Crazy Horse by Jenny Oldfield Read Free Book Online

happened since we rode this way to Lazy B.”
    Kirstie nodded eagerly. “I remember, this was the place where Crazy Horse put up a fight. I could see him kicking and fighting as they dragged him along the ledge. Hey, and here’s a flattened bush!”
    Glad to see the obvious signs, she slipped from the saddle to examine the ground.
    “Anything?” Lisa leaned sideways out of Jitterbug’s saddle. The sorrel mare stood quite still, listening intently to the unfamiliar, muffled sounds around.
    “Nope. The ground’s frozen solid beneath the snow. There’s a hoofprint or two, but nothing much to go on…Hey, look at this!” Stooping under the bush, Kirstie reached until her fingertips made contact with a coil of rope which she’d spotted. She brushed off the snow, then held it up for the others to see.
    “The guys last night must have dropped it,” Charlie said, taking it from her. “Leastways, it sure don’t belong to Half Moon Ranch.”

    The rope was new and expensive looking, the natural fibers intertwined with distinctive threads of red and white. Kirstie realized that it matched the fancy bridle on one of the rustlers’ horses.
    “We can take it to Sheriff Francini as evidence,” Lisa suggested.
    Rodeo Rocky shifted and snorted. Like Jitterbug, he was on edge, swishing his black tail and flicking his ears. “OK, tie the rope to your saddle,” Charlie ordered Kirstie. “Let’s get the horses moving, see what we can spot from the ridge.”
    So Kirstie remounted, and they moved on, from Hummingbird Rock along Meltwater Trail to Miners’ Ridge, looking all the time for more evidence of the rustlers’ track. At the ridge, they stopped again.
    “Decision time,” Charlie insisted. “Do we follow the trail to Lazy B, or do we turn back and head for home?”
    Kirstie glanced back the way they’d come, then down the steep, wooded slopes of Jim Mullins’s property. At the bottom of the valley, there were glimpses of the winding course of Horseshoe Creek running silver between dark rocks where the snow had melted. Down there, beside the stream, was the dirt road that led to Lazy B; possibly the route the thieves had taken during their escape with Cadillac and Crazy Horse. “Let’s find out what Jim knows,” she decided.
    So they went gingerly on, taking their time on the icy surface, leaning back in the saddle as the horses picked their way. Even so, Jitterbug slipped and skidded into Lucky, who stood fast to save horse and rider from losing control on the steep descent.
    “Close!” Lisa breathed as she pulled herself upright in the saddle, looking back at the scuffed, dirty snow where her horse had lost her footing.
    “We’re almost at the road,” Charlie reassured them. This time, he and Rocky led the way until they reached the creek at the spot where they’d brought the four cows down from Wigwam Meadow the day before.
    Without speaking, head down and collar up against the light, whirling snowflakes, Kirstie joined him and reined Lucky to the right, pressing on along the level road toward the cattle ranch.
    But before she’d covered many feet, she heard Lisa’s voice calling from behind.
    “Hey, what’s this bridge?”
    Kirstie swung around to look over her shoulder. “What bridge?”
    “Across the creek.” Lisa faced the other way, pointing to some rough wooden planks that spanned the banks. “I never knew this was here! Where does it lead to?”
    “It’s new, I guess.” Never having noticed it herself, Kirstie turned to Charlie for an answer.
    The wrangler nodded. “Wes Logan’s men put it up a couple of weeks back. That’s Ponderosa Pines land on the far bank. Logan wanted a bridge to bring cattle across and truck them out through Jim Mullins’s territory to join up with the San Luis highway. It’s a kind of shortcut for him.”
    Kirstie frowned. She knew, as a rule, how jealously the ranchers guarded the boundaries of their own land. “How come Jim said it was OK?”
    Charlie