Cowboy Cade

It was a beautiful spring morning back in 1892 in the backwoods of Texas.  Cowboy Cade was sitting on the back porch of his ranch, sipping on a steaming hot cup of coffee, when a noise startled him.  Cowboy Cade rose from his chair slowly and followed in the direction that the noise was coming from.

“Help me!” Cowboy Cade heard.  “Help me!  My dog has fallen into the river.  Someone please help!”

Cowboy Cade, knowing a shortcut to the river, ran as fast as he could go.  In a matter of seconds, he stood beside a little girl, with tears streaming down her face.

“My dog!” the girl cried, pointing to a mass of fur, floating fearfully downstream.  “He fell into the river!”

Cowboy Cade jumped into the fast flowing river not having any fear for his own safety.

“Stay put,” Cowboy Cade called to the little girl, who stood bewildered on the river bank.  “I will save your dog.  By the way, what’s his name?”

“Lucky,” said the little girl, trying to force a smile on her tear stained face.  “And my name is Mary.”

“Well Mary,” said Cowboy Cade, who was already almost right beside the dog.  “Looks like this is going to be Lucky’s lucky day.”

Just then Cowboy Cade was close enough to Lucky to wrap his arms around the dog’s neck.

“Come on Lucky,” said Cowboy Cade, dragging Lucky to shore.  “There is someone here that is anxious to see you!”

Cowboy Cade gently set Lucky down onto the ground.  Lucky immediately ran over to Mary, wagging his tail and licking her face.

Mary cried with delight as Lucky licked her everywhere.

“Thank you Mister,” said Mary, happily.  “You saved Lucky’s life!”

Lucky stood on the river bank, wagging his tail but then all of a sudden he started to growl.

“What is he doing that for?” asked Cowboy Cade.

“Lucky has only growled once like that before,” said Mary.  “It was the time a bear came out into a field where Lucky and I were standing.”

“Well,” said Cowboy Cade.  “I don’t see a bear anywhere.”

No sooner did Cowboy Cade say that then he heard a sharp cracking sound coming from behind him.  Cowboy Cade knew that sound all too well.  He knew that it was the sound of a bear, walking through the dense woods, stepping on fallen down tree limbs that had been lying on the ground.

Cowboy Cade quickly scooped up both Mary and Lucky into his arms and ran as fast as he could back to his ranch, slamming the front door closed behind him.

“Thank you,” said Mary, when Cowboy Cade finally put her and Lucky down onto the kitchen floor.  “Looks like you saved Lucky’s life today and then he saved your life by warning you that there was a bear in the woods.”

“Yes,” said Cowboy Cade.  “No wonder you called your dog Lucky!”

“Yes,” said Mary, smiling.  “He always gets him into some kind of trouble and somehow gets himself out of it.  That is why we called him Lucky.”