Free Gun for Revenge by Steve Hayes Page B

burying his past. But, as he had learned so often over the years, gunmen with a price on their head seldom got to bury their past or choose their own future.
    Resting his head on his saddle, he gazed up at the dark clouds that were gathering overhead. Luck was with him, he realized. Without a moon, anyone passing would not see him hidden among the rocks.
    Somewhere, far off, a mountain lion screamed.
    It was the last thing he remembered before falling asleep.
     
    He woke up before dawn broke. A dense white mist had descended from the mountains, shrouding everything. Its cold dampness made him shiver. Still huddled under his blanket he listened for a moment, trying to pick up any threatening sound. All he heard was silence. He pulled on his boots, stamped a few times to get his blood going, then relieved himself behind a rock before saddling the stallion .
    Oh, Lord, what he wouldn’t do for a cup of hot coffee!
    He tied his bedroll behind the saddle and went to put his boot in the stirrup. But the horse suddenly shied away and Gabriel went sprawling. Cursing, he slapped the stallion on the rump until it backed up in between two rocks. Then he tried again. The Morgan twitched a few times and cow-kicked, but made no attempt to buck him off.
    ‘I’m probably givin’ you too much credit,’ Gabriel told it, ‘but if that was payback for me whackin’ you with therifle, we’re even now. So don’t give me any more crap.’
    Pissed off because of the way the day had begun, he cut his last cigar in half, lit it and tried to enjoy it as he rode up into the mountains.
    Usually, the higher the elevation the thicker the mist. Today the world was upside down and after a few hours he broke through the mist and found himself following a narrow trail that curved sharply up between dense patches of green shrubs and bushes. Ahead, much higher, dense oak and pine forests clung precariously to the increasingly steep rocky slopes.
    He craned his neck and looked up at the rugged peaks that surrounded him on all sides. Silhouetted against the pale blue sky they looked so wild and majestic that normally they would have taken his breath away. But today his mind was on Ellie, and how he must find her quickly, and the scenery had no effect on him.
    The trail climbed ever upward. As if to match it the brilliant sun climbed higher in the sky. Gabriel felt its heat through his hat. He closed his eyes and dozed, trusting the stallion to find the easiest way through the mountains.
    He must have fallen asleep in the saddle because the next thing he knew the Morgan stopped so suddenly that he was thrown against its muscular arched neck.
    Jolted awake, Gabriel looked over the stallion’s head – in time to see a green rat-snake slither across the trail.
    ‘Calm down, you big baby,’ he told the jittery horse. ‘It ain’t gonna bite you.’
    The non-venomous constrictor disappeared into the bushes. Gabriel nudged the stallion forward and tried to go back to sleep. It was impossible. The trail had become so steep he had to cling onto the horn just to prevent himself from sliding backward out of the saddle.
    They were high up now, and even the invincible Morgan began to labor in the thin air. Gabriel hated to push it beyond its limits, but every second was precious and he spurred the stallion onward.
    Shortly after, they rounded a corner and Gabriel saw a large boulder blocking the trail. He grinned as if seeing an old friend. How about that, he thought. After all these years, and he’d found it like it was marked on a map.
    He dismounted, and led the horse around the boulder. The trail was covered in loose shale, making it treacherous under foot. Several times the ground suddenly crumbled away causing Gabriel to stumble and almost lose his balance. Ahead, the trail became dangerously narrow in places and the outer edge of the cliff dropped straight down for 1,000 feet.
    Gabriel kept his eyes fixed in front of him, leading the nervous stallion along