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that. He knew it.” The man sighed deeply and sniffed. “When I think on it now, I realize how lonely he must have been.” He wiped at his eyes. “You’re right. I can’t blame him. I can’t blame him for going back there soon as he could handle himself and lookingup his ma. He was always mixed up about whether he was white or Indian. I reckon now he’s found his place. I should be glad of that. But I did love him, Danny. Still do and always will. I just …” He sighed again. “I’m not getting any younger, Danny-boy. I’d like to see Zeke once more before I go to my grave.”
    Danny picked up the whiskey bottle and took a swallow himself. “Well, I hope you get your wish, Pa. But I wouldn’t count too much on it, even though his Indian mother is dead now. His stepfather, Deer Slayer, he died, too, just last year. His oldest half-brother, Swift Arrow, rides in the north with the Sioux. I have contact with him at times, or at least I did before I defected. I may never see the West again.” He rose himself from his chair and came over to stand beside his father. “His other half-brother, Black Elk, lives among the Southern Cheyenne not far from Zeke’s ranch. The third brother, Red Eagle, is dead—shot himself after selling his wife for whiskey money. Red Eagle was the black sheep of the family, I guess you’d say. Swift Arrow and Black Elk are fine, proud men, good warriors. They stay away from the firewater.”
    Hugh turned to face his son again, his eyes shocking Danny with their sorrow. “And Zeke? Is he a fine warrior?”
    Danny grinned and nodded. “One of the best. He’s highly respected among the Cheyenne and other tribes, even though he’s a half-blood. Half-bloods aren’t always accepted readily into the tribe, but Zeke proved his courage in the Sun Dance, and he’s been proving it one way or another ever since.”
    Hugh Monroe nodded sadly. “Well then, I sure had a flock of fine sons, didn’t I?” He patted Danny’s arm. “Life is strange. I had me four sons, yet as soon as you march off to war, I’ll have none. Who knows if you and Lance will ever come back. And God knows Zekewon’t.” He shook his head. “I’m a tired old man, Danny-boy. A tired old man full of regrets. But then I reckon there’s few men who live to my age who don’t have a lot of regrets.” He walked back to the table and sat down again. “So … where will you go, Danny?”
    The younger man walked back to the table into the brighter light of the lantern, and Hugh Monroe was impressed and proud by his son’s handsomeness. He wondered how handsome Zeke was. He’d been a fine-looking lad, and that was the only way Hugh Monroe could picture his eldest son, for he’d been a very young man when he left Tennessee for good.
    “I’m headed for Nashville. I’m told that’s where all the Tennessee Volunteers are headed, to meet up with General Sidney Johnston. The plan is to hold Tennessee, especially Bowling Green and Nashville, where all the industry and supplies are. And we have to keep the supply routes open—the Green River, the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. That’s why I think this whole state will be a powder keg, Pa. The North will try to take Tennessee as fast as they can, cut off our supplies. I’ve got years of experience behind me. I want to volunteer my services to General Johnston as an officer.”
    Hugh Monroe felt his heart tighten at the thought of anything happening to Danny. “There will be no comforts in this war, son. I have a feeling it will be worse than any duty you served out West. I’m told the volunteers out here get the short end of the supplies. President Davis keeps all the good stuff farther east and lets those in the border states make do with what’s left, which sometimes is nothing at all. This war won’t be a short one, son, and it will be damned bloody. I’ve heard some pretty sad stories from stragglers who’ve already been involved in the fighting. Your brother