CHAPTER FORTY
Sleep concluded with the purple and gold hues of dawn. The world was silent. For a moment, Maria thought she was back at her ranch, but then reality set in. Pulling on her boots, she walked to the creek and stretched out on the bank, and drank deeply.
Tearing a strip from the old canvas on the ramada, she tied back her hair and then, with firm and determined steps, headed north.
The first three days, the going was easy. She was coming down through the pines, crossing streambeds, walking between high canyon walls and around thick underbrush. If it were not for having to walk in cumbersome boots, her time would have been better.
For a long while, hunger pains filled her belly, but she was able to put away thoughts of food and concentrate on moving toward the border.
Towar
