Steals the Ponies was incredulous. “You would trade your life for this boy? It would not be reasonable, even if Fights with Bears were a man of his word and would let the boy go. But of course he will not.”

“I will not go back without Billy. I could not face those who have given me a home. I would be ashamed.”

“You cannot stay here. There are others besides Fights with Bears who would gladly kill you.” Steals the Ponies’s expression became grave. “Even if they did not, you would not want to share the future of our people.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I have had a vision. It came to me one night, clear as in daylight. I saw our prairies without buffalo. Where the buffalo should have been, I saw the blue-coat soldiers. They were as many as the buffalo. We were helpless and hungry and cold.” He shivered. “They herded us like the white man’s cattle to a terrible place where we did not want to go.”

“The reservation?”

“I think so. Many of our people are already there. It is the wish of the Texans and the soldiers that we all go there or that we die.”

Andy argued, “The bluecoats have done little against The People since the white man’s war ended. The Texans cry for help, but the soldiers do not listen.”

“They will, and soon. The vision was very strong. For your own good, your place is among the Texans. You do not belong among The People anymore. If Fights with Bears and his friends do not kill you, the soldiers may. They will not see you as a white man. They will see you as one of us.”

The bleakness of Steals the Ponies’s vision left Andy depressed. He wanted to believe that his brother had simply experienced a bad dream. Yet during his years with the Comanches he had heard many stories about visions that came to pass. The People had strong faith in them. He could not dismiss this one lightly.

He said, “Perhaps the vision was a warning of what might happen. Were you not shown a way to avoid it?”

“The soldiers were too many. Their guns were too powerful.”

“If the vision was true, there is no future here for Billy either. I must take him back to his own. It is a matter of honor.”

Andy’s brother sat in silence a long time, his face an expressionless mask. But Andy imagined he could see the mind hard at work behind half-closed eyes. He could sense the internal struggle. At last Steals the Ponies spoke. “You talk of your honor. If I helped you do this thing, I would lose my own honor. I would betray my people.”

“Not all the people. Just Fights with Bears. You said you do not like him.”

Steals the Ponies Went silent again for a time, thinking. Finally he said, “There might be a way, but the spirits must be with you. You could die if they are not.”