Untamed Journey by Eden Carson Page B

enough
insulation from the near freezing ground to allow her to sleep, but
she had to try. She needed sleep desperately, having gotten little
the night before – especially after Jasper Smith’s midnight
visit.
    Ruth spread out the canvas tarp she’d found
strapped to Caboose’s saddle, thanking her Maker that at least
she’d stay dry. She sat down cross-legged, with her back to a large
spruce, and opened up Smith’s saddlebags. She’d had no time to
rummage through his belongings when she saddled Caboose and headed
out after Jackson. She counted herself lucky that Smith had left a
few items tied to the saddle. In her rush to find Jackson’s trail,
she’d grabbed the saddle and some grain in the livestock car and
headed out.
    Sadly, Ruth noted as she emptied out the last
of the contents, her luck didn’t hold out to include food for her.
She wondered how long she’d have to do without.
    Now that she had a moment to sit and think,
she’d be lucky not to lose Jackson’s trail entirely. Or even worse,
be discovered close enough to the site of the train robbery that
they could force her to turn back. Ruth didn’t kid herself to think
she had the skill to follow a man like Jackson if he didn’t want to
be followed. She knew she had only managed to remain undetected so
far because the men were consumed with tracking those ahead of
them, rather than someone unexpected behind them.
    Ruth huddled closer into her makeshift bed
and did her best to picture the loving faces of her parents, long
dead, as she drifted into a fitful sleep.
     
     

Chapter 17
    J ackson watched in
silence as his dwindling hopes of capturing the outlaws kicked him
straight in the gut. That was a distinctly female figure huddled
against the cold and wind. He had seen a lot of foolishness in his
years – men throwing lives away over shiny gold rocks. Men losing
their women and dying broken hearted over a dried up piece of land
not fit for burial, much less supporting a farm. But never in all
his days had he so much as heard of a woman setting off after near
strangers into a land so vast a native son could get lost in a
decent downpour.
    And all for some no good sailor she’d never
even met!
    Jackson had heard things were bad in the
South after four long years of war, followed quickly by famine and
carpet baggers. But for a woman to travel alone across the entire
length of the country was the most foolish thing he’d ever heard
of. He shook his head as he watched over her sleeping figure
through his spyglass, still torn between frustration and
admiration.
    The corner of his mouth turned up in the
slightest of smiles at her gumption. He also couldn’t recall
knowing or even hearing of any woman with the guts to take such a
chance, no matter the reason. And although he hadn’t known her
long, after seeing her face down two armed outlaws and keep her
head about her, Jackson knew this woman was no foolish miss who
didn’t realize what danger she was in. No, this was a woman who
took that first step after him, knowing full well the odds she’d be
facing.
    If he’d been ten years younger, he might envy
Miss Ruth’s unknown sailor. She was no quitter, that was for
sure.
    But being well past his twenties, and still
alive to prove his hard-earned wisdom, Jackson’s good sense shook
that foolish thought aside. He had more important things to worry
about – like how he and Mike were going to keep on the trail of the
train robbers with an unplanned straggler in tow.
    Jackson didn’t have any immediate answers,
and he figured a night in the cold on her own would teach his
uninvited guest a much-needed lesson. While gumption might impress
a lonely lawman, Mother Nature wouldn’t spare a glance for Miss
Ruth. He’d circle back around to his camp once more to see what
Mike had in mind before coming to her rescue.
    Now that Jackson had two camps to keep watch
over, he didn’t figure on getting much sleep, but he’d trained
himself not to need a lot.