Ol' Shep: Book 5: Ride, Shep, Ride! - With the Vaqueros!

by Don DeNevi

“He had been there alone for fifteen days. His side of bacon was eaten, and the sack of corn getting very low. The Rangers were as much delighted as if it had been a human being they had rescued. He had worn the top of the wall of the old stage stand perfectly smooth, standing off the sneaking coyotes … Shep had held the fort….” —George Wythe Baylor, Captain (Ret.), Company C, Frontier Battalion, El Paso Herald, February 3, 1900 Faithful Shep is a fictional account of a loyal dog rescued by nine Texas Rangers, based on a fascinating true story from the history of America's west. Author's Note Faithful Shep was written as a tribute arising from admiration of that great daring that is bred in bravery. I dedicate this book to all who ennoble with loving care the warm-hearted animals who revere them in return. May this story of a stranded, starving dog and the ordinary men who trekked into hostile country to save him, serve as a source of inspiration and resolve. I express sincere appreciation and deep indebtedness to the host of Texas university researchers, reference librarians, and historical archivists whom I continually pestered for details of setting and geography, personal letters from the period, old newspaper clippings, documents on the Texas Rangers, and other minutia that I cannot even recall at the moment. These long-suffering aides to my quest are too numerous to name, but I am thankful they know who they are and that they helped a hero dog live again, briefly, in these pages. EXCERPT The long night had been crystal clear, but unusually frigid for late spring. By dawn the infinity of stars that began blinking when Annie’s arias reached them had vanished. The bright moon that glowed, watching the porch performance, yielded its last light of night into the warm, glistening rays of sunrise. Now, with Don Antonio and the entire Andrews and Wiswall family assembled aboard the large converted Conestoga wagon, with the caporal and his aide trailing by horse, the journey began to retrieve two dozen sacks of flour in a shanty town in Los Angeles, some fifteen miles southeast. Slow and awkward, the commodious wagon accommodated Aniceto as the driver, Don Antonio, and Andrews on the front bench, and Annie, Wiswall, and Mercedes behind them, with Shep, the puppy, and the children in the open wagon box. A double muslin canopy with linen in between stretched over the wagon, sheltering them from the sun. Starting out, the wagon was empty, awaiting the flour sacks to be brought back to the hacienda. Because the children were to ride in the box with Shep, the rifles and other weapons had been placed under the forward bench seat. Bundled up in long duster overcoats, with blankets refurbished as heavy clothing for the children by Mercedes, everyone was ready and eager about the journey to “the southland.” The way led down the northern trail that hugged the foothills, crossed over the old creek bridge, and ran along a road that skirted a stretch of gloomy trees into a level-bottomed valley. As the ride was long and slow, up and down grades and slopes, dales, and dells, Don Antonio, who always had a pleasant word for and about everyone, couldn’t stop talking. With a constant smile shimmying around his lips, he spoke of herding cattle, the rancheros and ranchos where the old Spanish and Mexican estates and haciendas were located, including their acreages, the poverties and prosperities, the shapes and sizes of Los Angeles as it unfolded in the 1860s and 1870s, the hopes of all residents in the future, and other topics. After a pause, Annie, in the back seat with Wiswall and Mercedes, said, “I do love south California. Just look.

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 5, 2019

Reviews

[Julie Koberstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the "5"

So when is #6 coming out? It is my opinion that you should never end a book with a cliff hanger if the next sequel has not been written. I could find no evidence that Book 6 has been written - but I could have missed the notice. If the next book was ready for me read, I probably would have read it. But tonight I start a new book by a new author, and will forget that I read all five of of Shep's books.