Gina turned to the others ready to voice her opinion when she saw Lucy bent over rubbing her thigh. Ben was nowhere in sight. Abby was busy with one of the open bags of pellets, giving a handful to each of the horses. Gus had his head buried in the open bag trying to get his share until Abby chased him away.
Gina walked back to Lucy, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Lucy said, “How much farther are we going to go today?
“Journey just asked me the same thing. I told her we’d stop before dark. I think we’re probably only walking three or maybe four miles an hour, so at this rate, it will take us at least a week to get back to the mine.”
“Is that where we’re going? Why not one of those hiker cabins that we passed?”
“For one thing, that one cabin was inhabitable, and the other isn’t big enough for all of us, and it didn’t look all that stable either. At least with the cave, depending on how far back it goes, it will be easier to keep warm, and if we had to, we could bring the animals inside.”
All Lucy said, was, “Oh…Okay.”
“Lucy, I know you never want to admit defeat, but if you need to ride you could climb on either Joe or Sailor. Your weight wouldn’t be a burden to either one of those two.”
“I said I’m fine!”
“Don’t be getting all short tempered and pissy with me. I’m just looking out for you seeing as you won’t do it for yourself. This is no different than any other ride.”
“Gina, I know you mean well, but I’m fine. Really.”
“Wait a minute. This isn’t about you walking or riding. This attitude is because of Ben. You haven’t told him, have you?”
“Told me what?”
She hadn’t heard or seen him approach, but knew from the color on Lucy’s cheeks that she hadn’t said anything to him.
“Nothing,” Lucy was quick to answer, “I was asking her how far she thought we were going.”
“Well, if you want my opinion,” Ben said looking at Gina, “I don’t want to waste all of the time we spent putting this all together. I think we should push on. If anyone gets tired, they can ride for a while.”
“My thoughts exactly. So far the horses are doing fine, but we should find some water where ever we stop. That’s my primary concern for them. Abby gave them all something to eat, but the bad part is the creek is down there,” Gina said pointing down the hillside. “We’d have to unpack them completely.”
“Ah, not so. The next time we go downhill, stop at the bottom, and I’ll use the buckets and carry some to them.”
Gina shook her head, disappointed in herself. She hadn’t thought of it herself and Ben wasn’t even a horse person. “Good idea and I’ll help.”
As she was turning to go back to Sailor, she heard Ben.
“You know, you don’t have to be all tough and soldiery all of the time. It’s pretty obvious you’re in some pain, so why not ride for a while?”
“I’m fine,” Lucy told him, but Gina smiled to herself. At least she wasn’t the only one Lucy was lying to. And the tone of voice she had used to Ben was far nicer than the clipped words she had said to Gina.
Gina just hoped Lucy would confess and not put herself in the same situation she was in the day before. If Lucy rubbed her leg raw, she would be riding the rest of the trip, and it would go completely against everything that Lucy thought she was. Ben was right. Lucy was still trying to be a soldier, forgetting she was a woman first, a woman with special needs even if she tended to ignore the fact.
Gina walked past Sailor grabbing his lead as she went by. She hung it over her shoulder, and he followed.
The next time they stopped it was at a junction in the road. A lesser used trail branched off to the right, going down hill. Gina could hear the rushing of water in the creek. Her watch showed it to be a few minutes after five, the temperature had continued to drop. Grey clouds hung just above the treetops, and the air seemed stiff and brittle. Surrounding trees cracked and popped with the cold.
Ben and Abby were the only two to be properly dressed for the now freezing conditions. Gina, Lucy, and Journey all wore their horse blankets wrapped around themselves. The girls all had western boots on their feet, but there is nothing colder than leather without thick socks on. Each of them had a pair of larger winter boots, they wore with thick wooly socks, but they were sitting in the back of their closets at home.
When Lucy’s limp had grown worse, making it impossible for her to keep up with them, Ben had finally insisted she ride while he led Joe.
Gina was continuously checking the horses for galled spots. They couldn’t afford to have any of them injured. She cut pieces from an old sheepskin pad to insulate Bess’s breast collar when the hair began to show some wear.
Journey lead Bess up beside her with Abby sitting on top. “Which way?” She blew on her fingers, trying to warm them. “Dang, it’s really getting cold. Are we going to stop soon or what?”
“Will you hold these guys while I check out what’s down there?” Gina pointed to the side road. “If we can stop close to that creek it will make it easier on everyone.”
“Okay, but please hurry. Standing only intensifies the cold.”
Gina set off down the trail at a jog. Each time her feet hit the ground, she was reminded how cold they were. Every step created a pain of its own. At the bottom, the brush and trees grew close to the trail which seemed to dead end at the water's edge. She thought it looked like the trail continued on the other side, but they wouldn't be finding out. There wasn’t much of a clearing of any kind, other than the trail itself, but it would do.
She jogged back up the hill. The three horses were grouped together with her friends standing in the middle of them. Steam rose from the horse's backs, and Gina knew they would have to relinquish the blankets back to their rightful owners. Pulling required the use of a different set of muscles than just plain riding and Gina didn’t want the horses to be shoulder sore come morning.
“We can set up camp down there. Go one at a time because the trail gets narrow, and we’ll drop the travois one behind the other facing up the hill, or we’ll never get them turned around.”
Journey nodded, handing Sailor’s lead to Gina and started down. Gina watched while she took Bess to the bottom, made the turn and stopped. She lifted Abby down and stood looking at Bess. Gina saw the problem.
There was no way one person could unhook the travois alone. Gina handed off her lead to Ben and ran back down the hill. While Abby held Bess, the women untied the fastenings that held the travois and Abby led Bess out of the poles while Journey and Gina held them.
Grunting at the weight, they set the poles down. As far as Gina could see this would be what they would have to do for each horse.
“Journey, as soon as you get Bess’s saddle off you need to give her a quick rub down and put her blanket on her.”
Journey looked up, mouth open and Gina knew she was about to protest. “It’s you or her who stays warm, and we need her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You need her. What about me? I guess I’m disposable?”
Gina laughed and realized Journey was teasing. “Unless you want to be hooked to those poles tomorrow.”
Abby had already dug a brush out of Journey’s saddle bag ready to do her part.
Back up the hill, Ben handed Sailor’s lead to Gina and started down. He had seen the procedure that Journey had used to get turned around and did the same. The only problem that Gina saw was that they would be spread out up the road. The trail was too narrow to put any of them side by side, but it would have to work.
Just before she turned down the road, she looked at their backtrail and stopped. It would take a blind man not to see where they had gone. Deep furrows marred the gravel roadway. She could see their tracks as far down the road as she was able to see.
“There’s nothing like covering our trail,” she said and led Sailor down the road. They could only hope that no one came looking for them, or Ben and his dau
ghter. Surely if the guys from down below did any looking, and if they were angry enough at Ben, they would look towards the bigger towns and not off in the woods.
Gina was able to get Sailor farther off the trail to turn him around, and they ended up almost beside Joe when she stopped. Journey and Ben had repeated the process that she and Journey had used to drop the travois from Bess.
Bess was now tied to a pine tree covered with her blanket. Abby was brushing Joe. Lucy had given up her blanket and sat shivering on a rock.
“Lucy, if you and Abby want to gather some brush, we can start a fire.”
By the time, Gina had taken care of Sailor with Ben’s help lifting the travois off, Lucy had a nice pile of brush on the shoulder of the road. Abby was coming back with a good sized rock from the creek to add to the collection she had already started. Journey was putting the rocks in a circle for the fire. Ben was no longer anywhere in sight.
Gina was looking for the water buckets when Ben came through the brush carrying one in each hand. Water was sloshing from the tops of them as he walked.
“I’ll go ahead and find them some feed.”
Journey pointed to the travois. The feed bag was sitting open beside it.
“Where’s Gus?” Gina looked back up the trail. “Where is Gus?” Heart racing, she ran back up the road. She stopped at the top and was joined by Journey and Ben.
She grabbed Journey by her shoulders and screamed at her, “When did you see him last. You were supposed to be watching him.”
“Me? Me? What about the rest of you? Why weren’t you watching?”
“Aw…geez. Sorry. I know it wasn’t just you.”
Gina took off at a lope back down the road. Not only couldn’t they afford to lose Gus, but he carried the majority of their food, dishes, and their spare ammunition.
Rounding a turn in the road, Gina stopped and let her lungs deflate. There was Gus, leisurely eating at the side of the road. “Gus, you silly old mule come here.” She whistled the same tune she used with Sailor. Sometimes Gus came and sometimes he didn’t.
Today he did not. To Gina, it looked like he was just refusing to come to her. He never lifted his head further than halfway. She strained her eyes to see in the fading light and took off toward him. When she reached him, she saw his dilemma. Someone had put a large knot at the end of his rope lead, and it was hung up in some brush. He was effectively tied to the bush, unable to follow.
He rolled his eyes at her and brayed as if explaining that he would have come if he could have.
Gina pulled the knot loose and gave him a hug. Her heart rate was beginning to slow, and she sighed. “Sorry old man. Let's go get some real food.”
She was speaking Gus’s language, and he took off at a jog, the panniers slapping him on the sides as he trotted. Gina had to run to keep up with him.
Journey and Ben waited at the junction. “As soon as I heard him I knew he was alright. Where was he? Eating I suppose.”
As soon as Gina reached them, she grabbed the rope and showed them the knot tied in it. “This is what happened. He was tangled in a bush. This is why we never put knots in the ends of ropes, especially if they are hanging free or trailing. He could just as easily have hung himself.”
Ben took the rope from her hand, “This is my fault. I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I was trying to make it easier for Abby when she was leading him.”
“Well, now you know, and please make sure that Abby does too.”
Journey led Gus back to camp, undoing the knots as she walked. Ben slowed and walked with Gina.
“I really am sorry. I never thought about it getting tangled.”
“I know, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I panicked when Gus wasn’t here. That may be Journey’s mule, but we all love him and depend on him too.”
“I wasn’t offended by you yelling either. I do see where my thoughtlessness could have created bigger problems for all of us.”
“No worries. It’s over and done.”
All three of the girls were fussing over Gus, who was now tied beside Bess sharing her feed bucket.
Ben and Gina removed the panniers leaving only the pack saddle for Journey to remove.
Gus’s eyes were closed as he chewed. Abby was brushing him from head to foot while Gus wallowed in the attention. He stopped eating long enough to nuzzle Abby as she threw his blanket over him.
“Can I ride him someday?”
Journey, Lucy, and Gina looked at each other and then laughed. It was minutes before either of them could answer.
When Journey finally stopped laughing, she said, “You can try. We have all tried to ride him at one time or another, and he did the same thing with all of us. He sat down and refused to move.”
“Oh. Well, Gus wouldn’t do that with me, I bet.”
Abby wrapped her arm around Gus’s neck and whispered something in his ear. He let our one long bray, making them all laugh. It was like he was assuring Abby that no, he wouldn’t think of doing that with her.
They only set up the one tent. There wasn’t enough space to erect two tents, and Journey thought it would be warmer if they all stayed in the same one.
As a group, they agreed with her thinking; it would be crowded, but definitely warmer.
Dinner was nothing more than rehydrated chipped beef on Bisquick biscuits and water.
“That was pretty good for campfire cooking,” Ben said and ducked when Lucy swatted at him.
“It was good for cooking of any kind, and it’s filling too. I am going to cook the rest of this batter for breakfast.”
“You guys eat pretty well on the trail.”
The women laughed, and Gina answered him, “We start our adventures eating steak and always end our trips eating chipped beef or rehydrated surprise meat. Half the time you can’t tell what it is other than reading the package, but Lucy always works miracles with it.”
“Speaking of eating, I’ve been thinking that we really need to conserve until we can spread it out and do an inventory of our food. There is no way we can last the winter on the little we have.”
“We have some to add to the proverbial pot too. Both of our packs are full of dehydrated and freeze dried food. I figured we had enough for three months with just the two of us.”
“We have what remains of our food we brought for the trip and our emergency supplies that we put in the trailer just in case something happened to our food somewhere along the way.”
“We haven’t touched that at all. So, I would say we have three months or maybe four for the five of us if we count all of it and go on a restricted diet.”
Ben looked alarmed at first, “Three months and maybe four, that doesn’t sound good. We haven’t even got into winter yet.”
Lucy held up her hand to speak, “Let me finish, please. We can supplement our food with fish, wild game and any wild roots we can find. We need to eat more while we are traveling, but as soon as we get wherever we’re going to stay, we will all require fewer calories.”
Journey looked at Gina and seemed to be trying to burn holes in her face with her eyes. She was leaning forward in an exaggerated posture, the longer she stared, the closer she moved toward Gina.
Gina finally planted her hand open palmed on Journey’s face and pushed her away. Laughing, she told her, “Okay…I admit it was a good idea. Now leave me be.”
“What was it that was such a great idea?” Journey asked and placed her hand around her ear as if she hadn’t heard clearly or correctly. “Let me hear it again please.”
Gina rolled her eyes and contritely said, “Yes Journey. Buying the dehydrated and freeze dried food from Patriot Supply was an excellent idea. I’m surprised you thought of it.”
It seemed to take a minute or two for Gina’s words to register with Journey. She went from happy face to a scowl and glared in Gina’s direction.
“Why wouldn’t I think of it? The better question is why didn’t you? You’re the one who was going on about the extra weight of ou
r food.”
Lucy lifted the last biscuit off the griddle and set it with the others on a paper plate. “As soon as these cool, I’m going to bed. You girls can sit here and bicker all night for all I care.”
“We’re not bickering. You should know that by now.”
“Yes, we were. You were hinting that maybe I’m not smart enough to think of buying freeze dried by myself and I was defending myself.”
“Whatever Journey…did you forget that I was sitting right beside you when Lucy told you to order it.”
As soon as the biscuits were cool enough to place in plastic, Lucy did. Gina gave the horses and Gus one last drink of water, while Journey banked their fire as best she could. They had no wood of any size, so the chances of having coals left in the morning were between slim and none.
Ben and Abby had old down filled mummy bags, that he swore would keep them warm well below freezing. They had laid them out with their feet on the downhill side of the tent. That way, no one would roll sideways and squish the person beside them. Again, the girls had laid one out flat and zipped two together.
Lucy climbed into their bed closest to Abby then Journey in the middle with Gina in the last empty spot.
Before Gina could drift off, she heard Journey whispering to Lucy, but her body and eyes were too tired to care what they were talking about.
Some time later, Gina woke up. Her bladder was full to bursting, and she needed to make a trip outside. She carefully slid out from under the top bag. Sure it wasn’t morning yet by the lack of light, Gina was quiet, careful not to wake anyone else up.
At home, she had always enjoyed her quiet time before Journey and Lucy woke, destroying her peace and quiet with their constant chatter and bickering.
Gina was grateful she had kept her socks on as soon as her hands touched the leather of her boots. She couldn’t believe how stiff and cold they were. She reached under the blanket and grabbed the rolled up hoody she had been using for her pillow.
Gina crawled to the foot of their bed, put her sweatshirt on and zipped it up. The air was freezing. She unzipped the tent and stuck her head out. Immediately she was pelted by an avalanche of snow.
Beyond the New Horizon Page 8
