The lightning flashed again, startling her, following by the vibrating roll of distant thunder. It would storm tonight, she thought. Last night it had nearly broken when she'd accompanied Uncle Link and the men on their frantic chase after the wild dog pack. She hadn't wanted to go, but he'd insisted. She was an expert rifle marksman and a capable horse-woman, prime requisites when the sheep were being threatened. She'd had no choice but to go, and God… she would never forget it! The way her uncle had clubbed and tortured that wild, fawn-colored female dog! What a beautiful animal she had been, too, and almost ready to whelp. It sickened her now as she remembered the vicious manner he'd used to beat the beautiful animal rather than shoot her. Some of the men had actually cursed him…

"Dammit, shoot her, Chief! You don't have to torture the bitch that way…!"

But for a few minutes he'd been like a maniac, as if he'd lost all control! There'd been no stopping him; he'd hardly heard a word any of them shouted at him.

"For Christ sake, stop it, Unk! No need for that…!"

"Shut up, you damned fools!" he'd roared at them, clubbing the wailing crippled animal, but only hard enough to break its bones and not kill it. "You want your Goddamned sheep raided night after night… or do you want to put an end to it? Well…? This is the way to do it! The rest of that pack has got to hear her cries! That's the only way to drive them off… throw the fear of man into them…!"

Maybe, he had been right, she didn't know, but the ordeal had affected her as nothing before in her teenaged life. Even in the despicable hatred she'd suddenly felt toward him while he was cruelly killing the dog, certain sensations of incredible excitement had filled her, causing her young body to tremble and cover with chilling goose-flesh.