Chapter Nineteen

Louise cursed herself yet again for getting herself into this predicament. She had awoke just as the sun set on the prairie, and was completely disoriented without the moon to guide her through the dark night. The day’s winds had turned frigid, and Lou was chilled through to the bone. There was no denying it - she was lost.

She could only imagine the furor at the station when she hadn’t shown up for supper. Her chattering teeth couldn’t help but smile when she thought of Kid riling everyone up the way he always did where she was concerned. Lou decided it was probably best to stay in one place - it would make whatever search there was for her that much easier.

Louise’s searched for some sort of shelter from the sleet that began to fall from the sky proved futile. She hated to dismount Lightning, knowing she’d lose the little body heat he provided her, but she was getting so tired. So cold and tired. Lou didn’t think she could feel her hands or her feet anymore. If she could just take a hot bath and climb into bed with Kid....She felt herself drifting off to sleep and was powerless to stop it.

“Which way she head boys?” Teaspoon asked as they rode away from the station. Kid and Buck rode on either side of him, each with a lantern to aid in the search.

“She took the north road outta town, but from the look of Lightning’s tracks, she didn’t stay on it for long,” Buck answered. “Tracking her through the prairie grass ain’t gonna be easy, ‘specially in this sleet.”

Kid groaned inwardly. For Buck to say tracking would be difficult was plain old bad news. He’d never seen a better tracker than Buck. Kid knew what Louise was wearing when she’d taken off, and he knew if they didn’t find her soon, she’d probably freeze to death.



Teaspoon, Buck and Kid had been riding in the awful weather for hours, calling Lou’s name. They even called for Lightning, hoping the horse would recognize their voices and come out of a tree grove or come galloping across the prairie. The three men were becoming more desperate as the sleet they’d been battling turned to snow. With the wind blowing as hard as it was, it would take no time until they’d have a full-blown blizzard on their hands.



“Kid, we got no choice. We got to turn back,” Teaspoon reasoned with him.

“We can’t just leave her out there!” Kid argued passionately. “She’ll die!”

“Kid, if we don’t get back, we’ll prob’ly die ourselves,” Teaspoon told him.

Kid looked to Buck for support, but the Kiowa rider had to agree with Teaspoon. He hated the idea of leaving Lou out there, somewhere, on the Nebraska prairie, but for all they knew, she could have returned while they were gone.

“C’mon, Kid,” Buck encouraged. He couldn’t imagine the emotions Kid was experiencing. He had to make possibly the most difficult decision of his life - to keep up a seemingly hopeless search and risk death, or return home, where his wife might already be.

“Dammit!” Kid yelled. Then he let out a piercing groan of agony that was so heart-wrenching, it brought tears to both Teaspoon and Buck’s eyes. He covered his face with his hands and openly sobbed, knowing they were right. After composing himself he announced, “Fine. I’ll go back with you. But if she ain’t there, I’m comin’ back out for her myself.”

“All right, son,” Teaspoon answered, as the three riders headed home, praying Louise would be there, safe and sound.



“Buck, you see that?” Kid asked.

“Yeah, I see it,” Buck answered.

“What you boys talkin’ about?” Teaspoon wanted to know.

“There’s a horse up ahead. Just standin’ there,” Buck told him.

As they rode closer, Kid recognized the horse as Lightning. “Lou!” he screamed, spurring Katy towards the shadows before them.

When he reached his wife’s horse, he found her clinging to him for warmth, her eyes closed, her skin so pale it was blue. Kid quickly reached over and pulled her body off Lightning and held her in his arms.

“Lou? Lou, honey, wake up!” he told her, giving her a gentle shake. There was no response.

Teaspoon and Buck caught up to him, concern and fear covering their faces.

“She alive?” Buck asked quietly.

“Barely,” Kid answered as he rubbed her arms. He held her close to him, wrapping his coat around them both.

“Buck, you got some extra blankets in your saddle bag?” Teaspoon asked.

“Yeah, Rachel made sure I took extra,” he replied, reaching to retrieve them and tossing them to Kid. Kid wrapped the blankets around himself and Louise and continued talking to her, trying to get a response.

“Buck, you ride ahead and tell Rachel we got her. Then go get Doc Barnes and meet us back at the station,” Teaspoon directed. “We gotta get this little girl home.”



Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18

Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Epilogue



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