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He ran a hand over one of her cheeks, leaned down and kissed her, then rose slowly to his full height. He stretched his arms and yawned, but fought off sleep. That would be a luxury he must wait for later. He could not be all that certain that Paul Brown could be trusted not to tell about Lauralee helping him escape. And how was Paul going to explain Dancing Cloud’s absence unless he knew well the art of lying?
Because of his mistrust of all Yankees Dancing Cloud grabbed his rifle. He walked determinedly toward a rise in the land a few yards from where Lauralee trustingly slept. From that vantage point he could see for miles where a meadow stretched out before him, a thick forest at his back.
He sat down beside a cedar tree that was warped by the wind of centuries. It was bent and hunched into the shape of a crone, an eerie chanting old woman of the rain, wind, snow, and sun.
Laying his rifle across his lap, Dancing Cloud leaned his back against the bent cedar tree. Reaching inside his fringed jacket pocket he gathered up several juniper berries into the palm of his hand. He had accumulated a good supply of these berries from evergreen shrubs in the forest and had placed them in his pocket.
One by one he chewed on the berries, six to ten each day recommended. The berry was good for digestion. It also warded off sickness and weakness, and kept the mind awake and clear, which was essential now that they were running from the law. He could not see Sheriff Decker allowing him to escape that easily from his jail.
And it was up to Dancing Cloud to make sure that Sheriff Decker never caught up with him and Lauralee. Lauralee would be incarcerated like a common criminal, herself.
Dancing Cloud would never allow that to happen.
Even if he was forced to shoot and kill her Uncle Abner should he be among those who were a part of a posse.
Fighting off sleep as his eyelids grew heavy and his eyes burned, Dancing Cloud gave himself a shake, then looked slowly around him. They had just passed into Indiana a short while ago. It was daylight enough now to enjoy the beauty of the land.
Green. The wide stretch of the green meadow reaching out to the ho
rizon was beautiful and serene.
Green. The symbol of everlasting life.
Dancing Cloud closed his eyes and thought of his home, missing his people and his home in his mountains with every fiber of his being. The sprigs of green, the whir of a rattle, the shush-shush of ankle bells, the lift and stamp of feet....
A sound in the distance drew him from his reverie. His eyes quickly opened and he jumped to his feet. He listened again for the sound that had come to him like muffled, distant thunder.
Clutching the rifle in one hand, he cupped his other hand over his eyes and surveyed the horizon before him. His heartbeat quickened and he went numbly cold inside when he saw several horsemen approaching. They were far enough away so that they looked just like dots on the horizon.
But still they were there and Dancing Cloud did not have to think about who it might be.
He knew.
Sheriff Decker and a posse had managed to find the route of Dancing Cloud and Lauralee’s travel!
Thoughts of Paul Brown came quickly to his mind again. He had surely allowed Dancing Cloud and Lauralee to leave Mattoon so that he could lead the posse to them and take on the appearance of a white man’s “hero.”
But for now he cast all blame aside. He and Lauralee had no time to waste.
He broke into a run down the slight incline. He hoped that neither Sheriff Decker, nor those men who made up the posse, had the ability to sniff out an actual trail made by Dancing Cloud and Laura1ee’s horses.
He hoped that it had only been a good guess that had led them this close.
If it was the latter, Dancing Cloud still felt hopeful that he and Lauralee could elude Sheriff Decker and his men long enough so that they would tire of the search and return to Mattoon empty-handed.
“Lauralee,” Dancing Cloud whispered harshly, bending over to give her a slight shake. “O-ge-ye, wake up. We must leave. I have spied Sheriff Decker in the distance. He brings with him many men.”
The name Sheriff Decker drew Lauralee instantly awake. She rubbed her eyes and jumped to her feet.
Disoriented by having been awakened so suddenly, she moved in one direction, stopped, then moved in another.
Wild-eyed, she gazed up at Dancing Cloud as he came and steadied her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m frightened,” she cried. “They will surely catch up with us now, Dancing Cloud. What will they do to us?”
Angry over Lauralee having been put in the position to be this afraid, Dancing Cloud’s fingers gripped more tightly to the rifle, so tight that his knuckles were rendered white.
“Always before you have shown such strength and bravery in the face of danger,” he said thickly. “Reach inside yourself and find the same strength now. To escape these men we must keep a level head.”
