The Silent Cowboy

THE SILENT COWBOY

CHAPTER 1

1916

In the dim light, Jacob Johnson paced.  His hair ruffled as the evening breeze sweep over the cooling desert.  Though he walked slowly, his long stride carried him swiftly to one side of the yard to the other.  Then he would turn and repeat his steps.  He felt more than heard the eagle soaring above him against the dark clear blue sky.  That sky announcing that it would be a cold night requiring a fire.  The days in Silver City, New Mexico were hot and dry, but the nights could be like ice.  He had laid a fire ready to be lit when needed. For tonight, a new member of the family would be born.   

He paced the yard getting closer to the house with each turn.  He stopped right in front for the steps that lead up to the porch that was now in shadow.  He stared at the unseen door as if he could see into the two room house.  His sisters, Rachel and Sarah, had same down on the train from Albuquerque the day before.  He had wired them the week before.  They being mid-wives, they seemed to know exactly when to come.  The eagle continued to fly majestically above as if he were overseeing the new beginning. 

“Is the baby breathing?”  Rachel asked in a low voice. 

The young mother in the bed moaned, laying exhausted against the thin damp pillows.  The bed appeared large with the four foot eight inch Elsie laying there limp after twelve hours of labor.  Just after midnight a baby boy was born. 

Sadly, though, that tiny being did not stir nor cry out.  It laid there stiff and the skin was a shiny blue.  Sarah had laid it gently on a board that Elsie used for ironing, then turned quickly back to the mother without saying a word.  The mother needed immediate attention.

Rachel wrinkled her brow as she strained to see the baby on the other side of the bed.  “Poor tiny thing.”  She muttered.  “Just lying there without a blanket or care!  I know that Elsie had suffered for months before the birth and of course the pain of labor.  But…poor tiny thing.” Sighed heavily and heard the desert wind blowing hard outside the window’s paned glass.

Silver City was a wild town.  It was once an Apache campsite and known now for its copper mining.  After the American Civil War, the town changed when silver ore was found at the Chloride Flats just west of Captain Bullard’s farm.  But that was before Sheriff Whitehead had made other changes and had William Bonney arrested. Young Bonney was later known as Billy the Kid.

Billy the Kid was arrested twice in Silver City.  His theft was more out of necessity than criminal and the Sherriff had found the young man likeable.  And now, the Marshall knew where the grave of Bonney’s mother lay out in the cemetery just outside of town.  Yes, Silver City, New Mexico was truly a wild town.

In total silence, Jacob stood there frozen on the porch.  His breath was white from the cold air as he exhaled close to the door.  The wind moved the scraggly trees in the yard but he was impervious to the cold air leaking through his thread bare shirt.  The eagle had left and he stood there alone.  He understood that his sisters knew what would be needed.  They had been trained as mid-wives by the local Native Americans. But he stood there still…waiting for an answer to his inner questions. None came so he continued his pacing.

Then, there was a soft cry or was it the wind?  The tall man stopped and listened intently for the cry to be repeated.  His wife’s pregnancy was difficult, some said it was because of worry; worry because of the Great War in Europe and Poncho Villa’s raid’s just south of Columbus.  Others said it was because she was so small and he so tall.  Either way, it has been a long wait for the little one’s arrival…9 months, then 2 hours, 8...he had lost track of time.