LeClerc 01 - Autumn Ecstasy by Pamela K Forrest Read Free Book Online Page A

protested its lack of nourishment, and carelessly pulled the furs beneath her chin. Her eyes closed, fear of savage Indians swept from her mind.
     
     
    It was mid-morning before Kaleb reached the river. He had walked until darkness and the falling snow had forced him to stop. He was too near his goal now to risk getting lost in the vast wilderness and die from the cold.
    Wasting no time in uncovering the canoe, he pushed it into the river and jumped into the back. Turning it into the swiftly flowing current, he headed back the way he had come. The river fought his passing, making each mile seem like three as he used every ounce of his strength to paddle against the strong current.
    By late afternoon, Kaleb knew he had no choice but to seek shelter. Sweating heavily from the exertion of fighting the current, he shivered each time the bitter wind crept into the folds of his coat. Squinting through the haze that lay thickly on the river, he searched for the long familiar landmarks that would lead him to cover.
    Kaleb found the entrance to the nearly hidden stream that branched off the river and maneuvered the canoe past the overhanging branches. With a less strong current to fight, his paddling became easier, but with fewer trees overhead the snow fell thicker. It took the rest of the afternoon for him to find the lean-to he had constructed years earlier and used only occasionally. As an early evening turned the gray sky to black, Kaleb pulled up on shore, carefully secured the canoe and shouldered his heavy pack.
    Inside, the lean-to was total darkness, but he moved with sure memory and soon had a small fire warming the tiny structure. Kaleb fed the fire from an ever ready stack of dry wood at the back of the lean-to and cursed the fates that let him get so near before forcing him to stop.
    For four years he had searched — a search that had taken him far and more than once should have cost him his life. He had known only their names, not their faces. It rankled that they had crossed his path once before but he had not known them for who they were. Now, through pure chance, he had found his enemy; he knew their faces. But for the early blizzard he would have begun his revenge.
    The wind blew against the sides of the lean-to, and the fire danced in the darkness. He took some satisfaction from knowing they, too, would have to wait out the storm. As the blazing wood turned to glowing ashes, Kaleb Smith promised himself that Jeb and Zeke would never know spring.
     
     
    Only by instinct and an overpowering will to survive was Luc LeClerc able to continue toward the promise of warmth. The unseasonably early blizzard had caught him unprepared several days from his cabin. He fluently cursed his own stupidity in three languages. His years of living with the Shawnee as well as being an experienced trapper had taught him to always be prepared for the unexpected.
    Luc smiled grimly to himself as he walked head down. If he froze to death, the fault rested solely on his own shoulders. The signs of a storm had been clearly evident when he had been only a day away from the cabin, but he had chosen to ignore them. When the first gentle snow flakes had started to fall, he had cursed vividly but continued to set traps and check the ones already in place. By the time he started his journey back, the flakes were no longer gentle, and now he stumbled with exhaustion still more than two miles from the protection of his cabin.
    His journey had been successful; several small animals had been in his traps. Their fur was not yet as thick as it would be later in the winter and therefore not as valuable, but the meat from the carcasses would be welcome.
    If he lived long enough to eat it.
    Doggedly, he trudged on, constantly looking for the familiar landmarks to guide him home. It was too late to stop and make shelter. He knew that he would be frozen before he could build a fire and make the protection of some kind of a lean-to.
    His grim smile