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.'The woman took a sip of breath, let it out, her eyes going to Hannibal, and then to Shaw, who had favored her, January knew, above the other girls at Seaholly's, despite the fact that at thirty-six she had half a decade over him in age, and despite her skinniness and two missing teeth.She looked at the doorway - the two Crow guards sitting outside in the firelight of the camp - and then at Bodenschatz.'Did he really kill that poor old man?' she asked softly.'His own papa?''Schlampn bitch, you'd believe any man who paid you—'Her mouth twisted.Her gaze returned to January.'I'll go,' she said quietly.'And I'll return with Moccasin Woman, without rousing the camp.''Thank you.Tell Moccasin Woman that we know that she found the old man in the woods and took the last of his clothing, not only the shirt that he wore, but also the shirt that had been torn up to bind his ribs.Tell her to bring those things back here, if she would.Tell her that our lives hang on her doing this.Tell her also - or the warrior who goes with you,' he added, with a glance at Walks Before Sunrise, 'to bring the camp chest from Bodenschatz's tent - Charro Morales's tent - unopened.'The trader's face turned ghastly in the low firelight, brows standing out suddenly dark.'Of all the impudent—''Veritas odium parit: said Hannibal and added, to January, still in Latin, 'You're sure it's Moccasin Woman?''She's the one who gave Pia the old man's cravat.And who else in the camp,' he added, 'would have carried him back into his shelter and carved the sign of the cross above his head, to bless him as he lay? Of all the people in the camp,' he went on in English, 'I don't really think it could be anyone else.''Well, Maestro,' said Shaw, after Iron Heart and Bodenschatz had left the tent under guard, and Walks Before had likewise bid them good night, 'I purely hope you're right.' He got to his feet and limped heavily - a makeshift, bloodied bandage showed where an arrow had gone through his thigh - to lower the skin across the lodge entrance, against the growing chill of the night."Cause it seems to come down to: who is Walks Before gonna trust? An' if it ain't us, I do not see a good outcome for anyone in this tent.'Chapter 27The Omaha Dark Antlers and two Crow warriors came into the tipi a few minutes later, to fetch Veinte-y-Cinco.The woman rose, kissed Hannibal and Shaw ('Don't I get one for luck?' inquired Goodpastor, and with a quick flicker of a grin she gave him one that would have been grounds for divorce in most states of the Union), and slipped out into the night.' 'quoted January softly.'Now it lies upon the knees of the gods.'Hannibal sighed.'And we all know how trustworthy they are.'Shortly after that, a couple of Crow women came in with food - chunks of roasted mountain-sheep, and a tin kettle of stew - and with them, Goodpastor's engages, two young border-ruffians named Laurent and Tonio.They brought the news that the remaining Omaha warriors were setting up lodges of dead wood and sagebrush for the night, as if in a war camp, just beyond the tipis of the Crow, and that the Crow were keeping guard on them.'That Mexican trader was with them,' added Tonio, the younger of the two - brothers, January guessed, by their looks, and by the way Tonio kept close to the elder as if for protection.'As a guest, would you say?' Goodpastor poured out water from the skin hanging from one of the tent poles, into the pewter cup that the young men shared.'Or a prisoner?''A guest, looked like.He sits with Iron Heart at his fire.''Well,' sighed Goodpastor, 'consarn.''And are you a guest here, sir?' inquired January as the two boys settled down with bowls of wild mutton and stew.'Or a prisoner?''And did you drop out of the sky?' added Hannibal.'Wish I had,' retorted the Indian Agent.'I am entirely too old for that ride up the Platte in a wagon-train.No, I set out from Fort Laramie like a respectable representative of the United States Congress, with ten engages, a secretary and a half-breed guide who couldn't find his way back from the outhouse.When we got to the Popo Agie we heard from a couple of Shoshone hunters that there was a band of Crow - eighty lodges - skulking around the mountains near the rendezvous without comin' into it, which sounded downright fishy to me.I had the boys make camp, took those two scoundrels with me, did some scouting on my own and here I am.''Here you are,' agreed January.'But could you leave if you wanted to?''I could, yes.Or at least I think I'll be able to, once Walks Before has figured out what he wants to do with you and with Iron Heart.I'm on his territory.I'm no more than an envoy from the Congress to the Crow.And I wouldn't care to bet on it that he'd let me leave the camp tonight - or that Iron Heart's boys wouldn't find a way of making sure I didn't get to the rendezvous if I did leave, sort of quiet like in the woods.We're a long ways from anywhere, here, and if they plan on killin' any white men they're not going to leave an Indian Agent to go tellin' the tale.''Ah,' said January.'Then all we've done is make your position here worse.''Hell, I been in worse places.Though things could get damn sticky if that woman tries to make a break when she gets near the rendezvous, and there's an attack made on this camp.I ain't sayin' Titus wouldn't keep a lid on it if he could—''Titus?''That sourpuss Controller the AFC's got with their factory there this year.He's the one paid Walks Before thirty rifles and three barrels of gunpowder to come down here and not let a soul see 'em [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]