It rained on the day of the funeral. Ike knelt next to Nathan, and hugged him. He knew the pain of losing both parents.

The riders all decided to adopt Nathan. They were his family now. He helped out with what he could by doing chores. A lot of his time was spent in school, even though he didn’t like it much.

He often did his homework while he sat on the porch steps, watching and waiting for Ike’s return from a run.

"Nathan…Nathan. Time to wash up for supper." Rachel said.

Startled from his thoughts of one day becoming an express rider, he looked up at Rachel and smiled.

"Did you finish your homework?"

Nathan shook his head in agreement.

"You need to turn in early tonight. Jimmy’s takin’ you to school in the morning."

He closed his book, and obediently did what he was told. As Rachel was about to leave, she noticed a sheet of paper lying next to the book. Curiously she picked it up. She smiled at the picture Nathan drew. On the bottom of the page, he wrote in scribbled letters: Ike

************************************

The next morning, Jimmy took Nathan to school. He stopped his horse in front of the one room schoolhouse.

"Lou will pick you up this afternoon," Jimmy said. "Be good…see you later."

Nathan smiled at Jimmy, and watched him ride away.

He turned around to enter the schoolhouse, and stopped. He noticed two classmates pointing at him and giggling.

"My pa said he’s a dummy." One child said to the other. Laughter filled the schoolyard. Nathan lunged for the troublemaker, and both boys tumbled to the ground. Each striking each other as hard as they could.

The schoolmarm hurried out of the classroom to investigate the ruckus.

"Boys! Boys!" She got in between the two. "Stop it! This instant!"

"I’m not even going to ask who started this. You will both stay after school, and write ‘I will not fight again’ fifty times!"

********************************

Nathan and Lou arrived at the waystation. Teaspoon noticed the shiner that Nathan wore around his left eye. "Son what in tarnation happened to you?"

As soon as Nathan dismounted, he ran to the bunkhouse, and slammed the door.

"Teacher said he was in a fight..." Lou said as she lead her horse to the barn.

"Well…I remember being in a few schoolyard scraps myself." Teaspoon chuckled. "I’ll get Rachel to take a look at that eye."

Ike returned from a run, and walked into the bunkhouse. He noticed Nathan lying on his bunk. It was evident that he had been crying. He put his bedroll on the table, and walked to Nathan’s bunk.

Buck entered the bunkhouse and said, "Lou said he was in a fight at school. I’m pretty sure it was the other kid’s fault."

Ike looked at Nathan and signed. Nathan shook his head and looked away.

Buck put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. "Hey, I’ve been in a few schoolyard fights, and so has Ike." Nathan looked up at Ike and smiled. Ike smiled back and signed. Nathan let out a loud giggle.

Rachel entered the bunkhouse carrying a washcloth, and a water bowl. Nathan flinched as Rachel applied the cold washcloth. "Bet you’ll never want to get into another scrap like that again," Rachel said.

************************************

"Boys, I need a few supplies from Thompkins’ store," Rachel said handing the list to Lou. Rachel walked over to Nathan and handed him a dime. "Here…treat yourself to some candy while your there." Nathan’s eyes lit up and he smiled.

"C’mon Nathan, you can ride with me," Noah said. The youngster happily ran to Noah’s horse, and pointed at the silver saddle that had the initials ‘SD’ on the rear flap.

"That saddle once belonged to my daddy," Noah said as he followed behind.

Rachel watched as the riders headed into town for the supplies. She thought about how much Nathan had become part of their family.

************************************

Nathan had trouble deciding which piece of candy he wanted. Every piece looked appetizing. Cody leaned over and whispered to Nathan, "Don’t eat too much of that. Not only will you get sick, Rachel will be pretty upset if you don’t have an appetite for supper."

Nathan pointed at the glass jar that held the licorice sticks. He handed the dime to Thompkins, and took the stick of candy. As the riders waited for the supply list to be filled, they each looked around at the miscellaneous merchandise. Nathan wandered outside as he enjoyed the licorice stick. He stopped suddenly, as his eyes noticed a gunman across the street, riding an appaloosa with four white half socks. Nathan recognized the horse to be the one that his father gave him. There wasn’t another horse like it around. He remembered his father even saying so.

Jimmy was standing next to the Marshal’s office, talking to Barnett, and Teaspoon. Nathan ran up to Jimmy, and grabbed the gun from his holster. "What the-

Before he could stop the youngster, Nathan aimed the pistol and the gunman on the appaloosa, and fired.