Midnight Rescue Read Online Free

walk toward the open back end, she staggered. Unable to move against the slant of the wagon, she almost fell.
    Her panic growing, Libby grabbed the sides of the wagon again. As she faced forward, Tom veered to the right. Bob again pulled left. Rocking from side to side, the wagon swung out of control. Moments later, the horses headed straight for a big rock on the edge of the bluff.
    From next to Libby, Caleb shouted, “Get down!”
    Instead, Libby froze, unable to let go. Grabbing her arm,Caleb pushed her to the floor of the wagon. “Cover your head!”
    Still frozen by terror, Libby had time for only one thought.
What will Pa do without me?
    In the next instant arms came down on top of her head. The wagon wobbled, then tipped. As a horse screamed, the wagon rolled on its side. With a great lurch and cracking wood, it slammed to a stop.
    When a second horse snorted, Libby shuddered. Without moving, she tried to figure out where she was.
The steep road. The wagon. The runaway horses
.
    Then she remembered.
Caleb told me to get down
.
    As Libby stirred and tried to look up, she saw Caleb’s arms protecting her head.
    “You okay, Libby?” he asked. Moving slowly, he sat back on his heels.
    Again Libby stirred.
Am I okay?
she wondered.
    She wiggled her toes. Yes, she could feel them. Her legs, her arms, and her hands all seemed to work. But Libby felt dazed. Why was she kneeling on the side instead of the bottom of the wagon? The wagon tilted strangely too.
    Still feeling odd, Libby looked up into Caleb’s scared eyes. “Are
you
okay?” she asked.
    Caleb nodded, but when Libby tried to move, he stopped her. “We’re at the edge of the bluff,” he warned. “There’s only a rock holding us.”
    “One rock? A big one?” Again terror filled Libby, reaching through her dazed feelings.
    “The horses headed straight for it,” Caleb said. “Bob went to one side and Tom to the other. They broke the pole, and the wagon swung around.”
    “Out over the edge?” Libby could barely speak.
    Caleb nodded. “Don’t move,” he warned again.
    “Jordan?” Libby asked, remembering. Jordan had jumped free, trying to catch the horses.
    “I can’t see him,” Caleb said. “I don’t dare look.”
    “Nate?” Libby felt afraid to even breathe. As though able to see the steep drop below them, she remembered.
    “I don’t know,” Caleb said.
    Then Libby heard Jordan’s voice. “Hold still,” he warned as Caleb had.
    Barely moving her head, Libby looked around. This time she understood what she saw. The wagon lay on its side with ground beneath the smashed front boards. The back end of the wagon hung at a crazy angle over the edge of the bluff. The only way out was through the open top, which was half on and half off the bluff.
    Between the broken front boards Libby could see Jordan. “We gots to unhitch the horses before they shake everything loose,” he said.
    Jordan was gone then, and Libby heard him talking quietly, soothing the horses. Through the splintered wood she heard a second voice, then saw Nate working to free the horses. Tom stood on one side of the large rock, Bob on the other, only a few feet from the edge of the bluff.
    “Nate jumped off too?” Libby asked.
    “Or was thrown,” Caleb told her. “I don’t know which. I was just thinking about you.”
    “And my head.” Libby tried to smile, but her lips felt stiff. “Thanks, Caleb. Are you sure
your
head is okay?”
    “My head is okay,” Caleb said.
    “And the rest of you?” Libby asked.
    “We both got down in time. The high sides protected us.”
    For what seemed forever they waited, neither of them moving. Now and then they heard a whinny, as though the horses were still terrified.
    “What happened?” Libby finally asked. Her voice was soft, as if even the sound could break the wagon free.
    “Something spooked the horses,” Caleb said. “Whatever it was, I knew Nate wouldn’t be able to stop them. And we wouldn’t be able to get