Chapter 9

The next morning John woke up before anyone else. He looked at the three ladies sharing his bed. A couple of months ago, he had felt unloved and unwanted. Now he had three people who needed him. It had been so long since he felt really needed, or wanted, let alone loved. He felt that his heart would explode, and he started quietly crying.

Sarah felt something wake her. She opened her eyes and saw John staring at her crying. She reached out for him to quiet him.

She whispered, "I love you," as she held him.

John snuggled against Sarah and in a quiet voice said, "I don't deserve you three. You all take care of me and my needs. I wish I could do more for you. I love all of you so much."

"John, we love you, too. You can't imagine how good it feels to be appreciated as much as you show us. You also do more than you realize. You have looked at how the men in the tribe treat the women. Think about how you treat us. Is it any wonder that we love you?"

She looked around as she held him, and saw the sisters' eyes open. They had been listening but not interfering.

'It is interesting, ' she thought to herself. 'They seem to know English just fine now, even though we didn't go through any type of teaching phase with them. It was just like magic. Like the magic that happened to us when we learned their language overnight.'

At breakfast, they talked about the upcoming trip. They decided they would only take John and Sarah's stuff. It was quicker to load and had everything they needed to survive. They unloaded all the extra furs into the teepee and hitched everything into one long train. All of them got into the pickup, so they could talk as they headed up stream.

Around noon, they stopped to stretch their legs. They were near a bend in the stream. Sarah suggested they pan for gold after lunch. The four of them were able to get several ounces of dust that afternoon.

The next day each time the stream made a major turn or twist they stopped to pan for gold. So far, they were still on the trail. That afternoon around two they were stopped.

Twin Bird suddenly heard something rattling the bushes behind her. Her instincts kicked in and she dropped her pan and jumped straight ahead across the stream to the other bank. John, who had seen this happen, had time to draw his .45. Standing where Twin Bird had been a moment ago was the largest mountain lion John had ever seen. John aimed and shot twice. Little Doe, who had frozen, screamed loudly. The cat turned toward her. John had a perfect side target. He shot again this time the cat fell. The entire group went over to Twin Bird. She was sitting on the bank crying. They comforted each other. Sarah, who seemed best in control of herself, said they needed to start the pistol and rifle practice they had been putting off.

Little Doe reminded them of Yellow Flower's predictions. She cautioned them, however that in the way of all predictions, they could happen any order.

John got out the girls pistols, and some paper targets. He started to go over gun safety and safe handling practices.

Sarah spoke up, "John, they look totally confused. Even though they understand English, now, they don't understand the concepts behind the words."

"Sarah, if you can make this easier, be my guest. I am going to break out a couple of rifles, so they are handy."

Sarah took the sisters over to a small clearing. John, who was concerned for their safety listened in.

"Ok, girls, remember how I threw those rocks at the coyotes, a few weeks ago?"

"Yes, Sarah."

"The Great Spirit has given us gifts for you to use as well. He wants you to be safe," She said. She leaned over, picked up a rock, and threw it at one of the trees with a target. "See that rock? Did you see how hard I had to throw it, even to get close to the tree? These gifts, called pistols, can throw tiny rocks much harder. Therefore, it is always important to know which way they are pointed. Never point them at something you do not want to hit and hurt. Watch this." Sarah drew her pistol and aimed at a tree fifty yards away. After shooting the tree, she continued.

"When you have practiced you can hit things much farther away than you can throw."

She finished the safety class easily now that the girls understood what was going on from their point of view.

They spent an hour target practicing. John and Sarah were refreshing their skill. Twin Bird and Little Doe spent the time getting over their fears. Each morning after that, they spent some time shooting.

Four days later, they were coming near the head of the stream, and their panning found no sign of gold at all. They started slowly going backwards, looking for some sign of where the gold had come from. After a couple of hours they saw a gash in a hillside where a tree had grown and been torn out by a cyclone or some severe storm.

When they were below the gash, Little Doe started yelling, "Look here, everyone! These pebbles I found here on the bank are gold!"

"Let's see sister, show me."

Everyone crowded around Little Doe. Suddenly they found that they had attracted unwanted attention. Six large wolves attacked them. John managed to kill two with his pistol before one knocked him to the ground trying to rip his throat out. He managed to stop the wolf by jamming his fist into the wolf's mouth.

As he was wrestling with the wolf, he had no time to pay attention to anything else. Suddenly a shot rang out very close by. Twin bird had shot the wolf in the brain with her .22. Sarah and Twin Bird pulled the wolf off John. They hauled him into the clinic trailer, and got him on the table.

The pain was so bad, that Sarah had to use a total anesthetic. Sarah worked for hours on John's arm and hand. There were deep scratches down his chest and abdomen that had to be cleaned and treated, as well. Even with the girls help, Sarah was worried about blood loss, and infection. They left him on the table a bit, and went to get a bite to eat in the camper. They were exhausted.

Little Doe said, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't been shouting the wolves wouldn't have bothered us, or we might have heard them." She broke down and cried.

"Sister, it's not your fault. That gash in the hill was being used as a den by the pack. They were defending it. We would have been attacked, even if you hadn't been shouting."

"Sarah, why don't you and Little Doe take a nap? I will let you know if anything happens to John."

Twin Bird helped her tired sister and Sarah into bed. When she got back to the clinic trailer, she opened the door and froze in the doorway. There was a pale pink light bathing John's body. She stood there staring while one scratch mark after another healed.