Robert, a young boy of about fourteen, started the reading.
“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”
As Robert read, two boys who were obviously dressed as Roman soldiers went to the others, and pantomimed the orders.
“And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.”
There were giggles and oohs and ahhs from the audience as, coming in through the back door of the cafeteria, they saw a young boy leading a small donkey. A young girl was riding the donkey.
“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child.”
Mary and Joseph, as portrayed by the two young actors, went from place to place, trying to find a room, but in every case they were turned away.
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Three shepherds came onto the stage then, leading three young lambs. Robert continued to read:
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
The children sang “Away in the Manger.”
After the song, Robert read again: “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. ’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.”
The three “shepherds” hurried to the crèche where Joseph, Mary, and the Baby Jesus, who was actually an infant girl, the youngest child of the orphanage lay.
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”
As Robert read the Christmas story, three of the children, dressed as “wise men,” walked solemnly across the cafeteria, each of them bearing gifts. As they did so, the other children sang We Three Kings. With great pomp and ceremony they presented their gifts.
The program concluded with everyone singing Silent Night.
After the program, Sister Mary Katherine stood to address the visitors.
“We want to thank you very much for attending our Christmas pageant,” she said. “And we invite you to join us for cookies and apple cider.”
“Ho, ho, ho!”
“It’s Santa Claus!” one of the children shouted, and all yelled and cheered with excitement as they hurried toward the man dressed in red, and carrying a huge sack, filled with toys.
“What is this?” Sister Mary Katherine asked in surprise.
“Well, it’s like this, Mother Superior,” Big Ben said. “Santa Claus stopped by to see me at the ranch and I suggested that since he had gifts for the children there, he may as well stop by the orphanage as well.”
As the children all gathered around Santa Claus, who was actually one of the cowboys from Live Oaks, the adults sat to one side of the room, drinking coffee and watching.
“Mr. Conyers,” Sister Mary Katherine said. “I have been at this orphanage for thirty years, and this is the most wonderful Christmas ever. I can’t thank you enough.”
“I’m just sorry that I never thought about doing something like this earlier,” Big Ben said. “But I intend to see to it that every Christmas from here on out will be a happy one for the children here.”
“Bless you,” Sister Mary Katherine said, wiping tears from her eyes. “God bless you, Benjamin Conyers.”
Texas Panhandle, December 23
Red Coleman had gathered ten men for the job. He didn’t personally know all ten, but he knew several of them, and the ones he didn’t know were known by those that he did know. He was fully confident that the ten of them, choosing the time to make their move, would be able to overcome the seven cowboys who were driving the herd. He had been offered eight dollars a head for every cow he delivered to Prewitt. He had promised five hundred dollars apiece to the men who came with him. That would leave him fifteen thousand dollars’ profit from this job.
And, as a bonus, he would take care of Smoke Jensen.
There were also three women with the cattle drive, and Red had thrown them in “as a bonus” for his men. “After we kill the men, you can have your way with the women,” he said.
“Where are we going to hit them?”
“At the Canadian.”
“Have you seen the Canadian?” Sid Baker asked. “It’s higher than I’ve ever seen it.”
“Yes. We will let them cross the Canadian River first, then we will hit them,” Red said. “That way we won’t have to fool with taking them across ourselves.”
“Ha! Good idea!”
“Then, after they cross, while they are still concentrating on that, we’ll take their herd.”
When he was certain that everyone understood their roles in the operation, he stood in his stirrups, then waved them on.
It was a gray and overcast day, with threatening clouds hanging low. Storms upstream had made the Canadian River particularly treacherous, for it had flooded over its banks and was filled with uprooted brush and trees. The river, normally no more than one hundred yards wide, was nearly a quarter of a mile across.
“Whoa,” Dusty said. “It sure wasn’t like this when we came up.”
“Yeah, if were going to cross the river like this, it would have been better doing it on the way up,” Clay agreed.
“How deep is it?” Smoke asked.
“This is the ford,” Clay replied. “Normally, it’s no more than ten to fifteen inches deep here. I have no idea how deep it is now.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Matt said. He rode down to the river, stopped at the edge for a moment to look at the swiftly flowing water, then urged Spirit ahead.
The water was cold, and Spirit reacted to that, but he went ahead. At no point during the crossing did the water rise higher than about three feet, and that was in the very middle. Once he reached the other side, he turned around and came back, purposely coming back on a different track just to make certain that the bottom was relatively the same.
“I don’t think we’ll have any problem with the depth of the river,” Matt said when he came back. “If we have any problem, it will be with what is floating downstream. A big log piling into the side of the herd as it is midway across could create all kinds of problems for us.”
“Suppose we stretched a rope across?” Tom suggested. “That way we could arrest anything big enough to be of danger.”
“That would be a good idea if we had a rope a quarter of a mile long,” Dusty said.
“It doesn’t have to be that long,” Tom insisted. “Bernoulli’s principle means that the flow will be more rapid in the middle, creating a suction around it which will draw everything toward the middle.”