Savage Summer Read Online Free Page A

feel joy. If you are fated to stay in the white world, then I will understand and accept this also.”
    Sky Dancer knew that her mother’s heart was breaking at the thought of her going away. She knew how difficult it was for her mother to send her to Philadelphia. In that moment Sky Dancer decided not to cause her mother further anguish. She would go, if not with a happy heart, at least without complaining. After all, she would be back home before winter set in.
    “I will go to this place that was once your home, my mother. I will learn all that I can so you will be proud of me. But I will be home before the first snowflakes fall,” she said with conviction.
    Joanna merely nodded. “How much do you remember about the trip we took to St. Louis when you were five, Sky Dancer?”
    “I remember only that it was a big noisy place that frightened me. There were many white men there with hair on their faces like Farley.”
    “Do you remember meeting your cousin Danielle?”
    “No, but everyone said we looked very much alike, although I cannot remember her at all.”
    “That’s understandable since you were both very young the last time you met. As you know, I will be taking Danielle home with me. Like you, she is half Indian, and her father wishes her to know about her Indian heritage. I am sure she is feeling every bit as apprehensive as you at this moment.”
    “Tell me again how you and my Uncle Tag were rescued by my father,” Sky Dancer urged.
    Joanna got a far away look in her eyes as if she were remembering. She knew Sky Dancer had heard the story many times before, but she never seemed to tire of hearing it. “As you know, Sky Dancer, your Uncle Tag and I were traveling on a wagon train which was heading for Oregon country. Our mother had died and we were on our way to join our father.” Joanna paused and smiled at her daughter. “The first time I saw your father, the wagon train was camped beside the Platt River in what is known to you as Sioux country. He and many of his warriors were meeting at thetrading post to hold games and contests with the Piegan Blackfoot.”
    “The chief of the Piegan saw you and wanted to take you away, didn’t he?” Sky Dancer asked eagerly.
    “Yes. He raided the train and killed almost everyone. He left me for dead, but took Tag as his prisoner. Later, your father heard about the raid and found me among the wreckage of our wagon. I was injured, so he nursed me back to health and took me to his village.”
    “At that time you thought he was responsible for the raid and you thought my uncle was dead.”
    Joanna smiled as her daughter helped her tell the story she’d heard many times. “Yes, that’s true. Tag was only twelve years old at that time and he suffered greatly at the hands of the Piegan chief, Running Elk. Later, your father discovered that Tag was alive and rescued him from Running Elk.”
    “Father said he loved you from the first moment he saw you. He told me he knew you would one day be his wife.”
    Joanna laughed. “Oh, yes, your father can be very persuasive when he wants something.”
    “You married my father and later, when Uncle Tag was older, he married my father’s sister, Morning Song.”
    “This is true. Tag and Morning Song had been married less than two years when she was killed by two white men. Before she died, Morning Song gave birth to Danielle.”
    “My uncle was enraged and went to Philadelphia to find the ones who were responsible for Morning Song’s death,” Sky Dancer supplied. “He avenged her death. That’s when he met and married Aunt Alexandria.”
    “That’s right. He decided to stay in Philadelphia, but not before he came back to the Blackfoot village for his daughter. That’s why Danielle was raised as a white girl. Can’t you see how important it is that you spend time with your Uncle Tag and Aunt Alexandria? It is also important that Danielle come to know her mother’s people.”
    “Why did Danielle have to be