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   The Man From Eagle Creek
   Chapter Seventeen
   Tom asked Bones if he knew where he could get a cleaning rod for his
handgun and his rifle.
   "I will fetch y'all one Mr.  Tom."
   "Bones call me Tom, that's what I go by, I'm not a mister to you."
   "Yass'suh Mr.  Tom," Bones said and left the barn.
   Tom shook his head and walked back to the porch of the bunkhouse.  He
was sitting there looking his two guns over when Sally Mae came around the
corner carrying a gun cleaning rod and some oiled patches.
   "Here is your cleaning tools Injun Tom.  Mind if I set a spell with
you?"
   "I'd like the company, you can tell me more about you and your life. 
Were you and your papa born here or did you come here from the south?"
   Sally Mae sat down on the porch, leaning back against one of the posts
and propped her knee up as they sat and talked.
   "Bones was a slave when the war broke out and the north soldiers were
about to take the land from the landowners, his master let him and my mammy
leave and gave them some money.  They went north to Missouri then they paid
a man to bring them west.  They got up to St.  Joe and met a black man that
had a job working for Mr.  Hollister.  Papa and mammy came here with him
and we been here ever since."
   "So you were born here then?"
   "Yes I was born not long after mammy and papa got here."
   "How long has Mr.  Hollister let you prepare the mares for breeding?"
   "Since I was twelve.  I was helping papa all the time anyway and one day
Mr.  Hollister wanted papa to do something for him and asked me if I could
finish cleaning the mares and prepare them for breeding.  I been doing it
ever since."
   Tom was busy with cleaning his handgun and shining it good before he put
it back in the holster.  He reached over to pick up his Henry and looked up
as Sally Mae was talking.  Her dress was raised up on her knee where she
sat facing Tom as he worked and they talked.  Tom could see her woman
parts. Tom looked away, then couldn't help it when his eyes swung back to
the girls' legs where her dress was up and she was swinging her knee back
and forth as she talked and watched him work.
   This was the third time Tom had looked at a girl's woman parts and he
couldn't look away.
   "Sally Mae?"
   "Yes Injun Tom."
   "Will you put your dress down, you're bothering me some with your dress
hiked up like that," Tom said and smiled at her.
   "Why didn't you tell me sooner, shit I'm so ashamed of me, you sat there
all this time looking up under my dress and didn't say nothing to me," she
said as she dropped her knee to the floor and slapped her hand between her
legs.
   "I was embarrassed also, and at first I didn't want you to cover up."
   "Well I will say this for you, you're a honest injun.  How long you say
you gonna be here Injun Tom?"
   "I'll be here for a while yet, then I'll travel with my horse to Kansas
and Missouri by railroad Mr.  Hollister said."
   "You'll get to ride on the railroad train?  That is a dream of mine to
ride the railroad train one day, and you get to take your hoss with you."
   "Maybe one day Mr.  Hollister will let you ride the train if you ask
him. Someone will have to prepare the mares and he trusts you to do his."
   "Injun Tom, you think he would?  I would be afraid to ask him, he may
make me work in the fields if he gets mad at me."
   "I'll ask him if you can go, you can keep me and my horse company."
   "You would do that for me Injun Tom?"
   "Sure won't hurt to ask will it?"
   Sally Mae jumped and started off around the bunkhouse.
   "Where you goin' Sally Mae?"
   "You got me so `cited I'm about to pee on myself," she said as she
rounded the corner.
   Tom was looking as she darted around the corner, hiking her dress tail
as she went.
   `That girl is like all other girls I've met, they sure do have strange
ways at times' Tom thought.
   Sally Mae was gone just a short time and came back grinning.
   "I still can't get over you just sittin' there gawking up my dress tail
and not lettin' on to me that I was shinin' like that injun Tom, shame on
you, as much as shame on me."
   Bones called Sally Mae to come help with some cleaning in the barn and
Tom walked around the stables again.  He walked out to where the mares were
stabled and saw some really fine horse flesh.  Not all of them were the
long legged racin' horses.  He walked on around most of the stables and cut
up between two long ones to come back out in front of the big barn once
more.
   "There you are Tom, I was just coming out to find you.  I've come up
with a schedule that will you get your traveling done long before winter
sets in," Mr.  Hollister told him.
   "I think you can be through here in a week, ten days at most, then we
can get you on a train over to St.  Joe and down to Kansas City within a
week after you leave here.  From there you'll ride back up to Atchison,
Kansas to catch a train to Topeka.  A week at Topeka and on to Wichita for
a week.  From there you can ride over to Dodge City for a visit you said
you wanted.  From there you will ride south to meet up with the ATSF again
near the Indian Territory.  You can catch a train to Raton Pass, New Mexico
and from there ride up to Denver, Colorado.  Of course you know that you'll
only be a short ways from Cheyenne, Wyoming then.  How does that sound."
   "Thank you for helping me work out my travel and the best routes for me
to take," Tom said as he looked at the map Mr.  Hollister showed him.
   "I'm sure there'll be delays here and there, but then there'll be stops
that won't take as long either.  We'll send Mr.  Holliday a telegram and he
can get you authority to board any train in this part of the country
without fare.  Tom there's one more thing we need to consider on your trip
to these stables and that's the preparation of the mares and your stud.
   "If you wouldn't object I'd like to send my girl Sally Mae along to make
sure the breeding is clean and no problems will come up.  She's Bones
daughter and she won't be a problem to you.  I'll have him talk with her
before you leave.  You'd have to see to her meals and lodging though."
   "I'm glad you said that, I was wondering how we could be sure it was
done right.  I wouldn't mind seeing that she's fed and housed," Tom said.
He took the map Mr.  Hollister had folded and placed in a big wax coated
heavy envelope.
   "When are you ready to start Tom, Bones said we had three mares horsing
now and two more due this week."
   "Then let's get them girls out and to the open pens and plant some
seed."
   Mr.  Hollister walked to the barn and called Bones out to get the mares
cleaned up and ready.  Tom walked back over to the bunkhouse and put the
map and schedule in his saddlebags.
   "Injun Tom, Bones said we gonna start right now letting your big hoss
breed them little mares, I'm on the way to get them cleaned up now, I'll
meet you with the first one in that corral there on this side of the white
stable in just a short while," Sally Mae told him as she came out of the
barn.
   "We'll be there."
   Tom walked with his horse over to the corral and had him inside waiting
for Sally Mae.  She brought the first mare out and she was sure horsin,'
she was jumpin' and twitchin' all over the place.  Tom's horse got excited
and started sniffin' the air and making noises in his throat.
   Sally Mae had a pail of clean water in one hand and told Tom to hold his
stud while she cleaned him up.
   Tom watched as she leaned under the horse and patted his sheath until
the long horse cock came out far enough for her to wash it.  When she had
cleaned him, she stepped back and Tom let him go.
   The mare had pissed a stream and was still spread legged when the big
horse sniffed her, then mounted her.
   Less than five minutes later the mare and stud were walking around the
corral, getting itchy again.
   The other two were brood mares that Mr.  Hollister had gotten many fine
foals from in the past.  He was hoping to get a good copy of Tom's stud out
of both these mares this season, both had dropped colts less than a month
ago.
   The first one of the brood mares was big and chocolate colored with
light colored mane and tail.  Sally Mae had her clean and ready when she
got to the corral, then Tom held his stud as Sally Mae gave him another
washing to make sure he didn't spread anything from one to the other.
   Though this was an older mare, she was horsin' big time with the big
stud standing so close.  She backed to him and as Tom let him go, he reared
up and mounted her.
   Sally Mae waited for a good while to bring the other mare out.  Bones
had the halter on a short lead this time.  The mare was wild and finicky,
and she was nervous as all get out.
   Bones told Tom that this was the first time she had been bred, and she
was six years old.  He told Tom that Mr.  Hollister always rode her and
held her back from breeding until now.  She was one of the best gaited
saddle horses in the county.  She stood tall and broad in the back and
withers, she had a long neck and her mane and tail were bight red.
   Tom released his stud and the two started prancin' and circlin' each
other.  The mare then stopped and the stud mounted her.  She squealed like
a pig when he stuck her.  With the three mares being bred Sally Mae and
Bones led them back to the stalls, Tom left his stud in the corral for a
while to calm down.
   "Injun Tom, we'll bring them back out tomorrow morning and get them
another round from yo' stud just to make sure he stuck 'em good," Sally Mae
said.
   There were times when Sally Mae reverted back to the broken English that
Bones spoke, then other times she spoke with better English than Mr. 
Hollister did.  Tom was sure that she was around so much of it that it just
came natural for her to revert back.  Tom knew he was the same way at times
and never tried to talk above those he was with.  His mom taught him to
speak with strict word pronunciation but he felt out of place with such
proper speech at times.
   There were times when a man just had to talk the way his peers were
talking or get frowned upon.
   Tom let his horse out of the corral and patted him on the rump as the
big horse walked back to the barn.  When Tom looked over to the bunkhouse,
he saw Sally Mae sitting on the porch with both feet on the ground this
time.  Tom walked over and sat down.
   "You do a very good job with getting the mares and the stud cleaned for
breeding, I can see why Mr.  Hollister has you in charge of this," Tom told
her.
   "I try to do it best I can, he told me way back that they needed to be
clean and it was my job to make sure they was."
   "That must be the reason he told me today that you'd be travelin' with
me to make sure that the new association would get the best out of their
breeding program."
   "Injun Tom, you mean you asked him and he said I could travel with you
as you took your stud to breed all them mares?" Sally Mae asked.
   "I didn't get a chance to ask, he told me that he wanted you to be there
cause I'd be going from one place to another and they couldn't take the
chance of a mare not being stuck good when I left."
   "My goodness gracious, I'm gonna get to ride one of them big railroad
trains.  I am about to pee all over myself," She said as she jumped up and
ran around the building, gathering up her skirts as she ran.
   That night as Tom sat on the porch in the cool breeze, he took his flute
out, and played the sounds of the winds across the plains.  His music had
no meaning and no words just the sounds that were in his mind that wanted
to come out and play in the night air.  As the sounds carried through the
ranch headquarters and the stables, the horses perked up their ears and
stood listening to the soft, easy sounds.
   Bones and his woman sat on the porch of their small hut and swayed back
and forth with the sounds that took them back to the lands of their
ancestors, and back to the south where they were born and raised.
   Sally Mae sat out under a tree in the yard on a swing tied to a limb,
she swung slowly back and forth and closed her eyes as the music came to
her.  She felt as if the sounds were brushing against her face, caressing
her skin, whispering up under her thin, worn dress to settle between her
legs and tickle her in ways that made her belly knot up.  She smiled at the
thought of Injun Tom playin' that music, wondering what he was thinking.
   Was he thinking of his homeland as he played.  Was he missing his family
and the places he had roamed as a child.  Injun Tom was a man that could
make her young body shiver, when it wasn't even cold.  He made her have
thoughts about being held in his long arms and thoughts about his hands
touching her body the way she had seen her pappy touch her mammy.
   On Friday morning Tom and Sally Mae were all packed and ready to head
out back over to Omaha.  From there they were to catch a train over to St.
Joe, Missouri and meet up with Mr.  Lydell Truman.  They would be there for
two days then on down to Kansas City.
   Sally Mae had her belongings in a rough, burlap sack tied at the top and
slung over her shoulder.  Bones helped her up behind Tom on the big horse
as they were about to set out.  Tom had been thinking of how they were
gonna be seen traveling together and he decided that Sally Mae needed to
put on clothes to hide more of her girl's body.  When they arrived in
Omaha, he looked for a clothing store.
   Tom told Sally Mae to find her some breeches like boys her size wore and
some shirts, he gave her some money and stood at the front of the store as
she shopped with the help of the woman clerk.  After what seemed like
hours, Tom looked up from where he sat on a bench to see a young boy
standing in front of him.  He looked again and it was Sally Mae with her
hair braided like his, a hat on and boy breeches and shirt.  With the shirt
hanging loose and not tucked in her breeches, a person couldn't even tell
she had teats.
   Tom smiled and told her that she looked more like an Indian squaw now
than a yellow skinned black girl.  Sally Mae looked at him kinda funny,
then went back in the store to look one more time in the big looking glass.
She came back with a big smile and told Tom he was right.  Next stop was
the train depot where Tom introduced himself and asked the man at the
window if he knew of a telegram in his name.
   "Shore do injun, got it right here fer you.  You need to go see that man
right over yonder and show this paper to him.  He'll get you set up with a
place for you, the horse and the squaw."
   Tom smiled and went to the man that was standing by the covered wagons
on the train.  Tom handed him the paper, "I am Tom Cooper and I'm going to
St.  Joe on the train with my horse."
   "Yes Sir, Mr.  Cooper we have a cattle car for your horse and you'll be
in the passenger car with your squaw there."
   "We'll be riding with my horse, we stay together," Tom told him.
   "What ever you think best Mr.  Cooper, I'll show you where to load."
   Tom walked down the track a ways with the man in the blue suit with the
odd hat on, and saw a walk ramp up to a wagon with a fence around it.  The
man stopped and pointed.  "There it is, you can load anytime, we'll be
pulling out in thirty one minutes," he said as he looked at his watch.
   Tom turned and whistled, the big horse came running with Sally Mae
holding on for life.  Tom walked up the ramp and into the fenced in wagon.
His horse got to the top of the ramp and leaped across the opening between
the wagon and the ramp.
   "Next time you're gonna whistle for this big ass hoss, just let me know
so I won't be shook off will you?" Sally Mae said as she slid off to the
floor.  There was hay scattered all over the floor and cow shit all over
the hay.  Tom loosened the saddle from his horse and slid it to the floor.
Then he took his Henry and placed it along the fence part so it wouldn't
get stepped on.
   He and Sally Mae were standing looking through the rails of the side
fence at all the people walking by and at the people waiting to get on the
train.  It wasn't long before the loud whistle blew and Tom, Sally Mae and
the horse all jumped scared.  The train moved forward with a hard jerk,
then moved again as it rolled away from the station.  They were rolling
slowly along the tracks, headed east to the river, right through the town,
going faster and faster.  The wind was whipping the straw around and the
wagon was rocking back and forth.
   They were out past the last houses and buildings, with nothing but trees
on either side.  The black smoke was blowing back and they were about to
choke.  The train was finally moving faster and the smoke was going higher
and higher above the train.
   Tom looked out through the board fence again and saw the river below,
they were crossing the Missouri on a bridge.
   Sally Mae looked out and saw the river far below, and fell back against
Tom, grabbing him hard and holding on as they raced across the river.  The
whistle was blowing again as they came to the other side of the river. 
There was a wagon and mules at the side of the tracks waiting to cross. 
The driver waved as they went by and Sally Mae waved back.
   "Wonder who that was?" she asked Tom.
   The tracks split and one way went around a curve to the north and the
other way around a curve to the south.  They went south.
   "Injun Tom, I gotta pee, I was so scared back there I almost peed on
myself."
   "Well squaw girl I reckon you gonna just have to do like the cows did
and piss on the hay."
   "Well unless you gonna just stand there with that grin on your face and
watch me drop my drawers to pee, you better turn your head cause I gotta go
bad," Sally Mae said as she started unbuttoning all the buttons on her
breeches.
   Tom just watched as she squatted down and sprayed pee all over the hay,
he had never thought about a girl peeing before, that sure was a strange
sight.
   Tom watched as she stood in the rocking wagon and tried to get her
breeches up over her butt.  He thought of Beth Canady the day they met at
the creek.  Tom had seen four girl butts now and he was getting the same
feeling he did with the Sioux sisters and Beth when he saw them naked.
   `I sure am happy that I don't have to go through all that when I need to
piss,' thought Tom.
   No sooner than Sally Mae got her breeches up and buttoned back in place
than Tom's horse spread his legs and his legs and pissed a stream that ran
all through the hay and off the sides of the wagon fences.  Tom watched it
blow out from the sides of the train as they rolled on south.
   Now Tom had to piss, `what was it about riding on a train that made you
want to piss' he wondered.  Tom just unlaced his buckskins and pissed
through the sideboard rails and let out a stream of piss that blew into a
spray when the wind hit it.  He pulled his manhood back and tucked it back
in, then laced his breeches up.
   Tom looked over and saw that Sally Mae had been watching him, just like
he had watched her.  She smiled at Tom.
   `Injun Tom, you ought to take up breeding like yo hoss does.' Sally Mae
giggled inside herself.
   Tom and Sally Mae never sat down the whole trip to St.  Joe.  They were
watchin' the world go by one tree at a time.  Tom's horse had his head down
so he could look through the openings between the boards too, he didn't
much care for all of this, but Tom was there so it must be alright.  The
train had four stops to make in Iowa and Missouri but still made the one
hundred mile trip to St.  Joe in just over three hours.  At the station Tom
asked directions to Mr.  Lydell Truman's Stables.  No one there knew of the
name.
   He swung Sally Mae up on the big horse behind him and they set out for
downtown.  St.  Joseph Missouri was a hustling, bustling town, people were
goin in every direction at once, there were wagon trains of ten to fifteen
wagons lined up, heading north toward Iowa.
   Tom saw a place that looked familiar to him, a mercantile store.  He
slid off his horse, leaving Sally Mae to sit there in the saddle waiting.
The store was as busy as the streets were and Tom waited and waited for a
chance to ask about Mr.  Lydell Truman.  Finally he got the chance and
asked the man behind the counter.
   "I know him, he lives about ten miles east of here, go down to the big
white church on your left, turn on that road and go about ten miles and
you'll see some big trees on your left.  That's his ranch headquarters."
The man was pointing as he told Tom and smiled at him.  Tom thanked him and
left.
   They found the church on the left just as the man said and took the road
that went beside the church, they were a few miles from town when Sally Mae
said, "Injun Tom I got to pee again."
   "Girl you pee more than any body I ever met."
   "Well I can't help it, this horse and that train just jostles it out of
me I reckon."
   Tom stopped and swung Sally Mae off the horse with his hand, she
squatted there on the trail and peed, then she swiped her hand between her
legs and wiped them on some grass and buttoned up her breeches again.  Tom
swung her back up behind him and they were on the way once more.
   Mr.  Lydell Truman's stables sat back in the mostly shaded area under
the big trees.  Tom and Sally Mae rode into the yard to be greeted by three
barking dogs.  A big black man and a tall black woman came out of the barn
to see what all the fuss was about when the commotion started.
   "I'm Tom Cooper and this is my helper Sally Mae, we're here to breed
some of Mr.  Truman's mares to my stud."
   "Yass'suh Mr.  Tom, y'all come on down and we'll fetch Mr.  Lydell," the
man said.
   Tom and Sally Mae slid from the horse and Sally Mae was grabbing at her
crotch to get the stiff breeches away from her privates.  Tom looked toward
the house when he heard a door slam.  He saw a short fat man wearing those
funny looking breeches with big hips coming toward him followed by the big
black man.
   "I am Lydell Truman and I'm so glad you're here.  Ol' Joe tells me that
we have two mares that are horsing, and one that's coming in soon."
   The short man stuck his hand out and shook Tom's.
   "Young man I do believe you're Indian, am I correct?"
   "Yes Sir, I am part Sioux and I'm from the Dakota Territories."
   "Welcome to our part of the world, we don't get many Indians coming
through here."
   "Joe you and Lou make sure that Mr.  Cooper and his woman have
everything they need, I have company I need to attend to.  Mr.  Cooper I'm
sure you know your trade and have no further need of me, but I will return
as soon as I can."
   "Injun Tom if y'all will bring y'alls traveling stuff ovah here, Lou'll
show y'all where to stow dat stuff," Joe told him.
   Tom took his bedroll and handed it to Sally Mae, she followed Lou over
to a small one room shack where they'd be staying.  Tom slid the saddle off
his horse and put it on a rack in the barn.  He took his Henry and stood it
against the front of the barn.
   When Sally Mae and Lou came back they were jabbering like two birds on a
fence.  Sally Mae asked Joe and Lou for a pail of water so she could get
started with her part of the job.
   She walked over to Tom's stud and patted his sheath a few times and his
long horse tool ran out about a foot.  Sally Mae was talking and cooing to
him the whole time she washed his baby making tool.  Ol' Joe and Lou had
never in their life seen this, a woman washing a hosses cock.
   Sally Mae was through and asked to see the first mare.  She was led to a
stall where an older brood mare was standing, in no time she had the mare
washed and inspected to make sure there was no hair or dirt in her baby
making part.
   Ol' Joe led the mare out to a small pen on the side of the barn and held
the gate as Tom walked over with his stud.  As soon as the mare and the
stud were in the pen together she spread her legs and pissed a stream
straight behind.  The stud smelled the piss and wrinkled his lips with his
head in the air.  Lou and Ol' Joe were standing by the rail fence when the
mare backed up and took the stud.  Lou swayed back into Ol' Joe and he held
her tight.  The mating was done and the horses were walking around the
small pen.
   Sally Mae led another, younger mare out and Ol' Joe took her to the next
small pen over.  Sally Mae washed the stud before she let him stick this
mare.  Tom led his stud to the pen and stepped back to close the gate.  He
looked over to see Lou leaning back against Ol' Joe and rubbing her
backside against him like the mares do the stud.  Sally Mae watched too
then went back to the barn.
   By the time Sally Mae brought the third mare out, Tom's horse was ready.
They led them to the first pen and took the other brood mare out as the
third mare and the stud were brought in.  Sally Mae did her work on the
stud again and stood there with Tom as he nodded over at Ol' Joe and Lou,
she was backed up to him and he had his arms around her with a big hand on
each of her big teats.
   When the breeding was done, Sally Mae washed the stud once more and Tom
let him out of the pen.  Tom and Sally Mae turned to see where Ol' Joe and
Lou were.  They were gone.
   Sally Mae walked to the barn with her pail after she had poured the
water out, as she turned to leave she saw Ol' Joe and Lou.  Sally Mae
motioned to Tom to come over.  She pointed to the back side of a stall
where Ol' Joe had Lou bent over with her dress tail up on her back and was
humpin' her from behind.  Sally Mae was watching like she had never seen
this before.  Tom grabbed her by her arm and pulled her out of the barn.
   "I wanted to see them Injun Tom, I've seen horses mate all my life, I
ain't never seen a man mate a woman."
   "My mom and dad told me that was private between a man and woman.  They
told me that if it was done right both would feel the best pleasure they
ever felt."
   "Well, I ain't never felt no pleasuring like Lou was feeling, did you
see her face and the way she was humping back against Ol' Joe?"
   "You ain't old enough to be thinking about stuff like that girl," Tom
scolded her.
   "But I do think about it Injun Tom and I know you do too, I see you rise
up in your buckskin breeches when you looked up my dress tail.  I see you
get all swole up too when you looked at Ol' Joe and Lou.  So I know that
you think those thoughts."
   "I'm older than you too girl.  You need to behave yourself, we've just
begun our trip and here you are wantin' to watch two people mating in a
barn."
   "You ain't that much older than me Injun Tom and you know it.  I bet you
ain't ever mated with a woman have you?"
   "That's none of your concern, you keep this up and I'll turn you over my
knee."
   "I dare you to try and spank my bottom Injun, I'm not some young'un any
more that needs a spanking, I'm a grown up woman."
   Tom walked off and left her standing there.  He went to his stud and let
him into a pasture to graze on the tall green grass.  It had been a long
day and the two travelers were tired from all the excitement and work.  Lou
brought them two big tin plates full of food and they sat on the porch of
the little cabin eating.
   "Injun Tom, you said that your mom and dad told you about a man and a
woman mating, will you tell me about it so I will know.  Mammy tells me
that I better not be thinking bout no boy stickin' his peter up in my hole
til I get older.  I'm older now and I got to know these things before I
come face to face with them."
   "I'm not gonna sit here and try to explain about mating to you, you make
me feel strange as it is when you hike up your dress tail and piss right in
front of me.  Then you sit with your privates shinin' for all to see.  You
bother me some doin that Sally Mae."
   "I've always just pissed when and where I felt the need to go.  Don't
you go looking down on me cause you had all them man and woman things
`splained to you.  You already told me that you won't `splain them to me,
now you talking down cause I don't know bout not pissin' in front of
folks."
   "Sally Mae, I wasn't talking down to you.  I never talk down to folks
that don't know things, it ain't their fault they don't know.  Besides
that, I don't know enough about all this to be trying to teach another
person, let alone a girl."
   "I done told you Injun Tom, I ain't a girl no more, I'm a woman that
needs to know how to be a woman.  If you won't talk to me about it, I'll
talk to Lou, I reckon she'll tell me about woman things.  Then I'll know as
much as you, maybe more."
   "Good, you talk to Lou.  From what I saw she knows a lot more'n I do
anyway.  I sure ain't ever been behind a woman that way.  How do you reckon
I could tell you about it?" 
  
The Man From Eagle Creek - Chapter - 17