She still did not see how he could be alive, but there he was, riding on a horse, a cigarillo hanging from the corner of his mouth, his eyes, which she remembered as being almost bottomless, seeming to know she was looking at him. The way he held his head now, it seemed as though he was looking directly into the lenses of the binoculars.
She even saw a mocking smile flutter across his lips as he took his cigarillo from between them and flipped it over his shoulder, onto the path he and the others were traveling.
Her heart thumping, Joylynn lowered the binoculars, then gazed slowly up at the sun, which stood at the midpoint in the sky. Had it reflected on the glass, sending a message to Mole that she was there, staring at him?
She had to be more careful. If Mole hadn’t seen the reflection in the glass this time, he might the next.
“My brother . . .” she heard High Hawk gasp.
She looked quickly at him and saw tears filling his eyes as he leaned over and stared down the side of the cliff.
Joylynn followed the path of his eyes.
Her heart ached with sadness when she, too, saw Sleeping Wolf. He lay on a slight outcropping of rock just below them.
Everyone dismounted at once.
Forgetting the soldiers and outlaw down below, Joylynn watched as several warriors helped High Hawk retrieve his brother. They brought his body up and laid it out on the rock floor.
Joylynn watched High Hawk as he knelt beside his brother and placed a gentle hand on his cold, copper cheek. He knew that he could not wail and pray aloud to the heavens over his loss, for the sound would echo and travel down below where the white men could hear him. That was all they would need to know they were on the right track.
Joylynn became aware of the sound of splashing water. There was a waterfall somewhere near.
Would that not be the perfect place for Sleeping Wolf’s burial? It would not be wise to carry him back to his mother. She would not want to see how the fall had further disfigured him. His face was now covered with dried blood, his eyes frozen as they stared straight ahead.
High Hawk had not been able to close them when he’d tried.
“High Hawk, wouldn’t it be wonderful to bury your brother beside a waterfall?” Joylynn asked as she knelt down beside him. “One is near. I hear it. It would be so peaceful there for your brother. He would not be alone. He would have the music of the water with him at all times.”
High Hawk smiled at her. “Ho, that is where we will take him,” he said, then lifted Sleeping Wolf into his arms and walked until they found the waterfall.
They didn’t have any digging tools, so they had to depend on a thick cover of stones and rocks to protect Sleeping Wolf’s body from being disturbed by animals. It had not been bothered on the narrow ledge. No animals could have gotten down to him.
It was as though Tirawahut had guided his fall and seen that he fell where his body would be safe until his brother found him.
Now Sleeping Wolf’s body was fully covered and prayers were being said over it.
Then Joylynn exclaimed at the sudden appearance of many eagles
flying low overhead, as though they had come to say a final good-bye to Sleeping Wolf.
They continued circling until Joylynn watched one peel off from the others. It settled into a nest on a slight outcropping of rock near the waterfall.
She gasped when she saw several heads pop into view.
“Baby eagles,” she said, drawing High Hawk’s eyes there, too.
“My brother loved eagles,” High Hawk said, sliding an arm around Joylynn’s waist. “Sleeping Wolf will be at peace here where eagles nest. His spirit will fly forever with the eagles.”
“It is so sad that your mother can’t be here for Sleeping Wolf’s burial,” Joylynn said, wiping tears from her eyes.
“She is here,” High Hawk said thickly. “In spirit she is here and always will be for her firstborn son.”
He wiped tears from Joylynn’s cheeks; then everyone returned to their horses.
They traveled onward until they had descended far enough to get a better view of the men in pursuit of them.
The soldiers not only carried firearms in their hands; they were also dragging a cannon along behind them. Apparently, they had planned to kill many Pawnee at once with balls from the cannon.