This is sort of an old picture of her, but she's really my age--almost thirteen. She's kind of wild, with lots of tangly red hair and more freckles than a body can count. People may think that I don't act much like a lady, but goodness! Jenny is the only girl in her family, with a whole passel of brothers. She's from some backwoods place called Washington Territory. Her mother sent her to San Francisco, hoping the school would teach her young lady ways. So far, it's not working very well. I like Jenny. We get into all kinds of interesting scrapes together in the big City. And some scary ones, too... Our adventures got written down in the book Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers, but you have to wait until next fall to read it. They're still turning the story into a real book! It takes awhile.

My best friend is Taffy, my golden palomino mare. She's about 15 hands high, with some white on her nose and four white socks. Here is a picture of her--isn't she beautiful?

Cory's a year older than I am (he's 13), and his blond hair is always wild and messy. He lives in a small house behind his father's livery stable in town. His mother died when he was about four years old, and his father remarried. Now Cory has 4-year-old twin sisters, Amy and Amanda.

Rosa is about my age, with shiny black hair and the darkest eyes I've ever seen. She's always cheerful and smiling, in spite of the hard times her family has been through. Rosa is shy, but maybe that's because she doesn't speak English very well. She's also cautious, while I'm impulsive. It would be a good thing if I listened to her warnings. But unfortunately, by the time I've figured out I should have listened to her, I'm already in a heap of trouble.