Father, now you won’t get the pleasure of putting me in a madhouse as you did Mama. I can keep you from doing it.
For a moment more, she stood on the chair. All she wanted was peace and tranquility. Ghostly music seemed to echo around her. Couples waltzed by, laughing and talking. Punch cups clinked.
But when she closed her eyes, from somewhere in her tortured mind, savages came at her again. She had to escape from them before they caught her.
Winnifred stepped off the chair and kicked it out from under herself as she went. In that split second she regretted her action, reached frantically for the overturned chair with flaying feet, and grabbed vainly with frantic fingers at the sash around her neck. I didn’t mean it, I regret . . .
She hit the end of the sash with her full weight and felt her neck snap. In that heartbeat of eternity, gigantic savages came screaming up out of the flames of hell and surrounded her. . . .
When they searched every building for the missing girl the next day, it was Johnny Ace who finally found her hanging stiffly from the ceiling beam.
“Oh, my God!” For a long moment, he could only stare at the hideous, discolored face, the expression of terror etched there. What had she seen in that very last second?
He wished suddenly that every silly girl who had ever pictured a romantic death by suicide could see Winnifred’s distorted face, mouth hanging open in one last vain scream. In death, a body’s muscles relax. Winnifred’s fine dress was soaked with urine.
Johnny took a deep breath of the scent of her and staggered outside, gagging. He must not let the other women of the fort or her father see this. He went to find Major North. Together, they got the body down and covered it with a blanket before they sent word to the doctor and Manning Starrett that Winnifred had been found.
They buried her that afternoon in the little windswept cemetery outside the fort walls.
Frank North thought it was the saddest little procession he had ever participated in. Besides an honor guard, a chaplain, and a few curious people from the fort, there was only Johnny Ace, Manning Starrett, and himself walking along behind the horse-drawn wagon.
Starrett, hobbling with his cane, looked more annoyed than bereaved.
Only a plain, pine coffin, North noted to himself as the procession stopped and the soldiers lifted it off the wagon. Winnifred would be annoyed at such a crude box, such undistinguished company. He looked over at the grave next to it. Someone had carved out a wooden marker with a sun coming up over the prairie and the name.
The soldiers lowered the coffin into the grave that was waiting and the chaplain began his eulogy.
Frank North brushed away a fly that buzzed around his sweating face in the hot day. His body sweltered under the uniform. Would the minister never end? People were already shifting their feet restlessly, looking with longing eyes back toward the fort, sorry that they had let curiosity bring them out in the heat when there was beer and cold water from the well back up the path.
Finally the minister droned to a halt, shook hands with Manning Starrett, and mumbled his condolences. Then he and the curious began the walk back to the fort while the soldiers filled in the grave.
North watched Johnny Ace pick wild flowers along the neglected picket fence of the cemetery. The scout took a bunch over to place on Sunrise’s grave, and then as the grave diggers finished, he put a small bouquet on the fresh mound.
Johnny Ace. Of course he had carved the headboard –or had it done. It might seem strange to anyone else, a Pawnee making a marker for a Cheyenne’s grave, but then, Johnny was in love with Sunrise’s daughter.
The soldiers climbed up on the wagon. The scout looked at him. “Major?”
North shook his head. “You men go on back. I’ll stay here a few minutes with Mr. Starrett.”
“But God damn it to hell, send a buggy back out here!” Starrett snapped. “I’m not in any shape to walk!”
“Do it.” North nodded, and watched the wagon drive away. “I am sorry, Mr. Starrett, I never thought about your legs until too late. It’s such an ingrained custom, walking behind the coffin–”
“Never mind! Just another example of bureaucratic bungling!”
North sighed and managed to control his temper. He must remember they were all very hot and tired and under stress;–particularly the father of the unfortunate girl. He said, “I’m so sorry about Winnifred. You have my deepest sympathy.”
Manning Starrett only grunted and leaned on his cane, staring at the fresh grave with its pitiful little bouquet of wild flowers as if he did not quite believe it.
North didn’t know what else to say, so he stood there awkwardly, hoping the soldier hurried back with the buggy
Somewhere in the silence, a quail called in the prairie grass: Bob white. Bob, bob white . . .
The breeze picked up a little. It felt good on his sweating face. On the flat Nebraska prairie, heat waves danced in the air when North looked out across the rippling waves of grass.
“Who’s this?” Manning Starrett stared at the next grave and reached out with his cane to tap the carved marker.
“Sunrise Woman.” North shrugged, wondering what difference it made. Was this bigot one of those who would insist on a segregated cemetery? Southerners had those, he remembered, “Mr. Starrett, I hope you aren’t about to object to Winnifred being buried next to a Cheyenne woman. We’re pretty democratic here at the fort–”
“Sunrise Woman?” Starrett leaned closer to stare at the marker. “Common enough name among Indians, I suppose.”
Why in the goddamn hell would he care? Watch it, Frank, you’re beginning to think like that bastard.
“She was just one of those Indian women who hang around Forts,” North said by way of explanation. “She died a few weeks ago.”
“Did she have a child?”
How did he know that? North nodded. “Yes, a very pretty girl named Luci. It means ‘Morning Star.’ ”
Starrett didn’t say anything for a long moment. “She couldn’t speak English well enough to say my name,” he whispered almost regretfully. “That’s what she called me.”
“Who?”
“Is this daughter about seventeen or eighteen?” Starrett looked at him.
Morning Star. Manning Starrett. The major stared back into the bright blue eyes, and recognized suddenly why the man had looked so familiar to him. Had he been blind not to see the resemblance between Starrett, Winnifred–and Luci? “You lousy sonovabitch!” He said without thinking.
But Starrett only smiled. “Major, we’ve got a lot of talking to do. Sounds to me like I’ve got a relative after all to look after me as I get worse.”
“And that’s all she is to you–a free nurse.”
“Don’t make moral judgments, Major.” He grinned, leaning on his cane. “I can offer her so much in exchange for looking after me.”
Now it was Frank North’s turn to grin. “Starrett, you’re too late with your generosity. Your daughter isn’t here. Luci’s run away to her mother’s people!”
But later, as they sat together in his office, North regretted his harshness toward Manning Starrett. Pouring his guest a drink, the major asked, “I suppose you’ll be going back to Denver now?”
The man didn’t even appear to have heard him. “Don’t know what got into Winnifred,” he said. “Crazy like her mother, I reckon.”
What did it matter, North thought, but for a moment he said nothing, he only sipped his drink. And then he let his indignation voice itself. “All these years, you could have come for Sunrise and her child, and you didn’t bother.”
“I was a married man,” Manning said, sipping his own drink. “What in the goddamn hell would you expect? Soldiers do it all the time and will always do it;–take up with any pretty girl until it’s time to move on.”
“Did you know there was a child?” He watched the other man’s once handsome face for some sign of human kindness or caring.
Starrett shrugged. “I heard. But I had n
o need of her. After all, I already had a legitimate daughter. Of course, if she had been a boy, I might have been tempted.”
“She’s a beauty, and a feisty girl–the kind of daughter any man should be proud to claim.”
Manning stared into his glass. “My only child,” he muttered. “I wonder if I found her, gave her my name everything that goes with it-”
“You’d be better off to hire a nurse.”
“Kin might not put me in a madhouse,” Manning whispered. “I’m horrified of dying in a madhouse like my wife. A daughter might find it hard to put me there.”
“You amaze me,” North said, standing up. “You just buried one daughter with no more emotion than if you’d buried a dog, and now you talk about the other one as if she’d rush to claim you as her father–”
“Wouldn’t she?” It was Starrett’s turn to grin as he leaned on his cane. “If she knew her rich father wanted to take her away to Denver to live like a princess, don’t you think she’d say yes?”
There was no doubting human nature. He thought about Johnny Ace. “I’m sure she’d jump at the chance,” he admitted.
“Well, then, Major.” Starrett put his glass down, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction. “You’re going out after Cheyenne. If you find her, tell her I’m here, and everything I’ve got to offer.”
His smugness infuriated North. But before he could answer, there was a rap at the door. “Come in,”
Johnny Ace came halfway in the door. “Oh, excuse me, Major. I didn’t know you had company.” He looked at Starrett. “Sorry about your daughter.”
Starrett made a gesture of sneering dismissal. “I don’t need pity from an Injun.”
Johnny’s face turned a deep, angry color and North noticed his hands shook as he rolled a cigarette. “I felt sorry for her, not you.”
North said, “Johnny, there’s a new development about Luci.”
Johnny paused with the cigarette halfway to his lips. He must not appear too interested. “What about her?”
The major had never felt as sorry for anyone as he did for Johnny Ace at that moment. His eyes strayed to his bookshelf. At least in this case, Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t kill themselves. “Johnny,” he said as gently as he could, “it appears that Mr. Starrett here may be her father.”
“No!” Johnny lashed out, throwing the cigarette across the room. “Hell, no!”
Starrett looked from one to the other. “What’s this all about?” And then a knowing look came into his eyes. “Oh, I begin to see–”
“No, you don’t see, you selfish old bastard!” Johnny shouted but North caught his arm. “All these years, she and her mother waited and you never came for her, and now that I love her–”
“Love!” Starrett sneered. “Love is the most overrated thing in the world! You’re Pawnee, aren’t you? Even I know no miracle can work out between those two tribes!”
It was true, even Frank North knew it. God, he would give anything to change that!
Johnny stood feet wide apart, playing with the hilt of his knife, not looking either of them in the face. “What difference does it make?” he said. “Now that she’s gone back to her people.”
Starrett nodded. “I know that. But the Fifth Cavalry’s going after the Cheyenne. There’s a good chance you’ll find her, and bring her back.”
“What makes you think she’d come?” Johnny said.
Starrett grinned. “Human nature. I’d be willing to bet that the minute the major tells her I’ve come to take her to Denver and be my heir, she won’t be able to get back here fast enough. Want to bet on it?”
Major North snapped, “Shut up, Starrett. Can’t you see he’s in love with her?”
“Wouldn’t work,” the older man grunted. “Too many things against it, him being Pawnee and all. Besides, boy, you think given a chance to choose, she’d take you over all my money?”
North looked at the sadness that came to Johnny’s eyes, and at that moment, he hated Starrett as he had never hated a man. “Get out of my office before I throw you out!”
“You’d hit a sick man?” Starrett whined, getting to his feet. “I’m going to wire my associate in Denver, Major, and tell him I’m staying to see if you can bring her back.”
“We’ll probably be gone for weeks,” North said to discourage him.
Starrett shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. My partner can take care of business in Denver. I’ll wire him I’m going to be delayed. He has the power of attorney to handle my business and I trust him.”
Johnny said, “Why don’t you go home and let us wire you if and when we find her?”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, you savage, you! You’d never tell her I was looking for her, that’s what. You’d try to carry her off and never let her know she had money and all waiting for her in Denver!”
“Don’t tempt me,” Johnny snapped.
“No, I’ll just wait here for the Fifth’s return.” Starrett leaned on his cane. “Besides, it’s a long, hard trip to Denver and I’m not up to making it too many times. Now you bring in my daughter, Major, you hear?”
Starrett turned and went out, limping down the path.
Johnny rolled another cigarette. His hands still shook a little as he lit it. “It isn’t fair that he should turn up now just because he needs a daughter to look after him and give him some grandchildren.”
It isn’t fair when you love her so much, North thought, but he didn’t say anything for a long moment. Finally he said, “Orders came through. We’re going out after the Dog Soldiers tomorrow, Johnny.”
“It’ll be a long, bad campaign,” Johnny said as he smoked in silence, the smoke drifting between them. “We’re outnumbered and they’re better armed than we are.”
North nodded. “But the Dog Soldiers are the key. If we can defeat them, the other hostiles will surrender and go back to the reservations.”
Neither said anything for a long moment, but from Johnny’s expression, North knew they were thinking the same. “Johnny, you think she’s with the Dog Soldiers?”
“Probably. That means she might be in danger if we attack them.”
“I don’t know what I can do about that.” North clasped his hands behind his back and paced up and down. “I can’t keep from attacking if we run into them just because Luci may be with them.”
“I know that, Major.”
North had never seen such pain on a man’s face and he had never felt as sorry for anyone as he felt now for this star-crossed pair of lovers. “Johnny, I tell you what I’ll do. No one knows about this but the two of us. If we find her and rescue her, I’m not going to tell. Your enlistment’s almost up. I’m going to let you make this decision.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you that if you want to and if she’s willing, you can take that girl and ride away with her. She need never know that she had a chance to become a rich princess with a castle in Denver and all that goes with it.”
Johnny studied the glowing tip of his cigarette. “That wouldn’t be fair to Luci, would it? Not give her a choice?”
North shrugged. “All’s fair in love and war and I’m not sure anymore which is which. If you want her, take her away. I sure as hell won’t tell her about Starrett.”
“It’s underhanded,” Johnny said uncertainly.
“I don’t give a damn about that and you shouldn’t either if you want her, Johnny. Do you want to be ethical or do you want that girl?”
Johnny took a deep puff of smoke. “I want her, all right. I want her enough to do anything to get her!”
“Then that’s your decision to make. I’ll just tell the old bastard we didn’t find her.”
“Somebody in the troops might tell him different.”
North laughed. “What could he do if the two of you disappeared without a trace?” North went over to his desk and looked at the map spread there. “Now get Cody and my brother in here. General Carr is waiting for a report. The whole Fifth Cavalry’s going after
the Dog Soldiers!”
Chapter Twenty-one
Friday, May 28. A day Luci would never forget. Snake’s war party joined Tall Bull’s south of the Saline River in Kansas. Whenever she looked back, the memory was as fresh and horrible as the day it happened.
The war party she rode with had finally linked up with her uncle’s renegades coming up from the south. At first, Tall Bull hadn’t been too friendly.
“You are a half-breed because my sister chose a white lover over a Cheyenne husband.” He stood under a cottonwood tree, as the war party made plans. “Where is Sunrise Woman?”
Luci looked back at the gray-haired, war-painted brave, trying to decide how to tell him. She still couldn’t think of Sunrise Woman without swallowing a lump in her throat. “My–my mother is dead this spring. She got out in the wet and cold too much, and caught the coughing and congestion in the chest.”
“Dead?” He seemed almost to flinch at her words, then his painted face was stoic again, betraying nothing. “I warned Sunrise Woman that the whites, that the soldier, would bring her nothing but heartbreak, but she was stubborn and headstrong, probably like you are yourself.”
She would not deny it. “But I think perhaps I am wiser than my mother was.”
“Let us hope so.” Tall Bull sighed. “My sister had a stupid idea that she could bridge the gap between two cultures when we all know it is hopeless.”
Of course it was. And yet . . .
“Maybe in a few cases, if both people care enough, it could happen.”
Tall Bull laughed without mirth, leaning on his lance. “You speak now with your heart, not your head. Have you a man?”
Her heart said yes, but she shook her head. Certainly if the leader of the Dog Soldiers had disapproved of a white lover, what would he think about an enemy Pawnee? “I want to wait a long time.” She sneaked a glance at Snake’s ugly face. He squatted over by the fire, cleaning and reloading a shiny Winchester. “But perhaps someday–”
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