They spent one more day with the Apache, watching the sacred ritual when
a young boy departed with his first hunting party. The boy's first four
raids would be accompanied by ritual. This day he was instructed by the
war shaman and accepted by the adult members of the party. He was given
a drinking tube and a scratcher with lightning designs, and he was
bestowed with a war cap.
Jamie spoke to her while they stood watching. He pointed to the war cap
and told her, 'It will not yet contain the spiritual power that belongs
to the men. He must complete his passage before the spirits will enter
into his cap.' The men and women of the village were gathering around
the boy to throw pollen upon him as be departed with the warriors.
'It is a blessing,' Jamie told her.
'And we are standing here, watching this, and these men and that boy
will go off and raid some white settlement and perhaps kill our own
kind,' Tess murmured. Jamie glared at her.
'I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself. We're lucky to be
leaving here alive. And, Miss. Stuart, for your information, this party
is moving against the Comancheres. I don't believe you can feel too much
sympathy for that particular group.'
She could not, but she didn't have a chance to tell him so. He turned
her around and propelled her toward the tepee they were sharing.
'Go in, be quiet. I'm going to ask Nalte if we might leave tomorrow.'
She didn't hear, that afternoon, whether Nalte gave his permission.
She waited endlessly for Jamie to return, but he did not. When it was
dark one of the Apache women came to help her rekindle the fire and to
give her a plate of beef and yams and roe seal cakes. She ate
halfheartedly and waited, but Jamie still didn't return. Finally her
impatience brought her to the opening in the tent, and she looked out to
see Jamie and Nalte and the victorious raiding party sitting around the
central fire, laughing, talking, enjoying some newly arrived bottles of
whiskey, and apparently enjoying one another as if they were long lost
friends. In a fury she went to the fire and called Jamie's name sharply.
Every man there paused and stared at her, none of them more surprised or
annoyed than Jamie. Nalte shot him a quick glance and said something in
Apache. Jamie was quickly on his feet. He replied casually to the chief,
but two rugged strides brought him to Tess.
Before she could move or react he had butted her belly with his shoulder
and lifted her precariously. Her head dangled dangerously down his back.
She screamed out her protest, but Jamie ignored her and the Apache
laughed, enjoying the show.
Within seconds they were back in the tepee. She landed hard on one of
the blankets, desperately inhaling as he stared at her furiously. She
might have thought at first that he was drunk, but the sharp fire in his
eyes denied such a possibility. She accused him anyway before he could
yell at her.
'You're totally inebriated!'
'Inebriated--you mean drunk, don't you? I wish I were. Drunk enough to
give you what you need! And what you need is a good switch taken to your
hide.'
