Grayfox (15 page)

I got down and tied up the pony.

The first thing I had to do was get my hands untied. That wasn't too hard, using the arrow tips.

Then I had to try to figure out where I was, find some water, and decide what to do.

Hawk had taught me a lot about surviving in the high mountain desert. Now I was going to have to see how well I'd learned!

I reckon there are times of learning and times when you've got to put into practice what you learned, and now was one of the second. Like Hawk had said when the Indians were taking us into their camp—it was time to find out what kind of stuff I was made of.

I looked around and tried to figure out where I was. I'd been riding low on a sort of valley floor. It was a fairly flat area, without as many washes and gulches and invisible canyons as where I'd escaped from the Indian band chasing me last winter.

I climbed back up on the pony and rode slowly to the top of the nearest ridge, then stopped again and looked all around.

I knew where I was, all right. I'd come just about due east from the Paiute camp. I hadn't realized it, but in making my escape I'd come up through a pass across one of the many little ranges of hills that crisscross all through the high basin. The camp wasn't visible, but I was pretty sure where it was. Hawk and I had come from the other side of it, further to the west.

If I had left the camp and ridden straight east—now that I thought of it, the sun had been in my eyes the whole time—then Demming had approached the camp from the opposite side. I'd escaped by riding the other way from where all the Indians were busy with Demming.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why I'd outrun the Indians that had chased me—maybe they'd lost sight of me in the morning sun.
It didn't seem too likely, but it was the only thing that made even a little bit of sense.

I dismounted again and sat down on a rock, trying to think what I ought to do next.

If Demming had come into the Paiute camp from the west, it stood to reason that he'd tied Laughing Waters up somewhere that direction too.
But
 . . . he would know that the Paiutes would think exactly that.

I tried to put myself in Jack Demming's shoes.

What would he do to trick the Paiutes and throw them off track?

He
wouldn't
ride into their camp from the same direction where he'd stashed the girl.

Therefore, that probably meant she was out
here
somewhere—east of the camp, and that I might be closer to her at that moment than Demming himself!

If I was right, I could expect Demming to leave the Paiute camp, head west, and then circle wide around east after he was out of sight. At least that's what I would do if I were trying to keep my movements and directions secret.

Anyway, it was the only idea I had!

The question was: Did Demming know about me and Hawk being around?

Probably not. Why would he?

If he didn't, and if I was right, then I could expect to see him coming this way before too much longer . . . with Hawk somewhere back out of sight tracking him.

And neither of them knew I was here!

What should I do!

How could I find the chief's daughter before Demming got back?

I racked my brain to remember what Sarah had said were Demming's exact words.

He said she was in a cave ten miles away, tied and gagged.
They'd never find the girl alive . . . she'd be dead from the snakes and scorpions
—likely right where she was . . . no water for miles . . . if
she managed to get away she'd be so mixed up by the time she got back on the plain
, she'd never know the direction to get back to the camp.

Ten miles . . . that could mean anything! Demming could have been trying to mislead them about the distance . . . it could be ten miles
as the crow flies . . . or ten miles as he rode it by horse, including circling around.

That clue wasn't much help!

Snakes and scorpions
 . . . what had Hawk told me one time? We'd been riding along and he'd casually said something like,
There's a place you never want to go near if
you can help it, boy—there's more rattlers and
scorpions up there than in all the Utah-Nevada territory
.

Come to think of it—we
had been
out near here someplace! I remembered now.

Hawk had pointed up toward a range of rocky, arid hills. He'd said there were more canyons and dead ends up there than anywhere. What had he called them?
The badland hills
.

Demming had said she'd be twisted and confused before she got back down
onto the plain
. There was
no water for miles
!

So Demming may have thought, I said to myself. But Hawk would know where to find water. Besides, snakes need water too—that was another thing he had taught me.
Watch yourself when you find a watering hole, Zack,
he said.

In any case, that had to be it!

Demming had Chief Winnemucca's daughter in the badland hills!

Now all I had to do was remember where they were!

Oh, God
, I prayed, hardly even realizing that I'd started talking back and forth to God,
help me remember. Help me find her! Give me, like Hawk says
, eyes to really see. Hawk's not here, God, so
help me to be able to see and do what he'd do to find the chief's daughter before
Demming hurts her. I want to see like Hawk sees
and understand deep into things like Hawk does. Help me
see, God . . . help me see what you want me to
see.

I wasn't even through praying when suddenly some words of Hawk's popped into my mind.

Keep your eyes looking up, Zack,
he liked to say,
always up. Whether you're looking at the sky or praying
to God or looking on the up side of a situation instead of the down side of it . . . you're
always better off setting your sights high than low. That
is, if you want to get the high and the best things out of life. Watch the eagles, son, and
the hawks. They got eyes like no human. They see
things, they know things. You can learn a lot from
them, more than folks realize. If you learn to see
with an eagle's eyes, they can tell you a
lot about what's going on down on the earth
, even far away where you can't see with your own eyes.

Suddenly I shot my eyes upward and spun my head around in all directions, squinting toward the horizon all the way around.

Yes, there were some birds flying and circling about—way off there toward the southeast from where I stood! They looked to be three or four miles away.

If only Hawk were here,
I thought. He would be able to tell what they were doing. He would be able to make sense of it all.

I squinted to try to see the birds more carefully.

I recognized the motion, the wingspan, the circular flight patterns. Hawk was real interested in birds and was always teaching me of their ways. He was proud of the name the Paiutes had given him and he took it seriously.

I continued to gaze.

Those weren't eagles or hawks.

They were vultures!

Almost the same instant that the dreadful thought dawned on me, suddenly my eyes beheld the range of hills they were flying around. I hadn't stopped to look at them before because I'd been concentrating my attention more straight eastward.

But suddenly I knew I'd seen them before when riding with Hawk.

The vultures were circling around one small area of the
badland hills
!

The next instant I was on the pony and flying down the slope toward the flat plain that lay between the ridge I had climbed and the hills Hawk had warned me never to go near.

I reached the foothills in twelve or fifteen minutes.

Immediately the footing was treacherous and steep, so I dismounted and continued on foot.

Glancing back, I couldn't believe it—there was a small dust cloud in the distance, and it was moving toward me!

I had been right! Demming was circling back!

He had probably seen the dust from my pony's hooves too, though I might have made it across the flat before he'd reached the other side of it.

I glanced up.

The vultures were directly above me, but I couldn't see any other sign of life. If Laughing Waters was here, she was out of sight . . . but somewhere close.

How could they know? I wondered. I thought to myself again about Hawk always talking about being able to see what wasn't plainly visible, being able to see what most eyes couldn't. I guess vultures had that gift too.

Now I had to find what they saw . . . and fast. Demming would be here in five or ten minutes!

I struggled up the rocky slope, pulling the pony along behind me, glancing frantically all around for any sign of a cave or any other place where Demming might have tied up the girl.

Give me eyes, God,
I prayed once more.
Help me see what those vultures up there see. Help
me find her!

There were caves all around as I got higher up into the hills, some of them deep, some not more than an indentation in the stone walls. There were small canyons and gorges too, and within minutes I found myself surrounded by such a maze of twisting and turning paths and ravines and possible directions to go that my heart began to fail me.

I would never find her! Especially not before Demming got back! Also, I was so thirsty, and there was no water up here.

I dropped the pony's rope and ran into a cave that appeared to my right.

It was dark inside. I stepped forward slowly, calling out as I went. I hardly stopped to consider that if the chief's daughter were here, probably the
last
thing she would do would be to say anything. How would she know I wasn't Demming? Besides, Demming said she was tied and gagged anyway, so she
couldn't
answer my calls!

Suddenly a sound froze me in my tracks.

I would know it anywhere!

Slowly I began inching my way backward—very slowly!—while the rattles from some unseen snake's tail continued to sound in the darkness.

Inch by inch, in mortal terror of fangs I couldn't see, I crept back toward the cave's mouth.

The instant I knew I was out of reach from a coiled spring, I turned and dashed into the open light, breathing hard and sweating freely.

That had been close!

I looked down into the valley. I could see the figure of Demming on his horse now. He had covered half the distance since I saw him.

Is Hawk on his trail?
I thought,
back there somewhere out of sight?
If he was, I couldn't do anything that would mess up his plan.

But if Hawk wasn't behind Demming, then I couldn't delay. There wasn't much time left! I had to act quickly.

I looked up again at the vultures.

Keep looking up, Zack . . . always up. Watch the eagles,
son, and the hawks. They got eyes like no human.
They see things, they know things. You can learn a
lot from them, more than folks realize. Keep your eyes
up . . . learn to see with an eagle's eyes
.

Right then I hoped his words applied to vultures too!

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is slow down long enough to think. That was another thing Hawk said.
You gotta think before you do,
he said.
The brain part's got to come before the hands part. It may seem
like a waste of time, but it saves time in the end.

His words flashed through my mind in an instant as I stood gazing up into the blue sky. I forced myself to calm down, to ignore Demming just for a few seconds and concentrate on those vultures. What did they see? What did they have to tell me . . . if only I could see it?

I watched the circles they were making in the sky.

I had to find the
center
of their flight! That was the answer! Whatever they were interested in, they flew
around
it in a circle. If I wanted to find it, I had to locate the center of those arcs and then follow that centerpoint down to the ground.

So much I had heard from Hawk kept coming back to me now. In the few seconds as I stood there, it seemed the whole last several months came rushing past me.

Look up, Zack . . . always up. The answers to earth's questions are
discovered first in the heavens. It's all about eagle'
s eyes, son. Learn to understand God and the way
things work in his world first. Then bring your eyes
down to earth-level, and everything will make sense there
too. Upward sight always comes first . . . that's where wisdom
begins.

I wished Hawk were here now to help me with his eyes!

I watched the vultures. One big fellow was flying around and around in what looked to be the tightest circle of the whole group. I locked my eyes on him, trying to keep myself calm, and followed him through two complete circular flights. When I thought I had the middle located exactly, I carefully and slowly lowered my eyes down to the ground.

A small ravine was visible, opening just on the other side of two gigantic boulders. I hadn't been able to see it before because those big rocks were positioned in such a way that they looked to be part of the cliff face behind them. But as my eyes descended down from above, my line of vision somehow came down over and beyond the boulders, and that was when I realized that they were hiding an opening behind them.

It was exactly like Hawk said! I had to look
up
before my eyes could properly focus on what was
down
on the ground.

I looked around quick for someplace to hide the pony in case Demming got back before I got out of there.

I led him up the hill a little further, around a couple turns, then half tied the pony's rope to a shrub and threw down the bow and quiver beside him. Then I ran back down toward the opening between the two boulders.

Demming had said Laughing Waters was in a cave. Had that been to throw the Paiutes off, or had he moved her? This wasn't a cave, but in a way it was even better because the opening was so hard to see
when you looked straight at it. If you didn't know you were looking for something more behind it, you'd never know anything was there.

I squeezed through the rocks, inching along sideways.

On the other side, the way opened into a short, narrow gorge. Both sides were of jagged rock and running straight up, with a flat floor between them that was maybe three or four feet wide.

I ran forward into it, then around another big rock.

And there she was!