Read Online Lauraine Snelling - [Wild West Wind 01] by Valley of Dreams - Free Book Online Page B

besides deer, things easier to hunt or more plentiful.
    “I will check snares on way back.”
    “Snares?”
    “That we use to trap rabbits. Been doing that.”
    Cassie felt her stomach roll. Soft, fluffy, cute bunnies. Her father had taken her out on the prairie once and shown her where a family of rabbits lived. They’d watched the young chase each other and tumble around together. She’d had a stuffed rabbit to sleep with for years. How could she bear to kill one, although she had appreciated the fried rabbit the night before. Somehow, after it was cooked, it was different. Then it was meat, not a furry bunny. She mounted Wind Dancer, and they rode back toward the wagon.
    She knew Chief stopped a couple of times but made sure she didn’t look his way. Back at the wagon, Micah had the team hitched and the livestock rounded up. “Ready. Where’s Chief?”
    “Checking his snares.”
    “Oh.”
    “You drive. He needs to teach me to hunt.”
    Micah nodded and tied his mount to the rear of the wagon. “Chief.”
    Chief rode up with several dead rabbits tied to his saddle. “Keep the skins to make clothes. I will clean them, and then we leave.”
    Had she dared, Cassie would have climbed up into the wagon and locked the door. Hunting to shoot a deer, frying fresh rabbit meat, heading south to only Chief knew where and wasn’t telling. This was getting to be far more to handle than she had ever dreamed. When she’d decided—or rather was forced—to leave the show, she’d not given provisions much thought, if any. Taking what they needed from the cook tent had been bad enough. Now she was expected to shoot such beautiful creatures as those deer bounding out of hiding. Or a rabbit. Or who knew what else. Perhaps there were game birds out there too. Surely that wouldn’t be any different than shooting clay pigeons or live ones in a match. Except she had to find them first.

    Back on the trail she leaned forward and patted her horse’s neck.
    “I don’t know, Dancer, this heading south to find the valley might not be the smartest thing I’ve done in my life.” Dancer shook his head. “Is that agreement or disagreement? I know. All you want to do is head out, the faster the better.” She heaved a sigh and, looking up, saw an eagle floating above her. “Oh, look,” she breathed, wishing someone was near to share her delight. Her father had loved eagles above all birds. He’d said there was an eagle nest on a cliff at the far end of his valley, and one day he would take her there to see it.
    Tears blurred her vision and made her nose run. There she was on the trip her father had always promised her, but he wasn’t there. The tears were getting to be a habit—a bad habit. “That’s enough,” she ordered herself. “You know he’d be here if he could. And you know he’s in heaven with Mor.”
    Dancer tugged at the bit and danced sideways. She mopped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat and looked for the eagle again. A verse floated through her mind, like the eagle caught in the updraft. What was it—eagle’s wings. Where was it? In her Bible, but where? Maybe if she’d spent more time reading her Bible lately, she’d remember things like that. Isaiah. Tonight, she promised herself. Tonight I will find that verse.
    Chief rode up beside her. “Supper will be fried or roasted rabbit.”
    “What will you do with the skins?”
    “When I have enough, I sew you vest, so you keep warm like me.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Now, keep your eyes open for game trails. You get deer next time.”
    Game trail? What was a game trail? Cassie had a feeling that she was in for all kinds of learning experiences she’d not expected. She checked that the safety was on her rifle and followed the caravan as it turned south on what was called a road in this part of the country and a trail in other places.
    She dropped back to ride by the cattle, since Micah was driving the wagon. George grumbled as he walked, his huge head