Battle For No Man's Land
Terry Compton
Published by Terry Compton at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Terry Compton
Cover images courtesy Mvoran | Dreamstime.com
Cover by Terry Compton
Slim Raymond had a good business and a good wife but he couldn't measure up to his father-in-law. He talked his wife into moving to a new land where the land was free for the taking. The only problem was holding on to it. If Mother Nature or the insects or the animals didn't try to get it back, there were the Road Trotters. They were the worst animals of all.
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This is a work of fiction. All characters or incidents are a figment of the author's imagination and any resemblance to any incident or any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Slim Raymond was hunkered down behind the overturned table. He'd pulled it over to the back wall of his sod hut when the first shots hit. The back wall was thick enough to stop bullets from that direction and the table helped stop the ones that came through the window and door. He was holding an empty muzzle-loading shotgun because he'd run out of shot twenty minutes ago.
"Slim, throw out your weapon and come on out. We'll let you leave if you come out now."
Slim perked up. He knew that voice and he didn't like the owner. He said, "Is that you, Billy? Who's with you? Is it Spider?"
"Just you never mind who's out here. Are you coming out or do we come in to get you?"
The two claim jumpers or "Road Trotters" as they were better known here in No Man's Land hadn't fired in awhile. Slim had hoped they were giving up and would leave him alone until Billy spoke. Slim had enough trouble without them but he was glad his family was gone. They had left two weeks ago to go back to stay with his wife's family. He had planned on leaving in the next day or two. He just had a few things to finish but now this had become another ordeal in the last four years of ordeals. Had it only been four years? It seemed like a life time.
Slim remembered his trip here from Hutchinson, Kansas. Things seemed so bright. There was land free for the taking. All you had to do was find a good piece of land and stake it out. He had heard the stories of how the land was so good it would grow anything. He was tired of trying to measure up to his father-in-law. Slim just couldn't do quite enough to be the man his father-in-law was. His business wasn't as rich and he wasn't as important in the community. This free land was a chance in a life-time to get away from that pressure. It had taken all winter to convince his wife, Maude. He sold his business and bought a wagon and two teams of horses. They loaded all their personal items, a plow, extra harness, seed and the other necessities they would need to start out. He also bought two pregnant milk cows and a bunch of chickens. They had left early in the spring of 1885 and made good time. It had only taken a couple of weeks to make it to Englewood, Kansas.
The ordeals started when they reached the Cimarron River. A settler from No Man's Land had been in the general store in Englewood and had told him to beware of the quicksand around the river. Slim came within sight of the river and stopped his wagon.
"Maude, wait here while I check out the crossing. A settler in the general store said there was quicksand along the river here sometimes."
"Can't we find another place to cross?"
"It would take us another day's travel to find the next crossing. It might not be any better than this one, so I'll check this one."
Slim walked to the river's edge and the area looked fine. "It looks fine. I'll just hit it fast and hard to get to the other side."
Slim made sure the extra team and the two milk cows were securely fastened to the wagon before he climbed in. He urged the team to a fast walk as they headed down to the crossing. He urged them to move faster and they were almost at a trot when they hit the crossing. The horses were moving fine until the wagon started in the river. It sank slightly in the sand and was soon dragging heavily on the horses. The right horse gave an extra-hard lunge and the trace chain snapped. Suddenly, only one horse was trying to pull the wagon.
The wagon stopped like it had hit a brick wall. Maude was almost thrown out of the wagon and their son in the back slammed against the seat. He was crying and Maude had to climb in the back to comfort him. Slim managed to stop both horses right in the middle of the river.
Maude asked, "Slim, what are we going to do?"
"There's only one thing I can do. I have to get in the water and fix the wagon. We need both horses to pull us out of here."
"But that water will be like ice. You know how cold all those creeks we forded have been. Feel how cold that wind feels. You'll catch your death of a cold."
"I'll be fine."
Slim slipped over the side of the wagon and the water took his breath as he stepped into it up to his waist. He worked to the tongue of the wagon where he found the broken chain. He went to the tool box and pulled out what he would need to fix it. It took over an hour and he had to keep getting out of the water to warm up a little. He was shivering until his teeth were chattering together. Finally, he had it fixed enough to hitch the horse back to the wagon.
"Maude, you'll have to drive the wagon while I try to help get it started. Make them pull when I give you the word."
Maude climbed into the driver's seat and took the reins. Slim went to the rear wheel to tug on it. He yelled and Maude whipped the horses into movement. Slim strained at the wheel and it finally moved a little. He strained a little more and the wagon took off. He grabbed the rear support as it went past to keep from being run over by the spare team and the cows. He was dragged across the river and soaked from head to toe.
Maude made it across the river and drove up the other bank before she stopped. Slim was starting to shiver again. The wind on the wet clothes was not what he needed. He looked around but didn't see a good place to camp for the night, so he knew they needed to keep moving.
When he stepped around to the front of the wagon, Maude gasped at the sight of him. She said, "You're all wet. You need to change your clothes."
"We have to find a place to camp first. We can't stay here. We need some shelter because it looks like it might rain or it could be snow as cold as it feels."
"What are you going to do?"
"Give me the reins. I'll drive from here and run along side. That should warm me up."
Slim started the horses and drove parallel to the river. They needed to find shelter and some wood for a fire. Maude sat in the seat watching for an unexpected ravine. They didn't want to drive the wagon off into something like that and make things worse. They finally found a shallow ravine with a copse of trees in the bottom. Slim was warmed up by this time and as long as he kept moving, he was alright. He hurriedly set up their camp and picketed the animals nearby. Maude and his son rounded up wood and soon had a roaring fire going. Slim then slipped into the wagon to change clothes while Maude made supper.
The rain held off but the wind blew all night, so the next morning Slim put a blanket on one of the horses and decided he would try to find Gate City. The settler back in Englewood had told him he could go there and get directions for open land. Slim found Gate City and rode into the haphazard collection of buildings. He laughed to himself about the "City." This was a far cry from what he would call a city. Back in eastern Kansas, this wouldn't even qualify as a hamlet. Someone must have had a good imagination to think it would be a city. He headed for the only store he could see. He noticed the saddled horses standing at the hitch rail.
Slim dismounted in front of the store and took his Winchester into the store with him. He had brought it because he had heard there were a lot of outlaws in this land or better still, he might see some game to take home. Slim stepped through the door and stopped to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light. He saw a bar against the wall to his left and there were two men standing there. Both of them wore handguns that looked like they had seen a lot of use. The two men were pretty rough looking and they looked up from their drinks as Slim came in. Slim didn't like the feel of this or the look of the two men. He spotted a man in an apron behind another counter on the other side of the room. Slim walked up to him.
The man said, "Howdy, mister. What can I do for you?"
"I met a man in Englewood that said I could get some information here. My wife and son are waiting for me north of here on the Cimarron River. We're looking for a place to settle and I was wondering if you could direct me to any open land."
One of the men at the bar snorted derisively, "Another punkin roller cluttering up the prairie with their little sod huts. He don't look like he'll even last a year."
His partner said, "Yeah, we should help him out and get him movin' right now."
The clerk in the apron said, "Billy, you and Spider better mind your manners. Why don't you just go on about your business? Leave Mr…alone."
"I'm Slim Raymond and I'm not worried by those two. Do you have some sort of map showing the open land?"
The clerk stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Joe Blevins. I own this store. I've got an old map but it doesn't have all the latest claims on it. You can get an idea though. Here, I'll show you…"
Joe pointed out several areas to Slim. Slim studied the map for awhile and then thanked Joe before he left to climb on his horse. There was some land that appeared to be open just west of where his wagon was now. He decided to ride over there to see if the land would be suitable for what he wanted.
Slim rode for two hours until he figured he was a couple of miles west of where he was camped. He liked the look of this land if he could only find a place to put a house. He would need water and it would be nice to find some trees but that didn't look too promising in this flat prairie. The buffalo grass stretched as far as he could see. He knew he wasn't that far from Gate City but he couldn't see anything of it when he looked to the south. To the north, he could see the line of trees along the river. He came to a small ravine and followed it north toward the river. The ravine widened and deepened as he rode and he noticed that there seemed to be water in the bottom. He found one place where water was seeping from the side of the ravine. He dismounted and went to the water to taste it. It was good sweet water. With a little work, he could clean the spring out and have a place to catch the water. There was a place a little farther down the ravine that would be a good place for the house. There were no trees but he could plant them later. The Cimarron River was another mile or so further north. The ravine was flat enough on the bottom to raise a good garden and he could use water from the spring to keep it watered.
Slim knew he had found his place. He rode down into the ravine and followed it until he found some brush. He pulled a couple of longer sticks out of the brush and went back to his spring. He drove the sticks into the ground and tied his handkerchief to the sticks so he could find the place again. Then he headed back to his wagon. He was excited and wanted Maude to see the place.