Chapter Eighteen

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold
the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things
you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have
hidden in every leaf and rock. – Native American Prayer

Mike awoke when the sun was midway between straight up and setting. She lay still, reserving the strength she gained from sleep and trying to stay as cool as possible in the heat of the afternoon. She was not cool by any means, but it was too hot in the day to leave, and there was nothing to do until evening when they would be traveling. She thought that, at least, this man trusted her. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be sleeping so soundly.

An hour before sunset, Adam woke up, lying with his eyes closed and listening. By the sound of her breaths, he knew she was not asleep, the cadence of her breathing not quite as long. Still, she was relaxed and motionless, not wasting any precious energy in the heat. She had been right; even in the one hundred and twenty degree heat he had been able to sleep well in only the breechcloth. He almost felt as comfortable here as at home, except for the heat, having slept most of his life with no night clothes of any kind. He rolled onto his back.

“You must lie still until it is time to leave,” she said quietly.

“How long?”

“Soon.”

Just as the sun was setting over the mountains, giving them enough light to break camp, they emerged from the shelter. Mike fed the horses more mesquite beans and oats and watered them. She brought them to the shelter and began to dismantle it, handing skins to Adam, who began loading the horses. While he finished loading, she collected the dried snakeskin and the head, peeling the skin off the skull and adding it to the necklace she had made with the rattle. She rolled the snakeskin and placed it in one of the baskets.

“What will you use that for?”

“It will be a gift for Fulani moco’o, the Aha macave medicine man. The necklace will be a gift to newe pohakanten of the Shoshoni.” She looked at the fully loaded horses. “You learn quickly.”

She began to stick the pieces of brush that had covered their shelter back into the bushes, motioning for Adam to do as she did. After the area was completely clear, she took the last piece and brushed the area where the shelter had been.

Adam looked back when they were on their way, amazed that there was no trace of their camp.

Mike pulled the fruit she had taken from the table in her cabin out of a basket along with some jerky wrapped in a skin and again in oil cloth. She passed an apple to Adam then offered him the jerky. She smiled when she noticed his feet…they were bare.

They stopped only once this night, to cut fruit from a prickly-pear cactus to quench their thirst. She showed him where to cut it from the cactus and how to peel the skin without touching the fine hair-like spines at the base of the fruit. “This morning, you will find our meal and prepare it,” she said.

Adam watched the dark shadows of the steep mountains pass by as they travelled. He listened to the sound of the horse hooves in the rocky, dry soil and the occasional sound of a distant vulture. Other than those sounds, the night desert was silent.

Once again, when the morning light appeared over the horizon, they stopped to make camp. Mike asked Adam to choose the site and when his decision was made, she asked him to tell her why he chose it. Adam was pleased…she made no remark either good or bad and didn’t move the location, meaning to him that the site he picked was a good one.

After they had unloaded the horses, he made the shelter as she watched. He fed and watered the horses as he had seen her do the night before. She guided him through the rocks pointing to likely spots where he might find a snake, and when he did, he pulled it out, throwing his knife, severing the head with the throw. She helped him skin it, and took the rattle for her necklace. He did as she had done to prepare and cook the meat and dry the skin and head. When they finished eating and covered the fire, he removed his clothes without hesitation and donned his breechcloth. He covered their footprints and crawled into the shelter. Both of them fell asleep almost immediately.

When they awoke, the evening routine was done in efficient and methodical silence by both of them. Shortly after they were on their way again, they stopped, Mike having heard more than the sound of the horses or the night birds. She jumped down from her horse, leading him through the darkness into the rocks. Adam followed. He knew not to speak, but listened, straining to hear what had alerted her. Before he heard anything, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. That was the last thing he remembered.