A song was soon accompanying this game, a weird, unearthy tune sung by an old warrior. At first, it was a scarcely audible murmur, like the gentle soughing of an evening breeze, but gradually it increased in volume and reached a very high pitch, sinking quickly to a low bass sound which rose and fell, then gradually died, to be again repeated.
One of the warriors who was concealing the bones swayed his body, arms, and hands in time to the music and went through all manner of graceful and intricate movements for the purpose of confusing the guessers.
This went on for some time.
Jolena was proud when Spotted Eagle came away with many prizes, the most precious of them all a bracelet made of pink, iridescent shells, which he promptly slipped onto Jolena's right arm.
They were laughing and following the pleasant aroma of food roasting close by over another large, outdoor fire, when Kirk came suddenly into view. Glowering, he came to Jolena and took her by an arm, ushering her away from Spotted Eagle.
Stopping in the shadow of a tepee, Kirk turned Jolena to face him. "Sis, I'm strong enough to travel," he said. "If I have to beg you to go with me, I will."
"Please don't," Jolena said, casting her eyes downward. "My mind is made up, Kirk. I hope you will understand one day why I had to make the choice that I did."
"Your love for Spotted Eagle?" he said, placing a finger to her chin and tipping it up so that their eyes could meet and hold.
"That, and also my love for my people," Jolena said, over Kirk's shoulder seeing Spotted Eagle coming toward them.
"I can understand how you could become infatuated with a handsome warrior," Kirk said, dropping his hands to his sides. "I, too, am infatuated with an Indian. I could easily love Moon Flowerbut not if it meant forgetting all of my loyalties to the family who raised me from a baby to adulthood."
"Then love Moon Flower and leave me alone," Jolena said, sighing heavily. "I shall never change my mind. Never."
Kirk frowned. "I knew that you wouldn't," he said, giving Spotted Eagle a troubled glance over his shoulder as he came protectively to Jolena's side.
Then he gave Moon Flower a nod, bringing her to his side. When she came to him, bashfully smiling, he placed an arm around her waist. "Moon Flower is traveling with me to Saint Louis," he said, his eyes lighting up, his lips quavering into a smile. "She's promised to marry me." Jolena's heart seemed to stop, and she felt a coldness enter her heart as she gazed into Moon Flower's eyes, stunned at her brother's quick decision.
Jolena knew why Moon Flower might be eager to leave her villageto hide the shame of an unwed pregnancy?
But did Kirk know about the pregnancy?
Jolena knew that he must not know, for he was not the sort to tolerate a wife heavy with another man's child, especially an Indian's.
Nor would he be the sort to raise that child!
Jolena wanted to reach out and tell her brother the truth, but a part of her that resented his attitude toward her heritage would not allow her to warn him of the deceit.
Smiling, she reached a hand to her brother's arm. "I hope you both will be happy," she said.
Chapter Thirty-One
Shivering in the cool breeze of the morning, Jolena stood solemnly by, watching Kirk preparing to leave for Fort Chance. Word had been received that a riverboat would be passing through and would be making a stop at Fort Chance. Kirk had just enough time to get there.
Jolena frowned as she watched Kirk help Moon Flower into her saddle, then swung himself onto a horse that had been assigned him for the journey.
Then her eyes were drawn around and she smiled weakly up at Spotted Eagle. "I'm glad that you are riding with the warriors who are accompanying my brother to Fort Chance," she murmured. "And I understand why you don't want me to go with you. Please hurry back, my love. The nights are getting colder. The blankets will be cold and empty without you at my side."
"It is good that you understand why you must stay behind," he said, lifting her chin with a forefinger, so that her lips were only a breath away from his. "Good-byes might be harder to say if you are again thrown into the life of white people at the fort. It is best not to tempt you."
"Darling, I know it would be futile to argue with you, to tell you that I think you are wrong about that," Jolena said. "So I shan't, and I shall stay with my people and learn more of their ways while I am waiting for you to return to me."
"It should be only one night that I will be gone from you," Spotted Eagle said, ignoring Kirk's glare when he brushed a kiss across Jolena's lips. He then whispered to her. "And if the blankets do not warm you enough, let your mind recall our moments together. Will that not warm you through and through, my woman?"
"I can't do that," Jolena murmured, smiling softly up at him. "It would truly be best if I think of other things while you are gone from me. Recalling our moments together would make me want you too much at a time when you are being denied me."
"Perhaps this separation will be good for us both," Spotted Eagle said, chuckling.
He leaned even closer to be sure that no one else could hear, especially Kirk. "Waiting will enhance the pleasure,'' he whispered. "When I return, we will make love as though it were the first time."
"My every heartbeat will count the minutes for your return," she whispered back, giving him a soft kiss, then moved away from him and went stiffly to her brother.
"Kirk, I hope there are no hard feelings between us," she said. "And please, please do your best to make father understand. He, of all people, should. He is the one who took me from my true people. He had me for many years, as his own. My true father will have me for less, for his years are already too many in number to count many more."
Kirk sat stiffly for a few moments as silence fell like a wall between him and Jolena, then he reached a hand to her cheek.
"Sis, I hold no grudges," he said, his voice drawn. "If it were me, and had I been denied my true people for so long, I am sure I would do the same as you. Please be happy, sis. That's what's important now. That you are happy in your decision to live with the Blackfoot people. You… have my blessing."
Jolena knew that he was saying things that he did not feel and was grateful that he could do this for her, placing his true feelings aside to deal with later, after he was away from her.
"Thank you, Kirk," Jolena said, a sob lodging in her throat. She gazed at Moon Flower, her spine stiffening at the thought that this Blackfoot maiden was deceiving Kirk. But still she could not find it in herself to warn Kirk, for he was a man now and should be capable of making his own decisions without a sister's interference.
Spotted Eagle mounted his horse and guided it next to Kirk's. "White brother, it is time to leave," he said, then turned his eyes to Jolena again. "When the sun rises again and slides upward to the highest point in the sky your man will return to you."
"
Please be careful," Jolena said, nervously clasping and unclasping her hands behind her.
Spotted Eagle nodded, then rode on ahead to join the other warriors who were riding with him.
Kirk and Jolena stared at one another a moment, then Kirk nudged his heels into the flanks of his horse and rode away, Moon Flower dutifully at his side on her white mare.
Jolena watched until they became only spots on the horizon. Then she turned around and looked at the activity in the village.
The sun was just rising. Thin columns of smoke were creeping from the smoke holes of the lodges, ascending into the still morning air. Everywhere outside, women were busy carrying water and wood. Some were digging in a bank near the river for red clay, which would be used for paint.
Inside their dwellings the women were preparing meals.
The men were coming out and starting for the river. Some were followed by their children. Some were carrying those too small to walk. When they reached the water's edge, they dropped their blankets and plunged into the cold water.
Jolena knew now that winter and summer, storm or shine, this was their daily custom. The Blackfoot had been taught that this made them tough and healthy and enabled them to endure the bitter cold while hunting on the bare, bleak prairie.
Jolena had already eaten her morning meal with Spotted Eagle before he left and now planned to do many things to help pass her long and lonely day without Spotted Eagle near.
As soon as the women left their dwellings and began their daily chores, Jolena joined them, following their lead so that she could learn the proper way to do everything. Today the women were making foods from dried meat, the thicker parts of the buffalo having already been cut in large, thin sheets and hung in the sun to dry.
The back fat of the buffalo was also dried and would be eaten with the meat as Jolena had eaten her bread and butter when she lived in Saint Louis.
Pemmican was made of the flesh of the buffalo, the meat having been dried in the usual way, and for this use, only lean meat was chosen.
Two large fires had been allowed to burn down to red coals. The women threw the dried sheets of meat on the coals of the fire allowing it to heat through, turning it often to keep it from burning.
After a time, the roasting of this dried meat caused a smoke to rise from the fire in use, which would have given the meat a bitter taste, so the women turned to the other fire and used that until the first one had burned clear again.
After enough of the roasted meat had been thrown on a fleshy piece of hide nearby, it was flailed with sticks, and being very brittle, was easily broken up. This was constantly stirred and pounded until it was all fine.
Meanwhile, the tallow of the buffalo had been melted in a large kettle, and the pemmican bags prepared. These were made of bull's hide and were in two pieces, which when sewn together made a bag which would hold one hundred pounds.
The pounded meat and tallow were put in a trough made of bull's hide, a wooden spade being used to stir the mixture. After it was thoroughly mixed, it was shoveled into one of the sacks, held open, and rammed down and packed tight with a big stick, every effort being made to expel all the air.
When the bag was full and packed as tight as possible, it was sewn up. It was then put on the ground, and the women jumped on it to make it still more tight and solid.
Jolena was shown how a much finer grade of pemmican was made from the choicest parts of the buffalo with marrow fat. To this, dried berries and pounded choke-cherries were added, making a delicious food which was extremely nutritious.
The process of preparing the meats took most of the day. Exhausted, Jolena went to Spotted Eagle's tepee and grabbed a blanket and went back out into the shadows of evening, toward the river. When she got there, she made sure no one else was around, then undressed and dove into the water.
She swam and swam, tiring herself even more, knowing that this was necessary for her to get to sleep, for she was restless over thinking of spending the full night without Spotted Eagle there with her. Although she was with her true people, she was feeling apprehensive about being alone with them.
This was a good test, one that would prove whether or not her decision to stay with the Blackfoot was right.
Jolena paused and treaded water. She held her head back and allowed her long hair to drift into the water behind her as she stared up at the stars that were just beginning to fill the black velvet sky, the moon only a tiny, bent sliver of white overhead.
When the breeze brushed across Jolena's face, she shivered and began swimming back toward shore. Just as she was about to climb out of the water, she stopped and her breath caught in her throat when she discovered someone standing in the shadows watching her.
Jolena slipped down into the water again, except for her head. With a pounding heart she gazed stubbornly at the person in the shadows. "Who's there?" she asked, her voice wary. "Show yourself, whoever you are."
Brown Elk stepped into view. He bent over and picked up the blanket that Jolena had left there for drying herself, then walked on to the embankment, holding the blanket out for her.
"It is I, your father," he said. "When I did not find you in Spotted Eagle's dwelling, I feared you might have been foolish enough to come to the river alone for a bath. And I see I was right. Daughter, do you not know the dangers of such foolish notions as this?"
Jolena sighed with relief, understanding now that she shouldn't have come alone to the river, especially at night. Someone besides her father might have been watching for her to leave the water. "I was too restless by the fire, alone," she murmured. When he held the blanket out farther, so that she could reach it, she took it and stepped quickly out of the water and wrapped herself in it.
"Did you not know that I was just as alone?" Brown Elk said, his voice filled with a sad weariness. "You could have come and filled this old man's heart with your company, instead of the river's."
"I'm sorry," Jolena murmured. "I wasn't thinking clearly, Father. I should have come and spent the evening with you. I shall even now, if you will have me."
She was awash with guilt that she had been thinking only of herself and her own loneliness, when she should have realized how abandoned her true father was feeling. Not only had she left his dwelling to live with Spotted Eagle, Moon Flower had also been quick to leave him after he had so generously opened his heart and arms to her, inviting her to stay with him when her parents had banished her from their lives.
"My dwelling is yours whenever you wish to be a part of it," Brown Elk said. "Especially tonight."
After she was dried enough, Jolena accepted the clothes that her father picked up from the ground. She moved behind a tree and dressed while he waited for her. Then, feeling much better, she went with Brown Elk to his lodge and enjoyed sharing a bowl of so
up with him while they laughed and talked.
Then there was a sound outside the tepee. Both turned their eyes as the entrance flap was shoved aside.
Jolena and her father gasped when Moon Flower entered the tepee, her eyes downcast.
Jolena's eyes shifted when Spotted Eagle came in behind Moon Flower. She moved quickly to her feet as Brown Elk shuffled to his. Jolena went to Spotted Eagle and stood at his side, her eyes on Moon Flower as Brown Elk embraced her and welcomed her to his dwelling.
Then Brown Elk stepped away from her and held her hands. "Why do you return?" he asked, his dark eyes seeing much sadness in Moon Flower's as she slowly looked up at him.
Savage Illusions Page 33
