The Way of the Dogs (The Colter Saga Book 2)

by Joel Baker

  The sign of deer was clearly marked when he returned to the creek. Apparently the deer around here had not been hunted for some time. They were careless and roamed by the creek like they owned it.

  Less than a half hour later, James saw a small buck and two does standing in a clearing up wind from where he sat. The report from his rifle was loud and smoke rose in the air. The buck lay still in the grass. James gutted it, threw it across his saddle. He and Sam returned to the Osborne’s barn.

  James threw a rope over a low branch in a tree behind the barn. He then cut a hole in the tendons on the back of the rear legs, shoved a branch the size of a shovel handle through the holes, and hauled the buck up with the rope.

  Sam sat off to one side until James told him to go in the barn and out of sight. When Gabe came to see what was going on, James told him to go tell his mother there would be venison for dinner.

  Knowing what lay ahead, James stripped to his leather loin cloth. He set his moccasins on top of his shirt and leggings over by the trunk of the tree. James at twenty three was tall, lean, tanned, and well muscled from living out of doors. Gabe came limping back, afraid he would miss something and knelt in the grass.

  “How come you took your clothes off mister?” Gabe asked. “How come you got all those scars?”

  “Did you ever watch your father dress out a deer Gabe?” James asked.

  Gabe shook his head no.

  “Well it can be kind of messy,” James said. “I didn’t want to get my buckskins dirty. As for the scars, well, I guess I was a little careless from time to time. Now watch closely and you’ll be able to do this when you get older.”

  Gabe nodded his head and appeared very solemn.

  “I‘ve already removed the internals of the deer,” James said. “I left the guts where I shot the deer because the other animals have to eat too. Next we got to remove the skin.”

  Without further comment, he peeled the skin down toward the head by pulling the edges and cutting tissue between the skin and the carcass.

  “Once the skin is all the way down the neck, the head and forelegs need to be removed,” James said turning towards Gabe.

  He saw Kathy had quietly joined them and knelt in the grass by Gabe.

  “Notice you need a real sharp knife to do this,” James said.

  He cut the connective tissue across the leg joint, then cut into the vertebrae and twisted the head until it fell free.

  “Wow,” Gabe said. “It looks just like a giant skinned rabbit!”

  “It does look a little like one,” James said. “See this white fatty stuff? That is a good thing. Yellow fat means the deer has eaten very poorly. The white fat means he ate good food and this deer will taste much better.”

  Next James took his tomahawk and removed the shoulders by pulling and cutting the shoulder away from the ribs. Then, he cut away the loins from the carcass and the ribs from the spine. He then removed the tenderloins from the inside of the cavity. Lastly James severed the ball joints and forelegs to completely free the hams. James handed Kathy a large venison steak. There was a great deal of blood on him.

  “I need to wash off,” James said. “We need to soak this meat in some water with salt if you have any.”

  “The water pump is behind the cabin James,” Kathy said. “There’s a good size tub too. I’ll bring the salt out once you tell me the tub is full of water.”

  “That should work,” James said. “Listen, I want to make sure you and Gabe don’t go near the barn till after we’re gone in the morning. I don’t think my dog would hurt you, but it’s best not to push the point. Agreed?”

  “Did you hear Gabe?” Kathy asked. “Don’t go near the barn.”

  Gabe nodded his head.

  James picked up as much meat as he could carry. He stopped and threw a large chunk of venison into the barn on his way towards the back of the cabin and overheard Kathy tell Gabe to carry James buckskins out back then come into the house.

  Fifteen minutes later James was as clean as he would get and got back in his buckskins. He filled the tub with cold well water. Kathy brought a small bag of rock salt out and dumped it in the tub with the deer meat.

  That night at supper James made sure Kathy knew how to smoke the deer meat and preserve it. The large garden was starting to deliver vegetables as well.

  ‘This venison steak and salad is the best I’ve eaten in a month,” James said.

  “Thanks,” Kathy answered. “Will you be moving on tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” James said. “I got to check in back in Haven. Then I’ll probably be heading north.”

  “Any chance you’ll get near North Carolina?” Kathy asked. “I heard my husband and his group were killed near there.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” James said. What was your husband doing getting mixed up in the Gypsy Wars? Seems like a long way to go just to find trouble.”

  “Oh, a bunch of the men from our church in Spring Hill thought going was God’s work,” Kathy said. “I tried to talk him out of it. He thought it would only be a couple of weeks and they’d be back.”

  ****

  The Gypsy Wars lasted a little less than four months. After the Go Back, Gypsies from West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina migrated to the southwest corner of North Carolina. They originally traveled in wagons with large rounded tops and wooden doors in the back of the wagons drawn by teams of oxen. They were called traveler wagons.

  They were seldom welcomed anywhere and didn’t stay in any one place for long. They finally settled on a large section of land next to the Cherokee nation. After some brutal skirmishes with the Cherokees, both sides decided they were more alike than different. They joined forces, intermarried, and tended to work things out with each other.

  It all changed when someone attacked and massacred all the citizens of Sunk Creek, a small town in northeast Georgia.

  They carried off several children as they retreated back north. The Gypsies and Cherokees were blamed. No one could explain why they hung the bodies of the dead in trees outside their homes or why the dead were scalped. Cherokees never scalped their enemy.

  The response was as quick and brutal as it was misguided. A band of Gypsies was wiped out who had nothing to do with Sunk Creek. Things escalated as each side retaliated, usually against innocents.

  A holy war was declared by some Pentecostal preachers since both Gypsies and Cherokees were widely regarded as godless heathens. Groups of parishioners, fired by the word of God, headed northwest to North Carolina and the Smoky Mountains. It did not go well for the pilgrims.

  James promised Kathy and Gabe if he heard any news he would try to get word to them. He thanked Kathy for the dinner and headed towards the barn. After a good night’s sleep, James and Samson were up at day break and on the road as the sun cleared the ridge behind the Osborne farm.

  Chapter 3

  The horse walked slowly down the road following the east ridge of Haven. James noticed Samson was favoring his front right paw. The afternoon sun broke through the clouds just as he dismounted at the main barn and left the sorrel to be brushed and given some oats.

  He examined Sam’s paw and saw a small gash that looked infected. Several of the dogs gathered at the stable and watched with interest as Samson’s paw was bandaged. James cleaned the wound, put salve on it and put Sam in the stall next to the sorrel.

  As James left the stable he heard the steady thump-thump of the Colter steam engine chugging away. He couldn’t help himself. He hated the sound of the engine. Other people did too. They finally agreed to not run it around meal times or during the evenings when the children had to go to bed.

  Seth Colter, the third son of Paul Colter, had loved reading about engines as a small boy. Engines became his obsession. He roamed through depots looking for any old engine he could find. He did odd jobs until he could pay for even the smallest metal part.

  He built his first working model of his steam engine by the time he was twelve. It burned him ba
dly when it blew up, but he wasn’t deterred.

  The process Seth discovered was fairly straight forward. Using wood or coal, water was heated into steam in a boiler until it reached a high pressure.

  Steam was released through a valve onto the head of a piston. The piston moved and turned a shaft and mechanical work could be done. What Seth was able to do was to synchronize the valve releasing steam and the return of the piston heads. This resulted in a smooth and powerful turning shaft.

  Put wheels on the shaft and you have a tractor or train engine. Hook a turbine to it and you generated electricity. Put a belt on it and you could drive all sorts of machinery. They were still working out some of the kinks. For instance, it consumed vast quantities of wood or coal to get it up to pressure.

  It was first used to light a single bulb in the main house. Shortly after dark, people would sit in a big circle around the bulb. The bulb would flicker, then glow with a steady pale light. Children and adults alike would cheer like it was fireworks. People started planning their day so they could be there when the light came on.

  ****

  James made his way to the eating hall. On the way, he glanced at the clock on the windmill tower. He noticed it was almost three in the afternoon. The clock was used to synchronize all activities essential to running Haven.

  The winding of the massive spring driving the clock was assigned to each boy on his twelfth birthday. James smiled at remembering how proud he was when it was his turn.

  The eating hall sat just below the main house. The hall was open and serving coffee as usual. Three men sat at the far end in deep conversation. All three looked up when James entered.

  “I’ll be darned!” the large man at the end of the table called out. Is it you James? Did you get that Lowery fellow?”

  “It’s me Otto, and no, I missed him again,” James said.

  “It’s like chasing a ghost.” Otto said to the other two men. “We don’t even know what the evil bastard looks like. James, do you know these fellows? This is Lester and Phil Johnston down here from Linden.”

  “Please to meet you,” James said shaking their hands.

  “They’re here to see about buying one of them Colter steam engines,” Otto said.

  “You sure you want to see progress come to Linden?” James asked.

  “Ever since you people got that electric light bulb down here,” Lester Johnston said. “There is no living with wives. So it’s really your fault.”

  “I’m trying to get them to buy some of our rifles too,” Otto said. “We got a new fifty caliber that will knock an elephant down at a hundred yards.”

  “We told Otto,” Phil Johnston said laughing, “We got no elephants in Linden and even if we did, without lights we couldn’t see them.”

  Everyone laughed and Otto stood up coughing as he nearly choked on his coffee. Otto, the oldest son of Paul Colter, ran the armament factory and was starting to turn out some of the best firearms in the district.

  Thanks to the Colter engine, they could run lathes and boring machines capable of working metal. The quality of the rifles and handguns being made by the gunsmiths were the best since the Go Back.

  “James, I was to tell you papa Paul wanted to see you when you got back. He’s been looking for you for a couple of days now,” Otto said.

  James called Paul Colter uncle. As the youngest son of Jesse and Sarah Colter, Paul was actually James great uncle. Paul was ninety two years old, and the only surviving member of the original Colter family who came to Haven with their dogs.

  In poor health, everyone treated Uncle Paul like a living relic and it really ticked him off. James loved the old man and he loved James in return.

  James headed directly for the big house and Uncle Paul. Paul had lost his sister Lily two years ago, and his wife Julie some years earlier.

  He lived in a back room of the main house now, with a wood stove and what was left of his memories. James scrapped his boots off at the door and walked into the kitchen.

  Janice Scroggins was deep in concentration at the counter carefully placing strips of crust on the top of several apple pies.

  “Hey, Janice,” James said smiling.

  Janice jumped at the sound of a voice. “You scared the heck out of me James! You’re always sneaking up on people!”

  “Sorry,” James said, smiling. “But sneaking up on people is kind of what I do.”

  James considered what a beauty Janice was. It was too bad she’s a first cousin, James thought. He didn’t really know Janice Scroggins all that well. She’d recently moved to Haven to help manage the kitchen at the main house.

  They served meals in the great hall James had just left. As many as fifty or sixty people would be fed at one time, especially during planting time, like now, and again at harvest time.

  Haven was like many small and isolated communities. It established hard and fast rules about marriage between first cousins. After the Go Back, towns became isolated from each other. Finding a suitable mate became difficult. Some questioned if marriage between first cousins was even wrong.

  Historically, first cousins had married for centuries. It was natural in agricultural communities where people only got Sunday as a day of rest.

  In order to find a marriage partner, you were limited to the distance you could walk or ride in half a day and still get home by dark on Sunday evening. In many cases you were related to every household you passed.

  It was why arranged marriages were coming back into favor. While it was commonplace elsewhere, Haven still discouraged marriage between first cousins.

  “Is Uncle Paul awake?” James asked.

  “Kind of… Where’s that dog of yours?” Karen asked.

  “You mean Sam?” James asked. “He’s out in the barn with the Sorrel. He’s not really much of a house dog.”

  “Which of those dogs is?” Janice asked.

  “True,” James said. “Would you check to see if Uncle Paul is up for a visitor?”

  Janice nodded and wiped the flour from her hands before disappearing into Uncle’s back room. James could hear the mumble of voices and then Janice returned and waved at James to go in.

  Uncle Paul sat next to a wood stove looking out a window. A wool shawl covered his legs, and his form bent with age. He was straining to reach a cup sitting on a small end table by his chair.

  “You’d think they’d have the sense God gave a goose, to put my coffee close enough so I could reach it,” Paul said. “Well, don’t just stand there gawking, come in here close enough for me to see you.”

  James came over to his Great Uncle and moved the end table close to the chair. Uncle Paul’s hands shook with some sort of slight palsy. He wore a plaid flannel shirt tucked into his old dress pants and heavy wool socks. His work boots sat in a corner next to a large old brown canvas coat.

  “There you go Uncle,” James said. “It’s me, James.”

  He handed the old man his cup and watched as he took a drink.

  “Course it is, James,” Paul said. You are the spitting image of your great grandpa Jesse. I’d know you anywhere. Is the thumping I hear that damn steam engine?”

  “Yes it is,” James said. “I think they’re filling the water reservoir.”

  Several years ago they buried a big reservoir tank above the main house. They used Seth’s steam engine to pump water from the stream running through Haven to the buried tank.

  “Well, in that case…,” Paul said, “I do not miss going to the outhouse one bit, and that’s the truth. How are you, James? I don’t see enough of you anymore.”

  “I’m good,” James said. “I just got back from Spring Hill. It seemed like a nice enough place. I did a little work over there, but nobody got hurt.”

  “Well that’s good,” Paul said. “Nobody hurt you say?””

  “I did run into a widow over there,” James said. “She said her husband was killed a year ago in the Gypsy Wars. Says a preacher over that way got the men all riled up and they went st
orming off to kill the Gypsies.”

  “Most likely,” Paul said, “They ran into a Cherokee buzz saw over by Gatlinburg. Those Gypsies and Cherokees are thick as thieves now, and you don’t want to mess with either.”

  “How are you feeling, Uncle?” James asked. “You’re looking pretty good.”

  “I’ll be dead by August,” Paul said. “No later than September. You think I look pretty good? You best go find some old glasses to wear. I’m close to the end and that’s the truth. I hate being the last one of my family. When I lost my sister Lily, well, I just don’t give a damn anymore. How’s that for a bad attitude?”

  The old man laughed so hard it ended in a coughing fit. James handed him his cup for another drink of coffee.

  “Are you sure coffee is good for you Uncle?” James asked. “Doesn’t it keep you from sleeping?”

  “Why?” Paul asked. “You think it might kill me? I’m ninety two for God’s sakes. A big bean fart might kill me.”

  “Well all right then,” James said laughing. “They told me at the eating hall you wanted to see me.”

  “Huh?” Paul asked. “See you? Oh yeah. I been watching you son, and of all the folk around here you remind me the most of my father Jesse. It’s probably because you’re Mark’s boy. Mama always thought Mark most resembled our father and she was right. Being tall and such, you even walk like him. Anyway, you travel far and wide, something Mark and I never did. We stayed close to Haven and the businesses. But you get around and see lots of people and places. I wish I had done that.”

  Both men sat and rocked back and forth in silence for a while. Uncle Paul seemed a long way off in his thoughts. James saw him smile at a good remembrance. The fire in the wood stove popped and seemed to bring the old man back to the room.

  “So,” Paul said. “I asked you to stop by because I have a couple of items I’d like for you to have. Like all the Colters, you heard the story of how we came to Haven and this valley. You learned about the hard times we went through after the Go Back and the bad stuff we had to do to stay alive. We don’t want to let anyone forget those times so we wrote the story down. It’s around here someplace.”