Otero Junior College Chinook

approaching Indian war party. Baxter, my friend since we were born, took an arrow in the leg. The speed of the furiously flying arrows made my head spin. For about thirty minutes the guns rang, the arrows flew, and the Indians kept coming.

      At about midnight the guns silenced and I was able to calculate the damage. Two people dead and…Where was my Pa? He wasn’t here!

      I started hollering for him at the top of my lungs, but to no satisfaction. I realized that Pa was gone, so I began asking if anybody had seen him and where he went. I met up with an old guy who said, “I seen everythin’!” I asked him, “Did you see my Pa?”

      “Shore did.” He replied.

      “Do you know where he went?” I asked.

      “Some Injuns’ took him,” he said, “I shot two of ‘em, but they jest drug him off.”

      He pointed in the direction they headed. I grabbed my gun, leapt on my horse, and galloped off in the pointed direction.

      Two or three days later, I came up on a camp of some sort. As I crawled forward I could see a bunch of Indians all right, but did they have my Pa? One Indian went into a tent with food and seconds later came out with nothing. Was my Pa in there I wondered.

      I took out my knife and quietly crawled toward the tent. I sliced my way through to find my Pa and one of the Indians. The Indian was no threat to me because…