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could lull him into thinking she accepted the situation. "All right," she said stoically to Little Elk, then waited for the translation. |
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Nahtana's snide smile hadn't wavered once. Why should it? He had her right where he wanted her. |
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Right where the rocks were as hard as his heart. |
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"What are you doing?" Mariah, her pulse racing in fear, was being dragged to the edge of the boulders by an Indian with an unusually large potbelly hanging over his breechcloth. He smelled of rancid animal grease. |
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Will was there, and so was Paul. They'd been removed from the cave earlier, and they were each tied to a tree. In moments, so was Mariah. The large Indian walked away. |
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Her first day in captivity was nearly over. The Raffertys had left the camp earlier. Mariah had felt depressed to see Little Elk go, and the Indian woman, too, had seemed sad to leave her. Now the captives were the only non-Indians in the camp. |
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"Do you know what's going on?" Mariah asked Will. |
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He shook his head groggily. He was slumped over, though conscious, and his hands, like hers, were tied behind a thin tree. He was beside her, and Paul was tied to another tree on Will's far side. |
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She noticed what looked like fresh bruises on Will's cheeks. "Have they been beating you?" she asked in horror, remembering Holly's tale. At least she hadn't been mistreated . . . yet. |
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"We'll be all right, Miss Walker," Will said, though his words were garbled, as though it hurt him to speak. "Paul and me both." |
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Mariah was seated on the hard ground, and a drizzle of rain began to fall. With her hands bound behind the tree, she couldn't even dry her face. She wished she could do something to comfort Will and Pauleven though she still considered Will partly an enemy. |
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Would she, too, be beaten? If her limited knowledge of Indian culture was correct, women were not treated with the European sense of gallantry. |
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