There was a ruckus in the marsh ahead. It sounded to him like a big black bear crashing through the woods. Charging straight at him. Josh quickly hunkered down in a mass of scrub oak. The beast charged right at his hiding place, crashing out of the woods storming at him like his tail was a fire. Snorting and puffing, the biggest buck he ever saw, leaped over a fallen tree spattering mud and snow straight over Josh’s head. An arrow bounced from his left shoulder. It caught on some brush and dropped to the ground. Josh heard footsteps, someone was tracking the deer, and panic held his stomach in its icy grip. He scurried deeper into the brush as he saw the tall Ute Indian.

“They’d as soon scalp a white man as look at him,” his friend’s words echoed in his head.