Disclaimer: This is an original amateur story based on the characters and situations in the TV series, The Magnificent Seven. No profit is derived from it and no infringements on any copyright held by any individual or organization are intended.
February 10-28, 2001
Author's Notes This story is dedicated to the memory of the great John Denver, whose ballad Darcy Farrow (also about a girl who came from Nevada, "Where the Walker runs down to the Carson Valley plain...") provided the name of the main guest character. He was a fine entertainer and a true son of Mother Earth, taken from us far too soon, and he is missed.
Although working with pack mules may seem a peculiar endeavor for a Victorian female to go into, Western women competed with men as bullwhackers as in other fields; there were several noted female freight drivers, including Arizona Mary, who acquired a sizeable fortune by way of her 16 yoke of oxen, and one Mrs. Knutson, who whacked bulls into Rapid City, carrying her baby with her, while her husband worked a homestead claim. ("Calamity Jane" Canary famously claimed to have been a bullwhacker freighting supplies to camps in Montana and the Dakota Territory; these assertions remain unproven, but are plausible in the light of the aforementioned ladies' accomplishments.) True, none was a muleteer, but it's only a short step!
Spanish swear-words courtesy of The Alternative Spanish Dictionary, at http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Spanish.html, a site every Western writer should bookmark! This is Spanish as it was not spoken in your high-school class!
Thanks to NotTasha for the concept of Ezra and Vin sharing enjoyment of a
travel-tale set on the Amazon River; she never specified a title, so I've
assumed it was Wallace's Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, published in
1853, and considered to this day a classic in its field. Cyber-bouquets of
roses and chocolate to Gloria Atwater, for serving as Darcy's model and for
providing suggestions, encouragement, and copious background information
(including her wonderfully useful "Magnificent Trivia" page, at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~poindexterfamily/MagSevenTrivia.htm).
Thanks, pard!
Size: Approx. 500K
Comments to: sevenstars39@hotmail.com