“Wah-shday,” he whispered, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.
I was led back to the furs, and Nah-ghee Chay-dehn crawled under the furs with me, pulling me against him, as his hands smoothed over my back. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I discovered, he merely intended to caress my skin, as I lay in his arms, trembling, and eventually we both fell asleep.
When I awoke, Nah-ghee Chay-dehn was already up, but he had not replaced his breechcloth. When he glanced up and saw that I was awake, he came over and took my hand, leading me out to the river again, going through the bathing ritual, his hands caressing my body, beneath the water, then leading me back to shore to dry me, giving me my scanty clothes to put on. But then he also handed me the blanket shirt I had made to cover me more thoroughly, and smiled.
“Wah-shday,” he mumbled.
I placed my hand upon his shoulder, as he stood before me in his manly splendor, since he had not gotten dressed yet.
“Wah-shday,” I repeated.
When I said that, his face lit up, and he pulled me into his arms, patting my back.
“Wah-shday,” he said enthusiastically, again.
Nah-ghee Chay-dehn released me, pulled his breechcloth on, gave me some left over fish, and started getting ready to depart. I was feeling much better, and began to reassess my situation. Maybe this strange, temperamental Indian wasn’t a threat to me after all.
We continued to travel for several more days. Each day he would hunt to furnish us food, and each morning and evening, he gently bathed me, as before. At night, he held me to him, as we lay with each other, and even though neither of us wore any clothes, he never tried to accost me in any way. He merely caressed my back, and held me tightly against him. He insisted on caring for my hair, and would braid it daily, taking the braids undone at night when we bathed. I started to gain a certain respect for him, because he was going out of his way to treat me with complete concern.
Eventually, the wooded area along the river opened up into more of a valley, with only a few trees along the river bank. It was then, I could see a collection of teepees in the distance. I knew we had finally reached his village, and I wasn’t sure what to prepare for.
As his horse came closer to the village, members of his tribe noticed him coming. Many of them ran forward to greet him. The children gawked at me, and pointed, asking Nah-ghee Chay-dehn in their own language questions about me, it appeared.
He answered them calmly, with a smile, and then a young girl, maybe my age or older, I wasn’t sure, came up. She looked up at Nah-ghee Chay-dehn, pointing to me and asking him a question. When he answered her, she began screaming at him, shaking her finger at him, and then she came over to me and started screaming at me, as well, shaking her finger at me in an accusing manner. I wasn’t sure how to take it, but one thing I did know; the girl did not like me, and seemed upset that Nah-ghee Chay-dehn had brought me to his tribe.
Nah-ghee Chay-dehn said something gruffly to the girl, and pointed his finger towards the village, as though demanding she leave. She turned with an angry look at me, and then sprinted away, screaming something as she left.
Nah-ghee Chay-dehn glanced at me, as though trying to discover how I had taken the scene, but he didn’t say anything. After all, I only knew a few of words in his language, like eat, good, and no. That was not enough to be able to carry on a conversation with.
When we reached his village, we stopped in front of a teepee, and I was surprised to discover a rough looking trapper emerged from the teepee.
The trapper greeted Nah-ghee Chay-dehn in his own language, and then he said in English, when his eyes lit on me, “Well what have we here?”
I was so thankful to hear my own language being spoken, I started to cry.
“He hasn’t hurt you, has he?” the man asked, looking closer at me. “Shadow Hawk has always been a man of honor.”
He yelled something up at Shadow Hawk, which I now realized was the meaning of his Indian name, and Shadow Hawk shrugged his shoulders.
“You never can tell how truthful these people are,” he winked at me. “You don’t look the worse for wear.”
“I am fine. My name is Vanessa Renton and my family and I was on the Oregon trail, when I ended up falling in the river. The Indian pulled me out, and insisted on bringing me here.”
The man smiled. “I’m Hudson. I’m married to a Sioux woman, and follow with the tribe, when I’m not trapping.”
“Then Shadow Hawk, has brought me to you, so you can help me get back to my family?” I asked hopefully, forgiving Shadow Hawk in my heart for my mistrust of him.
“I’m not heading in the direction of Oregon. We are in Dakota Territory. When I’m through curing my pelts, I’m headed back to Missouri, to take my pelts to market. My wife will go with me, and then I will return during the winter to trap some more.” He scratched his bushy beard, as he gazed at me.
“Then how am I going to get back to my family?” I asked feeling so close, now that I had met an American, yet so far when he insisted he couldn’t help me.
Hudson said something to Shadow Hawk, listened to what he had to say, and then smiled at me.
“I don’t think Shadow Hawk is planning to let you go back to your family anyway. He tells me, as soon as you learn his language, he is going to marry you. He expects me to teach you.”
“Hell and damnation!” I screeched. “I am not going to marry a heathen Indian! You tell him if he wants to marry me so bad, he will have to learn my language, and you will have to teach him! Then when I turn him down, he will understand every word I say!”
I stuck my chin out stubbornly. As kind as Shadow Hawk had been treating me, it did not mean I was willing to marry him. Heck, I didn’t even want to marry someone from my own society. Marrying an Indian would be twice as bad!
Hudson translated for me, and Shadow Hawk, jumped down from his horse, and walked over to me.
“We-dkoh dkoh kay Wee-yehn! Nee-yea wah-nah-ghohn!” he hissed.
“He’s called me that before,” I told Hudson. “What did he say?”
“He called you a crazy woman, and said to obey. I don’t think you have much choice. You see, you can be one of two things. You can be a woman captive, which he can treat how ever he pleases, or you can be his wife, which he has to respect. I would choose the latter, if I were you.”
“He can’t just force me to marry him!” I insisted.
“He won’t force you to marry him. In fact, you will have to agree to marry him, before he will ever make you his wife. However, if you refuse, he may just lose patience, and take you as his captive instead. He is offering you the better end of the deal,” Hudson insisted.
“Except no matter which way it goes, I will still be his to treat as he pleases, and use my body in any way he sees fit. So I don’t see how I end up winning,” I pointed out. “You tell that crazy Indian, that I will refuse to learn his language, so he will never be able to talk with me, and if he actually wishes to talk with me, he had better learn mine!”
Hudson repeated my words, in the Sioux language, and I watched Shadow Hawk’s face stiffen. He pulled me off of the travois and pushed me towards Hudson.
“Yah-yea! We-dkoh dkoh kay Wee-yehn!” he bellowed. Then he got up on his horse and left me with Hudson.
“Guess you are going to have to share our teepee,” Hudson offered. “I’ll be leaving at the end of the month, so I can make it back in time to trap by winter, so one of you had better be a quick learner.”
“It’s not going to be me,” I told him stubbornly.
“When we leave, you can stay in my teepee until I return next spring.
“I’m not going to stay until spring,” I bellowed.
It was just barely summer. There was no way I was going to remain in this Indian village, and I would never consent to marry Shadow Hawk, even if I did remain.
I looked over my shoulder, and saw the Indian girl who had been screaming at me and Shadow Hawk earlier, watching me wi
th hatred emanating from her eyes.
“Who is the girl?” I asked. “She was screaming at Shadow Hawk and me earlier.”
Hudson gave a chuckle, scratching his beard and shaking his head.
“You don’t want to be messing with that one,” he murmured. “If Shadow Hawk told her, what he just told me, she’s going to be fit to be tied. She’s had her eye on Shadow Hawk since they were children. I doubt he’s encouraged her, but Indian women can sometimes have a one track-mind. I’ve seen many a brave be scolded by his wife, without a whimper of complaint. If you ask me, a woman has more power over her brave then some give them credit for. Could be though, it’s because they are so eager to please their braves, he dare not discourage her,” he chuckled.
“Well you just tell her, she can have Shadow Hawk, and she had better find some way to please him, so he will forget about wanting me to marry him!”
Hudson laughed, and called the girl over. After talking to her for a few moments, her face brightened, and she smiled at me. Then she turned and ran in the other direction.
“I suppose your wish is her command,” Hudson chuckled, as he brought me into his teepee. “If you are so averse to marrying Shadow Hawk, then you had better hope Shy Dove, finds a way to persuade him into marrying her.”
“Shy Dove?” I laughed. “She wasn’t acting very shy as far as I could tell!”
“Maybe she needs a name change. The Indians sometimes change their names, you know,” he chuckled. “Meet my wife, Little Flower,” he said, once we were inside.
Little Flower smiled at me in a friendly manner. “Welcome,” she said.
“If your wife can learn our language, I don’t see why Shadow Hawk can’t. If he really wanted to marry me, he would go out of his way to learn my language,” I mumbled.
“Are you telling me you wish to marry him after all?” Hudson teased.
“That wasn’t’ what I meant,” I told him.
I wasn’t really sure how I felt about Shadow Hawk. He had treated me kindly, ever since I threw myself into the river, but I could not see myself becoming the wife of an Indian.
CHAPTER FOUR
When Little Flower saw that I had no clothes to wear, she furnished me with a fringed squaw-dress, with intricate beaded work on the yoke and a pare of moccasins.
“Who braided your hair?” Hudson asked me, probably already knowing the answer. “It seems too neat for you to have done it,” he added to justify his question.
“I am sure you know, since I was with Shadow Hawk, he would be the only one who could have braided my hair,” I told him.
“He did it everyday, didn’t he?” Hudson correctly guessed
I nodded.
“It’s what the Indians do. The man takes care of the woman’s hair, and the woman takes care of the man’s hair. They think the hair is where their soul exists, so they take very good care of their soul. That’s why they never want to cut their hair, because they would be cutting part of their soul off if they did. A man is responsible for his woman’s soul, and she is responsible for his. That is the way they serve each other,” Hudson explained.
“But I am not Shadow Hawk’s woman,” I objected.
“He thinks you are, or as good as his woman, once you accept him as your husband. Like Indian women, the men can have a one tract mind as well,” he chuckled knowingly. “If I were you, I wouldn’t take Shadow Hawk’s desires too lightly, even if Shy Dove believes she can win him over.”
I thought about how he had tracked me down, when I tried to escape, and wouldn’t even let me drown myself. I had to admit that Hudson was probably right.
“Everyone will be getting ready for the hunt pretty soon. They have been waiting for Shadow Hawk to return. He had been out scouting for buffalo, but I guess he ended up getting sidetracked.” He gave me a sideways glance and chuckled.
“He’s the chief of the hunt, you know. It’s a big responsibility, since he not only has to find where the buffalo are plentiful, but he has to lead the hunt and make sure none of the young braves jump the gun and try to go out to hunt the buffalo on their own. If they caused a stampede, the whole herd could move miles away, before the tribe was ready for the main hunt, and then no telling how long it would take to track them down again. It may mean moving the entire village, which is not an easy task, as you can guess.”
“We once had a stampede of Buffalo run right through our wagon-corral,” I informed Hudson. “They came barreling down on us, and even though we shot at them to try and veer their course, it didn’t even phase them. They ran right over several wagons, and caused our cattle to get mixed into the herd as they ran. It took us over a week to hunt the cows down, and only managed to retrieve half of them. I had never seen so many buffalos before. It was like a moving mountain of fur let lose and nothing was going to stop them! There were so many, it took almost an hour for the herd to pass.”
“Yep. The buffalo are plentiful out in these parts. It is the Indian’s main staple. Without that huge beast, I don’t think the Indian could survive. They use every lick of the animal, once they kill it, right down to the stomach contents for medicine, and the scrotum for ceremonial rattles.”
“I never really thought about it, but I do know the hides are pretty warm to sleep under,” I commented.
“By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed, Indians don’t sleep in their clothes at night. Just thought I would warn you ahead of time, since Little Flower and myself follow that custom. You can sleep in your under things, if you wish, but I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable about our lack of clothes at night.”
I thought about how Shadow Hawk had always slept with me in the nude, after our evening bath.
“I don’t think anything in that department could shock me much,” I murmured. “Shadow Hawk has shown me his bare backside enough times to last a lifetime of recollection.”
Hudson laughed. “He never used you, though, did he?” he stated correctly. “He wouldn’t have, if he wants you for his wife. Indians desire virtuous women, and he wouldn’t want to spoil that for himself or anyone else you might decide to marry, if he doesn’t take you captive first.”
He gave me a long appraising look. “You’re a pretty thing, and I don’t think Shadow Hawk is going to give you up very easily.”
“Well he is going to discover he may not want me in the end. We have already had a few go-around’s, so he knows how stubborn I can be!”
Hudson chuckled, causing smile lines to crinkle around his eyes.
“Probably what attracts him to you. Indians like a challenge,” he informed me. “Might as well get comfortable here. I don’t think you are going to be going anywhere any time soon. Little Flower is preparing the evening meal, and then we will all have an evening bath. Shadow Hawk is probably smoking the long pipes with the rest of the chiefs planning the hunt, and reporting back about his latest adventures. By the time he is through, the whole tribe will know that you are his intended woman, and keep their hands off, unless Shy Dove can do some very powerful woman magic!”
We were standing outside the teepee, and we walked over to where Little Flower was hunched over a pouch, that was hanging over the fire.
“That’s a buffalo stomach,” Hudson pointed out. “There is stew inside, and if anyone eating the meal is still hungry, once the stew is eaten, they can eat the stomach as well,” Hudson chuckled. “There are a lot of strange customs you are going to have to get used to, now that you are about to become part of the tribe.”
Little Flower started dishing up the stew into a wooden bowl she handed me, along with a bone spoon, and I sat on a fallen log, not far from the fire to eat the food. I was surprised at how good it tasted, being laces with roots and herbs, and no telling what else. I did not want to become part of this tribe, but I wasn’t sure how I could escape, or if my family would ever discover this was where I was. At least, for the time being, I would have to endure a whole new way of living, which I realized couldn’t be much different tha
n camping along the trail, sleeping in teepees instead of wagons, though.
When the meal was over, I was told that I would be responsible for my bowl and spoon. I could take it to the river with me, when I bathed, in order to wash it, and then I should keep it with any other belongings I owned, which was nothing. I thought to myself, the only possessions I had was this bowl and spoon and my shift, pantaloons, and boots. It seemed like such a sparsely collection of things to define me with. I didn’t count the beautiful dress I was wearing, because I considered it a mere loan.
Many of the tribe were now going down towards the river to bath, but I didn’t want to bathe in the middle of an Indian crowd, so I removed myself farther upriver, where I didn’t notice many people frequenting. First, I washed my bowl and spoon, then set them aside. Slowly, I removed the beautiful squaw dress, and started to unbraid my hair. As my fingers were combing through my first braid, I felt two hands come down over mine, and I turned to see Shadow Hawk, as he took away my task, and continued unbraiding my hair. I stood trembling before him, as his fingers combed through my hair. When he was finished, he removed my shift and pantaloons, as he had done many times before, when I had traveled with him. He then led me down into the river like he had always done when we were camping together, and I didn’t know whether to be angry, or happy that he was there.
I realized that I looked forward to the way his hands felt on my body when he bathed me, but I hadn’t thought he would continue the ritual, once I came to his village.
This time he had brought a strange-looking bulb root with him, that he used as soap, smoothing it over my body. As he washed me, he looked deeply into my eyes, I assume pleading with me to accept him as my future husband, but I couldn’t commit myself to a lifetime of this kind of existence. I knew nothing of this man, except for my few short days in his presence, and some of that time, he had been cruel to me. What would he do if I became his wife, and I ended up angering him? I didn’t want to take the risk in order to find out. I had herd horror stories about what the Indians did to an unfaithful wife, which was either killing them, or cutting their nose off, if they happened to like her and wanted to stay married to her. The thought filled me with apprehension.
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