In the Face of Danger Read Online Free Page B

Megan as Megan had been about the woman’s daughter.
    “We have food for our own journey,” Ben said. “We’ll share what we have with you.”
    The Indians made no sign they had heard, but Ben handed the reins to Emma, then jumped from the seat and walked to the rear of the wagon. Megan turned to watch him open the hamper Mrs. Parson had packed for them and wrap half the food in a bleached sack.
    Solemnly the Indian woman stepped forward and took it. The Indian on horseback waited until Ben had climbed back into the wagon, then gave a single nod of his head.He guided his horse to the head of his group, and the others followed behind him.
    Clucking at Jay and Jimbo, Ben gave the reins a flip, and they moved on. Megan twisted to glance back, wondering if the Indian girl would turn to look at her, too, but the Indians went on their way as though the meeting hadn’t taken place.
    “Where did they come from?” Megan whispered, even though she knew the Indians were now too far away to hear her question.
    “If they were Kaws, they may have come from Council Grove, where the government has put them on a tract of land. Of course they could have been Osage, too. Kaws and Osage look alike. They’re taller and better formed than the people in some of the other tribes.”
    “Other tribes? How many are there?”
    “In the Kansas territory? Let’s see, there’s Pawnee, Cherokee, Wichita—” He broke off as he looked down at her. “Don’t look so worried, Megan. As I said before, the Indians are people like us. Mostly, we try to get along with each other.”
    Megan thought again about the girl with the black eyes. “I’m glad you gave them something to eat,” she said.
    “Speaking of something to eat,” Emma announced, “the sun’s high, and I’m hungry. I’m sure Megan is, too.”
    “We’re not far from home. Sure you don’t want to just keep going?” Megan saw the twinkle in Ben’s eyes. He liked to tease, the way Da had. Megan well remembered the twitch of a smile on Da’s face and the way his eyes had sparkled with mischief.
    Ben guided the wagon off the road, and the three of them soon demolished the rest of the cold meat and bread. As he closed the hamper, Ben glanced sidewaysat Emma, ducking his head a little. “Nelda had put in three apples,” he said. “I gave them to the Indians.”
    Megan thought of the wonderful tartness of an apple, and she could almost feel the spurt of juice in her mouth. She pictured the Indian girl eating her apple and knew she should feel generous about giving and sharing, but she didn’t. She wished that Ben had kept the apples.
    Emma, however, simply said, “Nelda packed more food than we needed.” Ben rested a hand on her shoulder, and the look that passed between them revealed their closeness and contentment with each other. As Emma began to rearrange the hamper and the bundles around it into place again, she sighed. “Times have been harder for Nelda and Will than for us, and they could little spare all this food.”
    Ben patted his stomach. “It went to a good cause.”
    Emma smiled. “We’ll make it up to them when they come at Christmastime.”
    Megan walked a few steps into the long grass and stared out over the low hills, the noonday sun warm on her back. She breathed in deeply the pleasant, sour-sweet fragrance of the stems crushed under her feet and realized with surprise that already she felt a part of this glowing landscape. She wanted to race across the prairie and fling herself facedown, burrowing into the grasses, hugging the earth from which they grew.
    “This is the prairie’s golden time,” Emma said beside her. “Later on, in winter, the grass will be dried and blackened, but in the spring the new grass will grow and the hills will turn green. There’s wild indigo and bluestem. And after that there’s bird’s-foot violets, prairie roses, daisies, and purple milkweed. And the birds!” She laughed. “They start singing at sunrise, and