Black Ulysses
We were having one hell of a thunderstorm the night Black Ulysses made his appearance at the station. All of us riders, except for Kid, were busy herding skittish livestock into the relative safety of the corral and barn.
Emma had just mentioned that a new colt was missing, when one by one we turned toward the sound of something shuffling out of the dark toward the barn. In the eerie glow of the lantern light Emma was holding, a bulky shape began to form out of the darkness, and I felt my heart speed up, even as I lowered my hand toward the butt of my gun. I wanted to be ready just in case whatever it was proved to be threat to any of us.
I was relieved, as I'm sure some of the others were, to see the oddly shaped figure turn out to be an unknown black man. In his arms was our missing colt. Ulysses was his name and he turned out to be a runaway slave. The whole town rallied around him and prevented some cruel slave hunters from taking him back to his owner.
The townsfolk coming together to save a stranger was a sight to behold. It was the first time I felt proud to be a citizen of Sweetwater.