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“I do not believe there will be an actual fight,” Mary Beth said, walking from the tepee with an armful of wrapped bread while Dancing Butterfly walked beside her carrying the heavy pot of stew. “When the soldiers at Fort Henry see how many are approaching them, and especially see that among them are white soldiers with Colonel Anderson at their head, they will not even attempt to fight. They will surrender immediately.”
“You do not know that for certain,” Dancing Butterfly said, giving Mary Beth a worried frown.
Mary Beth swallowed hard, for it was true that she was not certain of anything, except that she would not stay behind. After all, she was part of the reason behind this fight.
Only tomorrow would tell whether or not she had made the right decision.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Love knows nothing of order.
—Saint Jerome
The morning air was filled with a hazy fog, making it almost impossible to see a foot ahead of them as the soldiers and Crow warriors rode toward Fort Henry.
Mary Beth felt proud to be a part of the group. She had feared that when it came down to the final decision, Brave Wolf would not allow it.
But he had seen the pleading in her eyes and had heard the longing in her voice when she explained how she wanted a role in the demise of Colonel Downing.
It was not because of anything he had done to her personally, because he had actually wanted what was best for her. But it was the venom she had heard in his voice when he was plotting against Brave Wolf. The colonel wanted to kill as many Indians as he could with the manpower of his soldiers.
At heart, he was a vicious, prejudiced man.
She still could not understand how he had been given back his command after being arrested for attacking an innocent Crow village.
Only last night she had learned from Colonel Anderson that Colonel Downing had been reinstated because he had relatives in Washington who had spoken up for him.
As the morning sun broke through the fog, Mary Beth jumped with alarm when far to her left a large herd of elk were startled, their sharp hooves stirring a swirling cloud of dust, their white rumps looking like war bonnets.
Then Mary Beth looked behind her and saw the many soldiers who rode side by side with the warriors. She felt goosebumps rising on her arms to see their camaraderie . . . to see the soldiers and the warriors together in such force . . . as allies. She could not help wondering why it couldn’t be that way with all whites and Indians. Then there would be no more bloodshed between them.
She gazed ahead again, and sighed when she saw what seemed to be a dreamland. The sun slanted through the trees at her left side, where the meadow reached into a forest of mixed aspens and cottonwoods. Growing there were the same wildflowers that she had been plucking when Brave Wolf rescued her from Colonel Downing.
She glanced over at Brave Wolf, who was just now telling Colonel Anderson about where he had left Colonel Downing.
She drew a tight rein when Brave Wolf and Colonel Anderson stopped, a command being sent behind them which stopped all the warriors and soldiers.
“We shall go and see if he is still there. If so, our chore will be much easier,” Brave Wolf said, dismounting. He gazed at Colonel Anderson as he swung himself out of his saddle, then looked over at Mary Beth. “Come. I know you also want to see what Colonel Downing’s fate is.”
“Thank you,” Mary Beth said, sliding into his hands as he reached up to help her from the saddle. She glanced nervously into the thickness of the forest, then into Brave Wolf’s eyes. “Do you think he is still there, or do you think he’s been rescued and is even now at Fort Henry plotting against you?”
Brave Wolf dropped to his haunches and studied the ground around him, then looked ahead at the grass that grew up to the lovely meadow of flowers.
He ran a hand over the grass and ground, then glanced up at Mary Beth, and then at Colonel Anderson. “I see no sign of many horses coming through here, which there would be if a search party had come this way,” he said. “It is my guess that he is still there.”
“What a surprise he will get when he sees us returning, and not alone, but with Colonel Anderson,” Mary Beth said, smiling. She turned to Colonel Anderson. “I’m so glad that you realize the depth of this man’s prejudices and are ready to see that he is relieved of his duties forever, not only for a short while.”
“Yes, it will delight me to do this,” Colonel Anderson said, his jaw tight. His eyes narrowed angrily. “Just let this sonofabitch’s relatives in Washington try and save him this time. I shall go to Washington myself if need be, to speak against him and his relatives.”
“Come. Let us go now and get the man,” Brave Wolf said, standing and resting his hand on his sheathed knife. “I am the one who tied him. I shall be the one to set him free.”
“But not to true freedom,” Mary Beth said, wading through the tall grass and knee-high ferns. “He deserves what he will get, and perhaps even worse.”
They walked silently onward, and when they came to a break in the trees, where they could see the tree to which they had tied the colonel, Mary Beth gasped and went pale.
“He is gone,” she said, her voice breaking. “Someone did come and find him. Oh, Lord, how long has he been gone? Is it enough time that he has gotten his soldiers ready to attack?”
She turned to Brave Wolf and grabbed him by the arm. “Could he have gone a different route and already arrived at your village, Brave Wolf?” she gasped out.
