Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I’d outrun the Indians that had chased me—maybe they’d lost sight of me in the morning sun. It didn’t seem too likely, but it was the only thing that made even a little bit of sense.
I dismounted again and sat down on a rock, trying to think what I ought to do next.
If Demming had come into the Paiute camp from the west, it stood to reason that he’d tied Laughing Waters up somewhere that direction too. But . . . he would know that the Paiutes would think exactly that.
I tried to put myself in Jack Demming’s shoes.
What would he do to trick the Paiutes and throw them off track?
He wouldn’t ride into their camp from the same direction where he’d stashed the girl.
Therefore, that probably meant she was out here somewhere—east of the camp, and that I might be closer to her at that moment than Demming himself!
If I was right, I could expect Demming to leave the Paiute camp, head west, and then circle wide around east after he was out of sight. At least that’s what I would do if I were trying to keep my movements and directions secret.
Anyway, it was the only idea I had!
The question was: Did Demming know about me and Hawk being around?
Probably not. Why would he?
If he didn’t, and if I was right, then I could expect to see him coming this way before too much longer . . . with Hawk somewhere back out of sight tracking him.
And neither of them knew I was here!
What should I do!
How could I find the chief’s daughter before Demming got back?
I racked my brain to remember what Sarah had said were Demming’s exact words.
He said she was in a cave ten miles away, tied and gagged. They’d never find the girl alive . . . she’d be dead from the snakes and scorpions—likely right where she was . . . no water for miles . . . if she managed to get away she’d be so mixed up by the time she got back on the plain, she’d never know the direction to get back to the camp.
Ten miles . . . that could mean anything! Demming could have been trying to mislead them about the distance . . . it could be ten miles as the crow flies . . . or ten miles as he rode it by horse, including circling around.
That clue wasn’t much help!
Snakes and scorpions . . . what had Hawk told me one time? We’d been riding along and he’d casually said something like, There’s a place you never want to go near if you can help it, boy—there’s more rattlers and scorpions up there than in all the Utah-Nevada territory.
Come to think of it—we had been out near here someplace! I remembered now.
Hawk had pointed up toward a range of rocky, arid hills. He’d said there were more canyons and dead ends up there than anywhere. What had he called them? The badland hills.
Demming had said she’d be twisted and confused before she got back down onto the plain. There was no water for miles!
So Demming may have thought, I said to myself. But Hawk would know where to find water. Besides, snakes need water too—that was another thing he had taught me. Watch yourself when you find a watering hole, Zack, he said.
In any case, that had to be it!
Demming had Chief Winnemucca’s daughter in the badland hills!
Now all I had to do was remember where they were!
Oh, God, I prayed, hardly even realizing that I’d started talking back and forth to God, help me remember. Help me find her! Give me, like Hawk says, eyes to really see. Hawk’s not here, God, so help me to be able to see and do what he’d do to find the chief’s daughter before Demming hurts her. I want to see like Hawk sees and understand deep into things like Hawk does. Help me see, God . . . help me see what you want me to see.
I wasn’t even through praying when suddenly some words of Hawk’s popped into my mind.
Keep your eyes looking up, Zack, he liked to say, always up. Whether you’re looking at the sky or praying to God or looking on the up side of a situation instead of the down side of it . . . you’re always better off setting your sights high than low. That is, if you want to get the high and the best things out of life. Watch the eagles, son, and the hawks. They got eyes like no human. They see things, they know things. You can learn a lot from them, more than folks realize. If you learn to see with an eagle’s eyes, they can tell you a lot about what’s going on down on the earth, even far away where you can’t see with your own eyes.
Suddenly I shot my eyes upward and spun my head around in all directions, squinting toward the horizon all the way around.
Yes, there were some birds flying and circling about—way off there toward the southeast from where I stood! They looked to be three or four miles away.
If only Hawk were here, I thought. He would be able to tell what they were doing. He would be able to make sense of it all.
I squinted to try to see the birds more carefully.
I recognized the motion, the wingspan, the circular flight patterns. Hawk was real interested in birds and was always teaching me of their ways. He was proud of the name the Paiutes had given him and he took it seriously.
I continued to gaze.
Those weren’t eagles or hawks.
They were vultures!
Almost the same instant that the dreadful thought dawned on me, suddenly my eyes beheld the range of hills they were flying around. I hadn’t stopped to look at them before because I’d been concentrating my attention more straight eastward.
But suddenly I knew I’d seen them before when riding with Hawk.
The vultures were circling around one small area of the badland hills!
The next instant I was on the pony and flying down the slope toward the flat plain that lay between the ridge I had climbed and the hills Hawk had warned me never to go near.
Chapter 34
Remembering to Look Up
I reached the foothills in twelve or fifteen minutes.
Immediately the footing was treacherous and steep, so I dismounted and continued on foot.
Glancing back, I couldn’t believe it—there was a small dust cloud in the distance, and it was moving toward me!
I had been right! Demming was circling back!
He had probably seen the dust from my pony’s hooves too, though I might have made it across the flat before he’d reached the other side of it.
I glanced up.
The vultures were directly above me, but I couldn’t see any other sign of life. If Laughing Waters was here, she was out of sight . . . but somewhere close.
How could they know? I wondered. I thought to myself again about Hawk always talking about being able to see what wasn’t plainly visible, being able to see what most eyes couldn’t. I guess vultures had that gift too.
Now I had to find what they saw . . . and fast. Demming would be here in five or ten minutes!
I struggled up the rocky slope, pulling the pony along behind me, glancing frantically all around for any sign of a cave or any other place where Demming might have tied up the girl.
Give me eyes, God, I prayed once more. Help me see what those vultures up there see. Help me find her!
There were caves all around as I got higher up into the hills, some of them deep, some not more than an indentation in the stone walls. There were small canyons and gorges too, and within minutes I found myself surrounded by such a maze of twisting and turning paths and ravines and possible directions to go that my heart began to fail me.
I would never find her! Especially not before Demming got back! Also, I was so thirsty, and there was no water up here.
I dropped the pony’s rope and ran into a cave that appeared to my right.
It was dark inside. I stepped forward slowly, calling out as I went. I hardly stopped to consider that if the chief’s daughter were here, probably the last thing she would do would be to say anything. How would she know I wasn’t Demming? Besides, Demming said she was tied and gagged anyway, so she couldn’t answer my calls!
Suddenly a sound
froze me in my tracks.
I would know it anywhere!
Slowly I began inching my way backward—very slowly!—while the rattles from some unseen snake’s tail continued to sound in the darkness.
Inch by inch, in mortal terror of fangs I couldn’t see, I crept back toward the cave’s mouth.
The instant I knew I was out of reach from a coiled spring, I turned and dashed into the open light, breathing hard and sweating freely.
That had been close!
I looked down into the valley. I could see the figure of Demming on his horse now. He had covered half the distance since I saw him.
Is Hawk on his trail? I thought, back there somewhere out of sight? If he was, I couldn’t do anything that would mess up his plan.
But if Hawk wasn’t behind Demming, then I couldn’t delay. There wasn’t much time left! I had to act quickly.
I looked up again at the vultures.
Keep looking up, Zack . . . always up. Watch the eagles, son, and the hawks. They got eyes like no human. They see things, they know things. You can learn a lot from them, more than folks realize. Keep your eyes up . . . learn to see with an eagle’s eyes.
Right then I hoped his words applied to vultures too!
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is slow down long enough to think. That was another thing Hawk said. You gotta think before you do, he said. The brain part’s got to come before the hands part. It may seem like a waste of time, but it saves time in the end.
His words flashed through my mind in an instant as I stood gazing up into the blue sky. I forced myself to calm down, to ignore Demming just for a few seconds and concentrate on those vultures. What did they see? What did they have to tell me . . . if only I could see it?
I watched the circles they were making in the sky.
I had to find the center of their flight! That was the answer! Whatever they were interested in, they flew around it in a circle. If I wanted to find it, I had to locate the center of those arcs and then follow that centerpoint down to the ground.
So much I had heard from Hawk kept coming back to me now. In the few seconds as I stood there, it seemed the whole last several months came rushing past me.
Look up, Zack . . . always up. The answers to earth’s questions are discovered first in the heavens. It’s all about eagle’s eyes, son. Learn to understand God and the way things work in his world first. Then bring your eyes down to earth-level, and everything will make sense there too. Upward sight always comes first . . . that’s where wisdom begins.
I wished Hawk were here now to help me with his eyes!
I watched the vultures. One big fellow was flying around and around in what looked to be the tightest circle of the whole group. I locked my eyes on him, trying to keep myself calm, and followed him through two complete circular flights. When I thought I had the middle located exactly, I carefully and slowly lowered my eyes down to the ground.
A small ravine was visible, opening just on the other side of two gigantic boulders. I hadn’t been able to see it before because those big rocks were positioned in such a way that they looked to be part of the cliff face behind them. But as my eyes descended down from above, my line of vision somehow came down over and beyond the boulders, and that was when I realized that they were hiding an opening behind them.
It was exactly like Hawk said! I had to look up before my eyes could properly focus on what was down on the ground.
I looked around quick for someplace to hide the pony in case Demming got back before I got out of there.
I led him up the hill a little further, around a couple turns, then half tied the pony’s rope to a shrub and threw down the bow and quiver beside him. Then I ran back down toward the opening between the two boulders.
Demming had said Laughing Waters was in a cave. Had that been to throw the Paiutes off, or had he moved her? This wasn’t a cave, but in a way it was even better because the opening was so hard to see when you looked straight at it. If you didn’t know you were looking for something more behind it, you’d never know anything was there.
I squeezed through the rocks, inching along sideways.
On the other side, the way opened into a short, narrow gorge. Both sides were of jagged rock and running straight up, with a flat floor between them that was maybe three or four feet wide.
I ran forward into it, then around another big rock.
And there she was!
Chapter 35
Laughing Waters!
I ran to the girl and knelt down.
She was slumped over sideways, her back leaning against the wall of rock—she was either sleeping or had fainted from the heat or lack of food and drink.
If only I had some water! One look at her parched, cracked, bleeding lips, and I knew she probably hadn’t had anything to drink in two days. At least she wasn’t gagged, like Demming said.
With that same look I was immediately taken with this young Indian maiden. The exhaustion of her whole body, the dust in her hair, the smears of dirt and the scratches on her arms and face couldn’t hide that she could be nothing less than a chief’s daughter. I guessed her to be eighteen or nineteen, though her sunken cheeks and closed eyes made it difficult to tell.
I softly spoke a few words to her, but they didn’t succeed in waking her. I was getting nervous—I don’t know if it was because of Demming or because this was Chief Winnemucca’s daughter.
She reminded me somehow of my sister Emily. I guess she looked about the same age and was pretty like Emily, though with darker skin.
I didn’t think of it at the time, but later I realized that all three of the things Hawk had spoken about when we had been talking about courage were right then going on inside me.
We talked about what a man does and about being brave, which I don’t know if I was or not, but I was sure facing danger right then—and his name was Jack Demming!
We’d talked, too, about using your head and being a thinking kind of person. I reckon I was doing that, too, trying to remember everything Hawk had taught me and trying to figure where Demming had taken Laughing Waters and how to outsmart him and get her away.
And we’d talked about feelings and how that was a part of themselves that most men aren’t too well acquainted with. I don’t know if that was true about me, but one thing for sure was that I felt things stirring around in my heart right about now that were different than what I felt when I was around Hawk. Maybe they were feelings of compassion or an instinct of protection like I’d feel toward my sisters if they were in danger. Whatever those feelings were, they made me all the more determined to get this girl out of here safely!
I was timid about touching her, but I had to try to get her conscious again.
I touched her cheek softly. A tingle went through my hand. Her skin wasn’t soft, but it had a different quality than a man’s skin. I touched her again, this time patting at her cheek a couple times.
Still there was no sign of life.
Did I dare slap her to try to wake her up?
I laid my hands on her shoulders and jostled her, then shook harder. Finally I did slap her cheek, though gently, then again.
A faint groan sounded. At least she was still alive!
I shook her shoulders again, staring straight at her closed eyelids. Slowly they opened a slit, just as she groaned again. Her head turned toward me.
The moment she saw me her eyes opened wide.
It was a look I will never forget—an awful, terrible expression. The first instant she saw my face, her eyes filled with fear. In that instant, maybe more than any other moment of my life, something inside me decided what kind of man I wanted to be—and it wasn’t a man like the fella named Jake that Hawk had told me about, or Demming or this girl’s half-Paiute tribesman. I couldn’t think of anything worse than for another person to be afraid of me.
“Please,” I said, “you have nothing to fear.”
She kept staring at me, as if she was paralyzed. My hands were still on her sho
ulders. I took them away and leaned away from her.
“Are you Laughing Waters?”
Still she did not move.
“Do you understand me?”
Slowly her head nodded.
“Are you Laughing Waters?”
Again she nodded.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said. “I have come to take you back to your father.”
A look of confusion now replaced the fear.
“The . . . the other man?” she said in a parched voice, but in English.
“We must get away from here before he returns. Can you walk?”
“My feet . . . hands . . . he tied me.”
Now I noticed the ropes around her wrists and ankles. I don’t know why I didn’t see them earlier.
“You have water? . . . so thirsty. . . .”
“No, I’m afraid—”
A feeling of panic shot through me. I heard Demming’s horse approaching up the hill!
If he found me here, we’d both be done for.
“He’s coming back,” I whispered to Laughing Waters. “But don’t be afraid. I’ll get you away from him somehow.”
“No . . . don’t leave,” she pleaded.
“I have to. Otherwise neither one of us’ll have a chance.”
I thought for a moment.
“Try to get him to leave again. Ask him for water, tell him you heard somebody coming, tell him you heard a call from one of your people up in the hills behind us. Just try to get him to leave again. I won’t be far away.”
I stood and left her.
But the moment I started between the two big rocks, I heard Demming coming up the path.
Too late! I couldn’t escape now.
I turned and ran back into the ravine, paused a moment where Laughing Waters was watching with fear in her eyes, then kept on further into the little ravine. It was not straight, so I hurried around a bend, and at the end, surrounded by high cliffs, I found a little crevice back under one of the faces of rock.
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