Faithful Shep

In a column in the El Paso Herald dated February 3, 1900, George Wythe Baylor, retired captain of Company C, Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers, wrote of a curious incident that occurred in January 1880: two travelers had their horses stolen by a band of Chief Victorios renegades a hundred miles east of El Paso. In the dead of a rainy and cold West Texas winter, the two men walked all the way back to beg the Rangers to return to the scene with them and rescue their dog, Shep, a black German Shepherd whom they had left alone in the desert to stand watch over their property. From this odd footnote in history, Don DeNevi, author of more than thirty published titles, has imagined a gripping tale of heroism, sacrifice, and fidelity that celebrates the best in human natureand canine nature, as well. Faithful Shep: The Story of a Hero Dog and the Nine Texas Rangers Who Saved Him is a novel based on true events from the Texas frontier: a time when the young town of El Paso eagerly awaited the coming of the railroads and when the bold and desperate Victorio threatened both sides of the Rio Grande in open defiance of the US Army, the Texas Rangers, and the Mexican territorial militia. This is the story of a dog named Shep, the two men who loved him, the nine Texas Rangers who rode into danger to save himand the surprising way in which Shep returned the favor.