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“We do not have the time to waste hacking away at limbs and debris with our hatchets,” Strong Wolf said flatly. “And, yes, we have enough dynamite sticks in place.”
“But the noise that dynamite makes is as powerful as the sticks are effective,” Proud Heart said. “It will draw the white men from the ranch.”
“Let them come,” Strong Wolf said, his eyes filled with an angry fire. “We have done what should have been done already.” He gave Proud Heart a smug smile. “And will we not be gone when the white men get here? We will leave this place as soon as we see that the dynamite has done its business.”
He placed a hand on Proud Heart’s shoulder. “My friend, it is my plan to make things right for our people in all ways,” he said thickly. “What we do today assures our people water and fish without them having to travel so far to the river to get what is required for survival. And we gave the white men a chance to take back what they had placed on our own land. The man whose land lies adjacent with ours is deceitful. He only pretended to give the orders for his foreman to destroy the dam. But it will soon be done. That is all that matters.”
He dropped his hand to his side. “And, my friend,” Strong Wolf said, walking toward his horse, “let us finish what we have started. The sooner we have this chore behind us, the sooner you can return to your wife Singing Wind.”
“You should have a wife to go home to also,” Proud Heart said, walking beside Strong Wolf, but not to mount his horse. It was his duty to set the dynamite off, while Strong Wolf saw that no one was near who might get harmed by the blast.
“In time, Proud Heart,” Strong Wolf said, swinging himself into his saddle.
Proud Heart gazed up at him and cocked an eyebrow. “There seems to be something in the way you said that, that teases me into wanting to know if you may have met a woman,” he said. “Have you met a woman who tugs at the strings of your heart?”
“My friend, I would not urge you to travel this far from your own people, the Chippewa, whom you left behind in Wisconsin, to be with me as I searched for land for my people, the Potawatomis, only to keep secrets from you,” Strong Wolf said, grabbing up his reins. “I was not certain myself until yesterday that I had something to share with you. I did not tell you yet what transpired yesterday between myself and a woman because we have been occupied by other things besides idle chatter.”
“Than you have found a woman?” Proud Heart asked, eyes wide.
“There is a woman, and I have not had to travel far to look upon her loveliness,” Strong Wolf said.
“Then who?” Proud Heart prodded. “Where did you see her?”
“Her skin is fair, her hair is golden, her eyes are the color of grass,” Strong Wolf said, his insides afire at the mere thought of Hannah.
“You . . . are . . . in love with a white woman?” Proud Heart stammered out.
“Yes, and do not act as though you are appalled at my choice,” Strong Wolf said. “Is your mother not, in part, also white?”
“Yes, that is so,” Proud Heart said, nodding. “My mother is part white and part Kickapoo. But she claims the Kickapoo side of her heritage much stronger than her white. As you know, she plans to travel to Mexico to search for her Kickapoo people. She promised her mother long ago, before her mother passed on to the other side, that she would find her people before she grew too old to travel. That proves mother’s dedication to the Indian side of her heritage, does it not? This woman who tugs at your heartstrings. Is she able to boast of being part Indian?”
“I have not been given the opportunity to question her about anything that I wish to know,” Strong Wolf said. “But I know without asking that, yes, she is all white by blood kin. Never have I seen anyone as fair as she.”
“Who, Strong Wolf?” Proud Heart said, leaning closer to Strong Wolf. “Tell me her name. Do I know her myself?”
“Yes, you know of her,” Strong Wolf said, his eyes dancing into Proud Heart’s. “You have watched her as I have watched her ever since she arrived on the great white boat on the river a few sunrises ago.”
“The woman who now lives at the white man’s ranch?” Proud Heart said, now recalling Strong Wolf having watched the woman from afar when they had seen her horseback riding with the skills and bravery of a man.
“She is the one,” Strong Wolf said, nodding.
“But is she not kin to the man who deceived us today?” Proud Heart persisted.
“Yes, she is his sister,” Strong Wolf said. “But that will not matter to me. I want her, not her brother. And I will have her.”
Strong Wolf wheeled his horse around. “Now, let us finish here what we have started so that perhaps I may see her again today,” he said thickly. “She so pleasures my eyes.”
“She is different in appearance than most women,” Proud Heart said, stepping back from Strong Wolf’s steed. “She is tall. She is free-spirited, a woman who rides a horse like a man and who seems to know her mind as well as any man.”
“And that is what intrigues me about her,” Strong Wolf said, smiling down at his friend. “Now, prepare to set off the dynamite.”
He gave Proud Heart a steady stare. “Make sure I am far enough away,” he said somberly. “And also make sure you are safely hidden before the dynamite explodes.”
Proud Heart nodded, then turned and walked back toward the dam.
Strong Wolf watched his friend for a moment longer, then rode off in a soft lope, his eyes ever searching for anyone who might happen by on horseback.
As he looked, he went back over in his mind that which he and Proud Heart had just been discussing.
