I'd like to dedicate this continued part of the story to a special lady, on her Birthday......
Looking at Grover, standing over the Wrangler he had just put a whooping to , was a sight you don't see that often out here in the lone prairie. He stood well over six foot two, since I was six-two, and had to wrench my neck to look him in the eyes, and with arms as big as my legs, held together by a massive Black frame.
I leaned over to help the wrangler up, and whispered in his ear that he should get out of town as fast as he could. Knowing damn well that if he didn't we'd be the ones running for cover. I could see that as little as that town was, more & more people were gathering to see this unusual sight. It was also small enough, so that all that was there was a Feed & Grain store, a Saloon, and a dry goods, where I could see Henry coming out of with enough supplies to get us to the next County. I didn't give Henry time to come over and hash out the details of what had just happened. I grabbed on to what I thought was a huge Ham-hock, but realized that it was Grovers' large forearm. I motioned for Henry to get the horses and bring them here. At that point, I told Grover to get on his horse and come with us out of town, to at least sort matters out.
Once we were a safe distance from town we slowed our pace and retreated to the camp site that we left that morning. It was a good spot to go over our plans to hook up with another crew of wranglers' that had a large herd of Cattle, or even some horses that needed to be brought down the Pike for some Ranchers that needed fresh stock.
Sitting around the camp fire, Grover began to tell his story, and how he ended up out here.
Apparently he was a rare breed of 'free' slaves from the North. He still was endowed to a wealthy Ship builder out of Massachusetts, by the name of Pierce. Life was good for him there, but soon the the partner of the business got greedy and arranged for his partner, Pierce, to 'disappear'. Which didn't leave Grover in a good light, since it was Pierce who had legal rights to Grover. Not sure how long this arrangement was going to last, Grover too disappeared, and found himself in Pennsylvania taking on odd jobs, to say the least, since being a very large Black man, and that much closer to the South, he had no choice but to take on any work. Even if it meant cleaning up after the livestock for some wealthy nobleman.
He had a place in the back of the barn, which he had to share with the other Negros that that farm kept around for duties to be done at the drop of the hat. Within that little niche of friendly folk that he could trust, there came word of changes to come between the North and the South. Nothing they knew of for the near future, but the feelings ran deep in the minds of the Negros, who had more of a feeling and having that sense about them that only they could feel.
Grover took these feelings to Heart, so much so he felt it better to get as far away as possible, before and if any of this came to be.
All he could do was head West, it was the last Strong-hold for anyone looking to start a new life.......
....Sorry, Birthday girl, but to be Continued.....
....Hope you had a great day, Mo...!!
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