Faithful Heart Read Online Free Page A

head against his chest. They clung to each other for several minutes, then without speaking, turned and walked toward the camp.

    At sunrise the next morning, wagon wheels grated on rocky ground, and the long line of prairie schooners rolled southward. The cavalrymen rode alongside them and behind them, and Captain Newt Meyer rode out front with Rip Clayson and John Stranger.
    As usual, Breanna Baylor sat next to Curly Wesson on the seat of his wagon. She had her Bible open on her lap and was reading aloud to him. From time to time, she lifted her eyes to set them on the broad back of the man on the big black gelding.
    They were moving into desert country, less green and more brown, more rocks and fewer trees. The bunch grass and buffalo grass dotted the sandy land with their small clumps of green. The sun gave off less heat than it had only days before, and the wind was not as warm. Autumn was making its presence known in Wyoming.
    About two hours had passed when Clayson turned and trotted his horse along the line of wagons, chatting with the men who walked alongside their wagons and with the troopers. It took him about twenty minutes to make his way to the end of the line, then trot back to the front. Breanna happened to be looking up when Rip rejoined Meyer and Stranger. She saw Stranger say something to both men, then wheel Ebony about and ride toward the lead wagon. Drawing abreast, he turned Ebony around and pulled up alongside the wagon on Breanna’s side and saw that she had her Bible open on her lap.
    “You preaching to Curly?” he asked, returning her smile.
    “Not exactly. The Lord knows he needs it, though!”
    “Hah!” cackled the old man. “Now just what makes you say that, missy?”
    “Nothing, Curly, I was only kidding,”
    “Have
you been preaching to him, Breanna?” Stranger asked.
    “Oh, yes. In fact, you’ve no doubt noticed a change in him since you rode with the train for a day or two back in Nebraska.”
    “Not sure I know what you mean,” Stranger said.
    “Remember that horrible lump Curly always had inside his mouth?”
    Stranger grinned. “Well, I hadn’t given it any thought, but now that you mention it, he
is
a little more respectable looking.”
    “Tell him what happened, Curly,” Breanna said.
    “This little gal preached at me ’bout gittin’ saved, John. Like you done when you was ridin’ with us.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yessir! An’ that’s exac’ly what I did. I asked the Lord Jesus to save this ol’ sinner, wash him in His blood and save his wretched soul. An’ He did, John! He did.”
    “Hey, wonderful, Curly!” exclaimed Stranger. “Welcome to the family!”
    “Thanks. Shore is good to know everythin’ is all right between me and the Lord.”
    “Nothing can match that kind of peace, can it?”
    “No, sir! An’ I don’t need that chew no more neither!”
    “I was just reading to Curly from the book of Proverbs,” Breanna told John.
    “Ah, yes. The business office of the Bible,” he replied, nodding. “If all of us would apply the wisdom in that book to our lives every day, we’d save ourselves a lot of heartaches and be a lot more pleasing to God.”
    “I don’t doubt that fer a minute,” Curly said. “This ol’ boy shore has a lot to learn, though.”
    “Don’t we all?” Stranger said, then rode forward and rejoined Clayson and Meyer.
    When the wagon train stopped and set up camp that evening, Captain Meyer announced that they were within a day’s drive of Fort Bridger. There had been no further sign of hostile Indians, for which the people were thankful.
    After supper, Stranger talked with Rip and Curly at the Wesson wagon. They were discussing what kind of action to take if they ran into snow crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
    At the same time, Breanna sat beside Carolyne Fulford next to a small fire. Mothers prepared their children for bed, and the men clustered in small groups, talking about their futures in California. Carolyne was