Ryan Read Free

alive.
    One
more hour and Gracie knew she had to give up walking. At
least for the day.   She wanted to
cry. She was crying wasn’t she? Obviously she was now so dehydrated that she
didn’t have enough liquid in her body to produce tears.
    Gracie
sat down under a tree. Her tongue was so swollen she couldn’t even move it to
lick her lips. The skin on her face was taut and she was sure if she had any
food in her stomach, she’d vomit it all up. She gave three dry heaves and then
slid down on the ground.
    Tired,
she was tired. She just needed to sleep and she’d be able to continue her
journey tomorrow. Tomorrow she’d find help. She folded up her shawl and set it
under her head. When she closed her eyes, her mind started to drift. She was
dreaming that she was back home, her parents were
alive, and everything was how it used to be.

 
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Ryan
sunk his heels into the side of his horse encouraging it to go faster.   He hoped to have a good ride before it got
dark forcing him to turn back to Grantsville. He’d always loved riding and now
it was an escape from the responsibility of being the sheriff. Him, Daniel
Patrick Doyle, being elected sheriff! Second generation Irish
immigrant who had fled the Great Famine.  
    It
sure was turning into a beautiful early evening. The sun was setting, cooling
things down by the second. If he wasn’t mistaken he sensed another storm was
brewing over the mountain range.
    He
encouraged the horse to venture higher up into the hilly part of the ravine.
Birds sang out their evening song and Ryan loved the solitude. So different to Grantsville with its dirt and noise. Grit
you could taste in your mouth when it hadn’t rained. Music
and whores’ giggles coming from the saloons. The fights he had to
constantly break up. Fighting over a lost game of cards or who was going home
with one of the few single ladies in town.
    Yeah,
not enough women to go around town and that was the
problem. They had to attract more ladies to settle the area and raise the next generation of homesteaders and copper miners.
    The
horse climbed higher up onto the dirt road but then stopped and reared up as if
something had spooked it. Mountain lion, bear or wolf
maybe, but Ryan saw nothing.
    The
horse reared up again, this time almost throwing him to the ground but Ryan
held on tight.
    “Steady there boy. Nothing to be scared of.”
    However,
he spotted something ahead, what looked like a pile of clothing by a rock. No,
not just clothing, two feet adorned with brown boots stuck out from underneath
a skirt.
    He
slid off the horse, stroked its mane and encouraged it to walk with him.
    “You’re
going to be fine. It’s a lady lying there that’s all. I think she needs our
help.”
    The
horse nodded its head up and down almost slipping its reins from Ryan’s hand.
    He
walked closer to the lady and looked down.   She was a young lady probably not more than maybe twenty. Pretty dark
curls clung to her cheeks. Didn’t look like she was breathing and just what the
hell was she doing out here in the middle of nowhere all by herself?
    Ryan
fell to his knees and touched her arm. “Miss, you okay?”
    No response and she wasn’t moving.
He guessed something was seriously wrong. He leaned in toward her mouth trying
to hear if there was the slightest sound escaping her lips. At first he
couldn’t hear a thing but then he heard a little gulp of air. Her breathing was
shallow, too shallow for his liking.
    She
was in trouble and if he didn’t get her back to town, to the doc, she’d surely
die.
    He
scooped her up but thought about how he was going to ride the horse and hold
her secure at the same time. She chose that moment to open her eyes.
    She
shook in his arms. “ It’s okay, miss. I’m not going to
hurt you.”
    Her
skin was pale, waxy almost. “I’m…”
    She
couldn’t get the words out and he could see her lips were cracked and dry. She
was dehydrated.
    “Sit
down here. I have some