It is out there, waiting for its time to come. I would not want to be caught in these rocky pine forests by the snow. The two-leggeds are traveling hard. They must know the danger. We were in the Blue Mountains now—the part of the trail everyone had always said was the worst. It was. There was one grade so steep that I stood at the bottom and held my arm out, sighting along my hand at the top of the rise. My elbow touched my ear, it was that steep! It took us two terrible days to get all the wagons up. We hitched twelve oxen to each wagon. Even so, it was hard. At the top, the men would rest and unhitch one team, then start back down, driving the six oxen ahead of them. We went on that way until dark, each team pulling twice. A few days later we came to another hill almost as steep, and it slanted side to side as well. Each wagon was double teamed again. We all lined up on the low side and pushed against the wagons, palms flat against the wooden bed rails. We had to walk sideward, crisscrossing our legs with each step, shoving with all of our strength to keep the wagons from crashing down the mountainside.
What do You think about Katie And The Mustang, Book 4?
