Beneath the Tombstone (The Tombstone Series) (30 page)

“Don’t
think so,” the tall cowboy replied as he felt around on the calf’s head. “Nope.
Let’s make ‘
em
take his medicine, and he’ll be good
to go.” After Tyler administered the shots, he pulled the loop lose and laid it
out flat on the ground, ensuring they wouldn’t have to chase the calf around,
trying to get the rope off his neck.

Irwin,
sitting close by on his horse, spoke. “When you boys get up, step over here and
let me get my horse between
y’all
and that
cantankerous critter. He may want to fight.”

Sure
enough, that’s exactly what happened. When Jason and Tyler leapt to their feet,
so did the young bull. Irwin got his horse between the cowboys and the beast as
it whirled around to face them. The fact that an animal twice its size stood
before him didn’t seem to faze the young bull. He charged into the horse a few
times, but neither horse nor rider seemed to get real excited over it.

While
the yearling was preoccupied, Jason followed Tyler as they ran over to an iron
fence and climbed up on it to safety. Irwin took a quirt from a clip on his
saddle and wacked the angry bull on top of the head a few times. That was
enough encouragement to inspire its return to the others.

The
cowboys let the herd out before returning to the barn. Rye began grilling
several of Irwin’s steaks as the others got all the gear together and loaded on
fresh horses and the mule. Jason had managed to work up a bit of an appetite,
and after they’d all eaten and thanked the cook, they swung into the saddle and
headed for the north section.

Several
hours before dark, Jason sat on his horse, gazing down on some of the most
beautiful landscape he’d ever laid eyes upon. Steep hills and sloping valleys
were stretched out before him, tall majestic pine trees sprinkled throughout
the scene. Behind him was an enormous corral with an assortment of different
sized holding pens inside.

“We’ll
camp here,” Irwin instructed. Fresh grass grew tall within the pens, and a
nearby windmill pumped water to an inside trough at a slow trickle. “Unload,
unsaddle, and just turn the horses lose inside the corral,” he ordered.
“They’ll have plenty of grass and water.”

Shortly
before sundown, as the last bit of light was fading from the western sky, the
men gathered around the campfire and watched the flames as they danced about,
shedding flickering light on the saddles, gear, and the two tents that the men
had assembled, one on each side of the fire. Jason looked away from the flames,
and after a few moments of his eyes adjusting away from the firelight,
something caught his eye.

“Is
that a house down there?” he asked, turning back to the men.

Irwin
looked up from the task of preparing a dinner of steak and beans. “Yes, it is,”
he replied like it was no big deal.

It
was a big deal to Jason. “What’s a house doing out here in the middle of
nowhere?” he asked again, now more perplexed than ever.

“No
one lives there,” Irwin responded, returning to his task.

“Whose
is it?” Jason asked, feeling as though he’d come no closer to getting a satisfactory
answer.

“Maggie’s,”
Irwin replied without looking up.

“Maggie’s?”
Tyler scoffed. “See that fence between here and there? That’s federal land.”

“The
government may claim it,” Irwin said solemnly, “but it will always rightfully
belong to Maggie.”

“Did she
used to live there?” Jason inquired.

“Yeah,”
Tyler said with a smile, “like a hundred-and-fifty years ago. Some say she’s
still there… waiting to help women who are down and out.”

“Just
like she once did,” Irwin added. “She called the place Eden House. It was the
one place around here that women knew they could come and get help if they
needed it.” He paused for a moment before he continued. “It was in the
mid-eighteen-hundreds, back when the big gold rush was on in this part of the
world… back when men would traipse off to seek their fortune, many times
leaving their families to fend for themselves. That’s what happened to Maggie’s
husband. He left her for the gold fields. She had no one, no money, and no
hope.”

Jason
came back to the campfire and sat down across from Irwin who sat in silence for
a moment, watching the smoke disappear into the gathering night, before he
continued, “She did some things she wasn’t proud of, Maggie did. Did some
things no woman should be proud of… just trying to keep from starving to
death.” He shook his head as he stared into the fire. “Then one day she met a
local preacher’s wife – learned about Jesus, redemption, and salvation. Soon,
she became a Christian and quiet her old ways. She scratched out an honest
living doing whatever honorable job she could get… and by honorable, I don’t
mean she didn’t get dirty. After seeing her hard work and determination, I
believe the Good Lord gave her a vision – Eden House – a place for lost and
forgotten women to come and find rest and peace.”

He
paused for a moment before going on. “It took a lot of hard work but, finally,
she gathered up enough financial support from local and distant churches to buy
this Eden House she’d envisioned. Even then, it took a while to find a house
that was big enough to support her dreams with a price low enough to make them
possible but, eventually, that’s exactly what she did,” Irwin said as he
glanced down towards the big abandoned house.

“What
made this one cheaper?” Jason asked.

“It
was rumored to have been haunted… even before Maggie,” Irwin said looking up at
him. “The man who owned it before her disappeared, never to be heard from
again. Never been found, not even his body, so you can understand how that
would turn most potential buyers away. But it didn’t Maggie. No sir. She moved
in, set up shop then began making her way around the towns in this area,
letting people know she had created a place of refuge for women… women that
were in the situation she’d once been in – beaten down, starved, and ashamed.
She took them and gave them a new life. She taught them about the love of Jesus
by showing them the love of Jesus.”

Up
until that point, Rye had sat silent and motionless by, listening to every
detail, but seeing the storyteller seemed to be finished, he said, “You sure
know a lot about this lady.”

“I
should,” Irwin replied solemnly. “If it wasn’t for her, I might not have ever
existed.” He looked over at Rye as he continued. “She took my great grandmother
and her daughter, who was my grandmother, into Eden House after my great
grandfather was killed in a mining accident. I remember as a child, I’d set in
my grandmother’s lap and listen as she told me stories of growing up in the
Eden house. She sure did think a lot of Ms. Maggie.” He sat quietly for a
moment. “It’s almost like she’s still there,” he added in a hash whisper as he
turned and looked at Eden House.

His
words sent a chill up Jason’s spine. “You think it’s haunted?” he asked
cautiously.

“What
do you think?” Irwin asked, never breaking his gaze away from the old house.

“I
don’t believe in ghost,” Jason scoffed nervously.

“You
want to go down there and look around?” Irwin asked, turning to Jason, the hint
of a smile on his lips.

“Uh
no,” Jason was quick to reply. “Not tonight.” Everyone laughed. “What about
you?” he asked Irwin. “You believe in ghost?”

Irwin
smiled. “Persistent aren’t you?” he asked before taking a moment to sigh in
contemplation. “I’ve been down there before,” he said in a quiet voice. “I
don’t know for sure what it was, but there was something odd – some strange
feeling came over me when I set foot in her yard. I don’t know if she actually
haunts the place… I’m not even sure I believe in that kind of thing.” He
exhaled sharply. “It was just so full of memories… but not my memories.” He
paused for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought before he went on, “I could
almost hear women laughing… children playing. I felt joy and happiness… but in
a strange and almost lonely way.” He thought for a moment before adding, “Emotions
– joy, happiness, anger, sorrow – they live on even after the souls that they
possessed go on. Maybe that’s all ghost are… the remnant of someone else’s
memories.”

Irwin
sat silent and thoughtful for a little while, stirring the beans absent-mindedly,
lost in some thought. Finally, his eyes seemed to refocus as he looked into the
pot. After scooping a spoonful out to give it a taste, he said, “Beans are warm
and steaks are done. Grab a plate. Bring it over. I’ll fill it up.”

Jason
stood and gave Eden House a long study before prying his gaze away to grab a
plate. For some odd reason, he felt drawn to the old house. After getting a
scoop of beans, Jason forked one of the steaks off the little rack that
straddled the fire. Moment later, he bit into the juicy cut of meat and
indulged in the full taste of beef steak. Meat never tasted so good. The
atmosphere only made it richer, sitting around the campfire listening to the
other cowboys swap stories about the wild horses they’d rode,
fightin
’ bulls they’d roped, along with any other story
that involved narrow misses and close calls.

After
supper, Jason lay quietly by the fire, drinking in the conversation of the
others, whishing he too had some wild cowboy stories of his own to tell. Oh
well. Maybe here in a few years. Finally, Irwin stretched and said, “You boys
can stay up as long as
y’all
want. I’m going to bed.”
He looked around at the guys as he added, “We got two tents and four people.”
He paused for a moment, in case someone needed to work out the math, before
asking, “Which one of you boys is the least prone to snoring?”

“I
don’t snore,” Tyler said confidently.

“You
don’t?” Rye asked with a laugh.

Tyler
straightened up, looking slightly offended. “I most certainly do not,” he spoke
indignantly.

“Well
man,” Rye chuckled, “if you don’t snore you need to sleep with one eye open ‘
cuz
somebody comes into your room and makes an awful racket
every single night!” The young horseman turned to Irwin. “I can hear him at
night, and he sleeps across the hall from me… so I’m hearing him through two
walls!” he stressed, holding up two fingers.

“I
have never heard myself snore,” Tyler argued.

“You
wake yourself up snoring,” Rye laughed. “You’ll snort real loud then I’ll hear
you wiggling around in bed. You have no idea what woke you up… once you even
yelled at me to ‘quit making so much racket,’” the young cowboy said in a deep
voice while wagging his finger, obviously doing his best impersonation of a
grumpy Tyler before humorously adding, “I wasn’t making any racket!”

Tyler
laughed good-naturedly and threw up his hands, signaling defeat as he said, “I
guess I snore,” like it was news to him.

Irwin
looked at Jason. “What about you?” he asked.

“According
to Misty, I’m a snorer,” Jason admitted.

Irwin
turned to Rye, “What about you?” he asked.

“Nobody’s
ever told me I snore,” the young horseman said with a shrug.

“Well,
that makes you the best bet then,” Irwin said, acting gloomy, but a hint of
humor shone in his eyes. “Rye’s with me in my tent, and you two grizzly bears can
snore it out in the other.”

After
Irwin disappeared into his tent, Jason, Rye, and Tyler sat in silence for a few
minutes, gazing into the campfire each lost in his own thoughts. A short time
later, Tyler stood up and stretched before grabbing his sleeping bag as he
said, “See you boys in the morning.” With that, he crawled into the other tent.

“Yep,
I’m gone too,” Rye said with a groan as he rose to his feet.

“All
right, man. See you in the morning,” Jason said as the young cowboy grabbed his
bedding and disappeared into his tent.

And
then Jason sat alone by the fire, the flames dancing in his eyes. Misty would
have loved this. She seemed to adore all things pertaining to nature. Maybe if
he’d gone on trips like this with her, things would be different. He couldn’t
count the number of times she had tried to convince him to go camping… but he
had always refused, mainly because he had no idea it was this much fun. There
were the rollercoaster-kind of fun moments, like when he and Tyler had to take
down the young bull that Irwin had roped around the neck, and then there were
moments like these… moments when, regardless of your circumstances, you feel a
warmth and peace like you didn’t think possible.

Finally,
Jason drew himself from the snuggled glow he had cocooned his mind into. Rising
to his feet, he grabbed his bedroll and cast one final look off in the
direction of Eden House before crawling into the tent and laying his bedding
down beside Tyler’s.

Sometime
during the night, Jason awoke with a start, his heart pounding. What was that
awful racket? He rolled over and looked at the man in the sleeping bag beside
him, identifying the source. Tyler lay on his back with his mouth wide open,
snoring…
very
loudly. Thoughts of disturbing the slumbering giant
entered Jason’s mind but quickly turned around a left, driven off by the more
powerful thoughts of the slumbering giant being very angry over the intrusion.