volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

The men dined on hearty fare, and turned in soon after. In the course of
the night, however, a cloud came upon them, one that blotted out the stars,
and heavy rains fell, sending the cowboys to the chuck wagon where an
awning had been erected.
On the following night, barely beyond Camp Cooper, Indians attacked
and stampeded the herd.
In the darkness there was no way to tell how many attackers there were.
What was of utmost importance—besides saving their own skins—was
turning the stampede back.
The Young Cowboy and Chet, his new bedroll-mate, had been fortunate
in their choice of ground on which to sleep. One edge of the buffalo pelt they
rested upon had been caught and held upright by the high grass, and it was
this that saved their lives.
A dozen or more Indians rode out of the darkness and began firing rifles
and shooting arrows into the herd. One of the arrows would have killed
Chet, but that it struck the upturned portion of the buffalo skin and turned
the arrow under, its tip buried into the ground.
Chet, overwhelmed by the noise and roar of beasts in stampede, stood
and began to run.
“No! Stand your ground!”
But he failed to heed his bedmate and, in an instant, an arrow lodged in
his neck.
The Young Cowboy started in disbelief for a second, then he clawed the
ground, searching for his Henry. With this in hand, he rose to his knees and
began to fire.
Off to his right he could see Oliver Loving. He had tied his horse to
the chuck wagon. In an effort to divert the thundering cattle from his men,
struggling to find guns and horses, he stood in full view of the herd and
waved a blanket, shouting at the top of his pitch. The man was obviously
fearless, a fact that would prove itself over and over, and his tactic worked—
the cattle, seeing him, split apart and his men were saved.
The Young Cowboy, with occasional quick glances at Loving, continued
to keep up a steady, accurate fire. Several Indians fell to his well-placed
bullets, and soon they rode away at full gallop.
In an instant, Loving, his belt knife out, cut his horse’s reins free of the
wagon, and was up and on, faster than the eye could see.
“The cattle!”
2 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY