“All you all right?” Tom asked.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Dalton said, almost too stunned to react.
“There’s your horse,” Tom said, pointing to the animal that, once out of danger, started back. “I’ll get him.”
Tom recovered the horse, then brought him back to Dalton.
By now Matt and Dusty, who were already about to come on duty anyway, were in the saddle chasing after the runaway herd. Matt was riding his own horse, Spirit. Spirit was fast, and the ground in front was clear, so he was easily able to overtake and then pass the herd.
Matt pulled his pistol and began firing into the air, hoping that the cattle would be more frightened by the noise in front than the noise in back. The gunfire didn’t stop the cattle, but it did have the effect of letting the rest of the outfit know what was going on.
The wagons were about one hundred fifty yards away from where the cattle had been sleeping, so even without Matt’s warning shots, there wasn’t a man or woman on the drive who didn’t know what was going on. Matt knew that the others would come as soon as possible, so he kept Spirit galloping, angling toward the side farthest from the wagon until he was no longer in front of, but even with the leaders. Once in position, he did what he could to keep the herd from splitting.
After a moment he heard gunfire coming from the other side of the herd. He didn’t know who was there, but was pleased to know that he was no longer alone in trying to stop the stampede. Unlike for a horse, running is not a natural gait for cattle, so Matt knew that if they could keep them from splitting up, the cattle would quickly tire. Then it would be easier to bring them under control.
Dusty and Falcon came up beside him then.
“We have to turn them!” Falcon shouted.
With the three of them shooting their pistols into the air, and swinging ropes, they managed to deflect the leaders for a few moments, but they had only managed to turn a few hundred head, while the momentum of the main body was such that the rest of the herd continued to bore straight ahead.
Abandoning the animals they had turned, they returned to the herd, once again trying to turn them. The idea was to get the cows running in a huge circle, called milling. Since one cow would follow the cow in front, once you got the herd to milling they would essentially stay in the same place, just running in one huge circle.
But so far they had not been able to do that.
Realizing that the relatively few head of cattle they had turned would have no effect on the rest of the herd, they abandoned the ones they had turned, and returned to the rest of the herd. Those they had turned quickly rejoined the herd as well.
By now every member of the camp except for Maria had joined, and they stretched out their line until there was one rider about every thirty feet. They threw everything against the right point and lead, hoping to gradually swing the entire herd. For a while it looked as if they might be successful, but they were stretched too thin, and the cattle went right between the riders until some found themselves on the opposite side of the herd.
Once more, Clay brought all the riders together with the idea of turning the stampede. Then, as it looked as if they may be achieving some success, they suddenly encountered a mesquite thicket which the lead animals crashed into. Before he knew it, Matt was also in the thicket, and he held on to the saddlehorn to keep his seat as horse and rider tore through the spines, sometimes encountering bushes higher than his head.
When Matt emerged through the other side of the thicket, he found himself in the lead of a long string of cattle. Shortly after that, Smoke came out behind him, then overtook him. Matt started to make another attempt to turn the herd, but Smoke waved him off.
“Let ’em run awhile!” Smoke shouted.
Matt knew that it was Smoke’s intention to run them until they were tired, so he ran along with them, his only purpose to keep them from scattering.
There were about sixty big steers in the lead, and Matt and Smoke dashed in front of them, shooting their guns into the ground right in front of them. At that, the lead animals turned and started back the other way. With the rear animals coming up behind them, they were finally able to turn the leaders until, running in a circle, they reentered the herd from the rear. As they were the leaders, it had the effect of creating a mill, and now, giving the horses a much-needed break, the cowboys had an easy time of circling around outside the mill, letting the cows continue in one endless circle until they ran themselves into total exhaustion.
This being December, the nights were long and it was still an hour before daylight. The riders had no idea of the number of cattle they had in the mill, but from the size of the area they covered, and the compactness of the herd, they believed they had captured all twenty-five hundred of them.
By daylight, the cattle had grown quiet and were contentedly grazing, just as if they had just risen. Within a couple of hours after daybreak the wagons came up, Sally and Rebecca having gone back to retrieve them. An hour later they were enjoying breakfast.
“I have something to say,” Dalton said, standing up to address the others.
Dalton pointed to Tom. “Tom Whitman saved my life,” he said. “I was de-horsed, and standing there watching that whole herd running right at me. There was nowhere for me to go, no way for me to escape them, until Tom come along. He reached down and scooped me up like I was no more than a rag doll, and carried me out of danger.”
The others applauded and called out to Tom.
“Good man, Tom,” Clay said.
“Anyone else would have done the same thing,” Tom said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“I doubt that,” Matt said. “How many others could ride by at full speed, and reach down and scoop Dalton up like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes? I think you are a genuine hero, Tom, and you are just going to have to live with that.”
The others laughed.
“I’m not finished,” Dalton said. “I have something else to say. Tom, I know what you think of my sister, and I know what my sister thinks of you. I know too, what Pa thinks. So what I’m goin’ to do when we get back to Live Oaks is talk to Pa. I’m goin’ to tell him that if he doesn’t get out of the way, he’ll have Rebecca and me to deal with.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Our Lady of Mercy Orphanage, Fort Worth, December 20
It took two wagons and a surrey to bring everyone of Live Oaks Ranch into town to Our Lady of Mercy Orphanage. The Mother Superior had issued the invitation not only to Big Ben, but to all of his employees, to come to the orphanage to see the Christmas pageant.
The pageant was held in the orphanage cafeteria, and it was clear that a great deal of work had been done in preparation. The walls were papered with drawings of the hills of Judea, with a night sky filled with stars. One large star was located over a stable that the older boys had built. All of the children of the orphanage were in period costume.
Big Ben and Julia were provided with comfortable chairs. Because there were more people than chairs, everyone else, children and adults alike, sat on the floor.
“And now,” Sister Dominique said, “we’ll have a reading from Robert, who is one of our children. As Robert reads from the scripture, the rest of the children will act it out for us.”