Canaan by Donald Mccaig

Author:Donald Mccaig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

After they burned Fort Phil Kearny, the warriors returned to our big village on the Tongue River. We were a thousand lodges, the most since the Hundred in the Hand.

Although many warriors brought gifts for their wives, Plenty Cuts brought cartridges, lead, and powder for Red Leaf in her ghost lodge.

That night Old Man Afraid of His Horses held a feast to honor Red Cloud. White Bull, Rain in the Face, Roman Nose of the Cheyenne, and Chief Gall of the Hunkpapa were invited. Red Cloud invited Plenty Cuts because of his Washitu knowledge.

Two puppies had been killed in Red Cloud’s honor.

After the men had smoked the pipe, Red Cloud recalled how he first learned the forts were being built and how he had then vowed to destroy them. When the Great White Father sent his peace commissioners, Red Cloud would not meet with them until the forts were abandoned and the Montana Road closed. Red Cloud recalled the honors won by the Lakota and Cheyenne at the Hundred in the Hand. He introduced Plenty Cuts, telling how he fooled the Crows and killed Chasing Crane. He asked Plenty Cuts if the Washitu would ever return to the Montana Road.

Plenty Cuts said the Washitu needed their Seizers to occupy their South country and protect the Union Pacific Railroad. Rich, powerful Washitu owned the Union Pacific and didn’t care about the Montana Road. That was why, Plenty Cuts said, they had abandoned the forts and closed the Montana Road. His saying angered warriors who had fought bravely and had had relatives killed in the fighting. Red Cloud reminded everyone that Plenty Cuts had smoked the pipe and must speak the truth even when that truth was not what they wanted to hear.

Red Cloud said the Lakota needed meat for the coming winter. After the fall hunt, he would go to Fort Laramie and make peace.

Plenty Cuts said the Washitu would feel insulted, they would say they had abandoned the forts as Red Cloud wished, why was Red Cloud delaying? Red Cloud did not like this speech either.

Red Cloud said this time the Washitu would wait for the Lakota, which made all the Big Bellies laugh. When the puppies were served, Red Cloud and White Bull were given heads, but Plenty Cuts was given a tail.

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