Read Online Tame a Wild Wind by Cynthia Woolf - Free Book Online

horses were skittish, pawing at the ground or on the gate.   She went down the aisle and gave each horse a carrot and crooned softly to them.
    The last stall belonged to Samson.   Cassie’s stallion, her favorite, her baby.   The stall was empty, the door to the outside broken, hanging on it hinges.   Had someone left it open?   How long had he been gone?   The only thing she knew for sure was he was gone out in the storm and could get hurt or killed.
    There was nothing she could do to find him tonight except put other horses and riders in harms way, if she tried.   She ran back to the house.  
    “What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
    “We lost Samson.   He got out.   Damnit all!   By tomorrow he could be dead, eaten by wolves, broken a leg.   Or who knows what else.”
    Now she was worrying about something that was unlikely to happen, just to worry.   She took off her slicker and hat and hung them on the pegs behind the door in the room off the kitchen.   She’d decided to call it a mud room because no one entered the house from working except through here and they took off their boots if they were muddy or mucky.
    “We’ll go out for him at first light.   Hopefully there will be tracks to follow either in snow if it’s still on the ground or in soft soil that will give us a clue to where he might of gone.   There’s no telling where he went.   To be honest it will be blind, dumb luck if we find him.   You know that, don’t you?   Cassie?”   Sam put his arm around her shoulders and brought her close.
    “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”
    “Of course, we’ll try.”   He gave her shoulders a squeeze.   “Maybe he’ll join one of the wild mustang herds.”
    Cassie shook her head.   “The herd’s stallion won’t let him.   No bachelor stallions are allowed in the herd so there’s no chance of any of the foals not being his.   But first thing we should do is go see White Buffalo.   Maybe his people have seen him.   They know horses and he would stand out from the rest with his black coat and white star on his forehead.
    The next morning, bright and early, they saddled up.   Only a skeleton crew was left behind.   Both stable boys and one wrangler with strict instructions to fix Samson’s door before anything else.   It may have been left open by accident but the wind had torn it half off its hinges and now it was swinging free.   The rest of the crew, twelve men, went with Cassie and Sam.   Bridget remained with the kids.
    They all split up into pairs and went different directions.   Because it was likely that Samson headed to the mountains several of the pairs went that way.
    Cassie packed for an overnight stay.   She didn’t know how long it would take to find Samson.   It was summer but the nights got cold in the mountains.   She tied her rain slicker and winter coat along with her bedroll behind the saddle.   In her saddle bags she packed an extra flannel shirt, socks, hard tack and jerky.   She also packed a box of stick matches to start a fire with, some coffee and a small coffee pot.
    Sam joined her in the barn and outfitted his horse, Socks, in much the same fashion.   The only real difference was he packed extra ammunition over and above what he wore on his gun belt and was loaded in the gun.
    “Are you expecting trouble?” Cassie asked when he packed the ammo.
    “Can’t hurt to be prepared.   Borden is out there, may be watching the place right now, so he’ll know we’re leaving.   I don’t think he’ll do anything to the ranch or I’d leave more men but I do think he may come after us.
    Cassie shivered.   “I hope you’re wrong.”
    “So do I.”
    According to Cassie’s pocket watch and her stomach they’d ridden about four hours and it was time for midday dinner.   They stopped by a small stream.   She and Sam both hobbled their horses and sat down on some large boulders by the stream.
    “I haven’t seen any signs of Samson.   This