It would be nice to be able to forget the Governor, and Barkeley, and the ledger keepers and just to ride west into the wild country. Perhaps, he thought, as he turned back, that was what Augustus wanted: just to be free for a few days, just to saddle his horse and ride.
Within an hour of leaving Captain Call, Pea Eye began to wish fervently that they would soon find Augustus McCrae, mainly because he had no confidence that he could stay with Famous Shoes. It wasn't that Famous Shoes travelled particularly fast--though it was certainly true he didn't travel slow. The problem was that he travelled irregularly, zigging and zagging, slipping into a copse of trees, loping off at right angles to the track, sometimes even doubling back if he spotted an animal or a bird he wanted to investigate. No matter how hard Pea Eye concentrated on staying with him, Famous Shoes continually disappeared. Every time it happened Pea Eye had to wonder if he would ever see the man again.
Famous Shoes was amused at the young ranger's frantic efforts to keep him in sight, a thing, of course, which was quite unnec. The young man looked worried and nervous all day and was so tired when they made camp that he was barely capable of making a decent fire. Famous Shoes liked the young man and thought it might help a little if he instructed Corporal Parker in the ways of scouting.
'You do not have to follow me or stay close to me,' he told Pea Eye. 'I do not follow a straight trail.' 'Nope, you don't,' Pea Eye agreed.
He had been almost asleep, from fatigue, but the strong coffee Famous Shoes brewed woke him up a little.
'I have many things to watch,' Famous Shoes told him. 'I do not think we will catch up with Captain McCrae for a few days. I think he is going far.' 'Can you tell how far he's going just from the tracks?' Pea Eye asked.
'No--it is just something I am thinking,' Famous Shoes admitted. 'He has lost his wife. Right now he does not know where to be. I think he is going far, to look around.' In the night Pea Eye found that he could not sleep. It occurred to him that he had never been alone with an Indian before. Of course, it was only Famous Shoes, who was friendly. But what if he wasn't really friendly? What if Famous Shoes suddenly got an urge to take a scalp? Of course, Pea Eye knew it was unlikely--Captain Call wouldn't send him off with an Indian who wanted to take his scalp.
He knew it was foolish to be thinking that way.
Famous Shoes had scouted for many years and had never scalped anybody. But Pea Eye's mind wouldn't behave. The part of it that was sensible knew that Famous Shoes meant him no harm; but another part of his mind kept bringing up pictures of Indians with scalping knives. He was annoyed with his mind--it would be a lot easier to do his task well if his mind would just behave and not keep making him scared.
Late in the night, while the young ranger dozed, Famous Shoes heard some geese flying overhead, and he began to sing a long song about birds. Of course he sang the song in his own Kickapoo tongue, which the young white man could not understand. Famous Shoes knew that the ^ws of the song would be mysterious to the young man, who had awakened to listen, but he sang anyway. That things were mysterious did not make them less valuable. The mystery of the northward-flying geese had always haunted him; he thought the geese might be flying to the edge of the world, so he made a song about them, for no mystery was stronger to Famous Shoes than the mystery of birds. All the animals that he knew left tracks, but the geese, when they spread their wings to fly northward, left no tracks. Famous Shoes thought that the geese must know where the gods lived, and because of their knowledge had been exempted by the gods from having to make tracks.
The gods would not want to be visited by just anyone who found a track, but their messengers, the great birds, were allowed to visit them. It was a wonderful thing, a thing Famous Shoes never tired of thinking about.
When Famous Shoes finished his song he noticed that the young white man was asleep.
During the day he had not trusted enough, and had worn himself out with pointless scurryings. Perhaps even then the song he had just sung was working in the young man's dreams; perhaps as he grew older he would learn to trust mysteries and not fear them. Many white men could not trust things unless they could be explained; and yet the most beautiful things, such as the trackless flight of birds, could never be explained.
The next morning, when the first gray light came, Pea Eye awoke to find that he had not been scalped or hurt. He felt so tired and so grateful that he didn't move at once.
Famous Shoes squatted by the campfire, bringing the coffee to a boil. Pea Eye wanted to be helpful, but he felt as if his joints had turned to glue. He sat up, but felt incapable of further movement.
Famous Shoes drank coffee as if he were drinking water, although, to Pea Eye's taste, the coffee was scalding.
'I am leaving now,' Famous Shoes said.
'You do not have to go where I go. Just travel to the west.' 'What? I won't see you at all?' Pea Eye asked. Never since joining the rangers had he spent a whole day alone, in wild country.
Even if he hadn't been feeling that his joints had melted, the prospect would have alarmed him.
If he met a party of Comanches, he would be lost.
'You haven't seen no Indian sign, have you?' he asked.
Famous Shoes was not in the mood for conversation just then. There was a ridge to the north that had some curious black rocks scattered around it; he wanted to examine those black rocks. The sky to the east was white now--it was time to start.
'No, there are no Indians here, but there is an old bear who has a den in that little mountain,' he said, pointing toward a small hill just to the west. 'You should be careful of that bear--he might try to eat your horse.' 'The rascal, I'll shoot him if he tries it,' Pea Eye said, but with his joints so gluey he didn't feel confident that he could kill a bear.
Determined to make a show of competence, he stood up.
'I will find you when the evening star shines,' Famous Shoes said. 'Bring the coffeepot.' Then he slipped into the grayness. Pea Eye sipped his coffee, which was still barely cool enough to drink; but he kept his hand on his rifle while he sipped, in case the surly old bear was closer than Famous Shoes thought.
When Augustus left Austin he had no aim, other than to ride around for a while, alone.
