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The Comanche at one point camped beneath the very trees where they were and never found them thanks to Bended Knees quick thinking. They sang songs, played their drums, and even danced a small war dance. Their confidence was high, Bended Knee observed.
For five days, they stayed in the trees. Eve was so stiff when they came down she could hardly walk. Little Eagle scouted about the forest before Bended Knee would consider letting them go back to the homestead.
"They won't return will they?" She asked Bended Knee.
"They are looking for us now. They will camp somewhere close by scouting daily for you, until they give up the hunt and go home. However, they won't return to the homestead more than likely. After we have scouted to make sure it is safe, we can go home."
Eve sighed. Yes but to what?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hawk and Jinx had made good time. Jinx had three mules and had packed them full of supplies for everyone. He was happy to be retiring and even more so to have a home close to Hawk and his new family. For years he had dreaded the time when he could no longer work and he would live out his days in misery with no one. However, Hawk had changed that, now he looked forward to the rest of his life, because he knew he wouldn't be alone.
Hawk had told him of the marriage ceremony and how happy Eve was. He told him about the baby too.
"Then I'm gonna be a grandpa, again am I?"
"We suspect it could be twins." Hawk told him with pride.
"Twins! Wonderful." Jinx had laughed.
"We gotta hurry, if she's alone with only one Indian to protect her." Jinx told Hawk.
"Yes, we must." Hawk's worry was intensified now.
He felt something, but couldn’t identify it.
The need to get home bore down on him.
The first night they camped just the other side of the Red. Jinx looked down on the old River and a tear was in his eyes. "I worked for you a long time…" He said almost to himself.
"Do you hate leaving it?" Hawk asked him.
"No, it's time. I want to enjoy some of my life before it is over." He told him. "I can go fishing with Matthew, play games with Jane Ann, and learn to cook with Eve, and with you, we can hunt and enjoy life."
"That is why I wanted to come get you now. The winter might be harsh since last winter was not. And in spring the baby comes, so I felt now was best." Hawk explained.
"You know the Comanche has been raisin' hell, don't you?" Jinx told him.
Hawk tensed. "Where?"
"Everywhere I'm told. It's like that Mackenzie and Parker are at each other's throat. Quanah Parker is raiding anywhere he can, it's his last ditch effort at freedom and he knows it. And all his bands are doing the same. They are murdering anything that even looks white. You see Sherman, that northern soldier from the war, him and Mackenzie are doin' everything to tick the Comanche off. I hear the Comanche just about did the Apache in, in Texas at least. A bunch went to Arizona to
live, but they are killin' everything because Sherman got this big idea to starve them out by killin' all the buffalo. It worked pretty well too. They put a bounty on them and the hunters are thick as thieves. So you got the army, the Comanche and the buffalo skinners out to annihilate the world."
"If I'd have known that, I might not have left." Hawk said, his worry increasing by the moment as Jinx related the horrors.
"Once they get Parker, it will start to calm down, but somethin' does have to be done about them. All they seem to know these days is killin'." Jinx shook his head. "And it ain't a pretty sight, I'm told."
"Torture?" Hawk asked.
"Yep."
"We got some Comanche up our way too." Hawk told him.
"Well, son, don't fret about it. Most of this is takin' place in the panhandle of Texas, not Indian Territory." Jinx assured him.
"I hope you are right about that."
