Howdy Friends! – This morning, as I finished polishing the final pages of “Tom Named By Horse,” the sun snuck through my window carrying the song of our resident mockingbird. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I clearly heard him sing, “It’s about time,” to George Harrison’s, “Here Comes The Sun.” … I’ll need one more run through before it’s ready for public eyes, but I’d like to share here an important scene from one of the final pages … We find Tom heading home to Soft Cloud after completing the tasks asked of him by Red Cloud, but what he finds as he nears home is troubling … I hope you enjoy ~ Gitty Up, Dutch
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He settled down just to enjoy the pleasures of a peaceful ride on
a magnificent horse. Thunder’s even
stride soothed Tom completely and for hours, he rode lost in daydreams of what
the future might hold for he and Soft Cloud, before he saw the lodges on the
prairie ahead of him.
''What's that all about, Thunder?'' They loped in the direction of the village
knowing his position to be about twenty miles north of his ranch and just
thirty or so miles from Fort Laramie. As
they neared the Indian village, he recognized it to be the village of Red Cloud
and Iron Shell. In the weeks he had been
gone they must have abandoned their winter village to relocate on the open
prairie, but why here?
Tom was greeted at the camp’s edge by his friend Iron Shell. Iron Shell had worked on his English and Tom
had polished his Sioux. The two friends
no longer needed an interpreter. Iron
Shell informed Tom they had moved the village to be closer to Fort Laramie for
his father was demanding to be heard by the leaders of the US Army.
''Why does Red Cloud want to speak with
the Army?''
''My father is angered that the white man is now building a road
to take the white man into our hunting grounds at the Black Hills beneath the
Big Horn Mountain where the Powder River Runs into the Big Horn. Red Cloud told the General that was our land,
wrestled from the Crow nation. He is
also angered at the men who make marks on the prairie for another road. A road he has been told will be made of
iron. Many Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
will be coming to join my father's village here near Fort Laramie. Their chiefs will speak with us one day soon
of making war. They speak of a great war
when thousands of braves will stop the U.S. Army. My father cannot allow these two roads into
our hunting lands. This land that was
our ancestors’ since before time, and we stand today on all that is left of our
proud nations. Perhaps it is time now for
us to make war. Perhaps it is time for
us to stop the white man who only wants to take the shiny metal that is in our
land. Perhaps it is time to stop the
white man who kills our sacred buffalo only for it rot under the sun of the
prairie.'' Iron Shell’s eyes showed his
sadness.
''But your father is a leader of peace. He has not wanted to make war with the US
Army.''
''My father wants only peace but most white men are greedy, they
force my father to listen to the war councils.
It is not for him alone to decide this great and terrible thing. My father believes that perhaps there is time
still, to save our sacred buffalo. He
believes it would be a terrible thing for the once mighty herd of buffalo to
disappear from the great lands. But he
has seen a vision that tells him the white man will one day kill all the
buffalo.
''The bones of our sacred buffalo already are scattered and white
over the plains. To the greedy white
man, these things are not precious. To
the greedy white man the buffalo means money.
To the greedy white man, shiny metal means money. To the ancient Sioux the buffalo means all of
life. The Sioux have no use for the
shiny metals that lay buried in the great mountains. We have no need to scar the face of those
mountains that were here since before the Sioux and Cheyenne, Arapaho and Crow.
Grandfather Mystery has given us all these things. The white man must not be allowed to spoil
them. Already there is a great gathering
of Chiefs on this spot, on our grasslands near the Fort Laramie. Chief Spotted Tail, Standing Elk, and also
Chief Dull Knife have come to talk with my father. Many other Chiefs and their villages will be
here soon.'' Iron Shell's dark eyes
burned red with sadness.
Tom felt as if Iron Shell had
delivered him a tremendous physical blow.
********
To read
earlier excerpts follow this link -
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