Brothers of the Buffalo by Joseph Bruchac

Author:Joseph Bruchac
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
Published: 2016-01-05T07:00:00+00:00

It had been a wasted trip. Little Robe had realized that while they were still in Washington. He was the last of the chiefs to speak when they met with White Father Grant. He had listened to all the words spoken before it was his turn.

So, when Little Robe stood up, he took a slow breath. “I have come a good ways to see the Great Father,” he said. “Now I see him. That is all I have to say.” Then he sat down.

It was soon after their return from Washington that a Great Star appeared in the sky. Each night for two moons it burned. It was so bright you could see your shadow. Many were frightened as it filled the night with a strange blue light. They thought the world was about to end. But the oldest woman among the Cheyennes was not afraid. Her name was Makes Moccasins. She had lived through ninety winters.

“I have seen such a thing before,” Makes Moccasins said. “It has come. It will go. All will be the same.”

It was as she said. The Great Star burned. Then it was gone. But the people wondered if that star was a message. Was it a warning sent by Maheo that a hard time lay ahead?

And hard times did come. The white robe of Winter Man spread over the land. It was so heavy that people froze to death in their lodges. They starved for lack of food. They froze because they could not fight through the snow and find firewood. Each time the people reported to the agency for rations the story was the same. The rations from the government had not been delivered. Without being able to hunt buffalo and with no other game, there was only one other way to get food. People began killing horses for their meat.

The buffalo hunters from Dodge City swarmed onto Cheyenne lands in ever greater numbers. They were many as maggots on the body of a dead animal. Those hunters knew that the one last big herd of buffalo still roamed to the south. They also knew that the tribes would fight to protect those sacred animals. Their greed was greater than their fear of the tribes. The treaty had promised the white men would be kept out. The white hunters broke that treaty, but no one stopped or punished them. The sheriffs ignored them. The army tried at first. The Buffalo Soldiers arrested eleven white hunters they caught on Cheyenne land.

Those eleven were not punished. Their leader, holding his hat in his hand, apologized to Friend Miles. Then Friend Miles gave them back their guns. He allowed them to leave.

“They are poor men,” Miles explained to Chief Little Robe. “They were hunting to feed their families. They have given unto me solemn promises that they will return to Kansas and not come onto your lands again.”

Little Robe watched as the men rode off, laughing. His lips were pressed tightly together. He shook his head. He knew they would be back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.