one you want to kill so much?”
“You did not know?”
“I did not see him when he came to our village that time. I was with Left Handed Buffalo then, remember?” Sweet Flower calmly picked up her dress. “I am sorry to lie with your enemy, Father.”
“That you would lie with
“I was curious.”
Little Face sighed. “Your mother was the same way. She tested my patience just as you do.”
“I miss her,” Sweet Flower said.
“I miss her, too. She was a brave woman. She took a Blackfoot arrow meant for me.” Little Face stared at Fargo. “I wanted a white woman to take her place but this one persuaded the council to let her go back to her people.”
Fargo finally found his voice. “Tell your daughter why you wanted a white wife.”
“Why did you, Father?” Sweet Flower asked.
Little Face’s smile was positively vicious. “So I could treat her as she deserved. Every day I would beat her. Every day I would kick her and spit on her. Every day she would wish she could die but I would not let her. It would have given me great pleasure.”
Something occurred to Fargo. “If you hate whites so much, why did you agree to talk peace with them?”
Little Face squatted, his dark eyes glittering with delight. “Do you truly think I would? Knowing me as you do?”
“No.”
“You know me well.” Little Face grinned. “I will tell you why I have agreed to meet this Kee-ver. But first.” He turned to his daughter. “Go back to our village and wait in our lodge. We will talk when I am done here.”
Fargo saw that she had put her dress on. He thought maybe she would say something on his behalf but she didn’t even look at him.
“As you wish, Father. Again, I am sorry.”
“I am disappointed. But you did not know. Now go. I have much to do.”
Sweet Flower put a hand on Little Face’s shoulder. “Be careful, Father.” With that, she was gone, sprinting off through the trees.
Little Face turned back to Fargo. “Life holds many surprises, does it not? You did not guess that you are here because of me.”
“I must have missed something?”
“Heed me. Listen and learn, for you do not have long to live.” Little Face was enjoying himself. “I have hated you since you took the white woman from me. I would have killed you that night for asking the council to spare her but you have too many friends among the Lakota. They would be angry with me.”
Fargo glanced at Long Forelock and Bear Loves, hoping they would lower their bows so he could try for his Colt.
“I had to swallow my anger. I had to hold my hate inside and let you ride from our village. But I vowed to have my revenge. I spent many long nights thinking how to do it. I needed to lure you back without you knowing it was me who lured you.”
“You speak with two tongues. I am not here because of you. I was hired to guide the man the Father of all the whites sent to talk peace with the Lakotas.”
“Who do you think got word to this man asking him to come? Who do you think suggested he ask you to be his guide?”
Fargo wasn’t buying it. “You still speak with two tongues. How could you know to contact Senator Keever?” He had to use the English words since there were no Lakota words for “senator’ or “Keever.” “How would you get word to him?” Even as he asked, the answer hit him with the force of a physical blow.
“The one called Owen went to this Kee-ver for me. It was Owen who told Kee-ver that you should be his guide. Owen did so because I asked him to. I led him to think you were my friend.”
The sheer deviousness of Little Face’s scheme began to sink in. “You son of a bitch,” Fargo said in English.
Little Face laughed. “You are mad. Good. You will be even madder when I tell you the rest.” He folded his arms across his knees. “My inviting this Kee-ver to talk peace came to me in a vision.”
Fargo kept glancing at the other two. But, damn them, they held their bows steady.
“I have counted coup on whites,” Little Face rambled on. “Many Lakotas have. Yet no matter how many we kill, more keep coming to our land. They do not fear us as they should, as our other enemies do, and I want the whites to fear us. I want them to fear us so much, they will never set foot in Sioux country again.”
“Nothing you can do would make them fear you that much. They will think nothing of it.”
“In my vision I saw differently. In my vision I saw a pack of wolves trying to bring down a bull elk. The elk gored them with its antlers and kicked them with its hooves. But no matter how many it hurt or killed, the wolves did not give up. They kept coming, again and again.”
Fargo waited. There would be a point to this. There was always a point to a vision.
“Then the leader of the pack leaped at the elk’s throat and the elk caught the wolf on its antlers and pinned it to the ground and an antler pierced its heart and it died. Do you know what happened next?”
Fargo refused to answer.
“The rest of the wolves went away. Their leader was dead and they gave up the fight. Do you understand? Do you see what that meant?”
“I am sure you will tell me.”
“The bull elk was my people. The wolves were white men. For the white men to go away and not bother my people, we must kill one of their leaders. We must kill a man high in their councils, a man they all know, so that when they hear he is dead, it will fill them with fear and they will stay away from our land.” Little Face smiled smugly.
The devil of it was, Fargo reflected, that killing a United States senator
“I asked Owen to tell me who was great in white councils. He could only think of a few, which surprised me.” Little Face uttered a snort of disgust. “I have always known whites are stupid, but to not know their own leaders. When I asked Owen how this could be, he told me that he had no interest in what whites call . . .” He stopped, his brow furrowed as he tried to recall the word.
“Politics,” Fargo guessed.
“Yes. That is it. Owen said the Great White Father would not come himself but he might send what he called a sen-a-tor, who is almost as high in white councils.” Little Face’s eyes narrowed. “He spoke straight tongue? This sen-a-tor is an important white?”
Fargo thought fast. “No. A senator is not high in white councils. Kill him and the other whites will not notice.”
Little Face grinned. “You talk with two tongues.”
“Think what you want,” Fargo said with a shrug.
“I think that when I meet with this Sen-a-tor Kee-ver at sunset, I will invite him into my lodge and give him drink and food. I will make him think I am a friend, and when I am ready, when he least expects, I will cut his throat from ear to ear. Or maybe I will bind him and cut off parts of his body to test his courage.”
“What about Owen?”
“Will I let him live, you mean?” Little Face’s grin widened. “Someone must go back and tell the whites what happened.”
Fargo had to hand it to the wily devil. As plans went, it wasn’t half bad. “You have this well thought out.”
“There is more. After I kill this Kee-ver, I will take his woman as my own. I will do to her all the things I wanted to do to that other white woman, the one you saved. I will beat her. I will have her eat what a dog would eat. I will make her weep and grovel at my feet, and this time you cannot stop me.”
“I will not need to. Your plan has flaws.”
