Free Those Jensen Boys! by William W. Johnstone Page B

leading edge of the avalanche swept over them and pushed them off the trail. The coach went, too, vanishing along with the team in the deadly wave of rocks and dust.
    Chance and Emily cleared the avalanche’s path by a few feet but Chance didn’t slow down. The onslaught of falling rocks could still spread out and threaten them. He didn’t haul back on the reins until they reached the next turn in the road, where Ace and Bess waited.
    All four of them were covered in dust and quite shaken by the close call. As Chance brought his horse to a stop, Emily and Bess slipped down and ran to each other, hugging fiercely.
    Bess said, “Are . . . are you all right?”
    â€œBarely.” Emily was breathless as she went on, “I . . . I wouldn’t be . . . if it wasn’t for . . . Chance.”
    â€œAce saved me.” Bess turned to look at the brothers. “You saved our lives.”
    â€œI’m sorry we couldn’t save the stagecoach and the team,” Ace told her. His face was grim and angry.
    â€œThose poor horses,” Bess said. “Losing the coach hurts, but we have another one. And we have more horses, of course, but—”
    â€œWe damn near lost a lot more than that.” Emily had caught her breath. “We were almost killed!”
    â€œThat rockslide didn’t start by accident.” Ace said.
    â€œHow do you know that?” Bess asked. “Did you see something?”
    Ace shook his head. “I heard a scraping sound, like somebody was prying a boulder loose somewhere above us. I can’t prove that’s what happened, but I’m confident I’m right.”
    Carefully, Bess leaned over the edge to look down at the wreckage of the coach and the broken bodies of the horses visible at the base of the slope. “The road looks like it was damaged in places, but I think we can still get down there. We need to try to recover the mail we picked up in Bleak Creek.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Emily said. “Failing to deliver it could cost us the mail contract with the government. Eagleton could still beat us that way, even if his men didn’t manage to kill us!”
    With Ace and Chance leading their horses, the four of them started back down the trail, picking their way around the debris left behind by the avalanche. Bess was right about the road being damaged—chunks of it had been knocked out—but there was room for them to make their way to the bottom where the rocks had spread out, only partially covering the destruction.
    Bess cried over the dead horses. Emily was more stoic, but tears glittered a little in her eyes, too. They concentrated on digging through the wreckage of the stagecoach with help from Ace and Chance until they found the box that contained the mail pouch. The lid was broken but hadn’t come off. Ace wrenched it loose, took out the pouch, and handed it to Bess.
    â€œI’ll hang on to this,” she said. “We can still take it to Palisade.”
    â€œWe won’t get there before nightfall, though,” Emily pointed. “The mail will still be late.”
    Ace frowned. “Late’s not as bad as not getting there at all. Under the circumstances, I don’t see how the government could be upset with you for the delay.”
    Emily continued. “That depends on how much pressure Eagleton brings to bear. He’s rich enough to have some friends in high places.”
    â€œWe’ll worry about that later,” Bess said. “For now we still have a long climb ahead of us.”
    That was true. Still on foot, they started up toward the pass once more.
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    When Bess and Emily began to wear out, Ace and Chance insisted that they ride the horses. Both sisters argued but in the end, they went along with it.
    â€œEmily and I could ride double on one of the horses and the two of you could take the other one,” Bess suggested.
    â€œOr Ace and I could ride our