Red Cloud's Revenge by Terry C. Johnston

Author:Terry C. Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter 22

“It is a good sign,” Red Cloud said. “High Back-Bone is a grandfather now in the Moon of Black Cherries.”

High Back-Bone smiled, accepting the congratulations of his fellow chiefs. “You should not praise me,” he said, chuckling lightly and accepting the bowl of stewed antelope as it was passed round the circle in the lodge where the old friends sat in council. “It is my son who had all the fun in fathering this child!”

The lodge rocked with good-natured laughter. Crazy Horse was glad. It had been a long, long time since these men had laughed together. For more than twelve moons these chiefs had not had reason to laugh. Ever since they were told at Laramie of the soldier army coming to shove its fist down the throat of the Indian here in the Big Horn country. This last, best hunting ground of the Lakota and Cheyenne. For more than a year now the bands had drawn close around Red Cloud to press their war against the white men who used the road the way herd bulls would stand off attacks from a pack of wolves. They painted their victories on the winter-count robes—like that Battle of the Hundred in the Hand at the beginning of last robe season of heavy snows, when the soldiers followed the decoys beyond the Lodge Trail to their deaths.

Since then, no civilian wagon trains had ventured north along the Medicine Road that led the white man toward the land of the Crow and beyond, to the places where those white men scratched at the earth for the tiny yellow rocks.

What craziness led those men to risk their lives for yellow rocks, Crazy Horse would never know.

For a long, wet spring of short-grass time, into the summer’s beginning spent following the buffalo and antelope herds, the tribes had celebrated and wandered across their hunting ground. And prayed that the harshness of the last two winters would be the last. Knowing the reason the Spirits made hunger visit every lodge was that the mighty Lakota had failed to drive the soldiers from this sacred land.

As long as the white man stayed in this country, living within the safety of his walled forts, the Spirits would bring hunger to the people. This summer the Lakota must drive the soldiers from the land, for all time. No longer merely a war of scalps and manhood for the brave young ones to wage—Red Cloud’s war had now become a sacred mission for all. Before the snows of the Winter Man again smothered the land, Crazy Horse knew his people must drive the soldiers from their forts.

“High Back-Bone’s grandson is a good sign that means my plans are strong,” Red Cloud declared as the lodge quieted. “No more can we merely attack what soldier trains move north along the road. No longer can we content ourselves by stealing a few of the white man’s horses and mules near the forts.”

“This would take too long,” Little Hawk agreed.

“I agree, uncle,” Crazy Horse replied, nodding to his blood relative.

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.