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Brave Wolf saw the fear in her eyes.
He placed a gentle hand on her cheek. “Do not let fear of the unknown do this to you,” he said quietly. “Let us go and see if we can discover how he escaped. Then we can decide our next step.”
Mary Beth nodded.
She gazed over at the colonel, whose eyes were filled with the same fire she saw in Brave Wolf’s, then walked on between them until they reached the tree where they had last seen Colonel Downing.
All that was left of his captivity were the pieces of his wife’s dress that had been used to tie him to the tree.
Brave Wolf bent to his haunches and picked up one of the strips. He studied it, then handed it up to Colonel Anderson. “No knife was used to cut these. It is not a clean cut,” he said, reaching for a sharp rock that lay close to the trunk of the tree. “No. He did not use a knife, nor did anyone else use one to release him. He somehow managed to get this sharp rock close enough to cut the cloth in two.”
“I wonder when,” Mary Beth said, looking guardedly from side to side. “He might still be near, watching us.”
Brave Wolf studied the ground. “Blood,” he said. “There is blood here.”
“What could it mean?” Mary Beth gasped, paling at the sight of the blood.
Brave Wolf gave her a quiet look, then studied everything around him again. He noticed crushed leaves and bent grass which had not been damaged by him, Mary Beth, or Colonel Anderson. He could tell that whoever had stepped there was going away from the tree, not toward it.
He stood and looked at the trail the colonel had left. He began stealthily following it and saw more drops of blood.
Mary Beth hurried up next to him, with Colonel Anderson soon at her other side. “What do you see?” she asked, trying to see what Brave Wolf was following. She shivered at the sight of more blood.
“I have always been skilled at tracking,” he said, glancing up at Mary Beth for a moment, then studying the path again. “Colonel Downing walked where we are now walking. But do you see? He did not walk in a straight line. He seemed to be staggering.”
“From weakness? Or from having been harmed by an animal?” Mary Beth asked, shivering.
“From weakness would be my guess,” Brave Wolf said, then walked to the edge of the forest, where the trail of blood led out into the beautiful wild-flowers. There he lost it because the flowers were too thick to see through to the ground. But he did see in which direction some were bent. That was where the colonel had surely walked.
“We shall make better time on horses,” Brave Wolf said, turning to hurry to his steed.
Mary Beth ran to keep up with him and was soon on her horse, riding between Brave Wolf and Colonel Anderson, with the contingent of soldiers and warriors following close at hand.
“There he is!” Mary Beth cried, catching sight of someone just pushing himself up from the covering of flowers. “He surely fell there and was resting before moving onward. He had to have heard the approaching horses. See how he teeters even now as he tries to stumble back away from us? He is trying to run. Now he is falling again!”
They hurried onward and when they reached the colonel, found a pitiful sight. He lay where he’d fallen, his clothes in shreds, his eyes swollen and red. He cowered as Brave Wolf and Colonel Anderson dismou
nted and went to stand over him.
“Don’t hurt me,” Colonel Downing cried. “Just help me. Please . . . help . . . me.”
Mary Beth dismounted and went to stand beside Colonel Anderson as Brave Wolf knelt down beside Colonel Downing. She gasped and covered her mouth with a hand when she saw his bloody leg, where it was obvious that he’d been bitten.
“Coyotes came,” Colonel Downing sobbed as he gazed down at his swollen leg. “They surrounded me. They attacked. But thank God, only one actually bit me. Then they left.”
Colonel Anderson went and knelt down beside the ailing colonel. Together, he and Brave Wolf got Colonel Downing to his feet, then helped him to Mary Beth’s horse and into the saddle.
After he was there, he leaned low and clung to the pommel. “Thank you,” he breathed out. “Thank you, thank you . . .”
Brave Wolf handed the man the reins, then went back to Mary Beth. “You can ride with me,” he said. “I could not make him walk to the fort. Not in his condition.”
“I understand,” Mary Beth said, already knowing the depth of his goodness, even toward an avowed enemy.
She went with him. He lifted her onto his horse, then positioned himself behind her as Colonel Anderson mounted and edged his horse closer to Brave Wolf’s. “Now what should the plan be?” he asked. “Finding him like this changes things somewhat.”
“You have trusted soldiers who work as scouts, do you not?” Brave Wolf asked, looking over his shoulder at the soldiers.
“Yes. What are you suggesting?” Colonel Anderson asked.
