[Texas Rangers 03] - The Way of the Coyote (26 page)

When his brother returned. Andy asked, "What do we do now?"

"We rest. We wait. We can do nothing until Fights with Bears and his family are asleep."

"Do you know for certain where Billy is?"

"He is in their lodge. They keep him tied because he tries to run away. I wonder about his intelligence. Even if he were to escape and not be found, by himself he would soon starve. The boy does not reason well."

"He has the stubborn will of the Monahans." Andy did not know how to explain the fierce independence of the family who had suffered so much because they stood by their unpopular convictions. He said, "They have much in common with the Comanches."

That was explanation enough for Steals the Ponies. "Sleep now. You will have little time for it later. You have far to travel."

So much was running through Andy's mind that he did not expect to sleep at all. However, when his brother shook his shoulder gently to awaken him, he was surprised to see that it was dark outside.

His brother said, "It will soon be time. You must eat now."

Andy did not feel like eating. He burned with excitement over what was coming. Steals the Ponies said, "You will need strength. Eat."

Andy forced himself to down the leftover meat from the previous evening.

Steals the Ponies said, "I have been to the lodge of Fights with Bears. Not everything is as we would want it to be. One of the children is sick."

"Billy?"

"One of the others. But when a child is sick, its mother does not sleep well. It will be difficult for me to crawl into the lodge without arousing the family."

If caught, Steals the Ponies would be expelled from the band at the very least. He and his family would be outcasts. Andy said, "That is not for you to do. It is for me."

"I am pleased to see that you have much courage. I would be more pleased if I saw that you were also blessed with much judgment."

Andy asked, "Do you know where the boy will be sleeping?"

"I have seen him tied to a lodge pole." Steals the Ponies picked up a stick and drew a circle in the sand to represent the interior of a tepee. He pointed out the front flap, then moved the point of the stick around the perimeter and stabbed it into the ground. "This is where I have seen him. I suspect the other children are placed around him at night to make it difficult for him to escape."

"Once I have freed him, what then?"

"I will have two horses for you. The sorrel on which you came and another for the boy."

"What about his pony?"

"It will not travel fast enough. I have other use for the pony and the tracks it makes."

Andy did not understand. His brother explained, "I will take another horse and lead the pony southward. That is the direction Fights with Bears would expect. I will leave a clear trail. When I have misled him far enough, my trail will disappear. I will circle back to camp while he is still looking for my tracks."

"But south is where I need to go with the boy."

"Not at first. You will ride eastward in the creek where you will not leave a trail. You must travel far before you leave the creek."

"That would put us into the settlements a long way east of where the boy's family lives."

"But east from where Fights with Bears will be looking for you."

Andy could see flaws in his brother's plan, but it was better than anything he had been able to think up. It had all the marks of the trickster, the coyote.

Much depended upon Andy's being able to get the boy out of the tepee without arousing the family. Beyond that, much depended upon being able to fool Fights with Bears.

He said, "I hope he is not very smart."

"He has been in many battles. Not one has he lost."

T
he moon provided light enough for Andy to see that the tepee skins were rolled up a foot or so from the bottom to allow fresh air to pass through. He would be able to crawl in where he chose rather than have to enter through the front flap and feel his way around. He looked behind him but could not see Steals the Ponies. He had the comfort of faith that his brother was back there somewhere, holding two pairs of horses.

From inside he could hear loud snoring. He guessed it came from Fights with Bears. That was gratifying. But not so welcome were the sounds of a child's cough and a woman's calming whisper. Andy lay on his stomach at the tepee's edge, listening, his skin prickling with impatience.

He waited until some time had passed since the last cough. He began to drag himself forward slowly, trying to make no sound. Somewhere a dog barked, and he froze. The child whimpered, causing him to wait again, half in and half out of the lodge.

As his eyes adjusted to the interior's poor light, he was able to see the sleepers. The largest he took to be Fights with Bears, lying on his back, snoring again after having lain on his side for a while. Next to him lay one of his wives. Andy sought out the second wife. She lay among the children. He assumed that the sick child was one of hers.

It took him some time to be sure which of the other dark lumps was Billy. He was not quite in the place Steals the Ponies had indicated in his rough dirt sketch. Billy's hands were tied above his head, a leather thong binding them to a tepee pole. He lay with his feet together. Andy suspected they were also bound.

He began backing out of the tepee but bumped against one of the other children. The child grunted and raised up on one elbow. Andy lay still, barely daring to breathe, until the child settled down and resumed sleep. Then he crawled free of the tepee, backwards, and inched his way around to the pole where Billy was tied.

Billy stirred restlessly. He appeared to be asleep, but Andy knew he could not he comfortable with his hands lashed above his head. If startled, he was likely to cry out and awaken the family. Andy dragged himself inside the tepee just far enough to reach Billy. Gripping his knife in a cold-sweaty hand, he cut the thong attached to the pole. His hands suddenly free, Billy brought them down in reflex and opened his eyes in surprise.

Andy clamped a hand over Billy's mouth before the boy could do more than grunt. Billy stared wildly at him and for a few seconds fought to pull free.

"Shhh," Andy hissed, softly as he could.

Billy calmed. Andy removed the hand and crooked his finger, silently beckoning. He began backing out of the tepee. Hands and feet still tied, Billy wriggled after him.

The sick child coughed and cried out. Instantly its mother was awake, speaking gently. She dipped a cloth into a bowl of water and laid it across the fevered face. Andy froze again and motioned for Billy to do the same.

Fights with Bears gave a loud grunt and pushed himself up on one arm. He demanded, "Can you not keep that girl quiet? I want to sleep."

The child's mother did not take the comment in good grace. She answered with a sharp retort. Andy feared the two would become too angry with one another to go back to sleep. But the man grunted something unintelligible and lay back down. In a few minutes the child became quiet, and its mother stretched out beside it.

Andy feared she was not asleep. She might not sleep the rest of the night. He could not afford to wait too long. After a few minutes he began crawling again, inches at a time. Billy came along after him. It seemed an hour before the boy was out of the tepee. Andy cut the leather thong that bound Billy's hands, then the one that tied his feet.

Billy recognized him in the dim light of the half moon. "Andy!"

Andy shushed him again and beckoned for him to follow. Billy was awkward on his feet. He fell to hands and knees. Being tied had cut his circulation and numbed his arms and legs. Andy lifted the boy up and carried him in the direction where Steals the Ponies would be waiting. Billy clung desperately to his neck.

Andy's brother stood in the edge of the creek, holding four horses. He appeared much relieved. "It took you a long time," he said. "I feared you had entered the wrong lodge"

Billy reacted with fear to Steals the Ponies. Andy whispered, "Don't be afraid. This is my brother."

Billy did not understand that. Andy would explain it to him later, when they were far from here.

Steals the Ponies said, "Put the boy on this horse. He is one of best I have. I hope he can ride without a saddle."

"He can. He will."

Billy recognized his own pony and asked why he could not ride it. That was something else Andy would have to explain later. For the moment he said only, "This is your horse now." He mounted Long Red.

Steals the Ponies swung up onto a third horse. He had a leather rope around the neck of Billy's pony. "Remember," he admonished, "follow the creek eastward. If the spirits are with us, it will be daylight before Fights with Bears knows the boy is gone. I will see that the pony leaves good, clear tracks for him to follow."

Andy felt as if he would choke. The breach between him and The People, already broad, would be irretrievably unbridgeable after this.

He grasped his brother's arm. "You have done a brave thing for me."

"But it is the last thing I can ever do for you. With what you do tonight, you have chosen the white man's road. You are no longer Comanche."

"It is a hard thing to know that I may never see you again."

Steals the Ponies's voice was grave. "Perhaps we will see each other in another world, less troubled than this one. Now go. Do not look back."

Andy did look back, once. He saw Steals the Ponies ride up out of the creek, leading Billy's pony. Moving southward, he was quickly lost from sight.

Billy asked, "Why do we ride in the water?"

"So we don't leave tracks."

"Your brother leaves tracks."

"So they will follow him, not us."

"Are you takin' me home, Andy?"

"That's my intention."

"They killed Granddaddy Vince."

"I know."

"He had a watch. It looked like the one you're wearin' around your neck."

"I'm takin' it home, too. Now, let's don't talk for a while. Let's just ride."

* * *

It seemed beyond reason to ride eastward when all his instincts tried to pull him south, but he recognized his brother's wisdom. Fights with Bears would expect the escapees to flee southward. The false trail created by Steals the Ponies would bear him out.

Andy recognized that his brother was running some risk, but he felt that Steals the Ponies was wily enough to avoid being caught. At some point he would see to it that his trail came to an end. He would circle back to camp and be the picture of innocence when Fights with Bears finally returned empty-handed. By that time Andy and Billy should be beyond reach.

Daylight gave Andy his first clear look at the boy. Billy's back showed quirt marks. His face was bruised and swollen.

"Treated you pretty mean, didn't they?" he said.

"They wanted me to cry, and I did, a little. Pretty soon I found out that when I cried they hurt me more, especially that big ugly one. Never could figure out what his name was."

"It'd take you a week to learn his Comanche name. In English you'd call him Fights with Bears."

"He's the one killed Granddaddy Vince. We didn't know where they came from. All at once they were there. After that ugly one killed Granddaddy, I thought he was fixin' to kill me, too. But he whipped me and tied me to my pony."

"Figured on makin' a slave out of you, or maybe a warrior if you showed enough fight."

"Is that what happened to you?"

Andy searched his memory. "Pretty much. It was a long time ago."

"You didn't have anybody to come after you and take you back?"

"They tried, but they didn't know where I'd be. I had some notion where I might find you."

"I'm glad. I don't want to live with the Indians. I just want to go home to Mama and Daddy."

"That's where I'm takin' you."

The creek gradually narrowed, its flow shallow and sluggish. Andy suspected by mid-morning that it had about run its course. After several hours of traveling in a generally easterly direction he thought it should he safe to turn south. Even assuming the unlikely proposition that Fights with Bears had seen through the ploy, Andy figured he and Billy had a long lead.

He came to a bend where gravel had accumulated in times of high water. "Here's where we'll quit the water. We won't leave much of a track."

Billy said, "I'm hungry."

Andy handed over a bit of pemmican his sister-in-law had given him. "It may not taste like your mother's cookin', but the hungrier you are the better it gets."

Riding up out of the creek, Andy stopped for a long look around. He did not expect pursuit, but it would be dangerous to take too much for granted. Billy responded in kind to his concern.

"They after us?"

"I don't see a thing, not a buffalo, not even a prairie chicken."

"I wish we had us a prairie chicken right now."

"Eat what I gave you."

He had to fight down a temptation to run the horses. Instinct told him to put as much distance behind them as possible, but they had a long way to go. It would not be done in a day, or even two. The horses had to be spared if they were to go all the way.

Once Andy saw half a dozen horsemen on the horizon. His pulse raced. He dropped down the side of a low hill and quickly dismounted. "Get down, Billy. Maybe they didn't see us."

"Indians? You think they're after us?"

"Probably a huntin' party, after buffalo. But they might settle for us."

"If they're Comanche, can't you talk to them?"

"They might not be Comanche. And if they are, they may be friends of Fights with Bears."

In a little while the riders were gone. Andy found himself sweating more than the afternoon sun would justify. He said, "Some people claim this country is empty. But they never rode across it hopin' not to see anybody."

At dusk Andy saw the light of a fire directly in his path.

"We'd better wait for night, then go around," he said. "No tellin' who that might be."

Billy asked worriedly, "You think they're lookin' for us?"