Tanner shrugged. “It’s better than campin’ in some brushy draw when the northers come down. But hadn’t you rather I’d come with you?”

“I’d rather you were here, watchin’ over the farm.”

Shanty said, “I ain’t in no hurry about movin’ back home. I can stay here with Mr. Tanner and look after my own place just the way I been doin’.”

Rusty nodded his gratitude. “I don’t know how long I may be gone.”

Tanner said, “It won’t matter. This placeil be waitin’ for you when you get back. Me and Shanty won’t let old Fowler Gaskin tote it away.”

In another week Webb removed the splints. “Test your weight real careful and trust in the crutches.”

Badger Boy was delighted. He found that he could move the knee a little. Though it caused pain, it was a welcome pain. He had feared that the leg might remain stiff forever. “Pretty soon no more crutches.”

“Don’t get in too big a hurry. Rome was not built in a day.”

Badger Boy wondered who Rome was.

Shanty and Tanner both grinned to see Badger Boy without the splints. Rusty was not smiling. If anything, he appeared regretful. “Why you not glad for me?” Badger Boy asked.

“I am, in a way. But I’m not anxious to see you leave us. I was hopin’ maybe you’d change your mind if you stayed here long enough.”

“My mind not change.”

Getting rid of the splints meant a change of clothes. Webb said, “He can wear somethin’ decent now instead of that long shirt.”

Badger Boy was ill at ease in the white-man shirt and trousers Rusty gave him. A floppy old hat dropped down to his ears and had to be stuffed out with strips of newspaper to fit comfortably on his head. He kept his moccasins because they fit his feet better than anything the men could offer.

Webb observed him with reserved satisfaction. “Except for the braids, he looks like a farmboy from anyplace. Nobody’d take him for a Comanche.”

“I am Comanche,” Badger Boy declared. “Clothes no change.” He turned to Rusty. “When we go?”

“Another week. Maybe two. We’ve got to know you can stand a long ride.”

Badger Boy sensed that Rusty continued to hope he would change his mind and stay. But when the north wind blew at night he imagined he could hear the voices of his People, calling. Nothing was going to change his mind.

Three saddled horses and a pack mule stood waiting. Rusty shook hands with Shanty, then Tanner. “In case somethin’ drastic comes up, Len, you know where I’ll be.”

Tanner smiled. “Tell them Monahan girls Len Tanner said howdy. And kiss them for me, if you’ve got the nerve.”

The Monahan girls. Mention of them brought the image of Geneva, and the pain that went with it. “Kissin’ the girls is more in your department.”

Shanty was somber. “Be watchful, Andy, and take care of yourself.”

Tanner gripped the boy’s hand. “You ever get tired of that Indian life, come see me. There’s lots more things I can teach you.”