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Geist stood. No, you are not, he had Dryfus sign. He nodded at Petrie, who pointed his rifle at them.

“This can’t be happening,” Spotted Fawn said.

I need women, and you’re it whether you want to be or not, Geist made it clear through Dryfus.

Our people will learn what you have done, Raven On The Ground warned. Our warriors will wipe you out.

They won’t ever know, was Geist’s reply.

You cannot make us do what we do not want to do, Raven On The Ground insisted.

Watch me, Geist rebutted. He went to the door. We will talk more of this later, Dryfus signed.

The three whites went out. The instant the door closed, Flute Girl grabbed hold of the latch and lifted and pushed, but the door wouldn’t open. It was locked or barred.

“We’re trapped,” Lavender said.

“What do we do now?” Spotted Fawn asked anxiously.

Raven On The Ground had no idea.

Toad was measuring a bolt of cloth when Geist stormed into the mercantile, Petrie in his wake. Geist was so mad that he slammed the door. The half dozen Indian customers turned and regarded him quizzically.

Geist didn’t seem to care. He and Petrie came to the counter and Geist glared at Toad. “You lied to me, you son of a bitch.”

“About?”

“Don’t play innocent,” Geist snapped. “When I caught you and that squaw in the storage room, you claimed it was her idea as much as yours.”

“It was,” Toad said.

“Like hell. She just told me that she and her friends are as pure as the driven snow, which means you’re a goddamned liar.” Geist reached across and grabbed Toad’s shirt and balled his other fist.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Toad said.

“Give me one good reason.”

Toad swept an arm at the Indians. “You want to stay on their good side, don’t you? They see you beating on me, they’ll wonder why. Word will get around.”

“So?” Petrie said.

Geist relaxed his fist and let go. “No, Levi’s right. If the redskins think we don’t get along, they won’t trust us as fully as we need them to.”

“Let me take him into the storeroom and give him a bloody mouth,” Petrie said. “That’ll teach him not to lie to us again.”

“Time enough for that later.” To Toad, Geist growled, “I warned you there would be consequences if you didn’t behave. You should have listened.”

Toad wisely kept silent. It wouldn’t take much to trigger Geist’s temper.

“But first, I’ve got the squaws to deal with. I was hoping it would be easy, but they’ve made it hard. Now I’ll have to force them.”

“To be whores?” Toad was horrified.

“You make it sound like I’m out to slit their throats.”

“Ours will be slit if their people find out. The Crows won’t stand for having their women abused.”

“Abused?” Geist snorted. “All I want is for them to spread their legs and get paid for it.”

“It’s wrong,” Toad said flatly.

“It’s what I do, and neither you nor a bunch of stinking redskins will stop me.”

“You can’t fight an entire tribe.”

“No,” Petrie said, to Toad’s surprise. “We can’t.”

Geist turned to him. “You too? Damn it, there has to be a way. I’ll figure it out.”

“We can’t keep those girls locked in forever,” Petrie said.

“Why not?”

Toad spread his hands on the counter. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”

“Shut the hell up.” Geist pressed a hand to his forehead. “I need time to think. I didn’t count on the Crows being so damn finicky about being paid to have sex. The jackasses would rather give it away free.” He moved toward the back hall and Petrie went with him. “Levi, not one word to anyone about this, or I’ll have you snuffed like a candle.”

Toad shook his head, and sighed. He walked to the front window and saw Dryfus standing guard at the women’s quarters. He swore and returned to the counter. “Geist isn’t the only one who has to think,” he said to himself, bowing his head. Almost under his breath he summed up the state of affairs with “This is bad. This is very bad.”

Chapter Sixteen

Zach and Chases Rabbits were making good time. They pushed the dun and the pinto hard, but not so hard as to wear the horses out. At the dun’s side loped the wolf. Whenever they stopped to rest their mounts, the wolf was at Zach’s side.

Chases Rabbits was wary. Whenever the wolf came near him, he’d tense. That evening, after they made camp and had a small fire going, the wolf lay at Zach’s side, staring inscrutably across the flames at Chases Rabbits.

“Me think maybe your wolf not like me.”

“His name is Blaze. He won’t harm you.”

“How you know?”

“He listens well.” Zach ran a hand along Blaze’s throat. “He’s not much different than a dog.”

“Bear is bear and bird is bird,” Chases Rabbits said. “Dog is dog and wolf is wolf.”

“You’re a worrywart.”

Chases Rabbits remembered that warts were bumps people got on their skin. “Me not have any warts.”

“You still worry too much.”

“How you know this wolf you have as boy?” Chases Rabbits asked. “Him gone many winters.”

“It has to be. No wild wolf would let me do this.” Zach put his head to the wolf’s and rubbed his hair back and forth. “See how tame he is?”

“Wolf never tame. Only pretend.”

“Have you ever had one as a pet?”

“Me know animals,” Chases Rabbits stubbornly persisted. “Not trust rattlesnake in blankets not to bite. Not trust bears any time. Not trust wolf not to be wolf.”

Zach sighed. “There’s no convincing you, is there?”

“Not about wolf…” Chases Rabbits would have said more, but Zach looked past him and jumped to his feet.

“Another fire.” Zach moved to where he could see it better. “About half a mile off, I’d say.”

“Must be Ute war party,” Chases Rabbits guessed.

“You’ve seen them?”

“They try catch me but me too smart.”

“A Ute war party this close to King Valley.” Zach placed his hands on his pistols. “Something has to be done.”

“Utes not know you live there,” Chases Rabbits said. “Valley hard to find.”

“I want to keep it that way.”

Chases Rabbits didn’t like the sound of that. “What you do?”

“I’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t go anywhere near the pass.”

“What about Toad?”

“He’ll have to wait. Whatever is going on, the women should be fine. The whites won’t dare harm a hair on their heads.”

Chases Rabbits hoped his friend was right.

The maidens were mad.

They had a long talk. It was unanimous. They would leave and have nothing more to do with the whites at the trading post. But there was only the one way in or out, and it was blocked.

“I have wondered why the other lodge has a front door and a back door and many windows but this lodge has none,” Flute Girl said. “Now we know.”

“You think they planned all along to keep us here against our will?” Spotted Fawn asked.

“We are their prisoners, aren’t we?”

“Not for long,” Raven On The Ground said. She had been thinking hard. “We must escape and get to our village. We will tell Long Hair what the whites have done and he will send warriors to punish them.”

“It will not go well for Chases Rabbits,” Lavender said.