Free Trail of Golden Dreams by Stacey Coverstone

boot heel
into the dirt.  “Darn, that Paladin.” Dropping the jerky into her shirt
pocket, she stuck her foot in the stirrup and Traveler shot off like a bullet
as soon as her bottom hit the saddle. 
    Her braid smacked against
her back as she bounced against the leather.  The mule flew like the wind.
Josie punched her cowboy hat further down on her head to keep it from flying
off.  How had he caught up so fast?  She wondered if he’d heard her
leave, or maybe he’d woken up just after she took off and jumped in his saddle
without breakfast.  Either way, she’d hoped to put a few more miles
between them. Glancing over her shoulder, her heart sank when she realized
another rider had joined him. 
    Realization hit her like a
stone wall.  That wasn’t Paladin behind her at all!  It had to be the
marshal and his posse. She looked back again and the vision grew to a total of
four riders—two leading out front, two in back—all stirring up dust.  Fear
and panic choked her throat.  “Yah!” she yelled to Traveler.  “Go
boy!”
    The next time Josie peeked
over her shoulder, the riders looked to be bearing down fast.  She could
almost feel their hot breath on the back of her neck. One of the men wore a
large, black sombrero. Her breath hitched, knowing the famous tracker, Reno
King, led the pack.  She’d heard he was part Mexican, and the sombrero was
his signature.  It was how you could distinguish the man from a
distance.  Her pulse quickened as she kicked Traveler harder in the ribs
with her boot heels.
    She trusted the steady,
sure-footedness of her mule, but it seemed the posse’s horses had wings. 
They must have left Dry Gulch when the moon was still high, to have caught up
with her this quickly. What should she do?  She could try to outrun them,
or she could head for the hills and take her chances with the derringer.
    After studying the far-off
peaks, she knew her only chance was to try to lose the gang by climbing the
closest hill, which lay to the west. Hopefully, she could follow the canyon to
the top without Kendall’s men seeing her and then ride the trail straight down
the other side and keep heading north.   It would be easier for her
to maneuver the winding trail alone than it would be for four horsemen
jockeying for positions.  She didn’t hold out much hope, but she had to
try.  Never a quitter, Josie’s one advantage had to be her hardy
mule.  He’d already proven to be superior to horses when facing a tricky
situation.  If he didn’t misstep, she’d get to the top and back down a lot
faster than men traveling together. 
    The trail up the canyon
was a steep, twisty one full of rocks, but Traveler did just fine, as Josie
knew he would.  As the two of them climbed into the clouds, she wished she
had more than the small derringer for protection.  How was she going to
fight off four grown men?  No doubt they had rifles or shotguns with them,
as well as revolvers. 
    For a split second, she
would have given anything to be riding with Paladin. She figured him for a
no-account thief and liar—same as her pa—but at least two against four were
better odds.   He had the pistol and a rifle, and probably a knife,
too.  She’d seen the rifle tucked into its scabbard when she was borrowing
the horse grain. Even though she didn’t trust the man, the two of them together
would have a far better chance against the posse.  If he’d wanted to kill
her, he could have done it easily last night after taking her map.  That
said something for him.
    Josie touched the
saddlebags, where her derringer was stowed.  Would she even be able to hit
anyone from up here?  She’d never killed a man before, and she didn’t want
to start now. Her stomach knotted at the thought of committing murder. 
But she wasn’t about to let Marshal Kendall, Del, Slim Jim and Reno King take
what belonged to her.
    She’d had a dream last
night that she was swimming in the San Francisco bay.   She