The kids were still in the trailer when their mother came back.  She got out of her half-ton slowly and started for the door.  Tawana ran out and threw her arms around her.  For a minute or more they remained locked in each other's arms.

"Mom!" Tawana cried.  "You're back!"

"I may not be here long after your dad gets home." "What do you mean?"

She released her daughter and stepped back.  "Let's just leave it at that, shall we?  It's something that's between your dad and me."

Concern dulled the happiness in the girl's eyes as they went into the trailer together.

After a time Robert turned to Louis and whispered something.  His younger brother nodded.

"Mom," Robert said.  "Are you going to be here for a while?"

"I have to talk to your dad."

He told her about the voice on the answering machine and his sister's conviction that the call had been made by one of the guys who attacked her.  "You won't leave Tawana here alone, if Louis and I go somewhere, will you?"

"Of course not."

"If you do decide you have to leave before Dad gets back, will you take Tawana to the mine office where Dad works?"

Rita glared at her son.  "I told your dad and I've told you that I'd stay with her," she snapped.  "And that's exactly what I'm going to do.  You're just like your dad!  You don't believe a thing I say!"

He hesitated uneasily.  He could have reminded her about all the times she had lied to him and Louis; the times she said she was only going to be gone an hour or so, and they wouldn't see her again for a month.  He could tell her about the times she had run off at night when they were small and they had stayed in the house alone.  When that happened they were scared to death until one of them got up courage enough to run over to Grandma's.  Of course she and Grandpa always took them in and took care of them until their mother came dragging home.

"Dad told us to be sure we didn't leave Tawana alone, even for half an hour."

"You make it sound as though I'm a baby," his sister put in.

Rita put an arm around her daughter.  "It's not that.  We just don't want anything bad to happen to you." She turned to her older son.  "Go ahead, Robert.  I'll be here with Tawana.  I'm going to stay until I talk to your dad."

The boys left the trailer.

"Now what do we do?" Louis asked.  "Corporal Starr doesn't believe me.  Sterling doesn't believe me!  I'm dead!"

Robert shrugged.  "It's not over yet."

"You heard him.  The Corporal's found something else that he says proves I'm the thief.  We'd just as well quit trying to prove that I'm innocent.  No one's going to believe us!"

"Mom will!"

"Mom!" he snorted.  "Nobody on the reserve will believe anything she says.  You know that."

"Dad believes you, and so do I."

"You're all family," Louis protested.  "You don't count."

"We've been praying that the real thief would be caught.  Quit feeling sorry for yourself and help me think of something we can do to prove you didn't do it."

There was a brief silence.

"You know that Yazzie girl we tried to get?" one of the guys from the reserve said.

His companion nodded.  "I ought to remember it.  We almost got caught."

"She's home in their trailer and her dad's working."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure.  He's in the office at the mine."

"What about those brothers of her's?"

"I saw them leave a little while ago.  Let's go over and pester her.  She'll be scared to death."

"Might as well.  We can't do anything else today.  And, who knows, we might get lucky."

They went stealthily through the bush to the small clearing where Frank Yazzie had parked his trailer.  They stopped when they saw a strange half-ton parked close to the door.

"Wait a minute.  There's someone else in the trailer."

"That old truck's a wreck.  The guy who owned it probably left it there last night because he couldn't get it started."

In the trailer Rita paced the floor nervously, stopping every now and then to look at her watch.

"What time does your dad come home at noon, Tawana?" she asked.  "Or does he take a lunch?"

"He usually gets here a few minutes after twelve o'clock.  They close the office during the noon hour."

She wanted to ask her mother why she was so concerned about when her dad got home, but she didn't.  There were some questions that just weren't asked, and that was one of them.

Rita went to the window, nervously, and looked out.  "That's strange," she murmured, more to herself than her daughter.

She sounded so curious Tawana came up beside her and pulled back the curtain a few inches farther.  She stared into the bush, her eyes widening.

"Mom!" she gasped.  "Look!" She pointed at the boys crouching, almost hidden, in the brush.

"I thought I saw someone there a minute ago.  What do you suppose they're doing?"

"Did you see that sweater?"

"I just caught a quick look at it.  I don't think I can even tell you what color it is. Why?"

"One of the guys who grabbed me was wearing a fancy sweater.  I was so scared I really couldn't say for sure what color it was, but Louis tore a chunk out of the ski mask one of them was wearing." She paused momentarily.  "And I believe the guy who had the ski mask was also wearing the sweater."

"What's that got to do with the ones who attacked you?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think the character with the ski mask was also wearing the sweater."

Rita thought about that.  "And you think maybe they match.  Is that what you're saying?"

"I wonder if they would."

"Is there any way we could find out?"

"Louis tore off a piece of the ski mask when he fought with one of them.  It just might still be here."

Rita shook her head.  "That happened on the reserve," she said.  "That means the tribal police would have it.  He'd keep it for evidence in case the boys are ever caught."

"Could we go over and talk to Mr. Harmon.  Maybe he'd let us take a look at it."

Rita didn't want to leave right then, but Tawana was so, anxious, she finally agreed.  They got into her truck and drove to the Harmon house.

"The piece of ski mask is in the Band Office," he said.  "We can go over and have a look at it."

He took the piece of ski mask out of a locked cupboard and showed it to them.

Rita gasped.

"What's the matter?" Sterling demanded.  "Do you recognize it?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen it," she said, "but it's exactly the same color and has the same design, only smaller, as I saw on a sweater a little while ago."

"What sweater?  Who was wearing it?"

"I can't tell you.  Tawana caught a glimpse of it in the brush by our - by Frank's trailer!"