A High Sierra Christmas by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

BOOK THREE

CHAPTER 24

Smoke had ridden on many stagecoaches in the past, but this was a new experience for Denny and Louis. As the coach’s rocking, jolting gait made them sway back and forth, he could tell they didn’t care much for it.

“This is a bit like being at sea, isn’t it?” Louis said. His face had a greenish tinge to it.

“You’re not going to get sick, are you?” Denny asked.

“I’m fine,” her brother answered with a trace of annoyance in his voice. “Just worry about yourself.”

Smoke, Denny, and Louis were sitting on the rear seat, which meant they were able to face forward, at least. Alma Lewiston, Melanie Buckner, and Jerome Kellerman had the front seat.

That left the bench in the middle of the coach for Frank Colbert, Bradley Buckner, and the reporter, Peter Stansfield. Leather straps hung from the ceiling. The passengers on the bench could hold on to those in order to brace themselves, if they wanted to.

Stansfield took advantage of that, but Colbert, who seemed to be a westerner born and bred, rocked along easy enough, and Brad was too young to be anything but excited at being part of this stagecoach journey.

Fred Davis had furnished lap robes for the passengers to help ward off the cold that came in around the canvas covers over the windows. Melanie and Alma were huddled under one of the robes, but no one else was using them yet.

They would before this trip was over, Smoke thought. It was going to get mighty cold up there in the mountains. He remembered telling Denny and Louis about the Donner Party and hoped wryly that they wouldn’t get stuck.

“If you think this is uncomfortable,” he mused aloud, “you should have ridden one of these things down in Arizona or Texas during the summer. The heat would just about melt you, and so much dust got into the coach that it seemed like you were trying to breathe with your head in a bag full of dirt.”

“And yet people rode them everywhere,” Louis said.

“Well, sure. That was the only way to get anywhere, other than horseback or covered wagon, and not everybody was able to travel like that. It was the fastest way to cover long distances, too, until the train came along.”

Brad said, “I like this better. The train really stunk of burning coal.”

“I wish the train had been able to get through,” his mother said. “We’d be most of the way to Reno by now.”

Smoke nodded toward Brad and said, “The boy will have an experience he’ll never forget. Not many youngsters this day and age can claim to have crossed the Sierra Nevadas by stagecoach.”

“I may be the only one!” Brad said.

Smoke grinned. “Yeah, you just might be.”

The youngster reminded him a little of Billy and Bobby, the two orphans he and Sally had taken in at different times in the past, raising them until they had gone out on their own. Brad was younger than either of those two had been, but he had the same sort of enthusiasm for life.

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