Prolouge

Louis Willard watched the six men as they slowly rode towards his small farm. He didn't like their slow approach and knew that trouble would soon be there. Just as their horses started down the slope of the dry river bed just outside of his fence, his twenty year old daughter, Danielle, came to stand by him. She had just returned from her evening ride and was about to unsaddle her mare, Mariah.

"Danny," Louis said, "I want you to get on your horse and ride out of here. Go to the cave on old man Slade's property. I don't want you here when they arrive." "But papa," Danny said. "Get Danny," he growled before she had time to disobey. "And don't come backhere. Wait until I come for you. Do you understand me?" Danny nodded her head as he shook her shoulders hard.

Louis literally threw his daughter onto her horse and then slapped it's rump. He watched as the horse disappeared around the house and into the nearby woods. He then turned his attention back to the men; a few more minutes and they would be there. He could only hope that they hadn't noticed Danny riding away. He sighed with relief as the men were just coming up out of the river bed.

Louis stood at the gate and greeted the six men. "Hello there," he said to them. All of them were quite. They looked around the farm. Louis knew that they were wanting to see if he was alone. Since his wife, Bertha, had died five years ago, it had only been him and Danny. Danny had turned down two marriage proposals so that she could stay with her father and help him. He was now glad that he had sent her away on her horse. He only hoped that she showed how smart she was and wouldn't return until the men had gone. Or better yet, wait for him to get her.

The mean looking one in the center coursely said, "We've got a wounded man and he needs care." Louis looked at the man. He was indeed bleeding from a wound in his shoulder.

"Come in," Louis said to them, "I'll see what I can do."

"Don't need you tending him," the man said as he grinned. "Your wife can do it just fine. You can go about your business. She'll call you when she has supper fixed."

The other men chuckled at their leaders remark. Louis knew what would have happened to Bertha if she was still alive. And to Danny as well if he hadn't sent her away. Their bodies would have been ravaged and he wouldn't have been able to stop it.

"My wife died five years ago," Louis said. "I live here alone. So, if you want his wound tended too, it will have to be me that does it." The man frowned and before Louis knew it, a pistol was pointed at him.

Danny had just reached the bottom of the hillside. The trail to the right led to the cave. Old man Slade's home was a few more miles away to the left. Amos Slade was a widowed man like her paw. He had took to living in a small shack up in the woods. He had become a trapper and was rarely seen. The only thing she knew about him, other than being a widower, was that he was a tall man and had became very bitter after his wife's death. The men in town didn't dare trifle with him; his bitterness had turned a good man wrong. But her father, however, had spoken often of Amos as a dear friend; that was... the Amos Slade before he had married and lost his wife fifteen years ago.

Just as Mariah was able to start the climb to the large cave, a single shot sounded from the direction of her family farm. She froze on her horse. She wanted to turn Mariah back towards the farm, but thought better. She looked up the hillside where the cave was; that option didn't seem much better. Taking a deep breathe, she pointed Mariah in the direction of old man Slade's shack.

Danny pounded on the door of Amos Slade's shack. For some time she pounded in the dark. "Please Mr. Slade," she pleaded, "I am in need of your help." She was still desperately pounding on the door and pleading. The noise was so loud that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. "What do you want," Amos Slade growled. She jump. Her voice froze in her throat. She stared at the tall man that stared at her. He looked just the way she had pictured him.

"I'm in need of help, Mr. Slade," Danny cried. "It's my father."

"I have no time for you father," Amos growled as he roughly pushed Danny aside, nearly knocking her to the wooden planks that made a porch. She pushed her way inside his door before he fully closed it.

"Once you know who my father is, I have no doubt that you'll find time," Danny growled back. Amos stared at her. "My father is," she said and then looked down, "or rather was," she looked back up, "Louis Willard." She watched as the tall man fell into a chair. Danny then began the story of how she came to be at his shack at the late hour.

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It's only funny until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious!