Mala snapped, “You think I care about Bannerman when my granddaughter is gone? But your father is right…the peace is a fragile one. And Bannerman has no reason to be interested in Moon Fawn.”
“He runs his cattle on land that has always been our hunting ground! He cannot be trusted!”
Crazy Bear said, “I do not trust him. But one little Indian girl means nothing to him.”
Mala moved between Crazy Bear and Starwind. She said to Matt, “My apologies, Mr. Jensen. All this means nothing to you. The most important thing right now is that we owe you our gratitude for the help you gave our daughter. Please, accept our hospitality. We can feed you well and give you a good place to spend the night before you ride on to wherever it is you’re going.”
“I appreciate that, ma’am,” Matt told her, “and I’ll sure accept your kind invitation…but only on one condition.”
“What condition is that?” Crazy Bear asked, not sounding too happy about Matt’s response.
“That you tell me everything you can about what’s going on here. You see, I’d like to help you get your granddaughter back safe and sound if I can.”
Chapter 23
For a long moment, Crazy Bear didn’t say anything, and his craggy face became impassive and unreadable.
Then he jerked his head in an abrupt nod and said, “It is to be expected that the blood brother of Smoke Jensen would make such an offer. Come into my lodge, Matt Jensen. We will smoke a pipe, and my wife will prepare a meal.”
With the formality that he knew was expected at such a moment, Matt said, “I accept your hospitality, Crazy Bear.”
A few minutes later, they were seated cross-legged inside the tepee on bearskin rugs near the fire pit. Crazy Bear prepared a pipe, packing it full of tobacco, then lighting it with a twig from the fire. After he had puffed it into life, he offered the pipe to Matt, who took it with a solemn expression on his face and puffed several times. Meanwhile, Crazy Bear’s wife Mala began preparing a meal on the other side of the tepee.
Starwind hadn’t followed them into the lodge. Matt glanced toward the entrance, where the hide flap that usually covered it was thrown back.
“If you look for my daughter, do not expect her,” Crazy Bear said. “She will not help my wife with the meal. She says that is woman’s work.”
“No offense, Crazy Bear, but I figured Starwind was a woman, and a mighty pretty one, at that.”
Crazy Bear grunted. “She says she should have been born a warrior. She has no interest in woman’s ways. She would rather ride and fight.”
“I saw her skill at both those things with my own eyes, earlier today,” Matt said. “Did you teach her how to use a bow?”
“Someone had to.” Despite his massive size, Crazy Bear sounded as if he had meet an irresistible force in his daughter’s determination.
They passed the pipe back and forth again, then Matt said, “Tell me about the girl who’s missing.”
“My granddaughter, Moon Fawn.”
“Not Starwind’s daughter?”
Crazy Bear shook his head. “My daughter has no husband, no children. Moon Fawn is the child of my son Little Bear and his wife Robin.”
Mala turned her head and added, “My son is also known as Sandor, Mr. Jensen. He has gypsy blood in his veins.”
“And his wife is a white woman,” Crazy Bear went on. He sighed. “There is much madness in my family.”
Matt smiled. “It doesn’t sound like your children are mad, just that they know what they want. This is a good thing, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I try to tell him,” Mala said. “But tradition is important to him.”
“I understand that, too,” Matt said. “What about Moon Fawn?”
“My son and his wife have traveled east to the city called St. Louis. They left Moon Fawn here with us while they are gone. Little Bear wants to establish a school for Indians, and he thinks he can persuade some of the wealthy people in St. Louis to pay for it.”
“Sounds like an admirable goal,” Matt said with a nod. “How old is the little girl?”
Mala answered the question, and her voice broke slightly as she did so. “She has seen…seven summers.”
Matt felt a chill go along his spine. For some reason, he’d thought they were talking about a somewhat older girl. Moon Fawn was just a little kid, and on the frontier, a lot of dangerous things could happen to a child out on her own.
“Was she alone when she disappeared?”
Crazy Bear nodded. “Moon Fawn has always looked up to her father’s younger sister. She wants to be like Starwind, who thinks nothing of taking a pony and riding through the valley by herself. Two days ago, Moon Fawn slipped away, took a pony, and went riding. She never returned.”
“Good Lord,” Matt murmured. “Did you find the pony?”
“It came back to the village that evening…alone.”
Mala said, “There was no sign of Moon Fawn or Gregor.”
“Who’s Gregor?” Matt asked. “I thought you said she was alone.”
“Her…her doll.” Mala’s voice choked with emotion. “She named it. She always carried it with her.”
“I’m sure you went looking for her.”
“Of course,” Crazy Bear said. “Everyone in the village helped. We searched that night, and we searched again yesterday. No one found her. Today I went to Buffalo Flat, to ask for help from those in the settlement. When I got back, Starwind was gone, too, and no one knew where.”
“She was east of here, and a little north.”
Crazy Bear’s face darkened. “On the land that Bannerman claims is his.”
“You don’t get along with Bannerman?”
“When he first came to the valley and brought his cattle, my people and I tried to be his friends. The Crow have fought the white men in the past, but the time for war is long since finished. It is a time for peace now.” Crazy Bear made a sweeping gesture with an arm as big around as a sapling. “The valley is big. Plenty of room for all. But Bannerman takes more and more. Now he wants our hunting ground. This cannot be.”
Matt felt a pang of sympathy for the Crow chief. Crazy Bear’s story was one that had been repeated all over the West, and the situation was one that would probably continue to be repeated. Legally, the land didn’t belong to the Indians anymore. As the country expanded and civilization marched across the frontier, they were being pushed back into smaller and smaller corners. Matt felt sorry for them, but he didn’t see any way to stop what was happening.
“This fella Bannerman…would he stoop so low as to kidnap your granddaughter to make you go along with what he wants?”
“Of course he would,” Starwind said as she appeared in the lodge’s entrance and ducked low to come inside. “I told Moon Fawn never to ride alone on the other side of Badger Creek. There are too many of Bannerman’s men over there. That’s where I was today when those gunmen jumped me. I was nosing around one of their line camps.”
“You know I have forbidden it!” Crazy Bear said.
“I also know that Moon Fawn might not be missing if she hadn’t wanted so much to be like me,” Starwind shot back, and Matt heard the pain in her voice. He realized that she blamed herself, at least in part, for her niece’s disappearance. “I will find her, Father, if it is the last thing I do.”
Mala said, “If it is the last thing you do, then I will have lost a daughter as well as a granddaughter.”
Matt felt uncomfortable being in the middle of all the anger and tension between family members. He let the silence go on for a moment, then said, “Hold on. Even if Bannerman has Moon Fawn, surely he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. She’s just a little girl. He’s probably just letting you stew a little, Crazy Bear, if the two of you have clashed in the past.”
“I do not trust him,” Crazy Bear said.
“I don’t blame you. But here’s an idea…why don’t you let me search for her?”
“You cannot know this valley any better than my p
eople and I do.”
“No…but I can ride over to the Circle B and see if Bannerman’s hiring. If I can get a job with him, then I can look around without him knowing what I’m doing. He or one of his men might let something slip around me that would lead me to Moon Fawn.”
“This is a good idea,” Starwind said, adding, “I will come with you.”
“You must not have been listening,” Matt told her. “The idea is that Bannerman won’t know I’ve got any connection to you folks.”
“But I want to help!”
Mala said, “I think you have done enough, Starwind.”
The young woman’s face tightened. Anger darkened her features, and tears shined in her eyes. She came quickly to her feet and left the lodge before she let herself cry in front of her parents and their visitor.
Crazy Bear looked intently at Matt and asked, “How do we know we can trust you, Matt Jensen?”
“I’m blood brother to Smoke,” he replied with a shrug. “If that means as much to you as it does to me, then you know you can trust me.”
“Very well. If you can help find Moon Fawn and return her safely to us, you will be as much a friend to the Crow as Smoke Jensen is.” Crazy Bear glanced through the entrance flap. “But the day grows short. Stay here tonight. You can ride to Bannerman’s ranch tomorrow.”
Matt nodded. “All right.” Something had occurred to him. “I may have to go to Buffalo Flat first. That’s the name of the settlement near here, right?”
“Yes. What do you need there?”
“If the men who were after Starwind today work for Bannerman, they got a look at me when I was trading shots with them. I don’t reckon they ever saw my face very well, but they might recognize my horse and my clothes. I think I need to go to Buffalo Flat and get a new mount and some new duds.”
Crazy Bear thought about it and then nodded slowly. “You are a smart man, Matt Jensen.”
“I try,” Matt said with a grin.
“I hope you are smart enough to find my granddaughter…and bring her home.”
Matt ate supper with Crazy Bear and Mala, a savory stew that tasted good, so he didn’t ask any questions about what was in it. After the meal, he checked on Spirit and found the sorrel was being well taken care of. Then Crazy Bear took him to a tepee that would be his to use for the night. A fire burned low in the center of the lodge, casting flickering shadows on the hide walls as Matt took off his hat, unbuckled his gunbelt and coiled it. He sat down on the bear robe that served as his bed to take off his boots.
The flap over the entrance was shoved aside suddenly, and Starwind stood there, glaring at him. She stepped farther into the tepee, let the flap fall closed behind her, reached down to the bottom of her buckskin shirt, and lifted it up and over her head, peeling the garment off her body so that she was nude from the waist up.
Matt took a deep breath. With an effort, he lifted his gaze from her firm, round, dark-tipped breasts so he was looking into her eyes instead. “What are you trying to do, girl?” he asked. “Get me killed? Anybody finds you here like that with me, I don’t care how peaceable a man your father is, he’ll have my hair.”
With her jaw set angrily, Starwind lifted the shirt and held it in front of her, which was a little bit of a relief, anyway.
“I am a woman!” she said.
“Well, yeah, I kind of got that idea,” Matt said.
“My father told you that I refuse to do woman’s work and that I ride and fight like a man, and these things are true. But that does not mean I am like some women who…who refuse to have anything to do with a man!”
“I didn’t really think it did,” Matt told her. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even think about that.”
“Someday I will have a husband and children, but not now.”
“Good, because I’m not proposin’ to you. And I sure as hell didn’t make any sort of deal with Crazy Bear to buy you.”
“Oh!”
In her anger, she flung the shirt at him, smacking his face. He caught it before it could drop into the fire and stood up to toss it back to her. He tried not to notice how breathing hard made her chest heave. “I think you should put that back on and leave,” he told her.
“Take me with you when you search for Moon Fawn.”
“I told you, I can’t. Having you along would ruin the whole plan.”
“You saw what I can do. You know I can take care of myself.”
“I also know I can’t fool Bannerman into thinking I don’t know your folks if I have their daughter tagging along with me.”
She continued to glare at him, but after a moment, her sleek, bare shoulders rose and fell slightly. “I suppose you are right.”
“I know I am. Now, uh…”
She lowered the hand that held the shirt in front of her and stepped closer to him. “You would kiss me, Matt Jensen?”
“I would if I wanted to be tortured and burned at the stake,” he said. “Now, dadgum it, Starwind—”
During the ruckus that afternoon, he had seen how fast she could move when she wanted to, but she still surprised him. She dropped the shirt at her feet and had her arms around his neck before he could stop her. She had inherited some of her father’s height, which meant she didn’t have to stretch much in order for her mouth to reach his. Involuntarily, his arms went around her bare torso.
They stood like that, their lips working together, before Starwind pulled back and whispered, “I told you I am a woman.”
“I, uh, never doubted it,” Matt said.
Before he could kiss her again or say anything else, she slipped out of his arms. Moving as swiftly and gracefully as a deer, she picked up the shirt, pulled it over her head, and went to the entrance. She threw the flap back but paused to look over her shoulder at him. Her face wore a triumphant smile and her eyes sparkled as she said, “Now you will never forget it.” Her expression grew solemn as she added, “Find my niece.”
“I will,” Matt promised.
Then Starwind was gone.
Chapter 24
Matt slept well that night, although it took him a while to doze off after Starwind’s visit. He kept thinking about the warmth of her mouth and her body.
The next morning he ate breakfast with Crazy Bear and Mala. When Matt asked where Starwind was, the Crow chief shook his head despairingly.
“She has ridden out again. I do not know where she goes. Most fathers would say they have no daughter were she to treat them with such disrespect.”
“You are not like most fathers,” Mala pointed out. “You are a powerful man, Crazy Bear. You don’t need to prove that power by punishing your children.”
Matt managed not to smile. He figured that Crazy Bear had probably won every argument he’d ever had…except the ones with his wife and daughter. In that respect he was no different than most of the men Matt had met. Smoke’s wife Sally could always get him to do what she wanted. The fact that Sally was nearly always right helped matters.
After breakfast, Matt saddled up Spirit and got ready to ride. Crazy Bear stood watching him and said, “Be careful, Matt Jensen. Reece Bannerman is a bad man, and some of the men who work for him are even worse.”
“Hired killers, I imagine,” Matt said.
Crazy Bear nodded gravely. “Yes. Men with cold eyes who care nothing for anyone but themselves.”
“I’ll be careful,” Matt said as he tightened the cinch on the saddle. “I’ve come up against hombres like that before, Crazy Bear, and I’m still alive and kickin’.” He slid his rifle into the boot. “If I can find Moon Fawn, I’ll bring her back here. If I need help, I’ll get word to you.”
Crazy Bear slapped Matt on the back with a huge paw, and the impact staggered Matt a little, as if he had been swatted by a real bear. “May the spirits watch over you, my friend,” the chief rumbled.
Matt swung up into the saddle and rode out of the village. He could feel numerous eyes watching him and knew that word had gotten around about him trying to fi
nd the missing Moon Fawn. He had the hopes of a lot of people riding with him.
Crazy Bear had told him how to get to Buffalo Flat. He crossed the first creek and swung south, riding down the valley between the two streams. He would bypass the Circle B, although it was possible he might run into some of Bannerman’s stock along the way, and where there were cows, there would likely be cowboys. Matt kept his eyes open. He didn’t want to be seen until he’d had a chance to change clothes and switch horses.
He approached the settlement at mid-morning. Smoke had been there a number of years earlier, not long after Buffalo Flat was founded. Matt paused on a hillside overlooking the settlement taking note of the big, well-established town so different from then. The main street ran for six blocks and was flanked by two more streets lined with businesses. The cross streets had businesses on them in the downtown area, and were crowded with residences beyond that.
He took a pair of field glasses out of his saddlebag and studied the town through them, locating a livery stable and a general store. He saw that he could approach the establishments on one of the less-traveled side streets, then cut into an alley that ran behind both businesses. That would be best, he decided, in case any of the men he’d clashed with the day before were in Buffalo Flat. He didn’t want to be spotted and recognized.
Ten minutes later, he led Spirit into the livery stable through the rear doors, which were open to allow circulation through the barn from the front doors. A stocky man in late middle age was forking some fresh straw into one of the stalls. He stopped and leaned on the pitchfork when he saw Matt come in.
“Howdy, mister,” he said. “That’s a fine-lookin’ sorrel you got there. Need to put him up here for a while?”
“That’s right,” Matt said. “And I’d like to rent another saddle horse, if you’ve got one.”
The hostler frowned. “Oh, I got one. Several good horses, in fact. But none any better than the one you already have. Pardon me for bein’ nosy, but why would you want to rent another horse?”
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