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A month had passed since their night of lovemaking in the beautiful white tepee. The day was cool, the breeze somewhat nippy. High Hawk and Joylynn had just stepped from their lodge.
“Are you certain you feel comfortable letting Andrew leave?” Joylynn asked as she and High Hawk watched the former soldier walking with Two Stars.
“He has proven to be honest in all that he has said and done,” High Hawk said, still watching Andrew. “And the heavy snows of winter will begin falling soon. It is best that he leave now, or he will have to remain the winter with us.”
“Do you see anything wrong with him staying?” Joylynn asked as they started walking slowly toward Andrew. “He gets along with everyone, and he has such respect for the elderly.”
“It is the man’s talking leaves that bother me,” High Hawk said tightly. “The book that he calls his Bible. Too many children are showing interest in it. They gather around him as he reads from it. Our people’s God is Tirawahut. The children cannot ever forget that.”
“I believe he has chosen very carefully what he reads to them,” Joylynn murmured. At times she had stood close herself, listening. “What he reads are stories about children and their joy in the world.”
“I still see danger in the young man staying here,” High Hawk said.
“But isn’t there more danger in his leaving?” Joylynn asked. “What if he is made to tell where he’s been?”
“He has promised not to tell anyone, and I sense there is much honesty in his words and behavior,” High Hawk said. “His trust has been earned. It is time for him to return to his own world and seek his dream of becoming a preacher. He cannot fulfill that dream among my people. I will not allow it.”
Andrew had turned and seen them walking toward them, as had Two Stars.
They had both stopped and waited.
“I must do what my heart tells me to do,” High Hawk said, pausing a few feet from Andrew and Two Stars. High Hawk and Joylynn hugged Andrew in turn; then High Hawk placed a gentle hand on Andrew’s shoulder.
“Young brave, you have earned the right to your freedom,” High Hawk said. “You may go. Several of my warriors will accompany you down the mountain pass. When you are at the bottom of my mountain, you will be allowed to travel alone. You will have a horse and provisions enough to last until you find a white man’s town. But there is one thing I ask of you: Refrain from going anywhere near a white man’s fort. If you do, and the commander learns that you have been living among red men who ambushed soldiers, they will force you to tell them where our village is. I trust you enough now to know that you will not reveal such information.”
He looked at Andrew’s fringed outfit. It was made by Indian hands, yet he knew of some white scouts that wore the same, so he did not believe what Andrew wore would be a problem. His cavalry uniform had been burned long ago.
Andrew, seeming stunned by High Hawk’s decision, said nothing.
“Today you will leave,” High Hawk said. “It is important that you leave now in order to get off the mountain and find somewhere that you can call home before the frigid temperatures and snows of winter arrive. As you notice, today’s air is cooler than it has been. It is a warning of what is to come.”
Andrew’s eyes wavered as he looked at High Hawk, then at Joylynn, then at High Hawk again. “But I don’t want to leave,” he blurted out. “I am at peace here. I’m . . . happy. Can’t I stay?”
Two Stars spoke up. “This young brave has found a place among us, and I would feel a sadness inside my heart if he were to leave,” he said. “I understand why you are eager for him to depart. It is the Bible, is it not?”
“It is what he teaches from that Bible,” High Hawk said tightly.
“It is only a book, nothing more,” Two Stars said. “In it are words of his God. I have enjoyed hearing about it and being read to from it. But it has not altered my beliefs. Nor will it alter anyone else’s.”
“My Bible is precious to me because it was a gift from my mother,” Andrew said. “And it is my only possession. That is why I carry it with me at all times. If you allow me to stay, I promise not to preach from it.”
Andrew swallowed hard. “Please do not make me leave,” he said, his voice breaking. “My mother is gone. I am alone in the world. I feel that I have finally found another true home here. Can’t I stay among your people and live as one with them?”
Joylynn was relieved to know that this young man was sincere in every way toward the Pawnee.
She hugged him again, then stepped away from him and gazed into his eyes. “Andy, if you stay here, how can you become a preacher?” she asked. “You surely have the calling, for you know the Bible better than anyone I have ever met.”
“I can practice my kindness and caring amid the Pawnee people,” Andrew said. “I do not have to actually preach. It is my love for God that is important. I can spread that love amongst the children as I would if I were a preacher.”
Joylynn saw him glance at a pretty young woman of about his age. The girl blushed and lowered her lashes bashfully.
Joylynn smiled and gave Andrew another hug, whispering into his ear that she knew the true reason he wanted to stay. As she stepped away from him, she saw how he blushed and nodded at what she had said.
Seeing that Joylynn seemed so impressed by the young man, and so trusting of him, High Hawk placed a hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “I give you my blessing to stay, if that is what you truly wish to do,” he said, looking at the pretty young girl. Although it had happened quickly, Rose had most certainly become the object of Andrew’s deepest affection.
High Hawk did not resent their obvious feelings for one another. Had he himself not been drawn into loving a white woman as quickly as it seemed that Andrew had grown to love Rose, and she him?
“I also give my blessing on your feelings for one of our Pawnee maidens,” he said, surprising not only Andrew, but also Joylynn and Two Stars.
