Spake As a Dragon (28 page)

About a quarter of a mile out she
hears two more rifle shots fired quickly in succession. That’s not
a musket that is a repeater. Luke had his Spencer, she knew it was
a repeating rifle, but she had never heard it fired and did not
know its sound. Whoever they were they have done harm to Luke and
Sam.

By now Nate is coming from the barn
heading toward the house. “Hurry Nate, hurry don’t let them catch
you out in the open. Where’s your .44?”

“
Whoopee,” yells Nate
trying to run through the deep snow. “Whoopee,” he hollers
again.

“
Hush, Nate don’t let
these strangers know anyone is home. Maybe they will just keep on
going!”

“
Lands sake woman, we’d
better hope they’s don’t keep on goin’”

“
What are you talking
about Nate? Have you gone crazy?”

“
Shore nuff Miss
Catherine, crazy to see them two fellers comin’, why that’s Luke
and Mr. Sam. They’re done loaded down with fresh meat – I jest
wonders who’s them hosses and that burro belongs to.”

It took a while before Luke, Sam, the
three horses and burro walked up to the hitching rail. All the
animals were packed with fresh meat.

“
Lands sake,” said Nate,
what in the world – that shore nuff ain’t deer meat. If’en it is,
y’alls has done kilt the world’s biggest deer!”

Sam couldn’t wait, “Bear! We have done
killed us a bear! Whoopee,” he yelled.

Catherine couldn’t wait either before
she lit into Luke, “Luke I told you before you left not to mess
with a bear. I tried to be as plain as I could speak and told you
to leave the bears alone! Did I not? Didn’t I warn you they are
dangerous and you’re lucky both of you are still alive.”

“
Amen to that! You sure
did Catherine, but you forgot to tell us what we were supposed to
do when the bear wouldn’t leave
us
alone.” He said, stepping
from his saddle and began to tie his reins to the hitching post. As
he turns toward the house, Catherine jumped into his arms... “I was
so worried about you... I-I-I mean you and Sam.” She said hugging
Luke’s neck and laying a big kiss square upon his lips.

“
Whoa Catherine, hold on a
minute gal, Sam and I are fine. In fact, Sam is the ‘bear killer’
of this hunting party.” Sitting Catherine back down on the ground,
“Come on, let’s all go inside and warm up, Sam and I are almost
frozen. Let us get by the fire and pour some hot coffee down and
we’ll tell you all about Rufus, the outlaws, the gold mine and the
bear.”

“
What!” Exclaimed
Catherine, “Rufus, outlaws, gold mines and bears y’all get inside
I’ve got to hear this. Y’all would make up any tall tale to get out
of being responsible for goin’ bear huntin”.

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

THE PRINCE ALBERT
SALOON

On the west end of Main Street stands
a solitary wooden building – The Prince Albert Saloon. Politicians
could always be seen frequenting this saloon because of the
adaptable social nature of their business. In this farming town of
Albertville literacy was low, the bar provided the principal place
for the exchange of information about employment and housing. A
savvy politician could turn his access to resources into votes.
Other customers were field hands, injured soldiers and of late,
carpetbaggers and scalawags.

It was said of the Scalawags, they
were natively born Southerners, who say a Negro is just as good a
person as they, and tells the truth when they say so, but in spite
of their moral attitudes they are taking the loss of the War as an
opportunity to enrich their own pockets. On the other hand, a
carpetbagger is a corrupt Yankee coming south in order to profit
from the instability and power vacuum that exists at this
time.

To the general population around this
small north Alabama town, the carpetbaggers were the worst. As the
South was now losing the war the carpetbaggers moved in to meddle
in local politics, buy up plantations and farms at fire-sale
prices, or steal them for back taxes. Their station in the south
was generally to take advantage of Southerners at a sizable profit
to their pocketbook.

Sitting in the far back corner of the
Prince Albert was the notorious Judge Roy Slate. Was he actually a
judge, no one knew, and no one wanted to be the one to discover the
truth. Judge Slade was an agent of the federal Freedman’s Bureau,
which started operations to assist the vast numbers of recently
emancipated slaves. Once he arrived in the south and saw how easy
the picking was, helping emancipated slaves dropped far back on his
list of things to accomplish. He was a harsh, disciplinarian who
had control of the town’s mayor, sheriff and the Union’s small
outpost of soldiers that had been stationed here to insure the
peace.

Looking toward the swinging saloon
doors, he could hear the jingles of spurs walking down the wooden
sidewalk. The sound of the spurs was easily recognizable, everyone
in this small town knew the jingle, they belong to Captain Simeon
LaPree. LaPree pushes the double doors open and walks into the
smoke filled room. He sees Judge Slate at a rear table. Walking to
the rear table, he pulls out a chair and sits down. Motioning to
the bar girl, “One more glass and a bottle of Red Eye.”

“
I’m good
LaPree.”

“
These ain’t for you no
how, thems for me.”

Since arriving from up north a few
months earlier, Judge Slade had relegated LaPree to number two in
the pecking order. LaPree had been number three as Captain of the
Home Guard. He took orders from the local Union outpost commander
Major Hilliard; however, the Major left LaPree alone to do as he
wished. Major Hilliard was un-expectantly transferred upon the
arrival of the Judge. The Major was replaced by a young second
lieutenant that took his orders directly from LaPree. High upon
LaPree’s list was the confiscation of the Scarburg farm for
himself. While the Major was in charge, the Scarburg farm seemed to
be a settled deal for LaPree. Once the Judge found out the farm was
in tax arrears he wanted it for himself. This did not sit too well
with LaPree.

“
Tell me LaPree what is
the status of the widow Scarburg’s place?”

“
Judge, she is not a
widow. In fact, she just received a letter from her husband a
couple of weeks after Christmas. As I have done tells you, she
ain’t never got no mail from her men. I am controlling the mail
office – letters that come in for her we hold, and letters she
tries to post out we keep them too. As fer as being a widow, I
guess she thinks she is one all right.”

Picking up the bottle of Red Eye the
judge pours LaPree another shot glass of whiskey. “Tell me again
LaPree how much land does this woman own?”

“
Right at six-hundred and
forty acres.”

“
What does the farm
produce?”

“
Cotton Judge, up ‘till
this here War they wuz running ‘bout a bale to the acre of cotton.
Course all of it is not in farmland, a bunch is in trees. More is
on the side of a bluff. I suppose they might have made fifteen or
twenty bales of cotton each year.”

“
That’s a lot of cotton
for her man to plow, sow, cultivate and harvest by himself. Did he
own any slaves?”

“
Yes Sir, he had three, a
woman, an old man and a boy. He also had his two oldest boys Luke
and Matthew, but theys all in the Army now. He has two younger ones
by the name of William and Isaac that I am goin’ to conscript jest
as soon as I can lay my hands on’em. Last time I went calling on
them I has to shoot all the slaves – they kind of got uppity, you
understand.”

“
I don’t give a hoot about
them slaves, they would be free now anyhow, but I want that farm. I
had my people go down Hog Creek surveying the mountainsides. They
found a nice saltpeter cave located on the Scarburg farm. Them
ignorant hillbillies don’t know they are sitting on a fortune.
Saltpeter is one of the main ingredients used in the making of
gunpowder – this one mine could help the North win this War. All
our northern supply of Saltpeter is about exhausted. I know the War
can’t last much longer, but gunpowder will be needed until the last
bullet is fired.

“
Say they are behind in
their land taxes? How much does she owe?”

LaPree pulls a paper from his pocket
and reads, “It says here it was $25.00, but plus interest and late
fees it is now a total of $32.26.”

“
All right, she can never
come up with that kind of money. LaPree go down to the courthouse
and get Judge Harbin to issue me a Tax Lien against the property
for $52.26 – and have him give that Scarburg family the legal
ninety-day Eviction Notice. You sure that husband and sons of hers
might not show up and bail the farm out?”

“
Let me tell you Judge, my
man in the post office ain’t let a letter addressed to her get
through in two years, he hides’em quick as he gits’em. Same thang
happens when she tries to post a letter to her husband or the boys.
Naw, them men’s of hers ain’t gonna give us no trouble, you can
count on it.”

Chapter
Thirty

SPRING 1864

It is the middle of March spring seems
to be arriving early on the Scarburg farm in north Alabama. The
past winter had not been too bad a few hard freezes followed by a
couple of deep snowfalls, but all in all it wasn’t too terrible. It
was time to get the garden plowed and early vegetables such as
cabbage, onions and broccoli planted. Sary’s bullet wound to the
shoulder had completely healed. Now she is up and about feeling
good and helping as she can.

“
Sary,” asks Malinda,
“what about corn? Is it too early to plant corn?”

“
Why Mizz Malinda, you
knows you can’t plant tender things ‘til after Easter and I
believes Easter Sunday comes about the last of March this
year.”

“
Sary! How many times have
I told you we do not use the name Easter we prefer the name
Resurrection Sunday. You should not use the name Easter it is a
sinful name.”

“
Yes’em, but I jest wish
sometimes you’d tell why we shouldn’t use them words. You knows I
don’t have no education and would like any sliver of things in the
Bible you’s could teach me.”

“
Sary, as far the word
‘Easter’ all I can tell you Robert’s father forbid the use of the
word.” Malinda went on to say using the word ‘Easter’ had been
forbidden by grandfather Thomas Scarburg, but she believes it began
with Thomas’ father John. Since John’s time, the use of the word
Resurrection Sunday is to be used instead of Easter.

“
Now before you ask Sary,
I’m not really sure why, it may have something to do with old John
Scarburg being a Quaker, I’m not up on all their rules. I know the
word ‘Easter’ is not mentioned in the Bible. I think Easter was the
name of some kind of pagan Roman or Greek goddess, maybe that was
it, I really just don’t know.”

“
Mizz Malinda you means to
tell me not to use Easter on account of that John Scarburg’s
religion? Well, I never!”

“
That’s an interesting
thing Sary – from what I have been told John wasn’t very religious
and neither was Grandfather Thomas, but Grandmother Scarburg told
me Thomas would sometimes get up during the night and go to the
House of the Lord. He would go at all hours of the day or night.
She never knew why; however, another strange thing: she said he
never attended the regular weekly meeting of the
Quakers.”

“
He musta been real sinful
if he prayed that much,” Sary said grinning.

“
John’s large family Bible
was passed down to Thomas, and Thomas gave it to Robert. It’s lying
on the table in the sitting room. Many of a time before this awful
War I have seen Robert pouring over its pages. Robert is a good,
righteous man, but I would not call him overly religious. He would
flip through that big Bible as though he were looking for
something, what I do not know?”

“
Maybe he was looking for
Easter in them Bible pages.”

“
No, like I said before,
the word ‘Easter’ is not in that big Bible Sary.”

The following morning Sary and Malinda
walk across the porch heading for the vegetable garden. “I think we
might finish up with our planting today, what do you think?” Asks
Malinda.

“
I doesn’t think so, look
over yonder at our front gate. We got company comin’ I believe
theys gonna slow down our gardening some.”

Without looking, Malinda knew who were
coming – Captain Simeon LaPree and his band of legal plunderers.
The last time Malinda and LaPree met was the day he killed Uncle
Jed and Jefferson and severely wounded Sary. Thankfully William and
Isaac have taken the horse to Doc Crawford’s. For a couple of days
she had been limping and they went to check with the Doc to see if
something was wrong.

Malinda and Sary stand in the garden
watching the two men on horseback. One moves over to the large post
that supports the main gate. From the distance, Malinda cannot see
what he is doing. “Lands sake, Mizz Malinda it looks as if that
there man in nailing something to yer gate post.

Malinda looks again, yes Sary is
correct. It does appear he is hammering a piece of paper to the
post. He puts the hammer back into his saddlebag and the two men
ride back in the direction of the town.