Kitty stumbled yet again, this time falling completely to the ground. Her strength was about gone and she wasn't sure she could go much further. Carefully pulling up her skirt, she examined the fresh wound on her leg.

Not long after leaving the relative safety of the cedar tree, she'd fallen and dashed her leg against a rock, cutting a deep gash in it. Tearing a strip from her petticoat, she'd wrapped it the best she could and continued on. Pulling off the make shift bandage, she could see it was still bleeding and the flesh looked angry and raw.

Swallowing back the pain and worry, she pulled off another piece of her petticoat, wrapped the leg again and continued on. Though she had no idea of the time of day, she knew she'd been traveling for least a night and half a day.

Of course, where she'd been traveling to, she also wasn't sure of. There were no man made signs or trails on this part of the open prairie to point her in any direction and she couldn't seem to concentrate hard enough to recognize any of nature's signs. All she could think to do was just to keep walking and praying she'd find her way.

{{*M&K*}}

Matt walked as quickly as he could, leading his horse and training his eyes on the ground. The tracks he'd been following had grown too faint for him to remain on his horse and ride. He was afraid if he continued to stay mounted, he might miss the one sign that could lead him to her.

Every minute that passed, the sky grew darker, the wind stronger and the air colder with a hint of moisture in it. He had a feeling it would snow before too long and that thought scared him. Kitty had already spent one night alone out here on the prairie. He couldn't bear the thought of her spending another one.

He had just come around a small clump of buffalo currant, near a fairly steep ravine, when he saw something on the ground. Hurrying over, he discovered a once white piece of cloth, now covered in blood and discarded. Next to it were tracks leading further north. Matt recognized those tracks. He'd been following them for some time.

Matt doggedly continued to follow the marks on the ground, hoping his search wouldn't last much longer as it had now begun to snow and the wind was whipping even higher.

It didn't.

He had barely covered ten yards when he spotted something else. A shoe. Rushing over, he bent to pick it up when something to his right caught his eye. Turning his head, he saw another piece of cloth clinging to a large jagged boulder near the edge of the ravine. When he stooped to retrieve the cloth, he saw Kitty.

She was lying about half way down the side of the ravine on her stomach, her limbs splayed out around her and her head to the side, revealing closed eyes. Quickly, Matt threw Buck's reins over the buffalo currant and grabbed his rope and the quilt from the saddle horn. "Kitty!" He called. "Kitty!" She didn't respond and it scared him.

Tossing the quilt across his shoulder, he tied one end of the rope to the boulder and threw it down into the ravine. Then he wrapped it around his waist and tied it. Slipping a leg over the side, he then began lowering himself down.

When Matt finally got to her, she hadn't moved and he was afraid of what he would find. But touching the pulse point at her neck, he discovered she was alive, cold, hurt and unconscious, but alive. Quickly, he took the quilt and wrapped it around her and picked her up, carefully and gently draping her across his shoulder as he grasped the rope, slowly beginning to pull them both back up.

He didn't know that the rope, which had been rubbing against the jagged rock it was tied to, was fraying badly and about to break in two. He had just neared the top, when the rope finally snapped under the pressure and gave way. Matt heard the snap, felt the laxness in the rope and tried desperately to think of a way to not only save the woman in his arms, but himself as well.

Nothing came to him as he started to slide back down. Then suddenly, the rope, he still held, became taut once again, holding both his and Kitty's weight tightly against the side of the slope. Looking up to the rim of the ravine, Matt was astounded to see an older man, long white beard and all, looking over at him.

The old man said nothing as he pulled the rope, and the two people dangling from it, up the side of the slope with surprising strength. Gripping onto the rope with one arm, Matt wrapped his other around Kitty and simply held on as he was pulled up to safety.

When he once again neared the top, the seemingly old man, wrapped the rope's length several times around the boulder and then reached out, gently pulling Kitty into his arms and laying her down on the ground, before going back and extending a hand to help Matt up.

"I sure do thank you, Mister." Matt told him. "I wasn't sure we'd make it when that rope snapped."

The man smiled but placed his hand over his mouth and shook his head, to indicate that he was mute.

"Oh. I see." Matt nodded as he pulled the rope off of him and then quickly knelt down beside Kitty. She was still unconscious, but she was still breathing. Something at least to be thankful for.

Matt looked back up at the man, hoping he wasn't deaf as well. "Mister, she's hurt. I need to get her to help. Can you help me get her up onto my horse?"

The man nodded and started towards Buck as Matt tenderly lifted Kitty into his arms. But just then a stronger gust of wind, than had been felt prior, hit them with full force. Frightened, Buck reared up, pulled his loosely wrapped reins free, and bolted, leaving the two men and Kitty behind.

"Buck!" Matt yelled, knowing as he did so his calling was futile.

The older man looked at the fleeing horse then back at Matt, his expression unreadable. Patting Matt on the shoulder, the elder man extended an arm as in invitation and then started off walking in the opposite direction from the horse.

Knowing that Kitty needed help and that the older man was the only source for that now, Matt adjusted her slight weight in his arms and followed along.

TBC

AN: Gunsmokefan, bless you. I'll take all the prayers I can get.