DECEMBER 2, 1861

Rowdy was young and quicker than Stone, and he moved aside backing away from the older man before he could be jumped again.

Seeing he couldn’t tackle the man and drown him like he wanted to, Stone drew out his gun and shot at Rowdy. At the sound of the gun firing, Midnight bolted and ran off. Seeing the gun the young lad jumped aside and hit the water again, pulling out his gun as he did so firing at Stone.

Lucky for Stone the bullet just barely missed him. The outlaw jumped out of the water and took cover in the trees. Rowdy did likewise but on the other side of the stream.

Jewel heard a shot, so she stopped running. She turned and looked back the way she had come. Who was shooting? And why? Could someone be killing the cougar or could the big cat be attacking someone else? What was she to do? Should she go back to see what was going on? But what if it was Stone?

Meanwhile down the trail, Rowdy’s horse had run up against the cougar. A fight was on. Midnight was much better physically and in a much better position to fight then Stone’s horse had been. He reared on his hind legs and attacked with his front ones trying to hit the cat with his hoofs, but the cougar backed away, weary of his attacker.

The beast stalked around and got behind the big black horse and that’s when Midnight’s powerful back legs kicked him. They struck the cougar’s head with a loud thud, and the skinny cat flew through the air and landed on it’s back knocking the wind out of her. After catching her breath, and not being in tip-top shape, she, finally, skulked off, and Midnight headed on down the trail.

Lots of questions were running through Jewel’s head as a horse came into her view. She had never seen the horse before. It was all black with a worn out saddle. It stopped about five feet in front of her. It snorted at her and then dipped its head and pawed the earth.

She began talking to the horse. Her soothing voice quieted the frightened beast, and soon she was walking towards him. She put her hand on his neck and grabbed his reins. Now at least she had transportation again. Four legs were better than her two, especially since she was too tired to run any more. Deciding to take a gamble, she directed her ride back the way they had come. She hoped that his owner wasn’t another meal for the cougar, and that he would be kind enough to help her.

Stone kept up a streaming fire at Rowdy, who in return fired back at him. While the young lad was reloading, the cougar returned to the spot where she had drunk lavishly. She spotted Rowdy across the stream. It not being too deep she started across. Stone saw the beast and grinned. Maybe he wouldn’t have to kill the man after all; maybe the cat would do it for him.

It was strange that his attacker had stopped shooting, so he turned to see what was going on. That’s when he spotted the cougar. His gun went off when the cougar jumped him. Viciously the beast tore into his arm. His revolver dropped to the ground as he wrestled with the big cat.

To Stone’s delight Rowdy was preoccupied with the cougar, so he started down the trail to find the young boy’s horse, but he didn’t get far when he saw his gal riding down the path. He ducked behind a tree before she could see him, and he waited until she past him.

Jewel saw the poor boy getting mauled by the cougar. There was a rifle in the scabbard. She had never learned to fire one, but she couldn’t let him be killed. She grabbed the rifle, dismounted and headed across the stream.

Meanwhile Rowdy had been trying to beat the cat off with his gun but he was having very little success. The beast kept biting his arm. He was afraid to shoot the cat. He might miss and shoot himself instead. He tried to pull the cat off his arm with his free hand, but the cougar just bit into his free arm. His arms were a bloody mess, and if something didn’t happen soon, he was going to be its next meal. And then out of nowhere a young pretty girl came swinging a rifle at his attacker.

Jewel swung the rifle, whacking the cougar upside the head. The cat let out a loud pitiful cry and let go of Rowdy’s arm. It backed off to see what had hit it. Jewel didn’t know what to do now. She held the firearm up in front of her, ready to swing again if she had to.

Stone looked horrified as he thought the cat might assault his gal. He pulled out his gun, but his head turned in the other direction because he heard voices coming. One of them at least sounded like Jewel’s brother. He wasn’t sure about the others, but they were probably men from town, too. He decided not to stick around and find out who the others were, so mounting Midnight, he took off.

Seeing the girl, she swished her tail and was about to charge her when two bullets ripped into her side. She felt the pain for only a few seconds, and then she dropped to the ground. One bullet had targeted her heart, and her life was terminated. Rowdy had killed the cougar.

As Stone rode away, he happened to catch a glance of the cat falling to the ground. At least he knew his gal wouldn’t be hurt.

Jewel backed up and leaned against the tree. Once she had gotten over her fear, she kneeled to see how badly the lad had been hurt. He was bleeding profusely. She took off her bandana and wrapped it around one of his arms. He did likewise with his own bandana, wrapping it around his other arm. Hearing her name being called, she turned around to see the best sight in her life, her brother.

“Jedidiah, Jedidiah,” she called to him. Jedidiah and Teaspoon dismounted and came across the stream. His sister described the events of the past few minutes, and then said, “We need to get him bandaged up right away and back to Dreamville and let Daniel take a look at him.”

So Jedidiah, Ike, Rowdy, and Jewel headed to Dreamville with Rowdy riding with Ike, and Jewel riding double with her brother.

Teaspoon and Buck kept on Stone’s trail, but a heavy rainstorm developed and the two of them had to stop and take cover. That evening when the rain finally let up enough for them to start out again, Buck couldn’t find any sign of a trail. Teaspoon decided to call it quits, so they returned to Dreamville.

Sheriff Teaspoon would send out wanted posters to nearby towns, hopefully someone would spot Stone, and word would get back to a law official who would then apprehend him.