U.S. Marshal Shorty Thompson - A Winter Too Cold For Gold: Tales Of The Old West Book 64

U.S. Marshal Shorty Thompson had been summoned to Deadwood South Dakota to testify against Belle Thornton for killing her husband and robbing their bank of sixty thousand dollars, in the town of Pecos, New Mexico.
He was now slowly on his way back home to New Mexico. When he got to Cheyenne, he would put Dunnie Jr on the train for the rest of the trip. This was an early winter day, cold but there was no breeze and the sun was brightly shining and not a cloud in sight.
Dunnie loped along at an easy pace. Shorty was hoping to reach the new, very small village of New Castle before night. Within a few hours, maybe noon, he knew he might be in trouble. Clouds, yes snow clouds now blocked the sun and a swift west wind was whipping up.
He saw a thick grove of trees right against a rock bluff and headed for that. Looking it over he knew with his tarp he could fix a very good shelter. Now out of the wind with a fire blazing, he had a pot of coffee on and meat frying in a skillet and hardtack ready to eat.
As he brought the sugar-cured ham to his lips he stopped, staring right at him from no more than ten feet away was a small Indian boy. He offered the meat to the boy who eased up and grabbed it then ran into the woods, but was back in a few minutes with his hand out. Shorty knew this boy was mighty hungry and very cold.