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His scout, Two Birds, had brought his newfound knowledge back to Eagle Wolf and explained to him all about a black sort of board that was on the wall of the schoolhouse, and how the woman teacher there used a small white object to make letters on that blackboard.
Two Birds had even stayed long enough to listen to the children sing beautiful songs, quite different from the Navaho’s songs and ways of singing them.
Two Birds had frowned at one thing that he had seen…an American flag that stood at the front of the room. It had been a sore reminder of the emblem that white soldiers carried with them into battle.
When his scout had heard the arrival of horses at the front of the schoolhouse, he had fled. He had hurried back to his people and directly to Eagle Wolf with his report.
Having heard firsthand about the schoolhouse and how fascinating it was, Eagle Wolf had wanted to see it, himself, but he had not dared go there for fear of not being as lucky as his scout.
If he were caught spying through a window, surely his enemies would not hesitate to hang him without even questioning why he was there. Curiosity would surely not have been an excuse they would have accepted.
Ever since he had sat and listened to Two Birds talking about this school and the blackboard with white markings on it, Eagle Wolf had secretly longed to have the same for his people’s children.
But he had fought off those longings, for he knew the impossibility of giving this special gift to the Navaho children.
That had not stopped him from thinking that having a white man’s education could benefit his people in so many ways. Knowledge.
Ho, knowledge of all the things taught the children in the white people’s schoolhouses could take his Navaho children into adulthood with many ways to fight back when confronted by greedy whites. No one would then cheat the Owl Clan with trickster papers as the Navaho had been cheated before.
While Eagle Wolf had sat with Nicole beside the campfire, he had actually envisioned her among his people, teaching their children. He had planned to ask her this favor on the morning that he woke up and found her gone.
His heart skipped a beat when he spotted children running from the schoolhouse building. His heart sped up when someone else stepped from the schoolhouse, too. Even at this distance he could recognize Nicole’s flame red hair.
He could not deny the feeling of relief that washed through him. At this very moment, he knew that she was his destiny. And he would not allow anything to stand in the way of their future together.
He turned to his warriors. “Dismount,” he said flatly. “I have found the woman. We will wait for night to fall, and then I will find a way to go to Nicole and tell her that we have come for her. We will take her back to our stronghold, where she will be safe, forever.”
“But the woman is safe now,” said one of the warriors. Striped Wing was puzzled by his chief’s persistence concerning this woman whose skin was white.
It was true that she was beautiful, her flaming red hair fascinating also to Striped Wing. But the fact remained that she was white, and white people had taken so much from the Navaho. How could any Navaho warrior want to share his life with someone of that skin color?
“It might seem so, but I do not believe she is happy there,” Eagle Wolf said. “Being safe is not everything. I must at least go and speak with her. And then I will know if what I believe is true, or false.”
“You will chance everything in order to get that answer?” Striped Wing dared to ask.
“It is not for you to question, but to follow, and do as your chief tells you,” Eagle Wolf said in a way that he hoped would not be too hurtful to his warrior. He knew that Striped Wing was only thinking as most Navaho would think.
Right now the safety of one woman surpassed all else in Eagle Wolf’s mind, for she was his heart, his very being!
“Chief Eagle Wolf, I understand what you are saying, but—” Striped Wing dared to say, stopping when Eagle Wolf interrupted him.
“I will go and speak with her tonight,” Eagle Wolf said flatly. “So do not waste any more words arguing with your chief. I am just not certain how safe she is with those people, for I know little of the habits of Mormons. All I wish to know is that she is content. I will soon go to her and ask her how happy she is. If she answers the way I believe she will answer me, I will then ask her to leave with us.”
“And if she refuses?” Striped Wing asked blandly.
Eagle Wolf did not openly respond to that question, but he knew that if Nicole refused to leave with him, he would be lonely for her, forever!
Chapter Twenty-one
Dreading having to leave this haven that had been offered her by these gentle Mormon people, Nicole paced the floor of the cute home that she had been given as her very own.
But she knew that her occupation of that house was to be only for a short time if Jeremiah Schrock had anything to say about it. He expected her to be so grateful for his kindness that she would actually marry him, and make him that third wife the children spoke of so eagerly.
“A brother,” she whispered, shuddering at the thought.
Even though I must go, I dread leaving, she thought, tears filling her eyes at the thought of being all alone again out where she knew there were dangers everywhere.
If she was not attacked by men like Sam Partain and his gang, then there were the animals that roamed, both day and night, in search of food.
