Excerpt
Hal Williams and his dog Shep were heading to town to look for work after he had delivered his flock of sheep to the home ranch. Hal was a shepherd. For almost six months each year he cared for the flock in these foothills. Shep was a sheep dog with a rare level of intelligence and a keen sense of loyalty to Hal. Since Hal was alone for six months with just a flock of sheep and his dog, he talked to Shep a lot. It was proven that Shep understood about fifty words, and would respond quickly to spoken commands.
Hal watched as a wagon moved along the trail about a half a mile to the east of him. They were still twenty miles from town, and there would not normally be a wagon out on an evening when there was a chance of snow and very cold weather. The wagon would not be able to make town tonight because it was already getting on toward dusk. Maybe the wagon would make camp when they came to the creek that crossed the road in a quarter of a mile. Hal sat and watched to see what would develop. He had all winter to watch.
When the wagon turned off of the trail, it was driven parallel to the stream. Hal could see a man climb off of the wagon seat. He went around to the other side and very carefully helped a woman down. There must be something wrong with the woman. She stood leaning against the wagon, then Hal averted his eyes as she squatted beside the wagon in a personal moment. “Shep, we might as well go down there and see if we can make life easier for that couple.”
“Hello the camp! We come in friendly.” Both the man and the woman looked up. She was really just a girl, but she was obviously very pregnant. “Must have been a rough ride for you Ma’am? Let me pitch in and see if we can get things fixed up so that you can get yourself warmed up. I am Hal Williams, and this is Shep. Shep, we are here to help these folks, so you behave.” “I am Joseph Miller, and this is my wife Mary. We have started a homestead about ten miles back up this trail, and I am trying to get Mary into town so that the doctor can help with the baby.”
“Hal, if you will see to starting a fire, I will sling our canvass to make a shelter for Mary. Please put the fire about at that flat rock there.” “Count on it as being a done deal.” The two men worked in silence to quickly get a camp started. Joe got a pallet laid inside of the tent, and Mary laid down to rest. Hal pulled his kit out of his saddle bag and was starting a pot of coffee, and a skillet of beans and bacon. “Joe, if I were you, I would get there on that bed with Mary and use your body warmth to help her out. I can fix us a meal, and I’ll holler when the food is ready.” Joe and Mary huddled under the canvass.
Mary let out a cry of pain. Hal knew that a frontier woman like Mary was really hurting to cry out like that. Now it was not just the cold and the dark that were bad things, but this baby was not going to wait until they got into town. Joe came out of the tent wringing his hands. “What are we going to do? Mary is going to have the baby right here.” Joe was right. Unfortunately at the sight of blood, Joe passed out.
“Mr. Hal, my husband Joe has passed out. Can you help me have this baby?” Hal Williams was a shepherd, so he had helped deliver hundreds of lambs, but he guessed that this would be different. Mary was barely sixteen years old, but she seemed to know what to do. She took Hal through the steps, and the good news was that he had not put the coffee beans in the pot, so they had hot water and could wash off Mary and the fine baby boy. The baby took to Mary’s breast quickly, and mother and baby did fine. Joe came back around and was quite embarrassed at passing out. But the strange pattern of events was to get even more complicated as they were moving around at first light.
Shep barked. Hal listened intently and could hear the bawl of a calf and the sound of cattle moving. Joe stood beside him as they watched for the cattle to come into sight. As they came closer, Joe nudged Hal and said, “Hal, those are my cows. Those men are rustling my cows. We are in big trouble because they can not let us live after they have been seen.” “Joe, you get into the tent with Mary and the baby. I will see what I can work out with these men. Have your rifle ready just in case.” “Hal, I can’t let you get killed just because you stopped to help us.”
Hal stepped to his gear and decided on the short barreled shotgun. “Now you be ready Shep, we are going to need all of the help that we can get.” Hal recognized the three men with the cows. The Bailey brothers and Albert Shaw were three of the meanest men in Colorado. They had the reputation of enjoying hurting people and did not hesitate to kill. “Howdy boys, looks like you are moving some cows pretty early in the morning.” One of the Bailey brothers asked, “And who might you be old timer? What stake do you have in this thing? We know that the rawhide homesteader and his wife are in that tent.” “Gentlemen, I am Hal Williams and I herd sheep for the Triple L Bar ranch.”
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