Chapter 116

“It makes no sense, Otter,” he said to me the third day after the tragedy. It was Abel Brown who sent the militia to Trickling Water. If you must assign blame, he was responsible for killing Dull Lance’s wife and companions.”

I stared at him. “Brown, Smith…Hardcastle, even. They are the same snake in a different skin. Brown started it, but Smith pressed the issue. If they had eased off and allowed me to reason with Lance, maybe…”

“I’m no defender of the likes of Sam Smith, but it’s you I am concerned with. You are a logical man, but this is not logical. Dull Lance killed Brown and Pawley. Ambushed them. Of course, the militia had to go after him. So did the military, as you recall. While I was still in command.”

“Aye, but Smith is the worst of them. He is a hater. A hater of people of the blood, and a hater of people like us. He represents all that is wrong with the white man.”