Road To Forgiveness by Cox Carol

Author:Cox, Carol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Monday morning, Jacob rose with the sun, surprised he’d gone back to sleep at all after his midnight visitor. He made a quick breakfast of biscuits and coffee, then saddled his mount and rode south from the T Bar in the direction of the Broken Box.

He took his time, studying the terrain with a new appreciation for the rustlers’ choice of location. It would be easy to drive stock from the other ranches in the area to this place. After a short push over Mingus Mountain, they would be able to hit well-traveled routes to the mines, army posts, or even Mexico. Whoever was in charge of this outfit either laid his plans well or managed to stumble onto the perfect setup.

Cap seemed to pick up on his mounting excitement and moved into a brisk trot. Jacob held him back to a more relaxed pace. No telling who might be watching from behind rocks in these hills or from just inside the line of cedars. It wouldn’t do to show undue interest in the area and take a chance on spooking his quarry.

Up ahead, a lone rider appeared over the top of a rise. An honest cowboy just out doing his job or one of the rustlers? Jacob slouched back in his saddle and adopted a bored expression, grateful the oncoming rider wouldn’t be able to see his heart hammering against his ribs. The rider waved, and Jacob returned the salute.

By the time they were thirty yards apart, Jacob recognized one of Edgar Wilson’s riders. He pulled up and waited just west of a large rock formation.

“Morning,” he greeted the lanky cowboy.

“Howdy. What are you doing over this way?”

“I’m supposed to see a fellow over in Camp Verde. Is there a quicker way over Mingus than just following the road to Jerome?”

The cowboy shook his head. “Nah, this is probably your best bet. If you wanted a way that isn’t as steep, you could cut over to Cherry and go around that way, but that’ll be farther and take longer to get there.”

Jacob nodded his thanks, then touched his heels to Cap’s flanks and set off again. At the rock formation, he twisted around to see if the other rider was watching before moving to put the stack of broken boulders between himself and the cowboy. To his relief, the other man seemed to be riding away with a total lack of concern.

Jacob eased Cap toward the right side of the trail, then slipped in among some brush and faded into the tree line.

From his earlier studies of Buckey’s map, he had a fair idea of where to look for those box canyons, but he needed to determine their exact locations. He picked his way through the rough terrain until he found a rocky promontory. Tethering Cap at its base, he climbed to the top and sat cross-legged at the summit.

Perfect. The higher elevation gave him a bird’s-eye view of the whole area. He took out his field glasses and proceeded to sweep the area.

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