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Show Ben pursues Grace after she vanishes Chapter 43 As soon as David left the next morning, Ben headed up the canyon with George to help bring down two . deer the Indian had shot the day before. Lobo accompanied them. With five women, two men and a dog to feed, they needed plenty of meat. Deer, elk and even mountain sheep were plentiful in the area during winter months. In the warmer months the animals migrated to the higher altitudes to the east. The deer were several miles up a side canyon, in the middle of a sagebrush plateau. After slicing a hole between the sixth and seventh ribs on both animals, Ben and -George lifted one onto each saddle, slipping the saddle horn in the hole between the ribs to hold the deer in place. After securing the feet to each side of the cinch, they began leading their heavily laden horses back to camp. They hadn't gone far when George stopped in some shoulder-high shoulder-high brush. "Squaw bush," he said. "Good tea for squaws having babies." He proceeded to gather a pocketful of the leaves that had not yet fallen to the ground. These were the same leaves Flat Nose George had used in making tea for Madge. He told Ben the new babies came out faster and easier if the women drank tea made from the squaw bush leaves. He didn't know why. About half a mile from camp they noticed Nellie running towards them. Something was wrong. By the time she reached them, she was too out of breath to speak. Ben noticed her feet. With the shoes hidden, she had wrapped rags around them. "Grace, gone," was all she could get out. Ben and George hurried back to camp, Nellie following close behind. "Which way did she go?" Ben asked as he entered the cabin. No one knew. Grace, wearing a white dress and a gray shawl, had gone to the outhouse and had not returned. She had been gone several hours. "She's been so quiet," Priscilla said. "She wouldn't open up and talk to us more than the necessary yeses and no's. She's troubled. You'd better find her, and quick." Ben ran down to the creek bottom. bot-tom. No tracks led downstream, the direction David had taken. No tracks led upstream, either. Ben ran past the cabin to the trail that led up to the cliffs, the same trail he and Flat Nose George followed to get the coal. He hadn't gone more than a few feet along the trail when he spotted the unmistakable track of a barefooted woman. Then another. She was going up to the cliffs. Ben ran up the trail. Even though the past few days had been warm and sunny, the nighttime temperatures tem-peratures were below freezing. Without a blanket or fire, Grace would probably not last the night. He had to find her before dark. He couldn't figure out why she had gone up the trail. It did not lead anywhere except up to the cliffs. Ben whistled for Lobo. The dog could help find her if her tracks became difficult to follow. By the time Ben reached the top of the first bluff, Lobo was at his side. Ben stopped for a minutes to catch his breath. He looked in every direction but could see no sign of Grace. Her tracks continued up the gentle slope towards a steep ridge. Whenever Ben stopped to make sure he was still on her trail, Lobo would run circles around him, sensing the urgency of the chase, but not yet sure what they were chasing. (To be continued) |