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son. Concerned about his beloved animal, which was his one remaining bond to the Martins, Chase asked War Eagle; “Can my horse camp here with me? He does not know this place and people and will not be calm without me being nearby.”
    “Horse stay there. He be safe and tended. Cloud Chaser stay here.”
    Chase decided not to protest what he assumed was their precaution against his escape, and hoped Red would be all right where he was. He nodded and requested that War Eagle thankWind Dancer for sending him food and his belongings. “I’ll stay here until Father sends for me,” he promised.
    War Eagle nodded. He started to warn Cloud Chaser not to fight and especially not hurt Two Feathers if he approached him again, but rejected that idea. He would relate the matter to his father and brother and they would halt Two Feathers from picking a fight with his brother, for he was convinced this man was indeed Cloud Chaser. But could he, War Eagle worried, be trusted? Soon the truth would be revealed; then it would be decided if Cloud Chaser would live or die…

Chapter
Three
    While War Eagle was with Chase, Wind Dancer was in the tepee of Rising Bear. “What are your feelings and thoughts, my father?” he asked.
    The chief shook his head, and sighed deeply, before answering. “My second son has been lost to me for twelve circles of the seasons when this man comes to us and says he is Cloud Chaser. I yearn to believe he is my child and he has returned to me, but I fear to do so. If he lies and tricks us, he can bring much danger to our people. Even if he speaks the truth of who he is, he can cause much trouble here, and for certain if evil dwells within him. I am chief and must do what is best for my people, even if I must lose my son again to honor and fulfill my duty and rank.”
    Rising Bear sighed deeply again. “I was not a good father to him, Wind Dancer, for each time I gazed upon him, I was reminded of my weakness with his mother and saw him as a punishment for that wicked deed. I feared if I treated him as I did you and my other children, my beloved wife and people would think I loved his mother and that could cause resentment and anger toward me, and I would lose their respect and obedience. When Cloud Chaser was taken from me not long after Omaste’s death, I believed it was the Great Spirit’s way offorgiving me for that weakness and removing all signs of it from my life. I acted wrongly toward Cloud Chaser, my son, for he was not to blame for my bad deed and should not have suffered for it. I was selfish and blind, and did not practice the Four Virtues. But now that he has been blanketed by White ways for so long, he may be more wasicun than Oglala, if in truth he is my son.”
    Wind Dancer’s heart was touched by his father’s unexpected confession. Yet, all men made mistakes some time during their lives; only a great and good man learned and grew stronger from them, as his father had done. Perhaps, he reasoned, there was another lesson to be learned. “How could this man know the things he told us and come to possess such belongings if he is not Cloud Chaser?” he asked.
    “What if he was a brother or friend to Cloud Chaser and he learned and took such things from him?” his father argued. “What if he only uses them as a means to sneak into our camp and spy on us? If we allow him to live among us, he can learn our secrets and those of our allies and reveal them to our enemies. If he is Cloud Chaser and his heart and mind remained loyal to us, why did he take so long to return? He has been a man for many seasons. Why would he stay with those who had betrayed him?”
    “Perhaps his mind was clouded by feelings of duty to them,” Wind Dancer reasoned. “Perhaps his heart is kind and generous, my father, and he felt he must repay them for their many good deeds. He was a child. He was injured. He believed us dead. He was taken far away from all he knew and loved. He came to love and trust them before