Under the Distant Sky (10 page)

Solomon grinned. “You’re right about that, sir. I can make it here just by what happens in wagon train season.”

“Ah, but there’s more,” Bateman said, his smile getting wider. “I happen to know that the man who runs the sutler’s store in the fort is wanting to get out of the business. If you come in there and open up a general store for the town, he’ll gladly close down the sutler’s store. That would give you all the army business, too.”

Solomon looked at Hannah, who smiled back weakly.

Chris and B. J. exchanged glances, the light of adventure shining in their eyes.

Mary Beth knew that what the colonel was saying to her father was making the desire to go west even stronger within him. She couldn’t help but think of her grandparents… and Belinda. How could she ever tell them good-bye?

“There’s more, yet,” Bateman said. “Wells Fargo is making plans at this very moment to put a stage stop in the town. That would certainly bring in more business for your general store. A hotel is being built right now, along with a café, and a tonsorial parlor. A family by the name of Williams from St. Joseph, Missouri, has seen the opportunity and will operate all three.”

“Sounds like a good set-up, Sol,” Darrell Crawley said. “You’d get business from the stage riders, no doubt, and from the people who stay in the hotel.”

“Right,” Bateman said. “And as the town grows, the store would do even more business. The Coopers would make a better living in Fort Bridger than they would at farming a homestead.”

Hannah could tell by the look in her husband’s eyes that Bateman’s words were appealing. To help keep things on an even keel, she said, “What about the Indian problem, Colonel? You’re taking your entire regiment out there to strengthen the fort. Are the Indians posing a threat to all this?”

“Not to the town, Hannah. It’s the settlers in the area and the wagon trains that come through who are in danger of Indian attack. That’s exactly why we’re beefing up our troops at the fort. We’re going to keep those hostiles in line. Though the fort has patrols out all day long every day, there are always plenty of troops at the fort to keep any hostiles from coming against the town.”

“May I ask, Colonel Bateman,” Mary Beth said, “if there are some friendly Indians who live close by the fort?”

“Yes, honey. The Shoshones are quite friendly. They are avowed enemies of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, and Blackfoot. The Shoshones come in and out of the town all the time. In fact, if you decide to run the store there, Sol, they’ll give you plenty of business, too. Of course, you’ll have to trade goods for goods with them, but they make some pretty nice jewelry and pottery, which you can turn around and sell, and make a profit from it.”

Chris grinned at Mary Beth. “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could make friends with some Shoshone Indian kids?”

Patty Ruth twisted her mouth around for a few seconds, then said, “Papa, would the Sho—Sho—uh…them kind of In’ians take our scalps?”

“No, honey. Like Colonel Bateman said, they are friendly to white people. They don’t take scalps.”

As silence descended on the table, Hannah said, “Colonel…”

“Yes, Hannah?”

“There’s something else Sol and I have discussed. We’ve agreed that we wouldn’t move anywhere unless there was a good Bible-believing church there. What’s the church situation in Fort Bridger?”

Colonel Bateman glanced at Solomon, then gave his attention to Hannah. “It’s interesting you should say this. We just happen to have Reverend Andrew Kelly and his new bride, Rebecca, in one of our wagons. I can guarantee you, he believes the Bible. He’s been preaching some of it to me on this trip.”

“Good for him,” Solomon said.

“Tell you what, Sol, he’s almost as good at it as you,” the colonel said.

Solomon grinned and glanced at Hannah. She seemed more relaxed, having heard about Reverend Kelly.

“Here’s the situation,” Bateman said. “Right now, there’s an elderly retired preacher holding services in the town hall,
which was built just recently. The services are for both civilians and military. The townspeople and the military people who attend the services are all aware that Reverend Kelly is coming. Kelly, I understand, will actually organize a church and be its pastor. He’s a young man. Twenty-seven, I believe. Didn’t Rebecca tell you, Sylvia, that she’s twenty-two?”

“Yes. They got married about six months ago. And she told me that Andy—as she calls him—is very eager to get to Fort Bridger and preach the gospel.”

“This is sounding better all the time,” Solomon said. “Colonel, could we meet the Kellys? We’d like to talk to them.”

“No problem. I decided just this afternoon that we’d stay another day before pulling out. Already announced it to everybody in the column. You can come to the camp and meet them anytime tomorrow.”

“Good! We’ll do that!”

During the rest of the meal, the women exchanged stories about what had happened since the Coopers had left Fort Benson, and the men talked about the War and some of the men Solomon had known.

When both pies had been devoured, the adults moved to the parlor, and the Cooper children—having previously volunteered—did the dishes.

As the Batemans and Crawleys were preparing to leave, Darrell Crawley laid a hand on Solomon’s shoulder. “Sol, if the words of an old friend have some import, you and Hannah give some real serious thought to coming to Fort Bridger. We’d love to have you there.”

Solomon grinned. “Thanks, ol’ friend.”

“You’ll need to make up your minds pretty soon, Sol,” the colonel said. “As you know, the last wagon trains heading that way will leave in a month.”

“Yes, sir. Hannah and I are aware of that. You’ve given us a lot to think about tonight. We’ll discuss it and pray about it.”

After the Batemans and Crawleys had driven away and Solomon had closed the door, Chris and B. J. cornered him.

“Papa,” Chris said, his eyes sparkling, “can we go to Fort Bridger? Boy, it sure would be neat to be around all those soldiers!”

“I can’t say for sure yet, son. Like I told Colonel Bateman, we’ll pray about it.”

“I want to see those friendly Indians!” B. J. said. “I’ve never seen an Indian before.”

“I wanna see ’em, too!” Patty Ruth piped up. “Long as they don’ take my scalp!”

Everybody laughed except Mary Beth. Hannah laid a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Honey, it’s bothering you, thinking about leaving your friends, isn’t it? Especially Belinda.”

Mary Beth put her arms around her mother and laid her head on her shoulder. “Yes. And Grandma and Grandpa, too.”

“I know how you feel, sweetie. I have my best friend, Lucinda. And all of us have Grandma and Grandpa. If the Lord wants us to move to Fort Bridger, He’ll give us the grace to leave those we love here in Independence.”

Mary Beth leaned back to look into her mother’s eyes. “Mama…”

“What, honey?”

“Do you feel better about us going to Fort Bridger than you did about Oregon?”

All the other Cooper ears waited to hear her reply.

“Yes… yes, I do. In fact, the thought of living in the town next to the fort and having our store there sounds real good.”

I
t was midmorning when Hannah and her youngest daughter entered the store. Randy Chase glanced up and greeted them, and Solomon nodded as he continued what he was doing.

“You sure you can get away. Solomon?” Hannah asked. “Looks awfully busy.”

“Randy says he’ll handle it by himself. I told him we wouldn’t be gone too long.”

Randy chuckled and said, “I can get more done with him out of the way, Mrs. Cooper.”

The customers grinned when Solomon quipped, “Just don’t you forget who’s boss around here, pal!”

As Randy was stuffing goods into a box he looked down at Patty Ruth. “You wouldn’t fire me, would you?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t fire you, Randy,” Patty Ruth said with a giggle. “I ain’t the boss, here. Ulysses is!” As she spoke, she held up the bear toward his face.

This time the customers laughed out loud.

The Coopers left Patty Ruth with Randy and moved quickly along the boardwalk.

“Did you tell Randy what we’re doing?” Hannah asked.

“No details. Only that we were going out to the army camp at the edge of town to talk to some people.”

“You think he suspects anything?”

“Sure. Too many people in town already know what we’re considering. One thing is for sure: If we sell the store, we won’t sell to anyone who won’t agree to let Randy keep his job.”

“Solomon… we really need to talk to Pastor Chase. At least let him hear it straight from us that we may leave.”

“I’ll go see him tonight.”

“Another thing… we didn’t think to ask about a school in Fort Bridger. If there’s no school, I’ll have to teach the children.”

“Let’s ask that when we get to the camp.”

When they reached the army camp, they found Colonel Bateman, who took them to the Kellys and introduced them.

The Coopers and the Kellys warmed to each other instantly. The Kellys love for Jesus was quite apparent as they talked.

They explained the plans for a church in Fort Bridger. Andy Kelly had graduated from seminary at the age of twenty-one and had been pastoring a church in Cincinnati, Ohio, since that time. He and Rebecca had married the previous October, and though things were going well in the church, they both were feeling a “stirring in the nest,” knowing that God was preparing them for a move.

Through a relative of a close friend, Andy was approached about establishing a church in Fort Bridger. He corresponded with the elderly retired preacher who was holding services there, and after much prayer and deliberation, an agreement was made that Kelly and his bride would come to Fort Bridger.

“Well, this all sounds good to me,” Solomon said. “Do you mind if we ask you some doctrinal questions?”

When the questions had been asked and answered, the Coopers were satisfied they had a real man of God with spiritual backbone, a tremendous grasp of the Scriptures, and the vision to do a great work for God in the growing town of Fort Bridger.

Kelly smiled and said, “So, when will you be coming to Fort Bridger, folks?”

“Well, we haven’t made a decision yet,” Solomon said. “We’re still praying about it.”

“It took a lot of prayer for us to make the decision, Mr. Cooper,” Rebecca Kelly said.

“Tell you what,” Solomon said, “talking with you two has helped a lot. At least we know there’s going to be a church in Fort Bridger if the Lord leads us there. You see, up until last night, we had thought of going either to California or Oregon. But when Colonel Bateman started telling us about Fort Bridger, Hannah and I liked what we were hearing. Now that we’ve talked to you, we like it even better.”

Solomon looked at Hannah as he spoke. He was relieved when she nodded in agreement.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to the store,” Solomon said.

“Would you have time to pray with us?” Kelly asked.

“Sure. We have time for that,” Solomon said.

The young preacher led in prayer, earnestly asking God to guide the Coopers every step of the way. When Kelly had finished, Solomon shook his hand and Hannah embraced Rebecca.

“One other thing,” Solomon said. “What do you know about the school situation in the town?”

“Well, since Rebecca and I don’t have any children yet, we haven’t asked about it, but according to what we’ve picked up by listening to the officers’ wives and children, there’s a school there. It has one teacher for all twelve grades. I’m sure as the town and the fort increase in size, they’ll add more teachers.”

At supper that evening, Solomon told the children about talking with the Kellys, and how much he and their mother liked the young couple.

“So have you made a decision yet?” Chris asked.

“Not yet, son. But I think it’s time we hear from each of you. Although the final decision lies with your mother and me, I’d like to hear what each of you thinks about this Fort Bridger situation.”

Mary Beth spoke first. “I think I’ve seen a change in Mama’s attitude about going west since we talked to Colonel Bateman last night. Is that right, Mama?”

“Yes, honey. I like the Fort Bridger idea a whole lot better than striking out for Oregon or California.”

“Then if you like it better, so do I, Mama.”

“But what about leaving Belinda? And Miss Powers? And Grandma and Grandpa?”

Mary Beth spoke without hesitation. “I’ve prayed about this a lot, myself. And I feel that if you and Papa are sure in your hearts that we should go to Fort Bridger, it’s because the Lord is leading you. Though it will be very hard to say goodbye to Belinda, and Miss Powers, and all my friends at school and at church, the Lord will give me the grace to do it. The hardest to leave, of course, will be Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Bless your heart, sweetie,” Hannah said. “Papa and I deeply appreciate your attitude.”

“Maybe Grandma and Grandpa would go with us, since we’d be going to Fort Bridger instead of Oregon,” B. J. said.

“I’m afraid not,” Hannah told him. “Independence is their home, and older people have a hard time making changes. I realize that we’ve seen people even older than them in the wagon trains, but I know my parents. Mother might consider it if Daddy showed an inclination in that direction, but he won’t.”