Beatrice and the Beast by Ken Coleman & Verity Goodyear

Author:Ken Coleman & Verity Goodyear [Coleman, Ken & Goodyear, Verity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

TWENT-EIGHT

Rappo was taken away with a promise he would be taken good care of, while Zelletta and Charlie were invited into Avonaco’s tepee along with the agent, Harvey Mathews and two younger Indians, one of whom, was Elina’s husband. They sat in a circle away from the fire which had a large earthenware pot hanging over it. After a short silence, Avonaco was the first to speak.

‘Howdy Zelletta,’ he said. ‘How you do?’

‘Howdy chief, I’m good. You learned to speak English since last time I saw you.’

‘Yeah, need English to get whiskey from Agent Mathews.’

The old man winked at the agent who grinned back at him before speaking himself.

‘If the agency finds out I been supplying him with whiskey, I’ll be fired and somebody’ll take over who ain’t so easy goin’ as me.’

‘Harvey Mathews good man,’ responded the chief to the assembled company. ‘Last agent steal beef from Cheyenne and sell to stores.’

‘Well he’s languishing in jail now,’ said Mathews. ‘These poor people were starving because of his greed.’

‘How long you been here Mister Mathews?’ Asked Charlie.

‘Goin’ on three years now and I’ve loved every minute of it. The Cheyenne are good people if you treat ‘em right.’ He hesitated for a moment before continuing. ‘Even Avonaco, conniving old galoot that he is.’

The chief laughed and expanded his chest proudly.

‘You want smoke peace pipe?’ He asked Charlie and Zelletta.

‘If that’s what you wanna do chief,’ answered the big man.

Avonaco grinned.

‘Nah,’ he said. ‘pipe give me sore throat, we drink whiskey instead.’

He rummaged under the pile of buffalo furs he sat on and produced a three quarters full bottle of whiskey before uncorking it and taking a good pull from the bottle. Then he passed it to Mathews who sat on his left. He took a sip and handed it to one of the younger Indians who also sipped from the bottle, then coughed violently as the burning liquid seared his throat. He composed himself and passed the bottle to the other Indian. When it was their turn, both Charlie and Zelletta took a good pull from the bottle and finally, it was returned to the waiting hands of Avonaco and was once again passed around the group.

Later they ate and Avonaco related how Zelletta had come to his rescue a few years previously, when he had been pinned down by three scalp hunters after he had been out hunting for food. The only weapon he possessed was an old flintlock musket while his adversaries all used repeating rifles. So, had Zelletta not come along and evened up the odds, it was very doubtful he would be here drinking whiskey and enjoying a meal with these men.

Avonaco was never a man to openly, show his gratitude, or any emotion for that matter. But deep down he was eternally grateful for Zelletta’s intervention and full of admiration for the way the big man fought and defeated the men who would surely have killed him, had Zelletta not happened along.

They talked, ate and

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.