1864, the Seventh, April, Nevada, The Ponderosa.
Joseph Cartwright, or Little Joe as he was better known by the locals was out on his black and white paint mare Cochise checking the cattle for his father, Benjamin Cartwright.
He looked up at the sky locating the sun as he stopped in the middle of the eastern pasture and he sighed. "Nearly ten o'clock." He muttered than he took a drink of water from his canteen and he looked over the pasture, a frown came to his face when he saw in the distance a brown and tan paint horse. 'What is a horse doin out here, I wonder if it's one of our ponies.' He thought to himself as he urged Cochise forward towards the pony that was haltered with a rope lead attached to the halter. It was then he realized that it wasn't one of their horses because all of the Ponderosa horses were trained to be ground tied.
Joseph dismounted Cochise and he gently and slowly walked up to the pony. "Easy there, that's a pretty pony now." He said to the mare as he easily picked up the rope in his hand and patted the horse's neck. "Now than, who do you belong to?" He muttered to himself as he started looking for a brand. His movements halted and he stiffened his left hand twitching towards his gun as he heard the cock of a trigger at his back and he heard a female, childlike voice say. "She's mine, now back away mister."
Cassandra had come to a few hours later on the bank of the river the side of her forehead right above her temple having a nasty gash. She softly groaned her head pounding. She didn't bother to wipe away the tears that fell as she remembered what had happened. Her mother and father, both gone. So was her baby brother or sister. She didn't know what she was going to do as she limped back to the wagon.
When she got there she was intending to take care of and bandage her head but she saw that Paint had gotten loose and she frowned quietly complaining, grabbed her fathers rifle, and headed to find her horse. She wasn't sure how long she had walked when she spotted her mare and she frowned when she saw a man petting the horse. She aimed the rifle at him and cocked the trigger. "She's mine, now back away mister." She said answering the question the strange man had asked the horse.
In surprise and slight shock at the voice that he quickly surmised belonged to a girl Joseph slowly and easily put his hands up and he slowly turned around hearing the sound of a trigger being cocked. "Easy there, I mean no harm." He said quietly as he stopped facing the one that the voice and the horse belonged to. He suppressed a chuckle but not a smile when he saw a young girl that looked to be about eleven if he had to guess with brown hair and brown eyes wearing boys clothes and a hat. She was also sporting a rifle that seemed to be a strain for her to hold. "I'm Joe Cartwright." He said as he thought through a plan of how to get the rifle from the strange girl noting a large gash on her forehead. He briefly wondered where the girl's parents were and what had happened.
Cassandra frowned as she studied the man that stood before her in the green jacket, her head feeling slightly fuzzy. "Back away from the horse." She said trying to sound threatening and bold, trying to hide the fear and sorrow that she felt. "I'm only giving you one more chance mister." Cassandra said her brown eyes narrowing as she started to take a step back, the last thing she seen was green grass as the ground rushed up to meet her as the girl fainted.