The Two Sams: Men of the West. F. M. Worden
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“How many can we send you?”
Jake asked his brother, “What do you think?”
Sam Hawkins said, “We don’t even know if they’ll shoot.”
“You got a place to shoot? My man here will show you how well they shoot,” returned the Colonel.
Jake told him he had a range out back where he could shoot the pistols. Colonel Colt turned to the young man with him and said, “Let’s show-em how well these pistols shoot.”
They all went out to the range behind the shop. Jake had Sam set up six metal, six inch round trip targets. They stood thirty yards away. The young man had loaded one pistol.
“Go ahead Henry-hit em.” Henry fired six times hit one target.
Jake said, “Not very good, let my boy Sam here try.”
Colonel Colt agreed. Henry loaded the pistol again and handed it to Sam. He cocked the gun and in rapid fire, cocked, fired and hit all six. Handed the pistol back to Henry.
“My God,” said Colonel Colt, “this boy can shoot.”
He asked Sam, “How ya like a job with me?”
Sam shook his head no, turned and went back in the shop.
Jake told the Colonel, “We’ll take twenty to start, so we can see how well they sell.”
Later in the day George came to see Sam. “Miss Sarah wants you to come to supper tonight, will you come?” Sam told him to tell her he would.
It was after dark when he knocked on the kitchen door. Sarah opened the door. She was a beautiful woman even in the dim light. “I’ve been waiting supper on you, come on in.”
Sam followed her up the stairs to her rooms. The table was set with lighted candles. She turned to him said, “After supper I have a surprise for you. Please set and let’s eat.”
Sam did as she asked. The meal was baked turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy and all the trimming. After supper they sat on the settee and had coffee. They talked for over an hour.
Sarah then said, “Want to see my surprise for you?”
Sam told her not to spend her money on him. She went into the other room and returned with a wrapped box, handed it to Sam. “Open it,” She insisted.
In it was a new blue wool suit with a vest and two pairs of pants, also a pair of high button shoes.
“Now,” She said, “you gotta have a bath. I’ve new underwear for you too.” Sam shook his head no.
She said, “Look I have a tub waiting for us.” She took his hand and led him to a tub in the bed room. Three foot deep, four feet across it was steaming with hot water.
Sarah said, “It’s big enough for two.” She undressed so did he, they both took a nice warm soapy bath.
Next morning Sam had over slept. He jumped out of bed and dressed and ran to the shop. He did his chores as fast as he could before anyone would come. He sat and waited. No one came. He had forgotten it was Sunday.
Sarah knocked on the back door. “Are you in there Sam?” she called.
He opened the door. “Let’s have breakfast and go for a buggy ride. I want to take you on a picnic.” Sam had one of the most pleasant mornings he could remember.
She had a new single seat black buggy and a fine stepping bay gelding to pull it, she let Sam drive. They stopped in a small grove of willows and had a picnic of fried chicken.
While they were eating, Sarah asked if there was any thing in the world he would want? It didn’t take long. He told her he always wanted a horse of his own.
She said, “I own a farm not far from here. It has lots of horses. You want a’ go look?”
He told her, “Lady, you are full of surprises. You own a farm?”
“Yes, let’s go look at horses.”
As they drove, she told Sam that her Pa had the café and the farm. When he died, he left them to her. She told him she never went out there.
“A man runs it for me and brings the money after the harvest.”
“What do you grow on your farm?”
She said, “I don’t know, some corn, and all kinds of things, but I know we have lots of horses.”
Soon they turned into a lane with large cottonwood trees on both sides. The trees hung over the lane and covered the sun from sight. In about a mile they drove into a farm yard. A large old house with two stories stood before them. An older man came out on the porch. He had long white hair and a long white beard. As he approached the buggy, he walked kinda stooped over. He looked to Sam to be in his early sixties. When he saw who was in the buggy, he said with a big smile, “Miss Sarah what brings you to the farm today?”
“Mr. Cartwright, meet my friend Sam Duncan.”
As they both got out of the buggy, she said, “We’ve come to look at my horses.”
The older man moved to shake Sam’s hand, “Call me Al, I ain’t seen Miss Sarah in a coon’s age. Glad she finally come to see us, I’ll have the boys go bring up the horses.”
He called to two young black boys in a demanding voice, “Go get them horses. Bring em up here.”
Soon there was twenty head in a pen by the barn. Sarah told Sam to look them over. “See if you’d like one.”
Sam went in the pen and studied the horse herd for some time. Then he told her, “I like the big sorrel gelding with the blaze face.”
“You can have him,” Sarah said with a flip of her hand.
Al said to Sarah, “This man knows horses. This horse is the best on the farm. He’s worth four or five hundred dollars.”
Sam turned to Sarah and said, “You can’t give him to me. I’ll buy him.”
“No, you won’t.” Sarah looked mad. “If you really want to pay, I’ll split the difference with you, two hundred dollars, Okay Sam?”
“It’s a deal Sarah.”
She told Al to tie the horse to the back of the buggy. Sam was delighted with the horse.
All the way back to town Sarah jabbered and jabbered. The horse meant nothing to her. Sam had to keep looking back to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He owned a horse.
Monday morning Jake had a surprise for Sam. Colonel Colt had given a pistol to him. The Colonel told Jake to tell him, “A man who can shoot like that needs a good pistol.”
Then Jake said, “I need to talk to you sometime today. You gettin the Itch Sam?”
Sam smiled and shook his head yes.
After work hours Jake asked Sam to come in the office. “Set Sam,” he said, “You getting pretty thick with this woman Sarah. I’m gonna tell what I know of her. You can take it for what it’s worth.”
“Fine. I would like to know all you can tell me about her.” He was ready to listen to what Jake had to say.
Jake starts talking. “I didn’t know her Pa at all. He was a big fella, always in a hurry. I don’t think he made friends very easy. Most of the folks around here never got to know the man. When he come to town, his little girl was just a little tyke. He had that café for ten or so years. When he died, she got all he owned being his only kin. She went kinda wild at first. She was about your age, maybe a little older, to be handed a lot of money, it was bad. Lots of people took advantage of her, she be-n so young. She met a river boat man and took up with him, he was probably forty years old. He moved in with her, in that up stairs’ apartment. She spent a lot of money redoing it, so we heard. One Saturday night they had a big fight. I heard the yelling and screaming could be heard all over town.