And so Preloch and Prairie Flower came back at last to the Quahadas, and when Quannah died, he slept beside them, while the Indians mourned the passing of the greatest chief they had ever known. Untutored and unlettered, he had taught his people the lesson of forgiveness and of honour, and in so doing he had won the respect of all men.
Moko's words were again proved true when a town, Nocona, was named after Quannah's father, Peta Nocona; and to-day, still another town bears the name of the son, Quannah.
Star and Running Deer, after living happily many years, at last went to join the other Quahada ponies in the Happy Hunting Grounds.
Sometimes when the Thunder Bird wings its way across the sky, and white people think they hear distant thunder, Songbird stands with uplifted face. It is not thunder, but the sound of galloping hoofs that she hears.
Beyond the dark shadows of the Thunder Bird's wings, she knows that Quannah is riding on Running Deer. Near him is Peta Nocona, and with them rides Preloch, holding little Prairie Flower closely against her breast.
On the other side of Running Deer gallops a black pony without a rider, his thick mane and long black tail streaming like the edges of a dark cloud. Songbird knows that the pony is Star, and that some day she will ride him again beside her father.
As the thunder dies away, she smiles and turns back to the work that Quannah left for her to do, until she, too, shall answer the cry of the Great Eagle.
Books by Forrestine C. Hooker
PRINCE JAN