Eagle’s Song by Rosanne Bittner Page A

showing how important he is, enjoys threatening people, trying to make them shake in their shoes.”
    “I would like to stand face to face with this man,” Wolf’s Blood spoke up, his face rigid, his dark eyes blazing.
    “No,” Margaret told him. “You go back to Montana and stay out of it, Wolf’s Blood. You would get yourself in grave trouble if you tried to bring Temple any harm. He is a very powerful man, with many men to protect him. He has money and influence, and he literally owns the law in Pueblo. To bring him harm would mean your certain death.”
    “What exactly has he done?” Dan asked.
    “He knocks down fences,” Zeke answered. “He poisoned one of the windmill troughs. We lost six good horses. We couldn’t prove who did it, but even if we could, nothing would have been done. He’s set fire to grassland, and sometimes he just rides in here with an army of men and threatens us, says we’d better leave or we’ll regret it. He’s also been putting up his own fences, barbed wire. One of my horses was badly maimed by it.”
    “Does he have any legal rights this property?” Jeremy asked.
    “Of course not!” Abbie answered. “I have the legal deed to this land.” She looked across the campfire at Margaret. “You should have told me about this. I could have brought the deed with me.”
    “Temple would only find a way to work his wayaround it. The land agent is paid out of Temple’s pockets.”
    “Well, I hate to say it, but Mother is going to have to go back to Montana and make a second trip down here,” Jeremy answered. “She should bring that deed. I’ll have an attorney in Denver write up a letter of some kind stating that this land belongs to Abigail Monroe. Maybe we could have Margaret and Morgan’s names added to the deed. Morgan, you’re the one who has stayed on and worked this ranch. God knows
I
don’t deserve any claim to it. If Mother wants all the rest of the children’s names added, we can do that. Temple would never be able to negate that.”
    Morgan nodded. “I suppose we can make sure the deed is neat and legal, but Temple has ways of trying to force people out. He can make life miserable for us if he wants, and there is no law to prevent him. If I try to stop him with guns, we all know where that would lead.”
    “I’ll send out a U.S. Marshal when Mother returns with the deed,” Jeremy said. “He can inform Mr. Carson Temple of the kind of trouble he’ll be in if he continues to make problems for you.”
    Wolf’s Blood turned to look at him. “Well, it seems my brother has a different kind of fighting power than I and our father had. We did our fighting physically. Now Jeremy fights with the law and the pen.” He grinned. “He is a stubborn Monroe after all—ready to do battle a new way.”
    “In the courts if we have to,” Jeremy added.
    “Then so be it,” Abbie said. “I’ll come back with the deed, and Jeremy’s attorney can update it and verify its legality. Zeke and I claimed this land back when all a man had to do was say, ‘This is mine,’ and that was that. To make it legal, we had William Bent draw up the original deed. The government at that timedidn’t care who took what, as long as the land was settled; and those who ran Colorado Territory didn’t care either as long as the settlers weren’t Indian, so the land is in my name. Negroes have land rights now, too. We’ll add Morgan’s name. Besides, he’s half white.”
    “If it will help, put my name on it, too, then,” Dan told them. “I want nothing from it, of course, but at least I’m all white, and I’m a Monroe besides. They can’t do a damn thing about it.”
    Margaret blinked back tears. “Thank you, Uncle Dan. That’s a wonderful suggestion.”
    “Then it’s decided,” Abbie said. “And I think Jason’s name should also be on it. That way when Dan and I are gone, the Monroe name will still be a part of this land. And if for some reason Margaret and Morgan should