Matt stepped out of the jail and shivered. Even though the sun shone brightly in the sky, it was to high to generate much heat. Pulling his winter coat tighter across his chest, the Marshal headed to the telegraph office to check his messages.

"Morning Marshal," Barney said handing him the papers that came in that morning.

"Thanks Barney," Matt said with a nod as he took the messages.

Quickly scanning them with his eyes as he walked back toward the jail, he shook his head in dismay.

It was a never ending story of robberies gone bad, people being accosted and families being destroyed. Such was the way of the untamed west which was why, Matt has chosen the law as his path in life and why he chose to settle in Dodge when he did.

Someone had to tame the town, it might as well be him, he thought to himself almost twenty years ago.

Entering his office at the jail, Matt took off his hat before taking a seat at his desk and looking over the telegrams again.

It was a good decision on his part to send Festus to Hayes with a prisoner because it looked like Dodge's jail was going to be very busy.

Festus rode Ruth slowly though the brush on a little known trail on his way back to Dodge. The trail was a little short cut that he'd known about for sometime but because of the location off the beaten path, it hadn't been used locally for years and as he dodged trees and the like, he could understand why.

Humming to himself as he rode, Ruth snorted several times and stopped which made the hill man uneasy.

"What in tarnation is wrong with you," he said spurring the mule forward. "Ya ain't never took a dislike ta my singing before."

Ruth started to buck as Festus looked ahead and guessed the reason why Ruth was so distressed.

"Easy boy," Festus said sliding off the large mules back. "You just wait here while I go see what happened."

Making his way toward an over turned covered wagon, the hill man's nose wrinkled at the odor of death.

Carefully stepping though the brush he found the first body, a man.

Looking beyond the man, he shook his head as a woman, on her stomach lay not to far away. Both showed signs of gunshot wounds.

Bending down, Festus looked for any signs of identification because he knew Matt would wonder who they were and where they'd come from.

After finding none, he stood up and headed over to the wagon in search of a shovel to bury the pair before stumbling upon a third body.

Festus sucked in a quick breath as he stepped over the body of a young boy.

The household items strewn about from the overturned wagon spoke volumes and he realized pretty quickly that theses people were settlers on their way to what was supposed to be a better life.

Who or why they had been attacked would come later but for now the best thing he could do was bury the family and leave them in peace.

Moving aside the cover, the hill man noticed a tool box just out of his reach, climbing onto the side of the wagon he froze when he heard th cries of a young girl.

"Someone there!" he said jumping off the wagon as he followed the sounds of someone sobbing.

Moving the heavy canvas, he peered under the wagon and smiled slightly when two frightened big brown eyes looked up at him.

"It's alright," Festus said soothingly. "I ain't gonna hurt ya none."

The girl only nodded as he looked for a way to get to her.

Getting to his feet, he circled the wagon before realizing she was pinned by the wagon itself and the only way to get her out was to right the wagon.

"Alright, darlin," he said bending down to where the light brown haired girl looked up at him again. "I'm gonna git ya outa there just as soon as I can."

The girl only nodded as the hill man headed to where Ruth was standing.

The mule snorted uneasily when Festus grabbed his reins. "C'mon," he said leading Ruth toward the wagon. "We got ta get that wagon off that child!"

Tethering Ruth to the side of the wagon with ropes he found inside, Festus pulled on the mule's reins and slowly brought the wagon up onto its wheels.

Running around it, he dropped to his knees next to the girl and gently grabbed her shoulders. Helping her to sit up, she cried out in pain.

"My leg!" she said falling against his chest.

"I got ya," Festus said lifting her into his arms.

Carefully, he carried her away from the massacre at the wagon to a grassy area.

Setting her down gently on the ground, he covered her with his own coat before she closed her eyes.

"I'll be back as soon as I kin ta make a fire," he said looking around for kindling. "That'll make ya feel better quick!"

When the girl didn't respond, Festus realized, she had passed out which gave him the chance to bury the bodies and gather some wood to start a fire.

He knew by looking at the girl's leg that it was obviously broken and bringing her back to Dodge by horse wasn't even a possibility. He would have to wait until the next day to bring her in using her family's wagon. In the meantime, he'd try to make her as comfortable as he could.