volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

darkness, his mother and brother would come and milk the cows. Only then
would they all return home together.
For his enjoyment, but mostly edification, his mother had pressed upon
him her Bible.
One afternoon, about the middle of the third week, he grew hungry
and crept to the edge of the canebreak in the hope of spying his brother or
sister bringing him his lunch. Instead, what he discovered were soldiers
standing before their log cabin. He stood like a stone statue, his concealment
being perfect. Mounted men surrounded the cabin, and he could make out
his mother speaking to one of the blue-suited troopers, his sister standing
partially obscured behind her.
His older brother was nowhere to be seen.
He could tell by his mother’s stance, and her desperate gesticulating, that
she was agitated and afraid. He could not hear a word of their exchange
until the trooper turned and stepped off their porch, signaling to his men to
dismount. Even then, he could not distinguish the words that were spoken.
Events after that occurred quickly. A trooper advanced upon the
frightened women and in an instant withdrew his sidearm and shot them
both dead. Meanwhile, another trooper was setting alight a pitch stick.
Once this was sufficiently blazing, he threw it onto their roof where it
speedily consumed the thatch. In hardly any time, their secure little home—
all the world he had ever known—was gone.
Gone too were his mother, his sister, and his brother.
Terrified, he wanted to do something, but he was a child and they were
men, and there were many of them, and he had no weapon about him but his
wits. Then the lesson taught him by his mother, of being “faithful over a
few things” flashed through his mind. He crept away from the horrific scene
and returned to his duties with the cattle.
They had taken everything else; he was damned if they would have their
cattle.
After the troopers left, and their cabin was rendered into ashes, he
crept out of the canebreak to bury his mother and sister. About that time
a company of folk happened along, neighbors headed for Texas with a
single wagon tied to two mules. The men helped dig the graves, then stood
mute and respectful as he cried and prayed. They then offered more than
what later he would realize was a fair price for the herd, money which he
gratefully accepted, as well their offer to accompany them on their journey
ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 20