Month: July 2021

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Best we don’t say anything to your sister or to Aunt Molly about this,” I warned Lucas.  “They might not understand.”

       He gave a laugh, then said, “Si, they, how you say, would skin your hide.”
       I didn’t think it at all funny.  “Go ahead and laugh, but remember you have to face Marta.”
       That made him somber.  He squinted his eyes, and then asked very seriously, “What do I tell them about the guns?” Then he looked toward the little rope corral, “And the fine horse that is mine?”
       I pulled on the end of my moustache, pondering what he said and what brung all this about.  We had met with the commander at Fort Wingate, and he had two of his men undercover as cowboys to help Lucas and I drive the cattle back to Colorado.  The plan was that we might get drawn into a horse-trade along the way.  There was a group that would steal horses in Colorado, then sell half of them to some Mormons over in Utah, and trade the other half.  Then they’d steal some in Arizona, mix them with the ones they traded in Utah and sell them to the Army or any other buyer.  The idea was to join up with the horse thieves and have them persuade us to add our horses to theirs and go with them to the Mormons.
       Best plans are often put to waste.  We were out about four days from Wingate; I could see Twin Buttes off to the West.  The road was easy, and the cowboy-soldiers were able men.  We had gone by the small village of Tohatchi that morning and planned to drive the herd as far as Sheep Springs that day.  That would be close to a third of the way to Colorado.  I figured that they’d have to come on us in the next day or two.
       Like I said, the plans we made went right out the coop.  Instead of asking us to join them they decided to take the whole cavvy themselves.  It was early when we camped, there was plenty of water for the horses.  Lucas had a fire going and coffee on.  I’ll hand it to the boy, he sure did his part.
       Markum was out riding with the herd, and I had a restless feeling in my innards.  Being so restless, I decided to saddle up and ride out with Markum while coffee was boiling and Nicholson was fixing supper.  It was twilight and I had just mounted and started out of camp when they came at us like a bunch of Comanches.  Yelling, screaming, and firing at any two-legged target they could find.  I saw Markum fall from the saddle and two men start pushing the horses.  
       As I pulled my rifle from the scabbard, I heard shooting from the area of the camp.  They had the horses running now; I hesitated, Lucas was back at camp.  More firing…there wasn’t much I could do.  I looked back toward the herd, saw a man riding off to my right.  Fixing a bead on him, I fired and he tumbled from the saddle.
       There was a sound of a horse coming from camp, I turned in the saddle and heard a yell, “Don’t shoot, Senor; it is Lucas.”  He didn’t stop beside me, but continued on after the rustlers.  I could see two of them out in the front, one on each side.  I watched as Lucas veered off to the left, so I took to the right.
       Hawk was enjoying himself.  It had been quite a spell since we’d been involved in a ruckus like this.  I think the old horse missed it for he was flying over that ground and before long we were coming abreast of the man.  I didn’t fire, but instead I swung the barrel of the rifle catching him on the chin.  He tried to hold on, but fell right into the charging horses.  I looked over the herd searching for Lucas.  There wasn’t much I could do so I started to try to turn the horses, much like milling cattle during a stampede.
       They were starting to turn and slow down, then a shot came from the left rear of the herd.  I had been praying the whole time to myself, but I blurted it out, “O Lord, let Lucas be all right!”
       Minutes later the horses were walking back toward where we had them before the ruckus started.  I moved warily in the back and spotted a lone horseman coming my direction.  I stopped Hawk, and cocked my rifle.
       Lucas was pale, well, as pale as a Mexican boy can get.  He looked at me, eyes wide, then bent over the saddle puking.  “Two-Bits won’t appreciate it if you got any of that on him.”
       He looked up, then wiped his mouth, but now a smile on his face…sorta.  “Senor Miles, I think I maybe keeled two men, maybe three.”
       As we rode back, I looked for Markum.  He was sitting, leaning back against a rock.  Dismounting I checked on him.  He had been shot in the shoulder and upon falling he possibly broke some ribs.  I let Lucas get the horses back to their feeding ground while I got Markum back to camp.  Nicholson was dead, and not far away from him was another man–the one Lucas shot.
       We had stopped the stealing, but we still didn’t have an idea who the traders were in Mormon country.  That would have to wait.  I needed to get Markum back to the Fort and these horses taken care of.
       Five days later, Lucas and I were on the trail heading back home.  “Let me do the explainin’, Lucas.  You keep the rifle and I’ll hold on to the pistol and talk to your Uncle Charlie about that.  The horse, well, I’ll come up with somethin’.”
       I worried about him, but all the way back I didn’t hear him babblin’ about anything, nor did he wake me up during the night.  I was just praying that he hadn’t seen the “Devil’s Grin.”  One thing for sure–he was now a man.

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Take a seat, I was just about to pour a cup of coffee. You like one?”

                    –Cliff Hudgins  (Viejo and the Lost Ranger)
 
Hey, Pard!  We made it back and did we have a swell time.  My mercy, the Lord sure blessed us with some grand country.  We made a nice trip goin’ first through New Mexico on into Arizona.  We had to change plans there as we wanted to see some sights but the Navajo Reservation was shut down.  After adjustin’ our schedule we went to Utah, spent some time on Antelope Island at Salt Lake, traveled through Idaho to our cabin in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana.  I do mean to tell yuh, that I wish I was twenty years younger for the fishing looked great in that area, plus there were some great hiking trails.
       Coffee!  Pard, it was hard to get a decent cup of coffee.  That stuff they have in motels; well, a person can make only a fourth cup of coffee from one of them packets they put in the room.  On the trail; well, gas station coffee ain’t much better.  We did find decent coffee in a couple of cafes, but that was it.  Good thing I brought my own along, so I could make some in the cabin.  Let me tell yuh, good coffee is hard to come by.  Most of it is weak and watered down, kinda like the preachin’ out there and the wishy-washy folk.  I found out that Montanas have the same feelin’ towards “snowflakes” and “twinkies” that most of us Texans have.  They kinda make the gizzard start to gurgle.
       Another wonderful thing–I didn’t hear any news.  I was too busy concentratin’ on God’s great cathedral that I wasn’t about to be bothered by the news, or should I say the lies and arrogant attitudes of the bureaucrats.  Did I tell yuh that the Bitterroot River was fifty feet from our cabin, and that the trees around were majestic ponderosa pines?  Yep, to have been a bit younger.  But that’s not to bellyache, Pard, for we had a grand time.
       I didn hear a bit of stupidity when I came home.  It seems that the person tryin’ to be President said that he will send officials door-to-door to check on those who haven’t had the vaccine.  My mercy, isn’t that invasion of health privacy?  Seems to me a person’s health is their own affair not that of the government.  Next thing they’ll be comin’ and askin’ what kind of coffee I drink and if’n it ain’t the preferred type I might get it confiscated.  
      Ahhh, now that’s real coffee.  Yuh’d think that the coffee would be strong along the road.  Yuh would think those that serve it would want yuh to perk up and stay alert.  Good thing I’m back.  Have to have a decent cup on the stove, and from the news I heard it would be best to make sure yur gun is oiled and ready.
     How ’bout you, Pard.  Yuh haven’t fallen off yur hoss since I’ve been gone.  I mean there’s been no one around to remind yuh to check yur cinch.
           Vaya con Dios.

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

You’re young. You have but little notion how cruel man can be to man. You’ll learn, though, and you’ll need a strong faith to get you through it.”
                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Buckskin Line)

       “God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

                   –1 Corinthians 1:9 (HCSB)
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Have you ever been frustrated?  Or should I say, what is it that frustrates you?  When driving does it just jerk your jaws when people run stop signs or cut in front of you?  Are you frustrated because you always seem to get in the wrong line at the checkout?   How about people?  Some people are just downright frustrating.  
       For sure, it will take faith to get through this life and into eternity.  It is through faith we are saved.; it is faith that appropriates the grace of the Father through Jesus Christ His Son.  Because of God’s faithfulness, we do not have to worry about Him becoming frustrated with us.  He is not going to wipe us off the face of the earth because we frustrate Him.  Oh, He may be grieved at our wrongdoings and disobedience.  And no matter what the bureaucrats do or the supreme adversary might attempt God’s plans will not be frustrated.  I like what Lloyd-Jones said,
 
               “This is absolutely certain:  Nothing can frustrate His plans; nothing can make HIm forego what He has promised; nothing can cause Him to change what He has purposed with respect to you.”
                               –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
 
       We can always rely upon God.  We can safely lean upon His Word, rest in His promises, and feel assurance that He is not frustrated, at least in the way the man understands frustration.
       Let me pass on some thoughts from that great expositor Lloyd-Jones.  “The Bible tells us about the faithfulness of God who always keeps His promises and never breaks His covenants.  It tells us that God will always fulfill every word that has ever gone out of His mouth.  It tells us that God will always faithfully and certainly defend and deliver His servants at all times of trial, testing, and conflict.  It tells us that God can be relied upon to confirm and to establish all whom He has called, guarding them from the evil one and keeping them and guiding them until His purposes are fulfilled in them.”
       What does God say about you?  Find out in the Bible.  What are His promises to you?  Go to His Word.  Remember you are a child of God.  Remember also that the Holy Spirit is working in you.  Part of our job is to read God’s Word, and to yield ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit.  Hmmm, maybe if we do not do that we do “frustrate” God just like a child frustrates their parents.  But knowing that they love us, we can go to them for we have faith in them–faith in their love and wanting our best.  The same is true of God–we can always go to Him, rely upon Him because of His great love and His enduring faithfulness.

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

No hardship could seem too great, no trail too long, no mountain impassable when the vision was upon them.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (The Tall Stranger)

 
       “Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho, and the LORD showed him all the land:  Gilead as far as Dan.”
                    –Deuteronomy 34:1 (HCSB)
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The definition of a mountain pass “is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge.  If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route.  Since many of the world’s mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have been important since before recorded history, and have played a key role in trade, war, and migration.”
       In my life and travels I have traversed many mountain passes.  Some to get where I need to be, others to see what was on the other side, and some to show others what was there.  Some of these passes were easy to travel with no real grade.  Others were close to being treacherous with narrow roads, hairpin curves, and rocky.  Some were well protected with guard rails, while others had no shoulder or railing.
       The object of a pass is to get to the other side.  It is the easiest way possible, but it can still be dangerous.  Upon reaching the summit there is usually a sigh of relief before heading on down the other side.  At the summit often one can have a wonderful vista of the country, while at other times the forest is too heavy to see anything except the way down the other side.  There have been times at the summit of the pass where there were storms–thunder, rain, hail, sleet, or snow and often fog.  Nothing could be seen except the storm.
       The pass; it must be crossed if one is to get to their destination.  In life, physically in traveling it is true, but there are spiritual passes that we must pass over as well.  There are mountains in our way that must be crossed in order to get to our destination.  Sometimes these take extreme effort; the will combines with the spirit to overcome and cross the summit.  The going may be hard and the way full of obstacles, but the pass must be crossed.  In these times it is important not to rely only upon your strength, but to lean hard on the Holy Spirit and let Him guide us over the trail.
       There is one pass that all must eventually cross.  The name of that last pass is Death.  The old-timers would say when a comrade died, “they passed over the Great Divide.”  Death is the last pass over the Great Divide between life and death.  The travel up that last slope may be a steep grade, or for some it may be a gradual incline, but the pass is there.  Paul says that for the believer it is only “sleep.”  
       That last Pass leads to the promise of eternity.  What is on the other side will be determined whether or not the individual accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.  For that person crossing the pass leads to the glorious wonder of heaven.  For the person who does not know Christ, they will see the burning lake of fire into which their trail will take them.  All will cross this Divide, this last pass; this trail cannot be detoured.
       One thought regarding Moses as he stood on that last pass of his life.  God showed him the Promised Land.  I wondered if God showed him only the land, but the promise within the land.   I wonder if Moses saw into the future of events that would take place on the land, from the nation of Israel, to the cross of Calvary, to the coming of Armageddon.