Savage Abandon (7 page)

The early morning sunshine crept into the window, dappling its soft light onto Mia’s face and awakening her.

Yawning and stretching her arms above her head, she was momentarily disoriented as to where she was. It came to her suddenly when she looked over and saw her father, whose face seemed paler than the last time she had looked at him.

It frightened her to hear that his breathing was now more shallow than she had ever heard it before. The thought of losing him caused a painful ache in the pit of her stomach.

As she watched him sleep, she was catapulted back to the day her mother had told Mia that they were heading back to St. Louis, and how this would be the last time they would take one of their yearly treks on the river. Because of Mia’s father’s failing health, their family was going to return to their home and never board a scow again.

It had been a glorious day beside the river that
morning, as they sat near the fire before setting out on the scow toward home.

Mia had looked forward to staying in one place year-round. She would never forget how broadly she had smiled as her mother told her that they would sell their scow on the St. Louis riverbank.

That would make everything final. Mia couldn’t have been happier with the decision.

But her family would keep one mode of river travel in case it was needed…the longboat that trailed along behind the scow each day, which had her name painted on it. Her father just couldn’t part with everything that had to do with his river travels, especially not the boat that he had named after his daughter.

When they had boarded the scow that day, Mia had felt as though she were floating on clouds instead of water as they headed toward St. Louis. Even her canary had seemed to understand that one day soon it would be home.

“My sweet Georgina,” Mia whispered to herself.

She looked quickly over at the cage.

At that moment she realized that something was not right. Usually at this time of the morning, Georgina could be heard fussing softly behind her cover, for the canary was always anxious for the cloth to be removed so that she could see Mia and the fresh seed and water her mistress gave her each morning.

Something grabbed Mia’s heart, like a hand
squeezing it, when she saw the cover on the cage was not at all the way she had left it.

And then she noticed that the door was ajar. Mia never left the door ajar!

She could not get to the cage quickly enough. She brushed aside the blanket and leapt up. When she peered inside the cage, remorse swept through her. Georgina was most definitely not there.

Tears sprang to her eyes over her loss. Then it came to her like a lightning bolt from the heavens that there was no way Georgina could have opened that door, for Mia always double-checked it before going to bed each night.

Only after seeing that it was secure would she go to bed, for if anything happened to her bird, a part of her would die.

Yes, the bird had become especially precious to her since her mother’s death. Georgina had helped lift Mia from the horrible sorrow that came after burying her mother along the banks of the Rush River.

Having to leave her mother there, oh, so alone, was something that Mia still could hardly bear to think about.

And now?

Had she also lost her bird?

And her father—how long would she have him as a part of her life?

His health seemed to be worsening by the minute!

Yes, her world seemed to be tumbling all around her. She felt as if she were on a small island by herself, with no happiness left inside her.

When she examined the cage, she was certain there was no way that Georgina could have escaped without assistance. Someone had lifted the cover and opened the door for the bird, and it surely had not been done inside the cabin, or Georgina would have found her way to Mia and settled down beside her. The bird loved Mia so much that she was sure Georgina wouldn’t have chosen to fly away.

Mia looked quickly at the door of the cabin. It was closed!

That meant someone had opened the door, carried the cage outside, and then sent Georgina to a freedom that might mean her death.

Georgina had been tiny when Mia’s mother had given her the bird. All the canary knew was the cage, the food and water she found there, and Mia, who gave her these things. Mia meant safety and food and love.

As long as Mia was there to care for her, Georgina’s world was secure. But now? Oh, Lord, where was Georgina, and who…?

She looked quickly at Tiny and found him awake and gazing at her with a strange look of triumph.

“You…!” Mia cried, awakening her father with her outburst of anger. “Tiny! You did this. You carried the cage outside and opened the door. How did you get Georgina from it? I know she
wouldn’t fly through that door, for the cage was a safe haven to her!”

She stomped over to where Tiny was sitting up on his blanket, his eyes squinting into Mia’s with a mischievous glint.

“How could you do this?” she cried, then slapped him hard on the face.

Tiny yelped and reached a hand to his face. He glared at Mia. “You little…” he began, but didn’t finish what he’d started to say. He knew better, for her father was now sitting up on his blanket, giving Tiny a cold stare.

“To hell with you both,” Tiny blurted out. He threw the blanket that he had slept under aside, and still fully clothed, rushed from the cabin.

Mia stared blankly at the open door, then the cage, and then at her father.

“I told you, Papa, that he was a horrible man, and now look at what he has done,” she sobbed. “My sweet Georgina. Surely she did not survive the night in the forest.”

“Darlin’, I’ll buy you another bird when we get back home,” Harry said. He groaned with the effort it took to get to his feet.

“There could never be a bird like Georgina,” Mia said, hurrying to his assistance when she saw that his knees almost buckled beneath him. “Papa, please lie back down. Rest while I fix us something to eat. You need to eat to keep your strength.”

Suddenly the air was split with the sound of Tiny’s yells.

“Did he say that the scow is missing?” her father asked, gripping Mia’s arm as he turned and gazed toward the open door. “Mia, did…I…hear right?”

“Oh, Papa, you did,” Mia cried. “You did. Please lie down and I’ll go and see about it.”

“Help me outside,” Harry said, his voice drawn. “Mia, help…me…outside.”

“Papa, please…” she softly pleaded.

“Mia, do as you are told,” Harry snapped in a tone that Mia was not used to hearing from her father.

She was afraid that this latest turn of events might cause him to have another heart attack!

“Papa, please settle down,” Mia softly encouraged when she turned toward him and saw his face.

Earlier it had been ashen. Now she saw flushed cheeks and purplish, quivering lips.

“I’ve got to see for myself,” Harry said, a sudden sob catching in his throat. “That scow. It’s our only way home, Mia. And it’s been…everything to me. I’ll never forget our adventures on it. Your mother, ah, what memories we shared on that scow.”

“I know, Papa, but please don’t get any more upset than you already are when you see that the scow is gone,” Mia said, gently taking her father by the elbow and ushering him slowly to the door.

When they both stepped outside and went to the gate of the fort, there was no sign of the scow. They both gasped with horror at the same time.

“Someone came and took it,” Harry said dispiritedly.

He leaned on Mia, his full weight almost pulling her down to the ground. “Oh, Lord, Mia, what are we to do?” he asked, his voice full of despair.

Tiny came to them.

For the first time since Mia had known him, he seemed sympathetic…and afraid.

“What are we to do now?” he asked, gazing intently into Harry’s eyes. “We’re stranded. We’re damn stranded.”

“Tiny, go and stand beside the river. Flag down the first boat you see working its way up or down the river,” Harry said, his voice even weaker than moments earlier.

He leaned even harder on Mia. “That’s all we can do,” he said, his face flushed. “We have no other recourse except to hope someone comin’ on that river will have mercy on us.”

“But…” Tiny began. He stopped when Harry glared at him.

“Go and watch for someone to come by,” Harry ordered flatly. “When you see anyone, Tiny, anyone, flag ’em down. Or else we are here to stay. With the few provisions we have, we won’t last long, and I’m not able to walk farther than this gate.”

“I guess you know that we are at the mercy of any Indian who might happen along, too,” Tiny said, nervously picking at his whiskers.

“That’s another reason we should be certain to
find someone who will have mercy on us as soon as we can, someone who will offer us a ride on their boat,” Mia said, already turning her father to walk back to the cabin.

She looked over her shoulder at Tiny. “Tiny, please keep a close watch for a boat…and any signs of Indians,” she said. “For now we’ve no choice but to stay put and hope for the best.”

“I’m hungry,” Tiny growled.

“I’ll fix us some breakfast, some oats from what’s left of the supply we took off the boat, but you’ll have to eat it without sugar, for I left that canister on the scow, not thinking someone would steal our boat and everything on it,” Mia said.

She went on through the gate with her father as Tiny meandered down to the riverbank.

Cursing, Tiny kicked at the rocks along the shore, then nervously looked over his shoulder into the dark shadows of the forest.

He knew that they were sitting ducks if any Indians should come along.

He gazed up at the smoke spiraling from inside the fort’s walls, knowing that Mia had put more wood on the fire so that she could prepare the oats.

If an Indian got wind of that smoke…

Suddenly he felt too afraid to stay out there by himself. He sneaked back inside the walls of the fort, but made certain not to let Mia or her father see him. If he heard any noise down by the river, such as a boat might make as it passed, he would hurry out there and flag it down.

Otherwise, he would protect his own hide. He wouldn’t be a sitting duck like Mia’s mother had been on the scow, downed by an Indian’s deadly arrow!

Wolf Hawk had left his tepee before dawn and had gone from lodge to lodge to awaken his warriors.

He had slept hardly at all through the night and had decided during those waking hours that he could not truly rest until he found the ones who had caused the deaths of the Bird Clan’s innocent young braves.

Although his earlier search had led him to a standstill at the river, he would not give up so quickly.

Traveling on horse back, Wolf Hawk and his warriors set out again through the forest. They would take the entire day to search for the trappers, and if they were not found today, perhaps tomorrow!

One day he would have his vengeance.

Somehow, some day, he would come face-to-face with the two white men and he would make them pay for their crimes against the fallen youths.

It was now just past daybreak.

The early, soft rays of the sun streamed through the foliage of the trees overhead as Wolf Hawk traveled onward.

Robins warbled and sang their songs throughout the forest, making everything seem serene and peaceful, but Wolf Hawk was far from serene.

His insides were tight.

His need for vengeance was like a hot poker in the pit of his belly, burning, sending him onward through the huge oaks, elms, and the tall spruces that gave off such a wonderful scent.

Here and there squirrels scampered from limb to limb, startled by the noise of the horses’ hooves.

Some ignored the commotion, remaining beneath the trees, frantically digging through the dirt and rotting leaves to uncover a nut they had planted there earlier, which they could consume for their breakfast today.

When Wolf Hawk saw two dark eyes peering through the brush, he recognized them as those of a deer. He saw that he was right when it suddenly leapt out into the open and fled into the darker recesses of the forest.

Wolf Hawk’s warriors paid no attention to it. They carried their quivers of arrows on their backs, and long bows over their shoulders. All wore knives sheathed at their waists, and all were attired in breechclouts and moccasins, their long black hair fluttering in the wind as they continued to wind their way through the forest. Their eyes took in each and every movement, even the
slightest stirring of leaves overhead, but they were not hunting for deer or any other animal.

Their jaws tight, their chins firm, they were intent on hunting the evil trappers.

None thought that the trappers could completely elude them. They did not believe that their Earthmaker above would allow such atrocities to go unpunished.

Suddenly Wolf Hawk caught the scent of smoke in the air. He raised a fist, his silent order for the warriors to stop.

Wolf Hawk’s eyes scanned the forest ahead of them. Through a break in the trees just up ahead he saw the old abandoned fort. The smoke was spiraling heavenward from somewhere inside the walls of the fort.

Someone had most certainly taken shelter in the fort, and he hoped that it was the trappers. If so, the killers were doomed.

They would not slip past his warriors. Even now he was giving them quiet commands where to go and place themselves. His plan was to surround the fort, to stop anyone who might try to leave.

When all of his men were in place, and he himself stood at the entrance, where the gate stood wide open, Wolf Hawk shouted a warning to those who were inside.

“You are surrounded!” Wolf Hawk shouted, his hand clutching his rifle, ready to fire should it become necessary. “Show yourselves! Now!”

He watched and waited, then spotted movement at the door of the cabin.

His eyes widened when he saw that it was not a man, but a beautiful, slightly built, white woman.

And she stood alone in the door, making him wonder if those who were with her were too cowardly to come outside with her.

“Please don’t hurt us,” Mia cried, terrified that she might be experiencing the last moments of her life.

And she was so afraid for her father, whose body and heart were too weak for confrontations such as this!

As for Tiny, he was worthless, a coward. Mia’s father came and stood at her side, but Tiny shrank as far back against the far wall as possible, staying hidden.

“What do you want of us?” Mia called out to the Indian who seemed in charge. She noted his air of command, his sculpted features and muscled body. “My father and I are innocent of any wrongdoing against you. We are stranded. During the night someone stole our boat…our river scow.”

She glanced over at her father, who had crept to her side. She saw his paleness and frailty as he stood there now, afraid, his arm quivering as he held it around her waist.

Mia directed her words again to the Indian who seemed to be in charge. He stood apart and in front of the others, his dark eyes gazing intently at her.

“My father is ill,” Mia said, swallowing hard. “Please do nothing that will cause him to have another attack.”

Wolf Hawk was pleased by the woman’s strong will. She spoke courageously to him, whereas most women would cower and shy away from a strange man. He could not help noticing how beautiful and petite she was. Wolf Hawk did not want to make her feel threatened by him and his warriors.

All he wanted was those who had taken two of his young braves’ lives.

He stepped forward, but stopped when he saw her father’s eyes grow wide with fear. The old man seemed ready to pass out, and his knees looked as though they were ready to buckle beneath him.

“I am Chief Wolf Hawk of the Bird Clan of the Winnebago tribe,” he stated. “I come in peace. I only ask for answers from you. If what you say proves your innocence, you will be left alone by us. Tell me first what your name is, and how many are with you besides your father.”

“My name is Mia…Mia Collins, and this is my father, whose name is Harry,” she murmured.

She was trying so hard to be courageous, for she had always heard that Indians rewarded courage and bravery.

“You have not spoken of anyone else—does that mean that you and your father are alone?” Wolf Hawk asked, losing some of his stiffness as he spoke.

He was beginning to believe that there were no trappers there.

This young woman did not seem to be someone who spoke lies easily.

“There is only one more person in our party,”
Mia said, her spine stiffening at the thought of Tiny Brown cowering inside the cabin, afraid to show his face. “His name is Tiny Brown. He is my father’s assistant, who helped man our scow…a scow we no longer have. As I have already told you, it…it…was stolen in the night. We have been left stranded here.”

Something about the white woman, her innocence, her ability to speak with him, an Indian, so easily—even though most white women were terrified of men with red skin—made Wolf Hawk believe that she was not lying.

But he did not want her to know that he trusted her. Perhaps she was able to lie while looking someone square in the eye. He would practice restraint; he would not allow her, yet, to know that he trusted her.

Trust had to be gained.

A search of the cabins would prove whether or not she deserved to be trusted.

“You say that your party numbers only three?” Wolf Hawk said stiffly. “My warriors will search all of the buildings and see if you lie, or tell truths.”

He looked over his shoulder at his warriors. “I will stay with the woman and her father while you search,” he said stiffly. “Go to each cabin. Make a thorough search. Soon we shall know if this woman tells the truth, or is skilled at lying.”

“I have told you, there are only the three of us,” Mia said, worrying about her father. He was standing perfectly still, and was strangely quiet.

She could feel his weakness as he clung to her. And she could hear his shallow breathing. It sounded the way he breathed when he was about to have one of his attacks!

“Please believe me,” Mia begged. “My father…”

Wolf Hawk saw how desperate she seemed to be, and wondered whether she was truly worried about her father, or afraid his warriors would find others hiding in the fort.

“Search carefully,” he shouted at the warriors who were already going in and out of the other cabins.

The woman truly did seem concerned about her father, and Wolf Hawk thought that surely she wasn’t pretending.

“The search will be quick,” he hurriedly advised. “If you tell truths, then we will leave you to yourselves.”

Mia didn’t know how she felt about being left alone without a way to leave this place, yet she realized that it was foolish to consider this Indian someone who would concern himself about white people and their troubles.

It was surely crazy to think of asking this Indian for help. She knew that most Indians despised the ground that white people walked on.

“May I take my father inside so that he can return to his pallet on the floor?” Mia asked softly, pleading with her green eyes for understanding.

Wolf Hawk was just about to tell her that she could return her father to a more comfortable place,
but was stopped when one of his warriors came running toward him, an armload of pelts held before him.

“These pelts were surely hidden here by the trappers!” Blue Sky exclaimed as he stopped directly in front of Wolf Hawk.

Wolf Hawk’s eyes went wide with surprise as he reached out and ran a hand over the plush softness of the pelts.

“There are many,” Blue Sky said, looking over his shoulder as other warriors came carrying more and more pelts. “We found them hidden beneath a trap door in yonder cabin.”

Seeing that the woman had not been truthful, and surprised that she was such a skillful liar, Wolf Hawk stepped around the warriors and stopped directly in front of Mia.

“You lie,” he growled out. He nodded at another warrior. “Go inside. Find those who are surely hiding in there. Bring them out to me. Surely there are two, not one, as the woman indicated.”

“There is only one man in there and he has nothing to do with trapping,” Mia cried as two warriors brushed past her and her father and went inside the cabin. “He…helped…my father on our scow.”

“You lie so easily,” Wolf Hawk said stiffly. “Did you know that not only animals have died in your dreadful traps, but also two young braves who got trapped in those jaws of death!”

“Died…oh, no, please don’t think I…we…had anything to do with such as that,” Mia cried.
“We knew nothing of these pelts. When we arrived, to rest for the night away from the river, we chose this cabin without looking at any others. We knew not of any pelts being hidden there. We know nothing about trappers. When we arrived here, we looked only in this cabin. All we wanted was a place to rest. My father…he…isn’t a well man.”

Wolf Hawk glanced over at the woman’s father again, seeing that he seemed to be getting worse by the minute. His shoulders were slumped and his breathing had become painfully shallow.

He wanted to believe this woman and offer to help her father, but how could he now trust anything she said?

How could he have any feelings for this elderly man when two of his own people, young braves who had had a lifetime ahead of them, were dead, and surely because of these white people!

Suddenly the warriors who had been sent inside the cabin came out, forcing Tiny ahead of them with hard shoves.

“There was only this one man in the cabin. We have found no others in the fort,” Blue Sky reported.

“And he is who I said he was,” Mia tried to explain. “He is only with me and my father because he helped row our scow.”

Tiny said nothing, only cowered in the Indian’s grip, his eyes pleading silently with her to make the Indians understand who he was…most definitely not a trapper!

“You still lie to me after we found proof of your dishonesty?” Wolf Hawk growled out. “Tell the whole truth now, white woman. If this tiny man is who you say he is, then where are the others? I know that there were two more because I found two horses abandoned in the forest. Surely the men came back here and are hiding even now as we speak. Are there other trapdoors where they might be hiding?”

“Oh, what can I say now to make you believe me?” Mia said, tears filling her eyes. “We were traveling on our scow down the Rush River on our way back home, to St. Louis. We stopped for the night. While we were sleeping, someone stole our scow. Surely it was those men you are speaking about.”

“That could not be so,” Wolf Hawk objected. “Trappers would not leave behind a prime catch like these pelts that we found.” He took one step closer to Mia and her father. “It is time to stop this game you are playing…”

At that moment Mia’s father gasped, grabbed at his chest, then fell to her feet.

“Papa!” she cried as she dropped to her knees beside him.

She checked his pulse and could feel none. He was dead!

He had suffered a massive heart attack this time. And there was only one person to blame: that vicious, heartless Indian chief who wouldn’t listen to reason!

She glared up at him through her tears. “You
caused this,” she cried. “You frightened my father to death! Do you hear me? He is dead! His heart has failed him!”

Wolf Hawk was stunned by what had just happened.

The white man had died right before his eyes, and it did seem that fright had killed him.

Yet Wolf Hawk refused to feel guilt over the death of someone who was a part of the scheme that had led to two of his young braves’ deaths.

If this woman had told him the truth from the beginning, perhaps her father would still be alive.

“Please leave,” Mia said, sobbing. “Don’t you see that you have done enough here? I have lost my father. What more could you want from me? I have nothing, nothing now. My mother is already dead, shot down by an Indian’s deadly arrow. And now my father? Oh, please leave. Please, please leave. The men you are searching for are surely long gone…on my family’s scow. I have told you more than once that it was stolen during the night. When you find the scow, you will surely find your trappers.”