“We don’t have long to talk, Danny,” Davis said. “Just tell me this, are you safe?”
“Yes,” Danny said, “I am with friends. Rick is here, down the hill.”
“Ahh, good. I am still a prisoner, and they’ll come after me if I don’t return to camp soon. As I said, they are moving me to Fort Sumner to help with carpentry work. Is your family still there?”
“Yes. I have seen them. They are well for now, but slave traders raid the camps at night. The water is bad. People are dying, and I am afraid for my family.”
“You are smart to be afraid, Danny. Do you know the soldiers are still looking for you?”
“Your life is in danger, Danny. If they catch you, they will hang you for stealing your horse, Fire Eye.”
“I will be very careful when I visit my family,” Danny said. “For now, I will live and work at this Grady ranch. The men I am with all work there too.”
“Good. We should say good-bye now. I am very glad to know you are alive, Danny.”
“You are a good man, Jim Davis,” Danny said, laughing, “even though you almost made me fall from the hill.”
Davis gave Danny Blackgoat a warm hug. “I will keep a lookout for your family,” he said.
“Let’s meet at the next full moon. If you can, slip out of the fort before sunrise,” said Danny.
“Where?” Davis asked.
“There is a small cave not far from the road, on the way into the fort. Rick can show it to you.”
“A good plan. See you then. Be careful, Danny.”
“Oh, Jim, I should warn you,” Danny said. “Sometimes rattlesnakes sleep inside the cave. So let’s meet close to the cave, not in it.”
“Thank you for remembering, Danny,” Davis said, smiling and shaking his head. Happy to see each other alive, both Danny and Davis returned to their camps. Davis, of course, said nothing of his encounter with his Navajo friend.
When he returned to camp, one of the soldiers called out, “Where have you been, you ol’ fool?”
“Doing my business and watching the sunrise,” Davis replied. “Don’t worry, I can’t outrun a horse.”
On the other side of the hill, Danny crept among the sleeping men and approached Rick.
“Rick, it’s Danny. Wake up.”
“What is it?”
“We should be very careful,” Danny said. “The soldiers from Fort Davis are camped on the other side of this hill, just above the road. They have Jim Davis with them, and they are on their way to Fort Sumner.”
“That is not good,” Rick said, leaping to his feet. “My wagon is still in the woods by the roadside. It is filled with supplies for Fort Davis. I’ve got to beat them to it.”
“Rick, you don’t have to be afraid,” Danny said. “Just ride into their camp and tell them where you’ve been. You helped rescue a mother and her daughter from slave traders. That is the truth, and you can see Jim Davis too.”
“Danny Blackgoat, sometimes you are smarter than a young man should be. What was I thinking?” Rick said.
Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe don’t tell them I’m here,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s best if they don’t know that, Danny.” Rick did not share his thought with Danny. He knew what the soldiers would do if they caught him. Danny Blackgoat would be swinging from the end of a rope, he thought.
As the sun rose, Mr. Grady and his men rolled their blankets up and led their horses to a breakfast of dried desert grass. Now that they were a day’s ride away from the slave trader hideout where she and her mother were held prisoner, Sarah Grady came to life.
“Mom, we should be home today!” she shouted. “We can cook a good meal for everybody. I can’t wait!” Sarah was ten years old and full of fire.
Mr. Grady looked at his wife. They had avoided speaking of what life would be like, the new life, after their return.
“I have something to tell you both,” Grady said. He patted the ground beside him, and his wife and daughter sat by his side. “Since they knocked me out and left me for dead, I don’t know how much you saw.”
“It was bad, Dad,” Sarah said. “Those men were mean.”
“You know they set fire to the house and barn?” Grady asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Grady said, “and I expect they killed most of our cattle too.”
“The cattle are scattered,” Grady said, “but if they found their way to the springs, they might still be alive.”
“We are alive,” said Mrs. Grady, “and that is a miracle. We have much work to do, but we’ve done it before.”
“I am grown up now,” Sarah said. “Me and Danny Blackgoat can rebuild the ranch!”
Danny was walking nearby and overheard the conversation.
We can let the others help us if they want to, he thought.
The Gradys, the ranch hands, and Danny saddled their horses. Rick lifted himself to his wagon seat and snapped the reins.
“We should be there in a few hours,” shouted Mr. Grady. He glanced at his wife and saw the worried look on her face.
No one spoke as they neared familiar ground. Everyone climbed into their own world of remembering the good days—and dreading what they would see.
Four hours later, as they neared the Grady ranch, they eased their horses into a slow walk. Danny patted Fire Eye on the neck and stroked his mane.
“We’re almost home,” he whispered, then closed his eyes at the mention of home. Will I ever see my home again? he thought.