Chapter Nineteen
It was decided to wait to attack the Pawnee village in order to make them pay for this affront. Red Bear wished to tend to his father and prepare for battle first. He went back to the area where he'd found Lone Wolf to try and find out where they needed to go once they were ready. As he studied the area, he made a rather unsettling discovery. While his father had been shot by what appeared to be a Pawnee arrow, the only tracks in the area were made by someone wearing hard-soled boots. He followed these tracks back to where the attacker's mount had been hidden and found hoof prints that were made by a shod horse.

When Red Bear came back to the village, he sought out the Man of Dreams to discuss his findings. He was not sure what to make of these things. After much discussion it was decided that the Pawnee could not be punished for Lone Wolf's murder; it appeared to be the work of one very clever white man. Even the Man of Dreams was confused as to what could be done to discover who this white man was, or how to find him to punish him for his crime.

Red Bear called the warriors together. “I will wait until my father is properly buried and then I will take a few men with me to see if we can track this man. He may be tricky, but he was not clever enough to hide the fact that he is not what he wanted us to believe. I also wish to send a messenger to the Pawnee to see if they recognize the maker of this arrow; perhaps they will wish to help us find him since he was trying to start a war between us.”

The warriors agreed with Red Bear's decisions, but the mumblings against Running Buck grew stronger. His father was a white man; perhaps he had returned to try and take what he thought was rightfully his. It was even suggested that Running Buck had possibly met in secret with the man to plot this crime.

Shining Star and Red Bear were too distracted by the burial preparations to pay attention to these murmurings. Little Bird did her best to discourage them, but since she was a white slave her opinions were not taken seriously. She was even punished once by one of the women for daring to speak without permission.

As Running Buck tended Little Bird's injuries from the beating she received for defending him he shared his concerns with her. “I think that the youngest warriors are trying to decide how to punish me. I can feel their hatred whenever I am near them. I am sure that the only reason nothing has happened yet is because Red Bear has not made me leave the family home. If he every gives an indication that he feels I was involved in Lone Wolf's death, I'm certain they will kill me.”

“Maybe we should try to leave,” suggested Little Bird. “We are both strong enough to make it to the nearest white settlement.”

Running Buck nodded his head. “That is true, but I'm not sure things would be much better for me in the white settlement. This could be especially true if the council decides that someone needs to pay for this crime.”

“I hadn't thought about that,” said Little Bird.

“I will just need to be extra careful,” said Running Buck. “I am sure that once someone is punished for this, things will go back to normal.”

“I hope so,” said Little Bird. “I'm not sure I could handle losing someone else of importance in my life. I realize he wasn't the nicest person around, but still...” she stopped speaking and quietly started to cry.

Running Buck took her in his arms and held her. “I understand how you feel,” he whispered. “I was afraid of him because he could be so violent, but I still miss him. I wish there was a way for me to take back the last conversation I had with him.” They sat there holding each other until Shining Star and Red Bear returned. When they heard the door flap move, they pulled apart and pretended they had been busy with other things.