WELCOME, WELCOME TO SUNDAY SAMPLER
IVE BEEN TALKING A LOT ABOUT THE UNDEPARTED; TODAY, HOWEVER, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU FOLKS A SAMPLER FROM MY HISTORICAL ROMANCE NOVEL, THE GOLD SEEKER'S DAUGHTER.....
July 1848 somewhere on the Plains
It had to be a hallucination brought on by the incessant squeak of wagon wheels, ungodly thirst for some cool water, the monotony of prairie grass, nothing but tall sun parched prairie grass.
Or was Enya's nightmare coming true?
Suddenly the ground shook and soon after the thunder of horses' hooves stormed the prairie. Just over the rolling hill where the sun was bright, a visage of four, five, six men on horses came barreling towards their white topped wagon. The glow of the sun prevented details but all of a sudden there were hoots and hollers and it was obvious who were on those charging stallions. "Injuns!" exclaimed Buck who had already pulled his team of mules to an abrupt stop and was standing up with his rifle pointing.
A squeak of fear fell from Enya's parted lips. Her nightmare of encountering Indians was coming true; it was no hallucination after all. And it was dreadful. Lord in heaven why? Why hadn't her father changed his mind and turned that mule wagon back home, back east? She had tried to warn him about the perils of venturing west, not to go looking for gold because they were bound to encounter Indians, but did he listen? No! He probably thought she was too young to be listened to, but she was eighteen, a woman now! Even the bartender warned him before they journeyed onward, but Buck wouldn't heed his advice either; thought he was one who took rumor as God's good word. Guess it didn't matter who tried to advise him. Bonnie always said her husband was as stubborn as an old mule.
Now what was going to happen?
A panic of wonder rushed through Enya's body from head to toe. What could her father do against a stampede of charging Indians, she wondered. He was only one man. Yes, Buck had the fighting spirit, the will to survive, that Hawkens rifle he bragged on, the body build to defend her and her mother, but still he was only one man. She prayed the rifle would be as precise as he claimed it was. Enya peered out from the bonnet top and watched her father take aim and at first wondered if he should wait to see if the Indians were friendly, but an arrow came flying through the air and that was proof enough that those Indians meant business. Buck fired that long range rifle and one Indian went down hard. Enya's pulse raced. Bonnie ducked down in the front seat at Buck's insistence and prayed the Lord's Prayer. If they were going to die that day, she wanted the good Lord to know they were coming.
Enya was in the back of the wagon watching with dreaded fascination.
Buck fired another shot and another Indian went down. He fell off the back of his white horse, dead instantly, but the others were still coming. They were getting closer, almost upon them. Arrows were flying like birds, but fell short. Enya hunkered down in the back behind some old luggage and trunks, but worried for her father who could be struck dead at any moment by one of those blasted arrows. Buck shot again and missed. He fired another shot as fast as the muzzleloader would allow, and the third Indian went down.
Now there were three.
The odds were getting better. Still the Indians were able to shoot those arrows faster than Buck could load up, but a rifle was still a far superior weapon and Buck was proving to be a formidable opponent.
Enya told herself there was hope.
Maybe her nightmare of being carried off by an Indian wouldn't come true after all. She peeked above the luggage and had a small vista of the prairie. She saw trails of dirt swirling in the air behind the charging horses....... (You gotta get the book and see what happens) But it now
No comments:
Post a Comment