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1873

"Got it all?" Lieutenant McAlister looked over the pack mules Jeddie had prepared for their excursion into the forest.

"We're ready for anything the forest, wild animals, Mother Nature, or Indians throw at us, sir!"

"Glad to have you with us, Private Curry! Let's move out, men!"

The group of fifteen men - McAlister, eight engineers-in-training, Private Curry and two other sharp-shooters from fort defense, Privates Frederick Gudmussen and Myles Neeley, and three ax men - loaded onto the river barge that would take them to the sparsely populated areas of Pennsylvania for survey training in the real world. They would return in a month's time.

The smells of the city and civilization became less oppressive as the barge navigated the Schuylkill River, lifting Jeddie's spirits considerably. He hadn't seen wilderness since leaving the Arkansas River last spring. Even though a town appeared above the bank every twenty miles or so and a piece of farmland reached down to the water's edge here and there, he was breathing easy again. The forest would be so welcomed by him!

They made first camp not long before sunset, the tents up, food prepared and eaten, guard duty set. Early tomorrow, McAlister would start the engineers on their first survey training, taking them through woods, over a hill, and across a lake, a mile of straight-as-an-arrow survey line accomplished each day.

Jeddie was on the last guard duty of the night, the sky just brightening when the shout came from McAlister's tent.

"Where is it? WHERE IS IT!" McAlister's voice was loud and angry.

"Sir, I thought I'd put it in it's box and that in the trunk. You sure..." Private Dunckle looked for any way out of his jam.

"Of course I'm sure! You think I'm blind?" The tent flap was thrown aside and McAlister stomped out, stomped ahead, halted, put hands to hips, and took a deep breath.

"Sir, I'm sorry..." Dunckle followed him out the tent, not sure what he could say differently that would change the situation.

"No, no, it's my ultimate responsibility, my oversight. Well, there's nothing for it except someone will have to return to the fort and get it here fast." McAlister gave a sideways glance at Dunckle.

"I'll do it, Sir!" Dunckle saluted in his enthusiasm to redeem himself to the lieutenant.

"I was just about to volunteer you, Private Dunckle. Thanks for offering. There should be an early transport you can catch if you hurry back to the river."

Jeddie watched the exchange with a grin. McAlister was all officer-like with the men, giving orders and expecting immediate responses. He's not that way with Jeddie. More like equals.

The rest of the group were awakened by the shouts so the day started early. Jeddie fell in line for breakfast as an early morning drizzle began and took his plate into the tent he shared with the two enforcement privates.

No doubt, Fort Mifflin did meals so much better than he was used to at Fort Lyon, or anywhere outside of civilization! Rashers of bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy, even an orange! And good strong coffee worthy of the cavalry. He'd miss this.

The rain over, McAlister called the engineers together in the camp center. Jeddie sat on a downed tree trunk cleaning his pistol and rifle, listening in as McAlister conducted a review of the survey methods to take place as soon as Private Dunckle returned with the alidade. The lieutenant ordered a written list from each man of everything brought on excursion. The men were dismissed.

Jeddie looked up to see the frustrated McAlister shaking his head, still angry with himself.

"This alidade so important you're stymied without it?"

McAlister looked over at Curry intent on his task. He seemed to caress his weapons as he cleaned them, his attitude somehow different from many who learn weapons only when they enlist. In the West, a man takes up a weapon as a boy for sustenance and defense, very much like it used to be in these parts a generation or two ago. Times were changing, and fast.

"It's how an engineer sights a straight line on a long distance. That's how we'll determine our imaginary border across the forest and to the other side of the lake."

"So, no sighting a line, no imaginary border?"

"I messed up, Private Curry." Jeddie eyed him as he finished reassembling his rifle.

"I remember my da once telling me, "If ye are goin' to open a piece of land, make yir first strike straight. No sense in plowin' if ye can't plow a straight furrow."

Jeddie thought back on that day. One of his last memories of his beloved father. He must have been six or seven years old, so proud his da had taken him to the field of wheat stubble that late summer morn. He would be a farmer some day, just like Da.

He looked up to see the big man gesturing, his arm bending at the elbow and extending outward, pointing to the horizon. He was so tall he could touch the clouds, it seemed to the boy.

"Now, how would ye be wantin' to work this land, Jeddie, in or out?"

"Out, Da. It's too big for in."

"Ah, ye have a farmer's eye already, Jeddie! Here, climb on an' we'll mark the headlands." Jeddie sat on the cross bar of the plow while Da directed Molly and Dolly down the field about thirty feet in from the edge, marking a shallow strip with the single share barely into the soil, the earthy scent of the over-turned soil perfuming the air before them.

"How far, Da?" Jeddie looked down the headlands as Da walked the team back.

"We'll strike out here, that good with ye?"

"Aye, Da." He jumped off the plow.

"'Aye', ye say. Now, where to head the horses so we strike out straight, ay?" Jeddie looked up and smiled sweetly, waiting for the answer. Dan Curry set his big hand on the curly head and smiled with joy at the mere sight of his son.

"I'll tell ye what I learned from my da, shall I?" Jeddie nodded with anticipation.

"Right. Now, we'll stand right here on our mark." Jeddie stepped along side the big man, not tall enough for his head to reach past his father's hip. "An' be sure we're in line with the edge of the field." Jeddie looked back and to his left and right as his da had done.

"Can ye see the other end of the field, mo mhac?"

"No, Da. It goes down the hill to the creek."

"Aye. An' that three-quarters of a mile away, hm?"

Jeddie nodded knowingly.

"So, here's what we do. Put our arms out to our sides like so." He looked down at the boy. "In line?" Jeddie checked again and nodded.

"Now, it's the body that will give us our sight, Jeddie. Close yir eyes an' bring yir hands together in front of ye, like this." Jeddie did as his father directed. "Now, open yir eyes an' look on the horizon between yir finger tips. What do ye see?"

"That bush on the far hill 'cross the creek, Da. There's a broke branch an' a hole in the top." Jeddie's small voice was confident.

"I'll just be sure of that, shall I?" Big Dan Curry stood behind his son and repeated the process. "Ye have a farmer's eye, Jeddie! Straight on!" Jeddie's chest nearly burst with pride!

"See that, Jeddie? The good Lord gives us what we need! Now to get Molly and Dolly to go along with our plan, ay, an' we'll have the straightest furrows in the whole county!"

Jeddie was so proud to be a man that day! He could hardly wait until Ma brought noon meal out to the field and he'll tell her and she'll be so proud of him! And Hannie will be so jealous when he sees how straight their furrows are!

"You hearing me, Private?"

Strange. That voice don't belong in my memory... Oh, McAlister!

"Sorry, sir, I was in another time." Jeddie looked down, adding quietly, "Another life."

"You were saying something about straight furrows?"

Jeddie related to McAlister what his father had taught him about sighting in the distance to make a straight line.

"Your hands come together straight in front when you close your eyes. Recheck a couple times to be sure and you've got your sight." He shrugged. "Least, it works for plowing straight furrows three quarters of a mile long."

McAlister stood staring at him for so long, Jeddie wondered if God had stopped the world. Then...

"Private Curry, you are a font of highly useful extraneous information."

Jeddie gave his best cocky smile.

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"Mail come yet, Jenny?" Heyes tilted his hat back and winked at his favorite blonde behind the bar of her saloon in Cheyenne.

"Hannibal! Come here and get your lovin'!" Her arms in the air, Jenny moved around the bar just in time to meet Heyes on the corner. He hugged her corseted waist and spun her around, welcoming all the kisses, especially the forehead kiss. That never got old!

"How was Texas? How's Jeddie? How long you staying this time?" Jenny knew exactly where Heyes had spent his time away. Her office held newspaper clippings of a talented safe cracker involved in several payroll robberies this summer. He said he was headed to Texas, and she wanted honesty from him.

"Whoa, Jenny! How about I get rid of this thirst first, hm?"

"'Course, Hannibal. Here, drink up, it's on me!"

Heyes downed the cool glass of beer without a stop. "Ahhh" was the only word for it. He wiped his sleeve across his foamy upper lip.

"Now, tell me all the details, sweetie!"

"Texas... well... Got waylaid here in Wyoming with a couple, um, outfits." He lifted his glass inquisitively and Jenny refilled it from behind her bar.

"Outfits, huh? One wanted poster with one... outfit... wasn't good enough for Hannibal Heyes?"

"You know how it is, Jenny. Me and safes." Heyes winked.

"Only by reputation, Hannibal. At least, as far as I know." She raised an eyebrow to her friend.

"It's railroad and bank safes that ain't safe around Hannibal Heyes, Jenny." He leaned across the bar and kissed her cheek. "Good friends are too hard to come by." Her eyes said he was in the clear, though he continued to plead his case.

"Aw, c'mon, Jenny. I'm not all that concerning. Drove the Chisholm Trail earlier this spring! Now I'm just passin' through on my way to Texas to work the ranch.

Jenny filled herself a glass. "And how's Jeddie? Heard from him?"

"Weren't in any one place long enough so all his letters would still be coming here, Jenny. Hoping I'll have a few to read tonight?"

"I don't know why your cousin puts up with you, Hannibal. What with him serving in the cavalry and you hoo-rahing the territory of Wyoming free as a bird and a day ahead of the law." She shook her head in mock disdain.

"He puts up with me because I told him we'll visit you as soon as he's free." Heyes winked again. "He's lookin' forward to meetin' you." He glanced around the room.

"Well, I'm looking forward to meeting the fine, upstanding young man!" She turned to the door behind the bar. "Billy!" The teenager appeared in the kitchen doorway.

Jenny took Billy's arm and lead him around the bar to Heyes. He held out his hand to the teen.

"Billy! Look at you, growing up faster than your ma can spot!"

"You got that right, Hannibal!" Jenny had to raise her arm above her own head to reach the top of Billy's and muss his hair.

"Hello, Mister Heyes! Good to see you back here!" Billy smoothed down his hair.

Heyes recalled that Jeddie had been little more than two years older than Billy is now when he had to sign the enlistment papers. He hadn't seen his cousin once in all this time. How much has he grown? He felt a pang of regret for missing this part of his younger cousin's life. But, it's what Jeddie wanted, at the time.

"Your cousin getting out soon, Mister Heyes?"

"Ought to be next spring, Billy. We plan on coming up here soon after." Heyes glanced around the room again.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him!" Billy certainly was being raised with manners!

Jenny agreed. "And me as well! Been collecting his letters for two years, it's high time I met the trooper! Billy, do Mister Heyes a favor and put the big tin up in his room, will you?"

Billy nodded and turned toward the office door when Jenny pulled him close and stood on tip-toes to kiss his cheek. Embarrassed by his mother's attention, he pulled slightly away from the kiss. "Alright, mother, enough."

"I'll never run out of 'em, Billy, you can count on that! Off with you now."

Jenny watched her son disappear behind the door, a wistful look on her face. "He's growing up so fast."

For Heyes's part, seeing Jenny's motherly attention brought memories he hadn't mulled over in some time. If by the grace of God he was given one more day with his mother, he'd let her plant kisses on him as often as she wanted, in front of anyone. He looked down at his beer.

"I wish Billy knew how precious those kisses are, Jenny."

"He will, sweetie. Some day. A man never grows up too much for his mother." She patted his hand.

Heyes's eyes moistened. He leaned his head over the bar, grasping his hat brim.

"And you missing your younger cousin, too. Ah, come here, baby." Jenny wrapped her arms around his shoulder and pulled his head to her cheek, her hand on the side of his face.

"What would I do without you, Jenny?" He glanced around the room a third time.

"You'd never make it!" She planted a kiss on his forehead. "Now, up to your room for that bath.

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The hot bath was already in his room when Heyes entered. Brigid was in the tub, soap suds overflowing the edges, a sudsy ankle on the rim twirling a sudsy foot. A bottle of cordial and two glasses on the chair opposite the tub.

Heyes hurriedly stripped off his boots and clothing with his eyes held on the tub occupant. Then he clapped his hands with gusto.

"Now, to get you cleaned up, Miss Brigid!"

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Dear Hannie,

Things aint changed much here since last letter. I went on a survey excursion led by McAlister for a month so the trainees could learn real surveying. The Lieutenant forgot an important thing called alidade to get straight lines so I told him how Da taught me in the field to sight for straight furrows. Remember, Hannie? I had to be their alidade and he got the crew working that day. We got almost a mile surveyed and when Dunckle got back from the fort with the real one, they measured and it was pretty close to the instrument. McAlister said I saved his hide.

There was a bear came into camp, he charged McAlister who tried to scare it away. He went in his tent and I got the bear to look at me. He charged me. I got three rounds in it before it fell dead right before my feet. You should have seen the size of the paws, Hannie!

Got no pay and no word from Mr. Greeves.

I been to town lots of times now on leave. The base ball games are fun especially when Miss Katie lets me take her. She's got an eye for McBride who is pitcher and captain too. Say, you know that famous lady I said was in town, Nina her names in so many stores? Katie told me it isn't a name. It means -No Irish Need Apply- and that means don't come looking for a job here if your Irish. Think Hannie what my da and your da would do if they saw that sign? Ha!

I had my nitro testing done this week. Lieutenant McAlister said -Nerves of steel Curry!- and he gave me the highest grade.

One night on leave with some of the privates and Sergeant MacKenna we were in a bar which is what they call a saloon here and there were Navy sailors. Seemed they wanted to start something but the bar keeper stopped it. Well they were waiting for us outside and we got into it. The big one came for me and I did what Sergeant Quinn said -Ye lack on size, laddie, so stay with im an ye will wear him down! - Well, he was getting real tired and I could have taken him, Hannie but there were whistles going off and that means coppers so my pals pulled us apart and we all broke it off. They were calling after us when they ran up the alley. We'll be ready for them next time!

If your in Texas I hope you find a good outfit to work for. I ain't looking forward to it but I'll follow cattle arses up the Chisholm Trail if it means a job right away.

The bank I'm using I got from the post office when I mailed last time. It's a private bank called Consolidated Bank of Philadelphia. The bank owner saw my uniform and came to talk to me and shake my hand. His name is Herbert Wimbach. My account is Private First Class J. Curry, number L05879. Theres a Western Union real close to it and to the pier in Philly to wire to.

Hannie, did it ever happen to you? When I was thinking about Da on excursion and him teaching me, I could see the wheat stubble and the far hill and the road behind us even Molly and Dolly. And I could see everything about Da except his face. Every time I looked up at him clouds were in the way. Hannie I can't remember what Da looked like. I wish we could talk.

Good bye for this letter.

Your cousin,

PFC J. Curry
Fort Mifflin
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Heyes had been wondering when Jeddie would go through that. It really shook him first time he couldn't see his own parents' loving faces in his mind. He picked up the next letter stamped six days later. It was just one sheet of paper.


Dear Hannie,

I got the shakes last night. I don't think anyone knew but I had to keep awake all night til guard duty and fell asleep in Explosives class. The Lieutenant told me to go to barracks and get a couple hours sleep. I wish you were here to talk to.

Your cousin,

Jeddie


Oh, Jeddie.

Heyes closed his eyes, memories flooding back.

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It was a night of celebration in the Curry cabin. The people of Kansas had voted on a constitution, the votes had been verified and the results accepted. Kansas would enter the Union as a free state!

His da Michael brought his fiddle and bodhrán, his ma Eliza brought sweet breads, and he brought his pillow to sleep over with his cousin Jeddie.

Tune after tune, Da and Uncle Dan with their bows gliding faster and faster across the strings, the boys and their ma's dancing around the kitchen, the table shoved over to the wall, Jeddie climbing up onto it and stepping a regular Irish jig, his little feet in audacious moves and everyone clapping.

Uncle Dan throwing his big arms about his little son on the table and Aunt Mary hugging the two of them, humming while they slowly danced as one.

He turned to his ma and da sitting on the side bench and fell between them, half in their laps, looking up into their faces of pure love, their kisses on his face, his head.

Uncle Dan spinning around, hugging his son and Jeddie tilting his curly head back, hands around his da's neck, his face one of pure joy.

He jumped off his parents' laps and picked up the bodhrán, beating out a rhythm and Uncle Dan spinning faster and faster, Jeddie squealing with delight while his folks clapped and laughed.

The cabin was bursting with love! He hoped the night would never end.

Then, the sound of distant thunder.

"Sacred Heart, protect us!" Aunt Mary clutched her breast.

He knew it wasn't thunder. But Jeddie was too small, he didn't understand what was happening. All he knew was that suddenly, everything was frightening. Terribly frightening.

Uncle Dan set Jeddie down. Lanterns were quickly extinguished. The thunder was getting louder and closer.

A flurry of activity and whiffs of gun powder as weapons were brought out. The thunder was so close!

Four kisses on each youthful mouth. The boys were told to run, run fast! Fast and far as they can! RUN!

His da held him back by the arm. "Mind your little cousin, boy-o!" His da's last words to him. "Yes, Da."

Out the back door they ran, into the black, moonless night, the thunder nearly on top of them, pounding in their ears!

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That's all Jeddie remembers. Until after.

Doesn't matter that his cousin isn't a child anymore. Or that he knows what really happened. Most of it. He isn't afraid of thunder. But there's the feeling he gets sometimes, and it's so deep in him it can't be rooted out.

It's been quite a while since they went through one, 'the shakes', when a storm on the horizon with far, rumbling thunder would set them off. Jeddie tries, he tries so hard to shake them off.

Used to be bad when they were newly orphaned in Valparaiso. Now, the inside trembling is so slight only Heyes knows, and, thankfully, it doesn't worry Jeddie much, not so that he shakes anymore. It's more a nameless fear he can't hold down, or maybe it's a far, deep memory of a great fear that rises in him again.

He'll drape Jeddie's jacket over his shoulders, the weight seems to help some. Jeddie will stay nearby as much as he can, leaning a shoulder into him, sitting behind him and watching the world go by over his big cousin's shoulder. He has to feel safe.

But they're separated now, nearly two thousand miles apart. And Jeddie had to fight them off alone, through the long night.

Heyes closed his eyes.

I thought he was over it, Uncle Dan. Thought he was ready to be on his own.

"Aw, kid. I should've been there."

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He lay on the bed for some time after reading Jeddie's letters, his mind coursing through events past and recent, reliving each, and wondering why. Not like him to ruminate on the past, there's no goal to work toward, no pieces to put together into a working concept he can file in his mind and utilize to their advantage when the time comes. And that was it. "Their." He needed his cousin to see where he was going. He missed Jeddie in more ways than he had admitted to himself.

A large envelope in the big tin with unrecognized handwriting caught his eye. It was post dated in May. He opened the stiff envelope from Captain M. Roberton, Fort Lyon, Colorado and, holding his breath, pulled out the letter atop a folded cardboard.


Dear Mr. Heyes,

Firstly, to allay any fears, PFC J. Curry is well and doing fine in Fort Mifflin.

I write regarding your cousin on behalf of Sergeant Quinn, whose eloquence is of different persuasion. It was PFC Curry who directed Sergeant Quinn to send correspondence to this address should the need arise.

Sergeant Quinn has a brother-in-law stationed at the Philadelphia Powder Magazine who is also a camera enthusiast. As is his fashion, he frequently takes camera to the pier to photograph military newly arriving for their assignments. He has a growing personal collection.

As such, he was on the pier April 18 when PFC Curry disembarked. Despite the oncoming storm, he took time to speak with some of the newly arrived.

Being a fellow soldier, PFC Curry was open to him, and that is how the photograph came to be in the possession of Sergeant Quinn. He asks that I inform Mr. Heyes: "I give it to ye, so that ye can see the fine trooper year cousin has become."

I hope this letter finds you keeping well.

Kind regards,

Captain M. Roberton
C Company, 7th Cavalry
Fort Lyon, Colorado


Heyes unfolded the cardboard to find the photograph. And there was Jeddie on the south Philly pier, in cavalry uniform, just arriving for his new assignment.

The sight of his little cousin after two years absence from his side brought tears to his eyes, and pangs of love and pride coursed through his chest. Just looking at that expression, he knew every thought and every emotion running through Jeddie the moment that photograph was taken. Taking up pen, he wrote the details on the matting: "Jeddie On The Pier. April 18, 1873".

Heyes treasured the photograph all his life.

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Dear Jeddie,

I know what you mean. Think it was three years ago when I first got worried not seeing their faces. But it don't last. It comes and goes. Sometimes I can see them like they are right in front of me and other times it's like you said, their faces are hid. I guess it's just the way a man's mind works on him. Knowing don't make it any easier. And I'm so sorry not to be with you when the shakes came. Seems I should be pushed out the door by Da to apologize in person. It's hard for us at times, ain't it, Jeddie?

Well, maybe this next spring when you are discharged things will look better for us. I have been in Wyoming with a couple other outfits and now I'm back at Jenny's for a bit. Don't know if I ever told you about Brigid but she's my steady when I'm here. You will like her, too. Jenny says to tell you -Hello, handsome! Be seeing you soon!-

And speaking of steady girls, you and Miss Katie are getting tight, ain't it the truth! Will she be wanting to live out west?

Must have been three seconds to the shot to get that charging bear with your cavalry rifle! That's twice you saved McAlister's hide!

Nothing from Mr. Greeves? I'll see what I can do about that.

I wired you Western Union today $300.00. Cheyenne is growing bigger almost every day, Jenny's place is filled every night, still the dumbest poker players I ever did meet.

And now it sounds like I'm needed downstairs, things crashing and breaking. I get to toss out the rowdies since I'm about the fastest draw around here.

Maybe next letter I'll be back in Texas with a job for both of us. Your discharge is coming up fast now that we can make real plans around it. I have missed my little cousin for these two years and three months!

Until next letter,

Your cousin,

Hannie


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"He a virgin?" Brigid lay across his chest in the stable loft, he chewing on a dry alfalfa stem and staring at the rafters. He tilted his head down to see her face.

"Don't really know anymore." He returned his gaze to the rafters. "Not somethin' a man puts in a letter, anyway."

He thought more on Brigid's question.

"He was a virgin when I signed him over to the cavalry. Fort Lyon was pretty remote, but now he's in a big city. And he's had a steady girl for some months now. "

"A steady? Well, she won't give out til she's got the ring! So unless our little Jeddie found himself a gold ring on the street or a spare army coin for a whore, well..."

"Well, what?"

"Well, I just might have to make a man of our little soldier boy come spring, won't I?"

She suddenly found herself on her back, dark eyes looking intently into her green eyes.

"Why do women think they're the solution to all men's problems? Seems to me you're the cause of our problems all down through history."

Her deep laugh had him shaking on top of her.

"Oh, professor! Please tell me more of my faults! I need to make restitution for all womankind, else Hannibal Heyes will talk my ears right off!" She shook with laughter, taking Heyes with her.

His dark eyes gleamed. "Young lady, you need a lesson in the proper way to address your esteemed professor."

She screeched as he flipped her beneath him and landed a slap on her backside. If she could have stopped laughing he might have been able to start sooner. As it was, her laughter was infectious.

"Hey, pretend you're Jeddie." She was turned at the waist to face him, her arm resting on her side, a stem of alfalfa in her hand.

He was still mesmerized by her bosoms, didn't think he'd ever outgrow that. Or those.

"Huh?" He'd just caught what she had said.

Brigid laughed. "I mean, pretend you're a virgin."

"Brigid, lass, I been a man since I was fifteen and I ain't looked back since."

She pouted deeply. "Guess I'll just have to do my best with our little Jeddie." She tickled his chest with the alfalfa stem, smiling impishly as she snaked it down his torso.

"Let's see... I'll start with his..."

Another slap, this time more demanding. It was the intense look in the brown eyes that convinced her to give the professor her fullest attention.

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"Yes, sir, Marshal, I got one empty stall for your horse. Just the one night, is it? Oh, not sure how long you'll be staying? Billy! Billy, come see to the marshal's horse, now!" Jenny spoke from the stable doors, a bit louder than necessary. Footsteps running across the ground to the front of the stable.

"I'll take care of him, sir! You can get a good meal in the saloon, Harry's the best cook in these parts!" Billy removed saddle and bridle from the horse and forked alfalfa into the manger. Then he sped back inside the saloon.

Heyes peered down from the loft. Jenny stood at the stable door, half turned toward him. She gave him a nod and smiled her good-bye.

Billy returned with his bed roll and saddle bags, dropping them in the middle of the stable, then sped back inside, his ma following.

His horse was saddled, Brigid was kissed deeply, and he galloped south.

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mo mhac. ("mah walk"), Irish, "my son".

bodhrán ("bow-rawn"), Irish, a framed drum.

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