Andy did not know what else to propose for trade. He did not know how much money the Monahans might have. It was unlikely Fights with Bears had much concept of money’s value anyway. Comanches understood goods, something they could hold in their hands, something they could use. Coins were of value only for ornamentation, and paper money was worth nothing at all.

“What can I do?” he asked.

“Go back to the Texans. You belong among them now. Forget about the boy. Tell them he is dead.”

“His family are my friends. They weep for him.”

“If they are young they can have other children.”

“It would not be the same. Texans love their children just as The People do.”

“Fights with Bears would not even talk to you.”

“Then I will steal the boy in the night.”

Steals the Ponies stared at Andy in disbelief. “Your Texas friends are too far away. He would catch you and kill you. He might be angry enough to kill the boy.”

“I have traveled many days to find Billy. Now that I know where he is, I cannot turn away from him.”

“You must. Or are you so willing to die for the Texans?”

Andy considered a long time before suggesting, “What if I offered to trade myself for him?”

“Fights with Bears would kill you and keep the boy. Why would you suggest such a foolish thing?”

“Because it is my fault the boy was taken.” He explained about his failure to warn of the raiding party he had encountered prior to Billy’s capture.

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.”