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1.

After the Sheriff had put him in jail , and sent a cable to the Crockett County Sheriff to come pick up his prisoner, McKinney and Dawson returned to camp to try and rescue some food from the cook. "That one was easy" said Dawson. "Maybe, " said McKinney, "but never underestimate someone you have to arrest. They will turn to desperate measures to stay out of Prison"

Company "A" was camped in San Saba County, and they had been sent there by the Adjutant General of Texas to quell trouble between two factions of a town that were busy trying to exterminate each other. One of the groups was led by a man called Van Beuren, and the local sheriff was a lynchpin in the other faction. The Rangers job was to stop the two groups from shooting up the locals. Hardly had they eaten, when the Captain rode into camp and told everyone to saddle up and get a full issue of ammunition for their carbines and to be ready to ride within the hour. "Were we going Cap?" one of the Rangers asked. "Youll find that out soon enough " said the Captain, a thin man of medium height, but with an air of authority about him that made every Ranger in Camp obey his orders without question. Hardly had an hour passed and the whole company was riding out of camp and heading south.

After a hard ride for four hours, the Captain held up his hand for the column to halt. "Dismount and rest your horses, I have to meet someone" and so saying the Captain rode off into the darkness. None of the Rangers were surprised at the Captains dissapearance, as they knew he had done it before and were sure that there would be a hard night before them. They didn't have long to wait. The Captain returned within a half hour accompanied by another man none of them had seen before. "Men, this is our guide. He will lead us to the hideout of one of the gangs of local men that have been terrorising the local population for the last few months. These are desperate men and we may well have to prove ourselves before the day is out, but if you follow my commands to the letter we may well all live to see another day. Are you all ready to follow me?" No-one said a word but mounted his horse and waited for the order to move out.

They rode for another hour, and then their guide stopped, spoke to the Captain and turned his horse and rode away. The Captain turned his horse to face the Rangers following him, "Our guide wont go any further. Says he wants nothing to do with killin`, The place we want to get to is just over that ridge ahead, and we need to approach on foot so as not to raise a fuss. Ranger Grant, stay here and hold the horses, and we`ll send for you if the going gets rough. The rest of you bring your carbines and keep quiet!" The Rangers , led by the Captain, went forward making as little noise as possible. It took about a half hour to get near the large cabin that held the men they were after. One of the Rangers was designated to go forward and scout out the place and try to find out how many were inside the building, and it seemed forever before he returned to tell the Captain that there were 12 men sleeping inside. "That's just dandy, "said the Captain, "we have 15 men, one holding the horses, and 14 here, so heres what we will do, " pointing to two of the Rangers, he said, "You two stay here and cover our backs. If things go wrong youll be in a position to cover those that try to escape. The rest of us will get into the cabin, Pete says the door is ajar `cause of the heat, and when we get in each of you pick a man and cover him with your carbine. If he makes a wrong move shoot him!"