It was shortly after noon when they rode into the Crow village and Winter Flower pushed ahead on her horse to lead Hawk to her father’s house. Her father, hearing sounds of joyful greetings from the people of the village, opened the door of the crude log cabin to see what was going on. “Winter Flower!” he exclaimed moments before being pushed aside by his wife in her excitement to see for herself. When she saw her daughter in the saddle of the yellow roan, she ran to meet her, with Winter Flower’s younger sister following close behind. Winter Flower literally flew out of the saddle to greet her parents. Hawk reined Rascal to a stop a few yards back to give them plenty of room. He was already thinking about how quickly he could turn Rascal back toward Fort Ellis, but he knew he would have to do Winter Flower’s family the courtesy of at least a short visit. It was a joyous reunion as other people of the village came to welcome her home. It was obvious that they had never expected to see her again, and all their attention was focused on her, except one. As Hawk sat there in the saddle, his gaze drifted across the barren front yard of the cabin, then stopped and came back to focus on one little girl, who was staring at him. They locked gazes for a short while before the little girl started pulling at her sister’s skirt until she captured her attention. “What is it, Morning Sky?” Winter Flower asked.

“Who’s he?” Morning Sky asked, and pointed at Hawk. “He is not one of the men who chased you and me.”

“His name is Hawk,” Winter Flower replied. Then loud enough for everyone to hear, she said, “He is the man who saved me and brought me home.” This immediately shifted the attention to the man on the buckskin horse.

Already curious about the horse his daughter rode, as well as the extra horse and saddle, Black Shirt turned to Hawk. “Forgive us for not welcoming you properly,” he said. “We were just so happy to see our daughter again. I thought she was dead. Please step down and we will fix some food for you.” Hawk dismounted, but declined the food, insisting that he and Winter Flower had eaten when they rested the horses. Black Shirt studied Hawk’s face for a long moment. “I have heard of a man called Hawk who rides with the soldiers. Are you that man?” Hawk said that he was. Black Shirt continued to question him. “These two horses, did they belong to the two men who stole my daughter?”