LEROY
A TALE OF ADVENTURE AND ROMANCE
ON THE TRAIL TO TEXAS IN 1870
K. G. Griffin
Leroy: A Tale of Adventure and Romance on the Trail to Texas in 1870
©2019 by K. G. Griffin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Published by Carpenter’s Son Publishing, Franklin, Tennessee
Published in association with Larry Carpenter of Christian Book Services, LLC
The Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible (‘the KJV’), the rights in which are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom, is reproduced here by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Cover and Interior Layout Design by Suzanne Lawing
Printed in the United States of America
978-1-949572-18-6
This book is dedicated to Eleanor Jeannine Gray,
a great, great, great granddaughter
of Leroy V. Stockard.
1
Yanks Are Comin’!
Leroy (pronounced LaRoy) swung his fishing pole over his shoulder and headed toward the main road and knew that he could cross it and head down the embankment to Waterfalls Creek in no time. He hoped he could catch a whole mess of trout they could fry up for supper, but as he neared the road, he distinctly heard yelling and the beat of horse hoofs coming at a fast pace.
“The Yanks are comin’!” Leroy’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open as he recognized old Mister Miller who was frantically pushing his roan horse as fast as he could. Just as he saw Leroy, he reined her in and spoke breathlessly, “Boy, the Yanks are acomin’. Go tell yore folks to head fur the woods. Kid, you gotta git the women folk to safety. You never know what them thievin’ Yanks might do. You hear me?”
Leroy nodded and finally found his tongue, “How far away are they?”
“I reckon they’re 8 to 10 mile back yonder, and they’re headin’ this way. Now I gotta warn the neighbors. I gotta git movin’!”
Mister Miller dug his heels into his horse’s sides and headed on down the road and continued yelling, “The Yanks are comin’!”
Leroy turned around and ran back up the dirt road up to his house and up the front steps yelling, “Samuel, Mary Jane, come quick!”
Before he even stepped inside, both his older brother Samuel and older sister Mary Jane threw open the front door. Then Samuel grabbed him by the shoulders and spat out, “What the dickens!”
Breathing hard, Leroy managed to catch his breath but could only speak in a whisper, “The Yankees are comin’.”
Mary Jane looked horrified and asked, “How do you know?”
Leroy pointed back to the main road and blurted out, “I jest seen Mister Miller, and he was yellin’, ‘The Yanks are comin’. He says, ‘They’re ‘bout 8 mile back.’ Samuel, he said, ‘We need to head fur the woods.’”
“Lord, help us! We gotta figure out somethin’ fast.”
“Samuel, I know where thar’s a cave ‘bout three miles into the woods headin’ up a rise where we could hide out.”
“Good idee. We’ll gather some stuff, but whatever we do, we gotta git goin’.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Mary Jane asked, “What about Maw?”
“Right. We gotta be real careful how we go about this. She’s apt to panic and slow us down. Let’s tell her we’re goin’ on a picnic. That way she won’t panic. Mary Jane, git as much foodstuff as you can. Leroy, you saddle up Molly, and I’ll git Smiley. Mary Jane, put everthang you can in a poke. Then wake Maw and real friendly like tell her ‘bout the picnic. I’ll grab some beddin’. Who knows! We may have to spend the night, maybe several nights. Git a movin’, you two!”
Leroy nodded and took off running for the barn. Molly brayed loudly when she saw him. Leroy grabbed her saddle and began getting her ready to go all the while speaking in a hushed tone, “Molly girl, we gotta git outta here. The northerners are comin’. Now you gotta keep quiet, ya hear?” Molly seemed to sense the danger and turned her large head to stare at Leroy as he cinched the saddle. “That’s right, girl. We’re gonna be okay, but we gotta be mighty careful.”
He led Molly from the barn and around back and tied her to a nearby fencepost then ran inside to help Mary Jane. She was in the kitchen stuffing day-old bread, salted venison and hard-boiled eggs into a burlap poke. She also opened the drawer where the silverware was kept and grabbed what she could. When she saw Leroy, she ordered, “Leroy, go out to the shed and see if you can find Paw’s old canteen. We jest might need that.”
Leroy responded with a nod and headed out back and ran to the shed where he pushed open the heavy wooden door. It smelled dusty and dank from water seepage, but there was enough light from the morning sun that he could make out some old rusted tools and hanging on a nail, his paw’s canteen. He grabbed it, closed the door and ran over to the outdoor pump and filled the canteen, then hooked the strap around Molly’s saddle horn and ran back inside to see what else he could do. He grabbed his paw’s rifled musket that was mounted above the fireplace and pocketed several Minie’ balls along with paper cartridges with the thought, Jest in case. Then he went back outside to tie the burlap poke to Molly’s saddle.
Samuel had already gotten their milk cow Smiley roped, and he got a bucket for milking. The next thing was to get their maw convinced that the idea of a picnic was going to be full of fun. He went in the house and began collecting quilts and blankets. Samuel winked at Mary Jane as she stepped into their maw’s bedroom where she was sleeping. “Maw, Maw, wake up. We got a great idee. Me, Samuel and Leroy are takin’ you on a picnic. Come on, now, grab yore shawl and put on yore shoes and let’s go. Time’s awastin’.” Mary Jane smiled really big trying to sell the idea.
Their maw looked bewildered but managed a smile. “A picnic! That does sound like fun. I’ll fry some chicken and bake a pie.”
“That’s okay, Maw. This is a surprise. I done got the food. All you have to do is git dressed. Now come on. This is our treat.”
“Well, okay then. You are such sweet kids. Is it my birthday?”
“Naw, we jest wanta to do somethin’ nice fur you.”
In less than half an hour, the three kids, Molly, Smiley and their maw struck out for the nearby hills. Leroy led the way with confidence. He had spent many hours in the small cave digging and exploring. One time he found some rocks there that he pretended were gold. Then he lay on his back and dreamed about being rich. He thought if he had real gold he would help out his maw and buy more stock, maybe a gelding, more cattle and pretty things for Maw and Mary Jane. Now all that pretend stuff seemed babyish, and he felt older leading the way while the rest of the family tagged behind.
As they trekked into the woods, the going got more difficult. Leroy had ahold of Molly’s reins, Mary Jane was tugging at Smiley’s rope and Samuel was helping Maw to navigate around trees and large stones. Even though walking became increasingly troublesome, still Maw kept smiling thinking the kids had gone to a lot of trouble to surprise her with a picnic. However after a while, she started to wonder a bit, and she asked, “How come we’re bringin’ Smiley on this outin’?”
Samuel cleared his