William Johnstone - Eyes of Eagles

Jamie stuck out his hand and smiled. “If you ran for your freedom, I sure don’t blame you. And don’t worry about me. I’m running, too.”

Moses shook the hand and returned the smile. “But they’ll hang me if they ever find me.”

“Well, they’ll just shoot me,” Jamie replied.

Both men laughed and an instant friendship was formed. Only death would break the bond.

Sitting under the shade of a huge old tree, as they talked, Jamie could easily tell that Moses and his family were having a tough time of it. They were getting by, but just barely. Their clothing was very nearly in rags. But how to offer them help without offending the man’s pride?

“You know,” Jamie said slowly, thinking as fast and hard as he could. “Come this spring I sure could use some help in getting in a crop.”

“I’m a pretty good farmer,” Moses said. “Back in Virginia I could make almost anything grow.”

“That’s good. I’m not much of a farmer. This might solve another problem for me. You see, me and Kate brought so many supplies with us, I’m afraid one of the barrels of flour is going to be filled with bugs before we could use it. Could you use it?”

“I suppose we could,” Moses said slowly. “But I would take it only as part payment for next spring’s work.”

“That would be fine with me. And we have so many clothes and bolts of cloth, perhaps you could use them.”

“Oh, I reckon Liza could put them to use. They sure wouldn’t go to waste.”

“Well, that’s settled then. And when Kate’s time comes, she’d sure appreciate it if another woman was present. I sure don’t know anything about childbirth.”

“Womenfolk like another of their kind with them when they birth,” Moses said solemnly. “Liza and Sally will come only a day or two before and stay.”

“That’s a relief. You have a weapon, Moses?”

“Got a piece of a shotgun.”

“When you find time, come over. I’ve got more rifles and pistols than I’ll ever need. Horses, too. Some movers tried to kill us over in Arkansas. I didn’t figure the dead they left behind would be needing their weapons.”

Moses cut his eyes at this young white man. He concluded right then and there that Jamie Ian MacCallister would be a bad enemy to have... and a fine friend. “I can shore understand that,” he said dryly.

“You’ll come over then and let me share with you?”

“Would tomorrow be too soon?”

* * *

Kate and Liza and Sally hit it off from the first moment and Moses and Robert and Jed marveled at the newly built cabin in the thicket. Robert inspected every aspect of the work and Jamie could practically hear the wheels turning in the young man’s head. He suspected that soon another cabin would replace the one Moses and his sons had hurriedly thrown together.

“Anytime you want to borrow tools, help yourself,” Jamie offered.

“Kind of you,” Moses said, clearly embarrassed.

“That’s what friends and neighbors are for,” Jamie replied.

Kate and Liza and Sally were busy sitting in the shade of the dogtrot sewing and taking up clothing for the boys. Jamie put a side of venison on the outside spit and then accompanied Moses as the man showed him the best places in the clearing to plant, and what to plant where.

“I got milk cows,” Moses said. “Bring one over for you and some chickens, too. Don’t know where the cows come from. We sort of found them on the way out here.”

Jamie cut his eyes to the man and smiled. “That was very fortunate.”

“We thought so,” Moses said, a very slight smile playing on his lips. “Man over in Arkansas had a whole bunch of cows. I reckon them that followed us just figured their boss man, why he had too many and we didn’t have naught.”

“I’m sure that was it. And the chickens, did they follow along, too?”

“No. How the chickens got here is a strange story. Big wind come up last year. Sort of a cyclone, I guess. Right out of the east. Them chickens just sort of sailed into our yard. Why, you never seen such confused hens. And the roosters was even more confused. Took them chickens two/three days to start layin’. But I reckon they like where they are. Didn’t none of them try to go back to where they come from.”

“Stranger things have happened, I suppose.”

“The Lord does work in mysterious ways.”

“Sure does.”

* * *

Up until the time he had met Jamie, Moses had been relying on traps to snare meat for his family. With the gift of guns from Jamie, he and Robert could now not only have adequate means to hunt the deer and wild pigs that abounded in the thicket, but they had the means to protect themselves against any enemy that might come along.

Jamie and Moses found a place in the thicket where their land very nearly joined. That winter they worked clearing out trees and stumps so their land could join and they could jointly work the fields come that spring, and also make the journey to and from each other’s home much easier.

Liza brought the men their nooning one day and smiled at Jamie.

“That smile worries me,” Jamie said.

“Me, too,” Moses said, staring hard at his wife. “Female type people get sort of mysterious at times. Speak your mind, woman.”

“Kate’s time is near,” Liza said. “And it will be twins.”

“ Twins! ” Jamie’s mouth dropped open.

“Twins,” Liza repeated. “I put her to bed and left Sally with her. Tomorrow you will have two more mouths to feed.”

“How do you know this?” Jamie questioned.

“Two heartbeats,” Lisa replied. “Two childs. One is bigger than the other. A boy and a girl, I am sure.” She turned and began the walk back to Jamie’s cabin.

“Sometimes women spook me,” Jamie said.

“And they always will,” Moses added.

* * *

The next day, Jamie and Moses were working close to the cabin when Jamie noticed Jed coming at them at a flat run across the cleared field. Jamie and Moses dropped their axes and took off running.

“It’s time!” the boy hollered. “Mamma done said the babies is a-comin’.”

The three of them raced toward the cabin. They met a very determined Sally standing outside the cabin, a stick in her hand. “You stay out!” she warned the men, menace in her voice. “This ain’t no affair of menfolks.”

“Damned if that’s so, girl,” her father said. “How do you think babies is made — by wishin’ and hopin’? Stand aside.”

Sally raised the stick. “You’d hit me?” Moses asked.

“Mamma tole me to if you tried to come inside. I does what mamma tells me.”

“I’ll get me a limb and wear your fanny out, girl,” the father warned.

“Shut up!” Lisa called from the cabin. “And go away!”

“Do what, woman?” Moses yelled.

“Go work on the barn. Go huntin’. Do somethin’. Just go away.”

“What do we do, Papa?” Jed asked. Robert was working in a far field and unaware of what was taking place.

“Go away,” the father replied. He cast a hard look at his daughter. She raised the stick.

“No respect for elders,” Moses said, turning away and he walked toward the half-finished barn “No tellin’ what it’ll be like a hundred years from now.”

Thirteen

When Kate screamed, Jamie jumped up and started for the cabin, Sally and stick forgotten. Moses grabbed him by the seat of his britches and hauled him back down to the log bench. “All women holler when they give birth, Jamie. Don’t git upset.”

“Something must be wrong, Moses!” He jumped up again and Moses grabbed him again. “Turn me loose.”

“If something was wrong, Jamie, my woman would have yelled for us. Just settle down. This could take some time.”