Chapter 11

Ivan was excited when he was told they were crossing into Oklahoma. For the past three days he had been the guest of the general and his lovely daughter, Judy. Even the captain became his friend.

Near the end of the day the train, carrying them, pulled into a station. They would have a half hour, or more delay for one reason, or another. The captain went to the telegrapher in the station.

“Sir, I need you to send these,” he said handing the man three hand written notes.

“Let’s see,” said the Key Man and began to read the messages. After a few seconds “Ivan Yanosh . . . Yanosh . . . Yanosh. . . Oh! I don’t need to send these.”

“Why not?” asked the captain.

“Cause, solder boy,” said the man pulling out a newspaper “This lad was killed in a train wreck near Nashville three days ago.” He pointed to an article on the front page of the paper. The officer read the article.

“May I have this?” the captain asked.

“Its two days old, and I was going to throw it out anyway,” he replied waving his hand.

“Thank you, sir,” said the officer as he hurried back to the train.

Ivan and Judy had left the train and were walking along the tracks to get some air. They were talking and looking at the country side.

“Oklahoma is pretty,” Ivan said. “Good farm land. Now find farm for family, my home all time.”

“Yes, it is a very pretty place,” said Judy “I hope you and your family will be very happy here.”

They looked back at the station to see the young officer coming toward them in a hurry. It was the captain and he was carrying the newspaper.

“Read this,” he said as he indicated the article in the newspaper.

“What?” she said in horror. “It can’t be.”

“Well it is,” said the officer. “This kid is a runaway. He must have heard about the wreck and took Ivan’s name to escape what, or who ever.”

“What are we going to do?” Judy asked.

“I’m going to turn the little liar over to the law, that’s what,” said the officer.

Ivan realized he was in deep trouble now. They no longer believed him, or his story. Judy and the man took Ivan by the hand and started toward the depot. He quickly pulled free and ran down the tracks. The officer gave chase, but Ivan cut off into some woods and through a fence. The captain was not able to follow through the fence. By the time he managed to find a place to cross the fence, Ivan was nowhere in sight.

“Get the men,” he shouted to Judy.

She turned to approach the train, but stopped. She looked at the date on the paper.

“Tom,” she yelled. He turned toward her. “You better come here.”

He proceeded to her. “What?” he asked.

“Read that,” she snapped. Under her finger was the date on the paper. Ivan was with us a day before the train wreck, there is no way he could have read it in the papers, or even heard about it.”

“Well, how did . . . I mean . . . what?” stammered the officer.

“Daddy was certainly right about you. You don’t have any brains at all,” as she hurried to the train. Once aboard she went to the bedroom and lay on the bed crying.

Hearing his daughter crying, as the general came back aboard the train, he went to see why.

“Here, here,” he said. “What’s all the water works about?”

“Tom’s a fool,” sobbed the girl.

“Hell’s bells girl,” said the old man “I’ve been telling you that ever since you two met.” Seeing it was not something he could remedy at that moment the old general left Judy to her grieving. “You can tell me all about it later. That is, if you can remember it.”

He went into the large room of the coach car and found a cigar. After lighting it, he called out for the man to blame for his daughter’s distress.

“Captain,” shouted the old man from the door of the car. He went and stood on the observation platform of the car and waited as the young officer came running.

“Sir, you called, Sir,” said the officer as he stopped at the foot of the ladder leading up to the platform.

“It seems, Captain, you have managed to cause my daughter some grief,” he said. “I really would like an explanation . . . that is before I light into you.” He motioned him to come up the ladder.

“Sir,” he handed the newspaper to the older officer. “The boy, see the story there, sir.” The elder man read the story and then spoke to the younger officer.

“This doesn’t explain why my daughter is bawling her eyes out,” he said.

“Sir, I thought the boy had lied about the whole thing when I read the article. However, Judy, your daughter pointed out the boy was with us the day before the train wreck, sir,” he explained.

“Captain, I can see that, but why is my little girl crying,” yelled the general “Tell me that, will you?”

“Well sir, when I thought the boy was lying, I stated we should turn him over to the law and let them handle it. Then the boy ran way, sir,” said the captain.

“Private, you certainly are an idiot,” yelled the general. “Where’s the boy now?”

“He ran off into the woods over there,” explained the captain pointing toward some rather thick woods. “I called the men to help retrieve him, but we haven’t been able to locate him, sir.” Just then the train engineer gave a long toot on the whistle.

“Captain, recall the men before this train pulls out,” barked the general. The captain ran to the end of the station platform. From there he could see the men returning to the train in a big hurry. As he counted them he soon saw all of the men were there. Every one was aboard when the next whistle blew, except for Ivan. Shortly after the train began to move on down the tracks, a very red eyed young lady came to the observation platform where the two men stood looking into the woods.

“Ivan,” she said “where’s Ivan?”

The captain surged his shoulders, so her gaze went to her father. He only shook his head in the negative.

“Ivan,” she screamed at the top of her voice “Ivan.” Then the three of them yelled with all their might “Ivan.” Then they just stood there watching the woods for any sign from the lad. The train picked up speed and soon the area was no longer in view.

“Damn you Tom,” she said and ran to the bedroom once more.

“Women,” snorted Tom. “I made a mistake and she thinks it’s the end of the world.”

“Captain, are you addressing me?” barked the general.

“Sir, no sir,” he replied. “Sir, I don’t under stand women at all.”

“Captain, there’s not a wise man, nor a fool who does, and if someone says they do, they’re a damn liar,” said the elderly general as he entered the car.

“Yes, sir,” said the Captain softy.

Ivan watched the solders searching for him as he hid inside a large hollow log. One of them even walked close by it. Then he heard the whistle of the train and the men turn and run back to it. His heart was pounding from the excitement. Now his hopes of an easy hunt for a farm and home was dashed to pieces. He emerged from the log after he heard the second whistle blowing. He knew the train would very shortly be leaving the station, so the danger of being turned over to the law was remote. He stood on a small rise in the woods and heard his name being called from the train by Judy, then the call of all three of them. His eyes filled with tears as he thought of the kindness they had shown him. However, he could not understand why the captain had turned on him.