During her second month as a slave small pox broke out in a nearby town. Word reached the village and panic spread.
Some of the Cheyenne tribe had come down with it and the Arapahos were afraid it would reach their camps too.
"Why do they panic?" she asked Lone Wolf.
"Our tribes cannot withstand the white man's diseases. Before the white man came, sickness was never upon us. Now we fear it. For it kills many."
"Then you need medicine."
"Medicine, but what kind?"
Hannah rushed to Lone Wolf's side. "There is a vaccine that can keep them from coming down with it. It is something few know of yet. As long as no one has contracted the disease yet, it will work."
"What is a vaccine?" Lone Wolf asked puzzled by her concern.
"It is a shot, into the skin that can help prevent anyone from coming down with it." She told him.
"What is in this shot?"
"It's a mild form of the Cow pox, it prevents the small pox in people. But the people must be vaccinated with it. Not all towns have it. Not all people know of it. I listened to a doctor in our town that talked of it. He treated our town once."
"How can we get such a thing?" Lone Wolf asked.
"I know a doctor, in town, he has the vaccine. I've seen him give it."
"Did it work?"
"Yes, it did."
"A doctor. But you cannot go there, they will take you back to your husband." Lone Wolf told her.
"I can show you where it is, and you can go."
"What would I look for?"
"You capture the doctor and get him to give it to you." She told him. "He may not have enough, but I think he knows how to get it."
"Are you sure it will help?"
"I am sure." Hannah told him.
"Then I and one other will go to get this doctor. You will draw me a picture how to get there?" He asked.
"Yes." She told him.
Lone Wolf informed his father and Gray Eye nodded after a bit. "Then go and get it my son. But be careful they do not get you."
"I will be fine, father. But, the people, may not want to take the vaccine."
"I will speak to them, make them understand." Gray Eye told him.
Hannah drew the picture of where the doctor's office was in town and Lone Wolf asked Deer Runner to go with him.
Together they rode out, but Hannah followed them to the edge of the village, "Be careful," she warned him.
"I will." He smiled down at her. Her heart lurched at his smile, and she wished he didn't have to leave. Why did she feel like this, she questioned herself? She feared for his life. Perhaps because he had saved her twice and she knew him as a good man. Still, deep down Hannah felt there was something more growing between herself and Lone Wolf, something she couldn't define yet.
She didn't understand her feelings. She felt shame for having them. He was Indian, she was white. And yet, he was a better man than her white husband. She felt guilt, but something more, something she couldn't identify.