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And not only had he fallen asleep. While he was asleep, his fingers had loosened around the rifle and he had dropped his weapon!
Her pulse racing, her eyes searching wildly around for any signs of anyone stirring in the village, she was filled with exhilaration.
Finally!
She would be able to leave this horrid place!
She would steal a horse and hurry on to Fort Snelling. The colonel would be a godsend to those Chippewa who had lost not only a good number of their people but also their means of survival—their village!
Mariah wondered just how far Echohawk and his people had traveled by now, and if Colonel Snelling would ever be able to find them, to offer assistance.
Determination firming her jaw, Mariah crawled stealthily from the wigwam, her eyes never leaving the sleeping brave. She smiled to herself when his snores reverberating into the air gave proof that it was safe not only to slip past the brave but also to take his rifle for good measure.
Her heart pounded as she inched her hand toward the rifle. When her fingers were securely around its barrel, she brought it slowly toward her.
Then, clutching it hard, she crawled on around to the back of the wigwam and out of the viewing range of the brave, should he awaken.
Mariah moved slowly to her feet and leaned her back against the wigwam, taking time to get her breath, trying to get her heartbeats slowed. She was afraid that if she got caught escaping, she would be shot on the spot, without further questions.
Especially now that she had a firearm in her possession.
Getting her bearings before going any farther, Mariah scanned the land for a good route of escape. Her eyes stopped when she found the Indians’ horses at the edge of the forest, grazing inside a fence. She studied them closely and chose which one would be the easiest to steal. Several of them were still saddled, apparently ready for riding should an emergency strike the village.
Again she looked slowly around her. When she still saw no one, she took a deep quavering breath, then sprang away from the building and began running toward the horses. Once there, she scooted beneath the fence.
Going to her chosen steed, a palomino pony, she ran her hand down its withers in an effort to make an instant friend. When it turned to her and nuzzled her hand with its muzzle, its eyes dark and warm as it gazed up at her, she knew that she had won her first victory today.
Smiling, she took the pony’s reins and led it to the gate. After getting it outside, she felt that it was best to lead it away from the village on foot. That would make less noise.
After peering back at the village again to see if anyone had come out of a dwelling since she had started out for the horses, and seeing that she was still safe, she hurried the pony onward until she found the river. She had decided to follow it to its outlet at the Mississippi River, which then would take her on to Fort Snelling.
Just as she reached the sand beach at the river mouth and felt that it was safe to mount the palomino pony and ride away, she stiffened inside. Up ahead, through the thickness of the trees, she could hear voices and soft laughter.
“Who could that be?” she whispered to herself, an eyebrow forking. It was early. She had thought that everyone was still asleep in the village.
She tethered the pony to a low-hanging limb, and with her rifle poised for firing, tiptoed on through the forest and stopped suddenly. She stared disbelievingly at two young Indian lovers on a blanket beside the river, nude. Her face turned crimson at having caught the young brave and maiden in the midst of a passionate tryst, their bodies tangling while making love, their mouths hungrily kissing.
Embarrassed, feeling quite the intruder on such a private moment, Mariah started to turn and leave, realizing that these two lovers were so intense in their lovemaking they wouldn’t be aware of a horse riding through the forest close to their love nest.
But then something else caught her eye, stopping her further escape. Her heart began to pound as she watched a water moccasin slithering across the water in a determined fashion, heading straight for the embankment where the two were making love. One of these young people would soon be the target of this snake! It was obvious that it had spied them and was going straight for them!
“What do I do?” Mariah worried to herself, knowing that should she intervene and kill the snake, her escape to Fort Snelling would be stopped. One blast from the rifle and the whole Indian village would be drawn from their sleep. Her escape would soon be discovered, for they would follow the sound of the gunfire and find her.
Beads of nervous perspiration pearled up on her brow as she watched the snake getting closer and closer to the shore, the young lovers still too involved in their passion to know that something evil was moving their way.
“I must!” Mariah whispered agonizingly to herself. Having learned well the art of shooting a firearm from her father, who had taught her most of the skills of young men, she lifted the rifle, aimed, and just as the snake began slithering from the water, pulled the trigger. A perfect aim, she hit the snake broadside, spattering its body back into the water in scaly pools of blood.
Mariah gazed at the young couple, who had bolted to their feet. They were watching the snake as its severed body floated away, then looked over to Mariah, their eyes wide with wo
nder.
The young maiden was the first to realize the dilemma that she was in as she glanced down at her nudity, then up at her lover.
In a rush, the young woman had pulled on her dress, the young brave his breechclout, as their eyes never left Mariah.
Mariah started to leave without explaining, explanations not necessary since they had seen the slain snake, but she was stopped when suddenly Wise Owl and several braves were there, in her path.
In what seemed a flash of lightning, Wise Owl had taken the rifle from Mariah, while another brave had her wrists twisted behind her.
