Savage Flames

“What’s happened?” Colonel Cox asked, arching an eyebrow. He placed his fingertips together before him.

“Disaster,” Hiram said, suddenly sinking into a chair across the desk from the colonel. “The worst of it is that Lavinia is gone. She wasn’t there when I returned home from the fort. And then after I awakened from sleeping off my drunken stupor, Idiscovered that more than half of my slaves have fled the plantation. They’re headed north, out of Florida. I need your help, Fred. I need it now. With you and your soldiers’ help, I can get my slaves back. But I think Lavinia is gone forever. I’ve got to forget about her.”

“And so you’ve discovered the pitfalls of bein’ a slave owner, have you?” Fred said, relaxing into his chair and chuckling. “You know, I have never thought much of owning slaves, but there are many, like you, who do. Well, that’s nothing to do with me. I’ve got no orders to chase after runaways. No, Hiram, I won’t help you get those slaves back. Had you treated them humanely, I doubt they’d have left. So be on your way, Hiram. I’ve better things to do than waste my time on you.”

“Not even if it’s to go after Chief Wolf Dancer?” Hiram taunted, knowing how much the colonel would like to get his hands on the only chief in the area who had outwitted the military.

“But you said the slaves went north,” Colonel Cox replied, arching an eyebrow. “Which is it? North or in the direction of the chief’s island?”

“I’m not sure,” Hiram said. “Who’s to say whether that slave who told me the runaways went north told me the truth? Maybe they went in the opposite direction. In any case, this would be a good opportunity to go looking for that island.”

“I told you I don’t believe in slavery, and I don’t ever want to try and find that island,” Colonel Cox grumbled. “I wouldn’t send my regiment into thatswampy mess for any reason. There are too many mysterious things going on in the Everglades. Nope. I won’t send any of my men to fight against the likes of mysterious white panthers, nor floating and flying ghostly apparitions. It’s much safer staying away from there. Anyway, Chief Wolf Dancer hasn’t caused me any problems. I see no need to attack him, and I especially don’t want any of my men to come face-to-face with that white panther that stalks anything with two legs.”

“That white panther is only a myth,” Hiram said, laughing. “It’s only a tale made up to scare whites outta the swamp and away from the Indians’ island.”

He leaned farther over the desk. “I’m begging you,” he said thickly. “My whole life is going to be changed if I don’t get those slaves back. I’m accepting that I’ve lost Lavinia. But I don’t want to lose my tobacco. It’s ready to harvest. It takes a lot of work to get it harvested.”

“Then go and do it yourself,” Colonel Cox said, laughing. “And if you need those slaves so badly, you go into the Everglades yourself and find them. But consider this: If they did go there, by now they are probably dead, killed by snakes, alligators, the panther, or the swampy water itself.”

Hiram glared at the colonel with his one eye, then turned and left angrily.

He didn’t see Colonel Cox standing at a window watching him, smiling, as Hiram rode away on his steed, not so much angry as embarrassed by defeat.

“Virgil, it’s because of you,” Hiram cried to the heavens. “You had the loyalty of the slaves. You taught them to hate me, didn’t you, Virgil? I hope you’re rotting in hell!”

For the first time he could remember, tears sprang to Hiram’s eyes.

Chapter Twenty-three

A pity beyond all telling

Is hid in the heart of love.

—William Butler Yeats

A youthful voice sounded outside of Wolf Dancer’s closed door, interrupting Joshua in the middle of a sentence.

Joshua glanced over at Wolf Dancer, who rose to his feet and walked to the door.

Wolf Dancer looked over his shoulder at Dorey. He recognized the voice as belonging to Running Bear and wondered how she was going to react to seeing the two young braves who had caused her such alarm and fear. He was sure that she too had recognized the voice.

Wolf Dancer had expected the two boys to come this morning to offer an apology to Dorey for the way they had treated her.

Thus far they had avoided her, and Wolf Dancer had decided not to rush the issue. He wanted to give the boys enough time to rea

lize what they had done. He wanted the apology to Dorey to be sincere.

Dorey had stiffened when she recognized the voice and now saw Wolf Dancer glance over his shoulder ather. She wasn’t sure how to interpret that look, but she knew how she felt: uneasy!

She had yet to come face-to-face with her young assailants, and she wasn’t sure how she would react to the sight of them.

She sat still, filled with anxiety at what might happen in these next few moments. She hoped that when she saw those boys again she wouldn’t be filled with hatred. She wanted to forget that the incident had ever happened, for she knew she must learn to get along with the two boys as well as all the other Seminole people, at least until her mother made other plans for their future.

Something told Dorey that Lavinia was so in love with Wolf Dancer that she might never want to leave him.

She had seen that love in her mother’s eyes whenever she was around Wolf Dancer. She had seen it in the chief’s eyes as well.

They were certainly in love, even though it was forbidden for a white woman to love a red man. But she and her mother were no longer among whites! They were with the peace-loving Seminole.