Chapter 17

“Otter, it’s me…John.”

“Eagle, what’s wrong?”

Before I finished spilling out my story, James was standing beside us on the porch. When I finished, he took charge.

“We’ll go to the fort in the morning. They’re bound to have more accurate news over the grapevine by now.” It was a minute before I realized he meant the telegraph wire. “Damnation, I usually go to town at least once a week, but I kept putting it off.”

“Let’s take care of your animals,” Otter said. “Are you hungry?”

“No, sir. Ma sent victuals.”

James returned to the cabin to prepare a pallet for my bed while Otter went with me to rub down the two horses. As we worked, I expected him to ask about what we had discussed the last time I was here. Instead he wanted to know if I had been on my hemblecha yet.

I looked over Arrow’s broad back and watched him curry the pinto. “A Vision Quest? I never considered it.”