied, snorting and stamping their feet, but the reins stayed loose.
The boy stroked them calm and came over to sit by his father. Rob gathered that something was on his mind, so he reloaded slowly and laid the guns aside.
Ted scraped at the ground with a stick but finally said, "You know, Pap, I'd rather raise cows."
"Why is that, Ted?"
"Well, you don't have to do all this training for one thing. But, that aside, I like cows better than horses. Horses are plain dumb, Pap!"
"True enough, Ted, but cows are just as dumb."
"Sure, but we let them stay dumb, Pap. We don't ask cows to learn anything."
"Cows need milking twice a day, and then you've got to peddle the milk or dump it to your hogs."
"Well, I was thinking more of steers, Pap. Milk cows are hard work, too."
"I doubt you're going to find much in the way of making a living that isn't hard work, Ted. Take steers, for example. A steer will eat you out of house and home. That means you've got to raise a mountain of feed to keep them growing. Otherwise, you won't get a decent price when you sell."
Ted thought about that, still making marks with his stick. "How about those people you talked about out west that run wild cows on a million acres of prairie?"
"Well, you've got a point there, son!" Rob enjoyed talking about the far west. "If a man was to locate where the winters weren't cattle-killing cold, and if he picked a well-watered place with acres of good buffalo grass, he might do all right.
"Of course, there are Indians, wolves, and grizzlies to work on your cows. There are droughts and storms, mountain cats, and even coyotes to thin your herds. A man has to settle for less increase due to all those troubles, then find a market, and drive his cattle to it. It isn't quite as easy as it might seem."
"Some people are doing it though aren't they, Pap?"
"Yep, some are, Ted. Mostly Spanish right now, and they are mostly eating their own beef with no markets to sell to, but more of our people are moving in. Things will develop and open out there."
The boy was silent for a long time, visualizing it in his mind, Rob figured. Finally, he said, "Well Pap, that's what I'm going to do when I get big enough. I'm going to ride out there, find a place, and start branding wild cows. I'll throw up a shack and live in it until I sell some cows. Then, I'll start building a real house. Sort of like ours, with big porches looking over my fields full of fat cattle." He fairly licked his lips anticipating it.
Rob nodded gravely, remembering old Rob's tolerance and encouragement of his own youthful scheming.
"Well, a man will need a good gun or two. We've surely got those around the place. You will have a fine horse, of course. Outside of camping gear, you won't require much else. Maybe a few dollars to start off with."
Ted nodded seriously, "A man ought to have a good wife along too, Pap. Doubt he'll find any out in that mountain country."
Rob tried not to look astounded. Ted had made a big leap on that one! "I reckon a man could look into that all right. Only thing to remember is that a man ought to find the right woman and marry her, not need a wife and start looking. Too many mistakes are made that way."
"Well, I've been looking around, Pap. Too soon to choose, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled." He got hold of a pistol and without warning let it off almost under the geldings' noses. They tossed their heads and stomped and snorted, but stayed hitched.
"Good animals. Pap. They'll be getting too old by the time I head west, but these are the kind I'll be riding,"
Rob was quiet on the ride home. He let Ted go ahead, watching his boyish form, still thin-armed and narrow-shouldered, but he sat solid in the saddle. The boy had ridden almost as soon as he could walk. Born to it, Rob thought.
Maybe it was wrong to fill a boy's head with western tales. Yet, the west was what everyone talked about these days. He thought of the vast distances, the Indian warriors mounted on their paint ponies, and the mountains rising into clouds. He'd had to have his look. Why should his sons be less? They too might need their glimpses at far horizons, but he would surely hate for his boys to ride off for good.
Boys changed to men awful sudden. He watched Ted's relaxed form and could see the shape of muscle growing under his shirt. Seemed like only yesterday that he had dug out Chip's baby saddle for young Teddy. Yet, here he was riding and shooting among the best and talking about wives and ranching in the western mountains.
Rob smiled thoughtfully. It was hard to think of quiet Ted packing it up, throwing some local girl onto the back of his saddle and riding into the sunset.
Still a man never knew, and families usually heard last. He guessed he would lay a little more stress on how good life was here, among civilized folks, and how after a lifetime of fighting the wild western country, a man couldn't expect it to be better than it was right here in Perry County.
He tickled his horse into a run and slapped Ted's hat down over his eyes as he went by. Chip would have bellowed and come whooping in pursuit.
Rob risked a quick look back and found Ted coming as hard as his horse would go, his teeth showing in a delighted grin, but as usual, dead silent.
Rob settled down for a hard race. He had given up letting them win long ago. Darned kids won too often as it was anyway.
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Chapter 32: 1855 – 1862
The boys had been off by themselves a lot recently. They'd had his old maps out, and he had found books about the west lying around the library. When he saw them coming down to his shop, he figured they had something to say and he guessed he knew what it was.
They were talking animatedly and he had time to look them over a little. No question that they had grown into men. Chip stood as tall as he did, and Ted, though a bit shorter had developed shoulders so wide he look
ed a little top heavy.
By all the Gods, he would hate to see them leave! He knew their feelings, well recalling his own eagerness to find the Shining Mountains, and he knew a man had to strike out on his own sooner or later. All that knowledge failed to help. He wished they could be satisfied to stay in Perry County and do whatever they chose to do right here.
He wondered how Amy would take their leaving. Like he would, he supposed, wishing they would stay but resigned to their leaving. They came up, still talking, and almost seemed surprised to find him waiting.
Chip started, "Pap, we've made some decisions, and we'd like to talk 'em out with you."
Ted added, "It's more than time we lit out on our own. Pap."
Chip said, "We've got a plan that will need your help."
Ted said, "And we're pretty sure we can make it work, Pap, or we wouldn't try it."
Rob finally got a word in. "Well, pull up a stump and let's hear your plan." When they both started he held up a hand. "Hold it! Chip, you start out. After a while Ted can take over." They grinned all around, and Chip began more slowly.
"Well Pap, as long as we can remember you've told us about the west. Guess it's natural enough for us to want to head that way. We know that just going out there doesn't amount to much. We figure to do more than just look around. Reckon you can guess the first thing we're planning to do."
Rob nodded, smiling grimly, "I reckon you intend to find old Bogard's bones and the gold I scattered around there."
Ted took over, "It's like you've always told us, Pap. Those Indians might have chopped old Bogard up some, but they wouldn't bother with that scattered gold. We know how that spot looks, and we figure we can find it. We'll scrape that ground and recover maybe as much gold as you brought home when you came."
Rob nodded, believing they might do it. "Supposing you find the gold, what then?"
"Then we'll look around. Maybe ranch or raise horses out there. We've talked of starting a trading post along the Oregon Trail, or maybe we could trap for a year or so, until we decide what to settle on."
"You boys planning on staying together?" Their answer was evasive and Rob supposed it was something they weren't sure about.
"Spoken to your Ma about this yet?"
"Well, not yet, Pap. We thought you might help us out there. We don't want to get her too upset."
"Well, I think maybe you're being a little too fearful about your Ma. Ever know her to get too scared or panicked about anything? I think maybe we had better go up and tell her right off. Your Ma has a place in this planning too, don't forget. It wouldn't be right to leave her out."
Amy saved her tears for when she and Rob were alone, and the planning got underway. The boys were hoping to leave in April, so that gave them time to get good men trained to take their places.
Amy asked, "Does Beth Troop know about your plans?" They said, "Yes." But again, Rob sensed something left unsaid. He figured it would come out in time.
Rob found his men, and Chip and Ted trained them. The cold months gave them time to plan and they went at it in great detail.
Their kits were to be simple, but each would trail a packhorse. Theirs was a mighty trek, and once across the Mississippi there would be little help available.
Rob bought them each a pair of colt dragoon revolvers. Ted thought he might prefer a .36 Caliber, but Rob overrode him with such adamance that Ted quickly subsided.
"You are going out where a gun is used to kill. This won't be for fun, Ted! The .44 Dragoon will stop an Indian where a .36 caliber might not. Against a grizzly, you will need everything you can get, and you will be wishing for more. I know, and you will find out soon enough. So, take the Dragoons. Many a man has picked lighter guns because they felt better on his hip, and just about that many have been real sorry they did it!"
The Troops bustled with excitement over the boys' adventure. Beth Troop took their leaving with outward calm, which surprised Rob and about everybody else. The three had been close since babies and Rob had thought that she and Chip might be closer than just friends. He guessed he had read more into it than there was.
Chip asked to take Jack Elan's black rifle and Rob gave it to him willingly. John Shuler in Liverpool altered the gun to percussion, and with its heavy ball and short barrels, it was right for the west. Ted took Rob's old .50 Hawken as his main gun and they each carried a lighter rifle. By the time they were due to leave, Rob doubted any party was ever better prepared for long, hard traveling,
+++++
They left at first light on a good spring day. The Troops turned out to see them off. Widow Oakes was reduced to helpless tears and fond pats. Amy hugged them hard asking to be sure that they had everything and Rob shook their hands in both of his feeling tears back in his own eyes.
They rode off waving and the Troops went home. The place seemed empty as a shell and Rob held Amy close expecting they would never stop listening for boy sounds and missing them almost too much to stand. He was tempted to saddle up, ride them down, and tell them to get on home where they belonged, but he didn't do it. They slept restless, aware of their sons' absence.
+++++
Abel Troop woke them, storming and ranting at their door. Rob got there as quick as he could, hopping on his one leg, and bellowing back at Abel to calm down.
The sight of Rob hopping around cooled Abel only slightly. His arms waved and his finger pointed, and Mary Troop came rushing up just as Amy came in wrapping herself in a thick robe.
Mary quieted her husband and said so that they could understand. "Rob, Beth's gone!"
Rob still didn't understand, but Amy said, "Oh Mary, we should have known."
Rob felt stupid and left out. "Gone? Gone where?' And about then he realized.
Abel was shouting again, "Gone with your boys, that's where! Left yesterday sometime. Everybody hid it from us, and we didn't know until an hour ago.
"Gone with a whole kit. Left just a little old note." He stopped and Mary offered the note for their inspection.
They read it and Rob said, 'That darned Chip! I should have known!"
Amy looked surprised, "It's Ted, Rob. Not Chip."
"Huh?"
"Oh Rob, Beth and Chip are friends, but she and Ted have been making eyes for almost a year now."
"But. . . ? "
Mary Troop put in, "Beth's been mothering Ted like an old hen. I thought she took his leaving much too easy. It's plain now why she didn't get upset."
Abel thumped the table, "Why didn't they tell us and get married and all right here, like they should have? Just answer that one for me?'
Rob couldn't.
Widow Oakes came bustling in and caught the end of the conversation. "Oh, those poor dears. They couldn't do that. Everyone would have given them fits. We would have ruined it for them."
Everybody denied it, all talking at once. The widow was undismayed. "Now, you all hush and listen to me for a minute. Beth is more than three years older than Teddy. You would have been scandalized. Why Rob, as plain as it was, you didn't even suspect their interest because women just aren't supposed to marry younger men."
Abel interjected, "Well, that's right. It isn't the way!"
The widow sniffed, "You see, Abel? That's why they did it this way. We'd all have made it miserable for them. They had their minds made up, and I can't blame them much for not caring to have all their dreams and plans talked down by the people they love the most."
She hesitated a moment then added a little aggressively, "I think a woman being a few years older than her man might just be a good thing!"
Perhaps out of desperation they all looked interested, and she went on. "A young man can use the steadying of an older girl, rather than enduring a young woman's flightiness. Then too, looking at the other end of it, women usually outlive their men and an older wife would bring things more even in the long run."
They couldn't argue much with her logic, but they were more concerned about what to do about it all.
Abel w
as for mounting up and riding them down. Rob wasn't exactly unwilling and expected he could do it, given time enough.
They argued it with Mary and Amy, who weren't sure, and with the widow, who was dead set against it, and swore she'd shoot them out of their saddles if they started out. Unworried, but disturbed by her insistence, the men cooled down.
Rob and Amy recognized the problem as mainly belonging to the Troops. Beth was the worry, not Ted or Chip. They were willing to help but their urgency was not as personal, and they began to look at the situation more rationally.
Amy asked, "How soon could you catch them, Rob?"
"Well, they'll have ridden hard and they might not follow the roads they've been talking about. Those three can ride as well as we can. So, it will depend on how often and for how long they stop. If we trail fresh horses and really work at it, we might catch up in four days."
There was silence until Mary asked, "They will marry before then, won't they, Amy?'
Amy nodded and the widow added, "I expect their standing a'fore a preacher right about now."
Abel groaned and ground his teeth, Rob started to chuckle and Abel glared at him. "You wouldn't think it was funny if it was your daughter, Rob!"
"Abel, you are right, and it isn't too funny anyway. It's just that we've got to admit that they have pulled it off. They are going to go on and do just as they please no matter what we think or how we act! Abel, we're whipped, and we've got no choice but to make the best of it."
Mary hugged her arms to her body. "But where will they go? What will they do?"
Amy came over and put her arms around her friend. "Well, I suppose we will hear from them before long and know for sure. I think the three of them will go right on west the way they have been planning all along. What they will do after they recover the gold, I don't know."
Rob said, "The three of them have been together all of their lives. They are grown up, and if they were someone else's kids we would think they were off to a good start."
Shatto (Perry County, Pennsylvania Frontier Series) Page 20
