“None of our Indians are out. We have been making certain of that.”

“Look at the tracks. They speak for themselves.”

The officer gave the trail only a moment’s attention. “If any of our Indians have a captive, we shall see that he is freed. If livestock has been stolen from you, it is the responsibility of federal troops to recover them. Now, gentlemen, you will turn around and leave!”

York leaned forward in the saddle and pointed a finger straight at the officer’s nose. “We’ve come to free that boy and get our property back. And we intend to make some of your red pets pay. If you think you can stop us, you’d best count your soldiers and then count us.”

The officer’s face reddened, but he yielded no ground. “This is a federal reserve. You have no right to be here.”

Blessing said, “It may be a federal reserve, but it’s in Texas, and we are officers of the state of Texas, duly sworn. If your reserve Indians are not guilty, who is?”

“That must be determined. By us, not by you.”

“You’ll have to shoot us to stop us. It’ll look bad in Washington, federal troops shootin’ citizens who only want to get back what’s rightfully theirs.”

The officer did not answer. Rusty could see doubt in his eyes.

Blessing took silence as a positive sign. “All right, boys, let’s go ahead.” He turned his back on the officer and touched his heels to his horse. The rest of the volunteers followed. Rusty’s mouth went dry as he saw the soldiers draw rifles. Blessing saw, but if he had misgivings he did not betray them. He kept riding, his back straight and stiff. After a few tense moments the officer shouted an order and the soldiers put the rifles back into their scabbards. He signaled for his troopers to follow the ranger volunteers. He spurred forward, pulling up abreast of Blessing.

“You are all under arrest, you know.”

“The hell you say.” Rusty knew both Blessing and the officer had been bluffing, and Blessing had made his bluff stick, at least for the moment. He could see how ludicrous the situation was, seven troopers trying to arrest a group of armed and determined Texans more than double their number. But he could not laugh.

Neither could Mike or Preacher Webb. Mike kept his voice low. “Stay close to me, young’un. Right now it wouldn’t take but one fool on either side to spark a small war.”

“What’ll we do?”

“One thing we won’t do is fire on federal soldiers. I fought beside them in Mexico. I won’t fight against them.”

Webb said, “Wise words, well put.”

The passing of miles gradually drained away the tension. Rusty decided that neither Texans nor soldiers wanted a fight, except perhaps Isaac York. The officer calmed enough to begin a conversation with Tom Blessing, who explained to him the settlers’ fears and frustrations.

The officer said, “I assure you we are not uncaring. We are doing our best to keep the reservation Indians contained. But at the same time we have a responsibility to protect them against harm from outside.”