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Suddenly, terrifying screams and shouts of pain filled the silence Instinctively, Shane crouched down in the thick underbrush Terror gripping hiround as arrows hissed through the air, piercing the bodies of those ere still alive

Then it was all over Frozen to the spot with fear, Shane looked at the carnage His pulse racing, he saw histhe dead He wanted to run to her, but instinct told him to stay hidden As far as he could tell, he was the only survivor

Tre quietly, Shane watched as several w

hite ed fro bows and arrows He bit his lower lip in frustration as he watched soin to steal fros from the boat

Shane covered his e, burlyband and slipping it into his pocket

When the ht and looked suddenly in Shane's direction, the boy thought discovery was certain The man stared for a moment, yet did not seeo through hiaze Why, the man had one blue and one brown eye! Never had Shane seen anything like that

And he would never forget All of his life he would remember those eyesthe eyes of the man who had killed hisband!

Shane huddled low behind the bush until the h, he went to hisair was beco at Shane with icy, groping fingers Kneeling down beside his mother, he touched her face, then her hand Soround beside her and began to cry

"Papa, Papa," he sobbed "Where are you, Papa?"

A shadow fell over Shane He looked slowly up into the dark, fathomless eyes of an Indian But Shane was not afraid Only a short while ago, his ht him not to be afraid of Indians

Chapter One

The Territory of Minnesota 1852

Melanie Stanton stood beside her horse, a white-faced bay gelding hite hind legs, ser at a time With defiance, she looked from her brother, Terrance, to Terrance's best friend, Josh Brennan, as they mounted their horses

"Terrance, noyou into St Paul," she said fir breeze blen the front of her white cotton blouse, billowing it away from her breasts "I want to learn the cattle business I want to have a say in our choice of cattle Why shouldn't I? It's ht The farm is partly mine"

Terrance's spine stiffened as he glowered at Melanie He circled his reins so tightly around his

fingers that the leather cut painfully into his flesh He could not help but resent his sister She was eighteen, still a iven an equal share in the inheritance when their father died Terrance had felt hisof the will It was a ht to have full control of his destiny

"Melanie, ain?" Terrance asked, sliding his wide-bri dark, wiry hair He toyed nervously with his narrow mustache "Pop's been dead a year and since then you've been nothing but a nuisance"