Eternity Read online

  Josh knelt before his daughter. “Where would the prince get the rattlesnake?”

  “On Starbuck’s Mountain,” the child said. “Tem—I mean the prince—saw some up there. He saw a whole bunch of rattlesnakes on the mountain.”

  Another streak of lightning and clap of thunder made Dallas leap into her father’s arms.

  “Get her some warm clothes,” Josh said as he carried Dallas to the bedroom. “I want her wrapped up against the storm.”

  Carrie caught his arm. “What are you going to do?”

  It was obvious that he hadn’t much interest in Carrie at the moment. “I’m going to take Dallas to my brother’s house and I’m going to get my horse, then I’m going to find my son.” He started walking again.

  Carrie put herself in front of him. “I want to go with you.”

  Another flash of lightning that lit the house allowed Carrie to see the look of contempt on Josh’s face.

  Carrie put her hands on both his arms, her fingers digging into his muscles. “It’s my fault that he’s alone on the mountain. If I hadn’t come here—”

  “It’s too late to think of that now.” Pushing past her into the bedroom, he stood Dallas on the bed.

  Carrie moved to his side. “I may be helpless in the kitchen, but I’m not helpless in the rest of my life. You may think you know all there is to know about me, but you really don’t know anything. I come from a family of sailors and I know about survival, and I can ride anything on four legs.” She handed him a woolen shirt, and he wrapped Dallas in it.

  Picking Dallas up again, he started for the front door, but Carrie placed herself in front of the door. “Whether you ‘allow’ me to go or not, I’m going to search for Tem. Whether I go with you or by myself, I’m going.”

  Josh looked at her for a second. He didn’t have time to argue with her, nor did he have time to spend with a frightened woman. Now his only concern was his son. “Go or stay, I don’t care. But if you can’t keep up with me, don’t expect me to bring you back.”

  “You won’t have to bring me back. Can you get me a proper horse? Something other than those nags of yours?”

  He nodded once, then he was out the door. When he was gone, Carrie grabbed bread and bacon and put them into an oiled sack, then she began gathering equipment for a rescue mission. Having lived all her life by the sea, she knew a great deal about rescue. She went to the shed, rummaged in her trunks until she found her large knife, then took a long, heavy rope from the wall. When she went back to the house, she had to fight the rising wind. She put matches in the bag, then tore up a petticoat for bandages and stuffed heavy waxed canvas in a bag.

  When her equipment was ready, she took off her skirt, petticoats, and hoops and put on a pair of Josh’s heavy canvas pants, tying them at the waist with a wide leather belt.

  She had just finished when Josh returned. He looked her up and down, but didn’t say anything as he took the bags, looked inside them, seemed to be satisfied with what she’d put in them, then took the rope from her.

  “My brother has sent to town for help. In a few hours the mountain will be full of searchers. You should stay—”

  She handed him a thick slice of buttered bread. “Shut up and eat it on the way. Come on, we’re wasting time.”

  Taking the bread, he gave her a curt nod, and after that he stopped treating her like a woman who should have been left behind. Standing outside were two of the finest horses Carrie had ever seen; one was an enormous black stallion with a white blaze on his nose and the other, a dark brown mare that looked proud and fast.

  “Get on her,” Josh shouted, for the wind was now quite loud. “And stay with me. If you can’t keep up, come back here and wait for me. Understand?”

  Nodding, Carrie easily vaulted into the saddle, then reined the animal away behind Josh’s big stallion.

  He can ride, Carrie thought. He can ride as well as anyone I’ve ever seen, she thought, as she watched him take off at breakneck speed down the rutted path that led from the house, Carrie right behind him. When he reached the foot of the mountain, he didn’t so much as hesitate, but began moving straight up. After taking a deep breath for courage, Carrie followed him. He must have eyes like a cat’s, she thought, for she couldn’t see anything. Thank heaven there was a white spot on the stallion’s back hoof, for at times that was all she could see.

  Twice the mare she was riding wanted to give up and go back down the mountain, but Carrie wouldn’t let her stop. Up and up they went, over hard rock surfaces that made the horses’ feet slide, then through scrub oak groves that scratched at Carrie’s face and tore at her clothes.

  Carrie realized that Josh was going up no path, but was taking the fastest, most direct route to the top of the mountain. He didn’t seem to be aware of her, his only thought being that he was going after his son and there was nothing or no one else on his mind. Once Carrie and the mare came to a hard, rocky surface, and the animal’s foot slipped. The mare screamed, and Carrie had to use every muscle in her body to keep the big animal from turning and going back down the mountain. Applying her crop to the animal’s rump, she pulled hard on the reins, knowing that if she lost control of the animal now, she’d never regain it. To help relieve the fear that was inside her, she began to curse as only a sailor knows how to curse. The words she knew were in at least six languages, all from places her brothers had been. Her brothers thought she wouldn’t know they were cursing if they used a foreign language, but Carrie had heard and remembered the words, and right now she used them all on the mare.

  When she thought her wrist was going to break, the mare stopped fighting and started back up the mountain. As Carrie began to move, there was a flash of lightning, and she looked up to see Josh on his horse, standing on a ridge and watching her. For all his avowals that he wouldn’t wait for her, he was doing just that. She wasn’t sure, but she thought he gave her a nod of approval before moving on.

  The rain started as they reached the top of the mountain, coming down in a fury, as cold as only rain at a high altitude can be. Carrie was wet through within minutes. At the top of the mountain, Josh was waiting for her—or actually, he was looking about him, as though trying to decide which way to go.

  “Where are the rattlesnakes?” Carrie shouted. “Did you see them with Tem?” It was a question she should have asked before.

  He glanced at her long enough to nod once, then he flicked the reins and took off to the west. Carrie followed him closely, the mare giving her no trouble now. Within minutes, Josh halted and dismounted, looking at what appeared to be an enormous hill of rock in front of them. Down the center of the rock was a crack that widened at the bottom. Josh was walking toward the rock, and she knew that this must be where he and Tem had seen the snakes.

  With the rain lashing in their faces, Josh came to Carrie, and when her horse skittered, he put his hand on her leg. “If anything happens to me, find Tem,” he shouted.

  Carrie nodded to him as the rain dripped down her face, then, silently, she watched as he moved toward the crack in the rock. Just as he touched the rock, he lit a match, shielding the flame from the rain and wind with his hat, then leaned into the crack.

  Even over the rain, Carrie could hear the hiss of the snakes. She could see in the flame of the match the writhing bodies of the snakes inside the rock, and she held her breath as Josh took a step forward, closer to the snakes, only releasing it when he stepped back to safety.

  “He’s not in there,” Josh shouted up at her. “I’m going to search the area. Stay here.”

  Carrie wasn’t about to remain where she was. She wasn’t going to be a useless woman sitting on top of a horse and waiting. Josh’s beautiful stallion was standing untied where he was in spite of the lightning and the nearby snakes, but Carrie knew that her mare wouldn’t stay put. Riding back the way they had come for a bit until the sound of the snakes was too distant to hear, she tied the horse firmly to a big pine tree.

  Fighting the wind, her eyes sh