Chapter 1

"Draw, or die like a dog!" the evil man growled as he pulled his gun. Annie screamed and covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes closed as hard as she could. The explosion of the pistol going off was almost enough to drive her into madness, but somehow she managed to keep herself together as her father was murdered there on the street of Hendly Pass.

Annie's mother rushed into the room and gathered the 10-year-old girl in her arms. "Oh my darling baby, ya had that bad dream, again, didn't ya? Daddy's with God in heaven, now, so don't ya worry 'bout him. God will take his revenge on that evil Jake Blade, so don't ya fret over sumpthin' ya can't do nothin 'bout."

As usual, Annie cried for 10-15 minutes in absolute hysteria, but finally calmed down enough to get herself under control so that she could go back to sleep. She'd had this same dream every night for the past two months, ever since her father, James Hightower, had been shot down that fateful Saturday afternoon. Her father had taken her and her mother, Alice, into town so that they could do the weekly grocery shopping.

He had tied up the buckboard in front of the general store and helped Alice down from the wagon. She went in while James went to check with the gunsmith to see if his special order had come in, yet, and Annie went with him.

Annie may have been a girl, but she was mesmerized by guns and the power they expressed. She took every opportunity to handle any gun that came within reach, and James had already taught her the rudiments of shooting a six-shooter. She even owned her own .22 caliber revolver which she spent some time shooting every day. That was a light gun, but she was already deadly accurate with it. She didn't wear it away from the house, because Alice thought it was not becoming for a lady to wear a gun. Annie humored her mother, but longed for the day when she was old enough to wear the gun in spite of what her mother said.

James and Annie were walking back toward the general store when the unthinkable happened. A man named Jake Blade came marching up to her father on the sidewalk and spit in his face. Her father was still flinching from the unexpected insult when Blade drew his .44 and fired a bullet into James' heart from not much more than three feet away. James didn't even have time to reach for his gun before he was dead! Blade reloaded and holstered his gun. He spit in James' face again and sauntered into the nearest saloon.

This was the first time that Annie went through that sequence of covering her ears and closing her eyes and screaming, but it wouldn't be the last time. Several people had witnessed the confrontation, but they had seen James move his hand toward his waist. They thought that he was going for his gun, though, actually, he had been reaching for his bandanna to wipe the spittle from his face. Anyway, that was how Blade was able to plead that he was just defending himself.

Annie didn't understand why her father had been murdered. She'd heard some conversation at the dinner table about "water rights," but had no idea what that meant. She did know that her father, a small ranch owner, was in some sort of argument with Mr. Harrison who owned a huge spread next door, but did not know how to put the two items of information together. Her parents considered her to be too young to be bothered by "grown up" matters.

The funeral had been held the next day, and the whole town turned out. James Hightower had been well liked in the county, and a lot of people showed up to pay their respects. Mr. Harrison even showed up.

Annie and her mother had spent the night in the hotel, both being too shaken to return home. However, a few hours after the funeral, another of their neighbors drove them home in their buckboard, without any new groceries, but with the package James had picked up at the gunsmith. Alice did not even notice the package that Annie had clutched to her breast, and was in too much of a daze to see Annie take the package into her room and put it in a drawer.

Alice had been forced to sell the ranch to pay some outstanding debts, but there had been enough money left for them to move to Austin. Alice opened up a successful boarding house and Annie helped out by doing the cleaning and serving, while Alice did the cooking and general management.

It was nearly two years before Annie could finally get to sleep without her horrible nightmare, but she never forgot it. Also, she never forgot her hatred for Jake Blade. But, Annie always had something to remind her of her horrible experience. In fact, she slept with it every night. It was the S&W Schofield .45 caliber revolver her father had picked up that day at the gunsmith's. Her mother never found the gun, but Annie slept with it under her pillow every night after getting home from Hendly Pass.

Annie's mother was somewhat put out with her because Annie would practice shooting with her .22 every day, rain or shine. Annie had set up a shooting range in the stable beside the boarding house, and she worked hard at perfecting her craft with that pistol. She had no intention of trying to use her .22 on Jake Blade, that's what the .45 Schofield was for, but her father had told her that practice with any gun would carry over to any other gun. All she would have to do would be to become familiar with the new weapon.

Annie had tried to use the tied down thigh position for her holster like she had seen so many of the men use, but she realized that was impractical for her when she wore a skirt. On the other hand, the crossdraw system used by the Army officers she sometimes saw looked like an excellent compromise. With that position for the holster, she could wear it at her waist, yet it was convenient to her hand for a quick draw. She didn't have much money for such things, but she did buy herself a crossdraw holster for her .22.

Once she had the new holster, Annie began practicing a fast draw with it. At first, it was awkward and almost impossible to manage, but she finally got familiar with it and eventually got quick with it. She found that if she crossed her arms, she could quickly draw the pistol without interference from her breasts, so that was what she practiced for hours, day after day.

When she had the time, she put on men's trousers and rode her horse out of town where she could practice with the .45. At first, the gun was simply too large for her hand, but she grew into it as she got older. Finally, it was her 17^th birthday, and she felt that she was ready to hunt down and kill Jake Blade.

Because Annie knew that her mother would worry about her if she simply disappeared, she told Alice what her plans were. The poor woman fainted dead away! It took the rest of the night to get her mother to accept what her daughter was planning to do. Alice realized that Annie had made up her mind to go on this quest, and there was nothing she could do to dissuade her, so Alice agreed to cooperate and help Annie get ready.

As were most women of the time, Alice was an accomplished seamstress, so she was able to tailor some men's clothes to fit Annie's body, yet hide the fact that she was a woman. It was necessary for a couple of reasons for Annie to pass as a man. One, it would keep her from being sexually harassed by at least half of the men she encountered. Two, it would let her enter saloons, barber shops, etc. where she might gather information on the whereabouts of Jake Blade.

It took three weeks to get everything ready, but finally Annie was ready to leave. Alice gave her $20, all of the money she could spare, so Annie had a little bit of money to help her on her way. Annie rode out toward Hendly Pass with high hopes but not much in the way of expectations. After all, it had been over seven years since her father's murder, and Jake Blade must have moved on by now. Nevertheless, she had to start somewhere.

Hendly Pass had not changed one whit in the seven years since she was last there. The first thing she did was to visit her father's grave in the town cemetery, but she didn't linger. She headed for the nearest saloon of the two in town to start her search for Jake Blade.

Annie would never forget what Jake Blade looked like, so she was confident that she would recognize him when she saw him. She had never been in a saloon before, but she had heard enough conversations at the dinner table in the boarding house to know pretty much what to expect. Nevertheless, Annie was very apprehensive as she walked in and leaned on the bar. She ordered a beer and paid for it. Dammit, beer was expensive: 7 cents a glass!