Page 12 of Finding Her


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"No, we never even seem, but we sure did hear him, and so did our horses."

"Then he's still around."

"I reckon so."

"Then be on your way boys, as I have business to attend to." Aiden told them and packed up his things and was off.

"Them folks with you?" The man asked as he spotted the woman pouring the rest of the coffee out. It was the way he was looking at Mrs. Winters that alerted Aiden to what was on his mind.

"Yeah, they are." Aiden nodded.

"Think we could get a bite to eat, before we leave?"

"Help yourself, there's fatback and biscuits."

They ate and went on their way.

"Why did you feed those thieves?" Gloria asked him as she watched them leave, one stared back at her.

"They were hungry for one thing. And I don't like leaving any man hungry in this time of year." Aiden smiled. "In the weather, not feeding a person is like leaving them with to die. And men like that, if you don't treat them well, they have a way of remembering. I don't want a knife in my back some night."

"You mean they'd kill us?"

"Ma'am up here only the strong survive. The minute you become vulnerable, you are in trouble. You treat everyone with a bit of kindness and understanding and you got a lot less trouble. We have a long trip ahead."

"I didn't like the way he was looking at me."

Aiden shook his head, "Can't fault a man for appreciating a good-looking woman, now can you?"

Gloria stared at him. She stared at Aiden for a long moment. Her husband still said nothing. He wondered about him. He seemed like a nice enough character, but he kept still a lot. Aiden couldn’t figure him. He knew if he hadn't been with them, those men would have raped her and killer her husband. But he wasn't about to tell them that. He had enough to contend with the weather and the thought that a hungry cat was lurking about.

A week later Aiden was still roaming the Black Hills trying to locate the ever-elusive White Silver Fox. There were no tracking marks in the snow that kept getting deeper, the higher they went.

He ran into a trapper and his Indian wife a few days later and they took shelter together. The trapper was quite talkative, but the Winters preferred keeping to themselves.

"What are you doing with those people," the trapper asked.

"They're looking for their child, she was stolen by the Indians they think. The Sioux."

"Ain't no place for folks like that. They don't look like they know what they are doing out here." The trapper shook his head.

"They don't." Aiden chuckled. "What's your name friend?"

"Name's Angus, and that there is my wife, her name's Little Foot, but I call her Pumpkin."

"Is she Blackfoot?" Aiden asked.

"How'd you know?"

"I figured because of her earrings. She's kind of pretty."

"Yeah, she's a looker. I had to fight off two suitors for her and trade everything I owned for her, but I was bound to have her for my own. We got married by the chief. Been together five years now. Best woman I ever had. She can cook too."

"Where you two headed?"

"I got some trading to do w

ith the Cheyenne, but they've been moving around so much, it's hard to locate them." He explained. "The Cheyenne and the Sioux. It seems they are either hiding or moving about a lot."

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