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“The difference is, Tom,” Ace said dryly, “we clubbed that critter to death. We’ll be just a mite gentler with the lady.”
They all fell into a fit of laughter, except for Sam, who was picturing just how pretty Nicole Tyler was. He could not help thinking it was a waste, for he was not going to have any mercy when he found her.
There that pretty thing was, born only to die a death no pretty woman should have to endure.
But she wasn’t just any woman. She was the daughter of the man who had been his most hated enemy.
It was only right that she join her pa in hell!
Chapter Twenty
The wind whispered soft and low through the yellow leaves of the aspen trees that stood close to where Eagle Wolf and his warriors sat on their horses. Like falling rain, the leaves seemed to murmur quietly.
Eagle Wolf and his warriors had just arrived at a bluff from which they could see much of the countryside below them.
Eagle Wolf’s eyes narrowed as he gazed down at the Mormon community that he had seen more than once during his travels. Today his interest was spiked as he wondered whether Nicole might not have sought shelter there.
He had always been impressed when he saw how industrious the Mormons were. They planted many crops, corn, beans, squash, and other vegetables. They also had sheep and other animals he had heard were called cows.
He knew from having sheep at his stronghold that they were used for food, and also for clothing after the sheep’s wool was removed from them.
As for the cow animals, he had learned that they produced a delicious white drink called milk and something else called butter.
The Mormon women all dressed alike, in long, plain cotton garb. They had no decoration on any of their long dresses such as the Navaho women loved having on their clothes.
All of the Mormon women’s skin was pale, and their hair was worn atop their heads, wound and secured to form some sort of knot.
These women were nothing like Nicole. He would never forget her loose, flaming red hair, or her face, which was so beautiful, especially when he caught her in a blush.
He had never known anyone like her, and doubted that he ever would again.
He could see people coming and going in the town, but he saw no children anywhere, and that puzzled him. The sun was warm in the sky this late autumn day, the sky was blue, with fluffy white clouds floated past overhead. The air was sweet with the aroma of autumn flowers that he saw growing over the ground, the color of those flowers as beautiful as their scent.
Why would the children not be outside playing in this sunshine and sweet air?
He knew that the Navaho children would be out now, busy at their games. He smiled as he thought of how the braves enjoyed foot and pony races while the girls enjoyed playing house.
He hoped to have his own children to watch and enjoy someday. He suddenly envisioned a son born in both his and Nicole’s images. A boy with long, black hair, and grass green eyes.
He wondered, though, about whether his Navaho people would accept such a child.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and again focused on why he had left the safety of his village on this beautiful autumn day.
Nicole!
Suddenly the sound of a bell ringing echoed up to him and his warriors, and he spotted a building that sat in the center of the small community.
He had heard of white people’s schoolhouses and believed that this might be one.
Or was it a place of worship? Did a church not also have a bell at the top of the building?
His eyes narrowed again when he recalled that Nicole had spoken about wanting to be a teacher. She had even attended a special sort of school in order to be able to teach children.
Although he had already guessed from the way she spoke and behaved that Nicole was a woman of much intelligence, it had been even more impressive to know that she was a woman with an education that none of his Navaho people had, or ever would have.
His heart raced at the thought that Nicole might have found her way to this community. When these people realized that she was a teacher, would they not have invited her to stay, to teach their children?
Eagle Wolf smiled as he imagined the petite flame-haired woman standing before the classroom. He knew about classrooms and teachers from a scout who had once spied through a schoolhouse window to see just what this teaching was all about.
