When I heard the wagon was back and supplies were being unloaded, I went up past the warriors assembled on the Paradise Valley side of the cliff where they handed down burlap bags and boxes that came back with them. I could carry things across the cliff before handing something off to have it passed to the floor of the valley below me. I wanted to be up top when John and Barnaby left. I would miss John.

As I reached the Eagle's nest, I took a box from Samuel and walked it across and came back. After a couple of trips and nothing else was coming up, I watched Joe being pulled up. Once he was on the cliff, he turned to give special care to the next and last box, that was a crate, and he sat it next to the Eagle's nest and turned to put the rope around Barnaby to lower him to the ground, so he and John could go home.

Samuel kissed his friend, and they both laughed. That's when Barnaby went over the side, and Samuel turned to pick up the wooden crate Joe just set down. The crate was two feet long, a foot wide, and two feet tall. It didn't appear to weigh much as Samuel hoisted it to carry to the warriors who would get it on to the ground.

Joe turned around, and seeing Samuel with the crate, he called to him.

"Samuel. Be careful with that."

It was at that instant, Samuel turned his head, he stepped into a depression, sprawling forward as some of the contents of the crate spilled out to roll across the top of the cliff.

I didn't know what it was at first, because I turned to look at Joe to see why he needed to call to Samuel about the crate. The look on Joe's face told me that something was seriously wrong, and when I looked back at what rolled out of that crate, it was nine or ten sticks of dynamite.

Joe had frozen in place.

I figured that he was waiting to see if we were all about to evaporate.

I had only seen fear on Joe's face once. The day we met, the day he saved me from highwaymen, I took him to Paradise Valley with me. When Demon came over to inspect the new arrival, Joe had that look on his face.

After a minute, Joe moved to collect the loose sticks of dynamite and take charge of the crate. When he put the lid back on it, in big red letters was written, Dynamite.

I saw dynamite used once to get water to where a rancher's cows were. I wasn't close to the explosion, but I was as close as I ever wanted to be when rocks and dirt blew into the air when the dynamite went off.

Samuel got up and dusted himself off.

"Did I do something wrong?" Samuel asked.

"No, you did fine. I'll take this one," Joe said as he moved slowly across the top of the cliff.

All is well that ends well, and I watched Joe lift the dynamite over the tailgate of the 1st National wagon, where he stored it about twenty feet from our lodge.

Was he planning to blow open the canyon he closed months before?

I was sure Running Horse didn't have any idea of how much destructive power was in a stick of dynamite. I only saw it used once, but it left an impression on me I wasn't going to forget. I had been a mile away, where we held twenty-five hundred cows in a box canyon so they couldn't stampede when the dynamite went off.

The valley was still standing, and the water began filling a reservoir in the valley below.

I watched Running Horse and Joe walk away from me, and the conversation looked serious. I hoped they knew what they were doing. I might not know what they were going to do with the dynamite until it went off.

"Where did you get dynamite, Joe?" I asked later in the day.

"Miners. We bought it from some miners who were using it to get to the gold. Opening the mine allows them to get the ore out by the cart load," he told me. "We made it worth their while."

"You are planning to open the canyon with it?"

"You'll see."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Samuel didn't watch the wagon with John and Barnaby in it move away from Paradise Valley. They stayed close while Barnaby was there, but like at the Indian village by the lake, when Barnaby rode away from there, Samuel stayed. There wasn't much doubt they took care of each other while they were together, and I thought I knew what Samuel might be feeling, once Barnaby was gone.

Samuel was an hour or two from John's horse farm, if he moved right along. If he wanted to go there, no one was going to stop him. When I saw him sitting in the Eagle's nest later in the day, he was looking out in that direction. I found him up top when I went looking for him. I decided to leave him alone with his thoughts. He didn't look like he wanted to be bothered.

Barnaby could walk here if he wanted to take a chance on someone being in the Eagle's nest to pull him up. That was less likely than Sammy Boy asking to be put on the ground in front of the cliff. No one would look at Sammy Boy twice if he removed the Eagle feathers out of his hair. He was white enough to pass.

Samuel came down to go hunting, and Angel asked for a goat she would use her special seasoning on, and she made it taste as good as venison and almost as good as roasted rabbit. She knew how to season meat to get the most flavor out of it, and when she took charge of the evening meal, we were in for a treat.

The goats were like the rabbits, and every time I looked up on the cliffs to the west, there were more goats than the last time I looked. They were clever enough to stay on the cliffs to avoid us, but they couldn't fool Samuel. He knew where to find one, when Angel asked for one. There would be plenty of meat to go around.

No matter what Demon was doing, he knew his best move was following Samuel when he got his bow. He would clean the goat below the cliffs. Demon would make short work of the parts of the goat we didn't eat, and then he would come back to where Samuel set the meat down next to the firepit.

Angel would be watching for him to return, and while she prepared the meat, Samuel got the firepit ready. It was usually Running Horse that set up the firepit to be used. Samuel lit the fire once he was back. It would all lead to fine eating a few hours later.

There seemed to be less work doing it in Paradise Valley. There wasn't a lot of room to roam, and I missed the rides Running Horse, and I took from time to time. We were together and we lived well. It had to be enough, although with horses taken to the valley below, we would be going riding soon. I was looking forward to it.

I did not ask about the dynamite. There were some things I didn't want to know. I assumed Running Horse knew what the dynamite was for. I didn't like the idea it was so close to our lodge. Dynamite did go off.

When I walked behind the wagon to go to the firepit, I always glanced in at the crate. One day, as I passed, I looked in, and the dynamite was gone. That worried me.

I left well enough alone and went about my business. Maybe Running Horse was as uncomfortable as me about the dynamite being so close to our lodge. Maybe he had Joe move it, but knowing Joe, he bought the dynamite for a reason, and for all I knew, like the wall in the sky, only Joe knew what he would do with it.

Everyone came to eat at the firepit one evening, after Running Horse passed the word, he would speak.

This was the night he took care to place the last of the buffalo meat that came back from Underworld with us on the hunting trip we took into the valley below. There was buffalo meat on sheets of cloth, and buffalo cooking from late afternoon, until the day was waning. It was no secret this was the last of the buffalo, and no one was going to miss getting a good bit of the rich flavorful meat.

I got plenty of beef while herding cows. We had beef each time Cookie rang the triangular gadget that made a loud noise when he banged a metal rod against the triangle's sides. It was greasier than buffalo meat, and the two flavors aren't similar. Buffalo is tighter with less juice but more flavor. A cow stands around a field grazing until he is ready to go to market with a few thousand of his friends. That's the most exercise they get, being driven by drovers to market.

Thunder best describes a buffalo's life. He has thunder in his hooves as he moves from one grazing pasture to the next. Tens of thousands of buffalo can eat a lot of grass, and once the eat most of what is in the pasture where they are grazing, the buffalo starts running, and the buffalo who takes the lead goes to where his memory tells him is another good grazing spot. All that running makes the buffalo lean and powerful. His meat is far healthier than beef, because beef has so much fat and such from standing around a meadow.

I sat beside running horse as we savored the end of the buffalo meat. It was more quiet than the first night when we had hundreds of pounds stored and a hundred pounds or more that was cooked up to be eaten.

It was a quiet feast. We were grateful we had buffalo meat to eat, and this being the last of it meant we would go back to other meats to eat, but the memory of the taste of the buffalo would remain in our brain long after we ate the last bite. I regretted eating after it was gone. I should have saved a few bites for another time.

Running Horse made sure everyone got all they wanted, maybe with the exception of Demon, who never got enough meat. He would have a pile of bones to choose from, and that would keep him busy for a few days.

Running Horse stood to speak to his people. They sat all around the firepit.

"We are a small clan of Pawnee. We live well. We have been fortunate to survive this long. Many more visible bands of Lakota, Ogalala, Black Foot, Shoshone and Northern Cheyenne haven't been so fortunate. The plains are being emptied of Indians. We ran for our lives not long ago. We were guided to this valley by Tall Willow. We once again have enjoyed safety as long as we've been here. We watch the trail. We wait for the cavalry to return for us," Running Horse said, looking over our clan.

"The cavalry intends to put an end to Running Horse's clan. I will not let them do that, if I can do something to stop it. I intend to keep doing whatever it takes to defy the cavalry's wish to kill us."

A war cry came from the warriors and their sons. There was a short disturbance as his people took in the nature of this talk. I thought I knew where it was going, but Running Horse didn't discuss it with me. Many times, I believe, he didn't know what he would say, until he said it, but I knew where we were heading.

"Because they can get so close to us out front, sooner or later they will decide to have a look behind the cliffs. This is where they lost us, the day we came to Paradise Valley. There memories are long, they number many, and while we will take many of them with us, if we are here when they come, they will end us."

"We must find a way to end this threat. We have good lives, but how good will they be once the cavalry comes? We have blocked them from getting into our valley, but they have cannons, and I am told by men that know, they can open up the canyon with weapons so terrible we cannot imagine them."

"Places will be created for our brothers the bear, the elk, the coyote and the wolf, and these places will be protected. Our brothers will be protected, but no one is going to protect our right to live the lives we cherish. If we go in, we will be imprisoned, never again to roam free on the plains our people have occupied since the dawn of time. There is no safety for Indians, even if we do go in and they stop hunting us," he told us, letting his eyes stop on each face in front of him.

I usually stood beside him, and so did others he trusted and depended on, but tonight, he stood alone to deliver a message only a chief could give.

"Chief Lone Wolf took us to the wilderness to heal and grow stronger after the massacre that saw most warriors and many of our brothers and sisters killed. This kept us out of the way of the cavalry, who were constantly in search of the free people to kill or imprison. Lone Wolf was a wise leader who kept us alive by keeping us out of sight. We had time to grow stronger. Sons of dead warriors grew into the clan's warriors."

"Fleet Horse, my father, would have replaced Lone Wolf as chief, had he lived. He died and Lone Wolf decided that I should be your chief, after he made his final journey. I have done the best I can for you. My inexperience has kept me cautious. We are still the hunted. Like our brother the buffalo, there is only one ending for us, if we wait for the ending the Europeans have written. I won't wait. We won't wait."

More war cries broke into the night as people nodded and were in complete agreement with their chief.

"I'm not and never will be a great chief, like Lone Wolf, but you, my people always come first. I do not have the experiences of Lone Wolf. I grew up in his lodge. He taught me my lessons, and there was one thing Chief Lone Wolf repeated to me over and over as I grew into a man."

"Never go in. Never go in. Never forget these words. Chief Lone Wolf's clan will never go in, and I say to you now, Running Horse's clan will never go in. Say it with me, we will never go in."

"Never go in. Never go in. Never go in," came back the cry of his people.

The war cries came with an aroused appreciation for the sentiment. All the warriors approved of Chief Running Horse. Everyone else on the plains disapproved of free Indians anywhere, which was a truth we needed to be aware of. We had been lucky.

"We, starting with our friend Big Joe, have found a valley an hour away. I've been twice. The second time we came back with the buffalo meat, because there is buffalo there. There are hundreds of buffalo, thousands, there are tens of thousands. We have feasted on the meat of a buffalo Samuel and Young Antelope killed."

He paused to look into the faces of all the people. They stood now. Excitement was alive among our people.

"We have spent a few days in the new valley. We are about to return to further explore. I am a cautious chief. I want to make certain my people will be safe in the places I take you. There is only one way to do that. In a few days, we will go to the new valley and take as long as necessary to see that this will be a good place to live for my people, your children, and your children's children for all time."

The cries of appreciation for Running Horse's message were loud and prolonged. The dancing and singing went on long after Chief Running Horse sat down. He sat in the middle of the men who stood with him. They stood with him now and forever. His people were with him. I was with him.

Running Horse was chief and we were his people.

In St Louis, the night Sammy Boy killed his father, I was greatly troubled, and I walked the streets trying to figure out what to do. I knew Samuel's story. I had taken him away from Nester, while Nester was bullwhipping him in the middle of the street in a town with a name I never knew.

As I walked, searching for an answer, I came upon a man standing on the courthouse steps. He was a politician running for some office. I listened to him promise the world if folks put him in office. Running Horse's speech put that politician's speech to shame. Running Horse told his people the truth. He told them what he was about to do. They knew he would do all he could to keep his people free.

This was the speech I was waiting for him to give. I knew the important parts that I heard before. Running Horse's delivery was that of a poised leader ready for any battle ahead of his people. It made me feel like we would survive this and go on to be a great people, but to me, Running Horse was great, and I would follow him to the ends of the earth, until the end of time.

That night in St Louis with Samuel facing the hangman's noose, after hearing the politician speak, I thought of Running Horse. I thought it would all work out, and I would be taking Sammy Boy back home with me tomorrow, because that would be the proper ending, even when I didn't know how to get it done.

That politician's delivery reminded me of how honest and courageous Running Horse was. When he spoke, he spoke true, and his people knew it. The politician sounded crooked. He sounded like a man that was telling people what he thought they wanted to hear from a politician, while not believing a word of it.

I decided the man in charge of the coroner's inquest would know the truth when he heard it. It would all be in the sound words made.

A man who thought he knew me, and a judge I didn't know, made it turn out okay. It was Barnaby who got us going in the right direction, but the truth was out and Samuel was free.

Running Horse was a good man and the kind of chief Lone Wolf would have been proud of.

That night, with the exploration close at hand, I felt better about what we would do. My disposition was changing on the spirits who decided to speak months after we fled to Paradise Valley. I didn't know why they waited so long to speak to Running Horse, but they hadn't gotten us into trouble yet, and maybe they were on the up and up. Maybe these were spirits who decided we were good people, and they were going to help us.

I loved Paradise Valley, and I wasn't sure what we were being led into, but if we sat in this pleasant place and waited, we all knew the final outcome. There was a way to stay safe, but it required moving again. If the move made us safer, few would object, but there was a question still hanging in the air.

Would it be safer?

A few weeks in Underworld was going to tell us what we needed to know. We might not see everything, but we would have a feel for the land we were on. In a week or two, we would know if it would make a good home. While the animals were larger than on the surface, we saw nothing that was pictured in the wall art. Those were people from a long time ago. We saw no signs of people. They had been gone a long time.

I suppose if there were creatures like the ones in the wall art, they might have been gone a long time too. We had gone twice, and the only uncomfortable minutes were when wolves bird dogged us, wanting some meat. They didn't get any, and they were no more likely to take a run at full grown men than wolves up here were.

We could stay up here in Paradise Valley and wait, or we could go to Underworld and explore.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When I woke the next morning, Running Horse slept on. He was exhausted from spending too many nights with the spirits. I let him sleep. I did have another worry that worried me.

After making a pot of coffee, I carried two cups on to the cliff with me. I got one and a half cups out to the Eagle's nest, where Samuel sat. I wasn't sure he didn't spend the night there. Samuel was a man, but I still saw him as the little boy I rescued from evil. Once you rescue someone like that, you become forever responsible for that person. Their life and your life are intertwined.

"Thought you might need this, Sammy Boy."

"Thanks, Pop," he said, taking a long drink of the cooled off brew.

"Spilled some of it, but I have a hard time climbing the cliff with my hands full."

Sammy Boy laughed. He hadn't been in a laughing mood since Barnaby left a few days before.

"You don't need to worry about me, Pop. I'll be fine in a bit. I like being alone with my thoughts. The Eagle's nest is a good place for thinking."

"You want me to go, Son?"

"No, Pop, I didn't mean for you to go. I have things on my mind. I suspect I'm not good company. Why did Running Horse talk about Underworld? Why did he tell the people about the move before we explored? Has he made up his mind to move down below?"

"The spirits are guiding him. He is trying to go slow, but he doesn't think we have a lot of time. He's told them of the move. We'll move as soon as we are back, if we don't find something that makes it unwise to move. If our time is running out, we need to do something sooner than later."

Samuel gave this some thought. He had to be thinking about asking to be lowered to the ground in front of the cliff. It was less than two hours to walk to the horse ranch. I didn't know if love waited for him there.

Now, Barnaby had gone with John back to the horse ranch, and Samuel was left alone, but he could do something about it by asking someone to lower him to the ground. It had to be on his mind.

"Did I ever tell you the story about leaving Running Horse?"

"After your brother died," he told me. "That's where you met Riggs. He told me what you did. He thinks you are the most courageous man he knows. I agree with Riggs. You took a beating for me, and that's not a thing I will forget," he said.

"One lash is hardly a beating, Sammy Boy," I said. "I couldn't allow that to go on."

"It was one among many for me. You took it, and it takes courage to step into the path of a bullwhip."

"Never regretted it. It's among the best things I have done, because it meant finding you. You are like a son to me," I told him, and then I realized, I needed to keep my mouth shut. If he needs to be with Barnaby, I've got to let him go, not hold him back.

He had tears in his eyes when he looked up. He hadn't forgotten the beatings he took before I rescued him.

Samuel was torn between two worlds. John and Barnaby were in one world, and I was in the other. I wish life wasn't so complicated. I wish it was easier on Samuel. I wouldn't mind if it was easier on me.

"I would like to have known Lit'l Fox, Pop."

"He would have liked you. He would have approved of me taking you away from Nester. Lit'l Fox was a good man. I often think he was the best of us. His heart was big if not strong. I think about him a lot."

"Why do good people die?"

"A question for the ages, Sammy Boy. If there is a God, he has one hell of a mean streak in him."

"Riggs is a good man," Samuel said. "He's been a bit lost. I think he's in love with Angel. He seems happier."

"He saved Running Horse's clan by warning us of an impending attack on our village, and then, he helped guide us to safety. Riggs is the reason we are alive. He was part of a lot of Indians dying. That haunts a man once he faces up to what he is doing. Killing for a living can give a man a tormented heart."

I knew from our first meeting, Riggs had a good heart, and he was in a bad situation. Now he is one of us.

Samuel was in a bad situation. He was one of us, but I didn't know for how much longer.

I watched his mind drifting away from the Eagle's nest, as he looked out across the mangled trail. He had a decision to make. His future depended on it. My future wouldn't be as bright without Samuel in it.

I slipped quietly out of the Eagle's nest.

I looked back a couple of times.

There was a lot of history between us. My life would have been quite different if my wagon wheel hadn't gotten out of round, and I drove it into a town that figured greatly into how my life would turn out. I never did know the town's name, but Samuel was waiting there for me to take him away from the tortured life he knew.

Samuel, like John and Joe, saved my life. I had love for them all, after Running Horse, I was closest to Samuel. It's funny how life can turn on a half-dime. You never know what you'll find around the next bend in the trail.

On to Chapter Nineteen
"The New World"
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"Explorers"
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