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“William, I have a problem,” she said, frowning.
“What sort?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I need to answer a call of nature,” she said, forcing a grimace on her face to make her suffering look real. “Can you please turn your eyes away while . . . while I . . . well, you know.”
She could see how uneasy that made the colonel, and how his face flushed.
He laughed nervously, then nodded. “Do not be long about it,” he said. “Remember the dangers.”
“I will not feel right doing it . . . here . . . so close to you,” Mary Beth said, again forcing a grimace so that he would believe she was desperate for relief. “William, please understand that I will only feel right if I step farther into the trees. Please, oh, please understand that I am a shy woman.”
“I have not spied anything suspicious, so I believe it will be safe. Yes, my dear, go as far as you must to feel comfortable with your . . . er . . . chore,” he said, his face reddening even more.
“But please turn your back,” she said, ducking her head to pretend shyness. “I have never been in such a predicament before. I am . . . oh, so . . . embarrassed.”
“Don’t be,” the colonel said. He quickly turned his back to her. “Hurry on, Mary Beth. Please get it done as quickly as possible. I shall worry about you every moment my eyes are not on you.”
“Yes, I understand, and I appreciate your concern,” Mary Beth said.
She dropped her handful of flowers and nodded toward Brave Wolf as a way to tell him to meet her halfway.
She ran into the woods then and flung herself into his arms.
“I can’t believe you are here,” she said, only loud enough for him to hear. “Why did you come? It is like a miracle sent directly from heaven.”
“I was concerned,” he said thickly. “I had to make sure you were safe.”
“Thank God you did.”
“What about David? Did the colonel and his soldiers find your son?” he asked.
She hung her head. “No,” she said, her voice breaking.
He lifted her chin with a finger. “But you are safe now,” he said. “You are here for me to touch, for me to hold.”
She framed his face between her hands. “I have something I must tell you,” she murmured.
She explained about the colonel’s plans, her own scheme to learn the details of the attack, and how the colonel had a wedding planned.
Mary Beth saw the hatred in Brave Wolf’s eyes and was not surprised.
“But nothing he has planned for me will happen now,” she said, reaching up and hugging Brave Wolf.
“We have to get the colonel to come into the forest,” she said. “We must make sure that no one from the fort sees what we are going to do. When he gets here, you can tie him up, and then we can leave! By the time the soldiers find him, we will be safely at your village. You can get your warriors ready for the attack.”
Then her smile faded. “As soon as the colonel is found, he will bring his soldiers to your village,” she said, her voice drawn.
“No one will find him for a while,” Brave Wolf said. “We will have time to prepare ourselves to stop the slaughter that he has planned.”
“Call for him,” Brave Wolf then said. “Pretend that your skirt is caught on briars. He will come to help you.”
While Brave Wolf readied his rifle, she shouted at Colonel Downing.
“William, oh, William, I am afraid that I am in trouble in another way!” she cried. “My skirt is caught on dreadful briars. I . . . I . . . can’t get it freed. Can you come and help me?”
She held her breath when he shouted back that he was coming.
Brave Wolf hid behind a tree. A moment later Colonel Downing appeared with a rifle in his left hand, a questioning look on his face when he saw that she was not even near briars, much less caught in them.
