Dane Coleman had spent a tiring morning at the lumber yard. He was surprised to discover he was stronger than most people - only Jacob could lift and carry more than he could and the two best workers on Jacob’s team only matched about half his power.

  Before Dane left, Jacob thanked him: “Well, we finished two hours earlier than I’d expected. Good work, Drifter. If you ever want a paying job, come back here any time.”

  Dane smiled: “I made a promise to stay at the ranch until at least the Cattle Drive, and I like to be a man of my word, but after that, I may consider your offer.”

  The two men shook hands, and Dane mounted up his borrowed horse, Esther, and rode off.at a gentle walk through the streets of town. Most people ignored him this time, though the Deputy gred at him in passing and a few gave him a friendly wave and smile. As he reached the town limit sign, he gave Esther her head, and she took off. For an older, gentle horse, she was very swift - not a racer, to be sure, but fast enough for Dane’s needs.

  As he rode, his mind fshed back to the summers he and his sister had spent at their uncle’s ranch in South Dakota, where he first learned to ride. The skills were coming back with the memories. True, he had spent more time hunting or in town getting in trouble with his cousin Paul, but he had learned the basics, as well as some animal care and basic maintenance work.

  As the Ranch began to come into view, Dane reined Esther in and then reduced her speed to a canter.

  Suddenly something in the grassnds across the way from the ranch caught his eye, he turned the horse in that direction and had her speed back up to a gallop. In a few seconds, he was close enough to make out what he saw - a wounded man crawling on his knees and one hand, the other hanging useless at his side. Dane swiftly dismounted and nded at a run.

  “Sir! Can you hear me?” He asked as he reached the man’s side.

  The man looked up. Blood and dirt covered his face. He croaked out “Ambushed. Robbed.”

  Dane cursed under his breath. “Can you hold still for a moment?”

  The man nodded, and Dane took off his vest and then his shirt. He used the shirt to wrap up the man’s arm and then helped him to his feet. “Let me hold you on the right, and you hold on to my horse with your left, if you can sir.”

  He positioned the man so he could lean on the horse on his good side, and Dane could support his wounded arm.

  The three made slow progress towards the ranch, but they did get closer. The man seemed only able to repeat those two words - “ambushed” and “robbed.”

  As they approached the gate, Matt came running out. “What’s going on, Dane?”

  “I don’t know - I saw him trying to get through the grass and then realized he needed help. Grab the fastest horse we have and go to town to get the barber; he needs medical attention,” Dane informed the boy.

  Matt stood for a second, then said, “I’ll go get Joshua and then be on my way, Dane,” and ran off.

  Dane was almost to the porch when Joshua came up at a run and took the horse’s pce supporting the man’s right side. Dane heard the sound of a horse taking off at a full gallop, and let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.

  They got the man over to a rge bench on the porch and both Dane and Joshua paused to catch their breath. “Any clue who this is?” Dane asked as soon as he could.

  Joshua looked the man over: “Not much. Seen him around a few times, I think he is either with the Pony Express or one or more of the Stagecoach companies. A rider or driver, I think. If I ever heard a name, I don’t recall it.”

  The Widow Seivert came out during this, and gasped. “Get that man’s shirt off. I’ll go get some towels after boiling some water. Is that a gunshot wound? Tell me when I get back,” and she ran back into the house.

  The two men had removed the wounded figure’s shirt and were removing dirt and stuck foliage from his shoulder when the Widow returned. With hot towels and her extra pair of hands, they cleaned the wound, and Dane was able to take a look at it. “Looks like the bullet went through, but there may be fragments. Got a magnifying gss and some tweezers or small pliers?”

  “Matt has his dad’s old lens but unless there’s something in my sewing kit, I don’t know about the rest.”

  “I’ll go get the gss and some tools,” Joshua announced and raced into the house.

  “You seem to know a bit about wound care, Mister Coleman,” she commented.

  Dane hesitated for a moment, then admitted “I spend some time as a soldier. We had to learn a bit of it there.”

  She looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, wherever and whatever you fought for is in the past. You are here, fighting for this man’s life now, and I'm grateful.”

  “I thank you for that, Ma’am,” Dane replied.

  “No, sir. When Matthew is here, I am Missus Sievert. When he's not, I'm Kathryn. Never Ma’am or Madam. Got it?” She said unexpectedly.

  Dane paused and considered this for a moment. “I thank you for that Mis… Kathryn,” he replied finally, as Joshua returned with some very fine pliers and a few other tools. Dane began examining the wound as best he could and found a few pieces of shrapnel - the bullet seemed to have hit a bone and fractured, but most of it exited the body, at least so far as Dane could tell. He was so engrossed with examining the wound, he almost failed to hear two horses arrive at a full gallop.

  Dane looked up just in time to see Ken Ellis perform a riding dismount that would give make many professional riders jealous; the barber managed to nd on the balls of his feet and roll forward and spin, grabbing a bag from the horse’s saddle before it even began to slow down, spun in pce and then made a small leap up onto the porch.

  “I’d appud that amazing show,” Dane said, “but my hands are kind of busy.”

  “I used to work as a rodeo clown for spending money,” the barber replied. “Paid for my medical and barber training that way. So, what do we have here?”

  “Found this guy crawling through the brush over there. Think he was shot. Don’t know much else about it,” Dane said as the other man began examining the wound with his own magnifying gss.

  “You’re doing a good job cleaning the wound, son,” Ken admitted. “Looks like a few stone chips, like he fell onto a dirt road. If he came from over there, odds are he was on the road to or from the Fort. Even if I had not met him before, I would guess he was a driver, from his clothes and the calluses on his hands. My guess is he was driving something and got jumped by bandits or Indians.”

  “The only thing he said before he passed out from pain - and he repeated both words quite a few times - was ‘ambushed’ and ‘robbed’.” Dane confirmed.

  “Hmm. I think the Widow and I can finish tending his injury. I’d suggest you and Joshua see if you can follow his trail back to where he started out on foot. I’d say take Matthew along too, but send him back as soon as the sun sets or if it looks like fighting is about to break out “

  As Dane stepped back, he tapped VICC. “Two questions: first, is Mister Ellis a Traveler, and second, are there any fws in his pn?”

  [First,] the voice answered, [he was, but his pyer left the game, so he has no memory of anything outside of the setting. He retains his skills and talents though. Second: it seems the best course of action. Second best would be waiting until this man recovers and getting his story.]

  “Thanks,” Dane replied and tapped VICC off. “Except I hadn’t pnned to take Matt, that is pretty much what I was thinking. Let's rest the horses for a few minutes and then head out. And yes, we will take Matthew - he can come and try to get help if we run into trouble and will be one more set of eyes to help us stay out of trouble as well.”

  “Agreed,” Joshua replied. “I’ll take all but Job, the gelding, back and bring two fresh horses. Should give Job time to rest and we can head out.”

  It took Joshua and Matt about eight minutes to get the other two horses saddled up and get Joshua’s shotgun. The stage driver had progressed to a normal sleep, and the barber had offered to stay the night and watch over his progress, so the Widow set up a spare room for them. As soon as the driver was installed in his bed, and a cot set out next to him, they made sure that both The Widow and the barber could use and load the shotgun. That completed, Dane took the rifle and he, Joshua and Matt set out. They estimated three hours to sundown.