Strongheart by Don Bendell Read Free Book Online Page B

and moved south, finally settling in a large valley near Wytheville, Virginia.
    That was just the first of several killings for Jeeter and Harlance, and although it was winter in West Virginia, they felt the climate had become a bit too hot for them, and they should move elsewhere, far away.
    The two made their way across the country the best way they knew how, by holding people up and stealing what was not theirs. Their father taught them to protect what was theirs, with killing if need be; however, they’d been taught no respect whatsoever for the property of others.
    Now they lay in wait with their gang wanting to rob a stagecoach. If people died in the process, neither of these men cared.
    There was one thing about highwaymen and holdup men that was a constant throughout the West. If they robbed and stole on a consistent basis, many of them bought or stole the very best horses they could find. Many times these men were chased by posses for days. They needed a horse with speed, staying power, and endurance. Such was the case with Long Legs Westbrook. He was a scoundrel of the worst sort, but he had a horse that was the envy of everyone who met him. He’d actually purchased this one from a wealthy breeder in Texas, although most of the horses he’d had were stolen. The breeder had named the horse Gabriel, which was Spanish, meaning “God is my strength.” The very first Arabian horse imported into America was an Arabian stallion brought over in 1725 by Nathan Harrison of Virginia. Gabe was a direct descendant of that stallion, and so was his father, a purebred Arabian stallion. Gabriel’s dam, however, was a chestnut horse that was called an American saddle horse or American saddlebred. She had five different gaits and so did Gabriel. She was a direct descendant of Denmark, which was the foundation stallion of the breed, born in 1839 in Kentucky. Her father was a son of Denmark. Gabe’s dam had a long stocking on each leg and a white blaze face. Gabriel ended up as a brilliantly marked Overo pinto with a predominately chestnut, or red, head and body, and numerous white jagged or splotchy patches covering him all over. He stood sixteen hands tall and had very muscular legs, rump, and shoulders. His head looked very Arabian, but Gabe had a very long pure white mane and tail, which he liked to toss from side to side with great pride.
    Because of his Arabian blood, he had larger lungs and nostrils than most horses and one less rib on each side, so he could intake much more oxygen and go for hours while being chased by posses. His trot never bothered Long Legs Westbrook because it was so smooth, and Gabriel even did what one cowboy watching described as a “floating trot,” with his legs very straight, almost as if his knees were locked, as he seemed to float along an inch or so above the ground. The horse was only five years old and had plenty of years left to sail across mountains, desert, and prairie, leaving many other horses behind lathered with sweat and with chests heaving for breath.
    Little did Joshua Strongheart know what a vital part such a horse was going to play in his life, in a very short period of time.
    He looked across the stage at the beautiful young widow, and he felt a longing he had not felt in some time. Joshua started fantasizing about a romance with the grieving young lady, then remembered how quickly entranced he’d been when the woman had come into the jail and he had felt she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Then he recalled his feelings when he learned how they had met and what her profession was, and he grinned at himself. Maybe it was because he knew his ma’s love story with his father, and his stepfather as well, but he found he could not just be attracted to someone. It seemed like Joshua always fell in love with women. Also, remembering his father riding away because of what he knew was best for his mother and him, Joshua always had ridden