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If so, the chief’s home was not far from where Dorey now stood.
“Surely if I’m caught, I’ll be taken to the chief,” Dorey whispered, still staring at the two-storied building.
She had heard her father speak of a Chief Wolf Dancer, who was said to be young and kind, though they had never actually met. Her father had believed it was best to keep his new neighbors “at arm’s length,” as he had put it.
Dorey decided she would watch the activity in the village, and at her first opportunity, she would flee back to the river.
She knew it would be easier to find her way back home in daylight. If she could only choose the right waterway that would lead to the main part of Bone River, she could find her way home easily!
She was feeling so hungry, her stomach was growling. She turned and eyed the stores of food that lay everywhere around her.
Now that it was daylight and she could see it all, she was astounded. Last night she had only been able to search with her hands for something she could eat.
When she had found the melons, their golden color revealed to her by the beams of moonlight that came through the cracks in the roof overhead, she thought she had never tasted anything so good. It had been so juicy and delicious, she now hungered for more of the same.
But before she could eat, she must take care of another pressing need. She had to relieve herself, but where could she do that?
She just couldn’t find it in herself to do it where the food was stored.
That only left her one other choice!
She must hurry down the ladder to the groundand rush into the brush, then scramble back up into the garita without anyone seeing her.
Her pulse racing, she stepped to the door and peered outside.
She looked near and far for anyone who might catch her on the steps. Fortunately, she saw that hardly anyone was outside yet.
Dorey said a soft prayer before leaving, then hurried down as quickly as possible, attended to her business, and scrambled back up the ladder.
Eager to eat, Dorey plopped down on the floor and broke open a melon, the juice dripping all over her skirt, as it had done last night. She savored the sweet flesh as she chewed and swallowed it.
Then she saw something else that looked interesting: green beans, freshly picked and strung together on a string. Although they would not be as good as when cooked in meat broth, they were another form of nourishment, which she needed to keep her strength up for all that lay ahead of her. She might not be able to find her way home right away. If she got lost farther in the Everglades, she might not have anything fit to eat for days.
She crawled over to the beans and plucked one and then another from the string and ate them. They were hard and crunchy, yet she knew they were good for her, something her mother had always stressed when it came time to sit at the dining table.
Dorey was the sort of child who sometimes just toyed with her food.
But today?
She wished that her mother could see how eagerlyshe was eating. And everything she chose was very nutritious.
As she sat there, chewing on the green beans, she was scarcely aware of the increasing sound of voices as people came out of their lodges to begin the day’s activities.
All she could think about was finding her way back home. But first she had to find a way to leave the village without being seen.
Until that moment, she had forgotten one important thing: the two young braves who had abducted her and taken her to the tree house.
Surely they would be going to their hideaway this morning. They would discover that she had escaped. They would surely begin looking for her and might see her as she tried to find her way home.
But no matter what, she would be leaving this island. She would just pray that God would be her companion and look out for her. He was all she had to depend on.
Chapter Nineteen
My love for you is mixed throughout my
body,
So hurry to see your lady, like a falcon
