Chapter 4

Day 10

The next morning found all three of us at the stream panning for gold. Elizabeth used one tin plate to dig up sand from the bar while Claire went through looking for nuggets and I panned for dust. By the end of the day we had found about a fistful of gold and had just about removed the sand bar. Looking at the size of the nuggets Claire had found, I knew they hadn't gone too far from their source. Telling the girls I was going to go hunting to replenish the meat, I headed upstream looking for bends in the stream. I panned for gold at every bar and found color in all of them until I had gone a half-mile upstream and stopped finding color. I then backtracked and looked for rock outcroppings or an intersecting stream.

In a short while I found two dry streambeds that emptied into the flowing stream. I dug into the sand of the first streambed and found nothing. In the second streambed I hit more color. Pushing through the brush I found a depression a short distance upstream. I dug in the lowest spot and looked through the sand. I found several nuggets the size of my thumb. Excited I looked further upstream. I found a quartz outcropping and saw a vein of gold laced quartz at the edge. I tried to pick out as much of the gold as possible but couldn't get to most of the exposed gold without a pickax. Defeated in my attempt to get the gold out, I still managed to fill both front pockets with nuggets and gold-laden quartz that had fallen off the outcropping. I marked the entrance to the stream and returned to camp.

I had forgotten about hunting while I was prospecting and got told off by Claire when I returned. She mentioned works like lazy, no-account, etc. I just waited until she finished and took out some of the contents of my pockets. She quickly lost most of her anger when she saw what I had found and I promised to go hunting the next morning without looking for more gold. Elizabeth begged to go with me so much that I told her she could go as long as she listened to me at all times. I talked to Claire and we agreed that three rapid shots would be the sign of an emergency and anyone hearing it would come looking. Exhausted all of us fell asleep as soon as we ate dinner.

Day 12

I awoke before daybreak and quietly entered the wagon to wake Elizabeth. With the aid of the freshened fire I saw the blankets had been pushed to the side. Both women were lying there naked outlined against the dark blankets. I felt an attraction to both that was a mixture of lust and affection. Their bodies had filled out following their recovery and both were looking more like women than girls. I quickly reached out to Elizabeth to wake her up. She started until she saw me, and then realizing she was bare, grabbed the blanket and covered herself.

"Elizabeth, it's time to get up." I said pretending not to have seen anything. I just hoped she hadn't seen the bulge in my pants. I quickly backed out of the wagon and waited at the fire cutting the tips of the .22 rounds with my pocketknife. I thought I would try to make them act like dumdums when I went hunting. I divided the rounds into half dumdums and half normal rounds. I heard some movement in the wagon and soon saw Elizabeth's head peak out of the wagon. She blushed and walked over to the fire. Pretending I hadn't seen anything I offered her a cup of the last of the soup we had made last night. "Are you ready to go?" I asked. Shyly she nodded. I picked up my daypack and put the ax in my belt. "Let's go."

We headed toward a nearby clearing where we had seen signs of animals grazing. Getting close, I told Elizabeth to climb a nearby tree and wait for me. I lowered myself to the ground and slowly got into position to see the clearing. As the sky began to change from black to gray I saw movement in the clearing. I gradually was able to make out several whitetail deer moving around. Picking a nearby doe I fired a dumdum round. The herd began to panic and I thought I had missed. Running into the clearing I shot again and saw a deer fall. I ran over to the fallen animal and hit it on the neck with the ax.

I called Elizabeth and soon heard her come toward me. I was busy gutting the deer I shot when Elizabeth asked, "Should I start on the other one?" I saw Elizabeth standing by the first deer I shot. It had run for about a dozen feet and fallen down. I hadn't even seen it fall; I was concentrating on the other one so much.

I started moving toward her when I saw a rattlesnake near her right foot. "Elizabeth, sweetheart, don't move." She looked down and froze in fright. "Liz, don't move, honey." I took out my .22 from the holster and approached her. From 3 feet away, I aimed at the snake's head and fired.

Elizabeth jumped away from the snake and into my arms. I held her as she shook, murmuring soft noises. She gradually calmed down and backed away from me. Elizabeth looked at me and suddenly grabbed my head and kissed me. My head told me that she was too young, but my body disagreed. I put my arms around her and kissed her back.

We slowly sank down to the ground and started groping each other. Reaching out my hand I slid my hand up to her breasts and started rubbing them. Elizabeth gasped and started kissing me even harder. I felt her nipples get hard and start to poke out the fabric of her dress. I unbuttoned her dress and exposed her breasts to my eager hands. God, how I wanted her!

Removing a hand I began sucking on a breast. With the free hand I reached down and felt under her dress, finding she didn't have on any underwear. Moving my hand up her thigh I found it sopping wet. I placed my finger inside and began hunting for her clit. I found it and began to gently touch the sides with my thumb, moving my finger into her cunt. Pushing in my finger I found it blocked by her hymen. I added another finger inside her cunt and began moving them in and out of her. After about a dozen strokes I felt her stiffen, felt her squeeze my hand and scream her orgasm into my mouth.