“No. I will be scouting. A scout usually travels afoot—in this way, he may go unnoticed by any wandering war party.”
“Ah. But it is night, Swift Hawk. How can you look for a trail at night?”
He shrugged. “It will be difficult, but it is not impossible, and it is safer to do this at night.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because few are about at this time, and also a scout is harder to see, harder to recognize.”
“But—”
He placed a finger over her lips. “I will return to you before the light of dawn. If your brother is in trouble, I will help him and bring him here. If he is not in trouble, I will return to you alone, and we will seek him out together…but let us do this tomorrow. Now I would ask that you go back to sleep.”
Stubbornly, she shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I would go with you.”
He sat for a moment as though in thought. After a while, he nodded. “I understand, and I should have expected as much from you. It is said that strong women will sometimes do this. And if this be the case with you, I will not stop you, my wife. But know that your presence could hinder me in my search, for I would need to be constantly alert for enemies, much more so than I would be if I were on my own.”
“But I don’t understand. Wouldn’t I help you?”
“You always help me,” he replied diplomatically. “But because you are a novice, I will have to ensure that your trail, as well as mine, is erased from the land. And I will need to account for your mistakes in leaving tracks and calling attention to us, for you will make these mistakes. And I would keep you safe. So, by all means, come, but it might take me longer to find your brother.”
“Oh.” Angelia bit her lip, her brow furrowed into a scowl. “If I stay here, do you think you can find his trail—tonight?”
“Haa’he. It is possible.”
“Then I will stay and, as you asked, I will watch over the pony.” She grinned.
He nodded in response. “That is good. Now, go back tosleep. I must prepare myself to leave here.”
“Prepare?”
“A scout does not go forth on a mission without disguising himself. There is some danger on the prairie.”
“Disguise?”
“Haa’he.”
“As what? What guise do you use when you scout?”
“That depends on where I am scouting,” he said. “On the plains a scout will often disguise himself as a wolf. However, in the desert, I might use a different means to conceal myself, and certainly I would do so in a wooded area, where one should look more like a bush than an animal.”
“Really? And how do you do this? Disguise yourself? I mean, since you scout mostly on the prairie, do you carry a wolf skin in your bag?”
“Sometimes I do. But I did not bring this with me. I will use mud from the stream, instead.”
“Mud?”
“Haa’he, do you wish to watch me prepare?”
“Yes, husband,” she said, still grinning. “I think that I do.”
Swift Hawk sat up, reaching a hand down to help her. “Come, we will go to the water, and I will show you how I become a wolf.”
Angelia agreed, and keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around her, she crawled out of their lean-to and followed him to the water.
The rain had stopped,the clouds had disappeared and at present, a crescent moon lit up the night sky. It was not a cool evening, even though the rain had fallen long and hard. Rather, it was pleasing. However, her feet, which were shoeless, met with mud every place she stepped, the stuff oozing through her toes.
At last, however, they had tiptoed to the river. While Swift Hawk bent down to grab a handful of mud, she gazed up into the star-littered sky.
