Chieftain (Historical Romance) Read Online Free PDF

and took all the shields and weapons from the Comanches. Shanaco had warned his tribesmen that this would happen. The warriors did not resist, but willingly surrendered their weapons.
    Once all theweapons had been collected, the Comanche men were ordered to dismount. Shanaco swung down out of the saddle first and nodded for his tribesmen to do the same. All did so peacefully. Shanaco was relieved. This unpleasant process was going forward more smoothly than he had hoped. He was determined that he would continue to remain totally calm.
    But his passionate nature swiftly emerged when he was told that the young warriors, including him, would be locked up for an indefinite period.
    Fury instantly leapt into his light eyes and he struggled fiercely against the armed men forcing him into the icehouse, which was to be a temporary jail.
    At that moment Maggie stepped out of the post supply store and heard the commotion. Curious, she turned to see what was happening. Shading her eyes against the blinding sun, she was drawn steadily closer, her lips parted, a frown of puzzlement on her face. She watched in shock and horror as an infuriated Shanaco and the young Comanche warriors were thrown into the makeshift prison.
    Stunned, Maggie stood for a moment, motionless, unable to believe her eyes. Then her face grew fiery red with anger. Teeth clamped tightly together, her dander up, Maggie dropped her bag of supplies where she stood and hurried headlong toward the icehouse. Her mind was racing. What should she do? How could she help? How could she stop this atrocity?
    Thenit came to her. Double Jimmy! He would put a stop to this outrage! But a few steps short of the icehouse, Maggie stopped abruptly.
    “Oh, no!” she muttered aloud, remembering suddenly that the Indian agent was not at the fort. Double Jimmy was in Washington and wouldn’t be back until Saturday morning, more than forty-eight hours from now.
    She couldn’t wait that long. She had to do something this very minute. There was no other choice. She would go straight to the fort’s commander, Colonel Harkins, register a firm protest and demand that he release the Comanches.
    Maggie turned and hurried toward the fort’s administration offices. Skirts lifted, chin jutting, she crossed the dusty quadrangle, stepped up onto the shaded east sally port and moved quickly to the closed door of Colonel Harkins’s office.
    “May I be of assistance, Miss Bankhead?” a provost marshal, who was waiting at the door, asked.
    “I must speak with Colonel Harkins at once!” Maggie declared, and rushed right past the startled officer.
    She rushed inside the sandstone building and was headed for Colonel Harkins’s back office when his aide-de-camp, Captain Daniel Wilde, came from behind his desk to block her way.
    “I’m verysorry, Miss Bankhead,” said Captain Wilde. “You can’t go in there. Colonel Harkins is in an important meeting and cannot be disturbed.” The captain smiled then, and with a slightly suggestive tone to his voice, said, “Now, if there’s anything I can do for you. Anything at all.”
    Maggie glared him. She didn’t like Captain Wilde. Married, but with his family down in Texas, he behaved too much like a single man. Anytime he caught her alone, he was openly flirtatious. She didn’t approve and had told him so. Now as he took a step closer, Maggie backed away.
    “Inform Colonel Harkins that he must release the Comanche prisoners at once!” she said. “This is a disgrace! There is absolutely no excuse for incarcerating these men who came onto the reservation peacefully! Promises of fair treatment were made and believed. They have done nothing to warrant such high-handed handling, and if Double Jimmy were here he would never have allowed it to happen!”
    Captain Wilde just grinned. “Well now, Miss Bankhead, I’ll sure relay your message to the colonel, yes I will. And I certainly appreciate your concern. But you have to understand that these