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they had killed her brother, Holly had little bad to say about any of themexcept Nahtana. |
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"I've met him," Mariah admitted. |
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As the kitchen filled with the appetizing aroma of baking bread, Mariah described her brief encounter with the Indian who'd tried to drag her into the forest by the hair. Her forehead had moistened in the hot room, but her story still made her shiver. "I thought from the screenplay that the guy was Thorn's friend, so I wasn't particularly scared at first." |
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Holly snorted. "That animal is the friend of no one. He has a stone for a heart, he has." |
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Stone . . . yes! "You just reminded me of a line from the script," Mariah said excitedly. "That's what Matilda said to the Indian who abducted her: 'Your heart is as hardened as the rocks to which you have bound me.' The scene was described as a cliff near a river where the water had weathered huge boulders into odd, smooth shapes. I wonder if there is such a place." And whether she'd be captured and taken there, though she kept that thought to herself. |
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As she placed the last loaf of bread in the slot in the fireplace used as an oven, René burst into the room. "We must serve breakfast vite! Quickly! The soldiers, they wish to leave soon." |
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A short while later, as she laid food on the tables, Mariah eavesdropped on conversations in the common room. |
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"I'll say one thing for Thorn." Maitland, his heavy red coat buttoned to his pointed chin, dipped a spoon into the trencher he shared with Ainsley and the other officers at his table. "The chap can track. And we need to find those settiers right away." |
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To arrest them, Mariah thought. |
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As though reading her mind, Maitland continued, "If they've started asserting tomahawk rights to claim land, we'll have to arrest them, but better that we be the ones to catch them if they continue to disobey. They'd get a fair trial before being sentenced to death. If it's up to the Indians . . . well, there'd be no trial, just a string of scalps." He laughed, |
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