Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,62

then.

"He say now you lie. He say even if the boy was not yours, he can see by your eyes that the hurt is the same. He say a child does not have to be a man's by blood for the man to love it."

Luke was taken back by the mention of the word love. What did this man know of such feelings? Perhaps more than he'd been given credit for. "Tell him he is right. Tell him if he'll give me my boy back, I'll furnish horses to him for as long as he needs them... even guns, if that's what it will take."

The Shoshone scout repeated the message, but Half Nose shook his head, spoke, then waved them off as though he was finished with them. He turned away.

Luke grabbed his arm. "No!"

Hatred filled Half Nose's eyes, and he jerked his arm away, his lips curling into a sneer.

"Goddamn it, Luke, be careful!" the lieutenant told him. "You'll get us all killed."

"What did he say?" Luke asked Slow Deer.

"He say all the horses and guns in the world cannot bring back a dead boy. Even if the child was alive, he would not believe your promise, because no white man has ever kept a promise to an Indian; but it does not matter. The boy drowned. He is dead, and that is the end of it. We must leave now, or they will kill us."

Luke began to tremble at the awful truth of it. He had come to the end of the road. He had to go back to Lettie without Nathan. How in God's name was he going to face her? "Ask him what happened to the stuffed horse my son always carried with him."

In response to Slow Deer's words, Half Nose shrugged, then barked out a reply.

"He say the boy must have dropped the horse somewhere along the way. He remembers it, but suddenly it was gone. It could be anywhere. He say if you do not believe he does not have the boy, you may search every tepee, but you must do it quickly. He wants us out of here."

Luke glared at Half Nose. "Fine," he answered with his own sneer.

He proceeded to search every single dwelling in the camp, beginning with Half Nose's tepee. Some of the women and children shrank from the tall white man with the mean look in his eyes, but the men in the village watched him defiantly, showing no fear.

When Luke exited the last tepee, he thought he might pass out from a mixture of grief and weakness from the hard journey that had led to this moment of utter defeat.

He walked back to face Half Nose. "Tell him I think he is a coward for taking his revenge through a helpless little boy," he told Slow Deer, his blue eyes blazing with hatred. "His own son was bigger, already an experienced warrior. He came at me like a man, and I killed him with the thought that he was a brave warrior. Half Nose has taken revenge by stealing away an innocent little boy and then allowing him to die. I have no respect for Half Nose. Yes, he has hurt me, as deeply as any man can hurt another, but I would have respected him more if he had taken me and not my son, if he would have tortured me, let me suffer any way he chose. It would have been the more honorable revenge."

Slow Deer looked at the lieutenant, not sure he should interpret the words.

"Tell him!" Luke ordered, standing only inches away from Half Nose and glaring at him.

Slow Deer swallowed, then repeated the words. Half Nose stiffened, drawing in his breath. He folded his powerful arms, spoke briefly, then turned and went inside his tepee.

"He say you can take back eight of your horses and four of the foals. He say it is all he can do to make up for your son. We must get the horses quickly and leave, or we all die. I know these Sioux. We must do what he say."

"Let's go, Fontaine. There isn't one more thing we can do here," Lieutenant Jiggs told Luke. The man mounted his own horse.

"I don't want my horses. I want my son!" Luke answered.

"Your son is dead, Mr. Fontaine. I'm damn sorry about that, but that's how it is. Let's go cull out some of your horses and get the hell out of here."

"Come on, Luke," Will told him. "There ain't