Longtree was with Moonwind again at the Blackfeet camp. They were in the lodge of Herbert Crazytail. Longtree had rode into camp and requested a meeting with the old man. And after some wait, it had been granted.
"My father says you are wasting your time," Moonwind translated.
Longtree was a stubborn man and he fully intended to get what he came after: answers. He didn't bother bowing his head in respect to the medicine man, because he no longer had respect for him. Crazytail sat on a bed of dried grasses covered with buffalo hide and tended the fire. He was wrapped in a Hudson's Bay blanket, his right arm and shoulder uncovered. Strips of buffalo meat were cooking on wooden spits. Crazytail was gnawing on bits of pemmican.
"Tell your father to stop the Skullhead," Longtree said. "If the killings continue, soldiers will come. His people may be killed."
It was a lie, but neither the old man or his daughter knew it.
Crazytail turned the spits in the fire, mumbling something.
Moonwind said, "It is too late. What has been set into motion cannot be stopped. Even soldiers cannot stop the Skullhead. He has been called."
"Who called him?" Longtree asked pointedly.
Moonwind translated, but the old man just shook his head.
"I don't think he wishes to talk any longer," Moonwind said.
"He doesn't have a choice," Longtree said angrily. "If these killings aren't stopped, soldiers will come and your people will be killed. Those that aren't will be taken off to prisons and distant reservations. They will never see this land again. Tell him that."
Moonwind, sighing, did so.
For the first time since his arrival, Crazytail looked at the marshal. There was hatred in his eyes, the hatred of an entire race. He began talking loudly now, jabbing his finger at Longtree.
"He says our people have a right to vengeance, we have been wronged. The whites must be taught a lesson." Moonwind cleared her throat. "He also says he is sorry you have involved yourself in this, that you will die also. He says if you are wise, you will leave this place before night falls. The Skullhead will not stop killing."
"Tell Crazytail that I want to know where the Skullhead is. I can stop him."
Moonwind translated. "He says no man can stop what has been set into motion. Once the Skullhead is called, he cannot be put down."
Crazytail, the fire reflected in his narrow eyes, began speaking again.
"After the guilty ones are killed," Moonwind translated, "the Skullhead will begin killing indiscriminately. So we have nothing to fear from the soldiers, for the Skullhead will take us all as sacrifices. Our fate is sealed."
"And after you've all died in vain," Longtree said, "then what?"
Moonwind, looking very unhappy, translated: "Then the Skullhead will go down into the town of the whites and kill everyone."