Jase had expected to be miserable today. He wasn’t, really. Either Orr’s liniment or his other ministrations had helped a lot. While the saddle still didn’t feel like a cushy chair, he didn’t hurt half as much as he had feared. Now he rode along watching Katie’s ears bob in time with her smooth, easy walk. Orr had told him she had good gaits, and she proved it every step. Although the pack mules were trotting, Katie’s running walk kept up easily, just a mule-length behind Penny’s sorrel tail.
With no doubt that his mount would stay right in her place, Jase looked around. His heart beat a little faster. This was beautiful country, no question. They’d climbed beyond the lower edge of the Ponderosa Pine belt now, well above the juniper and piñon forest of the previous day. Overhead, while th
