Elizabeth Lane by Lydia

Author:Lydia
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Donovan had planned on arriving in Miner’s Gulch before sundown. However, he had taken extra time that morning to ride out to Black Hawk and see the new smelter. The delay had cost him a good two hours, but the time had been well spent. He had driven home bursting with plans-for Varina and her family, for the dying town, and maybe even for himself.

He was still in high spirits as he rounded the last mountain curve before the long, sloping descent into the gulch. Jamie Trenoweth had agreed to come up on his next day off to examine Varina’s claim. If the gold-bearing quartz was as rich as Donovan hoped, his sister would never be poor again.

The night was diamond clear, the air cool and fresh with the smell of wet earth. Above the peaks, the full moon lay like a ripe, golden peach. Donovan inhaled deeply, his weariness a pleasant weight in his bones. The rough bed in Varina’s loft would feel good tonight.

A faint whiff of smoke drifted on the air, teasing at Donovan’s nostrils. At first nothing unusual registered in his mind. There could always be campfires along the road or cook fires in the outlying cabins. On a cool spring evening, a passerby could expect a whiff of smoke here and there.

But no, he suddenly realized. This smoke had an odd scent about it, greasy, acrid and heavy, almost as if someone was melting…tar.

Sarah!

With a shout, he whacked the reins down hard on the rumps of the four big bays. The wagon lurched ahead, wooden frame groaning as it careened around the bend. Ahead lay the road that sloped downward to the foot of the gulch—two miles, maybe less, but it might as well be a hundred. The sickening odor of tar, growing stronger by the second, told him he could already be too late.

Frantic now, Donovan pressed the horses to a full gallop down the moonlit roadway. With one hand, he steadied the reins. With the other, he fumbled under the seat for the rifle.

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