Mighty Thunder in Sky straightened. “The Shoshones are not in the habit of making fools chiefs. From all that I had heard about you in the past from Broken Paw, Touch the Clouds, and others, I knew you were an honorable man. I also knew how proud you are to be an adopted Shoshone. So I could not accept that you had been a party to the ambush.”
“But the parfleche and my horse?”
“Another thing I have heard about you is that you are brother to the fox. Would such a man be so stupid as to leave such things behind?”
Nate had to lean against a boulder. The surprising revelations were coming so fast and furious he could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You were counting on me to find the ones who did it? You expected me to succeed where Standing Bull and the others had failed?”
“Let us say I had great hope. You were taught by Wolverine himself, and he is the best tracker who has ever lived.” Mighty Thunder in Sky paused. “So I let you go on without interference, but stayed close enough to be on hand if you needed me.”
“It would have been easier for you to catch up and explain.”
“And have you shoot one of us before we made our intentions known? Or have those who were not convinced of your innocence, like Standing Bull, try to slay you? No, it was better to let you go your own way until the proper moment.”
As the full import of the chief’s disclosure impressed themselves on Nate’s mind, he chuckled and said, “I compliment your wisdom, but you are wrong about one thing.”
“I am?”
“There is a fox here, my friend, but it is not me.”
Epilogue
From high out of the sparkling blue sky flew a large golden eagle, its pinions spread as it glided across a verdant secluded valley. Below appeared many of the strange nests it had seen before, the nests of buffalo hide favored by the bizarre two-legged creatures.
The eagle was upset by the size and sounds of the gathering. There were hundreds and hundreds of nests, and among them moved countless numbers of the noisy beings, many chanting and singing and yelling with gleeful abandon. They were too loud, so loud it grated on the eagle, louder than the mighty bird had ever heard before, as if they were caught up in a great celebration of life.
At the center of the gathering sat a large circle of such creatures passing around a branch from which smoke wafted when they puffed on one end. The eagle checked its glide to make a pass over them, its keen eyes noting that one of the creatures appeared to be of a slightly different kind from the rest in that its face was covered with hair while the rest had bare faces.
As the eagle watched, two creatures crowned with many feathers of its own kind approached the hairy one and offered an object that glittered in the sunlight. At this all the creatures let out a mighty yell, which bothered the eagle so much that it banked high into the crisp mountain air and soared off to find the tranquility it craved.
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