Ladies of the Lake Ch. 02

Daylight the third day found the white couple well on their way. Although the trader was on friendly terms with the Indians, he knew them well enough not to fully trust them. While the chief may have agreed to the trade, some of the younger braves could very well try to recapture the woman and take his trade goods as a sign of their manhood.

He had left his oldest horse in trade, packed his goods on his strongest animal, and they rode double on the remaining horse. He broke out some jerky for their noon meal as they rode. With a little more than two hours of daylight left, they came to a shallow creek. They turned into it and followed it downstream for an hour or so, then turned so they were on the far side from the Indian camp.

About two hundred yards from the creek they stopped in a small clearing. Using his knife, the trader explored the ground, looking for soft or sandy soil. When he found a large spot, he started digging. Looking at Peggy, he explained, "Have to hide the furs. We'll be able to travel faster. I can come get them later, when we're settled."

She went to the pack animal and found the pack with the metal plates she had stowed last night and pulled one out. She fell to her knees next to Judah and started scooping out the soil he loosened. In a short while they had a hole deep enough to accommodate the furs. Once they were hidden and Judah had marked the spot, they got back on the horses and made a circle to rejoin the stream a quarter mile down stream. He was glad to see the current was running a bit faster; it would hide any trace of their being in the stream.

Soon it was getting too dark to travel safely. They found a spot where the bank was accessible and made their way out of the creek and located a place to make a cold camp. Cuddling under the blanket, Judah pulled her close for warmth. He felt her hand loosening his belt, finding him and stimulating his member. Then he felt her wetness swallow his hardness. "You can't scream out here like you did last night. I'm not yet sure we're safe."

She nodded, thrusting her hips at him. In a few minutes, he felt her tense up, then close her teeth on his shoulder. He heard a high pitched squeal and felt the pressure of her walls on his shaft, triggering his own blast of seed. "Maybe we shouldn't do this again until we get where we're going," she said, a bit breathlessly.

The old trader laughed. "Not likely, girl. Not likely atall," pushing her onto her back, under him.

For the next two nights, they maintained a cold camp, subsisting on jerky and water. On the fourth day, they left the creek, now a river, and started crossing the first range of the mountains. He shot an antelope, and that night they had a hot meal of roast antelope, some root vegetables Peggy found, and hot coffee. That night, too, he made Peggy scream out loud, several times.

Across the low range, they found another river to follow. Judah was familiar with this country. He maintained a permanent camp in a nearby valley the natives were unlikely to enter, believing it to be a valley of the spirits. A week's travel, a week of the mountains returning Peggy's screams of joy, brought them to the valley with the lake of gold.