Looking across the lobby at the Grand Hotel, Franchard noticed Pritchard escorting a remarkably beautiful young woman down the stairs toward the dining room. They walked arm in arm, seemingly oblivious to anyone or anything around them except each other. Grinning to himself under his mustache, Franchard approached the pair as they were being seated.

“Good morning, Ranger Atherton,” Franchard said. Pritchard stood up.

“Good morning, sir,” Pritchard said. “Captain Franchard, may I present Miss Caroline Biggs, of Austin.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” the veteran Ranger said. “I apologize for the interruption,” he continued, “but since I didn’t see you this morning, Joe, I thought I’d give you an update on your daily query as to when the company will be pulling out of Fort Worth, especially on account of how badly you’ve been pestering me lately to get back on the trail.”

“Uh,” Pritchard stammered, “there’s no hurry, Cap’n. I understand the need to follow orders. I fully recognize that our higher-ups in the Texas Rangers believe it’s in our best interest to be posted in town, and I stand ready to do my duty here in Fort Worth.”

“I suspected you might feel that way,” Captain Franchard said, giving Caroline a wink. “Carry on, Ranger.” He tipped his hat and walked away.

It didn’t take long for the press to catch wind of the romance blossoming between the oversized blond Texas Ranger with the mysterious scar and the gorgeous young lady from Austin. The statuesque couple appeared to have “stepped from the pages of an Arthurian folktale,” as one reporter put it, and were bird-dogged by newsmen and curious onlookers wherever they went.

Pritchard and Caroline didn’t seem to notice. They were inseparable over the next several days, which didn’t make reporting on the progress of their relationship any more difficult. And after Mr. Benjamin Woodruff, the young lady’s chaperone and attorney, gave an interview to a spellbound group of reporters detailing the extraordinary circumstances of how Ranger Atherton had rescued Ms. Biggs, years before as a child, from the clutches of yet another slaver, the press went absolutely wild. The story was picked up by every newspaper from California to New York, with a corresponding photograph of the couple, of course.

Pritchard ensured, during each of the two photographs taken of him, one with his Ranger company, and the other with Caroline, that he wore his ten-gallon Stetson. And he was careful to lower his head, not difficult to do as a result of his height, just enough so the wide brim covered most of his face.

Some of his fellow Rangers playfully chided him, after viewing the newspapers featuring the photographs, for being so tall his face got lost in the clouds. That Pritchard may have deliberately shadowed his features with his hat during the photography was not lost on Captain Franchard.