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She gestured with her free hand toward Dancing Cloud’s horse. “Don’t you see?” she said. “Dancing Cloud owns only one horse. If he was guilty of having stolen the white stallion and I went along with that theft, don’t you think the stallion would be tied to the wagon so that Dancing Cloud could take it with him now to his home in the mountains?”
“That’s where you’re headed tonight?” Paul asked, his voice guarded. “After helpin’ the Indian escape, you are going with him?”
“Yes, that’s my plan,” Lauralee said, worrying now about how long it was taking to convince Paul that Dancing Cloud should not be taken back into the jail. She also realized that someone besides herself and Dancing Cloud now knew the direction of their travel should Paul allow them to leave.
“Paul, I give my word that Dancing Cloud is innocent,” Lauralee blurted. “Please believe me. And stop and think about what might happen if he stays here after everyone finds out that he’s in jail. The word about town that he’s a Rebel and an Indian horse thief could stir up a lynch mob. He might not even live long enough to have a trial.”
The sound of people shouting and seeing the great reflection of the fire against the dark heavens made Lauralee grow even more tense. “We’re leaving, Paul,” she said, firming her jaw. “If you shoot Dancing Cloud you might as well turn the same firearm on me. I would rather die than live without Dancing Cloud.”
“Lauralee, I’m the law,” Paul said, shuffling his feet nervously. “I can’t just let you ride away. I must abide by my duties as a lawman.”
“Like I said, Paul, the only way you can stop me and Dancing Cloud is to shoot us,” she said. She took Dancing Cloud’s hand and walked with him toward the horse and buggy, his horse standing obediently beside it.
She held her breath and prayed over and over again that Paul Brown was not the sort to want glory over capturing an escaped criminal as well as capture the one who was guilty of helping with the escape.
She hoped that he cared enough for her to let her go.
If not, there was not much more she could do about it. Stopping short of getting on her knees and begging Paul she had said all that she could.
Her knees weak, her breathing shallow, and her fingers trembling, she eased her hand from Dancing Cloud’s. She watched him swing into his saddle.
Then she stepped up into her buggy, plopped down on the seat, and grabbed her reins.
Her eyes locked with Paul’s.
They stared at each other for a moment longer.
When he nodded to her and clasped his hands behind himself, away from his firearms, tears streamed from her eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Oh, Paul, thank you.”
“God be with you on your long journey,” Paul said thickly.
Lauralee flicked tears from her eyes, smiled at him, then looked over her shoulder at Dancing Cloud. “Follow me,” she whispered. She had already mapped out the plans for her escape out of the city, where she and Dancing Cloud would be less apt to meet up with anyone else.
As she swung her wagon around and headed it south through a narrow alley, she turned and gave Paul a last lingering look.
When he gave her a mock salute, then walked on around the building so that she could no longer see him, she inhaled a shaky breath and snapped her reins and rode away.
When she got to the far edge of Mattoon she took another look over her shoulder. The orange spray of the fire’s reflection in the sky drew her eyes upward.
“Uncle Abner, you’ll never know who saved you the cost of demolishing your new-bought structure, will you?” she whispered, then laughed softly and rode onward, Dancing Cloud riding ahead of her. He had taken his rifle from its gun boot at the side of the horse. The faint rays of the moon reflected in its barrel.
Chapter 23
Each star is to me a sealed book,
Some tale of that loved one keeping.
—MRS. CRAWFORD
“Do you think it is truly safe enough now to make camp?” Lauralee asked as Dancing Cloud made her a bed of green boughs, upon which he spread a blanket. She hugged herself, chilled and cramped by the coolness of the night air.
“As long as we do not make a campfire I feel that should a posse be after us, we will be safe enough for you to get some rest,” Dancing Cloud said, drawing her into his embrace. He held her against him, touched to the very core of himself at the lengths she had gone to save him. “We have far to go, o-ge-ye. To survive the journey, you must get adequate rest.”
Lauralee leaned limply against him. The warmth of his body melding into hers through her clothes made her feel better already. She closed her eyes and found herself drifting off. Then Dancing Cloud carried her to the bed of boughs and lay her gently upon it.
Smiling down at her peaceful sweetness, he drew another blanket over her and tucked it lovingly beneath her chin, and then snuggled it closer to her body on all sides.
