Frontier Agreement

by Shannon Farrington

  “Not long, I hope. Black Cat and some of his secondary chiefs were to visit in a few days to discuss the possibility of traveling to Washington to meet with President Jefferson. By then, we shall know better the lay of the land, so to speak. For now, however, it’s best to keep to ourselves.”

  Pierre knew that was the prudent course of action. If there was no interaction then there could be no chance of offending any of the natives, particularly Running Wolf. Still, no matter how much he respected Three Horses, Pierre did not like the idea of leaving Claire solely to his care.

  He decided to tell his captain plainly, “I am greatly concerned for Miss Manette’s welfare, sir.”

  “I know you are,” Lewis said simply, “but as I advised you once before, it would be better for us all if you refrain from further interference. Life here is different, Lafayette. Though it is harsh and at times, I grant you, unfair, we cannot risk angering our hosts. If the Mandan people turn against us, then so will the other tribes. The safety of the expedition will be the least of concerns. There will be no hope for expanded trade or peaceful relations. The purchase of Louisiana will be for naught if we cannot coexist.”

  Trade and relations with the neighboring tribes were indeed important, but what about the life of one single woman? Where does she fit into this plan? Where do I?

  Lewis sensed his inner turmoil. “Is there something else, Lafayette?”

  Yes, Pierre wanted to say. “No, sir. Nothing further.” And with the captain’s permission, he took his leave.

  * * *

  The task of caring for a recovering mother and an infant left Claire little time to brood over her own losses. The still unnamed dark-haired son of One Who Smiles grew stronger each day. For the most part, Claire was ignorant in the ways of tending infants. To a degree, so was her friend. Many of the prescribed rituals One Who Smiles had performed after the birth of Black Raven so many years ago were rooted in superstitions she no longer wished to practice. As a Christian, she now considered the burning of purification incense and ceremonial washings taboo.

  So between the two of them, they did what they thought necessary. Claire wrapped the newborn baby in cloths, then changed them when needed. Often she showed One Who Smiles the Bible pages Pierre had given her, and although her friend could not read or understand the words written in French, Claire translated them into Mandan. They also prayed. Claire prayed that this child would grow up in a loving household and eventually a village of faith. One Who Smiles thanked God for a Christian friend to stand beside her. Though the issue had yet to be firmly laid to rest, they did not speak much of Running Wolf’s anger, nor of his insistence that Claire marry by the spring. One Who Smiles, like Evening Sky previously, insisted that all would sort itself out in time.

  Claire lay awake at night, praying for a happy resolution. She also prayed that God would ease the pain of her heart, that of her mother’s departure and Pierre’s absence. She had not seen him in days. He had sent a note by way of Black Raven, informing her of Captain Lewis’s decision to keep the men on alert and occupied at the fort.

  “When Chief Black Cat makes his scheduled visit, we will have a better grasp of the situation,” he had written.

  From her perspective, the situation was that she was hopelessly in love with a white man, and now, even if one of the Mandan warriors came to Christ, Claire knew she would not be able to marry. I’d never be able to give any other man my whole heart, be the marriage partner he deserves.

  She sighed heavily, for her situation had not improved in the least. To remain unmarried was a burden on the tribe, unless Three Horses was wholly willing to adopt her as his sister. Claire hoped for that, for it was sisters that One Who Smiles and Claire were fast becoming.

  As the woman’s strength slowly returned, she began to make clothes for her infant and instructed Claire on how to bend willow branches to frame a cradleboard.

  “Now we will cover it with buckskin.”

  Together they worked to shape the oblong bag that the baby would be placed into eventually. One Who Smiles nodded approval at the result. “You work well, Bright Star. You are quick to learn.”

  “You are a patient teacher.” As the words fell from Claire’s lips, the memory of working with Pierre on vocabulary lists drifted though her mind. He had given her the same compliment.

  “When I have more strength, I shall decorate the brace with strings of beads so that they may sway and tinkle and amuse my child when we walk,” One Who Smiles said.

  It reminded Claire of what her own mother had done. Though Claire had long outgrown the need for a cradleboard, Evening Sky had kept hers hanging on a peg on the wall in their cabin back in Illinois. In her younger years, Claire had been constantly strapped to her mother’s back and traveled everywhere, just as One Who Smiles’s son would soon be.

  Tears collected in Claire’s eyes. She missed her mother terribly, but she did her best to remind herself that Evening Sky was now at peace and reunited with Claire’s father.

  “Who are you thinking of, Bright Star? Your mother? Or the handsome Frenchman?”

  Claire flushed. So her feelings for Pierre were obvious to her friend. Had they been obvious to him, as well? Was that the true reason he was staying away?

  “I was thinking of my mother,” she said, but there was no point hiding what this woman already knew. Pierre was always in the back of her thoughts. One Who Smiles had suffered her own great disappointments in her life. Claire might learn something from her. “I do, however, think of him, as well.”

  The woman smiled. “You are right to do so. He would make a considerate husband.”

  “Yes, he would, but such things cannot be.”

  “Because of your uncle?”

  “Because of many things.”

  A week later, Running Wolf appeared at the lodge. Thankfully Three Horses was in attendance. He had just sat down to eat the meal Claire had been preparing. She couldn’t help but jolt at the sudden appearance of her uncle, so much so that she nearly dropped the bowl of stew she had been about to serve Three Horses.

  Surprisingly, Running Wolf appeared not to have come in anger. He entered with a placid look on his face. Taking the man’s arrival at face value, Three Horses offered him a seat at the fire. Claire delivered venison stew and tea to each of them, then returned to the cooking pot to fill a bowl for One Who Smiles. Her hands were shaking badly, but she managed to serve the remaining food, then take a seat beside her friend. Stealthily they both eyed the men.

  Running Wolf presented Three Horses with a handsome knife. “A gift to you on the birth of your son,” he said.

  Proudly accepting it, Three Horses then presented Running Wolf with a colorful woven blanket. “A gift to you for allowing your niece to care for my family.”

  Running Wolf nodded and accepted his gift. Claire watched silently, unsure exactly of what was taking place. Were the two men making a contract? Would Running Wolf allow her to remain here? Was he freeing her from her marital obligation to the tribe? One Who Smiles didn’t seem certain, either. Claire could see the questions in her eyes. Still, she patted Claire’s hand hopefully.

  “Bright Star will stay until your squaw’s confinement has ended,” Running Wolf said. “Then I wish for her to return to my lodge.”

  Three Horses said nothing to that. Claire held her breath. One Who Smiles continued to hold her hand.

  “I have been given two horses with sleek black manes,” Running Wolf said proudly. “It is a very good price for one such as her.”

  Claire’s heart slammed into her ribs. So her uncle had gone ahead and brokered a marriage deal after all! To whom was she to be given?

  Three Horses asked just that.

  “Golden Hawk wishes to make her his squaw,” Running Wolf announced. “This will please the spirits. The medicine man’s son will return Br
ight Star to the path of our ancestors.”

  One Who Smiles’s grip tightened on Claire’s hand. By now she was trembling all over. Was this really to be her lot in life? Was she to be wed to a man who was not simply unaware of God’s saving grace but flatly opposed to it? She had seen how this man treated his animals. Golden Hawk would try to force her to submit to his ways, and beat her if she did not.

  Three Horses knew this, as well. “Bright Star is now a guest in my lodge.” He turned to her and, in a manner highly uncustomary in these parts, asked, “Do you wish to wed the medicine man’s son?”

  “No!” she cried.

  He turned back to Running Wolf. “She has given her answer.”

  Running Wolf was unfazed. Apparently he had expected such and was prepared. “I have allowed her to remain here because of the birth of your son, but as her uncle, I retain authority over her. She may reside in your lodge until the new moon, and then she will return to mine.”

  Claire knew full well what would happen then. She would not see the April moon’s first quarter before being wed. Three Horses knew it, as well. He lifted his chin. “She will not return to you. I will welcome her here, always.”

  “You cannot,” Running Wolf insisted. “She is not of your clan. I must give permission to you, and I will not, because you also have forsaken our ancestors’ ways.”

  “Then I will pay your bride price.”

  Running Wolf looked momentarily shocked, and Claire felt the air rush from her lungs. She realized what her friend was proposing. Running Wolf did, as well. “You would take a second wife? White men take no second wives.”

  Claire’s head was spinning. Although she appreciated Three Horses’s attempts to rescue her from Golden Hawk, becoming his lesser wife was not the solution. It wasn’t fair to One Who Smiles, let alone the fact that it went against the principles of Scripture.

  Oh God...please...

  “I will not accept your bride price,” Running Wolf said. “No matter what you offer.”

  “Then I shall go to Black Cat.”

  Running Wolf gave back the blanket. Three Horses returned the knife. Rising, Claire’s uncle stomped from the lodge. One Who Smiles’s husband promptly exited, as well, presumably on his way to see the chief.

  The baby was crying, but neither Claire nor One Who Smiles moved to settle him. Both women were far too overcome with shock. After a few moments, One Who Smiles spoke. Her voice was soft but forced. It was the sound of a woman resigned to make the best of a terrible situation.

  “If this is what must be, Bright Star, then I welcome you.”

  “No,” Claire said. “This is not the way.”

  With a sudden burst of energy, she got to her feet, dashed from the lodge. She ran toward the village entrance. The icy crust that had previously covered the snow was now giving way to slush. Still at full speed, she pressed on.

  I will leave this place! I will not agree to Three Horses’s solution, and I will certainly not marry Golden Hawk! Lifting her skirts higher, she ran toward the river.

  On its bank, she froze. Where was she to go? She couldn’t go to the fort, although that was exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to run to Pierre and beg him to take her from this place. But I cannot do that. Running Wolf will lose the horses that Golden Hawk has given him, and that could anger him enough to drive him to start war on the members of the expedition.

  She looked back toward the village. She couldn’t return there, either. Surely Chief Black Cat was growing tired of the trouble she was causing him. If he didn’t force her to marry Golden Hawk, he was liable to wed her to Three Horses on the spot just to end this matter.

  She turned then toward the west. The endless prairie stretched out before her. From the horizon, a man was approaching. He was clad in buckskin and shouldered a musket. Claire recognized him at once by the way her heart leaped at the sight of him.

  Recognizing her, Pierre broke into a full run. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he came charging toward her.

  She could see the concern in his eyes, hear it in his voice. Unable to control her emotions, she flung herself into his arms and spilled the entire sordid tale. “I don’t know what to do! I don’t know where to go!”

  “Shh...” He cradled her head against his chest. “Shh. I’ll take care this... It will be alright.” He smelled of black powder and wood smoke. In his arms she felt safe. She truly believed that he would make everything right. She didn’t know how or what he would do to accomplish that, and she was too tired, too weak to consider any of the potential consequences of his actions or hers.

  “Come,” he said, taking her by the hand. She followed him to the fort.

  They entered the palisade. The gate shut securely behind them. Pierre led her to her old hut, the one she had shared with her mother. Depositing her in Sacagawea’s care, he then headed off to request an audience with his captains.

  * * *

  “What is it now, Lafayette?”

  Pierre detected a hint of irritability in Captain Lewis’s voice. Knowing that hesitancy would only further annoy the man, he cleared his throat and plunged in.

  “Sir, it is about Miss Manette...”

  As he told the man all that she had revealed to him on the riverbank, Lewis listened quietly. His face was unreadable.

  “Sir, surely you are as disturbed by this as I am,” Pierre said. “Would it be possible to take on one more member for the expedition?”

  Lewis eyed now him with a look of incredulity, but he didn’t say no, so Pierre pressed further. “The mademoiselle is strong and quite skilled in tanning, doctoring, foraging for food—”

  “We are not taking a woman along with us.”

  “But Sacagawea—”

  “—Sacagawea speaks Shoshoni, the language of the western tribes, and she has a husband.”

  Pierre understood the meaning. Lewis wasn’t going to be responsible for an unmarried woman in a dangerous unknown land, not when he was charged with the responsibility of looking after his men. Pierre then said something that surprised even him.

  “What if I were to claim her as my wife? What if I alone took responsibility?”

  At that the captain’s chair scraped across the roughhewn floor. He pushed to his feet. His face was disciplined and controlled, but his words had bite. “Have you lost your senses, man? Has infatuation so blinded you that you are no longer capable of reason?”

  “With all due respect, sir, I am not infatuated.”

  “Then you claim you are in love?”

  Pierre swallowed hard. Was that it? No...it couldn’t be. “No, sir. I merely wish to do my duty, as any Christian gentleman would.”

  Pierre saw the flicker of offense in his captain’s eyes. He hadn’t meant to imply that his officer wasn’t such a man. He simply—

  “At what cost?” Lewis asked. “What if your wife becomes ill along the journey? What if some hostile Pacific tribe holds us hostage and seeks to make her a slave? Would you be able to do your duty then? Would you think clearly, rationally, for the benefit of your expedition brothers and her, or would you forge a war on your own?”

  He saw the man’s point. Pierre didn’t want to believe he would fall to pieces or do anything to jeopardize his fellow comrades, but he realized he had already come very close to doing so several times when he feared for Claire’s safety. And if someone were to seek to harm Claire physically in my presence, I would come unhinged.

  “I know you believe it your duty to protect her,” Lewis said, his tone softening slightly. “That is an admirable quality, but believe me when I tell you, she is safer here among her own people than out there in the wild.”

  Pierre knew Lewis truly believed that. He was not a man to say one thing and think another, but Pierre wholeheartedly disagreed with him. The captain had not seen the wa
y Running Wolf looked at her, spoke to her. He hated her. And as for Golden Hawk, Pierre had yet to forget the lascivious glare he’d given Claire when he entered her lodge. Pierre knew exactly what the medicine man’s son had been thinking, and it sickened him.

  A decision had to be made. Pierre had always wanted to believe that his quest for adventure, his reason for signing on to this expedition, was more than just pursuit of vainglory. He believed God had a plan for him, a plan that could not be fulfilled in New Orleans.

  Perhaps this was it. This woman needed to be rescued. It would mean sacrificing his dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean, of bringing down that grizzly brown bear. He’d have to forgo his land grant and the fame that would otherwise be forever attached to his name by being a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In all likelihood he’d be forced to return to New Orleans, at least for a while, once again come under his father’s authority in terms of his shipping business.

  And that presented another problem. Would his parents accept an Indian woman for a daughter-in-law? True, she was half French, but would that be enough? And could Claire be happy there?

  He did not know. But at least she would not have to choose between polygamy and being forced to marry a man who scorned her faith and who would treat her as a slave, make her old before her time. I will not allow that.

  His mind was made up. He would make whatever sacrifice needed. It was the right thing to do. “What about the keelboat, sir?”

  Lewis’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying, Lafayette?”

  Pierre drew in a breath. There was no going back now. “I’m saying that with your permission, I would like to return to Saint Louis with the keelboat—that is, myself and Miss Manette.”

  “As your wife.”

  “Yes, sir. Please do not misunderstand me. I am greatly honored to be a member of your expedition, and if I could, I would continue westward.”

  “But you won’t.”

  “No, sir, not now. I believe I have been given a higher duty.”

  Lewis drew in a calculated breath, then conceded Pierre’s point with a slight nod. “Will the lady accept you?” he asked.