by J. R. WRIGHT
Once Luke had bathed and dressed into one of the new suits, he went down to the parlor for the purpose of reading the remaining two of Breanne’s letters over a drink. Making sure to take the next in line, he opened it and began to read.
Dearest Luke,
Forgive me for writing you again so soon, but Susie went out to eat with some old friends from her Mission School days. That left me here alone in this house for the first time ever. It’s spooky Luke. I don’t think Harry is here, though. At least I haven’t heard or seen anything unusual. God help me for saying that.
Luke, I’ve decided to give the house to my oldest daughter and her husband. Susie has already made a life for herself in Oregon Country, so I doubt she will ever have a use for it. I will give her money, though. She can always use that, considering the little she gets from the mission out there.
Oh, Luke, my heart aches for you. I can’t wait to get on that train come June. I’m so happy I can hardly stand it. I mentioned to Janie yesterday when she came again, I may go west once Susie leaves. She knows I was there once; her father told her as a child. None of the ugly stuff, of course, just about things that concerned him and me. Anyway, her reaction to that was, “You’re crazy.” Won’t she be surprised when I actually do it…
“Tom!” Kenny Hardy came up with a smiling Gracie Johnson by his side.
“Kenny!” Luke stood from the table and took the hand offered. “Gracie,” he said, and gave her a fatherly hug. “Is that smile there for a reason?”
“We’re getting married!” Gracie said and giddily held out her left hand to show off a silver thimble on the tip of her ring finger. “It was my mother’s. She wore it when she became engaged.”
“Well, now that calls for a drink,” Luke said. Then he remembered Kenny didn’t imbibe. “Can I buy you supper, instead?”
“We accept.”
“Let’s go, then.” Luke scooped up the letters from the table and held out his arm to Gracie. “Across the street okay?”
“Fine.”
“I’ve got to thank you for getting the water in here so fast, Kenny.”
“Nothing to it. You got the idea in New York, didn’t you? We’ve had running water there for decades.” He laughed.
“Have you heard from your wife?” Gracie was anxious to know. It was such a horrifying, yet romantic, story he had told her on the train.
“I have. She’s coming in June.”
“Oh, Tom, I’m so happy it worked out for the two of you.” Tears came instantly to Gracie’s sparkling green eyes.
“Congratulations, Tom. Glad to hear it. Gracie told me the story.” Kenny slapped Luke on the back. “And I might add, she cried near all the way through the telling.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The following morning, after having breakfast with Kenny and Gracie as was arranged the previous evening, Luke ordered up the hotel carriage. “Now, I want to see the location of your new project, Kenny.”
This brought a smile to Kenny’s face, feeling pride that Tom would take such an interest in his work, other than what concerned him directly. “There’s not much there yet. I won’t start the foundation for a few weeks. Not until the danger of a late freeze has passed.”
When they arrived, the survey crew was busy at staking out the acreage set aside for the capitol grounds. Presently, that was just an empty field of tall prairie grass. However, across an extra wide street to the north of that was the block sold to Oliver Wiggen’s for the purpose of constructing the temporary capitol building, which Kenny Hardy would build. In fact, all of the city blocks on that side had been surveyed, five hundred feet by five hundred feet, with an allowance for side streets between all of them.
“This is it,” Kenny said, gesturing to the north, and climbed from the carriage once it stopped.
Luke followed him down, leaving Gracie to observe from where she sat.
“The blue stakes represent the building itself.” Kenny pointed. “It’ll be three stories tall, three hundred by three hundred feet square.”
Luke eyed the areas to the left and right. “How many hotel rooms could you get out of a building that size?”
“I don’t follow you.” Kenny studied him.
“Well, I presume that building is going to accommodate a few hundred congressmen, and thousands will come here every month on business with those congressmen. Where are they going to stay when they come to town?”
“Good question, Tom. What do you have in mind?”
With that, Luke looked both directions again to each side of where he stood. The block to the right seemed the most level. “There, the next block east. A hotel equal to the size and design of the building you plan to build here.” He began walking toward it. “It’ll have a restaurant. They have to eat, too, when they come… don’t they?”
“They do.” Kenny laughed. “So when will you want it built? And how many suites, verses rooms, will there be?”
“If it’s possible, I’d like the completion of it to match what you’re doing here. As far as the other, I’d like you to talk to Willie Wilder. He worked at a large eastern hotel before coming here and would know better than me about such things as that, don’t you think?”
“I do,” Kenny said, excitedly. “And since I’ve got a little time on my hands, I could start on the drawings today, if you want?”
“Good!” Luke said and headed back to the carriage. “We’re going to build a fabulous hotel, Gracie.”
“What will you call it?” she asked.
“Well, now, I haven’t given that any thought. Perhaps you should come up with a name, Gracie?”
“I already have,” Gracie confessed, gathering a serious look on her face. “Do you remember in your story of Breanne, when that Beaver Charlie warned about Breanne’s hair being blond and the Indians would think she was special? Well, all the while you were telling that I visualized her as a princess. So I think a good name would be, Prairie Princess.”
“The Prairie Princess Hotel it is, then. I like it! Thank you, Gracie,” he said enthusiastically.
“You’re welcome!” Gracie beamed with pride, and glanced at Kenny Hardy coming up to the carriage.
“Did I miss something?” Kenny said.
“Yes. You did.” Luke said. “That’ll teach ya not to leave a pretty woman alone. Now, let’s go to where the bigger house lots are,” he said to Little Man George on the driver’s seat. “Take a right at the next road, George.”
When they arrived at an area recently platted a half mile from Capitol Square, Luke said, “Pick out one you like, Gracie.”
With that, Gracie took on a surprised expression, stood, and excitedly looked out across acres of flagged stakes that marked the many one acre lots. Her eyes caught sight of a single cottonwood atop a hill in the far distance and pointed. “That one. The one with the tree.”
“Now, if I was to give you that lot for a wedding present, along with all the materials needed to build a house, Gracie, do you think you could locate a decent carpenter to put it all together for you?”
“I do.” Gracie giggled and looked to a smiling Kenny Hardy. “Thank you, Tom.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on Luke’s cheek.
“You’re too generous, Tom,” Kenny said.
“Look who’s talking. You spent the cold months of winter installing water in the hotel, and only charged me a thousand dollars! The materials alone must have cost that.”
“That’s because you’re my friend, Tom. And I owe you.”
“Owe me for what?”
“All you’ve done for me since I got here. And for bringing me Gracie.”
“Likewise! And all you’ve done for me, in return,” Luke said and extended a hand that was readily taken for a firm shake. “And as much as I’d like to take credit for it, I’m afraid Gracie very much brought herself.”
Gracie beamed again and smiled to the both of them.
“Now, let’s go see what that lot number is so I can get it marked sold and deli
ver you two a proper deed.”
Two weeks later a telegraph message came to the Empire Hotel for Tom Hill. It was sent from Fort Laramie.
“Taking chance on you being in Cheyenne. Advise – cavalry companies, artillery companies, troops, arriving daily at Fort Laramie. All moving west, Fort Fetterman. No news yet what is planned. Will advise further when know more. Bordeaux.”
This instantly sent a chill up Luke’s spine. What in hell was the military up to now? It didn’t take a wise man to figure that out. Henri Snively had warned in his letters of something like this happening. He now asked Willie Wilder for paper to write a response.
May 6, 1876
Bordeaux Store
Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory
“James, need to know how this may concern Chaska? Should I leave now to warn him?”
Tom Hill
Empire Hotel
Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory
So shaken was Luke over this news, that after writing the return message, he went directly to the parlor and dumped down a hefty pour of whiskey. What were the bastards up to now? That seemed pretty obvious, from the movement of so many troops to the only fort in the Powder River country. They had decided to push the Indians out of there, as well. It was like the treaty of 1868 never existed. What the hell next? He poured another whiskey.
A reply from James Bordeaux came the following day.
“Tom. Hang tough. Laramie commander said troop movement normal. Will keep ears open here. Tana says hi. Bordeaux.”
That night, Luke sat down at the desk in his room and wrote letters to both Breanne, from whom letters had become more frequent – one arrived nearly every day now – and to Tana Star, to whom he’d never written a letter before. Obviously Tana missed him, or she wouldn’t have asked Bordeaux to include the hi in his telegraph message. No doubt, he missed them both, and couldn’t wait to be a family again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Finally, on the seventh of June, the letter came that Luke had been waiting for. It had been mailed a week earlier, on May thirty-first.
Dearest Luke,
Now at last it is certain we will be together again, darling. My tickets have been purchased for all connecting trains. I leave here June 16. Susie, who is still here, will be with me on the train as far as Chicago. From there she goes to Minneapolis and on to Oregon, while I travel on to Cheyenne. Oh, Luke, now that I can see it’s really going to happen, I can’t wait!
I am a little scared, however, I won’t be accepted as a mother by our son. I’m worried how Chaska will measure me to Taloma. She was such a wonderful woman, Luke. If it hadn’t been for her loving care and protection, I surely would have died in that village. But I am anxious to see him, and get to know Bright Moon and the children. I hope he has your good looks. I know you said he favors me, but for the life of me I can’t see how my features could benefit a man.
Luke, darling, I hope you have a good horse when I arrive. I would like to go riding again, like when you were here…
Luke knew the feeling, and the fear Breanne was experiencing over being accepted as Chaska’s mother. After all this time, he had no idea if Chaska saw him as a true father. Perhaps not, seeing as how he still followed in the footsteps of Brave Fox, reluctant to give up the Indian lifestyle even though he knew in his heart the future of that, as it had been for thousands of years, was drawing to a close before his very eyes. Soon these proud people would be herded off like cattle to crowded reservations and expected to eventually take up white man’s ways, for lack of another choice.
The remainder of the letter got a little adventurous, written in the form of riddles again. But that was just the playful Breanne of long ago coming out. Now, he wondered if Harry Budd had ever seen that side of her. Maybe not, if he was as staunch as she let on he was. It must have been a miserable existence for her, if that were the case.
He noticed Breanne never said in the letter when she expected to arrive here. But Luke knew any estimation could vary by a day or two anyway, depending on trouble, number of stops, and traffic along the line. But he did expect her to arrive seven to ten days after departing Hannisville. That would get her to Cheyenne no later than the twenty-sixth of June. Now he was getting anxious, and began making plans for her arrival.
All of that was put on hold, however, when a wire came from James Bordeaux on the very day Breanne was to leave Hannisville.
June 16, 1876
Tom Hill
Empire Hotel
Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory
“Tom. Come now! Something big planned Powder River country. Explain when arrive. Bordeaux.”
James Bordeaux
Bordeaux Store
Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory
“Damn!” Luke said to the timing of the message. “Willie, respond to this.” He handed it over as if Willie hadn’t already read it.
“What shall I say, sir?”
“Tell him I’m on my way. What choice do I have? And Willie, my wife is due to arrive by train in a week or so. Her name is Breanne. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but if I’m still gone when she gets here, have Kenny Hardy make arrangements for her to be delivered to the Tea Cup. He must have some people in his employ that can be trusted to handle that. Let them take the carriage.”
Willie, taking notes fiercely, looked up when finished. “Is that all, sir?”
“If I think of anything else, I’ll wire you from Laramie, okay?”
“Yes, sir! I’ll take care of this right away.” He held up the telegraph message.
In the hotel stable a short time later, after having gathered a bedroll and dressed into buckskins, Luke saddled the red stallion and then looked around for a secondary horse. His eyes fell on a raw boned bay mare that came along with the hotel when he bought it. Without hesitation, then, he located a lead rope and tied it to the halter. No doubt the horse was old, but she may come in handy in a pinch. Then again, she may just drop dead from the pace he planned to travel. If so, he would borrow another, along with a mule from Bordeaux to pack supplies Luke planned to purchase at the store for an extended travel.
A bright orange sun was rising above the Laramie Mountains to the east when Luke rode from the stable and steered the animals north. Kenny Hardy was coming up the street with a wagonload of lumber, Gracie by his side on the seat, when Luke passed them with merely a wave. There was no time for cordialities now; he kicked the red horse to a gallop and yanked at the lead rope of the bay.
It was the evening of the second day when Luke walked two very tired horses up to the stables at Bordeaux’s store. James saw him coming through the big open doors and stepped outside.
“Come in when you’re done there, Tom. Cola has supper near ready.”
“Daddy!” Tana Star charged past him and was in her father’s arms. “I got your letter. I love you too, Daddy. Did you write one to Mommy?” Her fingers went to the bird claw necklace dangling over her chest.
“Your mommy can’t be reached through letters, honey. But I think of her every day.”
“Me, too.” She looked down at the necklace in her fingers. “Look what she gave me. Isn’t it pretty?”
“It is,” Luke said. “Like she was. And you, my sweet, look just like her.”
“Does that mean I’m pretty too, Daddy?” she said, and then saw Cola coming up.
“It does. You are very pretty…” He kissed her cheek.
“Aunty Cola, Daddy says I’m pretty,” Tana Star said, and beamed.
“You are very pretty, baby,” Cola said, with a broad smile. “Hi, Tom.”
While they ate at a table in the kitchen, Bordeaux went over what he had learned. “First off, four days back they emptied Fort Laramie. Every swinging dick in the place headed north, except for a handful of officers. Even the artillery wagons followed along.”
“To where?” Luke was anxious to know.
“Well, I didn’t know at first. I’m getting to that. Anyway, evening before last, Lieutenan
t Farnsworth came to the bar. All the troops are gone from the fort, and the guy gets lonely over there with nobody to talk to, so he comes over here. Lucky I was even open. With all the soldiers gone, I saw no point in it and figured to go to bed early, when he popped through the door. It was obvious Farnsworth had been drinking already. He began complaining right off about being left behind. The biggest military campaign since the Civil War, and he wouldn’t be there to see it, or participate in the heroics…”
With a mouth full of roast beef and boiled potatoes, Luke then spun an index finger in the air as a gesture for Bordeaux to get on with it. He was anxious to know what he was up against. What campaign…?
“Okay, here’s what he said. The soldiers from here are presently heading to the Black Hills. They’re to stand guard over the recently built towns, just in case the Indians should flock back in there, after what is planned for them on the plains to the west.” With that, Bordeaux left the table and returned moments later with a map. Holding it up, he continued.
“Okay, as I speak, according to Farnsworth, General Terry has thirteen companies of the seventh cavalry moving west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory, here. They’ll eventually reach the Yellowstone River on the Missouri and travel west to a rendezvous point here, at the mouth of the Powder River. A steamboat with supplies enough to keep a large army for a good while will reach them there.
“In the meantime, Colonel Gibbons, with ten companies, cavalry, and infantry, is coming down from Fort Ellis in western Montana Territory to the same point.”
“So, what’s the plan, annihilation of the plains Indians?” Luke asked.
“Farnsworth thinks so, even though the orders call for the peaceful movement of all Indians presently in the Powder River country to Camp Robinson in Nebraska Territory. The reason he thinks that’s the plan, General George Crook is coming up from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming Territory. Crook will have twenty companies of cavalry and artillery under his command. A bit much for a peaceful mission, in Farnsworth’s opinion. He thinks that force was strategically positioned there to block any exit to the mountains, therefore catch whatever Indians they find in a crossfire.”
