Chapter 9

  With bed roll and saddle bags neatly tied to his  back, Joe sets out on foot at a quick pace heading towards what he hopes is a town. His plan is to get himself 2 fast horses, and slid into the camp in the night and take Lily out the back of her lodge while everyone was sleeping including hopefully her guard. It wasn't the best plan he'd ever come up with, but it was the best he could think of, and something told him to keep it simple." Hell " Joe thought "I might just get lucky, by the time I get the horses and a few supplies and get back to the camp the Indians may have relaxed and removed the guards from Lily Mea and her lodging".  His only other concern was if the tribe would break camp and begin to move on to their winter lodging. Tracking a tribe that size that isn't doing anything to cover their tracks wouldn't be hard, but getting Lily Mea and the baby out would be some what trickier. It hardly mattered to Joe, because he's  determined to get Lily Mea back safe and sound no matter what it takes.
   For a few days Lily keeps up asking her questions and lazily checking to see if her doodles were still there. Then Lily Mea notices that as fast as the guards appear they disappeared, and Lily Mea was once again free to roam in all her favorite places. She was disappointed that Joe had left but happy all the same he was safe. Somewhere deep inside, Lily was sure Joe would return. Now that she knew he was alive, she knew there was a chance she would be released from this strange new life she was living. No one  had hurt her or did anything bad, but this isn't the life she had been dreaming of when she set out on the trail all those many months ago. If any of her captors noticed the little smile on Lily Mea's face they didn't mention it or think anything of it, but for the first time in what seemed like forever Lily Mea had hope. Just a small spark,but hope just the same.
   Joe walked all day and most of the night before he found a town.  Worn out from walking all that way with  saddle bags and bed roll on his back, Joe finds the one and only lodging house in town and gets himself a room, he's a sleep before the door closes and his head hits the pillow. Joe slept just about as long as he had walked, when he woke up he was rested and more then ready to get moving. Wasting no more time Joe gathers everything he needs, and  heads back towards Lily Mea and her captors. 
   When Joe gets back to the camp, the first thing he notices is Lily moving freely around the camp without a guard. Next Joe notices that the camp is in the fray of getting ready for their big move . This is all good news for Joe, the more distracted that big buck, and his warriors were, the lack of guards for Lily Mea, surely meant it would be easier  to get Lily Mea, the baby and himself out of there, alive.