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Cassie had to smile when Bordeaux positioned himself in a spot less than ten feet froht He wouldn't sleep She lifted her head

"Chauncey?"

"Huht It's not your fault Dad shouldn't have dragged you into this"

"Forget it"

She dropped her head back to the blanket She was exhausted but sleep seeentle hand on her shoulder shook her awake It was dark and cold She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes

"Is it o, sleepy head We're all ready Now get on my horse"

"Your horse? Youhappens to the rest of us, I want you to ride as fast as you can to Ashley"

She stood and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders "Stop treating roup and I' to face up to ht, but the rest of us aren't willing to let it stand that way

"I can take care of et on that horse, or do you want me to put you on it?"

"Cassie," Pete's barnyard whisper reached out of the night "Do what he says You're holding us up"

Bordeaux helped her into the saddle and then on and lit aaway from the circle almost in unison Everyone was supposed to ride out in a different direction, but Bordeaux never left her side Separating ht increase the risks for so captured

By the tiulfed in flaht They converged then, andthe Indians didn't burst froht to attack thelance The flaons, but nothing et they had been around the fire at night She shuddered Were the Indians waiting in the desert ahead?

"Come on," Bordeaux whispered as he brushed past her "We need to travel as far as we can tonight"

She nudged the horse with her heels and rode beside hiation more difficult, but it would conceal their trail fro, their tracks would be plain enough in the sand That ht crucial to their escape The Indians ons, and their tracks would be illuht That was probably why Bordeaux had instructed each of theuess that their quarry would eventually reassemble But were the Indians interested in the people, or the food the wagons contained?