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Glass shattered and Blackie’s body lurched from the blow, his eyes wild as they locked with Mariah’s, and then he tumbled over sideways onto the floor, unconscious, the knife at his side.
One of the gamblers scrambled to his feet. Mariah was expecting to be assaulted for what she had done, but instead found
kind arms propelling her away from the unconscious man, allowing Echohawk to rise from the floor.
“We apologize, ma’am,” the gambler said, his blue eyes soft and kind as he gazed down at Mariah from his six-foot-four height. “Blackie ain’t nothin’ but a troublemaker. And rest assured we’ll keep him away from you and your friend until you are safely off the boat.”
“That is kind of you,” Mariah said. “Thank you ever so much.”
Echohawk came to her, brushing his hair back from his eyes. He grabbed up Mariah’s coat, took her by the hand, and whisked her out of the cabin, embarrassed that it was she, a woman, who had defended him, the man, again!
Yet by doing so she had demonstrated her intense love for him, and that made his heart swell with pride.
“Your eyeglassess,” Mariah said, going into their cabin beside Echohawk, closing the door behind them. “Echohawk, that evil man broke your eyeglasses. Now what are you doing to do?”
“I will do well without the white man’s magic,” Echohawk grumbled. “I can see nearly as well as I did before.”
Relieved to be back in the privacy of their cabin, Mariah held her hands over the stove and rubbed them together, warming them. “You don’t have to be inconvenienced for long,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “While we are in Saint Louis we can use some of my money to fit you with new eyeglasses.”
“The man did me a favor,” Echohawk said, tossing his coat aside. “I am glad the eyeglasses are gone.”
When someone knocked on the door, Mariah turned with a start and her face paled, wondering if Blackie had come to finish what he had started. She stifled a gasp behind her hand when Echohawk went to his belongings and grabbed a rifle in his large hand.
He turned to Mariah. “You step out of the way,” he whispered harshly. “I don’t want you taking a bullet that was meant for me.”
“Oh, Echohawk, I hope we’re wrong,” Mariah said, moving around to stand beside the bunk. “I hope that man doesn’t ever wake up!”
“You hit him hard enough,” Echohawk said, moving stealthily toward the door when someone continued to knock. “But it always seems that an evil man’s head is harder than that of one born with kindness in his heart.”
Aiming the rifle with his right hand, Echohawk moved his left slowly to the door latch. He opened the door quickly and found himself aiming the barrel of his firearm directly into the eyes of the riverboat captain, whose color drained instantly from his face.
“Please . . . ?” Captain Johns muttered, his eyes frozen wide. “I’ve only come to apologize for the inconvenience you encountered at the hands of . . . of that damnable gambler Blackie. I’ve forbidden him on my ship in the past. So shall I now, in the future!”
Echohawk turned the barrel of the rifle away from the captain, holding the firearm at his side. “Your apologies are accepted,” he said, feeling Mariah’s presence at his side as she came quickly to him.
“Also, I have come to tell you that Saint Louis is within range should you wish to view it,” Captain Johns said, lifting his hat, wiping beads of perspiration from his pale brow.
“Let’s go and watch as the boat is moored, can we, Echohawk?” Mariah said, looking anxiously up at him.
Echohawk inhaled a nervous breath, then stood the rifle against the wall and stepped outside with Mariah and the captain.
Mariah’s breath was taken away when she saw the size of the city set back from the waterfront. The buildings were quite impressive, some even four stories high! And the roads! They were filled with many horses and buggies and fancy carriages!
But what she was most anxious to see was Jefferson Barracks. Even though she wanted to go into some of the fancier shops to see the ribbons and laces, and perhaps even purchase herself a fancy bonnet and dress before presenting herself to her father, it was Colonel Snelling himself who was most prominent on her mind now.
“Sir, where might I find Jefferson Barracks?” she blurted as Captain Johns moved beside her at the rail.
“Ma’am, Jefferson Barracks is up the river a ways,” he said, pointing beyond Saint Louis proper. “You can hire a carriage to take you there.”
Mariah beamed up at Echohawk as he gazed down at her. “Echohawk, I shall see my father soon!” she said, thrilling to the thought. “Can you imagine? We are finally here and I . . . I will be able to see my father.”
“Your father?” Captain Johns asked, forking an eyebrow. “Does he make his residence at Jefferson Barracks?”
“Yes,” Mariah said, clasping her hands excitedly together before her.
“What is his name?” the captain asked, smiling. “Perhaps I know him.”
Mariah’s smile faded, not feeling comfortable about revealing her father’s name before he knew himself that he was her father.
