Riley exhaled, then continued.
"I'll tell you what--I'll make sure he makes some kind of restitution, and that he returns to you any property of yours that he still has. If you harm one hair on his head, though, I'll throw you in prison. If you kill him, I'll see that you hang. Is that clear?"
After a moment, Hugh gave a slight nod. Riley left the room. A minute later he returned. They waited.
A little while later the door opened. Fitzgerald came in, carrying Hugh's Hawken rifle.
"Hello, Hugh," Fitzgerald said. "I brought your rifle. I took good care of it for you. It's all cleaned.., and loaded."
Hugh took the rifle from him, remembering as he did, the old, familiar weight; the feel of it in his hands. Fitzgerald was right. He had taken good care of it. It was cleaned and oiled. And it was loaded.
"I'm sorry about what we done," Fitzgerald said. "I can't change it."
Hugh continued to look down at his rifle. Why had he brought it back loaded? Was he a fool as well as a coward?
"You know what it was like out there, Hugh," Fitzgerald continued. "We were all scared out of our wits. Hell, even the damn Mandans had declared war on us!"
I have only to point it and pull the trigger, Hugh thought, but that would mean the end of me, too.
"The indians were gettin' real close..."
-Or, at least, one quick step in, and a butt stroke to the chin...
"It didn't seem real smart to stay there an' get discovered." Fitzgerald kept talking. "Then we would have all been killed..."
...He wouldn't be able to eat solid food for a month. I'd go to jail, but it would be worth it...
But even as he considered it images began to appear in his mind, memories of Clint, of Potter and the other men of the Gallant, of the little girl that died after being brutalized aboard the Madalaine, of his two boys. All people that, at one time or another, Hugh had let down...
Hugh sighed heavily.
"Say somethin', will you?" Fitzgerald pleaded. "I'm tryin' to explain, to apologize, but ...say somethin', all right? Or just shoot me..."
Hugh looked at him. Fitzgerald looked away.
Turning to Captain Riley, Hugh said, "Thank's for getting my rifle back." Then, without another word, he walked past Fitzgerald and over to the door. At the door he hesitated. Then he turned back to Fitzgerald.
"Don't ever leave the army." Hugh let the words hang there, with meaning. Then he went out the door.
Outside, the sergeant met Hugh and handed him a fairly good-sized leather pouch.
"Cap'n Riley had us take up a collection for you, Mr. Glass," the sergeant said. "For your trouble. There's about three-hundred dollars there."
Hugh accepted the money with a grunt. He nodded to the man. Then he got onto his horse and rode out of the fort. Somewhere, far to the north, Little Feather waited for him.
It was good to have his rifle back.
THE END
AFTERWORD
ANDREW HENRY: Tall, blue-eyed and self-assured, Andrew Henry epitomized what came to be the popular image of "The Mountain Man". Yet, before the summer of 1824 was to come to an end, he would leave the mountains forever and return to St. Louis, and to his books and his violin. Jedidiah Smith would take his place as William H. Ashley's partner.
JEAN LAFITTE and THE PIRATES OF CAMPECHE: About the time that Hugh Glass made his escape from them, the pirates' fortunes had begun to decline. Rumours of some of their unsavory practices began to float back to the U.S. Government. Pickings, for the pirates, became scarce. Shortly after Hugh and Clint escaped, a storm struck Campeche, destroying several of the ships that lay anchored in the channel and nearly destroying the town. Rallying, Lafitte took the entire black population of the island (which included free men of color who served aboard his ships) threw them into chains, and transported them to New Orleans to be sold as slaves. This allowed him to raise enough money to rebuild the stronghold. In 1822, after hearing numerous reports of piracy, the American Navy sailed to Galveston and ordered the pirates to leave. Lafitte and his band of men sailed away from the island. What happened to them after that remains a mystery to this day. Much is speculated. Little is known.
BIG AXE and BIG SOLDIER: In 1832, ten years after Hugh Glass left the Pawnees, an agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs learned that a young indian girl was about to be sacrificed to the Pawnees' deity, Morning Star. The agent raced to the Pawnee village to try to intervene. He spoke with Big Axe, who said he didn't know if he could stop the sacrifice or not, but said he would try. The agent reported that, because of Big Axe's standing in the tribe and due to his indomitable will, the Pawnees gave the girl up. As they were leaving the village, winding their way through the maze of earth-dome lodges, they were forced to pass by the lodge that belonged to Big Soldier. An arrow flew from within the lodge, striking the girl and knocking her from her horse. As a group of indians began dragging the girl toward the east side of the village, the agent looked to see Big Axe and Big Soldier struggling together at the door of Big Soldier' lodge. Realizing that this development could put his own life at risk, the agent rushed to break up the fight, which he managed to do with the help of some other indians who were standing nearby. He then went to try to save the girl, but by the time he reached the edge of the village she had been literally "torn to pieces".
Big Axe continued to be a major force among the tribe. In the Spring of 1840 he died, reportedly killed by the Sioux. By 1844, Big Soldier was reported to be the Chief of the Skidi Pawnees.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Hugh Glass - Bruce Bradley Page 24
