Wild Thunder

Yes, he owed her anything she asked of him.

Also, he had agreed never to tell his father, Buffalo Cloud, what he and his mother had conspired to do. His father, the peace-loving man that he was, would never approve.

As he rode onward, Hawk’s thoughts centered on Proud Heart’s sister, Doe Eyes. He hadn’t told her, either, what he must do for the sake of his mother. He had been forced to leave Doe Eyes behind, his one and only love, although both hearts would be broken by such a silent farewell. Because of tensions between families, theirs had been a forbidden love, one that only they had secretly shared.

When wild thunder rolled across the hills in the distance, Hawk sank his moccasin heels into the flanks of his white mustang. He was anxious to get this done and over with. His mother had told him not to return home again until the deed was done. He must hurry and return home alive and well, for he would be chief after his father.

“How am I to kill people I do not even hate?” Hawk despaired to himself, having not even known the man whose death he was avenging. Like his father, Hawk was a peace-loving man.

“And she expects them both to die,” he whispered to himself. “How . . . can . . . I?”

He lifted his eyes to the sky. “Doe Eyes, if you could just be here, to comfort my bleeding, troubled heart!” he cried to the heavens.

Chapter 4

She seemed to hear my silent voice!

—JOHN CLARE

Doe Eyes, a beautiful Chippewa maiden, and the daughter of White Wolf and Dawnmarie, had learned of Hawk’s journey to the Kansas Territory. Against her parents’ wishes and ignoring their protests, she had found warriors to accompany her to the Kansas Territory in search of Hawk.

Riding on a gentle mare, she was on Hawk’s trail even now. No one seemed to know why Hawk had just suddenly left Wisconsin. She only suspected why, and had planned to try and get to him before he did something he would regret for the rest of his life. Her parents believed that he was seeking his own destiny away from a demanding, unreasonable mother.

She believed he was following the orders of this cruel, heartless mother. And she shivered inside to even think of what this might be.

Though troubled, Doe Eyes looked beautiful, serene, and confident as she rode her horse through tall, blowing grass. She wore a belted dress of animal skins left open on both sides to make her ride on the horse more comfortable. She wore a necklace of deer and panther teeth.

Her skin had a smooth copper sheen, her facial features were perfect. A single braid hung down her back.

As evening drew nigh, the sky in the west was red. Su

ddenly Doe Eyes heard a faint rumble of wild thunder in the faraway hills.

“Hawk, where are you?” she cried to the heavens.

Chapter 5

Did you ever see a woman,

for whom your soul you’d give?

If so, ’twas she, for there never

was another so half fair.

—H. ANTOINE D’ARCY

With a panther’s tread, Strong Wolf moved noiselessly through the thick grass and placed the last stick of dynamite amid the rocks and rubble that still lay in place across the stream.

“The paleface lied,” Strong Wolf said as he stood back with his friend Proud Heart and gazed at the dam that had not been removed. It was noon, the next day after the visit to Chuck Kody’s ranch.

“The rancher must have waited until I was gone, then told his foreman not to destroy the dam,” Strong Wolf growled out between clenched teeth. “How could I trust so easily?”

Since sunup today Strong Wolf and Proud Heart had waited and watched for the white men to come and tear down the dam, as promised, since it had not been torn down already.

When they realized that the dam was not going to be removed, they had gone to a shack that sat far back from the rancher’s lodge, where they had seen Tiny store many sticks of dynamite. They had stolen several sticks of the dynamite and had returned determinedly to the dam.

“Do we have enough of the white man’s power sticks in place?” Proud Heart asked, himself studying the dam. “Perhaps we should have removed the dam with our hatchets. There would be less danger involved, and noise.”