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The First Week in Agony June 4th 1868
On the Tuck homestead just west of the pacos river

Silas Tuck was a simple man. No great thinker nor schemer, his mind stayed as constant as the seasons; as predictable as a sunrise, and as monotonous as counting blades of grass, losing count, and starting all over again at blade number one.

Silas had attempted, as had his father before him, to live a simple farmer's life in the hills of North Carolina, however the soil there only seemed to want to grow rocks-at least on the land his family had lain stake to. Once Silas had become the man of the place (his father having been struck by a random bolt of lightning two Springs past) he'd tried, and enjoyed, his hand at razing cattle.

Starting small, two head, then five and now ten of which one was, in Silas' feeble opinion, a prize bull named 'Big'un', he quickly learned that having cattle spread about the mountains was often harder than farming the granite from the red clay.

Thus, when he'd begun to hear news of the opening up of a vast territory to the west, a place called Texas, Silas felt no remorse selling off his father's lands, loading his wife Nora and two simple-minded children and his brother Enoch, the only other original family member still living (albeit mildly retarded) and headed west.

Silas found it somewhat troubling that his wife hadn't taken well to the idea of uprooting and leaving behind everything she'd known and was familiar with-such as it was; she had come from a family of mountain folks; a large family, both in number and in girth. They were so large and so many that their collective weight constantly threatened to bring their hillside shack down in a cataclysmic heap.

Mrs. Tuck had clearly established her displeasure with Silas' choice of moves, and having given voice to her irritation, had climbed on the big wagon he'd purchased, laden down with every stick they owned, and began to drive two straining mules while the children walked along side her for the entire 1500 mile trek.

Every step of the way, Silas was never left to wonder at his wife's distemper as she made use of every chance she could to let him know just how unhappy she was with the entire adventure.

Thus, it was with great relief that Silas took his leave of his family. He employed a couple of Caballeros he'd met while stopping off in San Antonio to help guide the family and the herd which Enoch seemed content to drive all by himself. This allowed Silas to ride on ahead on one of the mules

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