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“Sneaky son of a gun, ain’tcha?” he said, trying to shake off the fear he was feeling.
He looked over his shoulder again. Something told him that he was making a mistake by not joining his friends, but when Sam Partain made up his mind to do something, gol’darn it, he did it.
Suddenly he heard the yip-yipping of several wolves. It seemed there was not only that one to keep an eye out for, but a whole pack.
His teeth chattered from fear. He tried to blame it on the temperature, which today was colder than yesterday.
He stopped long enough to take a jacket from his saddlebag and put it on. As he started forward again, he heard yip-yipping on first one side of him, and then the other.
Chills rode his spine. He seemed to be riding right toward the wolves’ cries.
And then once again he caught sight of the very one he had injured. It came from behind the bushes once again, as though to purposely taunt Sam. Again, it disappeared as soon as Sam lifted his rifle.
“You lousy, sneaky animal!” Sam cried, his eyes darting in all directions. All he could see were golden-leafed aspen trees, and all he could hear was the rush of water coming from a waterfall that must be nearby.
He had never felt so alone, or so vulnerable.
If only he could be at a gambling table, cards in hands, money spread out in front of him, as he taunted the other players he knew would lose to him.
He began trembling when he saw the wolf again, but this time if was not standing still, staring at him. It was running up ahead, again as though taunting him.
When it stopped and gave Sam a look, Sam saw it as one of defiance, and…and…of victory.
It was then that Sam knew he had finally lost his largest gamble of all…life!
He screamed when wolves appeared on all sides of him.
He had already fainted dead away when he was knocked from his horse and his neck was slit open by sharp teeth. The wolves howled in victory over a human being that had no place on this earth any longer.
Chapter Thirty-two
Snow was suddenly falling in white sheets outside Nicole and Eagle Wolf’s tepee. She was troubled because Eagle Wolf had left the village before it started snowing. He and several of his warriors had gone to hunt for smaller game, since the main hunt had been such a success only a month ago.
“Dancing Snow Feather, you don’t look at all concerned about the sudden snowfall,” Nicole murmured as she knelt beside the lovely pregnant woman. She and her sister-in-law were making kneel-down bread for their husbands.
Yes, Nicole was now married to the man she absolutely adored.
She couldn’t be happier except for when she looked at Dancing Snow Feather’s belly, which was growing round with child. Nicole knew that she wanted to be pregnant, too.
She couldn’t understand why she hadn’t become with child, too. Ever since speaking their vows, she and Eagle Wolf had made love almost every night, yet she still wasn’t pregnant!
She knew how much her husband wanted children. In fact, Nicole had actually become somewhat alarmed after they were married because he kept talking about the children he was anxious to have with her.
She had one evening suddenly recalled how he had said that his marriage to his first wife was one of convenience only, and that he had mainly been concerned about her giving him sons.
Nicole had begun to worry that he had not married her for the right reasons, but just because he needed sons.
She knew how important it was to the Navaho to have children. Some whites called them a “vanishing people” because so many had been slain by the cavalry.
Of course, both girls and boys were needed to build the numbers of the Navaho again, but it was sons that Eagle Wolf always spoke of.
When she had told him her fears on this, that he might have married her for the wrong reasons, he had taken her quickly into his arms and convinced her otherwise. He had spoken softly and sweetly to her and made love in a way that left no doubt as to his feelings for her.
She no longer worried about his reasons for marrying her. She knew now that he loved her for herself. Having children with her would only be something that would make their relationship even more precious.
“Nicole?”
Dancing Snow Feather’s sweet voice broke through Nicole’s thoughts. “What did you say, Dancing Snow Feather?” Nicole asked, pausing for a moment in her bread making.
