The Iron Wagon (13 page)

Everyone found the description of the iron wagon very interesting. And they were deeply impressed when Paul told them that the iron wagons were used by the army to transport captured Indian warriors to places where they would be held as prisoners by the army.

As supper came to a close, Paul was still talking about the iron wagon. “You know what? That iron wagon so enthralled me that I wish I could ride in one sometime.”

John chuckled. “Well, son, maybe someday you’ll get to ride in one.”

“I sure hope so, Papa.”

On the following morning, when Major General Ryan Alden rode his horse onto the parking lot of Denver’s First Baptist Church, he saw a few people standing beside a wagon and a buggy. He quickly recognized the Stranger and his son, Paul, among them.

John and Paul headed toward him, radiant. The general dismounted at the hitching post where he had stopped and quickly tied the reins to the post.

As John and Paul drew up, they both shook hands with Alden, saying how good it was to see him again. Then John pointed toward the small group of people by the wagon and the buggy. “General, come with us. Paul and I want to introduce you to the rest of our family and to some very special friends.”

Alden smiled as they guided him to Breanna, Ginny, Meggie, deputy U.S. marshal Whip Langford, and his wife, Annabeth. Breanna and the girls as well as Whip and Annabeth warmly welcomed Fort Logan’s new commander to First Baptist Church.

Then the group entered the auditorium. Just inside the door stood Pastor Robert Bayless and his lovely wife, Mary.

Since John and Paul had ridden back into town to visit with the Baylesses on Saturday evening and told them all about Fort Logan’s new commander, both pastor and wife welcomed the general warmly. Paul and his sisters excused themselves and headed for their Sunday school classes.

Pastor Bayless turned to the general. “My wife and I have been told a great deal about you, General Alden. Could I have a few minutes alone with you right now?”

Alden smiled. “Certainly.”

John looked at the general. “Breanna and I, along with the Langfords, will be here in the auditorium for the adult Sunday school class. We’ll save you a seat.”

Alden nodded. “See you shortly.”

The pastor led General Alden to his office, and as they sat on a comfortable sofa together, Pastor Bayless explained that Chief Brockman had told him the whole story of how he had led him to the Lord in Emporia, Kansas, in August of 1867 and that he had been baptized some two weeks later in the First Baptist Church there.

Alden beamed. “That’s correct.”

“Chief Brockman told me that you would present yourself for membership here.”

Alden leaned forward. “That is the plan, Pastor. I assure you that my pastor at First Baptist Church in Emporia will grant a letter from that church to this one recommending me for membership.”

“Well, from all that Chief Brockman told me about you, I will be glad to have you as a member of the church. You just
come forward this morning when I give the invitation after the sermon to present yourself for membership. I will ask you to give testimony of your salvation before the church, being led to the Lord by John ‘the Stranger’ Brockman, and you can tell them that you were baptized shortly thereafter at the First Baptist Church of Emporia, Kansas.”

“I will be glad to do so, Pastor Bayless. I know I will be happy as a member of this church.”

After the service, General Alden was welcomed into the church by the members as they passed by him in the vestibule. He was surprised to find four soldiers from Fort Logan along with all the others. Those four told the general that they were very glad to learn he was a Christian and that they were happy he was now a member of their church too.

With a broad smile on his lips, Alden told the soldiers that it was a blessing for him to learn that they were his Christian brothers.

The Brockmans were standing close by, and Breanna said, “General Alden, you are still planning to have Sunday dinner with us, aren’t you?”

“Sure am!”

“Good!” John said. “We’ll all be in our wagon, so you can just follow us on your horse. All right?”

“Sure enough.” The general nodded. “Let’s go.”

Alden followed the Brockman wagon as they drove away from the church, and soon they were in the country, heading west toward the Rocky Mountains.

Letting his horse follow close behind the wagon, the general
allowed his mind to drift back in time. The image of his lovely wife floated before him. “Oh, Lila, my love,” he whispered, “how I miss you. Honey, you would love this part of the country, with its majestic mountains, azure blue sky, and tall pine trees. It truly is a beautiful place, and if you were still with me, we could so enjoy life here.

“Of course, where you are now, sweetheart, has to be the most beautiful place of all … heaven! I—I just keep clinging to our life together from the time we met until the Lord took you home.”

Sharply bringing himself back to the present, Alden squared his shoulders and sat up straight in the saddle. “Thank You, Lord, for letting me get back together with the man who led me to You and for bringing me to this warm and friendly church. I am indeed grateful.”

The ride to the Brockman ranch was spectacular on that bright day. There was just a slight breeze, and the air was filled with the perfume of springtime flowers. The magnificent surroundings, including the ranches, the forests, the gurgling streams, and the lakes on both sides of the road occupied the general’s attention as he followed the Brockman wagon, staying back far enough so he didn’t have to breathe the dust stirred up by the spinning wheels.

When they arrived at the ranch, John guided the wagon to a halt in front of the house. “You can tie your horse to one of the hitching posts there at the end of the porch, General.”

Alden smiled. “Will do, Chief.”

As the general dismounted and tied his horse to a hitching
post, he was impressed with the neat and trim, two-story house. He noticed the multicolored tulips and crocuses in bloom around the front steps of the porch. “What a grand place, Lila, my dear,” he said in a slight whisper. “You would indeed love it here.”

After John helped Breanna down from the driver’s seat of the wagon and Paul helped his sisters down from the wagon bed where he had been sitting with them, mother and daughters entered the house while Paul and John invited their guest to sit with them on the front porch. They had only been seated for a couple of minutes when Meggie came through the front door carrying a platter bearing three glasses of cool lemonade.

“Gentlemen,” Meggie said with a cute grin that emphasized her dimples, “maybe this lemonade will tide you over until dinner is ready. Won’t be much longer!”

John grinned back at her. “Thank you, Meggie, sweet.” Then taking a sip of the cool drink, he looked at the general. “While we’re waiting for dinner, I’d like to tell you the story of our Meggie and how she came to be part of our family.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “You mean Meggie wasn’t
born
into the Brockman family?”

“No, but you’ll enjoy hearing how she became a Brockman.”

“Well,” said Meggie, “I’ve got to get back to the kitchen. I hope you like the story, General Alden. I sure do!”

O
n the next day, Monday, June 10, in the gold mine at Central City, Wayne Shelby was working alone deep in the mine while Ed Stubler and Charles Fawley were working together by lantern light on the other side of a rock wall nearby.

At one point, when Wayne sat on the floor of the cave beside his burning kerosene lantern to rest for a few minutes, he noted that there were no sounds of Stubler’s and Fawley’s picks striking gold on the other side of the rock wall.

Then he heard Charles talking to Ed about his need to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance of his sins and ask Him to save him.

Shelby heard Stubler say, “Charlie, I’ve thought a lot about it since you started talking to me on the subject a few weeks ago, but I’m not sure I want to do that.”

“Why not?” came Charles’s voice.

Wayne heard a pause followed by a frustrated sigh. “Charlie, it all seems like fanaticism to me. I don’t want to get involved in it.”

Knowing what a kind man Charles was, Wayne could picture the genuine concern on his face as he heard Charles say, “I’ve already shown you that God’s Word says if you die without being saved by the Lord Jesus, you will burn in the flames of hell forever. That’s not fanaticism. That’s the wise thing to do. If you don’t, then when
you’re screaming in the flames of hell for all eternity, you’ll wish you had been saved.”

Hearing Charles Fawley’s words clearly in his private cave, Wayne felt a shiver slither down his spine at the thought of burning in hell forever. He muttered, “The idea of a burning place called hell is nonsense.” He rose to his feet, grabbed his pick, and went back to work, struggling to get the idea of a burning hell, where John Brockman told him he was going, out of his thoughts.

Between swings of his pick against the gold in the mine, Wayne overheard Charles say, “Ed, will you do something for me?”

“What’s that?”

“Will you come to First Baptist Church next Sunday and just listen to my pastor preach?”

There was a brief pause, then Ed’s voice carried from the other side of the wall. “Tell you what, Charlie. I’ll give it some thought, and I’ll let you know later in the week.”

Wayne shook his head at what he was hearing and went back to swinging his pick rapidly and striking the gold so loudly that he couldn’t hear any more that the two men were saying to each other.

Nearly two weeks passed. On Saturday, June 22, the Brockmans had Whip and Annabeth Langford for supper at their home in order to help them observe their first wedding anniversary, which was actually the next day.

When everyone was seated in the dining room, Breanna looked across the table at Whip and Annabeth. “Are you two going somewhere tomorrow to celebrate your anniversary?”

The Langfords gazed at each other joyfully; then Whip said, “Yes, we are, Breanna. We’re going to church to hear our dear pastor preach as usual.”

Meggie giggled. “Hey, that’s neat!”

“It sure is!” agreed Ginny. “I think it’s wonderful that you are going to church to celebrate your anniversary.”

“Yes!” Breanna exclaimed. “What better way to celebrate the fact that you have been husband and wife for a whole year now.”

Whip and Annabeth looked deeply into each other’s eyes. Whip reached out with his left hand, and with his forefinger, tipped up Annabeth’s chin. With his right hand, he lifted his plate off the table, which was yet empty, and used it to cover their faces as they enjoyed a sweet kiss.

Paul began clapping, and the rest of the Brockman family joined in the applause.

When the kiss was complete, Whip lowered the plate, grinning, and said to his wife, “Darlin’, each time we kiss, it just gets sweeter!”

Annabeth looked around the table at the Brockmans, then gazed at her husband. “It sure does, sweetheart! It sure does!”

“Well,” John said, “let’s pray so we can get started on this anniversary supper.”

Heads were bowed, eyes were closed, and John led in prayer, thanking the Lord for the food. He also thanked Him for bringing Whip and Annabeth together as husband and wife on June
twenty-third of last year. When he closed the prayer in Jesus’ name and said, “amen,” everyone else at the table echoed his “amen.”

During the meal, the discussion at the table was about Whip and Annabeth’s year of marriage.

John smiled. “I’ll tell all of you this much. Whip has been even better as a deputy U.S. marshal since he married Annabeth.”

Annabeth giggled and looked at John. “I’ve taught my husband a lot about being a deputy since we’ve been married.”

Everybody laughed. Paul, Ginny, and Meggie each spoke of how much Uncle Whip and Aunt Annabeth meant to them. Breanna did the same.

When the meal was over, Breanna pushed her chair back, rose to her feet, and started stacking the dishes. Running her gaze to John and Whip, she said, “Paul has to go do his chores at the barn and the corral, but I think you men ought to take your coffee and sit together on the front porch. It is such a lovely evening.”

John stood. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“Yep. Me too.” Whip also rose.

Paul got to his feet. “Well, I’ll go take care of my evening chores. See you later, Uncle Whip and Aunt Annabeth.” They both nodded genially at him, and Paul hurried out the back door.

Breanna, Annabeth, Ginny, and Meggie quickly tended to washing and drying the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. When they were finished, Ginny hugged her mother. “Mama, I think you need some rest now. You and Aunt Annabeth ought to just sit here at the table, have some tea, and spend time together.
Meggie and I need to go upstairs, take our baths, wash our hair, and get our clothes ready for church tomorrow.” She turned to Annabeth. “You will stay for a while and visit with Mama, won’t you?”

Annabeth smiled. “Of course I will. You girls run along and do what you need to do. Your mama and I will spend some time together.”