Red Raven rose his eyes slowly upward. They wavered when he found Shane looking at him so intensely. "Shane, it is not an easy thing to tell you," he said, swallowing hard. "How do I?"
"What do you mean?" Shane asked. "Why are you finding it so hard to tell me who paid the price for Cedar Maid? Is it someone I know and do not care for?"
"It is someone you have never met," Red Raven said. He rested a hand on the pommel of his saddle. "But you know of him. He is a man of your past and of your worst nightmares."
A shudder coursed through Shane. There was only one man of his past who had troubled his dreams! "You are speaking of Trapper Dan?" he said, almost choking on the words. He was dying a slow death inside at the thought of sweet and gentle Cedar Maid forced to be attentive to such a vile man!
"It was he," Red Raven said, nodding. "I was there. I looked into his eyes. They turned me cold inside, Shane, for I knew, at that moment, exactly who he was!"
"Did you tell Gray Falcon?"
"Yes, I told him."
"And he still accepted the bride price for Cedar Maid?"
"Ay-uh, that is so."
Shane looked quickly away from Red Raven, so distraught he could hardly hold himself at bay. He
wanted to shout! He wanted to wail to the tree-tops!
But he would not. He had placed all of his Indian ways behind him.
However, he would use the skills the Chippewa had taught him to track down the trapper and kill him. He would take Cedar Maid away from him and bring her to his home. She would live in peace with him.
Red Raven sidled his horse closer to Shane's. "What do we do about Trapper Dan and what he has done?" he asked, his voice solemn.
Shane turned his eyes back to Red Raven. They were clouded with emotion. "Do you even have to ask?" he said flatly. "Do you travel with me? Or do I travel alone?"
"Need you ask?" Red Raven said, setting his jaw firmly.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Shane said, flicking his reins and sinking his heels into his horse's flanks. He rode away, Red Raven alongside him. All thoughts of Melanieall thoughts of anyone or anything elsewere banished from his mind. Only Cedar Maid and her welfare mattered now. If anything happened to her, it would be his fault, for he had placed everything else before finding the evil trapper who had been close to the village on the very day that Shane had been ordered to leave!
In truth, it would be Gray Falcon's fault if anything happened to Cedar Maid, for if Shane had been allowed to stay with the Chippewa, he would have been there when Trapper Dan had
arrived. Trapper Dan would have never left the village alive. As it was, Gray Falcon had succeeded in total revenge against Shane by selling Cedar Maid to the man responsible for Shane's mother's death!
His eager stallion pounded the earth as they rode away from the farm.
Melanie looked toward Shane's house again, then dropped her brush with alarm when she saw him riding away alongside an Indian! Was he leaving? Was he returning to the Indians? Did Josh do something to him in the night to make him want to leave?
Fearing all of these things, Melanie's fingers trembled as she slipped the stirrup on her horse. She didn't take time for a saddle. She had to catch up with Shane. She had to know the reason he was riding away as though in desperation! She had to stop him. Somehow, she had to dissuade him from leaving!
Gripping her knees against the horse, Melanie snapped the reins and began riding in a strong gallop away from her farm. The brisk wind tore the ribbon from her hair. The early morning air seeped through her blouse, chilling her clean through. But her eyes never left Shane as he thundered away in his buckskin attire toward the incline that would take him upward, into the depths of the forest.
Afraid that she would lose sight of him once he blended into the forest, Melanie snapped her reins harder against her horse. She leaned low over her
mount's flying mane. She was gaining ground! She was going to catch up with him.
''Shane!" she screamed, squaring her shoulders as she straightening her back. "Shane! Stop! Oh, please stop!"
Terrance had heard Melanie riding away on her horse. He stumbled from his bed and drew the drapery aside and peered through the window. He kneaded his chin as he looked at Melanie riding toward Shane, and frowned. Where was Shane going in such a hurry? Why was Melanie following him?
Then he focused his attention on the Indian riding alongside Shane. He smiled crookedly. "Well, I'll be damned," he drawled. "Shane's friend has come and got him. He's going back to the Indians!"
Dizziness claimed him. He reeled, catching himself as he grabbed the back of a chair. A sick feeling swept through him and he understood why. He had been ill many times before after a full night of drinking, gambling and womanizing. Today was no different. He needed sleep. That would make it all pass.
Forgetting Melanie in his need of rest, Terrance stumbled back to the bed and plopped face down across it.