How long could she keep up the charade? Day by day her attraction to Joshua grew. To pretend she did not have feelings for him was torture. How many times had she cautioned herself to stop staring at him? He’d only dismiss her affection.
The intimacy of sleeping side by side had her thinking the impossible and a curl of desire grew inside her. They had brushed shoulders from time to time when putting up and taking down the camp. Other than that, they had kept their relationship familial. But it did not keep her from wishing things were different.
Two Eagles had snared two rabbits, and one hung from a tree. He took some dried leaves from a deerskin pouch, lit them and, waving his hands with an upward motion, ushered the smoke to the rabbit.
Her mouth watered and her stomach gnawed. Delaying a meal of roasted rabbit when she was starving? “What is he doing?” said Juliet.
Joshua threw stacks wood down. “Animals have souls that are alike in their nature to the soul of human beings, yet they are more powerful. The hunter prays to the soul of the animal he kills and explains why he killed it. The souls of friendly animals help man, if man has been courteous, and he prays to the deceased animal’s spirit to enter him. The animal is taken for the body and is not stripped of the soul.”
“Oh.” Juliet found the culture strange yet what Two Eagles performed was beautiful.
“I was brought up to believe animals are beasts of burden for our use,” said Mary.
Joshua angled his head. “I will translate your belief to Two Eagles.”
While Joshua translated, Two Eagles narrowed his eyes on Mary, speaking rapidly while Joshua translated.
“Animals assist us and act as potent spirit guides. One time my enemy wished to kill me. They blistered my feet with hot coals and forced me to run a great distance. When I tired, they tied me up. I called upon my brothers, the toad, the bat, the mouse and the nighthawk. The toad applied a salve to my feet and I was cured. The bat distracted my enemy by flying round. The mouse climbed the tree and gnawed off the cords. The nighthawk reported my enemy’s whereabouts as I made my escape.”
Mary flopped on the ground, arranging her skirts around her. “Absurd.”
“Two Eagles says nothing more ridiculous than Jonah being swallowed by a whale,” said Joshua.
Mary rolled her eyes and snapped sticks in a pile to build a fire. Two Eagles broke out laughing, and Mary twisted her head around. “That is the first time I’ve heard you laugh. It’s rather nice.”
He pointed for Mary to clean the rabbit. She shook her head no. He folded his arms in front of him and spoke quickly. Mary stared at him mutinously, refusing to budge. Clearly his manner spoke he would not start the fire until Mary cleaned the rabbit.
“What did Two Eagles say?” said Juliet, puzzling over Mary’s antagonistic attitude toward Two Eagles, especially when her friend cuddled up to the one she called “savage” every night. Two Eagles’ tolerance was admirable.
Joshua said, “‘When one has worked hard and is hungry, the food will lie well on the tongue.’ It is a war of wills.”
Mary’s hunger overcame her and, soon she was gutting and skinning the rabbit with Two Eagles’ gestures. Mary, ever wary of the Indian, watched Two Eagles arrange a circle of stones, scooping out a piece of earth, making a hole in the middle. Over the hole he laid thin, dry grasses and twigs, arranging them in neat order.
He picked up a fire-drill and placed the lower point of the shaft upon a piece of dry wood. He drew the bow against the drill numerous times until a spark lit the dry grasses. He blew it into a flame and fed it with additional tinder, following with larger branches. He thrust a sharp stick through the rabbit’s body to roast, and then stared at Mary with a thirst of a man who had found a nugget of gold and knew he had found a mountain of the treasure. “I·sé uni stelist owískla u·kwé atnutolyaé óshes onúhkwis. I•se haw• akwa•w?´ khále? ya?táute? ?nikuhlatsatste haw• akwa•w?´.”You make me laugh white woman with hair of gold honey. You belong to me and always will belong to me.
“I’m going to collect Indian turnips growing downstream to add to our meal,” said Joshua.
“Wait. What did Two Eagles say?” said Mary.
Joshua whipped aside a maple branch, plunged down a path to the river, and said over his shoulder, “He is hungry.”
“Men only think of their stomachs,” Mary huffed, and, at that moment, gazed longingly at Two Eagles. “I’ve never met such a man. All the bogey man stories I’ve been told are ridiculous.”
“Am I hearing you might like him?” said Juliet.
“He stands very straight and tall. His nose is long, his forehead high, his mouth wide. His eyes are bright and piercing. I’m struck by his noble appearance.”
Juliet gaped. Trying to begin to identify the nuances of her friend’s contrary mind was like scraping her shoe on a star and hanging upside down from the moon.
“It’s—I at no time was aware an Indian could look so fine, so wise and so good. He certainly is a fine specimen of a man.” Mary stood, practically swooned on her feet, and then departed into the forests.
Juliet snapped her gaze to Two Eagles and captured a hint of a smile. Did Two Eagles understand more than he let on?
Mary screamed. Juliet jumped to her feet and dashed down a slender animal path. Two Eagles swept past her, leaping over fallen trees, thickets of bush engulfing him, and disappearing far ahead of her. Were there other Indians? Bear? If anything happened to her friend…
A stitch stabbed her side, and she staggered to catch her breath. How many times had she told Mary not to travel far from the campsite? She tunneled through the overgrowth, scampered over rocks, slipped on mosses, falling, her hands scraped across slate.
Beyond the framing of trees, she saw Two Eagles poised, signaling Mary to cease her shrieks. A seven-foot diamond patterned reptile with keeled rough scales, coiled on a rock, hissing at Mary, its head up, blue tongue darting in and out. The tail rattled a lethal warning. The jaws opened revealing long white fangs ready to strike.
