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They had slept then in one another's arms throughout the next day, not leaving the place of their honeymoon until the day's night was fully upon the land.

First Rider had explained to her why this time of day was the only real safe time in which to travel upon the prairie: it was because one could be easily seen from the surrounding tops of cliffs and buttes, regardless of their distance.

First Rider and Liliann had teased one another physically and had continued to make love to one another in between long stretches of sleep. At last, though, as the sun was setting in the west, they made preparations to leave this spot, one she would always remember.

Dried meat and water was their meal, since making a fire—which could be seen from the high ledges of the prairie—was out of the question.

It was well into the evening of the next day when they at last caught up with Red Fox and Stands Strong, First Rider's friends having built their camp close to the Sun River, or as the Indians called the river, The Medicine.

And so, Liliann glimpsed her first sight of the white man's post at The Medicine.

As Liliann sat within their tiny camp, she had to admire both Red Fox and Stands Strong for their lack of animosity toward her because she had joined their scouting party.

There were no knowing looks at her, and certainly there was no joking about what she and First Rider had been doing the previous evening.

That First Rider now referred to her as "his woman" was enough for them, and she became the fourth "scout" in their party.

But, time was marching forward quickly toward evening, the best time in which to scout.

Thus, they all four had to move along. As they broke camp, Liliann noted how the men worked to make it appear that their small camp had never existed, burying any traces of the fire and brushing the ground so as to ensure no footprints were left.

With a last look at the camp, they moved along.

Then, each one of them taking his horse by its reins, they walked toward the saloon.

They secured their horses in the forested bottom of a shallow coulee, where, having hobbled their ponies, Liliann was startled when First Rider's two friends bent down to the ground and began to move forward in a full belly crawl.

First Rider turned to her, and, taking a lock of her hair between his fingers, he whispered, "Go with them…I must. Important for me…discover…weaknesses…of… óom Maká'pato'si Wayákiitoo… Evil-spirited-used-to-be-husband."

"Thou means Ernest?"

He nodded. " Aa , Stuart… Maká pato'si . Evil Spirit."

"Where does thou wish me to be when we approach him, then?" she asked in a whisper.

"We?" he signed.

"Of course. Whither thou goes, I will be goin', too."

Looking down at her, he grinned, then signed, "I would like you to stay here with the horses. You must remain as far away from the saloon as possible because you do not yet know how to be unseen. But, there is little danger for us because we can make ourselves invisible to the white men."

"Oh," she answered with her lips alone, there being no sound with the word. "But, why must I be stayin' here? Tell me what thou wishes me own self to do, and I will be doin' it."

Leaning his head down to hers, he kissed her lips, then, lifting up slightly, he murmured in a low voice, "On…stomachs, we crawl. Injured you are. Moving over ground, your clothes tear…leave behind…proof we here. No good."

So enthralled was she at the delicate touch of his lips on hers as he spoke, she thought she might agree to most anything he asked of her. But, not this. She was too worried about him remaining alive to be left long apart from him.

And so, in response to him, she kissed him sweetly and purred, "Then, if this be so and me own clothes tear easily, let me be wearin' thy shirt. Especially since thou be wearin' only breechcloth and moccasins."

She could feel his lips pull up into a grin. "Do you have skill…how be invisible? Make no noise…not be seen? While learn…about enemy?"

"Nay, but I will try."

"Not good…enough."

"Thou must realize"—she touched her lips gently to his—"where thou goes, there I be goin', too. I will be followin' thee, whether thou wants me to or not."

He sighed, then kissed her again before raising his head, and he mumbled, "Come, if you insist. I help you…into shirt and leggings…moccasins, too. But, must promise you do as I say. If not, you not go again. Do you…promise?"

"I promise," she said. And, she followed him into the bushes lining the pine-forested bottom of the coulee.

There he proceeded to first undress her amidst the many caresses he gave her up and down her body—with particular attention paid to her breasts—until at last it was done, and she stood before him in his shirt, leggings and her boots.

And, because his scent was imbedded into the clothing, she felt as though she had stepped into a kind of heaven where she was surrounded by his invigorating, balmy aroma.

"Good," he signed. "Looks good."

She laughed. "If this be the way thou dresses me, I be thinkin' thou should have the chore of doin' it every day, right enough."

"It…no chore," he signed, grinning at her. "Happy am I to do it…every day, if wish it…you do."

She shook her head, but grinned along with him, nonetheless.

****

Lying full-bodied on the ground and behind a bush, Liliann looked forward at the Sun River settlement.

It was really no more than a bar and a trading room combined into one.

Looking at it in the weak light of dusk, she watched as the smoke curled upward through a chimney of the establishment, lending the air around her its pleasant odor.

But, she had no more than breathed in the aroma of smoke when another smell took precedence: it was the gross stench of unwashed bodies.

Wrinkling her nose, she looked forward but said not a word, acting in the manner by which First Rider had instructed her.

Narrowing her eyes, she thought the establishment looked to be constructed of whatever building materials the company of men had been able to find in the environment…

timber and mud, and not much else. But, they had not done a good job in putting the building together, and it looked as if a well-breathed wolf could blow the tavern down.

"Augh! Put yer hands flat down on the table!"

A deep rough and crude voice rang out into the evening air from the tavern. It was followed by a gunshot and accompanied by a terrible groan.

Liliann flinched, but not so First Rider nor his companions. A few profanities carried out into the night, and Liliann physically cringed. She shivered.

"The smell in this place is as foul as the gold-seekers' tongues," signed Stands Strong, as the four of them laid belly-down in the middle of the dense bushes growing in a slight dip in the land.

"Worse than foul," Red Fox answered, also in sign.

"It is human waste," First Rider declared, signing his words. He continued, "But, what can one expect from men who commit murder without any more reason than a game of chance? Come, let us set up our camp distant enough from here so we need not hear their misdeeds nor smell their waste."

Each of them mutually agreed with a slight dip of the head, and they backed away slowly and as quietly as possible until they reached the bottom of the coulee where they had secured their horses.

With each of them taking up the reins of his own pony, they paced upstream in a single file, looking for a good place to set up camp.

****

The sound of the clear rushing water against the large and small rocks accompanied their trek through the heavily forested game trail that wound in and out of the pine-filled tree line hugging the shoreline of The Medicine.

The increasing darkness of twilight was quickly turning into night, and a slight humid chill touched Liliann's face as she followed along behind Stands Strong and Red Fox.

First Rider was guarding their party from the rear.

Up ahead she could see there was a bend in the river, and as they followed it, they discovered a large stretch of tall Ponderosa pine trees, along with aspen, bitter cherry and willow trees dotting the shores of the fast-rushing river.

There was a spot within those trees that looked to offer a good hiding place for their camp, providing protection from both the eyes of an Indian war party, as well as from the gold-seeking whites.

It also smelled fragrantly and pleasantly of pine and balsam, and strangely… of butterscotch.

Immediately, First Rider and his friends set about constructing a temporary shelter for her; it was a space that would house both her and First Rider.

Then, using what nature provided around them, the three men landscaped the hut to look as though it were a part of the environment, not a shelter.

The effect was astounding to Liliann, who saw the refuge literally disappear into the trees and scrub brush.

Then the three men put up a similar hut for Red Fox and Stands Strong.

Because their residence here at The Medicine depended upon Stuart and how long he would remain at this place, the shelters were temporarily built and went up fast.

It was well into the night when the three scouts and Liliann snuck in close to the Sun River settlement, placing their horses once again in the well-forested bottom of a coulee.

Unfortunately, the place still smelled of human waste, and the noise from within the establishment was crude and harsh. Compared to what she recalled about the clean and beautiful tepees of the Indians, the tavern looked like a stain upon the land, as well as upon the beauty of the river.