The Land. Robert K. Swisher Jr.

      THE LAND

      Robert K. Swisher, Jr.

       DEDICATION

       For Boots, living ghosts, and arrow heads … only the coyoteand the crow know for sure …

      © 1987 by Robert K. Swisher, Jr. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

      Sunstone books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use.

      For information please write: Special Markets Department, Sunstone Press,

      PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2321.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

      Swisher, Robert K., 1947–

      The land.

      I. Title.

      PS3569. W574L3 1986 813’.54 86-22966

      ISBN: 0-86534-095-1

       WWW.SUNSTONEPRESS.COM

      SUNSTONE PRESS / POST OFFICE BOX 2321 / SANTA FE, NM 87504-2321 / USA

      [phone] / ORDERS ONLY [phone] / FAX [phone]

       CONTENTS

       PROLOGUE: THE BANDIT

       BOOK ONE: THE INDIANS

       1. The Indian — 1575 A.D

       2. The Medicine Man

       3. The Spear Point

       4. The Fleeting

       5. Sanctuary

       6. Flying Bird

       7. Shining Moon Returns

       8. Inside the Canyon

       9. The Sacrifice

       BOOK TWO: THE SPANIARDS

       1. The Franciscan — 1740 A.D

       2. The Church

       3. The Peak

       4. Trouble

       5. Carmeleta

       6. The Spear Point

       7. The Chief and the Elders

       8. Majico and the Chief

       9. Man of Many Women and Jagged Knife

       10. The Captain Prepares

       11. The End

       BOOK THREE: THE MEXICANS

       1. The Rich and the Poor — 1835 A.D

       2. The Problem

       3. Labor Lost

       4. The Journey

       5. The Governor

       6. The Christmas Gift

       7. The American Soldiers

       8. The Invasion

       BOOK FOUR: THE COWBOYS

       1. The History — 1948 A.D

       2. Frank Speaks

       3. The Partings

       4. The Spear Point

       5. The Will

       6. The Land Stays

       AUTHOR’S NOTE

      There is a parcel of land in New Mexico that in our day and age is called a ranch. The man who owns this ranch swears until his dying day his land will never be subdivided into housing lots or ranchettes. On this ranch are ancient Indian ruins, remnants of mankind when the land was not a possession but belonged to all man as his heart and soul. On this ranch are traces of the Spaniards when they came onto the land in search of cities made of gold. Also on the ranch are homes constructed from stacked rocks when the first Mexicans migrated out of Mexico looking for a new life and a new beginning. Around all of these chronicles of time are rusted-out fences when the white man came to subdue the West. This is a story of this particular piece of land and the men and women who have lived upon it. This is the story of love and hope, grief and despair and the Mother Earth. The land is real — the dates and history are real — everything else belongs to the ghosts.

PROLOGUE

       THE BANDIT

      Manuel Saavedra spurred his tired and sweating horse on. The three mules tethered together and tied to his saddle looked like they would drop from exhaustion at any moment. Manuel for the first time did not care about his animals. There had been too many years, too many lost chances for thoughts such as these. He buried his sharp silver spurs into the sides of the horse